The Gratitude

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Bonus Photo

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Let’s Discuss

I am the only person I know who can hold Lily, and she will grumpily tolerate the situation. My daughter could at one time, but it has been so long that I am not entirely sure that is still true.

I love my little Satan girl. She is my idea of the perfect companion animal. ♡

Now Let’s Discuss: Mindful Crochet!

Over the past 2 weeks, my podcast has exploded. I changed my format about two episodes ago. I had a skipped week in there but during that skipped week, I had an onslaught of listeners playing the newest episode with the new layout and my play stats went through the roof. I went from around 20 and sometimes 30 active listeners a week to, as of today, a 62 average for 7 days.

Different platforms have different success rates. My success rate on Apple Podcasts is the largest. I have so many more followers, and the listeners reach over 100 on that platform alone. Quite ironic since I publish on Spotify and simply syndicate my podcast across various others (including Apple Podcasts).

Spotify is lovely enough to offer a statistic accumulation across all my syndication forms to generate an overall image of what I am (or am not) receiving on the listening side.

Early on, my Spotify plays versus starts ratio reached 60% due to the content style, recording issues, etc. I saw the trend and worked hard to make changes that would reflect over time.

Once I had the recording software, a good headset, etc., I put in a ton of effort into the layout and content style.

Once I changed that, I saw quite the turnaround, like I mentioned. That play percentage is even reflecting the change.

Statistics don’t lie…

I did a lot of research into podcasts and what makes the successful ones, well, successful. I learned that:

• Some of the best podcasts went a year or more without listeners.
• Finding a delivery strategy is important.
• Pushing content early on to generate a listener base that will financially support your goals is necessary.
• You are in the top 50% once you have an average of around 120 active listeners (not counting inactive or passive listeners), as it usually requires thousands of people before any bonus content subscriptions are reflected back.

What I learned about my podcast:

• I had the right niche and even received a first subscriber early into the testing process. This cemented the idea that I had the right niche and just needed to finetune my work.
• Listeners want an easy, consistent flow from point A to B.
• Don’t use it like a blog, use it to convey important information with antidotes that reflect on experience.
• Sound quality matters.

I have used my business and Mindful Crochet in my essay work when describing processes for the different classes I take. I admit that I have benefitted from instructor feedback about my thoughts, research, and processes. It helps me grow as a podcaster and entrepreneur.

I am quite proud of how I was able to turn around the sinking ship and start building a more positive following just by generating quality content.

That is what I am essentially grateful for today. Every day, really. This is my passion.