This series is all about showcasing Libsyn podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community!
Q & A with Lori from All About Breastfeeding
What’s your show about?
My shows name, says what my show is about – All About Breastfeeding. So we talk about anything and everything related to breastfeeding. For those of you who have never breastfed, you might not know this, but it is a skill that is not necessarily natural and often does not come easy to most of us.
One day a week I interview a different mother who shares in detail, her breastfeeding journey – her joys and struggles. I might also interview a book author, or a physician, or a Dad and get his take on breastfeeding and what it means to him as a father.
One day a week, I have a monologue where I provide some education about breastfeeding, or talk about my day as a Lactation Consultant. We get into breastfeeding education, what moms need to know to get started, myths surrounding breastfeeding, human milk, milk sharing, milk donation, wet nursing, tandem nursing, breastfeeding twins and triplets, adoptive nursing, toddler nursing, mil donation, and much, much more.
My mission is to do whatever I can to help normalize breastfeeding around the world and have a blast while doing it.
What’s your podcasting set-up?
My podcast has been aided by my husband Alan who is my tech guru helping me through the process. We use a Windows 8 computer with a ATR 2100 mic with a pop filter which is a must.
I have Bose Headphones, We record with Pamela and Skype. I also record in a small room with as much dampening items as possible. We are using Adobe Audition 6 to clean up the podcast, I highly recommended this even though its not cheap.
How have you promoted your podcast?
I promote my podcast via the All About Breastfeeding website, email list, my facebook business page, all social media accounts.
I have also used Regular old snail mail to send out postcards to OB, midwifery, pediatric practices about the podcast. I also keep myself busy and make sure I get away from the computer and get out into the world and network by attending social media events, as well as online facebook groups, and everyday am talking about my podcast to mothers that I work with personally every day.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
Before I started podcasting, I wish I knew how much time it actually does take.
I am self taught, had no time or money put aside for help or training.
There is a huge learning curve.
We did not have a budget put aside to pay for help or training with audio/editing/social media marketing knowledge. I mean, what good is a show if no one knows about it?
If you have a family and a full time job, where does one find the additional 20 hours a week it takes to product just 2–3 shows. from start to finish – finding guests, paperwork back and forth, actual recording of show, editing of show, cleaning up audio, typing out show notes, loading into Libsyn, social media, etc.
I don’t necessarily take this to be a down side, as I think any new venture worth pursuing will have a learning curve. On the huge plus side is all the people I have met in the online world. How much I learned, literally, from being exposed to so many podcasts.
There are so many interesting shows and topics and things I never would have really taken the time to open up a book and read about, but that I now know about because of listening to various podcasts.
It is really hard to keep up a continuous schedule and the number of hours to produce 1 show.
This is fun, but it is not a hobby for me. It is a job. I have interviews scheduled and release dates to keep.
If this was a hobby, I could fudge the dates, I could procrastinate, I could play hooky. But there is no playing hooky when you have an interview in 4 hours.
You have to be there. Keeping up with all this, in addition to a full time job, makes life crazy at times. Just because I love podcasting, does not mean it is not hard.
Sometimes I do wonder what it will be like when I transition to a FT online job. Will I still feel overwhelmed? Wait and See!
If you or someone you know has questions about breastfeeding, now you know where to go! Get everything you need to know about breastfeeding in one place, subscribe to the show!
If you happen to have a wealth of knowledge around a very niche subject, have you considered starting a podcast? Why not? Do it! We’d love to host your podcast!
