“Much like a musician, I began by recording my thoughts on various topics to develop my voice as a solo artist. Most of those recordings will never be released, but they were important for my growth as a podcaster. Eventually I felt more comfortable with the idea of stepping out on my own and launched the Art Pays Me Podcast, a podcast where I get to explore my passion for that grey area between art and business.”
Duane Jones, MIM Class of 2014
Duane Jones (MIM Class of 2014) is a visual branding, graphic design and information management specialist. Our first meeting was at the 2018 ARMA Conference held in Vancouver, which gave me the opportunity to invite him to join the CEGE Connection conversation. Duane is an artist and the fashion designer of his clothing brand, Art Pays Me. His competitive advantage comes from a unique ability to bring together information management with the creative world of art and graphic design. His clothing collections are featured at Atlantic Fashion Week and recently, in a successful solo fashion and art show at the Halifax Central Library.
Duane is host and creator of a podcast called, The Art Pays Me Podcast, which made it to New & Noteworthy on iTunes. He is a guest speaker at events such as Canadian Conference on Medical Education, Podcamp Halifax and Social Media Day Halifax.
The Art Pays Me Podcast made it to New & Noteworthy on iTunes
CEGE Connection reached out to Duane, asking him to share his insights on why he podcasts, and how he builds upon information management knowledge to transform the way in which we connect within a virtual community.
Duane Jones:
I’m a voracious consumer of information. I enjoy reading but I have to read very slowly to absorb what I’m ingesting. I fell in love with podcasts because they made it easier for me to satisfy my craving for consuming knowledge without the same level of time commitment. I could learn about all kinds of things while driving or even doing housework. I was able to connect with experts on obscure topics who were just as passionate about them as I am.
Over time, listening was not enough, and I found myself wanting desperately to be involved in the conversations. After all, most of the topics I listened to were things I had deep knowledge of and passion for. It then dawned on me that I needed to be a guest on some shows but when that happened, I still wanted more. I believe in the power of manifestation so I started to make it known that I was interested in starting a podcast of my own and the universe led me to Peter Hemsworth, Terrence Taylor and Lauren Sears who would become my co-hosts on a podcast called Changing the Narrative.
I worked on that podcast for a little over a year but my life outside of work and my business revolve around the needs of my family, so I needed to be able to record on a schedule that respected that. The break I took from podcasting was much needed but after about a month away I missed it. In particular, I missed the dialogue and the community that podcasting helped me to build. I also had a number of stories that I wanted to share, so I imagined what a podcast with just me would look and sound like.
Much like a musician, I began by recording my thoughts on various topics to develop my voice as a solo artist. Most of those recordings will never be released, but they were important for my growth as a podcaster. Eventually I felt more comfortable with the idea of stepping out on my own and launched the Art Pays Me Podcast, a podcast where I get to explore my passion for that grey area between art and business.
Here are some of the key things that I considered before starting:
- What do I hope to get out of podcasting?
- How much time and money am I willing to invest in my podcast?
- How often do I plan to release my podcast, and will it run indefinitely or have defined seasons?
- How long will each episode be?
- Will my podcast have regular guests or mostly focus on me?
- Where will I host my podcast and what platforms will it stream on?
- What metric will determine if my podcast is successful or not (Is it worth continuing?)?
With most of us having access to advanced smart phones, the ability to cheaply record and edit a quality podcast is literally at our fingertips. You can spend thousands on recording equipment and software or spend $80 on a decent mic and use free software that’s preinstalled on your computer like I do. My opinion is that great content trumps everything so I’m not against taking a hit on quality temporarily if your means are limited but you have a great story to share. As a rule, the quality of your recording will depend on your personal standards and what your audience is willing to accept. Always strive for the best quality possible but don’t let that be a barrier to starting.
There are many services that offer online podcast hosting for free and paid subscriptions. I’ve done both. In my experience, the more I pay, the more tools that I have at my disposal like analytics, storage space and automatic uploads to major podcast networks like iTunes, Google Play and Spotify. iTunes and the like do not offer much information about who’s listening to your show so if this matters to you, your hosting platform will be where you collect most of this data. As information professionals we love data so I would recommend investing in a paid service that offers you as much information as you can get.
As far as time investment goes podcasting can be very time consuming. Listen to podcasts that are similar to what you want yours to be and determine what episode length works best for you. Some shows consistently release 2 hours of content and their audiences lap it up happily while others stick to 10 or 15 minutes and deliver content that gets right to the point. There is no right or wrong when it comes to podcast length but consider that longer podcasts require more time not just for recording but editing and uploading. Many people pay producers to handle that so they can stick to coming up with content.
Podcasting has many professional benefits as it can position its hosts and guests as thought leaders in their respective fields, spread their message to audiences outside of their own and can be monetized through advertising and subscription models. While these benefits are enticing, my biggest piece of advice is to make sure that you first enjoy doing it. If you don’t enjoy the process, you’re most likely not going to stick with it and to be honest… No one wants to listen to a person who’s not excited about being there.
You can listen to me being excited about being there on iTunes and Spotify on my podcast called Art Pays Me.
CEGE Connection is delighted to advise that Duane has graciously agreed to be a repeat contributor on CEGE Connection