The Evolution of a Podcast – Live Video
Hey there and welcome to episode 202, The Evolution of a Podcast. I’m your host, Yong Pratt, Chief Dreamer and Creator of the in a weekend series of classes.
Today I want to take you inside the Evolution of the Podcast.
First, though, I want to ask YOU some questions. Feel free to answer out loud if that resonates with you. At the very minimum, I’d ask you to put some thought into the questions.
Have you ever started or completed a project only to discover it’s not exactly what you wanted?
Maybe you created it thinking you wanted to share X and discovered that you really wanted to share about Y?
Perhaps when you started the project, you had a certain goal, dream, or idea of who it was being created for only to discover that you’d missed the mark?
Did you ever feel “stuck” continuing on with a project because you were so far along that changing directions or pivoting felt too hard?
With those questions in mind, I want to take you back to the beginning of the podcast.
If you don’t already know, I started podcasting way back in 2013 which, compared to now, was the dinosaur age of podcasting…
The podcast was called Raising smART Kids and its focus was educating parents about the multitude of benefits they could expect for their kids through participating in the performing arts from brain-boosting benefits to the physical and everywhere in between.
At the time I launched the podcast, I had been running my brick and mortar performing arts school for almost 13 years and had been teaching dance for around 15. I had recently completed my Master’s degree in Kinesiology and health and my graduate school research most definitely informed my beliefs about teaching and learning.
During graduate school, I was introduced to the work of Harvard Professor, Howard Gardner, and his theory of multiple intelligences.
If you’ve not heard of the theory, it basically states that there are 8 distinct ways of learning and each of us has varying strenghts across the 8.
I personally call these strenghts, Superpowers. While some of us learn best visually, others have learn best or have superpowers in movement, music, socially, internally, in nature, verbally, or mathematically.
As exciting as this may sound, I was crushed to discover that traditional schools teach and test to only 2 of the 8, meaning the majority of kids are told they have weaknesses. These kids often get labeled as average, below average, or worse, learning disabled.
In the process of researching, learning, and applying Gardner’s theory in my own classrooms, at home with my own daughters, and reflecting on my own learning experiences, I made it my personal mission to share this theory with as many people as others and the podcast allowed me to do just that.
About 30ish episodes into the podcast, my desire to share about the arts, the brain, and learning, shifted slightly as my girls and I were spending increasing time diving into the 8 superpowers and doing lots of hands-on learning projects.
I wanted to share the steps to creating these learning adventures and did my best to do so through pictures and step-by-step instructions on the podcast and our website. I came to the realization that what I really wanted to share required me to do video and I, in no way, wanted to be on camera.
I was so scared to be on video that I literally talked myself out of it which basically meant the end of the podcast, for the time being, anyway….
Fast forward to May 3 years. I had just moved into a new facility one month before our year end concert and made the choice to relaunch the podcast to coincide and support the launch of my first book, Raising a Superhero: How to Unleash Your Child’s Superpowers and propel learning through the arts.
Yep, Dr. Gardner’s work was still top of mind for me and the podcasts and accompanying blog posts on his work literally became my first book with the help of my editor.
The podcast made its comeback in 2016 as Raising smART kids 2.0. This go round, I interviewed the movers and the shakers in the world of dance, education, and the arts. Video was still not something I wanted to do, yet I knew it was THE thing I needed to help me move forward in my business and in my life. So I leaned into my fear, hard.
This go-round, I reached 100 episodes and in the process, made yet another discovery. I shifted from focusing on the arts to focusing on technology – something I had done in the background of my own business for years and had been teaching my kids, yet never shared.
As I leaned more heavily into wanting to talk about kids and technology and how my own kids were creating amazing things in my business and for others, I knew that the podcast needed another name.
This pivot came a little over a year ago in January 2018. The podcast and the online business became Our Young Creators.
My passion became helping parents answer the question I had been getting for years…how do I get my kids OFF their devices?
What I realized was the issue wasn’t really how to get kids off devices. It was about teaching kids skills to turn their time on devices into something more productive – how to shift from becoming consumers on devices into becoming creators to help themselves and others.
A year later, the desire to help kids and parents shift the paradigm from being consumers on their devices into the creators of their own brighter futures is what drives us.
This drive is so strong, in fact, that our focus on kids and Our Young Creators is being elevated by turning it into our non-profit foundation and international training center for kids and families.
And that brings us full circle to where we are today…
The Our Young Creators Podcast is becoming drum roll, please…
In a Weekend with Yong Pratt.
The podcast will now be focused on helping business owners to simplify, automate, and leverage the often hidden assets in their business and life quickly. I’m stepping into the role as your deTECHtive as my friend, de-t-e-c-h-tive as my friend Deb Laflamme has dubbed me 🙂
Our passion and focus on kids will remain a part of the podcast as kids are one of the most often overlooked assets in a business. Each episode will focus on one of the 3 pillars of all our In a Weekend Series of Classes and with our private clients.
Let’s break down each of these pillars, shall we?
Pillar #1: Simplify
We’ll talk about the many ways to simplify and make things less complicated in your business. I’ve done complicated and now crave simplicity which happens to be my word for 2019.
When I’m doing anything, I always ask, is this, whatever it is, Is the simplest, easiest way to get the result I desire? What can I take out that isn’t essential?
Most of the simplicity in my business now comes from the creation of business systems or recipes as my friend, Kim White calls them.
These systems or recipes are the Repeatable, step-by-step written or video instructions for anything in your business that can be delegated. I’m working on delegating more in my business, too, so I’ll personally be testing out what I’ll share with you.
Pillar #2: Automate
Automation has gotten a bit of bad wrap as of late. The biggest objections I hear about automation is lack of control and loss of the personal touches, or more simply, the dehumanizing of a business.
The types of automations I’m be sharing will actually give you more control in your business while freeing up your valuable time so you can add MORE not fewer personal touches in your business. Sound good?
And that brings us to…
Pillar #3: Leverage
In the past week or so, I’ve been a guest over of the My Sexy Business Page with Kim White. We’ve been diving into hidden assets that many business owners overlook or have never even have considered.
Kids (your own or someone else’s), the documents, videos, audios and more you’ve created for your business that have died a slow painful death in your archives are just some of the overlooked assets inside a business. We’ll dive in an expose those assets and how you can leverage them to make a bigger impact.
At the end of each episode, I’ll bring the ideas full circle and give you examples of how you can bring your kids or your whole family into your business using these 3 core pillars.
The ideas, tactics, and strategies I’ll be sharing on the podcast have something in common – speed. I’ve personally discovered that when things take too long I likely won’t follow through to completion. For me, speed of implementation was the missing piece I’ve discovered to quickly move me forward and builds massive momentum.
The idea of speed is the reason the podcast will now be called In A Weekend. Because moving quickly has had such a profound impact on my business, I want to share this paradigm shift with all of YOU so you can implement ideas, literally, in a weekend.
Are you ready to simplify, automate, and leverage your business in a Weekend?
I, for one, am excited for this new adventure.
The evolution of the podcast is just one example of starting a project and making pivots when necessary. While every pivot has been challenging, each of them gets us closer and closer to living inside our Zone of Genius so we can help as many people as possible.
As Our Young Creators becomes In a Weekend, our passions for business, technology, and parenting collide in the most wonderful of ways, I want to encourage you take a look at your business.
Are there pivots in your life or business you’ve been putting off or talking yourself out of taking?
And if you’re ready to move forward together to simplify, automate, and leverage your lives and businesses quickly, In a Weekend, I encourage you to head over to yongpratt.com/workflow and grab our FREE In a Weekend content creating workflow, that we’ve only shared with our students until today. Grab your Workflow NOW
Find out how we turn every single video into multiple pieces of content quickly. By leveraging what we’ve already created and what we’ll create in the future, we’re able to simplify business using automations, by working smarter.
Again, you can grab the In a Weekend Content Workflow at yongpratt.com/workflow.
Thanks for tuning into Episode 202 of the Podcast. I’m Yong Pratt, Chief Dreamer, host of the In a Weekend podcast, and creator of the In a Weekend Series of Classes.
Stay tuned for the next podcast when I’ll reveal a brand new project we’ve been working on to help YOU leverage you, your skills, passions, or knowledge in a big way.
Until then, go out there and make it an amazing day. And be sure to come over to our NEW Facebook Page and give us a LIKE.
Cheers!
