ApexThis.Podcast

In This Episode

This is the October 2018 monthly report.

Links

* Austin Podcasters* Cashflow Diaries* Microcosm Publishing* Smart Passive Income* Toggle Time Tracker* Trello* Google Keep

Show Credits

Main show hosted, produced, mixed, edited & music by Mark.

Narration Intro Teaser– Recorded at Spitshine Studios– Post-production by Mark– Ambience, Night Life by InspectorJ licensed under CC BY 3.0– Creature deep growl by vykroft licensed under CC BY 3.0– Creature Pant by JuliusMabe licensed under CC BY 3.0

Blog

Why Publish A Business Report?

Publishing my business report allows me to reflect back on the month to see what I did or didn’t do so well. Lastly, I have read blog income reports such as SmartPassiveIncome and I like to see what they have tried. It is a form of motivation for me and I hope that this can be one for someone else. Be sure to check out CashFlowDiaries for bloggers that share their blog income reports. Or one that I’ve recently found from publisher Microcosm Publishing.

October 2018 Business Report

Disclaimer: Any income reported will only be reported as “cash” in hand. If it did not deposit into my account, or if I didn’t cash a check, then it does not count as income. Additionally, income will only be reported for ApexThis business and not for personal income. I may discuss side hustles for additional side income, but only income in which I represent ApexThis will be counted. 

**Numbers in parenthesis are negative values.

Revenue/Contribution Report

* Contribution – $0.00

Expense Report

* RawVoice (Blubrry) – ($12)* Google Domains – ($12)* Google Apps – ($11)* Adobe Suite – ($54)* Xero – ($9)* Sales Tax – ($8.39)* Genuine Joes – ($33)

Overall

* Owner Contributions – $0* Gross Income – $0* Total Expense – ($139)* Total Net – ($139)

Hours Worked

Time Logged – 39hrs

What Happened?

Finances

In This Episode

This is the September 2018 monthly report.

Links

* Austin Podcasters* Cashflow Diaries* Microcosm Publishing* Smart Passive Income* Toggle Time Tracker* Trello* Google Keep

Show Credits

Hosted, produced, mixed, edited & music by Mark.

Blog

Why Publish A Business Report?

Publishing my business report allows me to reflect back on the month to see what I did or didn’t do so well. Lastly, I have read blog income reports such as SmartPassiveIncome and I like to see what they have tried. It is a form of motivation for me and I hope that this can be one for someone else. Be sure to check out CashFlowDiaries for bloggers that share their blog income reports. Or one that I’ve recently found from publisher Microcosm Publishing.

September 2018 Business Report

Disclaimer: Any income reported will only be reported as “cash” in hand. If it did not deposit into my account, or if I didn’t cash a check, then it does not count as income. Additionally, income will only be reported for ApexThis business and not for personal income. I may discuss side hustles for additional side income, but only income in which I represent ApexThis will be counted. 

**Numbers in parenthesis are negative values.

Revenue/Contribution Report

* Contribution – $500.00* WePay (Meetup) – $16

Expense Report

* RawVoice (Blubrry) – ($12)* Google Domains – ($12)* Google Apps – ($11)* Adobe Suite – ($54)* Xero – ($30)* Trademark Fees – ($500)

Overall

* Owner Contributions – $500* Gross Income – $16* Total Expense – ($620)* Total Net – ($604)

Hours Worked

Time Logged – 46hrs

What Happened?

Finances

We continue with big expenditures for the year that pertain to training, and legal work regarding trademarks. I believe this is the second time, especially consecutively, that I’ve blown the budget I set for the year. And yes, I did set a budget.

Even though I have a budget of things I expect to pay for, there are other things that come up that I may think would be really good and helpful. For the past few big expenses, these are investment items; going to the conference is something that will be on my books every year. Trademark is something that wasn’t immediately necessary but something I wanted to get done. This doesn’t mean I have a trademark, I am just going through the process. Lastly, training is a big investment for ApexThis and as such it was something I felt that I needed to make happen.

The last bit to hit last month was final payout in regards to the mini-workshop I held for Austin Podcasters.

In This Episode

A bit late is better than never. This is the July 2018 monthly report.

Links

* Austin Podcasters

* Cashflow Diaries

* Microcosm Publishing

* Smart Passive Income

* Toggle Time Tracker

* Trello

* Google Keep

Show Credits

Hosted, produced, mixed, edited & music by Mark.

Blog

Why Publish A Business Report?

Publishing my business report allows me to reflect back on the month to see what I did or didn’t do so well. Lastly, I have read blog income reports such as SmartPassiveIncome and I like to see what they have tried. It is a form of motivation for me and I hope that this can be one for someone else. Be sure to check out CashFlowDiaries for bloggers that share their blog income reports. Or one that I’ve recently found from publisher Microcosm Publishing.

July 2018 Business Report

Disclaimer: Any income reported will only be reported as “cash” in hand. If it did not deposit into my account, or if I didn’t cash a check, then it does not count as income. Additionally, income will only be reported for ApexThis business and not for personal income. I may discuss side hustles for additional side income, but only income in which I represent ApexThis will be counted. 

Income/Investment Report

Investment – $0.00

Expense Report

RawVoice (Blubrry) – ($12)

Blubrry is a service I used to host the podcasts for Admins of Atlassian and ApexThis. It has built-in integration with WordPress making it vastly easier to upload and maintain the podcasts.

Google Apps – ($10)

I use Google Apps for email primary, docs and drive. It’s also great to use my Google account as authentication to other services and apps.

Adobe Suite – ($54)

Zero – ($9)

Overall

* Total Income/Investments – $0

* Total Expense – ($85)

* Total Net – ($85)

Hours Worked

Time Logged – 21hrs

 

 

What Happened?

Business

Administrative – 2hrs 45m

What is administrative? Oh you know, budgets, planning, and all the other non-fun stuff. I’ve been cleaning up a lot of mini-projects to get them out the door as well as reorganizing, planning, and idea dumping. This also includes research and work getting a sales permit. Which leads to the next thing…the store.

Podcast – 5hrs 27m

This is time for the June monthly update. For this time, I included this entire blog write up, recording and editing. I think the write-up should be separate since it aligns more with business functions as I am reviewing some goals (listed and unlisted) as well as other things. Going forward, I will track the compilation and reflection of data separately from the actual recording.

Store – 3hrs 30m

Last month I stated that I was creating a store, primarily to help support the Austin Podcasters community by selling awesome t-shirts. I will also be slipping into other basic t-shirt designs and hopefully in the future, other fun experimental projects. Though, I must say that this isn’t a big launch effort and isn’t really my main focus, therefore,

In This Episode

This is the June 2018 monthly report. I catch you up on what I’ve been up to.

Links

* Audible (I’m listening to World War Z & Malazan book of the Fallen)

* Austin Podcasters

* Cashflow Diaries

* Microcosm Publishing

* Smart Passive Income

* Toggle Time Tracker

* Trello

* Google Keep

Show Credits

Hosted, produced, mixed, edited & music by Mark.

Blog

Why Publish A Business Report?

Publishing my business report allows me to reflect back on the month to see what I did or didn’t do so well. Lastly, I have read blog income reports such as SmartPassiveIncome and I like to see what they have tried. It is a form of motivation for me and I hope that this can be one for someone else. Be sure to check out CashFlowDiaries for bloggers that share their blog income reports. Or one that I’ve recently found from publisher Microcosm Publishing.

June 2018 Business Report

Disclaimer: Any income reported will only be reported as “cash” in hand. If it did not deposit into my account, or if I didn’t cash a check, then it does not count as income. Additionally, income will only be reported for ApexThis business and not for personal income. I may discuss side hustles for additional side income, but only income in which I represent ApexThis will be counted. 

Income/Investment Report

Investment – $0.00

Speaking – $100

Expense Report

RawVoice (Blubrry) – ($12)

Blubrry is a service I used to host the podcasts for Admins of Atlassian and ApexThis. It has built-in integration with WordPress making it vastly easier to upload and maintain the podcasts.

Google Apps – ($10)

I use Google Apps for email primary, docs and drive. It’s also great to use my Google account as authentication to other services and apps.

Google Domain Renewals – ($12)

Adobe Suite – ($54)

Zero – ($9)

Overall

* Total Income/Investments – $100.00

* Total Expense – ($97)

* Total Net – $3

Hours Worked

Time Logged – 23hrs per month average the past 6 months.

What Happened?

Where Have I Been?

Working! Just not on the things I expected to work on.

Like many of you, I have a day job and that limits the things I can do on nights and weekends. From a personal perspective, after getting the last podcast episode out, I was working on the next monthly update, but then I went out of town for work. Then I went out of town for family, twice. Then I went on vacation and got really sick. After that, I was knee deep in a few projects and efforts that I will detail shortly. Lastly, came the unexpected trip to Amsterdam for the day job which unexpectedly turned into a vacation.

I say unexpectedly as my intention was to continue my side-hustle schedule but considering I’ve never been out of the country before, the jet lag was particularly vicious, and being in a new country, my co-workers made sure my nights were busy. Weekends, I toured the city and countryside. I visited museums and lovely restaurants and next thing I know,

In This Episode

This is the September 2017 monthly report. I talk about my goals, focus and what’s next.

Links

* Audible (World War Z & Malazan book of the Fallen)

* Austin Podcasters Meetup

* Cashflow Diaries

* Microcosm Publishing

* Smart Passive Income

* Toggle Time Tracker

* Trello

* Google Keep

Show Credits

Hosted, produced, mixed, edited & music by Mark.

Blog

Why Publish A Business Report?

Publishing my business report allows me to reflect back on the month to see what I did or didn’t do so well. Lastly, I have read blog income reports such as SmartPassiveIncome and I like to see what they have tried. It is a form of motivation for me and I hope that this can be one for someone else. Be sure to check out CashFlowDiaries for bloggers that share their blog income reports. Or one that I’ve recently found from publisher Microcosm Publishing.

September 2017 Business Report

Disclaimer: Any income reported will only be reported as “cash” in hand. If it did not deposit into my account, or if I didn’t cash a check, then it does not count as income. Additionally, income will only be reported for ApexThis business and not for personal income. I may discuss side hustles for additional side income, but only income in which I represent ApexThis will be counted. 

Income/Investment Report

Investment – $0.00

Expense Report

RawVoice (Blubrry) – ($12)

Blubrry is a service I used to host the podcasts for Admins of Atlassian and ApexThis. It has built-in integration with WordPress making it vastly easier to upload and maintain the podcasts.

Google Apps – ($5)

I use Google Apps for email primary, docs and drive. It’s also great to use my Google account as authentication to other services and apps.

Google Domain Renewals – ($12)

Overall

* Total Income/Investments – $0.00

* Total Expense – ($29)

* Total Net – ($29)

Hours Worked

Time Logged – 30h11m26s

 

What Happened?

Surprised

I’m actually surprised by the time I logged for the month of September. In August, I logged 11 hours of work for this side hustle. For September, I put in 30 hours and that excludes a lot of stuff. So let me explain:

Business

I spent 1hr for business stuff which was pretty much reviewing what I spent, or expenses I have upcoming and planning future stuff.

Podcast

20hrs this month was spent recording, editing, writing, and converting podcast episodes. What episodes?

* August Update had 5h 43m 59s

* Post Podcast Movement had 11h 01m 23s

* YouTube video conversion had 3h 30m 41s

I’ve finally started to upload the podcasts to YouTube. They are simply the audio that includes a video waveform I created using the FFMpeg command line utility. Doing this has given me some ideas to play around with BUT the audio is being put there and as I refine my production process, I can do a bit more with the video as well.

Austin Podcasters

For September I also spent 2hrs 54m 16s working on the Austin podcasters ...

In This Episode

This is the August 2017 monthly report. I talk about my goals, focus and what’s next.

Links

* Cashflow Diaries

* Microcosm Publishing

* Smart Passive Income

* Austin Podcasters Meetup

* Toggle Time Tracker

* Trello

* Google Keep

Show Credits

Hosted, produced, mixed, edited & music by Mark.

Blog

Why Publish A Business Report?

Publishing my business report allows me to reflect back on the month to see what I did or didn’t do so well. Lastly, I have read blog income reports such as SmartPassiveIncome and I like to see what they have tried. It is a form of motivation for me and I hope that this can be one for someone else. Be sure to check out CashFlowDiaries for bloggers that share their blog income reports. Or one that I’ve recently found from publisher Microcosm Publishing.

August 2017 Business Report

Disclaimer: Any income reported will only be reported as “cash” in hand. If it did not deposit into my account, or if I didn’t cash a check, then it does not count as income. Additionally, income will only be reported for ApexThis business and not for personal income. I may discuss side hustles for additional side income, but only income in which I represent ApexThis will be counted. 

Income/Investment Report

Investment – $1065.90

Expense Report

RawVoice (Blubrry) – ($12)

Blubrry is a service I used to host the podcasts for Admins of Atlassian and ApexThis. It has built-in integration with WordPress making it vastly easier to upload and maintain the podcasts.

Google Apps – ($5)

I use Google Apps for email primary, docs and drive. It’s also great to use my Google account as authentication to other services and apps.

Google Domain Renewals – ($36)

Austin Podcasters Meetup – ($15.69)

I run the Austin Podcasters meetup. Expenses would be to cover food and beverages.

Amazon – ($27.05)

Overall

* Total Income/Investments – $1065.90

* Total Expense – ($95.74)

* Total Net – $970.16

Hours Worked

Time Logged – 11h06m41s

 

What Happened?

Motivation

For a period, I was moving along with tasks and projects and I hit a wall. I couldn’t really write. There were times I would sit in front of the computer screen and the cursor would just blink. I can’t say for sure what happened but for the past two months, I’ve had a big reduction in the work I was doing but I think that may turn around.

Health

I started the month of August out great with a writing session for my new project and very soon after activity ceased. One morning I woke up to very bad lower back pain. My muscles had spasmed and became inflamed. If you’ve ever experienced lower back pain, then you know how I felt. The majority of the pain lasted two weeks before sciatica kicked in as the lower back pain began to dull. This made it extremely difficult to focus on any task. With the help of physical therapy and other changes, I’ve been getting much better.

And with that a reminder – take care of yourself. Not only physically, but mentally.

Podcast Movement

In This Episode

I share my thoughts and clips from Podcast Movement 2017.

Links

* apexthis.com/survey

* apexthis.com/pm17

Episode Credits

This episode is hosted, produced, and scored by Mark W.

Transcript

Intro

Oh, Hi. My podcast?

Uh, it’s called ApexThis. It’s a meta podcast about me trying to start my own publishing and production company with the end goal of me taking my short-stories and other writers short stories and producing audio drama’s, and fictional podcasts. It’s like Startup, but with no money or experience.”

Yeah. Haha, I know. What about yours? Uh-huh.

If there was ever a need to have practiced my elevator pitch, being at Podcast Movement was one of them.

Coming up, I share my experience at Podcast Movement 2017.

To Go Or Not To Go?

I stared at the screen for the longest time. Thinking. I then closed the browser tab, went about my day, only to have it return when I hopped back onto the computer to write. This happened for days. I knew what I wanted but I was just too afraid to do it. One night, I came home and said: “screw it”. My phone buzzed and I was soon the owner of tickets for Podcast Movement 2017.

Seven months later, that decision would pay off.

Don’t Be Shy

The first day was intimidating…

To start, I was late to the first timer orientation. I awkwardly stood at the door staring at all the full tables thinking to myself If only I had gotten here 8 minutes earlier, I would have a seat. Not only had I left my room late, but I got lost outside walking to the wrong building.

And this is where my first tip comes in – if you are at a convention and find yourself lost, follow everyone else.

As I stood there, thankful that all eyes were on the front stage, A few more people snuck into the orientation and lined up against the back wall. I breathed a sigh of relief as I was not the only late arrival.

After some time, I began to slip my way into comfort in the back of the room but that was soon dashed as they called out for everyone to write down their goals, and not only that, but share them with everyone at the table. I was in a panic. I wasn’t at a table. I looked around and my eyes locked onto the table in front of me with an awkward chair between two gentlemen. It was almost out of place. As if it stealthily scooted its way behind the two men. Peering into their conversation.

So, I followed suit.

At every turn, after every session, in every line, I scooted between a group of people or into someone’s view and awkwardly started a conversation. And the very conference itself was the perfect ice breaker –

So, what’s your podcast?

Hollywood Hacks

I started the official first day of the conference attending the Hollywood Hacks session by Dan Klass. I did not have much of anything for notes from this session but there was one thing I wrote down as a Hollywood Hack. Dan told us that to improve our delivery, our performance, that we must decide who we are speaking to. No, not speak to our fishing audience if our podcast is about fishing. We need to picture Janet or David. That one specific image of a person, and speak directly to them. This would be repeated as a tip in another podcasting session that I would later attend further driving it home as something you and I should try.

Create a Show That Grabs Listeners And Keeps Them Coming Back

Another great session was by Joe Saul-Sehy from Stacking Benjamins podcast. Joe navigated us through how his podcast and another friends podcast was formatted. The feedback they received, and the changes they made. In this we listened to audio clips of another podcast that housed a long int...

In This Episode

I share my thoughts going into the Podcast Movement 2017 conference.

Links

* Podcast Movement

 

Episode Credits

This episode was hosted, produced, and scored by Mark W.

Transcript

Welcome to ApexThis Podcast. A chronicle of my journey to start a publishing and production business. This will be a behind the scenes look at what I’m doing to make that happen. I’ll share tips and best practices that I learn along the way. Tips that you can use to create your very own audio and share your voice with the world …coming up, I head to Podcast Movement.

What Is Podcast Movement?

As you listen to this, I will be in Anaheim, California for the 4th Annual Podcast Movement conference after having to re-record this episode in my hotel room.

I am, beyond excited, and terrified.

So, first, let’s start with what Podcast Movement is.

Podcast Movement is a conference focused solely on podcasting. It is intended to play host to new and existing podcasters as well as industry professionals. The official event occurs the 23rd through the 25th and has many “sessions” that you can attend that focuses on key areas such as the creation of podcasts, marketing, or monetization. A schedule is provided in which you can review the session details, time and speaker(s). This schedule is also available within a mobile app that allows you to favorite sessions you want to attend and receive notifications on their start time.

In addition to the sessions covering a wide range of topics, there will be an awards event as well as other networking events that will allow people to get together and meet other podcasters and exchange ideas.

And it is this reason, that I go.

Why I’m Going

One thing that I am happy to have done is launching the Austin Podcasters Meetup. I have met some awesome folks and have started building relationships with local podcasters. Why not add a few more area codes to my podfriends?

Attending big events like this will allow you to meet and start building relationships with people far and wide. Not only would you have built or started building relationships locally, but you have now cast your net across multiple cities, states, and possibly even countries!

Now, why do I say relationship building as opposed to networking?

My goal isn’t to attend and throw my business cards at a group of people before running off to the next group, cards in hand. My goal is to talk with others. Learn how they do something. Exchange ideas., and plant the seeds to allow for future conversation and exchanges. And then reinforce this relationship each year if we are to attend the same event again.

What I Look Forward To

Outside of meeting people, I am looking forward to the sessions. Hearing and participating in discussions about marketing, monetizing, or storytelling will be helpful to me. Not only that, but it will let me take a glance at things and see how I can apply it to my podcasters meetup. Maybe Austinites would be interested in a workshop day where we build a podcast together or learn how to record. Maybe even learning how to script an episode. Seeing what works and maybe what doesn’t can help me give a boost to better support local podcasters.

Tips From Attending Conferences

After selecting the sessions I want to attend, I get to check another to-do list item off. In doing so, it makes me think of the other things that I have done in preparation of Podcast Movement. Each year, I’ve built upon my routine as I’ve attended other conferences. So, here are a few tips that you can use as you prepare for your own upcoming conference event:

* Prep a survival kit: Some conferences party hard and if they do, you always want to be prepared.

In This Episode

This is the May 2017 business report. I talk about my goals, focus and what’s next.

Links

* Cashflow Diaries

* Microcosm Publishing

* Smart Passive Income

* Austin Podcasters Meetup

* Toggle Time Tracker

* Trello

* Google Keep

* Apple WWDC Podcasts

* Podcaster Pro

* Podchaser Beta

Show Credits

Hosted, produced, mixed, edited & music by Mark.

Blog

Why Publish A Business Report?

Publishing my business report allows me to reflect back on the month to see what I did or didn’t do so well. Lastly, I have read blog income reports such as SmartPassiveIncome and I like to see what they have tried. It is a form of motivation for me and I hope that this can be one for someone else. Be sure to check out CashFlowDiaries for bloggers that share their blog income reports. Or one that I’ve recently found from publisher Microcosm Publishing.

May 2017 Business Report

Disclaimer: Any income reported will only be reported as “cash” in hand. If it did not deposit into my account, or if I didn’t cash a check, then it does not count as income. Additionally, income will only be reported for ApexThis business and not for personal income. I may discuss side hustles for additional side income, but only income in which I represent ApexThis will be counted. 

Income/Investment Report

Investment – $100.00

This was from cash back rewards that I transferred to ApexThis.

Expense Report

RawVoice (Blubrry) – ($12)

Blubrry is a service I used to host the podcasts for Admins of Atlassian and ApexThis. It has built-in integration with WordPress making it vastly easier to upload and maintain the podcasts.

Google Apps – ($5)

I use Google Apps for email primary, docs and drive. It’s also great to use my Google account as authentication to other services and apps.

Google Domain Renewals – ($36)

Google AdWords – ($5.23)

WP Forms – ($39)

BlueHost Hosting – ($65.40)

Austin Podcasters Meetup – ($116.37)

ApexThis sponsors the Austin Podcasters meetup by providing food and beverages. We also host the event.

Overall

* Total Income/Investments – $100.00

* Total Expense – ($267.00)

* Total Net – ($167.00)

Hours Worked

Time Logged – 22hrs 05min 47sec

I am continuing to track my time and add items that I think should be tracked. I track work for the business, website, podcast, meetup and now my budget project. It’s good to see where I am putting my time. Do note, that I have a full-time job like many of you and as such the time spent is from late nights and weekends. And so with the break from the main feature episodes, I can spend that time working on other projects. Example, Episode 10 of this podcast was about music and how it can be used in your podcast and where to get it. That episode, the full production, was 16 hours of work. And this was for an 18-minute episode.

In This Episode

I talk about how music is used to set the mood of your show as well as where and how to get music for your podcast.

Links

Creative Commons

* Creative Commons – Podcasting Legal Guide

* Creative Commons – Legal Music for Videos

* Creative Commons – Licenses

Music Directories

* Free Music Archive

* Instant Music Now

* Neo Sounds (pay)

* Free Play Music

* Archive.org

Featured Artist

* Nina d.o.t. Ross

Episode Credits

This episode is hosted, edited, scored and written by Mark W.

Additional songs, “Character” and “Whats Her Face”, provided by local Kansas City songwriter, singer, & rapper Nina d.o.t. Ross.

Transcript

Intro

Welcome to ApexThis.Podcast. A chronicle of my journey to start a publishing side business. This will be a behind the scenes look at what I’m doing to make that happen. I’ll share tips and best practices that I learn along the way. Tips that you can use to start your very own podcast and share your voice with the world.

Coming up…

Music.

Many want to know how and where to get it. If they need it? And what style of music should they choose for their podcast?

The answer to such inquiries is with another…what mood are you trying to set? Or what story are you trying to tell?

Mood

Music can play as little or as major of a role in your show as you want.

I gave a speech on creating a podcast last year, one of the questions that was asked was ‘what type of music should my podcast have?’

My answer? Anything you want, so long as it sets the proper mood and tone you want for your show.

Ask yourself, are you a high energy group that riffs quickly off one other? Then you may want something with a faster tempo that brings that energy and mood to the music, something to match the tone of your hosts.

Or, would you instead choose a dramatic string musical piece to pair against your high energetic tone?

That felt off didn’t it? The music put you in a mood for a slow, measured, emotional, dramatic piece but you were beaten over the senses with the exact opposite.

Think about what you see in movies and TV. You may not notice the music in the background, and maybe you do, but think about how the music accompanies the scene.

Imagine someone being chased through the dark city streets.

And the music kicks in

The music is setting the mood and is matching the tone of the scene.

This can just as well apply to no music at all.

Let’s take an example of something you know. Interstellar. If you have not seen it, then this may be a spoiler for you.

I mention Interstellar as it has an amazing soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. One of my favorite songs from the soundtrack is called Mountains.

And it is played during the Miller’s Planet scene.

In this scene,