Mike Murphy Unplugged

Episode Summary: Part 1 of a 3-part self-publishing series — how to write and edit a book before it ever touches Amazon, including the writing-accountability tools and editing software that make the process manageable.

What You'll Learn

• The 4-step overview of self-publishing a book on Amazon
• 750Words.com as a daily writing-accountability tool
• 3 recommended writing tools: Scrivener, Ulysses, and Bear
• Editing and grammar tools worth using before anything gets published

Publishing a book was one of the main goals set in Episode 70: The 2017 Roadmap Show.

Overview: How to Self-Publish a Book or eBook on Amazon

Start writing. Edit and format for digital and print (Kindle, iPad, Nook, and others). Upload to an online marketplace like Amazon. Market, promote, and sell.

Start Writing

Like everything worth accomplishing, the key is simply starting. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

Tool 1 — 750Words.com. A free, simple site built around a daily pledge to write 750 words in a plain browser-based tool — genuinely useful for accountability, building the writing habit, and flushing out new ideas.

Writing Tools

• Workflowy — simple outlining tool, good for lesson plans and structure.
• Scrivener — the main writing and organization tool used.
• Ulysses — a popular alternative, $44 for Mac plus $25 for the iOS app.

Note-taking apps for writing: Evernote (no longer in regular use), and Bear — a free, well-designed writing app for Mac and iOS that's become a genuine favorite.

The three recommended writing resources to start with: Scrivener, Ulysses, and Bear.

Editing & Grammar

Once the writing itself is flowing, cleaning up style and grammar matters. Grammarly is a free Chrome extension (with a $12/month premium tier) that catches readability and grammar issues in real time. Hemingway App is a style checker — free as a web app, $20 for the desktop/iOS version.

Steps to Self-Publishing (Overview)

1. Start writing.
2. Edit and format for digital and print.
3. Upload to an online marketplace like Amazon Kindle and others.
4. Market, promote, and sell.

Part 2 covers the actual Amazon self-publishing process, and Part 3 covers formatting and distribution beyond Amazon.

Show Notes & Links

750Words.com…

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Episode Summary: Instagram Live 101 — what it is, how it fits alongside Instagram Stories, concrete use cases for podcasters and content creators, and the gear that helps it look professional.

What You'll Learn

• Instagram's growth from 300 million to 600 million active users heading into 2017
• How to actually start an Instagram Live broadcast, step by step
• 5 concrete use cases for Live if you're a podcaster or content creator
• The gear that makes Instagram Live look and sound more professional

Follow along: @mikeunplugged on Instagram. For background, Episode 37: The Instagram Show covers the platform basics, and Episode 49: Instagram Stories covers the 24-hour rotating story format — unlimited photos or 10-second videos, similar to Snapchat, each post disappearing after 24 hours.

Instagram grew from 300 million users to 600 million active users heading into 2017.

How to Use Instagram Live

Found in the same place as Instagram Stories. Open Instagram, swipe right to open the camera screen, and below the shutter button select "Live," then "Start Live Video." That's it.

Side hack: Live videos disappear once finished — to keep a copy, screen-record with QuickTime, Camtasia, or ScreenFlow while broadcasting.

Ways to Use Instagram Live

Q&As, teaching a lesson or how-to, unboxing gear or products, going live at an event to bring the audience along, or conducting an interview.

The Gear

An iPhone or smartphone is all that's strictly required. Optional but recommended: Rode Smartlav+ lavalier microphone, Rode VideoMicro, Manfrotto Pixi Mini Tripod, MeFoto Sidekick 360, and a Manfrotto LED light.

Show Notes & Links

• Instagram (@mikeunplugged)
• Rode Smartlav+ Lavalier Microphone
• Rode VideoMicro
• Manfrotto Pixi Mini Tripod
• MeFoto Sidekick 360
• Manfrotto LED Light

Related Episodes

• Episode 37: The Instagram Show
• Episode 49: Instagram Stories

Read the complete show notes and resources on mikemurphy.ai.

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Episode Summary: The first-ever annual roadmap episode — Mike's 2017 theme of simplicity, the full list of business priorities, and a concrete content schedule for the year ahead.

What You'll Learn

• The 2017 theme: simplicity and minimalism, physically and mentally
• The full list of Mike Murphy LLC business priorities for the year
• A concrete weekly/monthly content schedule across podcast, video, writing, and social
• Why the annual roadmap episode became a recurring tradition (later referenced in ep100, ep121, and ep122)

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."

Setting the Tone for 2017

Simplicity — a personal version of minimalism. Clutter-free physical and mental environments: selling off unused stuff, giving away unworn clothes, cleaning out junk drawers, organizing and backing up hard drives. Tip: Facebook Marketplace is a great outlet for selling things.

Santosha — contentment and satisfaction, or more precisely, being totally satisfied desiring nothing beyond the fundamentals, doing one's best, and accepting the results of that effort.

Business Priorities for 2017

Generating income & marketing services: brainstorm sessions for creative entrepreneurs and small brands, WordPress caretaker and concierge work, Photoshop concierge services, website installs, and Google Apps for Work installs.

PodcasterToolkit.co: add content and continue building out this side project.

Tutorials & classes: more videos and classes for YouTube, Skillshare, and personal sales.

Video: stays a big priority — livestreaming and video creation continue to increase, video editing skills and workflow get sharpened, a simple promo video introduces the business, and more off-the-cuff, motivational-style videos get made.

Social media priorities: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest — livestreaming on Instagram and Facebook stays consistent and frequent.

Writing: continued regular Medium posting, plus LinkedIn and PodcasterToolkit.

Book: written in 2017 (a goal that, per later episodes, didn't fully materialize on schedule).

Content Schedule for 2017

• Podcast & newsletter: 1 per week
• Tutorials & YouTube: up to 2 per week
• Blog, LinkedIn & Medium.com articles: up to 2 per week
• Social media (Instagram): 7 days per week
• Live video (Instagram or Facebook): 3 times per week
• Skillshare classes: 3 total
• Personal class to market and sell: 1
• Book: 1

Show Notes & Links

• Instagram (@mikeunplugged)
• PodcasterToolkit.co

Related Episodes

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Episode Summary: A year-end look back at 2016 — how it measured up against the priorities set at the start of the year, and how it sets the stage for the 2017 Roadmap.

What You'll Learn

• A look back at 2015's big wins and how they shaped the 2016 Roadmap
• A full grade-by-grade review against every 2016 Roadmap priority
• Whether the 2016 content goals actually got hit
• Why 2016 gets called the year of Fearless Creativity and Drive

Flashback to 2015

Big wins: discovering that teaching was a genuine motivator, finding a real voice while understanding strengths and weaknesses clearly for the first time, and the tangible headline win — launching the podcast. 2015 was the year of self-awareness, and that self-awareness directly shaped the priorities set for 2016.

2016 Roadmap Priorities: Review

• Get better at podcasting & audio production. Check — scripting still isn't fun, but everything else runs smoothly now.
• Become a better teacher. Genuine confidence here, largely because consistent content production means constant practice of what's being taught — the more skilled the practice, the better the teaching.
• Networking. Room for improvement. Some solid, long-term connections were made, but there's a tendency to put your head down in work mode rather than reciprocating and acknowledging others' efforts — something to spread into in 2017.
• Establish authority. Creating consistently, livestreaming, and podcasting all compound into real authority over time — genuine belief in the expertise being shared, with no intention of resting on it.
• Grow the email list, build community, drive website traffic. A weak spot, partly by design — there wasn't yet a compelling reason to sign up beyond new-episode notifications.
• Repurpose content. Better than before, but still a lot of untapped evergreen material sitting in old episodes that deserves a second life.

Performance Review: 2016 Content Goals

• One podcast per week — yes, no missed episodes since September 25, 2015.
• One newsletter per week — check, no problem.
• One blog post per week — sort of. Between weekly episode posts and 80+ Medium articles, writing got a real workout regardless.
• One tutorial per week — yes, over 100 videos made, not all traditional tutorials but all built to teach.
• Three classes on Skillshare — yes, though the original goal was 12, so a real shortfall there.
• Bonus: publish every day — yes, 450 straight days on Instagram and counting.

Conclusion

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Episode Summary: Part 2 of 2 on the Podshed Holiday Gift Guide videos — what Adobe After Effects actually is, and the exact 10-step process used to make each animated video.

What You'll Learn

• What Adobe After Effects is and how it differs from Photoshop
• The typical pro video workflow: Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Audition together
• The exact 10-step process used to make each PodShed Gift Guide video
• Where to find affordable royalty-free music, and how to handle a false copyright claim

Happy holidays, whatever you're celebrating.

What Is Adobe After Effects?

After Effects is a motion graphics and special effects tool. In Adobe's words: "the industry-standard animation and creative compositing app lets you design and deliver professional motion graphics and visual effects for film, TV, video, and web."

It shares real similarities with Photoshop — both work in layers with effects applied on top — but where Photoshop handles photos and still artwork, After Effects is built around motion. It's fundamentally a compositing tool, capable of complex motion graphics and effects, and it's where green-screen work (chroma keying) and camera tracking really shine — and where things get genuinely complicated. Any time a movie, TV show, or even a local news broadcast shows a slick effect, there's a good chance After Effects is behind it.

Typical pro workflow: Adobe Premiere Pro for assembling and editing, After Effects for special effects and polish, Adobe Audition for sound design.

Workflow: Making the PodShed Holiday Gift Guide Videos

See all the videos here.

1. Adobe Draw — hand-draw each product or tool using an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.
2. AirDrop the final drawing over to the MacBook.
3. Adobe After Effects — create a new composition (the scene/canvas the animation gets built in) for each video, sized to 1920×1080p at 24fps.
4. Photoshop or Illustrator — build any additional graphics, backgrounds, or textures.
5. Adobe Character Animator — animate the "Mini-Mike" character.
6. Audio/soundtrack — AudioBlocks ($99/year for unlimited tracks, personal or commercial use). Side tip: if a YouTube copyright claim comes in on audio that's genuinely licensed, email the source — they can clear the claim and get the warning removed quickly.
7. Story — build a 60-second-or-shorter narrative around the product or tool.
8. Adobe Media Encoder — export as HD 1920×1080p .mp4.
9. Upload to Instagram, share to Facebook and Twitter.
10. Upload to YouTube, then embed that link in the corresponding post on PodcasterToolkit.co and MikeMurphy.co.

Happy Holidays

Cheers, Mike.

Show Notes & Links

Adobe After Effects PodShed 2016 Holiday Gift…

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Episode Summary: Mike's video content strategy, and behind the scenes of The Podshed Holiday Gift Guide video series — 20+ animated videos, and the 4-part strategy behind why they got made.

What You'll Learn

• What The Podshed is and how it became a recurring video series location
• A branding warning about introducing too many names into one ecosystem
• The 4-part video marketing strategy: brand, consistency, repeatable campaigns, and monetization
• Why an annual holiday campaign was chosen specifically for its repeatability

Sponsor: The Podcaster Toolkit — sign up for updates.

The Podshed Holiday Gift Guide

Full blog post and all the videos. A video series made for Instagram and Facebook — over 20 animated videos featuring gift ideas for podcasters and creatives. (Genuinely difficult to produce at that volume.)

What Is the Podshed?

The shed behind the cottage, converted into a makeshift studio for testing camera and podcast gear — a creative lab that also happens to run hot and buggy. Marketing warning: keeping a brand simple matters. Introducing too many names and sub-brands into the mix (Podshed, PodGift, PodcasterToolkit) risks real confusion — people need to grasp who you are and what you stand for at a glance.

The Video Marketing Strategy, Simplified

Strategy 1 — build a brand around the person. Branding is how people describe you when you're not in the room — logo, graphics, and overall package all need to convey the right perception. The goal here: coming across as an avid learner and practitioner of gear and tools, always improving and encouraging others to do the same, motivating by doing and teaching.

Strategy 2 — post often. Consistency and reliability across every part of life and work. Posting daily isn't just being authentic — it also signals dependability to anyone considering working together.

Strategy 3 — build a repeatable campaign. The holidays happen every year, which made this a natural annual tradition — and traditions start by doing something once. 2016 may not have been a financial win, but it built a foundation that 2017 (and beyond) could compound on.

Strategy 4 — monetization. Promoting gear, tools, and products opens the door to Amazon Affiliate revenue, and potentially brand partnerships, collaborations, or gear demos over time. Brands get tagged whenever their products are featured — and only products genuinely liked get promoted, since credibility depends on it.

Show Notes & Links

• Amazon Gear List
• Podshed2016

Related Episodes

• Episode 68: The Adobe After Effects Show

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Episode Summary: An introduction to the Adobe Creative Cloud mobile apps — Design, Video, and Photo tools — and how they extend the creative workflow beyond the desktop.

What You'll Learn

• What Adobe Creative Cloud Libraries are and why they save real time across apps
• The 2 standalone apps to start with: Creative Cloud and Adobe Capture
• A category-by-category tour of the Design, Video, and Photo mobile apps
• Why Adobe Spark Page can produce a podcast intro webpage in under 10 minutes

Today's sponsor: PodcasterToolkit.co — sign up to follow along as the site develops.

What Is Adobe Creative Cloud?

Adobe Creative Cloud bundles creative apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and Audition together. Pricing: $49.99/month for the full bundle, $19.99/month à la carte, or $9.99/month for the Photographer Bundle (Photoshop, Lightroom, Bridge). Education discounts are also available.

CC Libraries

Adobe Creative Cloud Libraries function like a Dropbox for creative assets, shared across every Adobe app. Instead of hunting down a logo or brand colors each time, everything — photos, vectors, brushes, patterns, color swatches — lives in one folder accessible from Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and beyond. A genuine time saver, and the entry point into working from mobile devices too.

Adobe Mobile Apps

Main categories: Design & Illustration, Video/Visual Storytelling, and Photography & Creative Imaging.

Two standalone apps to start with: the Creative Cloud app (access to every library and everything made in the mobile apps) and Adobe Capture — genuinely remarkable: photograph anything and turn it into a vector illustration, texture, or pattern, ready to drop straight into Illustrator.

Design & Illustration

Three main apps, two in heavy regular use:

• Adobe Draw — used for drawing every product image featured in videos. A favorite.
• Photoshop Sketch — a painting and sketching app with an extensive brush/marker/pencil library, similar in spirit to Procreate. Side tip: anyone into digital painting should check out Kyle Webster Brushes.
• Adobe Comp — useful for InDesign work and web layout, not used daily but genuinely impressive when it comes up.

Video/Animation

Adobe Spark Page — builds a full story webpage from supplied text, images, and video in minutes. A podcast intro page, for instance, is realistically achievable in under 10 minutes. Adobe Spark Post — similar in spirit to Canva: strong typography and pre-built templates for text/quote graphics, shareable directly to social. Adobe Spark Video — animated video stories from templates or…

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Episode Summary: What Adobe Premiere Pro CC is and how it fits into the video workflow for a podcast or online business — alternatives, cost, and whether it's really a fit for beginners.

What You'll Learn

• What Adobe Premiere Pro CC is and why it's a non-linear, non-destructive editor
• The main alternatives to Premiere, from iMovie to DaVinci Resolve
• How Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere each play a distinct role in Mike's video workflow
• Whether Premiere is a good fit for beginners

Today's non-paying sponsor: PodcasterToolkit.co — sign up for the email list to follow along as content gets added.

A big favor: the show is evolving heading into 2017, and feedback matters — what's the biggest struggle (business, tech, money, podcasting, video, social media)? What's worth learning more about? Reach out anytime at [email protected].

What Is Adobe Premiere Pro CC?

Adobe Premiere Pro CC is the video editing tool bundled into Adobe Creative Cloud — powerful enough for full-length films, simple enough for a casual family-vacation edit.

Non-linear editing (NLE): Premiere is a non-destructive editor — it never touches the original source files, so quality is always preserved regardless of how many edits get made.

Alternatives to Premiere Pro

iMovie, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer, Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, Windows Movie Maker.

Screencasting software some use as a primary editor: ScreenFlow, Camtasia.

Bonus tips: every verified YouTube channel has a feature-rich video editor built right into Creator Studio — an entire video can be assembled there. Filmora is also a solid, inexpensive online editor at $50/year.

How Much Does Premiere Pro CC Cost?

$19.99/month for the à la carte option, or $49.99/month as part of the full Adobe CC bundle.

Other Adobe Products Used for Video

Photoshop — for animated GIFs and simple animations (Photoshop's video handling has genuinely improved a lot). After Effects — for more complex animations, like the Podshed Gift Guides. The same program used on Star Wars and countless other Hollywood productions. Premiere Pro — the home for any video mixing camera footage and stills, including every tutorial, with Photoshop and After Effects integrated as needed.

Read the complete show notes and resources on mikemurphy.ai.

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Episode Summary: The Official Unofficial 1st Annual Mike Murphy Unplugged/PodcasterToolkit/PodShed/PodGift Holiday Ideas Guide — gear, big-ticket items, books, and unique gift sources for podcasters and creators.

What You'll Learn

• The first-ever Mike Murphy Unplugged holiday gift guide, gear through big-ticket items
• A curated book list for podcasters and entrepreneurs
• Where to find handmade and unique gifts online
• A Tim Ferriss-inspired lifestyle gift category, from coffee to clothing

Tip: mobile podcasting and livestreaming gear makes a strong gift category for the podcaster or content creator on your list — along with clothing and props for video.

Disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links — no additional cost to the buyer, but a commission is earned on qualifying purchases. Only products genuinely used, loved, or believed to be useful get recommended.

Gift Cards

• Amazon
• B&H Photo
• Apple

Gear

• The Olloclip Studio — iPhone case with light and microphone attachments, $80
• MeFoto Sidekick 360 — holds iPhone plus tripod/stand adapter, $30
• Manfrotto Pixi Mini Tripod — small, lightweight, portable, $25
• MEFOTO DayTrip — small travel tripod for DSLR cameras, $99
• LumeCube — on-camera LED lights, $80
• Manfrotto Lumimuse — small on-camera light, $80

Photo gifts: Photojojo, Rode Smartlav+ ($79), Rode VideoMicro ($59). Prints, cards & gifts: Artifact Uprising.

Big-Ticket Items

• GoPro Hero 5 — $399
• GoPro Karma (pre-order only) — $799
• DJI Mavic (pre-order) — portable drone, $999
• DJI Phantom 4 Pro — the best of the lot, $1,150

Books

Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss, Brené Brown's books, Anything You Want by Derek Sivers, Deep Work by Cal Newport, and Ask Gary Vee by Gary Vaynerchuk.

Handmade & Unique Gifts

Etsy, Amazon Handmade, Uncommon Goods, The Grommet, and Everyday Carry.

Read the complete show notes and resources on mikemurphy.ai.

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Episode Summary: Photo organization and workflow using Adobe Lightroom and Lightroom Mobile — what it costs, what it's for, and the exact folder system used to stay organized.

What You'll Learn

• What Adobe Lightroom is and why it was built for professional photographers
• The real cost breakdown, including the $9.99/month Photographer's Bundle
• Mike's exact photo folder structure and backup workflow
• How Lightroom Mobile syncs with the desktop app, and its Collections-only limitation

What Is Adobe Lightroom?

A photo editor and organizer/manager for Mac or PC, included in the Adobe Creative Cloud bundle. Officially launched in 2007, built mainly to help professional photographers organize and edit large batches of high-resolution and RAW photos quickly.

Tip 1: back up Lightroom catalogs regularly. Tip 2: shoot in RAW when possible.

The backup setup in practice: all photos live on an external hard drive, continuously backed up to Backblaze for $5/month.

How Much Does Lightroom Cost?

Included in the full Adobe CC bundle at $49/month, or via the Photographer's Bundle for just $9.99/month — includes Lightroom, Photoshop, Bridge, and all the mobile apps.

Workflow

All photos live on an external drive in a single "Photos" folder, broken down by year and month (e.g., 2016 > November). Travel photos get their own organization by location (e.g., Europe 2014).

Lightroom Mobile

Free. The Lightroom camera app is used for all iPhone photography, giving a fully functional version of Lightroom on iPhone and iPad with 2-way sync — a photo shot on the phone uploads to Lightroom automatically. One limitation: it only works with regular Collections, not Smart Collections.

Show Notes & Links

• Backblaze
• Adobe Photographer's Bundle

Read the complete show notes and resources on mikemurphy.ai.

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