Podcast Pontifications

Why has your podcast stopped growing? One reason for that might be that it’s not all that easy for them to recommend your podcast. 

Asking listeners to recommend your show while they are actively listening to your show seems logical, until you consider the mechanics. Links from podcast listening apps aren’t universal, and most people don’t even have their phone in hand when listening to your show.

Social apps make this a lot easier because with social apps, sharing and recommending is the feature. And the benefit! 

Do you know which social platforms are used by your loyal listeners? A good podcast listener survey will help answer that question. Find out, and then be there. Follow your most loyal listeners. Engage with the posts your most loyal listeners make on that platform. Share the content they produce. And sure, post your episodes on that platform so they can in turn recommend your episodes to others.

And don’t overlook the power of email to get recommendations from your listeners. Before you write your next email, ask yourself if the contents are valuable enough that a listener would pass it along as recommendation to someone else. And if not; don’t send it until it is.

There's a lot more to cover on this topic. Custom domains, making sure that your content looks great when it's shared, creating rewards programs for those who do recommend your show… and maybe I’ll cover some of those on future episodes. But for now, take this advice to heart and see how you can improve the recommendability of your podcast by making it easier for people to recommend your podcast. Implement some of these ideas this week if you can.

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Links Mentioned:

• Take the Podcast Pontifications listener survey - https://podcastpontifications.com/survey

• Advancing Podcasting community -  http://advancingpodcasting.xyz

• New podcast listening apps - http://newpodcastapps.com

• Podchaser on Twitter - http://twitter.com/podchaser

• Buzzsprout on Twitter -  http://twitter.com/buzzsprout

• Support Evo on Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

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A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/the-easy-way-to-get-people-to-recommend-your-podcast.

Visit https://twitter.com/evoterra for more podcasting insights from Evo Terra as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at https://BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit https://Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show. Learn more about Allie at http://alliepress.net.

Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about. Subscribe today at https://PodcastPontifications.com.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

Begging your listeners to tell others about your podcast will only get you so far. Getting more people to do it starts by understanding what people love about your podcast and why they keep listening.

Today, we’re unpacking the first bullet point from a slide from Tom Webster’s excellent opening keynote at Podcast Movement 21 last week:

Know who you are for, and why they are there. (You can't give your listeners the unexpected if you don't know what they expect.) 

Now there's a lot to unpack there, so let's unravel it:

“Know who you are for...” means looking at the Venn diagram overlap between “us”—our podcast, and “them”—the listener.

“… and why they are there” encourages us to deeply understand why people listen. Some we  can infer from various data points available right now. But for maximum understanding, we need to find out. And unless you too are an expert at understanding consumer behavior, I strongly suggest you use the survey template Edison Research has made freely available to all podcasters. 

And finally, “You can't give your listeners the unexpected if you don't know what they expect.”

Because if your podcast is only meeting the expectations of your audience, you can’t expect your audience to be excited about recommending your podcast.

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Links Mentioned:

• Edison Research’s Podcast Listener Survey Template https://www.edisonresearch.com/listener-survey-template

• Advancing Podcasting community -  http://advancingpodcasting.xyz

• Ted Lasso - https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/ted-lasso

• The Three-Body Problem - https://amzn.to/3CDyz6u

• My Dad Wrote A Porno - https://www.mydadwroteaporno.com/

• Tom Webster on Twitter - http://twitter.com/webby2001

• Podcast Movement 2021 - https://2021.podcastmovement.com

• The Bangkok Podcast (Season 2) - https://www.bangkokpodcast.com/category/season2

• Writing Awesome Book Blurbs - https://scribl.com/books/P9B41/writing-awesome-book-blurbs-a-modern-indie-authors-guide

• Evo Terra on Twitter - https://twitter.com/evoterra

• Support Evo on Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

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A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/the-surprising-delightful-way-to-grow-your-podcast.

Visit https://twitter.com/evoterra for more podcasting insights from Evo Terra as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at https://BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit https://Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show. Learn more about Allie at http://alliepress.net.

Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about. Subscribe today at https://PodcastPontifications.com.

Photo by Felix Koutchinski on Unsplash

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

When facing flatline audience numbers, many podcasters turn to various marketing tactics. Perhaps you do need to spend more time on and with your social media. Maybe you need a big name guest who’ll share the episode with their big fan base. Or maybe you need to be a guest on more on other podcasts. Perhaps it’s time to spend some money on advertising your show.

And you know what? Some of those tactics may work for you. But none of them are going to solve the root cause of your plateaued podcast problem.

So what is that root cause? It’s this: Your core audience has stopped recommending your show to other people.

That's it. That's the reason. 

Because if your core listening audience were continuing to recommend your podcast to other people in their lives, you wouldn’t see a plateau in your podcast’s growth.

Word of mouth is how discovery happens.  So If you’re not seeing consistent growth month over month, then the simple fact is that your audience is no longer recommending your podcast to other people. 

The question becomes why? Why has your core audience stopped recommending your show to the people they encounter in their lives?

For the rest of this week, I’ll dig into three tactics, each provided by Tom Webster of Edison Research, to help boost your podcasts recommendability. They are:

1. Know what your listeners expect so you know how to deliver the unexpected. 
2. Make your show easy to recommend. 
3. Master your craft. 

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Links Mentioned:

• Advancing Podcasting -  http://advancingpodcasting.xyz

• Spotify Ad Platform - https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/pricing

• Tom Webster on Twitter: http://twitter.com/webby2001

• Edison Research - https://www.edisonresearch.com

• Podcast Movement 2021 - https://2021.podcastmovement.com

• Got a sexy show to recommend? Hit me: [email protected]

• Evo Terra on Twitter - https://twitter.com/evoterra

• Support Evo on Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

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A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/blame-your-podcasts-audience-for-slow-growth.

Visit https://twitter.com/evoterra for more podcasting insights from Evo Terra as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at https://BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit https://Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show. Learn more about Allie at http://alliepress.net.

Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about. Subscribe today at https://PodcastPontifications.com.

Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

I’ve been telling you for weeks that I’ve blocked off the entire week to attend Podcast Movement ‘21, even though I’m not attending in person. I’ll be watching from my living room, probably attending many more sessions than I’ve ever done at a conference in person.

I thought, incorrectly, that I’d still have time to do my early morning Podcast Pontifications stuff. When I looked at the times in the app, it showed 9 or later start times. Which would mean I’d have to go fast, but I could get it all done.

Heh. Well… no. Because 9:00a Nashville is 7:00a Phoenix time. That’s a time that should be quite familiar to those who watch the live recordings of Podcast Pontifications, as that’s when they happen.

Bah. So that means I can’t do both. And as much as I don’t want to disappoint you, I want to stay true to my word and give my full attention to the conference as originally planned. 

So please excuse my absence today and tomorrow as I attend Podcast Movement ‘21. You may be still able to get a virtual pass if you want to attend alongside me.

I shall be back next Monday for yet another Podcast Pontifications. 

Cheers!

Podcast Pontifictions is written and narrated by Evo Terra. He’s on a mission to make podcasting better. Links to everything mentioned in today’s episode are in the notes section of your podcast listening app. A written-to-be-read article based on today’s episode is available at PodcastPontifications.com, where you’ll also find a video version and a corrected transcript, both created by Allie Press. Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. Find out more at Simpler.Media.

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

Many podcasters find it very hard to edit interviews with their guests. They say This conversation was great from start to finish, and my audience is going to love every single word! I’m not cutting a thing!

But it probably wasn’t. And they probably won’t. 

Others think that removing excess filler words, shortening up long pauses, or correcting stumbled answers is good enough. And sometimes it is. But it may not be enough to make your podcast stand out.

So instead of removing the bad parts, what would happen if you made a commitment to only include the good parts of an interview?

Doing so is a bit of a process, using research, automated transcription tools, and something called a paper edit. But the results are tremendous, allowing you to craft an episode filled with stories that are perfectly aligned to the topic and angle you wanted to cover. 

That is how you make an interesting interview podcast that people want to not just listen to once, but to come back and see what you have for them again and again.

Here are the six steps I cover in this episode:

1. Research
2. Prepare questions
3. Get an automated transcript
4. Make a paper edit
5. Assemble the meal
6. Make audio magic

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Links Mentioned:

• Advancing Podcasting -  http://advancingpodcasting.xyz

• Willie Nelson - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Nelson

• Descript- https://www.descript.com/

• Support Evo on Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

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A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/making-your-podcast-more-than-just-an-interview.

Visit https://twitter.com/evoterra for more podcasting insights from Evo Terra as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at https://BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit https://Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show. Learn more about Allie at http://alliepress.net.

Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about. Subscribe today at https://PodcastPontifications.com.

Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

I’m not quite as worried about the rise of the celebrity podcast, because I know the internet is big enough to hold indie and celebrity podcasts.

But I do agree celebrities have a leg up when it comes to “discoverability”. And that is that podcast listening apps love celebrity podcasts. Curators of those apps trip over themselves to get the latest celebrity podcast in front of every user of their app.

I worry a little that the income attributed to celebrity podcasts won’t justify their high costs, resulting in lower quality as the studios try to squeeze more profits out the other end.

While you and I might be punished by listeners for lowering our quality bit by bit; the fans of the celebrity won’t care about a low-quality podcast. Fans have a high tolerance for mediocrity, as they really just want more and more from the celebrity who they are fanatical about. No matter how much it offends our refined ears.

That could be bad for all of podcasting, as potential listeners stick with music streaming services and audiobook providers to give them the quality they couldn’t get with podcasting. We need apps that care about being excellent on-ramps to podcasting, getting the right content in front of their users to keep them happy.

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Links Mentioned:

• Advancing Podcasting -  http://advancingpodcasting.xyz

• Bryan Barletta - https://twitter.com/highfiverpg

• Sounds Profitable - https://soundsprofitable.com

• Bridger announcement - https://soundsprofitable.com/update/the-stork-has-come

• Support Evo on Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

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A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/surviving-the-flood-of-celebrity-podcasts.

Visit https://twitter.com/evoterra for more podcasting insights from Evo Terra as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at https://BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit https://Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show. Learn more about Allie at http://alliepress.net.

Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about. Subscribe today at https://PodcastPontifications.com.

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

Podcasters face huge pressures to do more. Some of those pressures are self-motivated and internal. But a lot of times, they’re external from people who expect you to do more in podcasting. And don’t forget that all of us are living through a time of extreme growth and disruption in podcasting.

So you work hard to be everywhere you can, trying to connect with everyone you can.

Or you want to turn up the heat on the modest success you’re seeing with your podcasting efforts. 

Or perhaps the universe dropped a cool opportunity in your lap. An opportunity that’s really hard to say no to.

If the though pf adding one more thing fills you with dread, I have good news: Opportunity will knock again. 

Maybe the same opportunity. Maybe a different one. Or maybe just the opportunity to focus on your own mental health for a while. 

Your mental health is just that: your health. Treat it as such.

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Links Mentioned:

• Advancing Podcasting -  http://advancingpodcasting.xyz

• Podcast Movement 2021 - https://2021.podcastmovement.com

• Support Evo on Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

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A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/the-mental-healthy-way-to-podcasting-opportunities.

Visit https://twitter.com/evoterra for more podcasting insights from Evo Terra as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at https://BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit https://Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show. Learn more about Allie at http://alliepress.net.

Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about. Subscribe today at https://PodcastPontifications.com.

Photo by Alex Alvarez on Unsplash

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

What happened to all the tech advancements that were supposed to change podcasting forever and usher in a brand new era for us?

GTP-3 promised that machine learning algorithm would write better scripts and text for our podcasts. Drop-in or social audio was supposed to, if not replace podcasting, then at least be a viable option for podcasters who’d rather do a live show.

Back in 2014 I remember an audience member arguing to me during my Podcast Movement keynote that Stitcher would revolutionize how people listen to podcasts.

Today, we’ve nothing but breathless enthusiasm for  Podcasting 2.0’s namespace changes they’re pushing forward and whatever new magic Descript is coming up with.

But keep this in mind: most podcasters aren't going to use these tools or services. They don't even know about these advances. And they’re just not interested in disrupting their own status quo.

That’s good news for us more forward-thinking podcasters. It means we don’t have to trip over ourselves to be the first to try something. And that when we do adopt new tools & tech into our podcasting, our shows stand apart from the masses. 

So yes, find some time to play around with the next new thing, but do it on your schedule. 

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Links Mentioned:

• Advancing Podcasting -  http://advancingpodcasting.xyz

• GTP-3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPT-3

• Evo’s 2014 keynote of Podcast Movement (video) - https://youtu.be/lEgEXKLmIsA

• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com

• Podcasting 2.0 - https://podcastindex.org

• Descript - https://www.descript.com

• PodRevDay - https://www.podrevday.com

• Support Evo on Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

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A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/fickle-podcasters-and-the-next-big-thing.

Visit https://twitter.com/evoterra for more podcasting insights from Evo Terra as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at https://BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit https://Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show. Learn more about Allie at http://alliepress.net.

Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about. Subscribe today at https://PodcastPontifications.com.

Photo by Andy Beales on Unsplash

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

I don’t need to disclaim my lack of a law degree when I state the fact that yes, it is legal to play copyrighted music on a podcast so long as the rights to the song have been cleared or the podcaster is following the fair use doctrine. 

It’s also a fact that podcasters can and do use copyrighted music in their podcasts every single day under the fair use doctrine. According to Professors of Law Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi, the fair use doctrine applies to commercial music in podcasts. 

But what happens when someone takes a different opinion on your assumed fair use? If you’re lucky, you’ll be forced to removing the music from your episodes. If you’re unlucky, you fight it out in court. 

A potentially more likely risk: It might get your podcast booted from directories like Spotify, YouTube, and more. And good luck getting in touch with a human at those big tech firms to plead your case. 

So… is it worth it? You’ll have to answer that for yourself?

Will it ever be easy to use commercial music in a podcast? Maybe.

I think the excellent work done by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other copyleft organizations will, eventually, pay off. Now, whether or not that happens soon enough for you to play commercial music in your podcast without fear of de-platforming or court summonses remains to be seen. We’re not getting any younger! 

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Links Mentioned:

• Advancing Podcasting -  http://advancingpodcasting.xyz

• Palle Bo on Twitter - http://twitter.com/radiovagabond

• The Radio Vagabond podcast - https://www.theradiovagabond.com

• Fair use and music for your podcast - https://podnews.net/article/fair-use-for-podcasters

• Professor of Law Patricia Aufderheide - https://www.american.edu/soc/faculty/paufder.cfm

• Professor of Law Peter Jaszi - https://www.wcl.american.edu/community/faculty/profile/jaszi/bio

• Section 230 - https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230

• Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) - https://www.eff.org/issues/dmca

• Reclaiming Fair Use (book) - https://amzn.to/3iWOYtO

• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) - https://www.eff.org

• Copyleft.org - https://copyleft.org

• Support Evo on Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

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A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/using-music-in-your-podcast-fair-use-or-wise-choice.

Visit https://twitter.com/evoterra for more podcasting insights from Evo Terra as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at https://BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit https://Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show. Learn more about Allie at http://alliepress.net.

Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about. Subscribe today at https://PodcastPontifications.com.

Photo by Adrian Korte on Unsplash

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

Thanks to the internet, it’s easy to acquire the “what should I do” knowledge to get started in podcasting. And even keep going. Many multi-year podcasters are able to crank out episodes only knowing the what, not the why. 

But To be a professional podcaster, it's not enough to simply know proper microphone technique and how to export at -16 LUFS. Professional podcasters know not just the proper way to do those things—and a slew of other as-important things—but why those are the proper things to do. 

Also, professional podcasters know that getting a great-sounding audio file isn’t the end-game in podcasting. It’s just the start! 

Ready to develop your professional skills? You have options, ranging from well-crafted curricula, skilled podcasting coaches, and much more. Just be sure you’re able to discern garbage from gold.

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Links Mentioned:

• Advancing Podcasting -  http://advancingpodcasting.xyz

• Support Evo on Buy Me A Coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/evoterra

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A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/you-cant-master-podcasting-with-a-hack-mindset.

Visit https://twitter.com/evoterra for more podcasting insights from Evo Terra as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at https://BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit https://Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show. Learn more about Allie at http://alliepress.net.

Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about. Subscribe today at https://PodcastPontifications.com.

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash.

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.