Yes, the truth hurts sometimes, today is not the first time that I am reminded of that but I did get a reminder today nonetheless. But before I launch into the whole story behind it, I first of all want to say that I am very thankful for peoples’ honesty.
If you’ve listened to at least a few episodes of the podcast I host then you’ve probably heard me ask for an honest rating and review in iTunes or Stitcher. And that’s truly what I want… Honesty….
I told myself that I wanted to hear all feedback. Less than 5-stars would be fine because it could mean that there was room for growth if there were things I was doing that were not up to snuff and 5-star feedback serves as the fuel that keeps me going and spurs me on to create new episodes week in and week out.
Well, I’ve been riding a wave of 5-star reviews and I think it went to my head just a little bit… I got into a zone where I was taking a free ride, a free ride in a fancy car (I ripped that line from an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air) 🙂
Today I saw an iTunes review that had been left for the podcast/me recently and I’ll just be honest, it made me cry (literally). I know, I know… I shouldn’t take these things so personally and I ought to be more professional about how I respond to these situations when they come up but I admit, I can sometimes let my emotions get the better of me, and while I don’t podcast professionally, I guess I still ought to separate my personal feelings from the show… sometimes…
So after being talked “down from the ledge” by a couple of people who’s shoulders I called to cry on, I was able to re-read the review and see the great things in it… I have lots of room for improvement and I now have a plan for exactly how I am going to make those improvements.
But before I share the plan, here is a snapshot of the review and then I will break down each of the steps I plan to implement to make the podcast, and myself, better:
Plan of Action
- Quality of show/guest: well, I can’t really change anyone who isn’t myself and I do realize that interest levels of a listener may depend on their level of interest in the shop, the craft, or the guest’s Etsy journey. This is a tough one for me fix, I think. I love my Etsy sellers 🙂
- Hiss/static on recordings and mediocre audio quality: I have noticed this myself from time to time but was just not as motivated to fix the problem because I chose to bear with it. However, I do want my listeners to have a great listening experience so I have just purchased a ground loop isolator which I will be connecting to my podcasting studio setup. The ground loop isolator will remove the static-ey noises from the computer and my recording devices which will ultimately result in better sound quality for the listener. I skipped out on investing in this piece of equipment earlier on but I guess I should have done it from the get go…
- Better mic: I believe this issue will be addressed with the solution above not by getting a different microphone because the mic I use is a pretty good one that a lot of professional broadcasters use.
- Gracious but boring host: umm… Thank you for the compliment and the not-so-complimentary comment. I do try to be gracious to my guests and the show is about them; as for being boring, well, I can only be me… I’ll try to be peppier…(?)
- Asking same questions: that’s actually an intentional strategy. I do want regular listeners to know what they can expect to hear from the guests and I like to have the guests share their own tips and strategies for tackling issues that are universal to all Etsy sellers so I do routinely ask some of the same questions for that specific reason. Now I can do a better job about drawing out each Etsy seller or guests own unique story before, during, and/or after we touch on the more commonly-asked questions. I will try to do better with this.
So at the end of the day I say, thank you SisterRay for making me sit up and get better. Some of the changes won’t be immediately evident (especially for episodes that have already been recorded) but eventually they will.
Another Big Thank You
I’m a little bit ashamed (okay, very ashamed) that it took getting a less-than-5-star review for me to express my appreciation, but I truly am very grateful to everyone who has left me feedback and ratings and reviews in iTunes and Stitcher and right here on the website. I really do desire honest feedback and I promise I won’t be such a baby about it going forward.
I know it takes time out of your day and great effort to leave a rating and review in iTunes or Stitcher and feedback right here on the site, so from the very bottom of my heart, I do thank you all.