What podcasters can learn from the Tiger King

The Train Wreck That is the Tiger King is in the Top 10 of Netflix

After the fourth person had asked me if I had watched the Tiger King on Netflix I decided to give it a try. It's not good. I got about halfway through and only watched the second half looking for closure. It's bad people behaving badly. I was on a Zoom call with my family and my brother had not seen it yet, and as he put it "everybody is talking about it." The whole family said the same thing, "it's awful, its a waste of time." I'm pretty sure he's going to start watching it. Why? Well here are some things podcasters can gleam from Joe Exotic (i.e. The "Tiger King").

Joe would breed tigers and take the cubs on tours to small where people could pet them and get their picture taken. It's like Santa with claws and teeth. Much like Santa, Joe was taking in the cash because he was providing something you can't get anyplace else. Consequently, he was making some serious cash.

Joe Lost Sight of His Audience

Joe's arch-nemesis is Carol Baskins who is also "unique" in that her very rich husband disappeared a few years ago making her rich and they never found his body. Carol runs a large cat "Rescue" that looks a lot like a zoo. She has an army of volunteers who work for her. She is basically doing the same thing Joe is (has a large plot of land where people can see large Cats in cages) but Carol has a WHY. Some people become fans of what you do, other people become fans of people because of why they do it.

Carol helped Joe's mall tour get shut down. Instead of looking for another solution, another product, or another animal, Joe got distracted. Instead of talking to his audience and asking them what else they might want, he became 100% obsessed with competition.

Joe Started To Compare Himself to Others

Joe did some things right. He reached out to other large cat owners (who are also living "differently" than most people) and attempted to mimic their success. However, as time goes on you see Joe simply go from hating Carol Baskins, to obsessing over her. His only "TV Show" seemed to be him talking about Carol and what a bad person she was, and how she couldn't bring him down, etc. Joe forgot he was the Tiger King, and became the Carol Baskins King.

Comparison is the Thief of Joy

The more Joe obsessed over what Carol was up to, the less he focused on his audience. You don't see him looking into adding creating better environments for the cats that might also get the audience closer to the cats. I once lead classes on Microsoft Office to the staff of the Akron Zoo. That is their whole purpose. Making an exhibit that made life enjoyable for the animals while getting the audience as close as possible and keeping both the animal and audience safe. Over the years their audience has grown and their prices have risen as well as you get a great experience and don't have to spend an hour driving to Cleveland.

Surround Yourself with Good People

The part of the story that tugged at my heart more than the Tigers, was one of Joe's husbands has lost most of his teeth due to a meth problem. He stuck around Joe because Joe bought him guns, trucks, and another thing (and he got to pet large cats). Joe treats his staff horribly, takes them for granted, and creates a revolving door of workers.

Things Do Not End Well

When you are deprived of joy and become frightened, angry, or any other emotion that is not calm and collected you can make bad decisions. Joe is the king of bad decisions. It turns out that Joe had actually killed some of his older cats, and if you want to watch more disturbing things on Netflix watch Don't F*ck with Cats.

Misty Phillip From the Spark Christian Podcast Conference

I was honored to speak at the Spark Christian Podcast Conference last year. It was an amazing event, and the mind-boggling part it was thrown together in very little time. In this interview with Misty Phillip (who also has a podcast), she gives some behind the scenes of how she pulled this off. Key points include:

She released control to someone who had experience (which is very hard as you only get once chance to make a first impression, and this was the first year of the event).
She was amazed at how many people said YES (so if you're afraid to start something - people you think will say no might say YES)
She did a Kickstarter to gauge the overall interest which helped her avoid getting in over her head financially
She has built a network over the years, and those people will want to support you.

Dany Peña Still Connecting With Audience During Pandemic

Hall of fame podcaster Danny Peña has been on the show before and is known for a man who is always building and servicing his community at Gamertag Radio. So how do you do that when everyone is ordered to stay indoors (Danny is in New York City)? You use the tools you have like Voicemail, Speakpipe, and Email. In the end, Danny said it's about the connection, not the quality of the content coming in from his listeners. Check ou Danny at www.gamertagradio.com

I'm in Facebook Jail -How Do I Get Out?

I haven't changed the way I've used Facebook in the many years I've used it, but now I'm in Facebook jail.

Here is the one of the messages that I put in my own private Facebook that got flagged as Spam ( www.schoolofpodcasting.com/717 )

If you know any tips or insights, or any connections to someone at Facebook, I'd love to hear from you. Currently, you can't link to the School of Podcasting on Facebook.

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