Bonus: ONE YEAR of The Life Shift Podcast + Season 2 Trailer!

Hello, my friends. Welcome to the Life Shift podcast. This is the one year celebration quick little bonus episode for you, or at least I think it might be quick. I'm not quite sure if it's the one year anniversary or if we are celebrating a birthday, but either way, this show has been in your ears for a year now. On March 22nd, 2022, I launched the first two episodes of the LifeShift podcast. and I haven't stopped since. I can't believe that a school project turned into this journey for me. If you are new to the show or I haven't said it enough in some of the episodes, the LifeShift podcast started because I was getting a second graduate degree during 2021 and 2022. And every semester I would choose an elective and so Spring 2022, I picked the art of podcasting. And so in this class, we had to kind of do a lot of research and understand what we wanted to put out into the world and understand who our target audience was and names and all this research that we did. And we didn't have to launch a podcast, but we did have to record two episodes just as a test and they had to be interview-based. And so I came up with the LifeShift podcast Of course, it's based on my own experiences in dealing with the loss of my mother when I was a child, and then again, watching my grandmother pass away. And I feel that these two moments in my life were really moments that changed the trajectory and the direction that I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. Some of it was subconscious when my mom died and most of it was fully intentional after my grandmother died. But in that class, we just had to do the two episodes. We had to create a trailer, do a couple other things and then just turn them in. But by the end of the class, which ended after March 22, 2022, I had nine episodes recorded. I had launched the podcast. It was already out in the world. And so those first 10 or 15 people offered to be a part of the LifeShift podcast without really knowing what it was. and they just kind of trusted me to get on the recording platform that I use and share their story and have a conversation. The show has changed just a little bit from those first couple episodes that I recorded. Because in that class we had to use a list of interview questions and be a little bit specific. And I've decided to get rid of those. And I decided that after the second episode because it wasn't allowing me to listen. journey of the LifeShift podcast is active listening and actually being curious and waiting for my guest to finish whatever thought they were talking about and then ask the question that comes to mind at that point. And in my past, I feel like I was conditioned to feel like I needed to come up with the next best question or something to ask when there was another pause time, I probably wasn't listening as much. So I feel like I've really gained active listening skills in this journey. I've been so blessed with as many people that have been willing to come on the LifeShift podcast and continue to reach out and request the opportunity to have the conversation recorded for the podcast. At this point, at any point in time, actually throughout this journey, I've been about eight to 16 weeks ahead as far as or even recording and editing the episodes. You may know, or you may not, but I do all of the pieces of the podcast. And so that includes any kind of interaction with the guest beforehand, doing the recording, editing the audio, editing the video, creating assets for social media, engaging with others about the show. And generally just trying to get more people to hear the show and be a part of the show. So I have a Patreon page that people are connecting on now. And so it's all me, but I'll tell you, it's the most fulfilling journey that I've ever been on. And I'm so super blessed to have found this at this point in my life. I don't necessarily think that 10 years ago, I would have been able to create a show in this way. And so I think that all my life's pieces have kind of brought me to this point. And again, I'm just so grateful and so excited celebrate a year of this podcast and there's no stopping. And I don't know if you know anything about the podcasting industry, but most people say that it takes about three years of consistency to see that real strong growth and stabilization of what your show is all about. And then more people will start to hear it. So hopefully that is true. And I can continue on. I have no intention of stopping. So I think we'll get there. I've been really trying not to focus too much on the download numbers because I think that sometimes in this journey you want to compare yourself to the big shows that are out there that a lot of you could probably name but I have been looking at them because that's just who I am and I've recently passed the 10,000 listen mark, which is amazing to me that ears have heard my episodes 10,000 times and my original goal was that one person. would hear a particular story in that episode and feel less alone and have it resonate. So that whatever experience that they're going through at whatever moment they feel that other people can understand and that their journey is not as isolating as it might feel. We're just looking for 15,000 and then 20,000 and then hopefully 50,000. And so it just continues and I think it gets less important as the message of the show, but the more listens, the more opportunities that I might have for sponsorship of the show or any kind of ad placement like that. I also started a Patreon page in November of 2022, and that took a while for me to get the confidence to start. And the reason I say that is because I wanted to create something that would offer value. Because on Patreon, if you're unfamiliar, or a podcast support kind of page. And there are multiple tiers, and each tier offers some sort of value to the listener. And so if I was going to put this out there, and people were going to give me their hard earned money, I wanted to make sure that I was adding some kind of value that would make it worth it to those particular supporters. And so it took me a while to launch that, but I launched that in November. And the main value I feel that the Patreon offers is bonus episodes with prior guests. And basically what I do is I reach out to former guests of the show. And we talk more about what it was like after the recording. And so that could involve the power of storytelling. That could involve changes in their lives. That could involve recommendations for other people if they feel stuck and they kind of want to share their story. It's been a really rewarding experience. extra content that is available just for the people that are supporting the show. But that's available. That information's in the show notes. If you are interested in supporting the show, any amount helps as the production costs. There are monthly production costs that I cover myself, but the Patreon is really helping on that. And so if you'd like to support the show, there's that opportunity. You can also go on the website and there's other opportunities to do that as well, like supporting an episode or sponsoring two episodes a month or whatever that might look like for you. I've had some pretty cool guests talk about the power of sharing their story and hearing from other people. And one in particular, I had a guest early on who was actually a former student of mine, Lauren. And she came on the show and she talked about something that she said she really hadn't shared too publicly with other people. And it was that she, when she was trying to start issues with fertility and they had to seek fertility treatments and it was really isolating experience and it made her think certain ways about her body and her experiences and it was something that she wasn't comfortable sharing with people because she felt it was a little taboo. So we had this conversation and it was a really excellent conversation and lots of people reached out to her. They also felt alone and she was able to talk to them on her own. But what I really loved is that a couple months later she came back to me and she said that sharing her story gave her a lot of confidence. And that confidence allowed her to be strong enough to go to the HR department at her company. And she requested that they provide some kind of assistance to the employees as it relates to family planning. It turns out that that company now offers for adoption or fertility treatments or something along that line. And so that's the power of storytelling. She got the confidence to share the story out loud and she didn't have to do it on a podcast, but she chose to. And I feel really honored to just be a little part of her journey in what she's doing. I've also had other guests that intended to come on the show and talk about a moment in their lives that they felt changed things. But when we got on the recording, And they would say, Hey, Matt, I've been listening to your episodes and I really feel that I want to share something that I really haven't talked about with many people before. And I'd love to just have that conversation with you. And for me, that's just such an honor. And I'm so excited to continue having these conversations that I truly feel that everyone should be having. We should be having them in public. We should over here some of these conversations and coffee shops because we're all human and we all have harder parts of our lives or things that we really haven't shared because they're not as shiny as some of the other parts. I think that the flaws that we have and the things that we've gone through and the trauma that we've experienced or the moments of confidence that we've experienced are all things that we should be sharing with each other because we never know how a portion of our story will affect someone else. can't wait to have even more of these conversations. And I plan on releasing every Tuesday morning, 4 a.m. Eastern time, every single week until I can't anymore. So I think that'll just keep going. I've also set a goal for myself of meeting other podcasters and being a part of sharing my story on other podcasts. And I believe that I have recorded with 14 other shows point in my journey. And I continue to do that moving forward. And I look forward to that. I created a Spotify playlist. So if anyone ever wants to hear my guest spots on other podcasts, that's available for you. And only Spotify allows you to create a playlist. But it's there. Future plans for the show are to continue growing, to continue engaging with other listeners and or locally or nationwide that might want to support what's happening on the LifeShift podcast and kind of build the show to where I hope it can get to in which more people can hear each episode and feel less alone and I think we can get there. But as far as any changes or anything like that goes, I continually upgrade my equipment, try to make the show sound better, try to make the videos, and it'll be a continual growth as I build up the Patreon and sponsors because I don't want to jump in too much. So every time I hit a little milestone, I award the show with some kind of upgrade. And speaking of upgrades, I have upgraded the trailer for the LifeShift podcast. And so, after this episode, you will be able to hear the brand new trailer for 2023. and it also has a couple of clips of future episodes from some of my guests. And it's just a couple of minutes long, and I hope you enjoy it. If you think that other people might wanna hear the show, the trailer will also be in the podcast feed, and you can easily send that to a friend that you think might like the show. And hopefully, that will give them a taste of what the LifeShift podcast is all about. So thank you so much for helping me get to one year It's kind of crazy how fast this year has gone by and how much I've learned and how much I've connected with people and how much I've just been so fulfilled in this journey. So thank you for allowing me to have this journey and for cheering me on in whatever way is possible by listening, supporting, joining the Patreon, and sharing with a friend; whatever you do, it is helping, and I'm so very grateful. So thank you, thank you, thank you.