I wasn’t much of a podcast fan. In fact, I used to think they were pretty stupid – I just didn’t get the appeal of them because they either seemed useless or boring or just a pain to listen to. But around this time last year, I got into a couple of them, and I would listen during my drive to drop off and pick up Harley from school. Now, I drive even less each day, and yet I have a few podcasts I’ve been enjoying in 2018.
I mainly listen while I’m at the gym and in the car. While I’m doing my weight training, I’ll listen to a podcast, switching to music for my cardio so I can push the rhythm and stuff. I don’t drive much anymore, except when I go visit my mom when I have over an hour each way, which can easily clear any podcast backlog I might have built up. So here are the things I’m listening to now, and please feel free to share your favorite podcasts as well.
This one started as pretty much pure bias. My old South African colleagues and friends started a podcast about gaming. I like listening because I sorta feel like I’ve caught up with them after listening to the podcast, even though we haven’t really been in touch. I also get my dose of gaming news without needing to spend time reading articles, which honestly I just don’t have time to do right now.
I am seriously in love with this podcast. My mom heard about it on NPR and said it sounded like something I might enjoy. It was designed to be enjoyed while you’re out and about, which is honestly fairly optional. I’ve liked it as much while walking as I have while driving or even while cooking breakfast. The main thing is that it is immersive storytelling at its finest. Everyone talks to you or around you, and you really feel like you ARE Walker. It’s thrilling, exciting and seriously well written. I can’t recommend it enough.
I like to think I’m fairly well-informed, but the reality is that living in the States has meant that I just don’t encounter as much news as I used to. I watch the morning news, but that is about 80-90% local stuff, that occasionally branches out to include national or major international events. BBC World News podcast gives me a dose of international news so that I can still know about crazy political turmoil in Spain or the latest crisis of famine or drought somewhere in the world. Plus, there are typically some interesting arts or science topics thrown in as well, that make the news more interesting and grounded without being about something truly fluffy and useless.
Amy Porterfield’s Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast
I know, the title is sorta gross. In fact, the fact that I listen to online marketing podcasts is probably gross, and it only gets worse from here. But I like Amy Porterfield, and she has had some incredible podcasts lately. She’s focusing less on her webinar business that really turns me off, and has instead been talking about the hard work of being an entrepreneur. She talks about the things she does now that she couldn’t or wouldn’t do when starting her business, and cool ideas along the way that have helped me do this whole blogging thing better.
Social Media Marketing Podcast with Michael Stelzner
There are a few things I like about this one. First of all, it always starts with a new find each week. These are apps or websites that are honestly super useful. Like Reshot.com, which has some cool, free use photos that don’t LOOK like stock photos. Then they go into deep dive topics, and I usually learn more about important topics or services, like messenger bots or tips for doing Facebook Lives or cool ways to use Google Analytics.
This is a fairly new found podcast for me. I’m not 100% sure it’s going to be one I stick with forever, but I like the really practical advice that they give. It isn’t this overarching nonsense that you often hear, but tangible ideas of things that can work well as a blogger. Because it’s focused on bloggers, it’s also not quite as muddled as some of the other podcasts I listen to that also deal with ecommerce or general marketing stuff.
I’ve dabbled with some other podcasts. There are plenty that I’ve liked, but generally, I either struggle to get into them, feeling like I’m “behind” by starting now, or they just don’t hold my attention long enough or have varied enough episodes for me to get into. Which podcasts do you enjoy right now? Are you looking for podcasts that are informative, or do you prefer other kinds of experiences?
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