In this episode, Joe & I chat about our biggest takeaways from the Podcast Movement 2015 conference from earlier this month.

It was an incredible conference, particularly from Joe’s perspective because of his recent transition from a corporate 9-5 job into full time entrepreneurship. He had a great job that did a lot of good in the world (a medical equipment supplier and a bone back). However, he wasn’t the captain of his ship. We set some financial goals to achieve on certain projects together. When we achieved those goals earlier than we planned, he made the jump and left his corporate job.

Podcast Movement was the PERFECT place for him to get inspired by poeple doing what they LOVE and even more importantly, turning that into businesses making positive change in the world.

Key Takeaways from Podcast Movement

1. You create what you are.

So we didn’t actually say it in this way when we recorded this episode. Let me explain what I mean.

Jared Easley, Dan Franks, Mitch Todd and Gary Leland put together an incredible event with some of the most positive, uplifting, driven and go-getter people. I believe they created a movement that is all those things  because they are all those things. I already knew and adored Jared Easley (check out my podcast interview with him here). I had the pleasure of meeting Dan and Mitch at the event. Gary, I will make a point of meeting at Podcast Movement 2016 (yes, our tickets have been purchased for 2016 in Chicago).

2. Speakers and Breakouts for all!

There were such a wide variety of speakers and breakout sessions. Some podcasters do it simply for the love of the medium, without wanting to monetize. There were speakers and breakouts that appealed to them and the art of podcasting. There were also sessions that were ALL about turning your podcast into a way to promote your business and make money from podcasting.

Some of the breakouts included Gordon Firemark, attorney who gave some help with the legalities you want to think of when podcasting. Anthony Tran, who did a great session on using video marketing for promoting your podcast (and business), Kate Erickson who did a great session on creating systems that create freedom and even a session on how to leverage the Latino audience that isn’t quite being served yet.

3. Support staff and volunteers matter, so get great ones.

In my breakout session, the volunteer assigned to me was a woman named Tomi Grover. She was super helpful and efficient at keeping me to schedule and making sure things went off without a hitch. I had an opportunity to speak with her afterwards which was a pleasure. And later she tweeted me:

I checked out Tomi’s website. It turns out she’s an amazing speaker with an incredible message to share with the world. It made me realize the depth of EVERYONE at the event.

People who are changing the world in so many ways attended, spoke and volunteered. I’m so proud to be associated with this group of podcasters.

4. The Power of Podcasting.

Which brings me to one of our huge takeaways – that we sort of already knew – but really FELT at the event. Podcasting is an incredible medium / channel that is easily accessible to anyone who wants to have a voice. It encourages creative expression and brings tons of visibility to your business.

5. It’s Time to Get Serious About Upleveling Content.

Being around such a great, motivated group of podcasters made me want to uplevel my podcasting. Also, the fact that big corporate names are getting into the game (from my interview with Kate Erickson of Entrepreneur on Fire on last week’s episode) means all solo business podcasters must do our very best, each episode.

If you’re a podcaster (or content creator of any kind), wondering how? Here are some of the things I’ll be doing:

• More systems so we can publish more episodes in advance and have more time to spend on production value
• Possibly more than one episode per week
• Improve my interviewing skills and practice more “presence” during each of my interviews
• Keep getting better at storytelling – those teaching stories that inspired and inform and hopefully, cause positive change

6. There’s nothing better than connecting in real life!

Social media is great, email is great (I love connecting with my subscribers when they email me) but nothing trumps face to face, eye to eye and heart to heart. I loved meeting ans spending time with so many of my subscribers, listeners and podcasters. It was a lovefest.