This series is all about libsyn’s podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community!
Q & A with the hosts of Creatively Complicated
When did you start podcasting?
Summer started podcasting in May 2019 when Creatively Complicated began, but she was already an avid podcast listener and had been a guest on a few expat-related shows.
Stephanie started podcasting on her solo projects in April 2017. She thought it was going to be a few months of one project and then finish. Oh how podcasting is addictive!
Why did you start podcasting?
Summer liked the idea of having a creative outlet that differed from her writing endeavors and would potentially allow her to connect with other like minds. She approached the project with curiosity and a “let’s give this a try and see what happens” mindset.
Steph started podcasting for two main reasons. One was that she loved the medium and had been a huge podcast listener for many years (remember when you had to download an audio file and physically move it to your iRiver?)
The other reason was circumvent gatekeepers in places where people were talking about the topics that excited her (language learning, virtual presence, books). Podcasting was a quick way to get her ideas out there and also to connect with others about these niche discussions.
What’s the name of your show and what is it about?
Creatively Complicated is the name of our show. It’s where we dive into the messiness of our creativity. We are both highly creative people but our practicality and frustration with the whole seemingly impossible balancing act of the creative life-actual life aspects feel like they hold us back. Talking through these things in these episodes has become a kind of creative therapy, albeit a humorous one at that.
What’s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.
We both have Samson Q2Us and Summer uses Audacity and Auphonic to edit the episodes.
Summer is in Germany and Steph is in China, so we use Zoom Cloud recording to record our episodes at the moment.
We will eventually individually record out sides for a higher level of sound quality, probably in 2020.
How have you promoted your podcast?
Steph is in charge of the show notes and has started repurposing some of the items in there in Social Bee, a social media planning tool.
Right now she is experimenting with scheduled Twitter posts and will add LinkedIn and possibly Instagram once a workflow is more in place.
Slow and steady is the approach we are taking with promo. We never want to spam, our goal with promo is to attract people also having creative conundrums to join in on the conversation.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
Summer: I guess I technically “knew” that this was likely to happen, but it took a solid 10 episodes to really relax into the process of recording and feel like our little podcast was coming into its own. I wish there was a way to jump into something with full confidence, but it’s also kind of fun to just let things evolve naturally!
Steph: How affordable good mics are. I used my phone as a mic for the first six months of my Geopats Podcast because I thought a good mic was expensive. Hurrah to the Samson and ATRs available, they sound ridiculously good. And I was able to buy them in China, so these are not just a U.S. only purchase that can up the sound quality.
If you are a creative looking to infuse all things creative, managing and thriving within your everday life, subscribe to Creatively Complicated!
We’re moving closer to the end of the year! If you wanna start a podcast in 2020, let’s get this going! We would love to host your podcast. If you need a bit more support, please sign up for our FREE Podcasting Quickstart, so you start on the right foot!
