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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, I once wrecked a car that I owned less than 24 hours, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’ll share a realization I had during the Golden Spiral Media Chicago meetup.
Friday Forum
Friday Forum is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can participate in Friday Forum by calling and leaving a message at 304-837-2278, emailing an audio file to feedback@goldenspiralmedia.com, or clicking on the Send Voicemail tab on my website, GoldenSpiralMedia.com.
What I Learned Yesterday:
I am exhausted. I am encouraged. I am inspired. I am feeling blessed. All of these things things are because of the same thing. I just returned home from spending the weekend in Chicago where I got to spend some great one on one time with my daughter, Addison, eat some of Chicago’s tastiest pizza, and meet and hangout with some wonderful members of the Golden Spiral Media Community.
When I started podcasting in 2008 I had no idea that it would lead me down such a life changing path. I thought it would be cool to podcast with some friends and that we might even get a few folks to listen to us. I never thought I would care so deeply about the listeners of our podcast, or that they would care so much about me.
The last 15 months have been the best and most rewarding that I’ve ever experienced as a podcaster. When we announced that we were doing a party for the finale of Fringe, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Would we have a thousand people show up, or would we have 3 people show up? Would people actually come to Oklahoma City? Would it be something that people reflect on fondly, or would it be a train wreck that they look back on as a waste of time.
When the day of the event arrived we had about 50 people come from all over the US and Canada, and by all accounts I’ve heard, it was a glowing success. Everyone had a great time. They loved watching the show together, meeting me and Clint, and getting to watch us podcast in person. But the thing that people liked most was getting to meet and hangout with other members of the Golden Spiral Media community.
We really do have some amazing people in our community. I’ve only had the opportunity to meet about 80 of you, but each encounter has been wonderful. Whether we met one on one or as part of a larger meetup, it’s always like meeting an old friend. It’s never like meeting a stranger. And that’s really good for me because I am terrible and awkward when I meet strangers.
This weekend I got to hangout with Todd, Brian, Matthew, Melissa, Emilee, Hannah, Brooke, Karin, Gabe, Kathleen, Danika, and Brad. In 2011 I also made a trip to Chicago and had a meetup. At that meetup we had 4 listeners attend. At the time of the 2011 meetup you could argue that Golden Spiral Media was more popular than it is now. In its prime, The Fringe Podcast received about 10,000 downloads per episode per week. At the time of the last meetup, it was getting about 7,500 per episode per week. Our numbers don’t even come close to that now. Our most popular podcasts today get about 1,500 per episode each week and our least popular get about 350.
Numbers are important. They can be a valuable measuring stick and an important way to keep track of important factors in operating a business, achieving a goal, or comparing products. But numbers can also be deceptive, manipulated to say whatever you want, or give false positives.
You know what matters more than numbers? People. Sunday morning those of us who had come in from out of town had breakfast together with Matthew, the guy who organized the meetup. At one point someone shared the moment when they started listening to our podcasts and then the rest of the people did the same. One person said that our podcasts had helped them pass the time during a long boring stretch at work. Another person said that our podcasts had opened up a whole new world to discuss their favorite show and that it was just what they needed to make their viewing experience complete. Another person talked about how the live show had sucked them in and they never looked back.
Those stories are really, really cool. I’m still amazed when I hear people say those things. There are other stories that get shared with me that blow me away even more. There’s the story of the listener who used to watch with his Dad, and then his dad passed away. There’s the story of the listener who lost a daughter years ago and found healing through Fringe. Our podcast played a role in that one, but the credit really goes to Fringe. We’ve heard a lot of stories about how our podcast helped brighten up days or simply help them understand what they were watching.
And then there’s this example that came in this weekend. I’ve never mentioned it on this podcast, but we provide listeners with the opportunity to support the work that we do by making PayPal donations. Donations can be made as a one-time contribution or set up as a monthly recurring contribution. A very insightful listener noticed that on one podcast I announced that I would not have to reschedule the Revolution season finale podcast coming up in May, because I was not going to be out of town that week after all. On this podcast last friday I mentioned that a client of mine had decided to greatly scale back the type of work that I had been doing for them. This listener figured that these two seemingly unrelated announcements must actually be related and increased the amount of their monthly contribution.
As it turns out, these two announcements are, in fact, related. Because of the change in my workload, the trip has been canceled. Now, please understand why I am mentioning this. I am NOT mentioning this to try and guilt you into or in any other way try to coax you into supporting Golden Spiral Media. I am not trying to do anything other than tell you just how amazing the people are who are a part of this community.
Here’s what I learned. I learned many things this weekend. I learned that none of us can accomplish anything or get by without the help and support of others. If you never write or call in to any of our shows, never buy a shirt or send in a donation, never use of of our affiliate links, or never join in one of our live shows, that’s okay. You support what we do by simply listening. If you do write or call in, send in a contribution, use an affiliate link, or participate in a live show, thank you. Your support means more to me than I can express. Without all of you contributing to what we do, we have nothing.
I also learned that this community, which includes you, is full of people I’m proud to call my friends. One day soon I’ll talk about some of the diverseness of this community and what I’ve learned from it. I mentioned earlier that I am awkward at meeting strangers and I am not at all joking. It is really terrifying for me. When I meet Golden Spiral Media listeners, it really is like meeting a familiar friend. The look on someones face when they meet another listened is even more awesome. There’s a love that not only extends from me to you and you to me, it extends from listener to listener.
So please allow me to say thank you. The support I’ve received for this podcast has been unlike anything else I’ve ever received or experienced. If I were to look at numbers alone, I would be discouraged. But numbers don’t matter, people matter. Take time today and tell the people that matter most to you, that they matter most to you.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, I would be grateful if you’d leave a review in iTunes or Stitcher.
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