I received the oddest email on March 31st of this year, which partly went.
“… read your article on Medium and was very pleased with both your writing style and analysis. Is there any chance you’re interested in growing your brand/business or adding another revenue stream? I’m looking to partner with a few select authors to launch audio versions of their content. All I’m after is your permission to use the audio version of your writing (ideally recorded by you, but not necessarily) for a new app. ”
Fast forward to this week, and it FINALLY launched! On the Apple i-platforms. Android is coming — ETA unknown.
You might remember my podcast from 2019/2020. Well, that little ditty took the “best new business podcast award” for 2019. Knowing it was jammed with gold, I re-cast the first five episodes to suit the “Blogcast” requirements and committed to producing blocks of five at least six more times.
I joined up with 25 other founding authors to help this fellow get his idea launched into the stratosphere. (Most of the other founding authors are well known and well respected.)
Perhaps you recall the news mayhem that Spotify helps the artists’ agents, not necessarily the artists themselves. Or maybe you have concluded that ‘free’ anywhere on the internet does have a cost attached to it. (At the very least, you get commercials for a minimum of five seconds.)
The sad truth is most producers of content get precious little in return themselves. So free is finally dying – or at least many content producers are getting smart about giving away ALL their thoughts, ideas and intellectual capital.
What makes this venture different is we all form the foundation of what is a subscription model for you to listen to the brilliant thoughts and analysis you crave in a concentrated area. In six months or so, other authors and brilliant thinkers will be added to the mix. The idea is we all win (and lose) together.
It’s a funny life being an entrepreneur and business owner. (I am referring specifically to those who have a product or service they developed as opposed to selling products or services produced by others.) In the initial years, you can’t say you have a business because ‘business’ would imply that you have customers. The first few years are all about finding those customers. The following five or eight years are about building that business.
Throughout, you forgo giving yourself any earnings until the business stuff is taken care of. And even when the business stuff is taken care of, you think twice about drawing any salary because you can see the areas you NEED to invest in your business. The truth is you have months where you have a trickle of revenue and only a few months of perhaps a torrent.
So, you depend on your parents, your spouse, your friends, and the kindness of strangers to keep you going. Eventually, though, you get it very right. Or very wrong.
And for all those reasons and more, I will not drone on about the delays in the launch, the uneven development of the apps, the dependence on extra money for solid marketing expertise and oomph, etc. etc. etc. Because this is what a true start-up looks like!
NOBODY ever hits the gate running with absolutely everything in place. And banks are so not helpful in doling out loans to anyone with just an idea, a bit of collateral, and some Moxy. Nope. Banks RUN AWAY from those who dare to be different and dare to boldly go.
It’s a Canadian start-up. So yeah, it’s risky.
These days, there is a lot of lip service paid to – buy locally, support the little guys, and eschew the big players. Here’s your chance. If you have an Apple phone, check out the app. The contents span the gamut; the authors span the globe.
The best part is you get to binge – all in one place — on specific topics that interest you. Talk about multi-task heaven. Instead of reading all these thoughts, you get to listen while you drive, walk the dog, work out, do the dishes, barbecue and what other things you do that can make room in your lie for a bit of sound.
As you know, my world has always been about business. In my books, those who TRY, and give it their all, win or lose, are the real heroes in our world. So whether the venture known as BlogCast succeeds or not, I am delighted to be a part of it. And, provided you have that Apple phone, I invite you to join us.
The free trial is on!
