Jay Fleischman agreed to provide me with a guest post concerning podcasting. Jay provides a podcast on his site, Debt Relief Law Center of New York and his blog Bankruptcy and Credit News. Jay provides some great information at both. Thank you Jay for providing a great guest post. Here is his post:
I'm thinking about the blog you want me to write about podcasting, and I can't imagine what I would write. Why did I begin to podcast? It's complex, though it has nothing to do with my love of my own voice (as lawyers, I suspect we all love to hear ourselves speak to an extent). It had nothing to do with delusions of grandeur, and it certainly had nothing to do with making money. After all, nobody's really found a way to monetize podcasting.
It had to do with a desire to provide information in a new way to my clients, as well as to people who may be having financial problems and don't know where to turn. As a consumer bankruptcy attorney I'm used to seeing people who are at the end of their ropes, people who don't want to sit in front of a stranger and pour out their life stories. But these people need information, and they need it delivered in the most efficient manner possible. Many of them don't have much time on their hands between work and family obligations. The podcast offers the ability to listen when ever - and where ever - it's convenient to do so. In the car, while exercising, whenever.
In terms of time, it takes me about 3 hours to do a 20 minute show. That includes research, plotting out the show, mixing and production, and uploading. I'm new at this, and have never done any audio production. I suspect my prep time will go down once I become more familiar with the process, but my show times will get longer as I become more comfortable with the process.
In the two weeks or so since I published my first podcast I've been contacted by people as far away as Alaska and Southern California with questions and comments. Consumers from around the country have thanked me for the information I'm providing, and my own clients have told me that they're learning new ways to handle their finances. I even had someone tell me that I gave her so many new ideas on how to reduce her debts that she believes she'll be able to recover financially without bankruptcy; that may be one less client I'll have, it's a great feeling. For nearly ten years I've been telling people that I'd love to see the need for lawyers who practice in my area disappear because people don't need court intervention to solve their debt problems. Though this probably won't happen, it's good to know that my efforts can help make a difference.
These comments have served to underscore to me the importance of what I'm doing, and the people I'm serving. I haven't made a dime off podcasting directly thus far, nor do I expect to. People come to see me each day based on the information I convery, and podcasting serves to increase my exposure to that population of people who are surfing the Internet in search of answers. Now they can read my words AND hear my voice. They know me now, hearing my voice and learning my views and opinions on the things that matter to them.
