How Andi Smiley’s Podcast, The Friendly Podcast Guide, Helps Busy Moms Discover The Right Shows To Listen

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Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Binge Factor. I'm so excited to bring you someone who's doing a compilation show. It's kind of like the way we do this here at the Binge Factor. Andy Smiley has the friendly podcast show. And one of our favorite things is to bring you podcast podcast to listen to. I mean, how much fun is that? And Andy has such a great Persona. Schlub loves podcasting. It's just so amazing to hear how much she is fascinated by it. And I swear that I think she does this as much to be able to listen to the podcast and have an excuse to listen to it as it is to bring it out to you. Andy Smiley is the mom of three littles, five and under, and the podcast have saved her sanity. So she now makes a podcast about podcasts to help other moms learn about all the different podcasts there are without feeling overwhelmed. The friendly podcast guide talks about a different show in every episode, with each episode being about 10 minutes. Although she does have some longer ones because moms don't have time to listen to a bunch of different podcasts to figure out which one is right for them to begin with. I like that premise. It really makes it sets the tone for the show in such a great way, but it also gets you to know her. It has such a great personality of Andy. And so Andy and I got to chat. Well, her kids were away. I think it was her mom's, and so she got a little time off and we got to talk podcasting together. Had a lot of fun. So let's listen in to my conversation with Andy Smiley, the friendly podcast show.

Hey, Andy, welcome to the show and I am glad to have you. I'm glad Pod Match found us together and like matched us together.

Right.

Which wasn't the most logical match, I thought. It really is in the end of the day. Like, I mean, it's not the most logical because your show is really a little more for moms and for those that type of show review. But at the same time, I mean, that's kind of what my show is. It's a show review, too. It's just a different model, so we have a lot of similarities.

That's true. I love that. I am so glad that I found you, and I'm so grateful for Pod Match. I feel like this is truly. I don't know if it's been a good fit for you, but I have already learned a lot from you and. And I've only, like, talked to you for 20 minutes, so.

Well, awesome. Well, I'm so glad that happened. Yeah, I know. I think I've raved about Pod Match for the past five episodes straight, because all my guests came from there. And so, like, we've all been like, wow, that was a really good match. So it's working out. Their AI is on something here. Well, I love your tagline. It's one of my favorite things about your show, sorting through podcasts so you don't have to, like, just how many of us are too busy to figure that out? It's true.

That was my problem, like, five years ago when I first found podcasts, and I was super excited about it because I was like, okay. It was right after my son was born. I was bored stiff at home when I wasn't at work, and all he wanted to do was build blocks and then knock him over. And that's great when you're six months old. It's not so great when you're the mom and you have to be with your kid and you want him or her to feel like you're engaging with him, but at the same time, you feel like your brain is melting out of your ears from boredom.

So how many times can I build the same tower?

Exactly. And so I feel like I found podcasts and it was such a. Like, a fabulous thing, but at the same time, it was like, there are so many. How do I find one that I even like? And eventually I figured out some ways to find them. But I feel like I'm still not perfect at finding a podcast that I like, which is why I made my podcast, was to hopefully help other people find podcasts they like faster.

Well, that's a really crazy part that I think most people don't understand is that you're not alone. Like, there are so many people out there. And I think the recent statistic I saw was something north of 70% of podcast listeners can't find a new show they are interested in. And it's not because there aren't shows out there. It's because it's too hard to find Them.

Oh, my goodness, yes. Well. And I feel like the search engine, like the search abilities on the podcast apps, they're improving. They're not as bad as they used to be, but they're not perfect. And I feel like you can type in a bunch of words and you still might not find a podcast that's out there that's perfect for you, but it's just not connecting in whatever way it needs to.

And you're totally right about that search engine. You and I talked about this before we had this conversation today, but before our interview here. But this is the thing, is that I feel like I'm shouting in the wind constantly trying to say, you know what? It's up to you podcasters. You have to get better at this because they're actually not improving the algorithm. I just think finally a few more people are starting to get to know how the search algorithm works. And maybe it's because I've done a good job of yelling about it, but I don't know that it's. I can do this alone. Right. They have to either get better at what they do, or everyone in the industry needs to know that this is the standard.

Right. And that's probably not going to happen. We just need to step it up, right?

That's right. Yeah. We just need to know we are actually playing a search engine game. That's what it is.

Yeah. It's true. And I feel like when your brain kind of finally makes that switch, it's like, oh, okay, if that's what I need to do, then this is my step forward.

That's right. This is it. This is how I get found. So the friendly podcast guide. I love that name, too, because I really think it is in the spirit of the kind of shows you are reviewing. So they all have a family friendliness to it. There's a. I'm going to say, a lightness to them. They're not really intense shows. Thank goodness. There's not a lot of controversial yelling and screaming and ranting about stuff, right?

For the most part, yeah. That's not usually my jam. For the most part, the podcasts that I talk about are ones that I would listen to or that, like, people that I trust would listen to, because I am not. I'm just gonna say it. I'm not a true crime person, so true crime just isn't my jam. But I know that it's a lot of people's jams, especially in the podcasting world, and so I think I only have one so far, but the one That I have done it still kind of has like a friendly podcast guide vibe to it. Cuz he actually used to work with him in a newsroom and so he has a journalistic approach to it. So it's not just like vulgar and just like talking about like the gore the whole time. He's like trying to find a solution. So I feel like, well, yes, I do dive into stuff that's maybe a little more serious sometimes. I definitely try and have at least some standards as to what podcasts I like to talk to.

Yeah, we're going to talk in a minute because when I do my three things here, we're not going to do our typical three things because you don't have guests on your show, you have podcasts that you're featuring. So we're going to talk about it with a little twist here. But before I get to that, I want to ask you, really, you're a really busy mom and you have really busy life. What made you decide that you could fit in this podcast guide into everything that you've got going on?

That is a really good question. I don't know if anyone does that.

She's like, I'm questioning it now. Like, why am I doing it? I don't want you to do that because it's really good. So don't quit.

So the main reason is I needed a creative outlet that was just mine. It has nothing to do with my kids, it has nothing to do with my partner. It's just mine. And that was the reason I started, other than. And I feel like as a secondary, I was trying to help me five years ago. And I feel like between those two, that was kind of my reason for starting and my reason for continuing is I just really love to talk to podcast hosts about their podcast. They're very fun to talk to because they're very excited because I'm talking about one of their favorite things, so.

Exactly.

It makes a fun conversation.

I love that you're doing that. This is the thing that is going through my mind as I was thinking about the binge factor here is I'm getting to review a lot of shows, but I'm not really doing. I'm doing a background. Right. It's a little bit more in depth. But I actually tried to do a more of a shout out show than it was a review show. So I wasn't gonna review them or curate them, but I was gonna like, if I knew about you and you were kind of new, I was going to give you a shout out and it Got to be really cumbersome. So when you set out to do this, did you realize like you were going to have to put some systems in place and like more than you expected?

Well, I feel like for me, I'm kind of perfectionist a little bit and I've had to have that take a backseat when at all possible. But for me, I decided to make a podcast after my newborn was born. After my baby's born, she was like a month old and I was like, I'm done, I need something. So good for you. I know kind of weird, but I have really rough pregnancies and so when I'm finally have that baby in my arms, I just feel so much better and I'm like, hey, like let's get moving. Like let's do stuff. So I was like, cool, I'm going to do a podcast. And that was in like September, October, and I didn't launch until the following February. So I kind of put all of the things in place. Like I had a bunch of like drafts in my email for like if someone says they want to do a show, then this is the email that I send them or if they have a question about zoom, this is the email that I send them. So I kind of had all of that mapped out before. And also I use Calendly, which is like at least the version I use is free. And holy cow, that has saved my bacon so many times, especially with like organized right how it's the best. So I feel like that. And truly I have a website that's pretty basic, but it does exactly what I need to right now. And that in and of itself, even though it was basic, was really hard. So I just reached out. My brother in law is fabulous and he does like my website maintenance. He puts up the new posts every week for me for every new episode. And that which really is not that big of a deal. Like he's like, andy, this is not like, why are you even paying me to do this? I'm like, it is one thing that's just not on my brain. Like you take care of it and it's glorious. So I feel like those are the.

Main reasons you have resources, right?

Yes.

Let's talk about the process. So you find a show or someone sends you, hey, I'd love to be on your show. Whether that happens through podmatch or through some other way. Then what do you do to vet that?

Truly, most of the time I will at least hop onto their. I use Overcast, the podcast app because I just like the Way they do playlists, but. So I'll hop onto Overcast and just look at their show description and see if it's a good fit. If it looks iffy, then I'll listen to an episode, and if it's like, whoa, this is just not something that I really want to promote on my show, I'll say, thank you so much. It doesn't look like we're going to be a good fit. Like, I hope you all the best, and just kind of move on. If I do like them, once I've listened to an episode or sometimes I'll just have people say, I really like this show. Here's the show description. They're kind of new, so there aren't too many episodes, but I like the way that they do this and such. I'll be like, okay, that sounds.

So they're recommending to you.

Totally or truly, If I'm being honest. I love podcasts, which is why I made a show about podcasts. And I've got a lot of podcasts that I just want to talk to the host. So that's been kind of fun, too. I'll just be like, hey, I already like your show. Can I talk to you about it on my show? So that's been another way that I've found podcasts is just, I love them. So I'll be like, hey, I just found a new podcast I like listening to. I want to share it with all of my listeners so that they can listen to it, too.

But, you know, that time that you're spending into, like, just at least doing a little bit of vetting and researching is boding well for your show because it's giving that, I think, synergy to the curation that you're creating. The collections of the shows.

Definitely. I do feel like just putting that little effort. It probably takes me 10 minutes tops. I guess if I listen to a whole episode and they're longer, then it'll take longer than 10 minutes. But just that little bit of time really does help me to, like, you said, like, vet it. Just make sure that it's gonna be a good fit. And one of my boundaries, which might sound kind of funny, is I don't really like podcasts that talk about weight loss or you have to change your body to be happy. Like, that's just not really my jam. And so I just never have those on my show. That's just one of my lines.

This is your curated list, so you have to be picky about it, right? I mean, that's the wonderful Thing. So now sometimes you're not actually interviewing them. You're just talking about their show and playing a trailer clip. And other times you are have a little conversation with them and things like that. What makes you decide which way you're gonna go with somebody?

Truly, I will almost always lean toward having a conversation with the host just because I feel like you get a better sense of the vibe of the show and just kind of what the host brings. If they're kind of monotone, then that comes through better in an interview, in my opinion, than like a short clip. And sometimes monotone's great if that's what you need to go to sleep at night. Cause there are podcasts that will just help you sleep. Right. Like, if that's what you need, then that's perfect and that's what we need. But if it's like they're talking about history, you don't really want someone that has a monotone voice. Right. You need something that's a little more exciting. At least I do. Everyone has their own preferences. But I feel like it's a little bit easier to get a vibe out of an interview. And truly, in my opinion, they're just more fun to listen to than just a clip by itself. When I do a news podcast, most of the time I'll just play a clip because I feel like it's just the news. There isn't really much personality coming out from the host themselves. They're just saying the news of the day. So I feel like a clip from that type of a show is usually better because it kind of just gives you a better vibe of the show instead of the individual who's not really telling their opinion, they're just.

Right. It's a totally different style, right? Yeah. And yeah, I can totally get that and understand how you might look at that. You're covering a lot of genres. You're. You've got personal development shows, you've got shows for kids, you've got shows that are in the news category, as you were just talking about entertainment ones. You're kind of covering a couple of different categories, and I'd love that you're keeping them really top level. But there's definitely. And I say the binge factor that I see in your show, and I'm going to analyze that right now. The binge factor that I see in your show is even within those big broad categories, which are very different news shows, kids shows, personal development shows, totally different. But there is a thread of mom through there, and I think that's Kind of nice because it's bringing in you into that model, but it also is making it. The friendly podcast means that I could play those in the car with my kids. And I feel really confident that you wouldn't steer me wrong there. Even the new shows, you're gonna go for, the ones that aren't maybe as crazy sensational, you're gonna pick some that are more like, here's the news and here we're moving on, right?

Totally. Well, I will say, though, one of my questions that I ask every episode, is it kittier friendly? And I just do that straight up because some of the podcasts, they say I'm trying to think of one specifically. Oh, there's a storytelling podcast called Solar. And she said this might not be as good for kids because they're astronauts, like, trying to survive this crazy thing that happened in space. And they swear. And so while listening to my episode about solar, that's like 10 minutes long. You'll be fine. Like, your kids will be fine. But as a mom, this might not be the best one for my kids to be listening to. This might be a headphones one, or this might be when the kids are asleep 1. So for the most part, yeah, I do typically do ones that are kid ear friendly or dang it, one of my hosts now, I can't remember who. Oh, Zibby Owens, she said my podcast is totally fine to have on the car anytime.

And I was like, okay, yeah, that's what you want. You want to know that's okay. And if you're helping to review that, I'm not going to take a risk because, I mean, they're supposed to be marked, but it slips through a lot, doesn't it? I like. I mean, and maybe in general, a show really is not explicit, but there's an occasional episode where they didn't do a really good job of editing. And it happens because you can't always control your guests. And if you're not doing a really good job on the editing side, it's true. And I have had that happen.

Well, and I feel like that is because that's one of my questions. A lot of times they'll say it should be fine, but read the show description. Or some people will say, no, just don't have kids. Or some people will say it's completely fine all the time. So I feel like listening to my episodes will help my listeners know. Do they need to. Is this a never or is this a just read the show description really quick. Then they kind of get a better idea, rather than just it's explicit or it's not, then you kind of know why and if it's going to be okay all the time or sometimes or whatever.

We're talking about our three things, and I did a twist on the first one of the three things. So instead of guests, I talked about how you vet your shows, because that's kind of more to the point, totally increasing listeners.

It's.

You really built it for yourself. But how are you getting new listeners?

Let's be real. I'm still working on this, but everybody's.

Still working on it, right? We never have enough listeners.

That's true. I feel like I've tried to have a stronger presence on social media on TikTok, specifically, because a lot of, like, business podcasts that I've listened to that are specifically for moms or parents have talked about how parents are going to TikTok, which I was like, really? Okay, cool. I can try that. And that's been pretty good. My following's gone up quite a bit there, I would say. Another thing is just word of mouth. A lot of my good friends listen and then they will tell me, ooh, I heard this episode that I knew that my friend was gonna, like, you don't know. And so I passed it along and I was like, great, thank you. So I feel like I've been pretty blessed that I did not start with very many listens in the first couple of months. But it definitely has grown slowly but surely.

I mean, as long as you're seeing a steady increase, you know that the shares are going to keep happening and that it's going to keep going and occurring. I think that as you get more repertoire, right, because you. I mean, you have tons of episodes, but as you get more. That mass is actually going to get you even more listeners because then they're going to go, wow, look, what a comprehensive source this is. The hard part about getting started, you gotta start somewhere, and you can't drop hundreds of episodes once you'd have done all this work and not achieved any listeners in that process. Right. So you have a show that's a little more challenging, but at the same time, it's a shorter format show. So that is also really good for you, too, in that it's not a heavy lift on my end to check it out, try it and go, wow, that was really good. I can skip around here. I can share with friends. It's going to be easy to share on social. So you have made that a little bit easier for everybody.

That was the goal. So I started back in February. My goal for this year was just to have at least one episode a week so that by the end of the year I had at least 50 episodes that people could. That was like a bit of a catalog, like you were saying, because having two podcasts about podcasts isn't much of a catalog. No one can. It doesn't really serve my community very well. So my goal was just to get content out there for the first year, just to kind of help people to know there are a bunch of different types of podcasts out there and that they can listen to any of them and they can learn about them quickly, just in 10 minute increments.

So let's talk a little bit about monetization and alternative monetization. You do have some partners and sponsors that you announce on your show and you have a partners page on your website. OLive and June, creativecontracts bookshop.org I noticed a couple of those in there. And was this the kind of idea that it would be friendly for that ad model or is it just something that you just really love these and you thought, hey, I'm just going to include them and we'll see how we go. And we'll see if this is the future of alternative monetization for me. Sure.

So truly, when I first started, somebody gave me a tip, advice, whatever you want to call it, and they said from your first episode, have an ad spot, because then your listeners will never be surprised when it gets added in later. And I was like, oh, okay, I can do that. And truly, right now, for the past couple of months, it hasn't even really been an ad. It's been, hey, will you rate and review the show in the month of August? Because that's my birthday month. And so I was like, hey, for my birthday, will you rate and review the show? And that was like the ad spot, quote, unquote. And then for next month, I think everyone is about my newsletter. So it was like, hey, I just started a newsletter. Do you want to subscribe? Here's how you do it. So it wasn't even really Olive and June, any of those other ones, which typically it has been. But I've used it kind of to promote the stuff that I either making or will help me specifically instead of pushing like someone else's stuff. I plan on probably going back to pushing other people's stuff once I'm done, like talking about my newsletter regularly and that kind of thing. But I feel like the partners would be nice to have it be eventually creating more money. But the ad spot is almost more so to push people, my listeners, toward other things that I'm making that can make me money, like my newsletter, or if I ever decide to make something else, then I can talk to them about it in the newsletter, that kind of thing. So I guess in a way, I hope my partners will make me money sometime. But at the same time, I feel like that ad spot is almost talk about me more in a different way. I guess.

I think at the end of the day, you're going to find like most boss casters do, and I mean, we have large numbers of statistics on this, that at the end of the day, you will make more money off of your own stuff than you will off of affiliate partnerships with others. Like, it just very rare that you get up to the number of listens, the number of the value, where it's really worth advertising to your audience for something else. It's just going to happen that way. So, thinking about alternative futures and ideas, though, you were saying that you wanted to hit to this catalog of 50 episodes. Did you have a plan for what you were going to do when you hit that?

This might sound kind of silly, but my plan was when I hit 50, was probably just to start doing two episodes a week instead of just one so that my catalog would build faster. So it was like, I got 50 under my belt. Now I've done this, and now I should be able to do it a little bit faster so I can get more under. I think I'll have a. That's really touching.

So often I hear it be the opposite. Right.

Oh, really?

I think that's really. Yeah. Where they'll say, I'll do two episodes for the first year and like really try to cram them in, which this stresses them out. I mean, I see it. It overwhelms them. And you did it in reverse, which I think is so smart because now you're like, no, I got this. I got a system down and I love it. And it's getting good response and it's worth doing more of. So I can now stat. And that's actually as you go longer and you've got more episodes under your belt and more listeners. When you do two a week, you're now getting more listens.

Right.

More plays. Right. You're magnifying your plays at a time at which it's more valuable because you already have more at that stage. Well, there you go.

Yeah.

So really smart. I love it.

So now I want to talk a little bit about the technical process of your show. So when you're playing a clip, are they providing the clip? Are you getting permissions? Like, are you doing some of the logistical things through your calendly form? That is saying, if you've got a trailer, give that to me and I have permission to reshare that or re edit that into my show?

Sure. Okay. So one of the partners you talked about was creative contracts, so I worked with her to get my contracts. I have one contract that is if the host is going to be on and one contract for. If I'm using a clip and I just have them sign it via. I think it's PandaDoc. And usually I'll just find the clip and then I'll send it to them and say, hey, I usually just do all of the heavy lifting and I'll make the whole episode with the clip in it and be like, hey, this is what it's going to sound like. You good with this? If you are, here's the thing to sign. Because those episodes are really easy to make for the most part. Because I don't have.

So those should be your second episodes all of next year.

Exactly. Ooh, I'm gonna have to write that down. Yeah.

So interview one as shorter and then the trailer ones will be more. I mean, I really think you could have a whole system for that that makes them supply it to you.

That's true. I could. I feel like I have to get a little bit bigger. More people have to want to be on my show first. I feel like not too many people know about me.

I know about that. Everybody wants to be discovered. And it doesn't matter how many places we are.

Right.

Like, I really think there's a place for that.

So that's true. Well, anyone out there, if you want to be on my show, just email me.

But we're going to have links to how to get in touch with Andy in the blog post for this episode@the bingefactor.com so you will be able to find out exactly how to reach out to her to tell her you would like to be on the Friends podcast.

Yes, I would love it. I just love talking to podcast hosts. Okay, sorry. So I didn't even answer your full question. That's okay. So that's for the. Like, if I do a clip, if I talk to the host right now, I use Calendly to set it up. But I'm a little bit cheap. I'm not gonna lie. And I just. After they sign it up via Calendly, I Don't pay for like the full version. So then they hop on over to my email and I will send them all the information via email, which is like, this is the day, this is the time. Here's the outline of what the interview is gonna look like and then here's the contract. You can click here to sign online. And here's the zoom link. So I do that via email. I feel like eventually when I am starting to get overwhelmed, calendly will be worth the investment.

I think that version's only like 10 bucks a month. So like really that says the notification. So yeah, you may want to do it sooner rather than later where.

Yeah, ten bucks.

Sends the follow up emails for you, sends the zoom link for you. You don't have to do much.

So yeah, that does sound nice. I'm going to have to look into that too. I'm writing it down.

I love it. We can do this. The one thing that occurred to me though that you might have to do at a certain point in time, and you may not even realize it yet because you've only been recording this year so far, is that you're gonna find that shows pod fade so they stop recording. And are you gonna leave them in your catalog? Are you gonna segregate them? What are you gonna do about that? That's a kind of. Have you thought that through at any point? I mean, it's one thing if someone's doing like a serial style murder mystery show and it's only has a season, like that's different than a show that just drops off and truly pod fades and you don't know where the host went and it's over. And like, do you really want to keep it in your catalog? Like you have to think about that because I had to think about that. This has happened because we put everybody in the binge factor here. They go into our evergreen social promotion. After a while, I had to realize that I had to start creating a system where my social team checks to see if they're still posting before they get posted out in the social media ever. So we pull them out of the evergreen. So it's not that we pull them out of the catalog because I think whatever they said on the show was probably useful information. But why promote an episode that of someone who's no longer podcasting? So that's how we looked at it.

Like you were saying, I feel like if it's a storytelling podcast, I don't think I'll ever get rid of it. Like a short series. I probably will leave Those in. Because even on Apple podcasts it'll say inactive or whatever. But the other inactive, it was a short podcast. So I feel like I've run into a couple of podcasts where I've listened to them for a long time and then they've dropped off the map and then they've like stopped like they've stopped paying Libsyn or Buzzsprout or whatever. And so their podcast is literally just gone.

Yeah. Yeah.

I feel like in that case I would probably get rid of it because like, if you can't find it, then why would I still have it on the show?

Right.

I don't know how I would check that. That is a very good question.

Yeah. Figure out it's a manual process. Let me tell you, I haven't figured out a really great way either. I mean, on our back end system because we have a full database and we have a new program coming out called Pod Lister that in Pod Lister we'll be able to like put out a report, but I'd have to almost like flag everyone who'd been on my show in order to get a report of those. People like it have to be filtered. So I'm thinking about ways at which to do it, because it does. I think there is a place for shows like yours and mine where we might want that information and could we get it someplace quickly?

Seriously, if you figure it out, let me know because.

This is why I.

Love doing this show. Because we're like, let's brainstorm some new things that the podcast world needs. Like, it's going to give me ideas. I know, but it is some things that happen when you do a show you don't really realize until some point in the future and someone says, hey, all the links to the show's broken. You're like, oh, Pod fitting. I hadn't occurred to me.

Seriously. Yeah, no, I wouldn't have thought about that. Truly. That is another thing. I usually don't talk about shows that are inactive because if you're not putting out new content, then you probably don't care enough to talk about it on my show. So I usually don't reach out to them unless it's like a short series or something. Then they're like, oh, yeah, I'll talk about it. I'm not putting new episodes out, but.

So I'm going to share a tip to Andy that I just heard from someone that companies like iHeart and other places like that produce a lot of these series style shows when they know a show is about to get canceled or they know that it's ending, they put out four times as many press releases as they do before beforehand. And so if you're getting like a lot of press releases or a lot of press, push on a show, push back, and then really ask, is this its last season or not? Because you may find out that's what they're doing. They're trying to recoup their costs is what the production model is. And you're like, I'd want to know that ahead of time. Are you coming back or not?

Totally.

So it's a total vetting question I'd ask on those type of seasonal shows, definitely.

Okay. I'm writing that down too.

I love it. Well, one of the things I want to point out. Do you have a creative background? Graphic design? A little creative background, yeah.

Well, I was a radio producer back before I had kids, so I edited audio pretty much. I was kind of like doing a podcast, but live radio instead.

So you already had experience over there, so you have that sort of sense of it. And I think it shows because I love the way the music is mixed in with your show and the way it kind of flows into the trailer pieces when you use them. I would have pegged if I had not heard that about you already and known that, and I wanted you to tell everybody that. But if I hadn't have known that, I would have said, oh, my gosh, she's using an editor because it's pro enough. Right. I think that makes a big difference. I do. I mean, especially when you have a short format show. The professionalism of it, it's packed in there. I know I'm going to get a good show. Your sound is great. Like all of that works for you. So I think it's worth the effort that you're putting in on that end is really making a difference. But I also think creatively on the graphics side of things, your episode art, fantastic.

Oh, wow. Thank you.

Yeah. Because I love the way your logo is just sort of overlaid over the COVID art of the show. So you're really featuring and highlighting the show that's there. But yours is still an ingredient in that in a really nice way. I think that really works for you and for who's gonna promote it out. So it makes me more likely to share your graphic image of me being on your show than just sharing any other type of post. Right? It makes me more likely to share it because you're not overpowering mine. But it's also. It has an endorsement look to it.

Totally. That was the hope. Also, because it's a podcast about podcasts, I wanted to try and make it not confusing because I feel like if I just had their podcast art, then they'd be like, is this their podcast or my, like, her podcast? Like, who's. So that's kind of how that came to be. Was trying to be like, this is my podcast about their podcast. So here's my logo, here's their cover art.

But this is where I can tell. And most people are like, how do you tell? Like, it's like voodoo magic or something. I don't know. I'm reading the Magic Ball. But no, it's not. It's simply these type of things. I can tell that you were a podcast listener before you started podcasting or that you had some kind of broadcast experience, because you're checking out how you look on the app and you're seeing that. How that views and when it's the same thing again and again, and it's just the friendly podcast logo and it's not the episode art being used. It's not as nice. And so on your website, it looks really good that way. You're seeing it in your player. You're reviewing it. We're such visual people. We really glance at something when we just see a headline. We think, oh, we've seen it Reddit before. So that visual reinforcement is kind of important.

I agree. I do feel like maybe one day I'll make it a little bit prettier my show art. But because one of my brothers is a graphic designer, so we could probably, like, update this. And I was like, you know what? It works for me right now. And it gets the message across. And he's like, okay, let me know when you're ready. And I'm like, I will, but not right now.

Here's the thing. Unless he's really good at designing episode art and or podcast art, right? He has the experience. And I've had amazing graphic designers who come and, like, show me, like, did you even look at it on the app? Because it's only about, like, a half inch big, and I can't read what you did. It's beautiful when I blow it up and I look at the whole thing, but I can't see see it on the app, and it's not serving you, even though you spend all this time, energy, money on it. So, hey, we should take graphic designers when we have them and at our access. I love creatives, right? Like, it's one of my favorite things. I love them, but if they don't have experience there and we're not good at checking that, it can go all kinds of wrong.

That is very true. So I'm going to stick with it until I find something that's better. Which you're telling me might be harder than he's telling me because it's true. He doesn't usually do podcast art.

Right, Exactly. So you just don't know what that looks like until you're there, and you want to make sure that's the case. So what I did notice is that it's like that on your website, but you're not using the episode art in all the apps, and that means that it's just simply in your host feed. You're not using that. And so you're creating it, but you're not utilizing it in the podcast feed itself. So, in other words, depending on where you're hosting. So Apoditize, which is my company. Right. There's a space for you to put your episode art, and when you put something there, it's going to automatically show in the feed. So if you're looking at the binge factor right now, all of you who are listening to the binge factor, you're seeing this because you're seeing the specific art we created for Andy's episode here. You're seeing that happen right now. But in Andy's show, you see her main cover art default in every episode as you go through it. Even though she's creating it and it's on the players on her website, you have the ability to use them in every podcast company that you will host with, but you have to know to put it in the space for the episode art.

That's funny, because I did put it in the space, so I'm going to have to talk to them and figure it out.

Yeah, you're going to want to check it out because it's not appearing everywhere. So it may not be in the right space. Totally. Some apps do it and some apps don't. So it may be appearing. Right. You're on Overcast, which is a little bit different, but I'm looking at Google Podcasts and Spotify, and it's not there. I don't have Apple, so I should say don't have Apple. I didn't look at your show on Apple. I don't have an Apple device. That's fine anyway. But that's.

I'm gonna have to look.

Yeah. So even if you're doing it right and you're doing all that work, it may not be happening for you on some of the apps. And that simply could be. It's just not in quite the right place in the links that you're utilizing so totally.

Well, I'm gonna have to fix that.

Got it. And you created it, so you. Seriously, I love it. Well, what's next for you? Like, what kind of shows are you listening to right now? Like, now that you've been doing this show, do you have any time to listen to shows?

Right. That is the question. I feel like this might sound silly, but one of my favorite places to listen to music is working out. Not music. Podcasts is working out instead of music. Because then I can just get into it and then I usually forget I'm working out. One podcast I just started is called Partition, and it's about Pakistan was separated from India. I didn't even know that they were both the same country, and I felt really ridiculous when I learned that. But that one's been very fascinating. That one is not kid ear friendly, though. Sad stuff in that one, but very fascinating. And then my go to podcast is Always the Lazy Genius.

I love that title.

Isn't it so great?

It's so good.

But yeah, she's been podcasting for quite some time, I think. I've been listening to her for at least three years, maybe longer. She's a mom, and her tagline is be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. And I just love it. I just like the way that she talks and the way that she solves problems. I feel like she solves my problem almost every week. So.

Been on your show yet?

No. She's real big, so I feel like I have to work up to that one. And also I have a lot of people in the queue right now, and so I don't want to be like, hey, can we talk right now? And then your show will come out in four months, so we'll have to see. Okay.

Eventually, we'll tag team her. How about that? I'll try to get her, and then I'll tell her that the only reason I put her on my show is because you recommended her. And then she'll have to go on your show. Right. We'll tag teams.

I absolutely love that. That would be so fun.

My friend Juliet Clark, who has the show Promote Profit Publish, which is for authors, and we tag team Mike Michalowicz. So she got me to his publicist and I got them on my show first and then sent them to her show, so we made it happen. And so we did just that. So I know we can do it.

Yes. Oh, well, she's a fabulous human, but I feel like my podcast is still pretty small, so she'd be like, I don't have time for you. Sorry. But maybe if you told me first, you're like, hey, she's so great.

Well, and not just that, but because she got noticed by me because of you. She owes you.

Right.

Reciprocal.

We got the law of reciprocity has to kick in here, so she may just love that, right?

Oh, my gosh, yes. Well, she has helped me a lot, so. And I think she could help pretty much anyone, so.

So I gotta ask this. What do your kids think about you being a podcaster?

Oh, they love it.

Do you play it? Sometimes.

And then they hear you? Sometimes. Truly, I just got to interview Mr. Jim from the Kids Short Stories podcast, which sounds. Most people don't know who that is, but he is a celebrity at our house because my kids love kid podcasts. And so when I got to interview him, he has three shows. I got to interview him about all of his shows. My little boy was over the moon, excited that he got to meet Mr. Jim via the Internet. And he was just like, this is the best thing of all time. So that has definitely been a highlight of doing a podcast. I got to be super cool because I he got to meet one of his heroes.

So my kids are 9 and 13, as I told you before, and it wasn't until my 9 year old realized that I was on YouTube that it counted. She could care less about the podcast, but when she realized I was actually on YouTube because this is a video podcast as well, and she was like, sure, wow, Mom's cooler than I thought. Like, it got to be a bigger deal. But that was it then. Then she listened to like five minutes of the show and she was like, oh, that's really.

That is a bummer of being a parent. We're usually pretty boring.

That's right. I love it. Well, kid podcast, I want to quickly talk about that. I don't think there's enough out there. What do you think?

I feel like, truly, there are so many more coming out and I feel like I've been learning about more of them. There's a cool app. Dang it. They just reached out to me and I don't remember their name, but a specific app that like, helps you find kid podcasts that I thought was super cool. Maybe we'll put it in the show notes or something. I can email it to you if I Remember? But I feel like kid podcasts are such a beautiful thing. I feel like they are screenless. I can turn one on in the car and my kids are silent almost immediately. And they're using their brains to imagine but not like watching a screen to do it. So I feel like if you want to make a kid podcast out there, anyone, please do so because there is a void. Well, I guess make a good one though, please. That would make a good one.

Yeah. We had a podcaster who was doing like kid dad jokes and so they were doing it together and I thought it was really brilliant because they were having fun, like totally together. I love that idea of if you're gonna do a kid podcast and have some fun and connect with your kids too in the process.

Totally. My kids definitely wanna start a podcast because I have one. They're like, I want a podcast. I'm like, well let me get this one like off the ground first and then we'll figure one out for you. But they would die if they had their own podcast. So eventually we're hoping to make a kid podcast, but it probably won't be for at least a year.

Take your time, figure it out. Get em a little bit older, right?

Seriously? Yeah. The three year old would be interesting.

On a mic that the kids do because mine, I mean we started our first podcast when mine was a baby too. So they've grown up on the mic that they do like to do it. And on various occasions I would interview one of my daughters when it was related to something about the show. And they were great. Like they really were chatty and much more animated than I expected. And I was like, wow, you've been learning something by osmosis here. So you don't know what they're learning from you.

I love it, I love that.

Yeah, that would be really fun. Well, I think do agree with you. And we actually decided to put in a program for more of like the teenage podcasters, not really young age ones, but we decided to put a program in at our company Potatise where it gives them this student model where they can use everything within our system for a very low cost per month so that they can partake in our coachings and our teachings and all of our resources and use everything within the system. But then we also put in place practices that make parents more comfortable. So some practices about like we don't put kids last names on our show unless the parents agree to it or they want to do it. So it's always first name, initial.

Sure.

And it's by default those things go into place so it's a little bit more controlled. And then of course, as you hit 18, you can make your own choices and do what you want.

You are an adult.

Yeah, you're an adult. But we let them go on through college at that lower price because we want them to continue to do it because it's good career building and whatever else they might want to do with it.

Well, I've learned so much making a podcast. I bet as a kid or teen it just helps you learn so many skills that you don't really think about when you think podcast. But like you're learning website building and you're learning how to articulate what you're thinking and feeling like. That's awesome. I love that.

So I had Ben Wong on the show is like the Young Entrepreneurs podcast and it's the youngpreneur or something like that. Anyway, he had like three shows actually. We'll have to connect him up and have him on your show because he was really great.

I seriously loved it. I would love to be connected with him.

We will make that happen. See, look at this. Synergies of getting to know each other, networking through the podcasting space and creating review shows. Look at all the connections and points we can make for each other. I love.

Seriously, it's the best.

Well, wonderful. Andy, I'm so glad you came on the show and I am kind of disappointed your kids didn't interrupt. Like it would have been really worth it to see them pop on.

Let's be real. They're.

And you're really glad though you got some time alone though? Yes.

I feel like. Yeah, bless their hearts. They like to try and make an appearance on every interview I ever do.

Well, thanks for taking your love of podcast all the way through to your own podcast. It's a great show, a friendly podcast show. Love, love it. Andy Smiley, thank you for being here.

Thank you.

I loved how she calls herself a lazy genius. Like it just cracks me up that idea that in your laziness you discover amazing things. I don't think she's lazy at. Like there is so much thought and screening process and working through this that comes from being long time podcast listener. I can always hear a distinct difference between a show that is done by a longtime podcast listener or fan of podcasts versus someone who's just, oh, I should podcast. So I'm going to try this media type and they've never really listened, don't really know much about it and it's so interesting because When I started my first one, that's who my partner and husband, Tom, he was not a podcast listener. I was. And there was this distinct difference in sort of conversations we would have about the choices we were making in starting our show. So keep that in mind that if you think you'd like to start a show, maybe take a listen to some and if you're thinking about starting a show that's for moms for kids or anything in that sort of genre, then you better check out Andy Smiley, because you're going to be able to check out some of the best shows out there that you'd be competing against. So go check out the friendly podcast show. Meet Andy Smiley on every show. She's just amazing in her passion for podcasting and for this particular area of bringing out these types of shows. And if you're in one of these genres, like where you're doing shows for kids, you're doing shows for moms, other things like that, go check this out and ask to be on her show. I think not enough podcasters are out there reaching out to her, and it's a shame they should. So all of you out there, if you've fallen that genre, go ahead, reach out to Andy Smiley. Go find the friendly podcast show and listen to it before you ask her and before you ask to be on our show. So everyone, thanks so much for listening. Make sure to check out the bingefactor.com so you can find all these episodes, including Andy's, and find how to connect with her directly. Thanks everyone for listening. I'll be back next time with another successful podcaster for you to learn from.

You've been listening to the Binge Factor Podcast.

For more information on podcasting and videocasting success tips and tactics, please go to thebingefactor.com and be sure to listen to our other show for podcasters called Feed you'd Brand. If you'd like to be interviewed on this show as well as featured in Tracy's column, please go to thebingefactor.com guest and apply.

Sam.