Celebrating 100 Episodes!! Looking back at the top episodes and contest announcement!

[00:00:00] Alison: 100 episodes. Oh my gosh. I truly couldn't imagine making it to this point when I started the podcast two years ago. Did you know that over 75 percent of all podcasters discontinue their show within 12 months of starting? 90%! of podcasts don't get past episode 3. Of the remaining 10%, 90 percent don't make it past episode 20.

[00:00:31] Alison: So, if you get past episode 21, you are in the top 1 percent of episode producers. So, yay me! I just wanted, I just wanted to say, that every single download matters to me. Every subscriber, every person that takes the time out to send me an email or an Instagram message. I am truly so grateful for you.

[00:00:57] Alison: Those messages helped me get through the periods of doubt and uncertainty because it is. There 100 percent there and you know, like I say all the time military life is often lonely and isolating and so is podcasting A lot of the time it's literally Me, myself, and I here researching, recording, editing, all the things in my office, at my desk, in front of a computer.

[00:01:24] Alison: That's it. Not super exciting. So, you know, it's easy to think, does it even matter? Is anyone really listening? Obviously, I know you're listening because there's downloads every week. But, you know, and it just, and it inevitably seems like, whenever I'm at a low point or just like, you know, should I keep doing this?

[00:01:43] Alison: I will get a message or an email telling me how much you enjoy the show and it just really gives me that mojo to help keep going because you know, I'm, I'm going to be straight up honest with you. It's hard. It is truly a labor of love and I continue to do it because of those messages saying. that it's resonating and thanking me for the content and telling me that you're listening.

[00:02:06] Alison: So I thought for today that I would pull back the curtain a little bit on the production side of the show. What goes into each episode from start to finish. Then I'm going to share with you the top 10 episodes of the show from, this is episode 100, what are the top 10, and then we'll take a little trip down memory lane and talk about episode number one, which was not my finest editing moment.

[00:02:29] Alison: Now everybody's going to go back and listen to it. The downloads are going to triple on that one. Um, and then finally. ending with a special giveaway contest to earn some cool swag from Woman and Warrior Co. So, all right, let's take a trip down memory lane to start. Episode number one was titled, Who Do You Think You Are?

[00:02:50] Alison: It was an, really just an introduction episode, you know, telling you guys a little bit about me. Why I started the show in the first place, what to expect in terms of episodes. And I think that it went pretty well, mostly, right? Um, it was a little awkward getting started. Okay, I'm sitting here and I'm just going to talk into my phone and okay, well, you know, it's a little, it's you're out of your comfort zone big time, right?

[00:03:14] Alison: , the problems with episode one came in the editing process and you know, I was Brand spanking new to podcasting, recording, sound editing, all of the things. I use a software called Descript for editing, which I really like because it translates everything to words. So then I'm editing a transcript of words, vice sound waves, which is like audacity and some of the other ones, that are, you know, , audio.

[00:03:41] Alison: editing software are that you are manipulating the sound waves and my brain was like, say what now? So the downside though to using Descript is that when I would remove a word that I didn't like, it ended up removing other pieces of words. So then when I'm going back and listening to it, it would cut off like a part of another word.

[00:04:07] Alison: And it didn't make sense. So then I was trying to like dub in the missing words and it just, it just sounds wonky. But at the time I was like, I cannot spend any, I spent hours, hours and hours and hours on editing that first episode and I just could not get it. And I was like, you know what? Screw it. Do it messy.

[00:04:29] Alison: That was the podcast course that I took when I launched the, um, when I launched the show that she was like, you, you just got to do it messy. If you try to make it perfect, you're never going to put anything out. Just do it messy. And so that was very messy. It was very messy. But you know, live and learn and it has gotten better.

[00:04:48] Alison: I still every once in a while, sometimes it's, I really try hard to have high quality audio because this is an audio platform, right? Podcasting is an audio platform. So if you've got really crappy sounding. Um, that's not enjoyable to listen to. So, uh, there's only been a couple that I have put out where the sound is not great.

[00:05:06] Alison: And unfortunately those are usually interviews and it sounds fine when I'm recording it. And then I listened back to it and I'm like, Oh man, that sounds bad. But then it's like, you know, then you got to go through, how do you rerecord? You know, cause like I, all of the conversations that I have for, for with people are, They're just off the cuff.

[00:05:24] Alison: Like we're just having a conversation and we're recording it for you. You know, so it's very natural and organic and so It's very challenging in my brain to go back and have that like initial conversation with someone again So I don't I haven't rerecorded any of those episodes. There's a couple that didn't sound awesome, but I'm trying really hard now in, , when I am recording, especially when I'm recording with other people that I'm really careful to make sure that everything sounds good before we get going so that, , hopefully we can avoid some of that stuff.

[00:05:57] Alison: So let's take a quick walk through What goes into making an episode from conception to release? So I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna get super into the weeds and put you to sleep, but just kind of a, you know, this is what it takes. This is what it looks like because, you know, maybe you're like, Hey, I think it'd be really cool to have my own podcast.

[00:06:17] Alison: And, , I'm just going to kind of, , peel back the curtain a little bit and let you know what the process looks like and what the process looks like for me, because it's going to be different with everybody. But I first start off with a calendar so that I can plan out the episode. So, you know, what is happening during that time?

[00:06:34] Alison: Are there any big holidays or military celebration days or awareness months that I can kind of plan content around? Like in November, I like to do the holiday series promoting Mill Spouse Businesses. to, you know, encourage you guys to shop small. And then during the month of May, it's Military Appreciation Month and Middle Spouse Appreciation Day.

[00:06:51] Alison: So, you know, have topics around those subjects. So, I'm a pen to paper girl. So, I literally take a notebook. I have got a notebook that stays on my desk all the time. And I literally write out every Monday of the month. So, then I can visually lay it out for myself. And what, so I lay out on the Mondays because that's the day that new episodes are dropped.

[00:07:13] Alison: And then I look at what is happening and then plan out the content like that. So sometimes that means that I am doing a solo episode or I'm talking to a fellow military spouse. If it's a solo episode, that requires, , researching outline of the episode. And that process honestly has gotten a lot, a lot faster, much faster than it was.

[00:07:35] Alison: But I have spent upwards of four hours planning an episode before, which is banana. So now I try to be just more. More me. You just get me. , when I'm interviewing someone else, it's an initial reach out via email or Instagram, typically, and then lots of messaging back and forth. So that takes time about, , the topic.

[00:07:56] Alison: What do we want to talk about? What to expect? And then actually scheduling the interview. I record all of my interviews on Zoom because I like to be able to see who I'm talking to. , and then there's the actual time that it takes to conduct the interview, which is typically about an hour to an hour and a half.

[00:08:10] Alison: It depends. A lot of times I try to keep the episodes around the 30 ish minute mark because I feel like that's doable for a lot of people. Hey, I got to drive to this place or I'm going to go walk the dog or whatever. 30 minutes is kind of a nice window to get into. A lot of times the interviews when I'm talking to other people go longer just because there's other things to talk about which I think are interesting and I hope you guys think are interesting too.

[00:08:33] Alison: So they tend to go a little bit longer and then inevitably I record, I start talking to the person initially for however long and then record the episode and then usually talk to them a little bit longer afterwards. So for me it's, you know, typically in the hour and a half ish range. If I record a solo episode, I literally open the voice memo app on my iPhone and I record.

[00:08:56] Alison: That's it. So after I have the recording, then I load it into a program called Descript to edit. I try really hard, and this is again something that has come with time, to not be too picky and leave a lot of the conversation and talking as it is. I do remove most of the ums and uhs because no one wants to hear all those and it's really, you would be surprised how many times most of us use um and uh or like.

[00:09:24] Alison: It's been pretty eye opening, honestly. So, after I've edited into script, I load it into my podcast hosting platform. I use Buzzsprout. They have, , a cool feature that they just released within the last like six months, I believe, called dynamic content, which allows me to preload. The intro and the outro of the show.

[00:09:43] Alison: It automatically puts that at the beginning and the end of whatever I load into the thing. I used to manually add in the intro and the outro in GarageBand and then load it into Buzzsprout so that the full episode was in there. So I was able to eliminate a couple of steps when that dynamic content option came open, which is pretty cool.

[00:10:03] Alison: So then after everything is all set up and good to go, I try to talk about the show on Instagram to help spread the word. But, overall I would say it takes anywhere from one to four hours from start to finish to put out an episode. I would say probably on average two. And it all costs money. Ha ha ha.

[00:10:21] Alison: So I bought a microphone when I first started, which are not cheap. There's a monthly charge for the editing software. There's a monthly charge for the podcast hosting platform. There's a monthly charge for zoom for website hosting, email manager. It adds up. So it's about 70 a month, I would say. And it would be more if I outsource more.

[00:10:41] Alison: So a lot of people have their editing. and website things outsourced. And I do all of it myself because I'm trying to keep it as low cost as possible because it's my money. And then it's, you know, hours of my time every week, which, , we know that, , time is our most precious commodity. So that being said, a great way to support the show is to subscribe.

[00:11:02] Alison: It allows you to make a one time or monthly donation to help keep the show going. And there is a link in the show notes for that. All right, moving on. So let's talk about the top 10 all time episodes. What was really interesting to me about this is that 8 out of the 10 episodes are solo episodes. It's just me.

[00:11:25] Alison: chit chatting with you. It's not an interview. I didn't expect that. I really, because one of my favorite parts of the show is talking to other military spouses, you know, their experience, what have you been, blah, blah, blah. But yeah, the numbers are there and you guys seem to prefer solo episodes. So here we go.

[00:11:42] Alison: Episode. Okay. So, so I'm going to start from episode 10 and then go to the number one downloaded episode. Okay. So number 10 was episode number 82 and the title was help. My significant other is deploying or being sent unaccompanied for a year, and I'm afraid they're going to cheat. I feel like that one, and once I name, give you guys some of the other episodes, I think that there's a lot of really specific things and big topics or themes that mill spouses tend to be searching for and looking for and seeking help or advice on and I think I've touched on a bunch of those and that's why those episodes are downloaded a lot and I think again, you know, not every, I don't, you know, for those of you guys that are new military spouses.

[00:12:29] Alison: Cheating is not in every military marriage. So every relationship is different and every relationship is different. So you can't just go into it assuming that your significant other is going to cheat on you because that's not necessarily the case. It does happen a lot and it makes sense. Right? It makes sense because we're separated a lot and we're put under a lot of pressure.

[00:12:51] Alison: And especially if you're a significant assent somewhere where they're in a small unit, you're, you're missing your friend, your family, your, there's the tensions are high and you are in close proximity. I mean, if you've read the romance novels, you know. That's a key theme, you know, forced proximity. So it, it makes a lot of sense in the lifestyle that we lead, but it doesn't necessarily mean that your significant other is going to cheat.

[00:13:16] Alison: But that was, that one obviously resonated with a lot of people. Episode number, or I'm sorry, the number nine was episode number 79, which was Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself. And that was, It was about last, no, it was, it was in July of 2023. , I think I had taken a little bit of a break over the summer. , and so I thought, you know, I've been doing this for a while.

[00:13:41] Alison: Maybe I should, , pop in and just reintroduce myself. So I basically gave, , who I am and why I started the show and all that other stuff. So there was that one. Number eight was episode number 63. And that was Millspouse careers that are remote, flexible, not an MLM or scam with the work from home Millspo and Marine Corps wife, Lauren.

[00:14:03] Alison: I think, again, I think that one is, is, , popular because A lot of us are looking for remote and flexible jobs, right? We want, we want something. We need the extra income. A lot of us need the extra income and, but we don't want to do an MLM. We don't want to, we're really looking for, I need something that's remote.

[00:14:20] Alison: I need something that's legit. What can I do? And so I think that that one was why that one was so popular. 7 was episode number 62. Military families serve to the raw and real of solo parenting and overwhelm when your service member is gone. Again, that episode touches on a lot of hot topics for military spouses.

[00:14:42] Alison: We solo parent all the time. We are often overwhelmed, especially when our service member is gone. So that was a that was a Um, a really personal episode, right? I, I share with you guys a lot of what my family is going through and, , experiences that we have had. And obviously, that resonates with you guys.

[00:15:04] Alison: , number six was episode number 81. The best advice I ever received as a new male spouse. Again, I think that's the key words there. , and my best advice was to embrace where you are. Essentially embrace where you are, be a tourist wherever you live, get as much out of the places where you are, even if it might not be your favorite duty station.

[00:15:23] Alison: You can still try to, , get as much out of the area that you are in. . Number five was episode number one. Who do you think you are? And, , I just think it's. It's in the top five. It was like, I feel like it was one of my worst episodes, especially as far as editing is concerned, but, I, , it was an introduction to the podcast.

[00:15:43] Alison: So if people come across the podcast, you go to, I don't know, what do you do if you go to a podcast that you haven't listened to before and they have hundreds of episodes out or, you know, 10 or 20 episodes out, where do you start? Do you start at the latest one or do you go all the way back to number one and continue to listen through?

[00:15:57] Alison: That's an interesting, I usually dive right in where I am. I don't want to go back because I feel like. Is that content going to be relevant still if it's two years old? I don't, I don't know. But, , anyway, top five was episode number one. And then, , number four was the trailer for the show, which makes sense, right?

[00:16:13] Alison: If you're like, Oh, I don't know. Is this what I want to listen to? What's it going to be about? What exactly is this? That makes sense that that's there. The, , top three. Number three was episode number nine, which was the Five Love Languages Military Edition. And again, I think we, we, a lot of us have heard of the Five Love Languages.

[00:16:32] Alison: Maybe you didn't know that there was a Military Edition. And I think that a lot of us, again, relationships and being close with our significant other, especially in the lifestyle that we lead, is challenging. And I think that we're all looking for a little bit of help. So there's that one. Number two was episode number three.

[00:16:48] Alison: Moving 101, how to prepare for your first military move or PCS like a boss. I really, when I first started the show, wanted desperately to do episodes around moving because I feel like there's so much stress and tension and unknown, , around moving and questions. And so, and I, and we've moved eight times total with the, with the military.

[00:17:14] Alison: And I have gotten it down. I don't want to say to a science, but like I, I, I do it. I execute pretty effectively. So I wanted to share what I've learned and how can you do it as, you know, stress free as possible. Again, it's never going to be stress free because you're moving, but as, as, uh, as stress free as you possibly can.

[00:17:37] Alison: And then episode number. Or the number one downloaded episode is was episode number 60. How to maximize your military benefits using space a travel with pop and smoke creator and retired mill spouse Stephanie. That one, it, yeah, hands down like the most downloaded episode. So coming into this next season here, , I would like to try and have Stephanie come back on and maybe, , dive in a little bit deeper into different parts of space a travel because we kind of, gosh, there's so much to unpack with that.

[00:18:16] Alison: It's a lot. And, , I think a lot of us have questions about it, right? And even still, like, I mean, we had a really long conversation and I'm still like, oh my gosh, it's a, it's, it's a big, it's a big can of worms. So, , I definitely want to bring. her back so that we can, , we can dive into that a little bit more.

[00:18:33] Alison: I again am so floored that it's at a hundred episodes and You know, I'm honestly not looking super far down the road because it gets really overwhelming. Oh my gosh, 52 episodes a year, an episode every single week. It doesn't seem like a lot, but when you add that on to everything here that you have going on, it really is.

[00:18:58] Alison: I think where I'm gonna go For this next season is well number one There's gonna be a lot of moving stuff because that's what my family's going through. We are PCSing in this summer July August time frame to From Colorado back to Washington State. So and we full diddy our move so I'm gonna be sharing that process with you guys and just like in real time so that What just to put a little different spin on on what we're doing.

[00:19:26] Alison: So I did a little check in and At nine months, I'll do another check in here in another month or two. There's really not a lot happening right now. Well, other than stress and my brain going on Zillow, stressing out about what our BAH is and what rentals are. And Oh my gosh, what are we going to do? And.

[00:19:47] Alison: That's pretty much what's happening right now. But anyways, okay. So, closing out, I am doing a contest for the 100th episode. I'm very excited about it. So, what it is going to be is, , there is a link in the show notes to enter for the contest. So, It's the 100th episode giveaway.

[00:20:09] Alison: I'm going to be giving away is the Milso t shirt from Woman and Warrior Co. , It is, I, I love Ashley. She was just on the show not that long ago. , and I love the message that she has in just empowering us to feel Like we're a part of something bigger. I think that's really awesome.

[00:20:27] Alison: So, a t shirt from Woman and Warrior Co. The deadline to enter is going to be January 8th. I'm making the window a couple weeks long because this episode is coming out on Christmas Day. Not sure how many people are going to actually be listening to, , podcasts on Christmas Day. And then the following Monday is New Year's Day.

[00:20:45] Alison: So, we've got, you know, kids are off of school and traveling and family and whatnot. So, I wanted to make it a little bit of a bigger window. So the deadline to enter is January 8th and then the drawing will be on January 9th. . 

[00:20:56] Alison: . Okay. So Monday, January 8th is when it's going to, or. Is when it's going to end. The drawing is going to be on January 9th. So I will email you, , at whatever, cause you just enter your email address to enter. And then I'm going to show the drawing on my Instagram.

[00:21:13] Alison: So if you don't follow me on Instagram, it's at themalespousepodcast. I will be doing the drawing live on, on my Instagram and I will email you immediately and let you know that you won and, , get all of the details on getting you your shirt. And then I will make sure on the Monday, January 15th episode that I put a little pop in at the beginning to let everybody know who won.

[00:21:40] Alison: So you can find out that way as well. Okay. So that is it again. Make sure to, click the link in the show notes below to enter our contest. Okay. Until next time, Merry Christmas.