Decisions

Deciding on a business idea from scratch i find, is no easy feat, especially when it’s a work from home idea.....

I’ve been interested in working radio. Been dabbling in community radio over the years and internet radio as well. Both have provided me with a lot of joy in learning a passion I have followed, alongside a bit of tertiary education (not much) just a bit.....but, then I thought, is this where I really want to go or am I still to remain passionate about these forms of broadcasting or should I look at podcasting?

Podcasting, to put it short, is audio on demand when you want it...in your own time. It is this form of broadcasting, I am sure I can turn into a successful work from home business. How do I go about it? I hear you say. How do I generate an income? (Fair point) Will people want to listen to my weekly, possibly daily podcast? How do get the word out there that this exists? What do I want my podcast to be about?

The above points are all valid and and may be challenging as I embark on this new found journey. So, where to start? Im lucky in the sense I was able to source equipment gradually over the space of at least 18 months, a professional microphone and boom microphone stand, a mini audio control deck, a sound card, i already have the computer, so no issues there....

Coming up with and developing an idea to podcast about....I have just thought I’d this...but, 1st to familiarise myself with this form of broadcasting, what purpose does a podcast achieve? So I set it about myself to listen to as many podcasts as possible to learn about a purpose for a podcast...after about 6 months of listening to various podcasting, I was resigned to the fact, a podcast serves the purpose to “tell a story.”

What was a topic I feel I can tell a weekly and eventual story about? It’s here my “lightbulb moment” happened. I live in a district called, Gippsland. The area, is in Victoria which is in south eastern part of Australia. The district covers from Mallacoota near the New South Wales border to around 400 kilometres to the border of Melbourne. There are a lot of lovely areas in the Gippsland district, especially when you look at the coast line of some of beaches we are near to well kept small communities that mean a lot to local residents.

With the fact I had come with the purpose of a podcast is to “tell a story” I have made up mind that Gippsland, as large as it is, with many towns and rural communities that associate to form this coastal fringe land mass here in Victoria in Australia would be the ideal to tell a story about when it comes to place and people of interest or, as I have a limited but sound understanding standing of Journalism, i can include news that affects the various gippsland regions, it is here that I need to be prepared to work with and not against various news and media outlets and invite their contributions and form contacts to help me compile each edition of the podcast. I need to invite individuals and communities to want to contribute, so it would promote what was happening around he region.

The idea of this podcast about Gippsland is starting to excite me a little due to the fact, promoting he region after last year which was a horrible year not only in Australia but around the world as we look at the devastating impacts of covid 19 when it comes job losses and business closures, not to mention, the tragic deaths from this virus. Plus here in gippsland at the start of last year, devastation caused by bushfire. The area of East gippsland starts to pull themselves out of the destruction of fire then give it barely 2 months....and in comes coronavirus.....need I say more? So, the chance to promote this wonderful gippsland region in the way it truly deserves to be promoted excites me, as I said earlier, plus could help put confidence into many areas affected by both bushfire and coronavirus.

To generate an income would be important....it is here I would hope that there are strong enough businesses willing to sponsor this podcast, once I get the listener base up there because, it is from research, sponsorship from a podcast is charged at 1000 clicks per minute (Cpm for short). So, the question I ask myself now? Is, will people want to go into their favourite podcasting platform and listen? From limited discussion i have had, the interest is there.

So, the interest is there....I have the concept well thought of....i have the equipment sorted in this form of working from home i wish to pursue, as to how successful? How much it will grow? Time to find out and get this happening...this may give an idea to other communities and places throughout Australia and the whole world as we reflect on how to recover socially and economically, after the year that was around the world.