Hello, and welcome to Tech Talks and Soul Walks with myself, Julie Kubiak. Now in today, this Tech Talks episode, I'm going to be flying solo because I have a few questions that I've been asked by some of the listeners. And I'd just like to take some time out in today's episode to answer those questions. 
 
Strangely enough, the questions are about podcasts. 
How can people start podcasting? What do I use? And how can they make the podcast short little clippettes that I'm doing that I'm uploading onto YouTube and other social media. So that's what this episode is today. And first of all, I'd like to just take you through. 
What it is that I'm using. So. You might be surprised to know that all I'm using is my iPhone and a laptop. I am using a microphone for this episode, only because I find that when I'm just doing a talking head video, the microphone does pick up a lot more. But when I'm doing the, two head podcasts where I'm interviewing somebody, I don't use the microphone. So kit first of all, all you need is you phone. And possibly a laptop. If you wanted to. Now you can actually record a podcast just on your phone. It is just a video. If you want to upload it onto the video sections of, um, podcast players. Or just the audio alone. And your phone will actually just split out the two parts of it. 
And even the podcast providers, the hosting companies, they will just only upload the audio anyway. So you don't really need to worry too much. So getting down to the basics of it. 
If you record your podcast on a phone or on a laptop, what do you do with that file? Well with that file, you need a company called an RSS feed company and there are some big ones out there. I can't really say which ones I would recommend apart from I use rss.com. Now I go for one, which is usually typically well known. 
It's been there for years. Very well structured as a business. And rss.com just worked for me. And some of these allow you a free trial, so you can test them out before you actually go with them. But choose wisely. Um, there were some out there that say in the small print that anything that you upload is actually theirs. 
Um, you've only got a certain limited amount of time where they'll keep your podcasts for, or certain number of episodes. So just be on the lookout for little things like that, because even though you think that you might just want to do a podcast and might only estimate doing six episodes. If like me, I only planned to do six, really as a trial. 
And it's really just become. A lot. I've lost my words. Is blown me away is what I want to say, because I have had some good feedback on it. So. The recording and then you have to upload it onto rss.com. Now. You can take it one step further. 
And obviously with my IT background, I always have to just dive straight in, learn everything about what I'm doing, know the ins and outs, and this next stage could be something that you want to do, but it isn't necessary for a basic podcast, but especially if it's just like a talking head one. But. I researched how I could do podcasts, 
and when I was doing the research last year, I picked on Descript. Descript was the one that was the market leader for me, they ticked all my boxes. But Descript predominantly is sold as. a video editing software for people that wanting to edit the transcription. So that may sound technical. Let me break it down. So when you have a video and you upload it into Descript, a document appears which is the video, the actual visual video part of it. And then on the left, it transcribes everything that has been said. That is voiceovers, that could be if you're talking to somebody else, but what it does is it creates a word type document, word processing document that you can then edit. So if there's lots of ums and ahs, it can go through and it can delete those out. If you decide that you want to remove the first paragraph or the first 10 minutes, you simply highlight it and press delete. 
There is no need to know full on video editing, and this just takes it to a whole different level. Now when doing video podcasts with an interviewee. So somebody, the other end of the phone, let's say. What Descript has now done is they have partnered up with another software business, I think that bought them out and it's called Swod, not Swod, SquadCast! And Squadcast is similar to Zoom and Google Meet. But what it does is it is a specific piece of software for videos and video editing at the end of it. So Squadcast and Descript are now working together. 
It's the same business, basically. So you only pay for one subscription, but you get access to the two different pieces of software. So the video element, when I'm doing the interview with somebody else. Squadcast is where I actually go in and it allows me to send an invitation to that person. I can also check their audio quality. 
I can change the settings on their phone. So if they've set it to like 4K, don't really need that for a podcast. I can amend those settings there. But the beauty of it is, once it's downloaded from each of the devices, so my device and their device. It uploads it onto the cloud. Um, so on to a server somewhere. And then I can download it. 
I can edit it and do with it, whatever I so wish. Another thing with Descript is that you can highlight text and you can create a mini document from it, or as Descript call it a Composition. So I can create my YouTube Shorts from it. So when I go through the, like the word processing side of it, I go down and I see a chunk of texts that is in there that makes sense, that I could make into just a short form piece of content. Highlight it, create new composition, and there's my YouTube Short that's already created. Descript also, because obviously it has transcribed everything that you have said, it makes it so much easier to put captions on it. And just with one click, you've got captions straight away onto the document. So without going into it, this is not obviously a training session. 
This is just saying what I use. But you can start to see that Descript has taken my podcast to a whole new level with the Shorts and the subtitles or captions, and then it just means that I can switch it from horizontal to vertical And there's a whole load of Shorts straight away from it. Now, apart from using the mobile phone, whichever one you want to use and or using Descript, the only other thing that I use is a microphone. And today I have got a microphone in here only because I use the DJI mic, if I'm doing solo video recording. When I do an interview video, there is no need for me to use the microphone. Believe it or not. It just uses my phone's microphone or my laptop's microphone. And that's it. Another reason I do that is because of it hogging my network. And I found that when I was connecting in a wireless microphone, which obviously isn't ideal when doing a podcast. Uh, there was lag and there was, um, glitches in it, 
and I didn't like the quality that it was giving. And the person at the other end of the video kept saying that the noise was, um, off. It wasn't syncing up at their end. So it just made a lot more sense to literally use my phone, use my laptop, and use the microphones within them while recording the podcast. You
Now, the next thing that people have been asking me is how do I actually create the YouTube shorts and distribute them. And as I've already said, Descript has helped me to do that because it allows you to create new compositions from what you've actually recorded, into like a little bite size, manageable chunks. And once I've saved them, downloaded them onto my phone or my computer, I can then upload them onto anywhere. So I could upload them onto YouTube. 
I could upload it onto TikTok. I could even upload it onto Instagram and create a Reel if I wanted to. So the beauty of it is that it is your piece of content. You can then brand it how you would want to, and then upload it, schedule it as and when you feel fit to do that. 
So with everybody asking me all these questions, it was going to be hard to even do a video, to explain everything. 
So I know I said I'd never do it, but all the notes that I've made on what I do every time I record a podcast, I am putting them into a course and it will be an online course that will be available. At the moment, I'm still just trying to get the layout of it right. It is already written, so to speak because they're my notes. But obviously my notes aren't going to make any sense to somebody that has never used Descript or never thought about creating a podcast. So. Predominantly the course will be from literally startup if they are wanting to start a podcast, all the way through to bits and pieces about how you can tweak certain things like doing a branding on your short compositions on Descript. So all that is coming soon. 
So please bear with me while I'm doing it. I do have a critical illness. That is my disclosure here. I am ill, I haven't been great recently, but I am getting better. But just bear with me and I will get those notes into a PDF file so you can actually download and you too could be creating your own podcast. You
One of the courses is how to do just YouTube Shorts. So we're not talking now about if you've recorded a podcast, we're talking now just if you want to get onto YouTube. And a lot of people have been asking me based on the fact that I'm on the YouTube Shorts Partner Program. How can they create YouTube Shorts? Now. It is very simple. And with that course, what it will do is it will talk you through every single step on how to film, edit and upload your YouTube Short. Also as well, once you have it recorded, it's your piece of video. Piece of video? It's your video. And you can then choose wherever you decide to place it on social media. 
You might want to put it onto Instagram. You might want to put it on your website. It's entirely up to you. But once you have that recording, then it's yours and you can then distribute it as, and when you so desire. So there's nothing stopping anybody from creating YouTube Shorts. It's just that bit of knowledge or that bit of confidence, really to know that you can do it. 
And it's not as hard as it looks. And trust me once you get used to it and you start creating a few, you realise how easy they actually are. You don't need any particular software, you don't need any particular phones either. Because YouTube make it so easy, you just film on your phone and upload it direct into YouTube. 
One step you do need. Which again is something that people have been asking me about. So, sorry if this sounds like it's a bit disjointed and not in order, but people have been asking me, "How do I know if I've got a Google account?" Okay. So I will ask for that now. If you've got a Google account, if you go onto YouTube. Usually that is, in the top right corner. 
You should see a little avatar, your head or something, your name, something up in the top right corner which is like a sign-in. If your name is already up there, and if you've already got a Gmail account, yes. You've probably got a Google account. You just, they need to create a YouTube channel. If, when you go into YouTube, it asks you to sign in, maybe you don't have a Gmail account or maybe you don't have a YouTube account. Now the benefits of having a YouTube account, are obviously multi multi-level really. The first one being for me if I'm watching a video and I like the video that I'm watching, I like to Subscribe to that channel. I like to go in and see if there's any of the videos, and then it actually keeps track of the history of the videos you've watched. 
So to give you an example, the other day, I was watching a video on, um, It was a Ninja Foodi video. And I couldn't remember the settings and I forgot to write them down. So I went back in the history, remembered I'd watched it on a Saturday, could see straight away that that was the video that I'd watched. 
Didn't have to go and search for it. But if you don't have a YouTube account YouTube. Um, yeah, YouTube account. or a Google account, it won't store your history. It also won't allow you to Subscribe to channels. And I'm not sure if you can actually 'like' videos either, if you don't have an account... don't know, cause I've always had a Google and a YouTube account, but then hey, I am a techie person! 
So why wouldn't I have always had a Google account?! But. Yes. So to create your own Google account, If you log into Google in any way, shape or form and if you then type in YouTube, and if you have your little tiny head avatar up in the top corner, you've already got an account. And if you then just try just as a tester, if you go and search for my YouTube account, my YouTube Channel, which if you're not on YouTube or you're watching this and you're just listening to it on a podcast, try it out. Go and find me and hit Subscribe. 
If you can Subscribe, thank you. Thank you in advance. And if you can't, then it means that you do need to go and set up a Google account. 
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Now, one thing I don't do anymore, unfortunately, is I don't build websites. I haven't really ever built websites, websites for other people. I have done it for friends, but it's not something that I like to do. I can do it. And for me, obviously it is very easy. But I may put together a course on how you can build your own website. I do think this is just my personal opinion. 
I think more and more people are moving away from websites and it's not about creating Apps. What I'm saying is. I don't know whether or not a website is now relevant. 
Traditionally websites were a place to host the information about your business or about yourself or your blog or whatever you were doing. And that's great. But now with social media, it's as though the two have kind of become the same thing. So everybody posts on social media, you can have your links on there to different places. You don't necessarily need to have a website. Businesses like to have a website because they do like to have a presence on Google. And again, this is why you do need a Google account. Because if you are a business and you want people to find you, you need to be on Google and be searchable. So. Because a business has a website, it gives them authority. But as a person, yes, you might run a business and might want to show certain offers and things like that, but there's other ways these days of getting your information out there to certain people. There's collecting emails and having email marketing. You could be doing. Collecting information via Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, whatever it is that you're actually doing. But you don't necessarily need to be pushing that information through a website. You can collect information through MailChimp, let's say, and then it then sends out the emails for you. 
So depending on what you actually need, things have changed so much within IT that the way that I certainly used to work has changed as well. So these days, like I say, you could get away with having just a YouTube channel. And maybe just Instagram or TikTok, whichever way you want to go. Your business, yes, you might want to have a website, but does it really need all the bells and whistles that a website would have given you when there's much better options elsewhere? Now what I'm trying to explain is, you need to think of a website as 
a marketing poster. So in its basic form it is just literally a showcase that you have that Domain. It's then the information you put on that website that makes it um, necessary, let's say within a business. If you just put on there, your telephone number and how people can contact you. Fine. There are other ways that they could get that information. 
And a lot of people do revert back to Facebook for things like that. If on the other hand, you sell products. Yes, you could have them on your website. But again, there's other platforms that you could be selling your products on. You don't necessarily need a website. Finally there is Uh, Zoom for Zoom calls, there's Google Meets. There's all these other ways of doing video calls and video conferencing to contact with people. And a lot of those things you wouldn't necessarily run through your own website. So. Again, just think carefully about if it is a website you need. But if there's anybody out there that wants to have a discussion with me, maybe talk about what their business requirements are. Although I do not do websites anymore and I cannot stress that enough. 
I do not do them. It doesn't mean to say that I'm not here for you, if you want to reach out and we can just have a call and we can discuss your business needs, your business requirements. And I can suggest places for you to look, suggest software to use, or suggest different ways of getting to what you want to achieve, without having your own website. Because trust me, once you got a website, you have to keep renewing that Domain, you have to keep on top of that website. What if the website gets hacked? I had this a couple of years ago. I had malware all through my website. And it wasn't even a WordPress website. And I had to pay to get it cleaned and to get it all sorted and back on. And even when they rolled back, Um, it wasn't a simple as just rolling it back. 
It was gone through the whole of the server. And. It was a hell of a nightmare. Abs it was the most stressful time I've ever been through with my business. And my business is still a hobby, in case you didn't realise. My business isn't making any money because of situations like that where I've had to pay out thousands of pounds and I kid you not. 
I pay thousands of pounds. Then I had to pay thousands of pounds to put protection in place to stop it happening again. So. If all you want is a poster to say, this is who you are, consider using Facebook. Consider just branding yourself and having an Instagram account and, or, on YouTube as well.
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If you are considering using Instagram for your business, there is a lot of stress with Instagram and I'm seeing a lot of people venting on YouTube, and saying why they've now taken a break from Instagram. I didn't realise because I don't fully use Instagram and therefore I don't really get this stressful element of it. But with Instagram to basically be seen, you need to be posting content daily. A lot of their algorithms say you should be posting sometimes three times a day. Apart from posting, we're talking here about Instagram Reels. We're talking Instagram photos, Instagram carousels. They're also still wanting you to put on things on to Instagram TV. And there is just so much within the algorithms that you kind of have to tick to get seen and to be really noticed on Instagram. But the most important thing with Instagram is the connections that you're making and the interaction. So Instagram assume, and therefore you should be reliant on, the time and effort to comment and get back to everybody that is commenting under each of the different posts. 
And that alone is time consuming. So you just need to consider with your businesses, how far you actually want to spread your business across these different platforms. So I don't do training on Instagram. It's not something that's really ever been my cup of tea. I don't drink tea I drink coffee anyway. But for me, I can talk the hind legs about YouTube. I can talk about businesses. 
I can talk about technology and business setups and what kits you would actually need. So. 
I'm going to wrap up this podcast cause I feel like, all I'm doing is just talking to this camera in front of me. But anyway. Yeah, I hope this kind of clarifies a lot of things for you. And shameless plug. I am going to be releasing my own courses soon. 
So keep an eye out. And thank you for listening to Tech Talks and Soul Walks podcast.