Hi there,

Next Tuesday (when Episode 135 airs) will mark the 5th anniversary of the first episode of The Forrager Podcast.

In some ways, it's hard to believe it's already been 5 years. In others, it definitely feels like it's been 5 years of work (and then some, LOL).

I didn't know it at the time, but I started the podcast at a pretty opportune moment in our industry's history. It was right before the pandemic, and thus right before the largest expansion of the cottage food industry. Fun fact: I actually recorded Episode 4 in-person, in my home, days before everything shutdown.

To celebrate the 5th anniversary of the show, I thought it would be fun to share 5 behind-the-scenes things you probably don't know:


1. It's really hard to find guests

The Forrager Podcast is ranked in the top 15% of all podcasts, so it's pretty popular. And there are a TON of interesting cottage food businesses around the country. So you might think that it's easy to find guests for the show.

But the fact is, most of the people we invite say no, or don't respond at all. The downside of running a successful cottage food business is that you're super busy, so it's hard to find time to do a podcast interview.


2. The show almost fizzled in the beginning

Related to the above, it was so hard to find guests in the beginning that I doubted if the show could continue. After only 4 episodes, I shifted to a bi-weekly publishing schedule, and after a few more episodes, I came extremely close to not publishing on time. In fact, I'm pretty sure Episode 9 was recorded and edited the day before it aired.

I can't remember exactly what shifted, but after a few more episodes, it started becoming a bit easier to find guests, even though it still took a ton of my time.

After about 70 episodes, I hired my first virtual assistant (Faith) to help produce the podcast, and eventually fully outsourced guest research to her. She still finds nearly all of the guests for the show, and she does an amazing job!


3. Every episode is abridged

You know why every episode is very good? It's because we only keep the good stuff!

When you hear a 1-hour episode, you are likely listening to a 90-minute interview, but without the filler words, mistakes, or parts that simply aren't as relevant.

Each episode literally contains thousands of edits to bring it into its final form. My assistant does the bulk of the editing, then hands it off to me where I fine-tune it even more. Between the two of us, I'd estimate that we spend at least 10 hours per episode on the editing process.

And what's more... some of the things you hear were not even in the original interview. At the end of the interview, I often spend quite awhile chatting with the guest, and some of the "post-interview" parts are the most interesting! So I will get the guest's permission to use it, and find a spot in the episode where it fits in.


4. Sometimes I know more about a guest's story than they do

You've probably realized this, but I can confirm: I spend a LOT of time researching guests before the interview. Guests are often shocked by how much I know about them and their business.

It's pretty common for them to misremember something, or say two things during an episode that are inconsistent with each other. After all, I'm asking them to remember things that happened years ago.

Sometimes I will correct the mistake in real time with the guest, but sometimes I'll fix it during the editing process by removing parts or editing things together in a way that makes sense.

I do a lot of research on each guest for two reasons:

1. To be prepared. I'm not that great at thinking on my feet, especially when I'm recording an episode. I like having a long list of topics to discuss, just in case.
2. Most guests are humble. I've learned that if I don't bring up an accomplishment, most guests won't bring it up themselves.

5. The best guests use one word much more than others

It took me years to realize this, but the best guests use the word "you" a lot.

Obviously I'm asking guests about their stories, so the natural word for them to use is "I". Most guests talk about themselves and their stories, and that is good and interesting.

Even better is when they consider how their story could apply to others, and share the lessons they learned along the way.

But the best speakers take those lessons, and apply them directly to the listener by using the word "you".

Amanda Schonberg did this a lot in the last half of Episode 80, an episode I consider to be truly top-tier. Here's an example from her episode:
"Once you decide to be a business owner, you have to teach yourself all forms of business, even the ones that you're not comfortable with."

She easily could have replaced the word "you" with the word "I" in the above sentence to describe her own experience, but it would have been far less compelling.


Well there you have it. I hope you found those interesting!

A lot has changed in the past 5 years, but one thing that hasn't is my commitment to the podcast. I still plan to continue it indefinitely!


Forraging ahead,

David