Jennifer Briney - The Podcast Report

Jennifer Briney is profiting from bitcoin and more, and she is making the same amount of money regardless of what her stats say.

I was introduced to Jennifer Briney by Adam Curry at a previous Podcast Movement. I liked her and what she was doing. I knew that I wanted to continue the conversation. Today, I am talking with Jennifer in my first interview of the season.

This interview was recorded a few weeks back, so I hint at some things that are coming up, and you should be able to put it all together. Jennifer is the host of Congressional Dish a podcast that helps raise awareness about what Congress is actually doing.

Tip of the Week:

Take the time to ask if it makes sense, when some podcast expert, guru, or teacher tells you to do something specific on your podcast. Why are they doing this? There are a lot of bad ideas, teachings, and concepts in podcasting. If you take a few minutes to think through the idea and ask if it really makes sense, you might be producing a better podcast.

Talking Politics:

• [00:03:07] How Paul was a political science major in college.
• [00:03:28] Jennifer invented the Congressional Dish about five years ago. She wanted to share what she was finding. For two and a half years she read every bill passed in Congress, until she realized that it was impossible.
• [00:04:17] She educated herself and did it on the air. Now that she knows how it works, she picks topics that are interesting to her. She also sticks to her goal of getting people to pay attention to what Congress is actually doing.
• [00:05:06] When traveling abroad Jennifer realized she didn't know much about American politics.
• [00:06:28] In her senior year of college she really started asking questions.
• [00:06:46] She immersed herself in understanding how the media functioned. She started asking questions of what is our place in the world and why are we doing these things.
• [00:07:43] In 2007, she discovered Air America and other on demand media outlets talking about politics. This is when she started paying attention to Congress and watching C-SPAN.
• [00:09:31] Jennifer wanted to find stories that aren't talked about and share her research with the rest of us.
• [00:11:04] Jennifer is monetizing a niche that no one else is. She spent a year not trying to make money, which established the show.
• [00:12:13] After a year, she tried to make the podcast listener supported.
• [00:13:52] People send in what they think the show is worth.
• [00:14:17] Putting a lot of work into your shows before pushing record to be listener supported.
• [00:15:35] Doing work that other people don't want to do is the key.
• [00:16:51] Jennifer has a global audience and her topics affect people all over the world.
• [00:17:46] Libsyn recently upgraded their stats. Some shows are affected and some aren't. Jennifer's stats dropped when the changes happen.
• [00:18:46] The stats changed and now her numbers are cut in half. Jennifer was invincible to the stat change monetarily because of her user supported mode.
• [00:20:05] Jennifer also takes bitcoin because people wanted to help her anonymously. She now has tens of thousands of dollars in bitcoin.
• [00:21:28] There is no reason not to have a bitcoin link. It's gambling because who knows if the value will continue to rise or drop.
• [00:22:27] How long should a podcast be?
• [00:24:18] The setup for listener generated revenue is easy, although asking for the money can be uncomfortable. Ads also make shows a little bit worse. It doesn't hurt to try especially at first.
• [00:25:56] The freedom of being listener supported instead of answering to advertisers is amazing. Jennifer can say whatever she wants.
• [00:29:16] Jennifer has a VA and some part time people and contractors.

Links and Resources:

• Podcast App Worksheet
• Congressional Dish
• @JenBriney on Twitter
• Jen Briney on LinkedIn
• Jen Briney on Instagram
• Podcast Movement
• Adam Curry
• Interview Connections
• Young Turks
• John C. Dvorak
• L.A. Podfest

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