Journey with Steve Heatherington
What is the personal and professional journey of someone who engages deeply with podcasting and alpaca farming?
The challenge of helping alpaca owners led to building a community-driven podcast from scratch.
“You’re onto a good thing when that happens—the resistance is an indicator and therefore you need to engage with that and find a way through it, round it, over it, whatever to get past it.” ~ Steve Heatherington (8:59)
Craig and Steve engage in a conversation that spans podcasting, personal growth, and alpaca husbandry. They reflect on Steve’s podcasting journey, which begins with his intention to help his wife promote her book. Over time, this evolves into a deeper commitment to podcasting, leading to the creation of his show, Alpaca Tribe, and a role as a coach in podcasting workshops. Steve shares his experiences of learning the craft, overcoming challenges like imposter syndrome, and balancing different podcast formats such as solo episodes and interviews. The pair also discuss the significant time and effort required to develop a podcasting practice.
Steve’s passion for alpacas emerges as another key topic. He describes his life as an alpaca shepherd and shares how his podcast aims to help alpaca owners feel confident and fulfilled while caring for their animals. The discussion also delves into broader themes of creativity and growth, with Craig noting the similarities between podcasting and artistic endeavors like painting. They explore how both pursuits involve facing challenges and continuously improving. Steve emphasizes the importance of identifying a compelling problem to address, one that resonates deeply enough to sustain years of exploration and conversation.
Takeaways
Having a clear purpose — Revisiting “why” helps keep the podcast focused and aligned over time.
The power of curiosity — Sustained exploration and willingness to learn drive growth in podcasting.
Different podcast formats — Host-on-mic versus interviews create distinct challenges and require varied skill sets.
Imposter syndrome — Resistance often signals that you’re doing meaningful work worth pursuing.
Balancing storytelling with practicality — Melding stories with helpful information engages a broad audience.
The iterative process — Success comes from continuous refinement and revisiting foundational questions.
Starting small — Big ideas often begin as modest, practical experiments.
Resources
The Alpaca Tribe Podcast — A podcast aimed at helping alpaca owners feel confident and fulfilled.
The Pod Buffet — A curated platform featuring short, impactful podcast episodes.
Akimbo Podcasting Workshop — A workshop designed to teach podcasting skills and foster community collaboration.
Stephen Pressfield’s Blog — Mentioned in the context of overcoming resistance and creative challenges.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
— Hello👋 I’m Craig Constantine.
This is Podtalk. Short conversations with indie podcasters that are not just about podcasting, because I like to take the scenic route.
In each episode, I talk with podcasters about their shows, experiences, what they’ve learned, what motivates them, and… well, pretty much everything related to podcasting from the indie creator’s point of view. I hope these episodes spark ideas and conversations for you, and lead to new ways of looking at this wonderful art of podcasting.
If you like Podtalk, you’ll love the Podcaster Community, https://podcaster.community/
I appreciate your time and attention, and I don’t take it for granted.
— Thank you!
My personal mission is creating better conversations to spread understanding and compassion. This podcast is just one of the things I do in service of my mission. Drop by my website https://craigconstantine.com/ for my weekly email, my other podcasts, writing and more.
Thanks for listening!
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