Note: This transcript was auto generated then some poor soul sat and listened to it, and followed through correcting any mistakes they spotted. Please however expect human error and shout if you spot an issue. Email: lee [fancy curly symbol] trailblazer.fm.
Verbatim text
Welcome to the Trailblazer FM podcast. This is your host, Lee. On today’s show, it’s you and me. Hey, I’m back, and I’m really, really excited to be jumping back into this podcast. I just want to give you a little bit of a history as why I disappeared and why we’re back. At the end of 2023, I was definitely hitting burnout and everything was crushing me. Work was a home, the podcast, the need to continue to push and produce content. Everything was just so overwhelming to the point where I just had to crash and burn and stop. To be honest, I’ve actually thought for the last year or so that the the podcast was done. I thought that’s it. I’ve even recorded a goodbye podcast as well to say, I’m off, see you later. This is now an archive. I even put that out for a bit. But I realised over time that maybe it’s not the end, and it doesn’t really have to be the end. If I think back to 2015 when I first launched the show, it was me sat under a duvet talking to people via and recording a call. It was just so much fun.
I would meet up with a complete stranger on the internet and discuss their business, talk about WordPress, talk about what they were up to, talk about their discoveries, etc, learn lessons from them. It was just It was just wonderful. It was a really good feeling to meet all these new people, and many of them have become lifelong friends. I looked forward to every single episode. I looked forward to recording them. I looked forward to producing them and putting them out to the world. It grew really quickly. It grew much quicker than I could possibly have expected, to the extent where we were getting thousands, if not tens of thousands of downloads per episode. I was actually building a name in the industry. Please bear with me. I need to have a sip of this coffee. That was nice. I was getting this name in the industry. By, I guess, around 2017, 2018, it felt natural that I would have to continue to grow this. If I grew I would be able to help more people. I went through different rebrands, et cetera, to try and be more appealing to a wider audience and put myself under so much pressure for years, really, to get more people into a membership, get more people at an event, and really to find ways of monetizing Trailblazer so that I could continue to help more and more people.
It was exhausting. It was absolutely exhausting. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved what I was doing, but it became everything. It was taking over the business. It was becoming the business. Instead of me focusing on doing what I loved, which was back to basics, building WordPress plugins, I was actually focusing on trying to continue to grow this podcast because I felt like I had a message that would really help people. I still do. The message is to continue to build something that you love. Of course it is. But I don’t need to be a one-man mission to try and help as many people as I possibly can. That’s a bit of a big ask and it’s a bit of a God complex if you think about it. I don’t need to be that person. I’m quite happy to be me having the conversations that I used to have back in 2015, where I was just simply learning from other people and talking to people that I wanted to. Anyways, let’s go back. That’s a bit of a tangent. But essentially, I’d gotten to that point by 2023, where I was completely burnt out and Just could not do it anymore.
And did a few token episodes in 2024, I think. Did I? I can’t even remember. It’s been that long ago. And just realised that I couldn’t do the content anymore. I couldn’t keep pushing things. I couldn’t look at the numbers of the downloads and feel crappy if it wasn’t over a fixed amount of numbers that I was expecting or that I wasn’t getting the engagement on social media posts or in the groups or all these things. It was just all overwhelming and all-consuming. So I figured I’d stop. And it’s been great, actually. I’ve had about a year and a half off. I’ve done no podcasting for Trailblazer whatsoever. I’ve done the odd little show for Event Engine because we still have that little podcast bumping around. And I’ve also supported a few friends as well and clients just getting podcasts online. So I’ve not been totally out of the game, but I’ve certainly not been recording podcasts at all for Trailblazer. I’ve not been sending emails, I’ve not been doing social media, I’ve essentially been offline. Part of that has actually birthed a new project as well, which is called the Offline Reboot, where I’ve recognised that me being offline is actually my happy place.
Being online all the time, I feel distracted. I feel like I need to know what’s going on. I then see other people’s problems or arguments or traumas, and then I get drawn into those as well. I just find the online space ridiculously exhausting and distracting and can’t get work done and emotionally feel rubbish. So yeah, the offline reboot for me became very much a way of discovering old tech again. How can I get back to basics with technology? How can I do as much work as I possibly can do offline using notepad and paper or a typewriter or whatever? How can I avoid using the internet all the time or being on social media all the time and feeling all these feelings that I don’t like? That’s very much part of the breakdown as well. I know I’m totally aware I’m rambling. If you’re listening, thank you so much for getting this far. Yeah, the offline reboot was birthed. Just recently, I finally decided to do my first video. This offline reboot has no mission whatsoever other than for me to create content that I want to make for me watch and enjoy. That is literally it.
I don’t care if anyone really subscribers. I don’t care if it grows a social media following. I don’t care if it gets one view, which is me. I literally don’t care. It’s just this thing where I want to outwork what’s inside my brain. For me, I’m an outward processor. If I can sit and talk to a camera or to you right now on this microphone, that’s fine. I can outward process all the jumble of thoughts that are inside and it becomes some cohesive of epic monologue. I wouldn’t call this a cohesive epic monologue, but you get the idea. My brain starts to make the matches it needs to. And by the end of the recording, I’m like, yes, I know I get it. This has clicked into place. So I did my first video just a few weeks ago, and it was phenomenal fun. Just looked at an old piece of software and said, Hey, look, this is a software from 1997. I can show you how it would be usable today in this day and age. Instead of us buying new software and new computers, etc. Stuff from 30 years ago still works, folks.
It was great fun to build. I wasn’t really suggesting that people should go and buy old computers and use software from 1997, but I was just trying to prove a point to me as well as other people, very much to me, because I’m constantly being nagged to upgrade to the latest, greatest version of this, that, and the other. I really want to fight that urge. I want to find something that I like to use and just use that thing. This was a really fun project for me to do. I rewatched that video multiple times. I edited it. I got Priya working on it. We went over and over again to get it right. I just enjoyed the whole process. I thought to myself, in 10 years, the only time I felt this happy was the first three years of this podcast. After about three years with all of the pressure of consistently putting out as much content as and being everywhere on social media and guest posting everywhere and all that stuff to promote it and drive traffic. I became really, really stressed, really, really busy, and frankly, really, really miserable as well. Still enjoyed the conversations, but that was about it.
I’m sorry, the All the editing, all the posting, all the publishing, everything was just so much. To have this fresh experience with the offline reboot of just creating some brand new content that was just for me, which had no other mission behind it other than to help me outwork what’s in my mind. It relit that bug again inside of me thinking, Holy moly, I do enjoy this. I do enjoy creating content. I do enjoy outworking what’s inside and seeing a finished product. It was great fun. I am definitely going to do more of those videos, but it got me to thinking about Trailblazer FM because ever since I’ve closed it down, I’ve missed it. I’ve not missed all the work I’ve mentioned, but I have missed those conversations and building up fresh connections, learning new things, making new friends, those sorts of things I have absolutely missed for the last year and a half or so. But I kept stopping myself from jumping back on the podcast wagon because I kept thinking of all the posting schedules. Gosh, I’ve got to post every single week. I’ve got to post on social media. I’ve got to be everywhere.
I’m going to be looking at those numbers again, yadi, yadi, yadi, yadi, yadi, and that would keep putting me off. It was only really when I released this offline reboot episode that I thought, Well, wait a minute. Why don’t I treat Trailblazer exactly like that? Back in 2015, I launched Trailblazer, really with a mission to have 50 people, if that, listen to it, and maybe one of them become a client of my business. I could really just Have fun, learn from other people. If I got no clients, fine. I’ve learned from all of the wonderful guests. If I get one client, great. It’s helped pay for some of my time. That was really it. I wasn’t on a mission to change the world. I wasn’t on a mission to make agency owners have the best amazing agencies they ever could possibly have and join my clubs and take my courses and all of that good stuff. I was just having fun and meeting new people. And I remember I would listen to my own episodes for those first three years. I would edit or help edit those episodes. I’d listen to them multiple times, write show notes.
I would enjoy that process. I would learn from those re-listens. And that’s just something that I didn’t do then for many years afterwards because it just became this constant content cycle and stress. So, yeah, so like I said, got to thinking, well, why the heck not? Why don’t I go back to basics and let’s Let’s do Trailblazer FM? Let’s continue the show, but without any of that stuff. Let’s talk about what stuff to expect. That stuff is quite simply, I am going to show up once or twice a month with either a solo episode like this where I’m waffling. Thank you for bearing with me. We’re at least 11 minutes in and you’re still here. Well done. Or an interview. So once or twice a month, we’re going to on WordPress. That has always been my first love of utilising WordPress. How can we fit WordPress into a business workflow? What’s a great WordPress plugin? What’s somebody’s journey as a WordPress agency? All of those sorts of things That’s just my first love. So I want to talk about WordPress. We were the WP Innovator podcast. We became Trailblazer so that we could be a bit more catch-all.
We’re sticking with Trailblazer. I don’t want to re-re-rebrand and rename. That’s confusing. But the core Our focus will be WordPress. I want to underline as well that we will not be focusing on any drama. I am thoroughly aware that there is a lot of politics and drama out there at the moment with people having arguments with other people. I’m not interested, so that’s not going to be here, and we’re not going to entertain it. We’re also not going to be publishing on YouTube. Offline reboot, that’s going to be on YouTube. That’s fine. But for the podcast, it was always an audio podcast first. It’s now going to continue. Sorry, Trailblazer will be an audio podcast moving forward. The only time we might do video is if we get a WordPress plugin on where we’re doing an interview about their journey and what the problem they discovered and how they solved it with their plugin, and maybe If we want to do a demo, we can pop that demo on YouTube, but that’s about as far as we’re going to go with YouTube videos. I’m not going to be posting on social media. I’m hardly ever on it, which folks who are on my accounts will have realised I barely post.
I will only post a broadcast to say, Hey, the latest episode is live, and then I’ll leave it at that. I’m not going to be on there engaging. I’m not looking at all to grow any groups or even do an event anymore. I don’t want to sell any courses. Essentially, I don’t want to monetise this podcast. I never wanted to monetise this podcast beyond it being something that may or may not generate me some leads. It would be nice if this generates me some leads for my WordPress plugin development at some point. That would be great. I’m not going to lie, that would that secondary monetisation channel of, Hey, that was a nice bonus. But this podcast is for me. And if you are interested in WordPress, if you are interested in running your business and being efficient and all that stuff, then you might be interested in listening to this show because you might be similar to me. And that’s great. So feel free to listen. And if you would like to take part in this show, then just email me and I’ll make sure I I’ll put links and everything in the show notes on trailblazer.fm.
Also, check the show notes of your podcast description. There should be a form somewhere where you can book a episode where we just sit and chat. I’m not going to be taking on any sponsorship. I’m not going to be taking any sponsored podcasts with regards to having someone who is paid to be interviewed. None of that either. I’m not going to be promoting any particular plugins. Sure, I’ll have plugin authors on and we’ll talk about it, but I also won’t be doing affiliate marketing. I’ll be doing nothing of the sort, not because I am a saint, but just because I don’t want what was my hobby to become my job. And that’s essentially what happened with Trailblazer FM for many, many years. My hobby became my job and my joy was robbed. This is my hobby. If you stick with me for the hobby, thank you so much hanging around. I truly appreciate that, but this is not going to be my job. I am not an influencer. I don’t want to build a community. I don’t want to sell courses. I don’t want to be an alternative Troy Dean or an alternative Brent from UGURU.
I don’t want to be any of that because that’s stuff that takes me away from the stuff I love doing, which is recording content, having nice conversations, tinkering with old technology, and most importantly, spending time at home and with my family, et cetera. That’s where the podcast is going. I’m going to take a sip of my coffee and think of how to wrap this up. I probably could have said all of this in much less words, but this doesn’t have to be polished. I think that’s the other cool thing about this. I’ve got the freedom again to just relax into it. This is my space to share and to meet up with other people and not really worry again about production value either. That was something else. Because I was recording the video for this as well, I would have to make sure that my room was perfect, everything looked fine, and we’d have to make sure that the recording technology was all set up. For example, I might be using ZenCaster or some other online tool to make sure that we captured the audiovisual. We were reliant on a good solid internet connection. I was reliant on the guest having a semi-decent camera, et cetera.
Tonnes and tonnes of editing would have to take place as well for every single episode. God, that was frustrating. Because when it’s audio, if I’m umming and erring and pausing or the guest is, it’s super easy to just clip all that out and make a nice flow. But when it’s on camera, you have to do something with the camera as well, i.e, jump cuts or try and merge things or switch to full screen so that you can hide the cut. This meant that video podcasts that would go on YouTube were getting ridiculously long in the production element of things. You can probably hear my neighbour wandering past with the bin. That was something else that would really annoy me. I’d be doing a podcast and you could hear noises, et cetera, so we’d have to, again, do all this heavy editing. But we don’t have to anymore because this will be predominantly an audio podcast. The other thing as well is I found that being on YouTube doesn’t really do much when it comes to long form verbal content. Always, no matter what episodes I would put out, and I imagine even this episode, we’ll probably get a good few hundred downloads within the first few days because you legends out there are still subscribed.
Thank you. So this should still get plenty of downloads, which is a few hundred more than YouTube would ever get. I think the most watched video was probably Kyle Van Dusen because he has a good community behind him, and that probably got a few hundred visitors to listen and watch that particular episode on YouTube. But otherwise, It’s always been audio anyway that’s been the biggest draw. Not that it matters, again, because this is for me. This is for me to outward process. I’m doing it now, aren’t I? I’m outward processing right now to the room. If you’re listening, you’re a part of that. If you feel you’ve got something that you can speak into this to me directly, then email me. That would be wonderful [email protected]. That’s [email protected]. I thank you in advance. My computer has just locked itself because I’m chatting. Let’s unlock that. Yeah, we’re still recording. Good. If you want to speak in to me in-person online via the podcast, then make sure you click on that link in the show notes as well and let’s get one booked because there are going to be people that are still listening.
There are a few hundred folks that I am aware of that do download shows when they come out and do listen, which is wonderful. And if you are one of those people, even if you don’t want to be on the show, again, it’d be lovely to hear from you [email protected]. Just say hello. We don’t have to engage in a huge long email conversation. I may I don’t even have time to do that, to be honest. But it would be nice to just see who’s out there still in this wonderful world. All right, I’ve definitely waffled enough. If you want to be on the show, let me know. If you want to have a chat, email, that’d be lovely to get something going. I would also like to drink this coffee. I’d like to encourage you to go and check out the offline reboot and go see what you think of that. Link will be in the show notes. I tell you not because I want to grow it. I don’t care. I tell you because I think the subject matter is quite cool, and I’ve watched it loads of times now. And I think it’s really cool.
And it might be worth a conversation about the latest and greatest software and what you can and can’t do with stuff and why we keep forking out all this money for stuff. I think it’s a great chat. So if you’re interested in If you’re interested in being on the show and you want to talk about, as in, if you’re interested in being on Trailblazer, but you want to talk about spending cash on things, then go and watch that video of mine on offline rebuke because you start to get an idea of where my head’s at and where I’m headed I’m good by AppSumo lifetime deals. I’m good by really expensive WordPress plugins with their yearly renewals and subscriptions and Disney Plus as well. I’m definitely becoming a hippie. All right. Yeah. So thank you for listening to this extremely unprofessional podcast where I can relax and enjoy talking to absolutely no one for at least 20 odd minutes. Thank you. Have a wonderful day and check the show notes for those links. Take care. Goodbye. See you in the next episode. I’m back. I can confirm that I covered absolutely everything on my piece of paper.
So we’re good. I tell you what I missed. We also, when I say we, it’s me. We also won’t be… I did it again. Well, all right, the royal we, who won’t be doing AI either. We’re not going to be focusing in on AI. We’re not anti-AI by any stretch of the imagination. I use AI nearly every day for certain things, but I don’t want to jump on that bandwagon either. I have serious ethical concerns about it as well as planet Terry concerns as well. Told you, I’m turning hippie. Just the plain and simple fact that all of these data centres are chewing up electricity like crazy. I have quite a few issues with it. I don’t really want to promote AI, and I value more real people, real conversations, real raw, nitty-gritty written word, spoken word, et cetera. And the same with plugins as well. I would want to be talking to people with regards to WordPress plugins that has been created by humans. Sure, with AI as a tool, if I can look at AI as a tool that can be leveraged, all good. But I don’t want it to be a big topic on this show.
Yeah, because it’s everywhere, isn’t it? Anyway, I should really go now. If I think of anything else, I’ll put it in another episode. Toodaloo. This coffee’s gone cold.
