Why we almost quit podcasting… (and why we’re glad we didn’t)

[00:00] [Ed] Hi, this is Ed and this is Phoebe and this is the Swinger University podcast and if you don’t recognize our voices
It’s probably because we’ve been gone for a little while and we’ve been sick

[00:13] [Unknown] Well, there is that too. We just got back from our epic

[00:18] [Ed] Hedo trip and had an epic
Bout of illness right after that. Yeah, but that actually only accounts for the last month or so. Yes
So what happened Phoebe? What would what happened in our lives that made us want to take a break?

[00:38] [Phoebe] Well, it all started probably about two years ago when we decided to
To reach a broader audience with our podcasts because if you don’t know about
Podcasts in general you’re
You’re not going to find us right with anything you do in life unless you’re extremely fortunate
You have to market it. In fact, even if you don’t actively market it someone’s marketed it for you
So let’s just say you
You discovered gold in your backyard
You’re not going to market that but you know what the general newspaper or your local newspaper is going to find out
And that’s going to be in the news and then all of a sudden you’ve got a business in your famous
So not they did the marketing for you
We of course
I keep to have anybody market our podcast for us
To reach the broader audience to say hey, we have
We have a podcast. We have a website. We have some social media come check us out if you want to read stuff read it

[01:42] [Unknown] We have a blog

[01:44] [Phoebe] If you want to listen to us listen to us if you want to watch us on you to watch us, but
You know if the if you’re not there to hear the tree falling in the forest you’re not going to know it’s falling
So we had to market so now the hobby turned into a full blown business which was
10 times more work and the work itself started to overshadow the fun and
On top of that we started
Creator accounts and not just one creator account like
Ed had his five creator accounts. I had my five or whatever
And then on and then everything that goes with that marketing research
Like it’s it’s
It’s exponentially so much work than I ever even imagined it is the equivalent of
Going to school for your masters
working uh 80 hour a week job
And and trying to feed yourself and get some sleep and some exercise. Well a lot of that failed
Yeah, I didn’t get a lot of sleep. I didn’t get a lot of exercise

[02:58] [Ed] Yeah, and we didn’t quit our day job so to speak and now and spin up the podcast or
try to ramp up the podcast and kind of scale back our jobs
We were still working full-time still are working full-time
and
Obviously taking it to youtube and going into the third dimension
We’ve talked about this before there’s a lot more production involved when you start doing
Video as well as audio

[03:24] [Phoebe] Whole other ballgame. Yeah, whole other criteria
Software burning hardware all that
Algorithms marketing. It’s a whole another animal

[03:35] [Ed] New tools new techniques new marketing
strategies and
marketing tools
Lot of investigation for stuff anyway. None of that’s particularly sexy or exciting

[03:48] [Phoebe] It was fascinating

[03:51] [Unknown] To learn and we’ve learned and grown right but at some point because of all the work

[03:59] [Phoebe] It it took a toll. We were really really stressed out

[04:03] [Ed] Yeah, we were fighting a lot
We were totally stressed out we
weren’t having fun at it anymore and I think that’s that was the big thing we took something
We started it because it sounded fun. Mm-hmm. We started it because we wanted to help people
And when the pain and suffering outweigh the benefit to the the community and certainly the benefit to our own lives
I mean like
Swinging supposed to be fun. Right, but this had kind of sucked the fun out of it

[04:38] [Unknown] So we took a break we took a break for a little while and

[04:43] [Ed] reprioritized refigured out what we really wanted to do
and
Yeah, and we’re still evaluating that like we still haven’t
a hundred percent committed back to this or or I guess what that means to say that we’re committed back to it

[05:02] [Phoebe] Yeah, right now we are
We are not actively marketing at the podcast like we were on social media because
It’s just too hard and the the media platforms keep changing
The algorithms keep changing the requirements keep changing
And that’s a whole other level of production that is not fun at all right plus
The community at at large has has grown also exponentially
There’s Facebook groups. There’s telegram groups. There’s um
A whole bunch of other groups. Where else are people meeting mostly Facebook and telegram? Yeah
And so
People have found a sense of community in those ways and are oh and read it and and they’re reaching out and
and having fun in those ways so
The need to build a community isn’t really there. It’s
It’s taken off. Yes, it’s probably
God, I don’t know 20 30 40 times larger than when we were experiencing when we were

[06:18] [Ed] Started out 11 plus years ago. Yeah, and there’s there’s also a much larger presence in popular culture
Television shows
documentaries
Heck they even did there was a
There’s a movie that was filmed at Hito
A popular mainstream Hollywood movie filmed at Hito
So that’s right. So that’s right
Which now that we’ve been there we should probably go back and rewatch

[06:51] [Unknown] but

[06:53] [Ed] The landscape that we started in
Swinging and then started the podcast in
It’s different. So we’ve got to figure out
What what do we want to contribute to this community? What do we want to offer to the community
Plus we’ve covered all the swinging 101 kind of topics we’ve done the educational component and it’s not that we’ve
Won’t do educational stuff anymore. I think that’s still our jam. Yes, because I have a treasure trove like

[07:25] [Phoebe] Oh my gosh hundreds of curated episodes just waiting to be

[07:30] [Ed] Yeah, script ideas topics things like that. Yes, for sure
However, but we want to figure out how do we make it new and fresh and different and exciting for us
But also for you the listeners exactly now

[07:44] [Phoebe] You will really want to do things that are a little more controversial or raw. I do want to do more controversial stuff

[07:53] [Ed] And one of the things that kind of gotten our way in terms of happiness was the
The amount of research that we did with episodes it was it was heavy duty and what
My idea is to do some obviously some research because we like fact based information
We don’t want to like make shit up
Right, but at the same time
We can’t go to that level of depth and and still maintain happiness
So what we might be doing is stuff to kind of wet your appetite or get you started or give you kind of like a direction to go
I don’t know or

[08:35] [Phoebe] Yeah, or break it up into segments because at some at some point I’m I will probably go
To the depths to research something because that’s help yourself. I am innately a researcher
It is in my DNA. I like learning. I want to know shit
I want to know both sides so that I can be fully informed to walk through life and not be
I can’t take an advantage of
Swade by someone’s bullshit
Also taking advantage of
I just
Like knowing stuff and I like being confident in in the information that that I
That I have and and I like to be able to have
Intelligent and interesting conversations with people right so if the more information you have you can ask better questions

[09:31] [Ed] Well in half the media you consume are from
Medical content creators that are that are medical professionals
Um
Dr. Jen Gunter. She’s got great content. You love her stuff. She’s entertaining. I pay her for her stuff
You pay her for her stuff. That’s how much I love her stuff

[09:51] [Unknown] so

[09:53] [Ed] Obviously that influences what you enjoy doing and I love I love researching stuff too and looking for
Important facts and figuring out how things work
Absolutely
So we’ve just got to find the nice balance so that it’s not too
Much of any one thing and to kind of touch back on the controversial thing
controversy as we found through our creator accounts
If you if you make headlines because you get
You know you lose your job because you were creating an only fans account or something like that
That’s actually a really good thing most cases and those people end up going on and being very successful
With their only fans why because they’re infamous. They’ve created notoriety people are curious
It sparks this conversation and the media picked up their story

[10:50] [Phoebe] Multimedia channels picked up their story and broadcasts right so they get free advertising

[10:56] [Ed] Everywhere they don’t even have to work right it just basically it’s like winning the lottery
Yes, it really is just falls in your lap and all kinds not that it’s not work
That’s true because massive head start I know those people too still work their butts off
We know a few of them and they absolutely work their butts off
But we haven’t been so quote lucky as to
lose our jobs etc etc and become internet famous
All that being said yes
We do want to figure out ways to get people a little bit more fired up
Emotionally charged about the things that we’re talking about so we’re going to try and figure out how to do that
And have some fun with it and spark conversation for example one of the episodes I want to do that

[11:46] [Phoebe] There’s two around on my desk right now, but one of them just came to mind is
the pros and cons of
Chat channels, right

[11:58] [Ed] And these communities that we keep talking about has have sprung up all over the place in it
And yeah, I want to throw some bombs from some Molotovs onto some of this stuff

[12:07] [Phoebe] frustrate the fuck out of me and
Because
I’m I’m a different animal and and
Maybe I don’t know. I’m sure there’s other people like me out there and in different walks of life
It all depends on where you are as well and you’re switching to get out of it
Yeah, in your swinger cycle right and I understand
You know, we are 12 years in we’ve seen it done it experienced it breathed it we have seen boobies before we probably
Have seen it all so if you’re new to it, I can totally understand how chat groups are just like
We
Right kid in the candy store totally get that yeah
But my my main question will be in that podcast is
What do you get out of it right right

[13:02] [Ed] And that’s something that we suspect we’ll probably have a lot of conversations
Yeah, and a lot of other things that kind of branch off of that
There was a an episode that we had planned for
How swingers fit into the community at large and how vanilla’s view us
Like there’s a whole bunch we can talk about that
Yes, and how sometimes our community self sabotages itself because they’re trying to be
favorable to one place or another

[13:34] [Unknown] So

[13:35] [Ed] We’ve got ideas we know you probably have ideas or are just dying to hear us talk about some things
As a matter of fact there was a comment on YouTube today
That I listened to that we never talk about
Having sex with people of color
Really we’ve never did that we’ve never called it out specifically

[13:58] [Phoebe] Yeah, but why would I because I don’t

[14:01] [Ed] We don’t think of it that way and I think that was my comment that I made in there on YouTube

[14:06] [Phoebe] They’re sexy. It was fun and the and in the context of it doesn’t matter an episode

[14:12] [Ed] It’s like we have lots of sexy fun with all kinds of people and every person is unique in some way or another
So yeah, I didn’t we’ve never felt the need to call out somebody’s racial I know cultural background

[14:27] [Phoebe] kind of get it because of the whole
BBC thing is very popular and it’s
It fetishizes some people but some people
That’s one
You know belief system right and other people
That are
A black penis folder will say yeah, I’m gonna rock that label if that’s what and there is another perfect episode

[14:53] [Ed] The slightly controversial that we would love to talk about because we’ve had
Lots of these kinds of conversations with people and it’s kind of
Taking it it’s educational, but in a different way. Yes. Yes
So let us know your thoughts
About these topics and others things that you were just
burning to know what Ed and Phoebe’s opinion are on
We’d love to hear it. We’d love to be able to weigh in on it and
Yeah, we’re gonna try we’re gonna try some new stuff and and try to bring the fun
And the sexy back

[15:34] [Phoebe] Yes

[15:35] [Unknown] fun and the sexy

[15:39] [Phoebe] Oh, I I kind of am looking forward to it, but we are gonna take it a little a little slow maybe I don’t know who knows
I’m not excited we get walking back into it with no expectations literally. I all I know is that I’m going to do an episode

[15:54] [Unknown] I’m going to put on some makeup put on some clothes sit down

[15:58] [Phoebe] Read my outline
It’s gonna be a different format. Yeah, and I don’t have to market it. That’s it. That makes me happy if I don’t have to do any marketing for it

[16:07] [Ed] I’m happy camera. Yeah, we’re gonna do well and and to be specific about the marketing
The the amount of pushing things to Twitter and whatnot. We’re gonna try and figure out how to do as little of that as possible manually manually
Yes
Which we were we were pretty good at we were starting to get this we’re starting to get the ground was kind of doing it for us on
But you can also help us by
Telling other people about our podcast
So if you like our podcast if you really want to hear more from us if you’re happy that we’re back and you’re listening to us again
And you said where the hell did they go? I need my damn podcasts
Let us know that too and let your friends know that
If they listen and they can help us get more numbers
That’s encouraging for us as well

[17:02] [Phoebe] And no Phoebe’s not dying. She’s just no. This is the sick ik from
Three weeks ago. I will tell you. I am not a hundred percent
Yeah, it’ll probably be a full month. I might be 90 percent. Yeah, and those of you who are watching this on YouTube

[17:18] [Ed] You’ll notice that there is no video. This is just audio because because I look like crap

[17:24] [Unknown] It looks

[17:26] [Phoebe] It’s cut pink guy and it is
Scary. Yes. Yes. So he finally got medicine

[17:33] [Ed] May have been because I was spraying chemicals and hit myself in the face
It didn’t fully hit myself in the face
But as they say where I protection because bad things will happen

[17:47] [Phoebe] He tried to eradicate moss off of his eyeballs
At the same time he was trying to eradicate it from the the shady side of the house

[17:56] [Ed] So yes, boys and girls where your eye ear and protection for your fingers and any other parts that might be exposed to chemicals

[18:05] [Phoebe] For guy who’s always wearing goggles and full body armor every time you ride your motorcycle

[18:10] [Ed] I don’t know what you were thinking. I have done stupid things before and

[18:16] [Phoebe] I will continue to do stupid things occasionally like luck something off your eyeball with the exacto knife

[18:21] [Ed] superglue I have

[18:23] [Phoebe] perform surgery on my eyeball before
Lee
So what facts about
Fun facts about Ed and Phoebe that you didn’t know you needed to know

[18:37] [Ed] So we’re back we’re back what we look like when we come back in terms of content and
Yeah, I’ve lost some weight quite a bit. Physical appearance. Yeah, we may be seeing

[18:49] [Phoebe] More less of Phoebe than we did before yes less definitely less of but less of yeah

[18:56] [Unknown] Yes

[18:57] [Ed] And we’ll have some episodes. We’re going to do some some recaps of our Hito trip
That’s definitely one that’s coming out. Yes, and we’re going to get that up
Kind of a little travel advisory and our experience in terms of hedonism to in Jamaica. Yes
For all you resort lovers for all you all inclusive resort
Lovers lovers. Yes

[19:27] [Phoebe] And I’m still a cruise person

[19:31] [Ed] After being to Hito. Well, don’t give away the spoilers. I know

[19:35] [Phoebe] I had to I just couldn’t resist

[19:38] [Ed] All right, we’re done. We’re done. I think this is a good good episode to catch people up and to get us
caught up before our groceries arrive
So thank you all for listening. We appreciate you more than you can imagine
Absolutely and you’ll hear from us again soon real soon

[20:02] [Unknown] Oh one last thing before you go if this episode helped you in any way

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