Episode 2: What to expect from the new platform

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Watch the new episode on YouTube here!

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  Episode 2: What to expect from the new platform

Welcome the God of Honeybees podcast. This is episode two and it’s mainly going to serve as a update on what kind of content I’m trying to get to you and where to get it. It will also be about what to expect moving forward. It’s early morning. It’s right before work starts, so I’ll try to be as clear and concise as possible, but I’m still drinking coffee so if I stumble, if I’ve got to backtrack, you’ll have to excuse me.

​The main thing I wanted to get across was that I’ve got an email list up and running. So, if you go to godofhoneybees.com, it’s super simple to sign up for the email list, and that email that will come out maybe twice a month. I’m not going to bombard your inbox. It’s only when I’ve got information that I think is going to help you move through your day or I think the content is a really interesting idea that I think needs to be shared. If you go to the website, it’s super easy to sign up for that email list.

Now what’s going to be in the e-mail. The podcast episodes going forward are extensions of the work I’m doing on my book. If you didn’t know, I am working on a book under the same title, The God of Honeybees. It’s really close to being complete and ready for another round of edits with my editor Patience Uhlman. She runs 29pilgrims.com and I highly recommend her website and all the work she does. As I’m working on my book, I’m coming across a lot of really great information, a lot of ideas I’ve never heard of before, and not all of it fits in the book in the way that makes sense. However, in the same way that I want to share the information that’s in my book, which is why I wrote a book, I want to share this other information with you. So, the podcast episodes are going to be extensions of that work that I’m doing in the book so each episode will dive deeper into possibly a book that I’m referencing in my own book, an online article, whatever it might be. If it doesn’t fit into the book in a way that makes sense or if there’s more information about it than I can put in my book, I’m gonna make an episode about it.

I’m going to make YouTube the main outlet for the podcast because I want to do it video-based. I just really like that idea. It’ll still be available on podcast platforms as just audio. I’m also going to do like a text version of it. I’m going to work with Patience to edit the text transcription down for readability grammar (disclaimer: this episode was not edited by Patience, so don’t take it as an example of her excellent work). Perhaps you don’t have time to put in earbuds and listen to a podcast episode. If you read faster than I talk, which is probably the case, then maybe you would prefer the PDF version. Godofhoneybees.com is going to have, under the blog tab, each episode's text version so you can just read it right there. If you sign up for the email list, you will get all the information on any source(s) I reference. That’s where I’m going to attach all the links to the books that I might be referencing, if there’s a PDF that I’m allowed to just send you through an email, etc. I’m also going to make really nice looking PDF versions of the text transcription. In case you really like information I provided, you can just forward it right from there or just save it all in a sub folder in your email for storage. The goal is to make it as freely and widely accessible as possible. So that’s really going to be the best way to get connected, stay connected, and up to date on all this stuff. Also, it’s gonna be the way I reach out to you when my own book is ready! If you’ve liked the information that’s been coming out in the podcast episodes, the book is going to be how I’ve connected these ideas to try to to convey a larger message. If you’re on the email list, you’re going to get notified as soon as that book is ready to go.

I also want to let you know about what to expect going forward as far as availability of the content. Just the other day I was talking with my dad, Eric. He’s the singer and bass player in the band Bionic Monk’s, of which I am a part. I was also talking with the drummer of the band, Brandon. We were talking about the content we make for the band and how to make it as accessible as possible. I was using an analogy for how to think about free content. I thought it was helpful, so I want to propose this to you just to understand why I’m going about things the way I’m going about them. Suppose you have two friends. With one friend, every time you meet up with them, you talk about something interesting you came across such as an interesting article or interesting idea or maybe some life experience that you’ve gone through and you’re wanting to share with them. Every time you shared something they said something like “Oh yeah, I just read a whole book specifically that that topic that you’re interested in” or “I went through a similar life experience and I came up with some things that really helped me get through that." Suppose you then tried to engage with them and ask, “Well, what was the name of that that book you read?” or “What were the things you came up with that helped you through that specific life experience?” and their response was, “Well, for 10 bucks a month, I’ll let you know." That’s not going to do a damn bit of good because if you can’t pay them that that amount of money each month, you’ll just do without that information. Right?

Now, suppose your second friend had the opposite response. As soon as you try to engage them, they’re right there with the name of the book and the steps that they took to get through that life experience whatever it may be. If they just engaged with you right away with all that information, that would be a much closer relationship, right? Now, consider further down the road, both of them come to you at separate points and say, “Hey, I’m working on a project. If you might be able to swing five bucks a month to just help the project keep going, that would be awesome. If you can’t, don’t worry about it. It’s not going to change the way we interact or the way we hang out. But, if you happen to be in a place where five bucks a month is no big deal and you like my project, could you swing five bucks?”
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Which one of those friends are you going to give the five dollars to? Right. Obviously, it’s the person who engages with you freely because then your interaction is not predicated on you paying. That’s why for this podcast, for the content I’m making, I’m not going to put it behind a paywall. Of course, when the book is ready, I’ll be asking you to buy the book, but I can’t really make the physical printed book free. I don’t know how to do that. However, it doesn’t cost me to make a video. It doesn’t cost me to come across an idea that I think is worth sharing. It does cost to keep the website going and to buy some equipment. For example, I just ordered two mics to try to make some better audio in these videos and that costs some money. But this is a passion project, so any content that I make like this is not going to be behind a paywall. I want to craft a conversation with you. I want to craft a connection with you. These ideas are not business ideas or anything. You know what I mean? It’s just that this stuff brightens my day. This stuff engages my mind. I think it’s really great. I just want to share that with you.

If you are interested enough in this content, I’d like to hear from you because we’re crafting a conversation. That’s why it’s not going to be behind a paywall. Now I am working on setting up a page on Patreon and, initially, it’s just going to have one tier. It’s just going to be the five bucks a month. Like I said in the analogy, this is only if you feel like you can swing five bucks a month because that’ll help. For example, every year you got to renew your license on the URL. I used the service Weebly to make the website and that has a monthly cost to allow me to keep using the URL that I bought. It would just help keep the lights on, so to speak. Again, only if you feel like you can swing five bucks a month. If not, it’s no big deal. All of this content that I’m making is like you and me hanging out. It’s like we’re meeting up for coffee. I’m not going to ask you to pay me five bucks when we meet at Starbucks so that I can tell you about something I found interesting. I just want to craft a conversation with you about this stuff.

So, to wrap things up because I’m long-winded, go to godofhoneybees.com. There’s a contact tab where you can let me know what you thought about the website. The podcast is going to be dominantly on YouTube. If you search "god of honeybees," you can watch all the video episodes. If you’d rather listen to it in your podcast app, God of Honeybees is probably on your podcast app. If you want to read it in a distilled version, godofhoneybees.com, under the blog tab, each episode is going be transcribed in an edited version for readability. If you want a really great looking PDF version of the transcription that you can send to your friends, that you could print off, that you could do whatever you want with, send it wherever, and you want access to the links to any sources that I’m referencing in the episodes, sign up for the email list. It doesn’t cost you anything. Godofhoneybees.com is the central hub to get access to all of that. The email newsletter will have all of the extra sources that I’m diving into. I’ll make another announcement later once Patreon is up and running. Thanks for listening to this brief episode. The next one coming down the pipeline is about using rocks to help improve our meditation practice, our morning ritual, our prayers, liturgy, etc. I want to talk about a method of using rocks to help improve that practice.

Thanks for listening to God of Honeybees, the podcast. Again you can find all the extra content on godofhoneybees.com. You can find me on Instagram @godofbeespodcast and consider signing up for the email newsletter so they can get you all the information on the extra content that I think you might really find interesting. Thanks again.

Copyright © 2019 by Justin Herb
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