I have to look at the results though:

• It’s a lot of work daily to record, produce, edit, encode and blog.  Yet I regularly find that it’s the absolute highlight of every day.
• Some quick stats: Over 2,100 page views by more than 700 unique visitors from 28 countries who downloaded more than 1,000 episodes in the first 30 days of operation
• I’ve been introduced to or recommended to follow more than 3 dozen people “off air” in addition to the 2 dozen or so that were mentioned on the show who I already wasn’t following
• I’ve received compliments from many people regarding my voice including someone who formerly hosted a morning radio show and a top blogger who said I missed my calling by not being in radio.
• All but 5 episodes have had a sponsor that are helping make the podcast possible.

Those facts don’t even begin to describe on the number of new opportunities that have been laid in front of me because I am creating regular content.  The reaction of people who meet me now is different because of the fact that I’m producing a show each and every day and the quality of my guests. Businesses have approached me and asked me for further insight on how long form content might work for them and if I would be open to helping them.  But most important, I’m happy that the people I know (and those who I am getting to know) are gaining a platform to share who they are and the best part is that I’m getting paid to do it.

With the doors that have opened for me over the last month I’m really starting to believe Gary Vaynerchuk’s assertion that the resume is dead and your internet footprint, especially relating to content, is what people are going to get a snap shot of you before you walk in for an interview or a work contract negotiation.  I can not stress enough that you find a way to create awesome content in whatever medium works for you and to do so consistently. Who knows what new opportunities will open up to you.

The first bit of business I’m really excited to talk about is that I made an appearance on The Ren Men Show in last week’s episode.  I can not be more excited about this show and the principles that these guys are teaching and that’s exactly why I decided to fly up to Las Vegas to interact with Alan and Grant and see if we couldn’t learn from one another.  My interview starts at 6:35 but seriously watch the entire episode.

Episode 15 – The Ren Men Show from The Ren Men Show on Vimeo.

These guys get lifestyle design and I couldn’t be more excited about working with them in the future in some kind of capacity.  Also a big shout out goes to Zach Daulton the Ren Men cameraman who I got to spend a little time with before he went to bed and the boys and I went on the THRILL on top of the Stratosphere.

I was fortunate enough to make the trek out to Austin, Texas over the course of the last week and attend SXSW.  Amazing convention, some great panels (ustream CEO definitely at the top of my list), but more than anything seeing old friends and cementing new ones was the difference.  This year’s event was huge though so I didn’t get to see everyone but the Vaynermedia crew and my own #coolkidsofsxswi (yes, Grant I’m stealing your hash tag now) made this an experience I’ll never forget.  You’ll see all of us on an upcoming 1/2 episode of the Ren Men Show.

Speaking of video podcasts, I’ve made a pretty huge decision that the next massive skill set I’m going to tackle in short order is video production and post production specifically for podcasting.  I’m pretty sure I have the format of the show I want to do all locked down and I’ve got most of the equipment purchased already.  I’m shooting for a 3 month lead time to learn all I need to about Final Cut Studio, my Canon HV40, green screens lighting and all the post-production magic that makes for a great podcast.  Gonna go it alone to start but that could change if I feel like great people I know could substantially contribute to the show.

Huge thanks to the Ren Men and the SXSW crew for being nothing short of amazing over the past few weeks.

I subscribe to over 250 RSS feeds and about a dozen blog alerts for specific terms.  More than a few folks have asked me to give them the list (and I have after some slight modifications) and even more have asked me to use a service like Delicious so they can see what I’m reading and what I like.  Unfortunately the social bookmarking tools have never made it into my regular every day use.  I find Google’s Share feature to force me to go back and share items after I fully read and process them and even that is a bit of an annoying process. However, Instapaper has entered my workflow in the “river of news”.  It’s ability to intelligently grab URLs and put them in specific folders (through the use of their Safari bookmarklets) makes me marking something for review a piece of cake.  I treat my google reader like a triage station; figure out which pieces are valuable as quickly as possible, mark for review and move on.

So do I publicly advertise those Instapaper URLs?  No, because even some crappy articles get in there and there’s no opportunity for me to comment on them.  Create a blog? Too much work to create individual entries even with something like Tumblr’s reblog.  I decided to go with a tried and (somewhat) reliable tool in Twitter.  I always have it open, it automatically allows an RSS feed to be created and most of all after the headline and a bit.ly link I can give some kind of commentary.  You can follow the @KadeRead twitter account or you can see the most recent 20 or so posts on the KadeRead’s page here on the blog.  

Fair warning: I have a bit of backlog in there right now so you may see comments on postings as old as December 16, 2009.  Give me a week or so to clear them up.  My hope is that me playing digital article DJ will allow you guys to use my obnoxious obsession with RSS feeds to your benefit.  

That’s a great question from James so here are the top 5 podcasts that I have learned the most from:

1. This Week in Tech hosted by Leo Laporte

My week begins with Leo and the crew.  Technology is something I love and follow with an absolute fervor but listening to some of the top minds discuss tech (and every once in a while politics and food) helps keep me appraised of what’s going on out there.  Specifically though this show has introduced me to great folks like Baratunde Thurston, Robert Llewellyn and got me through that dislike period with Jason Calacanis.  Smart folks, talking about the tech of tomorrow is always a great investment.

2. Fast Money by CNBC

Speaking of investments CNBC’s Fast Money is a must watch for me.  Maybe it’s because I no longer work a night shift job where I can easily watch Bloomberg over the net live at 4AM but I need news on the financial markets.  (I am not kidding when I say I love, live and breathe business.) This show is really interesting to me because while I studied the markets and terms in school I can’t say that I understood entirely how to play the options markets or how to make money when volatility is at an all time low.  Additionally people yelling who know what the heck they’re talking about (unlike another CNBC personality) and are crazy passionate about this make it a fun space to watch.  Finally it’s always good to know who might be looking to buy that little tech company I’m advising or who’s the new top brass at a S&P 500 company.

3. Diggnation hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht Produced by Revision3

I know it might seem weird to have the original “Wayne’s World” podcast on my list of top 5 podcasts I learn the most from but seriously without these guys I never would have got as deeply involved in the social media space as I have.  I mean I wrote my master’s thesis on Revision3 and how IP TV is changing the marketing landscape for companies for goodness sake.  But Kevin and Alex make me laugh at the end of the week while highlighting some of the strangest and most interesting stories on Digg.com.  Every once in a while they sneak in a great quote or fact that’s worth remembering as well.

4. Mixergy by Andrew Warner

Seriously if you’re reading my blog but haven’t watch at least a half dozen episodes of Mixergy stop, set aside 5+ hours and go get a crash course in business.  Andrew’s mission is to interview entrepreneurs and do the internet age’s version of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill where he gains an hour of the top internet entrepreneur’s time and goes into the execution points.  To be honest this is the only podcast I dread not watching every episode and that’s partially the reason his shows account for over half of my backlogged content.  Watch this show, learn stuff about anything and everything business related and a lot of stuff that isn’t.

5. Film Riot hosted by Ryan Connolly distributed by Revision3

Admittedly, I’m not a director, cameraman, editor and special effects designer but goodness does this show make it easy to make me feel like I could be.  I’ve been consuming this show since it’s launch and love it with a passion.  I see the value in what these guys are creating so much so that I intend to start grabbing the materials to allow me to do some of what they are and what my video enabled coworkers are producing.  Next on my tools list is a copy of Final Cut Pro and shortly after that I’ll be grabbing my very own green screen kit.  Who knows what I may learn from these guys that helps me get to my next big thing.

Honorable mention: You look nice today

If you want to get a feel for improv comedy using only your voice check out what these guys are doing.  Pretty much everything in all the comedy books I’ve read is in here and to boot, what they’re talking about makes me laugh.  I’ve listened to each episode several times and given the irregular nature of their podcast I am always stoked to see one in my iTunes list.

And there you have it those podcasts that I love and learn from.  Is there something I’m missing? Anyone who you think doesn’t belong in my top 5?

A lot of social media folks who actually do this work professionally often feel hypocritical because they push their clients to produce content on a regular basis yet fail to do so themselves.  While they can point at the fact that this is the fight they put up all day and all they want to do is watch TV or Hulu when they get home they’re doing themselves a disservice.  (I fell into this group in such a massive way and that’s entirely why I’m taking part in the post-a-day challenge.)  

I would posit that content is the only thing that really lasts on the internet any longer.  Ads in the form of PPC or display banners aren’t being indexed by Google and advertising in podcasts is only slightly better since people going back to consume back episodes will hear your ad but likely won’t care enough to actually listen.  Content is the only thing that leaves trace of where you’ve been at.  Regardless of whether your passion or topic you write on is business, sports, or cooking people can’t see your thought process without your content and that’s why it’s so critical that everyone start to build their brand by creating content.

But this too comes with it’s own challenges.  One of the questions I can foresee being asked when I give one of my guest lectures soon is “An interviewer read a post I wrote my freshman year in college and then asked me if I still thought the same way.  Of course I said no but if I didn’t have that old post up I never would have been asked that question.  So why create content if it’s only going to make it harder to get a job?”  The answer to this proverbial question is that your interviewer is looking for critical thinking skills and be thankful that 1) they know how to do research on the net regarding a subject and 2) they took the time to get to know your thoughts from way back when.  They’re looking to see how you’ve grown and the successes you’ve achieved since then.  

The interesting part is that once in the work force it’s these experiences and your frame that employers are much more likely to hire than your education.  This presents an interesting opportunity to show how far you’ve come by pointing to blog posts you previously wrote, published and now actively disagree with.  It’s easy to say you now believe something different than what you once did but another level when you can point to published content.  

Establishing a history or past thoughts and behaviors is enough of a reason that if I were a student I would be blogging, tweeting, and podcasting non-stop.  If I were in the early stage of my career I would be creating content regularly to catalogue my growth. And when established professionally (of even personally in a hobby) I would want to create content for the simple reason of instructing those coming behind me.  

With each of those opportunities presented to every one of us every day, the question becomes why aren’t you creating content that both builds you up and helps those around you?

As you can see Amber and I love to mix it up and play off one another.  We do one take and I do only some light editing on the content.  The interesting part for me, away from being associated with a great set of writers on the blog, are the emails, tweets and other benefits I’ve received.  Without it I wouldn’t have been able to give a digital guest lecture to @drbret’s class this evening. Additionally it’s been a really interesting way for people to get to know me a little better.  I find that this simple 2-3 hour exercise including all the editing, rendering and uploading is a lot of fun and seems to be helping build my personal brand inside the space.  

Honestly, if you have any kind of feel and passion for a subject I could not recommend more highly starting a podcast with a few friends and seeing what value may come of it for you.