You just have to start.
It’s Christmas Eve 2009. And behind a random snow falling overlay Joe Rogan sets up for his very first podcast.
Love him or hate him, Joe Rogan has been dominating the podcast space for over a decade. But his first podcast? It’s… Fine. And that’s important to remember.
So here’s what you can learn from his very first episode.
He just went for it
The podcast starts with Joe Rogan and Brian Redan setting up. They hit “live”, and Brian spends five minutes explaining how the software works. It starts less with a bang and more with a “so where do I type?”.
But he started. And until you start, you can’t do it perfectly. Sometimes, until you start, you don’t even know what it is.
The Joe Rogan Experience started as a Twitter Q&A. The JRE podcast is now an interview podcast with some of the biggest guests on the planet.
One leads to the other, and you have to go through all the steps to get better and grow. It took 14 years to reach that many episodes, but it all starts with your first episode. Go start.
He did it because other people were doing it
Joe Rogan didn’t invent podcasting. He talks about how he threatened to start a podcast for a while, and now he’s doing it. But then he talks about Soulja Boy doing a podcast, and it was going really well, so Joe wanted to start one too.
But it’s a strange thought. Joe Rogan watching other people’s podcasts and wondering if he should get involved. Because what if he went, “nah other people are already doing it better than me. I won’t bother”. He would only have a fraction of the success he has now.
You don’t need to be first. You need to be involved.
He got nervous that he had 100 people watching
If only he knew…
He sees the live view count is around 115, and his eyebrows go up. He’s nervous. People are listening. Of course, he’s already a successful comedian and UFC host, so he gets on with the show.
Everyone gets the nerves. You have to show up and start practicing anyway. You’ll get better and more comfortable the more reps you put in.
He had fans who wanted more
This is the most interesting part to me. It’s one thing to launch a podcast with no audience. It’s quite another when you already have fans because you’re an entertainer.
Joe was already putting out videos on his website. He’d done live streams on Justin.tv, which later became Twitch.tv. And he was a performing comic. His fans wanted more of him, and he gave it to them.
He even mentions in an episode that if no one had watched the podcast, he probably would have stopped doing them. So, while doing something for the purely creative act is noble, it does help if people are listening. Don’t feel vain that you want more listeners, all artists want to have their art recognized.
He is learning as he’s doing it
Brian Redban is beside him, telling him how the buttons work and how the stream is set up. “Hello world!” comes up in the middle of the screen, and Brain Redban explains, “So just type, and it comes up right there”.
The only reason the episode ends after two hours is he gets a phone call from his wife and kids asking him to finish and come home so they can eat and open presents. Can you imagine if he did that on an episode today?
But it doesn’t matter. It adds to the charm. What matters is he’s out there doing it. And he doesn’t know it then, but he’s getting ready to get 2000 episodes of practice.
Final Thoughts
He had a go. He got set up, and he went for it. It wasn’t perfect. it wasn’t flawless. But he went from zero to one with a declaration that he’d be back next week with another broadcast.
One friend of mine has been thinking about starting a podcast for over five years. It’s a damn shame. If you want to do it. Do it.
It’s Christmas Eve 2009. And behind a random snow falling overlay Joe Rogan sets up for his very first podcast.
Love him or hate him, Joe Rogan has been dominating the podcast space for over a decade. But his first podcast? It’s… Fine. And that’s important to remember.
So here’s what you can learn from his very first episode.
He just went for it
The podcast starts with Joe Rogan and Brian Redan setting up. They hit “live”, and Brian spends five minutes explaining how the software works. It starts less with a bang and more with a “so where do I type?”.
But he started. And until you start, you can’t do it perfectly. Sometimes, until you start, you don’t even know what it is.
The Joe Rogan Experience started as a Twitter Q&A. The JRE podcast is now an interview podcast with some of the biggest guests on the planet.
One leads to the other, and you have to go through all the steps to get better and grow. It took 14 years to reach that many episodes, but it all starts with your first episode. Go start.
He did it because other people were doing it
Joe Rogan didn’t invent podcasting. He talks about how he threatened to start a podcast for a while, and now he’s doing it. But then he talks about Soulja Boy doing a podcast, and it was going really well, so Joe wanted to start one too.
But it’s a strange thought. Joe Rogan watching other people’s podcasts and wondering if he should get involved. Because what if he went, “nah other people are already doing it better than me. I won’t bother”. He would only have a fraction of the success he has now.
You don’t need to be first. You need to be involved.
He got nervous that he had 100 people watching
If only he knew…
He sees the live view count is around 115, and his eyebrows go up. He’s nervous. People are listening. Of course, he’s already a successful comedian and UFC host, so he gets on with the show.
Everyone gets the nerves. You have to show up and start practicing anyway. You’ll get better and more comfortable the more reps you put in.
He had fans who wanted more
This is the most interesting part to me. It’s one thing to launch a podcast with no audience. It’s quite another when you already have fans because you’re an entertainer.
Joe was already putting out videos on his website. He’d done live streams on Justin.tv, which later became Twitch.tv. And he was a performing comic. His fans wanted more of him, and he gave it to them.
He even mentions in an episode that if no one had watched the podcast, he probably would have stopped doing them. So, while doing something for the purely creative act is noble, it does help if people are listening. Don’t feel vain that you want more listeners, all artists want to have their art recognized.
He is learning as he’s doing it
Brian Redban is beside him, telling him how the buttons work and how the stream is set up. “Hello world!” comes up in the middle of the screen, and Brain Redban explains, “So just type, and it comes up right there”.
The only reason the episode ends after two hours is he gets a phone call from his wife and kids asking him to finish and come home so they can eat and open presents. Can you imagine if he did that on an episode today?
But it doesn’t matter. It adds to the charm. What matters is he’s out there doing it. And he doesn’t know it then, but he’s getting ready to get 2000 episodes of practice.
Final Thoughts
He had a go. He got set up, and he went for it. It wasn’t perfect. it wasn’t flawless. But he went from zero to one with a declaration that he’d be back next week with another broadcast.
One friend of mine has been thinking about starting a podcast for over five years. It’s a damn shame. If you want to do it. Do it.
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