In today’s episode, Don Voltaire shares how he started podcasting with his son, and why he decided to produce his own show “Work from Home Forever“. He shares the joy he’s found in both podcasts, how he finds guests for the show and the impact of remote work on people’s lives.
When Don was invited to guest on a podcast as part of his full-time job, he discovered he enjoyed podcasting. And when his 11 year old son said that he wanted to start a YouTube channel, Don suggested he start a podcast instead, as it’s a less visible vehicle, and in a safer ecosystem.
Don and his son set up “The Middle School Mind” at the end of 2021, still during quarantine, and Don thoroughly enjoyed podcasting with his son about topics that interested kids. They learned to podcast following the free information on the internet, and used the hardware that Don was using to work from home. He learned to use Canva, found a domain name and off they went, until the end of 2023.
They had conversations like they would have had naturally around the dinner table, but Don enjoyed sharing those conversations and being introduced to kids’ worlds. They covered topics like food allergies, video games, the visit of a School Resource Officer who talked about drug use and ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response), which Pilar thinks she suffers from!
Eventually, Don’s son lost momentum and interest, and the show has come to an end – though Don is trying to record with him one last episode when he finishes middle school, to round up the show.
08.15 MINS
As well as enjoying all the conversations with his son, Don has always enjoyed the audio medium – he used to create radio-style shows for fun with his brother in the 80s – so he decided to start a podcast about something he was passionate about.
At the end of 2022, the return to the office rumblings had started and Don knew that there would be a group of people who felt strongly about remote work and working from home, and who might want to share their stories.
Don enjoys podcasts with different voices and perspectives, so he knew from the beginning that he wanted to have guests on the show. He started to look for guests on LinkedIn, following hashtags like #remotework and #wfh, and being active on forums and groups with remote workers. At first he struggled to find guests, especially when he didn’t book them in as soon as they agreed to be on the show. He also didn’t have a couple of episodes for potential guests to check out, which would have been useful as it was a new show. In any case, three people took a shot at a podcast that yet didn’t exist – so thanks to Maria, Roger and Philip!
The problem with setting a date for a recording as soon as someone agrees to be on the show is that you can find yourself with a whole load of recordings that can’t be scheduled for a few months – at least that’s Pilar’s experience.
At the end of 2023, Don stumbled upon podcastguests.com and he received over 70 pitches (some better than others…), so he now has a handful of recordings ready to go. He prefers not to book guests who are coaches or remote advocates who are also consultants, but just people who work remotely and are passionate about it as a way of life. For example, one of his recent guests is disabled and remote work has enabled him to open up his job opportunities. A couple of his other guests were military spouses, for whom remote work is their lifeline, providing stability as well as income.
18.20 MINS
Don has a form on Survey Monkey for potential guests to fill in. A few days before the recording, Don looks at his guest’s answers and uses the form to start the discussion. Pilar wanted to know whether there are any conversations that Don hasn’t published – she’s had a couple of times when this has happened, and she struggles with whether to go back to the guest or not to let them know – Don hasn’t had that happenned to him yet.
Podcasting is Don’s biggest hobby right now, and it’s through podcasting that he’s discovered how much he loves the whole process, including finding different types of remote workers, with different perspectives. He takes pride in making his guests sound and look as good as possible, and that they get the exposure that they’re hoping for, regardless of their reasons for being on the show.
This includes, of course, making up for tricky technical situations – in fact, Don himself had trouble for this episode with his microphone, which wouldn’t play nice with the Riverside platform. Don has been using Audacity from the beginning, and does all the editing there so if you think the sound is too quiet, let him know!
When editing, Don tends to be too meticulous when editing, there are just some sounds he cannot leave in… The problem with this is that it takes about 90 minutes to edit his interviews, which are around half an hour long.
31.45 MINS
Don creates blog posts for each episode, and also has a newsletter on LinkedIn. For season 2, he takes the transcript and turns it into a Medium article, which then he uses for a LinkedIn post, plus he also does social media.
For much of this, he uses ChatGPT, which is facilitating his creative process, turning very real and human conversations into blog post ideas and titles, and allows him to publish every two weeks. He edits ChatGPT to make the posts sound like his voice, so he spends quite a lot of time editing, but it’s still faster than starting from scratch.
Babyboomer.org approached Don when they were curating content for their community, which surprised Don, as he thought that generation wouldn’t be interested in the work from home message. However, it could also be that working remotely allows some people to lead more restful or fulfilling lives, which means they choose to retire later than those leading traditional work lives.
Something else that Don has learned through his show is how beneficial remote work can be for single parents, providing them with the opportunity to have meaningful employment while managing the household. From one of his guests he’s also realised how much your own perspective of the world can expand when you work remotely with a global team.
Don will continue producing the show, searching for different perspectives through people with different careers (eg health care), not just business professionals. So remember, if you would like to share your own story about working from home, or working remotely, get in touch with Don!