308. Why I Quit Podcasting

<p>After nearly eight years of the <em>Love Your Work</em> podcast, I’m quitting. Here’s why, and What’s Next.</p> <h3>Podcasting is a bad business</h3> <p>This is not the immediate reason I’m quitting, but it is at the root: Podcasting is a bad business. When the indirect benefits of an activity run out, it’s hard to keep doing it if it’s not making money.</p> <p>I realized long ago podcasting is a bad business, but I kept going for other reasons. I’ll explain why in a bit.</p> <p>Though I didn’t start my podcast with dollar signs in my eyes, I did at least <em>hope</em> I would grow to earn money doing it. I’ve earned about $32,000 in the eight-year history of <em>Love Your Work</em>. More than half of that has been from Patreon supporters, many of whom support for reasons other than the podcast.</p> <p>During that time, I’ve spent:</p> <ul> <li>$1,008 on hosting</li> <li>$11,749 on assistance with editing and publishing</li> <li>$241 on equipment</li> <li>And some other expenses, for a total of about $13,000</li> </ul> <p>In raw numbers, I’ve made a “profit” on the podcast. But, as I broke down in my <a href= "https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/june-2023-income-report/">latest income report</a>, my “wage” was about $6 an hour. My podcast comprised about 5% of my income over these eight years, and took much more than that portion of my time and energy.</p> <p>Of course, I don’t think about whether the podcast was worth it in terms of an hourly rate. Creative work happens in <a href= "https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/mediocristan-vs-extremistan/">Extremistan, not Mediocristan</a>, and I’ve made <a href= "https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/third-world-better-life/">massive life choices</a> to be free to explore creatively without worrying so much what I’m earning in the short-term.</p> <h4>Ways to make money podcasting</h4> <p>But there are many different ways to make a podcast a solid business, and none of them worked for me, for various reasons.</p> <p>Here are some of these business models, as they apply to the “thought-le