Hey Pod Schoolers, @James Burtt & I are excited to share week one of our brand new course with you: Start, Grow and Monetise Your Podcast. It's available now by clicking the 'classroom' tab here in Pod School So, click on the Classroom tab above here in Pod School and just START! The hardest thing with podcasting, and many other things in life (!) is taking that first step, e.g. just starting. If not now, then when is a question I always ask myself when faced with an opportunity that my future self ( @Pete Cohen ) will thank me for. The best thing I ever did was start my podcast. It honestly changed my life. For the better. The people I've met, the conversations I've had.. and the opportunities that have come my way..have been immeasurable. And both james and I want you to experience what we have experienced through podcasting. So just get started by clicking on the classroom tab. Then watch each individual lesson. Then take action and implement. And use the accompanying resources too. And document your podcasting journey. Let us know your challenges and your wins, we want to know!

Hi @Alex Chisnall @James Burtt - as I work my way through the content in the classroom, one thing that may be helpful is a small cheat sheet to summarize the actions from each lesson. For example … five things you need to action based on this lesson (do this, think about that, remember etc…) …. I found myself going back and forth and making some notes on my phone listening in Skool and then drafting notes which meant I left the lesson and had to come back into it. It would be helpful to have an easy copy paste of the key nuggets or to do’s by lesson below the description. Not a biggie but an idea for streamlining the experience as you build this out further.

Hello, I am Gwendy, a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and bootstrapped Founder of Owning Your Space. Over 35 years, I’ve worked in marketing, communications, training, and coaching across industries while living in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. South African born, now based in the Lake District in the UK, I’m building something deeply personal: Owning Your Space. It’s a space—currently in development—designed to help people navigate some of life’s big transitions, like redundancy, retirement, bold career pivots, or stepping into that first job after being a student. I’m not a career coach, but I work with professionals at pivotal crossroads in their careers. This isn’t just about launching an app; it’s about starting a movement. Owning Your Space will offer private, grounded support—away from the noise and scrutiny of social media—to help people claim their strengths and reinvent, rebuild, or reignite their path forward. Whether someone seeks community, a course, or coaching, it’s about starting with what they’re already naturally good at and building from there, one step at a time. Right now, I’m in full build mode—developing the story, establishing the right channels to connect with my audience, and preparing for Owning Your Space to launch in 2025. Podcasts are an exciting part of this journey. I’m here at Pod School to learn everything about podcasting—from starting and growing a show to eventually monetizing it. I also see podcasts as a way to create meaningful content for my courses and connect with others by sharing my story as a guest on their shows. I’m looking forward to learning and collaborating with this group!

Pod Schooler @Gwendy Krijger-Rabbitte asked a great question the other day about how to actually find the categories that you should consider for your podcast so I wanted to share this link as a separate post. So, when choosing a category for your show there are about 100 categories and sub-categories... and choosing the right one (or right ones) can be the difference between a podcast launch that flies ✈️ and one that dies ☠️! Bit dramatic, but it is true as well! Me and @Alex Chisnall covered the importance of choosing the right category in the latest episode of the podcast (which is now No.1 in the UAE, No.1 in Malaysia, No.2 in the UK...because of being in the right categories!) which you can watch on our OFFICIAL YOUTUBE CHANNEL https://podcasters.apple.com/support/1691-apple-podcasts-categories this will show you all the main Apple Podcast categories... and all the platforms work off this - they might call it slightly different things, but this list will show you the main, top-line categories

Anyone would think we knew what we were doing @James Burtt 😆 A massive Thankyou to everyone who followed, downloaded and rated & reviewed the brand new podcast I’m co-hosting with James. And if you haven’t done so yet.. there’s still time to help us and our egos get to #1 😭