I've been an independent, solo podcaster since 2015.  My journey of creating, producing, editing, and hosting a bunch of podcasts has resulted in 600+ episodes and over 15 million downloads.  

The strangest part of podcasting for me is sitting in a closet by myself and speaking into a microphone.   I discovered early on that if I went by my middle name, "Harris," it helped me to get into a 'podcaster' mindset and feel less nervous. 

What hobbies did I try before discovering podcasting?  Fencing classes, trapeze training, triathlon events, tap dancing classes, Texas hold ’em tournaments, water polo classes, mechanical bull riding, pogo stick dancing, performing a wedding ceremony as an Ordained Clergy Person, and creating really dumb videos that even Monty Python would not find funny.

Overall, I've discovered that podcasting on the weekends is my favorite hobby (my day job keeps me plenty busy on the weekdays, lol).

Below are several of my podcasts, with explanations of why I started each one.

Launched: 2022

About: Calmly narrated stories about fascinating moments in history.

Why: Not everyone is relaxed by whispering, so I created this soft-spoken podcast as an alternative to my whispered podcast, Sleep Whispers.  

Achievements: This was the first history podcast in the world created to help adults relax and fall asleep.  It has been ranked in the Top 50 History podcasts on Apple Podcasts.

More: 

• Article about Calm History (by Frank Racioppi)

Launched: 2016

About: 100% whispered podcast for relaxation and sleep with bedtime stories, poems, fun trivia questions, and curious facts from Wikipedia.

Why: I started this podcast to help me understand the challenges of being an ASMR content creator.   

Achievements: This was the second whispered-only podcast in the world (the first was ASMR Sleep Station).  It has been ranked in the Top 25 Health podcasts on Apple Podcasts.

More:

• Article about Sleep Whispers (by JJ Barnes)

Launched: 2015

About: A variety of relaxation podcasts with nature sounds, binaural beats, background sounds (eg, white noise, fans), ASMR trigger sounds, and soothing voices.

Why: An experimental series to help me increase my experiences with sound creation and recording.  I recorded most of the nature sounds, background sounds, and ASMR trigger sounds myself;  I created the binaural beats with software; and I contracted voice artists to capture a variety of other soothing voices.  

Launched: 2015

About: An introductory podcast about the science, history, and experiences of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR).  A companion podcast to my ASMR University website.

Why: I had been thinking about starting a podcast for a while, so this was my first attempt.  It taught me all the basic steps of scripting, recording, editing, and publishing podcast episodes.