Make Life Work

Following the Winter break (and a few challenges getting going again), I joined forces with previous guests of the podcast, Sam Hardacre and Mike Street, to try a new panel format.

We take it in turns to bring questions to the table (mostly about side projects) plus invited a few other members of our On The Side community along to share their stories including Shari Mahuma, Juan Fernandes and Jesse Payne.

Lockdown had affected many people differently, some were still working remotely, some were adapting to the new ways of working/living.

In this season, I invited along Liz Elcoate, Naomi White (again), Franca Hood, Dan Vinnicombe and Brian Suda to talk about how they've adjusted to the pandemic lifestyle and how they've made the most of the "quiet" time on their personal wellbeing and a few side projects.

With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the globe causing unexpected different personal circumstances for many, we took the opportunity to talk to people how lockdown was affecting their personal balance with work, life and ANY side projects.

I talked to Luke Murphy, Steven Turvey-Wright, Dom Hodgson (again), Alex Brooke and Mike Street about their personal stories, wrapping up the 5-part series in time for some potential Summer easing (in the UK at least)

Series 2 concluded on 23rd March with web designer Dan Davies and a slightly different tone to previous episodes. The COVID-19 pandemic had kicked in with some difficult new circumstances to work around and be mindful of. Working remotely became a challenge and reduced my "side project" time which was typically reserved to commuting. It was time to take a break.

However, when I revisited the stats, I noticed a random spike of listeners. I couldn't fathom what caused this but it demonstrated that listener numbers aren't necessarily limited to release dates.

Following the joy and engagment of series 1, I was keen to keep up momentum with a second series. I had a backlog of guests in my mind and it was quite easy securing them to join in. But I had a limited opportunity to record them with a new job approaching (all part of that balance, right?)

I recorded all the interviews in January with the plan to start releasing in February. Editing and production took a little longer with the demands of a new job but I managed to get the first episode prepared for the end of the month, with brand designer Naomi White kicking it off.

The landing page was out there with the schedule, people were gaining interest and the first episode was produced with guest Dom Hodgson. It went live Monday morning with minimal fan-fare to make sure logistics were working.

It was wonderful to get the first episode live and receive some promising feedback in a short timeframe. The following weeks would be interesting to see which episodes engaged.

Speaking to friends in our OnTheSide Slack community, there seemed to be an opportunity in the market to make a podcast about balancing work, life and side projects. Many of us try to maintain a professional career alongside side hustles and personal demands but the stories aren't really discussed or shared. I then got to work confirming some guests along with the format and branding.