M² Episode 100: Milenomics the Blog, The Podcast Network and the Community

We're celebrating 100 episodes with a special episode about all things Milenomics, and more about us personally. 

1:00 Milenomics The Blog

• Founded August 2013 (right)
• How long were you playing the game in earnest before starting the blog?
• Where did the Milenomics viewpoint come from?
• Blog networks vs independent
• Robert joins January 2018

16:04 Shop Talk (link)

• Podcast on paper
• Started March 2018
• Enabled asynchronous discussion
• Guest posts

18:26 Podcasts: Milenomics² Podcast and No Annual Fee Edition

• Started Oct 2018
• Discuss: “Speaking freely”
• Talk about our striving for “GPS parity” with audio
• History of editing/recording (Cool edit 96)

29:40 Community & Network

• Slack January 2019: This was huge
• Master Spreadsheet July 2019
• Podcast Network
• MSP w/Garth April 2020
• Manifesto w/Gideon May 2020

Q&A:

36:07 I Can See For Miles: I'd be curious to know more about who you guys are: your personal backgrounds, what or who got you interested in The Hobby, the origin story of how you met and started collaborating. We receive much excellent analysis, information and levity, but I'd like to know more about the guys presenting it, too.

41:43 Dena: Agree with @I Can See For Miles. Am curious about the professions of the people in this game and how our jobs inform perspectives on risk tolerance.

45:16 BlueCat: Time in post production, time lag between recording and publishing

49:36 Tialyx: What are the unexpected challenges of running the podcast.  Answers could be related to technical details, community management, content etc.

54:30 Kyle: I'm curious about future plans for the network.  What kind of recording setup you are using, nothing too deep, but are you using professional mics, padded walls as you audio seems really clear.

1:04:15 outasflyguy: What organization system do you guys use to create the podcast? Google Docs/Sheets? Other project management software?

1:05:00 Danny: Time commitments by activities (recording, editing, managing slack, costs, etc.). How to balance it all/keep it in check.

1:07:59 Most businesses fail within 5 years. Any scary moments along the way (from the perspective of the business/community succeeding /failing)?

"According to Patreon [subscriber] data, a 5% monthly churn is healthy."

It would be cool to hear some stats (growth rate, has growth slowed, accelerated? What is the goal size for the community? How much churn do you see in patreon subscribers? etc.)

1:12:39 Kev: I agree. I think something along the lines of how many miles Sam/Robert earn each year would be interesting as well.

1:16:55 Elaine: I'm still behind, currently listening to Episode 97, but I did want to comment about the soon-to-be-taped 100th show! As a subscriber who goes all the way back to @Sam's blog and who as a result met @Robert on a Boston trip some years ago, I must say to you both: Well Done! In the lingo of our group, what a trip you've been on!

One thing that has come up before, the answer to which I may have missed: How the heck do you guys do it? You've got jobs, P2s, kids, travel schedules (well, at least you had these pre-pandemic, and now there's time spent unwinding plans as well as making some). The podcasts are chock full of things you've tried in person, online stuff, rabbit holes of varying size and success. Just recording the podcasts must take some number of hours each week, of planning, recording, and editing.

So, the $64,000 question: How much time do you devote a day, or a week, to all this? Is your secret that you simply don't sleep? That you're multi-taskers par excellence? Hating both math and spreadsheets, I know I've always been very inefficient at this game. But even allowing for that, how the heck do you guys do it? Could the 100th show be the one when you let us in on that secret?

1:17:42 LeoM: Family/babies/jobs... How in the world do you get to fit in this hobby, still making it profitable and fun and at the same time keep on performing 100% in all the aforementioned tasks PLUS manage a podcast/blog business (or more than one...) I'm burned out, something's gotta give at some point.

Everytime I listen to a new episode I'm like "how can they keep track of so many deals, track all the chatter in Slack/Discord and all the other bloggers and still have time to do all the rest (family/babies/jobs)??? You're are all definitely aliens

1:23:09 Gideon The Free-quent Flyer: What would make you “quit”? If you had $x would you do y?