Why the podcast with all drive no drop

How did I end up doing the podcast with Jacob from AllDriveNoDrop? Originally, I had 0 plans to be a part of one. I'm not comfortable in front of a camera so I didn’t see myself being able to talk in an unscripted manner for a long period of time. I saw the benefits of one, but just didn't see myself being able to make a successful one.

I didn't anticipate myself having time to manage a podcast. Video production and design don't come easy to me, so things like editing, creating shorts, and making thumbnails all are overwhelming. But most importantly I was just worried that people wouldn't care what I had to say if I rambled on for an hour or so, and if I would even have enough words to say to fill up a podcast episode every week.

Jacob had reached out and flirted with the idea and initially I told him no because of all of the reasons above. But being the persistent guy he is, he reached out again a few weeks later saying how he was more serious about it this time and wanted us to do it together. I told him still that I was hesitant about the time commitment, but he said he was willing to be flexible for my schedule.

I thought about it more and told him this as my conditions:

I wanted 0 part in any of the production or logistics of the podcast itself. All editing, thumbnails, etc. were all going to be done by him. I only planned on showing up to be ready to talk for 1 hour a week with him, but everything else needed to be handled by him. In return he can host everything on his channel and all the paddles he talks about can use his discount code in the descriptions. All I asked in return was just a link to my own channel, but he could have everything else as he would be doing all the work.

That worked for him and that's how we took off. Our first episode, as you know, was the paddle tier list and after it got posted it was strange because I kept having to go to his channel to see what people were saying about us. Normally I would keep refreshing my own channel to view comments but now I had to go over to his to make sure everything was okay and so far, everything seemed okay.

Now the downside of the two of us teaming together has been that neither of us is good with video production. We had no idea what software to use or the ideal camera and microphone setup. As many of you noticed and probably still notice today, many of our earlier episodes have been marred by grainy video quality and poor audio (mainly from my end). I think we're at a point now where we've come a long way from where we started. I've figured out my new microphone, changed my background, and, and my friend LA give me a new webcam. LA got so fed up with the terrible quality that I was putting out that he gave me free gear to upgrade the channel. Jacob and I also started using Riverside instead of google meets which has been much better for handling the recording and editing for us (not an ad btw). Though it's still a work in progress and we're happy to accept any tips on how we can improve.

But more importantly how am I feeling about this partnership with Jacob? Obviously, it must be good since we've been going for several months now and neither of us have kicked each other out yet. In my opinion I like the mix of what we bring, I'm quieter and more reserved while Jacob is more talkative. He's stronger on his opinions while I'm still a bit more hesitant to be blunt towards a company unless it's Vulcan. He's the heart & soul of the podcast and I'm happy being able to be the supporting role; chiming in with first impressions to topics he brings up and providing a different perspective from things with my own knowledge and experience from having been in the review industry a bit longer. I think over the months, not only has our video quality improved but I do think our chemistry with each other has as well with me becoming more comfortable in front of the camera and him understanding my preferences and doing a good job of including my thoughts in topics.

As part of handling everything, Jacob has been the one communicating with all the brands and he's always making sure I'm included in everything. We have each other's addresses now and either him or a company will send over packages frequently just so we both have a product and are able to discuss it together. He's someone who always has my back and if a company gives us a negative experience, we both are ready to walk away from it together. Overall, I'm glad I joined in on the podcast with Jacob. It's brought my channel more exposure and grown the brand name. Companies have noticed me more and I've been able to test a lot more paddles than I would have on my own. We've both found that it's a good medium for us to discuss paddles and products in a quicker manner without devoting time to creating separate videos that would delay our thoughts on them. I'm grateful to Jacob for kicking this off and I speak for the both of us when I say that we are excited to continue on with the podcast and share more with you all in future episodes!