A Podcast Begins

Several months ago, A friend and I decided our daily banter may be worth sharing with the general public. We both listen to podcasts weekly and the idea really intrigued us. But we didn't want to be just another podcast on the list of average podcasts. We wanted to do something different. We wanted to be blunt, open, and completely honest about every topic we decided to chat about.

In early August, started recording audio for Totally Insensitive Podcast. Our initial idea was to interview our friends about general pop culture items, video games, movies, and politics. This gave us a wide array of topics to choose from. We took inspiration from other podcasts such as, "Legion of Skanks" and "Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast". These podcasts have a comedic take on the worlds around the hosts, who are well-known comedians themselves. However, my friend and I are not well known comedians.

This simple statement alone is the reason we created a podcast in the first place. We are not well known individuals. We are average people just like 99% of podcast listeners. Our thought was that it is hard to relate to a podcast when you mentally can not put yourself in the speaker's shoes. With the help of our friends, we brought a blue collar feel to our podcast that is hard to find in celebrity-run podcasts. In the first 8 weeks, we had 50+ weekly listeners and 350 total listens. Not fantastic numbers, but enough for us to think:

Who the hell wants to listen to us babble about Flesh-lights for 45 minutes?!

But like all good things, there are bumps in the road. As the podcast developed, I decided to take another spin on our idea. I created the Totally Insensitive Network, a Digital Network to help other podcasters grow and make some actual money! After filing to become a legal business, creating a website, social media profiles, logos, and other marketing necessities, the Network was off the ground. All of these tasks were completed while also working my primary job as an Architect. It was tough mentally and financially, but I was determined to get my brain child off the ground. And then my co-host and I started bumping heads.

As the primary stakeholder and owner of the Network, I felt it was my responsibility to push my business forward. I would get a marketing idea and run with it, seeing how far I could take it, and do what I deemed necessary to grow the business. My podcast co-host didn't like the fact that I wouldn't run my ideas passed him before executing them. In my mind, there was no need to do so, but I can understand where he was coming from. So I took initiative to make our roles clear. I would run the Network and he would run the Podcast. It would give us each the ability to focus on one task instead of splitting efforts on two goals.

I thought this plan would work well, but my co-host is known for being "hot-headed". He immediately threw in his hat on the entire endeavor. And I was crushed. A good friend of mine was up and quitting just because he didn't like my plan. In an effort to keep him on board, I suggested we take a few days to think about the podcast and network, and then sit down and talk about our future plan. A few days turned into a week. A week of me reaching out to set times to chat and figure this out. Our podcast airs on Wednesdays and by the time Sunday morning hit and my co-host still hadn't replied, I knew I had to get an episode recorded and ready for Wednesday! I reached out to two friends who had been on our show before and a longtime friend from college. They all agreed to be on the episode.

This episode began super rocky, but towards the middle I got my bearings and assumed this role as the only Host. After the episode aired on Wednesday, I received a lot of positive feedback from friends and family. This gave me hope that maybe I could keep this going. A day or so after, my original co-host messaged me and asked to be back on the podcast. I immediately wanted to say yes, of course, because he was my friend after all and our banter was always perfect for the show. But the entrepreneur in me couldn't agree to it. How could I rely on someone to help me run a business when they lack the ability to communicate efficiently with me? Simple answer....I can't.

Dude, you ghosted me for over a week. I tried to reach out to you multiple times. But if you still wanna be on the cast, I'm recording on Saturday.

Even though we were butting heads, I still wanted to work it out. I tried to make it work multiple times, but when someone genuinely doesn't want to do something, they won't. I'm unsure when he gave up, but it was clear he wanted nothing to do with the podcast anymore. So I moved forward and started re-branding for this new "season" of the podcast. In the wake of all this chaos, my longtime friend from college offered to give me a hand. Our banter was always quick and funny, and I knew he would be an asset to the show. Our first episode together airs this week (11/13) and I'm looking forward to this new leg of the show.

-Matt P Reilly, CEO of Totally Insensitive Network, Host of Totally Insensitive Podcast