Highlighting the ways independent creators can connect with audiences and potentially monetize their work while maintaining creative control, join us this week for inspiration and practical guidance for envisioning – and manifesting – your creative potential over the next decade.

In this episode, award-winning podcaster Tricia Duffy reveals how long-term planning can transform your creative life right now.

Tricia tells Claire how her podcast, In Ten Years Time: How to Live a Creative Life, grew from personal voice recordings into a research-driven show that's garnered two awards in its first year. She explains her commitment to making creativity accessible to everyone through free planning templates, rejection trackers, and other practical tools that help listeners reimagine their creative futures.

We discuss Tricia's meticulous production process – from rigorous research of psychological journals and academic studies to working with a producer who challenges her thinking. Rather than producing weekly content, she focuses on three high-quality seasonal series per year, each exploring different aspects of creative living, such as overcoming challenges, amplifying creativity, and maintaining creative momentum.

In this episode Sam and Claire also explore practical aspects of podcast monetization, with Sam highlighting how Podcasting 2.0 features in TrueFans allow for streamlined listener support and event promotion, and discuss Netflix's entry into the podcast space, contemplating what this might mean for independent creators.

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Tricia developed her podcast after using a 10-year planning tool to shift the balance of her own life toward creativity
• Started as voice recordings while walking, evolved through a potential book project, and finally became a structured seasonal podcast
• Creates free resources alongside the podcast including 10-year planning templates and rejection trackers
• Research-driven approach includes consulting psychological journals and academic studies for each episode
• Releases three series annually with each focused on a specific theme (challenges, amplifying creativity, creative communion)
• Works with a producer who provides critical feedback on scripts and research
• Deliberately keeps episodes 20-25 minutes long to fit into busy schedules
• Committed to keeping all content free and accessible regardless of financial circumstances
• Monetization comes primarily through donations and keynote speaking engagements
• Future podcast seasons will explore the science of creativity and ethics in art

Listen now to discover how planning for your future creative self can help you live more authentically and purposefully today.

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What makes a podcast valuable? Is it immediate popularity, or something deeper? "Every podcast you create will exist for many years to come," observes Clayton M. Coke of The Cashflow Show podcast, highlighting the lasting significance of podcasting as a medium that creates permanent records of our conversations and ideas.

Clayton reveals how he uses his platform to interview business owners about their successes, failures, and personal interests, but his most compelling point centres on creator compensation – why should podcasters provide their platforms as free promotional vehicles when PR teams are being paid to pitch guests? This conversation challenges the status quo and advocates for proper valuation of podcasters' work.

We also look at some of the practical aspects of the TrueFans platform, with Sam explaining how the funding tag works to create sustainable income streams for independent creators. This feature allows listeners to set monthly budgets that automatically distribute micropayments to their favourite podcasters with each new episode – creating a fair exchange of value between creator and audience.

In this episode Sam and Claire highlight a number of valuable resources for independent podcasters including newsletters like Eurowaves, Ear Worthy, and Podnews.

We also spotlight AMPD Studios in Cape Town, South Africa – a remarkable free podcasting hub founded by Jon Savage that provides recording facilities, equipment, and support to podcasters of all experience levels. This community-focused initiative now faces potential closure after losing a major sponsor, highlighting both the power and fragility of creator support systems.

Whether you're a seasoned podcaster or just getting started, this episode offers insights into creating lasting content while building sustainable creator-audience relationships.

This episode discusses:

• Why podcasters should be paid for their work, especially when providing promotional value to guests
• The funding tag and the TrueFans support mechanism that allows podcasters to receive micropayments from listeners
• How comments and feedback create meaningful connections between podcasters and listeners
• The podcast blogs and newsletters — such as Eurowaves, Ear Worthy, and Podnews – that provide valuable industry resources
• Other useful podcasting resources, including The Future of Podcasting and podcasting2.org, that help creators understand and implement Podcasting 2.0 features
• AMPD Studios in South Africa offers free recording facilities for podcasters but needs financial support

Ready to support independent creators? Download the TrueFans app today and start streaming value directly to the podcasts you love.

Listen to The Cashflow Show here

Support AMPD Studios here

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The true cost of quality storytelling.

In this episode, Claire chats with Fariba Nawa, the award-winning investigative journalist behind the On Spec podcast.

Fariba trains journalists worldwide to tell the stories they are personally connected to through sound, ultimately producing documentary journalism that rivals that of major broadcasters.

Since launching in 2019 with Kickstarter funding, On Spec has evolved through six seasons, each with a distinct theme, including disinformation, how borders define us, and a two-year investigation into Iran's targeting of dissidents abroad. The On Spec production process involves extensive collaboration with local journalists, providing them professional development while ensuring stories maintain deep personal connections to the communities they portray.

Meanwhile, the podcasting landscape continues to evolve toward more direct creator support. TrueFans features make it easy for listeners to financially support creators with one-off or continued payments, and offer creators options to divide those payments among their contributors with payment splits – allowing teams like On Spec's to automatically divide listener contribution among hosts, producers, and contributors.

Plus, as the industry debates moving content behind paywalls, what does this mean for accessibility, discovery and sustainability?

This episode discusses:

• Funding options for podcasters: from grants and individual donors to listener support
• TrueFans will soon launch as a native iOS and Android app
• How to use payment splits to automatically divide listener payments among team members
• What do paywalls mean for advertisers, and does secure RSS offer a more favourable option for independent creators?
• Spotify now supports transcripts from the Podcasting 2.0 standard
• Who Claire met and which indie podcasts won at the International Women's Podcast Awards
• How TrueFans showcases independent creators on the app's home page

Discover how TrueFans can help your independent podcast thrive through improved discovery, direct monetization, and enhanced listener engagement.

And if you'd like to chat with us about your independent podcast or music, send a comment or super comment in TrueFans to any Creators episode by clicking on the speech bubble icon or on the comments tab.

Listen to On Spec here.

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