Podcast Evaluation: 5 Smart Fixes that Instantly Level Up Your Podcast

0:05 Good morning podcasting, Morning Chat. Today is Thursday, October 30th, 2025, and today it's our podcast evaluation episode. And Unbreakable Spirit by Magdalena Joseph gives us a great look at refining, sound structure, and storytelling, all on the simple setup. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're listening via podcast or YouTube, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. Now give us about 30 seconds. We'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here.

1:20 Good morning again podcasting, Morning Chat. Thank you so much for being here. I am your host Mark Ronick and currently on stage with me we have Matt Bliss, Ashley Feller, Sid Meadows, Dr. Fay Feel Better and Nick Nallback. Thank you all for being here today. Really looking forward to today's evaluation. Last week was a huge success and I expect the same this week. We've had some more people fill out the application form, which I should have had prepared and pinned to the room. Ashley, if you can find that and pin that or put it in the chat for others, that would be awesome. So I don't have a ton of housekeeping for you today other than to say we are not streaming on Chatter because I do rely on Jonathan for that.

2:11 It's a whole thing. I'm not going to sit and explain it all to you now, but Jonathan helps me man. Or I should say, hold down the Fort over there. And he's Mia and I understand why he is shared with me. He also has been dealing with insomnia issues. So my guess is that he may have overslept and I know how that goes. All right, so I'm looking in the audience here in Dave's waving his Canadian flag. Last time he did that, it was Thanksgiving in Canada. So what is it now, Dave? Is there? Is there something going on that I'm not aware of? No, you're kidding, Mark, right? Why? What? What did I do wrong?

2:53 The Blue Jays. Oh, they won. Yes, duh. Thank you, Sid, and thank you for embarrassing me at the same time. Yes, of course. I wasn't even thinking that I'm a football guy. All right, let's dig in. As we've said today we're evaluating Unbreakable Spirit, a healing journey, and it's hosted by Magdalena Joseph. We're going to look at her episode, The Act of Letting Go, which I'll say is a reflective, story driven solo episode that takes her audience through a deeply personal ritual of release. And before we jump in, I do want to highlight something important from her application.

3:41 She records everything on her iPhone, and she's been focused on improving her sound quality. And after taking some time off for some health reasons, she's now preparing to relaunch the podcast. And she made it clear to me in some conversation that, you know, she is not in the position to go out and get equipment, microphones, etcetera. She's got to focus her time and attention in that regard to her own health and personal stuff. As we go through our feedback, let's keep that in mind and approach it from a place of respect and practicality, focusing on suggesting or suggestions that are realistic and acceptable for her situation. And I love that about this episode. This is something we talk about all the time. Just press record.

4:41 Don't let things hold you back, right? And that's exactly what she's doing here. She's saying, I have a message I want to get out there. I want to help people with chronic illness, with autoimmune diseases. So I'm going to I'm going to do it anyway with what I got to work with. So I applaud that. And I want us to keep that in mind as we evaluate her podcast from top to bottom. Now DRI, see you're off mic. Did you want to say something? Yeah, well, number one, Magdalena is in the audience today and #2 I want to know what kind of phone she has because her sound was great. I'm hoping that she doesn't say an apple. Please, Magdalena, don't tell me that I. Feel like she told me it was her iPhone. I can't remember, but I feel like she told me it was her iPhone.

5:32 I have invited. I have invited her up on stage. And that's. You don't have to come up here, Magdalena. You can also feel free to join us in the chat. And I know it's really early. I think she's on West Coast time, if I'm mistaken. Yeah. So thank you for being here. And so, and I'm, I'm glad you heard that. I didn't know you were in the audience. And I'm glad you heard that because I it's heartfelt. I mean it. And I think as a listener of the podcast, I think, you know that we definitely do things here constructively. So yeah, we will give you some constructive criticism. We wouldn't be, it wouldn't be fair to you. And yes, she uses an iPhone. She just put it in the in the chat. Sorry, TR So we're it, we're not, it's not meant to offend you. It's meant to give you honest feedback to help you improve. And again, with what you got, with what you're working with. Dr. just flashed the angry emoji because it's an iPhone. All right, so I'm going to pull up my notes here and guide us through this conversation today.

6:34 Before we even play anything, let's share some first impressions. Maybe they're emotional impressions. Maybe you've got your podcast producer hat on and have some producer impressions who'd like to go first. Go ahead, Phil. Obviously this podcast is not directed towards me, however I actually enjoyed it I think. Magdalena, I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name. You have a great voice. I was able to listen. I wasn't thrown off by anything Dr. mentioned. The sound was really good through your phone, so that's amazing. But it was very storyteller esque and I was able to follow and it felt like if I was listening to an audio book that you were sharing. So I really did enjoy that aspect of the episode. Thank you, Phil.

7:29 I think that there's going to be some discussion on the delivery of her voice. We'll get into that cause I've heard from a few people, we've had some conversations behind the scenes and I'll explain in a minute. Let me before I get the next person's thoughts, if anybody has any more they want to share, I should share with you at least the description of the show so we know what we're working with, right? So this comes from her Spotify page and says, hello. I am your host, Magdalena. I've been living with chronic pain for decades, since I was 11 years old. In 2019, I was given a diagnosis of and I cannot pronounce this. Can somebody tell me how to pronounce it? Because I don't want to blow it up but I'll just say of an autoimmune disease at the moment. I felt so lost and alone with no clue what to do next. But at the same time it sparked a new found strength and determination to find ways to heal and live my best life regardless of any diagnosis.

8:30 I'm not a medical professional so I will not offer any medical advice and I am simply sharing my healing journey with you because you're not alone. Maybe I should should go there next. Does that description feel strong? Does it feel audience focused or should it better explain what listeners gain, who her listeners are like? What do you think? Who would like to go? Go ahead, Matt. I did a bit more exploring beyond the episode and I found that this the description is apartment in the sense that we're hearing her story. And I think that's a really important part of what at least what I got out of what she wants to put out there. So I think it does a decent job.

9:15 I think if we put on our objective podcast producer hats and move through our audience check rubric to see if it specifically targets anybody that should be listening to it, I'm not sure it does. I also don't think it has to. I think there are some cases where someone's putting a story together to put a thing out in the world. And this does that fairly well. Could probably tune up a few little things, but as any podcast grows and changes, that's a necessary thing. I appreciate that, Matt. And do you think what, what could you throw out? One thing you said there could be a couple of little tweaks here and there. Can you throw something out there maybe that she could consider?

9:58 Well, I think the title would probably be the main thing. It's a philosophical exercise, probably not useful either. But the title alone probably didn't describe exactly what I'd be getting. Like I'd feel like it wasn't enough and I'd have to go to the description to figure out what's going on. Even with that subtitle. Cause yeah, even with the subtitle, again, like Phil said, it's probably not for me. So if I was someone who was looking for a spiritually resilient journey, then it probably hits that note right on the head. But we have to acknowledge that, you know, I'm a podcast producer and overseeing so many clients, it's super easy for us to fall into the bias of needing it to be exact and precise and cover like 80% of the market to ensure they understand what it is so that we attract the right people.

10:53 But again, like I said before with the description, I don't think this needs to necessarily be that. But you know, if there was one thing to maybe massage a bit for me, it would be the title. OK, fair enough. I do think that it, especially with that subtitle, A Healing Journey, I think that it speaks to the audience that she's speaking to. I think that they would connect with it similarly to what you said. And yeah, with the podcast producer hat on, it might help to get more ears on her podcast that aren't necessarily going through it, but still may be very interested in her story. You know, that might appeal more to them if we could come up with something that speaks more to what the content is all about.

11:39 I do hear that, Matt. I hear what you're saying. I do agree with Matt about the title, and I was thinking about the subtitle. I think that there's an opportunity to really. So right off the bat, I'm thinking something like discussions about chronic illness and autoimmune diseases for that subtitle. It tells you exactly what you're going to hear on this podcast, has all the SEO terms in there, you know, chronic illness, immune diseases. So I think that that would be a big step in maybe getting some better numbers.

12:20 And I'm going to go to Phil. Phil, are you going to also chime in on the title or do you have also thoughts on the description that I read? I'm kind of agreeing with Matt, like obviously we are not the ideal audience. She's looking for people going through the struggle or adjacent people who have family members going through the struggle of dealing with these chronic illnesses, these autoimmune illnesses. I think the title works well for it. And if we're going to be like with Dr., if we want to hit the SEO, yes, we can change up the subtitle, but I think that may be getting away from who the core audience is. We're looking just to grow, to grow for growing sakes, where maybe this podcast needs to stay small and be more of a word of mouth and she can connect to communities that are going through that need these, this inspiration. Instead of being like, I'm going to try and get as many people, I want to focus on the core people of her audience and not try and get as many people.

13:32 Keep it still. A nice small niche, cozy, intimate podcast where she's sharing her story of resilience. Thank you, Phil. Appreciate that as well. And I, I want to comment on the description for a second. I would like to see that tweaked a little bit. I usually encourage my clients to lead with the audience in mind first. So in this case, it starts hello. First of all, I don't think you need the hello part. You could just start with I'm your host. But I think even before I'm your host, Magdalena, I think you want to address your target audience first. Maybe that's a couple of questions, even something as straightforward as do you suffer from chronic pain, autoimmune disease?

14:23 Do you feel alone because you know the the last sentence here, I'm simply sharing my healing journey with you because you are not alone. That's almost with a little bit of tweets. That's almost how I would start, right? So again, I would suggest asking your target audience some questions, hitting those pain points they relate to and then share. I'm your host and that I've been living with chronic pain and it's show grins, by the way, is that's the autoimmune disease. Thank you, Magdalena and Ashley, for putting that in the chat. That would be my small suggestion is to tweak that description that so that your target audience knows right away this is for them. Does anyone else have any comments before we get into her cover art?

15:13 Oh, I see we've got some some people on stage. So, yeah, let me let me go to Ralph. Ralph, good morning. What did you want to add? I just wanted to say my question at the front end is what is her promise for the listener? Because I'm not sure I understand it as of right now. And I think we need to narrow in on that. Like I mentioned the other day, what is the promise of your going to get from listening to this show? Yeah. And what I'm reading right now is her promise is to help people who are feeling lonely stop feeling that way, to remind them, to show them that they are not the only ones going through this. And I think where what she could add is, is that there is hope on the other side because that is a message I got loud and clear from the episode that we're going to dig into in a moment. That was a big one for me that I got out of this is that. Yeah.

16:04 Is just that. Renee, did you want to add something? Good morning. So what I find a lot of times when we're writing these, not necessarily podcasts because this is a new world for me, but when we're writing out our elevator speeches or how we're going to perform for our. Clients, just like Ralph just said, is what is the end goal and a lot of times we don't take it. Far enough and the best words that we put in there is. Staying. If you could read her last sentence for me in her description because that's where my brain went. Sure, sure, so it says. I am simply sharing my healing journey with you because you are not alone.

16:46 OK, so that you can get back to that life that you always dreamed you could have. So that you can fulfill everything that you've wanted to. So that you are no longer. Stuck so that. You are no longer alone so that you have a community so that so if we can just include so that until you get to the ultimate. Thing then you know you're done so that you can live the life you always meant to live, so that you can provide for your family, so that you can get. Back in the workforce, what are these So that's that are missing. So we write down all the so that's so that's so that, so that and then from there now with the glorious AI, you throw all your so that's back into AI and say, OK, now what is my description? And you'll be amazed to see what all your SO that's bring to you. That is awesome advice.

17:38 Thank you, Renee. And I would again suggest leading with that instead of that being the last sentence because we don't even know if they'll get that far. If they're not connecting with the description initially, they may move on, right? So that's why I want to hit them hard right away again with, you know, maybe some of their pain points and like you're saying, like Ralph is saying this idea of those. So that's right. What's the promise? Great advice, Renee, and it's really encouraging to hear that, you know, as especially when you start with, you know, this is a new world to me, but you're hitting the all the nails on the heads. So kudos to you. I'm going to go to Anne and then let's move into a new area here, but I'm going to Anne.

18:23 A, Anne is on stage, so let's hear from her. And B, Anne is an old friend, an old clubhouse friend of mine that before the podcasting morning chat, I was on every single morning joining a different room that's no longer available. But she was part of it. It was a personal development room. And Anne, it's great to see you. Welcome. Hi, it's great to see you. I'm not in the podcast world yet but I have 5 or 6 autoimmune diseases. I don't have the one she's Speaking of but it doesn't matter. So there are different reasons people would go into this. You don't even have to have autoimmune to to be interested. If you have a friend or a family member, you might want to join to learn more or just for support. And I agree that the last sentence should be the first. But what to add on to what Renee's saying is just to be you.

19:20 The issue with all these illnesses, it changes your life. And if that becomes you and you don't want that so I make it my normal, why don't lose me? Does that make sense it? Makes a lot of sense. I mean, my wife had an autoimmune disease that she's actually healed herself from. But I totally relate to this. Just hearing your story, hearing Magdalena's and knowing hers. Yeah, it there's this sense of if you don't let it, there's this sense of resilience that comes through eventually where you. A lot of people will put their foot down and say, no, I'm not letting this thing beat me. I will beat it even if it means I will live with it and live my life regardless of it.

20:05 And I think creating spaces like Magdalena's creating helps provide that resilience or feeling of. Of resilience because you see somebody else going through it, having success, you know, getting to a point where they are living their best life regardless. And a lot of them do go in remission and there's a lot of maintenance, which I have problems with because I have so many things and there's so much maintenance in each one. So it becomes a lot, but it's also about awareness and just sharing it. And a lot of people have autoimmune, one, they don't know and two, they don't talk about it. So I think there's a lot more people that have autoimmune disease and more women have autoimmune which. Is.

20:47 Interesting. Yeah. Well, thank you, Anne. Appreciate you. And you're welcome to hang here on stage or head back to the audience. Up to you, but yeah, hang out if you'd like. I'm going to keep things moving and I want to provide and share with the room. We'll share this in our show notes as well. I want you to take a look at her new cover art that is a work in progress. I have to say that because she said that to me. She is not saying this is her official artwork but she is updating her cover art and the one piece of feedback I'd like to give. I just had it up and now it disappeared on me. The one piece feedback I noticed immediately on this. So it says at the top, Unbreakable spirit, a healing journey. She has her picture which I would say takes up the most real estate of the cover art and then smaller in the bottom left corner it says shared with love and it has her name. My biggest suggestion is is to a remove the background of your photo of yourself.

21:51 You can easily do that for free in Canva and there are other tools that do that too. I would probably make that picture a little smaller and I would blow up Unbreakable Spirit, a healing journey. I would make that the focal point. Not that I don't want to see your lovely face on here. I'm just thinking about when it is appearing on podcast app, it's going to be much smaller on that screen than it is on your computer monitor. So I want people to clearly see the name of the show in big bold letters. And that's the other thing is I would consider maybe a different font because it's not script, which is good. It is more of a block, but it's got a little script feel to it. And sometimes that can be harder to read, especially if it's on a smaller screen.

22:43 So that would be my advice. Did anybody want to comment on her cover art? Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. I agree with everything that you said earlier. I would also encourage you to look at maybe different fonts that that aren't all capitals. Like sometimes all caps can be hard to read, especially in a smaller screen menu like we're looking at the podcast players on our phone. But I also think that there's a great opportunity here to really lean into making the cover art a bit more energetic and fun, if you will, are exciting by leaning into Unbreakable Spirit and maybe some graphics or something. They just like when you look at it, it goes, Oh, wow, I understand like the it's you can do so much with art and graphics.

23:32 You can play around in Canva with it and, you know, put in unbreakable and put it in spirit and see what types of things that you get that might give you some inspiration. Or you could also look at in the podcast player, you could, you know, type in those keywords and see what else comes up that's in similar genres and see what other cover arts are doing as a way to explore best practices. But I think there's a great opportunity here to make the cover art a bit more inviting and engaging to people that are are searching because remember, we eat with our eyes 1st. And it's just like looking at a podcast where we're seeing that graphic first. So just remember, that's the first experience somebody's going to have with you and your brand is what they see from your cover art. Thank you, Sid, We eat with our eyes first. I love that.

24:19 And I think that's some great advice too. And I was saying even before you jump into Canva to explore different fonts, imagery, etcetera, I sometimes like to just go to ChatGPT and ask it for some inspiration. Here's my show, here's my description, here's my former cover art. I want to update it. What do you suggest and just see what it comes up with? For me, it just gives me direction to then go into Canva and start playing with my own rendition. Ashley, you wanted to say something and then I saw Dr. did as well. Thank you. Good morning. So looking at the episode art, I see a. Darker burgundy circle where it says shared with love comma. Above her name I would I must say you could do without the shared with love.

25:07 And maybe replace it with a few bullet point words of what the show is about or take it out all together so we can see more of the episode title. And I like that the name is on there, but I would like to see it a little more in focus. It looks a bit small, but I like the colors for sure. Thank you, Ashley, I would say either remove it or I personally wouldn't recommend the bullet points because I think they'll get lost when on a smaller screen. I would make just simplify that and simply say something like posted by or simply by Magdalena Joseph. I would keep it like that. Dr. Did you want to chime in before we start playing some clips?

25:51 Everyone's heard of SEO, so now we're talking about ECO eye-catching optimization, and I'm going to go a little bit against the grain here, but I don't think her picture should be on it. I think that if I were producing the show, I would probably try and come up with some different colors other than that maroon, burgundy color. The thing that I do like about it is that there's a dark background and white chunky letters. I like the contrast of that. Please keep that. People are looking at their phones. Their phones might be six to seven inches.

26:35 And you know when you make your art on Canva, I blow that sucker up so I can really make it. But when people see it, it's going to be on a six inch screen and they're going to be scrolling fast. So you need something to really catch that eye. So the first thing is I would I would take the picture off, I would come up with a different color and I would really consider putting in that subtitle that I had talked about before discussions of chronic illness and autoimmune diseases because it says exactly what the show's about. Thank you Dr. The only thing that I personally don't agree with is to remove the photo and I'm going to actually ask the majority since we're getting some mixed advice here just to give Magdalena some kind of direction. Ultimately Magdalena, it's your decision to make, but put a one in a chat in the chat if you believe she should remove her photo from the image.

27:33 I used to be an in the camp. Don't ever put your own face on there. I don't know why. I think it's similar to what Dr. was saying, but these days, especially with so much AI and wondering what's real and what's not, and granted you could create an AI photo as well, but I think it makes it a little more personal. And I think this is a personal story, right? This is Magdalena sharing her story, her journey. So she's very much a part of the show. And I think having her image just adds to that personal touch, in my opinion. And yeah, Ralph just said keep the photo. It connects to her journey. That's what I was trying to say. And.

28:14 We found another hill that I'll die on. OK, that's OK. Yeah, that's fine. Everybody's entitled. And sometimes, you know, what I might think works isn't going to work. But the majority, just for our listening audience who's not here live, majority is suggesting that she keeps the photo. I know Renee wants to say something. Go ahead, Renee. I really do. I want to jump in on typography real quick. I never ever want to put 2 serif fonts together. It should be a sans serif and a serif. And we have two serif fonts here with the little hookies on the end of the letters. And so they're competing with each other for attention. So I believe that the one at the bottom, if you're going to keep another font on there, it should not.

28:58 It should just be, you know, a sans serif font. Also, I think the kerning between the letters a healing journey. They're touching so much that makes it harder to read, especially when it's smaller. I think they that should be expanded a little. Bit. OK. Thank you, Renee. Appreciate that coming from our marketing. I love how I love how granular we're getting with these evaluations. I I think that's so great. I believe that this is very helpful to our audience. These are things to think about, whether you're just starting a podcast or maybe you've had one for a while and you want to go and take a look at your cover art and consider some of these fine details as Dr. said that we're we're providing today. I hope that's helpful.

29:40 Matt, what did you just share in the chat? And is this something you'd like us to also share in the show notes as I am want to do when people start talking about cover art? I just pull up my paint tool and to start playing around with things a little bit. And I don't know how to talk about what I shared in the chat. OK, but it's, it's your version of the cover art. Yeah. And, and Magdalena, definitely have a look at it and see what you think if if it jives with stuff. But I've removed the background from the image of her, done some gradient fade on where the image cuts off at her shoulder. And I think I did a sans serif serif front pairing. I can't be entirely certain.

30:21 The only thing that's really missing from the rearrangement that I did is the shared with love. And I think that bottom left corner of the image that I drafted there is open Slava for whatever creativity that someone might want to inject in there. Thank you, Matt. This is awesome. And yeah, I think it's a big improvement over the working one that we are talking about. So, yeah, we will absolutely put this one and the one that Magdalena started with. We'll put those in the show notes so people can go take a look at this. Thank you for doing that, Matt. And this is a very interactive evaluation today. And, you know, Matt did something on the spot here for her to see in our audience to see. I'm going to share a clip that I tweaked a little bit as well, but I didn't do it on the spot, but I did it last night to share with you all and I think that this is actually a great transition into starting to play some of these clips so we can get into this specific episode.

31:21 The act of letting go. This was an 11 minute episode and I think the best place to start will be her intro. So I'm going to play the intro for you. This is her original intro from that episode, and I believe it's the same intro from other episodes as well. And then let's talk about it on the other side. The act of letting go. Welcome to Unbreakable Spirit, a healing journey. So right there, I appreciate the short, quick intro. Last week, I think it was a longer one and we were talking about the fact that we thought it could have been shortened. I last week we also talked about how that one started with a whole boatload of music before the voice over even occurred. This one, there was just a few seconds of music. I think the music was appropriate and it was shortened to the point.

32:23 Could she add a little bit more? Yeah, I would. I would encourage that. I'll bite my tongue and just see if anybody else wants to respond first. Go ahead, Phil. I agree with you, intro is nearly the perfect length. The only thing I would probably add is her name. That's probably the only thing I would add to it just to let us know who the podcast is by. That's the only thing I've noticed in her intro that she didn't do. So we are not welcomed by the host. We don't know who the host is and we have to obviously go on her cover art, but I always like hearing the host introduce herself.

33:03 That would be probably the only thing I would add to that intro. I didn't even think of that, and I think that's a great point. Yeah, let's introduce yourself so we know who you are. I think where I was going with adding a little bit more is to just add, like, one line, like an emotional hook that connects directly to the listener's experience. So what do I mean? For anyone carrying the weight of chronic pain, this episode is for you. Something like that. Just to, again, address the target audience right out of the gate. OK. I think Ralph is agreeing with me. Yeah. What is the brand promise? So it goes back to what Ralph was saying about the description.

33:46 Yeah, let's do that same promise in the intro. Does not have to be lengthy. Anyone else have comments, thoughts, suggestions on the intro? I have another one, but I just want to give everyone an opportunity. I think it would be much more impactful if she said, and here's what you're going to get from today's episode or here's what I'm going to help you do because then you're like, oh, I'm connected now. I want to listen to the rest of it because that beginning was just like, do I want to continue or not? OK, that's fair. And I didn't play the next part after the intro. And if I recall, and I don't have it handy, if I recall, I think she does set up the episode a little bit more after that.

34:26 I think this is what we can call her generic intro. And as the music ends, she comes back and start and starts to set up the episode. And I understand that, but I think you've got 30 seconds at the beginning of this. To hook somebody. Once you get past that 30 seconds, I think you've lost your opportunity, right? And that was 15. So she has another 15 seconds which she uses to set up the episode. So I think she does. It is really where where I'm going with that. I also wanted to comment on in these, you know, these are NIT picky details and I think that they make a nice difference. And I think somebody else might have mentioned this as well from the team when they were when they submitted their evaluations.

35:10 I think that the music needs a little bit of fading, potentially even at the top at the very start of the music. Sid, was it you who said the music came in for you? A little strong, a little loud, a little jarring. Yeah, it was the second-half of the music. It like went up in volume as I was listening to it, and then it kind of abruptly cuts off. And I'm a big fan of fading music and fading it in as you start talking, so it doesn't have this such abrupt cut off. But yeah, it did it for me when I listened to it. The first part of music was good, then it she talked and then it got loud again. So that was me, yes. So here's what I did. I went and added some fades, both to the front and the end of the intro. It's a little harder to hear the fades, especially at the end, because I can only work with the finished product. If I had the original raw recording, I could make the fade a little more dramatic than I did, but I think it still gets the point across.

36:08 I'm going to play Once More for Your Ears. I'm going to play the original, and then I'm going to play my revised version. So here's the original. The act of letting go. Welcome to Unbreakable Spirit, a healing journey. So there was a fade, I just thought it could be a little more dramatic there at the end. So here it is with the fade up at the beginning and then a fade out at the end. The act of letting go.

36:49 Welcome to Unbreakable Spirit, a healing journey. So the the fades just add something a little more gentle. I feel like a little less jarring, even though the music itself is not a jarring song by any stretch, but I do feel like it adds to that softness of what appears to be the whole show. Dave Campbell says the host's voice could be a little louder as well. And Dave, I think we're what you're getting at there is literally the volume. Like, not that she necessarily has to speak louder, although I think some may have some opinions on that, too. Yeah, that's what he's saying, that we could actually turn the gain up in post production. And this is I'm.

37:34 I'll jump ahead just for a second because this is another piece of advice I have for you, Magdalena. Maybe after you have finished recording, run your audio, run that file through a service like Authonic, which gives you, I believe, two hours of audio for free, so you don't have to invest more money into anything. A it's a UPHONICI think what that's going to do. It's going to raise some of your voice, as Dave was saying, It's going to give you a little more gain. It's also going to do some things. I was listening through the whole episode and I appreciate where you take pauses.

38:14 I think it adds a lot of effect and what happens, especially if you're not using a lot of post production tools or you only got limited hardware to work with. A lot of times you can hear some deeper breaths, some mouth noises and clicks and things like that in between the pauses. And I think if you run it through, I know if you run it through Offonic, it's going to clean all of that up and it's going to enhance the quality of your voice. That's my suggestion. Anyone else want to say anything or shall we continue on? Ralph puts in the chat here. We also have to be fair in maybe she does not have access to an audio processing software and may just be recording and then releasing.

38:57 I can accept this if the content is stellar. Yeah, I'm with you. And again, there are free tools out there that you can use in post production to help enhance the quality. Let's talk a little bit about the episode itself. I will play this clip. This is probably more getting into the storytelling of the show, and obviously there's more. I can only play part of it. I'm like, otherwise we're going to have to sit and listen through the whole episode. That's not what we're supposed to be doing here today. So I'm going to play a piece of a story that a few people on the team mentioned that this was something to talk about.

39:38 So I will just stop right there and play the clip. I wrote at the top of the paper I release dot dot dot and just began filling that sheet with traumatic events starting from my childhood. All the pains that I felt, guilt, abusive treatments, just all of the bad memories that really stood out and the repetitive nightmares. I wrote down all the things that were on replay in my mind all these years. I kept it brief for each one and filled 2 pages. I then ripped out the papers from the notebook, folded it up, and with confident determination, I walked into my kitchen.

40:25 And I got a box of matches. I pulled out the BBQ grill in my backyard. I rolled it out into the part of the patio that was better lit. And I placed those papers on the grill. And I struck a match. Well, it actually took a few, but I lit the papers up. And as I watched them burn, I spoke out loud. I take my power back. I take my life back. There you go. Then again, Oh, I said there you go. By the way, if you're listening from yesterday, you know why that just annoyed me.

41:06 Anyway, Yeah, I I picked that and several others picked some of that as well. It was a strong story and it felt very heartfelt. I wanted to honor that and recognize that that, yeah, your storytelling in this case, it was really powerful. And again, I do appreciate the pauses that occasionally you threw in there just to really, it really helps sink it in. Matt, did you want to comment? I think it was mostly the fire burning portion of that as a clip because it was the most succinct and storytelling Y bit of the episode that I felt it told me a bit of the purpose of what she's trying to do with the episode, which leads into the title and description stuff. I think one of the biggest suggestions I'd have is to walk that line between storytelling and all the other anchoring aspects that that you guys have been talking about. Like what does the person listening to this get out of it? What is the reason for listening? Why would someone dedicate their time to this episode and what are they getting out of it?

42:14 A moment like that, that tells us that it can walk a line between the two. You can have your storytelling as a major component of it because it's done so well. And I even I think in the thing I suggested was to, if you had the opportunity to play around with adding some sound effects in there, I think that could assist the immersion a bit. And when I say sound effects, I don't mean like footsteps, door open, door close footstep, birds chirping, wind, rustling, lighting, BBQ, do just enough to tell people where things are at physically, but not enough, not not too much. The where you feel overwhelmed by the amount that's included.

42:54 But would you have been a fan if she said she struck a match or maybe a few and we heard a couple of light, a couple of matches struck? Yeah, like, yeah, yeah. You know, the BBQ lighting up or something like that. And maybe even just the fire crackling in the background while she was making the her thoughts heard the universe, You know, I let go of this. I let go of that. I'm going to be me again. I think that that moment, like just if you can capture that in like a sound designed essence, I think it kicks you right in the stomach when it happens, which is great. But at the same time, I think you you don't want to straddle the two at the same time with regards to storytelling and what you're delivering the audience.

43:39 And so I think especially with the rest of her episodes being guided by the methods that she uses to address and deal with the different aspects of having the audio immune and her trauma. I think having a segment where she tells a story, that story relating to the method that she uses to address it and having those distinctly separated in the episode is I think a way to, I don't know, I feel like I'm speaking for her a little bit. But to address the the idea that you're sharing a bit of yourself as well as sharing with the listener what worked best for whatever it is like little segments, I think, but preserve that storytelling angle. I think it's it's super strong.

44:25 And with the close intimate nature that she is on the microphone, it adds to that a little bit. Like we want to feel the volume boost. But she's also, she's with us quietly in a space and she's not yelling at us. She's not telling us what to do, but she's here. She's with us. Yeah. Very quiet, a calming presence. Yeah. Yeah. There's a balance between all the things we've talked about. But don't lose that storytelling. I think that's. It's a super important bit. Thank you, Matt. I appreciate that. And by the way, Magdalena is on stage. Magdalena, did you want to comment at all? Throw in anything I want to make sure your voice is heard if you'd like it to be heard. First of all, I want to thank everyone for your input and it's 450 here.

45:15 I started at 4:00 AM so my voice is still trying to wake up. That's OK. But I so appreciate everything that everyone is saying, saying and sharing. Yes, I only use my phone. What I wanted to add was, first of all, I speak softly because the target audience, of course, are those in the chronic illness spectrum like I am. And there's more than Sjogren's that I will be sharing because a lot of us with an autoimmune condition have more than one. And like Anne had mentioned that the maintenance is a struggle because each one has different specific needs or attention.

46:00 The reason why I speak so softly, one of the reasons is because again, the those people that are in that spectrum, I made the show for them because when I was looking for a podcast for myself to listen to when I was diagnosed. And even now, I can't find one that I could sit in a doctor's office and have my earbuds on while I'm waiting for my appointment, while I'm waiting for examinations, when I'm laying in bed recuperating, when I'm having a procedure done. They are too loud, they talk too fast. And so I wanted to do something that they can listen to in their bed or chair and gain something from it, but not be overwhelming on the ears. So that was one thing that I wanted to share. I am so glad that you did share that. And I'm sure you heard since you've joined us from the beginning, I've made a couple of comments that the delivery of your voice of, of this podcast, people were curious about it. And that was one of the things I was suggesting is yet this could be very intentional and we shouldn't not that anyone really was, but we shouldn't be judging the voice. And instead we should be paying attention to the style. Does that style work for the target audience? And my assumption was just that

47:30 that you were doing this for, for them to have that calming feel that to, to not feel like they're being yelled at or even just spoken loudly to that you want to create a space where they can feel calm, they can feel welcomed and not overwhelmed. Is that fair? Yes. Definitely. So thank you for sharing that piece. I think that's really important. I will admit, when I first heard it, I said to myself, uh oh, like this is going to be something that we're going to have to address. And then as I listened more, I changed my mind. I recognized that, you know, you're creating almost a meditative space. And I think it works for for that target audience. Yvonne's on stage.

48:13 Yvonne, did you want to comments at all? Magdalena, I'm so happy for you. I don't know if you saw my comment in the chat. Magdalena and I know each other from other rooms here in Clubhouse and I'm just so thrilled to see you doing this and it's so brave to put yourself out like this. For. Critique and it's going to make your podcast better and I'm thrilled for you. Thank you so much, Yvonne. Thank you, Yvonne, for sharing that and being a little vulnerable as well. Yeah, I'm really excited. OK, let's keep it moving. We have a few more minutes. So I went up. I'm going to play another clip.

48:56 And then if anybody wants to respond, here we go. Being consistent, doing things for myself that bring me joy, putting my health first and finding ways to heal mentally. Like writing down all those experiences and traumatic events on paper and burning it. It's taken me a while to realize that I'm worth it, I'm worthy of it. And in this seasoned years of my life, I've all this wisdom that I've gained, and all these experiences have not only given me a lot of wisdom, but has made me stronger.

49:44 So there's a the next clip and I that's, if you haven't figured out that's more toward the end of the podcast. So I appreciate the idea that she's giving us that wrap up the takeaways for her. I found that was really valuable, really important. Does anyone else want to comment on anything about that clip? Dr. Did you, I know that you had mentioned something about that clip of Ashley first because Ashley just raised her hand. Go for it. Ashley not. Particularly about this clip, but about the whole show in general, is that I really appreciate the intimacy that she offers throughout the show. When I first turned it on, I listened to it twice.

50:27 I listened the first time in my car and when I turned it on I was like, I feel like I've just gotten the best voice memo from a dear. Friend and that's not always easily achieved. It was so sincere and I just. Want to say well done with that. Thank you, Ashley, I think Ralph echoes a bit of what you're saying. Ralph put in the chat. Excellent delivery in connection with the listener. God bless you for your courage and strength. Very cool. OK. And I'm with you 100%. Anyone else before I play the outro because I do want to play that and get some feedback before we wrap up today. So I'm going to play her outro. If no one has anything else they want to add, here we go. Thank you for listening to my latest episode and if it resonated with you or you know someone who could would enjoy this episode or could benefit from it, please share it out to them.

51:25 I really appreciate your support and as always, I wish you peace, love and healing so. What I Oh, let me. OK, yeah. And then see, it needed a little more of a fade there as well. I think a little more dramatic extended fade out. And I appreciated that she didn't give us a whole laundry list of things we could do. In other words, her call to action wasn't riddled with go here, go there, do this, do that. It was one simple message and I appreciated that. Does anybody have any feedback on improving it, if it needs improvement or do you feel like this worked just fine the way it was? No one, no one else has any feedback on the out on the outro.

52:15 Go ahead, Phil. I would have liked maybe a call to action so very. Specifically what? Because she did say to follow her, I believe. If she said if if this resonated with you and for me that's just I find it a bit wishy washy like there's no offense against it meant it's not an actionable. It's putting the hat in the hands of the listener and listeners are not known to take action on their own unless they're told to do. I put it in my form and submitted it the way I would have worded it, but making it more action, action oriented.

52:58 Since this resonated with you, make sure you follow it For those that it resonated with follow so that she's identifying like you resonated with this. You should follow instead of if this resonated with you or what it kind of did but didn't did it resonate with me and instead saying that when it resonated with you, you have to follow. Taking out the if. I'm not a fan of if because it sounds like you're giving someone an out. Just my personal take. I'm with you there. It looks like you've got some people agreeing with you in the chat. close the sale. As Tim Brian says, close the sale. Tell them what you want them to do.

53:39 So maybe instead of a instead of the word, if maybe we're just simply replace that with please, please follow me on whatever, wherever you want them to follow you. I'm with you there. I don't have a huge problem if you say if this resonates with you like that. I know I'm one that has has said that from time to time as well. I don't have a huge problem with that. But I do appreciate the direction there, which is, yeah, to just be a little more bold, be a little more assertive about that. Yeah, Ralph says. And strong because you're strong. Any final words? So Magdalena, thank you for sharing this with us and giving us the opportunity to share our thoughts with you and spend. I love this.

54:20 This is really great. And I also just want to shout out to Matt because into Janae who shared, if you haven't seen it, please go look at the cover art that he did with you with your hat or your beanie on and looking up towards the sky. That just has such a good feeling to it. It just really, really pops and resonates. So that picture is awesome. Matt, you did a great job. Janae. Thanks for for recommending that picture too. And you know, it's just a lot of fun to see. See the new cover art. Come to Life are an option for you Magdalena to come to life. I agree and Matt even took it a step further. Matt had said had showed it in a collage of other cover art.

55:04 It really pops that background sticks out compared to the rest. The the white lettering, the fonts, really eye-catching. It's and and so is that photo like you said. I love that photo. Janae. Great find and great suggestion. Magdalena, I'm curious, did you look at that yet? And how do you feel about the photo? I was surprised that he pulled that picture of, but I really like what he did. I was really surprised how quickly he did that. I had thought about using that photo, to be honest, I don't know. I just didn't care for it. I think if I can make it a little brighter or put some, but I mean, it's, it's me. So it's really what I look like on day-to-day. But I just wanted to add for everyone to know my show is not just sharing my story, but it's also to offer resources and a place for them to go, which I will be including on upcoming shows and moving forward.

56:12 That's my goal. And also to the emphasis is to show them that regardless of their diagnosis, that they can thrive. And it's a matter of not being woe is me or taking the diagnosis as this is it and final and surrendering. So, you know, that's really my goal, to help others to see that and to feel that. Thank you. A great way to wrap it up too. And I that's a really important point. And again, I would encourage that to be included in your description as well. And Matt's offering, by the way, if you want to get some help with that cover art, he's, he's giving you his e-mail address. So reach out to him.

56:58 And great job with that, Matt that made this this episode, this evaluation much more interactive and fun. So thank you for doing that. And I hope it all translates OK for our podcast audience as well. Like I said, we'll try to show you, we'll give you links to the original image and the final image that Matt has put together so that you can take a look at what we're talking about. Just go into the show notes and find it there. Magdalena, thank you, thank you, Thank you for being brave, for submitting your podcast, for being you, for allowing us to do this. Because I'm sure I'm confident that this has helped you. And I genuinely believe that this, this conversation, this evaluation is going to help a lot of other podcasters too. So thank you for being that person, for stepping up and allowing us to to do this for you. I know it can be sometimes challenging to sit and take that kind of feedback.

57:54 I don't think we were harsh, but I think we were honest and that can sometimes be a challenge for people to to take on. So thank you for for doing that too. And we're always here for you. I know you can't always join us in the morning because it is way early there for you, but please keep listening and and feel free to be a bigger part of the community over on our Facebook page. Just look up Empowered podcasting in the Facebook groups and come join us over there if you haven't already. I know I I've seen you comment before, so you may have already started following us, but but please be a bigger part of it. Ask questions. We're here to help you and help others really get to where they want to be. Thank you all and thank you to the team as well.

58:36 Really appreciate it. Go ahead and Magdalena. I just want to say thank you. Thank you so much for everyone and I really appreciate it. It's going to make a big difference and I'm going to save the replay because I wasn't able to take notes. I'm sitting in the dark because my family is still sleeping. But I really appreciate everything it, it means a lot. I will make sure to get you the transcript of this show, and that's available on most podcast platforms too. But I'll make sure you get the transcript so you can run it through AI and maybe have it take notes for you at least to save you a little bit of time initially. Let's stay in touch and I'll get that to you. And thanks again to the whole team for doing this evaluation today.

59:19 I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedules to do this. We're going to probably do it again next week, Full disclosure, it's a lot of work for me and I just got to figure out a way to streamline it. So I think we will be doing this again next week. More to come. I'll share more next week. And thank you all again. Visit us at podpage.com/PMC for more content like this. And until tomorrow, make it a great day everybody. Take care.