The Creator Reset Every Podcaster Needs Right Now

0:05 Good morning podcasting, Morning Chat. Today is Friday, December 19th, 2025. And today, before we break for the holidays, we're slowing down for a thoughtful, community driven conversation about progress, purpose and shaping up how we show up for our audience in 2026. 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 catching us via podcast chatter, YouTube, Facebook, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds. We'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here.

1:20 Good morning again, podcasting morning chat. Thanks so much for being here. I am your host Mark Ronick and currently on stage with me. We have Ralphie Step producer Ashley Feller, BC Babbles, Dr. Faye, Sid Meadows and Nick Naulback, and a good morning to Dave, Greg and Austin who are here bright and early this morning. Thank you for being in the audience and keeping U.S. company as we kick off the final show of 2025. Yes, we're going to take a two week break, which I know in the world of podcasting that feels like a sin. And we do things differently here, right?

2:00 There are not that many podcasts in the big picture in comparison to others that do a Daily Show. I think we have plenty of content for people to binge on in the break. And if I'm feeling it, I may throw out a couple of episodes here and there between now and 2026 when we return on what is it, January 5th. And since it's our final podcasting morning chat of 2026 and before we head into a two week holiday break, as far as today goes, we wanted to do something a little different. So it's not wins necessarily like we normally do on Fridays. And it's not about tactics or gear or downloads or chasing certain trends.

2:47 Today is about pausing for a minute, celebrating the wins, like overall for your year or if there's something this week, and being intentional about how we want to show up in the year ahead. The end of the year is one of those rare moments where we actually give ourselves permission to reflect. And instead of rushing past that, we thought it'd be fun and really valuable to lean into it together as a community. So today we're going to share wins, Pick a word of the year going into 2026, talk about one thing that we want to focus on in the new year, and maybe make a promise to our listeners. And when I say our listeners, I don't mean the PMC audience. I'll share what my promises for the PMC audience, but I'm talking about your audience.

3:40 What's that that promise you're going to make to your audience in the year ahead? Think of all of it as part celebration, part of a reset, part setting the tone for what comes next. All right, so grab coffee, grab tea. Let's lean in. Let's close out 2025 on a high note together. And I think I want to start with that one word thing. I feel like it's a little bit light or although I know when I asked myself the question, light wasn't the word that came to mind it sometimes it's challenging if you haven't really thought about that yet and I respect that and just play along. Don't worry, I'm not holding you to it if you end up changing your mind down the road, right?

4:23 But let's just play along. And maybe for you, if you haven't thought of that word yet, just think about what's the first word that comes to mind. And then let's talk about why. The official question is what is your one word for 2026 that you are going to focus on? Ralph, we're going to go to you first. Good morning. Awesome. Thank you. Good morning. So my one word for 2026 is authenticity. And I picked that because in an AI world, what's going to help me and everyone else in the content sphere stand out is being authentic in what you're promoting and what you're doing and who you're speaking with.

5:03 Yeah. Thank you, Ralph. And you stole mine, but I think mine are for some different reasons, and I'll share that later. We talked about it on Newsday on Wednesday. We talked about how there's a shift going on with content and how it's becoming less educational and more authentically driven. That's what audiences are getting more attracted to, social media, podcasting, etcetera. So I love that one. Ralph. Thank you. Dr. Did you want to share one too? I think my word for 2026 is going to be intentional. Intentional in the respect of, you know, every episode, every guest, every clip, every title has to earn its place.

5:56 If it's doesn't really serve the listener or move the show forward, it just should not get published. An intention creates a sense of calm, and it also creates, I think, better results. I'm going to try and stick to that. I love that. That's beautiful. Thank you. Dr. Intentional. I love that word. Going into a new year or a new project or a new thing, really being intentional about it. I think that's crucial to a successful year. Thank you for sharing that, Dr. Anyone else want to share a word? OK, good. I was. I thought maybe you guys were going to clam up on me and then all of a sudden I saw a bunch of hands pop up.

6:39 So let's go to Ashley. Ashley, good morning to you. What is? Let me ask it like this, If you had to choose one word to guide how you show up as a podcaster or creator in 2026, what's that word and why? Good morning. Good morning. So I do the 12 week gear. So for Q1, it's going to be enthusiasm. And the reason why I've chosen enthusiasm is, you know, when it comes to producing, I don't want to say I'm on autopilot, but lately it's kind of a feeling that way just to get the work done. And I'm not really a whole lot excited about my personal projects because they're getting shoved in at the last minute.

7:21 But I'm going to make some changes that get rid of that autopilot feeling last minute thing and I'll actually be excited about doing my own work again. Thank you, Ashley. And I'm going to actually follow up with you because I want to make sure for those who may not know about it, you said you're doing the 12 week year. And I know that part of that, I'll call it a program is coming up with a, a word for every quarter. But do you want to explain a little bit about the 12 week year? I feel like it's appropriate for those of us that are maybe still thinking about our 2026. I think this could be some valuable info. The 12 week year is a book actually, and I can't think of who the author is, but the idea is that you think of every quarter of the year as a year within itself.

8:10 So you have 4 years within one so to speak, and you have different goals and intentions for each quarter and you do mid quarter reviews or mid year reviews. If you think of it that way, end of year reviews and it it really can help get a lot done in one year. Agreed, I like the concept. I've done that before, something similar, and it does help in the sense that it it's not as overwhelming at the very least to plan for a full 12 month year. Instead you're only doing that quarter. It's also great for someone like me too because it provides flexibility for your year. You can change things up from quarter to quarter, have new words, new themes, new goals. I like that one a lot.

8:56 So yeah, thank you, Ashley. Thank you for sharing and I love. Can you remind me just real quick, what was the actual word? I I got all the explanation and I forgot the word. Oh. It's enthusiasm. Enthusiasm. That's it. Cool. Love that. Thank you, Ashley. All right, I think BC wanted to play along as well. Go ahead, BC. Good morning. Good morning. And yes, funny enough, a group of colleagues and I from a nonprofit I work with had the same question last night during dinner. So very timely. I love this. So my word for 2026, I have decided is revolution. And this kind of feeds into the earlier question of what are you saying no to and then yes to for 2026. So going back to that, my no is to stop limiting myself at the visionary stage of what I want to do.

9:39 And the yes is taking the steps to get there. So for me, revolution is about being actionable, being in the moment, actually reworking how I approach things so that the end result becomes a lot more feasible. I'm starting to, I'm starting to do that now with my own podcast. I usually create themes around people who show interest in the show, but I'm deciding to now be a lot more research focused and decide, OK, here are the timely topics for my show. And then I present those topics that I want to discuss that are timely and important. And if they anyone fits the topic, then they can reach out. That way I know that whatever topic is discussed, it's timely. It's going to provide actionable current insights for the audience and it's not so this matches the person. So hopefully it helps kind of thing, if that makes sense. It does make sense and love the word revolution. I that's one I wouldn't have had on my list of prediction for words from from our panel this morning or our audience for that matter as well.

10:44 That's a great one. Thank you. I appreciate it and I appreciate the thoughtfulness behind the word as well. By the way, thank you for playing along in the chat, Tim. Tim picking the word tenacity. Would love to hear more about that. And also happy birthday to you, Tim. He said that he was a little late and he was, he slept in a bit giving himself a birthday gift. So yeah, happy birthday, Tim, and play along. Please, everyone in the chat, share a word with us. Tell us a little more why or come up here and join us and tell us what your word is for 2026 while we go to Nick, who's going to share his word for 2026. Go for it, Nick. Good morning.

11:26 Hey, good morning. After Ashley said enthusiasm, I thought that was a pretty good fitting one as well, but I'm not going to cop out with that. The word that I'm choosing this year is rediscovery. And I'm picking that word because as a lot of you know that I've pretty much gone non existent in terms of content creations. And this year, I really want to kind of take a step back and look at what motivates me, what drives me to create the content because I, I miss creating the content, but I don't have that motivation to do it right now and just really kind of better understand what motivates me. How do I get back into that groove to where I feel excited and enthusiastic to be out there, put myself out there again and just start having fun with that again? So relatable.

12:22 Nick, thank you for sharing that. I know I go through those waves as well. And I'm curious, you know what, how do people get past that, right? How do you find that motivation, especially if you were creating content for a while and now all of a sudden you're not feeling it anymore? I know for me, a lot of times I'll ask myself that question when I'm feeling that, and sometimes I have to push myself. But a lot of times, and again, this is just for me, a lot of times it's actually fear based. There's something that I'm afraid of. Sometimes it might be what people, you know, judgement, right? I might just be afraid of judgement. Sometimes I'm, I'm fearful that it's just not going to be good.

13:05 And it's just a matter of sometimes even just acknowledging the fear, whatever it may be, helps push me through, helps get me to a point where I can create something. I saw Ashley wanted to comment. I see Ralph wants to comment on that as well. So let me check in first with Ashley. Go ahead. So in my situation, I tend to think of creativity as a stream, and sometimes the stream is cold and sometimes it's warm and right now it's cold. When you think about getting into a body of water when you first get in and it's cold, it's uncomfortable. But if you force yourself to get in and get used to it, you'll eventually acclimate. And that's how I tend to think of it when I'm in a slump and I don't feel like producing for myself.

13:50 I forced myself to do it anyway. Like yesterday, that live stream, if I'm honest, I wasn't really feeling all that jazz to do it. But after the stream was over, I felt great and so I think just getting over the hump, getting over the discomfort and surrendering to what you need to do makes all the difference. I love that advice. Thank you, Ashley. I loved how you put that with the cold stream. Hot stream. Yeah, that I feel that I'm in that in a sense right now, not with our podcast, clearly, but with creating content for the podcast as far as reels and shorts and that kind of thing. I just haven't been feeling it this week. I've attempted it, I've gone in and I've and I personally genuinely believe that we've had a great, great, great week of shows. Yet I'm just I'm struggling pulling the highlights from that content and I'm giving myself permission to be OK with that and I'm putting out content in other ways. But as far as specific to short form content, that's where I've been.

14:51 That's where the stream is cold for me. Ralph, did you want to share something? I did. I wanted to say something about this whole discussion. I think it's OK to say I'm not OK. I think it's OK to say I'm hurting right now. I'm struggling right now. And we put so much stress on ourselves because all we got to do this and we got to do this. It's OK to take a season off. It's OK to find somebody and tell them you're not OK. So I feel like we beat ourselves up so many times about what I've got to do this because people are counting on me. And if you miss a a beat, if I miss a rhythm, I'm going to lose audience share. You know what, you have seasons in your life and you've got to embrace those seasons.

15:33 And you got to say sometimes I'm not OK right now, and you got to be OK with that. I love that. Thank you, Ralph, Great advice. And look, that's the that's part of the catalyst behind this two week break we're about to take. I know I'm recognizing I need that break and this is a great opportunity. The holiday season's a great opportunity. But as much as I feel like the momentum has been super strong with this show and we've been putting out week after week, especially at the end of this year, the last couple months I feel like we've been putting out amazing content and now I need a breather. I need to take a break and recharge and I'm proud of myself for recognizing that and not just pushing myself to do it anyway because I'm afraid that, oh, if I stop putting out the content, my contents not going to be pushed out anymore when I do come back or people are going to forget about me.

16:25 I do think about those things on occasion, but it's more important to me to get that reset and recharge. Nick, I saw you wanted to chime back in. Go for it. I totally agree with what Ashley and Ralph are saying. Like, that resonates with me a lot. I think in my situation, I've thought about this a lot. I know we've talked about it a little bit as well. But I think reconnecting with my why is a big piece of all this. And I know we've talked about this a ton on the show, as I have. You have that purpose, have that. Why? If you lose that, if you don't have that, it becomes very difficult to keep yourself moving forward. And that's what I feel I've lost the most because, yeah, like Ash is saying, you can.

17:10 Just. Jump into the cold water and just get get your feet wet and get in there. But especially for me, I know that I have a hard time getting into the water not knowing why I'm getting into the water in the 1st place. I have no problem diving in, but I need to be swimming towards something or I need to be jumping in for a reason and not just doing it for the sake of doing it. And that's where the reconnecting with that why and why the why is so important. It's very clear to me going through all this. Could the reason for you be that you want to just get back on the horse? Is that enough of a reason, right? Like maybe it's a matter of connecting with Sometimes the reasons don't have to be because I need to serve my audience because XY and Z, right?

17:58 Sometimes it could simply be, I know that it's something I want, right? Like this is something that Nix has said to us. I want to get back into it. I miss it. So maybe the reason is I just got to put out some content for the sake of getting back into the rhythm of it. And that might not resonate with Nick, but it might resonate with somebody else. It does with me. Sid, did you want to comment? Good morning, everybody. I can identify with this a lot at the end of the day. I mean, I haven't posted like really real content in probably 3 weeks. Lots going on Thanksgiving, then my mother's funeral and then kids coming home and just all kinds of things. And sometimes you just need a break.

18:39 Like sometimes you just need to step away. There didn't have to be a reason, right, that you stepped away. Sometimes you just need a break and give yourself the grace to say, you know what, I'm not feeling it right now and I'm just not going to do it. And you know, you can come back when you're ready, but sometimes you just need a break. And for me, that's what I needed was just, I needed to take a step back with it. Thank you, Sid. All right, we will keep this moving BC did you want to have a final thought on this part of the conversation? Yes. And I wanted to say I totally agree with pretty much the different perspectives here and I kind of wanted to hop in on the reality that you know, as much as we it's, I think it is important to have the why in focus and the emotional or mental kind of preparedness for this is a pretty multifaceted function. So there's also a physicality to it. So a lot of times for me, what I need to do to get back into it is not even to have something planned and have like a result in mind, but I got to get back into OK. What does functioning behind the mic feel like before I can actually plan anything that will provide anything productive to the audience?

19:49 If I can't like, get back into the groove of OK, what does sitting here feel like? What does the mic feel like? How do I position myself? How do I talk? How do I articulate? Then it's not going to work anyway. Thank you BC great advice. Thank you for sharing how you deal with that. I appreciate it and I'll share quickly my word, which I already shared because Ralph used the same one, authenticity. We'll go to you Sid, don't worry. And really the reason why I chose it is because I want to show more of me on social media and in real world situations. It's my belief that most of us hold back from showing our truest self to the world. There are some of that I believe are more authentically who we are than others, but I do believe that there's for many of us, there is still some sort of wall up right. We're not truly showing who we are. And that's not, and I'm not saying that for every person in the world, but I just believe there a lot of people out there that that are like that.

21:00 And it's my intention to get even closer to sharing that truest version of me with you. I've recognized that a lot this year that in my life worn a lot of masks, figuratively speaking, and I've started peeling some of those masks off. And the more that I do, the more I just feel better about myself, who I am. I feel more confident, and I think I show up differently for the better. So I really want to embrace that moving into 2026. All right, Sid, I'm coming back to you now to share your word and why for 2026. I'm still torn between 2 words that I'm playing around with, but the one I'll choose for today's conversation is exciting.

21:54 I'm excited about next year. I'm excited about what's happening with our new business and our groups coming on board and the energy that we have around that. I'm excited about the, you know, relaunch is not the right word, but I'm excited about sharing the updates to my podcast and all the things we're doing, the new things we're doing with my listeners. I'm excited about we're we've gone with our monetization strategy. It's just there's a lot of exciting things around my businesses and my podcast. So that right now is the word that I'm choosing for today. Exciting. Love that. Thank you, Sid, and I'm excited for you. I know you've shared a few things with me behind the scenes that you're working toward your podcast for 2026 that are going well.

22:39 And I I couldn't be more thrilled. So yes, I'm excited with you. OK, let's move into a different area. Should I? There you go. Clean the slate there. Cleared. Is that the right term? Clean the no. Yeah. Clean slate. Yes. OK, Clear the air, clean the slate. I don't know, but you got me. Why don't we jump into what's one thing that you're focusing on in 2026 that will make the biggest difference for you and or your podcast? So I'm going to focus on something that is really hard for me and that is saying no because this year I launched 3 new shows. So now I have 4 shows and what I am learning is that there's only so much of me.

23:29 I am focusing in on what is the main thing I want to do in 2026. And I'm really going to lean in to the content creators accounting side of what I want to do because I really feel that's where my skills and passion are. And it means I'm going to have to say no to some things. If I have the inkling of, oh, I can do another show or I can do some more content in this area, I've got to learn to say no. I need to focus on this piece of the wine to accomplish. Thank you Ralph and I guess selfishly I am glad you chose that for 2026 and not for 2025 because you may have said no to being a part of this community everyday. No, no. And let me just say, and I want to add this because it's kind of a win and you didn't ask for wins right now, but honestly, Mark joining this has been one of my greatest wins of my podcasting career.

24:19 It has become a home for me. It's a place that I'm really enjoying the people I'm meeting people of all kinds of different backgrounds. And I honestly look forward to 6:55 in the morning seeing when you start the live stream and start the clubhouse thing. I'm getting up a crazy hour so I can get my exercise in, but but no, Mark I, I'm definitely not going to say no to this. I am really loving this and I really appreciate you and I appreciate everybody else in the group. I got to see Ashley playing music yesterday, which was really cool. I just was on Facebook for a minute. So I would have never had that connection if it hadn't been for this group. So I have just absolutely embraced this group and thank you again. Man, thank you, Ralph there. That's a huge win for me that I will proudly take on. Thank you for sharing that and we are super excited and proud to have you be a part of this.

25:07 Thank you for pouring into it. Thank you for the your passion and enthusiasm. I'm really excited that you are a part of this team. Let's see. Did somebody else want to comment? I feel, Oh yeah, it was Ashley. Ashley wanted to share. What's the one thing, Ashley, that you're focusing on in 2026 that will make the biggest difference for your podcast or you? So it's going to be consistency and it's going to take some of what Ralph was talking about to pull that off. I'm in a situation where the Cobblers children have no shoes. You know, I've talked about this before. You know, I've really, I love all the podcasts I work on, but at the end of the day, I run out of time and gumption to do my own.

25:52 And again, when I was speaking before, I've just got to force myself to do it and have better time management and not say yes to every little thing. I'm so quick to say yes. So I'm going to have to take a page out of Ralph's book and say no to something so that I can, you know, get reacquainted with why I'm doing my podcast and continue. Love that. Thank you. Ashley, does anyone else want to share something, one thing that you're focusing on in 2026 and that will make the biggest difference for your podcast? Yes, Sid, go for it. Mark, let's not forget Dr. because I think she's got a few things she's focusing on. We've been waiting for like 9 months for one of them. So maybe she can focus on that in 2026. OK, I'm calling her out.

26:37 This was the one question that I did not have an answer for. I have an answer for. All of the others. I was like, OK, we can just skip by this, skip by this. It calls me out. Oh my goodness. My word that I think I'm going to focus on. It's also kind of kind of my second alternative word, though. This is appropriate place for it though. It's growth. I'm really focused on the growth of my show, the growth of my audience. I'm building out a community and growing that community, growing the business. So what I'm going to focus on in 2026 is growth and I'm excited about that. Thank you, Sid. Dave here says he's focusing on new ideas for 2026. Dave, I hope it's not another suite of podcasts. I think Dave might have the most podcasts out of anybody in this community in this room anyway, for sure. Anyone else want to share something that you're going to be focusing on in 2026 that'll make a big difference for your podcast?

27:42 I'll let you think for a second. I'll share. I think it's, I mean, it's similar to Sid, I could say growth. What I wrote down was taking the show, this very show to the next level. I want to add a monetization component to the PMC so that I can sustain it. We've been doing it as a now granted, it's a monetization model in the sense that I do get business on occasion because of this show, right? People who listen to the show do reach out and they do ask to work with me. So that that's one way. But I want to find some other ways as well.

28:22 And my dream is to be is, is really for this show to become one of my main revenue streams because I love doing it. I really, I am passionate about doing this show and the more that I've been intentional with it this year, really now planning ahead of time what we're going to talk about each day, each week and spending some time the day before, a couple days before whatever that particular show day is and, and planning it out. You know, I, I love doing it. It's where I enjoy spending a lot of my time. So if I enjoy spending my time, I've got to justify it by figuring out a way to also monetize it or other ways to monetize it. So I'm going to take these next couple weeks while we're off to figure out what that looks like and how it will work. And Janae has joined us on stage. Janae, good morning.

29:20 Did you want to play along? What's one thing that you're focusing on in 2026 that'll make the biggest difference for your podcast? Good morning everyone. Wow. What's the biggest thing that I'm focusing on for 2026 is systems. You want to tell? Me a little more when we have systems in place, For example, a car has several systems and if all the systems work together smoothly, you can go farther. So setting up system for podcasting, setting up systems in my business so that there's more time to work on the business as opposed to in the business. That's going to be my focus for 2026 and the word of the year.

30:04 And this is funny, Mark. It's going to be moist. OK, well real quick, why he said that? Just for those who don't know the reference, that was something that I said in my opening remarks at the Empowered Podcasting conference. I said how the word authenticity a lot of times these days make people cringe and I compared it to the word moist in the personal development world. Anyway, it is our our moist in the personal development word. That's why he's saying that. It sure is. But you said that authenticity is overused. You know, everybody talks about being authentic, being authentic, but I think it's very important to know the difference between being genuine and authentic, right?

30:50 What does it mean to be authentic? Well, not anybody can just come off the street and like, hey, I'm being authentic. I'm sick, but I'm still going to show up. No, that's not being authentic. You know, you want to be genuine in your core values and who you are as a person and who what defines you as who you are based on the experiences you've had over the years. So being genuine is as much important or holds a higher value, I believe then somebody is throwing the word, hey, I'm I'm being authentic and I'm showing up again.

31:31 It all comes down to that deeper meaning of why and how you do that and how you show up. So thanks so much, appreciate. It yeah thank you Janae love that share anyone else want to share or shall I move to one of the other questions of the morning DRI know wants to share DRI think what Sid was implying was this podcast help desk show that we've been waiting for for almost a year now. Yes, I know. So it it has been exactly a year. It was this time last year that I said, really, I've told all my clients that they have to have all their shows in by the, you know, by the 10th so I can have a clean slate and just dedicate all my time to That was a year ago.

32:22 That was a year ago. So you know what, let me just say you do. You can say I don't think I'm going to put that show out there. I don't have plans to. And that's not one of my goals for 2026. You're allowed to say that. It's it would be a shame, but you're allowed to say that. Let me think about that if I want to say that I'm not sure. Sometimes I think we put all this pressure on ourselves, but maybe it will for whatever her reasons are it maybe it just doesn't feel right to Dr. and she's not comfortable putting it out there and OK like that, that we might have to just accept that. Dr. I'm in the same boat my friend. I've been telling myself for about a year. I registered this domain name a year and two months ago I was going to launch a new podcast and I still haven't. I am so good and prolific at registering URLs. I have got so many out there.

33:17 They're all ideas for different shows that I haven't done it yet. But damn, no one's going to. No one's going to come out with the same name because I got the URL. Dr. collects URLs, courses and apps and apps. Yes, those are her addictions. All right, it's about time you create apps and courses. How about that Dr. How about that? Yes. I fear that Dr. is on the couch again and listening to all of her psychiatrist.

33:57 I'm on the therapist couch. So is there some more questions that we can do? Dr. is deflecting now. OK, I get it. I was actually I had my finger on the button to transition into the next question and that and that reminded me I was going to play that little magical whoosh sound that I have. But I also have this other one that I forgot to play you guys the other the other day when I was playing with some of these sounds. What do you guys think about this as again, this is just like a palate cleanser. It's a transition from one topic to the next. I kind of like that just because, I mean, it's not exactly like our theme music, but it feels like it's in the same vein of our theme music as a just a quick change of pace. It's short, it's sweet, You don't like it. DRI can tell by your.

34:50 I can tell by her. I like it. I like it, Mark. You could play it longer. I actually I really like that Mark. Oh, OK. Thank you, Sid. You thank you for making me feel better. Not like Dr. No. I just don't have to let it sync it In Sync it, that's all. I'm good. Dr. does that to me sometimes when we are private messaging and I'll say something and her response will just be O dot dot dot and I'm like, OK, so does that mean that you're unhappy with what I said? What does that mean exactly, you know? Conveying stuff is so hard through text. I know, but you just did it through voice and I feel the same feeling that I get when I see it in text. Well, you've given me something to think about. That's.

35:32 Yeah, there it is. That's good. All right, Well, we did hear that transition music. And since Sid likes it, what's 1 promise you want to make to your listener in 2026? I'll start. OK. DER, did you want? 'Cause I have, yeah, I do OK. Oh, I should have just said oh. That's right. So this one is going to sound as though it's a promise for me, but the overflow is actually goes to the listener. So I promise to have more respect for my time, my own time.

36:18 And it means no rush recordings, no filler episodes, no content created out of like obligation and stuff like that. That every episode exists because you know it deserves to be to exist. And in respecting my own time, that's not only a gift to myself, but it's also a gift to the listener. When the creator has boundaries, the content has more depth, more intention, which goes back to my first word, which is intentional. So yeah, there you go. We've come full circle. Way to thread it together there, yeah?

36:59 Thank you. Thank you, Dr. and I'll keep it moving. For sake of time, Ashley wants to chime in. I'll share mine eventually here, but go ahead Ashley, the floor is yours. My promise is that I'm not giving up. I mentioned before about my dilemma with lack of enthusiasm and I've just got to realize I'm not giving up. I've I'm very into with my why and why I want to keep going and I promise not to give up. You know, I've talked about consistency. I don't want to, you know, say it's going to happen before it does, but there might be a time when I can't get my own episode out at the time that it's supposed to, but it will come out. Thank you, Ashley. It's a great promise to your audience. My promise to our audience is that this show will always strive to be a few things inclusive, honest, insightful, valuable, and at the heart of it all, the show will continue to be about community.

38:01 The PMC considers itself a home for content creators, and we or I strive for content creators to consider it their home too. So that's my promises to continue to follow those different things I just listed. And as again, especially when it comes to community, I want this to be a home for content creators. I want people to think of the podcasting morning chat when they want community and when they want to learn from community. Or maybe they want to help community and want to be a part of this one and help this community. Whatever it is, I want this to be your home.

38:42 Ralph, I saw you wanted to. Did you want to share yours or did you want to respond? Either way, I. I wanted to share mine. And so one of the things that I am going to do, my promise is to speak to my listeners in language they can understand. Because a lot of times us professionals, accountants especially, we talk in terms that nobody else in the world talks in. And one of the ways I want to differentiate myself is I want to talk the language of creators because I am a creator. So I live in that. But I also want to make sure that every episode is speaking to that creator who's struggling or trying to make this work. We're trying to do, you know, to take to make some money with their podcast and try to keep more of their money. So my promise is that I'm going to meet you where you are. I'm not going to talk to you about somebody that's got 10 million followers.

39:30 I'm going to talk to you about your situation, where you are right now, and help you take that next step, just one step at a time. Thank you, Ralph, for that thoughtful answer. I love that. I love the nuances of these different answers, the different directions that we're all going in. I think this is really fascinating to me. Does anyone else want to share a promise that you want to make to your audience? Yes, Sid. I haven't thought a lot about this, but what comes up to me is inspiring, relevant and challenging content. That will continue to help you move your business forward. That's what my show's about. That's what I do.

40:11 But I'm promising to bring more of that, better content, more information, things that are really going to help you get to the next level in 2026, professionally and personally. Love that, thank you. I see here in the chat Dr. you said perseverance. You want to share what you mean by that? I was commenting on what Ashley had said because I think another word for it would be perseverance. Got it, got it. Thank you. By the way, and I'm looking in the chat here and it seems that my little, I'll call it a rock Stinger. The seems like everyone likes it and I'm shocked that the the consensus is that it needs to be longer. I thought for sure that was the perfect length, and it may still be.

40:58 I may keep it that way. But it it, there is more to it I could add. I could make it a little longer. I'll play with it and see. But yeah, that surprised me. Anyone else want to share a promise to your audience? OK, then I'll make you sick of it before we even really lean into it. OK, let's head into wins. And I'm going to ask this question a little differently because normally on Fridays, we'll do this and I'll just ask you please share a win from your week. But I want to reframe it for the our final show of 2025. What's 1 win from this week or from 2025?

41:40 And it would be kind of cool if you can pull 11 from 2025, but not required. That reminded you why you podcast in the 1st place. I'll start. The gratitude I've received this week is one win. For example, I received a wonderful note from Rika, who we interviewed, her podcast interviewed. We broke down her podcast, shared delights yesterday on the show, and she was really pleased with the feedback we gave. I also got gratitude from an Empowered Podcasting conference attendee that I sat down with on a Zoom call yesterday, just a connection call, and he was just expressing what an amazing event it was and that he had been to many like it, but there really wasn't one like it. That's what he said to me that this really, this one really stood out to him and he got so much out of it. Another opportunity or win was the fact that I got to lead another pod fest community call for their speakers specifically leading community.

42:56 And that is a win that reminds me why I podcast in the 1st place because it I podcast for these kinds of opportunities. That's one reason. So having something like this, having a pod fest come to me and say, hey, we see you. We see what you do with community and how you build it. And we want you to do that for us with our speakers. And I just signed a new client who also another empowered podcasting conference attendee this very week. This client, this now client, former and existing EPC attendee hired me to they, they've put their whole podcast together, they've recorded their first episode and now they want a producer to produce these episodes that he's recording.

43:43 So that's a big win and a big reminder why I wake up, like Ralph was saying, crazy hours in the morning, why I show up here every day. It's. To help continue to build my business. That's a big reason why we I do this, aside from wanting to be a part of community and lead a community. Those are my wins. That's what reminded me of why I podcast in the 1st place. Ashley coming to you, go for it. I would say that my podcasting win for 2026 is finally getting over the hurdle and doing video. I've been fighting it. I didn't want to do video for the longest time, but I realized that I needed to for the type of show that I have.

44:30 People really want to see the musicians that I'm interviewing. Plus it gives me the opportunity to take video that I filmed of the musicians and, you know, find places in the show to insert that over the interview. It looks really cool. And the reason I consider this such a win is because it's been a confidence booster and it gets back to why I'm doing this to begin with. And that's community and connection. I was at a music festival a couple months ago and a guy came up to me, total stranger, and he said, did you put out a YouTube video that was a know before you go kind of video about this festival? And I said, yeah. And he said, well, I found your video and it's what made me decide to come to this festival at the last minute. I've never played in a fireside jam before. And because of your video, I wouldn't have known about this. And now I'm here.

45:21 So that's my win for the year and why I continue to make my own podcast. I. Literally really got chills as you shared that last win. Ashley, thank you for sharing that with us. That's so cool to hear, and I'm really excited for you and your 2026. Thank you for playing along today. Thank you for sharing all that you shared. Billy joined us on stage, so let's skip the line and go to Billy. Good morning, my friend. You want to share a win from this week or from 2025 that reminds you why you create content in the first place? Hey, Mark, that's very kind of you to skip everyone else. Thank you. You're welcome. Especially Sid.

46:01 I really got pleasure from that. Skip. It was kind of funny because I'm sitting here thinking like about podcasting and like, I don't really podcast. But then I remembered my goal for this year was to be a guest on multiple shows. And although I wasn't actively seeking to do that, it just naturally happened. And so, you know, podcasting is empowered my business this year by getting me in front of different audiences and different creator types and growing my community. Looking back and go, OK, this is a, this is a huge win. I didn't even realize until you guys kind of remind me of of that just talking about podcasting and the power of podcasting. So not only on the host side, but I've been more in the guest seat this year and it's been a lot of fun. So, you know, just a personal win for the week. I got some Ray Ban meta glasses.

46:49 I saw that for all that annoying content, it's coming fast. So I've been. Having a lot. Of fun with that, yeah. It's been a early Christmas gift, so it's been fun. Yeah, I saw you testing that out. I think I saw your Facebook test and and what do you think so far of those glasses? You know, I've had them for two days. So I mean, I could make a lot of comments on battery life, but you know, when you first get something, you just use it all the time. So I don't think it's fair to to beat up on them too much. But I didn't get the Gen. ones. I didn't get the Gen. twos because they were more of like a funzy project or you know, like a fun camera to have. Because that's why I'm using it mostly just for quick social posts behind the scenes, because I get a lot of questions about that, you know, talking about your audience and what they want to know it's like. How do you do this?

47:36 What does this look like? What does your day look like? You know, so it's kind of cool for me to not have to create and bring another camera and and do all this kind of stuff. I can just hit a button, record a few seconds, upload it live stream from them on Amazon or, you know, or Facebook or Instagram. I mean, So yeah, overall, I'm pretty impressed with the $300 purchase. If I would have. Paid 500 bucks for the Gen. 2's just for a little bit better video quality and double the battery life. I think I might would have buyer's remorse after two days of owning them but we'll see. Maybe 5 days I'll be like Dang it I should return them and get the bigger ones. We'll see. OK, cool. Good to know because I'm definitely interested. I will say if you wear glasses daily in their prescription glasses I would get the Gen.

48:26 twos because of the battery life. I do have to charge these up multiple times throughout the day. Yeah, good call, right, Because if you you have a prescription, you need those glasses. So you need a longer battery life. You don't want to be caught with having to charge them when you need the most, right. Yeah. Thank you for that, Billy. Appreciate it. I'm going to go to Tim. Tim, welcome to the stage. Please share a win from your week from your year that reminds you why you started podcasting in the 1st place so. My win came on Tuesday of this week. I had a Co worker. Of mine when I worked. For the Army, give me a call out of the blue, wish me a happy birthday. And then he let me know the impact that I had on his life. And when I started Create Art Podcast, I started it while I was working for the Army, for my guys and gals, they're just getting out of the military because they were wounded, ill and injured.

49:23 Just kind of opening up the art world to them saying, hey, this is a opportunity for you. It was nice to have a Co worker from that time period give me a call and let me know the impact that I have and that just is going to power me through 2026 and the 53rd trip. Around the sun. So thanks. Yeah, you're welcome. Congratulations on that win. What a great share. Thank you, Tim, and thanks for coming up on stage and not just living in the chat. Love having you up here. Let me check in with Ralph. Ralph, go. For it. Thank you, Mark. So I've really got to the first one is something that happened this year, which was absolutely amazing to me.

50:04 I'm a guy of deep faith and but I don't have any formal like religious training. I don't have any of those things. And I said, you know what, I really want to connect to people on a faith level. And I decided to launch this new show and it went crazy on YouTube to to the point where I have 156,000 subscribers now. And for a guy who's an accountant who doesn't have any formal quote, religious training, just speaking from the heart, that has been amazing to me. And so that's been a huge win. The other huge win for me is on January 1st, I got on the scale and I looked at that number and I said, Ralph, you got to do something about this. And as of this morning, I am 70 lbs lighter than when I started on January 1st. And but bigger than that.

50:50 And this is it more of a personal win. I am no longer a type 2 diabetic. And for me, that was massive because I am getting ready to have a grandchild here next year and I want to be able to have a fulfilling life with my grandchild. And I knew the path I was on was not going to get me there. So Mark, thank you so much for letting me share that. I want to tell anybody out there that's struggling with those type of things, man, just you can do it. That's what I'm going to say. Thank you, Ralph, and congratulations especially on your health, right? We want you here for a long time. We've gotten to know you and want you here for a long time with us and it's great to hear how you took control of that control of your health and that you're doing much better.

51:34 And the fact that you're able, you were able to get rid of diabetes as a result, that's amazing. Congratulations. Anyone else want to share Dr. It kind of changed the game a little bit with the whole reminding thing because I had something else and want to say my win for the week. I'm going to disregard the whole reminding thing of what it why it reminds you that you're in. So my team is expanding. My team with my business is expanding. And I am lucky enough to have a client that allows me to use her as a Guinea pig. And when I learned new stuff or I have a nice shiny toy app to use, I usually, you know, ring her up and say I, I want to try it just to try it with my team expanding.

52:25 She has expressed that maybe she wants to try some new things in 2026 which will utilize my new team. So I'm excited to do that. And that's my win. Congratulations. Very cool, Dr. Thank you. Thank you. Maybe I should do this? Wait, wait. Yeah. Janae, did you want to share? Yes, I wanted to share my win, OK. And then I will wrap us up for the final episode of the year. Oh my God, can't believe final episode of the year. My biggest win is being part of this community, getting to hang out with you this whole last year, getting to attend Empowered Podcasting Conference and supporting and being part of this community much more than I was before. So it's helped me grow as well massively. And thank you so much.

53:17 And Ralph, you gave me another win today just by sharing your win of starting a religious based channel because that's something that I've been on the fence of of or four. Wait, I don't know. I don't even know what my forts anymore. Where are my words? Where are my words? But that's something that I've been wanting to do. And I don't have prior religious training either, but I am in practicing Muslim and there's a lot of things that I want to talk about because I have 4 kids. I want to make sure that they're growing in the right environment and having the right mindset. So that's something that I'm going to start. Awesome, thanks to your share. Thank you.

53:58 That's so cool. Thank you, Janae, and congratulations on your wins and your plans as well. All right, so before we wrap this up, I want to leave you with something. So if you're listening to this on replay, for example, or maybe you're listening along live and you maybe haven't played along fully with what we did today, I'd really encourage you to do this same, these same exercises for yourself. You don't. You don't need a notebook full of goals. You don't need a perfect plan. In my opinion, what matters most is clarity. So take a few minutes and ask yourself some of these questions.

54:39 What was a real win for you this year? What word do you want guiding? How you shape up next year? What's one thing that you're focusing on, and what do you promise to make to the people who give me, or you, I should say, their time and attention? Those answers matter because they become your filter. They help you decide what's worth your energy and what's not, and they help you create with more confidence and a lot less noise. Podcasting doesn't need to be louder in 2026.

55:19 It needs to be more intentional, in my opinion, more human, more aligned with who you are and who you're creating for. So take this break, celebrate the progress you've made, even if it feels small to you. And when we come back in the new year, come back with clarity, purpose, and confidence to show up as yourself. And if you're still feeling a little cloudy about these things in the new year, don't worry about it. Just come back here to our podcasting morning chats on January 5th because we've got your back. Thanks for being a part of this community. I am really proud of what we're building here. And here's to a strong finish, a meaningful reset, and an even better year ahead.

56:12 So until 2026, make it a great rest of your year. Everybody, take care. Happy holidays.