Selfish Mama Matters

1.13 - Season 1 Reflections: The Bad with Tina Unrue

• Tina Unrue • Season 1 • Episode 13

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In this episode, Tina Unrue shares her reflections of Season 1 of the podcast, focusing on five bad aspects from the season, to include underestimating the level of effort required to release a podcast, an embarrassing error on Episode 1.09, and more.

Host: Tina Unrue

Tina Unrue: I just can't even tell you how agonizing that decision was for me. I struggled with it internally and externally. I found myself questioning my work ethic and if I tried hard enough.

Welcome to the Selfish Mama Matters Podcast with your host, and my mom, Tina Unrue. 

Well, hello there, mamas. It's just me again this week. There's only one more solo episode remaining in the season. If you caught the prior episode, then you know that this is the second of three solo episodes where I'm reflecting on the season. The last episode covered some of the good things from the season. And today I'll be covering some of the bad. 

Good and bad should be put in quotes by the way, because everything's subjective. You don't need to want to release a podcast or even have an existing podcast to benefit from today's episode. I am certain you'll resonate with some of the learnings that I'll share today. 

With that said, as I mentioned, judgments are subjective. I don't really think there's anything that can truly be bad from releasing a podcast. I certainly try to get as much value as I can from every negative experience in my life. And this is no different. So you may hear positive spins come from the struggles that I share today. It's just part of being selfish in my opinion. 

So let's dive in.

I have five aspects that I thought were bad for one reason or another from season one of this podcast. 


[00:01:34] Podcast Release
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Tina Unrue: The first is the podcast release. You guys. I interviewed most of my guests in late summer of 2022 with the expectation of releasing my first episode in October of that same year. But I didn't release my first episode until January of 2023, as you know. 

That delay was due largely in part to me underestimating the editing process and the learning curve required for the technology. I was completely unfamiliar with it. Part of me felt like I had failed because I missed my initial deadline. I was really nervous about telling my guests that I chose to delay. 

Not only had I communicated an October release to them, but I had also told my newsletter subscribers. I just can't even tell you how agonizing that decision was for me. I struggled with it internally and externally. I found myself questioning my work ethic and if I tried hard enough to meet the October deadline. I questioned whether I should have hustled to meet the deadline or even outsourced it to stay on schedule. In addition to questioning myself, I worried that some of my guests would be upset. Or I wondered if my newsletter subscribers would judge me for missing the deadline. 

Clearly, you already know how things turned out. But there are some essential learnings in this experience that I want to share because I believe that anybody could benefit from them. So I'm going to share them. Not today, but in the next episode, because they really were part of my self-growth in this experience and that's what selfishness means to me. 

So you'll have to tune in next week to hear how I went from a state of stress and misery about missing that initial deadline to feeling empowered about the decision to delay. 


[00:03:43] Marketing Intro
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Tina Unrue: Number two. Marketing intro. One of the more obvious lackings in the podcast is that I don't have a marketing intro. And I'm not sure if that's the correct lingo, but to ensure we're on the same page, I'm using that term to mean the brief audio segment that you often hear at the beginning of podcasts where someone introduces themself and describes the purpose of the podcast. 

I'm going to be honest. I chose not to include a marketing intro for two reasons. Number one, I'm a frequent podcast listener. And I admittedly get irritated by hearing the same marketing intro at the beginning of each episode. 

I understand that there's a purpose to it and the utility of having one. Like really, I get it. Nonetheless, I just still get irritated by having to hear them. And I know I can fast forward too, so don't bother DMing me and telling me that. Um, But it's just like a pet peeve of mine. Is it just me? I'm just curious. You guys can be honest and be like, yeah, it's just, you. 

Regardless, that irritation was one reason that contributed to me, not including the marketing intro. The second and possibly more important reason is that I could not decide what I even wanted to say in a marketing intro. I'm not convinced it's a bad thing to not have a marketing intro, but I believe it's likely best to incorporate one to help those who land on just one episode gain some insight and context to the podcast overall. The challenge for me for season two is to figure out a way to do it so that it doesn't make me cringe. And I already have some ideas up my sleeve. So we'll see where that goes. 

Some aspects of this topic are also necessary to cover in the next episode of selfish reflections. So, sorry, I promise I'm trying to stay on target here. Um, but there was a lot of learning and processing that had to go into this, this decision to include or not include a marketing intro. And as I believe is the case with most of us and almost all of our life experiences, it was really just a lot about me and things that I needed to get over or figure out. And so that's why you'll hear more about this in the next episode. For now, just know that I'm likely to have one for season two. 


[00:06:29] Audio Issues
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Tina Unrue: Number three. Audio issues. 

Some episodes just had audio issues. Initially, I tried really, really hard to eliminate every single audio blip. And when I say I tried hard, I mean it y'all. I hate that there are any audio issues. And I'm looking into ways to proactively address that for season two. Because as you can imagine, eliminating them from the get-go is a lot easier than trying to fix them after recording. As for season one, it pains me to know that there are some episodes that are live that just have audio issues and problems. But I'm practicing good enoughness. Because I really did my best. And I know that I tried really hard. 


[00:07:26] Editing
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Tina Unrue: Number four. Editing. The editing process took nearly 10 times as long as the interview itself, at least in the beginning of the podcast. I tried to perfect every single thing in the beginning, eliminating all the filler words as much as I could and taking lots of time to try and fix those audio issues that I just referenced and trying to get the episodes down to between 30 and 40 minutes. I mean, moms are busy, right? But it just didn't work long-term or at least for every episode. 

So over the season, I definitely improved my processes and my knowledge and figured out how to make some efficiencies. But trimming down the time that I spent editing was really, really difficult. Editing a still very, very hard and a required part of this process. Part of me certainly wonders whether I could have done better by outsourcing the editing. And another part of me appreciates the fact that I learned how to do the basics myself. I feel like the quote-unquote bad parts of this really educated me in knowing and appreciating the level of effort it takes to be skilled at editing a podcast. 


[00:08:52] Flat Out Error
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Tina Unrue: Number five. And this is my last one. I just made a flat out error in one of my episodes. So it pains me to say this, but in episode nine, my guest Lauren shared the book that changed her life. She said it was The Untethered Soul, by Michael Singer. I responded that it changed me too and went on to share a brief summary of the book. 

What I didn't realize at the time was that I'd given the summary of a completely different book of his. So while Michael Singer authored both books-and yes, my excuse I suppose, is that I read them at the same time-they're still obviously unique and quite different books. As soon as I realized my error, I revised the show notes to address it. I appreciate Lauren going with the flow, even though she was welcome to call me out on my oversight. 

Okay, so that wraps up the bad reflections, y'all. I am sure there's probably a lot more that went wrong that I am just not addressing or that I haven't even realized yet. So if you have something that you would like to add, I always welcome constructive criticism and I will certainly take into account. 

As for some of the things that I shared today that referenced some technology issues, I didn't detail those tech issues because I didn't feel it was essential to today's conversation. But if you're curious as to what tech I used and the specific issues that I ran into, DM me on Instagram and I'll be happy to share more info there, especially if podcasting is in your future. I love it when somebody can learn from others and hasten their success.

All right, mamas. One more episode this season and it's possibly the most important. I'll share the nuances of some of the topics share today and a bit more as I tackle the ways in which the season served me selfishly. I hope you'll tune in. 

If you enjoyed this episode, I would be deeply honored if you would leave us a review, share the podcast, rate the podcast just so that other mamas who might need to hear this message can find it and maybe get the same benefit that you did. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for daring to be selfish, and we hope to see you next time. 

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Tina Unrue

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