Alban Brooke On Homeschool, Podcasting And Marketing

Alban shares his take on education and lets us know about growing up as a homeschool student. We talked about the importance of learning as opposed to the specific logistics. It’s pretty clear that homeschool really was a great fit for him. The main reason was because he was able to start with his interests and work out from there. The lessons here are definitely helpful when it comes to being a lifelong learner. 

This episode provides a great example of how important it is to staty patient when it comes to figuring out your path, or paths in life. We talked a bit about self awareness and decision making when it comes to careers. Alban started out as a teacher and a lawyer, but once he realized that the things he really wants in a career are less likely to be accomplished in these fields. He wanted to find a better balance between being dedicated to a career and the experiences he could have in other areas of his life. So, he pivoted. Inspired by roommates in the tech industry he set his sights on a similar path. 

It was fun getting into this concept of being self aware and how the answers are different for everyone. Alban tells us about coming to terms with the fact that he does below average work when there is less interest. He’s not that person that can just trick him self into doing something that is useless, or un interesting. In contrast, he is more likely above average when it comes to doing work that is of high interest to him. 

Many people get hooked by the golden handcuffs, but Alban left some short term money on the table to pursue things that were more intrinsically motivating to him. His path, for now, more specifically ended up being in the podcast niche. Alban became the head of marketing at Buzzsprout. He tells us about the company origin story, values and how he first became involved. We also learned the tips he would give someone starting a podcast for the first time. 

Alban is a genius when it comes to marketing and sharing a brand story, especially for podcasting, so there couldn’t be a better guest for the just keep learning show. He told us about head fake learning and marketing through educational content as opposed to just advertising. At Buzzsprout specifically this is about making podcasting as user friendly as possible. The goal should be for anyone and everyone to be able to upload consistently without any barriers. And he broke down the specific steps that he would take to start a new show and make it more shareable. 

He then shares his own origin story about getting into podcasting in general. The file size was something that was of great benefit when it came to consuming content while travelling the world. We hear about some shows that he listened to back in the day. We also get a glimpse as to why he has such a passion for the medium. Essentially, Alban is someone who appreciates the depth of relationships and the ability to use audio to build a connection is like no other platform. And, he even goes through his current podcast app to share recommendations of shows that he appreciates today. 

One of the most interesting and valuable things was hearing the common sense approach Alban takes to helping someone start with a show. He considers it a red flag when he gets the question, what's the most popular type of show to start? It’s clear the answer would be true crime, or comedy, because they get the most listens. But the most important question to ask is what are you motivated to share, or learn? That’s the type of show to start.

It’s always tough to summarize all of the great moments in a full episode. For example, Alban was homeschooled, grew up in a family in the legal field, but broke that trend, became a tech marketing guru and has so much wisdom behind what he shares in this episode. As always, we got a bit vulnerable, discussed achievements, goal setting and how to just keep learning.

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