Your Mic

Freddy Cruz
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Language Learning

Your Mic is the podcast about podcasting for new, stuck, and almost‑quit hosts. Hosted by Speke Podcasting founder and 25‑year broadcast vet Freddy Cruz, it blends hard‑earned lessons, failures, and irreverent stories with sharp tactics you can actually use. Listen on your favorite podcast app!

  1. 20h ago

    A Bad Podcast Name Can Torpedo a Great Show

    Freddy Cruz breaks down why your podcast name is not a cute afterthought. From vague titles to accidental double meanings, learn how to pressure-test a name before you buy the domain, print the logo, record episode one, and wonder why nobody clicks play. Key Takeaways 1. Your podcast name is the front door. Great content inside does not matter if the title makes people assume the house is boring, confusing, or sketchy. 2. Specific beats vague every time. A strong name tells people what kind of show they are getting before they hit play. 3. Clever only works when it clarifies. Wordplay should strengthen the promise of the show, not force listeners to solve a puzzle. 4. Test the name with brutally objective feedback before you commit. Ask an LLM or an uninvolved stranger to identify what it communicates, what it fails to communicate, and what it might accidentally mean. 5. Check for double meanings and language issues before printing a logo or registering a domain. Billion-dollar companies can miss the obvious, and so can you.

  2. 5d ago

    Your Podcast Needs Systems, Not Motivation

    Freddy Cruz explains why motivation is a lousy production plan. Learn how topic banks, batch recording, checklists, episode reserves, and a repeatable workflow can keep your show alive when life gets loud and your release date is staring you down. Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Key Takeaways 1. You do not rise to your best intentions when life gets hectic. You fall to the level of the system you built before the pressure arrived. 2. A recurring Thursday-night scramble is not grit. It is proof that your production process depends on last-minute heroics. 3. Batch recording reduces friction and protects consistency. Build topic banks, schedule recording blocks, and use checklists so every episode does not start from zero. 4. Keep at least two episodes in reserve. That buffer gives you breathing room when clients, kids, illness, work, or plain old life punch the calendar in the throat. 5. Motivation is unreliable. A durable process keeps your show moving when you are tired, busy, annoyed, or not feeling particularly inspired.

  3. Sep 29

    The Podcast You Keep Delaying has a Listener

    Freddy Cruz delivers a hard truth for creators hiding behind fear, excuses, or somebody else’s opinion. Your story may be exactly what another person needs. Stop waiting for permission, pull the mic out of the closet, and give your voice somewhere to go. Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Key Takeaways 1. Somebody else’s doubt does not get to write the ending of your story. People can love you and still be the wrong people to listen to about your creative work. 2. You do not need permission to start. The person waiting for your experience, expertise, or survival story does not know how to find it until you publish it. 3. The fear of being forgotten can be freeing. It strips away the need to impress everyone and leaves room to make work that matters to the right person. 4. Starting is simpler than you are making it. Answer real questions out loud, record yourself, get a transcript, and turn that material into a roadmap. 5. A ten-episode plan is not mystical. It is one focused action away when you stop negotiating with the voice in your head that wants you to stay invisible.

  4. Sep 24

    How to Monetize a Niche Podcast Before It Launches

    Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/ Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-mic/id1777171203 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1PQNHuqxIVhkLfjGYuWcxl?si=50a834335d2d42e7 Victoria Meyer turned a chemical-industry podcast into a six-figure media business. We talk niche authority, paid guest access, sponsor-ready media kits, and why your download count is not the whole damn story. Stop treating your show like a hobby if you expect it to pay like a business. Subscribe to Victoria’s podcast The Chemical Show (https://youtube.com/@thechemicalshowpodcast?si=Zz08nA-cwlyYpBlZ) Key takeaways 1. tight niche beats broad, forgettable ambition. Victoria built authority in the chemical industry first, then used that proof to launch and pre-sell sponsorship for new shows. 2. You do not need celebrity-scale downloads to make money. Sponsors buy access to the right people, and that audience may be a small, specific group with real purchasing power. 3. Sell the full reach, not just the download number. Your sponsor package can include the audio feed, YouTube, short-form clips, email, LinkedIn, episode pages, transcripts, and guest amplification. 4. Make the offer painfully clear. A media kit explains the inventory, audience, reach, sponsorship options, and plain-English value so prospects are not forced to decode podcast-industry jargon. 5. Separate the person from the product. A rejection of your sponsorship package is not a rejection of you. You are selling a defined marketing asset, not asking strangers to validate your existence.

  5. Sep 22 ·  Video

    New True Crime Podcast: Why Chris Richardson is Hosting The House of Theft

    Chris Richardson joins Your Mic to unpack how The House of Theft became Speke Originals’ first true-crime podcast. A $3.8 million family fraud scheme is the backdrop, but the mission is bigger: spot the red flags, stop suffering in silence, and tell stories that can actually help somebody. Key Takeaways 1. A personal story does not need to begin as a polished book proposal. Record the first version before perfection strangles the thing in its crib. 2. A rough pilot can become the blueprint for an entire season when it reveals the real emotional spine of the story. 3. Source material gives narrative podcasts teeth. Documents, voice messages, family memories, and lived experience create a story people can trust. 4. Personal storytelling gets deeper when other people enter the frame. Your memory is not the whole movie. 5. True crime works best when it serves a purpose beyond gawking at someone else’s wreckage. Give listeners something useful to carry out of the episode. Chapters 00:00 Meet Chris Richardson and The House of Theft 01:10 The $3.8 Million Family Fraud Story 03:05 Why a Podcast Beat a Book 05:10 Building Season One From Raw Evidence 08:05 True Crime With a Purpose

  6. Sep 22

    Speke's first true crime podcast: The House of Theft

    Chris Richardson turned a $3.8 million family fraud story into The House of Theft. This is not true crime for gawking. It is about red flags, survival, and telling the truth before silence does more damage. Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Key Takeaways 1. A personal story becomes more powerful when it serves a purpose beyond revenge, spectacle, or proving somebody wrong. 2. You do not need to be a writer to tell a story worth hearing. A microphone, source material, and an honest point of view can build the first draft. 3. The people closest to a story often see different versions of the same person. Those competing memories can reveal the deeper narrative. 4. True crime earns its place when it gives listeners something useful, including the red flags they may be ignoring in their own lives. 5. A short episode can still deliver. Say what matters, cut the throat-clearing, and leave the listener with a reason to press play on the next thing.

  7. Sep 17

    What rat pits teach creators about addictive content

    Freddy Cruz takes a grim look at Victorian rat pits and bare-knuckle spectacle to expose a modern creator problem: attention without value. Learn how to make provocative work without turning outrage, grief, humiliation, or someone else’s pain into your growth strategy. Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Key Takeaways 1. High performance does not prove your content is valuable. A viral clip can create reaction, comments, and reach while leaving the audience less informed, less capable, and worse off. 2. A person at the center of a difficult story is not raw material for your content machine. Treat guests, subjects, and sources as human beings, not props built to carry a thumbnail. 3. Risk can serve a story, but it should not be the entire product. Provocative work can have teeth without requiring somebody else to bleed for the metrics. 4. Before publishing charged content, test whether it would still be worth sharing if it earned half the views. If not, the spike may be doing all the work. 5. Build episodes around what the listener will learn, understand, or do differently. Drama can open the door, but meaning needs to be what keeps them inside.

  8. Sep 15

    Build the Podcast Community Your Audience Needs

    Mavi Rodriguez grew Big Butts, No Lies past 300,000 downloads by serving a specific audience, answering real questions, and posting the damn video. Britney from Fun Love Media joins Freddy to talk confidence, community, visibility, and betting on yourself before the world catches up. Join Mavi, Dr. Angela Sturm, and Freddy for a panel about The Beauty of Podcasting at Illuminate: The Content Creator Experience. Use the code MAVI at checkout for a 10% discount: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/illuminate-2026-the-content-creator-experience-tickets-1991248041495?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true Listen to Big Butts, No Lies: https://www.bigbuttsnolies.com/ Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Key Takeaways 1. You do not need confidence before you turn on the camera. Confidence shows up after you survive enough imperfect posts to realize the internet did not eat you alive. 2. A memorable title can beat a bloodless, keyword-stuffed podcast name. People remember personality long after they forget another generic industry show. 3. Your audience already tells you what episodes to make. Listen for their searches, their questions, their fears, and the problems they keep repeating. 4. Podcast growth comes from serving a clear mission over a long enough timeline. Mavi built trust by helping women make safer, more informed decisions. 5. Video becomes easier when your message matters more than your insecurity. Stop obsessing over whether you look perfect and start thinking about who misses out when you stay invisible.

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5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Your Mic is the podcast about podcasting for new, stuck, and almost‑quit hosts. Hosted by Speke Podcasting founder and 25‑year broadcast vet Freddy Cruz, it blends hard‑earned lessons, failures, and irreverent stories with sharp tactics you can actually use. Listen on your favorite podcast app!

Information

  • Creator
    Freddy Cruz
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    119
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Freddy Cruz
  • Show Website
    Your Mic