Your Mic

Freddy Cruz
  • 5.0 (4)
  • 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. 22h ago

    A Ridiculous Number of Guests and One Very Busy Microphone

    Most podcasts book a guest. Freddy Cruz apparently took that as a lack of ambition. In this live episode of Your Mic, over twenty creators, entrepreneurs, and communications pros take turns at the microphone for rapid-fire questions. There are social media disasters. Imposter syndrome confessions. Strong opinions about AI. Someone owns roughly a hundred URLs. Freddy floats a world-record claim with absolutely no official paperwork to back it up. Underneath the beautiful chaos are honest answers about building a business, finding your voice, and doing the work before you feel ready. Then the mic is turned on Freddy. Fair is fair. Key Takeaways 1. Skip the résumé recital. Questions about failures, vulnerabilities, and unexpected strengths give guests somewhere more interesting to go than their rehearsed elevator pitch. 2. Stop letting comparison run your career. Guests share what it means to recognize your strengths and walk into unfamiliar rooms without waiting for your confidence to catch up. 3. Being smaller can be an advantage. Your competitors may have bigger teams and more structure. You may have the freedom to make a decision before next quarter’s committee meeting. 4. Use AI without handing over your personality. Speke team member Katie Tyndall explains why writing first and using AI to brainstorm or edit can help protect the voice people came to hear. 5. Let people sound like people. Freddy connects his love of Chuck Palahniuk’s writing to the pauses, imperfect phrasing, and conversational rhythms that make a podcast feel human. Not every rough edge needs a sanding crew. Your business has people worth hearing from. Speke Podcasting helps you build a show that gives them a reason to listen. Book a strategy call to map out a podcast around your expertise, your audience, and your business goals.

  2. 2d ago

    Why Indie Podcasts Are Growing While Top Shows Stall

    Frank Racioppi is the founder of the Ear Worthy newsletter and is a Forbes journalist who covers independent podcasts. He and Freddy break down why the big names barely move on the charts while indie shows keep growing, and why the CPM model leaves most small shows poor. Frank offers a blunt take on the rush to video, a real example of a live event that outearned a year of ads, and a few lessons on opening an episode for first-time listeners. If you run an independent show and feel pushed around by every new platform rule, this one will help you sort signal from noise. Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Read Frank’s Forbes column: https://www.forbes.com/sites/frankracioppi/ Key Takeaways 1. The top podcast charts have barely changed in years, and Frank says independent shows are where the growth is. 2. CPM math is brutal for small shows. Frank walks through a four-ad episode earning around one hundred dollars and says one study put the minimum for a full-time living at fifty thousand downloads per episode. 3. Downloads are slippery. A download is not a listen, platforms count differently, and someone might not play an episode for months. 4. Niche wins. Frank cited Listen Notes figures showing niche shows growing faster than general interest ones, because their audiences have intent. 5. Video pressure is mostly overreaction. Plenty of great audio shows add video they do not need, and a history podcast that simply posted audio to YouTube got a handful of views.

  3. Oct 15

    Post and Ghost: Protect Your Sanity While Growing Your Show

    This bonus episode from Illuminate is a little different. Freddy is not at the mic as a co-host. Britney and Dr. Trevor Boffone, a Houston educator turned content creator, run the conversation on social media growth with a live room. Trevor shares what viral actually feels like, why posting three times a day is bad advice, and how to protect your mental health when the notifications explode. Podcasters can steal every lesson for clips and shorts. Fair warning, it is raw, honest, and explicit. Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Connect with Dr. Boffone: https://trevorboffone.com/ Key Takeaways 1. Post at a pace you can hold forever. Trevor tried three posts a day for forty days and says it nearly broke him. 2. Personality first. Authenticity and not caring what strangers think is part of the magic sauce. 3. Open with your most interesting two seconds. Never start with your name and a mission statement. 4. Audit your content. Look at what resonates, then repeat it until it stops working. 5. Post and ghost. Trevor turns off notifications and does not check views until the next day.

  4. Oct 13

    Imposter Syndrome is THE Superpower Your Podcast is Missing

    Dr. Sturm, a plastic surgeon who has been making YouTube videos since 2012, and Mavi, host of Beauty Unveiled, take the Illuminate stage to talk about the part of podcasting nobody schedules: getting over yourself. Mavi launched a plastic surgery show without being a plastic surgeon and turned that "not qualified" voice into her edge. Dr. Sturm went from terrified of the camera to ignoring the comments. If you keep tweaking the backdrop, the mic, and the lighting instead of posting, this one is for you. This bonus episode starts a few minutes into the conversation because Freddy hit record late. Blame him, then keep listening. Key Takeaways Actual confidence is quieter than the performative kind. You do not need to announce your skills, you need to know them. Not being the expert is a feature. Mavi connects with listeners because she speaks as a person, not as the surgeon who operates on them. Hiding is a disservice to the audience you want to help. Keeping your message to yourself helps nobody. Start with what you have. The message matters more than the microphone, as long as people can hear you. Confidence comes from surviving. Dr. Sturm filmed videos scared, realized it was not as bad as imagined, and kept going.

  5. Oct 8

    Building a Podcast That Outlives the Algorithm

    Freddy Cruz uses Victorian post-mortem photography to make a case for deeper work. This episode is about creating podcast episodes that preserve voices, stories, and memories without manufacturing trauma or chasing disposable algorithm fodder. Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Key Takeaways 1. Do not let a more viral version of history replace the more accurate one. Trust is built when you choose nuance and truth over shock value. 2. A voice preserves more than information. An episode can hold humor, rhythm, accent, nervousness, and the small human details that disappear when people are gone. 3. Personal does not automatically mean meaningful. If you share grief, pain, or struggle, give the listener context, purpose, and a place to stand. 4. Do not confuse vulnerability with value. You do not have to bleed into a microphone to make work that matters. 5. Record the stories you assume you already know. An interview with a parent, grandparent, mentor, or friend may become more valuable than any piece of content you planned to publish.

  6. Oct 6

    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.

  7. Oct 1

    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.

  8. 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.

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5
out of 5
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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
    124
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Freddy Cruz
  • Show Website
    Your Mic