Struggling for Purpose John Wilkerson

Since the dawn of podcasting, pundits and pros have predicted what the upcoming year will bring to the hobby/business of podcasting. I’m not going to do that.







Instead, I want to share with you what I think my future looks like related to podcasting. Here it is in a nutshell:









* Release one episode a month.







* Use the “Episode Deck” from PodDecks when I can’t think of anything to talk about.







* I might continue recording Here Comes the Sion.









If you’ve supported me in the past, thank you! If you’re a new listener welcome! If you want more details, listen to the podcast.







I recorded this episode using a Maono USB lavalier mic in Hindenburg.















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Watching podcasters from around the world respond and react to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II got me thinking about how much podcasting is U.S.-centric. Hearing podcasters from around the world announce breaks and changes to programming got me thinking more about the global podcasting community.







Check out James Cridland’s excellent podcast: PodNews.















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It finally happened. After 12 years I stopped hosting my podcast with Blubrry.







Before I get into the reasons why this happened I want to say that I’m not disappointed with what RawVoice offers to podcasters.















I think they offer the best overall package one can get. You can get stats, media hosting, and even a website for one price. They also have some of the best support staff in the industry.







Blubrry hosting is top-notch and for years they have been on the cutting edge of podcast technology.







However, when it’s time to retire a podcast there are very few options. This is the case with nearly every hosting provider. Once you decide to stop hosting your files with a hosting provider, access to your files is gone. Forever.







I retired The Wired Homeschool over two years ago. I’ve released a few episodes since the “last episode” because a global health crisis forced many parents to homeschool and they were coming to my site for advice.







Leading up to the eventual end of the podcast, I reached out to Blubrry on two or three occasions asking if there was some sort of plan where they would continue to host my files but I wouldn’t be allowed to upload any new files.







I thought $3 – $5 a month would be reasonable considering LibSyn offers a $5 hosting plan. I didn’t want to continue paying $12 a month just to host my files. I also didn’t want to go through the process of transferring files to a new host like LibSyn because, well, I’m lazy.







After repeatedly hitting walls with Blubrry and because I didn’t want to spend the time systematically moving files to a cheaper host, I decided to move the files to Archive.org.







I know, it’s not a real podcast host. I know there may be times the files are unavailable. But after culling my available podcasts by 90%, I decided this was going to be the best option.







If fact, out of the original 800+ blog posts and podcasts at The Wired Homeschool, there are now only 27 podcasts and 24 blog posts.







Over 95% of my content wasn’t even being seen. In fact, 3% of my original content brings in over 90% of the organic traffic to the website. Over three years I reduced the amount of content publicly available to 51 posts.







I basically needed a place where I could archive the remaining episodes. I still get affiliate sales that pay for hosting so I’m not losing money but I figure it would be nice to keep more of those affiliate dollars since I had so little content that was still accessible to the public.







So there you have it. I stopped hosting with Blubrry because I didn’t want to pay $12 a month to host 30 mp3 files. That’s it. Nothing groundbreaking.







Now I need to start looking at the content on this site and start pairing it down too.















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2021 is behind us and a new year is ahead. It’s easy to look back over the past few years and think, “Will this ever end?” I’m sure the Israelites felt that way when they wandered around a desert for 40 years. Jacob and Caleb must have been chomping at the bit to get into their promised land.







My Three Words for 2022







Move – This was one of my words in 2019 and I need to revisit it this year. There’s a lot of stiffness in my life—physically, mentally, & professionally. The main focus of this will be on physical movement. I plan to walk 1,200 km this year and play a lot more pickleball. I feel stagnant professionally and need to make a move (I don’t know what that will be yet). Finally, my mindset has been stagnant lately and that needs to change.







Strengthen – This word ties into “move” in so many ways. I plan to strengthen my body and mind. I want to strengthen my relationships—with God, family, & friends. One way I’m doing this is to play more pickleball with my wife. I also want to strengthen my position online. I’m not sure what that last statement means yet but I’ll be exploring it in the weeks to come.







Renew – Finally, I need a bit of a renewal. I didn’t do much podcasting the last two years for various reasons and throughout 2021 I’ve had the itch to start again. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll restart all of them but I do have plans to restart a least one of them.







There it is. My three words for 2022. I’m not sure how things will turn out this year. My three words for 2019 weren’t very successful because I’m terrible at goal-setting and vision-casting but I’m hopeful for this year. I’ll be on the lookout for your three words.















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As I wind down this podcast, I decided to give Pod decks a try. I answer some of the questions found in the “Episode Deck”.







You can check out my unboxing and review of Pod decks on my YouTube channel.



















Check out Paeter Frandsen’s podcast, Christian Geek Central.















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I’m ending Struggling for Purpose once I reach episode 50. Listen to hear why.















Support the podcast when you buy me a coffee!







Follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite platform.