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. 4d ago ·  Video

    The Castle Is on Fire and You Have a Podcast

    Free resources: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Every time regular people got a new tool, the people in power called it the end of civilization. The printing press. The typewriter. The internet. YouTube. Podcasting. Same panic. Different century. This episode is a history lesson with a blueprint attached. Name your industry's ivory tower. Map the moat. Pick a breach point. Ship the rebellion. The gates are not just open. They are on fire. Key Takeaways Every technology that lowers the cost of expression raises the blood pressure of the people who used to own the mic. That pattern has not changed in five hundred years. The castle is not the enemy. The moat is. And the moat is not what it used to be. Distribution, credentials, shelf space, capital: all of it has a workaround now. Podcasting did not kill legacy media. It killed the part that mattered most to them: the exclusive authority to decide who gets to explain the world. You do not need to storm all four walls. Pick one breach point and attack it consistently. One show. One channel. One newsletter. One wall. Ship a rebellion, not a rant. Complaining about the castle is easy. Making the castle less necessary is the actual work. Measure progress in castle damage, not likes. Who switched from legacy sources to you as their primary teacher. That is the metric that matters. The printing press let people write without permission. The internet let people publish without permission. Podcasting lets people speak without permission. You are still early to the breach. Timestamped Overview 0:00 Cold open: the printing press, the typewriter, YouTube, podcasting, and five centuries of the same panic 1:00 Show intro and the one blunt question driving this whole episode: what is the ivory tower in your industry 1:45 Before Gutenberg: who controlled the scribes, the books, and who got to be considered smart 2:30 What the elites actually said when movable type showed up and why it sounds identical to what they say now 3:15 The typewriter arrives: no scribe, no calligraphy certificate, just you and a machine 4:00 The broadcast era: spectrum licenses, expensive gear, and a handful of execs who owned the yes 4:45 The Buggles, MTV, and why Video Killed the Radio Star was actually a eulogy for gatekeeping not for radio 5:45 What the internet did to publishing and why the walls of the castle started creaking with blogs and email newsletters 6:30 YouTube: a kid with a Logitech webcam quietly pulling more views than a cable network with no casting director 7:15 Why podcasting is radio with the locks removed and what that actually means for epistemic authority 8:30 The castle structure explained: the institution, the moat, and the tiny group of gatekeepers in every industry 9:15 Your industry's version: certification bodies, trade associations, agencies, and whoever hands out the speaking slots 10:00 Move 1: Name the tower out loud on paper with no metaphors 10:30 Move 2: Map the moat and identify what they used to control that you can now bypass 11:00 Move 3: Pick one breach point and attack it with one consistent project 11:45 Move 4: Ship a rebellion not a rant and build the thing that makes the castle less necessary 12:30 How to measure castle damage: who switched to you, who landed something because your content existed 13:15 This week's assignment: one tower, one moat, one breach project in the next 30 days 14:00 The close: the gates are not just open, they are on fire, and you are still early

    17 min

  2. 6d ago ·  Video

    Why Discipline Will Never Fix What Is Actually Wrong with Your Creative Brain

    Learn more about Elizabeth Coles: https://www.elizabethcoles.com/ Subscribe to The Mind Madame: https://youtube.com/@elizabethdcoles?si=Sc7kTTH0j_j_DOsk Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans There is a team running your creative life. You did not hire them. They are called soldiers. The controller. The fixer. The guardian. The avoider. Elizabeth Coles, The Mind Madame, breaks down why discipline will never fix what is actually a wiring problem and what to do about it instead. Key Takeaways Your coping mechanisms are not character flaws. They are conditioned behaviors that kept you safe when you were young. If you were conditioned into them, you can be conditioned out of them. The controller, the fixer, the guardian, the avoider: these soldiers are useful when deployed correctly. The problem is when they run rogue on a mission you never assigned them. Fixing the symptom without finding the root is a bandaid on a broken bone. Putting a screen time limit on your phone does not fix why you are reaching for it in the first place. Your body fires first. Before the story, before the emotion, before the spiral, there is a physical sensation. That is the ignition point. Learning to catch it there is how you interrupt the loop. Timestamped Overview 0:07 Cold open: the covert team of soldiers co-opting your show and your sanity 1:00 Introducing the soldier archetypes: the controller, the fixer, the guardian, and the avoider 1:54 How long does it take to rewire patterns that started in childhood 2:19 The life jacket analogy: useful at the beach, ridiculous in a business meeting at 45 3:22 Why diets fail, why weight comes back, and why the identity was never aligned to begin with 4:30 How rejection, loss of control, and inadequacy sit at the root of almost every creative problem 5:16 The client feedback loop: tweaking, re-tweaking, and why it is almost impossible not to take personal 6:14 Elizabeth's guardian soldier, her history with coercive control, and why she will burn down a comment section to prove an ethical point 7:47 How to spot the pattern: the body response that shows up before the camera goes on for editing 9:09 Freddy on air checks with the program director and picking his worst day on purpose 10:51 Why intentionally selecting your worst work is actually a control response in disguise 12:00 What to tell the creative whose person they care about gave their best work a shrug 13:15 Why entrepreneurship challenges your identity more than almost anything else because you are the product 14:55 Selectively numb and bubble wrapping your life: why you cannot have one without losing the other 15:31 The 1% who built the Gutenberg press and the iPhone and why safety wiring is the reason most people stay on the sidelines 16:11 The porcelain toilet marketing problem and why being ahead of the conversation takes grit most people cannot sustain 17:08 The doctor who told everyone to wash their hands and went mad because nobody listened 18:19 Introducing the mechanism: discipline does not override the wiring, interrupting the wiring does 19:03 How the body fires first, what the physical sensations actually signal, and the sweater in the corner 21:11 Separating the body response from the old story and getting to the actual fact of the situation 21:34 Elizabeth's upcoming book: gamifying the five soldier patterns with characters, origin stories, deployment zones, and missions

    23 min

  3. Jun 11 ·  Video

    Two Things That Will Save Your Podcast When Life Gets Hard

    Free podcast roadmap: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Podfade is real. Four shows since 2020. Over a thousand interviews recorded. And Freddy Cruz has wanted to quit more than once. Not because podcasting is hard. Because life is hard. And podcasting sits on top of life. This solo episode is short, direct, and built for the host who is one rough week away from going dark. Freddy gives you the two things that have kept him in the game no matter what was happening around him: treating your own show like a client account, and batch recording before life gets a vote. No pie in the sky guru pep talk. No ten step framework. Just the two moves that protect your show from the version of you that is exhausted, behind, and staring at a mic at 3pm with nothing. Key Takeaways Podfade is almost never about loving your podcast less. It is about life piling up on top of a system that was not built to survive pressure. Treating your own show like a client account changes the psychology completely. Skipping an episode stops being a personal fail and starts being the thing you simply do not do to clients. A client folder, a production calendar, and the same urgency you give a paying account. That is the entire framework. It costs nothing to set up. If you are recording the day before your release, you do not have a content problem. You have a systems problem. One bad Monday wipes you out. Batch recording even two or three episodes ahead removes the pressure that causes most hosts to go dark. Your future self on a rough Tuesday will thank the version of you that recorded on a Saturday. You do not have to hit your batch goal every month. You just need a system that lets you get back ahead of the curve when life catches up. Timestamped Overview 0:00 The cold open: four shows, a thousand interviews, and wanting to quit more than once 0:30 Who Freddy is and what Speke Podcasting does 0:50 Thing one: treat your podcast like a client show and what that shift actually looks like in practice 1:45 Why putting your show in a client folder with a production calendar changes everything about how you show up 2:15 Thing two: batch recording and the Monday morning nightmare scenario 3:00 How Your Mic runs biweekly, the goal of staying six or seven episodes ahead, and what a Saturday recording session actually solves 3:45 The close: leave a review, subscribe, and grab the free roadmap at spekepodcasting.com/freeresources

    3 min

  4. Jun 9 ·  Video

    What a Plastic Surgeon Wants Every Creator to Know Before Going on Camera

    Learn more about Dr. Angela Sturm: http://drangelasturm.com/ Subscribe to Beauty Unveiled: https://youtube.com/@drangelasturmmd?si=6ZJH5VdusSaNI1I2 Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans You have been staring at the wrong version of your face your whole life. Dr. Angela Sturm, facial plastic surgeon and host of Beauty Unveiled, has that conversation every single day in her office. People come in convinced something is wrong because their back camera said so. The fisheye lens. The under the nose angle. The selfie that made everything in the middle look twice as big as it actually is. In this episode, Freddy sits down with Dr. Sturm to talk about what it actually means to show up camera ready, not just for the operating table but for your podcast, your YouTube channel, your social media, and your live events. Key Takeaways Your phone camera is not showing you your face. It is showing you a fisheye distortion where whatever is closest to the lens looks bigger. Peer reviewed papers in medicine have confirmed this. Your plastic surgeon is not using an iPhone for a reason. The noise in your head about your face is yours alone. Everyone else is too busy with their own version of that noise to notice the thing you have been hiding for years. Camera ready costs almost nothing to start. Drink water. Moisturize. Find a sunscreen with a blurring effect. Wear something you actually feel good in. That is the foundation before anything else. Chasing zero lines on camera is how you end up looking weird. Kids have lines when they smile. Lines are not the enemy. Chasing them into oblivion is. How you talk about your face reflects how you see the world. Dr. Sturm screens patients partly on energy and outlook because someone who only sees the negative before surgery will only see the negative after it too. Timestamped Overview 0:23 Why the thing you hate most about your face is something nobody else is noticing 1:45 The iPhone fisheye problem and why your phone is giving you a completely inaccurate picture of yourself 3:30 Why Dr. Sturm's practice uses standardized photography and what that means for how people actually see you 5:05 How social media changed who walks into a plastic surgeon's office: from TV anchors worried about millimeters to everybody 6:45 Why you cannot and should not get rid of every line, and what happens when people try 7:32 HDTV, too much makeup, and the balance between looking polished and looking like you have makeup on 7:50 Camera ready for almost nothing: hydration, moisturizer, sunscreen with a blurring effect, and wearing what makes you feel comfortable 9:30 Running outside in Houston heat, sweating into your hair product, and what SPF actually means above 30 and 50 10:32 Sensitive skin options and why cosmeceuticals from a doctor's office are worth considering 11:58 The dinner party test: how plastic surgeons decide who to operate on and what that has to do with your outlook on life 13:59 Dr. Sturm's own rhinoplasty, being part therapist part surgeon, and how lived experience changes a consultation 17:49 From crying in terror before speaking to 200 plus videos: Dr. Sturm's journey from scared resident to podcast host 23:38 Instagram versus TikTok: why one feels like a neighborhood and the other is a flaming dumpster fire 26:00 Starting a practice in 2020, very pregnant, with one employee, and now nearly ten people across three businesses 27:39 Diary of a CEO, the menopause two parter, and audiobooks on retirement planning at 45

    30 min

  5. Jun 4 ·  Video

    Podcast Burnout: How to Keep Going When Growth Is Slow

    Free resources: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/ Never compare your first mile to somebody else’s 19th—especially in podcasting. In this episode of Your Mic, I share a story about my neighbor Marcel, a former 150‑pounds‑overweight runner turned marathon machine, and what his mile 19 struggle can teach you about sticking with your show when you’re still on episode one. You’ll learn why comparing your brand‑new podcast to giants like Joe Rogan, Steven Bartlett, or Mel Robbins is kryptonite for your confidence, and how to flip that energy into steady, sustainable growth instead. We dig into the mindset of playing the long game, plus the actual analytics that matter—Apple Podcasts engaged listeners, retention rates, and how to read drop‑off points so you know what to double down on and what to ditch. If you’re riding the struggle bus on episode 1, 9, or 19 and wondering if it’s worth it, this one’s for you. Lace up, hit play, and let’s make sure you’re still in the race at episode 20, 200, or 20,000. 🔎 Inside this episode: - The “first mile vs. 19th mile” mindset for podcasters - Why copying big‑name shows kills your momentum - How to use Apple Podcasts analytics (engaged listeners, retention, and more) - What to repeat, what to retire, and how to stay in the game.

    1 min

  6. Jun 3 ·  Video

    Every Podcast "Must" Is a Lie (Here Is the Proof)

    Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Somewhere on the internet right now, a guy in a ring light is telling you that you must have a cold open. The guy next to him says cold opens are dead. The third one says if you are not on video your podcast is basically a voicemail. Freddy Cruz is not here for any of it. In this solo episode, Freddy introduces the Exception Razor, a philosophical tool borrowed from logic that slices through the absolutist noise of podcast advice culture and hands your show back to you. Cold opens, video mandates, clip strategies, weekly publishing schedules. Every "you must" gets put on the blade. What survives is a simple three filter framework built around your capacity, your audience's actual behavior, and whether the rule serves your mission or just feeds the algorithm while you burn out. This one is for the host who is tired of being told what their show has to be. Key Takeaways The more absolute the rule, the easier it is to break. One successful show that ignores a "you must" is all it takes to prove it was never a rule. It was just a preference with a loud microphone. Cold opens are a format choice, not a commandment. The real question is whether one helps your listener get oriented faster. If not, skip it. Video is a channel, not a sacrament. Audio only shows are still doing serious numbers. If video does not serve your business and audience right now, you do not owe TikTok anything. Clips and audio first are both tools, not laws. Some shows explode on short form. Others grow through email, partnerships, or one great guest per quarter. Tools do not get to boss you around. Real rules for your show pass three filters: capacity, which means you can hit it on your worst week; audience behavior, meaning what your actual listeners have shown you; and fit, whether it moves people closer to your mission. A coherent system does not need a guru's blessing. It needs to fit your life and still serve your listeners. That is the whole job. Timestamped Overview 0:00 The ring light guru problem: three experts, three contradictions, zero useful advice 1:15 Show ID: what Your Mic is and why the job is a show that stays alive long enough to matter 2:00 The Exception Razor explained: why universal "you must" statements are the most fragile in logic 3:30 Cold opens on the blade: every hit show that skips them and what that actually means for you 5:00 Video mandates on the blade: why video is a channel, not a sacrament 6:15 The dueling commandments: audio first versus clip everything, and why both are pretending 7:30 Three filters for building rules that actually belong to your show: capacity, audience behavior, and fit 9:00 A real example: what a coherent bi-monthly audio only system looks like in practice 10:15 The close: how to run the Exception Razor every time someone says "you must"

    8 min

  7. May 29 ·  Video

    I Lost $7,500 on an Event and Now I'm Teaming Up with a Friend FOR ANOTHER ONE

    Last year Freddy lost $7,500 on an event. He would do it again tomorrow. Britney Crosson, founder of Fun Love Media and host of Social Success, knows the feeling. So the two of them did the logical thing: teamed up, booked the Health Museum in Houston, and built something new together. It is called Illuminate. October 3rd, 2026. This episode is the origin story. You hear why two creators who have both had their teeth kicked in by live events are going back for more, why the venue matters as much as the speakers, and why the goal was never a conference. It was a family reunion for people who have not met yet. Also, there is a giant colon. And yes. They are going inside it. Join the Illuminate waiting list: https://mailchi.mp/0d2a144ccdf0/illuminate2026waitlist Learn more about Britney’s agency Fun Love Media: https://funlovemedia.com/ Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Key Takeaways 1. The right event does not just teach you things. It changes how you feel about the work. If you leave a conference feeling like a stranger, the conference failed. 2. Venue is strategy. Booking the Health Museum was not a gimmick. A space that fosters curiosity and play gives attendees permission to show up differently. 3. Document or it did not happen. Britney runs with a camera up constantly, 180,000 files deep across two phones. Content is not vanity. It is mission delivery. 4. Doing events with a genuine partner who covers your blind spots and shares the load changes everything. Flying solo on logistics is how you age fast. 5. Intimate scales better than massive when connection is the actual goal. A big wedding sized event means you actually get to talk to people. You leave with friendships, not just LinkedIn requests. 6. Content creation is not only for content creators. Real estate agents, car dealerships, nonprofits, banks. Everybody who wants to be found has to make something. Illuminate was built for all of them. 7.The old guard gatekept who got a microphone. Radio, TV, print. You waited to be chosen. Now you choose yourself. That shift is the whole point. Timestamped Overview 1:19 The $7,500 Speke Fest loss and what it actually cost versus what it taught 2:30 How the Freddy and Britney partnership was born out of a nearly empty auditorium 4:00 Why most creator events miss the heart and what Illuminate is doing differently 4:45 The official reveal: October 3rd, 2026, the Health Museum, Houston 5:31 Why the venue is part of the curriculum, not just the backdrop 7:03 The giant colon, the giant heart, the giant brain and the first content opportunity of the day 8:40 What Illuminate actually is: interactive, hands on, inner kid fully activated 10:30 Britney on documenting everything: 180K files, two phones, zero apologies 13:00 Freddy's hack for never deprioritizing his own show: treat it like a client 15:51 Your feed is for you, then flip it: the Mel Robbins reframe plus Britney's addition 18:17 You will leave with content you actually made at the event. That is the promise. 21:03 The venue breakdown: jumbotron theater, classrooms, and room to breathe 23:10 Why intimate scales better than massive when real connection is the goal 25:44 Why Britney said yes again after events have already chewed them both up 29:00 From gatekept radio to 300K followers: why new media is the whole point 31:00 How to get on the waitlist before speaker announcements drop

    30 min

  8. May 28 ·  Video

    I Lost $7,500 on an Event and Now I'm Teaming Up with a Friend FOR ANOTHER ONE

    Last year Freddy lost $7,500 on an event. He would do it again tomorrow. Britney Crosson, founder of Fun Love Media and host of Social Success, knows the feeling. So the two of them did the logical thing: teamed up, booked the Health Museum in Houston, and built something new together. It is called Illuminate. October 3rd, 2026. This episode is the origin story. You hear why two creators who have both had their teeth kicked in by live events are going back for more, why the venue matters as much as the speakers, and why the goal was never a conference. It was a family reunion for people who have not met yet. Also, there is a giant colon. And yes. They are going inside it. Join the Illuminate waiting list: https://mailchi.mp/0d2a144ccdf0/illuminate2026waitlist Learn more about Britney’s agency Fun Love Media: https://funlovemedia.com/ Free resources from Speke Podcasting: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/freeresources Work with us: https://www.spekepodcasting.com/pricing-plans Key Takeaways 1. The right event does not just teach you things. It changes how you feel about the work. If you leave a conference feeling like a stranger, the conference failed. 2. Venue is strategy. Booking the Health Museum was not a gimmick. A space that fosters curiosity and play gives attendees permission to show up differently. 3. Document or it did not happen. Britney runs with a camera up constantly, 180,000 files deep across two phones. Content is not vanity. It is mission delivery. 4. Doing events with a genuine partner who covers your blind spots and shares the load changes everything. Flying solo on logistics is how you age fast. 5. Intimate scales better than massive when connection is the actual goal. A big wedding sized event means you actually get to talk to people. You leave with friendships, not just LinkedIn requests. 6. Content creation is not only for content creators. Real estate agents, car dealerships, nonprofits, banks. Everybody who wants to be found has to make something. Illuminate was built for all of them. 7.The old guard gatekept who got a microphone. Radio, TV, print. You waited to be chosen. Now you choose yourself. That shift is the whole point. Timestamped Overview 1:19 The $7,500 Speke Fest loss and what it actually cost versus what it taught 2:30 How the Freddy and Britney partnership was born out of a nearly empty auditorium 4:00 Why most creator events miss the heart and what Illuminate is doing differently 4:45 The official reveal: October 3rd, 2026, the Health Museum, Houston 5:31 Why the venue is part of the curriculum, not just the backdrop 7:03 The giant colon, the giant heart, the giant brain and the first content opportunity of the day 8:40 What Illuminate actually is: interactive, hands on, inner kid fully activated 10:30 Britney on documenting everything: 180K files, two phones, zero apologies 13:00 Freddy's hack for never deprioritizing his own show: treat it like a client 15:51 Your feed is for you, then flip it: the Mel Robbins reframe plus Britney's addition 18:17 You will leave with content you actually made at the event. That is the promise. 21:03 The venue breakdown: jumbotron theater, classrooms, and room to breathe 23:10 Why intimate scales better than massive when real connection is the goal 25:44 Why Britney said yes again after events have already chewed them both up 29:00 From gatekept radio to 300K followers: why new media is the whole point 31:00 How to get on the waitlist before speaker announcements drop

    31 min
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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
    91
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Freddy Cruz
  • Show Website
    Your Mic