This past July, I signed up to sell CBD even before I’d tried this particular formulation. When I attended the Zilis business presentation, I jumped at the opportunity to make residual income since I had grown tired of trading time for money. The compensation program appealed to me. Plus, I figured with the rising popularity of CBD and after the passing of Farm Bill 2018, the time was right to launch a business that wouldn’t take any salesy technique to attract people. As a matter of fact, all the company asked us to do was share our experience with the product with other people.
Once I received my starter kit and began microdosing CBD daily, my priorities reversed. I slept better, experienced less stress, and the inflammation throughout my body lessened to the extent that I achieved far more flexibility in yoga classes.
My friends and fellow yogis bought CBD sublingual and topical from me based solely on my experience. Even so, my passion has never been in sales. My first career had been teaching secondary math and science. The teacher in me wanted to more know about hemp products and their interaction with the endocannabinoid system.
Yet, I’d signed up to sell CBD products. I had to find a way to undertake the endeavor that best suited my skill set.
For over a year, I explored the film industry. I checked out different aspects of the industry to see where I could land. Since I’d produced and hosted a spoken word and storytelling show for the past 8 years and had written 2 books, the natural fits seemed to be writing and directing. Even so, something about my current finances and the expense to make even a crappy short film turned me off.
While attending a film producers’ Meetup, I had a conversation with another writer who had produced a few scenes of a show that she’d written, but had to put on hold because she’d run out of money. Another producer suggested that if her show was more narrative based versus visual, she’d save a lot of money turning her show into a podcast.
The suggestion energized me.
Instead of begging for money to make a movie, I’d write scripts for a podcast. After all, I’d completed a screenwriting class at the beginning of 2019, so I knew that I could tweak the one script I’d written for audio.
By the time I’d signed up to sell CBD and heard their suggestion to share my CBD experience, I married that idea with launching a podcast. By producing a podcast about CBD, I could merge two objectives rather than continue juggling many divergent projects, which would divide up my time.
I signed up for a daylong podcasting workshop. The most vital content consideration for creating a successful podcast is writing an engaging story. Regardless of whether the story was fiction or nonfiction, stories entertain the masses. I’d learned that as the producer of The Austin Writers Roulette.
The most vital technical aspect is capturing high quality sound. I sprung for 2 high-quality microphones since I plan to have one-on-one interviews with CBD users and experts.
I waited until the weekend to test the mics by interviewing my roommate. At least that was the plan. I never want to induce insomnia by trying out a new technology during the week after work. I’ve lived and learned. Once again, that was the correct choice.
I started very simply and naively by plugging in both USB mics. I immediately saw that another step was needed since I could select one or the other mic, but not both at the same time. I searched on Google and found several videos. I took notes about creating an “aggregate device.”
Past that hurdle, I spent nearly an hour figuring out GarageBand. Namely, how to get my roommate’s and my recordings on separate tracks. I watched video after video, all overlapping in most areas. Any unique tidbit of information had me tearing off to review what I’ve done, the specs of my laptop OS, the version of GarageBand…Turns out, most of the videos were showing older versions of mics and GarageBand. Commands weren’t found in the same places are called the same thing.
Then, I got my golden piece of information: enable multitrack or whatever the hell it’s called. I can’t even remember what all I did because during the umpteenth thing that I tried and it worked, I was no longer taking notes. My roommate and I were just talking about the process instead of the interview I’d planned to have with her. But the point is, we recorded on separate tracks!
Now, I wonder how I edit it?
