2020 Goals and Reflections

Today's episode brings us to Orlando, where I'm recording a solo show! I give reflections following a year of podcasting, my goals for 2020, and some personal updates. I wanted to do a one-year reflection on the show closer to the New Year's Day, but I couldn't because of wanting to honor my episode release schedule. This might seem odd as it is in the middle of January already and people are tired of these end-of-year reviews, but here I am. 2019 Reflection The podcast is a year old and it has exceeded my expectations. Within the first few months of 2019, the podcast found its footing, so to speak, and has sharpened its focus. First, the show was about "the intersection between travel and creativity," but I found that to be a bit too broad. If you recall, I had chummy interviews with friends who live abroad. And those episodes were, as the name implied, a bit all over the place. But sometime in the first half of 2019, the podcast came into focus and I was able to identify not just what I was really interested in talking about, but a hole in the market, so to speak. So, since we found our footing, I've interviewed established voices in the travel writing space like Paul Theroux and Pico Iyer. And I've interviewed young, energized, and emerging writers like Monisha Rajesh. I am reaffirming my commitment to interviewing travel writers for the next year, with hopes to cover more diverse perspectives in the travel writing space. Stay tuned for more. Listening Stats I won't get into statistics too much here, as last year was the first year and we don't have a basis for comparison in terms of growth. And, to be honest, I'm not someone who stresses over the numbers. Though, I do look at them from time to time, and I'm humbled to report that last year we had some 1,300 unique listeners. So, if you're one of the 1,300, thank you! And I hope you keep listening in 2020. Goals for 2020 Goal #1) I'd like to have more listeners. One way I plan on doing this is by opening up the website to guest articles that deal with the business and craft of travel writing. So, if you want to write a guest post, please send me an email or tweet with your idea. Another tactic is that I am interested in publishing more written interviews. So, if you have written a travel book and want to be interviewed, please drop me a line. You can, of course help me achieve my goal by sharing the show with your friends on social media, and by reviewing the show in your favorite podcast app. This really does help the podcast gain more exposure. Goal #2) Work towards having the podcast become financially self-sufficient. The podcast and website does have some costs like hosting and domain expenses. The show demands considerable time for research, editing, and regular management. As I don't want to run ads on the show, I've opened up a Patreon page to help offset some of these fees. I don't have any patrons yet, but my 2020 goal is to get at least 2 new patrons a month. You can visit my support page to support the show with only a few dollars a month. A little goes a long way. I do have some other goals, projects, and aspirations for the podcast in 2020, but I'm not quite ready to let the cat out of the bag. I’ll reveal those in due course. Personal Update I'll be finishing up an old project in 2020 that has been hanging over my head. The project is a book designed to help students make the most of their study abroad experiences. The book does have a narrative quality to it, but it is really more a guide or a manual for students to cultivate more meaningful experiences as they study abroad. As many of you know, I'm an educator by day and this book is for that side of my life . And I've started working on a new travel writing project that's quite big and will take some time, but I'll reveal more information about that when it is more mature. The project has me going to some interesting places in 2020,