Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Daniel Im

Thinking of Starting a Podcast? Don’t! Until you read this…

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I love podcasts. They’re informative, inspirational, (can be) fun, but best of all, they’re FREE…

…well, that is, they’re free to the listener, but they are actually quite the investment (time + money) for the host.

And that’s something that I can personally speak into.

According to a 2017 survey from Edison Research,

  • 40% of Americans had ever listened to a podcast, which is up significantly from 11% in 2006
  • 18-34 year olds are the largest group of listeners, making up 44% of the group, with 35-54 year olds coming in a close second at 33%
  • Average listeners typically tune into five podcasts per week, are subscribed to six, and mostly listen at home or while driving

Though it’s been 10+ years since I first entered the world of podcasting as a listener, I’ve actually been recording my own podcasts since 2015.

I’m the co-host of three:

  1. New Churches Q&A Podcast: Church Planting, Multisite, Multiplication, Leadership Development, and Discipleship
  2. 5 Leadership Questions Podcast: Leadership
  3. IMbetween Podcast: Marriage, Parenting, and Faith

And as of April 2018, I’ve recorded more than 350 episodes on the three I co-host, as well as other ones I’ve been interviewed on as a guest.

In other words, I know the cost of starting and maintaining a podcast, and it’s definitely not free for the host!

But if you’re committed to it for a certain length of time, and have determined a clear purpose and reason for doing it, then it can be a fun endeavor to undertake.

I’ll talk about equipment options below, but let me get to the reason I’m writing this in the first place.

If your goal is to share information or spread an idea, a podcast may not be the best means for doing so.

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Why You Should Hire Your Next Boss (according to Mark Zuckerberg)

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Only hire someone that you’d be okay working for.

In one of the podcasts I listen to frequently (Masters of Scale), Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook was interviewed on his hiring best practices. This is what he said,

So the single most important thing is to get the best people you can around you. When I look at my friends who were running other good companies, the single biggest difference that I see in whether the companies end up becoming really great and reaching their potential, or just pretty good, is whether they’re comfortable and really self-confident enough to have people who are stronger than them around them. I’ve adopted this hiring rule, which is that you should never hire someone to work for you, unless you would work for them in an alternate universe.

“Never hire someone to work for you, unless you would work for them.” – Mark Zuckerberg

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Which doesn’t mean that you should give them your job, but just if the tables were turned and you were looking for a job, would you be comfortable working for this person? I basically think that if the answer to that is “no,” then you’re doing something expedient by hiring them, but you’re not doing as well as you can on that.

There are all these things that Sheryl, for example, is just much stronger than me at, and that makes me better and makes Facebook better. And I am not afraid or threatened by that—I value that. That’s what makes Facebook good.[1]

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Interruptions and the Cross

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This past week was supposed to go a certain way, and that way it certainly did not go…

  • I was supposed to fly to Denver on Wednesday to train a group of church planters, but that didn’t happen
  • On Thursday, Christina and I were supposed to interview our first guest together for our podcast, but that didn’t happen either
  • And this week, I was supposed to get back to the gym after finally fighting off the stomach bug, but as you might’ve guessed already, that didn’t happen either

That last point, I didn’t mind too much though.

I guess you could say that I was interrupted…

Tuesday morning, while I was getting ready for work, I gave my son, Makarios, a great big hug and squeezed his head close to me, while encouraging him and calling him a big boy. He then immediately pushed himself away from me, while beginning to cry and shout out, “I am not a big boy! I am not a big boy!”

Whoa, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed…

Later on, while I was at work, Christina noticed a big bump behind his left ear, so she asked whether or not he had fallen or hit his head somewhere.

Not that I knew of…

So she brought him to the doctor when the girls came back from school. While there, the doctor basically told her that she had to bring him to the hospital because he needed a CT scan.

Yep. That was our week.

UPDATE: It ended up being an infected lymph-node, rather than what the doctor initially thought, so he’s now at home on heavy antibiotics after a two-night stay at the hospital.)

When’s the last time you were interrupted?

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Why Isolation, Boredom, and Pride are as Dangerous as Dynamite

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“Wow, I’m a natural. This is it. I was born to do this,” were the very thoughts I had moments before I was disqualified.

After running the 100m dash at a track meet in elementary school, our coach asked the team if anyone wanted to enter the speed walking event.

“Speed walking? Like…walking with speed?” I thought to myself.

This was my first official track meet and everything was new to me. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and especially speed walking.

Though I had never heard of the event—let alone see it take place—I volunteered for it. After all, how hard could it be? It’s just walking fast, isn’t it? Anything was better than just waiting around until the track meet was over.

After the coach showed me the proper form and let me in on the rules, I was off.

Seconds into the race, I was leading the pack. Minutes in, the distance between me and the next contestant was unfathomable.

“Wow, I’m a natural,” I thought to myself. “This is it. I was born to do this.”

And that’s when it happened. I was pulled out of the race for breaking the rules.

Disqualified. No second chances. No restarts. It was over. My rising Olympic career was over.

Have you ever been disqualified?

Okay, maybe not for bending your knees while speed walking, but for something else? For over embellishing your resume? Or, maybe for looking over at your friend’s answers during an exam?

There’s a disturbing—dare I say—trend that I’ve noticed over the past several years. It seems like an increasing number of public figures are falling from grace and disqualifying themselves from leadership.

An increasing number of public figures are falling from grace and disqualifying themselves.

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Eric Geiger words it well in his new book, How to Ruin Your Life and Starting Over When You Do,

I could easily write about a recent story of a well-known leader, coach, college professor, or ministry leader who was removed from a position of influence because of disqualifying behavior, because of issues of character and integrity. However, the story would be old news by the time you read these words because there are always new stories as these implosions continually come to light. Competent and effective leaders in a variety of fields and disciplines forfeit their roles over deficiencies in their character. They were able to lead others but not themselves, able to grow an organization while their hearts grew cold. When a lack of integrity comes to light, leaders can be disqualified. [1]

When a lack of integrity comes to light, leaders can be disqualified.

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