“How to Become the Center of Influence Through Natural Podcasting” with Janis Putelis of The MeatEater Podcast
As part of my series of interviews about “How to Become the Center of Influence Through Podcasting”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Janis (pronounced Yan-is) Putelis. Janis is the executive producer of the Netflix Original Series MeatEater and The MeatEater Podcast. Janis grew up in Michigan and moved to Colorado after high school where he worked as a hunting and fishing guide for a dozen years prior to joining MeatEater. He now lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife and two daughters.
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Can you tell us the “backstory” about why or how you got started as a podcaster?
In late 2014, MeatEater host Steven Rinella was invited to be a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience. It was the first time Steve had ever heard of a podcast, let alone been on one. Joe told Steve he thought he’d be a great podcast host, and — since Joe knows a thing or two about podcasting — we decided to give it a shot. A few months later we recorded the first MeatEater podcast episode in a crusty Super 8 hotel room in Ketchikan, Alaska.
Can you share a story about the most interesting thing that has happened to you since you started podcasting?
Aside from constantly finding myself in awesome or absurd situations — like podcasting with my childhood hero Bo Jackson or trying to get a good recording from inside a tent in a rainstorm in the middle of nowhere — the most interesting thing has been how our relationship with our audience has changed. When it was just the MeatEater TV show, we were just some guys on a screen…hopefully interesting but a little distant. Now we essentially hang out and talk shop with anyone who wants to sit in for a few hours every week. It allows us to have a much closer connection to our fans.
Can you share a story about the biggest or funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
We podcast in some pretty extreme and remote locations, and it’s critical that our equipment is up to the task. We’ve had batteries run out and other equipment break down. When you go to the trouble of getting content when you’re in a challenging place, the last thing you want to do is have your tools be the reason you can’t produce a show. That’s happened before…and there’s nothing funny about it in the moment, unfortunately. There are so many things you can’t control — about guests, locations, where the conversation goes… but one of the things you can control is to make sure your equipment is ready to rock.
How long have you been podcasting and how many shows have you aired?
We’ve been podcasting almost five years and are closing in on our 200th episode; we air a new episode every week.
What are the main takeaways or lessons you want your listeners to walk away with?
That in a world full of divisions there is a surprising number of things that connect us. And that a deeper understanding of the natural world enriches all of our lives.
Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Janis Putelis!
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Podcaster Influencer, Janis Putelis of The MeatEater Podcast shares the best ways to:
1) Book Great Guests. This is a combination of constantly having interesting folks on our radar and getting recommendations from people we admire, other guests, and our audience directly. Early on, booking a famous guest was harder but we managed through well-written emails and sincere phone calls. You have to do your research, and if you half ass it then you probably don’t deserve to get the booking. Most guests are agreeable if they know you are genuinely interested in their area of expertise, have done your homework, and aren’t an asshole. Once our podcast started gaining more and more popularity, guests saw value in joining us. This allowed us to leverage their feedback to book other hard-to-get guests.
2) Increase Listeners. This mostly happened organically for us but having Joe Rogan say our podcast is his favorite certainly doesn’t hurt. The content has to be good. With so many options, listeners aren’t wasting their time with boring content. And for us good content means being authentic, but also being differentiated. It can’t just be one of the two.
3) Produce in a Professional Way. Dedicate an area where you podcast when you aren’t traveling and respect it as a sacred space that is organized, clean, and ready to roll at all times. Invest in good equipment. Some people may not realize how much they appreciate the quality of a clean, high value recording, but trust me they do. Also, don’t be afraid to edit. Sometimes 50% of a conversation is more than enough.
4) Encourage Engagement. We prize listener feedback. Some of our best ideas come from our audience writing in about topics, questions and guests that interest them. By nature, podcasting is a one way dialog, but within the format constraints we try to make it as much of a two way conversation as we can, so we really do read and process all of the mail and social messages we receive. I hope and think that openness and energy comes through, and naturally leads to more engagement.
5) Monetize. Authenticity here is key. Also transparency. If we’re trying to sell something, we’re not hiding it. And it needs to make sense for us from a brand standpoint.
What makes your podcast binge-listenable? What do you think makes your podcast unique from the others in your category? What do you think is special about you as a host, your guests, or the content itself?
Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Janis Putelis!
