Israel Hyman’s Personal Blog

I know my last post was a little vague. Here’s my dilemma, expressed with more specificity:

I have roughly 8,500 people who watch my Izzy Video episodes, and I want to be able to have a conversation with them. The problem is that podcasting is very one-sided. Mostly, it’s just me talking, via my videos and blog postings. For a viewer to talk back, they could leave a comment on a post, or send an email, or comment on MySpace, but I don’t like these options for a couple reasons: 1) They are far too singular; i.e. one email at a time, or one comment at a time is not the way to get to know an audience of 8,500 people; and 2) Text on a page lacks a face and voice; I need more than text on a page to begin building relationships. I need more of the human characterstics: face, voice, personality.

Shouldn’t there be a solution to this problem?

I’ve been brainstorming this, and here are some options I’ve pondered:

1. Have a conference where audience members from all over the world attend, and we have a chance to meet in person. This isn’t a realistic option for a number of reasons. Few people from the audience would attend because of the inherent costs, timing, various levels of interest, etc. Although I’d have a chance to meet people in person, and they could meet each other, we could do this maybe once per year, for a high cost, and once per year is not often enough to create relationships.
2. Get some gigantic conference calls started. I don’t even know if this is possible. Scheduled events like this have their strengths, but one major weakness is that they lack the natural organic qualities of a conversation which continues beyond the time restraints of a scheduled meeting. I want a solution where I can continue a conversation throughout a day, where everyone speaks with each other, and it would be perfect if we didn’t have to be in front of our computers to have it.
3. We could meet virtually, such as in Second Life. This is a great idea, if the entire audience were early-adopting geeks like myself, and if everyone had systems that could support it. I like the real time chat aspect of Second Life, and I like how it feels as if you’re meeting in a place, but I don’t think it’s the best way for my audience to communicate with me and with each other. However, one of the huge advantages is that through communicating via Second Life, you begin to feel like you’re getting to the know the person. My personal example is that I met Eric Rice in Second Life, many times, and we had in-depth conversations in the virtual world. Although I read his blog, and watched his videos, the conversation happened in Second Life. Much later, I met him at the Podcast Expo, and we spoke in person for a short time, but I definitely didn’t feel I was meeting him for the first time. I already knew him.
4. I could create an online forum. This is probably a good idea to get everyone talking to each other, but some of the problems are still there: 1) Just text on a page, so not the whole personality and 2) Only accessible in front of a computer.
5. Maybe we could use some new-fangled mobile technology that is similar to forums, but not bound to computers. Group text-messaging, group conference calls. Recorded voices responding to each other, all done via mobile phones. Phone conversations are a great way to communicate, and they could be in real time, recorded, and posted to websites like forums, so the information inside them becomes persistent. Hmm, now that would be interesting! But I don’t think it’s really invented yet.

So my question is this? Is this possible? Is there a better way?

Can I have a meaningful conversation with 8,500 people and really get to know everyone?

Probably not, but how close can I get to that?

Today I’m concerned that my media projects are too one-sided. I crave more of a conversation.

I’m going to be brainstorming a solution to that!

How do I know there are zillions of good people in the world?

Because there are so many free Wordpress themes created by brilliant designers. This new theme for my personal blog, well… I totally dig it.

I especially like the beauty of the comment system. It’s called “Lush” and it comes with every new Wordpress installation, so I know there are probably tens of thousands of people using the same one, but that’s okay with me. I still think it’s gorgeous.

Mmm. I really like this theme. Did I already say that?

Until the other night, I had never seen an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

Here’s how it happened:

Because there was nothing good on the Tivo, and Noell and I wanted some additional boxed entertainment, we quickly visited the iTunes Store, and downloaded Season 1, Episode 1, entitled “Pilot.”

The show was significantly better than I had imagined. The character development was excellent and authentic. The plots and subplots were interesting. The setting, a Seattle educational hospital, was foreign enough to cause ample amounts of fascination. The acting was superb. And the main character, Meredith Grey, was completely adorable.

Like millions of other people around the world, I am now hooked. I’m looking forward to playing catch-up on all the episodes between number one and the present.

It’s like I’m a super-hero living two different lives. During the day, I’m a Sales Manager with a Fortune 1000 company. In the evening, I’m online creating valuable content and giving it away, currently supported by Google Adsense revenue and donations.

My daytime job usually requires a 55+ hour work week. Also, I must balance my time to include an active spouse and three children, ages 9, 7, and 3. This doesn’t leave a lot of time for building a second income.

But here are the six reasons I spend time doing it anyway:

1. I can work on it anytime I want.

The flexibility with time is key. Everyone is busy — very busy — so why not build a side income that can take advantage of spare minutes in the early morning hours, in the late evening hours, and on weekends?

2. I can work on it wherever I want.

I have a MacBook Pro (a very powerful notebook computer) running OS X and Windows, and I have a Verizon Wireless internet card that allows me access to the internet from almost anywhere.

For example, during family visits to the park, as my children dangle upside-down on playground equipment, I bring my computer and work on my websites. In the past I would have simply brought a book or magazine to read, but now it’s my computer. It’s amazing really; my second income business is portable like a magazine. I also take my computer with me on business and personal trips out of town. Occasionally I’ll turn on the television in the hotel room, open my notebook, pop in the wireless card, and get to work creating the free content that gives people reason to come back to my websites. One thing is consistently true about business trips for me: I get plenty of downtime. Now I can put it to use.

3. It creates a reliable, increasing income stream.

Right now I’m only making a couple hundred dollars per month through Adsense, but I’ve noticed that it’s very consistent. Also, it gradually increases as more and more people discover my websites.

A few months ago, my daughter was diagnosed with Epilepsy, and while my family dealt with the changes associated with this, I didn’t work on my websites at all. I went several weeks without touching the sites. How much did my income decrease during that period? Zero! When you post an article (or, in my case, a podcast), and put Adsense next to it, it will produce income for as long as it’s available online. All the work I do now can continue to pay me forever.

4. The costs involved are very small.

My hosting provider is reliable, but inexpensive. I can spend $10 for a domain name, and $10 for a hosting service, and now I’m in business. I think of every new website as another division of my business. How many opportunities allow you to start a new division for $20. It’s almost absurd how low the costs are.

5. The barriers to entry are small.

It doesn’t require licensing, years of school, or any professional certification. I’m a sales manager who spent a few minutes in the morning, reading about HTML and CSS, and eventually got to the point where I could make my own websites. It’s not hard at all. Anybody can learn this stuff. It’s just that many people don’t even try.

6. Word spreads by links, online and off.

This is a powerful phenomenon. By focusing on creating good, valuable content, I benefit from audience members recommending my site to others. As of now when I’m writing this, when you google “video podcast” my Izzy Video website turns up in the top 10 results. This is because of all the links coming to me from high quality, highly authoritative websites such as Lifehacker and others.

Links online are valuable, but links offline are incredibly valuable as well. How does this happen? Just this morning, I received this email:

I own a video production company in Billings, MT and have made your tutorials mandatory viewing for my staff. Although two of my production guys have been shooting commercials for quite some time, their work has improved greatly as a result of your time and talents.

I’ve heard of teachers showing my video podcasts in schools. I’ve heard of people burning my videos on DVD’s and giving them to friends and family. Do I mind? Not at all. All my videos prominently display my web address, so they simply help drive more traffic to my website. And that’s where the Adsense is.

Hopefully you can see how with all these benefits, a busy person like myself might devote some time toward a project of this nature. I can’t think of an income source more flexible than building something online. But it’s not just flexible. It’s fun, challenging, and in many ways, addicting.