Tara Burke // The Witches Muse

On today's episode of Podcasting in Real Life, I get to sit down with Tara Burke, host of "The Witches Muse."

Tara shares how she uses Instagram to find guests for her podcasts and the importance of going at your own pace.

If you are a modern mystic who craves real conversations that are both applicable and accessible, make sure to check out “The Witches Muse” at thewitchesmuse.com and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Transcript

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Tara 0:00

When you feel really compassionate about something, I feel like it is important to share it. So when you feel really good about something that you feel like is important to you, I think there's other people that will find deep value to it. And I also think that it's so important to give yourself time, and this is, I'm telling this to myself, I'm telling this to anybody to be okay with giving yourself time because good ideas take time.

Travis 0:37

welcome to podcasting in real life, the Buzzsprout show where we dive into the real life stories of podcasters in the middle of their podcasting journey. I am your host Travis Hall Britain , head of content at Buzzsprout. Now you won't hear anyone famous on these podcast episodes. Instead you'll hear everyday podcasters just like you, share personal stories about how podcasting has impacted them and the things that they've learned along the way. And in today's conversation, I got to sit down with the host of the witches muse, Tara Burke. And one of the things that I really appreciate about Tara and her perspective is that she's very cognizant, very aware that she wants to go at her own pace. And this is a mistake that I see so many podcasters make, is you start to play the comparison game. You start to wonder, well what if I was like this podcast or why aren't my downloads as many as this other podcast? And it's so easy to compare ourselves to other people that are in totally different situations. And you know, we make the joke of, you know, what would your expectations be if you are Oprah and launching a podcast versus doing something because you love it. And I think it's just a really helpful mental exercise for all of us to make sure that we're staying grounded and what's really important. But then she also shared some really practical strategies that she uses specifically how she uses Instagram to connect with guests that are going to be a good fit for her podcast. And so while many podcasts have success with Facebook and email and contact forms on websites, she's really uses Instagram quite effectively. And so she shares how she goes about doing that. And there's definitely some great things you can take from that. But Tara got started after she had a dream and the name of her podcast became crystal clear.

Tara 2:24

It started in a dream. I literally had a dream and it was a really interesting for me, I'm very into names, so I think names really speak to where things can be formed or where creation can really come from or even my creative mindset. And in some ways that can make a little bit more of a challenge because sometimes it's nice to just muse on the ID and the name comes and they even mentioned that in some ways of when you're creating a new project or starting something new. But for me, the name the witches muse came and I felt really inspired by it. It this kind of underbelly tone, like things that weren't necessarily kind of in this surface level wave. And I really loved the idea of the Muse because at the end of the day, the Muse is I think inspiration that happens internally. But it also is reflected by just your experience. So how you see other people, your conversations you have in nature or in your community or in your day to day, even something that comes to you in a dream, which for me, they kind of really translate a lot together. And so I was really excited when this dream came and then the name came and I will met . Like most folks, the name kind of goes back and forth. It's like some days I'm like, yes, this name is so amazing. And other days I'm like, is this the name? Should this be the name of the podcast? And so that's when I kind of actually know it's a good thing. And by good I mean like it's actually working me, I'm growing from it cause I'm not like, Oh yep , that's just totally comfortable. It's like I kind of liked that. I actually have to have my conversations around it. It keeps me coming back. So started in a dream and then became an idea. And I've really liked to talk, as many of you who are listening may know or if you've listened to the podcast, you may realize that is, I'm very into conversational and having just being really, I would say genuine and intentional with how I talk to people and in the ways I talk to people. And so I wanted a way to share that. And I've always been a creative, I've always thought of myself as creative. And so the idea of a podcast, it felt so natural and exciting. And so when those things line up, when you're like, this doesn't feel like work, don't get me. There's elements of all, a lot of work as I learned being a podcast newb so to say, I mean I've had my for a year, so that's kind of a trajectory, but almost been around for a year. June will open the year anniversary. And so that being said, it just, it's really important and the name means a lot. So. Well. And how long did it take for you to launch your podcast after you had the idea to figure out, this is the kind of podcast I want to do, this is how I plan on approaching it. You mentioned before the interview that you actually work with somebody else to produce the podcast. So how did all of those pieces come together? Yeah, totally. So I am a systems thinker by trade and folks that might know systems thinking is like, I love seeing big pictures and how they come together and it really helps me support. I'm also working collaboratively, so I've also been someone who at a point in my life was like, I could do it all by myself in that voice exactly. Like I'm going to do it all by myself and it's gonna just be me and this like almost like pseudo facade that I was taking on. And that was, this is the first time in a while. And I work actually in a lot of collaborative frameworks, but it's the first time in a while in a creative project that I was like, I'm gonna just like expand what's possible. And I, because I don't have the skills, it's okay to see and be supported by that. So I worked with somebody to kind of figure out, and I'm still getting used to this name, but the branding of the podcast and I'm still getting used to the word brand and just what it is to market something and make it accessible. And I'm looking at this point to frame my idea and my conversation and my relationship to marketing on how I can get it into the hands of folks that need the medicine to the podcast . That's how I'm trying to approach branding is in this way of like if I'm making it accessible enough or easy to and comforting and just inviting to connect with, then it'll get to more people that want to , that want to be able to experience the podcast. So I worked with her and I think it was about January to June because I launched it on the solstice June 21st and I worked with her pretty extensively on just the look and the feel. And she helped actually pretty exclusively with the Squarespace that I now take over. But the front end of a lot of that design work was hers as well as like kind of developing a little bit of a header and a logo and figuring all that out. But then she didn't have any experience actually creating a podcast like from start to finish. Like how to actually once the website is built with it. Cause I felt that that was really important to have a space other than just like the portals or the platforms to host where people can find more information. And that's also where patron kind of comes on later. And I'll get into that. But so yeah. So from there I then learned all of the backend of how it makes to kind of create that like the cover arting how to make the transfer for the RSS feed, how to make sure that those are seamless, noticing that if you misspell something, it will come up and the iTunes misspell. But you know, these things that you don't think are happening that do. And then in terms of my audio, so my partner Nathan Trowbridge have clear productions based out of Eugene, Oregon, his audio and sound by trade. So He's been audio engineer and a sound designer since he was, you know, in high school. So it's been almost a decade plus and it's his profession, it's what he does. And so I really lucked out in that. So I have someone who really does what I'd like to say. My backup house works. They helped me mix and master and edit and I have some ability to do that. But it's been a really great dynamic in us because he really takes it and elevates it and is able to put the music and actually all the music that we have for the first kind of for the intro and for the outro. So we have both an intro and an outro, which will probably actually change for the next season. But um, his all his own original music too. So it's been super fun for him creatively cause that's really what he likes doing and also been just interesting cause he has a completely different ear than I do around what sounds and what sounds not good cause that there is, there is what ads I've learned and we've also learned in terms of interviewing, because I'm primarily an interview show, I'm working on adding some new components and the actually do have a couple of components where it's just myself and on some episodes it's just me but mostly an interview show because I really like interviewing people and asking questions.

Travis 9:20

So when you think about good audio quality, there's, there's a bunch of stuff I want to dive into but I first want to ask you like your approach to audio quality as a podcaster because there's certainly like an extreme on both side. You can spend tens of thousands of dollars and have it sound like you were in beyoncé's recording studio. And then the other side of it is, you know, taking a cell phone call in a subway. So like where did you decide to land on that and what is your setup like and what do you do with your guests to try and help them get better audio? Just kind of walk me through that.

Tara 9:52

Yeah, totally. So I'll irst start with my setup. So I have what I'm having a, I have a Bluetooth Snowball Yeti, Mike and I have basic Sony headphones. I actually purchased the headphones from Sweetwater and the Bluetooth was just online. And my irst thing was to actually do research. I like to call them either mother Google, like ask your mom or ask mother Google or ask the University of Google. Cause at this point, and especially if you're in my, I'm late millennial, but if you're in that age range, the Internet is like such a vast instrument of knowledge and it can be such an an in many ways it can be a great tool. There's also ways that the internet can be harmful, but in many ways can be a really big tool. And so for me, yeah , and I'm getting back into this now again, so much of the beginning was kind of the researching of what's the best tools, well, not sacrificing sound, but also not like breaking budget. You know, as we look to expand and notice that as we want to expand our patrion cause that is something we're looking to work more into and it's just really about the amount of time I spend to do it. Expanding equipment would be, yes, something I want to work into, but headphones and a Mike now something that I did in the beginning, which was really whimsical. I think I was super optimistic. And also again, I'm very into accessibility. I'm really into making things readily available for people. I'm also into really honoring the folks that come on and you know, most podcast hosts may know this depending on, again, their reach and their engagement. They reach out to hosts and if they have a bigger show than it's a really big benefit for the person who's coming on for the interview. If they're just starting out like myself, like I'm still just starting out and I'm very intentional and genuine with my answers and how I reach out to people. But they're still coming on for free and using and it's their time and their energy that they're doing to put into to being here. And so I used to, this was like the irst, probably like ive to even episodes is that actually when folks didn't have Mike's , cause some folks they could have huge and I'm talking and I usually use Instagram as a pretty big platform. They could have huge followings, you know, on Instagram but not have access to just like good recording like, and so that means I would be subject to something from the computer with headphones or something, a computer without headphones, which for me is like there's just, I couldn't, it's just so hard to listen to. There's so much noise. Even just a pair of headphones I think at least allows the guest who's being interviewed and you to have some amount of this like focused concentration on like how you're talking the way you're talking. So that felt really important. And so I would, I used to send like little mikes and sometimes they'd be like wenty bucks to the person being interviewed because I wanted them to have like a good experience to like know what it's like and have a tool and so it was almost this offering that I'd send out to people. They'd be like, Hey, okay, you don't have a mic , let's kind of figure that out. And so I would just buy these kinds of simple mikes . And I did that irst and that felt that felt really good to offer that set up . And you know sometimes depending on the time of day I have buffer screens. I have kind of like a basic screen that I can put around. And then in terms of the audio production he has similar and I'm connecting with Travis over video has a similar set up where there's lots of padding and stuff, which is interesting because part of me is like maybe I should record there more, but I just haven't found a need. If I'm close enough to the mic and the individual is ne having clear connection. Again, if I record off of zoom, which I do, I record wo part, usually zoom in Garageband, as long as their Wifi is good or they have a good connection, I can usually the zoom recording can be great. So if all else fails, cause some people even connecting to garage band , you know, can be difficult. And so I'm learning kind of does audacity make more sense and maybe it does as an easier, more translatable platform, especially with zoom as we were talking about previously, those kind of choices of how you're making your guests feel the most comfortable to step into this space. Especially that the things that I'm talking about, some of them are just beneath the surface. So, so much of what I talk about our stories beneath the surface, but you don't want them to be like agitated because things don't work and now they're freaking out that they don't work. And so they come into the conversation like kind of already ungrounded. You want to make it as easeful as possible. So I've learned a lot along the way in that of my set up . But the biggest thing that I would offer is, you know I would say headphones and a mic and a pretty solid platform, so like how you're recording yourself or your guests and just kind of getting that dialed in and then the way that you're making your guests or whoever you're talking to. If you do decide to have the interview podcast feel the most comfortable, like even like an email beforehand or something that's going to set them up for success is really all you need. Fancy recording equipment would be sweet. Like if I were to have ne thing, it would probably be, and I had this, but I had this thing where I could connect it and the snowball, Mike would come off and it would be like a swivel, but it doesn't connect to my desk. I'm like, well I'm not getting rid of this awesome desk so I have to like I have this chair that could maybe work, but it just is so it's funny. So I do actually have a pop, I think they're called pop filter. There are filters that go over here that could actually really help with sound. Now, if my partner knew that I was doing this podcast with an amazing podcast platform like Buzzsprout and this is how it was doing my set up , I would probably get a little bit of in trouble. Right. So you know, we have different styles. You know, I wanted this to feel natural and I also think it comes in again, it's up to there . I think the host to make the guests really feel like they're set up for success. And Travis like pleated such a great job making it feel easeful for me. So I appreciate that. But yeah that's like a little bit of how I set up and I just don't think, like you said the subway thing, I would never, I would just be like just reschedule. Just find a different thing. Cause there's no, for me I think we're already so connected to are like mini computers I. E. Like our smartphones that for on the go stuff. And I know there's some really great kind of hand recorders and I used , I was looking in ne of those for like podcasting on the go, but those babies, I'll run you , you know, ive hundred even hundred ight hundred dollars for those really amazing hand recorders that are essentially used for like reporters in the field. So if I was like really moving a story or a season towards which is muse on the road and I felt like capturing that type of audio, it would be really important. And again, there's a lot of actually podcasts that do a really good job of kind of capturing external sounds. They make you feel like you're in the atmosphere you're in. Like I really liked that. It reminds me of like any Anthony Bourdain show that you see, you get the kind of other sensory sounds that really captivates you, that would be great. But for this kind of purpose of this conversational and less kind of documentary oriel kind of piece, the simple setup I think works really good.

Travis 17:14

Yeah. And you mentioned too , your focus is, you know, do what you can to get good audio quality, but then really emphasize helping your guests feel comfortable. Specifically if you want to have an interview where you have authentic conversations, where you're asking them to really be vulnerable in a lot of ways. So I'd love to hear your approach to how you find people that would be good guests for your podcast and then how to get them into a conversation and help them feel comfortable to open up and really have a great interview. Like how do you, how do you go through that process with your guests?

Tara 17:47

Yeah, so this really important for me and I still am working to refine this process. I think because there is parts of me that know because my conversations are so, are so conversational that sometimes people can feel lost. And like I listened to that as my own internal feedback to be like, what? And in what ways can I reframe and change that? And so I started out in the beginning of this because I have a tendency to be a circular talker. I talk in circles and I think that's okay. I'm not necessarily a linear thinker, so I don't really think from this kind of really beginning, middle end, I kind of can jump around. And so for myself, the outline was a way for me to stay structured and really honor the structure to help support listeners. And so what I did is I used the framework around the major Arcana and the major Arcana are the beginning cards in the Tarot and there's wenty two cards of them and they're all, you know, loosely based, I think in archetypal wisdom. So they're universal symbols. Like people can connect in ne way or another to like the archetypal understanding of the card. So you know , there's so they don't have to be specific necessarily to a person. And so for me it felt really important to use that as like a guiding principle. So I began with the irst looking at the card that I was on, so I'll use the card that I did. I did wo cards, but the irst card that I did was the fool. And I love that. That is the irst episode. On the podcast and it's my irst ever episode of a podcast and it's just, it feels sincere and it is almost just so lovely to know cause every time you start something new it's like you're as prepared as you believe you're going to be and you're as ready as you believe you are. And so much is on the belief of yourself that like hey, you're taking a really scary risk and you're trying something new and if you mess it up like that's okay cause we don't really learn by doing things perfectly all the time no matter what society might think that we have to do it right. So that to me was really important. Finding that outline and then from there in terms of finding my guests again, the platform that I find myself most on and most connected to specifically for like my time in my life, my experience and really just in terms of content that I follow or information that I gather other than books. And actually podcasts is Instagram. It's a great community collective. I am still part of the generation that grew up with dial up internet. I had the whole like where I can't make the sounds, I'm like I could try. That would be really painful for other people. But the whole dial up tone, you know in the use of that, I grew up in an era without smartphones . Like I am in this really interesting, I feel really grateful to be reflective on the part of my experience of the generation of growing up before that. But I also was on the threshold of Facebook and as I've gotten older, I still use it in many ways as a platform. But I think sometimes in the terms of reach and the way that I'm trying to connect with people, I don't know if it's fully, you know, serving and I'm still trying to find ways to incorporate that. I know, you know the last podcast that I listened to off of your show, they have an amazingly successful, you know, Facebook group. And I'm also looking like to the type of folks that are really interested in listening to their shows and how that might be reflective of that. And so Instagram is a way that I find a lot of people, you know, I look at a lot of people that I'm really inspired by and that kind of just happens naturally. Like you find somebody page that you're really interested in and then it just grows and then you find another person that they may even know and that just grows. And there's a few folks that I knew previously that I felt really called to have on the podcast. So ne story that I would have that I feel inspired to tell is jewel Gomez . And so jewel is a black queer lesbian science fiction writer and was part of the stonewall riots in ew York, which is like if you have any conversations around LGBTQ history that is just super informational and super informative to the culture and specifically around that era. And she's like eventy four eventy five and I actually know jewel because she is relatable in my family. She is my aunt's oldest sister's wife. And so there were these moments where I knew that I wanted to have jewel and she actually ended up doing the death card, I believe. And so just to speak to that card was really awesome. I felt like she, when I met her, we were talking at a wedding and I was like, I really want you on the podcast. You know, there's some people where you just know you want them and there's just this moment. And then having the card as this kind of rough outline or having a theme, I would say if anything throughout to kind of weave us through, even if they're not necessarily fully all about the card. Right? Cause I go back and forth with saying like, this is a Taro podcast and it's also so much more so just allowing sheet. They just like, without not even a breath between, they were like, yeah, I'm going to do the deaf card. And I was like amazing. Because some people, they're just like, they're , they have a few cards that move them, you know? And then other times when I choose to invite people, which I always message through, just depending again on their, what platform they use the most. I message usually through Instagram and I ask what their thoughts are of being on a podcast and I've gotten notes and it's not like I feel defeated, it's just like that's not some people's way of stepping in. I've gotten folks being really excited and also like, but who would want to listen to me, which also for me tells them that they'd actually be great guests. Because I think when people see other people taking risks or taking steps in sharing what their gifts are in the world and what they do, it actually makes an impact for anyone listening. And so that felt really important to me. So yeah, I asked through email and then the conversation flows. And then in terms of researching my questions, that is probably my most enjoyable because again, a lot of it is like sometimes their only reference point is Instagram. So some people just have an Instagram that they have cultivated and a lot of their stuff is there. So sometimes a lot of that is me and I take it actually away from the smart phone and you can actually do Instagram. Lo and behold on your computer. It's very like kind of a weird system, but it's easier for me to read like captions and then kind of take my time and look. So I'll do some research there. And then a lot of people of course have websites. And then if you're Joel Gomez, like if you're literally going to Google Joel Gomez , I mean her, ne of her main mentors was Audrey Lord . And you know, if you know anything about feminists like writing philosophy, anything, you're going to know that name. And so yeah, that was a mentor for her book. She wrote a book called the Gilda stories jewel did. And it's probably been in print hirty five plus years. I mean, it just like just, I think experience. It's a very longstanding publication and written in like, you know, so many different languages, which I think is awesome, but books can continue to be important thoughts for us in society. So, yeah, that's kind of my process and offering as much against support as I can leading up. So a couple of days before or at the very least the day before trying to give them an outline, I actually like to give people questions before. Sometimes that happens, sometimes life happens and it's the day of they received the questions. Sometimes the people didn't even read the questions right and they're like, oh, I haven't had a chance to look them over. But I love to like give people some understanding of what's there for them. And some people really like take on the questions and are thoughtful in terms of just like pre preparing and some people aren't. I mean it doesn't, I don't hold anybody to saying they have to prepare. I just like, again, if we're going to go into this space, I would say beneath the surface it's a , it feels important for people to just feel comfortable and grounded in talking about it. And you know, we also go off the cuff. So sometimes the question will lead into another question, you know, but we try to continue to kind of spiral back into the archetype, into the wisdom and the outline of the card, why it's important and yeah, go from there. And that's really, that's really my process from beginning to end. Extremely thorough. Well I know I'm very thorough. I talk, oh, I mean, yeah, I like to talk. If you'd like to talk to you, you're in good company. Everyone listening to this loves to talk. Otherwise you wouldn't, you wouldn't get into podcasting, you know. No . ne thing I wanted to ask you about was how you kind of see yourself in the season that you're in with your podcast and the growth that you've experienced so far and what your plans are for the future. Cause I know it's very common for podcasters to get that imposter syndrome to be like, who am I to do

Travis 26:43

this thing or to have people listen to me. And I think you have a really unique perspective on kind of how you approach that and giving yourself permission to take your time and to not feel like you have to compare yourself to other people's journeys. But really just chart your own course. So I would just love to hear kind of your thoughts on how you think about, you know, dealing with that imposter syndrome and having confidence in yourself.

Tara 27:05

Yeah, well it's a everyday job, you know, cause there's like moments and I think anybody who begins to step into podcasting. And for me, I really find it a deep passion. I would love to see the possibility of continuing to , and again, it's like, I don't want to say that I'm not professional in the work I do because what I try to offer, I try to make sure that it's polished and I try to move through these channels of expanding and marketing it. And there's also so many hours in the day. And if I were to try to compare myself, and this is, I think the thing when I compare myself and I can just take, I'm going to go deep. I'm going to say like Oprah's podcast, I'll just use that as an example. Big Show , big reach. But I'm just going to use out, I'm just going to use out breath cause why not? You know she has a team. I mean I'm talking, I would probably say ive to en maybe even who knows how many people Oprah has, right? So there is Oprah, right? And then there are all the other people that support Oprah and the reality is is Oprah's coming on. But she's had so much space to literally know that her sole job is to arrive at the mic . She's got her questions. I'm sure she talks about some of the content, but like all the post-production, all the marketing, those in itself, I say them like their little notes, those wo things are actually huge breaths. And that was something that, you know, Nathan and I, my partner who does the audio and just the kind of the post production stuff realized really early off. And I also realized in my kind of excitement for getting this idea out into the world and how important it is to when you feel really compassionate about something, I feel like it is important to share it. So when you feel really good about something that you feel like is important to you, I think there's other people that will find deep value to it. And I also think that it's so important to give yourself time, and this is, I'm telling this to myself, I'm telling this to anybody to be okay with giving yourself time because good ideas take time. Like good stuff, good content, like good ideas take time. And I think we, again, good side of the Internet shadows out of the Internet, shadow side of the Internet, things are literally being placed on the Internet every single econd. So on the amount of time we've had a podcast on been talking, there's been like, I don't even know how many podcasts that have just like released an episode. Like there's just so much information in the world today and to like allow myself to feel defeated by that ne, doesn't feel like it serves me to continue to put my work out there and it just then almost makes it harder for me to even get workouts . So I'm, I'm noticing that I'm listening into the type of content. So really trying to create more powerful content and give it some time. I did mention that I'm in this myths of this kind of revisioning in this rebrand. So for the econd season coming out and this new bold way actually feels so good and so exciting to work on that. But it's taken time. I think we started, I mean it's going to be pretty much almost a year instead of like ix months. So what I did is I launched a website, figured out content, began recording episodes, did post-production, started marketing in ix months. And I'm sitting back and being like, how did I sleep? What else did I do? And so I also learned a little bit of the value because the ne thing I didn't do is I didn't batch episodes. So if you again have a team like, and I'm talking and for me when I think of team I think of at least enough our to ive I'll go back to sports day, like at least ix, ix sounds like a stellar team for totally manageable as well. But you have a team to help support that weekly updating. Amazing. So you're literally on their recording, then you send it into post production. Then you have someone who's your content creator, like literally who's helping give that to the necessary channels and let folks know about the work you're doing. Amazing. When you're a wo person team. I literally, like I say I take front of house, you know stuff. So I'm speaking, I'm doing the interview but then I'm figuring out, you know, how the marketing is the way to talk about the episodes, the way to figure out, you know, are there ways outside of ads to generate something because again, podcasts are free, which is something I really love about them. And with, you know, the, ne of my things that I think has the most value, like not a thing, not any, it's time. Time is priceless. It is the most like expensive valuable thing. It almost has no price tag time because it's just something that like once it happens you don't get it back. It's just a, you know, yet there's limitless time like we could go on that spiral. But it's like that to me feels really important. Like what I , how and the ways I use my time. And so for me I've gotten really good at noticing the time when I feel like a podcast needs for release and ideally for me, and this is also going back to the way that I listen every other week feels so manageable now there has been moments, and again this is just the result of having a wo person team where like that just hasn't been possible because we're managing other things. We live and work and play like other ordinary people. And again, the podcast isn't my main focus and not to say that I'm not passionate about it. Like, I don't think because it's not my main way of generating income in a financial way means that I care less about it. I think that's like a huge like misstep and people's assumptions. Like just because I'm not like fully investing my entire ive, ix, whatever figure income, which it's not that, but that income on a podcasting means that for some reason my podcasting is less valued. I just think that's, again, I think that's a really easy way to choose not to step into doing something you love being like, oh well if it can't be like all of these things like I e if I can't get to Oprah level, like instantly or if I can't, you know what immediately kind of shoots us back down to maybe not even starting at all. Some great ideas basically end before they even arrive, right? Like they just don't even come out because they're kind of shunned away or shoot or whatever. So the way that I've kind of focused on that is ne good things take time. Like just that I would just say affirmation or way of connecting good things take time. It's okay to not be in a hurry to reframe the idea of rushing. Cause like I say, I think we're in a society that has infinite information and infinite amounts of time and there's always gonna be someone doing more. There's always going to be doing something doing in your eyes, quote unquote. And I do air quotes better. And so I think it's this opportunity to sit back and reflect on myself and being like, what actually is going to be helpful for me and getting this information out in a way that feels good for me and hopefully also good for someone else. I also recognize, and I will say, and maybe this will change if I go up to like a million views overnight because of Buzzsprout , which would be sweet. Maybe it'll change my ability to connect to people ne on ne ne cause when someone just writes a review or when someone literally talks about me having a podcast or when someone who will like I know, I don't know, says that they listen to the podcast and I get to hear that. Even like walking around, like I live in a smaller town, I live in Eugene, regon. It's kind of a small city. I get to mentions the podcast , it's so affirming and it's not like giant people. It's not like this big thing. You know, being Oprah would be epic. I mean, hey, Oprah is amazing. And she's also like, how long has Oprah been in broadcasting? Like I'm gonna go on the in at least wenty plus years. I might even go on longer than that. Like she has been in the game for so long. So I think that's the other thing with information age and with the way that we receive information is we just think that the, the path or the journey to get there as like small and just, it's become like, now I am this and then all of a sudden I'm famous or whatever. Now I'm this and all of a sudden I have a thousand million views. And so for me it's just getting myself really clear on how I'm presenting the information, having fun, learning the channels, being an everyday learner. Like I say like even with Buzzsprout, I love bud sprout because they send emails constantly around just like podcasting tips and it's like being a forever student. It's like going to a , once again I say mother Google or like Google University, it's like going to podcasts university because there's literally so many articles of like ways to make your podcast better ways to engage this. And so for me it's just an opportunity to continue learning and not to be like I've made it. I'm good now. What? I like to have more exposure of course. What I'd like to have more people on the patrion pledging as much as they're hree dollar latte cause that's our beginning pledge. And I always say that it's like literally like a cup of coffee. Of course I would love that. And it's also just like now my end all be all. If ne person, ive people, en you know, can listen to the work, it's totally worth it. It's totally made my time right. Which again has no price completely valued. And so for me that's where it becomes like an important just to mindset to just check in with myself and know that good stuff takes time.

Travis 36:54

I think that's a great perspective and I think it's , it's so easy to get caught up in moving the goalposts. It's like as soon as you accomplish what you wanted, it's like all of a sudden it's not good enough anymore. Now you have to be dissatisfied. So I think that's a great perspective. Just loving the journey, being patient, having perspective I think is really valuable. Now I wanted to ask you about kind of your goals or where you see the podcast going in the future. Cause you did a lot of branding work up front, had your website put together and then you've kind of figured it out even more like what you're trying to create and what you're trying to build. So w like where do you hope the podcast goes in the future? Or like what are you trying to build on a larger scale for the next several years?

Tara 37:33

Yeah. Oh, I love this question because like I said, I'm like, I love big dreams as like, I mean don't quit your dream job. I mean that's what I'm saying. Like don't get like, just kind of keep dreaming for me, I'm always like that because people are like, don't quit your day job. And I'm like, don't quit dreaming because at the end of the day it's like we don't have to settle for anything. I don't really think that's true. There's circumstances in life that make it necessary for us to move through and like sacrifice things. But I don't think we have to necessarily like quote unquote settle, which is why for me, so my grades is , I can do, like I'll do a few visions and I'm like totally the like in ne year, in wo years, in hree years, and I'll just do like ne in ive maybe or ne in hree. So in ne year I'm going to have had the beautiful rebranding and evolution of the witches Muse and be able to have some more extended offerings. So I also have been an intuitive terror reader for ive or ix years. I also read and interpret dreamwork as well and do kind of individual counsel sessions, like checking in with people on an individual and personal level. You know, without being on this lens of like coaching at at the end of the day I feel like I'm actually just listening to what you're already saying and just helping people reframe those into deeper questions of curiosity and change. And maybe that's coach. Again, it's words like coach and brand that I'm like, I just don't know. Coaching is like coaching is like athletic, weird, athletic trauma. There's just, I don't know about that word. So or cheerleading, maybe it's ne of the others. So the irst year it would be just to expand into other offerings. So, so much of me is getting comfortable with the idea of but which is music as a movement. And I have a friend Angie of Afro Yoga who is episode ight of the Strength Guard , amazing and is doing amazing things in Sacramento and is also my supporting me. Once again, they're supporting me with my kind of rebrand and my re-imaging for this. Just really modern mystic and just beautiful. Look that I'm just, it feels elegant and also easeful. There's just lots of things that I like about it. And so hoping to just expand those offerings more into which is music as a movement. So expanding the Terrell , you know, telling more people about what I do, offering that and expanding the patrion. So I got on Patriot and I think right before they made this kind of interesting like fee system and I don't, I kind of barely glazed over the fee system more. It's almost like you have to pay to play a little bit more. And I could be wrong reading into that, but there was like, I was grandfathered in and this was like a year plus ago. And then patron I think is continued to grow and excel cause it's a great platform for any folks that are looking to put some monetary value, have some way of hopefully, and this is again the strategy of using their content in a deeper, more reflective way and offering more for ne would say like bigger fans are fans that want to do more. And I'll kind of mention my really awesome pluses with Patrion and my non in a little bit, but hopefully expanding my patrion, you know, figuring out, again it's that forever students . So just like Buzzsprout offers really amazing kind of emails I can poke and check on. Patriot is like, it's become such an amazing learning platform of like how can an individual, and also some, again, same thing with Patriot on , there are people that have straight teams like wow, some of the content and the production value that comes out of some people's patrons is like amazing. And I'm hoping to actually incorporate a little bit more video and my stuff at some point, not necessarily on like the youtube route but just on Patrion and just more visual ways other than just audio. So expanding the Patriot and feels important, but again it takes time. So I feel like with Patrion you just have to be really mindful of how much additional time am I spending to just create more content? How much content can I ask of my guest? So a really awesome offering that I'm leaning into more is asking guests for some extended content. The idea around a bonus episode. I'm still working with what that looks like. So what is a bonus episode feature, and I know there's like bonus episodes here which feel awesome. So just kind of noticing that. And again, I can listen to your podcast to talk a lot about that too. So there's just so much information about ways to utilize patrion both on patron and in just other platforms. So if content or subscription based platforms you can kind of move with. So that's my kind of ne year goal. Focus on Patrion expand the which muse as a movement with some additional offerings. And then my our or ive year plan, I mean I would love to do like a live podcast recording that seems like such a sweet dream to go to a conference, you know, and I got invited to or like won tickets to a conference, but it's like you get invited and then you win and then you still have to pay all of this money. And I'm like, this is , I'm not winning anything. What am I winning here? I'm winning. Like you know, so there's just interesting layers. So or finding you know, something more local or like if there's something in the northwest and that you kind of get to speak on a platform because you know the work that I do, I would say it's in the spiritual category and that can go from so many different gamuts of that. But very rarely do I see them . Any folks, there's a few podcasts out there that talk about the intersection of like things that are happening, social change, social movements and spiritual growth, spiritual understanding. So I would say spirituality while still being and wellness and all that while still being a larger growing podcast category. It's still a little bit, I would say kind of niched in its in its nuanced way cause everyone has a different way of approaching. I don't know very many people that are doing like VR content outline. I know some folks that are doing on it with a very strict focus on making sure they stay towards the card and I definitely just continue to say that the podcast is conversational irst. Yes, I love information. We all do. We're part of that age. I keep saying that and I really just, I feel super strongly in not wanting to just continue to feed people like more, more info, more things to write down because while that's really amazing and helpful, my podcast, I always say it's like great for like washing the dishes. It's great for folding laundry, it's great for, you know, getting your kids ready for bed or getting your fur baby ready for bed if you don't have kids or however you do. And it's meant to be something that you can do in the mundane dance of the life. I like to call it my dance. It's like the Monday answer, like doing things that are mundane, but you're also dancing into things that feel important. And I like that. I hope that with a live episode people could kind of really see why conversations and connecting is so important. And sometimes lost in the age of information where we're constantly just like the next newest thing, what to binge watch on Netflix, et cetera. You know, there's so many things and hey, I totally been to watch things on Netflix. Like I'm not trying to say, I'm like not part of the, you know, the fold and that too, but it's, and it just feels important in that conversation to continue to come back to connecting in a human or at least being to being way like it could be other than human. You know? It's like connecting with your connecting I think is just so important for me here. So, yeah, live podcast. So if anybody wants to support me in a live podcast, I will openly pitch for that. I am so excited as you can tell, to be on something like that. So yeah, that's kind of my like ne and ive, you know, it'd be amazing to continue to grow the engagement on Instagram, be amazing to continue to grow the engagement in general and just get more folks kind of consistently listening. And so, yeah.

Travis 45:38

Well, very cool. Well, I hope all of that stuff happens. This all sounds very exciting. It's been a pleasure having you on the podcast. Tara , I've got ne final question for you and then we'll, we'll wrap up the interview here. If you had a time machine that could take you back to the day before you launched your podcast and give yourself ne piece of advice, what would you say to yourself?

Tara 46:01

I would laugh irst of all, I'd laugh at myself. I would say that it's as good as you believe it to be. It's okay to have it not be perfect. That I think is my best wisdom to myself. Always. Like it doesn't have to be perfect and if I really like thought about it I'd be like, you know, you should wait a little bit longer so you could batch all these episodes all at once and then you could kind of play with how the information comes out instead of really, I mean talking about podcasting in real life, I am like the very prime example because we are literally recording and then editing in like real life and then posting. There's not really that much of this long wait . So that I think that would be it. It's just be be kind to myself, don't be hard on myself. Be Okay with waiting good things, take time and that it does not have to be perfect and that it won't be. I think that's the funny joke and it's like, and it's not going to be perfect. So even if you're not okay with that, well, too bad cause uh , you're gonna, you're gonna kind of lean into that perfectly imperfect way of being.

Travis 47:13

If you are a modern mystic who craves real conversations that are both applicable and accessible, make sure to check out the witches , muse at the witches, use Dot com and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Do you wish that could be featured on a future episode of podcasting in real life? Well , you can. All you have to do is click on the link in the show notes to submit your application. And if you took something away from the interview today, some new strategy technique, or does something that you want to implement personally in your own life, I would love to hear about it. The easiest way to do that, and if you have an iPhone as to leave a review in apple podcasts, and if you don't have an iPhone, just jump into the buss , sprout podcast community on Facebook, and then make sure to stick around for the bonus episode this upcoming Friday where I answered terrorists number ne question about podcasting. Well, that's it for today. Thanks for listening. And as always, keep podcasting