Top Tips for Starting Your Podcast with Laura Clapp Davidson

Tech Challenges and Podcasting Journey

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The Importance of Starting a Podcast

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Laura Clapp Davidson 0:52

Well, finding, I think you did it great by posting it on LinkedIn. I didn't have I'm I'm keeping it just to my circle of friends for now, and it's actually been leading to more guests because they're like, oh, you gotta have blah blah blah on. And so that's been super cool for me. But if you're trying to find guests, LinkedIn can be a great resource. And then calendly having an online calendar where you can just throw those times out to people and let them find it, and then that's all automated. And then while you're waiting for them, once you've booked them, start building the assets, like you were saying, you've already done all that legwork so that you know you have your social clips or you know, at least your graphics ready, and you know, then it's just kind of editing and plugging and playing it, and then you're good.

Intro 1:33

Laura Clapp Davidson spent over 20 years teaching people how to get great audio for their podcasts, and did not have a show of her own. When she finally pressed record, she did it from 30,000 feet on a flight to a trade show, hit publish before she could talk herself out of it, and has not stopped since. In this conversation, Laura walks us through what it actually costs to teach something you are afraid to do yourself, what accountability to creativity looks like across 106 episodes, and why the gap between knowing and doing is the most expensive real estate in podcasting. Let's dive deeper into this episode with Laura.

Gabe Leal 2:14

Let's get this show started. Thank you so much. I am with Miss Laura Clapp Davidson. I don't know, do you go by all three or just is it just Laura?

Laura Clapp Davidson 2:23

Depends on the day, Gabe. Depends on the day.

Gabe Leal 2:25

Okay, we're gonna go I mean we're gonna just go with Laura. Okay, that's okay. We're just gonna roll with that today. I just want to tell you when it comes to podcasting, when it comes to audio, when it comes to understanding what it is to communicate over a microphone, this lady knows her stuff. So welcome, welcome to the show, Laura. We're gonna start out hard with our first question. Why should you start a podcast? Because you have an interesting story of uh how you started yours.

Laura Clapp Davidson 2:57

I yeah. So I work for a microphone company and I found myself uh teaching people how to podcast and realizing I didn't have one, which felt kind of disingenuine. I mean, I I knew all the mechanics of it, but I think I was just kind of overthinking it to the point where I just didn't want to put anything out that was gonna be less than perfect, right? And I think that's what all of us kind of get stuck in, where we think, oh, it if it if it only had this one thing, it'd be ready, or if blah, blah, blah. You know, we can get in our own way a million different ways. So the main reason to start a podcast is because you have something that you want to say and you know you can say it in a bunch of different ways for several different episodes. That is key. But if the only thing that's holding you back is the tech or you know, um, yeah, I don't know, just judging yourself, just stop and just just go for it.

Gabe Leal 3:57

Right. I mean, you've this lady's done podcast episodes from hotel rooms, right? Uh my car. Your car. You did it at a convention. Yeah. I mean, you've been all over the place. So, you know, the the the idea of saying I gotta have the perfect acoustics, I gotta have everything to be perfectly right, all this resistance they put, you know, most people who want to start put in front of themselves. Um you know, you kind of disprove that. I don't you don't need all of that. You don't need to to do it. Like you said, you gotta have a voice. You started with your first podcast, Song 43, and it spoke to a lot of who you were, right? In the music industry, it was just something that you again were passionate about and you already had the experience of how to put it all together. Um what was that like in the beginning? And what was the one thing that you would say, even with all the experience that you had that you found difficult for wanted to say to any new podcaster who might be wanting to start a podcast?

Laura Clapp Davidson 5:05

Yeah, I think it was terrifying at first to do it because I I decided I was going to this big trade show that I do every year. I've done it for 20 years, and I thought that would be the perfect time to launch the podcast because then I would have this like built-in audience to talk with at the show and be like, hey, I've got this podcast, go check it out. Right. So I recorded it. It was only, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes long, which my original episodes, that's all they were. Uh and then I launched it and published it from an airplane on the Wi-Fi. Like I had recorded it, edited it, edited it, got it all ready to go, and then hit publish. And I think that when I did that, that was like really exhilarating and really scary at the same time. But it was super fun to be able to do that and just get it up and out, right? But I think then the the challenge became uh, oh wow, yeah, you really do have to like put some thought into this and edit it and know where you're posting it and know what your description's gonna be and your SEO and and tags and all that. But the the beauty of it now is that you know, we really have tools with Riverside that we're using right now, or descript or cast magic,

Investing in Quality Gear

Laura Clapp Davidson 6:19

um, to just have a lot of that done for you where it'll just generate. And yes, it's through the evil AI, but I think that's the right way to use AI is to just streamline your workflow so it gets out of the way of your creativity and lets you just keep doing what you want to do, which is remove friction and get your voice heard.

Gabe Leal 6:39

Right. Absolutely. That's that's one of the best use cases that I've found for using AI and telling people like, you know, if that was the problem before of me having the you know search keywords, what to us should I put in my descriptions, all this. Guess what? There's this magic now. Um, this evil magic that you can go and say, find all this stuff for me. And right, and it they and then they bring you back. It's like your dog bringing you back the dead bird and say, here you go, it's ready. Have it. Ta-da. Yeah it's done. And that's the beautiful part of saying, hey, look, more of these walls that people are you know put up inside of their head and saying, I I don't know, I don't know if I could do it. Is that there are the tools now. There the the the ability to do all this, yeah. Right? Yeah, to just it just takes the idea, right? It takes the idea to sit down and actually say, Okay, let me cognitively think of something really good that I can talk about over and over and over and over and over again.

Laura Clapp Davidson 7:42

Yes, that is key. That is very key.

Gabe Leal 7:46

Because you might think in your head it becomes redundant, but you know, you have new listeners all the time. Exactly. Who come in and they're mu they might catch you, you know, mid-50th episode and go, what's that? Yeah, what's it this is new. There's some people that don't know that that you have song 43. They only know you as TMI with Laura. They did they they may have not gone back further enough to go, oh wait, she had another show. Um so to to me it's the ability to say, okay, I need to be able to speak

Short vs. Long Episodes

Gabe Leal 8:18

to what I'm saying um every single time, and maybe find a new way of how I approach communicating that or or with uh with the with a guest. Um so that kind of leads me into kind of like my next question, which I'm pretty sure you have a very good thought about, is uh what do you see as any podcaster getting started, the in the initial investment of say hang buying the right gear or um when should be the right time for me to like you know elevate my game and and and invest in something a little bit better, a different type of microphone. Because I I know the most most most people, most coaches are gonna tell you just start with what you have. I get that.

Laura Clapp Davidson 9:04

Yeah.

Gabe Leal 9:04

But there but there comes a point where there has to be an evolution.

Laura Clapp Davidson 9:08

Yeah. And what I tend to advise people on in my day job is if you can stretch a little and get the better mic, you're gonna be better off because then you're not gonna be buying twice. You know, you're gonna be buying once. And a lot of people get hung up on a number. But what I like about shore mics in particular is that we make mics, like I'm talking in the MV7 Plus, it's a USB mic, it's not crazy expensive. It's under 300 bucks, which I always make the analogy now. It that's two nice dinners out with your husband or wife or whatever, which is scary, but true. Numbering bike topics. I know, shoot, it's not even like a nice dinner. It's like you're going to Chili's for 150 bucks. Um, nothing down on Chili's. I love me a good margarita from Chili's. But um, anyway, so I tell people to just don't sell yourself short because you you think I'm not good enough or I'm not ready for the professional gear. Don't go crazy with it. You don't have to spend a thousand plus dollars on gear. Buy a USB microphone that's dynamic, that's important. If you buy a condenser mic, it's gonna pick up the room and all kinds of noises, it's gonna be too sensitive. Buy a dynamic microphone that's USB and you're good to go. That's really and and headphones. You need headphones.

Gabe Leal 10:32

And headphones, right? Yeah, having a good set of headphones and you're really you're ready to get going. Uh get behind the mic. So one of the things that I did like and enjoyed about your podcast is that some of them were very short. There's this idea that they're no, no, no, no, that's great. There's this idea that people have to have an elongate, like I do hour-long episodes, but that's because I don't know how to shut up. I can keep talking. Um but then there's there there are people that like, hey, I do little vignettes that are eight, nine minutes long. But yet there's still a lot of value in what in what you're sharing. There's a lot of things I took out of some of your shorter ones I was I was listening to.

Laura Clapp Davidson 11:16

Thank you.

Gabe Leal 11:19

And I was like, that's it.

Laura Clapp Davidson 11:21

Don't worry about it. Well, and my I what I learned qu fairly quickly into my podcasting journey was my key demographic were people in my small town in Connecticut, and their average drive

Transitioning to Guest Interviews

Laura Clapp Davidson 11:34

was about eight to 15 minutes, right? So I was like, why do I need to do this whole long show? Plus, it was a solo podcast when I started. So it was just me talking to myself. Like, how long can you talk to yourself about yourself? Woo! I got to the point, Gabe, where I was like, uh, okay. And I started bringing people on, and that's how TMI became a thing. But um yeah, I kind of realized, okay, I got people from their house to the grocery store or their house to soccer practice. What can I what can I talk about? And it were really just became a a journal for me too, because I travel so much for work and people had asked me about that, and I was like, oh, I'm just gonna talk about what I did last week so that I remember because I can't remember where I was, you know, and um yeah. So I'm glad that you enjoyed the shorter ones. Thank you for saying that.

Gabe Leal 12:26

Well, and then I that you I came up with a question while you were sitting there talking now, but you said you recorded your first episode on on the plane. Was there anybody sitting next to you and were they thinking, what the hell is she doing?

Laura Clapp Davidson 12:39

No, I I released it on the plane and did not record it on the plane. That would be a horrible sounding from the podcast, even with the magic of AI. Um no, I recorded it at home at this desk in this very spot that I'm recording this at, and I hit save and got on the plane and was like, okay, whatever, and then edited it and published it on the plane.

Gabe Leal 13:03

Okay, that makes it over a story.

Laura Clapp Davidson 13:07

Wow, tell us about that microphone. Yeah, no, no, no, no. No, although I have seen some creators who are on there like making beats or making songs. Now that would be hilarious to be next to that person, like beatboxing when you're like, hi.

Gabe Leal 13:23

How long is the flight? We got a connector.

Laura Clapp Davidson 13:26

What is going on?

Gabe Leal 13:27

So what was that's another thing that I want to speak to too? You transitioned from doing a solo show to now bringing on guests. What would you say to anybody who's thinking about that idea of saying, you know what, I've done this one long enough. I want to transition. Um was it just like a switch? Here it is, here's the other one, or was there a build-up to no?

Laura Clapp Davidson 13:51

No, I transitioned. I I said, I started kind of prepping people on song 43 and said, Hey, we're over a hundred episodes in. I think I was at like 106. And I said, It's time for a change. I realized I I know some pretty cool people, and I think you would like to learn about them. And so just kind of planted that seed and then made the the switch. So there wasn't like a a fade, it just it did switch, but I did prep people. So and I kept the same uh feed and everything in Libson

Finding and Booking Guests

Laura Clapp Davidson 14:20

on my podcast host. If you look at, if you go and put in song 43, you're gonna see TMI with Laura all on the same uh kind of thing.

Gabe Leal 14:30

Okay, yeah. I listened to the episode too where you were transitioning, like, well, I have everything ready, but guests are hard to wrangle. So that's kind of leading me to the next question. Oh my god. So for any new podcasters who are getting started in this sphere and want to do an interview show, what suggestions would you make to them to say, okay, this would make probably your process a little bit easier when it comes to finding and booking guests and bringing them on?

Laura Clapp Davidson 14:56

Um well, finding, I think you did it great by posting it on LinkedIn. I didn't have I'm I'm keeping it just to my circle of friends for now, and it's actually

Launching with Preparedness

Laura Clapp Davidson 15:05

then leading to more guests because they're like, oh, you gotta have blah, blah, blah on. And so that's been super cool for me. But if you're trying to find guests, LinkedIn can be a great resource. Uh, and then calendly, you know, having an online calendar where you can just throw those times out to people and let them find it, and then that's all automated. And then while you're waiting for them, once you've booked them, start building the assets, like you were saying, you know, you you've already done all that legwork so that you know you have your social clips or you know, at least your graphics ready. And, you know, then it's just kind of editing and plugging and playing it, and then you're good.

Gabe Leal 15:41

Whoa. Well, who's joining? Who's joining the chat? No, so see, this is what I mean when I say pre-production. I have my I already have my commercials, everything ready to drop.

Laura Clapp Davidson 15:53

Wow.

Gabe Leal 15:54

Like I have your intro ready.

Laura Clapp Davidson 15:56

I mean, I'm just in the interview. See, we're not even done, and Gabe's ready to just be done with me. Yes, I love it.

Gabe Leal 16:05

But no, the the the whole part of you know, just what you were making mention of. I think uh most most creators who are getting started in in the idea of like wanting to build a podcast, it is finding the channels to reach out to people. Um, I found you on LinkedIn, I found multiple people on threads. There's like a big podcast like area there. I joined a few podcasting communities. So I went and did a lot of outreach. Yeah, you did. That's very what I was trying to uh what I was trying to find. And of course doing that I've done social media for the last uh eight years, it was a little bit easier. But I I I still will say uh it's not still as easy to get everything lined up to get commitments.

Laura Clapp Davidson 16:52

Um well and then to get people to show up, like they'll just flake out. I mean, I'm dealing with musicians and I love them, but they're like, uh, I can't, something came up. And it like I get it. Like half of them are actively gigging.

Choosing the Right Guests

Laura Clapp Davidson 17:04

So like you've got to let them take the gig.

Gabe Leal 17:06

But yeah, it's really hard. It's really hard. Yes, you got a particular niche that might, again, it might might cause you to say, okay, yeah, I don't know. Uh, I'm not gonna be able to have this episode on, but uh yeah, even though it's planned and scheduled, we're gonna go, we're just gonna go.

Laura Clapp Davidson 17:19

And that's why I didn't launch when I said I was gonna launch, because I wanted to have five like in the can before I even hit go. So that was my kind of litmus test, or you know, whatever.

Gabe Leal 17:32

And I'll say I I'm planning on 30 at 30 episodes, and I've got I got the 30 people, 30 episodes in 30 days. But the outreach was, I'm gonna tell you, the outreach was about 80 people though. That's great. So about out of 80 people, I got maybe a third, a little over a third of what I was shooting for. So I I know they have the I podcasters have this idea in their head when they're starting, is that I'll just reach out to so and so and they'll say yes, and they'll show up, and then you get everything lined up and crickets, or it's or it's a last-minute cancellation. So it doesn't speak bad about you know, again, what what happens, but just know that that's part of the business of doing this.

Laura Clapp Davidson 18:12

Prepare yourself for disappointment. I know, I know, I get it. Yes, it's hard. Life gets in the way, so I get it, but yeah, it's hard.

Gabe Leal 18:22

Yeah, so why why did you transition to saying I want to just you know, I know you had a musical background, but you do you have had a background of also being 20 years of teaching, showing other people how to do it, how to get into podcasting.

Promoting Your Podcast

Gabe Leal 18:38

Uh what was the draw to say I you know, I want to concentrate on the me the musical part, the musicians, the people in my life that I know, because like you said, they are musicians and gigging and finding the the time to actually get them to sit down and record can be a little bit, again, difficult. Because I want to be able to say to another podcast creator, look, if you're in this space or you're in this area, understand there are going to be moments that are there's time constraints that you have to commit to. Um, so is it what was that for you when you got started and saying, Okay, I'm gonna just start doing musicians and people that I know instead of saying somebody who's more because you know, again, you're in a sphere where you could find tons of podcasters who would say, or people in social media who would say, Oh yeah, absolutely, I can do this. Oh, you know, that's what they call it. Don't do easy.

Laura Clapp Davidson 19:31

Well, I guess because the the first guests that I've had I've known for over like 20 years. So that made it easy because I knew I could count on them. They were my like core core people who wouldn't flake. Uh and they and that was great. That made it kind of uh feel like it was gonna be more uh attainable than as opposed to having like a kind of satellite guest come on that I didn't really know. And that'll be the next layer of this because I'm I'm already I've already talked to several people that I know really well, so now I gotta kind of branch out and meet some other people. Um but yeah, I think it's just it's it's knowing that people are people, and you just have to kind of work around it and be flexible and be able to pivot and and whatever happens, happens.

Gabe Leal 20:26

I love that. Um so now I wanted to touch on another part that both you and I as creators have to figure out, and that is the next part of okay, I've sat down, I've kept the idea, I've lined up the guest, we're sitting down, we're recording. Now, what is the part of finding the avenues to start promoting what you create? Because there are, you know, again, if you're if you're an unknown quantity, you're an unknown product, you're not just gonna release it out to the sphere of you know what they call the saturated market.

Laura Clapp Davidson 21:01

Right.

Gabe Leal 21:01

Of now saying, Oh yeah, my podcast is great, it's gonna stand out, and you know, you might get 10 people and three of them are in Malaysia. And why Malaysia?

Laura Clapp Davidson 21:12

I know. What how did you find me? Um, yeah, I think for me it was kind of uh going where I knew my people were. So I'm in my 40s. Facebook is where my people still are. Yeah, and and Instagram, but like Facebook is where I get the most engagement. So when I first started putting out the shows, I would go there and get the most comments, likes, etc.

Transitioning from Hobby to Business

Laura Clapp Davidson 21:35

Now that I have guests on the show, it automatically kind of doubles the efforts, um effortlessly, you know, because they they're gonna mention it, even if they mention it one time, they're gonna reach a whole other set of eyeballs and ears that I wouldn't otherwise. So that's the benefit of having guests. And yeah, I think choosing where I was gonna promote it, I I never did the podcast. And I still don't do the podcast to, you know, make hundreds of pennies. Uh, but you know, I do it because I love doing it and it just it's so fun and it gives me joy. Uh, so I think that's kind of helped me. Like I didn't have an expectation of it going anywhere. So if it does go anywhere, bonus. But like I just knew I went where my people were, and I've kind of stuck with that and it's worked out.

Gabe Leal 22:23

All right. Uh, because I I will say that I've had other creators come on and they've con they've kind of gone down down that similar path where it's like, hey, I started out as it just being a hobby and something that I'm fun, passionate doing, but then there comes a moment where they realize maybe this transitions into something more. It takes on more of a defined role in say what I'm doing is in business marketing or content, or you know, I'm an educator and I'm using it to again help other educators. I've had other people come on from all different genres, and it's uh and it seems that they all started out with a similar story. That yeah, it was kind of just a fun way to get my voice out there, but then it transitioned into something a little bit more um more than what I thought it was. It became I spoke to a guy, he he did 1200 episodes. Oh my goodness. Right, him and his friend, it was a it was a throw out, you know.

Laura Clapp Davidson 23:31

And something fun to do on a Tuesday.

Gabe Leal 23:34

Exactly. And and and it and it morphed into something he didn't envision or imagined. So uh would you ever think of that point if you got to that idea of saying, okay, this is fun, this has been great. There's a lot more now, say, audience and people who are interested in what I'm talking about. Would you ever think about transitioning from it just being a hobby into something a little bit more serious?

Laura Clapp Davidson 24:04

Um, I mean, I would love that. I I think that that's ultimately when you do put yours yourself out there on a podcast level that you're wanting people to listen. So if it does gain traction, that would be fantastic. Um I don't know where I would want it to go, though, if it did get to there. You know what I mean? Like, would I want to be just a podcaster? I don't know, because I'm not I'm so many things that like people that's kind of what the whole thing was about when I started Song 43. It was a podcast for those of you looking to get a deeper look at how this creator creates while being a mom, working full time and doing all the things, because everybody's always asking me, how do you do all this? You know, and and like how do you do all this? And so I I can't really sit still. So if if it did take off, which would be super cool, I wouldn't know what to do with myself and I'd try to do something else, knowing me. You would go, I don't I gotta I gotta go somewhere. Yeah, I gotta I don't know. What's next? What's next?

Gabe Leal 24:59

What's next? No, I love I love that though. That's uh it's a it's an honest answer. Um so have you in the in the amount of time that you spent like helping other creators learn how to podcast, like uh learn technique, learn what it is, what kind of microphones work for them, all that sort of jazz. Um have you ever had any of them that like took off? Have you ever had any people that you've met that said, you know what? I started when he was I helped that individual or she was that or he was um Have you ever looked back at that?

Laura Clapp Davidson 25:33

I don't I don't know if I have because I do it for work, you know? So like I don't really it's not like I'm a personal coach, and then I could be like, oh, my student, blah, blah, blah. But I will say when I was on this event that I spoke on earlier today, all the speakers were using shore mics. And so I was kind of like, okay. Um, I mean, and and not saying that that was all me, but I will say that we've done a lot of work in that community in particular to just, you know, spread the brand awareness and the brand affinity. And so I I hope that that has worked in a positive way. And yeah, um, so I that that was something kind of cool.

Gabe Leal 26:12

It's kind of cool to see all your little all the other creators going, Oh, look what you're speaking on.

Laura Clapp Davidson 26:17

Yeah.

Gabe Leal 26:18

I'm not speaking on one now, so don't film.

Laura Clapp Davidson 26:20

I know, I can tell, Gabe. I can tell.

Gabe Leal 26:23

Well, like so I get let me just tell you, I I had a a sure MB7X, and um when my daughter wanted her set up and whatever, I was like, okay, um, darling, I love you. She's gonna move into the career field of editing and and oh, good for her. I I said, here you go, I'm gonna give you my good mic. Please take care of it. Um, I'm using well, I already had like four just studio road pod mics that I was using for recording for other podcasters at the time, but uh that's what I'm using now.

Laura Clapp Davidson 27:02

No judgment. He's got a big blue windscreen on it, too, which is comedy.

Gabe Leal 27:06

Well, she took my well, I had but I had a a doc' uh lap pop on well, so I have one on my wife's on hers. Um, I still have mine that was for the my shure, but mine it's funny, but we have a podcast we do together where we talk about love and relationships, and they're both pink, and my daughter didn't want pink. Her favorite color is blue, so um she's like, I don't want this. You take it.

Laura Clapp Davidson 27:34

You take it.

Gabe Leal 27:35

So I have a if anybody wants a pink uh sure MV7 doc pops, I have nice.

Laura Clapp Davidson 27:42

Did you know that you can get a pink MV7 like the mic itself?

Gabe Leal 27:48

Yes. Now I have seen those. Those are

New Album and Future Plans

Gabe Leal 27:52

nice. I've seen all whites. Those are nice.

Laura Clapp Davidson 27:55

You can color you can go to this thing called colorware.com. And then you can you can choose the the color of like the yoke and the mic and the ring and everything.

Gabe Leal 28:05

And yeah, that's that's not a short thing, but new podcasters, that's when you get up to that level. Like, let me start customizing.

Laura Clapp Davidson 28:12

I know customizing my mic. I don't even have one anymore. I use I have one down there, but it died, so I don't use that one anymore. But um, yeah, this one I'm just I'm just the standard old MB7 Plus.

Gabe Leal 28:24

But I love it. It sounds great. Um I do love it. Because that's one of the things that I people is like, well, how do I get a good sound? How do I get how do I get a good quality sounding audio? How do I get my podcast to sound like so crystal clear? Um because there's people who buy the microphones, they they buy the money, they put it all in there, and yet it still sounds okay.

Laura Clapp Davidson 28:52

Yes, yes.

Gabe Leal 28:53

But I've heard better on lesser quality sometimes.

Laura Clapp Davidson 28:56

Yeah. That's what's cool about this particular mic is and and USB mics that have any sort of digital signal processing, DSP, because that is working magic while you're just doing your thing. So I this is in auto-level mode right now. So even if I get up close to it or I back off of it, it still automatically adjusts. So I don't have to think about my gain. And I love that. For people who've never done anything in audio and they're like, what the hell is gain? You know, like you just plug it in and it sounds great and it makes it easy. So yeah. Yeah. Podcasting is it's it's easier now to get into than ever.

The Joys of Motherhood

Laura Clapp Davidson 29:36

So you should just do it if you're on the phone.

Gabe Leal 29:38

So well, that kind of uh leads me to the fun part where I get to talk about um what you're doing. What's what's going on to the future for Laura? Is it continuing the podcast? Is it concentrate on the the music side of her? Is it there there's there's so many things that we could probably dive into. I mean uh to me this is where I where I enjoy the this part of the conversation.

Laura Clapp Davidson 30:06

Um yeah, there is I I have a new album that is coming out, and it's my first full album since oh gosh, since 2000, like fur full album since 2008. Uh I did an EP in 2012, and I've released singles along the way, but this one is an album that's taken six years to make, and some of the songs on the album are over 20 years old, but are finally kind of being realized in a way that uh I have never been able to do it. Um so that is super exciting, and I I just signed uh a record day record deal with a label called Bigger Beast Records. Um, so they're gonna help me launch it and promote it, and the podcast will tie into that, hopefully. And see so that's what I'm kind of focusing on right now.

Gabe Leal 30:56

It's like a vehicle now.

Laura Clapp Davidson 30:58

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Right. Method to the madness.

Gabe Leal 31:02

Method to the madness, exactly, because they'll they'll be maybe they'll somebody be listening and go, wow, she's a singer, songwriter, and podcaster. We need to we need to use that as a tool for her.

Laura Clapp Davidson 31:13

Yes, exactly.

Gabe Leal 31:14

Tool for bringing on other people, other musicians. So um one more thing that I what I I'm blanking out for a second. I had it on my head and I've been going oh that's what it was. Okay. So um that you've the things that you've done in in your uh excuse me, in your career from working with Sher, from being in a musician, um being a mom. Uh out of all those things, what would you say has probably been probably the most rewarding part of your life?

Laura Clapp Davidson 31:51

Being a mom, 100%. My kids are hilarious. They're great, they're brilliant, they're beautiful. Yeah, that's it.

Gabe Leal 32:00

I I always like asking that question when I get a chance.

Laura Clapp Davidson 32:04

It was buying a Porsche. Yeah.

Gabe Leal 32:06

I mean, like, you know when I'm gonna have to get away. Well, there's some people it's like, well, my career, my work, my life's like.

Laura Clapp Davidson 32:10

I mean, yeah, because a lot of people don't have kids, and I I respect that when people make that decision, because like just think, even like 25 years ago, if you weren't having kids, it was like, what's wrong? Are you okay? And now it's like, nah, I'm good. But no, I think that is my they are my my greatest accomplishment, and they are my pride and joy, and they're just awesome. So yeah, that's the most rewarding.

Gabe Leal 32:37

So are they they're like my mom's cool because she does music or blah blah blah.

Laura Clapp Davidson 32:43

I mean, they're 11 and 14, two girls. I you'd have to ask them, but I I think I think that they they they respect what I do and it's all they've known too, but they they do respect what I do, and and I think that they're proud in their tween and teenage selves kind of ways.

Gabe Leal 33:08

Right. Is that is that one of the things that they see as far as like what your career takes? And because I know your career has you going all over the place, convention here, going here, stopping there. Um is that something that you think they go, man, I wish mom would just focus on music and work here, or is that like that's just who she is? Like that's the magic of how Laura operates.

Laura Clapp Davidson 33:32

Um well, I've talked about it with my 14-year-old a little bit and just said, you know, hey, do you ever feel kind of like you've been deprived of of me because I'm gone traveling? And I I don't actually travel that much anymore. I used to travel a little bit more. Um, I'm out like once a month, maybe twice a month for work. Uh and and she's like, well, no, it's all I've it's all I've known, you know, and it she's like, it sucks sometimes, like when I have to miss things. Like I'm gonna be gone on her birthday and my birthday next week, and that sucks. Um, for her, I don't care about mine, but like she she's she's like, it's all right, you know, because that's she knows we're gonna celebrate it in a big way the next week with her friends. And I think in some ways it served my girls well to know that I'm here for them no matter what, but I also have things that I need to do and I have responsibilities and you know the world keeps ticking and um yeah, it's it's it's definitely hard sometimes, though.

Gabe Leal 34:36

Oh, I love that because the the part of part of the resist the the the reason I was had to think about it and go back, but I I thought about it earlier was part of the resistance is that people put up all these roadblocks in their head. Hey, I got kids, um, I got my work, I got all you know, I got all these other things that I can't sit down and find time to record an episode, which is why I would kind of hit on the the the small little episode you started out with. It was enough to just you know whet the appetite, get it going, get you know, get it out there. Um and saying, hey, look, you don't have to again have this elaborate, you know, 30 to 40 minute. Yeah, it's not doc. It's not Doc Rock. If people don't know what Doc Rock is, he can go talk for 30 an hour and 30 minutes. He he talk he talks about he doesn't like having a hard stop.

Laura Clapp Davidson 35:28

So he just goes, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Gabe Leal 35:32

But there's something about also too saying that look, I I don't need that long strand of time. I just need 10 to 15 minutes for something really great or really, you know, just whatever. It's something that you can record and have to put out there in the world and say, okay, this is my little piece to get started and build momentum. That I think that's a beautiful part of what it is to actually be a podcaster, is that you don't have to have all these structured, I don't know, ideas that are not the idea, but the thoughts that you see other podcasters have to create. Like I have to have a long show, I have to have a long intro, I have to have all these things, and it's not totally a necessity.

Laura Clapp Davidson 36:14

Right. Exactly. I started without an intro, without a graphic, without anything. It just said, okay, here we go. And then I figured it out. Um, so if I can do it, you can do it.

Gabe Leal 36:26

Yeah, you can there you go. All right. Thank you, Flora. I I do appreciate you. I know it's been a busy day. Uh oh, jeez. Oh well, I again, when it's a labor of love, doesn't even seem like it for me. Um I said, ask me at like a hundred episodes and I'll tell you probably a different story.

Laura Clapp Davidson 36:46

But yeah.

Gabe Leal 36:47

All this is still fresh and um still going strong. So I I don't see myself fading anytime soon, but I know that there has to be an endpoint for me because I I cannot keep up at a rigid pace like that without burning myself out. I know myself better than that.

Laura Clapp Davidson 37:02

Yeah, it's important to take care of yourself.

Gabe Leal 37:05

I gotta go hard, I gotta go hard and fast right now for the time being until I can say, okay, now it's time to ease up and hit the brakes a little bit. Gotta get the momentum though. Thank you, Laura. I appreciate it. I know you've been busy. I'm gonna let you run. I got my daughter, my stepdaughter over here knocking on the door.

Laura Clapp Davidson 37:21

Like I can hear her in the background. She's like, look, she's knocking like mommy, mommy.

Gabe Leal 37:26

It's like, I want to scream, mommy's not in here.

Laura Clapp Davidson 37:29

I hear you.

Gabe Leal 37:30

This is podcasting. Okay. Thank you, Laura. I do appreciate it. You have to have this evening, and I'll send out assets, everything once um everything is recorded in the can and ready to launch. And that way you can promote, put it out in the world, let people know you were on the show.

Laura Clapp Davidson 37:46

Sounds great. Looking forward to it.

Gabe Leal 37:48

Thank you, Kate. And I appreciate it. You have a good one. You too. Bye. Bye bye.

Outro 37:54

And that is a wrap on today's conversation with the incredible Laura Clapp Davidson. From launching her first podcast from an airplane at 30,000 feet to working with Shore by day and making music by night, Laura is proof that you don't need perfect conditions, a flawless setup, or a clear five-year plan. You need something to say and the guts to hit publish. Keep an eye out for Laura's brand new album, six years in the making, some songs over 20 years old, and she just signed with Bigger Beast Records to make it happen. That's the kind of patience and persistence that makes great artists. To learn more about Laura and her podcast, TMI with Laura, head over to TMIWithLaura.com. All the links will be in the show notes. And if this episode gave you the push you needed to finally start that podcast, do me a favor. Share it with someone who's been sitting on that idea a little too long. And if you've been working with the show, leave a review. It helps more than you know. Until next time, keep showing up, keep recording, and remember, you don't need to be perfect. You just need to be you. You recorded a great episode. Then momentum resets to zero. Files in one app, tasks in another, guest follow-up somewhere else, promotion buried in tabs. That is how PodFade starts. Podglue is the podcaster's operating system. One workspace for creation, planning, growth, and guest relationships. Import your RSS feed, pull in your episodes, and turn each one into a living asset with transcripts, social copy, and launch ready materials. No more tool sprawl, no more broken handoffs. Podglue is the vehicle. Relationships are the engine. Stop letting disconnected tools kill your momentum. Join the wait list at podglue.com.