129 - We Need YOUR Voice

Hello and welcome to the Making It In Asheville podcast. I am your host, Tony Ubertaccio on the making it in Asheville podcast. Typically, we sit down with Asheville based entrepreneurs, small business owners, community members, ask them what they're making and how they are making it in Asheville. In this season, however, we're going to be leaning into a slightly different programming type and style, and we're very excited about it. And so the concept for this season is that we're asking for your participation. I want to know what you think, what questions you have, and we're going to dive into that this season. So a lot of being in conversation with our audience, and I'm excited for it. So a bunch of new concepts and a bunch of new content coming down the pike. I want to first kind of set the stage. If this is your, perhaps first time listening to the Making It In Asheville podcast. The podcast was founded in 2019. My wife Sarah and I moved to Asheville. We were told in the many trips we took before moving here that when you move to Asheville, you have to bring a job with you. Later, we heard you have to bring your own ladder with you. So if you want a career that scales, you pretty much have to create that career and that future for yourself. And so, as we prepare to land in Asheville and figure it out, we thought, let's start a podcast. Our plan to figure it out was going to be, we're going to open a marketing business. That marketing business is called making it creative. This podcast has, since 2019, been pretty much exclusively self funded as a passion project, but also as an integral part of making it creative, possible, profitable, successful. And so it turns out it was the smartest idea I might have ever floated towards my wife. Let's start a podcast. Let's attempt to tell our story of Making It in Asheville that quickly became, let's tell the stories of people who are making it in Asheville. And so about what's that 2019 to today, four years, 130 ish episodes. About 100 interviews later, we have helped unpack some of the many ways that folks have made it and are making it in Asheville. We're telling the stories of small business founders, entrepreneurs and community leaders here in Asheville. And it has been an incredible gift to get to highlight so many folks in this community. And so that's kind of setting the stage for this season. And one of the things that we're targeting with this season is rather than just sit down, spend an hour with someone, we're hoping to turn the camera, so to speak, turn the mic, so to speak, back to you, the listener. And so if you're listening on a podcast player, thank you for listening on a podcast player. If you're watching on YouTube, that's very exciting. We are leaning into our video content, so check out making it in Asheville on YouTube if you haven't yet, but this season's audience participation. And so how are we going to ask you to participate? What does participation look like? Those are two good questions. Thank you for asking. The way that we're currently setting up for requesting and soliciting your participation is going to be a and first and foremost through the website. So Makingitinasheville.com is the homebase for all things this podcast. This particular season is going to be found@makingitinasheville.com season eleven. We're also going to try and put that on the homepage so you can see it if you just end up on the homepage. But season eleven is going to be your first stop for the questions that we want to ask you, for the context that we want to provide for this participation and engagement, hopefully driving season. And that's where I'm going to send you right now. So Makingintashville.com Season Eleven should be visible on the screen somewhere here and available in the podcast description, show notes on whatever podcast player you're listening on, on that page. We're going to ask questions. So like what questions do you have? We've now done 100 or so interviews with Asheville business owners. What questions do you have maybe about that could be summarize all of these conversations that we've had, what questions do you have about what resources have shown up the most? Like we're interested in knowing what it is that you, the listener, actually cares about. And so we're going to ask you questions to find out what you have questions about and do our best to answer those questions in this season. Then we're going to ask you questions to find out what you know that we don't know. So we're going to ask you for your expertise, ask you for your insights and you for the truth, the perspective that you have that we might not have yet and have not had exposure to. So we're going to ask you questions in that way as well. Those questions and more will be found on Makingitinasheville.com Season Eleven. Okay? And so one of the cool things that we're also rolling out this season I suspect at the very least should be interesting and at best will be awesome is a hotline. So we want to hear from you. And so we've created a hotline so that you can call in and tell us perhaps your answers to these questions audibly and then we can use that audio on the podcast. You get to be on the podcast if you choose to use this hotline. And so the hotline number 828-552-4832 828-552-4832 will be available on the website, will be available in the Show notes for this episode. But you call into the hotline situationally. We're going to update the voicemail to perhaps have new prompts that propose a new question that you would then answer on the hotline and leave a voicemail. It's effectively a voicemail box. I don't want it to sound super sophisticated tech wise, but we're going to have a voicemail box. That voicemail box is going to how is your answers? We're going to then take some of the answers and either use them for context for the podcast or use them in the podcast to be a prompt for a question that we then answer. So very excited about this new addition to the Making It In Nashville production engine. Speaking of which, the Making It in Nashville production engine has been humming. If you were following along last season we had an incredible season hosted physically at Ernest Readymade, produced by John Dupree, producer John hidden behind this camera production quality. Hopefully. This sounds incredible. I know that it looks great on YouTube. We will be continuing down this road if there are any questions on how to produce video content, audio content, podcasts. This podcast specifically this season is being funded and sponsored by Making It Creative, which is our marketing business, which is our media business. And so we are at your service and here to help and answer any questions you might have about things that look and feel like what you're listening to or watching right now. And so in summary, season eleven is going to be a slight departure from our normal podcast structure. We will be interviewing you and letting you interview us. What questions do you have? We have questions for you. Those questions are going to be found makingitinasheville.com Season Eleven, and then you can find information on our hotline@makingitinasheville.com hotline or you can call us directly at 828-552-4832. There is not currently a question on that prompt, but by the time you listen to this, there might be a question for you to answer that is specific. Otherwise just leave any kind of voicemail that works for you. Look forward to hearing from you. Excited about this season and until next episode, we'll see you around.