When I first started podcast consulting, I was convinced I could provide help to almost anyone in their podcasting journey. But over the years, I've realized that the clients I enjoy working with the most and who tend to seek me out most frequently are Creative Independent Podcasters.

And many of them don't even know they fall into that category — which makes sense, considering when most people hear, "I'm a podcaster," perhaps the idea of a tech bro talking head is the first image that comes to mind.

And while that unfortunate stereotype isn't far off from what some podcasters aspire to be, that didn't seem to be my client base or who I was writing about podcasting for.

Last year I sat down and decided to get really, truly clear on who I was writing and curating my blog and newsletter for and I listed all the adjectives I could to describe how I pictured my readers to embody. The ones that stood out the most and what I felt directly called to my purpose in podcasting was Creative & Independent.

"You Can't Do That on a Podcast!" (yes you can)

A line you might see in articles that seem to come out every few months is the idea that podcasts are "the wild west of media." While I don't necessarily agree with the idea that podcasts are new (shameless plug for my podcast The Story Behind Podcasts), I love the idea that new podcasts are being created and new formats are being experimented on all the time, and it's wonderful.

I get disheartened when I see emerging podcasters lose steam when they see a podcast that's similar to what they are producing or, maybe even worse, not seeing any podcast that sounds like the one they want to produce.

But that's the great thing about podcasting. Could anyone have predicted that following a true crime investigation of a single case for 12 episodes would be a huge breakout hit? Or that a guy in his garage would get to interview the president of the United States? Or that indie shows like a show with the premise of ghost tours for the theater of the mind would surpass 2 million episodes and thrive on being entirely listener-supported? Or that a stack of found letters between two girls and their landlord would become a cult phenomenon?