Episode 12

Mark Taylor of Education on Fire

In episode 12 of Podcaster Stories, I sit down with Mark Taylor, host and creator of the Education on Fire podcast, a show for teachers, parents, and mentors to help them support children.

The show share stories and resources that Mark hopes will support children to thrive and be able to live their best lives.

Topics up for discussion this week include:

  • how the idea for the podcast came about
  • why it’s more than just a resource for parents and educators
  • why he believes passion is key in anything you do
  • why networking is key
  • how Covid-19 has impacted the educational space
  • why we should stop saying “kids need to catch up” when talking about the 2020 school year
  • why the education system needs to change to a more open approach
  • the two episodes that have really stood out for him so far
  • why it’s okay to give up on a project
  • how to integrate multiple show ideas to create the best podcast you can
  • what advice he’d give to new podcasters

Settle back for an informative and insightful chat about why you need to not only have great content, but know the audience you’re creating that content for.

Connect with Mark:

Contact me: danny@podcasterstories.com

My equipment:

Recommended resources:



This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Transcript
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For me, there is an opportunity here to blend some

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of these things, some learn it and it can be

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done just by children learning it themselves. And then using

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the time in school to be able to talk about

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it in a slightly different role rather than the teacher

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having to teach it. Because I know certainly my children

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there's been plenty of things that they've not actually been

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taught, but they've still learned it. And that might be

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because something is being produced in an advanced by the

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teacher. It might be that they've been asked to watch

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a particular YouTube thing or something that's being created for

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them to do with the teacher has not been there

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to deliver in person, but they still manage to learn

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what they're needed to do, and then any support they

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needed to be on that. That's where the teacher came

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in and that's a slightly different role, but I think

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it frees up a lot of time for teachers.

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And that's one of the things that teachers are really

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struggling with is, is time being time and Paul,

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Hi and welcome to Podcaster Stories each week, we'll have

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a conversation with podcasts, those across all mediums and share

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their story. What motivates them, why they started our show

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has the growth of the show and more, but also

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talk about their personal lives and some of the things

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that have happened. I've made them the person who you

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are today, and now here's your host Danny Brown Hey

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guys. And welcome to another episode of Podcaster. Stories where

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we meet the people behind the voices of the show

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is we listen to this week. I had Mark Taylor

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as my guest, who's the host and creator of the

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Education on Fire podcast, which is a show for teachers,

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parents, and mentors, to help them support team and support

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children and their endeavors for education and mental wellness, et

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cetera.

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So, Mark, I'm really glad and appreciate your opinion on

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the show today and how about you, you know, introduce

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yourself and what the show is about.

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Great. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for inviting

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me on, in some education on fire really started as

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their passion project. I was a musician by trade as

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a professional musician, then did some teaching, went into schools.

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And one of the things I notice was that education

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was getting sort of a bit of a bad press.

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Is it? Well, you know, if we have one was

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sort of quite dine on the whole education system and

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learning, but I was actually seeing some really fantastic teaching

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because I was doing workshops and multiple schools. So I

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had quite a good sort of overview of what was

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going on and I've got three children here. So it

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was sort of seeing my experience sort of firsthand as

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they would be traveling through the primary sector here in

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the UK and they don't want a secondary school.

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So I just wanted to set something up, which shed

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creative and inspiring views of learning. And I thought what

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that would do would be to enable people to, to

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basically here or things that were happening, which they might

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then be able to take back into their classroom or

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to help teach their kids in a way that it

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felt less isolated. 'cause we know you'll sort of, if

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you are the average, have the five people that you

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surround yourself with. And so if you happen to be

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in a, in a small school and the way that

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the outlook has a certain way, then that kind of

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what you expected. And if you're in a bigger school,

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maybe you've got different views, but actually, and this sort

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of online world, and this is a global setting, can

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actually be influenced and have a community of people from

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all around the world. And so that was really why

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it started.

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It was that kind of, I want to share some

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great things that are happening and hopefully by sharing those

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things, it will impact people wherever they were in this

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thing. And they can take that and making a positive

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influence to the children that they are involved in, whether

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its their own children or people in the students within

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their classroom.

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All right. And, and obviously you mentioned you have three

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kids have your own are often in secondary school now.

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Yeah. So we'll all three are in a secondary school

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now. So one is 18. So just to start to

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finish a levels once two years younger, but just an

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academic year below and one's in just finishing year eight.

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So she is, yeah. So she's just starting her sort

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of secondary school.

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Right. And did you take the, the lessons? I guess

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there's an, a piano, I've got two young kids that

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are younger than yours. There are eight and 10 and

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I'm guessing you took the lessons that you've learned as

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a parent. And I know you're heavily involved. Is it

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an NYP or any PE that you are the vice

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chair of

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That's right. That's the national association for primary education. And,

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and I got involved in that because one of the

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schools I was teaching at in London probably around, I

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guess it would've been just after, or 2010, 2012 or

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something like that. The, the, the, the director of the

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school was then chair of NAIT and asked me if

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I'd go along really with most sort of parental hat's

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on them because we can working in the same school.

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She kind of knew my views about education and the

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sorts of things that I was doing related to music.

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So that's how I got involved with it. So I'll

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sort of, I do use sort of straddle that sort

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of education knowledge in some respect is what does that

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parental one

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Now, do you, you mentioned that you were a background

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obviously is in the music as well. So do you

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sort of a blend a two when you're, you know,

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either Education on or helping parents and, you know, teachers

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and educators, et cetera, do you sh does music play

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a part of that, that role or is it purely,

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you know, from a more sort of speaking point of

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view, if that makes sense?

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Well, the podcast, it really is a little bit more

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Gen the music element I think, is like the biggest

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impact on me because it's something I'm passionate about, its

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a way that I kind of feel like I'd show

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up in the world and I could express myself authentically.

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And so I think its with that hat on, I

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want to express myself through the podcast. So whatever your

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passion would be. I think if you can tune in

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to that, if you can tap into that and you

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can express yourself that way in that's really what our

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get excited about it. And I know that's different for

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everybody, but I think understanding what it was like as

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a child to kind of have my first concert in

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just think, Oh wow, this is amazing. I really want

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to experience more of that, you know, and follow that

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or go through it and be in a professional or

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whatever your, your thing is that you want to follow

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through.

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I think that if you can understand what it's like

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to of had that experience and that's, that's the positive

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thing. And then I did do a music series and

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I have also got it, a membership site attached to

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the podcast called Primary music on Fire, which does support

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teachers within music. But it is again, that's much more

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have a kind of let's have a community that support

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you to create this musical world in your school, in

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how we can do that. But again, much more from

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that feeling sense, even though you've got some great resources

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and stuff in there, the heart of the community and

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giving children experiences, this is where that drives for a

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minute.

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I know you mentioned that the, the, the musical side

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of it is that Primary musical in fire trying to

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catch it. Right. And obviously you got Education on Fire

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so on Fire is definitely the sound like the brand

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of their, the podcast, the program and what you're trying

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to do. Where did that come from? Where does, is

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it just like on fire as in like all of

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that supports a person is on fire, they're like on

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a big street car, where, where did that come from?

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Yeah, well there's, there's a famous quote. Education is not

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the filling of a pill with the lighting of a

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fire. And, and I, and I kind of kind of

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felt that it was the case that a little bit,

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like I said, in terms of that feeling of excitement,

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of knowing you've got a passion that you want to

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then fulfill and I then spoke to some people in

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the education field. And so then, you know, that there's

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some sort of thinking around these terms and, and yeah,

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it was amazing because there was a great cause I

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can, that's such a memorable name and it's such a,

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it really sort of speaks to the essence of it.

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Its not just another podcast talking about how you do

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math. So how are you doing English or math or

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something like that. It is, it's a much more of

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a different starting point, but bought by the same token,

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of course, most podcasts will know John Lee Dumas is

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entrepreneurs on fire and And and lots of people took

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the The on, Fire kind of an element of that

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back, you know, early in the, in the two thousands

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and into the teens, you know, and lots of people

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that did that.

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So it was very, very wary about taking that sort

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of name on board and because I didn't want a

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trip on now, turn it on his toes, but also

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sort of get into that kind of cycle of everyone

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having the same kind of on Fire name, but because

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some of the educators really liked it because it seemed

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to fit within the quotes and what I was trying

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to do. And also I've met at JLD a few

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times and I've had this conversation about him and apologize

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for taking the name and as him to just talk

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it through. And so yeah, so, you know, it was

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almost the, in my sphere of knowledge cause I was,

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I was aware of him, but by the same token,

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isn't the, the main reasons that I took him. It

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was because of that quote and the education element.

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Okay. And you were up to episode 154 at the

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moment, I think the earliest published episodes. Yeah. So thinking

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back to the early days when you first started a

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podcast and you came up with the idea of it,

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et cetera, what's been one or some of the biggest

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challenges that you've found then you know, that that got

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you to where you are with the shorter days they

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go over, come at them.

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One of the, one of the most important things that

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I did was have a good foundation to begin with.

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And when we mentioned JLL do there before him and

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I did his free podcast cause to begin with which

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meant that I had a really good understanding of what

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was required in terms of setting yourself up. And I'm

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not one of the original, original podcast website members that

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Mark Asquith put it together. I believe it was, has

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been a, has been on your shoulders and they are

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where they are, but, but have been there for a

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long time. So it was sort of in that community

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of the sorts of people in there and they are

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so supportive and our communities are so supportive as it

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is as you know yourself with a captivate as well.

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And so it was really important for me to surround

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myself with those kinds of people.

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And then when I had a problem or I wanted

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to do something and I wasn't sure how about anything

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or which way to turn, there were lots of people

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to ask. And I think that really solved a lot

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of those problems. So what I wanted to try and

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think about monetizing or, or, or when I wanted to

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think what the podcast first, it started off in a

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theme seasons. Umm, which was great. So I'd sort of

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the first season was just sort of generally explaining what

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I was about what I wanted to explore. And then

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I did some computing, an ICT and we did an

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English one in a mass one and a PE one.

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And that was fantastic. And I really liked the structure.

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It was very clear for everybody. And I did talk

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about it in this kind of, you know, inspiring way.

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But what happened was is this is the podcast grew

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up.

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I had lots of people starting to reach out and

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saying, look, we would love to talk about this as

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a followup based on what you've already done by which

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time this the season to kind of moved on from

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there. And so it was quite hard to then fit

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them back in because not because I wanted to revisit

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it in it necessarily, but I thought that it actually,

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there was a lot of value in having these conversations

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maybe on the topic at all would have covered. And,

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and so what I then decided to do is just

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to kind of broaden the data a little bit and

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I'll sort of a visit all these Topics, but it

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doesn't need to be within that theme sees it. And

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so one of the things I struggled with was sorta

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in there, how did you do that? How did you

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kind of change the format, but without sort of starting

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and stopping again. And, and, and it just seems to

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me all the advice I had from all of these

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people that I spoke about, it was just that kind

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of, just to be clear, you know, and just talk

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to people as you would like to be an audience

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member yourself, you know, that kind of, this is what

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I'm going to do.

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This is what I'm doing. It. This is where I'm

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heading. This is what I want to be able to

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achieve. This is, this is what it is all about.

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You now come on this journey with me and that's

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exactly what I did. I didn't try and sweat it

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too much. So I just kind of just developed in

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and took on board all of those things. And luckily

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enough, it, it really helps in terms of your audience

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has grown and the more and more people seem to

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find the show and enjoy it. So it must've been

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the right thing to go.

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Yeah. And, and how your phone, any, I know I

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have spoken before, but if there are some people that

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have moved from see a CDO too, you know, a

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programmatic, not programmatic, I'm thinking my marketer's head there to

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go out on too. You know, an episodic, I should

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say, how have you found it is sometimes difficult. I

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know a lot of people that did Syrus for, for

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example, a themed seasons find it easier because it was

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a structure they are that says, okay, this season was

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definitely gonna be about this season to do this, et

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cetera. Whereas episodic may not be quite as structured because

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now you're talking about every topic or any topic where

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every guest or any guest have you found when you

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made the transition to be a little bit weird and

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less structured, or is it easier for you?

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I think it's both of those things, which is sort

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of a little bit difficult to explain, I guess, in

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some ways, because on speaking with people, generally speaking, who

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have got a passion that they want to share, it

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might be something they've created within the education and learning

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space. It might be the written, the book. It might

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be their actually a teacher and their explaining about that.

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The system they work in, in, in, in the environment

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and they are creating, they pretty much actually just take

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care of the conversation. You know, I always have a

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list of questions and points. I want to cover it

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based on all of the information I've got, but actually

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generally speaking, it's like having a coffee, you know, I

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always say, you know, let's just sit down, let's talk

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about it. And you know, I can direct things if

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need be.

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But generally speaking that actually kind of just works because,

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you know, if I were talking to somebody who is

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passionate about something, then that they can talk all day

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because it's kind of, you know, is kind of, of

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what they're about. And, and that often then comes across.

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But I, I should, I should also probably point out

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of it. I, I almost developed what I was doing

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into a kind of a network. You mentioned Nate before,

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and I do produce a podcast for them as well

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because they were wanting to share or shared some of

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the things that they were doing and, and, and pull

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it up and their reach. And so I started to

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sort of tip my toe in to a kind of

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a network idea. So because I'm captivate in podcasts with

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startups and it enabled me to kind of have more

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than one show on the platform I sort of had

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Education on fire and I had the Nate podcast going

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on at the same time.

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And because I was able to develop it. And you

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talked about it sort of The episodic idea and, and

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these sorts of things that you wanted to come for.

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What I did at one stage also have a podcast

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called learning on Fire and that was then okay. Basically

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there to just sort of, and it really, it kind

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of adolescents in terms of, I wanted to speak to

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people who were living life on their terms. And we

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talked about their education. We're talked about teachers that might

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of been influential of the best advice that we were

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given, the sort of advice they would think if their

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younger self and the resources that they had. And so

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there were some really great kinds of things that you

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could take on board and, and take action with it,

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if you wanted to and so forth to support children,

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who do you know, they are, the children learn what

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they learn within the school system based on the curriculums

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that they have to do.

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And I think there are many parents out there and

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then also educators as well, if you think that could

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be brought to, it could be a bit more sort

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of a life skill sensitive, you know, in terms of

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those sorts of things. And so I wanted to sort

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of embody that, and that was fantastic. And I really

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enjoyed that. And that had a list of 10 questions,

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which works really, really nicely, honestly. But one of the

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things is a Podcaster that you saw, we realize that

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what you must be a, well, this isn't sort of

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demographic. One of the people that are gonna be listening

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and, you know, and my focus on the podcast, it

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was really thinking parents would be listening to it and

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their children will be listening as well. So it might

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be when they're in the car, it might be when

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there are going to be on an Alexa or something

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when they're in the house or whatever.

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And the podcast did pretty well, but it wasn't doing

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as well as Education and Fire, and it also, if

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one was referring to everything is Education on fire. And

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so, and, and what I was trying do is to

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niche down because lots of people say no to a

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niche is important, and that is sort of a separate

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all of those things out. But actually what I found

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was it was, I needed to broaden it back out

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again, to, to be under that creative and inspiring learning

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or Brennan, which is Education on five and then sort

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of split everything else up. So I still produce the

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NAIT podcast, but I do it purely through their website

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and on their own sort of platform as it were.

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And the learning on Fire. I decided to just to

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stop the recording in that way as a separate podcast,

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but I sort of combined the elements a little bit.

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So some of those questions I do now ask at

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the end of an interview, if any, Education on Fire

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podcasts. And that works really well because I've combined the

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best bits of that learning on Fire into Education on

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Fire as well. And also people just seem to have

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the sense that having one brand is it we're having

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won sort of a canopy and have all of those

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things where it is much better. So, so its been

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complicated as it in some ways, but it actually the

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simplification that's been a really key factor in the last

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few months

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And I think that's it. Yeah. That's a good point

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that you raised the boat learn and what works and

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what doesn't work. I think M I know we're in

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the group that we are in, for example, with the

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rebel based media group on Facebook, it's, it's clear that

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and often it can be hard to give up or

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I want to give up a podcast because it's not

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working because you wanna keep, you know, seen it through.

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But as you shared it, it makes sense to, to

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either, you know, envelop it into your existing a podcast

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or maybe makes it like a bonus content or something.

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So it's interesting to hear that you have taken the

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best parts of what you learned from Landon on fire

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and unintended and, you know, put that into your, your

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main core show, which is pretty cool.

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And I think that's true and what I've started to

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do because I'm still, I, I did 50 episodes of

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learning on the Fire. And so what I did is

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I got to the point of saying that I'm stopping

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recording this now. Thank you. Great for those people who

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have subscribed really appreciative of their loyalty, but it said

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it's going to go under the Education on Briar feed.

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And that's where it's all going to be. And I

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did have lots of new subscribers to Education and fire,

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which I think is fantastic because they must have them

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come across it just as I've mentioned. And I still

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see all the analytics people and listening to that and

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moving to Education on Fire episodes to be able to

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see do that and move across. But what's been really

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interesting is the fact that I've actually, I keep releasing

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some of the learning on Fire podcasts is a bonus

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episodes on Education on Fox.

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So the new episodes of that I'm recording, I'm now

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making the two things like to say a general podcast

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with people, with some of those questions involved. But then

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because I released my main episodes on a Monday and

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the bonus episodes, I just released every couple of weeks

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on a Friday, but the analytics is showing me. And

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so it actually is many people will listen to those

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bonus episodes, which were the previous podcasts as they do

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to the other one. So, I mean, it's, you know,

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the amalgamation seems to seem to have not lost anything,

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but actually doing things together,

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Which goes back to your point about knowing your audience

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and, you know, deliver on the content that your audience

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wants to consume and listen to it. Nothing that's true.

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No. And when we were speaking out loud on the

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green room for the show, we were both speaking about

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our kids and the, the, the long distance learn and

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that they're doing it or the digital, you know, virtual

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learn and have them. And obviously, you know, COVID, it's

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impacted like globally if we know that, but especially the,

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the education system and how people are, how kids are

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being educated and what that might look like, come see

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a September or August, September or October when kids are

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do to go back to school, as someone who speaks

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two parents and teachers, educators, et cetera, what's been the

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biggest fears of you like that.

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They have brought up the biggest concerns that they've got

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about gone back to school and also a hose. How

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have they phoned like a virtual learning impact and you

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know, life for them and their families?

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I think the going back to school, there are two

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elements that I hear mostly one, I think children have

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missed the social element have been with their friends. And

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I think that's been a really big thing. So I

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think going back to school is a really important thing

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from that, from that side, I don't get the feeling

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that children are particularly worried about going back, you know,

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because children's seem to be less effected directly in terms

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of illness and the way that the virus seems to

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be working. But I know lots of people are wary

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because of the amount of people. Then of course they

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have are still people at home who might be carers,

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who might be key workers. We were looking after people

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that they need to be very respectful of a, of

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this virus.

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And they don't want to be at risk in a

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more than they need to. And I think that's where

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some of the fear factor comes in from children go

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in back. One of the things that I've, I've been

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quite vocal about on the show is the fact that

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there's lots of people talking about having to catch up

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because things had been lost while we're, you know, what

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we've been in game. And I don't really subscribe to

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that. And as much as we know, we've been through

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a pandemic or, you know, the whole world has changed

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and they might not be where they would have been

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before, but they are where they are now. And they've

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learnt many things by being through this experience. And, and

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naturally we should then just embrace where we are and

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we move on in a way that we can.

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And I kind of came out with the, the, the,

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the analogy that, you know, I might be wanting to

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run a a hundred meter race next week, and I've

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been focusing on it and I've been training and I'm

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all set to go. But if I broke my leg

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or twisted my ankle, my expectations have to change. So

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I'm still gonna run that race, but its probably going

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to be a, you know, two months or three months

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because that's the reality of what it means to be.

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We need to move those goalposts. And the education system

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is quite strict at the moment. And even with everything

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that's happened, it looks like it's gonna sort of try

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and go back to the way that it was because

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it's such a big tanker to move. And, and one

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of the things that the home learning has really done

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is the fact that we've proved that what it's not

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perfect and the interaction isn't there from a personal sense

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in the same way that it was that actually there's

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been some really positive elements, you know, that I don't

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think that being on a computer all day every day

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is necessarily the best way to go.

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But there are some parts of learning which works really

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well like that. You know, things that can be easily

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graded things, which can be a little bit more, yes,

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no, or, or a multiple choice or writing, you know,

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things which were less artistic, I guess in some ways,

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which were much harder to mock if you need to

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Mark it up in that way. So I think for

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me, there was an opportunity here to blend some of

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these things, some of the learning that can be done

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just by children learning it themselves and then using the

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time in school to be able to talk about it

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in a slightly different role rather than the teacher having

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to teach it. Because I know certainly my children there's

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been plenty of things that they've not actually been taught,

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but they've still learned it.

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And that might be because something is being produced in

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advanced by the teacher. It might be that they've been

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asked to watch a particular YouTube thing or something that's

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being created for them to do with the teacher has

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not been there to deliver in person, but they still

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managed to learn what they needed to do and then

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any support they needed to be on that. That's where

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the teacher came in and that's a slightly different role,

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but I think it frees up a lot of time

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for teachers. And that's one of the things that teachers

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are really struggling with is, is time being time and

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Paul. And so I think actually if they can find

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a way to blend this kind of virtual learning and

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in-person learning, then I think there's a real opportunity here

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for the education and learning generally to, to really move

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in a different direction.

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Now I know certainly here on a terror, I'd completely

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agree with your view there and there's a big push-back

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on the, the provincial government's goals or plans for a

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reopening a school in September. And, and as you mentioned,

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it's basically as normal as it used to be with

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more hygiene, you know, less people are in the classes

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and now, but then you have like the, the other

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side of that, where you've got two then. Okay, well,

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no, you need to do twice as much or as

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many teachers because you are having twice as many classes

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because you're basically having the, the students. And there's a

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lot of time component, you know, as you say, moving

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more towards a hybrid of say maybe two days in

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school, three days at home or something like that. But

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I don't know if I completely agree or this is

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a really good learning moment.

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I feel for the education system to get the overhaul

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that's desperately needed since even I was a kid, we

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were back back in their last century mid-century or something.

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So yeah, for sure. Now, as I mentioned, Ella, you

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know, you know, it should be one, five, four, I

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believe over 150 shots of the podcast. What's been some

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of your favorite episodes share in that time and why

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these episodes, I think

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Some of the favorite episodes I've really been the ones

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that have really surprised me. You know, like sometimes, you

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know, you have an idea of the person that you're

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going to talk to and then they send you through

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some details or you seen their website and you think,

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I know, I know where this is going. I, I

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really understand what this person is about. And then they

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completely take your left fields. You know, they, they, they

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talk about something personal or something, which do you just

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really didn't think it was something that you were going

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to expect and then you have to adapt and you

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have to kind of think on your feet and you

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have to really listen carefully. And, and, and, and I

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think some of those are, can be, can be really,

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it can be really inspiring. And you sort of get

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an idea of where those, where these journeys come from

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and, and why those people who have done they've done

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what they've done.

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And I think that, that there were probably two that

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stick out in some ways, what was the one I

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did very early on with overstock in school. And Gen

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Janice Marcel was the head teacher there. And we had

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a great conversation about why it was that the ethos

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and the atmosphere for the school. It was so fantastic.

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And it, and it literally ran through the entire system,

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the entire system of her school and what she was

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done. And it was because I think she'd still managed

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to keep that child focused. That child-centered idea of what

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learning is all about, despite the pressure's from, you know,

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people are around her and you don't know that it's

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from government from this in that and whatever, they were

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still in school and it was able to keep a

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hold of it.

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And they were still in a small school and they

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were expanding. So it was tricky, but because I think

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she has such a strong idea of what she was

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about and what she wanted Education to be about what

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she wants her children to feel is that really came

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across. And that was really, really exciting for me. So

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it sort of here that that was possible and that

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was there. And I think that sort of made that

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made my skin really sort of call in a really

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good way, because it was like, this is what I

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wanted to share. You know, do you actually, for the

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people to experience, you know, no matter what was going

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on, this was still possible. And then I think some

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of the things is I start to expand, you know,

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I'm not talking about English or maths talking about other

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things. So recently I've had a conversation about yoga and

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I, and another might have been in season one when

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I was setting the whole thing up.

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I talk to Bruce Langford foot about his podcast called

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mindfulness mode and, and his whole idea of, of how

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mindfulness fits in both in terms of how, you know,

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everybody can have it in their life, but certainly with

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an education and higher and how that can work, not

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as something you just do, but as something which you

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do, you embrace is part of your life, which then

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affects everything that you do. And I think that's what

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really excites me about some of those interviews, because it

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just shows, it shows you a way of being, which

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can affect everything that you do and can support children

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and people in a way that isn't just about studying.

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And I think that's the essence of hopefully what I'm

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trying to get across.

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Oh yeah. And with having so many shows, I mean,

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you've had multiple shows that as you mentioned in multiple

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podcasts, what would it be a, a piece of advice

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you'd offer to any podcasts are either just starting out

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or even just thinking about it and either in your

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niche or, you know, just in general and what might

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a piece of advice would you give to someone looking

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to get in to the medium?

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Tell me that what you think of podcasting is get

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in the way of what you want to explore. I

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think if you are going to start a new podcast

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app or you're thinking about doing it, it has to

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come from your passion, whether it's your hobby or whether

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it's a field that you you are as is part

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of your career and what your job or whatever it

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happens to be, make sure its something that you're really

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excited about. And then just to understand that when you

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are learning any new skill, you get better over time.

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So if you wait for that perfect moment, I need

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to do this number of practice episodes before I can

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do a live one, all of that kind of stuff,

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you know, you'll, you'll never get it done. So, so

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to get everything set up, press record, do the best

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you can. And certainly the episodes that I did early

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on don't sound very much like the Wednesday that I

Speaker:

do now, just because of the experience.

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And if you think about anything in your life, when

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you started doing something new, it's new and you're learning

Speaker:

and you're doing the best you can, and it will

Speaker:

always develop and get better as you go on. So

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just get going with it, get in a community. So

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you can get people to support you for the things

Speaker:

you need to learn, whether that's editing, whether its the,

Speaker:

the, the, the tech that you need, or the setup

Speaker:

that you need, so that you've gotten support to ask

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questions, but then just get on and do it, and

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then progress and learn and develop and, and bring it

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up and bring the audience with you. To be honest,

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I think that's great to be able to just sort

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of say what you do and why you're doing it,

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how things are working or not working. And if you're

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going to pivot or whatever are you going to do.

Speaker:

But remember, people will listen to your podcasts are very

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loyal in terms of media, a much more lower than

Speaker:

many other outlets out there, and certainly for the video

Speaker:

and things like that.

Speaker:

So they want to be part of your journey. So

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be honest with that, talk about your journey. So what

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you're doing and why you're doing it. And then you

Speaker:

start to build that rapport. And that's why we are

Speaker:

doing it really is to, is to like, to say,

Speaker:

to share stories, to share ideas, to actually bring people

Speaker:

in the journey that we are doing personally, because there

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were lots of people doing podcasts, but only you're doing

Speaker:

it your way. And that's the thing that you need

Speaker:

to focus on.

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And I like that piece of advice, because I know

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I'm, as you mentioned, a there's, that can be a

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lot of issues and a lot of, you know, categories

Speaker:

and sub-categories, and people do the same thing on a

Speaker:

similar thing to yourself, but there's only, you know, you're

Speaker:

not the person that got your thoughts and your voice

Speaker:

in your approach, et cetera. So I love that piece

Speaker:

of advice that you gave there, for sure. So just

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to flip it over it a little bit, and for

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people that they may know, you are sort of people

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that do you know, you, that you would do or

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don't know someone, but for people that know you and

Speaker:

even four folks like myself, that, you know, I had

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just came to me and you are today properly, what

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would be one thing that may surprise them about you?

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One of the things they probably don't know why is

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that? I do quite like snowboarding. Okay. There, there are

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two reasons for that. One is the fact that it's

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not something I talk about all of that often, but

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also I live in North Hampton share in the middle

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of the UK, not a big snowboarding place, except it's

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quite close to Milton Keynes, which has a very good

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indoor ski center. And so that's something which is, is

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quite fun to do in terms of just sort of

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getting out and changing what they are changing perspective of

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what it is that you like and what you want

Speaker:

to experience. And I, I sort of have a love,

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hate relationship with it. And as much as I love

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it, when I can go enough to kind of feel

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comfortable again, talking about that kind of being used to

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what you do and the repetition of things.

Speaker:

And then there were times when they can't go quite

Speaker:

so often. And certainly as a musician, I'll have to

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be slightly careful about obviously your injuries and those sorts

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of things. And so that kind of fear factor of

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them standing at the top of the slope, again, remembering

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all of those things when you are basically just strap

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to a board. So yeah. But yeah, snowboarding is something

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that I really enjoyed and something which was very exhilarating

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in. Great, fine. And, and probably not that many people

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would know that I do it.

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Why is that a recent thing that we've been doing

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it for a while because they are, you mentioned Northampton

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chair. Isn't the way that the most known place at

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the U K in general, I guess. I mean, I

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can't think of many places and let you go to

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the Lake, the foreign office in Scotland, or maybe in

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the mountains of Wales' or something. Yeah. It is not

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really something you considered. So how did that come up?

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So it really came about, because I had been, I've

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been to France and actually schemed and, and really enjoy

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it. And so then we went with a, a fellow

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from some friends of ours and, and, and we thought

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that she would like to snowboard. I quite, I quite

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liked to the, having joked about the idea of being

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strapped to a board who are actually in some ways,

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enjoy that rather than in the sense of a ski

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where your legs can go in a completely different directions,

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if you end up sort of coming, falling over or

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doing whatever. So we thought we would just give it

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a go and we both really enjoyed it and decided

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that we'd do that kind of a, you know, we

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learned probably we go out and have some proper lessens

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and, and build it out that way. So we've been

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doing it since probably 2000 and we were wanting to

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say 10, 11 or something like that.

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Okay. And, and, and we were lucky to say, we,

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we, we do that. Yes, we are gonna do this

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every week. And then we ended up being for some

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old world, and then we go again and again, and

Speaker:

go backwards and forwards. But I think one of the

Speaker:

things about the whole lockdown and Covid in that kind

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of thing is you really start to miss certain things

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that you think you would do, but you put off

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a little bit, but then when the chance has come

Speaker:

to really get it back into it, that was certainly

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the one thing that I want to be doing that,

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that along with tennis, which is something else I've been

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doing a lot recently since they've opened the courts up

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now.

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Well, that's cool. So, Mark I really appreciate you coming

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on the show today. I, I know that the less

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than it is going to get a lot of value

Speaker:

from, you know, what we spoke about some of the

Speaker:

things we spoke about it today, and you, you know,

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whether they be, you know, parents of kids like myself,

Speaker:

are teachers, educators, et cetera, for people that want to

Speaker:

know more about yourself, find out more about the podcast

Speaker:

or some of the courses that you do. You know,

Speaker:

some of the resources that they can use to take

Speaker:

back to their kids, et cetera, where's the best place

Speaker:

for people to find Your the best place to people

Speaker:

to connect with you on that?

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Right. So the best place to go to his Education

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on Fire dot com and through their, you can find

Speaker:

on my social links, there's a newsletter that it can

Speaker:

be signed up too, which has a, a, a free

Speaker:

and top 10 download's. And that's not just resources in

Speaker:

terms of how to do your best English or the

Speaker:

best math. Some of them were actually linked directly. Some

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of the actual interviews I've done of people who are

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doing outstanding things that can support you in learning generally.

Speaker:

So it's all there at Education on Fire dot com.

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Okay. Awesome. I'll just say, I really appreciate you coming

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on the show today. What's up next for your podcast

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and this couple of weeks, have you got up here

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on the show?

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So in the next couple of weeks, I've put, if

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I interviewed when, when the amazing thing I did, which

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I was so thrilled for my daughter, as I interviewed

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Beth Twitter, who is the, for the most successful female

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gymnasts here in the UK. And I think she finished

Speaker:

her career back in 2012, but since then it was

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really keen on education. And she's got a whole load

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of in-person courses that she does, but As also then

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pushed forward her online courses, which are about to start

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hearing in September. So I've got to interview her. And

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she was really inspiring just from the fact that, you

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know, being an Olympian in actually having that kind of

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development, but also with the Education passion as well.

Speaker:

And she was incredibly sweet and have a fantastic conversation

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with her. And also she was very gracious and they

Speaker:

actually gave us a little quick note to my daughter

Speaker:

who was a real great gymnast as well. And, and,

Speaker:

and it was, it was lovely. And I was able

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to do that recording, and I was able to sort

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of break it down and send it to her on

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a, on a WhatsApp message. So that was really exciting.

Speaker:

So yeah, I've really loved that. And that was coming

Speaker:

up in the next few weeks.

Speaker:

Yeah. That's awesome. Like a good people. There are the

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smallest things that you would have taken any of your

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time, but that makes such a huge difference for your

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daughter, but at that time, all right, that's awesome. I

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want to say, I really appreciate you coming on a

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shorter day and I'll be looking forward to catching up

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with some more of your episodes. I know we have

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our, our two kids and it helped that we can

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get back to you, you know, how to help them

Speaker:

through the same, but also just education in general. I

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know that something that will definitely benefit from, so thank

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you for coming on a short today,

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And that's been a real pleasure. I've really enjoyed it

Speaker:

in

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Time. Okay, guys, this has been another episode of Podcaster

Speaker:

Stories. If you enjoyed the show, make sure you subscribe

Speaker:

to get the latest episode when it comes to my

Speaker:

life, you can do that on Podcaster Stories dot com,

Speaker:

where you can send it through the newsletter, and you

Speaker:

can also find the latest episodes there as well as

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on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and Google podcast. It till the

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next thing you guys take care of, and we'll speak

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About the Podcast

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Podcaster Stories
We listen to our favourite podcasts, but don’t always get to know the stories of the people behind these voices. Podcaster Stories looks to change that.

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About your host

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Danny Brown

Danny Brown is the host of One Minute Podcast Tips, the show that helps you be a better podcaster in just a minute a week. He's also hosted, and co-hosted, several other podcasts - if you called him a serial podcaster, you wouldn't be wrong! He's been in the podcasting space for over 10 years, and has the scars to prove it.

He's the Head of Podcaster Support and Experience at Captivate.fm, the world's only growth-oriented podcast hosting, distribution, analytics, and monetization platform for the serious indie podcaster.

He lives in beautiful Muskoka, Ontario, Canada with his wife and two kids, where he spends winters in front of a cozy fire and summers by the lake. Well, when he finds time away from podcasting, of course...