381: How Jeremy Prudhomme Built a Self-Running Podcast Empire

Harry Duran 00:00:00:

So, Jeremy Prudhomme, CEO of onpod, thank you so much for joining me on Podcast Junkies.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:00:05:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Harry Duran 00:00:07:

And then remind me again and remind listeners where you're calling in from because it's always interesting to see where people are setting up their spaces.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:00:14:

Yeah, so right now I'm actually in Thailand, but. And you know, I live here and I basically work remote. But my. I have four studios now. I had, well, three that are open for one that's opening soon.

Harry Duran 00:00:28:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:00:28:

Four podcast studio and they're all based in Canada, so one in Ottawa and then three in the surrounding of Montreal and we're expanding after that. So.

Harry Duran 00:00:39:

So for those that are watching, you obviously wouldn't be able to miss that Rubik's Cube behind your shoulders. As a child of the 80s, I couldn't resist. But ask where that came from and. And if that's. If you're a bit nostalgic in terms of that as well.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:00:54:

Yeah, a little bit, but yeah.

Harry Duran 00:00:56:

Have you solved it yet?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:00:59:

Yeah, like I've solved it many times. It's really just patterns, right?

Harry Duran 00:01:04:

Yeah, yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:01:05:

Not that hard. Not that hard. When you learn the pattern, it's just the end. It's just the end. It's a little hard. The rest is kind of easy when you think about it.

Harry Duran 00:01:13:

I actually saw the documentary with my partner. We watched that Rubik's Cube one. You saw that one? That was pretty bananas.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:01:19:

Yeah, yeah. A while back. Yeah, yeah. It's crazy. Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:01:22:

They were doing it behind their backs and it was like sub seconds in terms of. I don't even know how you could move your hands that fast.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:01:29:

I'm not sure this is. Yeah, it's pretty insane what these kids can do.

Harry Duran 00:01:34:

So I was looking at some of your past history. It seems like you've always had a passion early on for video. How did that start?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:01:41:

Yeah, yeah. It all started in high school where I was a DJ at a, you know, high school dance and things like that. So I was in charge of the music, sound system, lighting. So basically kind of started there where a friend of mine were like, oh, let's go to this Toronto Light and Sound convention. And then we went to see all the DJ stuff. Denon at the time was, you know, big one. And then I got them old like Denon headphones, which, yeah, it kind of sparked a little bit of a passion there. And then I ended up going to the one, kind of like it was an option of going to university or college. And then I fell into a college video production Program. So that kind of sparked everything, right? Starting with working broadcasting. So I worked at cdc, which is the broadcast corporation in Canada. And so I worked there for seven years doing everything from directing to editing to just filming, working in politics sides. So that's where it all started.

Harry Duran 00:02:48:

So were you one of those folks that would just like always had a camera on you and just felt like always the need to record wherever you were?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:02:55:

Well, I, you know, I started like, really young, I guess. I was like, I was barely 19 when I started working at CVC, so I wasn't as insane with a camera every, like everywhere, you know. Like, my buddy of mine was often filming BMX videos. So I did start filming skateboarding a little bit, but he was like, you know, he, like. I went to school. So for me it was a job at the beginning. And then it became, obviously became a passion down the line with the business and all this stuff. But it wasn't like I wasn't filming everything every day. Like him, he. It's interesting, Christian, he got a really good business. He probably makes like 300k a year filming. And he studied as an archaeologist, which is mind blowing. And he. And then he got into cbc, got in as an editor, and he started his own business. And now he just runs a video business that's killing it just by, you know, he started by just filming bmx. Right? Just kind of cool.

Harry Duran 00:03:58:

Regular listeners and viewers of the show will already know this, but my first passion is actually DJing. I grew up DJing, like house music, learned on vinyl with the turntables. I've still got them here in my office actually, for jamming out. So I always have a love for that. And it's actually how I got into podcasting. I thought I was gonna have a podcast to interview DJs and then switch to this show, Podcast Junkies. So were you djing a lot at the time or did you quickly move into the video?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:04:22:

Yeah, like in high school, I was DJing a lot. And then I guess after going through college and video production, then I quickly jumped into video and doing some video for people. So I quickly switched my gear. I think DJing was not. Was not for me, you know, it wasn't my calling. Thanks a lot. Right. You have to know, like a good amount of music, right? And really know your set and everything. And video was more in my chords, you know.

Harry Duran 00:04:50:

Do you still follow the scene at all? The DJ scene?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:04:54:

Not too much. We did. It's funny, I work for this company and it's called soundstage network. Soundcloud and basically we do. We've done for the past 10 years, videos for them. And it's an online catalog of hi fi audio. So high end audio. So really high end speakers like the Violet or. There's so many of these speakers that are unbelievable, right? Like tens of thousands of dollars, insane amount of money. And then they add these, these sub rail, you know, subwoofers that you would add or whatever, these line conditioner that cost and then send them out. We went to film this company that. They're really nice, but, you know, it's not for me. We filmed this company that they made hi Fi cables and you know, you can buy an XLR, a pair of XLR cables for €23,000. You know, you're like. You're like, what? So all that to say that we did a shoot with a DJ that was using different line conditioner and things for his stuff. And so I don't really follow the theme, but we do sometimes end up like with some DJs and some. Some real cool audio stuff that we film.

Harry Duran 00:06:05:

I'm getting flashbacks here in the States. There was a magazine, it's probably still out, it's called Crutchfield and it's the magazine for people that like high end audio. And it's like, it's basically hi fi porn because it's just like all those like ribbon speakers and tens of thousands and these crazy turntables that cost like $7,000 and it was a monster cable, you know, I don't know if that's still a thing now, but all this premium, even the cables. It's funny like you would think, like people just want that pristine sound.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:06:35:

Yeah, yeah, no, it's really expensive stuff. And I've heard all types of speakers and different audio and it's like sometimes I see it like I see the technology behind it and that's really cool. Sometimes it's harder to see. Right. What technology they use to make it so expensive. So. But it's a choice, right? If you have the money, it's. Sometimes you just want to go in that direction, right?

Harry Duran 00:06:59:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And so prior to onpod, it seems like you're doing a lot of freelance work, videography. Any one of those projects stands out as something memorable of an experience.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:07:

11: Oh, there's a bunch I've shot for. I've shot a little bit for the Canadian Space Agency through the Science and Tech Museum and the Aviation Space Museum. And we did a bunch of interviews of, you know, not necessarily people that went to space because we did that too, right? Not necessarily astronauts, but people that worked in the space industry to get people to space, right? And I remember this interview with this older gentleman and he's like, he brought basically the. I guess the parachute home that was going to go into space to like, come back home, right? Come back to Earth. And his wife was a seamstress and she saw this and she's like, this is horrible. Like, I'm going to redo this. So she resold the whole thing and then later on it went into space. So there's all these. These really cool things, you know, that you get to meet these people. And it's really interesting. I also work with another space industry that they're trying to get a rover to space with rover technology to it. It's almost data recognition for on the moon or on Mars. So there's some cool technology stuff that I filmed that was really, really interesting and really interesting people. So I got really lucky on. On that front. And then the hi Fi. I mean, you know, you film these speakers, like, what is it called? Like, Vivid Audio. You probably never heard about it, but I went to South Africa to film the construction of these speakers. And they're the shells of them are really like, nice curves and nice design. So they have a really cool product. And so that's a really cool one that I've filmed a few times.

Harry Duran 00:08:51:

I've had some experiences with working with teams that are recording on site and a lot of videography. What did you learn over those years? You know, when it comes to storytelling and being in an environment where you're setting up all these cameras, people probably get nervous. You know, there's like a lot of lights, a lot of activity going on. And in the middle of all that, you know, you're probably working with people or maybe doing some of this yourself, where you're having to do an interview or talking to people and getting them to engage and really, you know, put them at ease in these types of environments. And so I imagine you learned a couple of tips over the years for how to get the best out of people, you know, so you could. Obviously, from a video perspective, the fewer takes you can do, the better. So what are some of the things you learned over the years as you were starting to run these projects?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:09:36:

Yeah, well, two things, right? You talk about the fewer takes because, you know, it used to be data, used to be massive. Yeah, massive. And I could talk about that after a long time. But nowadays we can tune in 265, we can shoot in Smaller format that's still high quality. So that helps a lot, right? Because, you know, in a long time ago, we shot on tape. So, you know, we get a lot of tapes. If you get so many takes, right, like you said, you want it to be short. You know, most often, you know, we get on a guy in front of a camera and we're trying to get that story, and then everything comes out, like, horribly, right? Like, you just want him to say what he knows, and it's just not coming out. And, you know, the one trick that we do really often is just. We're just gonna be like, okay, we'll stop rolling. You know, we get in a bottle of water, and then obviously we roll, right? So we start rolling, and then we remove the red light in the camera. You can turn it off. You know, stuff like that. Or we turn it off before, and then we just start a conversation before we roll, right? And we say, like, okay, tell us, like, about this thing. And then everything comes out extremely nice. And then we're like, oh, we're done. We were rolling and we didn't tell you because this is great. We're getting kind of rounded. It's going to be perfect.

Harry Duran 00:10:54:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:10:54:

So there's happened a lot, right?

Harry Duran 00:10:57:

What do you think it is about people? They just get stage fright. You know, it's just like they feel like they have to perform or, you know, I wonder how they explain it to you.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:11:06:

Yeah, they're thinking too much, right? They're thinking, I need to say this in the perfect way. Or they're trying. You know, sometimes they get a script, and that's horrible, Right? Because they try to stick to their script, and it's not natural. It doesn't feel right. So it's really about thinking too much, right. They're overthinking it. It's like when I do it with somebody on a podcast, right? It's like anything. Some people will come with a bunch of notes on their computer, and I just put that away. We're just going to have a conversation. And so you have to put them at ease, and then you have to make it just a natural conversation, right? It's like my teacher in college would say, it's like you're talking to Bob at the bar, your best friend, and you're having a conversation. So you got to put them there. Which is sometimes hard, but in most cases doable, Right?

Harry Duran 00:12:00:

Yeah. It reminds me of what I tell clients and students sometimes, especially with a podcast. I said, there's always. There's actually three People here in this room, it's the host, the guest, and the listener. And I always want it to feel like they just pulled up a, you know, a bar, a stool at the bar or the pub and were just, like, listening to us have a conversation, not an interview, to the effect. And I think it's just human nature. I think when they feel they're on camera or on a stage, they feel this need to perform.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:12:26:

Yeah. Yeah. 100. I mean, I feel it now, right? Like, I have a camera and I'm more of a behind the scene guy, so. But I've learned through time, you know, I need to speak or I need to teach people how to speak. So it is important and it's an important skill for anyone, right?

Harry Duran 00:12:41:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:12:42:

Doing podcasting is a great thing to do to bring that skill out, Right. To be able to talk on camera, to talk to people, to discuss things. It's. I think it's really important for anybody that, you know, runs a business or anything like that.

Harry Duran 00:12:55:

When did you start to notice a shift for yourself, like this movement from a lot of work behind the camera, and then, you know, you're starting to have these opportunities to get in front and tell your story.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:13:06:

Yeah. So I was working at the museum in the past, and we got job cut, so they cut the video production team. So then I lost my job, and then that's where I started to, okay, I need to start my own business, and that's what I want to do. And I've been wanting to do that for a long time. But it's like Golden Handcuffs, where you're stuck in this job and you're like, well, I'm comfortable, so why would I leave? Right. But that's when I realized, okay, I'm going to start a YouTube channel. And at first it was really hard, and, you know, it's something that we need to work on, but that's when I kind of shifted to be in front of the camera. And also just about I knew the technical aspect of speaking on camera, right? Like how to do it, how to sometimes take more pauses to not say these filler words so much, which I still do. Like, I mean, everybody does it a little bit, but you can work at it, and it's going to become better and better and better. So that's when it kind of started to shift for me. And nowadays it's like I teach people, all my clients that are doing podcasts, how to do it. And it's great because you see a difference from the beginning to, you know, maybe Six months later or a year after, you see a huge difference.

Harry Duran 00:14:17:

Yeah. You mentioned this idea of starting a business. I've had my agency, a podcast production agency, since 2015, and I came out of corporate. So to your point, you know, there's something reassuring about having that paycheck in your bank account every two months. I mean, every two weeks. And then until that. Then that day that it's not anymore, and it's like, oh, this is real. Like, I have to figure this out. And so I'm wondering what your entrepreneurial journey has been like. And, you know, obviously anyone who's been in it long enough knows there's enough ups and downs to fill a whole book.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:14:49:

Yeah, it's. Well, my journey. Like I said, at first, I was really scared, right? When you jump into it, you're so scared. And then a friend of mine said, Chris, that guy I talked about earlier, Christian Ernie, said, like, how much do you need to rev in a month, right? And I was like, oh, 2000 something, you know, I don't know. And he's like, okay, two shoot, Two day of shooting, and then, you know, a little bit of editing. And it's like. And then realizing that you're like, okay, this is really easy, right? It's not that much. It's not like you need to work every day, though.

Harry Duran 00:15:19:

Sure.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:15:20:

In a sense, you do. So that's where it all started. And then after that, so I went freelance as a video producer or videographer editor. And later on, I had, like you said, like, there's a lot of dips, right? So I had that dip. And that's where everything kind of changed. I met this guy, Martin Clema. He's a realtor, and basically he needed help with his podcast. You know, he was doing this book club with four guys talking about business, books, you know, very typical podcast, probably, but it was great. And, you know, it was all shot on, like, webcams and, you know, obs and very simple stuff. And so that guy really helped, right, to bring everything kind of together. And that's where he was like, oh, it'd be nice to have, like, a podcast studio in the space. We were in the co working space, and I was like, okay, maybe, and I had some gear. So then we opened up this podcast studio. We get going. And after that, funny enough, you know, I want to talk about podcasts being a new networking way, a new way to network, because one person that you meet can change your life completely, right? So meeting, like, meeting you today could change my life completely. We don't know yet, but it might.

Harry Duran 00:16:35:

Likewise, likewise.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:16:36:

And so, yeah, Martin, we started the podcast studio and then these guys from Epiphan Video, which is the streamer, recorder, encoder that I use in my studios, they came to my studio and they're like, you want to try this year? And I was like. In my head, I was like, no, I was like, I like my system. Why would I want to. And it's funny because it was very it centric, like looking at the ui and they might laugh about this, but it's like looking at the ui, I'm like, this is. I don't know, it's not very video production, more it, you know, very user friendly, maybe. Exactly. Or like, visually, you're. You were not appealed to. Like, switch a show on this. Like, it was not the best. But the machine ended up being like a huge turning point for my business where I automated my podcast studios. So that was. I mean, that was huge.

Harry Duran 00:17:27:

Yeah. What's the name of that streaming service?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:17:31:

So it's not a streaming service, it's a box. It's an encoder recorder, streamer, and it's called. So Epiphan Video is the company, but then they make Pearl nano, Pearl Mini, Pearl 2, and soon Pearl Flex. So there they have these boxes where you can plug in cameras and record, stream, switch, encode into different things. So it's really. And it's so reliable. Like, mine were 247 and it can record, and when there's no space left, it can keep recording on top of the last file kind of thing. So it's like it's made to run forever, basically, which is awesome.

Harry Duran 00:18:15:

So talk to me about your experience entering the world of podcasting. Like, how did that happen? Was it just by virtue of the work you were doing in the video space? Had you been following it? Were you listening to podcasts?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:18:25:

Yeah, at first, at the beginning, it was not like, I was just doing work for my friend and his podcast. And then I got a few clients, and then with my wife's work, I was like, moving away at some point, maybe where. That's where. Why I'm in Thailand right now. And so there was like this shift where Epiphan came in and got the machine in my hand. And then I said, like, okay, I can build something that's fully automated, you know? So that's where the podcast studio kind of came into play. And then for a year, I was testing in my kitchen with a friend that did a beer podcast called. Which is a French podcast, but yeah, not Kidding. Like for a year he just came and like the dining table was set up, the mics, everything. And it's like we're not moving anything. And so we drink beer, we did a podcast and then we went in the sauna, you know, and brew some ideas. And that's how it all came about.

Harry Duran 00:19:23:

I mean nowadays that probably be like a many thousand dollars production. People probably actually do that, set it up in the with all that. But you were doing it at home and. True entrepreneurial style.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:19:34:

Yeah. And realizing also that it doesn't have to cost. Like because if you're a videographer and you hire me, like if somebody hires me to go do a podcast in their home and it's like I gotta bring three cameras, two mics, you know, it costs a lot to do that. Right. So having the self serve space was kind of a big shift, a big idea I think to reduce cost on podcasting while keeping quality up.

Harry Duran 00:20:02:

Yeah. So talk to me about the birth of onpod and what your vision is for it.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:20:07:

Yeah. So you know, at first it was called DMAN Production. Well, my production is called GMAN Production. And then we didn't know what to call the first studio so we called it G Mango and we're like, you know how the name. You're like, I don't know, like is that important for my business?

Harry Duran 00:20:23:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:20:23:

So at first it was called G Man Go and then I opened up a second studio and that worked well. It was in a co working space on the Quebec side. Basically after that I went in with a friend of mine, he invested a little bit. The guy that had the French podcast, the beer podcast, he invested some money, he's now out. We went together and we got a new name which was now looking at it in a horrible name. It was called Uber Flix Studios. You can see where I went with it.

Harry Duran 00:20:52:

Yeah, I can definitely relate and I'm sure a lot of viewers and listeners can relate, especially if you're an entrepreneur because you have an idea and you're know you, you, the first thing you do is head to like your domain registration and like need this domain. I got it. I figured it out.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:21:04:

Exactly. So you try things and it's all about doing it right. Like if you don't do it then it's not good, but at least if you do it, then it's good. So we had Uberflix, which was not a great name. And this one time at the office, it's in the realtor's office where the, where one of the studio is in Ottawa and one guy from Uber came to get his license, you know what I mean? Like, it was just, it was not a good thing. Anyway, so we changed the name. We finally got on pod, which has NP in the middle, which to me is like no problem, you know. So anyway, there's a lot, there's a lot to it.

Harry Duran 00:21:40:

I see that in the logo.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:21:41:

But also. Yeah, but also not much, but. But it was a simple thing and now it worked and we're going to keep it. And that's how like it started, right? And then. And obviously like I had the automation idea and we've built from the beginning to now where everything is automated. Basically you come in the stud, you press a button, it records all the three to five cameras. After that, when you get home or at night, footage will be transferred to a server and then automatically it will be sent to the client by email. So they get all the raw footage automatically sent to them, which is great. And then we get an email if there's anything request. Right. So we've been able to like streamline everything and automate everything. The downside of this studio is that the cameras are not yet tracking or anything like that. Okay, right. So it's a frame that's a little bit wider and we'll crop it in post production. So that's what we did for now to keep it simple, we are working with some companies to have some robotics camera in the quality, right? Like you gotta like quality of sensor, quality of the camera, cost of camera. So you have to look at everything and that becomes a big, you know, a big question at the end of the day, at the end of the year, do we switch cameras? Do we stay with these cameras? The cameras we use right now are the cams similar to the Lumix box Camp box cameras, you know, their power over Ethernet, they don't run hot. They can run 24. 7. So for us that's a plus. Right. A camera that can run 24. Seven is great because our cameras are always on, right.

Harry Duran 00:23:22:

Are you recording at 4K?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:23:25:

Some studios are, some studios are not. You know, that's another big question that, you know, everybody has or a lot of people are not educated about 4K, right. Do you need 4K? Right. A lot of people are doing this on Luma.

Harry Duran 00:23:39:

1080 is fine.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:23:41:

Well, yeah, that's the thing, right. And then it's funny because I've been editing some podcasts for clients that recorded in other studio, like in the uk, the us, you know, all this stuff and you know they're giving me files that are like an insane amount of size. Like 60 gigs, you know, 80 gigs. And I was like, oh, it's, you know, I need to download this. And it's like emailing you.

Harry Duran 00:24:07:

They're mailing you a hard drive. Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:24:10:

It's really big files and it. And sometimes the audio is not synced. Like, nothing things. It's like. Or sometimes they shot flat, you know, with no colors. S log and it's like, this is like we're doing a podcast, you know, like, it's great if you're doing film, but I think it's not needed. And I'm talking to the other studios owner. Like, it's like, do you need to shoot this high bit rate?

Harry Duran 00:24:34:

Of course.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:24:35:

Can you test a little bit less? Right. Like just, you know, so we shoot the 4K265, which helped us. Right. Which is more compressed than H264. So that's good. So we're at like, for an hour. We're at like seven gig, maybe for an hour for 4K.

Harry Duran 00:24:55:

Okay.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:24:55:

Which is, you know, it's not full 4K. Right. Like, will people see it because we exported the 1080 after.

Harry Duran 00:25:02:

No, they're not.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:25:03:

Right. So you have to. Yeah, most people are not exactly. So you have to play with that. Right. But it's a hard line to see. Like, do you want to do 4k 1080 and all this stuff, it just costs a lot of storage, I guess.

Harry Duran 00:25:16:

So the automation part is interesting. So essentially they show up in the studio, they sit down to the record, and the camera's already fixed and it's one button recording, so there's nothing to move. No one's manning the cameras, is what you're saying. Okay.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:25:29:

No, even the lighting is automated through motion sensors. So it's just going to turn on when you get in. Right. The idea is to make sure that people don't need, like, tech skills. And the only tech skills they do need, like, where it becomes complicated that they can actually plug in their laptop into an hdmi. So now we're like, we're leveling up and we can't control that. It's very hard because somebody's laptop might not work. And then, you know, so. But they can do a zoom call from there. It's a little bit harder again, but they have to send the audio into the hdmi.

Harry Duran 00:26:05:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:26:05:

So they have to change their speaker output to the right output. We call it like studio or something.

Harry Duran 00:26:10:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:26:11:

And then what that's going to do is that it's going to record a tv and that TV has the audio, like the audio back in the headphones for the guests on Zoom and then we can cut that in Post production works well, but it demands a little bit of technical skill sometimes and usually.

Harry Duran 00:26:31:

Have an on site tech to help them figure those things out.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:26:34:

No, no, no, it's all video based. Yeah. So I send them a video how the space works. Not a lot of people use necessarily Zoom, but when they do have a video that's static that I'm talking on. Right. Like a loom video or Komodo and I'm just explaining every step. And then after their shoot, usually when I see, when I review to put it, I'll send another video like oh, make sure to place the mic like this for next time, you know, and things like that. Just to get a better, you know, there's even a spot where there's a little dot for the belly button to show where the center of the shot is. Even though they got a return video.

Harry Duran 00:27:11: Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:27:12:

People are not tend to look at it. I don't know, it's just, you know, sometimes like you just. They'll sit to the side or something like that. But we do our best.

Harry Duran 00:27:22:

It's funny because when you think about video, you know, a lot of people who are, I guess what you call purists, you know, they think of video as this artisanal process. I'm curious if there was trade offs and how you figured out how to place things and how to what you wanted to make sure was automated versus anything else that you would do afterwards or if that just came up from all the years that you were doing the freelance work, you had enough information to say, hey, this Setup works for 90% of people.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:27:50:

Yeah, I mean I do have a lot of technical background and like I did direct and use at some points I was director switcher, you know, I was a camera guy. Like I've done it all. Even worked in acquisition where you patch different, you know, different video to different stations and things like that.

Harry Duran 00:28:06:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:28:06:

So I guess. Yeah. What was the question again?

Harry Duran 00:28:10:

Sorry, it was just interesting because when you think about, you know, videographers, they take pride in how much of their personality they're attaching and you know, like I said, it's an artisanal process for some people. But I think you've had that experience doing that hands on, switching cameras, feeds and all this stuff and maybe you realized, hey, the basic person doing a podcast doesn't need all this stuff. So what's the 80, 20 rule in terms of like, how do we get them what they need without overcomplicating it?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:28:41:

Yeah, I think, you know, it was CDC at the Broadcast Corporation. Even then we had robotic cameras, right. We were going far away from having man cameras. Right. And so from seeing that to what we have in the studio, the podcast studio, it's very kind of relatable where, you know, most of the studios will be robotically handled. So you save your shots on a screen, you press on it and it's going to go to that person and go to that person. So it was very easy to have the thought process of automating everything. Now the downside, you know, a little bit from your question before, the downside of this is that right now robotics cameras are not the greatest. Right. For the price. So you have to, there's a trade off. Right. And that's where we frame wider. It's funny, when I started I only saw it as a two person podcast, right? Two person, two mic. If I add four mics, it's going to be too complicated. We would need like a wider shot and frame differently, but I end up framing wider for two people. And then what we did is we have two people in the shot, one mic in the middle and adjust the audio from there. And it didn't work really, really well. Like audio wise, with the audio processing that we have today, it's like really easy to do anything with like the new Adobe podcast audio processing. I don't know if you've seen it, but that audio processing is like amazing. It's not great for super long video, but for short video, if you're a video producer and you need to fix a clip that's windy music, it's going to clean that up and showcase the voice right away. So yeah, it was really easy to adjust all that. Now in the next studio that we're doing a five camera, four mics with four couches. So we'll see how that goes. But that's another downside, right. I have, I need more cameras, I need more stuff because I want it automated. Yeah, right. So it costs more money to set up and ascend. So that's another downside.

Harry Duran 00:30:44:

So the way you envision it is they could pick, you know, depending what you want. It's just me, I'm going to record my show, there's going to be like a studio for that or I'm going to do like multi person interview and you'll have the environment set up. But also, but everything with an eye towards ensuring that's an automated process. They just come in, they sit, hit record, and then they're good to go.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:31:03:

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. You could be alone or you could be two or three or four. And there's five cameras. So one single camera on each mic and then a wide shot that could be zoomed in on a two shot, let's say. Wanted to. Yeah, Everything is one touch of a button and really easy to use. And we also added like another button for lighting control so you could change lighting, like colors in the background and things like that. So it's not bad. And I think for the future it's really about, you know, we'll possibly start integrating robotic cameras into it with some tracking. The idea is to frame, you know, the right amount of the right size and then have minimal tracking for headroom for the person. Right. Because right now we don't know how tall the person's gonna be. So we have to frame like way much, way too much headroom. But in the future we'll just have headroom adjustment, you know, based tracking. So hopefully, hopefully that's gonna come soon. We're testing some stuff now, so that's pretty cool.

Harry Duran 00:32:02: But who knows, what tips do you have for folks who are just getting started, might be nervous about like looking good and you know, obviously you're trying to automate as much of the process to take as much of that headache off of them. But is there anything else you do in terms of coaching or guidance and you know, what makes for like, good content?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:32:21:

Yeah, like, I mean, everybody has their own style, right? You have your own style when you start your podcast. And you know, I might critique it, but that's just my. This is my style.

Harry Duran 00:32:31:

I'd love to hear it if we have time.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:32:33:

Don't take anything personal, but when. No, but I'm going to talk about it a little bit on coaching. And this is what I like is a lot of people, you know, and it's not a mistake because right today we're talking about me and all that stuff. But like, you know, I don't like always to start the podcast with where you from and this stuff because, yeah, it's kind of how I do it or how I coach people is. I want to get into that question. Now, obviously if you edit your podcast and send that, you're going to put some juicy stuff in front. Right. Then that's fine. Right? It just takes a little more time. And you know, when you have that process down, it's good. But when you start, you want to catch the people's attention, right? So maybe you want to start with that really juicy question, you know, and you need that question to be. We want people at home to learn something, right?

Harry Duran 00:33:25: Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:33:25:

And what is that? What is that question? Right? Like, if you're a doctor, if you're, whatever you do, you want to teach them something right away. And so I like to tell the people, tell people, like, we're going to do the post and in the post we're going to talk about Jeremy. Right? So we don't need all this, all this background and stuff. Like, let's just jump right in, right? So I do like to jump right in. And I say that because, you know, I listened to this podcast the other day. It's a business coach. I want to learn something. Right? His name is there, his info is there. And it's like, okay, this is good. Like, this is interesting. But for 30 minutes I did not learn a single thing. I learned that he went to school in some little town. Okay, this is this. But like, let's do it. So I was really eager, but unfortunately for 30 minutes I didn't get anywhere. Yeah, I stopped listening and then I stopped listening to that podcast as a whole. Right. But it depends the style of the podcast, depends what you do. Obviously, if you're getting superstars in and there's a good story, there's stuff there. But for somebody that starts their brand new podcast, it'd be good to learn something. And then at the end of the podcast, I'll say, how did you get there? Right. So I'll bring it right back and then we'll finish that up. Right. So I think that would be my comment.

Harry Duran 00:34:45:

No, it's helpful tips. And especially with like the YouTube algorithm, like it's. You can literally see in the graph, like retention time. And then that's why we're putting out 20 second clips at the beginning of like something juicy. You know, I see people now sometimes they're doing like. And this is why I did. And they cut them off like it's like a cliffhanger. Like, oh, okay, what do we say? And so there's like, they're using tricks like that as well. So do you think about that just from your experience or because of what you're seeing when you're helping them now with the production? I don't know how far you go after the post, but you're helping them edit it. And then do you actually get it up to YouTube and just work with that algorithm a bit?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:35:22:

Yeah, we do. Well, we do different Things we usually edit with them while we edit the podcast. Right now we're just starting to, like, we do want to help people post, but we're not quite there in our system. But we do want to build something to help people get further in their podcast where I can really push it further. Because certainly in Canada there's a lot of. There's a lot of potential, but the podcast industry in Canada is not quite there from the US let's say. And we have a lot of potential on the French side too, and then for France and Europe. So that's a lot of interesting stuff that's going to come into play for sure. But on the English side, like, there's so much content out there, it's hard for people to battle with. Right.

Harry Duran 00:36:08: Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:36:09: But it is still a huge industry that's growing. Let's face it, podcasting is massive.

Harry Duran 00:36:15:

Yeah. What are some mistakes you see people make when they're getting started with their show? From a podcasting perspective, obviously if they've nailed down, they could have like a beautifully shot production, everything looking good with the cameras, but somehow, like the content is just not there. And I'm wondering if there's anything you've seen, like kind of just 101 mistakes that people are making.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:36:36:

Well, sometimes they, yeah, they, you know, they ask the starting. The few starting question where it's really starting about the person. It's like they don't think about the viewer.

Harry Duran 00:36:45:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:36:46:

Right. They're just. They have this person in front of them, so they want to make them feel good, but they're not thinking about the viewer. And that's what's important. Right. What is the viewer getting out of your podcast? Because your podcast could be amazing, but you have to frame it the right way. And also you have to advertise your podcast. Right. You have to put it out there. It's true. Right. People, like, people forget they'll put online and then nothing. Right. So your podcast becomes a small business and you need to like, nurture it to get out there.

Harry Duran 00:37:23:

I love.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:37:23:

Right. How are people finding your podcast? You have to think about it and you have to get through that motion. Right. Just like your business. If I'm a videographer and all I do is video, okay, great. But I'm not getting any business. And you kind of wonder why. Well, I didn't advertise myself. Yeah, I didn't. I'm not a salesperson. Right. I'm not doing marketing and sales. So I'm missing out on everything, basically. So that's A huge thing.

Harry Duran 00:37:49:

That's one of the things I think most podcasters getting started, they forget. They, like, magically think that if they post it on Apple and make one post on Facebook, people are gonna find it. And it's like, that's just like, phase one. And it's like, then it's a whole nother world out there, and they have to get started on being creative that way.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:38:09:

Yeah, that's phase one. And for me, you know, I sell podcasting, right? And at first, what I tell people is that, you know, if you think you won't make money right away, which is true, you won't make money right away with your podcast, but your podcast is something else also, right? It could be different avenues. I see it a lot. As you know, I use podcasting and LinkedIn together, so I will use Sales Navigator to find clients, right? So with Sales Navigator, I can pinpoint the people that I think that could do podcasting right now. You could do that. Pinpoint your clients, too, right? Your potential clients, and then you invite them to the podcast, right? And this is where I talk about networking. Podcasting is like the new networking, and that's where you create a connection with that person in a total different way. Like, you're not in a networking event where, you know, you get this business card and you're like, what am I in?

Harry Duran 00:39:02:

You got the hello, my name is badge.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:39:05:

Yeah, exactly. And it, you know, it's great because some networking are great networking events, but you're not connecting with the right people, right, for your business. So podcasting can be a really powerful way, you know, put in with LinkedIn, self navigator and all that stuff to get those clients in front of you and have a great conversation with them. And then from there, you're building, right? So you're building it at work, you're building your podcast, you're building that show slowly. And then after that, then you can bring that show, start selling something or advertising your show, I think. But the first step is, like, the networking stuff is huge. I think that's a return that you can get today while doing podcasting.

Harry Duran 00:39:50:

I love that you mentioned, like, thinking about it with the end in mind and going to LinkedIn and Sales Navigator and figuring out, like, who would be an ideal person for me. I've had some folks that have done this before, past clients and other people that have come on the show, really being intentional about who you're inviting on the show and how you're framing that conversation. And to your point, Jeremy, this idea of, like, I'M gonna. I could build a relationship or I could see this as a potential client, but I have to think about that before I go into the interview. So that I'm building the rapport in a way that leads to an outcome of maybe they're saying hey, tell me more about what you do or something like that. And I think that takes some pre planning ahead of time.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:40:28:

Yeah, exactly. And I think it's huge and I think it's worth it. It's definitely worth it for me. I bring in client to show them the studio like that. But it also create these amazing conversation with amazing people that I would have never met if I didn't do a podcast. Right?

Harry Duran 00:40:44:

Yeah, for sure.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:40:44:

So it's definitely worth it.

Harry Duran 00:40:47:

Sounds like you have pretty aggressive growth strategies. Looks like 30 studios across the US and Canada in the next five years. Is that right?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:40:54:

Yeah. So at first, let's say we change. The plan was for me to open all these studios. Right. Right now I have four. And now the goal is to sell licensing. So basically you could buy a non client studio. You pay for the studio, I set it up for you and basically I set up the booking system, the payment system, the storage system and then you run your own studio. We basically just tell you how to acquire client and then we make like an 8. We make 20% gross income out of this and we help the way. And then we want to build like an editing machine in the background of all the studios and all that stuff. So it is. Yeah. So 2026, we do want to sell like at least 10 of these and open 10 new studios in probably Canada and US and we already have like two lined up. So it, it's starting, it's going at a good rate. I think the easy thing for us also is that we build almost like Lego blocks.

Harry Duran 00:41:55:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:41:55:

So we basically build like these, these camera stands where all the gear can go inside and so we can pre build the studio at the shop with all the gear set like rack mount into these kind of camera stand and then ship that to the studio and then run that out, run the wires, put the set in there and then you're kind of good to go from there.

Harry Duran 00:42:20:

And what type of size studio are people looking to set up? Like multi studios? One space with one studio. How much square footage usually do you require for a good setup?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:42:30:

Yeah, so like right now we're doing like one studio type thing. But who knows, right? Some people might have more space. We're going after co working spaces because a co working space could use Our strategy to bring in clients for the studio and the co working space at the same time. Right. So you can do basically both. Right. If you're a co working space owner, you would get maybe a 14ft by 14ft or something like that and then set up a studio in there. Yeah. So it varies. Right. Like if you want just a table, like we have one studio at 17 by 14, the one in Ottawa which is pretty. A good space. Like it's a nice space. Nice big table in the center with three cameras and that works really well. But yeah, core routine space is going to be kind of the place for us because one, it's easy. They have Internet already like everything set up so you don't need to like rent a building or things like that. Obviously there's big studios, like I don't know. Do you know Podster in Dubai and Singapore? Have you heard of Podster?

Harry Duran 00:43:36:

No. No.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:43:36:

So yeah, check that out. It's P O D D S D E R. So 2D. And they, you know, they have a. I think it's a 2.5 million dollar studio business.

Harry Duran 00:43:47: Okay.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:43:47:

Podcast studio business. Yeah, yeah. So they really have like five to seven different sets in there and they have obviously people working there and they're in Dubai and Singapore. So there's a lot of money, but still like you look at Singapore and Singapore has a lot of money, but it's not a big town. Like it's not huge. Yeah, yeah, no, it's interesting. That.

Harry Duran 00:44:09:

Fascinating model and I think the idea of licensing is going to help you scale faster because you know, they can just build it in and I can see people that have spaces or unused space that would. Where it would make sense to partner with you. And that's what I think. And then the idea would be that on your website you'd list all the studios so they'd get some log and visibility on that as well.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:44:28:

Yeah, exactly. And we're going to build this studio owner network which kind of already exists, so we might piggyback on them. But it's still like the idea is to build an on pod network and really push this forward and make sure that you know, when you open an on pod, it's easy for you. Right. And you don't need too much technical skill. It's really just about business skills and bringing people in.

Harry Duran 00:44:54:

What do you think the investment of time is for an owner on site? Because the allure is really like, hey, it's going to be very automated. You just. I don't know if people can even Go in on their own. I guess that depends on the CO working site. But essentially, if they go in and you give them instructions on how to record, there shouldn't be too much maintenance or on site needed for an owner, right?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:45:15:

No, no. I mean, I have four. I'm running three right now, and I'm in Thailand, so you can imagine there, it's very low touch. There's no technician there. I have like a guy or a couple of guys that if there's a technical thing that needs to be fixed quickly, can be done, you know.

Harry Duran 00:45:31:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:45:32:

But what's great about Corey Spaces, they already have people there, Right. That are kind of almost always there. So it is very low touch point. The only thing that. That's hard in, in most cases, access. Right. So they need access for regular hours. It's easy, Right. You just give them a video, you say this is the door, you go in and you record. You record. Right? Yeah. So it is super, super simple. And then it's not very time consuming. Like I guess you'd get a phone call here and there or a grid to fix on the website or something, but nothing too much.

Harry Duran 00:46:09:

And then the bookings itself, like the scheduling is something just the. The coworking space would handle through an existing booking system. Or is that anything that you've built in as well?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:46:18:

Yeah, we would do the booking system for them because we have one that we're actually working on, a new booking system, which is a white label, but it works for podcasting. I don't know if you heard about Podix.

Harry Duran 00:46:30:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:46:32:

So we're working with Podix right now to implement that for. On Pod, which is. Which seems to be a really great system. So funny thing is, Podix was made for Podster. I know there's a lot of POD in there. It was made for Podster in Dubai and Singapore at first, and then these guys made another company and made products, which is the booking system. Now they're selling all across the world for podcast studios. So it's. It's very interesting. And so we're working on that. And what we want is that each licensee will have their own products and they will be able to control their pricing. Right. We'll set that up for them. So product and then stripe, and we'll use Stripe Connect to split revenue, which is an easy way to do a split revenue if you ever want to do it.

Harry Duran 00:47:19:

Yeah, it's almost like that spa model. You know, people, they've got software to people to manage a spa and book Time in a spa. And it's just like the same concept, I think. So it's. There's a lot of lessons to be learned from there, probably.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:47:31:

Yeah, yeah. And it's funny, I had a call with the guys from products like today, and there's still a lot of, like, little things to fix. But overall, the product, I think is really good. It's visually good. Right. It helps you sell more in an easier way. So it is cool. But they just need to finalize it to make it just a little bit better. But it's coming. It's coming.

Harry Duran 00:47:55:

Okay, just a couple of questions as we wrap up. What is something you've changed your mind about recently?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:48:02:

They have changed my mind about. That's interesting. Well, if we talk podcasts, like, pricing wise, I'm changing my mind between credit package. So you can buy multiple credits good for two years, right?

Harry Duran 00:48:16:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:48:17:

Or a monthly plan. Right. So I'm pushing more on the monthly plan because I want people to keep going. Right. Not just for the money, but also, you know, a lot of people will drop after three months. Right. They'll do podcasting and then they're like, they'll drop off. Right. So. And as you know, you need to go constant for like two years. You know, you just need to do it. And that. That's the hard part.

Harry Duran 00:48:45:

Yeah, that's interesting. Do you find that everyone that's recording, are they doing podcasts or are they using it for other content like webinars or other video content that there's definitely.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:48:54:

A mix, like some webinar, some realtors, some people. A lot of people are just, you know, recording and creating real. Which is great. Right. You know, we use Opus clip a lot. You know, this clip, I presume?

Harry Duran 00:49:07:

Yep.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:49:07:

So, yeah, a lot of people will just put the podcast into open slip and use. And I teach that to my client too. I'm like, put it into open slip. You can program all your clips. Like, it's really easy. It's. You know, you have to use these tools. Right?

Harry Duran 00:49:22:

Of course.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:49:22:

So a lot of people just come in and record just random clips for random things or to do podcasts. But I always say the easiest way to do it is do a conversation and then pull out clips of that. If you're alone talking, sometimes it's really hard. Right.

Harry Duran 00:49:38:

You have to be really good at creating that solo content and be able to take people through that journey of what you're educating them on or teaching them on. And I think that's a bit more challenging. Last Question. What is the most misunderstood thing about you?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:49:53:

I don't know. That's a hard one. The most misunderstood thing about me? Yeah, I really don't know how to respond to that.

Harry Duran 00:50:04:

Yeah, it's okay.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:50:05:

I have to think about it a bit.

Harry Duran 00:50:06:

That's okay. Now sometimes it's the biggest answer I've. I've gotten is people, especially in the podcasting space. People think everyone in podcasting is super extroverted. And 80 of the people say I'm a bit more introverted. And like, I don't like to get out. It's so funny. We're always on camera, we're always talking. And I'm kind of the same way. I'm situationally extroverted.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:50:25:

Exactly. And I'm. I'm 50. 50. So if you don't know me, I'm introvert. But if I can. If you give me a microphone at an event and I can speak in English and I'm in charge of the event.

Harry Duran 00:50:37:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:50:37:

Then I'm introvert. And then I'm like, I'm good. But it is. I'm definitely introvert first.

Harry Duran 00:50:43:

Yeah.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:50:43:

And then. Yeah. Which is weird. Yeah, that is a weird thing.

Harry Duran 00:50:47:

I think it's something you become more self aware of as you get older and you're like, oh, because I'll go to these podcast conferences and I'm just meeting everyone, networking, talking, hanging out at night. But two or three days I come back into my, my office here and just wind down, you know, so it's helpful. So I really appreciate that, the connection and getting you on this learned a lot as well. I'm really excited to share this with my audience. So where's the best place? I know the website is onpod IO. Anywhere else. Do you want to send folks to connect with you?

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:51:17:

Yeah, I know this is good. On Pod IO or LinkedIn. If you want to share my LinkedIn, that's always great. I think LinkedIn is powerful tool. I did not use LinkedIn in the past and now it's like, it's so good, you know, because all these business people are there and they're kind of ready. Right. So LinkedIn is really the place to be for me right now.

Harry Duran 00:51:39:

Yeah. So we'll make sure all those links are in the show notes. Thanks again for your time, Jeremy. I really appreciate it.

Jeremy Prudhomme 00:51:44:

Thank you, Harry. We'll talk later.