MILLIE GUTWEIN

Millie Gutwein was just 17 and studying media at Launceston College when she decided to have a crack at making a podcast in 2021.

She never imagined her audio creation – Passionful with Millie G – would end up ranking on Spotify as the third most popular podcast in its genre in Australia, or that it would be ranked as the 88th most popular podcast in the nation, across all genres.

It’s a pretty decent effort considering there are more than 3 million active podcasts in the world – including more than 16,000 Australian podcasts – with about 30 million podcast episodes published globally each year and about 9 million Australians aged 12+ listening to podcasts each month.

Gutwein’s catchcry is that she’s “passionate about connecting with people and having a chinwag” and in her episodes she talks to people – mostly Tasmanians or people with a Tassie connection – who are passionate about what they do, inspiring listeners to find and pursue their own passions.

Now aged 19, Gutwein has chatted with famous faces including actor and radio presenter Christie Hayes, NBL owner Larry Kestelman, TV presenter and former swimmer Johanna Griggs, as well as F1 driver Grace Howard, Tassie AFLW footballer Ella Maurer, JackJumpers development player Sejr Deans, singer/songwriters Mendhanit Barratt and Kim Churchill and Francesca Jewellery co-founder Rachel Vasicek, just to name a few.

Gutwein’s authenticity, sense of humour and bright-eyed enthusiasm shines through to listeners – “God it’s awkward, talking to myself,” she quips in her podcast intro.

Perhaps being the daughter of Peter Gutwein, who was Tasmanian premier at the time she started the podcast, also helped capture the interest of curious followers.

Gutwein recorded 21 episodes between December 2021 and September 2022.

And while she took a break from recording for most of the past year, she has jumped back into it recently, with a string of new episodes expected to hit the airwaves in coming weeks.

Gutwein studied a media production course in radio at Launceston College in Year 11 and “absolutely loved it”.

So much so, that when the year ended, she missed interviewing and recording.

“I thought ‘bugger it, maybe I’ll make a podcast’,’’ recalls Gutwein, who was already a fan of listening to podcasts by other people.

“Then I thought ‘that’s embarrassing, I’m not going to do that’.”

But the more she thought about it, and the more she researched how to record and edit and publish and promote a podcast, the more confident she became. She admits making a podcast was “a lot more work than I was anticipating’’ but it was worth the effort. Although she didn’t go into it with lofty expectations.

“Honestly, goal wise, I just wanted to get it up for myself, I wanted to have crack at doing three or four episodes and see what happened after that,’’ she recalls.

“After a couple of episodes went really well people were reaching out, and when I contacted people to be on the podcast they’d say ‘I’ve heard of it’, so I thought that was cool and it was boosting my ego and my confidence.

“I felt really positive about it and I found when I was super positive about it, so were my family and other people. I was definitely very surprised how well it went.

“It doesn’t have to go super well technically, it’s just super fun to talk to people.’’

Most of her listeners are aged 18-25 but she’s also well subscribed to by 25-37 year olds. And while most listeners are Australian – and Tasmanian – Gutwein has had a few from overseas which she finds “a bit wild”. She aims to “keep it real” on her podcast.

“I want my mates to be able to listen to it and know that it’s me,’’ Gutwein says.

Most episodes are recorded from a home office with a laptop and a microphone, and many episodes are recorded over Zoom.

Her favourite episode so far was chatting to singer songwriter Kim Churchill.

A fan of his music, Gutwein admits she was “a bit starstruck” sitting in Churchill’s van with surfboards on the roof, recording the podcast after he performed a Tassie gig.

Gutwein finished Year 12 last year, and is enjoying a gap year at the moment, working in her family’s surf shop in Launceston and “bloody loving it”, as she not only gets to chat to customers (“I love retail and talking to people all the time”, she says) but is also learning more about the back end of the business as well. She was considering studying journalism, media or communications at university, but is still unsure about her exact path for the future.

In the meantime, Gutwein says working in the shop has been a great way to meet interesting people who she can interview on her relaunched podcast.

TROY TREWIN

Troy Trewin’s Grow A Small Business podcast is in the top 1.5 per cent of the 3.1 million podcasts out there – putting him in the top 50,000 active podcasts in the world.

The Tasmanian business guru says podcasting has proven to be a great way to spread his message with other business owners across the world.

Raised in country Victoria, Trewin spent a decade working in Melbourne and then four years working in London before accepting a job in Launceston in 2011 and moving to Hobart a year later – he’s called Hobart home ever since.

Trewin currently owns seven businesses – although he’s only active in two of those – and he’s also on five boards, including for Tasmanian organisations Hobart Brewing Company, Ratho Farm, and The Distiller’s Institute as well as Six-Tricks Distilling Co (Queensland) and Old Young’s Distillery (Western Australia).

He’s operated many more businesses over the years – since 1999 Trewin has run a total of 15 businesses with 30 business partners across three countries.

He says his interest in small business started as a child. When he was about 10 or 11, he collected horse poo and sold it in the town where he lived, and he also started a business mowing lawns.

“I loved the feeling of earning money from my own initiatives and ideas,’’ he says.

His parents operated – and grew – a successful fuel distribution business, so Trewin says he was destined to follow them into the business world.

When he left university (he has degrees in computing and accounting), Trewin took a job at PricewaterhouseCoopers – which he describes as his only “real job” – but he moved on after a couple of years and started two internet companies when he was 25.

Trewin, now 49, actually started a blog about 12 years ago, when he moved back to Australia from London, bringing together answers to the most common business-related questions people would ask when he was mentoring them.

The domain name (growasmallbusiness.com) was still active, so in 2019 he decided to launch a business podcast.

There were already a lot of business podcasts in existence, but Trewin felt most related to larger business, or business success.

“Starting – let alone growing – a small business can be really, really hard,’’ he says.

“It’s a lot harder than people think. I wanted to show the good and bad times, and the mistakes people had made, as well as the successes.’’

Listeners agreed, and the Grow A Small Business podcast is now booming, with more than 400 episodes released and three new episodes being produced every week.

Trewin records two episodes a week, while his business partners record the third.

“It’s been great,’’ Trewin says of podcasting.

“I’m really enjoying it.

“I just really enjoy talking business with other business owners.’’

His best advice for anyone wanting to start – or grow – a podcast is to be consistent and post regularly.

Figures show many podcast creators quit after just a few episodes, either because they haven’t attracted the following they’d hoped for, or because it takes far more work than they had anticipated.

Also know that podcasting is a skill that takes practice and you will improve along the way – Trewin still refuses to listen to his first three podcasts because of how terrible he thinks they sound.

Trewin, a self-confessed “efficiency geek” who listens to podcasts at 1.5 speed while doing other things like driving and exercising, also suggests delegating – he spends two hours recording his podcast episodes each week then sends the audio to someone else for all the post-production work.

PENNY TERRY

As a former journalist, Penny Terry was drawn to podcasting as a storytelling medium. But she’s also found a market for helping other people create podcasts, training individuals and organisations in the art of crafting engaging and successful audio.

And demand for her services continues to grow.

Figures from a recent Infinite Dial Australia report show that Australian podcast listenership has hit a new high, with an estimated nine million people listening to podcasts each month.

The study, conducted by Edison Research with support from CRA, LiSTNR and Triton Digital, found 43 per cent of Australians aged 12+ have listened to a podcast in the past month, while in the 18-24 age bracket this figure jumps to 70 per cent. Weekly listening among Australians is now higher, per capita, than the US. One in 10 Australians aged 12+ now listen to podcasts daily.

In 2017, only 10 per cent of the Australian population listened to podcasts. However, with the advent of Covid-19 and people spending more time at home, podcasting gained significant traction. By 2021, the percentage of podcast listeners had risen to 26 per cent. And now, in 2023, 33 per cent of the population aged 12+ – an estimated seven million people – are listening to podcasts each week. And they’re each consuming an average of five episodes per week.

Figures also show that podcasts now outnumber audiobooks by about six to one.

So it’s hardly surprising that a growing number of Tasmanians are looking to podcasting as a platform for sharing stories and are wanting to churn out quality content in a bid to satisfy audience demand.

Terry first considered starting a podcasting business in 2018 but the demand wasn’t there. Fast forward to 2021, after the pandemic changed our digital consumption habits, and Terry – who has worked as a communications specialist since leaving the ABC in 2017 – was increasingly being approached by people asking for help with podcasting.

She runs courses to help people to understand the basics of audio storytelling, and helps them understand their audience. She also trains people to be better talent, if they are likely to be interviewed on a podcast.

Some of her clients are creating podcasts as a hobby, most are small business owners or thought leaders or not-for-profit organisations who want to share their messages in a new and engaging way.

In some instances Terry manages the podcasts from start to finish – working on the planning and the execution and even becoming the host.

The 41-year-old currently has four podcasts.

The Penny Drop consists of one story, shared in five minutes, once a fortnight; with a penny-dropping moment every time.

Terry also hosts Rule of Thumb with the Women’s Legal Service, helping listeners better understand topics like domestic violence and sexual harassment.

She hosts the Get Psyched podcast for Headspace Launceston, helping promote better understanding of mental health through the sharing of stories by young Tasmanians, along with insights from clinicians. She also hosts another podcast called HealthSpeak? – a short podcast that bans big words and rejects health jargon so you can find the help you need to be as healthy as you can be.

Terry says many people mistakenly think serious information has to be boring, but this isn’t the case, and podcasts are a great way to present serious information in an engaging way.

Figures show the most popular genres in podcasting are crime, health and wellbeing, and comedy. There’s also hunger for new content in science and environment, food and beverage, fashion and beauty, and storytelling and fiction categories.

Terry says the great thing about podcasts is that they are constantly evolving. She says listeners respond best to authentic presenters so make sure you’re letting listeners get to know the real you.

“The way to find your own voice takes time,’’ Terry says.

“One of the best things about podcasts is they are a living, breathing thing, it’s not like when you write a book and it’s out and it’s done, every time you start a new episode you’re starting again, so you’ve got time to find your voice.’’

Terry says promoting a podcast with the right artworks and description was also key and there are thousands of brilliant podcasts out there but many listeners don’t know they exist.

“People think about content and conversation, but you’ve got to get them to click (on your podcast),’’ she says.

Terry’s biggest tip for people wanting to make – or grow – a podcast is to understand their audience, and their listening habits.

If your podcast is aimed at busy parents with young kids, or office workers taking a quick break from their computer, then a short and snappy seven-minute podcast might be best. Or if they’re in the car commuting to and from work each day they may want something longer.

Figures show co-listening is a growing trend with one in three Australians now enjoying podcasts with others – often while doing other things like exercising, driving, or household chores.

“One of the most beautiful things about podcasts is that they add value to the listeners’ lives and become an effortless way to get education and entertainment into our heads,’’ she says.

TIPS FOR CREATING A GREAT PODCAST

»Find your voice and be authentic. Listeners want to know the real you (and they are good at spotting fakes).

» Clearly identify your target audience and what you want your message to be.

» Be concise. Longer podcasts are OK, especially for more in-depth topics, but don’t waste your audience’s precious time with unnecessary waffle.

» Post regularly. Consistency is key. Consider recording a few episodes prior to launching your podcast so you have plenty of content to keep listeners interested.

» Don’t give up. Figures show the majority of podcasters give up after the first few episodes because they underestimate the amount of work involved. Be prepared to work hard in the beginning, it will get easier.

» Delegate and collaborate. Not everyone will be great at all aspects of creating a podcast. Consider partnering up, or outsourcing production tasks, if you don’t have the time or skills.

» Remember everyone has an interesting story to tell, you just need to pay attention and ask the right questions to uncover that story.

» Serious stuff doesn’t have to be boring – you can still talk about serious topics in a fun and engaging way.

» Promote your work. There’s no point making a brilliant podcast if no one knows about it.

MORE TASSIE PODCASTS

Get Frank – SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY founder Mitch McPherson, pictured, engages in candid conversations with some familiar, and not so familiar, Tasmanian faces.

Gone Girls– The Mercury’s Amber Wilson revisits the disappearances of tourists Victoria Cafasso and Nancy Grunwaldt to find out what police detectives and locals think happened – and if they’ll ever be able to put these ghosts to rest.

Two Tassie Chicks – Two Tasmanian women in their 20s talking all things mental health, body image and social standards.

FontCast – A podcast dedicated to Tasmanian news, politics and business from Font PR, with Brad Stansfield, Becher Townshend and Win News’ Alex Johnston.

Whisky Waffle– Two Tassie blokes – Nick Turner and Alex ‘Ted’ Matthews – having a tongue-in-cheek waffle about the world of whisky.

The Lost Ones– A crime podcast about those who vanish in Tasmania’s wilderness, hosted by Mercury reporter Amber Wilson.

Saving the Franklin – Revisit the biggest environmental movement Australia has ever seen: the 1982 Franklin River Blockade.

Driven By Nature– Interviews with people who are working to protect – or are working in harmony with – the Australian environment. Focusing on the island of lutruwita/Tasmania, telling stories of place, exploring hard-fought campaigns, in-depth ecological research, community care and science communication.

The Wolfe & Thorn Podcast – CC Thornley (banjo) and Emily Wolfe (fiddle) play and talk about tunes from the rich history of Tasmanian folk music.

She’s On The Money – Millennial money expert Victoria Devine, pictured above, hails from Launceston. The financial adviser turned author and podcaster has produced 500+ episodes and shares her foolproof tips for financial freedom in this easy-to-understand podcast which has had more than 30 million downloads.

177 Nations of Tasmania – Mark Thomson aims to find one person from every one of the 177 nationalities represented in Tasmania’s 2021 Census and tell their stories.

Gin in a Mug– heartfelt conversations between Tassie friends Sally Rose McShane (an entertainer) and Amanda Jane Smith (a nurse) who meet the challenges of caring for their children with life-limiting conditions, with tears, laughter, gin and a podcast.

The Property Pod – a fun and accessible look into Hobart and Tasmanian property with 4one4 Property Co agents Patrick Berry, John McGregor and Aaron Horne.

SEN Tassie– all things sport from Tim Paine and Brent Costelloe in this radio show/podcast.

Pedder Unplugged– a podcast about Tasmania’s Lake Pedder, told by the legendary Pedder people themselves. Episodes explore the wild adventures, humorous mishaps and heartbreak of visiting the original lake in the heart of Tasmania’s World Heritage Area.

Tasmanian Language Cafe– A podcast about languages spoken in lutruwita/Tasmania.

The Crime Collective – a new podcast by hosts Ben, Claire and Butch which delves into current and historic true crime.

That’s what I call Science!– bringing a new perspective to contemporary issues facing Tasmanians, through the lens of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).