R!WC shares the entrepreneurial stories of coffee industry pros and coffee education with tangents onto creativity and science.

"Don’t be afraid to ask smarter or more experienced people for help."

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Today Ryan Woldt, the creator of Roast! West Coast Coffee Podcast shares his story of making the entrepreneurship podcast.

► Tell us about you and your podcast

The Roast! West Coast coffee podcast is superficially about coffee, but there is so much more that goes into it. We release two episodes per week (in-season). The first is an interview with a coffee or coffee adjacent professional—cafe owner, coffee roaster, coffee farmer, green coffee buyer, importer, barista, doctor, designer—and on and on. The number of careers that connect to the industry is much bigger than I anticipated.

The interview episodes delve into the stories of how someone got from discovering coffee to deciding to pursue it as a career to where they are now. We learn a lot about the motivations of entrepreneurs and how a product like coffee is experienced worldwide. Coffee provides the base, but it is the entrepreneurial journey and the passions that inspired it that are the star of these episodes. Roast! West Coast gives the guests a platform to share their stories. As an entrepreneur, I”m fascinated by what motivates individuals to pursue a particular career path. Roast! West Coast focuses that attention on the coffee industry.

The second episode each week is a Coffee Smarter episode. As the host, I play the coffee idiot on the show and ask our roster of coffee experts questions about coffee. It isn’t a difficult role for me. The experts answer questions that cover a wide range of topics including coffee science, making a better cup, how to use equipment, building a coffee bar, styles of coffee, and the list goes on and on. The experts are all coffee industry professionals who are sharing years, even decades, of coffee education. The show has grown enough that in Season 7, I’ll be splitting the Coffee Smarter episodes off onto their own thread.
 

► Why & how did you start this podcast? 

The genesis for R!WC occurred years ago when I had the opportunity to open a coffee/beer bar. I backed out of the deal at the last moment. I didn’t know anything about coffee, and I didn’t want to depend on someone else to run such a key component of the business. It bothered me that I backed out because I didn’t know how to do something—namely, make a good cup of coffee. My friend Chris O’Brien was opening Coffee Cycle. I asked how much he would charge me to teach me about coffee, not because I was going to open that business, but because I was peeved at myself.

He needed help in the new cafe, so we negotiated a deal. I worked 1-day a week in the cafe and offered business and marketing advice. In return, he taught me coffee. I didn’t know that he was this coffee genius. I just knew that he knew more than me. In the early days, he walked me through the basics of coffee, the history, the economic impacts, and industry. It was awesome. I said, even then, that we should record those training sessions!

I had already left the restaurant I was running when the pandemic hit. I had written a book and was planning a book tour. I suddenly had nothing to do. I was listening to an obscene number of podcasts. I remembered all those mornings talking about coffee. Podcasts were an obvious medium to share all Chris had taught me.

The first episode was released less than a month after ideation. Chris was the first expert, and I cold e-mailed coffee roasters I liked. Almost everyone was willing to spend an hour chatting. I knew less than nothing about the tech side of podcasting, which worked in my favor. It needed to be easy for my guests and myself. The first episodes were recorded on my phone or video chat. It was a very low budget. A few episodes in, I stumbled onto a new video chat recording software that recorded mics separately and I d.i.y.’d a little studio in the bedroom closet. The Roast! West Coast coffee podcast was in business.
 

► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?

I intentionally made the show seasonal enabling me to take breaks. The Roast! West Coast team is a team of one, so I use the breaks to learn new skills, set up the seasonal calendar, and develop my relationships with the sponsors.

Seasons are 20 episodes long, and during the season, I release two episodes per week—one interview and one coffee education pod. During the off-season, I release classic episodes or shorter check-ins with past guests. For every minute of audio recording, I estimate it takes another 6-10 minutes to edit, upload, and share. I also write an accompanying newsletter that takes several hours per week.

Until recently, I was working a full-time marketing job, two part-time jobs, and had a few side hustles. I finally reached the limits of my mental capacity. The quality of everything was suffering slightly, and I had to cut back, but instead of doing the smart thing and cutting out the side jobs, I decided to quit my full-time job to focus on this podcast and writing books. Those were the things that I was most excited about doing every week.

I’m privileged that I have the opportunity to pursue this path. My Wife and I worked insanely hard to pay off our student loans which was a huge relief. We aren’t intending on having kids, which has enabled us to save since paying off the loans, and we live in Southern California, so we’ll likely never be able to afford a house and all the expenses that come with them. Also, my Wife has a much more stable career. Without her support during this creative period, I wouldn’t be nearly as willing to take the risk.

The show started as a self-funded effort but with little to no funding. I didn’t know if it would work, if I would be a good host, or if anyone would even want to be a guest. It took a full season before I decided that I’d keep it going as a more concerted effort.
 

► What do you gain from podcasting?        

If you don't consider labor hours…the show became self-sustaining very quickly. After the 1st season, I contacted about a dozen local roasters and asked for a small monthly sponsorship. The response was overwhelmingly supportive. My goals of uplifting craft coffee, supporting small businesses, and past track record in the hospitality industry helped alleviate fears they may have had. In the six seasons since, I've only had one sponsor turnover, and that spot was filled the same day.

I launched the newsletter component to enable me to add a paid subscription option. The podcasts have always been free, even in the newsletter. The paid subscribers help support the growth of the show. Moving forward, they'll be receiving more paid-only content.

In the early seasons, I sold some advertising, but the time and effort that went into those ad sales weren't worth continuing. It would be a great way to grow revenue, but it will have to wait until I graduate up a level in show growth.

I don't particularly enjoy the money side of the business. I love making things and putting them into the world for others to enjoy. This show benefits me beyond the money. It keeps me engaged with other humans. I was very locked down for the pandemic's first years, and even now am taking a slow path toward worldly interactions. In the first seasons, I met a ton of new people in an industry I'm passionate about, which made life better in a multitude of ways.

I was also learning a ton about coffee—a topic I'm very interested in—and how the industry works. The show interviews never go exactly as expected. I've found that when I give people a platform to share, they often reward me with incredible insights. Even now that I do go back into the world, mostly for coffee or to support my creative efforts, I've found the podcast to be a great way to connect with people far outside my bubble. That said, the plan, the hope is that the cash money benefits will catch up to the intrinsic benefits at some point.
 

► How does your podcasting process look like? 

I interview guests over Zencastr, a video chat software that offers me the ability to record different guests on different steams, giving me more control over the editing process. I record the shows from a small studio I built in my bedroom closet. It's covered in noise-dampening cushions, and blackout curtains block the view of my flannel shirts on the rod.

There is a lot of noise in my neighborhood. I live next to several restaurants, down the street from the fire station, near the highway, under a flight path, and near a military base. Oh, and the train whistles a few times an hour as it passes the station. I spent most of my early efforts trying to block out that noise and learning how to properly set up a microphone so it doesn't pick up the ambient noise. The software helps because I can delete noise on one side of the conversation in post-production or mute my side while my guests are talking.
I prepare for each episode by researching the guest and prepping a list of topics to discuss. There are a few that I reuse each week that help me open and close the interview The other questions are specific to the guest, their work in coffee, or the coffee smarter topic at hand. I want to know enough that I can ask intelligent questions, but not so much that I'm not interested when they actually give me the answers.

I'll send some prep questions and log-in details to the guests ahead of time so they can prepare for the interview. Then right before the conversation, I log in early and ensure all my equipment is working and connecting properly.

The downside to the closet studio is setting up and breaking down before and after each show. It is the only place in our apartment for our clothes! I've looked into renting time at a recording studio, but the convenience of being able to work at home has offset any audio benefits I might receive. I'm still limited by my own editing capability. I think audiences are willing to forgive the occasional sound hiccup if the content is good.
 

► How do you market your show?

Great question. Really. How would you market it? I have always been focused on providing quality content consistently first and marketing second. The newsletter was the first major marketing-inspired effort. It enabled me to reach out to e-mail lists I already had from other creative efforts and helps me grow that list into the future.

After a show or newsletter comes out, it gets shared on various social media sites multiple times. There are so many platforms for the show to be heard on that I could never focus on sharing them all. I stopped trying to cover all the social media options because the return on investment was so low. Of the last 10,000 clicks into the newsletter, only about 3% of them came from social media links. In my experience, it’s low-hanging fruit but without a lot of substance in return.

I turned to alternative marketing efforts. I partnered with a local newspaper that shares the show in exchange for a weekly coffee culture column, and I set up in-person events at sponsor cafes. I’ll set up a table with my laptop and mic and a sign that says, “Why do you love coffee?” The microphone attracts a lot of attention, and often the people I meet will at least give the show one listen, which is all I can ask for. If one in ten become subscribers, I’m doing alright. I can’t reach as many potential listeners with this method, but the engagement is so much more meaningful.

Finally, I go to a lot of coffee shops. I give stickers to every barista I meet and tell them about the show. My core listeners break down into two categories. First, industry professionals or aspiring industry professionals who want to learn more about what it takes to start a cafe, have a career in coffee or hear the stories of their peers. Second, a lot of listeners just want to know how to make a better cup of coffee at home. Spinning Coffee Smarter sessions off onto their own thread next season is a direct response to requests from this second group who aren’t as interested in the entrepreneurial journey episodes.
 

► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?

Don’t be afraid to ask smarter or more experienced people for help. I didn’t know anything about editing audio, so I found someone in my sphere of influence who works in audio and asked them where to start. They gave me some names and links that led me to the information I needed. I felt more confident moving forward because someone I knew to be good at their work helped guide those first decisions.

Remember that listening is a skill. I like to talk and tell stories, but this show is more about the stories the guests share. I try to give them the space, even an extra uncomfortable second, to do so. Often that pause will enable them to take their response to the next level. I’ve been really surprised at how many guests have been willing to get vulnerable, even cry, when talking about important moments that led them to their career in coffee.
 

► Where can we learn more about you & your podcasts?

Subscribe to the newsletter and receive the podcast in your e-mail inbox each week at www.roastwestcoast.com. There are free and paid options. I appreciate everyone who reads the newsletter or listens to the podcast but paid subscribers are a huge reason this show continues to grow and tell stories. Fans can follow @roastwestcoast on Instagram and Facebook.