Newsletter 012.

introducing the Nowhere Fast podcast (after 115 episodes).

when I started this podcast, 2 years ago… ish
115 episodes ago, I did them more sparsely in the beginning, but then I released 2 episodes a week for a bit, in an attempt to gain as much momentum as possible.
so around 2 years ago.
I was still running a shop, at that point I really hated it, and I was beginning to plot an Exit Strategy.

I started to romanticize the idea of doing a podcast / newsletter under the same name and logo I had already been forcing on my community since 2009.
hence why the store closed and the podcast started, at seemingly the same time, called Nowhere Fast, same logo, same website even.
I hated the idea that the brand awareness I had earned up until this point would be going to waste, and thinking of names is hard, so I was avoiding that too.
I actually almost like our website, and I had to learn the most of basic coding in 2015 to build it.
so I was pretty adamant about re-purposing that too.

without a doubt.
my favourite, and one of the things I knew I was going to miss most about my shop admitting defeat, was the conversations I was fortunate enough to have with the ecosystem of it all.
I do mean the customers…
but I also mean the delivery drivers, the staff of brands we carried, the people walking in because they were at the business down the hall, street people wandering in.
so I just started interviewing people.
people I had met through the shop.
My very first episode, A Conversation With TEEN, of Crack Gallery.
still one of my favourite I’ve done.
the sound quality is terrible, I barely know what I’m doing now, but back then I knew even less.
TEEN was someone who I met through my shop.
we carried his brand and his publications for almost the whole time we were open.
from there I went on to interview a ton of local people (local for me is Edmonton, Canada).
a few guests from outside Edmonton too, almost exclusively people I had met through Nowhere Fast (the physical space) in one way or another though.
I was trying to learn how to record and edit, and also listen and interview.
I wasn’t familiar with the term “building in public” when I started this, but I guess that’s what I was doing.

until recently, I was stressing the randomness of my guest list.
I felt like I had to be more definitive with regards to picking a lane to be in.
every time a certain type of guest’s episode preformed exceptionally well, I would find myself thinking “I should lean into that”.
then I would release what I thought was a more niche interview, expecting it to only hit with a few pockets of my community…
but it would get to my top 10 episodes (analytically) in the first 3 days of going live.
clearly the non-structure of it all, was a pro not a con.

I grew up skateboarding, and submerged in graffiti.
my girlfriend taught me a lot about clothes, and travelling, and food.
her, and all her friends are runners, so I was forced to know about that…
I work in marketing, and as a copy writer, and I’ve always liked celebrities and internet culture.
I’m into a ton of different things, that on the surface might not cohesively make sense to most people.
so that’s essentially what the show is.
I’m not at all suggesting that one must be built different to understand what I’m doing over here. I’m just saying it’s an acquired taste, and might not be for everyone.
and that used to bother me more than it does now.

Humbly.
this thing is actually starting to gain momentum now…
it’s not as much of an Edmonton thing anymore (no diss, I got a chance to branch out and took it).
I have some guests coming up that I know you’ll love.
I actually don’t even know why they agreed to an interview if we’re being honest.
if you’ve been here since the shop, or for a while, or are new to Nowhere Fast…
I want to extend a very sincere thank you.
it’s really great to have you here however you got here.
none of this would be even remotely without your continued support.

if you’ve made it this far, I kind of assume you already know this, but just in case.
You can find current and previous Episodes of the Podcast here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts

here’s a discord invite, to my Public Nowhere Fast Channels:
https://discord.gg/5jmfMf26fr
(it’s on my todo list this week to make our Discord great again).

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
.Wesley