Increase Your Downloads by Trying Something New

Unedited Transcript of the Episode:

Andi: Hi, I’m Andy smiley, your friendly podcast guide. I help you elevate your podcast and feel less alone while you’re doing it. Today, I’m sharing a conversation I had with one of my kids all time. Favorite kid podcast, creators. His name is Mr. Jim and he and his team are helping kid podcasts become as popular as YouTube kits. I didn’t just talk to Mr. Jim. I also got to talk to Steven, who is the creative director of Mr. Jim’s company story button. Stephen is the creative genius behind many of the story button, original shows that my kids and thousands of other kids absolutely love. Including pixel quest. Which is the show we’re talking about today.

Andi: I have two guests with me today, which is very fun to talk all about PixelQuest.

I have Jim and Steven. And to say that my entire family is excited about this interview is an understatement. My kids love PixelQuest. So we’re very excited to have both of you on the Friendly Podcast Guide today.

Jim: Thanks so much for having us. We’re excited to be here.

Stephen: Very much so. Thank you.

Andi: Totally. . So before we dive into pixel quest, I have a couple of questions just to introduce you to my listeners a little bit, so the first question is, what is the last podcast you listened to for you?

Not for editing, not for research, just for you.

Jim: Andy, your listeners have to know that I, so my name is Jim, but, uh, the kids in the world know me as Mr. Jim. Personally, me, I am so nose deep in kids podcast world that I really don’t have time to listen to much of anything else. So, you know, if, if I’m going to Venture a little bit into podcast. It might be the all in podcast.

It might be, , a little bit of Kelsey brothers for some pop culture, uh, so if I find myself lost and outside of the kids podcast world, which is not frequent, that’s my, that might be where I end up

Stephen: So I am a huge, uh, soccer football, uh, nerd. So I listened to a ton of like soccer podcasts. My favorite one that I listen to right now is, um, a whole bunch of BBC, um, Like just really amazing reporters. Uh, the podcast is called the rest is football and just like, they keep like cycling in like, you know, strikers and, and, uh, coaches and players from like the last 20 years to talk about like current events.

And I’m just a geek for that stuff. I love the modern games. So, uh, I love anything related to soccer or football.

Andi: That’s awesome. My partner, Scott is very into. All things soccer as well. So I don’t know if he’s heard of that one and I’m definitely going to introduce

Stephen: Oh yes.

He’d, he’d love it. It’s a whole bunch of classic dudes from like the, the eighties, nineties who are like BBC reporters today. He’d love it.

Andi: Okay. Done. Yeah. I already wrote it down. So perfect. Thank you. Um, okay. Last question to introduce y’all is what is a simple life hack that is making your life better right now?

Jim: Besides story buttons, besides story buttons. Um, Steven, do you, do you have a life hack right now?

Stephen: I am in love with writing everything down right now. Um, for a very long time, I just tried to keep things like in my head or it’s like, Hey, I’ll, I’ll act on that later. Um, but I’m very intentional now about just creating lists. But for me, it has to be very specific handwritten lists. If I actually take the time to process it, um, Move my hand, you know, I, I tend to remember it better, but then also like it’s closer to me.

And if it’s in physical print, like it’s something that’s like sitting on my desk and is usually open. Um, so I’m finding actually writing stuff down at this moment is a better, um, way to keep track of all my little daily tasks and notes then to keep something electronic. Um, with my iPad, I can convert all that stuff into, you know, in electronic, uh, note form.

Um, but my first stop is always to write down these days.

Andi: I’m the same for the most part. I like to write things out and I think for me, it helps me to, it gets out of my head better. I feel like when I type it, sometimes it still stays in my head, but if I can just write it out, I feel like it finally like leaves my brain, which is essential.

Jim: So my hack is I’ve, we’ve only done this three days. So it’s not quite, uh, I can’t comment on its, uh, success or failure, but, uh, Jocelyn and I, we are leaving our, our phones charge in the kitchen, um, instead of next to our bed and we got an old alarm clock, um, that we will wake up to. And so we’re, you know, just trying to go to bed a little earlier, and wake up earlier without having our phones in the room. I’ll report back.

Andi: well, I was gonna say maybe I’ll just ask you how that goes in a couple months and see if it’s been a good fit. But I’ve heard a lot of people do that and it’s been a good thing.

Now we’re going to dive in to pixel quest itself. Um, Mr.

Jim and Steven, what are your roles with Pixel Quest?

Jim: Yeah. So, um, my name is Jim Jacob, founder, CEO of story button. So story button is the easiest way to listen to podcasts off of screens. So it’s an independent device that it sounds like your listeners have heard of before possibly. And, um,

Andi: I talk about it often.

Jim: So our story button, um, started producing originals, um, that were more than just Mr.

Jim’s voice. So me, Mr. Jim, I’ve been telling stories for many years and, um, several years ago, my kids started listening to this podcast called into the portal and it turned into adventures of the star keepers. And. Have you heard of either of those, Andy?

Andi: No, actually, I’m excited to add them to my

Jim: They’re good. Into the portal. Start there.

Um, and, uh, anyway, so these were like these full on produced radio dramas that my kids loved. And I found the, the creator of that show and is the guy standing right here, Mr. Stephen here. And I was like, Stephen, you got to bring that magic over here into story button. And help us create these incredible, um, shows.

And so we started with miles, the brave, which I’m sporting the shirt for miles, the brave, and, uh, which was super fun. Um, just an incredible production. And then we did treasure galaxy, another scripted show. And then I said, Steven, so miles and treasure were both, uh, kind of birthed out of my brain. And then, um, we brought in some really talented writers who we can, you know, talk about in a minute or so, um, to help bring them to life.

And then I said, Stephen, like, what do you got in there? You’re a super creative guy. Like, you got the keys. Go build

Stephen: So much in here. There’s just, it’s just always spitting.

Jim: And, and so Stephen created Pixel Quest. I don’t even know how it’s, it’s truly an incredible. It’s a masterpiece of a show that is loved by a lot of lot of kids. And, uh, yeah. So Steven, how, where did this come from?

Stephen: So my inspirations growing up were always, um, old school Nintendo, super Nintendo games. I loved any book series, um, that put you as the reader in the role or in the company of heroes. Um, and so I think that when I sat down to create the series, I was like, I want to tell a story of heroes.

However, I know that one of the things that I always struggled with was how do I know like what I’m the hero of, and then what is someone else’s story for them to tell? And so I was kind of wrestling with that for a little bit, because it’s a little bit, it’s a little bit hard to tell a kid like, Hey, this is what it takes to be a hero.

Because a lot of times. Heroic actions happen in small ways. Um, it’s, it’s being, it’s being nice to friends at standing up for someone. And so someone’s heroic path might not be someone else’s heroic path. And so a lot of that, I guess, um, tension and struggle was going through my mind as I was You know, trying to come up with a series.

How do we tell a kid that they can be a hero? Um, when they might not be fighting Giants, they might not be fighting dragons, they might not be fighting massive villains. And so really, especially with the character aid, and we wanted to really start by. Highlighting the small ways that he would be a hero.

We wanted to highlight the ways that he was really good at, uh, defending his friends. He, you know, was really good at solving puzzles and using his brain first before he would move into any sort of like physical action. There might be other people who are good at that stuff and you can do that, those things responsibly.

Um, but that’s not exactly Aiden’s. It’s not his, his path to do. He’s a leader. He’s a quiet leader. Um, so we really wanted to kind of show that type of, of, of growth and, and, and put that type of a character into the spotlight with pixel quest. And, um, so definitely inspired by a lot of the old video games.

So really it just came to kind of marrying the soundscapes of those games, the ideas of those games, a lot of the character archetypes of those games, but then blending it with a very modern message.

Um, and so what emerged, especially in that, um, You know, first episode of pixel quest was really the struggle of a, of a young man trying to find his way in the world. And someone who’s kind of getting older and his friends are going off on different paths and he’s just trying to figure out what’s next for me.

And so by saying, I’m not going to follow their path, I’m going to follow my own path. He ends up going on his own grand adventure. All that stuff. So yeah, that was really the, the gold pixel quest. And that was kind of what was going through my mind is how do we show this representation of a young hero whose bravery doesn’t look like other people’s bravery.

Jim: Awesome. And, and so that was amazing. Great job.

And, uh, so Steven wears a lot of hats, but creative director of story button. And so there’s a lot of other shows currently in the works. With a lot of new stuff coming out, um, and, uh, so we’re very excited to have Stephen super creative brain leading the way with all the, the content that’s coming out

Andi: Yeah, that’s awesome. And I do have to say, okay, I have like so many things to say, but I feel like y’all are just the best. So first of all, Miles the Brave was definitely the first favorite of our house. My seven year old loves animals. So now I can’t remember the big tiger

Stephen: Packs. Yep.

Andi: Yes, loves, we love packs at our house.

But yeah, I feel like pixel quest just captured my kid’s imagination.

I have seven, five and two year old and my seven and five year old are just obsessed with pixel quest. And I think Truly, I think a lot of it has to do with the, like, voice talent that you guys have for Pixel Quest. So I was going to ask, how, how did you find these awesome people to voice these fabulous characters?

Stephen: Yeah.

Jim: So it is like seeing the experience in a couple different. Expressions of shows, like it really comes down to having a great writer and a great script come together. But then also, like you said, the talent that brings it to life. And um, so Steven, you know, why don’t you walk us through like how, how we went about writing it? Um, you know, finding all these incredible voices because they’re, they seriously like made pixel what it is,

Stephen: Yeah. So they, they really are the best. Um, they are some of the most kind, generous, especially when it comes to time, when it comes to, to taking retakes, there’s some of the most amazing voice actors I’ve ever worked with. So a couple of years ago when I was working on into the portal and adventures of the star keepers, um, I met someone who really, really Changed my whole trajectory.

Um, because even then creating podcasts, I mean, this was probably, I want to say like 2017, probably a gym. I think that was around the time you started your podcast

adventure.

Jim: were before me

Stephen: Oh, wow. Well, yeah, so 2017, I met, um, this amazing lady, um, still work with her today. Her name is Lisa Biggs. Lisa is incredible. She’s been also been in the voiceover world for about 20, 25 years, and she’s been working independently. And over time. She’s been working on developing a talent network, um, of people that she’s worked with in the past of people that she knows are amazing. Um, and so we really just said, Hey, if we did this thing, how do we bring this to life? And she’s like, well, Hey, I know all these people and I try to help.

Different companies out by sending auditions out. And I try to, you know, they’re my friends and I try to get work for my friends. I was like, well, I might have some work for your friends. And so, um, when into the portal and star keepers, uh, was running, I would just say, Hey, Lisa, here’s some auditions. I’d love to see who you can get to read.

And she would hit her entire network. Um, just say, Hey guys, this is someone we believe in someone who’s got a great message for kids who wants to create something that. Just doesn’t exist in the world right now. And so when voice actors hear that and they’re like, Hey, this is a real opportunity, number one, for me to do something unique, but number two, put something like positive into the world, voice actors just jump at it.

And so When, you know, Jim came calling, it’s like, Hey, let’s create some shows together. I was like, Hey, I’ve got a lot of people that I’ve been working with for a while, who would love to do something like this.

And so for really our first couple shows, if you listen to like into the portal and adventure, the star keepers, you will hear some of the same voices from those shows. In Miles, the brave, like my buddy, uh, Cade, who, um, was the character flash in those old shows is the voice of miles in, uh, miles, the brave.

And so it’s just really cool. I think a lot of it’s longevity and I think a lot of it’s also building a reputation to be an employer or a creator that people want to. Work for,

Andi: Definitely. Okay. So you just have to walk me through really quick. So you say, Hey, I’m looking for a character like Pork. And then they just like send you lines that you sent to them? Or like, how does that work?

Jim: It just poof. It just happens.

Stephen: they nail it. Yeah. So one of my jobs as the creative director, especially for say a show that like pixel quest, that is very like kind of near and dear to my heart as I’m writing it in my mind, even though it’s a podcast and I know it’s like written down, I’m still seeing it play out in my mind. Like I’m still seeing these characters move.

I’m seeing, you know, miles, you know, going through the, through the jungle with Petra and packs that aside, like I see these. Um, scenes unfold and because I can see these scenes unfold, it helps me obviously be a better director, but also it helps me like kind of get a visual of what I think these people are.

And so when I think of pork, I think of some little stout, hairy, you know, uh, very, um, gosh, well, uh, what was Danny DeVito’s dude from, uh, Hercules? Um, gosh, what was his name? But

Andi: But yes, I can, yes, that, that’s a really good visual for Borg.

Stephen: hundred percent.

So in my mind, I was like, I was like, Oh, it would be hilarious to like juxtapose Aiden with this type of a character. And so it really just, you know, kind of spirals from there. I was like, he’s gruff. So he’s kind of talking like this the whole time. And he’s, uh, he’s, he’s rude. He’s kind of abrupt, but at his core, he’s a good person.

Jim: I think the world wants to hear pork story, you know, like there’s, I think there’s a lot going on with pork because you know, his mom is a big deal. And there’s, I think there’s a story to tell with pork.

Stephen: Well, it’s funny, it’s funny you say that because, you know, as we were developing these characters in my mind, I’m every time we introduce a new character, I’m running threads. So I’m saying this character needs to have this kind of a plot line. This character needs to go this way. And so I don’t have my journal with me, but you better bet I’m writing down every single one.

I’m like, you know, I don’t want to spoil too much because there’s, you know, obviously this is in a, this isn’t a world we’re done with. Um, but I’ve got a couple ideas for spinoffs of pixel quest that I just can’t leave alone. Like I’m like, we have to go in that direction. Number one, because it’s a story that’s cooking, but number two, it would be a disservice to take these characters this far and then not take them farther.

If that makes sense.

Andi: definitely. Well, and you I bet you like come to love these characters and like cherish them, right? You’ve spent so much time with them. So you’ve got to, you’ve got to let their stories be

told.

Stephen: I’ll, I’ll tell you, it’s, it’s also hard. And Jim, you can attest to this, how many times we have called our voice actors by their character names in emails and calls. Cause it’s so funny because it really, what you really see is, especially by the end of three seasons, there’s a blending of these people together.

And so it’s like, I love the characters. I love the actors. And it’s just so funny just to see, like. Their energy and like their personality is just who they are really kind of coming through, help through these characters. And it’s really, it really is great to, um, just see, their energy, their personality, um, come to life through the podcast.

So yeah, it’s very easy to kind of, um, I don’t know, feel attached to them because you really are attached to the people behind the microphones for sure.

Jim: So Andy, when we have the, kind of the process is we get the scripts written for maybe the first season, and then we go out and cast. And so, uh, between Steven and Lisa, they’ll throw it out to the pool to say, Hey, This is what we’re looking for for pork and you know, we might have like what Stephen was saying, we might have earmarked somebody for the role of pork or ate in or whoever, but you know, we’ll, we’ll get many, many, many auditions for each role and then just make sure that we choose the best fit for the part.

Andi: That’s a lot of listening to different people. Does that get old?

Stephen: Honestly. Yeah. That’s a great

answer. Yeah. I would, um, I would even say that people take the time to invest into us with an audition. I think we kind of owe it to them to kind of hear their best foot forward to, and like I said, you know, You’ll run into something where you’re like, Hey, you’re a not now, but I see you for something later.

Like there’s potential here. Um, and so it’s very important for us to immediately try to at least start building a relationship with that actor and saying, Hey, Loved you let’s put a, let’s put a pin in it and come back to it. Um, cause that, I mean, honestly, just being transparent and honest with voice actors like that.

It’s a, it’s a hard, it’s a hard job. Like there are so many auditions out there. There are so many people that don’t call back. So I think just giving them the, um, you know, Hey, we love this, but I’d maybe change this next time. Um, been doing that for a long time. That’s always worked really well for, for us when it comes to building rapport with voice actors.

Andi: That’s awesome. And I feel like. When you’re able to do that, then they’re excited to audition for you again, right? Then you’ve got more people that are ready and willing to be a part of one of your

Stephen: 100%, 100%.

Andi: I feel like we’ve kind of danced around. It sounds like a weird way to say that, but like, I feel like we’ve kind of talked about it, but I want to, I want to hear from both of What is your favorite part of creating PixelQuest? OOF

Stephen: Um, I think so hands down my favorite, wow, gosh, hands down. No, I can’t. Okay. I have two favorite parts. The first one, the first one I’ll just go and say, when I get a new episode and then I get to kind of throw on my headphones and just dive into it, there’s, it’s amazing, right? I love it. Um, but I would say the only thing that tops it is the way that we do.

Recordings with our actors. We try to do, um, what we call like a cast recording with all of our actors, where we get everyone or as many people as we can on zoom together. Um, we bring in people who have their own studios, microphones, whatever, to be able to record within their own space. Um, but what that allows us to do that allows us to build out recordings on zoom, where we have seven, eight actors.

On a call together. And so we just tear through the script. Number one, it’s great for efficiency. Um, it also helps me as a director to be able to say like, Hey, is this the way I see it? You know, uh, one of the things Jim and I were working on an edit for earlier was like, Hey, those characters need to be a lot farther apart.

Like there, we need to have distance. And so we’ll go back and we’ll say, Hey, we I need you guys to like step away from your microphone, like five feet or so, and then kind of yell and kind of cup, like help them with like the physical acting of voice acting. And we get to see that when everyone’s on a recording, we actually get to see that happen live and we get to give live feedback.

And it really limits the amount of back and forth that we have to do, um, because then the actors get to play off of each other too, which is really important because that’s what actors do extremely well is they build off of each other. They, yes, and they can feel the intensity of the moment and change their, uh, modulation so that they can better match that.

So you get a more cohesive. Product by the time everyone sends in their audio. So for me, I love the recordings, um, that we do. And they’re always huge, big cast recordings, tons of fun. Um, we can only get off track sometimes, it’s, it’s a great experience. Yeah.

Jim, what about you?

Andi: Yeah, that sounds like a

Jim: way better than mine. But honestly, my favorite part is telling my kids there’s a new episode the world stops and they all gather around my phone and listen and feel incredibly privileged to be one of the first ears and kids to hear an episode.

And, and so like, Um, one of my kids, Malachi, um, he, I, I really consider him, um, the critic that I care about the most. And he, he just like it, um, he’s my guide to know if, if something is funny or if it’s connecting and he’s the one that like really like it dives deep into the story. So I, I’m always looking to his eyes.

And just like seeing if it’s connecting and that’s, that’s my, the, like, seriously, the scorecard that I care about is, is what does Malachi think about this?

Andi: That is lovely. I think on both sides. It’s fun that you have a kid that loves what you do and it’s like ready to give constructive feedback. That’s

Jim: in the world and Steven and all of us, like, I feel so privileged that I get to work hard all day for something that my kids enjoy. Actually think is cool and not, uh, are not embarrassed of yet.

Stephen: Yeah.

Jim: they still think it’s cool.

Andi: Seriously, , that’s awesome. You’re not an accountant and they’re like, I don’t care what accountants do. So this is one of my favorite questions to ask because I never know what kind of answer I’m going to get. So what has been the most surprising aspect, um, since you started pixel quest, like what’s been the thing that kind of came out of left field, like you weren’t expecting it, but you love it.

Or maybe you don’t love it, but it was surprising.

Jim: So we, we haven’t really even talked about the sound design element of, of the show and just all the shows that we make, but that’s, that’s always like a really important part of any of these shows that comes together because the script gives sound direction. And, uh, it’s all written down.

Um, but that has been, I guess, something that I’ve been incredibly surprised. It was, so we work with, uh, a guy, Nicholas, who he was the sound designer on pixel and just, you know, Hearing how Steven worked alongside of him to really like bring this out and pull it all together. It’s always like, uh, mind blowing to me of watching it go from on script into like creating the world with like that you can hear and that you can like close your eyes and it feels like you’re there.

Jim: Like that’s just insane magic to me of like, how does, how does he make that happen? It’s just so good.

Andi: Seriously. Well, and especially with a video game, I feel like there’s so many sound aspects that, make it feel like you’re in a video game, right? You’re not on the outside looking in, you’re in the middle of it. Yeah, I completely agree.

Stephen: Yeah. I think it’s so important to hit those first couple episodes and to really make sure that you’re locked in. And I always tell my writers, whenever we sit down to write a new series, I The first two episodes are going to be hard and same thing with a sound designer, like, but that’s our job as people who cast vision for, for these podcasts to say, Hey, if I can’t describe it to you in a way that You know, impresses me.

And it doesn’t come back in a way where I’m like, we nailed it. Then I didn’t do a good job communicating that to you. And so the communication on the front end to be able to build, and I’ve been using this term for years, but it’s a soundscape, right? Whenever we develop a serious, it’s always like, Hey, what’s the soundscape for the series?

You could call an audio font. You could call it a soundscape, but it’s like, we need to. Establish that first and we need to have like a sound library. I think, you know, for a pixel, um, Jim, you and I, we had, um, uh, put together a whole bunch of music. Um, and I think we did the same thing for miles and treasure too, but music is part of it.

Jim: Yeah. For me, for me, music is the easiest way to set that soundscape and to really like capture the emotion of like, what’s going on, where are we? And I, yeah, I think that is, is definitely step one in the process. Think Uh, stranger things or interstellar or any, any of these, like, Amazing theatrical movies or shows like music is, is always such a important part of that. But then imagine removing the visual element of a movie, how much more important the music is to setting the tone.

Andi: totally. Yeah. Okay. Steven, what was the surprising thing for you Pixel quest.

Stephen: I think. know, I think for me, the most surprising thing was actually after we started releasing episodes and Jim would actually bring in, um, like real quotes from parents about what their kids thought of the episodes. And I think that goes such a long way in number one, just confirming the work that we put into it.

Um, it encourages the team, but it also challenges us. It’s like, Hey, now we have. A name to go with someone’s story. And that’s going to push us even harder to create something for this mom. Who’s a single mom with a kid with special needs or, , a dad who’s working with a kid who has dyslexia.

When we start putting, faces and names. To the reactions that we get to the downloads that some people might just see as a number. Um, it really brings a human element to storytelling that makes us want to do a better job for our audience. Um, and so now that I hadn’t really, really seen that before, but I feel like with pixel quest, it was more pronounced than it has been, um, with other series and it was just been, it’s honestly, it’s been really touching to The reception that that series has gotten, and it’s really impacted us, even from, you know, our writers, audio engineers, talent directors, VO people, um, you know, all the way to, um, you know, some of our web guys, um, guys who are kind of building some backend stuff for us.

They love the episodes and they love hearing, you know, Jim bring in real human stories, um, into what we do. It means it really does mean a lot.

Jim: Yeah, it’s, it’s incredible. Uh, like each of our shows if we’re just talking about miles and treasure and pixel, like they each have their own thing going on. But for some reason pixel has, has really connected with a lot of kids and, and, I think, you know, one of the magical things about it is I think it’s made for the kid that has never listened to audio before it’s, it’s made for the parents that are like, my kid would never listen to a podcast or Would never have the attention to sit down and listen to something, but this was made for that kid.

And so I think we broke into some new audiences, broke into some new households that had never quite experienced this before, and so that’s just so fun to see.

Andi: Definitely. So I love to give kid podcast recommendations. It’s one of my favorite things to do. And whenever someone says my kid really likes video games, what are some kid podcast recommendations? My first one’s always pixel quest. Cause it’s not about video games. You get to be in the video game.

And I will say, I say this all the time, but for anyone who thinks that their kid will not sit and listen to a kid podcast, just give them something to do with their hands and then they will sit there, they will listen for a very long time.

My seven year old will listen to pixel quest or just anything really on the story button for like an hour or more. While doing Legos, , I will admit my family is very pro podcast. We listen to podcasts all the time, but your kid can sit and listen for 15 minutes.

Like, I promise, like give your kids some credit and put something in their hands, magnet tiles, Legos, coloring pages, and they will listen to a kid podcast. I promise.

Jim: Absolutely. Yeah, cars are a good entry point.

Andi: Mm

Jim: Kids are sitting still, can’t go anywhere. That’s a great spot to like, win their attention with a show. And, uh, then when you’re at home, maybe during lunch or during playtime, that’s when, uh. No, it’s those are great times to put it on.

Andi: completely agree.

Yeah. Road trips are the place where I introduce new kid podcasts to my children because they can’t leave.

Stephen: well, I was going to say my kids do this thing. I can tell when an episode is hitting hard because we listen to it. You know, we have a, like a 15 minute drive to school and that’s like exactly the amount of time, like a podcast, a kid’s podcast link should be roughly. Um, and so my kids do this move where they each kind of turn their head and then each like look out the window and then they’re looking in different directions, each of them.

But I’m like, Like I know their, their brains, like, they’re just kind of shutting off everything except for their, like that little creative part of their brain. And so they’re just kind of like looking off, just kind of like listening to it and kind of soaking it in. And then like the whole car ride is just like, it’s just so quiet.

I’m like, they’re thinking hard about this. Like they’re processing this. They are, they’re getting a little, you can tell, like, they’re getting a little closer to the speaker, you know, they’re kind of like leaning into it. I’m like, yeah, God, man, this is a

good

Jim: I don’t think I told you this. Um, at that church a couple weeks ago, somebody came up to me and was like, Oh, the kids are loving their story button. And, they were saying, this one son of theirs, who’s, I believe, eight. That he goes out to the backyard and turns on his story button and she’s like, there’s like seven or eight other boys in the neighborhood that they all flock to our backyard to listen to the story button and listen to pixel quest and. She’s like their moms asked me all the time. They’re like, what are they listening to? Like, I’ve never had, like, my son has never cared to listen to something, but why does he keep going to your house to listen? Like, what are they listening to? And so it’s just they’ve started this little club, in that neighborhood of of a whole bunch of boys getting together in the backyard to listen to Pixel Quest.

Like, how insane is that? Are we in, are we back in the eighties right now that kids are hanging out in the backyard, like listening to something on the radio? Like what is going on?

Stephen: It’s the world serious, pa. Jim,

Jim: like 1950s, like gathering.

Andi: We knew what you meant that. Oh, I love that. And that has been my kids experience as well. They’ll, they’ll have friends come over and they’ll be like, mom, can we just go listen to the story button? I’m like, uh, do your friends want to listen? Yeah, they do. I told them about Pixel Quest and now they want to go listen.

And then usually the mom afterwards is like, yeah, they really like that.

Where can I find that? And I was like, we have it on a story button. Pretty sure you can find other places. I was going to ask you though, where else you can find it? Cause we just listened to it on the story button.

Jim: Yeah, good question. So you can start listening to pixel quest everywhere and anywhere that podcasts are, um, I believe on Apple and Spotify. There are 15, the first 15 episodes, um, are available to listen and then. The remaining 15, um, are available to either, um, people who have a story button device. Then you, so when you buy a story button device, you, that’s like your, your pass, your lifetime pass to all story button originals. And then if you don’t have a device or if you want to listen to on the go, then you do need to be , part of our paying community. So story button plus, which is on Apple podcasts or. Spotify has a way as well.

Andi: Cool. Okay. Well, now I know I, yeah, I literally, someone asked me that the other day and I was like, I do not know because we just have a story button. So now I know for all the future questions that I’m bound to get, I just, yeah, we love it. And I love telling other people about it. So thank you for making what you make.

Jim: Absolutely. I, I’m selfish. I just made it for my kids because I was tired of leaving my phone in their bedrooms while they were listening to bedtime stories. So I made it for myself and then I guess you bought one. So thank you.

Andi: I did. Yeah.

Story button is just the best. So one thing that I feel uncomfortable talking about, but I’m forcing myself to talk more about is money.

So I have some money questions for you.

First of all, do you, do you make money from podcasting right now?

Jim: We, our company does, yes? And then,

Andi: what I meant. Yeah. And you pay yourself. I’m assuming. I hope you do.

Jim: Yeah. Do you want to know numbers and details or what would be helpful for your

Andi: Let’s start with how do you make it? Like, what is the, what is the money making thing in your podcasting world right now?

Jim: Great question Don’t feel awkward asking that question. You should ask that question because you’re talking to professionals and That’s your your listeners. I’m sure they’re like what number is he gonna say? It’s gonna be five dollars or what is it? So

Andi: it’s more than five. Cause you’ve got a whole team to pay.

Jim: So Mr. Jim is, uh, there’s a line of shows that I make stories for that. And there’s, there’s a deal signed with I heart. Um, so, uh, they provide a minimum guarantee. Of revenue each year. And so that, um, that money was really foundational in creating story button. So they provided, like I signed one of the largest kid podcast, I believe the largest kid podcast deal with I heart. And. Um, it’s, it’s a, it’s a good sum of money, most money I’ve ever seen in my life. And, um, and so we, my, like we chose to just live on an 80, 000 salary and then the rest of that money just pour into developing story button. So the device, just like the company, the infrastructure, like everything. And, um, so a lot of that money goes into story button.

And then there’s. The device we’ve sold, uh, I believe we’re at about 8, 000 devices.

Andi: dang, that’s

Jim: Since last August. And, um,

Andi: like

Jim: last year, I believe we did about a million dollars revenue in the company and this year we’re tracking for three or 4 million and, um, which is awesome. And, uh, there’s a lot of, uh, momentum and a lot of exciting things happening with some new partnerships that are.

That are in the works , but we’re very much still in the growing phase of the company. So there’s a lot of money coming in and a lot of money going out. So, uh, yeah, we’re, we’re grinding away to, you know, I, I want story button to be something very significant. And I believe the kid podcast industry for this, for the sake of the industry and the sake of the creators and all of us story button plays a very pivotal role in the future of the kid podcast industry.

So we need to make story button very successful so that other creators can continue making a living, doing what they want to do in creating audio content for kids and family

Andi: I think story button is such a, like a pivotal part of kid podcasts.

Well, kid podcasts are very popular. They’re one of the like growing podcast categories, but I want that to continue. We love kid podcasts and we need as many as we can get.

Jim: Yeah. We, we’ve been saying that the, when I say we, the industry of kid podcasts, we’ve been saying that we’re still a growing emerging category from, we’ve been saying that for many years and, uh, from an industry side, we are not breaking through. Like, I think we need to, um, from a consumption, from how much is being listened, like when you stack it up against YouTube numbers,

like, the biggest shows in kid podcasts do single digit million downloads a month. Like the biggest of the big do three million a month. That is the top end that needs to 10 or 50 X for, for our creators and our shows, um, to be able to like make a sustainable living. And, and so like story button, we have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to creators to continue supporting what they’re doing.

And that’s like for, for kids to get off screens and for there to be great audio content, it requires money and lots of listeners and lots of families, you know, they’re, everyone’s very used to everything being free and I’m just watching free videos on YouTube that cost thousands of dollars to produce, but we get to watch it for free. YouTube is set up in a way that that monetization is very built in and easy. Kid podcast and audio content. It’s, it’s not set up that way yet.

Andi: Yeah, I agree. I’m hoping for that yet to be sooner rather than later, but yes.

Jim: and so the YouTube industry is very healthy for its creators that create that content because they can make a living out of it. And, and that’s what I really want to see. That story button is a part of that solution towards helping creators do this sustainably.

Andi: Totally. I love that. Okay. Before I let you go, I have some very specific questions from my kiddos who love pixel quest about pixel quest. The first one is easy. The last two, honestly, I don’t know the answers to, so

Jim: Well, you’re, you’re talking to the right people. I, I

hope between Steven and I, I hope we have the answers or we’ll make one

Andi: That’s true. You can just, you know, you’re the writers, right? Like you can be like, Oh, I will just write that into later. Another, that’ll be another plot line. Okay. So the first one is my five year old is wondering, are there going to be more episodes in the pixel quest universe world?

Jim: I’ll take this one. And then Steven’s probably going to have the answers to all the other questions. Um, so there was a particular adventure and maybe call it a quest that, uh, took 30 episodes to resolve. And, uh, so there are 30 episodes published and listened to by and hundreds of thousands of kids.

And, um, and so that’s the end of that quest. Aiden, Pork, and all the other characters, we love them so much, and it has been very obvious that others love them very much too. That, yes, there will be future quests and future Adventures that will absolutely come in the future

Andi: Oh, good. Okay. That, that will be a happy, that’ll be a happy breakfast conversation tomorrow. Okay. The next one. My seven year old asked me this and made sure I worded it correctly because he made me read it back to him. So here we are. Okay. Why didn’t the heroes fight the trappers when they were looking for glitch before the heroes met up with Aiden?

Stephen: Okay. Without giving up, you know, without giving away like too much, if people haven’t seen, um, all of it. So referencing something that happened in season three, um, of pixel quest kind of right towards the end, it’s one of their big, Biggest, um, it’s like a two part little mini, I guess in video game terms, you could call it a boss fight really that happens in, um, season three.

So why didn’t they take them out before? I mean, probably in my best, in my best explanation, it’s a, it’s a large world and I feel like with the heroes. being so pressed once they found out glitches plan that, you know, there are certain things that just take priority. Um, and so I feel like they would have said, Hey, there is a lot of stuff going on, but it’s important for us to stay focused on, you know, the next little bit.

Correct thing for us to do. We can always go back and we can always take care of these guys later and, you know, bring justice to the woods and all that stuff. But right now our main mission is, is glitch. Unfortunately for them, that also then kind of started the whole events that brought, you know, aid in and, and pork together.

Um, so I’m sure it was not an intentional oversight. It was just a victim of circumstance that the heroes weren’t able to kind of go clean that up before they fought glitch the first time.

Andi: Okay, cool. Thank you. That’s a fabulous answer. And I honestly didn’t even know who the trappers were. And I, I feel like I’ve listened to most of the episodes, but I missed that in like the in and out of mom with kid podcasts going on in the

Stephen: Well, I.

Actually going back to that, I remember specifically texting Jim when those episodes came in and I was like, these two episodes that this whole kind of boss fight went through. So they’re my favorite two episodes in the whole series. I was with Wesker and then I’ll, and all those guys in the woods.

So I texted him specifically. I was like, these two are the ones that I was looking for out of the season. Forget the finale, forget everything else. I said, I know that the sound design on these two episodes is going to be amazing. And specifically because, um, the guy who plays Cain is a good friend of mine.

We’ve been working with him for years. Uh, his name is Brent Mukai and. For me, those two episodes was going to be, it was going to be a showcase of what Brent can do. And he just brought so much energy and enthusiasm. And he just like, he screamed, he’s like drillster strike. And I was like, yeah, I had like these big meaty sound effects behind it.

And, um, for me that those were. I just love those episodes so much. Two of my favorite

episodes in the series, for sure.

Jim: hunter was hunter a trapper.

Stephen: Hunter. So, uh, this is a little fun fact, , so Hunter McCoy, um, who plays Aiden,

Jim: aiden is the lead

Stephen: Oh, so

Jim: who don’t know,

Stephen: we wanted to cast Wesker and we’re like, we need this like kind of menacing, very bandity, very, um, highway men type like vibe. And it was honestly a little bit hard for us to cast for a lot of people were playing it very, very rough.

And I was like, ah, we need a little more like sly, a little more sly than rough. Right. A little more cunning in his voice. And so Aiden came back with his own audition. So there were scenes in there where it was Aiden. Oh, yeah, sorry. Sorry. You’re right. I did it again. You’re so good. You’re so so Hunter was playing Aiden.

And then Hunter was playing Wesker in the exact same episode. And he was talking to himself back and forth. One,

Jim: would never know. He’s he’s so good.

Andi: Okay. Yeah,

Jim: to blow your son’s

Andi: my son’s going to be really excited about that. Yeah. , one last question for you actually to, um, my question and then my son’s other question.

What made you decide to have Aiden not be able to level up?

Stephen: Yeah. I think initially my thought with that was , because we don’t have the help of visuals, we needed some other way to sort of denote that he was. I’m going to say that other people were kind of gaining strength around him and that he wasn’t able to do that as long as he was following someone else’s path.

Um, and so for us, the video game system of leveling up in stat points and all that stuff, Really lends itself well to, um, I mean, kids play that stuff all the time. They, they, they play Minecraft, they play roadblocks. I mean, it’s just what they just play video games. So they’re very used to that type of system.

So that’s an easy way for us to explain that, you know, Aiden doesn’t have what we would consider to be anything special. You know, about him. So in that first episode, we have a friend who’s like a level 17 and a friend who’s a level 11. And so that gives us a very easy way to say, Oh, Aiden’s only a level one.

So that very quickly establishes that his assumed power is much lower than everyone else. And it just, it really says like. Oh, this guy, you know, he’s, he’s a nothing, he’s a nobody. But then we quickly realized it’s only because he’s trying to compare himself to others. I think it’s that, that old adage. If you, um, if you, if you grade a fish by how well they’re able to climb a tree, you know, you know, so he’s trying to climb someone else’s tree is not until he kind of, you know, starts learning to lean into his own strengths, um, that he’s able to, you know, start walking his own path.

Jim: I wonder if in future pixel quest episodes that, you know, we’ll learn more about Aiden’s family and his mom. Who’s with the bird people. And

Stephen: When I wrote that little bit, I was laughing for hours.

Jim: When,

oh my gosh, those that those scripts I remember, so I was in Abu Dhabi, Jocelyn and I were both in Abu Dhabi when I was reading those scripts, I was in a, we were in a startup accelerator for two months in Abu Dhabi, crazy experience, um, in January and February. And, um, but that’s where I was. I remember sitting on next to the pool.

It was a Sunday afternoon and I was reading through these scripts and I too am like, laughing out loud, actually LOLing and Joss was like, what are you doing? And she’s not as like, Jocelyn is not of as big of a fan of pixel quest as we are. Um, uh, so anyway, kind of went over her head,. She just doesn’t like video game, kid podcasts. About

pork and Aiden

Stephen: one’s perfect. It’s okay.

Jim: she’s probably she’s also heard them like 1000 times in our house, so she’s kind of sick. She’s really looking forward to this next show coming up called Wilder Dreams

Andi: Oh yeah, I

Jim: teasing. We have four new shows in production.

Wilder Dreams, which is a show about a horse ranch in Montana, and there’s this girl Bailey, and she has an incredible story to tell. Um. And then Umi is an alien that crashed on earth and is obsessed with sports and wants to learn all about earth sports. Uh, we have, uh, Camp Scuba, which is, um, a, a camp about marine biology for, or it’s sold as a marine biology camp off the coast of North Carolina.

Where all these middle school age kids come, but they learn that it’s actually not marine biology. The camp directors are forcing them to search for treasure and scuba diving instead of learning about marine biology. It’s very strange. Um, and finally,

Stephen: Uh,

crew

Jim: Protectors. So, Kids Animal Stories, which you’re familiar with.

Critter Protectors is getting its very own scripted show. Uh,

Andi: Oh my, that’s lovely. My kids are both critter protectors. So there you go. Yeah. We have the little badges. We have the whole thing. We are, we are very thoroughly in the Mr. Jim universe at our house. So that’s awesome. Okay. I have one more question before I let you go, when did glitch meet glimmer? My seven year old is dying

Stephen: Ooh, yes. Um, that is a story that I want to tell. Um, I remember, um, when Glimmer kind of had her send off in season three, um, the very first thing that I wanted to do was like, I want to tell her story. Like, how did she get here? Who is she? Um, and so in my mind, I’ve literally built three seasons of

where we, I did immediately.

Number one, because Kat Pertano is an absolutely incredible voice actress. She’s, she deserves her own show. She’s, she’s getting one in the future. But, um, but then I was like, yeah, we got to tell her backstory. Um, without giving away too much, she kind of undergoes this like memory wipe and, and, uh, season three.

So it’s like, Hey, she needs to like. earn back her memories and figure out kind of where things kind of went wrong for her and how she kind of went down that path. Um, and so for me, that’s like , an ultimate like redemption story that we’ve got coming up. Like, Hey, how do you make bad choices in the past?

And then make sure that you make them right in the future. Um, so for me, there’s a lot of content there. Um, so, but that would be part of glimmer story that I’d love to tell in the future.

Andi: Okay, so we’re coming back to it. The answer will be forthcoming

Stephen: Eventually.

Andi: Okay. . Okay. I feel like he’s gonna be less excited about that answer, but also excited to hear it eventually whenever. Whenever it does come out. So. I love that. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you so much for your time. This has been so much fun to talk kid podcasts and pixel quest specifically thank you so much for chatting with me and making such an amazing show for kids Both that already loved kid podcasts and that were new to this fabulous genre

Jim: Thank you so much. I’m, I’m excited to hear that. Uh, it’s on re repeat with you.

Andi: It definitely

Stephen: Thank you so much for having us.

Andi: I love the passion and creative genius of these two gentlemen. I could talk to them for hours. So I wrote down 15 different things that I learned from this conversation and that wasn’t even all of the takeaways that I had, but don’t worry. I’m not going to make you sit through me talking about all 15. I narrowed it down to seven.

So here are the top seven things that I learned from my conversation with Jim and Steven. I honestly tried to narrow it down to five, but I just couldn’t. So here’s seven. The first one is cool backgrounds. Really set the tone of the interview. When you have a video podcast. My background in that video is not great.

But I still put it out because it was a really great conversation.

And. I have learned to. Start things ugly. And figure it out along the way. Today. So for this, I’ve tried harder to have a better background and I think it is better. It’s not perfect. We’ll get there. But I noticed with both Mr. Jim and Steven, their backgrounds were. Awesome. And they really spoke to the personality and like the branding that they have for their show.

So. One of my goals is to try and. Up the ante when it comes to my background. So keep an eye out and let me know what you think, which one’s your favorite as I try different ones. The second thing I learned is to make sure you’re impressing yourself with your podcast. At one point during the conversation, Stephen said, Make sure that you like your podcast, that you are impressing you with your podcast.

And sometimes I forget that it was a really good reminder for me. And I think with , all of the new changes that I’ve made with my podcast, I’m rediscovering how impressive I am and how impressed I am with my podcast. And I think pushing the envelope and trying new things and going beyond just the bare minimum is a great way to impress yourself with your podcast.

And it helps you just to be more excited about sharing it too. So. Make sure you’re impressing yourself with your podcast. The third thing is have fun with sound and music in your episodes. So pixel quest is definitely unique in that it’s a storytelling podcast, it’s in a video game, so there’s a lot of musical elements and most podcasts.

Aren’t exactly that way. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t use sound and music to elevate our shows. So that’s why I’m trying really hard to use more sound in my shows for right now that is sound with the intro sound with the outro and then, um, clips from whatever podcast I’m talking about that day.

But I’m trying to think if there’s other ways that I can add sound that will. Elevate my podcast even more. If you have an idea as police. Send me a DM on Instagram, I will take any and all ideas. The fourth thing that I learned from this conversation is to experiment and try new things. That speak to the edges of your niche.

So story button has had three other, um, original podcasts come out from their network, from the story button company. And they were very much. For their core audience. Um, and they spoke to that core audience and the, and their core audience loved it with pixel quest. They saw so much growth because they kind of took a step away from their core audience. I can tell you with children that are, that are in the story button, core audience, they still loved it.

The cardigans still loved it, but they were because they kind of took a step away from that And they told a story that kids that aren’t in their core audience would understand and would like they were able to reach so many more people. So I was trying to figure out how I could do that for my podcast.

And I think. For me right now. I think that might be talking to not just moms with podcasts, but trying like the edge of my niche is kind of like moms with businesses who have thought about having a podcast. That’s kind of the edge of my niche. Or maybe just moms with a business. The don’t even have a podcast or haven’t thought about it before, and maybe I have some sort of series, um, or maybe one of my months is, um, like themed around that so that I can hopefully bring in more people to my audience that can fall in love with my podcast.

That isn’t already my core audience. So. Just kind of think about that and try and think of who is on the edge of your niche and how can you bring them? More into the center, make them raving fans of your show. The fifth thing that I learned from this conversation is to make podcast adjacent things that make you money.

We all know that podcasting, especially in the early years, does not bring. Loads and loads of cash. That’s just kind of how it is right now with podcasting. As we continue to grow. And as the technology improves, hopefully that will change. But right now I really love the example of Mr. Jim. Um, he had been making his three original shows, which are.

Kids, short stories, kids, animal stories, and spiraled. Algae squad. He’d been making those for a while.

And I know that he was making money from those podcasts, but when he took that step to create story button and went a little bit outside of podcasts, but still very much adjacent and made a kid podcast player that is. One of the things that made him a lot of money. So seeing things that are adjacent to your podcast, if that’s for me, that’s podcast coaching. Um, but for if you have like a wellness podcast, maybe that is. Creating like a mindful journal that you can sell on the side

or if you have a kid podcast

that could be a, an event either in person or virtual that kids can attend and fall in love with your show even more and get that. Elevated experience with you.

The sixth thing that I learned from this conversation is to have a mission that you feel deeply about multiple times during our conversation.

You could just feel the passion that both Mr. Jim and Steven have for kids podcasts.

They have passion for the creators. They have passion for the listeners. You can tell that they love what they do

and that no matter what, no matter what obstacles come up, they will work through it so that they can reach their goals and fulfill their mission.

And the realization that I came to is that yes, I have a mission that I feel deeply about, but I need to be reminded of that mission more often. So I’m planning on, so I’ve typed this up and I’m going to put it on my wall. And I have a list of goals that I’m doing and underneath all of that, it says

because podcasting is a great way for women who still have kids at home to amplify our voices and serve our communities in a way that is flexible and effective. And when I can remember that. That’s why that, that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. It just makes it the hard days a little bit easier, or just helps me to remember why I’m still doing this on those hard days. The seventh and last thing that I’m going to share with you about what I learned from this conversation is that we need to collaborate and not push people down. Mr.

Jim has made a point of paying other kid podcast creators to help them create what they love and have them be a part of, um, story button and having their shows on story button while he is a kid podcast, creator himself. And I really love that example of don’t get intimidated by other people who are doing similar things as you. Elevate them talk to them, be in community with them instead of pushing them down or. Trying to like bury your head in the sand and avoid them.

Um, this is something that I am currently working on. It’s definitely something I think. It’s a human tendency to be. Worried about other people who are doing similar things or maybe are doing the same things, but in a slightly different way. Um, So this was my reminder to reach out and collaborate and. Become friends with and create a community with other podcast coaches because. It feels really scary to do that, but I know that if I have that abundant mindset of there’s enough for me and for you, and we can be friends and work together in the process. My life will go smoother and I will have more friends and I can always use more friends.

Will you share this episode with your podcasting friend who needs a reminder of how fun it is to create a podcast?

Jim and Steven will reinvigorate their passion for podcasting, just like they did for me. And I’m assuming for you too. In next week’s episode, we’ll dive into a conversation I had with Megan, the host of the search for the silver lining. And after listening to that episode, I promise that you’ll be inspired to get creative with the connections and assets that you already have.

You don’t have to learn anything new, just use the stuff you already have. And. Megan has some great. Examples of how she does that. Thanks for being here and I’ll see you next week.