Speaker 0: 5 reasons to get a podcast PO box.
Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast.
I'm Daniel J. Lewis.
Post office boxes or PO boxes or maybe called something else in
other countries, whatever they're called, wherever you are, they
require an investment, especially increasing the last few years
in The United States. But they could be worth it for you.
So I have 5 reasons that I think you should get a PO box or
whatever it's called wherever you are.
Just if I say PO box, just interpret that to whatever it is where
you are.
And you can get these kinds of PO boxes from your local post
office in The United States or even other providers like UPS,
maybe FedEx, and some other kind of delivery service like that.
There are even places that all they do is just have things like
PO boxes for people to be able to rent at varying prices and
varying sizes as well.
So I have for you 5 reasons that I think you should get 1 for
your podcast. Number 1, privacy.
Obviously, this is the thing that most people think of whenever
they think of why should I get a PO box.
They think, well, I wanna protect my privacy.
And that is certainly the obvious number 1 answer.
And in fact, all of these reasons tie back to the central idea of
privacy. But privacy alone isn't good enough.
Simply having the PO box doesn't give you instant privacy.
You have to use the PO box in the right way.
So that's what the remaining 4 points I'm going to share with you
will be.
And by the way, if you want to follow along in the notes for this
episode, they are a simple tap or swipe away, look at the
chapters, or go to the audacitytopodcast.com/pobox.
Moving on then to number 2, use your PO box for public records.
This could be, first of all, for your domain.
This is not so much of a concern these days because a lot of
domain registrars now provide at no extra charge what they call
Who is privacy protection.
And there's this other thing that's taking over for Who is
information, and that's RDAP, r d a p.
But it is when you look up the domain on a website, you might be
able to find information about who owns that domain.
This is how I got in trouble with the mom of a little boy who
owned danieljlewis.com many, many years ago.
I simply looked up the Who is information on that domain, saw a
phone number listed, saw that it was a residential phone number,
and there was a real name associated with the domain.
So I picked up the phone and called the number that was listed
publicly there on the Internet like any stalker would do.
And the mom was really angry at me, and I tried to explain, your
phone number is publicly visible here on the information about
the domain.
So I'm not stalking you or your son or anything like that.
I just wanted to call and talk about seeing if you want this
domain anymore and buying it from you.
Well, I have that domain now, but it's not because of anything
that happened with that mom finally changing her mind.
It's just the domain expired, and I got it.
But nonetheless, your domain could be revealing your personal
information.
Potentially, though, a lot of these domain registrars now will
protect your information for free.
Some places still charge extra for that.
Easiest thing to do is go look up the Who is or RDAP information
for your own domain, and I'll have a couple of links in the notes
for this episode so you can check that out for your own domain to
see if it shows your name and your personal home address.
But the great thing is if you have a PO box, you don't have to
worry about it.
You could associate your domains and any other kinds of public
records or almost any, I would say, public records with your PO
box instead of your home address or your business address, or
your PO box could be your business address.
Number 3, encourage your audience to send things to your PO box.
This is the most fun thing, and I have received some really fun
things to my PO box over the years.
And, yes, I still have the same PO box for forever that I've had.
It's PO box 739 Burlington, Kentucky 41005.
You can send fun things to me. Send me podcast swag if you want.
Send large donations. Send blocks of gold.
Send blocks of Bitcoin if you want or anything like that.
That's fun. Chocolates, cream sodas.
But you can encourage your audience to send things to you too.
The most exciting thing I've ever received was for my clean
comedy podcast that I used to host.
Someone wrote a story that they wanted to share on the podcast,
and they wrote it on a big inflatable ball.
I don't mean like basketball size, although that would be pretty
fun. This is even bigger than a beach ball.
A big inflatable ball.
They wrote their story and even their return address.
They put the postage on that ball and they mailed that to us.
That was awesome.
Other people have sent us fun things like stickers, magnets,
signs, posters, money, really fun stuff.
You can encourage your audience to do that same thing.
And most likely, the thing that's holding you back from doing
that is you're probably thinking, I don't want my audience to
know where I live. And that is a very legitimate concern.
That's why the biggest benefit of a PO box is privacy.
But this is 1 of the benefits that if you get a PO box, then
privacy is not only no longer a concern, but now you have this
added advantage of you're providing your audience with a way that
they can further engage with you and send you things back.
I frequently talk about the Podcast Profit Paradigm, p r o f I t.
It's what you and your audience can gain from your podcast.
Popularity, relationships, opportunity, fun, income, and
tangibles. That tangibles is perfect for the PO box.
Your audience can send you all kinds of things to your PO box.
Some things may or may not be legal in the state that you live
in, but still you can receive things from your audience and
encourage your audience to do so when you get a PO box.
Number 4, use your PO box as a secure delivery address for
retailers.
This may not be available everywhere and for every kind of PO
box, but it's something I've taken advantage of several times
where I can provide a retailer with my PO box for receiving
packages. Some places say, we don't ship to PO boxes. Okay. Yeah.
That's true. Well, here's a cool little trick.
Some post offices, at least here in The United States, will let
you send to your PO box by using the street address of the post
office. If you have a PO box, ask them if they can do this.
Usually, it involves adding something like simply Box 739, in my
case, to the address, or you say Suite 739 or Office 739,
something like that that has your number very obviously as part
of that address.
But it is the street address, and many places that say we don't
ship to PO boxes we'll ship to a street address like that.
As long as maybe their database system does not make addresses
completely unique where only 1 person can be associated with an
address per account or per site wide, that's something that I
think you would only have to be concerned about in the realm of
mail in rebates.
And do people do that anymore besides things like Menards and
their 11%, which I've been a big customer of lately?
A whole episode is coming about some of the stuff that I've done
recently in my house and how it relates to podcasting, but that's
coming up soon.
So you could use your PO box as that secure delivery address.
And I say secure because this means you could receive a package
and it's delivered to the post office.
They can sign for it if it's delivered during business hours.
They can store it securely for you, so you don't have to worry
about porch thieves.
This can also be great, not just simply for what happens during
the day while you might be at work, and then you get home at the
evening to discover that someone stole your package from the
front step. This could even be for if you're on a trip.
I've done this multiple times where I've ordered something while
I've been on vacation, and I've known that this is going to
arrive while I'm gone, so I'll send it to my PO box or the street
address of my PO box.
And I've received it there securely so I didn't have to worry
about it sitting on my front porch for days at a time where
someone could take it or it could be exposed to the elements and
the weather and damaged.
So you could use your PO box for that secure delivery address.
But before you do that, before you start using the street address
of your post office or whatever kind of provider you're using,
make sure you check with them.
Some places may charge extra for this.
Some places may not allow it at all.
But do look into that as an option.
And then number 5, you can boost your reputation with a hint of
professionalism.
It is really cool to say, you can send stuff to my PO box.
Well, not just like that, but to just give that as your address.
Yeah. I'm reachable at PO box 739 Burlington, Kentucky 41005.
And that's your address.
That's your business address, your podcast address.
If you do anything with business, then certainly you can also
deduct the expense of your PO box.
Make sure you check with your accountant though for sure, but
that's the way I do it and my accountants never had a problem
with that.
And this can then be a good investment for you to boost that
professionalism for you and your podcast, and then all of these
other benefits.
But especially the most exciting 1 is being able to receive
things from your audience.
So if for no other reason, except for the basic privacy that a PO
box provides, I think the top benefit for you of having a PO box
is then being able to get stuff from your audience, and that can
be exciting.
And if you ever need to send stuff to your audience, you could
use your PO box as the return address instead of your home
address. So think about that for protecting your privacy too.
So you could more easily send things out to your audience without
giving away where you live so that you don't get stalked or no 1
comes knocking on your door wanting to record a podcast with you.
So check out the notes for a couple of these resources I
mentioned over at the audacitytopodcast.com/pobox.
I, a couple of episodes ago, asked you to share your thoughts
about The Audacity to Podcast, and I would love to remind you
about this.
I've gotten some great feedback already, and I'm going to have an
episode coming up soon to discuss some of these things.
And I have tested something in this very episode, and I have a
few theories.
And so I'm looking for feedback, very general feedback.
And I'm looking to see how many people notice what I'm looking
for and how much of my theory can be proven true or false based
on the feedback I get. So it's really simple.
What I want is the answer to 3 open ended questions.
Number 1, what would you like more of from me or The Audacity to
Podcast?
Number 2, what would you like less of from me or The Audacity to
Podcast?
And number 3, what else do you want to tell me that's been on
your mind?
You can send that feedback to me at
feedback@theaudacitytopodcast.com or send a written or voice mail
through podcast feedback dot com slash audacity.
And now that I've given you some of the guts and taught you some
of the tools, it's time for you to go start and grow your own
podcast and get a PO box for it for passion and profit.
I'm Daniel J. Lewis from theaudacitytopodcast.com.
Thanks for listening.