Why Don’t I Have a Podcast?

It seems like everybody has a podcast, including lawyers. So why don’t I have one?

Believe me, I thought about it. I like interviewing people, and a podcast is a natural vehicle for the kind of “content marketing” I already do.

But when I started to think seriously about doing a podcast, I realized there were two good reasons not to start one.

First, doing a podcast takes time, and time is a precious resource. This is true for just about any practicing lawyer, but especially a lawyer with a solo practice.

When I first went out on my own, I thought I would have all the time in the world for business development. But even then, when I was hustling to get enough client work to keep myself busy, I quickly discovered how little time there is when you’re the one doing everything for the firm.

And that’s even more true now, on my second shot at solo practice. This time I have more client work than I can comfortably handle, so time management is critical.

You might even say that learning to “say no” to additional work may be the most important skill for a lawyer to develop. There’s even a podcast you can listen to that covers this point.

Check out this podcast interview with Austin lawyer (and now lawyer recruiter) Karen Vladeck, who also finds time to be married to a famous law meme. Karen talks about “the power of saying no and how you say no in an effective way.” You just don’t have time to say yes to everything.

But that’s not the only reason I said no to doing my own podcast. The second reason is less obvious, but maybe more important: I don’t want to lose focus.

See, I already have this blog you might have heard of. It’s called Five Minute Law. Plus I have a YouTube channel, That Non-Compete Lawyer. Plus I give CLE presentations for other lawyers. Plus I do a lot of other non-billable stuff.

But the blog is at the center of my content marketing, and I figured out that even if I could make the time to do a podcast, it might dilute the strength of my blog.

So the decision was made. No podcast for me, although I did write a little jingle as my podcast theme. So now I have the jingle, but no podcast. Maybe I’ll put it on the YouTube channel sometime.

Then a funny thing happened. My friends Todd Smith and Jody Sanders at the Texas Appellate Law Podcast invited me to be a guest on their podcast.

This was the best of both worlds! I got to be on a podcast, but without investing all the time it takes to host one.

And I think my episode turned out pretty good. We covered some great topics that will interest appellate and non-appellate lawyers alike, including:

• the importance of finding your niche for business development
• the impact of recent changes to the Texas ethics rules on lawyer advertising
• things to watch out for in the jury charge in non-compete and trade secret litigation
• traps for the unwary in temporary injunctions

Interested? Go check out the February 24, 2022 episode of the Texas Appellate Law podcast.

If you have the time.

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Zach Wolfe (zach@zachwolfelaw.com) is a Texas trial lawyer who handles non-compete and trade secret litigation at Zach Wolfe Law Firm (zachwolfelaw.com). Thomson Reuters named him a Texas “Super Lawyer”® for Business Litigation in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

He doesn’t have a TikTok either, but his daughter has two.