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Q: Hello everyone and welcome to Podcast Italiano. Today's is a very special
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video because we have Erika after I don't know how long in a video that is not a vlog.
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E: Yes, that's right. Hello to all.
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Q: And do you want to explain the reason for your appearance,
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your return here on the YouTube channel?
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E: Yes, in a few days, exactly the…
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D: The 22nd of September, so maybe it has already passed for you who are watching this video.
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It is OK. It will be the birthday of Podcast Italiano, 5 years after the podcast's
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opening . And so to celebrate this anniversary - in any case five years is a long time
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- Davide decided to… do a Q&A, questions and answers, with your questions obviously,
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curiosity about the project more than anything else and he needed someone to read the questions.
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D: Exactly. We already made a video like that two years ago, if you remember.
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E: I remember a video in which we lit a candle on an improvised dessert.
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D: Yes, even today we should do something like this.
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It is OK.
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But before moving on to the questions I want to thank today's sponsor, which is NordVPN. A
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discount and 4 months free. Thanks to Nord for the support in these months and let's start with the questions.
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D: I have not seen them, I have not read them, Erika in the past 10
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minutes has done a job of selection, grouping, so I'm all ears.
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E: I wanted to make a premise before asking you the first question and that is that you have not
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seen them but I have read the messages a bit and there are many people who have not
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asked you questions but have complimented you, they thanked you for your work, for
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all the things they have learned from your videos. So it seemed only right to mention them.
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D: And it seems only right to thank all the positive comments you have made now,
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on this occasion, or that you always do. It is a stereotypical phrase but without the
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support of an audience such a project could not exist, so thanks to you who
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watch videos, listen to podcasts and support me in any way.
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E: Okay, so now we can start.
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D: Let's go.
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E: I'll ask you the first question which, let's say, is also the most suitable to start with because, in
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fact, let's start from the beginning, right? In fact, a lot of people have asked you why you
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decided to start with this project, right? I mention someone ... maricesar03,
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olgakedziora_ I think you pronounce it, sorry if I'm wrong to say your names.
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D: We're going to cripple them, [E: Right.] So excuse us in advance.
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E: Carlos Ss. And I know that someone on the Telegram group also had this question, so…
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Q: Telegram group of the Podcast Italiano Club, by the way. I myself was a podcast user
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like mine and I liked using podcasts as material to learn the languages I was learning and
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at the time I was much more passionate about foreign languages in the sense that I learned them much more
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actively than today [E: Yes .] and… and so I decided to do something similar simply.
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E: Well ...
D: And I also said it in a recent video with Alberto Arrighini, I told him,
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he inspired me a bit because I saw that there was already a project similar to what I
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wanted to do. it was his and I saw it even had a Patreon page,
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so I had already had some dreams like [E: Yes.] “I could do a similar thing too”,
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so… so thanks Alberto if you're watching this video!
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E: But then you had this idea of being able ... that is, more than an
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idea maybe this dream of being able to live there or was it born more as a hobby?
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D: Mmm. There was a bit of that dream, in the sense… I would have liked it. Don't ...
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E: But maybe you didn't want to say it out loud, did you? Out of luck, I don't know.
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D: Yeah, how to say… not… I realized that it was possible. As if to say,
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today I realize that you can live by opening an online project. In my field then I have seen
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many people doing it, I know people who have much bigger projects than mine who
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started doing something like mine and who have companies with 10-15 employees.
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E: Yes, in this regard, Anton was asking you on the Telegram group if it was something,
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let's say, premeditated, that you had been thinking for a long time or if it was a thing of the moment.
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Q: I've been thinking about it for a while, I don't remember if weeks or months maybe,
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I guess a few months before… how to say, find the courage to… do it. But if
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I can give some advice: if you have ideas like "I would like to carry out a project" of any kind
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in mind, better (if you can do it, it depends on the project), better ... better start now and do it, do
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n't ... don't think too much about it because one learns a lot doing things and not, how to say ...
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E: Meditating.
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D: Planning ahead.
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E: Yes.
D: So yes.
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E: More or less on this topic Atallia.n asks: "Was it difficult to create the podcast,
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design the site and find the first listeners?" So just a little more on a practical level.
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D: Well yes, there are some things that one has to learn to do, like ... like making a site,
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managing, what do I know, the more technical aspects, but it's not that difficult,
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in the sense, the information is there, so today then it's easier than ever. If you want to
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make a podcast you can do it with platforms that simplify the process a lot [E: Yes.], So ...
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E: Yes, well, even creating the sites is
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not [D: Yes sure.] As difficult as it could have been maybe all 'Start.
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D: You learn, that's why I say: you have to do these things to her,
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put yourself on and… and learn all these more boring aspects, but perhaps they are fundamental.
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E: In fact cuadernodeandre asks you: what is the impact,
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the biggest change that Podcast Italiano has given you?
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Q: Oh well, have a salary? [Laughs]. I have already said this in the past too: I
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have never worked in the sense of having a steady job, that is, I did a little bit while studying,
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but not very ... not very serious things, so this is my first real serious job. And so
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this is the biggest change. After university, I already had this ... this project
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was already underway, and so I was able to continue doing it. That's a change, to have some money.
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E: Well, I would say.
Q: So thank you for financing my house and food.
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E: Daniel Scarchilli, I think I am right, asks:
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"What would you have liked to know that you really didn't know before starting on this path?"
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D: Maybe what I said before: I would have liked to have a greater awareness
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of the feasibility, of the feasibility of such a project, but it is something you
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discover along the way. So I would have liked to have had this awareness more,
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maybe I would have taken this type of activity more seriously from the beginning.
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E: From before.
D: Yes, like, now I see people who have very new projects and ... they approach it
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with a more serious ... different seriousness, a seriousness, a more entrepreneurial mentality
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right from the start. It is clear that one must always have patience, if one thinks
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overnight of… no? Getting ... creating a salary is wrong, probably wrong.
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E: Well, I'll ask you a question that is perhaps my favorite from Portuguese with Leo.
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D: Speaking of ... Speaking of people who have started a project with a
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very entrepreneurial mentality: there is Leo, subscribe to his channel, he
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has been starting his project a few months ago, less than a year and it has almost my subscribers,
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in short, it is doing things very very well, so a great example.
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E: So yes, he actually asks you two questions. The
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first and most important is: "How do you get so much style?"
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Q: It's the power of foreign languages, isn't it? The more you learn, the
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more style you acquire. You see Luca Lampariello, right?
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E: Ah, I understand. The second question is: "How do you ..." He wrote: "Now seriously".
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D: Ah so it wasn't serious.
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It's right. Maybe he wasn't serious.
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Q: Now I am very offended with Leo.
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E: Asks, "How do you make sure you don't lack video and episode ideas?"
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Q: Why who said I don't lack ideas? Like pretty much all content creators,
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I guess, I have a list with lots of ideas. Then
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some ideas are more easily achievable, others… others less so.
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E: Maybe others have been on this list since you started,
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I sometimes see that they are always there, never realized.
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D: Yes exactly, it also depends on the periods then. There are times when you feel more creative
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and you get more ideas, other times when you are less. Sure reading helps.
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E: Yes, in fact I was going to say…
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Q: So if one makes videos in my case on Italian or even on Italian as,
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in short, curiosity about the language, clearly reading helps, it gives me a lot of ideas.
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E: There Bressan: "What would you do different from what you have done up to here?" I mean, is there
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something you may regret that you would do differently anyway?
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Q: Maybe I would have opened first the page on Patreon, my club, which I thank, I
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thank all the people who are on the club because they are fundamental,
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their support is fundamental. I think I should have started earlier because,
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speaking of thinking too much about some choices and planning too much, here,
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for me Patreon was like that. One thing that I would have done differently, that I would have made ...
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made fewer commitments regarding Patreon, because I do a lot of things on Patreon
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which is what makes it work in my opinion, because there are 800 people today, but
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it also takes me a lot time and therefore I cannot do other things that I would like to do or in any case it is more
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difficult. And I still don't learn from… from that because I keep doing new things for the
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club on Patreon, the book club, it looks like I'm sponsoring now and actually doing it.
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E: Any excuse is good for sponsoring the Patreon. Then… he asks, "Is there anyone
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you wish you had on the podcast," I guess as a guest means, "but you haven't had yet?"
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D: For example, Alessandro Barbero, whom you may know, is a very famous historian in Italy,
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also very famous among those who learn the language and I contacted him a few months ago to talk
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about his latest book and he answered me. I thought he wouldn't answer me why, right
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? I saw him as an unattainable celebrity. He replied after twenty minutes, however, refusing
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in a very very polite way, saying that he really didn't have time and couldn't, so ...
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E: Come on, but he's a gentleman anyway ...
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D: A gentleman, yes.
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It is OK. Then there are a few people who miss the podcast a bit. In fact, Timothy asks:
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“Why did you stop updating the podcast? I really miss". And Atallia of which we have read,
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I believe, a question already asks you before:
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“Will the episodes of Reflections be released again without transcriptions?”.
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D: Well, one came out a few days ago. Yes, I miss the podcast too. As you have seen,
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I have been focusing on YouTube for the past few months for various reasons. I do not know. Because… how to say,
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YouTube makes it easier for you to reach new audiences. Second thing: because ...
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because my time is limited and therefore ... I would do everything, but having to concentrate I ...
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I focused on YouTube. I also really like the interaction on YouTube, the fact
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that there are comments and all of that. Podcasts are more like… my feeling is:
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I do one thing, produce an episode and then throw it into the void. There is very little… very
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little feedback, to use an Anglicism that everyone uses [E: Acknowledgment.] A lot… But actually yes,
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it's more a matter of… of time and not being able to do it all alone. And there were
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other questions too, I don't know if you wanted to stay on this topic, of people, for example,
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if I'm not mistaken it was Lazlo on the club's Telegram chat asking if I have plans to create a
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team or a group, how to say ... hire people and… Yes, in the future I would definitely like to,
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why not? Today, as if to say, I realize that it can be done, many have done it.
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E: Yes.
Q: Oh, by the way, Vera also always on the club chat said the same thing: “If in the future,
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the club specifically, becomes too busy, would you hire someone to… to
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help you? What would be your doubts or… or risks if Podcast Italiano
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became a company with employees? What would you do to keep the essence as it is today? "
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I don't really worry too much about… about this thing, that if I hired Podcast Italiano
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people it would lose its essence. I don't believe it, I don't frankly fear it,
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I think ... that is, many do. And… how to say… yes, it becomes a more professional thing, maybe.
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E: So you wouldn't be, let's say, jealous of the project, like of… I don't know,
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sharing your creature, your child.
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D: I don't know, I should see but I don't think so. I honestly do not believe, on the contrary,
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I believe that the advantages would be much much greater, in the sense,
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the fact of not having to kill me, do everything myself. Then I think I'd kill myself anyway because
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in the end if you don't do some things you can always do others [E: Yes.] And then…
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E: You can always find a way to fill every moment.
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D: Yes. E: Then I kept the most interesting question a little pending
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. In fact, many have asked for it. I don't even know if I'll be able to read
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all the names because it's a super popular question. Everyone wants to know things like if you've ever
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thought about quitting the project, if you've had a hard time, what your difficulties were.
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Q: Well, surely in the beginning there were a few months when I didn't upload anything. The first few years
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when I didn't do it professionally there was certainly some moment of defeat ...
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No, not discouragement because in any case I wasn't even so tied (to the project) [E: Yes.] And therefore,
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how to say, not I published nothing for months and I didn't care. Since I have been doing it
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professionally and it's my job, so since ... the end of 2019, let's say, surely there have
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been times when I was in a darker mood, I saw things more negatively,
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but I think it's normal in any job. For me, 2020 actually went very well, even though
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the world was totally crazy [E: Yes.] And there was pandemic pandemonium. This year,
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2021 has been more difficult for me, it has been more difficult to keep motivation high,
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make a video a week or so, find topics to talk about,
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as Leo said. It wasn't actually as easy as it might seem. The lockdown then,
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always working here at home all the time, even that is something that sooner or later I will have to
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change because I am too sedentary. I live in this room that… in this
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apartment which is too small to do everything, work, live, etc., so…
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E: But I don't think you ever thought of leaving everything.
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D: Quitting doesn't, because in the end it becomes… it becomes your job, doesn't it? And this is
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my job, this is my… my life now. Abandoning it would mean having another life.
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E: Yes, really radically change.
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Q: And since I don't… I wouldn't know what to do but this,
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I wouldn't… I wouldn't want to change, I don't have a real reason to do it.
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Sure.
D: Is it true that being something a bit special you ask yourself if it makes sense, does such a project make
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sense , in ten years it will still make sense, in fifteen years, in twenty years
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I will still make videos on YouTube? I will podc… what will I do in twenty years? It's a question that
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scares me if I think about it for too long, but I think it's a question everyone asks, I guess.
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E: Yes, indeed.
D: So, that is ...
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E: Well, but then it's a question that in fact no one has an answer to because,
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I don't know, now one has desires, has aspirations, thinks he wants
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things that then maybe even just five years from now he won't want or want different things anymore,
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so I don't even know if it makes sense to make such long-
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term plans . Maria… Gonzalez asks: "Do you find this project more interesting now than
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before?" I mean, do you think it got more interesting over time? Well, I hope so.
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D: Well, I don't know, it depends on the moments. I mean, in the beginning, just when I started in 2016
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I was clearly full of enthusiasm, I was excited to start this project,
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so [E: Sure.] Maybe that was the height of enthusiasm. Then in the following years,
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how to say… it was variable. Then when I really managed to make it my job,
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so 2019-2020, there was also there ... there was a new wave of strong enthusiasm in my opinion,
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I was really excited about ... doing it as a job, not having to going to college more than I hated.
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Now mmm ... I don't know, it's an interesting job for sure, I talk about things I like,
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I do things I like in general, but it's also more, like, a routine thing, I do ...
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E: Yes, it has become normal .
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D: Yes of course, in the sense… I do interesting things in a job that has many aspects of
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routine. I do so many things that are always the same every week, every day [E: Yes.] And so it's not
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like one can be [E: Sure.] Always exalted all the time [E: No, in fact.], Always happy,
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too if… that is, I don't think there are jobs like that. But in general maybe ...
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E: Yes, and then in my opinion many things when you do them professionally also become
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anxious, right? In the sense that… that is, when something goes from being a hobby to being your
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job and it's the thing that actually feeds you and it also starts to become more of an anxiety, right
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? That of having to perform, in fact, both a sportsman and perhaps a freelancer
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, of always having to perform to the maximum, of having to maintain a standard.
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Q: Yes, of course, then if you have an audience there is also the aspect of
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audience expectations and if you make videos for 50 people or for 90,000 it's different.
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E: Okay, now I ask you a question from AD, finally a nickname that
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I can say easily because it is AD "If you had enough money and resources
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what project would you like to carry out, both related to the channel and on a personal level?"
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Q: Enough money and resources… which are always money resources I think, right?
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E: Yes, I think so, I don't know.
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D: Ok. I don't know, something in real life, I think, is… it would be interesting.
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It is OK.
Q: There was also someone who asked if I intend to open the
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Italian Podcast hotel in the chat on Telegram because it is something I talked about,
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I don't remember where, that is, we also talk about it every now and then, it would be nice ... well,
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I don't know if it makes economic sense to open an Italian Podcast Hotel…
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E: An “Italian Podcast Hotel”.
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D: But create live events or create,
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I don't know, summer camps or things… stuff like that, something in real life.
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E: Yes.
D: Not… not that the Internet isn't real.
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E: Yes, but maybe not online.
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D: In person, in person here. If I had a million euros, I don't know what I would honestly do.
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E: But certainly not a project, but a nice vacation and away.
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D: Yes no, but… well, I would definitely hire people if I had more
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money. I know it's trivial but if you hire people you also have to pay them.
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E: Eh. Well, then to conclude a somewhat ritual question,
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however: both Zoek and Sara ask what are your plans for the future,
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Sara asks you just the usual interview question "Where do you see yourself in ten years?"
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Q: And also Lazlo on the chat on Telegram asked "plans for the future". We have already said a little.
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Hiring people would be nice, I would like to take a course, I said that before, it's something I
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should have done years ago because it makes economic sense. Then I don't know. The future… I don't know.
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In five years, ten years it is difficult to predict where I will be and what I will be doing,
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but it also takes a lot of organization and planning. I'm not good at these things,
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at planning things, my planning usually doesn't go beyond seven days.
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E: Well, come on, but maybe you managed to improve a bit in that too, right?
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D: Thanks to you, among other things, that you said to me: "But D. maybe if you made a
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content plan for a month, maybe ... maybe this thing could help you?"
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E: Think what an idea!
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Q: I've been a content creator for five years and I said: “You know that…”
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E: You know I've never thought about it?
Q: And I want to thank you Erika because in the end you were a part ... an integral part of ... of
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this project, even if, how to say, sometimes you are not there for months in the podcasts, in the videos,
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but in the end in my opinion it is indicative of the your importance for this project is the fact
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that very often when people talk about this project, when they thank me they often
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thank you too. And so it means that… that you have been an integral and fundamental part.
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E: Beautiful, very beautiful.
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D: So thank you.
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E: Unfortunately yes, I would like to participate more, do more things,
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but unfortunately the time is limited and…
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Q: The truth is that he wants money and I don't pay for it.
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E: Yeah well, that clearly.
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D: Okay, enough, enough. Get the wine! Excuse is that if not what anniversary is it, what birthday
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is it if we don't celebrate? No but not twenty years old stuff. I wish I didn't get intoxicated.
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E: Well, Davide, a bottle magically appeared.
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Q: A blanc de blanc sparkling wine seems to me an excellent opportunity. I
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managed not to destroy anything. And nothing. Hear the microphone!
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E: It became an ASMR video.
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D: So what do they say in these situations, Erika?
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E: To yours!
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Q: To yours and ours and another five years of Italian Podcast.
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E: Cin!
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D: But do I close like this?