Tom Merritt talking for The Influencer Economy Book

We are excited to have Tom Merritt on The Influencer Economy. He’s a host, producer and a modern day renaissance man in the video and audio world. He is an old school radio guy and now hosts among his many popular podcasts:  The Daily Tech News Show, Sword and Laser, and Cord Killers.

Tom is redefining how creators fund their projects without advertising via the site Patreon. John Green calls this the “Just Ask” model, where instead of shoving advertisements down the throats of viewers, whether they want like the ads or not, creators can “Just Ask” their fans and community to donate and support their projects and work. Tom went out on his own when he moved to L.A. in 2014 and has built a symbiotic relationship with his fans.

Tom is in inspiration to many in the world of DIY creators, we can all and should learn from him.  What we learned

• How Tom finds time to host the The Daily Tech News Show, Sword and Laser, Cordkillers, Current Geek (looks at geek/pop culture) and other seasonal podcasts like It’s A Thing, Autopilot, FSL Tonight, East Meets West, 5 Apps.
• How he spends 2 hours a day recording but spends hours prepping.
• How he combines hobbies/passions with the work he does.
• That he started own website, wrote a play, worked in radio in Austin in 90s.
• His move to San Francisco in ‘99 for ZDTV →  CNET
• How he started Sword and Laser and doing ancillary projects and slowly built different shows
• What it was like going independent in 2014 as he wanted to tie in his passion into new shows.
• How he relates and inspires his community, takes their feedback, and makes them part of his shows.
• The importance of his audience and how they give him perspectives that he would have never had.

The Daily News Tech Show:  http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com

Tom on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/acedtect

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