What makes a great podcast guest?

As we prepare to launch Behind The Counter, one question keeps coming up:

"What kind of guests are you looking for?"

The honest answer is probably not the people you'd expect. We're not looking for celebrities, we're not looking for influencers and we're definitely not looking for people with perfectly polished media training.

What we're looking for are people with something interesting to say.

One of the best things about running an independent shop is the conversations that happen every day. Some start with a customer looking for a new t-shirt and end up talking to us about travel, music, business ideas, local history or life in Whitley Bay.

Over the last ten years we've met business owners, musicians, artists, volunteers, charity fundraisers, community organisers and countless people with fascinating experiences and perspectives.

The funny thing is, many of them wouldn't describe themselves as particularly interesting. And yet they are.

Everybody has a story

One of the ideas around Behind The Counter is that everybody has a story worth telling. Sometimes those stories involve building a business from nothing. Sometimes they involve dedicating years to helping others. Sometimes they're about overcoming challenges, following a passion, starting something new or simply seeing the world in a different way.

You don't need thousands of followers. You don't need a blue tick. And you certainly don't need to be famous. You just need a story, an experience or an opinion that people might enjoy hearing.

The best conversations are often unplanned

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love talking. More importantly, I love listening. Some of the most memorable conversations that I've had over the years have happened completely by accident.

A quick chat turns into twenty minutes. Twenty minutes turns into an hour. And you walk away having learned something new. That's the feeling we're hoping to capture with this podcast. No scripts. No PR spin. No pretending. Just honest conversations between real people.

Who would we like to speak to?

The simple answer is: almost anyone.

Business owners. Creative people. Community champions. Volunteers. People with interesting hobbies. People doing interesting things. People with a passion for what they do. Even people who simply have a good story to tell.

If you're enthusiastic about something and can talk about it honestly and openly, you're already halfway there.

Fancy joining us?

Behind The Counter launches later this year and we're already speaking to potential guests from across the north-east and beyond.

If you've got a story you'd like to share, we'd genuinely love to hear from you.

And if you don't fancy coming on yourself, we'd still love you to tune in and be part of the conversation.

Because every episode starts in the same way: a good conversation.

For more details on Behind The Counter, visit this page.