I kept pushing this task to the back of my to-do list. It survived procrastination, a string of unfortunate events, and ultimately, a pretty drastic decision to walk away from Tandem entirely. But Story Brew is finally alive.
It’s been on my goal list since forever, and it’s officially one of the 2026 things I’m doing instead of just writing down.
Read also: StreetPoint Zero: Building a Solo Podcast From Scratch
What’s Story Brew?
Think of it as a podcast, but cozier.
I read short bedtime stories out loud. Short, calm, and deliberately paced. Specifically for intermediate English learners at the B1–B2 level.
The whole idea is to train your ear, improve your listening, and drift off (or zone in) while someone reads to you in clear, natural English.
And here’s the twist: I’m not a native speaker. I’m doing this as a non-native with a clear accent, because honestly?
That matters. A lot of English learners feel more comfortable, less intimidated, hearing someone who learned the language, not someone who was born into it.
What’s the reason?
Originally, I planned to help English learners through Tandem. Hosting language exchange parties, building a small community, being the guy with a clear voice and approachable English. That was the vision.
Then I blew it up.
I made the call to leave Tandem, step back from hosting parties, or even join in as a listener.
It was the right decision for me personally, but it did leave a bit of a hole in my “how do I actually help people” plan.
Luckily, I still have a handful of solid friends there who’ve agreed to spread the Story Brew Spotify link around, so all hope is not lost. Growth will just be slower and scrappier than I originally imagined.
Which, honestly, is fine. Most good things start that way.
The other reason? People kept telling me I have a nice voice.
I’m not the type to walk around patting myself on the back. But when random strangers, plural, across multiple conversations, keep saying “your voice is so nice” and “you’re so easy to listen to”… at some point you’d be an idiot not to do something with it.
If English learners find my voice soothing or easy to follow, then why not turn that into something useful?
And last but absolutely not least: this is practice. Story Brew is my stepping stone before I dive headfirst into a full podcast.
One where I’ll take my blog posts, turn them into audio journal entries, and eventually build out a whole show focused on business, entrepreneurship, and the general chaos of building something from scratch. Story Brew is the warm-up lap.
How’s It Going So Far?
Fucking terrible, mostly.
Let’s start with the technical disaster. I have a professional Rode microphone. A real one, not some USB dongle from 2009, and I still can’t get the sound right. GarageBand and I are in a full-blown standoff.
I’ve watched YouTube tutorials. I’ve dug through forums. I’ve stared at settings menus as they owe me fucking money. Still none the wiser. It’s possible the mic I have isn’t even the right type for what I’m doing, which is a fun thing to discover after the fact.
But fine. I can work around that.
What I was not prepared for, and what has genuinely humbled me, is the reading speed.
Holy hell. Reading out loud at 25% of your normal speaking pace sounds simple in theory. In practice, it is an absolute mindfuck.
I can’t control my breathing. I rush. I slow down too much. I pause in weird places. I sound like a robot having an existential crisis.
I genuinely thought the tech stuff would be the hard part. Turns out the hard part is me. My own voice, my own rhythm, my own lungs, apparently doing whatever they want.
Could I have perfected all of this before hitting “publish” on Spotify?
Sure. But I’m treating Story Brew like a startup, and no startup launches perfectly. The first 10 to 30 episodes might sound rough. There might be weird pauses, uneven pacing, and audio that makes audiophiles wince. That’s fine. It’s not going to stop me from doing my thing.
What’s Next?
“Winging it” is probably the most accurate description of my current strategy, but it’s a deliberate wing. I’m not flailing; I’m iterating. There’s a difference, and I’m choosing to believe that.
Here’s what’s on the roadmap: I want to build a small standalone website for Story Brew. Somewhere clean and simple where every episode lives alongside its full transcript.
That way, listeners can read along, look up words, or revisit a story without hunting through Spotify’s clunky interface. It doesn’t need to be fancy. It needs to exist and do its job.
Beyond that, I’m planning to build out a proper episode structure, a consistent intro, a little context about the story, and maybe a short vocabulary section at the end for learners who want to dig deeper. Small things, but they add up.
The bigger picture?
Story Brew feeds into everything else I’m building. Once I get comfortable with pacing, recording, and editing, I’ll start converting blog posts into audio. From there, a proper podcast on business and entrepreneurship becomes much less of a leap and much more of a natural next step.
I’m not in a rush. But I’m also not stopping, and foremost: I’m glad I finally started this.
Want to follow along? Story Brew is on Spotify. Give it a listen, and if my breathing sounds a bit unhinged in the early episodes, just know I’m aware of it.