Who am I? What has happened to Thinking in English over the past four years? How can you get more involved with the show?
For the first time since November 2020, I am doing a public update to my introduction episode.
I hope you enjoy listening and enjoy finding out more about me and about Thinking in English.
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Reflecting on the Past
In November, 2020, to celebrate the 25th episode of Thinking in English, I released an episode titled, “Who am I?”
This episode introduced some facts about my life, [00:01:00] talked about why I started Thinking in English and gave some thoughts about the future of the podcast.
To be completely honest, I had entirely forgotten about this episode. It was uploaded over four years ago, right at the beginning of Thinking in English, when I had very few listeners.
However, a few weeks ago, I started getting some comments on the episode on Spotify. To my surprise, people were still listening to this introduction episode and learning information about me and the show.
The problem with this is that so much has changed since 2020.
So much has changed with Thinking in English, and so much has changed with my personal life.
Today I want to give you all an update. I’ll talk about my background, what has changed over the past four years of Thinking in [00:02:00] English, and share some facts about the show.
And I’ll end by talking a little bit about my Patreon subscription service as well.
My Background
So let’s start at the beginning.
My name is Tom Wilkinson. I am nearly 30, and I grew up in a small village in the English countryside. I left my hometown in 2013 to study History and Politics at university.
In my final year of university, I had no idea what I wanted to do. Probably like many of you, back when you were students.
I was applying for jobs in banking and finance. I had no idea why I was applying for these jobs because they didn’t really sound interesting to me.
Really, I wanted to keep studying. I wanted to do a master’s degree and eventually a PhD and go on to academia [00:03:00] researching political science.
But I couldn’t afford to do this. I couldn’t afford to carry on studying at university.
In the end, I decided that I would work for a year or two while trying to save up enough money to study for a master’s degree.
Journey to Japan
At the same time as I was applying for banking jobs, a friend of mine told me about something called the JET program.
The JET Program is a Japanese government program designed to recruit young university graduates from English speaking countries to work in Japanese schools as Assistant Language Teachers.
Basically, they take hundreds of British, Canadian, American, Australia, New Zealand young people and send them to Japan every year.
I had no knowledge of Japan. I’d never eaten Japanese [00:04:00] food. I’d never watched Japanese tv. I knew very little about the country, but it sounded like an interesting opportunity to me.
I’d spent a lot of my time at university working in education. Including for the university’s education outreach programs, and also as a tutor for a local charity.
And I’d spent a lot of time at university doing international things. I’d been to Malaysia and India through study scholarships, so I decided to apply. I applied for a teaching role in Japan.
And after a lot of forms, a very nerve wracking interview at the Japanese Embassy in London, and a lot of waiting, I was accepted.
Two weeks after graduating, I joined hundreds of other British people, plus even more from around the world. In flying to Japan.
I was [00:05:00] sent to the city of Niihama on the island of Shikoku. Niihama is a medium-sized city, but in one of the more rural parts of Japan.
I was absolutely terrified the day I arrived, but I ended up having two of the best years of my life there.
I met great people, learned to live by myself in a foreign country, became conversational in Japanese, and really wanted to learn more about Japan.
I also became a much better educator and teacher. I was studying Japanese myself, so I started to understand what it was like to be someone learning a language, and I also saw a lot of good things and a lot of less good things in the Japanese education system.
I saw some of the great teachers they had, but also some of the flaws in the way that people were taught. Using textbooks that were out of date [00:06:00] or not interesting or not relevant to people’s lives.
I left Japan in 2018 to do a master’s degree in Asian politics in London, which was a great experience and I’ve talked about in previous episodes.
When I graduated from my master’s degree, I moved to Taiwan for a few months to study Chinese, and then Covid happened.
The Birth of the Podcast
When I recorded the first version of this episode in 2020, this was basically the story of my life. I had come back from Taiwan a few months earlier and entered a UK that was fully locked down due to COVID.
I started teaching online and working in a supermarket at night. I would listen to a lot of podcasts while working the night shift, including Japanese learning podcasts. I thought that maybe I could also make a podcast, and one of the ideas I came up [00:07:00] with was Thinking in English.
I’ve released a few Patreon bonus episodes that cover this topic in much more detail. Become a patron if you are interested in learning more.
I worked like crazy four and a half years ago. For the first two and a half years, maybe three years of Thinking in English. I released three episodes a week. I would record episodes at midnight in my mom’s house after finishing the evening supermarket shift.
I’m not really sure why I was working so hard back then to make Thinking in English episodes. I was working two jobs plus recording three episodes a week, but I had no listeners.
In fact, I now get more downloads on my average Monday than I did in the first nine months of Thinking in English. That’s nine months of three episodes a week, get less [00:08:00] downloads than Monday.
But I kept releasing episodes. I kept learning and I kept slowly improving. And now this is my full-time job.
Growth and Challenges
As I’ve said a few times, the last time I recorded this kind of public introduction episode was over four years ago, and a lot has changed since then. You might know some of these things if you’re a Patreon member or you’ve been following me for a long time, or you follow me on Instagram.
So here is a very quick summary of the past four and a half years of my life.
I moved to Tokyo as a research student for a year and a half. The week I moved to Japan, I nearly quit Thinking in English. I was in a hotel in covid quarantine for two weeks without my microphone. I couldn’t record episodes and I nearly decided to stop.
No one was listening to me.
However, the downloads started [00:09:00] increasing at that time, basically. So I decided to stick with it a little bit longer.
I set up a Patreon subscription in July, 2022. I did not really expect anyone to join, but some of you amazing people did.
For the first time, I was making a little bit of money each month.
I had hoped to have 5, maybe 10 people join, but I think I had 30 or 40 of you guys join in the first month of me starting a Patreon subscription. And 5 or 6 of you joined at the highest level of subscription paying I think it was $40 a month, which was amazing.
I started working with a few freelance English teachers who helped to run the conversation clubs and teach English to you guys because I don’t really teach.
I left Japan in November 2022 after my scholarship ended and I decided not to extend it. I [00:10:00] also couldn’t find a job in Japan.
In December 2022, over 100 people signed up to my Patreon in one month. It completely changed my plans and my life. I went from looking for a job in the UK, in London, probably in finance or research or something like that.
Instead, I started planning how to make Thinking in English, an actual business, how to make this my job.
I got married in 2023 to my wonderful wife and moved back to Japan where I now live.
Thinking in English, got its first sponsors. The first person actually to pay for my promotion was Alistair Budge from English Learning for Curious Minds. I’m sure many of you know his podcast. He was the first sponsor of the show.
I made big changes to the way I produced Thinking in English episodes, and I tried to become a little bit more [00:11:00] professional. I bought more equipment. I paid more attention to YouTube and social media, and I took planning a little bit more seriously.
I launched a new podcast series called Thinking an English Grammar, which I’m really proud of and happy about.
And I joined a podcast network called AirWave Media, which hosts lots of great podcasts and helps find me sponsors and advertisers. In fact, if you want to sponsor or advertise on Thinking in English, there’s an email address in the description of this episode, and you can reach out to AirWave Media.
And I think this takes us up to about this point in time. I’m sure I’ve missed some major developments or events over the past four years, but I guess you get the picture.
Current Success and Statistics
I think there is something interesting about Thinking in English. On the one hand, we are now one of the larger podcasts in the English learning niche.
[00:12:00] On the other hand, I don’t really do anything like a professional podcaster, and I don’t really do anything that makes sense to why we are so successful.
Over 550,000 of you follow me on Spotify. The show has now had over 15 million total downloads.
On Spotify last year, I was the number one podcast for over 70,000 people and I was in the top five podcasts for 272,000 people, and the top 10 podcasts for 386,000 people.
That is so many people.
The show has basically been listened to in almost every country in the world.
Usually I’m in the Polish, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian, Colombian, and Mexican podcast charts almost every week. I’ve been in the podcast [00:13:00] charts somewhere in the world for every week for the past two or three years.
71% of you started listening to me in the last year. 28% of Thinking in English listeners are between the age of 35 and 44. 22% are between the ages of 25 and 29, and 19% are between 30 and 34, with all the other ages adding up to the rest of the number.
They are just some of the really interesting facts about the show. We’ve been listened to almost everywhere. There are hundreds of thousands of you who listen. My episodes usually get tens occasionally into the hundreds of thousands of downloads per episode which makes us one of the larger podcasts in this English learning space.
I’m really proud of the numbers and I’m really amazed at how successful we’ve become.
However, I don’t do anything [00:14:00] professionally. I do this all by myself. I’m very much an amateur, and every time I talk with other people who create podcasts for English learners, they’re quite surprised by some of the things I do.
For example, I didn’t use a podcast editing tool until last year. I would edit it on Spotify itself. I use Spotify to upload my podcast or I used to. And it’s only last year that I started using real editing software.
I don’t have a mailing list or a newsletter to try and get new listeners or new customers for my business. I don’t pay for advertising, right? I don’t sponsor other podcasts. I don’t put ads on Instagram or other sites or TikTok.
I very rarely appear on other shows and I don’t really invite guests onto Thinking in English either. I also don’t really know much about podcasting.
Someone emailed me the other day and I had to ask them [00:15:00] to define the words they were using because I don’t use podcasting terms and I don’t know much about how to make a successful podcast.
I also don’t charge for my podcast transcripts. This is the main way that many other shows make money. They charge you to access transcripts.
From the beginning of Thinking in English, my transcripts have always been free. At first they were free on my website. They weren’t very good, but they were there. They were free.
And now they are free, still on my website, but also on Spotify. On YouTube I’ve got captions enabled and the most recent few months of episodes have full transcripts on the screen. And also on Apple, I think they have transcripts as well.
In fact, let me share something with you. In January, something broke or glitched with my podcast host. It stopped reporting Spotify plays and downloads. Where I [00:16:00] see the numbers of people listening to my show, it shows zero for Spotify.
But I know this is not true, ’cause I can look on Spotify myself and see the numbers.
I know how to fix it, but when I fix it, it turns off the Spotify transcripts and I can’t turn them back on. The transcripts are so important to me. It’s what makes Thinking in English different and I want you all to have these transcripts.
So I decided to, sacrifice not getting the Spotify plays reported. And instead, I’m waiting for Spotify to fix my issue. And I’ve sent a lot of emails and they’re trying, I think.
But there is another downside to this. It’s not just that I don’t get all of the plays reported. I don’t get paid for those plays. So as I’m waiting, my Spotify podcast plays and my Spotify downloads are not being reported to my podcast host, which [00:17:00] means I do not get paid for any adverts played on those episodes, and my podcast network can’t sell my show based on the true number of downloads.
And you might think, oh, Spotify isn’t that important? For me it’s over 70% of you guys, so over 70% of you guys are on Spotify. So I chose transcripts over money in that sense.
The Importance of Patreon
The only way that Thinking in English has become my job is due to all of you listening and supporting me.
And I just want to end this episode by talking about my Patreon subscription and asking you all to join and support me over there as well.
I understand if you don’t want to hear this kind of advertisement spiel, I’m going to give so you can stop listening here. I’m fine with that.
But if you are interested in finding out a little bit more about Patreon and why I think you should join and why I think you should join now rather than later please keep [00:18:00] listening.
Thinking in English is successful primarily because of my Patreon supporters. There is no way that I would have been able to become a full-time podcaster without all of you who have joined and supported me at some point over the past two/three years.
We currently have over 400 active Patreon members. I think it’s higher than 400. I can’t remember the exact number. And over the past two years, over 1000 of you have joined at some point, for at least one month.
I try to make my Patreon the best possible value.
Let me tell you everything that I released and every event I held in March this year. I know this episode is probably coming out at the end of April, beginning of May, but I don’t have those events yet. So I’m going to tell you what happened in March.
In March I released four exclusive bonus [00:19:00] episodes for my Patreon subscribers. We did
- The history of the internet.
- Why is housing so expensive?
- How I am becoming more productive or trying to be.
- And the US officially chooses English: what does it mean?
I also held 24 conversation clubs in March. That is six each week, and we talked about the topics,
- comparisons of equality,
- superlatives,
- homes, rent and housing,
- and how to be productive.
I also made five podcast episodes available without ads or commercials. So like this episode with no advertisements on it I put that on Patreon as well and you can listen to those on Spotify or anywhere you like.
And I held conversations with my English master subscribers for an hour. I talked to, I think five of you guys for one hour last month.
Peter, who is a great freelance teacher who works with me and helps with conversation clubs, he held a [00:20:00] film club every Wednesday and free chats every Wednesday as well. For my Patreon subscribers, he also gave big discounts to his classes.
And there was so much more Discord server Quizlets study packs. There’s so much value you get from becoming a Patreon subscriber.
Now, why am I telling you all of this?
I want to continue expanding and growing and trying to deliver the best English learning content out there.
I want to create super affordable, ideally free English courses for you guys and classes for you guys. I want to create more YouTube and video content. I want to hold even more conversation clubs.
My dream is to have a Thinking in English event. Every single day of the week. I want you guys to get as much opportunity to learn as possible.
At [00:21:00] the moment, I do events Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and podcast episodes are released on Monday and Friday, but I want more.
To achieve this, I think I need to hire some people. I already work 50 or 60 hours a week, and Peter helps me out a little bit. But I need to hire more people, probably some freelancers and tutors.
My ultimate goal is to get 1000 Patreon subscribers, and at that point I’d probably be able to hire full-time or part-time employees to help me make things. But that seems quite unrealistic at the moment. I’ve had 400 Patreon subscribers for about two years it seems unrealistic to get 1000 of you guys to join.
So here is my plan.
I want as many of you as possible to join right now. Then I will slowly raise the price of my middle Patreon [00:22:00] level over the next six months.
If you join now or before June, you will pay ยฃ10 pounds a month for the middle level of Patreon. If this gets you all the benefits I listed before for ยฃ10 pounds a month, and you will pay that forever, the price won’t increase unless you quit and rejoin.
But you are guaranteed ยฃ10 pounds a month. In fact, if you pay annually, I think you get 20% discount, so ยฃ8 pounds a month.
Over the past year, I have introduced lots of new benefits. Moving from five conversation clubs to six conversation clubs a week, a film club, ad free episodes. But I haven’t increased the prices in this time. I think it is time I need to up the price slightly.
In June, the price will increase for new subscribers. Not old subscribers. Not existing subscribers. And in June it will become ยฃ12 pounds a month to become an [00:23:00] English learner. And then in January next year, I think I will raise it for one final time to ยฃ15 pounds a month. And this will probably be the final raise that I’ll do for that level.
By joining now, you will be supporting the show and getting that lower price.
If you can’t join Patreon, that is absolutely fine. I understand If you can’t join. I don’t subscribe to any of my favorite podcast Patreons or subscription platforms.
But if you guys want to benefit and join the conversation clubs or listen to more episodes or just support me, I would really encourage you to join.
But if you can’t, it’s fine.
There’s other ways to support the show. In fact, probably the best ways are by liking my podcast and posts on social media, sharing episodes, following me on social media and rating Thinking in English wherever you listen.
If you are on Apple or if you are [00:24:00] on Spotify, leave a rating and rate Thinking in English.
Final Thought
Hopefully I’ll be making another update video in 2030, telling all of you about the amazing things that have happened over the past five years.
I do wonder, will I still be making Thinking in English in 2030? If you had asked me in 2020 what would I be doing in 2025? I would not have said being a full-time podcaster. At all.
I would not have predicted this for my life. But somehow this is how things have turned out and I am now speaking to all of you guys asking you to support me on Patreon and listen to more episodes.
Thank you all so much for listening. Thank you all so much for subscribing and supporting me over the past four and a half years.
Let’s keep learning English together and let’s keep studying. [00:25:00]
Thank you for listening, and I’ll speak to you next time.
Goodbye.
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