This is for Eyes on EB, and yes, we’re going to talk about our Out Loud podcast.
The podcast originally started as an East Brunswick thing. And don’t get me wrong, we love this town. Truly. But at a certain point, reality sets in. There’s only so much content you can squeeze out of a place before you start forcing it. This is part of why the content has slowed down a bit. How many times can you talk about which way the garbage cans should face, or which restaurant charges extra for refills, before you realize the issue isn’t the delivery? It’s the subject matter. Some things just aren’t that interesting. At all.
That doesn’t mean Eyes on EB is going anywhere. It means the platform has reached a point where it no longer needs to be fueled by two people, in one way, all the time.
Eyes on EB is still very much our home base. It’s evolved significantly over time, and that evolution is part of the point. Long term, it’s also something that could be passed along to the right person or people who care about this town and this platform.
That’s when Rachel had an idea.
“What about just Out Loud?”
I got goosebumps immediately.
The name took five minutes. And because Rachel is, well, Rachel, a perfect logo appeared about ten minutes later. We fine-tuned it from there. The idea was simple. Keep it light. Talk about ADHD. Gen X stuff. Everyday observations. No heavy agenda.
What we didn’t anticipate was how often those conversations would spark strong reactions.
My family has told me my entire life that I have a knack for aggravating people without fully understanding why I’m aggravating them. However, here is the thing I know the secret sauce, but I often pretend I don’t. Rachel has her own version of this gift. She has a calm, thoughtful way of presenting perspectives that don’t always align with people’s existing biases, which can be just as challenging in its own way.
Together, that combination tends to stir things up.
But here’s the important part.
While some of the reaction has been loud, emotional, and occasionally angry, the comments and the thousands of shares also show something else happening. We’ve seen people genuinely stop, reflect, and say, “I never thought about it that way before.” And that, honestly, has always been one of the goals of Eyes on EB as well. Not to tell people what to think, but to invite them to think.
And it’s not all noise. We hear constantly from people who appreciate what we’re doing. Educators. People inside the school system. Law enforcement. Parents. Professionals. People who may not comment publicly but take the time to message us privately to say, “Keep going.”
That matters.
Part of the reason Out Loud works is the freedom it gives us. Freedom to be ourselves without worrying that a half-baked thought might follow us into a local coffee shop. No disrespect, that’s just reality. When people live close to you, language gets policed more closely. Offense is taken faster. Sometimes for reasons you don’t fully understand.
I’d rather offend someone in Australia than someone I’m standing behind at Panera while grabbing my “free coffee” from the Sip Club.
That distance creates breathing room. But it also creates something else that surprised us.
Platforms Create Accountability
Having a platform doesn’t just give you reach. It gives you responsibility.
There’s a big difference between tossing out a Facebook comment or posting something silly for a few friends and saying something that might reach thousands, or millions, of people. When your words travel that far, you have to be more careful. You think more. You rewatch. You reread. You ask yourself if what you’re saying is fair, accurate, and worth standing behind.
That accountability is a learning process.
For me, especially, it’s still a work in progress.
But it’s a good thing.
Eyes on EB taught me that. Out Loud is teaching me that on a much larger scale. You don’t get better at communicating by staying quiet. You get better by showing up, making mistakes, listening, and adjusting.
Over the past few weeks, our energy has shifted heavily toward the podcast. Even before anything went viral, we were having an incredible experience creating the content. Then one clip on Facebook took off. And kept going. It’s now approaching two million views.
We went from 48 Facebook followers, which is brutal from a cold start, to well over 5,000 in a matter of days. No signs of slowing down.
And somehow, we managed to scale our ability to challenge perspectives, and yes, occasionally aggravate people, to a global level. But alongside that came real conversations, thoughtful feedback, and moments where people genuinely reconsidered something they thought they had already figured out.
That’s not a bad trade.
If there’s one takeaway here, especially for anyone who feels like they have something to say, it’s this: build a platform. Not for attention. For accountability. For growth. For connection.
Eyes on EB has been incredibly successful because it created space for dialogue. Rachel helped take that to another level. And now Out Loud is doing the same thing in a completely different lane.
We’re having a blast. We’re learning in real time. And we’re still figuring it out.
If you need guidance getting started, reach out. I genuinely mean that. Even if we disagree on everything.
Sometimes, especially if we disagree on everything.
