FBC – 365 – Here is why I ALMOST stopped the podcast… But I’m back now

Here is why I ALMOST stopped the podcast… But I'm back now.

You have probably noticed that there were no podcast episodes lately and some of you might have wondered what happened to me.

Here is the whole truth… pretty ugly and dramatic, but it will explain why you didn't have you daily dose of your favorite podcast.

All the details and more inside.

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After an absence of a week, I hope everybody is doing great. As you've noticed, there haven't been any podcasts in a week. And I mean part of the reason is that I was involved in a scooter accident. I mean, well, it could have been worse, but I was stuck in bed for the last five days or something. I couldn't move or anything, so I couldn't do the podcast.

So what happened was I was driving and I got to an intersection and this person who came out of nowhere, but he was trying to turn. And we basically ran into one another. So I actually slowed down before because I knew there was an intersection. So the impact wasn't that big. And even the damage, I didn't have any damage.

But it's just that my scooter fell and I fell with the scooter and I was trying to get out of the scooter. And I remember that my leg was stuck. So I ended having basically injured my knee, that same knee that I've been complaining about.

So I drove to the hospital with my scooter, and once I get there, I try to walk on that leg and Jesus Christ, it was painful. So I asked them for an MRI directly just to know if anything was torn or something. I thought know, because after an accident, the last thing you want is to take chances. Turns out that they didn't have MRI and they sent me to another hospital.

They sent me to the other hospital, but I waited forever.  And then after that, I had an X-ray that showed that nothing was broken, which was good. But then afterwards I had no idea if anything was torn or not. So for the last five days I have been in bed with my leg elevated and I didn't put any weight on my leg because I had absolutely no idea if anything was torn or the extent of the damages.

Until today, where I saw the doctor and then did an MRI that said, well, no ligament is torn or anything. Apparently it will resolve itself with rest and a little bit of physiotherapy. So, yeah. So it's good news.

So that's why you haven't heard from me in quite a while, because, yeah, it was pretty ugly.

So the moral of the story for me, the whole thing about this episode was that I just wanted to catch up with you guys and tell you what's been happening. But the thing is that when I got hurt, it actually reminded me of these tiny little details, you know, the devil is in the details, all the details will count.

Here is why I ALMOST stopped the podcast… But I'm back now

And this is something that we forget when we drive. You know, when you were learning how to drive, they told you all you have to check this mirror and this mirror and this one and then do this. And then you slow down and you do this.

But then afterwards, we just forget how dangerous the whole thing is. And we start getting sloppy and start getting careless and stuff. So here in this case, to be honest, I slowed down and actually checked that intersection where people were coming out of.

So I did check that, but I ended up in an accident. So am I going to blame everything on the other dude? No, I'm not. The situation was and if you've lived here in the Bali, especially in Canggu, there can be some traffic. Traffic can be pretty brutal. And you when the cars are not moving and because they're stuck in traffic jam and stuff and you have a scooter, you can weave through the cars.

So there is one line where you can be on the left side of the cars and one line where you can be on the right side of the cars where I was, which is basically in the middle of the road.

So the other cars are coming in the other direction and I was there. And when the cars like this are not moving, there is always a chance that someone is actually going to squeeze through the cars and try to get out of it because they need to turn or they need to do something.

OK, so this is something that I know and something that I need to remind myself of. Don't be careless. Now I need to always, always be on the lookout for someone coming in between the cars, even a pedestrian or something, because if the car's not moving, that's a good opportunity for you to go between the cars and that's what people do, right?

Normally you have zebras and stuff, but it's not really the case here. And also, whenever there is an intersection, regardless, I did check, I should have stopped like to complete stop check and then, you know, keep going, but like, really slowly.

OK, so the whole matter for me is I'm not going to blame the responsibility on someone else because I made those crucial mistakes of being sloppy. With all these small details that I know, I haven't applied it. These details will count. And it just takes once just once, you know one mistake.

Why I almost quit, and the system that brought me back

You start something, the excitement fades, and one quiet week turns into a quiet month. That is how most podcasts and newsletters die. I got there too. The problem was never motivation. It was that I had no system holding the thing up when I did not feel like it.

So I stopped relying on willpower. I batch, I schedule, and I let automation carry the boring parts. Zapier's writing on creator burnout makes the case that consistency beats intensity every time (zapier.com), and Harvard Business Review says the same about habits over heroics (hbr.org).

The podcast is back because the system, not my mood, decides whether an episode ships. You can hear the whole run on the Freedom by Choice podcast, and I break down the automation side on my LinkedIn newsletter. Build the system before you need it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did you almost stop the FBC podcast and what made you continue?

I almost stopped the podcast because downloads plateaued and the weekly production routine felt heavy compared to the visible payoff. What pulled me back was rereading listener emails describing concrete business changes made after specific episodes. That stack of proof outweighed the vanity metric dip, so I rebuilt my recording cadence around impact instead of growth charts.

How do you push through podcasting burnout when downloads stop growing?

Treat the podcast like an asset, not a popularity contest. Shrink your recording window to one focused block per week, prep three episode skeletons in advance, and ignore short term download charts in favor of total subscriber base. I also cut episode length from 25 minutes to 12 during burnout phases, which preserves consistency without draining your energy.

What lessons did taking a break from the podcast teach you about content consistency?

Stopping for three weeks proved that audiences forgive a pause far less than they forgive a quality drop. Listeners returned the moment I resumed, but the algorithm penalized the gap for two months. A shorter, lighter episode every week beats a polished one every three weeks, because consistency compounds while absence resets your authority signal quickly.

How do you decide whether to quit a podcast or keep showing up?

Ask three questions before quitting a podcast. Are listeners replying with specific wins. Is the show feeding your other income streams like courses or coaching. Would you regret stopping in twelve months. If you answer yes to two of those three, keep showing up. Quitting is a strategic decision, not an emotional reaction to one weak month.

About the Author

Martin Ebongue is the founder of martinebongue.com, an online business and lifestyle design blog focused on helping aspiring entrepreneurs build location-independent businesses. Since 2014, he has been creating and scaling online ventures across multiple niches, from digital products and affiliate marketing to SaaS and content platforms, while traveling the world. He shares the real-world strategies, tools, and systems that work, with a particular focus on AI-powered automation for solopreneurs. Follow him on YouTube, X (Twitter), and Instagram.

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