Alex and the Impossible Ask

Proxy with Yowei Shaw

Yowei Shaw

Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.8 • 589 Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The case of two podcasters who hated asking for money.

Alex Goldman used to host Reply All. Yowei used to host Invisibilia. Now they both make independent podcasts — Alex with Hyperfixed, Yowei with Proxy — which means they now have to ask listeners for money all the time.

The problem, is they hate doing this.

In this episode, Yowei and Alex investigate the the great emotional conundrum of independent media: can you ask people to support your work without feeling sleazy, annoying, pathetic, egotistical, or like a scared telemarketer?

With help from fundraising expert Haley Bash and one very honest listener, they investigate transparency, shame, listener backlash, gooey brownies, and why telling people what you need might be less embarrassing than letting the thing you love disappear.

From the episode:

— Alex Goldman — host of the podcast Hyperfixed: www.hyperfixedpod.com

— Haley Bash — founder of Donor Organizer Hub, a support network for people fundraising for under-resource causes: www.donororganizerhub.org

— The Accidental Fundraiser — Haley's step-by-step guide to raising money for your cause

New to Proxy? Try Bisexual Wife Guy for a classic case, or Caitlin Lost the Voice In Her Head for another story about trying to keep making art when the old way stops working.

For episode liner notes, show gossip, and dispatches from the emotions beat, get our free newsletter File Under Feelings at proxyhq.org.

Proxy is an independent show, supported mostly by listeners. Paid members get bonus episodes, ad-free listening, live Proxy hangs, and the satisfaction of keeping emotional investigative journalism alive 🍏

Visit — proxypodcast.com

Get in touch — proxythepod@gmail.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	So, Alex, I asked this question of every guest.
0:03.7	If you had to vocalize the sound of your emotional conundrum, what would it be?
0:08.8	Uh, okay.
0:11.8	Ugh.
0:12.6	Oh.
0:14.3	I think that's about it.
0:28.6	Okay. I think that's about it. Welcome to Praxie.
0:30.2	I'm Yo-A. Shaw, your emotional investigative journalist.
0:34.4	Today, the case of the two sad chumps who desperately want to do anything.
0:41.2	Seriously, anything.
0:43.3	But the one thing they need to do to survive.
0:47.1	That's coming right up. Ever wondered why some trends are just suddenly everywhere?
1:06.4	Newsflash, nothing gets popular by accident.
1:10.1	I'm Brittany Luce, and on the It's Been a Minute podcast, I take the things you and I are both
1:14.7	obsessing over and show you the invisible forces behind the scenes that make us love it or hate it.
1:21.1	Be smarter about what you're consuming.
1:23.5	Listen to the It's Been a Minute podcast today.
1:37.3	Music Listen to the It's Been a Minute podcast today. Hello, Alex Goldman.
1:39.1	Hi, Ewa, Shaw. How's it going?
1:40.8	I'm okay. I'm, why are you laughing? I don't know. That I'm okay. We sounded
1:48.0	very qualified. It sounded like there was like an unspoken I'm okay but that you just didn't say out
1:53.7	loud. Well, that's a good segue because we are here today because we both need to solve the same
	...

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