Ep. 119: Starting a Podcast
Recently a friend and Sell it, Sister! listener asked me if I could explain how I got started with my podcast. Considering I've been doing it consistently for over 2 years and have over 100 episodes, I figured it would be fun and valuable to share some of the things that have helped me have success with podcasting. In this episode I'm sharing everything from tech, to strategy, to systems. Plus I'm including some of the most common mistakes I see podcasters making so that you can avoid them.
Podcasting is such a great way to reach new people and share your expertise with them. It's one of the best ways to get free content out there to your audience as well. And you can absolutely monetize it without having to stress over sponsors.
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Welcome to the, sell it. Sister podcast. Today's episode is going to focus on. Starting your own podcast, be it for your business or even just for fun. Um, because I have been having some conversations lately, one with my client Kerrianne and then also with a mutual friend of ours, Josh.
Starting podcasts. And I figured, you know what? I know I'm not an expert, but considering I
have been putting out weekly episodes consistently for over two years now. Gosh, I think coming up on two and a half years, maybe, um, have over a hundred episodes. All of that, I feel like, you know, I, I have some, some good info that I can share here.
About doing a podcast of your own and also. I want to emphasize, you know, you don't have to have a podcast, obviously I'm very much about, you know, to each their own when it comes to, uh, how, you know, how you want to put out content in your business, how you want to do marketing in your business. You definitely do not need to have a podcast, but I will, um, be sharing everything from.
Tech to strategy to systems in this episode, in case you do want one, and I'm including some of the most common mistakes that I see podcasters making so that you can avoid it. And why I love podcasting so much. And why I wanted to talk about this is because it's a great way to reach new people and also to share your expertise out into the world, or, you know, the thing that you are passionate about, um, or that, you know, you just really love to talk about.
Um, it's one of the best ways to get free content out there to your audience. Uh, and you can definitely monetize it without having to stress out over. Getting sponsors. Um, you know, of course you could, I'm not going to go into that. Um, cause I don't, I don't have any, that's not my area of expertise. Um, but you, you certainly could if you wanted to and you don't have to be, um, you know, one of the giant podcast, uh, like moguls in order to get paid sponsors.
So first up, I want to start with the tech and I'm not going to bore you with a deep dive into this. I'm just going to talk about, um, you know, some of the, the tools that I use. So my microphone is an ATR 2100, and then I have a boom arm, which just clamps onto my desk and, uh, it holds the mic and I can move it all around.
And then I have a really inexpensive phone. Uh, cover that goes over the top of the microphone. That just helps. Um, I don't like filter some of the excess noise that you don't want to hear. Stuff like that. I think, I don't know. I'm not a sound engineer, but this is what I have. Um, and you can get them in cool colors.
Mine is just black, but you can get them in, in cool fun colors. Um, and then headphones, um, any will do so I have. Nicer headphones that I use, uh, for coaching calls. Um, but right now I literally just have, uh, AirPods in and the reason that I say any will do, but you should have them, is that, um, depending on where you are recording, so.
Because I am, uh, I'm like recording in my office, which is just like open to the air if I don't do it in like a closet or anything with close to, um, muffle, like extra sounds. But if I don't have the. Headphones in what happens is that the, the sound of me speaking, like it goes into the microphone, but then it can also like, um, bounce back around, like into the room.
So it's essentially just what all that the headphones do is just kind of keep my voice focused into the mic for clearer sound and that way it doesn't pick up. The echoes of my voice, like bouncing off of, uh, the rest of the rest of the room. Again, I am not a sound engineer, but, uh, so I just make sure that when I record that the sound input is going in through the mic and that the.
Output is just like it's it's headphones and a mic essentially is how I have it set up in my, uh,
zoom preferences. And I just double-check every time, because sometimes zoom decides to default back to, to other things. Um, I also have a Mac book air, um, I use either quick time to record, uh, or zoom. So I used to.
Just strictly use QuickBooks. And then I would use zoom if I was doing an interview, but now that I have some additional help with the editing, um, my assistant will do that for me. So it's just easier. It just saves me a step. If I just record it directly into zoom, because she can get into my account and she can pull the files, but there's all different ways that you can do it.
If you have a PC, I know that there are other ways it's probably easy to figure them out. I just don't know. What those ways are, um, it gets all edited into garage band, which comes standard on, uh, I think all of the Mac computers now. Um, I am very minimal when I edit. It's literally like intro the body and the outro, um, every now and then is something really goes amiss.
Like I sneezed right in the middle. Then that part gets clipped out, but I don't do a ton of editing and I'll get to that more in a bit. Um, my intro and outro music, uh, is from a site called premium beat. And, uh, there's a lot of different sites, but like you basically are purchasing a license to use that.
That music. And that just happens to be the site that I used. Uh, I use Libsyn to host. So essentially, uh, all of the podcasts stuff goes into Libsyn and then it gets scheduled and then it gets sent out on the date and time that we tell it to all of the various. Uh, platforms. So that's how you can save some time, um, rather than manually uploading to each one, you just set it all up in a platform like Libsyn.
And I know that there are other platforms too. All the art gets made in Canva. Um, all of the guests interviews get scheduled using acuity. Um, I have. Transcripts of every episode on my website, we use a program called descript to run the adios through and that gets transcripts. And that is where that goes.
Um, and then, uh, on my website I use Squarespace and my podcast page as actually a blog template. But instead of, you know, regular. Blog posts it's um, just the artwork and then the show notes, any links, um, and then the embedded audio file, which is something that gets taken from Libsyn, um, and put right in there.
So if somebody just wants to listen directly on my website, without going through a podcast app, they can do. There as well. Um, so to begin when you are starting with all of this stuff, uh, when I was choosing my audio, so when you go to a site like premium beat, there's going to be like thousands of audios.
Right. So I S like, I, I really suggest, I highly recommend, um, sorting by type. So I think I did like fun or something. I forget what the category was. Yeah. So think about kind of like the mood that you want. Um, and then narrow it down because even under that label, there's going to be a lot of options. So as a way to not get super decision fatigue, that's what I recommend.
Um, I also wrote out the words that I say in the intro and the outro and I practice them. And I timed them to see how long they would be, because I wanted to keep them relatively short.
And so even though I don't do a lot of like editing of the episodes, so I don't like write out a whole script and read it or anything.
Um, I, since the intro and outro were going to live on every single one, I wanted them to be really good. I did take extra time on that. I recorded them, labeled them, put them into a folder on my computer. And then I got comfortable with garage band just by like trying to, um, input different audio tracks and just sort of mess around with it and see.
And luckily there's a lot of like free tutorials online that show you how to use scratch band. And again, I'm not like producing music or anything here, so I'm not even using all of the features. Um, probably. Not even 25% of the features, I'm just literally putting in audio tracks and then kind of moving them around.
And sometimes I'll change like the level, like the volume levels so that it syncs up. Um, but really that's, that's it. Um, and then I suggest, um, setting up a system. For labeling both the raw audio files, uh, if you use like QuickTime or something external, um, and the completed episodes. So what I mean by that is you could have something that is like, you know, episode, like episode one, um, you know, under score.
Whatever, like welcome to the pod or, you know, something like that. Um, and then underscore RA or like underscore final that way, you know, like what is the raw audio of the body of what you're talking about? And then what is the finished, complete episode that has like the intro, the outro, anything else?
Attached to it. And then I am going to suggest because they, um, they take up a lot of space on a computer. Is that. You get in a habit of utilizing something like Google drive or Dropbox, um, to move them to as well. Like you can keep them obviously on your computer for a bit or external hard drive or whatever, just, uh, have some sort of system for yourself in terms of both labeling and organizing those files.
Um, you also gonna want to decide on if you're going to have a call to action, right? Like in your, in your outro or at the end of every episode, just as you're talking or at the top or in the middle of whatever, whatever your call to action is going to be, figure it out. It can also change, um, per episode, depending on what you are talking about.
Um, but a lot of the ones that I. Uh, you know, that I listened to have like a, a cadence to them. Like I listened to an SVU, one called that's messed up and they have. These different like segments to them. Right. So at the end, there's always this segment called what would sister peg do? And they highlight like a charity or an organization or an action that you've been take.
Great. So, um, you could kind of just decide for yourself, like, if you want a segment where you tell people next steps, but then you change it up each time. Like you could absolutely do that. Um, And then outline your general content pillars. So, you know, kind of what your, your themes are that you are going to be talking about, and this will help you so that you can really like stay on topic and stay cohesive, uh, with your particular, um, podcast.
Right. Especially if it's. Like again, the SVU on they're basing off of actual, like SVU episodes. It's a little bit easier to say, like we know what our content is, but if you are going to be, um,
talking about, I don't know, like, let's say it. Business or photography or something, think of some general themes.
So that way, if somebody comes along and it's like, I would love to talk about this on your podcast. You can think. Does that really fit in? Does that really make sense with what we're doing here or no? Um, just makes things a lot easier then also decide on your public publishing schedule. You do not have to have a podcast that comes out every week.
You could have every other week you could have. Once a month, um, you can have twice a week, you could do a whole like season of 12 or 15 episodes and then like take a month off or a couple months off and then put out another season. Like you can, you can do pretty much whatever you want to do. Just pick something that you can be consistent with.
I would say. Then map out your first handful of episodes and what should we be talking about in there? Um, decide if you want to, for yourself, do a loose overview of notes to follow or a full script that you will be reading. Um, I will just say I don't use a full script. Um, I there's nothing wrong with having a full script.
Uh, I would just say that like, don't use it. At like, don't, don't make more work for yourself than you have to. And also just remember that even if you are reading, you have to, uh, or you don't have to, but you should. It like, you know, infuse it with your personality and the cadence of how you would normally talk.
Otherwise it literally just sounds like you're reading from a script and that it's not going to be enjoyable for the listener. Um, and then create cover art and social graphic templates. Um, obviously you could get somebody else to create these for you, but just have them so that when you're making, um, episode art, you aren't starting from scratch every single.
Week or, you know, time that you put out a new episode. So just get some, get some good templates for yourself. So then to prep for the actual, uh, publication of your episodes, I am going to recommend batch recording, batch, editing, batching, the notes, batching, uploading, et cetera. Um, I have. An episode, not too far back, that is on batching and it's like a different approach to batching.
So the short version is that instead of spending one day doing all of this for like four episodes, you could spend one block of time writing up the notes that you want. And then another block of time recording the episodes. And then another block of time. Like editing and uploading. Right. Um, just because I, I find that usually when people are struggling with batching it's because they're trying to do a whole process.
Many many, many different steps, all in like one timeframe. And that can get really exhausting because you're still tasks switching in between. Um, so generally when I record, I batch record, but I'm not doing all of the other pieces. I batch those on different days, uh, and also track how long. All of that is taking you.
This process will speed up over time. So don't be dismayed at first, if it's taking you a while, but really, uh, really track, you know, how, you know, how long does it take you to, let's say for four episodes, like create the show notes, um, record, edit, upload all of that. Uh, and then. It's good to think about once, you know, how long that takes.
Like when are you going to schedule in time to redo that process on an ongoing basis? So, you know, how many episodes do you have a month? Let's say it's one a week. So that's four. So when can you schedule in time to record those four episodes? Even if you don't batch record all four in one go like maybe you do two and two, when can.
You reasonably, you know, be fairly certain that you are going to have time that you can set aside to do the work for that. And then as you're doing it also create SOP or standard operating procedures for your processes so that you can outsource it at some point. Um, and this doesn't necessarily mean that you need like a whole podcast production company or anything like.
This could literally be like you film yourself, going into Canva, changing the graphics for that episode. And then. That's like one SOP, right? Here's how I go into Canva and change, change the graphics for the episode. Like here's the title one, here's the quote, whatever great that's done. And then another one can be like, oh, here's how I get it into Libsyn.
And here's how I get it to my website. And here is, you know, I craft an email and I send it to me. List and, you know, just all of those individual processes, um, because you don't have to outsource all of them at once. You could simply start with, if you have an assistant and you're batching and you know, your next four episodes, they create those graphics for you.
Um, they can. Maybe take your show notes and graphics and go into Libsyn or wherever you like to choose, you know, to have your podcasts upload from, they can do that for you. This is what I've done over time. Now I literally just record, I get my portion of the note. In everything else goes off to my team and they handle the rest, but it started all very, very, very, uh, incrementally.
So some really important things to avoid. If you will be having guests, please take into account that you'll need to be working around other people and their schedules. So. If a lot of the issues I've seen, like people I know who have guest only podcasts is that it's a really good idea, too. Get in as many as you can, like sort of front-loaded and ready to DOE so that not every week, you're like trying to get a guest because if you, what happens, like if that person has to cancel right then you're kind of screwed.
Right. So even, even for regular ones, like, even if you're just so. Or with, or doing it like with a friend or with a cohost. I always recommend working ahead because you never know, like when something's going to happen and your schedule is going to get all messed up. So I always try to have like almost a month summit.
Sometimes it doesn't always happen, but like about a month's worth, just ready, uh, like ready to go. And. That way, I don't have to be super stressed about scrambling at the last minute to, um, get an episode created and all of the other work that goes into it and then put up and go out into the world.
Right. So if you're thinking about having only episodes with guests taken to take that into, uh, into account and. Basically have like, uh, you know, plan, plan B, plan C, stuff like that in case people have to, uh, cancel or reschedule. Um, which leads me to say you should definitely get acuity or Calendly or something like that to make that process easier.
They're very, very inexpensive. And it's really frustrating to try to go back and forth via email too. Schedule things, right. It's better to just create a call that is podcast interview with a really good intake form where you collect all the info that you need from them in advance, and you just have it all right there.
And it sends them reminder emails and all of that stuff. Right. So, so, so much easier than a ton of back and forth also. Get a contract for them to sign. It is really important that you have a podcast release form. Even if you were just doing this for funsies. Um, I know that's a bummer. I know it's annoying, but.
Cover cover your ass, get a contract. They don't cost that much money. Um, and then, uh, be sure the sound is okay on their end as well. Like there are a few things you can do when you are inviting guests on to kind of let them know ahead of time. Like, Hey, here are some of the parameters or our preferences for, um, for sound.
And, um, not that you have to be like super over the top or overbearing. Uh, you know, this, this is not NPR. Um, but just especially if they are somebody who doesn't have a podcast of their own, or isn't usually a podcast guest, they might not really know. So it's totally okay to inform them. Uh, also don't require them to come up with the title of their episode for you.
It's kind of annoying. Um, I, yeah, it's, uh, Only because it's not their podcast. Right. Like, it's fine. Usually what I do when I, on my, um, booking link is I'm like, you know, three things that you want to make sure that we cover or that we touch on or that you can speak on. And usually we've had a prior conversation kind of about what we'll be talking about.
What I like is to make sure like, oh, we should try to hit on these three things and make sure we talk about them. We leave them all in, um, cause they're important to what we're talking about. Um, and then from there I think about, okay, how do I want to summarize that? Um, in a way for my audience, for my title, You know that it's going to, how it's going to go out into the world.
And then I create the title from there. Um, but it feels like a lot of pressure when it's not your own show to suggest to somebody else what the title should be. Like. I can tell you the things I want to talk about. I can tell you kind of like the main overarching theme or message or anything. It feels like way too much pressure to come up with the title too.
If I'm being honest, um, also try to avoid pre show meetings. It's very, very, very time consuming. So it's best like, unless somebody cold pitches you out of the blue, you've never heard from them, but they sound interesting. And you're like, can we just like, let's just hop on, you know, real quick. Maybe we can chit chat and I'm just going to see, like, if it's good fit, that might be different, but just across the board, like, uh, it's.
I don't know. It's just, it's just a lot. And maybe there'll be people who disagree with me or it's part of their process and it works for them. That's that's fine. Um, I just know. Like, I know that when I'm going to show up on some of these podcasts, like I'm going to be good. I know if I'm going to have somebody on my podcast, like I have, you know, vetted them and I know who they are and all of that, I don't really need to use either of our time to have like an additional pre-show meeting.
Um, one of the most important things I could say, one of the biggest mistakes I see people make is overly edited. Do not do it. You, this is not, this is not December 2nd life, right? Like, furthermore, if that is the kind of caliber of podcast that you want, I mean, that is awesome. Go for it. Like more power to you.
I am not the person to be learning from though, because as I said at the top, I have not a podcast expert and I'm not an audio engineer. Um, you do not need to take out every. Um, uh, like, so, you know, all of those things, every little pause like you, cause here's how I look at it. I have two, two takes on this, right.
One, I hate bad audio quality, right? If I have to like crank a podcast way up, or it sounds grainy or whatever, like that is annoying to me. So I just, I will not listen. But as long as the audio quality is good, I expect that they are going to be talking like how they usually talk. And I listened to a lot of podcasts that are very professionally produced.
These are people who make their entire living off of their podcast and the, um, revenue, like the ad revenue from their podcast and all of that. Um, and there have been. You know, there are like ums and AHS and what ha like there's, there's all of that in there. There's been like tiny editing mistakes.
There's all of those things. Uh, if somebody is going to be super offensive offended, because you said, um, we're like annoyed chances are. They're not going to want to work with you in the future anyways, because that's how you talk as a human in real life. Right. So, um, I just, I don't sweat it. Right. Uh, again, as I said, if something is like super weird, like I sneeze right in the middle, uh, or.
DDoS, like something like that, then I will go in and I will take that out. But I have seen in podcast groups where people are like, oh, how long does it take you to edit your podcasts? Like, it takes me like two hours for every 30 minute episode. I'm like, I don't, I, I wouldn't have cast them. Like I just wouldn't do it.
That would, that seems so on fun. Uh, and not, not the point. So. Um, if people don't like your voice, if they don't like how you naturally talk, whatever, they can go elsewhere to get their information, just make sure that your audio quality is there. And there's no like major annoying noise things. Um, other than that, don't sweat it.
Uh, another one is inconsistency, especially if it is, especially if you're using it for your business. Right? So again, this is why I was harping so much on the prep and being prepared and prerecording episodes and having that workflow, like all of that, because far too often, what I see is not that people are like, oh, I had this podcast for a bit and I loved it and it was great.
And now I'm just like, not in a podcasting season anymore. Like, that's fine. We all have different things that we choose to do at different points of our business, but where it becomes an issue is if you have been putting out content every week and people are expecting it, and then there's like a gap in there and then you come back and then there's a gap.
And then you come back and it's not, it's not like there's no cadence to it, right. It's not, oh,
it's the summer. So I'm going from every week to every other week. It's like, there might be four weeks in between, and then an episode. And then two weeks in an episode, in three weeks in an episode, well, what happens is, is that people learn, oh, I am, you know, yes.
I still liked this person and I liked their content, but I'm not like I'm not anticipating. Listening to that regularly. Right. And sometimes, you know, I don't listen to every podcast every week. Like slams, I will batch listen as well. Like I'll save a few and then I'll binge them all at once. Um, so it's, it's fine.
It's not like this is the worst thing that could ever happen to you. It's just, uh, it's a lot better if you need to decrease your publishing time to again, be very intentional about the new. Publication schedule rather than to be all over the place. Um, because it will, it will cause your listeners to drop off.
And even in some ways it can feel like, oh, I don't, I don't know. This, this person is just, um, being really inconsistent in this. So like, what does that mean? Like, is that how they would be, if we, if we work together to kind of a thing it's, that's not necessarily something conscious, but it is something subconscious.
Um, that happens, uh, in, in the world of business. Also, don't forget to promote your podcast episodes as they come out. You certainly don't have to overdo it, um, and be over the top about it. But, uh, don't assume that people know that you have it or that they remember or anything. So again, like whatever your schedule is, you know, if you have one episode a week, then.
At least once a week, let people know on your socials or wherever you hang out that you have a new episode. Um, another mistake again is just being all over the place with your content. This is why you want to have those content themes. Uh, so that, again, this is kind of like the inconsistency with publishing.
Um, if people don't know what to expect from you, they will try it. Off they'll trickle away. They'll go somewhere else where it feels like, oh, I know what I'm getting here. And I can at least anticipate, uh, the theme of what I'm going to be listening to. Even if the exact content, you know, shifts from episode to episode, they at least kind of know the overarching thing.
Um, and also if you are a guest on somebody else's podcast, it's polite to share and signal boost them as well. So, uh, you know, on your social platforms, It, you know, you can get, if, if they don't automatically send you the info on the episode, you can reach out and say, Hey, I would love, you know, the cover art or, you know, any, any other marketing materials you have.
And I am going to signal boost it myself, or, you know, when they share and tag you on Instagram, you know, share that to your stories. Let people know that you were over there, even if you're not putting it into your feed or into an email or anything. Because, you know, I just, I feel like it's, uh, it just considerate, right?
They, they gave you the opportunity to, um, get in front of new people. So it only seems fair that you let your people know about them too. Um, and yeah, and so that's really like, I would just say, you know, don't, don't rush it. Like don't overthink it. A million months getting
things, quote unquote, perfect.
Before you launch, because there's no need for that. But when I started mine, it was the beginning of 2019. I really wanted to put it out in Q1. And I just realized, I was like, if I want to be kind to myself going forward, I need to get a few more things in place. And I'm going to launch this at the very beginning of Q2 instead.
And I'm so, so, so glad I did because I. Was able to get a lot of those foundational, uh, workflows set up and a lot of episodes, prerecorded and everything in Q1, um, that has allowed me to sustain my publishing schedule for the rest of the time. Even, even as it's evolved and I've gotten more help, I used to do it all myself, even as I've gotten more help, it just, um, has made it so.
With the exception of, there's been a few times where it's like Christmas week and like new year's Eve week where, um, I just know, you know, people aren't going to be online as much. They're not there. Kind of everyone is sort of resting. Like even if you don't celebrate winter holidays or anything, like, it's just more of a time to chill.
I'm chilling. I want my listeners to chill too, so I won't put out episodes, um, those weeks and the last few summers I've done my. Summer rewind series to give myself a break, but still put out some of my most loved content. Um, but yeah, so there's all different ways that you can do it, but really like give yourself a solid foundation to build on.
So that way you don't run into a situation where you're like, I cannot keep up with this and now I'm exhausted and now I'm burnt out. And now I have. Real inconsistency with my publishing, um, cousin, then that's no fun, so fun for anyone. Uh, and also, you know, there've been things over time where I've just was like, this isn't worth it anymore.
Um, like having, uh, I used to do the graphics that were like the audio file graphics. And I just, I just don't. I, like I realized they were kind of time consuming to make and I wasn't sharing them as much. I don't know. Um, so there's also parts of your workflow that if you're like, yeah, I don't, I don't really like doing this anymore.
Like you can just, you just don't have to do them anymore. Um, So, yeah. And I'm trying to think if there's anything else, uh, technically, oh, so just in terms of monetizing them, that is where that call to action comes in. Um, you can send people to a free resource, you could send them. To, um, a workshop you could send them to a paid offer.
Uh, that is how you can monetize your podcast without directly having to get sponsors. Uh, and the final thing I want to say is really just be yourself, have fun and engage with your listeners. It does not matter if you don't have. You know, the top podcast in your industry? Um, I'm sure there are a lot of people who would look at my podcast numbers and be like, wow, like, why do you even bother?
You're not when like, you know, tens of thousands of downloads a week. Um, well, that's not really why I do it, right. That's not my, my why, my reason behind why I have the podcast. Uh, I will say that. Because I show up as myself because I try to have as much fun as possible because I do, like, when I say at the end, you know, find me on social, like, uh, you know, tell me that you were listening, like over on Instagram, Eric Dobbins consulting, you know, tag
me, screenshot tag me, you know, tell me you're listening.
I really do engage with everyone who does that. Um, and so I ended up having a lot of loyal listeners and people who will happily share me and give me a shout out and who find real value in what I'm doing. And that is ultimately. Why I do what I do week after week. So if you have any questions, feel free to reach out on Instagram, Eric Dobbins consulting.
Uh, if you are planning to launch a podcast of your own, I would love to hear about it. Be sure that you come over there. Yeah. And tell me, tell me what you're thinking. I would love, love, love to hear about it. And, uh, and I'm sure that you will do amazingly, amazingly well with your podcast. Thank you for tuning in and as always happy selling.
