As I reflect on the past four years, it’s wild to me to think about the fact that just a short time ago I was attending my very first Podcast Movement conference to learn about how to be a podcaster.
I’ve learned so many lessons since then, and in this post I want to share a few of them with you. My goal with writing this is to inspire you to start a podcast of your own.
1. Everyone Has a Message to Share
I know this one might be the most obvious, but if you’re anything like I was in the beginning, you’re probably wondering who would care what you have to say.
I get it.
I didn’t think I actually had a valuable message to share in the beginning. I feared I’d be talking into the abyss, and no one would listen.
A funny thing has happened since starting my podcast, though. Even with fewer downloads on my Bloggy Friends Show than I would like, people in my circle have actually brought up things I’ve said on my podcast. Having my own words quoted back to me has been pretty funny, and I’ve enjoyed hearing what people are learning from my episodes.
I also listen to a lot more podcasts than ever before, and the stories people share continue to fascinate me. From single moms to empty nesters, widowers to cancer survivors, everyone out there has a message to share that someone needs to hear.
2. Done is Better Than Perfect
The biggest thing that has held me back from putting out more episodes is the misguided belief that my episodes have to be perfect. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’ve deleted far more episodes than I have uploaded! Hours of work trashed all because I thought it needed to sound better, be more concise (or be less concise!), needed more authority, needed a better guest, etc.
Luckily these days I have been leaning more into the idea that I need to just get the content online.
I’m not yet as consistent as I want to be with my uploads, and I’m certainly not loading as frequently as I would like to be, but I’m still chugging along. I can’t learn what my audience likes or doesn’t like if I’m not posting new episodes, so I’ve got to just let go of perfection and post them already!
3. Being a Podcaster Can Open So Many Doors
I’ve been fortunate to interview and engage with some pretty cool people all because I have a podcast. People that would have been harder to connect with are more accessible. As my buddy Josh Elledge from Up My Influence told me once, podcasting is a great way to get past the gatekeepers and talk to the people that you want to talk to.
Affiliate opportunities I might not have had are now on the table. Articles I wanted to write have been assigned to me simply because “podcaster” is now in my bio. I’ve gotten gigs for work thanks to my podcasting experience, and I’ve built amazing connections because of this medium.
People I’ve longed to connect with are willing to read my emails and accept my LinkedIn network connection requests. I feel like I have more of a good reason to engage with people, and it’s a lot of fun networking with the gurus, influencers, and movers and shakers I adore.
4. Podcasting is More Work than You Think
I admit I was pretty naïve when I started my first podcast. I had this delusional belief that you could just record an episode, slap an intro and outro on it, and voila! You would have a podcast. While you could do that, most people spend a good amount of time editing the episodes before they even go live.
Then, the real work begins. Creating a podcast cover for each episode, writing social media posts, writing show notes and blog posts, and doing the things you’re supposed to do to promote it. It’s a lot of effort!
My day job is content creation and marketing for various brands, and even I’m terrible at marketing my own stuff because it’s so much work. I will say I’m working on developing a system to make a lot of what needs to be done easier. But, I’ve barely marketed my show since its inception because I haven’t had the time to play with it as much as I would like to.
Each episode can take me as much as 10 hours to produce the right way. It’s hard to think about sharing more episodes than I already do as a result. I know that a lack of marketing is one of the big reasons my download numbers are low, so I’m hoping to implement my marketing plan really soon.
I’ve also had far too many last minute recording and editing sessions, not to mention scrambling to find guests. Basically this is a long winded way of saying everyone was right – you need systems and processes in place to get the work done, and to be consistent.
5. There Are So Many Tools To Help with Podcasting Now
This is what I’m most excited about for podcasters just now starting their shows. AI software for podcasting is becoming more advanced and more tools are coming online. This means podcasting is going to keep getting easier for creators that want to focus more on the message than all the work.
RSS.com is just one of many companies working on making podcasting easier for creators like me. For example, this podcast hosting company offers free transcripts for all episodes.
I used to spend an hour or two of my time generating transcripts. Although I used Otter.ai for a while to help me, I was frustrated at spending $9 a month on this service only to have to still spend time editing the transcripts.
RSS.com offers three accuracy levels – low, medium, and high. Though the high accuracy level takes the longest, it’s more accurate than Otter was, and it’s included in the podcast hosting cost. Definitely a win in my book!
Another example is RSS.com’s PodViz technology. Before, if I wanted my episodes on YouTube, I had to load them to a software like Headliner, then add a background, wait for it to process, download the file, and then upload it to YouTube.
Again, this meant spending time and money. With RSS.com, it’s included in the podcast hosting cost, and if you’re using them as your podcast host, you can connect your YouTube account and have the episodes automatically distributed to your YouTube channel.
I’ve not used this feature much, but the fact that it’s there for when I’m ready to implement my podcast marketing plan has me very excited!
There are so many reasons I love RSS.com. But, even if you’re not using them to host your podcast, PodViz is available for any podcaster to try for free! It pulls your episode art and audio and generates a video that is ready to upload fast! Try it here for yourself.
Here’s what my first PodViz Video looks like on YouTube:
Outside of RSS.com, here are some other tools that are available now for podcasters:
- Audio editing with one click programs like Descript and Adobe Podcast AI. Both of these tools make it easy to clean up your audio and make voice recordings sound like they were recorded in a fancy podcasting studio.
- Automated show notes programs like Capsho, Deciphr, and CastMagic. Upload your audio and you can have show notes written for you. As the technology improves, these programs will make it even easier to generate blog posts, social media content, newsletters and more.
- Remotely record a podcast on Zoom or Riverside, strip the audio and load it to YouTube. The fact that this is possible is just mind-blowing to me.
- Image editing tools like Canva and image generation software like Midjourney.
6. Finally, the Fear Will Always Exist
Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The braveman is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
I feel fear with every podcast episode I record. I feel fear with every upload. I feel fear every time I share my episodes.
The fear will always exist. But, I continue to record and upload the episodes because I know that someone out there can get value from what I’m uploading.
My listeners might be thinking about starting a career in blogging and because they heard one of my episodes they decided to post their first article. Maybe they were considering quitting and heard a guest say something so simple that it resparked their passion to continue on. That’s what is encouraging me to keep going. It’s why I’m still excited about recording and sharing more in the future. I want to educate and inspire people to be online creators.
So I ask you fellow future podcasters – what do you want to share with the world? What message is burning within you that you’ve got to get out there? And, what are you waiting for?
It’s time to become a podcaster and learn some lessons of your own.