5 Things I've Learned Starting a Podcast
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Claire: Hello, everyone. I am Claire, your host, and it's a soul show. It's just me. It's been a while. I thought I would celebrate a full year, just over a full year of putting out episodes on the podcast. And to be honest, my goal was just to get to year one, to re evaluate. And then I read something that it was the top 1 percent of podcasts put out 20 episodes.
Claire: There are 400 [00:01:00] million podcasts, and I believe there's only 200, 000 in the last week that put out a podcast episode. So all these statistics are interesting because. It's hard to keep showing up every single week and putting content out there. And it was something I really struggled with. I post a lot. I shared things online, but to really pick a channel, pick a lane, show up, commit week after week, it was hard.
Claire: And so today's episode, I'm just going to speak to those that start things. And it's really hard to keep going with them. And what are the things that I did to keep going and to keep showing up? Despite, you know, having a baby or despite being sick, all these different things and how I've made it work for me.
Claire: And so if you're listening to this and your dream is maybe to start your own channel, it doesn't have to be a podcast, but the [00:02:00] key is consistency. And to be in that 1 percent is really about just keep showing up. And the best way to show up is picking something Seems obvious, but something that you're super passionate about.
Claire: And the best thing is to just think about what are you naturally talking to your friends, your parents, people on the street, where does the conversation go? What does it end up coming to? And I know for me, it's always been about getting everyone to start a business, marketing and technology. And. I thought, well, there's tons of people out there, but then what I recognized was that I love the world of technology and marketing and helping people start a business.
Claire: But really what I found the extra layer was, and this is where they say riches are in the niches is finding that next level. And for me, it was, I want you to make a ton of money. Living where you want to [00:03:00] specifically for those of us that love the small town communities, and that's what I've chosen. I've always chosen the small city over the big city because of the community and many other things.
Claire: But. I have come to learn that you really can't ignore things that you're passionate about because if you try and show up for something that's trending, that's popular, that's cool, it's really hard to keep showing up because you're not really driven and you're not excited about the topic. And. I'm talking from someone that has lots of ADHD, it's an advantage for many, many things, but to show up and be consistent has always been a struggle of mine.
Claire: And so before you jump in, is to really ask yourself, what am I already doing? And a podcast is maybe not the channel for you, but I always say, you know, if you're sitting down and writing something, then maybe it's blogging or jumping on different platforms like [00:04:00] medium or sub stack, or maybe you love just being off the cuff, speaking to a camera.
Claire: Like I am now with the podcast and getting it on YouTube, but just listen to what your natural tendencies are. If you're someone that's totally camera shy and you're not ready for that, podcasting is great for that. Maybe you like to write, maybe you like to draw it out, whatever it is, comic strips, have another way of connecting with your audience, but I think the most important thing I've come to learn is that you really can't ignore.
Claire: What you're naturally already doing, because it makes it really hard to keep showing up. If it's not something that fuels you and gets you excited. And that's why the podcast that I've built was like, let's see how many amazing people I can get onto the podcast and I can learn from them. I love learning.
Claire: So what better way is that in real time and building in public, I get to ask people questions. And share those answers with you as a vehicle of communicating, but also getting content out there into [00:05:00] the world and capturing it. So that first one is, what do you love to talk about? What do you love to share?
Claire: And for me, it was making sure that the topic is broad enough that allows me to go into a lot of different lanes, but still staying under the umbrella of. You know, supporting entrepreneurs in small town communities. The next thing was don't do what I did and just cross your fingers and ask people to come on the podcast willy nilly and hopefully it gets out.
Claire: Plan, have structure it so that you know that you're at least three to four weeks out because there are real things that happen in life. You get busy, you get sick, you have a baby. You go on a trip, you're burnt out, whatever it is, you always want to give yourself that buffer time. And so I would say have three to six episodes, if you can, in queue before you even launch your podcast.
Claire: [00:06:00] I would not recommend going in real time and putting that pressure on you. I've done both and it is So much more fun when you have some sort of plan and you get to start promoting it ahead of time and getting people excited and You have better conversations with people because you're not rushing it.
Claire: The biggest question people always ask and something I've come to learn is that if you have a message to share, figure out the quickest way to get it out into the world. Once people are interested, you test it. People are, are buying into your idea. They're excited. What you have to say. That's the time when you can start focusing in on, you know, the very special equipment that you want to use.
Claire: But my first, I don't know, three, four, five, 10 episodes. I was just recording on my Apple earphones into my phone and I still don't have anything super fancy. Now I have a light and I have a camera and I have a microphone, [00:07:00] but I really believe that if you have a message that you want to share and you can always create more excuses, and that's the thing is that.
Claire: Just get out there and build it, put it out there and test it and see what people are interested in and follow that. And then once you have the resources, you have the time and you start to become more comfortable. You can start improving the quality of video, improving the video, improving all these things.
Claire: And I still have a long ways to go. It's better where I was. So it's just about those incremental changes and recognizing that it's better to get the message out there and test it and see what your audience wants and improve by listening to what they have to do with the feedback they have to give.
Claire: So don't get bogged down by the technology. everyone has a friend that knows more than you about technology. Ask them, get a sense and they can help [00:08:00] you. Something I have learned and I continue to learn is don't take for granted the power of writing. You are putting out a podcast and it is audio driven content, but how people really get engaged is because they're reading a subject line.
Claire: They are reading the contents description of the podcast episode. If you put it on YouTube, it's picking up tags and keywords. I know when I first started. I didn't even think twice about it. It was more about getting the episode up. But over time, you can really see the targeting and how you're attracting different individuals based on how you write it.
Claire: Something that I have found really valuable is subjectline. com. You put in a title that you're thinking about and it will rank it and it will say why it could be better, what it's good about. I use Gemini or ChatGPT to put it in and you can say this is what I'm [00:09:00] intending, you know, the topic to be about.
Claire: Does this align? Do you have suggestions? And I find it's really important to take the time to really Test different titles, especially when you're sharing them on social media, figure out, you know, what kind of thumbnail works for your audience. What are people clicking more on? How did you write it? And these little nuances in the way we write.
Claire: Are part of the brand that you're building and it's really important to take the time to plan that and to really consider, you know, who are you writing to, what is the audience hoping to get from this? And so when you're leveraging your podcast or your channel, specifically in this case, what I've learned in the last year after 50 plus episodes of putting out there is that the ones that better.
Claire: And it seems. intuitive and obvious, but it is because I spent more [00:10:00] time writing out a strong subject line, making sure I send it to my email subscriber list, making sure that there's tags and there's keywords that are aligning. Doing that work will set you up from not it just going in To the world and crickets.
Claire: So taking the time to really focus on the copywriting, the writing, and how you're doing it. Little things like using subject line.com. I always take the transcript from every recording, so right now it's even just on Zoom, it's taking, I take the transcript file and I put it into chat, GBT, for example, depending on what you're using.
Claire: And I say. Give me a high level summary using conversational copy of this episode. And then I take that and I say, put it into bullet points. People like the bullet points being like in this episode, you're [00:11:00] going to know this, you're going to know this, and you're going to know this, or you're going to take away this.
Claire: And it really gets right to the point, the meat of what. The summary is, and then obviously you take your own human touch and your brand and how you write it and you add in the extras that really connect with your audience. And I said this earlier, but consistency is key. You will see that. Your engagement people tuning in increases when you have a regular schedule that people know, because if you're just putting it out here and there, you're not on the radar and the average person listens to eight podcasts at a given time.
Claire: That's kind of the roster, the circulation. So if you're putting out episodes here and there. you're not in queue, you're not getting the notifications. And so it's really important when you're setting up your podcast, when you're setting up your channel to really know, okay, there's a certain schedule.
Claire: We see this. I, I'm excited. [00:12:00] Next week, you're going to hear from the top podcast in North America. Is on Apple actually is with Ryan Alford and he talks about the, that this is so consistent that we're moving into personalized channels that we sign up for these different channels. You know, yes, there's going to be still, you know, our large telecommunication channels where we're going to tune into, but now we're moving into everyone having their own being their own media company and, and signing up to that.
Claire: So if people know that you have a regular. Time that can tune in your viewership, your engagement will increase. And it is hard that that's why the first year I was like, I I'm only sitting here because I promised myself I'm not going to share how to be consistent. If I can't for myself show up and be consistent every week.
Claire: And it's about having the [00:13:00] plan, having, you know, the structure and making sure you know, you know, what's in the queue next, what's happening and where you're taking the show. And the biggest thing is, and it's hard with podcasting because you don't get a ton of feedback, but make sure that you get feedback from important people in your life that are going to give you.
Claire: Really intelligent feedback. you need to ask your audience, what do they want? And I'm constantly, and when you're listening to this, I want to hear from you. It is a quiet world in the podcasting world. You don't get a lot of feedback but it is powerful because I don't know where in the world you are right now, but hello, and you're sitting listening and you're tuning in podcasts are powerful because any podcast, you.
Claire: You're tuning into you get at least 10, 20 minutes of this intimate experience, tuning into that world, into their channel. And so it's really important that [00:14:00] you're getting the feedback asking, you know, what can I do to serve you better? What do you want to listen to? What do you want to hear? And so it's really been cool over the last year working with some of the top podcasts in the world right now and hearing how they're building out and what they're doing.
Claire: And that's. The key to this podcasting world, it's a very collaborative community is that we want good conversations. We want, it's not like, you know, I always say TikTok is like someone jumping out of a bush and scaring you and then you move on. I love the idea. That I get to tune in every week to my favorite podcast and really listen to what they have to say.
Claire: And it's, it's tangible next steps that I can improve with my business or in my, you know, with my family life or my mindset, whatever it is, there's something more than just being, this big entertainment value. And something I, promised that I would share that has been [00:15:00] wildly successful, and I really didn't realize the power of collaboration and reaching out, but 99.
Claire: 9 percent of the time that I have asked over the last week, Over a year, asking to have some of the top performers in the podcast space or in the entrepreneurial space, I'm blown away that when I just write them and creatively and strategically write them and follow up, that they respond. And, you know, whether it's two weeks or three months, I'm able to get them on the show.
Claire: The people that I reach out or Cody Sanchez, I've reached out, maybe one day she'll hear this. I'm hoping that she'll come on in a year. That's what I said. Hey, if she's available in the next year, so don't. Underestimate the power of just sitting down and being genuine. I have a 35 minute [00:16:00] webinar that start to finish goes into the nitty gritty of how to start a podcast.
Claire: I will be putting this link down in the show notes. If you want to get the cheat sheet for starting your podcast, you want to learn how you can start your podcast. The world needs your message. I believe there's tons of people that have powerful messages and it's about Starting, getting it out there. You don't know what could happen if you put it out there.
Claire: I will be announcing two massive partnerships I have landed in the last couple weeks that will be coming soon. So I really hope that today you think about what you're super passionate about and how you can get that message out into the world and make it happen.
Claire: And start sharing it, whether it's a podcast or it's another medium. Thanks for being here. And I will see you next week when we have the one and only Ryan Elford. Cheers.
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