263: Holly Worton ~ How YOU Can Start Your Own Podcast

Today’s Guest

I’m back again, with another solo episode! Thanks to a suggestion from Esther in the Facebook group, I’m talking about how you can start your own podcast. This is another in-depth episode with loads of info and resources. One of the most frequently asked questions I get from friends is: what tips would you have for someone who wants to start their own podcast? Here’s the answer.

Listen to this episode

What You’ll Learn

What is a podcast
Why you might want to start a podcast
Who should start a podcast
How to know you’re ready to start a podcast
How to start your own podcast
How to decide on what format you want to use
How to get guests for your show if you decide to do interviews
What gear you need + where to get it
All the tech stuff you need to have in order to get started
What things you can do yourself + what you need to outsource
How to market your podcast
How to get the mindset you need to start your own podcast
Where to go to get additional help if you need specialized podcast coaching

Things I Discussed

Resources

Finding a podcast editor

I outsource my editing to a fantastic guy in the Philippines, who adds the intro/outro, the intro/outro music, and edits out ahs/ums and background noise, if possible. It’s amazing some of the stuff that goes on in the background at these interviews, like one morning when someone was doing construction work near my home right as I was recording the podcast. Some things you just can’t plan around.

My editor is absolutely fantastic, and he’s been working with me for nine and a half years. If you need a podcast editor and want his contact details, please get in touch and I’ll send them over to you. I highly recommend him!

Download the Worksheet

I also created a checklist to help you on how YOU can start your own podcast. Get it here (no opt-in required).

Connect With Holly

How to Subscribe

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Related episodes

Transcript

The transcript for this episode can also be downloaded here (no opt-in required).

Holly: Hello and welcome to the Business Mindset Podcast, episode 263. This is your host Holly Worton and I am back with another solo episode.

I was so happy with last week’s episode about how to start a Patreon account, to create a new income stream in your business, and to create more of a community around what you do and get paid for your content, and get paid for your work, and allow people to pay you in kind of different and creative ways based on what they can afford. I am super-excited about Patreon, so if you haven’t listened to that episode, I highly recommend that you do. If you have I would love your feedback: let me know what you think. And, I was so happy with that episode because I loved digging really deep into the topic and doing a really in-depth, kind of extended length episode. It was about an-hour-and-15 minutes long, I really spent some time on the show notes as well, and I have had really great feedback, not only on the episode, but also on all the resources I included in the show notes. So, again, I really enjoyed last week’s episode and I want to do more of those really in-depth episodes for you. So, I look forward to receiving feedback from you on what you want me to delve deeper into: what do you want me to talk about? What do you want me to teach about? What do you want me to introduce to you? What do you want to hear? I would like to do more of those episodes, but again, I am flexible, I like doing half-hour episodes, but I do really like doing the deep stuff as well. So, please let me know if you have any ideas.

Today’s topic, for today’s episode, also comes from a suggestion from someone in the Facebook group, who suggested that I talk about how to start your own podcast. It is a question that I get asked a lot. So often, that I have made a very extensive blog post on the topic, and with lots of links and I keep adding to it, but it is something that I haven’t talked about here on the podcast; so I wanted to hopefully dive into this topic and give you some more information on how you can start your own podcast. You are listening to this podcast so clearly it is a format that you like, and perhaps might want to try for yourself.

So, what are we going to talk about (or what am I going to talk about because I am alone/this is a solo episode!), you will learn in the podcast: what is a podcast (you will know as you listen to this podcast, but figured I had to cover that anyway); why you might want to start a podcast; who should start a podcast; how do you know that you are ready to start a podcast; how to start your own podcast; how to decide what format you want to use for your show; how to get guests for your show if you decide to do interviews; what gear you need and where to get it; all the tech stuff you need to have, like software and where to get started; what things you can do yourself and what you need to outsource, or what things you might want to outsource; how to market your podcast; and, finally, where to get additional help if you need specialised podcast coaching.

First Patron!

However, before we get into today’s episode, and kind of reaching back to last week’s episode on Patreon, I wanted to welcome Esther Lemons as my very first patron on Patreon, so thank you so much for supporting my work, and for supporting the show, and for being the first person to click to support me on Patreon. I really, really, appreciate it and as I have mentioned on my Patreon profile I will be giving all new patrons a shout out on the show, so thank you so much, I really, really, appreciate it.

So, getting into this week’s episode.

What is a podcast?

Again, you are listening to this week’s podcast, so I am sure you have probably got that covered. But, I wanted to bring this up because it surprises me how many people still don’t know what a podcast is. Podcasting has been around for years and years and years. I started podcasting in… almost exactly five years ago, so it is actually really exciting for me to be doing this episode now at kind of the five-year mark. So, I started in 2013, but podcasting has been around longer than that. So, apparently, podcasting used to be called “audio-blogging”, which makes sense, because podcasts are kind of like audio blogposts. And apparently it has its roots dating back to the 1980s, however, who ever heard of an audio-blog back in the 1980s, did we have the Internet back then? …No. It really didn’t catch hold until late 2004, but as I said there are still plenty of people who still don’t know what a podcast is, I was just explaining to someone the other day: that I had a podcast and I did this thing and I have been doing it for five years, and they said: what is a podcast? So, I had to explain: so, basically, it is like a blog but audio.

And I started this podcast, and I know I have mentioned this before, but I started this podcast because I started listening to podcasts back in 2013, kind of earlier on in the year, and the very first podcast that I started listening to, and I don’t know how I even heard of it, but it was Natalie Sisson’s The Suitcase Entrepreneur podcast. And it was the very first show I started listening to, she was doing lots of interviews with people, I loved them! I found it really inspiring, I used to listen to them at the gym, I used to listen to them walking around town, I really liked the format. And, this was kind of surprising to me, because I am not naturally an auditory learner. I don’t learn well from hearing stuff, I don’t learn well, and I don’t retain information well, from hearing stuff. I learn best through reading, and I retain information the best through reading. I am a very visual person, but visual in the sense of I like to see the words, rather than say watching a video, I hate videos. So it is really weird that I like podcasts and it is really weird that I listen to so many podcasts. So, I am saying this because, just because your natural learning style isn’t auditory — and maybe it is — but if you are the kind of person who doesn’t learn well through auditory stuff, that’s fine, that doesn’t mean that other people won’t want to hear you. And I point this out because this is something that has taken me probably far too long to understand, and get used to, because what works for me is not necessarily what is going to work for my audience, and what I like is not necessarily going to work for my audience, and what I don’t like may not coincide with my audience likes. So, you can’t base what’s right for your audience, or your fans, or your community, or your tribe, based on what you like, or dislike – that’s really, really important.

There are tons of podcasts out there, more and more people are starting podcasts every day, it is like blogging was years and years and years ago. And don’t be put off by that, I mean no one would say: Oh it is 2018, it is far too late to start a blog, you shouldn’t do that, because there are too many blogs out there. So, don’t believe anyone who says that about podcasting, people do say that about podcasting and I think that is absolutely ridiculous, everyone’s voice is different, everyone’s perspective is different, everyone’s perspective is valid, if you want to start a podcast absolutely start a podcast. So, that leads me into…

Why might you want to start a podcast?

So, I started the show, again, because I was listening to Natalie Sisson, loved her, I started listening to other interview-style podcasts, where they were interviewing other entrepreneurs. And I realised that I couldn’t find any podcasts that exclusively interviewed women entrepreneurs, and that bothered me, because that’s what I wanted. And I couldn’t find it, so I asked about it online, I remember asking about it in the online communities that I belonged to, no one knew of anything, I couldn’t find it. So, I thought, okay, if I can’t find what I want to listen to, then I guess I have to create it myself and this was a really strong intuitive nudge that I got, and it kept coming back to me. And so, this happened probably early on, maybe Springtime 2013, and by August of that year I had launched my first episodes of the show. So, I saw a clear niche in the market that wasn’t being filled, and I wanted to fill it. Now, since then, women podcasting, and interviewing other women entrepreneurs, that’s exploded, and there are so many podcasts like that, which is fantastic. But, I started mine because I couldn’t find what I wanted to listen to, so I decided to create it myself.

So, why might you want to start a podcast? Maybe you have been wanting to hear a podcast, based on whatever your area of expertise is, but you can’t find it. So, there is an opening in the market and you might want to do it yourself. Maybe you are feeling lonely, because you are working at home, all alone, in your office, and you want to reach out and have more connections with people. Maybe you want to build your network, and get to know new entrepreneurs by doing interviews, maybe you want to raise your profile by interviewing high-level people in the field, there are so many reasons why you might want to start a podcast.

Maybe your business coach has been saying that you need to start a blog, but you really hate writing, but you are really good at talking, that’s absolutely a perfect alternative — there are so many reason you might want to start a podcast. But I think it is really important that you get clear on why you want to start a podcast, rather than just jumping on the podcast bandwagon and saying: Oh well everyone is podcasting now, so I should do it myself; get clear on why you want to start a podcast: are you getting a really clear intuitive nudge – like I did – that you need to do this; do you have also a strong practical reason why you want to do it, like I couldn’t find what I wanted so I decided to create it? I think you need to get clear on the why, because if you are just doing it because everyone else seems to be doing it, then I don’t think that’s a good enough reason, because it is a lot of work and it is a lot of work to be consistent and you want to be consistent, you absolutely want to be consistent with a podcast, so I think getting clear on the why from the start is really, really, important. And I think that is one of the first things you want to do: why do you want to start this podcast?

So, if it helps for you to pause this episode right now and right down: why do I want to start this podcast? do that. And if you are not sure now, just figure that out later, but I do think that is a very important step before you move further on this.

Who should start a podcast?

Really, anyone who has something to say, who wants to start a podcast, who has a need, a desire, an interest, in creating content in the audio format — I really think that podcasting, like blogging, is something that pretty much anyone can do, as long as you want to create something of quality, that people would be interested in listening to, that they will find useful and entertaining, I think that is good enough. You don’t need any credentials, you don’t need a super-radio voice, you don’t need a special degree, create your podcast based on whatever work you do. Whether you are a coach, whether you are some kind of creative, if you can write a blog you can do a podcast as long as you know how to speak, and you can speak fairly clearly, or clearly enough for people to understand you. So, I really think this is something that is open to anyone that wants to get their voice out there. And, again, I think that everyone is going to have their own unique perspective, and their own unique things to say, and their own unique contributions and I absolutely think that if you want to start a podcast, you know why you want to start a podcast, you know what you want to talk about, you should go ahead and do it. It is work, but it is not that hard, and you can do it, absolutely.

How do you know you are ready to start a podcast?

I think as long as you have got you why: you know why you want to start a podcast, you are willing to put in the time, and the work, to make it happen, and you are willing to do the foundation work in terms of deciding what format you are going to use, what you are going to talk about, that kind of thing, I think you are ready. You also need to be wiling to do the marketing: podcasting is like any other type of content that you might create, whether it is a YouTube video, or a blog post, yeah people might be searching for the topic and come across it on Google, but really you are not going to build an audience unless you are willing to promote the show and get your episodes out there and market it, you have got to get your stuff out there. I honestly don’t spend a whole lot of time marketing my podcast, I probably spend about half-an-hour each week, promoting each episode, I do have the Facebook group, where we can continue the conversation. But, you have got to do something to get it out there, you have got to be willing to do something to get it out there, because if you just start recording a bunch of stuff, you put it up on iTunes, yeah, you might get a handful of listeners, but it is doing to be really slow going.

Another thing to point out is a lot of people who are new to podcasting think that: oh, I will just do an interviews show, and then I will get all of my guests to promote the episode for me. Now, as I will talk about later: yeah, guests should do their part in promoting all the podcasts that they are a guest on, but most people don’t. Unless you are exclusively interviewing other podcasters, who know the importance and the value of helping you to promote the episode, most people who aren’t podcasters won’t do very much to promote the episode. So, don’t rely on guests. Don’t decide to do an interview format show, because you think they will do the marketing for you, it probably won’t happen. Again, you can be strategic about that, and only invite other podcasters to be guests on your show, but, again, that’s not guaranteed, you really need to do the work yourself and it doesn’t need to be a lot of work, and it doesn’t need to be hard work, but you do need to be willing to market the podcast. So, I think that kind of wraps up how to know that you are ready to start a podcast.

There is work involved, you have got to be willing to do it. You have got to be willing to create quality audio for people to listen, to because there is nothing more annoying than bad audio. And, if your audio sound quality is terrible, people probably won’t listen to your show, or they might listen to another episode, or part of an episode, and never listen to you again because it is really annoying to listen to poor quality audio.

So, how to start your own podcast?

As I said, I have got a blog post on this topic, it is called: how to start your own podcast. I have a ton of links in there, and I linked to a blog post in the show notes, but basically you have got things that you need to get, some foundation work that you need to do, you have got your marketing strategy, record your stuff and then do the launch. So, I am going to walk you through some of these steps and I am also going to recommend that you download, I am going to put together a little checklist that I am going to link to in the show notes, and again you are going to be able to download that, no opt in required, you can just get the thing.

So, one book that I have always recommended is: John Lee Dumas wrote a book called Podcast Launch, and that is an excellent, excellent, excellent, book on how to launch your podcast. It is super short, it is a kindle book, it will teach you everything you need to know about launching a podcast. So, I will link to that in the Show Notes, but basically it is called: Podcast Launch: How to Create, Grow and Monetise Your Podcast and it also includes 15 tutorials that will teach you how to do the tech stuff that you need to do in terms of hosting and uploading to iTunes and that kind of thing. So, I really recommend that as a starting point.

The next thing I always recommend is the She Podcasts podcast, and Facebook group, and trainings. So if you have not heard of She Podcasts I will link to them in the Show Notes, it is two fantastic women: Elsie Escobar and Jessica Kupferman, I have mentioned them before here on the show, they have got a fantastic Facebook group on podcasting, on women who podcast, they have also got some free trainings in there, and they have got a podcast that talks about podcasting. So, sign up for the Facebook group, do the trainings or not, but do listen to their podcast as well, because I think that is really, really useful.

I also think that if you only listen to a couple of podcasts, I would say start subscribing to more podcasts, so you can get an idea of what other people do, what you like, what you don’t like. For a little bit as you are doing your research before you start your own podcast, try to expand your menu of podcasts, that you listen to, because that will teach you a lot about what you want to do, and what you don’t want to do. So, I think that can be really, really, helpful.

Getting clear on your topic

So, next you need to get clear on your topic and what you are going to talk about? Now, this podcast has changed names, and has changed format, and it has changed topics over the years. It started out as a purely interview show, where I would interview purely women entrepreneurs, then I started adding solo episodes, I was talking about all kinds of business stuff; and now I am focussing on business mindset and stuff related to being an entrepreneur online and having your own business — that’s my topic.

What are you going to talk about? Ideally, it should be something related to your business, if that’s the point of your podcast to have something related to your business, or if you want to do a podcast related to a hobby, and just do it for fun, absolutely, that’s something you can do, but you need to figure out what you are going to talk about: what is the point of the podcast and why would people want to listen to it? What are they going to learn? Or, how are they going to be entertained? Get clear on what the topic is and what’s the point of it. And, do some research, look at what other podcasts might exist around that topic. This is obviously not the only business mindset podcast, there are other ones out there, so get a feel for what already exists, and how you can add to the conversation around that topic.

Next, get clear on who is going to be on your podcast? Is it just going to be a solo show? Is it going to be you talking every week or will you have a co-host who shows up with you every week or once a month, or twice a month, to talk about your topic? Or, will you be doing interviews? Interviews are a lot of work in terms of finding people, making sure they have all the information they need, making sure you get their bio, their photo, all their stuff, setting up time for the interview, setting it up in the calendar, sometimes people show up and sometimes people don’t show up, sometimes people are late. It is a bit more complicated. But, it can be a great way to get started because it is a back and forth, it is a conversation, it is you showcasing someone else’s expertise and having a conversation around a topic which is related to the main topic of your podcast. So, interviews are great, and can be really, really, really, rewarding.

So, who is going to be on your podcast? You can have a mix. So, as you know from listening to this show, I used to do interviews, I don’t anymore, now I am just doing solo episodes like this one and co-hosted episodes with Jo and Joanna, so what do you want to do? And you can change this up whenever you like. I changed so many times over the years and I will probably change again at some point, so just figure out what you want to do and then know that you can be flexible.

What’s your schedule going to be?

How often do you want to release an episode: every week, every day, twice a month, once a month? Probably once a month is not often enough for people to get used to hearing you. I would probably forget about it if I only heard their podcast once a month. But again you can be flexible with this, so when I first got the idea for this podcast my idea was to release an episode twice a month, every other week, but once I started doing the interviews, before I even went live with the podcast, I decided I enjoyed the interviews so much I wanted to make it weekly. So, the idea when I started out was twice a month, but by the time I launched it was twice a week, and I have stuck to that ever since. So, I think you need to figure out what you can do, what will fit into your schedule, and then again be flexible, know that you can change it. Know that you can make it more often, make it less often, as you communicate that to your audience so that they know what to expect from you.

I do, however, think that you need to be regular, people need to know when they can expect to hear from you. And this is the kind of thing, this is the advice that you hear, for every kind of content, whether it is your email newsletter, your blog, your podcast, your videos, whatever. I have said this before, and I am going to say it again, because we are talking specifically about podcasts now. The only type of content that I have been able to be consistent with over the last five years is my podcast, I have not been consistent with blogposts, I have not been consistent with videos, I have not been consistent with my email newsletters. This has been super-easy for me to be consistent with. And I think that’s also something that’s kept me going with the podcast, even though it is not a format that I necessarily found naturally, because I am not a natural talkative person, I am more of a writer, but I think what kept me going was seeing how easy it was for me, and seeing that as kind of a sign: if this is so easy for me to produce, then obviously this is the thing I need to stick with, it is working for me. So, figure out your schedule, be consistent, but know that you can be flexible, so if you want to change just make it clear to your audience that you are going to change, but try not to be sporadic.

Length

Next, length, how long are your episodes going to be, are they going to be a short soundbite? Lots of people do 7-minute, or 15-minute, episodes… half-an-hour, an hour? Are you going to do long-form episodes or interviews that are like two or three hours long, that exists, some people do that, it is unusual, but it is there. So, what resonates with you? And, again, you can change this. In the beginning, I was so good at keeping everything to a half-an-hour, because I thought that was the ideal length for a podcast episode, it was what I thought would work, it was what I enjoyed. And then I realised that I wanted to go deeper, and I wanted to create longer episodes, and so I started experimenting with that, with my episodes with Jo Casey, and then my episodes with Joanna Hennon. And now with my solo episodes I have been starting to go longer on some of my episodes as well.

So, I really enjoy doing them somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour, or longer: I really like to dig deep into the topic. I am not always good at that on my solo episodes, because again I am not a naturally chatty person, but it is what I like. I really feel like I am delivering quality content to you and giving you something to listen to and think about. And that’s part of the reason why I stopped doing interviews, because I felt the interviews were really shallow, and couldn’t delve deep enough into the conversation. And I may bring back interviews in the future, perhaps with people that I know well enough to have a deeper conversation with, we will see how that goes. But I definitely feel that if I do bring back interviews, they are going to be longer and they are going to be deeper, because I am fed up with the shallow half-hour interview, which is what I felt I was stuck in. But, that’s me. What is right for you? How long will your episodes be? Will they be short? Will they be half-an-hour? Will they be an hour? Longer? Go with what’s right for you and be flexible, change it up when you need to.

Sound Editing

Finally, and I think this is a really important thing that you need to get clarity on, before you get started on a podcast: are you going to edit it yourself? Are you going to hire someone? Because if you outsource you are going to need to find someone and if you need someone to edit your podcast get in touch with me once you are ready to get started and I will recommend someone to you. But one of the reasons that I think that I have been so consistent with this podcast is because I realised from the beginning that I did not want to edit it myself, I did not want to learn audio editing, I was not interested at all, I wanted to hire someone. And I found someone who has been working with this show from the very beginning and is still with me five years later. So, do you like audio editing? Is it something that you like to play with? Is it something you want to learn? Do you have the time? Do you have the inclination? Does it sound fun or do you want to outsource it? Can you afford to outsource it? I think that the success of my consistency is due to the fat that I have outsourced this from day one. So, get clear on whether you are going to do it yourself or hire someone.

That’s kind of the list of things that you need to get clear on, and again, you can be flexible with this, you can change the topic, you can change the format, you can change the schedule, you can change the the length, you can hire an editor if you don’t get one from the start. So, get clear on all that stuff before you move forward with actually doing a podcast.

Microphone

So, before you get ready to record your episodes you are going to need to get some stuff; so, you are going to need to buy a decent microphone. The one that I use, and the one that a lot of podcasters use, is the blue yeti, and I will link to that in the show notes so that you know what that is, I got it on Amazon. It is not my first microphone, I used to have a Zoom H20 that I bought back in 2011/12, that I bought for my first online course. I loved it at the time, but I had problems with my first one, I had to send it in, and get a new one. Then the new one died, and I have had the blue yeti ever since and it has worked beautifully, so I am super, super, happy with this microphone, I think it is reasonably priced, it is a very commonly used microphone by podcasters and again I will link to it in the show notes. So, buy a microphone and then make sure that the settings are right.

Headphones and Interview Recording Software

Next, buy headphones or earbuds if you don’t have them already, probably you will, they don’t need to be of super quality, but you will need them, especially if you are doing interviews. Next, get the software that you are going to need for recording so if you are doing interviews you want Skype and Ecamm, or Zoom, because Zoom has an internal recording setting you can use. However the thing I don’t like about Zoom is that it records both people on the same channel, whereas Ecamm records both voices, if you are doing interviews, on separate channels, which is really important in case something happens to one of the sides. So, I had one of the episode that I recorded a couple of years ago, where I had a problem with my microphone, it was not the blue yeti, it was the H29 and something happened, I didn’t touch the settings, but something happened to the microphone that made me sound like a little mouse. It was like the pitch was wrong, so my guest sounded fantastic, and I sounded like a little mouse, and there was no way that I could release that thing, so I asked my podcast editor if he could do anything about it, he said he couldn’t. I asked my guest if she could re-record and she said: look, I am busy for the next few months, so I went on Fivver found an audio guy and said: look, I have got this problem can you do something? He said, yes, absolutely, he fixed it for me and that was possible because I had used Ecamm recorder and Skype and I had both of our voices on separate tracks. If I had done it on Zoom, he wouldn’t have been able to fix it. So, that’s why I used Skype and Ecamm rather than Zoom. My personal preference, I know lots of people use Zoom or other things to record. If you are doing a solo episode you will want to record on either Garage Band or Audacity, which is what I use, which is free open source software, you can download for either Mac or PC and if you do your own editing you can also edit in audacity. I find it really easy to use for my solo episodes like this one. So, get the software you need, based on whatever your format.

Intro/Outro

Next, you are going to need to record and intro and/or outro to your podcast. The intro/outro is at the beginning and the sign off at the end that’s going to be tacked onto every single episode, so it is not the start of the episode where you are like: hey this is episode number 3, you are going to learn this, this and this. It is the generic thing that goes on every episode at the beginning and end. So, usually, it will go with music which you can get online, I got mine from soundrangers.com, it was very affordable, I think it was maybe $30 and I think I have been using the same music for the last five years, so it was an excellent investment. And you will want to decide whether you want to do your own intro/outro like I do now, or whether you want someone else to do it for you.

So, kind of the trend used to be that lots of people would have someone else do their intro/outro for them and I have had a couple of different voice actors do mine over the years, because I really liked that format, until you guys listened to the podcast in the Facebook group, said to me: I don’t like that woman, can you do it yourself? Why don’t you do it yourself? Enough people said this to me, that I finally scrapped the old intro/outro and started doing it myself. So, get clear on what you prefer. I like to have the intro/outro done by someone else, but my listeners didn’t, so, I am not going to insist on having it done by someone else, I am going to do what you guys want to hear, so I changed it up. So, again, you can change whenever you want. I have had a couple of different voice actors do mine, I found them on Fivver, I thought they were really good, especially the second one, I really liked the second one. But, go with what’s right for you and know that you can change it at any time.

Artwork

Next, you are going to need your cover artwork, and your graphics, designed for each individual episode. So, the cover artwork is kind of like your album cover that is going to to go on every single episode, and that people will see on iTunes or wherever it is they download the podcast from. You can either do that yourself on Canva if you are snazzy graphic design kind of person, or hire an expert, hire a graphic designer. This is the kind of thing that I think really needs to look professional, it shouldn’t look homemade, it shouldn’t look thrown together by someone who doesn’t have an eye for design. So, again, do it again at your own risk, or hire someone who can do this for you. I will link in the show notes to someone who can help you with that.

Hosting

Next, you will need someone to host your audio, and one of the most common hosts is called: Libsyn, for liberated syndication. I use the $15 a month plan and that’s one that I have always used from the start, so I will link to that in the show notes, that’s basically like how you would host anything else, whether it is hosting eBooks, or your website, or that kind of thing. This is a place where you will upload your audio files, and from there it will be syndicated out to iTunes and Stitcher, and all the other apps and places that people subscribe to the podcast.

So, that’s the stuff you need to get, both tangible and technical.

Marketing

Next, marketing. You need to either create a marketing plan for your podcast or use the current strategy that you use for your content, assuming that it works. You really need to get this out there, again, don’t expect to just create a podcast, put it out there and people will just magically find it, because that doesn’t happen. So, really be sure that you are ready to put in the time and the energy that you need to market this podcast. So, now that you have got all this stuff done, you have to clarity on your format, what the podcast is going to be about, and you have got your marketing plan, you need to start recording your episodes.

Episode Zero – submitting to iTunes

So, I would recommend that you record an episode zero which I did not do, because I did not think about it back when I did my podcast. But, now, it is very common for people to record a very short episode zero where they say: hey this is me, I am going to be talking about this stuff on this podcast, and this is the format, this is how often you can expect it. Just a quick kind of introduction to the podcast, so people know who you are, they know what to expect, something short and sweet: episode zero. Then you will want to submit your podcast to iTunes once you have set up episode zero, or your audio guy, or woman, has set up episode zero on you Libsyn account, because iTunes needs to see that you are already producing stuff and it is a live podcast feed. So, you go to episode zero, upload it to Libsyn, submit it to iTunes and then you can upload all the other stuff. Usually people recommend launching with at least three episodes, that’s what I did, and I think that’s a really good way for people to get to know you from the start, because oftentimes if you discover a brand new podcast, you listen to an episode and then you forget about it, whereas if the person has got two other episodes for you to listen to, you can listen to them right away. So, record your episode 0, 1, 2 and 3, upload your episodes to Libsyn, then submit to iTunes. That is what I would recommend, do what’s right for you, but I really recommend launching with at least three episodes.

Podcast page

Next, you absolutely want to set this up before you launch, add a podcast page or section to your website, so, I set up all of my show notes as blog posts, and I tag them with the category podcast, but I also have a page on my website which is: http://HollyWorton.com/podcast and I will link to that in the show notes, where you can click and you can learn all about the podcast. So, I think that is really useful to have, because it is kind of a one-stop shop to all the links to everything. So, that page has a little introduction about the podcast, it has a list of every single episode that I have ever released with links to the individual blog posts, it used to have the link to how you could pitch yourself to be a guest on the show, but now I don’t take guests, but it has all of the information that people would can subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts, iTunes, TuneIn, Android, Stitcher, Google Play, all that stuff. So, it is just a nice catch all of all the stuff that people need for the podcast. So, that to me, is all that stuff that you absolutely need to do before you launch.

Google Form

Now, after you launch, I would say if you are going to do interviews create a Google form for people that pitch you to be a guest on your podcast, because once you have been around for a while people will pitch you and some of those guests will be appropriate, a lot of them won’t be. Rather than doing the work yourself of creating a spreadsheet with all these people and all the information Google forms will do that for you. So, if you create a a Google form with questions to see if they are a good fit, Google will compile all of that into a spreadsheet for you. So, I will link to the one that I used to use in the show notes and you can use that as an example, please feel free to copy it. I found it really useful because of all the people who pitched me to be a guest on my show and people still pitch me to be a guest on my show even though I clearly say, in at least two places on my website: I do not do interviews, I still get pitches. Out of all the people who pitched, back when I had this form set up, I would say only about half of them would click through and fill out the form. And I feel like if someone is not going to take ten or fifteen minutes to fill out the form, then you don’t really want them to be a guest on your show because if they can’t put in the effort, then why should you? So, again, I will link to my Google form and you can copy or adapt that as you need, so use that for people to pitch you.

Submitting your podcast

Next, you want to submit your podcast to all the different places people will subscribe to podcasts, so: Stitcher, Tune In, I heart radio, Spotify, Google Play, all of those. And then there are other places you can submit your podcast to as well, I will include a link in the show notes. If you have an interview show and you have guests I highly recommend you create a PDF document with information about your show, and guidelines for your guest in terms of what you expect from them. So, some people are used to podcasting, they are used to being a guest on other people’s shows, and they will know how to behave. They will know to take off any noisily jewellery, they will know to use a good microphone, they will know to use headphones, they will know to get rid of their barking dog, they will know what to do to create good audio environment on their end. Some people don’t, so you need to teach them, so have a PDF that teaches people what they need to know to be a guest in the show. I will link to mine in the show notes so that you can download it yourself.

Transcripts

The last thing you need to do, and it can wait until after you launch, is decide whether or not you want to do transcripts for your show. I am going to link in the show notes to the woman that does my transcripts, she is absolutely fantastic, I have worked with other people on transcripts and they have been not so good. She is fantastic and so I highly recommend her, and I will link to her in the show notes. So, if you want transcripts I think they are really, really, useful, because they are good for Google, because it is linking people to your website, and it is also good for people who aren’t great auditory learners. So, what I do with my transcripts is: I copy and paste them at the end of the show notes so that people can just scroll down and read them, but I also provide a free PDF download, so people can also download the PDF of the transcript and they can do that for free so there is no opt in required, you just click you download, it is yours. You could also use that as the free opt in for your website. As you may know, I have removed all of my opt-in gifts and made them absolutely free, and I am just having people sign up to my newsletter, rather than downloading them with a downloadable thingy, so that’s not my strategy any more, but that is absolutely something you can do if you still do that.

Checklist

So, again, all this stuff that I have just run through, the stuff you need to get started, the stuff you need to get clarity on, the stuff you need to buy, your marketing plan, the things you need to do before you launch, the things you need to do after your launch, that’s going to be in a podcast launch checklist that you can download for free, again, no opt-in required, in the show notes for this episode, that you will be able to find at http://HollyWorton.com/263.

So, that was very long-winded, but I think that was important to mention all the things that you need to think about that you need to plan, before you start your podcast. I think the moment you decide that you need to start a podcast you need to give yourself a deadline for launching your show. Agin, it was five years ago since I launched so I don’t remember the timeline between having the idea and launching, I think I got the idea around April and May and I launched in August, so it was about three months or so, which I think is reasonable to figure everything out, get your stuff together, and your first episodes in the podcast for launching. So, that’s all the stuff you need to plan.

Inviting Guests

Next thing I need to talk about is if you choose to do interviews and have guests on your show, where do you get them? So, before I launched my show I made a spreadsheet with three different tabs, they were called 1, 2 and 3. And 1 was a list of people that I knew, people that knew me, people that I thought would be easy to get on the show, people that were an easy yes. No. 2 were people who were, I kind of knew them, but not so well, or they were friends of friends, or I knew someone that knew them, and then group 3 were the bigger name guests, people that I didn’t know and didn’t think I had any connection to and those were my wish list of people. I started out with the easy people, the people that I knew, the people that I liked, the people that I knew liked me, and I got going with I them, because I knew they were people that I would find it easy to talk to and easy to interview.

People always get surprised when I say this, but I got really nervous with these interviews, because I was new to interviewing so I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. I had listened to tons of interviews, but I was just new to actually doing it and I used to get really, really, nervous to the point where I used to take rescue remedy, which if you know it is a flower remedy to help with nervousness. I would take that before every interview because I would get so nervous. I don’t do that any more, I haven’t done that in a long time, but in the beginning, the first few months I think, I would take my rescue remedy about 15 minutes before each episode because I would get so nervous. And this is something important to point out, because if you start inviting people to be a guest on our show who aren’t used to being podcast guest they will be nervous too. So, be aware that your guest might be nervous, I think that’s something that is really, really important to kind of think of, because you will need to have a little chat before the interview, so you can create rapport, and that kind of thing. And just be aware that they might be nervous and see what you can do to make them more comfortable.

So, I really liked my 1, 2, 3 spreadsheet, that really worked, and then I reached out and sent emails to people and then with the, once I stared some of the level 3 podcast guests on my show, what I ended up doing, I ended up getting my business coach at the time, she had offered to introduce me to some people. So she said: send me the wish list that you want, people that you know I know, and I will introduce you. So that’s how I got a lot of the level 3 people on my show. I asked for an introduction, and lots of people will be happy to give you or send you an introduction. Lots of people will pitch to podcasts as part of their marketing strategy, so a lot of people will be open to being on your show. Some people will require that maybe you have got an established show with at least 20 episodes, some people will require that you have at least 5,000 or 10,000 people on your email list. Do what you can and start with what works for you. Maybe you want to go straight to your level 3 big names, maybe you want to make it easy like I did, do what works for you.

There is another website that is really good not only for getting guests for your show, but also being featured on other people’s shows, and it is called: http://podcastguests.com, it is a free service for pitching yourself to be a guest on shows. If you are wanting to get guests then there is a payment required, I believe. So look at them, they are really great, it is an email that you sign up for and people sign up to that to see if they can be a guest on different shows. So, that’s another way to get people who are outside of your usual networking circles, which I think is really important so that you are not just stuck in your own social circles and entrepreneurial circles. So, another thing that other people do when I have been a guest on other people’s podcast, a lot of people will say: please send me an email with other women you think might be a good fit for this show, or other people you think would be a good fit for this show and I have sent out names of people that I know are good at doing interviews. So, that’s another way to get people on your podcast and I think that’s another good way to get people outside your reach: you interview someone on your podcast, you ask them for maybe three recommendation of people, and odds are you may not know those people and it will expand your network and expand the people that you know and get you talking to new people.

Plan

So, getting guests for your interviews is really, really, easy but you need to plan in advance. So when I did interviews I would try to record interviews at least eight weeks out, and sometimes people stuff comes up they have to cancel, you have to re-schedule and it is kind of a pain. So, if you do interviews on your podcast know that you are going to need to plan in advance and I think that is a really, really important thing to keep in mind. So, as I said before you are going to need to market your podcast, so how are you going to do that? Market it how you are going to market other stuff online: mention it in your newsletter, mention it in your social media, mention it when you are at a networking group, you can get business cards done on Moo.com/Moo.co.uk with your over artwork and you an put the link to your podcast on there. There are so many different ways you know how to market I am going to assume, if you don’t google: how to market your podcast, how to market your content, but use the regular channels that you use to market your business but really get it out there. Don’t be afraid to put this out there, don’t be afraid to share it online, really put it out there. You need to do the work to get the listeners, don’t rely on iTunes recommending it to people.

Mindset

Next thing I want to talk about is how to get the mindset because this can be scary, a lot of people can be afraid to start their own podcast because they think: who am I to start a podcast? What are people going to think? What will they think of me? What will they think of the people I choose to be my guest? What will they think of my opinion? What will they think of what I have to say? Do I have anything to say? Do I have anything important to say? Am I boring? “Mindcrap” can come up when you think about doing a new thing like a podcast. So, as I said before, absolutely there is space in the market place for new quality podcasts, again you want to create something that is of quality, you want to put your best effort into it, you want to make good sound quality, you want to have good editing, but if you want to do this, your voice is absolutely valid, interesting and useful and get it out there. This is no more of a big deal than it is to start a blog, if you have started a blog and you have been blogging you can start a podcast. But think about the things that you need to work on mindset-wise in order to make it easier for you to launch this podcast successfully.

So, if you still need to work on your beliefs around setting goals, and achieving your goals, and taking action towards your goals. Think about what kinds of boundaries you need to set with your podcast guests if you choose to do interviews. Think about what beliefs you need to have around your need to set and uphold boundaries. Think about your level of confidence, your trust in yourself, your trust in your ability to create something like this. Think about your confidence as a speaker. Think about your beliefs around your ability to be creative, to be a creative entrepreneur. What are your beliefs around your ability to be a leader in your field? And your ability to outsource things to other people if you choose to do so? Because when you outsource things you need to be able to manage those people. So, what do you need to believe about your ability to effectively and efficiently outsource to other people? What about learning? Because you are probably going to have to learn new things when it comes to reading this podcast, and launching this podcast, so what do you believe about your ability to learn new things? Lots of people have blocks and fears and limiting beliefs around their ability to learn because they had a teacher that told them that they were stupid, or they were bad learner, or they were bad at focussing, whatever it is. What are your beliefs around learning new such as podcasting?

Next, marketing, what are your beliefs around your ability to market your podcast successfully and build a listener base and build a listener base which steadily increases. What about your beliefs around your ability to be successful and to create new opportunists for yourself and your business? And, what are your beliefs around the value that you bring, or the value that you could bring to a podcast? Or your beliefs around your self worth, your innate worthiness of speaking up and creating a platform like this to share your message. And, related to that, what are your beliefs around visibility? Because creating a podcast like this, or podcast of any kind, and getting it out there, being visible, can trigger a lot of stuff for people. There is something about the speaking thing that can be really triggering for people, so make sure that you have the beliefs that you need in order to do something like this and if you have already trained in a technique that can help you change your beliefs and get the mindset you need, fantastic, do the work. Or, work with someone else, whether that is me, or someone else who can help you change your beliefs and get the mindset you need to create a successful podcast.

Podcast coach

Finally, if you need any additional help in terms of specialised podcast coaching I highly recommend Elsie Escobar, she has got a program called the e-league which I did a year go or a year and a half ago, I was in the very E-league group of people that did it, absolutely fantastic, I was so impressed at Elsie’s ability to just research my podcast, she really, really, looked online and researched me incredibly thoroughly. I don’t know if I would recommend working with her before you have got a podcast, she is fantastic with everything, but I think you would probably get the most of out of it, once you have got it going and once you have come to some blocks and you need some help getting through them. Anyway, take a look at her, if you feel like you need help, do check her out, talk to her, see if she thinks you are a good fit or not, she is the best, I love her she is fantastic. Again, I will link to Elsie in the show notes, so you can see her.

That is about it for today. This is going on for over an hour now and I feel like this has kind of been juicy enough for you to get a good idea of how you can start your own podcast. Again, I have got loads of links in the show notes. I are also got 3 additional resources, on the blog, one of them is my top ten plus tips on how to make your podcast guests feel special, the next one is how to be a stellar podcast guest and the final one is top ten plus tips on pitching yourself to be a guest on someone else’s podcast. I think those three would be really, really, useful to read and I will link into those on the show notes as well as everything else that I have mentioned today.

This has been a super robust episode, I am really, really, pleased with it. I am so thankful for this topic, so if you have any ideas for any other podcast topics in the future, please please please let me know, let me know what you want to hear, what you think will be interesting, useful, etc. And, if it is relevant, I will do it.

Become a Patron

Finally, if you get any use out of this podcast, and if you have subscribed to it I am assuming you do, then I would like to invite you to support this show and my work on Patreon. You can become a patron for as little as $1 a month, and I invite you to check it out. So if you head over to http://Patreon.com/HollyWorton you can become a Patron, starting at $1 a month and going on up you can get different rewards. I will be running a special patrons only audio-feed for people who want additional information on these episodes, but also additional monthly Q and As and that kind of thing and more. There is a lot of stuff that I am offering on Patreon, but, again, if you have found this podcast useful, if this is something that you listen to, I would love to have your support with this show. I have been doing this for five years now, and I would like to create more of a community around this show, beyond what I have got going in the Facebook group. So, again if you would like to support me, please head over to Patreon.com/HollyWorton and and you can check out my profile there and sign up to be a patron.

Finally, you are welcome to join the Facebook group, if you head over to http://HollyWorton.com/group you will be redirected to the Facebook group and we can have a chat there about what you thought of this week’s episode, if you have any more questions you can ask me in there. And, again, thank you so much for listening, if you enjoy this episode please leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes and I will you back next week for another episode of the Business Mindset Podcast!

Thank you so much for listening and remember to visit hollyworton.com/263 for the show notes on this episode. Thank you.