May 8, 2020

Podcasting doesn’t have to be hard

Sent by Jonathan Stark on May 8th, 2020

Producing a podcast doesn’t have to be hard.

Sure, a show like This American Life probably takes a team of people and a ton of money, but that’s not the kind of show you need to create to grow your business.

And yet, most business owners don’t have a podcast. Why not? Here are some common objections:

It bums me out to hear these sorts of things because only one of them should really hold you back. Let’s take a look at each:

“I hate the sound of my own voice”

If you aren’t used to hearing your voice on a recording, it can be jarring at first. But I’ve got news for you: you’re the only person it sounds weird to. Everyone you know - family, friends, colleagues, clients - thinks it totally normal. It’s fine. You’ll get used to it. Gilbert Gottfried has a podcast, for crying out loud. You have a better voice than the Aflac duck, right?

“I wouldn’t know what to talk about”

You don’t have to know what to talk about. That’s what guests are for. You just ask them questions and comment on what they say. If you are capable of conversing with your clients, then you are capable of having a conversation with a podcast guest.

“It seems really complicated”

It can be extremely complicated. But it doesn’t have to be. If you can run a two-person Zoom call, you’ve got the chops you need to record an interview show.

“I haven’t got the time to devote to it”

Recording a podcast should take you about two hours per week once you get into the groove. If you want to spend a little money and outsource the booking and editing, you could get that down to an hour. If you haven’t got an hour or two to spend on growing your business every week, try this: delete Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Candy Crush, etc from your phone. Now you’ve got an extra couple of hours per week, just like magic!

“I have no idea how to get started”

Yes, this is a tough one. The idea of starting a podcast can be overwhelming. There’s so much advice online about podcasting that it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. Just browsing through the search results for “best podcast mic” is enough to make anyone slam their laptop shut and give up.

And mics are just the tip of the iceberg. There are also decisions to be made about recording techniques, recording software, editing software, editing services, hosting services, hosting plugins. Should you have episode artwork or not? Should you have bonus content or not? Should you have transcripts or not? Should you sell ads or not? Should you start a Patreon or not? Should you outsource the editing or not? If you do, should you go with a pro or your teenager? If you go with a pro, which one can you trust?

Of all the objections listed above, this is the only that I think is really valid. To address this situation, I’ve put together an interactive online workshop designed to take you from zero to podcast in just five days.

It’s called the 5-Day Podcast Challenge and it starts this coming Monday. Registration for 5DPC opens at 1pm ET on Friday May 8 (that’s today!) so keep your eyes on your inbox if you might like to enroll.

I hope to see (and hear) you there!

Yours,

—J

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