6 things I wish someone told me before creating my first podcast

So, you want to create a podcast? Great! There’s a ton of great advice out there. There’s also some not-so-great advice out there.

The challenge is being able to find which is which. An even bigger challenge is that the not-so-great advice might actually be great advice for someone else. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Think of it sort of like how some people need a pickup truck as their vehicle while others need a sedan. For example, if you run an interview-based show, your needs will be different than a show with three co-hosts in the same room.

With that in mind, these are some practical pieces of advice I wish someone told me before I began down this path to becoming a podcaster. They’re in no particular order. Some may apply to you, others may not.

Podcast about your passion, regardless of what else is out there

Find a topic you love and go with it. Yes, there will be other podcasts on that topic. So what? Is there only one movie about World War II? Is there only one type of car out there? How many grocery stores are near you?

There’s one thing your show will have that no other podcast has — you. You are the unique part of your show that will be different from any other podcast out there.

It doesn’t matter if you want to podcast about true crime, history, comedy, tech…there will be other shows that cover similar topics. Sometimes, you’ll cover the same topic.

When Apple or Google has a big press conference, how many different news agencies cover it? TechCrunch doesn’t say, “Oh, you know what? Gizmodo already covered this event.”

Of course not. Find a topic you’re passionate about and make it yours, regardless of what others are doing.

Like anything else in life, there will be times when podcasting becomes a chore. You’ll question if it’s worth the time and effort. It absolutely will be worth the time and effort if you’re passionate about the subject matter.

If you’re not, it’ll be easy to give up.

And, to be honest, if you’re not passionate about the subject matter in the first place, that’ll come through in your delivery. If it sounds like you’re phoning it in for every episode, why should someone want to listen to that?

Your release schedule should be based on time and money

One decision you have to make about your podcast is how often you’ll release it. I’ve heard a lot of questions about this.

“Should I release my podcast weekly?”

“Should I release seasons?”

“What’s the best day of the week to release a podcast?”

The answer to all of those is the same: It depends on your audience.

The problem for most starting a podcast is there’s no audience yet. Sure, there’s some exceptions for folks who get into podcasting with an established audience, but for those who don’t have one yet it’s hard to know what’ll work best for your audience.

That’s why I firmly believe you should not look to your audience to determine this. Even if you have an established audience, don’t let them drive how you create your show in the beginning. You need to drive that based on two factors: Time and money.

The best release schedule is one you can keep.

In other words, do you have the time and money required to create a weekly podcast?

Again, this is hard to know if you’re just starting out. So work with what you’ve got. Time yourself creating your first episode. How much money did it take (hardware, software, recurring hosting costs, costs for research material, etc.)?

Now ask yourself the tough question: Can you dedicate that time every single week for the foreseeable future? Do you have enough money to keep paying the recurring costs?

If you’re not sure about it, you may need to think about adjusting your schedule. Of course, you can always change it later on, too. Just be realistic with yourself.

That leads us into…

Be realistic about time

I’ll admit that I’m a productivity nerd. I love time tracking, project management, and all things related to boosting productivity.

That’s not for everyone, and that’s okay.

When it comes to podcasting, though, you need to be realistic about the time it takes you to plan, create, and produce the show. A 60 minute podcast doesn’t take 60 minutes to create.

How long does it take? Well, that depends on your show.

When I ran an interview-based podcast, a 60 minute interview would probably take average 3 to 5 hours if you included the pre-interview prep, the interview itself, minor editing afterward, and the publishing of the episode.

That doesn’t factor in time to promote the show.

Today, my solo podcast is much more research-intensive. A 60 minute episode will take 20 to 30 hours to create.

Again, that doesn’t factor in the time to promote the show.

How long will your podcast take you to make? There is no right or wrong answer, but the more you’re realistic with yourself on how long things take the easier it’ll be to make conscious decisions about your podcast. If you know it takes 20 hours to create a single episode and you don’t have that kind of time to dedicate to it each week…maybe a bi-weekly or monthly podcast is a better option.

Scheduling interviews requires a flexible schedule

This is loosely related to what I was talking about above.

The logistics of scheduling an interview with someone requires time. Not just the emails or messages to schedule the interview itself, but you need to find a time that works for both of you. If you have a co-host, a time that works for all of you.

That is very difficult to do. Especially because you’ll probably want to work on your guest’s time…after all, they’re doing the courtesy of showing on your podcast.

Do you have a schedule that’s flexible enough to find the time each week to chat with a guest in real-time?

Not everyone does. In fact, a huge reason why I transitioned from my first podcast (a corporate-sponsored and interview-based podcast) to a solo podcast is because of this reason. It’s not something I thought too much about initially…hence why it’s on this list. My solo show now is something that I can create on my own time: An hour here or a few hours there.

Another key factor a lot of podcasters don’t think about early on is that your podcast doesn’t have to be one or the other. For example, even though I do a solo show now, I still try to work in some interviews as my schedule allows. There’s nothing wrong with trying a solo episode from time to time on a primarily interview-based podcast, too.

Alternatively, keep in mind that you don’t always have to put out an episode.

No matter what your normal release schedule is, if you don’t have content ready…it’s okay to skip. Let your audience know, sure, but everyone will understand. In fact, most people would prefer waiting for quality content instead of getting something rushed just because it’s the normal release day.

If you’re finding you’re skipping a lot of normally scheduled releases, maybe it’s time to take a step back and ask yourself if you’re trying to hit a realistic schedule.

Make sure your budget can handle the podcast

I eluded to this earlier, but it’s worth repeating. Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of people new to podcasting ask early on about sponsors, ads, and, in general, making money in podcasting.

Monetization is the big buzzword surrounding this.

Think of your podcast like a business. Most startups don’t make money in their first few years. Can your budget handle supporting the podcast costs until you can turn a profit?

That is, if your podcast ever turns a profit.

Most podcasts don’t make money at all. After all, podcasts are free to listen to. It’s tough to make money on a product you’re giving away for free.

My point here isn’t to get into the sticky topic of whether you should or shouldn’t try to monetize your podcast. I’m merely pointing out that there are costs associated with a podcast. Like your time, you should be realistic about what those are and make sure your budget can handle them.

Using my own show as an example, again, the biggest cost for my show is not the hosting fees or website costs. As I mentioned earlier, my podcast is research-intensive. It’s also based on movies. So, the biggest costs for my podcast are the movies I have to buy or rent, the books, newspaper or magazine subscriptions, costs for archived documents…basically, the costs of all the research material. Those are the biggest costs.

What are the biggest costs of your podcast?

Audio quality is important…to a point

When Rode came out with the Rodecaster Pro, you could almost see the drool from podcasters around the world before it’d even been put through real-world tests. I get it. Technology is cool. It’s fun to play with gadgets and the latest and greatest tools.

Will a $600 piece of hardware make your podcast easier? Not necessarily.

Will a $400 mic give you better audio quality? Not necessarily.

The most important thing about your podcast is the content.

As I mentioned earlier, the element of your podcast that’s unique is you. If you have a guest on the podcast, the way you interview your guest can create some content that no one can find anywhere else in the world.

That’s pretty cool.

Your listeners will be okay with subpar audio in exchange for your amazing, unique content.

…to a point.

I’ll use myself as an example again. I listen to a lot of podcasts. The primary place I listen to them is in my car. That introduces a lot of road noise, and there’s been more than one podcast that I had to shut off because I couldn’t hear what was being said. As much as I wanted to listen, the audio was too quiet, even with my sound system cranked as high as it’d go.

So, in the end, yes, audio quality is important. But you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on it. The amount of money you spend on audio equipment doesn’t make your podcast better…that’s on you.