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This blog post kicks off the first episode of our brand-new podcast: The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Podcasting. This has been a passion project of mine for quite some time, and those of you who already know me will know that I already host The Confident CEO Podcast, which has seen some amazing, amazing success in the last year.
Within the first eight months, we routinely hit the top, the top 250 podcasts for various countries around the world for business entrepreneurship podcasts in Apple Podcasts, and we routinely are hitting the UK top one hundred for business entrepreneurship podcasts as well. So I found that the more that I was podcasting with The Confident CEO Podcast, the more people were coming to me and asking; how do you start a podcast? How do you create a podcast? I really want to know how you did this.
Basically, what were my secrets?
And I’m going to tell you there are no secrets.
Because what I was finding is so many people were saying to me to they wanted to create a podcast but they didn’t have the time to dedicate so much effort to the editing, learning new software and all the rest of it.
And what I’m here to tell you is that you can do all of this and run a very successful podcast quite easily.
And it doesn’t really matter in some ways how time-limited you are.
It is totally achievable, and I don’t say that from a blase point of view.
I say that a woman who owns their own business, who runs their own business; I’m also a mom of two beautiful little girls.
So with all of that going on, I also do not have the most time to create a podcast, but I do it and I’m gonna share all of those tips and tricks with you.
No secrets, tips and tricks throughout this, throughout this podcast.
But what I want to focus on first is what every wannabe podcaster needs to get right before they even think about buying a microphone or what software they’re going to use for recording.
We are gonna take it right back to the beginning and we are gonna be talking about the concept for your podcast.
Your podcast’s concept
You need to get crystal clear on what your idea is for your podcast before you go forward.
And there are a few different ways that you can kind of decide what your podcast is going to be about.
But the biggest thing that I would encourage you to do is really question what is it that you are passionate about?
What is it that really lights you up and that you could just talk about for hours and hours and hours?
And I say hours and hours and hours because regardless of how long your episodes are going to be for a successful podcast, you need to have the momentum. You need to have content to be putting out there every week or every two weeks, every series or whatever your content schedule is for your podcast.
Choose something you’re passionate about
But as I said, you’ve got to be choosing something that you are so passionate about.
Why? Because I’m sure you’ve all listened to those podcasts where it’s really obvious that people are not interested in what they’re talking about and they’re doing it just for the sake of it, and it’s a turn-off for your audience.
No one wants to listen to that.
So first of all, consider: what are you passionate about?
What is it that you can talk about that you can really get behind and just lights you up?
And it doesn’t matter if it’s the first time or the hundredth time you are talking about the subject, you can keep talking about it.
The concept for The Confident CEO Podcast
So when I came up with the concept for The Confident CEO Podcast the premise of this show is helping and teaching other women in business.
I love talking about the business aspects that I don’t feel are being talked about enough in the business world, particularly for female entrepreneurs.
So that was my real calling for setting up and hosting The Confident CEO Podcast; I wanted to just talk nonstop about all of these business topics.
Why?
Well, because I didn’t feel that there was enough conversation on the topics that I cover in that podcast in the female entrepreneurial world. And so, my idea was really clear in what I wanted to achieve.
And now, when I create content plans for that podcast, I’m always asking myself whether or not the topics will fit the concept of the show and the audience.
What if no one listens to my podcast though? What if my topic is too niche?
Let’s look at it another way; if you’ve got something you want to podcast about, chances are that there’s someone who will listen.
There are podcasts in all sorts of genres, including cycling, knitting, gardening…and they all have their own niche audience and following.
So before you’re thinking, nobody will listen to what I’m talking about, I’m here to tell you this:
Yes, they will.
You’ve just got to find your audience.
Think about it.
There are over 7 billion people in the world right now.
There’s definitely somebody who will listen to your podcast.
Create an episode idea list
Once you have decided what the topic is of your podcast, what I want you to do is sit down and list out at least 20 episode ideas for your new podcast.
It’s not to say that you are necessarily going to record every single one of these episode ideas.
It might be that none of them get used or that only half of them come to fruition.
However, if you cannot list out at least 20 ideas for episodes for your podcast, you do not have a podcast, because you do not have enough content that you can be talking about to fill up episodes for your podcast.
So if you can’t write down at least 20 episode ideas within 20 or 30 minutes, you should probably rethink the idea for your podcast.
Should I abandon the idea?
Not necessarily.
I wouldn’t say abandoned the idea completely, but I would rethink the concept of the podcast that you are planning on. Because you need to make sure you have got enough content.
Statistically, the vast majority of podcasts will go into what’s called ‘Podfade’ after the first eight episodes. And one of the main reasons for this is that the host runs out of content ideas.
So listing out at least 20 episode ideas before you even start recording anything enables you to see if you’ve got a show or not.
Filling your content calendar
If you are doing podcast episodes every single week, by coming up with 20 episode ideas, that’s already nearly half a year covered.
If you are doing biweekly episodes, that’s pretty much a year covered.
And you’ve got your show vaguely mapped out.
Final thoughts
It’s so tempting to rush into starting a podcast, hitting record, and adding ‘Podcast Host’ to your social media bio.
But, in order for your podcast to be sustainable, you need to make sure that you’ve got a strategy and enough content to see your show through and make it a successful podcast.
Want to get started with a podcast strategy? Check out my coaching options and let’s get your podcast started off on the right path from day 1 >>
What do you think? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments!
