The Fierce Business Babe Podcast Ep 177: Starting Your Own Podcast

Today, I am diving into absolutely everything you need to know about starting your own podcast. I share what led me to create my own podcast and how I got started. I also share everything you need to start your very own podcast including topics, timeframes, and so much more.

Starting Your Own Podcast

By: Melissa Lin

Welcome back to another episode of The Fierce Business Babe Podcast. Hello and welcome! I am so excited for today's episode. I am going to be diving all into how to start your own podcast and what that looks like. I can definitely say that I have my own fair share of experience when it comes to podcasting, creating episodes, brainstorming episodes, and publishing episodes. I did all of it myself years ago when I was just starting. This is episode 177. How wild is that? We're getting so much closer to episode 200. I've been recording episodes every single week for quite some time and it's one of my favorite things to do. I absolutely love creating content and adding value, it's actually one of my big non-negotiables in my business. Adding value is one of my non-negotiables that I talk about all the time over on my Instagram. Supporting my clients is number one. Number two is serving, adding some type of value every single day. Number three is sales. Creating podcasts is definitely one of my favorite things I get to do every single week. I love releasing brand new episodes so that you can continue to move forward in your business.

Maybe you're in the very beginning stages, huge congrats on taking that first step. I'm here to add value and help you if you’ve been thinking about or wanting to start your own podcast. I've heard so many blocks and things that are holding people back from starting their own podcast, such as it's too expensive, I don't have the right equipment, or I don't know where to start. Honestly, at the end of the day it truly isn't too much in terms of what you need. You really don't need too many tools, and I’m going to go into all of the tools that I use and really what you need to get started today. So many of my clients are starting podcasts and I've been supporting them. I've had so much fun showing behind the scenes and helping them get their podcast up off the ground so I wanted to really add in some tips and tricks here today in case you've been wanting to start one. I really can't believe I don't have an episode about starting your own podcast here because we’re on episode 177 and haven't repeated one yet. So here we go into today's brand new episode. I will be chatting all about some of the podcast basics and getting started, the initial podcast brainstorm you may want to have, some of the tools that are required and definitely not required, and then my tips and tricks of launching your podcast initially, and so much more.

Why I Started Creating Podcasts

The first thing I really want to chat about is podcast basics and what is needed in that initial brainstorm for your podcast. I first want to share what initially drew me to podcasts because I definitely do have a soft spot in my heart for podcasts. When I was in my chemical engineering job years and years ago I had a minimum commute of an hour each way, and there were some days where, with traffic in the Seattle area, which isn't always fun, it could be anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half each way to commute in to work and out of work. I was really drawn to podcasts because it was an easy way for me to learn more about business growth and how to grow my business while going into work and spending an hour and a half each way in the car. Podcasts really supported my long commutes when I was an engineer and really helped me move the needle forward. They also helped me see things in a different way as well as I listened to different podcast episodes. That's also why I love teaching here on my podcast. This is where I really dive deepest in terms of content, action steps, what to do, and how to move forward. It's really impacted me and my business so much and really helped me skyrocket out of my 9 to 5. I left my engineering job and went full-time in my online coaching business and I haven't looked back.

So that's a big reason why I love, love, love hosting my own podcast because, again, it was such a big part of my journey as I was getting closer to leaving my 9 to 5 and really blowing my business up. I also just love recording podcasts now because, of course, one of my non-negotiables is adding value and this podcast is valuable. I love being able to share it on all my platforms with you. I can also do it anywhere, right? I can be in bed in my jammies curled up with Pearl, my cat, if I wanted to as I'm recording the episode. I am not right now. I'm actually in my office recording this, however, I can do it wherever. I've traveled before and I've recorded podcast episodes with a little handheld mic that I use when I travel. There are so many perks when it comes to podcasts and there's so much repurposing we can do with podcasts and that could be a whole separate episode. If you want to learn more about that just feel free to let me know either in the review or send me a message over on Instagram. You can also email us as well. We're almost everywhere these days. Feel free to let us know if you do want to learn a little bit more about how to really repurpose some of your content from your podcast into other pieces for you.

Podcasting 101

Let's get into how to start brainstorming, what in particular is needed to brainstorm, and things to keep in mind. So, the first thing I would say that you really want to think about is, what is your podcast vision? If you listen to my intro I share a bit of my podcast vision, who this is for, what I want to bring to the podcast every single week, the topics I'll be talking about, the big themes around entrepreneurship, business growth, and business strategy. I would start to brainstorm who your podcast is for. You really want to get into the specifics of it. The more you know about your podcast you want to create the easier it's going to be to really get it up and launch it. Do keep in mind that you're always allowed to pivot. You're always allowed to make changes down the road, so don't feel like it's set in stone. When you go and pick your audio music or your intro and outro music you can always make changes seasonally if you want to. I just happened to absolutely love our intro music, so I've kept it, but there's always that space. You can always make that change. You can always pivot or tweak whenever you want to.

So podcast vision, who is it for? What do you want to bring? What do you want to share? Then start to think about some of the types of episodes you want to create. There are definitely some podcasts out there that are all interview-based. There are some podcasts out there that are all client case studies. There are some podcasts out there that are more solo. I do a mix of both. They definitely lean more towards the solo because I love recording solo episodes. It's probably one of my favorite things just sitting here, and I could talk hours and hours and hours about different topics. It’s about what excites you, right? If you don't enjoy interviewing other people, no problem. You definitely are not required to interview people on your podcast. It can definitely be a solo podcast episode. Maybe you're the opposite and you love interviewing people, that can definitely be how your podcast is run. Think about that and then you can always make adjustments. Play around and test both, see which one you enjoy more.

Then you can start to think about where you want to host your podcast, and this kind of gets into a little bit of the podcast tools. I'll share about where we host and some other big platforms you can use. We host our podcast on Libsyn and it's a huge platform. I've been on there since the very beginning when our podcast launched. There are a few others that are out there that I would just start to play around with. Go check out the websites and see which one really aligns with you. In terms of technology setup, back-end support, that sort of thing, Buzzsprout is another big one. I would say Bean Pod and Anchor are also good options. All of those are different platforms that some of my clients have used and have really enjoyed. Again, we love Libsyn, we've been using it for quite some time and there are just so many different integrations. It's a little on the tech side, and maybe that's why I like it a little bit more, but again any of those are going to do wonders for you in terms of launching your podcast.

The next thing that you want to think about is how often you want to release a podcast, and again, that can always change. I recommend a minimum of once per week so that you can create consistency in your podcast and that your audience knows when to expect it. For us it’s every Monday morning. We have a brand new podcast episode and we haven't missed a week. I think there may have been maybe one week here or there over the years where for some reason there is an error on the back end and the episode didn't launch first thing in the morning and maybe it was Monday afternoon, but definitely always on Mondays and typically first thing. I know some who love Tuesdays, Wednesdays, it’s really personal preference, but definitely keep your ideal clients in mind. When are they more likely to listen to the episode? When is it going to be easiest for them? Maybe it’s over the weekend. I personally prefer Mondays or Tuesdays, earlier in the week so they get all week to listen to it. Maybe it is the first thing they want to get into Monday morning while they’re driving to work. You can definitely do some market research as well. Pull your audience over on Instagram, in your Facebook groups, wherever your audience is, send a survey out to your email list and get some market research as well if you're not sure which way to lean for that.

Deciding Episode Topics

Now let's start to brainstorm topics of episodes. I definitely recommend having more than one ready and published when you do launch. We had three entire episodes out there on the web, on iTunes, pushed to the world to listen to when we officially launched, that way our listeners could listen to more than one episode. Our first episode was about me, so all about me, my story, why I started entrepreneurship. My second episode I believe was a Q&A and I pulled questions from my Instagram.I believe I did a questions box, something of that sort. The third one was a deep dive into a topic. We had three very different episodes ready to go so my listeners could binge and get into it and then we created that consistency of a brand new episode once per week. So a minimum of three is what I recommend having ready to go.

Start to create an entire list of topics that you want to talk about. I've got a few tips and tricks when it comes to how to brainstorm different topics and what not. I get asked a lot, “you're so close to episode 200, how have you not repeated an episode? How have you not repeated a topic before?” I'm going to go into some tips and tricks on how we do that. I love brainstorming out topics a minimum two to three months ahead of time, that way I'm not continuing to keep that an open loop in the back of my head of what topic I’m going to record this week. I like to batch and I usually record two to three episodes per week, so I like to know ahead of time what those topics will be and I do lots of market research to determine what those are.

Podcast Tools

So we've got podcast basics down, what to think about and what to brainstorm. Let's get into your podcast tools. What do you actually need to get started? So to actually get started I would say any kind of device. I have had some clients where they got their podcast started recording into their phone and not even needing a computer. So you technically really only need some type of recording device; it can be your phone, your laptop, anything. At the moment my podcast setup is a mic inside of my office with my laptop. You really can have some pretty simple tools. My very first mic was a blue mic my boyfriend got for me when he heard I wanted to start a podcast. It was so sweet of him. I want to say it’s on Amazon for maybe $20-$30. You can even use Apple headphones. I've seen so many use the corded version of the Apple headphones. I feel like the corded headphones are almost “back in the day” headphones now since everyone's using cordless. I would recommend corded when it comes to recording episodes. I personally have definitely had some issues even when chatting on the phone with some friends with the non-corded and the bluetooth. It is definitely much easier to edit if everything is corded and you're less likely to lose something. There are definitely some super small mics that you can get, I have a travel mic as well.

So again, any kind of recording device, a phone, a computer that you can record with, a mic if you want, but it's absolutely not required. You can even just speak into your phone if you would like to, make sure it's a quiet space, but you can definitely do that as well and record right into your voice memo. I was traveling a little bit ago and I just really was in the groove and wanted to record an episode as I was traveling and so I pulled my phone out and I recorded an episode right there in voice memos with my travel mic that I had. Then we edited it and uploaded it into our editing software so that it all worked together and all filled in together, but keep it simple. You're here to add value, you're here to get those episodes out. They do not need to be perfect, they do not need to be edited perfectly. Get it out there because your audience needs it, your ideal clients are so excited to hear. It definitely does not need to be perfect. Start simple.

Not everything is required.

Something you may need is editing software. I want to say some of the host sites, I believe, I may not be correct because I've never used Anchor myself, but I believe you may even be able to upload from your phone directly into the platform and edit right there on the platform. There are some host sites that do editing inside of that. I do know most computers come with free editing software. We use Camtasia and I absolutely love Camtasia. I've had it for years and years since we started the podcast and I also use it for other areas and other editing things in my business when it comes to editing videos and things like that as well. So, I love Camtasia, but there's a lot of free softwares you can use too. Garage Band comes on every single Mac so you can use that. I know so many who use that to edit. There's lots of free software you can use to edit. So again, don't feel that you need to go and invest in the most expensive mic and the most expensive sound room, or that you have to go rent a sound room of some sort. You can record right there in bed if you want to. Keep it simple and just get recording and get some content out there. It's definitely not about being perfect. That can hold so many of us back. I want you to push through that and get it out there so that you can add that value that I know you want to add and start to create that impact even sooner. That perfectionism that so many of us have holds us back from getting stuff out sooner and sooner. Podcast tools: some type of recording device, and keep it simple, some type of editing software that you can upload things into in your hosting site. So again, you really don't need too many things. I started with a $20 or $30 mic. You don't need too much. You can even use your Apple corded headphones to record or even speak right into your phone to record an episode.

Creating Consistency In Your Podcast

Let's get into some tips and tricks for consistency with your podcast. Something I do want to note is as you continue to build out topics you can always record the same topic with a different perspective. If you don't want to do that, you can always repeat episodes, you can always do a fun top three viral episode 3-peat if you ever want to take a break. You can always take a break as well. I know a lot of people who will take the month of December off of recording or a month in the summer time off of recording, so definitely take some time off whenever you feel the need to. You can always record the same topic with a different perspective, and this is what has helped us create so many episodes without repeating any. What we do is we like to expand on topics with different lenses. So for example, let's say I want to talk about how to reach six figures, or multiple six figures, or even seven figures. I can have different episodes one, for example, maybe my mistakes to six figures, or my tips to six figures, or maybe my favorite tech tools to six figures. I have different lenses around this topic that help me create new episodes that are all different because it's still different content. It’s different steps of one, two, three, different things I'm recommending, things like that. They’re all the same topic with a different lens.

So let’s get into a few more quick bonus tips. Something that we love to do is promote our programs in our podcast. We talk about our client wins, I talk to you, I give you life updates here in the podcast. You can definitely share freebies in your show notes. You can definitely utilize your podcast as a business tool as well. It's here to support you and your business as you're also supporting your audience and adding value to your audience and as you're growing your podcast. You can definitely share how to connect with you and how to work with you in the show notes and really have fun with your podcast. Find a way to do it in a way that really feels good to you. If you're feeling like it's not enjoyable, let's find a way to make it enjoyable. Maybe the podcast isn't what you truly want to do or need to do, and that’s okay. It's definitely not required to have a podcast. I love podcasting. I could sit here and talk for hours and hours, however, I like to keep my episodes around 20 to 30 minutes because that is the sweet spot. We've done lots of market research around that. So about 25 to 30 minutes actually is right on point for where most of our ideal clients, again, it depends on your ideal client, but that's what our ideal clients can fit into their day-to-day. A quick 25-30 minute episode as they’re commuting into work or even getting ready for the day. So a few more tips, definitely once your podcasts is out promote your podcast. Talk about it everywhere. We promote our podcast two to three times in our Instagram stories, all over our Facebook account business page, and all over our website as well. Definitely promote because it's so valuable for your audience. I can definitely do another episode because there is so much more I want to talk about when it comes to podcasting, but I'm getting so close to that 30-minute mark so we're going to end here.

We have talked about so many things in terms of how to get your podcast started, some podcast basics, your initial podcast brainstorm, the tools that are needed and the ones that are not needed, some tips and tricks for launching your podcast successfully, and so much more. We are already getting so excited for next week's episode and I cannot wait to share it with you. We will see you next week in another brand new episode of The Fierce Business Babe Podcast bright and early next Monday morning!

Topics we cover include:

Tools you need to start a podcast
Deciding when to release your podcast
Platforms to publish your podcast on

And so much more!

Times to check out:

(10:45) What led me to creating my own podcast

(13:38) How to start a podcast

(18:25) Choosing your episode topics

(20:32) Tools you need and tools you don’t

(25:32) Tips and tricks for your podcast

FREEBIES:

4 Step Training to Start & Scale Your Online Coaching Business:

https://melissalincoaching.lpages.co/4-steps-to-starting-a-successful-coaching-business

Quiz: Your Next Business Strategy:

https://www.themelissalin.com/quiz

WORK WITH MELISSA:

Are you ready to take your online coaching business to the NEXT level? Have you been wanting to start coaching, finally start making a full time income doing what you love? The Fierce Business Academy might be the right fit for you! Head to the link below for more details and to hop on the waitlist!

The Fierce Business Academy:

https://www.themelissalin.com/academy

The 6 Figure Fierce Business Mastermind:

https://www.themelissalin.com/mastermind

The Caption Capsule

https://www.themelissalin.com/captioncapsule

Promo Code: PODCAST to save $$$ on The Caption Capsule!

Find me on social media for more daily content!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_melissalin/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.lin.180410

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fiercebusinessbabes/

Fierce Business Academy: https://www.themelissalin.com/academy