We know from previous episodes that consistency leads to podcasting success – but how do you actually become consistent?
It’s all well and good to say, “Go out there and create lots of episodes,” when you might be intimidated by the idea of creating just one.
So, this time around, we’re going to explore the nuts and bolts of timeframes, workflows, and content creation. Here, you’ll get real-world examples of how long it actually takes to run a successful podcast, and how it can exist alongside other channels, such as blogging, social media, and video.
Transcription: Balancing Time, Workflow, & Content
Meet Our Indiepod Legends
“I try to be ahead as much as possible ahead of schedule, especially having a toddler and she’s in daycare now. The toddler colds, they get me down and out. And there’s been a few episodes where I just powered through, but most of the time, if I’m not feeling well, I don’t wanna record episode. And so I make sure that I’m ahead enough of schedule to allow for that flexibility, and that helps keep me going.”
Andrea – The Savvy Social Podcast
“I could never interview a lot of people in one day. In fact, even two in a week is a little just taxing for me with everything that I do. And I really do a lot of research on the person beforehand, and my brain can only handle, I think, one, at least one a week.”
“Obviously, you want to aim for the stars, but you do really have to rein it in sometimes. And we definitely have. I’m sure we’ve had grand ideas and had to bring them back down to earth a little bit because we know it’s just not achievable with what else we’ve got going on.”
“A lot of my episodes are solo, but I also have a lot of really great guest episodes. And I find that the guest episodes are actually easier because it’s so much easier to have a conversation with somebody than it is to talk to myself for an hour. And I also find that I would prefer to offer another voice or even just alternative views on a topic for my audience.”
“But now, because I bring in feedback from listeners, it’s become more of a magazine and there’s stuff coming from all over the place that I’ve got to feed in, and that all takes time to curate and put into order.”
“It’s way easier to start something and do a whole bunch of other things. Why when you make a t-shirt, does it cost $150 for one t-shirt, and then it’s $25 if you order 50 t-shirts? Because they set up the whole printing press. It’s someone’s time and resources. So you might as well do one thing that you have your brain set on in that time and then try to knock out, if you can, multiple episodes, versus the other way, which I used to do, trying to do everything all at the same time.”
Daren – The One Percent Better Runner
“I’ve gone through phases of this is what I put out. And if I worried too much more about it, it probably wouldn’t come out at all. So this is what you get.”
“So now the blog and the podcast kind of are more linked together in the way that if I do a podcast episode that would make a good blog post, I’d also do a blog version of that episode.”
Vicki – Bring Your Product Idea to Life
“A studio session is usually like an hour planning. We meet once a week so that’s four weeks in a month. Everything we do outside of our meetings. I’d factor in another 10 hours for that. Editing, it takes me, depending on how long the episode is, I’d say like two-ish hours to edit. So, I’d say like maybe 20 hours for an episode.”
“But all I know is I have gained traction, and I like to believe that it has a lot to do with the fact that I do editing and I try to make my program tight. So, yes, that is another common mistake that I see new podcasters make – to think that they could just throw things out there without editing.”
“The thing that made it the easiest for me to be consistent is to do themed seasons. Not to put the pressure on myself to produce a new episode every week or every month, but really thinking about a season, making a plan for ten episodes that are all somehow related and then just producing those, and then that way the listeners know that they will get ten episodes and then they’ll have to wait again. I’m setting up the expectation for that to be the case so they’re not disappointed, and it makes it more manageable for me…”
Originally posted on April 23, 2024 @ 3:24 am