How to Start a Podcast

We get a lot of questions about the best way to start a podcast. First I’d get crystal clear on the point of your podcast. All the other stuff - the good microphone, the headphones, the software and platforms - that can come second. Ask yourself if your content has a clear audience then think through the structure: when do your podcasts air? Will you keep to a production schedule or will you air them kinda willy-nilly as they’re done?  How much time in your schedule do you have to schedule guests, work on audio editing, blurbs, and upload assets?

Obviously, podcasts can get complicated. 

When I first started my podcast, and you can see these old episodes if you scroll waaaaay down at apb.com/pod, I was really excited about my idea but really over complicated it. Here’s what it was-- I did a consultation with a clinician interested in getting some help and that aired on Monday. I sent the recording of that consultation to another consultant and then based on that we’d record a “what’d I miss” episode where the other consultant and I talked about other options for this person. That would air on Wednesday. Then on Fridays I would create a download for people and talk them through homework if they had the same struggle as the person I’d consulted with. 

Aside from it being three podcasts a week, which is A LOT, it was a logistical nightmare with scheduling and making sure the consultants listened to the previous podcast so they’d be on topic and honestly it became a lot to ask of everyone, including myself. And that’s just the recording. I’m not even touching on the promotional pieces or “assets” like links, downloads, time spent in canva making graphics. 

So I scrapped it. 

It’s awesome to get excited about creating content - we make stuff like Facebook Lives and Podcasts and Vlogs and Blogs so we can connect with people and share ideas we’re really excited about to people who share the same interests. Keep in mind that I now have a team of four awesome people helping me with content creation - either tweaking some stuff for me or helping me keep organized, or doing all the platform and upload stuff, and making sure we stick to a production schedule. If you’re burning up about a really neat topic or formula with a few guests in mind, jump in! Podcasting can be pretty fun!

Now as for the how-to part of podcasting I highly recommend my friend Melvin Varghese’s training for podcasting. You probably know Melvin from Selling the Couch. He has a course called The Healthcasters geared toward helping those of us in the therapy and healthcare fields launch podcasts. Everything I know about podcasting, I learned from him. You can check that out at thehealthcasters.com. If it’s not open to join when you go there’s a button to watch a free webinar and I think you can join from the webinar. It’s so detailed and so clear.

He also did a training in the Abundance Party about it, so if you’re hoping to use the podcast to attract clients, join us there at Abundanceparty.com.