Don't Start a Podcast Without This Essential Ingredient

Today I'm going to answer a question from Ashley, who's worried about starting a history podcast and maybe not having any listeners.

My answer may surprise you.

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He's your podcast consultant, Dave Jackson.

Yeah.

So I saw this question in a Facebook group and it says, I've been considering starting a history related podcast that promotes learning from history and applying historical situations to today's events.

So I kind of like that it's a little different slant.

Not just a history, but it's a history and current topics kind of things, right?

Learning from our past business.

Entrepreneurship is not my Forte.

I'm a K through 12 educator.

That even makes more sense.

You're a teacher.

And I cringe at the idea of starting something that isn't popular or has three listeners per week.

But I also really believe in my topic because I think I would be very good at it.

Any advice or tips would be appreciated.

So I replied to her and I get it that you think you have to be an entrepreneur.

No, what you need are two things.

You need content and delivery.

And we can expand on those.

That's what I basically do, but that's really what it boils down to.

Do you have good content that your audience wants and then delivery, are you delivering it in a way that would sound boring because you're reading it?

And so I said, when your passion to serve your audience is greater than your worry or your fear about downloads, you're going to press record.

That's really the bottom line because there are so many of us that are like, eh, not really sure if I should do this or not.

But when you're like, oh, and I see people, I'll give you an example.

Zeta Christian is.

She will say this herself.

She's not a spring chicken, right?

She's probably in her 70s and she did a show called My Spouse has Dementia.

And Zita is such a great example of so many things.

She's an awesome person.

She's a member of the school of podcasting.

And why did she start the My Spouse has Dementia?

Well, number one, her spouse had dementia.

And she was tired of seeing all the information about dementia, like, oh, I can't find my keys.

Do I have dementia?

Oh, it's like, no, no.

It's a horrible disease.

Horrible that nobody talks about.

And so she wanted to start a podcast.

So that people could see the truth about it.

And unfortunately, her spouse passed away and her podcast lives on.

And she let me know a couple weeks ago that she still gets email from people that say, thank you, thank you for telling the truth, thank you for letting me know what I was getting into.

And her passion to do that show was greater than, I don't know, is anybody going to listen?

And so that's the attitude that I see from my chair in successful podcast now realize success is painted in many different flavors.

And in Zita's case, it's successful.

Oh, because she's got tons of sponsors and lots of money?

No, because she's helping people that are in the same boat that she was in.

Remember, it's not all about the money.

And so for me, the people that succeed at podcasts pick a topic that they would talk about if nobody listened.

There is just a ton of passion and they need not want, they need to talk about it.

Now, the reason for that is if you don't have the passion to get through that first hurdle of, you know, you're going to learn some new things.

And it's really not that new.

If you've attached a photo to an email, then you know how to upload an MP3 file, if you've ever turned down the radio so you could hear the phone, well, then you know how to mix audio.

I'm not saying there's no learning curve.

I'm just saying it's not as hard as you think it is.

The hard part is knowing your why, knowing your who, and then where those overlap, that is your what.

And so, you know, you say you're not an entrepreneur.

The question is, what is your why?

Why are you doing this?

And you have to identify that because if you don't, you will burn out.

If you don't get your why, after a while you're like, well, I'm not getting any of this, whatever that is.

And you have to know your who.

Because if I say, oh, I'm doing a show for women 25 to 50, there's a big difference between a 25 year old woman and a 50 year old woman.

You have to know who this is for so that you can give it to them.

And then again, where your who and your why overlap, that is your what.

So you can kind of get both.

You entertain, you educate whatever you're doing to your whole while you get them towards your why.

So I thought that was a good question from Ashley and I thought I would share it with you because it's True.

If you're a person that's like, I'm thinking of getting into podcast.

I don't know, maybe it looks kind of cool.

I would say not.

No, I would just say not now, because you need that passion, you need that drive and that love of your topic to really get you through that first learning curve.

And I'm not here to say that the learning curve, again, is easy, but I'm also here to say it's not as hard as you probably think it is.

So if you have a question, you can always go out to podcastconsultant.com I've got a contact page there, and I would love to help you.

That's what I do.

Been podcasting for 19 years, going to celebrate 20 years in 20, 25 of podcasting.

I've seen a lot of things, and I would love to help you not just start a podcast, but start a podcast in the right direction.

I see a lot of people, I'm like, oh, that's not good.

I wouldn't do that.

And, you know, you don't always have to listen to me.

I do have people that pay me money and then ignore all my advice, and then they quit because their podcast isn't doing what they wanted to do.

And, you know, that's an option.

Not my favorite option.

Kind of frustrating, but, you know, it is what it is.

But I do love helping podcasters, especially when they succeed.

I had somebody this week, and I was talking to them, and I said, like, what's our why again?

And he goes like, well, I love hanging out with my friends and talking about sales.

And I said, well, you do realize your podcast is successful then, because you're doing what you want to do.

You're getting your why?

Why do you do it?

So I can talk sales with my friends.

You almost don't need to publish a podcast.

He's already getting it.

So, again, knowing your why is hugely important.

And I would love to help you go out to podcastconsultant.com.

you can contact me there, or just join the School of Podcasting.

Use the coupon code listener, and that'll save you on either a monthly or yearly subscription.

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Check it out.

School of Podcasting Dot com.

I'm Dave Jackson from the School of Podcasting.

I help podcasters.

It's what I do.

And I can't wait to see what we do together.