487. Stop Overthinking Your Podcast Launch

0:05 Good morning podcasting morning chat. Today is Thursday, April 2nd, 2026, and today podcasting Best practices for beginners. And yes, I've got a slightly selfish reason for this one. So let's unpack what really matters, what's overhyped and what gets overlooked. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're catching us via podcast, YouTube, LinkedIn, etcetera, please share this with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds. We'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here. The Podcasting Morning Chat is powered by Ironic Media, helping podcasters launch, Polish and grow great shows, and by Content Creators Accountant, helping creators build real business behind their content.

1:21 Good morning again podcasting Morning Chat. Thank you so much for being here. I am your host Mark Ronik currently on stage with me. My Co hosts we have Ralph Estep, BC Babbles, Sid Meadows, Alex Baelish, Dr. Faye, Nick Naulback and joining us from our audience Tide AKA Nicky. Per usual, glad to see all of you here today. If you want to learn more about my Co hosts, just go to podcastingmorningchat.com/people and you'll see why these people are here on stage sharing their insights, experiences, advice, et cetera. And yeah, I'll get to the main topic in just a moment. First wanted to share with you yesterday's EPC or actually just Empowered Podcasting Live. Our first live stream went really well and we had Ralph join us as well as our title sponsor for the Empowered Podcasting conference.

2:16 We shared some behind the scenes stuff, what we're working on right now to get this event in tip top shape for August 21st. We also talked a little bit about just podcasting in general. It felt a little similar to a podcasting morning chat with an Empowered Podcasting theme built into it. It went really well. You can check that out at Podcasting Morning chat.com back slash EPC Live if you want to see and listen to that. What was it? Probably about 4045 minute edition. Also just a reminder, Speaking of Empowered Podcasting, if you are part of the community, if you've been to an Empowered Podcasting before or if you are planning on going and already purchased your tickets tonight at 7:00 PM Eastern, we're doing a community call.

3:05 So it's kind of like a networking mastermind update call for our community. And we are going to be sharing a new program that we're creating for Empowered Podcasting, the Creator Partnership program. This is a way that, for lack of a better word, smaller creators, creators that may not have the budget to normally promote their products or services or even their very podcast at a place like a podcasting convention. We've created a package that we believe is affordable and we'll give you that kind of exposure that I think you may have been looking for if that was ever of an interest to you.

3:45 So we're going to share all about that tonight. If you are not a part of Empowered Podcasting yet, but curious about that, just e-mail me mark@ironicmedia.com before 5:00 PM today and I'll hook you up, get you in there. All right, let's get into today's topic, which as I said at the top of the show best practices when starting a podcast. And I'm going to be honest with you, I'm being a little selfish with this one. No, not because I've never started a podcast before, but because I'm speaking today, later today to a marketing class at Vanderbilt University. And you may remember if you follow the show, I've done this before.

4:26 This is like a follow up, not presentation, but I'll just say a follow up to that previous one. And the topic that we're talking about today is a big part of what I'm going to be doing over at Vanderbilt, virtually over at Vanderbilt later today. But I thought about it and the more I realized this is a great conversation for this room, this community as well. Because a lot of people in our audience are either just getting started, restarting, or maybe they've realized that they've done a few things wrong. And if they, if they could do it differently, they'd go back and do so. So today, instead of me turning this into a lecture, like it'll probably be a little more so later, I want to do what we do best here at PMC.

5:13 Let's make it a real round table discussion. And when someone starts a podcast, you know what actually matters what what gets overthought, what gets overlooked, and what advice still holds up once you've been doing this for a while. Because we've talked about this a bit, there's no shortage of podcast advice online. And some of the advice out there is helpful. Some of it we've talked about before, and I think we even talked about it a little bit on EPC Live yesterday. It's a little outdated and some of it makes the whole thing feel way more complicated than it needs to be sometime. So today, I'd love for us to make this a practical discussion. And Ralph, I see you want to add something and so does Dr. So Ralph, since I saw your hand first, go for it. ONBC also wants to go, OK, a lot of people already want to chime in.

6:07 Go for it. Good morning everybody. So first thing I want to say is my number one thing before you do anything else is understand your why. Why are you doing this? And as the money guy on the show, if you're doing it to make money, stop. Don't go forward until you understand the real why. What is your passion? What are you interested in talking about? That's number one. Number two, how are you going to measure success? Cause the biggest struggle I had is I understood the why. I wanted to impart knowledge on other people, but I didn't really understand how to measure that.

6:48 And I flailed around for a long time because I didn't understand the measurement part. So those are the two things that I think are the number one and #2 things. Your why and how do you measure success? Thank you, Ralph. And I'm going to ask everybody, hold your tongue if you want to give your number one reason or number one thing to think about because we'll get there too. And I appreciate starting there, Ralph. So thank you for that. I think that is probably most of us here would agree starting with your why is probably the best place to start. So thank you for that, Ralph. Now I'm going to ask is, is that why DRBC? Is that why you guys were raising your hand? Are you ready to already share your top tips?

7:29 No, BC says he's got something else. What about you, Dr. Do you have something else? Well, I was going down the same path that Ralph was going down, but with a caveat. OK, we'll come. We'll come back to it in a second. What do you got for us BC? I would say my understated first step would be to look into what the world of podcasting looks like right now. We talk about so many updates in this world, every single episode. Yesterday we're talking about how AI is going to be producing its own shows, for just one small example. But I think if someone, if the team or singular storyteller takes the time to look into the size, the magnitude, the multiple facets of what the podcasting world looks like, I think it'll help them get perspective early on.

8:21 That will help them answer those questions like what is your why? What's the format going to be? Do you have the time to do this? Because it's a process. I think understanding what the world looks like will help put into perspective what the next set of questions should be. Yeah, thank you, BC, and thank you for not. Thank you for doing exactly what I asked you not to do. I wanted to wait for those tips, but you know what? We're leading with a lot of value right now, which is always a good thing when you're starting a podcast, right? Wait, wait, what? I was, I was, yeah, I was saying we'll get to the the main reasons, but it's OK. You guys are are jumping to it.

9:03 Yeah, there was no question yet. Sid is asking the chat, what's the question? I think everybody just jumped to the implication that that's where we're going, which it is where we're going today. But first I wanted to actually, it's OK, totally OK. You know, I think we're used to doing it a different way. So I'm kind of changing it up a little bit and everybody's like scratching their head and jumping the gun here, which is totally fine because again, we've LED with some value today. By the way, shout out to Chris in the audience. Chris W. We have not had him here in a while. And I know why and it's, I don't take it personally. There are lots of reasons why. And Chris, great to have you back. I know you also joined us on EPC Live or Empowered Podcasting Live yesterday.

9:47 Good to see you back here in the morning. It's been a minute. So let's start here. When someone says they want to start a podcast, and this is where I think the question really starts, this is what everybody was starting to answer, where do you think they should begin? So again, when someone says they want to start a podcast, you hear someone say that, what do you tell them? Where should they start 1st? And we got from Ralph, we got one. We've already got one from BCDDR. You're next in line. And it looks like a lot of people want to chime in. Go for it, Dr. Well, I think that they need to get out of good old fashioned paper and pencil and start writing down the pros and cons. And you know, when I am approached by people, when I do some networking and they say, you know, I'm thinking about doing a podcast, the first thing I say to them is you have to figure out why you're doing it.

10:46 You know, this is much like what Ralph was doing. Now, if I say are are you going to be doing it for money? Or if you're going, are you going to be doing it because you love it? They will always, always say, well, you know, if I can make some money out of it, that'd be great. That's that will always be the answer. So I always have to do a little story like, you know, I have a client that does her podcast in order to get more clients on her roster. And it works. They people hire her to be their business coach. I have another client who interviews the most incredible people and she loves it. And she's not doing it for anything, for fame or glory, but she just loves talking to these people.

11:29 So why would you be doing a podcast? I have to frame it in that way. And then it becomes a little bit more, you know, instead of the flip it. Well, if I can make some money, I'll always do that. So that kind of eliminates that. Yeah, some pros and cons and, you know, get a plan. Get a plan. Yeah. And I think that's a great idea. And I know some people may say, oh, I don't want to use a pen and paper. And that's fine. If that, if you, if you don't want to, if if doing it on your computer or your phone is where you prefer, fine, but. I think, yeah, let's do it. But I think it is important, like Dr. is saying, I, I like the idea of writing down the pros and cons first. I think that it's a good way to kind of sort out everything. What's going on in your head as you're thinking about starting a podcast.

12:20 Really smart idea to write those pros and cons down to think about what some of those challenges might be ahead of time and also what might excite you about this. So yeah, thank you for that advice. Dr. I'm going to go to Nikki since she is a an audience member. I like to go to our guests first on stage, even though Todd doesn't feel like Todd is the her nickname here. Even though she doesn't feel like a guest at this point, she's always here with us on stage and I love that. What do you got for us, Nikki? Going to say that for me, I don't think that anyone should start a particular way because to me it's kind of like parenting or it's kind of like teaching.

13:01 There's not just one way to start or to do something right? Because to me that would be sort of A1 size fits none approach and I don't care for that. But I will say that when it comes to my journey, I knew I wanted to podcast. And as far as the why and the reason why is because I believe that when I get a nudge that says hey, go do this or hey, don't do that, the whole purpose of that nudge is to help me reach a higher state of consciousness in my own life so that I can become the person that I'm destined to be. So it's kind of like a spiritual thing. Whenever I get that nudge, I just listen to it and I go with that. So that's really my only reason why for doing something is just because I get that nudge.

13:43 But in terms of my own journey and how I started the podcast, I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted something in the education space, something that would connect with parents, something that would help my business grow and and sort of be a funnel, a potential funnel for that. But I didn't know what topics I was going to explore because I just, I just didn't. So what I did was I talked to people here on Clubhouse and in real life and I said, hey, I'm thinking about starting a podcast. Do you have any ideas of what I could talk about? Because I feel like I'm all over the place and some people would have, everybody had great ideas. Not all ideas are going to fit, of course. But I did speak to one person who said, well, hey, you know that one thing you do for parents, so why don't you make your podcast about like something like that?

14:32 And then everything clicked. So that was when I went ahead and I've done my show. I'm in my fourth season now and I've only been podcasting for five months. And a lot of it was just idea testing. It was talking to people, doing some audience based research on what people needed and just talking to people. And that was where I found and landed on my idea. I love that tide. Thank you for sharing that. And yeah, at first I do want to address the there's something to be said about those moments that you're called to do something. So yeah, that nudge or if you're being called to it, yeah, I think that that's that's an important thing to follow when you're really feeling that. And it's an area sometimes that I struggle with. You know, sometimes I'll think about, yeah, I really want to do this thing and I get really excited about it, but then I don't explore it.

15:20 I don't follow through on it. And then that just feels like I, I start piling up ideas and, and then they all just kind of weigh me down, right? So it's important to follow that gut instinct and explore it and see if it's something worth pursuing. And yeah, I like the idea of talking to people. I would encourage somebody who's thinking about starting a new podcast to if you really want more of the answers that are the right fit. Similarly to what you were saying, sometimes you didn't get the best fit answers The but they were all great. Is think about talking to people that you know that fit your audience profile, right? I think that's really important too, because then you're going to get those kinds of answers that it's more likely you're you are more likely to hear your audience asking. So yeah, thank you for that.

16:12 To that part, OK, so just short this week in terms of the way that I differentiate between ideas that are going to overwhelm me and I don't start and I don't finish versus ideas that are taking me to that higher state of consciousness. For me, it's about look at the idea and I say to myself, is this an ego driven idea or is this a a self driven internal self driven idea? So an ego driven idea is 1 in which I'm doing it for anything that's based in vanity, anything that's based on money or numbers or fame or approval from someone else or something that anything that's vain.

16:54 Anything that I would personally define as vain, that idea I don't go with. The ideas that I go with are the ones that are more spiritual in nature, so they're going to take me to a state of higher consciousness and I don't care about the end result. I don't care what it leads to or how it develops or I have no attachment to the idea in terms of me wanting it for a specific reason. Like I want to buy a house or a car or anything like that because that's going to be an eco driven reason is when I have a sense about how this turns out or what the result is of any of it. That's when I know that it's taking me personally to my highest place.

17:36 I love that we could talk about that all day long. And I wish I knew more about you when we met at the happy hour a week ago because I think we would have had a much deeper conversation at that happy hour. But I love what you're saying. Yeah. And I think it's really important to think about when you are coming up with a podcast idea those quote UN quote selfish moments, right? Because that does create attachment. When we when we are creating from a place of selfishness, a lot of times then we become super attached to whatever we think the outcome should be. And that can be dangerous because often times, I think a lot of us can attest here what we expected our podcast to be when we started is much different than what it is today. And that can be a hard transition if you are too attached.

18:30 Yes. And I was going to go to you anyway, Sid. So feel free to comment on this and share your answer as far as where do you think people should begin when starting a podcast. Good morning, everybody. That was just a friendly reminder, Pepper Mark. OK, good. So I would say to somebody who's thinking about starting a podcast is spend at least a month doing research, research, research, research. Listen to a variety of different shows. Listen to, you know, shows that have Co hosts. Listen to shows that are just one individual. Listen to interview shows. Listen to solo shows. Go watch shows. Like do the research because what the research is going to do, especially it's going to inform and highlight for you the type of show you want to have.

19:12 Do you want to have a solo show? Do you want to have an interview show? Do you want to have a Co host? The best way to do that is to go and consume the product that you want to produce. Cuz I've talked to a lot of people who wanna start a podcast that have never listened to a podcast. So go consume the product in variety of different places, different platforms to really get an idea about how you what you want your show to be about how you want it to be set up. And it's going to and take notes, grab that pen and paper, as Dr. said, and just take notes of the things that you think that you would like to include. And if you hear segments or hear music, I mean, go listen to shows like Dominic's that are narrative just to really figure out what it is you want to do. So I think you have to spend at least a month doing research. Thank you, Sid.

19:56 And I know Nick wants to chime in on that. So I'm going to let you jump the line. Nick, go for it. Good morning. Thanks. Good morning everybody. The only thing I wanted to add to that is spend a little bit of extra time in this research process to look for podcasts that aren't just the popular podcasts. Look for the smaller shows, the independent podcasters, things that are are a few steps ahead of you instead of like a Joe Rogan. Like if you want to do an interview podcast and you go watch Joe Rogan, like, yeah, it's not a bad idea to kind of get a feel for what the pros are doing. But also take a look at what other successful people are doing that might be just a few steps ahead of you. So you're not setting yourself up for that expectation that Spotify is going to sign you for a $200 million deal kind of thing.

20:51 Like I, I really think it's important to kind of take a step back in that regard and do the little extra research to find the smaller shows that more aligned with what you're going to be releasing to Stockard. Nick, Fairpoints, I appreciate you calling that out. And Speaking of calling out real quick, and then I'm going to respond, but shout out we got more old school friends here this morning joining us on Clubhouse. Stacy, great to see you here. Thank you for being here. It's been a minute since we've seen you and always glad to see you when you're here. Thank you. And OK, so yeah, Nick, I want to go back to that for a second. First of all, I agree.

21:32 And when you say something like not only following the successful shows, how do you know what shows are successful if they're not the bigger ones? And how do you know if they're a few steps ahead of you? You know what I mean? Yeah, that's a fair question. I'm not saying I have literally all the answers to that, but I think one good way to do that would be listen notes or good pods. I mean they have various charts. I think listen notes would probably be the first place I go to because that it, although it's not 100% accurate, I would say that gives you kind of an idea of like what percentile that podcast is in roughly.

22:14 So you're not searching for the top .5% podcast, you're looking for ones that are in like the five to 10% range. Like kind of see what they're doing and then as you kind of push your own podcast into that space, then start like kind of look into the next level and see what the next person's doing. Like I said it, I do appreciate looking at what the the top podcasters are doing, but I'm not going to come out with an interview show solely based on what I see Joe Rogan doing because he's on a completely different level that took years for him to get to. And I'm starting at square 1. Yeah, that makes sense. And I think maybe the way I would slightly revise Nick's advice is really not worrying so much about whether the podcast that you're researching is successful, but more so focusing on what are they doing that you like and what are they doing that you don't like?

23:11 What are the things that you want to adopt into your podcast that you see others that are doing? And what are you seeing that you're like, yeah, I don't want to do that on my podcast? And again, to add on to what Nick's saying, I think what you could do is to find those, quote UN quote, smaller shows, smaller name shows, search for podcasts in your space, right? So if you're a health coach, go find health coach podcasts that aren't hosted by big names or big companies, right? Or if you are a business coach, same thing, don't go and just listen to Diary of Aceo, although I know he does a lot more than just business talk, but you catch my drift, right? Like go find smaller shows that talk about business or specifically your type of business and see what you like and what you don't like.

24:05 Go ahead, Stacey. Good morning. Good morning. And something I encourage everybody to do, whether you're new or advanced in podcasting that I am doing and it's working really well, is using a podcast, your podcast as your own research vehicle. So what I mean by that is whatever your business is, have guests who have it literally done a research study, a case study, something that is in your industry. Use your podcasts. Obviously you're serving others, but also have it serve you because I get so much intelligence. Obviously you can read a lot on the web, but having people who have done something that can help you in your business because of what they know, it's a research platform too. So that's my $0.02.

25:06 Yeah. Thank you, Stacy. Love that. And Stacy, how's your podcast doing You maybe since it's been a minute, you want to just share the name of your podcast and what you do? Oh, thank you. Yeah, Doing CX Right is my podcast. For those that don't know, CX means customer experience. So how do you really boost revenue and brand reputation? By doing customer and client experience, right? Though that does include employee experience. So my show covers both. I've been doing this for five years and when I left corporate, actually while I was in corporate. So anybody who is in a job or corporate, I encourage you to start podcasting before you even know why.

25:50 Thank God I did that because it's really fueled my business. And that's why I'm saying to you that, and I love some of the tools that you just mentioned about listen notes and good pods, et cetera, because it is very motivating to see where you start. And then even if it's just directional information, to be in the top 2% is very confidence boosting on those platforms. The last thing I want to say is not only does the podcast fuel my business, even before I knew what my business was, social media is really the the importance here because it's not that my show has millions of followers, it's that I have sponsors because the podcast show gets amplified from social media.

26:44 And so it's, it's the combination together, just a podcast by itself, it's not going to happen quickly, but when you tie it together, that's what sponsors want to see and know. Yeah, Thank you, Stacy. Appreciate that. Ralph. You said you had some. Oh, go ahead, Sid, and then we'll go to Ralph I. Just want to jump in real quick for just a quick second. Stacy. It's so good to see you, friend and Mark. Stacy has been part of this community since, I don't know what, five years now, Stacy, because we were here when you started your podcast. Yes, exactly. And in two weeks, Stacy and I get to spend almost a week together for the very first time ever.

27:25 We get to meet each other in approximately 2 weeks. And I am super excited about getting a Stacy Sherman hug. This is so much love for a morning. Thank you. What and why are you guys connecting and spending a week together? Stacy is amazing at pushing people to do things outside their comfort zone and encouraging people to grow in a lot of different ways. And she invited me to check out this event that is in Maryville, TN, which is over in Knoxville that is a very exclusive event for only about 40 people. And it's writers, it's podcasters, it's public speakers, I mean, you name it, all these different kinds of people. And so I signed up to go and Stacy is a returning guest or visitor to this conference.

28:12 And so I signed up to go. And so I'm going to meet Stacey for the first time, along with four, approximately 40 other people that I don't know, for four days of immersive learning about marketing and all kinds of great topics. So, Sid, we can come back here and share the love and the lessons. Please, that would be awesome. So cool. I'm so glad you guys get to finally meet after all these years. And yeah, I mean, Stacy, talk about a new When she was a new podcaster, one of the themes we got to know about Stacy over time was how long it took her to just take the equipment out-of-the-box and just start, right? That was Stacy's big thing, right? Stacy? Yes, take the mic out-of-the-box. To quote myself, it took me 6 months. That should not happen.

28:59 So take it out-of-the-box and start. And look at where you are today, right? Like I think that what a what a leap that was for you to actually finally, after six months, take that mic out and get started. And now look, you're speaking on huge stages, doing all the things now. Yes, I am not special everyone, you can do it too. Yeah. Thank you. Guys, I see Mark, Julie and Yvonne both raised their hand. I have tried to bring them up. Me too. Maybe they just haven't accepted because they have to hit another button once we say come up, now Janae's trying. Let's see if Janae comes up. Yep, that worked for Janae. Hi Janae, did you want to comment? I was just testing the feature. But congratulations Stacy and and amazing experience. I'm all out of my words now.

29:48 It's too early, like Stacy said. Yeah, what I was saying is, Stacy, you also have such an amazing niche area like CX, like who knows, CX, unless you've been in the industry, people wouldn't know about it. So, you know, that's another reason why things grow so fast or, you know, the work that you're putting in. And I think the, the hardest thing that we all struggle is to get started. So I love that you say take the mic out-of-the-box and get started. Yep, absolutely. Ralph, you wanted to chime in, I think during Stacy's share. Go for it. Yeah, I actually been sort of sitting on the sideline here with something I want to share. I think we're giving really bad advice here, and I'll tell you where I think the bad advice is. Following what other people are doing, Go look and see what other people are doing.

30:36 Go look and see. I don't think that's great advice and the reason I. Cut you off real quick, I think just because I want to clarify, because earlier I, what I was saying was to go and find the things that you like about what they're doing and the things that you don't like. It's not about copying other people. It's about learning the things that people are doing on their podcasts and adopting those that you think would work well or that you gravitate towards. That would be advice. Yeah, for inspiration. I don't disagree with that, but I think that there are so many people that are playing Follow the Leader right now. Well, this one is doing this, so I have to do this. This one is doing this, so I have to do this. I want to go back to something Nikki said because when Nikki said it, I want to jump out of my chair and applaud. What she said was she's serving a need and I think that is the secret to this whole thing.

31:33 What is the person out there, your potential audience member need? If you want to be impactful, find what they need and address that need. That's what Nikki said, and I think that was brilliant because there's a whole lot of people out there with interview shows and talk shows and pontificating about all kinds of stuff. But the folks who that I see are being successful, both from a statistics and from a monetary side, and I'm the money guy, are those people that are addressing a need. So when you're getting started, think about your audience and what is it they need? I just think that I just, I worry sometimes that and I, I don't disagree with you, Mark, you weren't saying to just go follow and do everything other people do. I'm I, I was a little strong there. But what I'm saying is I just think we can fall into this. Well, whatever the algorithm's telling us to do, well, this is what everyone else is doing.

32:26 The people who are going to be successful are the ones that aren't following the algorithm. The people who aren't following what AI spits out. Go be yourself, but serve a need. Can I add in here? Sure, Stacey. So I, I, I love your thoughts here. I want to add that there's, there's really nothing out there that hasn't been said before. There are thousands of speakers and podcasters on burnout. There's thousands of leadership. There's thousand. Like there's really not much that hasn't been said. So when when we look at towards others, it's, I don't hear it or see it as, as a way to benchmark ourselves.

33:13 It's a way to see what others are doing on a topic. And then how to figure out your own voice that's different to communicate a topic that that's kind of the angle that melds what everybody's saying. And then and that works for me because nothing's not been said before. That's the truth. That is the truth, Stacey. Yeah, thank you. And yeah, listen, I actually don't think Ralph is disagreeing here, Ralph. I think that these are actually 2 completely separate points, right. So yes, I think, I think most of us here on stage will agree that what do the, what does the audience need is probably the top.

34:00 If not, yeah, it is probably the top thing to think about when you're starting a podcast. And secondary to that, there is, in my opinion, such a thing as hosts needs. We have to like what we're doing as a podcast host. We want to be confident in what we're doing as a podcast host. And if we don't have those things, I find that those shows fall flat and don't get off the ground or don't find the success that they're looking for. So I think both are true, right? You have to know your needs and what you want to get out of this show and and how you want to present this show if you want it to be successful. Julie is on stage as well.

34:49 Love all the participation this morning and encourage it. So thank you all for being up here. And I know Tide wants to chime in as well. So let me go to Julie and then we'll go to Tide. Go ahead, Julie. Good morning. Hi, good morning. I didn't realize I was raising my hand, but I'm so happy to be here. Good, well, I'm glad you're here too. Did you want to comment at all? I mean, I will, of course. I mean, I'll always say something. Hi, everybody. I I miss everybody. And Janae, I need to speak with you this week. So. So what I was going to say is that, you know, we do need to have a big why. I think if you don't have a big enough why for your podcast and and like what you said, it has to be what the host wants also, you're not going to continue. You know, I have a podcast that I've been doing for four years and it wouldn't be here still if I didn't have a big why. And we just heavily started investing into the podcast. I don't know if that's the right or wrong thing to do, but I'm charting now, by the way, on Apple in entrepreneurship and business.

35:57 Like I, I like people can find me now. It's like a whole different game. My podcast numbers went from like barely anything to like and now I'm like 30,000 downloads a month which is like, I don't even know what to do with that so well. Julie, can I stop you real quick? And yeah, So what changed What, what did you do that all of a sudden? Why? And I'm sure it wasn't quite all of a sudden, but what changed to get you on those charts to get you those 30,000 a month or what have you? Yeah, so I I'm working with Potta Ties. Oh, OK. I'm working with Potta Ties on a promotional package that they're running with me and they're actually promoting the podcast.

36:41 Like I didn't understand all of that. Like, just like you promote your business, you promote your podcast. So on Apple, they're promoting me and it's working. It's working. But I mean, I have to do my part. Like, so I'm posting 3 episodes a month. Yeah. If anybody wants to be promoted, I can connect you with the guy if you DM me here or whatever or find me on LinkedIn. It's it's quite extraordinary. Like I didn't, I didn't really understand all of that. And I think that's like, you know, when you go to pod fest, you learn about little things like this, like Mopod and, and, and I, I was doing this before then.

37:22 But you know, if you want to monetize and you kind of are not making your numbers, I mean, nobody can find you. That's the problem. Like, I mean, we do as much as we can to share our podcasts using social media and telling people about it, but nothing is going to give you that push, at least what I'm learning as somebody giving you a push, you know? Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. Very cool. Congratulations, Julie, and thank you for sharing that. I feel like it's actually very appropriate to hear that, right, Because for this particular topic, it's appropriate because here we are talking more toward new podcasters who have all these aspirations, but may, may think I'll I'll never get there. I'll never get to the point where I'm charting on Apple right, but it is possible.

38:08 And it's cool to hear these different success stories, Stacy's and Julie's, etcetera. Very cool. Thank you for sharing your experiences as well. Did did I miss anybody? Does anyone else want to comment before I go to the next question? All right, it seems like I can move on. So when we think about the early stages of podcasting for you and you're, oh, it was tide. OK, we'll go to you and it we'll go to you right now. Tide. Please forgive me. Go for it. Tide forgot all about you. You're completely fine. So what I was to say was the idea that everything has already been said and we're just taking spin offs of those those things.

38:51 To me, I understand why it's said and I hear it. I totally get it. But it doesn't resonate with me at all because I hear new ideas all the time. All the time, like last night, my mom and I were talking and I'm going to share this on my podcast. We were talking about the New York Times podcast that I, Janae and I have shared it with my students who I teach now. I knew that when I shared it with them that they were not going to do anything with that information. I've been working here for 13 years. I know these kids like a book, so I knew they weren't doing anything with it, but I wanted to at least share the opportunity for them to do the podcast, I hope.

39:33 And I was right. No one did any. No one took any action. No one was even remotely interested in it. It's a weird phenomenon. And not only that, it wasn't just the podcasting thing, though, But I had talked to another teacher who expressed a similar concern in his class. He had said that he had gotten approval to do Minecraft in his class, which is a very popular game, and the kids were going to build Victorian houses, something like that, in the Minecraft game, and there was a scholarship opportunity attached to it. Now, I don't believe that the New York Times podcasting thing has a scholarship attached to it, although it could in the future. You never know.

40:15 But there was money on the line for this Minecraft thing, and no one, zero students participated. And it's not just that. There's a million other things I could say. So I was talking to my mom and I said mom and this. Component, I said you're a parent, you've raised a kid. I have not raised a kid, although I work with kids, I've never raised children. And I don't get where this psychological disconnect is coming from. And so we hashed it out and she at first told me she goes, I don't know. I really don't know what is going on. And so we kept on talking about it and she goes, I know what the answer is. And I said what? And it wasn't a spin off of somebody else's idea of what she said.

40:57 She goes, the reason why they're not doing this is because you haven't said what resonates with them. And I said, well, what resonates with them? What help me understand what resonates with them? And she goes, there's two things that resonate with this particular group of kids. It was firmness and facts. And I said, Oh my God, you're right. And So what that meant from the logistical standpoint of the conversation and the context that we were talking about is that when you when you come at a situation with a level of firmness, they have to have that. And then if you also present facts that are that to them are irrefutable, then that's when they become humble and they feel more motivated to change. And there's a whole lot more to that that I could explain. But I just wanted to say that because this was an original idea.

41:48 This did not come from anyone's podcast or a book somebody read or anything like that. This was an original idea. And so that idea that everything is just recycled content for me does not resonate. Yeah. Thank you. I think that's a great point as far as really, again, going back to knowing your audience, right? If you know your audience and you then you can really serve them and you learned that and yeah, and you can now serve that particular audience even better. Yeah, Stacey, go ahead. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that story because it's it's wonderful where I'm coming from in terms of nothing's been not said before and that we get to take our experiences and make it new from our own angles.

42:38 What you just said, your story what reminds me and again it's in a business context, but change management, right. I've studied change management in business and working in corporate etcetera. And so the things you just said, fundamentally those are part of change management techniques. So like I've heard that before, but the use case and the example and the story what you just told is unique. So I just wanted to shed some color on the statement because that's where everything is new because of the stories and the experience we bring to it. Thanks.

43:22 Yeah, thank you, Stacey. I see Tides giving you the thumbs up and Ralph was physically here on camera and his cowboy hat given his thumbs up. Ralph, did you want to reply at all or respond? Yeah, I think that is where we need to lean into the stories that we've experienced. The things I do a daily Christian finance show, The reason it's successful is I've been through the struggles. I can talk about what it's like to make decisions and make mistakes and fall flat on your face. That is the beauty that all of us can bring to podcasting is bring your stories, bring your scars, bring all the things that you've suffered through because guess what? Your audience is doing the same thing. AI can never replicate that.

44:07 AI can never tell. It can make up elaborate fake stories, but it will not connect on an emotional level. On this show 2 weeks ago I shared about my mom and I cried on camera. There's no AI tool that could have recreated that because that was my experience. And when you're starting, bring your experience, bring your emotions, bring the things that have changed you, bring the scars to it. And when you do that, you will move people in a positive way. I love that. Thank you. Ralph and I, I want to dig into, since we were talking, for example, about Stacy's experience when she first started and how challenging it was for her to actually pull that equipment out and hit record right. So I'd love to wrap up today learning a little bit more about everyone else's experience getting started. When you think about your early stage of podcasting or stages of podcasting, what stands out to you? What, what do you think's important to share to a new podcaster who's getting in the game? And I see BC wants to take that one. Go ahead BC.

45:15 Yeah, I would say it's important to don't establish or presume that the form of show you start off with will be the same form that show has years down the road. I would even say instead establish to expect that the way your show functions and its purpose to change over time. For instance, when I'm working my show, which is very entrepreneur focused, for the longest time it was just interview based. And over time I've realized, let's try, let's try a morning show format that didn't quite work. Let's go back to interview, which still works a little bit, but not quite what I wanted to be. So now for 2026, I've shifted again to instead, OK, no more just interview based.

46:05 I'm going to consolidate all the information I have. I'm going to turn this into a market update business news show that sometimes incorporates interviews to get some more thought leadership, actionable advice. But essentially, I'm be open to that fluctuation because you will learn a lot over time and it will inspire some kind of pivot in how you approach your show and how that show manages to meet that expectation or that purpose that you've set forth in the beginning. Yeah, great advice. Thank you BC I see several people on stage are agreeing yeah I'm with you there and this even with this very show.

46:49 That's some advice I wish I would have taken in the earlier stages because I know for me, sometimes I get, I pigeon hole myself, I get stuck in a certain way. And you know, like over preparing for a show. I, I think it's good to over prepare to an extent, but I was over preparing so much and causing myself so much stress and not connecting enough with the, with the idea that we'll be fine, right? Like this show will work if I'm not so over prepared because we have so many podcasters from this particular instance. We have so many podcasters here that are going to have plenty to talk about right in this. And if you followed this show for a certain period of time, you've probably heard in the past me talking about how Dr.

47:34 and I, when we would prep the shows in the morning, she used to always, well, both of us really, we would encourage each other to trust to the process, right, and not get so hung up in controlling every piece of the process. And I have since embraced that and I think now I'm sleeping better because of it. And I think that I am not spending as much time on preparing at, which is a good thing. So yeah, I think that this is some good advice for sure. OK, let's keep it moving 'cause I want to make sure we hear from everybody. I saw Janae and Sid wanted to comment. So Janae, the floor is yours. Good morning, NBC.

48:14 Excellent point. The show that you. Start is never going to be the same. And I like what Tim said in the comments. It's never a straight line. Hopefully the fun is in the journey and that's what I've been having. You know, my first season was just solo podcasting in the car about beekeeping and then evolved over time and it continued to evolve. And even now I'm like, OK, what's the next season going to look like? What do I want to what it what is the podcast going to serve for me? Right? So I'm constantly looking at that, looking at, in fact, what I did and what's resonating with me in the audience. And so it's, it's going to continue to grow just like we grow, right? My, my 3 year old is now a different person than he was when he was a 2 year old.

48:59 So your podcast is also growing the same way. And you want to make sure that you give it all the nutrients that you can from other people that you're learning. Thank you, thank you, Janae. Awesome points. Thank you for sharing a little of your experience. Now the question on the floor currently is when you think about your early stage of stages of podcasting, what stands out to you, Sid? What say you, Sir? Oh gosh, you had to reframe that question, didn't you? Yes, I did. I mean, gosh, talk about the messy middle. When I started, I didn't really know what I was doing. I didn't really have a full direction, you know, I just knew that I, I needed to start and I did. And I've talked about my story of how I started and why I started, but, you know, and it makes me cringe when people go back and listen to episode season 1 and season 2. I'm like, Oh my gosh, please don't go there. Like the show is so different.

49:57 It's so evolved. And I think the lesson that I take away from this is, and I'll say to anybody, give yourself the grace to learn to grow and to evolve and for your show to evolve because it will. BC said it, Janae echoed it. But just give yourself the grace to to realize that what you started with doesn't have to be what you end up with today. So, but yeah, I, my show is so different. And I've learned so much about how to be an interviewer, how to be a guest, how to ask better questions, how to build a relationship with my guests, right? It just really makes the dialogue even better and the show even better. And I will continue to learn and I will continue to grow. And so you got to give yourself the grace to realize that. Thank you so much, Sid.

50:41 Great points. And Ralph, I'm going to give it to you and I'm going to ask everyone to think about this last question and I'll go to one or two people when we're when it's time to wrap up this question is what do you wish you knew sooner when you started your podcast? What do you wish? Yeah, something you went into it and kind of discovered later and say, darn, I wish I I wish I had known that before I got through all this, before I started podcasting. But Ralph, I know you wanted to chime in on the last question. Go ahead. I'm going to actually answer that question instead the new question, OK? What I wish I had known sooner is there are coaches out there that can help you because the thing that I stubbed my toe on so many times is not knowing exactly how to do what I was trying to do.

51:27 And I wish I had knew about speaking coaches and all those type of things. Because once I met those people and I surrounded myself with very talented people, I was able to bring myself up. I got, like Sid said, I go back to listen to my first stuff. It sounds like an air traffic controller. It was terrible, but I didn't realize there was people out there that could help me. Even just talking with pauses, like something so simple. My speaking coach that I hired a couple of months ago, she's made this fun again for me. She's made this journey enjoyable. So I just want to trumpet that because there are people out there, There are coaches out there. Are there people that and you don't have to pay some of these folks, some of these people just have a heart for it. Reach out to them and say to them, hey, I would really like to just have a couple minute conversation with you about this, that or the other thing.

52:14 I tried to do it all myself and figure, well, I could figure this all out myself, but I wish at the beginning, I wish I knew sooner that there were places I could go to get assistance. Like this show for example. I wish I had known about this show a couple years ago. Those type of things. Go look for those resources. Go look for people who are already doing and reach out to them. Go on to LinkedIn and say, hey, I'd really like to talk to you about what you do. What you will find is most people be happy to talk to you. Even big name people will go out. We'll talk to you when you reach out to them with little kindness and say I would really just like to have a couple minutes of your time. But that's what I wish I had known sooner. I love that. Yeah. Thank you. And if you do want to work with somebody, hey, I do that, I'll help you with your podcasting.

52:59 I do consulting in addition to productionsoironicmedia.com. Shameless plug. And by the way, Tim in the chat says I wish I knew the community back in 2006 when I started podcasting. Didn't find it until 2016. To be fair, Tim, back when we were podcasting in those days, the community really was just just budding. There wasn't much of an actual community. The way we saw it in 2016, the way we see it in 2026. It has changed a lot as podcasting has grown. But yeah, I mean, that was a mistake for me. And I want to actually say something about that. And I've said it before, but it's been a long time.

53:41 Yeah. I've been podcasting for over 20 years now and the one thing that I think I wish I knew sooner was the fact that this community not only is such a pleasant one to be a part of, but is so helpful and willing to help. To Ralph's point. And I would go around thinking, I don't need a community. I don't need to go to podcast conventions. I've been doing this long enough. I know what I'm doing. But but when I finally pushed myself just to see what it was all about, yeah, sure, I knew a lot of already what was being talked about at these conventions, but it was the community that I didn't know that I needed so badly.

54:23 So I encourage you, especially if you're feeling a little bit alone in this process, even from the start, it can feel pretty lonely. I encourage you to find a community if if you're at all drawn to what this group, this is a great place to start. If you're maybe intimidated by large conventions, consider coming to Empowered Podcasting where it's you know you'll get somewhere around 200 people instead of 2000, where you can really get to know people more intimately. Or maybe you're a big extrovert and you're cool with the big conventions. Great. I encourage you to go check out Pod Fest. But I think community is the area for me that I wish I knew about sooner and how much it would help catapult my progress as a podcaster, as a podcast producer, and as a consultant. Dr. I'm going to let you chime in with your your two cents and then we will share a little bit about tomorrow. OK, so I'm going to twist the question just a bit. I wish my clients knew about not to be so obsessed with video. You know, these days when I talk to new clients, they're automatically thinking video automatically. And I, you know, this is the confession, I'm automatically thinking audio.

55:50 So I have to, I have to adjust it very quickly in our in our conversation, in our discussion. But I wish that they knew this because video can be so overwhelming, the lights, the camera, that I mean, it just can be so overwhelming And audio is so much, so much easier. And it really, it really gets the point across. I mean, we list the advantages of audio every. What's our news to every Wednesday? So yeah, I'm, I'm hoping that potential clients that I have will consider audio first, I guess is what? Yeah, You know, thank you for saying that. And it reminds me, I just saw Elsie Escobar post a video on social media all about that, that it used to be audio and how much easier that was, even easier just to show up, right? Because you didn't have to worry about hair and makeup and lighting and all the things.

56:57 You could just sit back, have an intimate conversation and not have to focus on anything else but that conversation. So yeah, I get it. And I think it is good advice for newer podcasters to focus just on audio first. I'll still always encourage them to turn on the camera anyway to capture the video for future use, right? Or maybe you don't use it all at all down the road, but at least you have that option and you can use it for other things as well. But ultimately, the podcast itself, I still believe you can do it as an audio only. And look, we still, for the most part, we aren't. We're an audio first podcast. Yes, we stream live now and we allow that stream to stay out there after the fact, but we're not producing video every day for this podcast. The audio is what we're actually producing for our audience. So yeah, but to each their own.

57:52 Whatever calls to you. But if you feel like the podcasting process is overwhelming, you may want to consider just starting with audio first. Great advice. OK, listen, we are back tomorrow. Tomorrow we do celebrate community wins. So each person in this community gets a moment to share their wins from the week. They are already scratching her head wondering what she's going to say for tomorrow. But that's the idea here is we're encouraging this to our community. We want you to be thinking about what went well for you this week because it's important to stop and smell the roses. If you don't, it just feels like a grind each and every day. So recognizing your accomplishments, even if they are simple as getting out of bed each day because you're having a rough week, that's worth celebrating.

58:39 So we're going to talk about those tomorrow. And of course, we'll answer a few mailbag questions while we're at it. So if you have any specific questions about your podcasting journey, bring them tomorrow. Come share with us whether it's here on Clubhouse or on YouTube, LinkedIn, etcetera, wherever you're most comfortable sharing. But you are always welcome to bring your questions each and every Monday through Friday. So come join us at Podcasting Morning chat.com and until tomorrow, make it a great day. Everybody take care.