079: Summer Launch Series: What Really Happens When You Launch a Podcast
“But what’s it really like to launch a podcast?” You won’t know until you do it!
In this episode, I’m talking about the real impact of starting a podcast: from finding your confidence to speak as an expert to understanding your “why” for your business. I’m sharing my top resources to help you get started, and I’m explaining why now is the absolute best time to launch.
What’s in this episode:
Identifying your “why” for launching your podcast
How your podcast can help you find your confidence
Finding the courage to take the first step
The best resources for starting and maintaining your podcast
Why now is the best time to launch your podcast
Links:
Are You Ready to Start a Podcast?
Roadblocks That Hinder Getting Started
Creating a Strategic Podcast For Your Business
Ready to gain back some of your time, uplevel your podcast and focus on creating content?
We have openings for monthly management! Click here to learn more!
The Transcript:
079: Summer Launch Series: What Really Happens When You Launch a Podcast
And so maybe set a goal for yourself, maybe start with seasons and see how it feels. There are like literally no rules about how you do this. But the important thing is that you do it and that you take that first step and know that like, I'm here to cheer you on. I'm in your corner. I want to support you.
Welcome to the Wild Home Podcast, where we talk about podcasting life and all the wild in-between. Join me, Caroline, every week as I share a peek into the world of podcasting and my wild life as well. Ready? Let's get into it.
Welcome back to the Wild Home Podcast. I hope your summer is going just swimmingly so far. I hope you're getting some time to relax and reflect and work on personal projects, read some good books. That's what I've been doing is reading books and going to the pool with my kiddos and taking them to camps and all that good stuff.
So today is the last episode in my summer launch series, and I wanted to use this episode to wrap up everything that we've talked about and give you some resources or some ideas of how to get started, what to do next. So I want to go back to just the very kind of first thoughts when we started to think about this summer launch series. And my first question to you was, are you ready to start a podcast? And that is episode 74. And we're going to link all the episodes in the show notes individually so you can go find them and listen to them. There's so much more that goes into a podcast for your business than people think. I really do believe this. I think that a lot of people want to start a podcast because they want listeners, they want downloads, they love the idea of connecting and networking, and those are all really great things and they are true. Those things are absolutely possible with a podcast. But I've come to this place over the years that I've worked with business owners, with their podcasts, where I really want to reflect on why we're having a podcast, what its purpose is, how it's going to serve us. Because I think the thing that I've really honed in on is just how much time a podcast actually takes.
And a lot of times that's underestimated. People want to do it themselves, they want to DIY, they've Googled, and then they start and they realize how much time and energy and technical knowledge goes into launching a podcast and they immediately get overwhelmed. I know this was true for me when I started my first podcast. I remember sitting and googling and trying to find how to do X, Y and Z. I mean, we didn't even know how to record a podcast with two hosts in different locations, and we just used our Apple headsets. I mean, I'm not ashamed to say it. Everybody starts somewhere, right? And I just remember that feeling of like, oh, are we going to actually be able to do this? And what if we do it and nobody listens? And I think that's a very, very common fear, is that you're going to put all this work into it, all this energy, all this effort, and it's going to be crickets. But here's what I found. If you have a strategy, if you have really targeted episodes, if you go into it with a plan and you start teasing it and sharing it, and you have a plan for how you're going to share episodes there, there are no crickets. There's people listening to your podcast and following your podcast, right? Hitting that button and adding it to their library so they can listen to it every week. And it may not be 3000 people. It may not be 10,000. But recently I heard someone say, you know, even if it's just 50 people listening to your episode, imagine if you walked into a room and there were that many people in a room and you got to talk to them about what you do.
I think the thing that we don't think about a lot is the impact our podcast can have and how it can serve as this way for us to share our voice and come into confidence and discover who we are and what we like to talk about. I used to not be able to sit down and just riff an episode. I remember getting extremely nervous when we would record episodes and feeling like. I'm not good enough. I don't know enough. What am I going to talk about and who's going to want to listen to me? Because I'm not successful enough. I'm not an expert. And that's just it's just not true. And the more that I sat and the more that I recorded, the more I realized I have a lot to say. I have pretty specific thoughts on a lot of things, and I can share them confidently. And it didn't happen overnight. It definitely took time. But I definitely feel like at this point, because I have done this for so long, I've learned how to be confident in my voice through podcasting that I'm not afraid to call myself an expert or someone who knows what they're doing when they sit down to record a podcast episode. And I don't know what I would have said years ago when we first started. And I think that for me has been the biggest thing that I have gotten out of podcasting. And it certainly has made a huge impact in my life, not just because I now have a business around podcasting, but because I really do feel like I found my voice. And now that I am getting older and looking at other things that I want to share and talk about in other places, I'm finding myself more and more confident to not be afraid to do that. And I really think it's all because of sitting here watching the bars go up. As I'm recording and hearing myself and hearing the confidence and hearing my voice sounding so clear, it really is amazing. And so I really encourage you to get started. To sit down in front of the microphone, to record. To find who you are, to find your voice.
And remember, even though I gave you tips, like laying a foundation for your podcast, making sure you have a strategy, making sure that you get over these roadblocks. Right. I gave you all these things in the summer launch series, but also, like, you don't have to have every single thing figured out. You can always change your cover art down the road. You can always update your description. You can always change your music. But if you don't start today, chances are you're never going to get started. I have seen it time and time again, people getting stuck because they have not taken that first step. I did an episode last week all about where to start and so I really encourage you if you're, you know, if you've got your foot up in the air and you're trying to figure out where to put it down, go listen to that episode because it's going to give you like a step one and that step one will lead you to step two, etc., etc.
And so you've been listening to the series and you're thinking, I'm ready to start, but I don't know what the next steps are. I listen to the Where do I start episode? And I started, but what are my next steps? And so I want to give you a couple of things to think about. One is to follow me on Instagram because I am constantly sharing podcast tips on Instagram. It's at Wild Home Podcast is a really great place to hang out and to get some really good tips on having a podcast for your business. As I'm recording this, I just posted a real about how to find episode ideas. So tips like that, I think are really key and really important and important to hear because it keeps you going, right? So definitely go there. I have an email list. The best way to join that is to download my free assessment Wild Home Podcast income ready. And we send out an email every week with podcast tips as well. And then the last thing I really want to talk to you about is working with us, because you can Google and you can find how to do whatever you need to do for your podcast. Most of the RSS feed hosts have information on their websites as well on how to start. But if you need help, we are here to help you. And so definitely check us out, WildHomePodcasting.com/Services.
And just because it's summer and we're laying by the pool, reading books, taking breaks, which is all very, very important, you know, have in the back of your mind, when would I want to launch a podcast? What do I want it to look like? How do I want it to feel and start thinking about those things? Because those are important as well. You know, how do I want to feel each week? Do I want to feel pressed for time? Do I want a batch record? Like, what is my plan as I move forward with my podcast to make sure that I am able to create a routine that's going to keep me consistent and keep me going. And here's the other thing. If you're not going to know if you like to podcast until you start and so maybe set a goal for yourself, maybe start with seasons and see how it feels.
There's like literally no rules about how you do this, but the important thing is that you do it and that you take that first step and know that like, I'm here to cheer you on. I'm in your corner, I want to support you and so DM me on Instagram. Let me know what's going on. Like what stage are you at? Where are you stuck? What are you wanting to work on? When are you launching your podcast so I can add it to my podcasts app, things like that. So, you know, finding a community, finding support is very important as well. And then listen to podcasts, listen to lots of different podcasts, listen to business podcasts, listen to podcasts that have nothing to do with business and see what you like and what you don't like about them. What are you drawn to? What styles, what music and you know, be creative. Maybe come up with your own really cool format.
The podcast world is your oyster and now is such a good time to jump into the podcast world because it is just growing. There are so many people listening to podcasts and it's just an amazing place to be. I love watching it grow. I love watching the new platforms pop up and the new podcasts and yeah, so I just really want to encourage you. We've gone through the summer launch series. I'm going to go back to regularly scheduled episodes, but take that first step, take that step, make it happen, don't put it off anymore. It's time. It's time to start working on your podcast. It's time to get it launched. It's time to share your voice. There are people who need to hear from you right now, and I can't wait to hear from you as well. I hope you have a wonderful day. Be sure to check out the show notes again. We'll have all the launch episodes linked as well as any links I've mentioned. And good luck with your lunch and I cannot wait to hear how it goes and to listen to your podcast. Happy podcasting.
Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. To stay in the know, head to WildHomePodcasting.com and be sure to connect with me on Instagram @WildHomePodcasting. See you next week.
