From Chaos to Clarity: Mastering Podcast Overwhelm with Systems
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your podcast? Systems are often overlooked as a piece of success for your business and podcast, but they can be a game-changer. And I’m not just talking about a spreadsheet, I’m talking about habits, your schedule, and everything that makes podcasting easy!
In this episode, I’m sharing the importance of systems and I’m sharing what works for me and how I’ve had to experiment to find what works. Plus, we’ll talk about the importance of implementing your systems and how impactful they can be on your schedule and business. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your podcast, this is the episode for you!
Embracing Imperfection
Let's start by acknowledging a simple truth: imperfection is not the enemy. From the mirrored closet doors in my office setup to the ever-evolving landscape of podcast SEO, I've learned to embrace the beauty of imperfection and adapt to the messy realities of life and work. By letting go of perfectionism and embracing the imperfections that come with the creative process, we can free ourselves from unnecessary stress and find joy in the journey of podcasting.
Quarterly Podcast SEO Review
One of the most powerful tools in combating podcast overwhelm is the strategic optimization of podcast SEO. By conducting quarterly reviews and updating show titles, descriptions, and episode titles, we can ensure maximum discoverability in an increasingly competitive digital landscape. As I've discovered through my own journey, staying proactive with SEO updates is essential for maintaining visibility and attracting new listeners to your podcast.
The Power of Systems
At the heart of my podcasting journey lies a simple yet profound truth: systems are the key to success. By implementing structured processes and workflows, we can reclaim control over our content creation journey and unleash our full creative potential. From quarterly planning sessions to the creation of templates and checklists, I've found that having systems in place streamlines my workflow and banishes overwhelm for good.
Why you need to build habits
Systems are nothing without habits. You can build a system, have it working perfectly, but if you don’t create habits using the system, it won’t work. This is why when I talk with clients, we work on their podcast schedule, not just the system they are using.
With the power of systems by your side, you can conquer even the greatest challenges and achieve your podcasting goals with confidence and clarity. So, let's embrace imperfection, optimize our podcast SEO, and harness the power of systems to shine bright in the world of podcasting. Together, we can conquer podcast overwhelm and create content that truly resonates with our audience.
Want to try out the Strategize & Shine membership? Come join the masterclass MEASURING PODCAST SUCCESS: Is My Strategy Working? PLUS get a free month! Head to wildhomepodcasting.com/class
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The Transcript for Podcast Your Business:
176: From Chaos to Clarity: Mastering Podcast Overwhelm with Systems
[00:00:00] Podcasts overwhelm usually comes from not having systems in place. In fact, I was just talking with the business from the other day about how impactful. Systems can be for your marketing and content. Especially as busy CEO is as busy solo preneurs. Right? So today I want to share some actionable tips with you.
[00:00:19] So you can start to beat the podcast overwhelm, whether you're a DIY or you hired out, this is going to apply to you.
[00:00:26]
[00:00:26] [00:01:00]
[00:01:08] Hello, everyone. Welcome back to share strategize and shine. , if you're watching this video on YouTube, I am still trying to figure out my new office set up and how I am recording. We have these mirrored closet doors that are right behind me. And I've got something to put over them, but haven't installed it yet. And so just, I'm just going to embrace the imperfection.
[00:01:32] That is the space around me. For this. And, uh, yeah, I just go with it, go with it. So hopefully you don't see my mirror image in the back. But here we are. So a problem that we solve this week. I wanted to talk a minute about podcast SEO. And when is the last time you checked your podcast? SEO. Now. You should every quarter be doing some kind of like [00:02:00] review of everything. And this is not something that I have always done, uh, recently, because I've been involved in some communities, some groups. It's really helped me to put that like quarterly review, quarterly planning process on my schedule. And I just don't think we emphasize the importance of that enough. You know, we are really good, especially because we're so busy working with clients and other things at setting it and forgetting it. And the same goes with like our website and our Instagram bio, you know, all those little pieces. We should be reviewing and the same goes for your podcast. So one thing that I really want to encourage you all to do. Is every quarter, look at your podcasts. SEO. And see. Do I need to update anything? Do I need to change anything in my title. , the sh the name of my podcast, right. Do I need to update my description?
[00:02:58] What about my episode [00:03:00] titles is what I'm doing, working. This is something really good to review, especially because. Podcast apps and how they search seems to be changing every five minutes. I mean, that's really an exaggeration, but sometimes it does feel like that. And, you know, we have some recently, some big changes with apple, which have really affected search in a positive way. But it has required a little bit of work on our end to help our clients show up better in the searches. And I'm actually really excited about this. They've changed the way that they searched titles. Putting more emphasis on them. And so. Uh, by titles.
[00:03:40] I'm sorry. I mean, show names, show up. You know, the actual name of the show. So we've been playing around with some things. And have been able to get my podcast ring tire in the searches. One of my members, because this is something that we talk about in the membership. Quite a bit. One of my members made a simple tweak to her [00:04:00] show title, and is now showing up better on the searches and getting new listens. And then we've actually done this with a refresh that we recently did.
[00:04:08] I launched her and then this, this change was made and I immediately went in and updated the SEO on her show title. And so this is definitely something I really encourage you to do, you know, these little small tweaks and changes can make a big income impact on our discoverability. Andy. Even though our goal isn't necessarily to get discovered by tons of people.
[00:04:31] It sure stinkin helps. Right? Like it helps. For sure. If we're showing up higher in searches on the apps. And so put this on your quarterly schedule, put this on your calendar, make sure you're doing it quarterly. And if you need some support around this, I highly recommend you join the strategize and shine membership. And we have a training on podcast SEO in there, and then I'm actually working on a quarterly checklist for them as well. And, you know, my [00:05:00] goal. In that membership is to make sure that they have all the systems in place.
[00:05:05] They need to have a successful podcast. And so I'm constantly coming up with new things like this and just through discussions with my members and my clients this week, I realized this is something that we really need to be doing. And so that is a problem that we solve this week.
[00:05:20] When I think about creating content each week, I get overwhelmed.
[00:05:23] Like if I'm just sitting down and I'm thinking about my day and I'm thinking about my week and my month. And I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so much content I have to create. Or I want to create, right. Cause I do want to create this content. But I just get really overwhelmed. It always feels like there are so many tasks that needed to happen. Just to get one piece of something out.
[00:05:45] If you're listening to this and you can relate like hands in the air, whatever, you know, Let me know. If you feel the same way, like I think about even just posting a reel on Instagram, sometimes I can like mega complicated because I'm thinking about all the things I need to do. [00:06:00] And a lot of times when I'm working with clients and they're struggling with our podcast, it's because of the process and systems.
[00:06:08] And why is that? Well, because. When podcasting and creating content feels hard. Our gut instinct. Like the thing that happens to a lot of us is because it doesn't feel hard. We don't do it right. Or we put it off to the last minute or. We only do it kind of halfway, or we feel like we're throwing spaghetti at the wall without a plan.
[00:06:31] Right. When we can nail down our process and systems, it leaves space in our brains for actually creating. And that's what we want. We want space. To be creating amazing content that is pulling in. Our ideal align audience. So let's talk about what a system is. When I'm talking about systems, I'm talking about taking your brain. And putting it into a system. So think about all of the tasks that you [00:07:00] think of. Or do every day, how many of them are in your brain and how many of them are actually somewhere that you can track? I think that one of the biggest shifts I have made in my business life, like I think about the life of my business was when I stopped thinking like a solo preneur. Who had everything in my brain up here. And I started putting things into systems. And the reason being at the time was because I knew that I was going to be bringing on team. And I wanted to make sure that nobody had to bug me with questions.
[00:07:35] They could figure it out. It was all right there. It was in the system. It was in the checklist. It was happy happening on its own. Right. And that's really what a system is, but what I didn't realize in that process was that getting all of that out of my brain. And onto a Google doc into a sauna, into a checklist, whatever that thing was that I was using. It made space, not only for me to [00:08:00] hire people, but it also made space for my own brain for my own creativity, because like, I didn't have to think about it anymore. Because it was there and it also didn't have to think about. It anymore in fear of missing something or forgetting to do something right. And there's a lot of systems out there and I think. Another place we can kind of get hung up with systems and processes is we want to find the perfect one. And this is the thing that I've discovered is there really is no right system.
[00:08:28] You just have to use what works for you. But the thing that I want to emphasize in this episode is by not having a system. You really are like setting yourself up for failure in a way. Because again, life happens, things are gonna pop up. You're going to have a busy day. You may do like a two hour strategy call with a client and need to take a nap and then forget that you were supposed to do all these other tasks. And so having a system. Really helps just take all that weight off your shoulders and put [00:09:00] it somewhere it's here.
[00:09:01] This is where it lives. This is what it does. This is what it tracks, right. And the best thing to do, especially with your podcast system is to start by creating a list of tasks that you do. So, for example, with my podcast, I'm going to list out every action that I take. From okay. Brainstorming episodes once a quarter, right? To creating a script for the episode. Recording. Editing. Creating a video, creating the images for the video. Creating the images for my blog, uh, creating the audio grams, creating the show notes. All of those scheduling it. Uh, scheduling the blog post, like literally write down every single piece that you have to do. And. Again, what this does is it gets it out of our brain and onto piece of paper or, you know, Asana, [00:10:00] whatever you want to use for this. And it also helps us understand how much we're actually doing. And it's a really good way to audit your tasks as well. And auditing tasks is really good when you're feeling overwhelmed.
[00:10:14] Like, do I need to be doing all 90 of these things or can I take some out? And that's also another really important piece that I do with clients, with their podcast systems. A lot of times, There may be some things that we don't need to do, or we can rethink them and make them easier. And I'm going to, I'm going to talk a little bit more about that in a minute. So once you have all of those tasks down, this is when you go into creating a system. And so deciding, like, how does this work best for me?
[00:10:42] Do I like a checklist? Do I like Asana? And I'll be honest with all of you. Like I've kind of floated between a few systems they've already, I've always had a system for organizing my podcast. Because I'm constantly looking at my systems. I've known like where there are gaps or things [00:11:00] that take me just a little bit longer. And so now I'm in this place where I'm using Asana for my actual like tasks.
[00:11:07] So the actual tasks that are assigned to me that have due dates. And then I am using notion to write my scripts. I've fallen in love with notion I've used it off and on for the last year. But recently a few business coaches have shown me how they're using it. And I like the way that it allows my brain to think it thinks differently when I'm using notion than when I'm using Asana.
[00:11:34] I feel like with notion I can kind of just write and get stuff out. It's very similar to how I use Google docs, but I like that these are a lot, this is a lot easier to manage and find than like a Google doc. And so I took my script template and put it in a notion and that has been really helpful in keeping the, my scripts organized. , because nobody really needs them except me.
[00:11:56] So there was no reason to create new Google docs for all of those. [00:12:00] So I'm really excited about that. So, I use a combination of a spreadsheet, Asana and notion. And that sounds like a lot, but it really works for me and how my brain thinks and how I organize certain things. Right. But here's the, here's the kicker like, and you can create whatever system you want, whatever works for you.
[00:12:20] If you like Trello, you can use Trello. We have clients use base camp. We have clients who use click up. Like there really is. No. Right or wrong answer. Where. People get hung up is they create an, a system and let's say it's the most perfect system for them. It's the most perfect way to track all of their podcasts tasks. But you don't create the habit of using it. And this is really the point.
[00:12:47] Like you have to create the habit of going into this system and using it. And that's really where systems work. I think that systems are amazing, but where it really comes down to it is [00:13:00] that action, that behavior, what is going to make me use this thing? You know, here's, here's the deal. Like if you create the system, you spend all the time creating it and you don't actually implement it or use it.
[00:13:11] There's no point. The actual system itself is not going to solve your problems. What's going to solve your problems. Is creating habits. And this brings me into a few other points. I want to make about the actual doing of the tasks. Right? So I mentioned evaluating what works and what doesn't. And that's kind of what I was getting at.
[00:13:32] When I was saying, like I had a system, I was using a sauna and Google drive. Those were the two things I was using. But it just felt like the process of going in having to make a copy of a Google doc. Erase everything start over. Like that just was not working for me. And I had started using notion for some other things. And I thought, let me just try, let me just try putting the scripts into notion and seeing if that works [00:14:00] better for me and how my brain. Thinks and works and it, it really did help me out.
[00:14:04] And so that's something that's really important to do as you're using these systems is constantly evaluating, you know, what works and what doesn't, and not being afraid to try new things. But again, Don't get so stuck on the trying of new things, because that can create overwhelm as well. And when in doubt, like simplify. the times that I have been most successful with systems is when they were really simple. That's one of the reasons we moved from Trello to Asana as a team a couple years ago was because Trello was getting so complicated the way we had it set up. And Asana just made a lot more sense for how our brains. Uh, thought and, and needed to see the information organized.
[00:14:46] Right. And so we moved to Asana and I still love sauna for like setting dates. In fact, I'm working on. A couple of plans for Q2 and some new things, and the ideas [00:15:00] are all going into notion, but the due dates are all going into a sauna. And that works really well for me. And so you just have to constantly be evaluating what works and what does it. Another thing that has been kind of a game changer.
[00:15:14] I mean, I want to say kind of maybe kind of isn't correct. I need to say it has been a game changer. Is creating days for certain tasks. So, especially with my podcast, I know that I don't do well. If I have to do the whole podcast on one day. I do a lot better. If I know that I'm going to script one day record another day, edit, do all the other things another day. And so I've actually created a system for my week where like Monday is my CEO day.
[00:15:45] So this is a big admin day for me. This is when I'm taking care of finances, I'm updating my content, calendars, all of those things. And I find that this is a really good day for me to script out my episode. Then either the next episode I'm working on or to [00:16:00] work on a couple scripts. And then I will record on right now.
[00:16:05] I have that date set as Wednesday. Now that doesn't always happen. I do have some flexibility in my schedule. If I need to switch it around. But what's so great about that is I know that on a Monday, I don't have to fix my hair, put makeup on. But on Wednesday because I'm doing podcast episodes and client calls, things like that. Then I know.
[00:16:24] Okay. That's the day that I put the makeup on and I fixed the hair and I have to look presentable. And so that's somebody you think about too? Like what days work best for you and really splitting it up? Helps me with the overwhelm. I know that Friday nights, when I'm watching TV with my kids, we usually do a movie night. If it's not a movie I'm super interested in.
[00:16:44] It's a great time for me to sit. And like create the graphics for my podcast episode, get it scheduled. All of those things. And I don't mind doing that. I'm one of those people, like, I, I love working on this stuff and I love to work on it in the evening. And so I'm okay with that. [00:17:00] Now last weekend I was not feeling my best and that did not work for me.
[00:17:03] And so I knew that I had a little bit of flexibility in my schedule, so I was able to move it. But just knowing that like Monday is not the day that I'm going to sit down and try and do a whole podcast episode has helped a ton. The other thing that has been really fantastic in automating processes and just taking out the overwhelm is creating templates. Now I mentioned my script template that I use. And I also have templates for my show notes and I have templates for all of my graphics. Granted, I had some help in setting up, especially my graphic templates, but like, Having somebody do that one time and then having them and being able to reuse them has been amazing.
[00:17:48] And again, not having to think about it because it's all there. It's all templated. It's done. We have variations of things. So like it doesn't look the same every week. [00:18:00] But even that has been like, just so helpful and having templates, not just for graphics, but for the other elements. So for example, if you're editing yourself, setting up an editing template and your software, so you can just open it and it has all the pieces you need and you can drop your audio in.
[00:18:18] That's also super, super helpful. And then creating templates within your systems. Right? So like I mentioned with that script template, because that's a really big piece of my podcast process is that script template. And having that be templated in notion. So I can just click a button and it puts it in and then I can fill it out. Is so amazing to not have to think through. That episode structure.
[00:18:45] And again, we're talking about creating brain space so we can be more creative. By creating these templates. What you're doing is you're taking away that time that you have to spend to actually create the thing from scratch [00:19:00] in a way you're automating it. Right. That makes the process go so much faster. And now here's the kicker.
[00:19:07] Like all of these things are great, but if you're doing them the night before the episode goes live, That doesn't work. What works is when you sit down plan a quarter of your content, at least. Right? So if you're not, you know, I have some clients who like to do it month to month. I really have fallen in love with planning my content quarterly. And so I will plan out my content for an entire quarter.
[00:19:31] It's in my spreadsheet. It's there. I have an idea of what I'm going to do and I can batch now for me, batching does not mean doing it all in one day. But it might mean like writing a few scripts on Monday. If I have a little extra time, I'll script out a couple episodes. And so that means that the following week I can sit down and record a lot faster or maybe on a different day. Or if I'm feeling really inspired, I can sit down and record two episodes.
[00:19:59] [00:20:00] Right? This is really helpful too. If you ever get into a place where you're creating more than one episode a week. Which I do on occasion. I did it for a while. I did two episodes per week. Last fall and winter. And now I'm doing an episode per week with an occasional bonus episode added in or in an interview. And so on those weeks, I know that it's going to be a little bit more labor intensive because I have to produce two episodes. And so being able to work ahead and see that on my calendar. Is really, really helpful. And takes out that overwhelm factor. At the end of the day, it's all about. Making things easier for you. And what's great about this is if you set up these systems and you set up these templates. When you do you get to the point where you can hire out help.
[00:20:53] It's so much easier to bring somebody in because you're not having to reinvent the wheel to teach them how to produce your [00:21:00] podcast. It's just all there. Right? And any of the templates or anything that I've mentioned. These are all things that we have inside the strategize and shine membership, because again, process is such a huge piece of having a successful podcast.
[00:21:16] I cannot tell you the number of strategy calls or audits or. You know, things I've done where that has come up as a piece that we need to work on. Because it really can improve how we are getting that content out. Systems are not something to put aside. Anytime I've needed to make movement in my business. I've started by creating a system then an action. And that has helped me take steps forward. The same goes for podcasting. If you're feeling stuck in your podcast or it's feeling like a slog. I really want to encourage you to take a look at your process.
[00:21:52] Take a look at your systems. And see what you can do to help create that forward movement. That action. [00:22:00] Right. And even if it's, you know, right now, I'm just gonna create a better recording schedule for myself. That is such a great place to start and becoming really intentional about the time that you're spending on your podcast. And I just want to mention before I let you go that the strategize and shine membership rate is going up on May 1st. And if you want to lock in that rate for life. Go ahead and sign up today.
[00:22:27] You can head to wild home podcasting.com/membership. I would love to support you inside the membership. It's a great place to come get community, be able to talk about business and podcasting and processes and strategy and all of those good things in a way that feels really good for you. So I'd love to see you there again.
[00:22:47] That's wild home podcasting.com/membership. And I will see you next week with a new episode.
