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In 2018 I agreed to co-host a podcast with a woman I’d only met once in real life. In December 2018 we launched Free and Figuring It Out and over the last three years Verity and I published 142 podcast episodes. In September 2021 we published the final episode of Free and Figuring It Out. Over those 3 years I learnt a lot through running the podcast. Keep on reading to find out the 9 lessons I’ve learned from podcasting.
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9 LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED FROM PODCASTING
1. The organic reach of podcasts is awful
Podcasting wasn’t the first type of long-form content I created. Before the podcast I had already been blogging and creating YouTube videos for years. What became obvious to me very quickly was that unlike a blog post or a YouTube video the organic reach of podcasts is awful.
I’m a bit of an SEO queen and absolutely love how you can create a blog post and optimise it for search. Then Google will rank your blog post, serve it up when people are searching and new people can find your blog post day and night. The same is true with YouTube and it still amazes me how my old videos keep getting served up when people are searching.
This does not happen with podcast episodes. As a podcaster you’ll upload your content to a podcast host (such as Libsyn, Blubrry) and your host connects with podcast players so your content can be found in places such as Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify etc. However, the search functionality on most podcast players is diabolical.
Now there is a workaround. You can have a website for your podcast and then create a blog post for each episode, which contains the audio file. However, my big message is don’t think you can just upload podcasts episodes and people will find you. If you want people to find your podcast you’ll need to let people know.
2. How to think on the spot
One of the reasons I’m really happy that I co-hosted a podcast, rather than hosted alone is because I really developed my ability to listen, respond, think on the spot and keep a conversation going. If I had done a podcast by myself the likelihood is that I would have done scripted episodes. If you’ve ever read any of my other blog posts you’ll know that I love to be as informative as possible. I would have wanted to make super informative podcast episodes too and in an effort to do that I would have scripted the episodes rather than ‘winging it’.
Co-hosting a podcast totally pushed me out of my comfort zone. Whether it was an episode between the two of us or we were interviewing someone else I had to be in the moment. Yes, I may have a few prepared a few questions in advance or had a few bullet points for things I wanted to mention in the podcast, but on the whole I would have to be fully engaged in the conversation and keep it flowing.
Before starting the Free and Figuring It Out podcast I wouldn’t have classed myself as a confident speaker. Recording the podcasts has drastically improved my confidence and as a result I now love being a guest on other people’s podcasts.
If you’d like me to be a guest on your podcast click here.
3. Your podcast category impacts your ranking ability
Earlier I mentioned how the natural reach of podcasts is rubbish. Your podcast is very unlikely to be found by someone searching for something. However, the way you can get seen by new people is by appearing in the charts. There are charts for podcasts both at a podcast level and an episode level and there are lots of categories to choose from.
Choosing your category is important. It is similar to choosing the categories you want to put your book under in Amazon. Some categories are more competitive than others and as a result it is easier to rank in some categories than others
4. Technology is guaranteed to fail at some point
Technology is amazing. Of the 142 episodes of Free and Figuring It Out we recorded 141 over Zoom (the other one was in person at my flat). However, sometimes technology won’t work. Once my internet completely stopped working 2 minutes before an interview. I’ve had Zoom kick us out the room mid-recording. And there was one time where an audio file was filled with clicks the whole way through (it took hours for me to edit out). The more episodes you do the more likely something will go wrong so just treat it as a right of passage. And ideally get a few episodes recorded in advance so if something goes wrong you have some time to play with.
5. I am super organised (definitely more than the average person)
Co-hosting the Free and Figuring It Out podcast is the only business, brand or project I’ve had a partner for and it taught me a lot about myself – including the fact that I’m super organised. Verity is very open about how she is much more go with the flow and I’m Type A. She admits that she has worked with other Type A people, but no one like me. I’ve always thought I was an organised person and I like to have a plan, but doing the podcast helped me to really understand how much it is a superpower of mine. That has allowed me to lean into my organisation and planning skills more and informs the services I offer in my business.
Find out more about the services I offer here.
6. Listeners can feel really connected to you as a podcast host
As I mentioned earlier podcasting was the third type of long-form content I wrote my first blog post in 2010 and started making YouTube videos in 2016. However, the relationship with my podcast listeners felt different to the relationship I have with other followers on other platforms.
It was really evident through conversations with listeners that they felt connected to me in a different way. The comments in the DMs were different and the conversations I would have when a listener met me in person were more real. People would talk to me as if they knew me and that’s because podcasts have a great way of feeling intimate. You are in someone’s ears. They can hear your voice and hearing someone is much more powerful than reading their words (even though I love blogging).
7. You don’t need the fanciest set up
Before starting the podcast, I remember being a bit daunted by the setup you needed. Blogging just required a laptop and even creating YouTube videos felt easy since I was using my iPhone and edited them on iMovie (which came free with my MacBook). Podcasting required a microphone and a quiet place to record. I remember all of the American podcasters I followed at the time talking about recording in their closet, but closets aren’t really a think in the UK.
After much research I bought the Samson SAQ2U USB and XLR microphone. I wanted a USB microphone to start with (easy option), but have the XLR functionality so if I wanted to update my set up in the future I could. In reality, I never did. I recorded all 142 episodes of the Free and Figuring It Out with that podcast, even though part way through the podcast I bought myself a Blue Yeti. I class the Blue Yeti microphone as the “Instagram” microphone (and it is the microphone my co-host used). So at some point I decided to treat myself and buy one, but never ended up using it.
And with regards to recording I started off a random floor to ceiling cupboard I had (trying to mimic the closet). I would literally be sitting on a chair in a cupboard just bigger than the chair, basically in the dark. My co-host would just sit in a normal room and the audio really didn’t sound that much difference.
Lesson: Don’t let the setup stop you. If you can afford a microphone buy one and get recording.
8. Doing interview episodes takes a lot of work
In the beginning, the Free and Figuring It Out podcasts was just Verity and I every week and then we decided to have the occasional guest. I loved having guests on the podcast because we’d get guests who had expertise in a certain topic. Usually a topic that we were interested in, as well as being a topic our listeners would find interesting. However, doing interview episodes takes a lot of work. If you’ve got guests in mind approaching them and getting them to agree can be work in itself. Then you have to find a time that works with everyone. Get their headshot and their bio. Record the episode, Edit the episode. Provide them with all the information to support promoting the episode when it goes live.
There is no doubt that interview episodes are time-consuming and when in 2021 we decided to do the Figuring Money Out series I was super excited but also knew it would be a lot of work. The Figuring Money Out series was created to help millennial women claim back their financial power. Financial education for women is something I’m really passionate about and having the podcast meant I could actively create something of value to add in the space. So we have 5 guests over 5 weeks talking about budgeting, saving, debt, investing, mortgages, making more money and pensions. I’m super proud of the Figuring Money Out series (and you can listen here), but I would be lying if I didn’t say creating that series, with 5 interviews, wasn’t hard work.
9. Having a podcast offer lots of opportunities (some I wouldn’t even of considered)
Having the Free and Figuring It Out podcast has changed my life in ways I didn’t even consider before starting the podcast. Having a podcast has resulted in people contacting me asking me to speak at their events. It has resulted in me being asked to go on other podcasts. It threw me into a different circle of content creators. It gave me a legitimate reason to be able to start conversations with other amazing women.
There you have it! You’ve now know 9 of the lessons I learnt from podcasting.
Podcasting has truly changed my life for the better and some of the lessons I’ve learnt will last me a lifetime. If you are reading this because you are considering starting a podcast then feel free to get in touch with me. You can send me a message here .
And if you already have your own podcast I’d love to hear a lesson you learnt from podcasting in the comments.
WANT TO USE A PODCAST AS A WAY TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS?
A podcast can be a great tool to grow your business, but if you aren’t careful it can be a resource suck that isn’t actually supporting your business’ growth.
I work with solopreneurs and (super) small service-based business owners to get clear on their business goals and then implement the right growth, marketing and sales strategies to achieve build a thriving business that supports the lifestyle they want.
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