3 Questions to Find Out if Podcasting is Right For You

Hey and welcome back. Today we are starting a four part series on podcasting. And today I actually am doing kind of a cool episode we are going to talk about the three questions to find out if podcasting is right for you or right for you to stick with it. So I can’t wait to dive into this topic in this episode with you beautiful friend. Welcome to Business and breakthroughs. I created this podcast so that I can help you step into your God given purpose, monetize your gifts through an online business, and help you create consistent income and have more impact in your home and in the world. I’m Christian and online traffic growth coach and faith led entrepreneur that has a heart to encourage and uplift other people in their businesses and at home who built an online brain that reaches millions of people. I’ve worked in online marketing for over 20 years. And I know how frustrating it was to work so hard and feel like I wasn’t seeing more engagement opportunities or leads until I learned to optimize my online presence. If you’re ready to grow your business, so you’ll have more impact in the world. And you’ll be following the purpose that’s been put upon your life. Then grab your notebook and pen and let’s get going. 

Okay, let’s dive right into today’s episode. As I said, this is the first part of the four part podcasting series. And today we’re going to talk about three questions to find out if possible, podcasting is right for you when it feels like everyone has a podcast. Okay. So the first thing I want to say is I’ve been podcasting. Let’s see, for about 14 months. And I knew for several years before this that I planned to podcast. But the timing just wasn’t right for me until then. And I have tried multiple other podcasts. Now this is my main podcast, but I have other very niche down podcasts as well that I’ve I’m testing out if you will. So and I’ve also edited other people’s podcasts and things like that in the past. So here’s why this is so important to me to talk about this topic today. One, there’s a ton of people that are considering starting podcasts, or are or are at the beginning stages of releasing their podcast. So one, this episode is perfect for you all, too. There’s people wondering, is podcasting. The next thing for me? Is it the next extension of my business. And then the next person this is perfect for is if you’ve already started a podcast, but let’s say it’s still new, you’re not hitting the numbers you want to which believe me, it takes time to grow a podcast, like any other business, at least for the majority of us. But this is perfect for any of us, any of you fit into one of these three categories. Okay, so the first thing I want to tell you is just a couple of stats on podcasting that I think are very eye opening, and will give you kind of some perspective on this platform on the format and sort of where this area is at. The first thing is there are 2.8 million podcasts. 2.4 of those are on Apple. So what that’s telling you is Apple podcasts, they’re the big boy, they’re the big player. So while you want to be all the places and I definitely am my podcast is pretty much available anywhere you can download or listen to a podcast, but Apple’s the big boy. Okay. And just to put that in perspective, how does that compare? Or I’m sorry, first of all, to put in perspective out of 2.8 million podcasts. Oh, I mean, I’m sorry, 80% of those are inactive, meaning they somebody published an episode or a couple episodes. They’re not currently publishing episodes for that show. Only 20% of podcasts are active, which means how to 2.8 million, just over half a million are actually active shows. And here’s a huge number to tell you. Most podcasts never make it past 10 episodes. Okay. And what happens is, there are 25% of podcast shows that are started, they don’t get past the first episode. Okay, only 38% of podcast shows that are published, do 10 or more episodes. So the first thing we’re going to, or the thing we’re going to talk about in a few minutes is consistency. And can you commit to doing this, because if you’re someone that can commit to doing this for a year or two years, you’re going to grow, you’re going to be in the top, a lower percentage because so many people give up before they get there. So if you’re somebody that can stick with it, you’re going to see that growth, but it might take you some time. Okay. And so it’s this is not to discourage you this is just to say if this is something that’s important to you, you will be able to make it successful. It’s just going to take time like growing any other business. Okay, so let’s jump into the questions. The first question I want you to ask yourself is when you’re thinking about starting a podcast or sticking with it, do you enjoy this format. So do you enjoy the speaking part of it, it being audio, do you enjoy having those kinds of conversations, whether it’s just a solo show, and you’re talking to your listeners, or whether you interview guests, or it’s a hybrid of those two things, but you need to enjoy that format. And an example would be if you love writing, and this is a stretch for you to do audio recordings, then you know, you have to ask yourself, is it worth the strain or the stress or the struggle. And one of the things I recommend for people, if they’re considering doing podcasting is, don’t just jump into starting your show, start being a podcast guest on other shows, and see how you like it, see how that feels before you put all the time and energy into having your own podcast. And to be honest, you’ll start getting better at it, and you’ll start seeing what it is you really enjoy about it. So that’s the first thing, do you enjoy the format? And then is this the best platform or format for me and my content, and how I’m going to reach my audience, you know, who my ideal, you know, listener is. And there’s lots of ways to find that out. For one, you need to be polling, you know, getting research on your users, your listeners as to what it is they want, you know, as far as what you can deliver to them. So whether you have an email list or you have a community, maybe you have, you know, a way you can reach out to them, you know, on social, whatever it is, but start asking people start figuring out, how would you what would you deliver to them regularly on your show? Alright, number two, is just having a podcast help you with your top business goal? Or will it help you with your top several business goals? Okay, so if you haven’t started your podcast yet, I think one of the most important questions you need to ask yourself, and I say this, you know, looking backwards, right, as they say, like, you know, rear view is, you know, it’s like, I mean, you actually have a lot more knowledge now than you did when you started. This was right, ask you, are you hitting your revenue goals, or at least where you need to be in order to add something on, because podcasting, like any other thing is going to take you time, and it’s going to take energy away from possibly something else you’re doing. 

So if right now your goal is that you need to bring in more revenue, or start bringing in revenue or replace, maybe if you have a regular job, you need to replace that revenue, so you can do this other work, then really think about if podcast if now is the right time to start the podcast. I’m not saying that it’s not what I’m saying is most people that start podcasting, they don’t start monetizing it on day one. Now, there are examples where people, you know, either you already have a huge following, or you already have clients or customers that maybe are willing to be a sponsor, or you want to set up an affiliate thing. Yes. Could you monetize on day one? Absolutely. But most people, when they start, however, have a tiny listenership. And so you’re not really going to make much money. On day one. When you start podcasting, like I said, there’s always exceptions to that rule. But if your top goal right now is to increase revenue, or actually start making revenue, then podcasting may be something that you need to put on pause until you focus on that goal of money first. Like I said, there are cases where it’s fine started the podcast, because eventually you you, you will use it as a lead gen tool, or you will use it to sell your own programs or products, or, you know, to promote other people’s or whatever it might be, but just depends on your capacity right of time. And what’s your timeframe for your top goal or goals? And why do you want to have a podcast? You know, that’s really the question there, like, is it going to help you with your business goal? Or does it just seem like the sexy shiny thing right now, you know, Okay, the next number three is, can you commit to recording and publishing regularly? The reason this is so important is what I mentioned to you in the stats earlier that only 20% of shows are active. Only 38% of shows have over 10 episodes. And to put it in perspective. I mean, there’s people with all different numbers of episodes, right? There’s some people that do once a week, once a month, there’s people that do daily, bi weekly. I have published I think, since last May of 2021. It’s somewhere like 160 or more episodes. So just to give you an example of that over the 10 episode number. But this is a long game. Having a podcast is a long game. It’s not usually that immediate payoff, like I said, But you have to be able to be committed to doing it, I would say for a year or two years know that you can put the time in. So do you have any more space In your schedule, right, your work, load to fit in a podcast. Also, do you have money that you can commit to, you know, having people, you know, do small parts of it for you, whether it’s publishing, or editing, and if needed, or you know, those kinds of things. And I’m not saying you need to pay someone to do this, you can do it yourself. But if you don’t have a lot of time, then you’re gonna have to have somebody help you so that you actually have time to get it done and get it up there. So it’s a pay off, right? You either decide on you do more of the work yourself, but it’s more time, or you pay someone so it’s less of your time. But it’s super important, because like I said, if you’re going to do a podcast, but you only do two episodes, and then the way the wind blows is you decide to give up because you only had five downloads or 50 downloads. If you’re going to get discouraged that quickly, then maybe right now isn’t, podcasting isn’t the thing for you. Because you have to make a commitment to yourself and have a goal. For me my commitment was is I am going to consistently show up in publish my podcast every week, for at least a year or a year and a half. Of course, now I’m far enough into that I will continue it. But that was my goal over a year ago, was Don’t look down, don’t look around, don’t worry about the download numbers, even if they felt a little or inconsistent. Just keep pushing forward, keep iterating keep pivoting, keep tweaking and keep being open minded to learn to improve. I’m still doing that, I’d say weekly, you know what’s resonating? What are people interested in? What can I teach them that maybe I didn’t realize people want to know, what conversations do people want to have? What do they want to hear me talk about? So it’s so important. And so, once again, how do you find out if podcasting is right for you, and right for you right now, you first answer those three questions. And then you know, just bonus info here, come up with a list of all the things you need to do in order to launch a show. And then you can find this information online. And I’ll be talking about a little bit this a little bit of this in a later episode. You know, but it’s things like your podcast are starting to record a little introduction and an outro to your podcast, start recording episodes, you can just demo episode sample episodes, you know, start doing interviews with people, so you get comfortable, but hopefully you can use that content. And then it’s you know, come up with your new podcast name.

And it’s what do you call it? You know, it’s starting to decide on your podcast, hosting platform. And then eventually, before you publish, you have to register set up your podcast with Apple podcast, and then Google and Spotify and those apples as the takes the longest, you know, it can take days or or longer to get that set up. But you do all that kind of at the end. But the point is, there’s checklists, there’s information on what to do. But you need to be aware of that. So that when you start saying, I’m going to do a podcast, you know, you’re not trying to roll it out in a week, because there’s plenty to do. All right. But put all this stuff aside, and then just pick the one or two things that you can move forward on creating the podcast, if that’s the right thing for you, and if now’s the right time. And as I mentioned, I knew I was gonna do podcasts for several years before I started. I bought my Yeti microphone four or five years before I started podcasting. Isn’t that crazy? And it wasn’t because I was hesitating. It’s because I had had my own company for years. And I ended up taking a full time consulting position that I didn’t know I was going to be taking. But I took it and so I it wasn’t the right time, I just had to put it aside. And that’s okay. But I guess I’m saying this to say that sometimes we do have to pause or we have to wait to start the new thing. And that’s okay, too. But if this is something you want to step into, jump into some podcasting groups. There’s lots of people that are starting in and there’s also, as I was mentioning, getting on some podcasts, you know, in whatever your kind of focuses. There’s lots of podcast, hosts and guest communities on Facebook. And then there’s some that are just websites, but join those and then post about, you know what you can come on and share on their podcast and connect with people, but get going on something, get moving, right. And what I would suggest to you is, if you’re still uncertain if you’re still unclear on how to move forward, if a podcast is your next, this next thing that you’re going to start or if it’s if it really isn’t the thing you just were, you know, allowing that science shiny object to kind of get you excited, but maybe it’s not the right thing at the right time. Then what you can do a quick exercise is just close your eyes and envision the work you would do with podcasting so that would be recording the podcast. That would be possibly editing it or sending the information for some Some of the edit for you may be doing interviews, and then writing up the, you know, little info about the episodes. But so anyways, you would do that kind of work, close your eyes in vision that envision that work and doing it over and over right each week? How does it make you feel? Does it make you excited to talk about the subject matter in the way you would you would do that right over a podcast? Or does it make you feel worn out and tired? You know, and I say this as an exercise to see is something that you might do or some decision or setting on? Is it life giving? Or is it life draining? But sit on that for a while, you know, close your eyes and visualize that work? And the, you know, the format the platform and see, does this feel right? Or is there a different format, different platform that fits you better that feels more comfortable? And I’m not saying don’t do things that are not, you know, get out of your comfort zone sometimes. But you’ll know I was hearing the other day, I was listening to the gathering pod by Martha Beck her podcast. And she said that, I guess it was some years ago, someone had told her like, hey, let’s have a radio show. You know, they’d give her a radio show. And she was like, No, absolutely not. She’s like, I didn’t like radio station offices or recording studios. I don’t like all that stuff. So she said no. Well, now she has a podcast. But she does it I think from her home, right? It’s in her own environment. It’s she sets the time and the board boundaries around it. So even that example of you can do one audio format and dislike another and that’s okay. And then I want to share this idea with you from Emily P. Freeman, who I often share some of her words from her beautiful books. But in her book The next right thing she says this. We need to choose gurus or teachers, or mentors who will offer plans that line up with a vision we already have for our life, our work in our ministry. If you don’t know where you’re going specific directions won’t really help. Not until you see the big picture. If you feel frustrated and pulled in many directions like I have felt it could be because you’ve been looking for advice about the journey even before you knew or understood your hoped or destination. If you’ve been frantically searching outside of yourself for help with a plan, but you feel untethered and directionless. Maybe what you really need is to quiet down inside yourself and listen for a vision, vision and purpose have to come from the quiet place within us first, only then can we seek insight for the next right step to take that will align with our vision. 

That’s not to say that we are going to see a clear plan for our life laid out before we can know our next right step. That’s the whole purpose purpose of just doing the next thing. But too often, I take it to the other extreme and look for outside voices to tell me what can only come from within. Oh, I think that’s so good. And I’ve surely been in the same state she talks about I have been there. I continue to find myself bumping up against this. So I just tell you, find time for reflection, find time to ask yourself some questions about podcasting or your next right thing and sit with them sit with that vision, you know, what does it look like? And how does that tie into what else you’re doing and what your vision is for the impact you want to have in the world and how you want to have it. So until next time, have a beautiful weekend. And I’ll see you back here next week. If today’s show got you pumped about building your online traffic so you can grow your business. Let’s celebrate pop over and leave a review. Tell us what you loved about today’s episode or share this with a friend who’s ready to grow next level comm network with other entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, coaches and podcasters at my Facebook group to take your business to the next level. or head on over to Kristin Fitch that calm to find out more about my online growth system.