How to Create a Podcast People Want to Listen to More Than Once with Quai Nystrom

Creating a podcast that people remember is one thing. Creating a podcast they want to revisit again and again is something entirely different. This week, episode 293 of Podcasting Unlocked is about designing a podcast experience that listeners return to long after the first play!

Quai Nystrom is a psychotherapist, herbalist, and host of In Your Hands: Herbal Self-Care for Emotional Bodies, an experiential podcast that blends storytelling, music, psychotherapy, and herbal wisdom to help listeners process complex topics with greater ease. Rather than simply delivering information, Quai intentionally creates episodes that support reflection, emotional regulation, and deeper learning over time.

In this episode of Podcasting Unlocked, Quai shares how they thoughtfully craft each episode, why slowing down can create a more meaningful listener experience, and how podcast creators can build sustainable workflows that prioritize both creativity and personal well-being.

Key Takeaways:

• Why Quai designs episodes that listeners will want to revisit multiple times.
• How music, storytelling, and intentional pacing create a more immersive podcast experience.
• The real time commitment behind producing highly crafted solo episodes.
• Strategies for avoiding burnout while creating meaningful content.
• Why your podcast release schedule should support your goals—not someone else's expectations.
• How to know when your podcast has evolved alongside you.
• The importance of creating content that supports different learning styles.
• Why connecting episodes together can encourage listeners to explore your back catalog.

Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical podcasting tips and to hear even more about the ideas and strategies discussed in this conversation.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me! And don't forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about Podcasting Unlocked at https://galatimedia.com/podcasting-unlocked/

CONNECT WITH QUAI NYSTROM:

• Website: Personal Care Blueprints 
• Podcast: In Your Hands: Herbal Self-Care for Emotional Bodies 

CONNECT WITH ALESIA GALATI:

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Work with Galati Media! 
• Work with Alesia 1:1

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Transcript

Alesia Galati: 0:00

We've talked a lot about podcast goals on this show today. We're talking with Kwai about how they created a podcast based on a goal that I don't think I ever really considered, but is so incredibly important, and that goal is making something worth listening to more than once. They are spending so much time and effort in creating a podcast that allows people to not just listen to it once, but to go back. They're creating an experience for their listeners where every single episode is going to move the listener in a new way, whether they're listening to it the first time or the third time. We talked through some strategies behind it. How they spend their time in refilling their cup, as they're spending so much time and effort pouring into their audience, and so much more. Please join me in welcoming Qui to the podcast. Welcome to Podcasting Unlocked, the show for purpose-driven podcasters.

Quai Nystrom: 1:00

I'm Alesia Galati, founder of Galati Media, and I'm here to share actionable strategies to help you amplify your message and grow your audience. Hello, Quai. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. If you could start by telling everyone who you are, what you do, and a bit about your podcast. Sure. Great, thank you for having me on. I'm really excited, and excited for you. I know you're coming up on 300 episodes, so much work, and it's a great podcast, so much to learn from. So, my name is Kwai Nystrom. I'm a psychotherapist and an herbalist, and I have practices for both of those services, and I started a podcast about seven months ago, eight months ago. I'm losing track of time, but it was something that I had in mind for many years, and I had so many people nudging me to get my work out there beyond a one on one context, and I felt like this was one way to do it, especially because some of what I cover on the podcast is not knowledge that's easy to come by, and it takes a really long time for people to access resources to get that knowledge, and it felt really important for me to bring that out, and especially from an intersectional perspective, which is really important to me. So I have a podcast that I consider to be an experiential podcast. It's not just me talking at people. We've woven music into it and really designed it in a way that people can absorb some topics that can be heavy at times, like intergenerational trauma, but in a way that's really kind to their nervous system.

Alesia Galati: 2:39

That's so incredibly important with the topics, and it sounds like you're kind of marrying the psychotherapy and the herbalist side of your practice together. Is that how you wanted to create the podcast, or has it kind of evolved, because it's many months, things change,

Quai Nystrom: 3:00

partially. I do, I feel like I do psychotherapy work with people that I never ever bring up herbalism, and I also know that having a relationship to plants affects what I understand about growth, about process, and things oftentimes needing to be more gradual than how we want to harvest them, whatever is coming our way that we're trying to get towards. So, sometimes this world makes it very hard for us to be all of who we are in whatever roles that we need to be cast in. And I decided when I made the podcast that I was going to put both of those together, because I feel like there's things that people can learn, and I also know there's some people that just aren't interested in one or the other, and if they're drawn into the podcast, there's going to be things for them there regardless.

Alesia Galati: 3:51

Yeah, that definitely makes sense. How much time does it take to get through one episode? Because I'm sure people are wondering that, in thinking about, you know, as creators, so often there is this pressure to all right, I have to have a podcast episode out every single week, and it has to be x amount of time, and then I have to promote it, and then I have to do this all again next week, and I know that's why a lot of people end up not doing it, yeah, because they see how much work it

Quai Nystrom: 4:20

is, totally, and I get it, because a lot of times, if you have a podcast you're passionate about something, or you have interest, and so your time is taken by other things, and as full people, we have full lives. Each episode that I do does take me many hours to get to, and that is because I've layered in a lot to the experience of it, I don't think that every podcaster needs to take as much time as I take of mine, but I'm doing that partly because I'm trying to create an experience that's working with people's nervous systems, working with them moving into something in a very gradual way, but if I had a podcast that was more conversational, I think that I would bank. You know, so much quicker. I'm also early on in the experience, and so I can say at this point I've recorded 10 episodes, and I have one in development. That 10th episode was so much faster than the first one. My episodes are less than a half hour, I always try to keep it under that, and part of the process that takes a long time is that I give myself the freedom when I'm talking through the content to go where I need to go, and then I'm trimming everything out in the editing process to make sure it's not beyond what people actually need to hear, and so I think a podcast done well actually is edited really well. It's a huge part of the experience for people taking it in. So, my 20 to 30 minute podcast, it probably takes me 10 hours or so to produce. I think that is massively longer than the majority of how long people need to take in doing a podcast episode, and I think that probably the last episode I did was closer to seven hours or so, and that's broken up into different days. I'm someone that works in an iterative process. I'm not a linear thinker, and sometimes you have to present things in more linear ways for people to be able to absorb them. So I'm hoping that by sharing this, anyone who's listening can be like, "Oh, I am a linear thinker, and so this might be different for me. So I just want to, like, say that, like, it depends on, like, how you process information, and also what your podcast is about. Like, mine is designed to be a learning experience.

Alesia Galati: 6:35

Yeah, I definitely have a podcast that I produced that it takes me about that amount of time. It is a conversational podcast. These are like C-suite level folks. It's five songs from five segments of their life, so like childhood, early adulthood, etc. And they pick a song, and then they explain this is what was going on during that time, and then here's why this song really impacts me in this way. We can't tie in the songs because of copyright laws, it's those kinds of things, but we do grab pictures from the guest of them during that time in their life, and those are so it's a very like visual podcast, so those are going in and out throughout, so we'll have anywhere from I think the least amount of photos we got at one point was 30 of the person's life, and I'm doing most of the searching for that, because again, these are C-suite level people that have time to scour the interwebs or their phones for these photos, and so I'm like going back through their Instagrams and their LinkedIns and all of this stuff, and Googling them and trying to find the, so it takes me quite a few hours to bang out one of those episodes, but again, it's the experience that I'm trying to create specifically for this podcast. Another podcast, which is only audio, and only here's the lesson, it's 20 minutes, that maybe takes me 40 minutes or an hour to do, right? So, usually I try to, like, if people are like, "Okay, this feels like a lot, take a breath. First of all, you get to decide what this podcast looks like for you, and I love that you've created something that feels in alignment for you and your audience. And if you want to put effort into editing, it's going to take at least four times the length of the audio, especially when you're starting out. So, if you feel like it's taking you a long time, listener, it's okay. Take a deep breath,

Quai Nystrom: 8:31

you've got this. So, my question here is, How do you create an experience where you are refilling yourself, because with topics of psychotherapy and herbalism, you're giving so much, especially the amount of time that you're giving to this topic. How do you refill or make sure that you aren't at the point of, all right, I have done 10 episodes, this is a lot, and I am done, I am burnt out. Like, how do you refill yourself? Well, so far, I, because I'm early on, I'm not sure what my cadence will be. I might just release things in an intuitive schedule, as I've heard other people refer to as, like, yes, I'm doing it intuitively, but I also like, I'm creating content when I am inspired to do it. I have taken so many notes over the years for myself around what are the things that keep coming up for people, because I knew at some point I wanted to broaden that out beyond one on one work. So part of the answer for that question for me is when I am somehow accessing that, it's propelling me in some type of way, like oh, I see that this can be shared in a more broad way, and it's something that touches on what people are looking for. When I hear people looking for content around something that I feel like my work has taught me, or that my life experience has taught me, or something like that, refills my cup, and then I'm like, I want to work on this, and I. Really careful that I work on it in a way where if I start to feel mentally tired or like running out of ideas about how to be creative and how I'm presenting something, then I know it's time to like pull back to avoid getting burnt out with that process, because I really want to have a show that continues on for a long time, and I think that if somebody goes into this without an answer to that question that you just asked, that's not a good way to set themselves up. Yeah, you have to

Alesia Galati: 10:30

be able to either begin breaks or some type of strategy. I mean, this show, like you said at the beginning, we're coming up on 300 episodes and I'm done. I'm like, I love having the conversations, and I feel like this kind of phase of my life of creating content in this way for this audience, I've said everything I need to say. At this point, it's mostly going to be repurposing. I think there's a bit of a grief to that too, of letting that go, and also excited for what is to come and what is next, and I think that you do have to have some excitement around the topic, like you said earlier, like you're passionate about it, and so you want to do it

Quai Nystrom: 11:12

for sure, and I think that there's something that you're saying, which is that sometimes your podcast creation is preparing you for something else, if you've gotten to the point where you've said everything that you need to say on whatever that show is about, you're not in the same place by any means by the time you've gotten to that point, and I do think that's also another piece of sustainability in podcasting, is like an awareness of like this is a process, this is something that I'm in, and something is evolving as I'm creating,

Alesia Galati: 11:43

yeah. And you have to be in touch with that, and I think that's why, if you would have asked me about an intuitive release schedule five years ago, I'm like, no, don't do it, don't ever do that. No, you have to have set expectations for your audience, and Robot Alesia telling people what to do, but now I'm like, do whatever you want, as long as you tell people and they know what to expect. Your audience is here for you. They will find something else to listen to. In the meantime, it is a okay, right? You get to decide what that looks like. And so I think that's why an intuitive schedule really would work. I know for my other podcast, we read Smut. I set up five months on, one month off, and that has helped me, of like, okay, now I have seasons, and I can actually say, like, I'm having a break in the months of June and December, don't bother me, but maybe during those months I can feel into what I want the next season to be. It can feel new, and it can feel exciting, and I can start thinking about the kinds of people that I want to interview, or if I'm so far ahead, I'm like, I can actually kick back and not do anything. This feels good, too, right? Like, you get to decide what that looks like, even if you do go with a more.. I don't want to say normal cadence, because everybody gets to decide what their regular cadence, regular weekly or biweekly, monthly, even cadence of what works best for you,

Quai Nystrom: 13:08

but I also think that the cadence is partly on what the purpose of your podcast is, and I think some people probably do need to have that more regular, they might be needing to hit certain numbers, or maybe people need to be warmed up on a regular cadence for some particular reason. I think that sometimes people, they want to offer something for their audience, they're maybe moving their audience in some type of way, and the reason for your podcast probably is going to dictate some of how frequently you put it out.

Alesia Galati: 13:41

Yeah, and I think that's where being clear on that purpose and the goal of your show, of what you're trying to achieve with it, is so important. You mentioned before we hit record that your goal is that you want to make something worth listening to more than once. How did you come to that goal, and how are you ensuring 10 hours ensures it for sure, but like, how do you ensure that you are actually like putting forth that all right? This has achieved the goal, it is ready to be released.

Quai Nystrom: 14:12

I came to that goal because I do a lot of work with people over the course of a period of time, and I know that they need to revisit things more than once. We can only take in so much information at one point in time, and then sometimes we have experiences in life where other things get filled out, and then we can hear something that we didn't catch the first time. And I love it when I'm working with someone, and whether that's in my herbalism practice or not, or my therapy practice, and someone's like, 'Oh, I heard this thing, or I read this thing, and it like brought something to life for them, or they're like, 'I never thought about it that way, or it's framed in a different way. I think it's so helpful when there's something that you're trying to understand for yourself. Self or heal in some type of way, or there's some type of newness to it. It oftentimes you need to be imbued in it in more than just one moment, and so I wanted the podcast to reflect that, and I know even though I hold that as a value, if there's an article and I'm like, wow, that article was great information. I will rarely read it twice, because I'm not engaged in the same way, and so I thought if I'm trying to present things to folks in a way that is layered and complex, I have to give them different points of entry in the episode, and so part of the way that I've done that is by adding music into the background during key moments in whatever the material is that I'm talking through, also by adding some personal antidotes into it, so that there's these different layers of things that might be of interest to people, and I'm trying to give them prompts to think about things for themselves, so that if they go through it a second or third time, there probably is going to be different things that jump out to them.

Alesia Galati: 16:55

Yeah, that definitely makes sense. I was giggling a little bit as you were talking about when people like read something and they're like, "Oh, wow, that never thought about it this way. It made me think of an episode I was recently editing for a client where she had started a nightly routine, where for about an hour she would kind of get herself ready for bed, like mentally do meditation, release the stress of the day, so that when she went into the bedroom she was ready for sleep intimacy, etc. whatever it is that she was trying to achieve for her. All right, I'm done with the day. Let's bookend this. And her husband came to her and was like, hey, I read this article about, like, having an hour before bed. She'd been doing this for months, just naturally doing it, not really like mentioning it or anything. I read this article, we should do this together. She's like, yeah, okay, sometimes you just need somebody else to say it in a different way, or to present it in a new way, that's like, oh, I didn't think about that, and I really love the idea of having people revisit the topics, because even thinking about, and I say this often on my other podcast, if I go back and reread the books that I like five starred in 2020 My opinion is going to be completely different than what it was in that moment, because five six, geez, we're six years later. Six years later, I feel very differently, and I have consumed different types of content at maybe something that was like, oh, that's really spicy, then is like they're literally holding hands, Alesia, calm, so like my opinion is completely different because I have more information, and so I think that the ability to go back and re-listen to podcasts, and is that something that you encourage folks to do as they're listening to your podcast, you say, 'Hey, don't forget we have this back catalog. If you're feeling like,'Hey, I might need to revisit something, go back and revisit it. Or, how do you encourage folks to go back and re-listen?

Quai Nystrom: 18:56

I have, in a couple of episodes, mentioned previous episodes that might be supportive to whatever I'm talking about in that particular one, and I haven't said I designed this so that people would listen to it more than once, but I had that in mind, and then when I started getting feedback on the podcast after I launched it, people were like, oh my god, I'm wanting to listen to these episodes more than once, and I was like, yes, that's what I was hoping for, yeah, because I also think that we can take something in and be like, oh, that's really interesting, or but maybe we're distracted, or we don't have that good of bandwidth at that time, and I think because I need certain things to help me take in information that are not always thought about, I was just like, if somebody needs to hear this again, or it feels good to hear it again, or it's like something got ignited and reignited at another point. I wanted there to be something new to, like, imbue there, or a different facet. And I think it's interesting that, like, you bring up novels, because the part of it is, if you've created something creatively, there's usually different hooks in there for people, and I think that's what can make something compelling enough to read it again. That's why I was saying, like, an article that I'm like, oh, that was really great, but if there isn't something artistically done in it or creatively done, it's really hard for me to read it again, no matter how valuable I know that it is. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, and I think that's why

Alesia Galati: 20:27

podcasting can be such a great medium for communicating what it is that you're trying to communicate, because people might not be inclined to go back and reread maybe a Substack or a LinkedIn article that you were to post, yeah, you can pull information from them, be like. Go back and go listen to the podcast episode that's accompanying this, and here's the overarching topic, but to be able to go deeper and really, like you said, infuse the experience, I think that is so incredibly valuable, especially for what you're trying to create. I'm also curious, for your episodes, do you have like segments where you give space of silence. I know we have maybe one or two clients that we have where they'll do meditations sometimes, and we some music in the background to let people think or to breathe. That silence is so hard for so many people, because it's okay. I'm driving to work, and I'm maybe listening to this at 1.5 speed, so I can ingest the information, and it's also good to kind of slow down, especially for topics like yours. So I'm curious, if there is silence, maybe with Music Underlaid, or whatever, that you've integrated in there.

Quai Nystrom: 21:43

I do really value silence, because sometimes our systems need that we don't immediately take something in. I don't have, like, radio silence on my episodes, because I think in a podcast sometimes it can seem like the thing dropped off, right? And so I was like, I didn't want to do that, but I did leave spacing in music, and I found that there are times that, like, I talked through something, and then I was like, oh, this is a little core to what I'm saying, let me find some music that works with what I'm saying, and then when I underlay that music below, I realize I'm talking too fast, I'm not necessarily, I'm not a speedy talker either, but I realize there's certain times that you do need to pause, and I think that if you can construct it well, it can really work, and I've taken in the editing process sometimes I will add empty sections into that, and then I just make sure whatever is happening in the music below is supporting whatever I've said before. This is part of the reason why this takes me so long for each episode, so I think that, yeah, that's part of it, and that's another reason why I'm like I'm trying to design these in a way that people can enjoy them more than once, or if not enjoy, like really benefit from hearing them more than once, so yeah, that's how I do that. Yeah, I think that it definitely makes sense. I think that having that for the topic, right, like it's not going to work for every podcast, and that's okay.

Alesia Galati: 23:15

But for your topic, it 100% makes sense. And I also want to highlight something you said earlier about referencing back to past episodes and having episodes build on one another, that is something that is such an underutilized strategy, and I recommend it all the time, because I'm like, you already have that other content, refer back to it, but one thing that I think would be interesting, so take it or leave it, if you want it or not, is we have a client where she has on her websites like I'm struggling with and then they can drop down and it'll say I'm struggling with boundaries with a parent, I'm struggling with addiction, I'm struggling with setting boundaries in the workplace, right? You get to decide to pick your own adventure kind of book, and then from there she has playlists based on hey, these are the topics, so these are the episodes that are going to really help you, or maybe the three core episodes that these are the ones that you want to listen to if you're struggling with this, and so take that or leave that for anyone else who's categorizing or building. I feel like, though, having some type of choose your own adventure for people where maybe they aren't sure where to start, that can really help.

Quai Nystrom: 24:28

That's so great. I love that. I love just that idea. I wish more people did that with their content, because people a lot of times they're looking for something, and if they know that it's something that you have to offer, even if it's not square on the nose of what they're looking for, but there's something that connects to it. I feel like that can be really powerful for someone to be like, "Oh, I want to dig into that.

Alesia Galati: 24:51

Yes, absolutely. Okay, it sounds like your podcast is incredible. Everybody, go listen to it. But if people want to listen to it, what is it called again? Where can people find it, and also connect

Quai Nystrom: 25:03

with you to get to know you further? It's called In

Your Hands: 25:06

Herbal Self Care for Emotional Bodies. It's on pretty much any podcast app that you are looking for. I can give you the pod link for it if you want to put that in the show notes, but I also have a newsletter that I send out monthly. Sometimes I send out a couple of extras if I have something coming up that I want people to know about. If you sign up for my newsletter, you will also get a free audio guide that's called the No False Starts, and that's for when you're trying to either improve something that you're doing with your self-care or start it. I find that there's so much involved in. Starting that a lot of times people are like, I'm going to do this thing, and they're like, I'll for it. And then there's something that just gets in the way, and so that guide has a 15 minute audio that goes along with it, and a nine page guidebook that helps people take on a new practice, not telling them what to do, but helping them think about, like, what do I need, in order to make that work, so that I don't have these false starts to it. Yes, yeah. Oh man, those false starts of self care is so insidious, especially when you get like hit with the by the journals and by the pretty highlighters and buy this book, right? Like, you never really know what's gonna work for you, and totally silence is not okay for me. Totally get it. Yeah, definitely been there. So, everyone, go check that out. We will have links in the show notes, as well as the YouTube description, for anyone doing other things. Go check out what Kwai has to offer. And then, again, like I said, we'll have those

Alesia Galati: 26:45

links. Is there a social platform that you hang out on, or is the website just the best place?

Quai Nystrom: 26:51

Websites the best place. I do have an Instagram account, but I don't use it that often, so probably, yeah. If people want to stay connected, my newsletter is probably the best way to do that.

Alesia Galati: 27:01

Perfect. And if people are interested in the work that you do and want to work with you. What website is the best place to send them for that?

Quai Nystrom: 27:10

If they want to do personal care blueprints.me and if they want to look into my therapy practice, it's discover space.me

Alesia Galati: 27:21

Yeah, we'll have those linked in the show notes for anyone, like I said, doing other things. We get it, y'all are probably listening down the road, but make sure that you're checking out what Kwai has to offer, and if you're interested in this topic, definitely go listen to some episodes, get the vibe, I'm sure they have tons of resources for you, so definitely go check that out. Quiet, thank you so much for being on this, was an absolute pleasure.

Quai Nystrom: 27:44

Yeah, thank you, it was so fun. I really enjoyed talking with you. Thank you.

Unknown: 27:57

Bye.