Welcome to Digital Podcaster. My name is Dylan Schmidt, your host, and today I want to talk about making your podcast for you or your audience. This is something I see pretty much daily in podcast discussions. I go, I make my podcast for me, I don't I don't make like, because a lot of people struggle with podcast growth. And they're like, how do I grow? How do I grow? How do I grow? And a common response I see from other podcasters about this is, I don't make the show for others, I make it for myself. At the end of the day, that's what's kept me going for years. And for one, I'm curious about these people. Who are these people making it for themselves? That seems rather pointless to publish a podcast if you don't want anybody to hear it? Or it's kind of like, show up if you want to show up? That is cool. I guess. I mean, you know, everyone's free to do podcasting for whatever reason they want. But I get and I see why people are asking you a question. And they're almost getting a completely different response from someone, I do it for myself. Those are two opposite ends of the podcasting spectrum, making it let's look at making a podcast for yourself. Great. It's a labor of love, you're passionate about the topic, you just make it for yourself, I don't totally understand why you publish it. That's like, I don't know it just like wishing people that do that. From what I've seen, and this is a bold statement, from what I've seen people that do that do not make a successful podcast that has regular listeners, because they're not making with the audience mind. That's like, if I come over to your house, and you're just like, you know, I don't know, it's like, if you're you're not being a good host, house host sitting with a podcast, you're not being a good host if you're not taking in to consideration your audience. So just want to separate those two, because I think when people give advice or response to people that are actually looking for helpful feedback around growing a podcast and moves on bigger for myself, no, no, I don't think that's right at all. And I want to break this down in this episode more. So if you want to grow your podcast, you have to make it for your audience in mind. You have to give the people what they want, essentially. And think about it this way, if you're making a podcast for yourself, then only you are going to listen to it. Because only you care about it. You make it because you care about what someone else thinks. You're going to find that people will then care about what you're saying. And it's really that simple. You can't expect to selfishly talk about whatever and whenever you want, and hope that magically people show up and listen. And I have heard from successful podcasts out there that they'll say like, you know, I just make it for myself, and I don't care who listens like they say, or they say a version of that they usually don't say it exactly like that. Oh, we were just having a discussion. And all this people started showing up? Not exactly. They usually already started with a fan base, who already knew them around a certain subject, or there was more to it than that. I don't think that they're giving a full view of the information away. When they say like, we were just having a conversation. I've heard podcasters say we're just talking and then a bunch of people showed up. No, that's not really it. You already had a platform. And then there was already an audience there who helped mold that. But if you're starting from zero, it's 100% possible to grow a successful podcast. But when you're only focusing on yourself, and you like it's just things don't happen by accident, the way that people even successful people will act like they happened. And it just, I don't know, it always kind of bugs me because it makes it it's like, it's like people who became like ultra rich or something or just like, um, self made. Know, exactly. There was a lot of work in just seeing yourself made is also just discrediting, like, almost yourself in a way because it let's just say you're ultra, ultra wealthy, and I would classify that as like $50 million. Plus, you probably just didn't do it by yourself. You probably had a team helping you, right? You cultivated a team, your leadership skills, all that stuff. Sure. Self Made, doing it, figuring out things yourself. That's part of it. That's not all of it. You had a team help you. Like Elon Musk has a team. He's not talking about the team all the time. I don't know why he would need to necessarily but people are like Elon Musk, all that but there's like, it's not like he's like launching all the rockets himself. He's the face of it. There's teams there's hundreds 1000s of people there that are making that happen. And same thing, when it comes to a podcast, for example, the people that are like, Oh my gosh, yeah, I just was talking. And then it happened. Like, what about all the hours going into editing, promoting booking like all these things, I just think that it's downplaying a lot of it. And while I get the point that they're saying it to just say it, and kind of move on, instead of making maybe making it like, oh, man, it's actually been a bit of a road to get here. People will sometimes hear that, oh, it just, I just talk and then it catches on. No, no. You need to market your show, you need to post it online for people to find it. And that just doesn't happen by accident. And I'm not saying that you need to necessarily be some type of sell out and only talk about what your audience needs, and wants to hear in order to be popular, I think that there's a balance, I think there's a balance of making it between the two of you and your audience. And it's always about finding that balance of what you find interesting, in what your audience finds interesting. Because the truth is, like, if you if you're super interested in about in that topic, your audience then picks up on that, and that helps it go. But like, you've got to talk in with your audience in mind, or else you wouldn't even edit your podcast. And you've got to make sure that you're, you're engaging with the community, the people that are engaging with your podcasts like, these are real people listening and to just think that you're just blowing them off for simply not what, like, I don't know, I guess it just, I'm trying to like, download my thoughts here, on why on how you should do it. But it kind of bugs me, I guess when people look at it so selfishly, if you take the time to learn more about your audience, what they like and dislike, how you could improve certain things, it will make you grow as a human faster. But it will also make you grow your podcast faster, because you can realize like, Oh, I didn't like we all have blind spots, podcast hosts podcast is as a person, as a business owner as all these different things that we can improve. And I believe that we should always be seeking to improve something to a certain point. So taking some time to get listener feedback is important. And that's why I say like, find that balance of of what you love, what your audience loves. And really find if there's a Venn diagram, find that middle. And it might be painful for you to hear this next part. But if you've been if you're going to publish podcasts, or if you've been publishing your podcasts, maybe you've been podcasting for years, and nobody is showing up. That's on you. That's on you. That's not that's an audience. That's not an audience problem. That's a you problem, and not a them problem. You have to look in the mirror, if you're having trouble getting those listeners to show up, and realize that it's your responsibility as a host, to make sure your audience finds you and your podcast and is enjoying the content. Not the other way around. If you are a chef in the kitchen, and you didn't care about and you are making dishes, and like everybody that came in did not like the food and never came back. And you just kept putting out the same dishes. Eventually, that restaurants gonna close, right? But if you were a chef that checked in on the clients, on the people dining in the establishment, and you were like, Hey, how are you liking this thing? Well, you realize you're going to improve dishes, oh, it's lacking a little bit of salt cooling, you put a little bit of seasoning in there next time. Whatever it is, you're gonna use that feedback and make it a better product. Same thing goes with podcasts. Podcasts are a two way street. You can't just put out whatever you want. And then get sad when people show up doesn't work like that. You have to give people a reason to listen to your show. And if you're not doing that, then that's on you to change it, not your audience that you might be struggling finding or them finding you. I hope this was helpful, give you something to think about. As you continue making content for your show, I believe the best podcasters find the balance between making the show for themselves, and their audience got to reiterate that. And if you can find that balance, you'll be well on your way to success. As always, if you're interested in how to make a show that people want to listen to, I'd love for you to join us inside Podcasting Academy. It's a fun On Demand training and coaching program that helps podcasters be successful so that they can grow their audience business and life. Just visit podcasting academy.com to check it out. I'll be back for more next week. I hope you're enjoying the podcast. If you are it would mean the world to me if you could just take the 60 seconds it takes to leave a review on either Apple podcast or Spotify wherever you're listening to podcasts. Leaving a rating and review really helps other people find the show and get actual podcasting Insights versus a lot of the fluff that's out there that I'm coming across. I'm trying to like rebel and fight against the noise of bad information out there. So if you could help me and join me in that fight, and leave a rating and review for the podcast, I'd be forever grateful. I'll see you next week on podcast. Thank you so much for listening