Hello creators and welcome to the Digital Podcaster Podcast Episode Two. I'm excited to speak with you today about why you should start a podcast anyways, maybe you've been toying around with the idea of starting a podcast, maybe you already started a podcast, but you're not really, I don't know, you're not feeling inspired, you're not really remembering why you chose to do this crazy thing in the first place. And maybe this will just serve as a reminder, or maybe you're just completely entertaining the idea and not even sure what you talk about. Either way, I want to answer one of the biggest questions and ideas you probably have from the beginning is why should you start a podcast anyways? So there are a lot of reasons why someone might start a podcast. But it's not clear to everybody. Because what people don't always really examine, or they have trouble examining it by themselves is why they would want to start a podcast, they like podcasts, or they like the idea of podcasts, maybe they don't even listen to them. But they like the idea of them. And so they think you know what I could do that I could talk. How hard could this be? Well, on one hand, it's not really hard at all. On another hand, it's hard to maintain, right? The problem isn't starting it always. It's maintaining it, what would you talk about, over and over and have enough to talk about? Because if you're thinking, What am I going to talk about when it gets to Episode 100? That sounds so far away. It's also a little bit like life in general, right? You think life in the beginning of life goes by really fast and slow, sometimes too. But right, the first 10 years of your life, you're trying to figure out where you are what's going on? Who am I what's my identity, the next 10 years 10 through 20, you're still going through more of an identity crisis. But if you think about just your life in chunks, how much changes similar with your podcast, a lot changes over time, and you grow and you evolve and things start to get easier other things start you start getting new questions that you want to answer, and you want to find solutions to the problems. But a lot of it gets easier as you go. But the hard part in the beginning is just figuring out what is going on. And what is your identity from the beginning. One of the reasons why you would want to start a podcast is to build a platform and grow an audience that is interested in what you have to talk about, that is a great reason to start a podcast. And it's one of the best reasons I think, because you can do a lot of things when you have an audience, right. As long as you have an audience that there's you can learn from them. You can teach them, you can like, bring new ideas. So then you can bring products and services to offer for them. And the best thing about that is, if you're clear about it in the beginning of how you could help somebody if you're a coach or an educator, then your audience will respond favorably they won't even mind when you're making offers for some type of product or offer. Even if you have a even if you're not a coach or educator and you're like a comedian or something. And you have a premium subscriber offering through something like Patreon your audience isn't mad when you make offers. If the offer is in alignment with what you talk about regularly, right? There's a comedian, a comic podcast I listened to that does really well, they do over $100,000 every month and a premium subscriber. And they make pitches for their premium subscriber throughout the whole episode. It seems like every 20 or 30 minutes, they're reminding people Hey, come on, come check this out. And it's not it's not annoying to hear because that it's part of what they're offering and it doesn't feel salesy is the right thing. So one of the reasons why you might start a podcast is to make money, make income and there's nothing wrong with that, right? It doesn't have to come from a place of being greedy. Just because you want money doesn't mean you're greedy, necessarily. Also, money in itself doesn't make you anything, it could give you more resources to grow something else that you're really passionate about. You could use money to grow a cause you're an activist that can grow a cause that you feel passionate about, right? There's a lot of good you can do with money. So starting a podcast for the simple sake of money isn't bad in itself either. But just looking at those two things, the main two things that people generally start there are a lot of reasons why someone should start a podcast, but building a platform like growing an audience, which I would put together in one and then making money I think are the two big ones just to touch on a couple other ones that people might think about when they're starting a podcast is just to meet cool people. Some people will start podcast Just so they can interview people they've looked up to, or other people will want to record some type of event that they see I know someone that's recording a podcast for a great grandparent, they'll release it, but they don't maybe have plans on monetizing the grandparents story, but they just want to capture it and put it out there. So the family who can listen to that and and learn from that story that the grandparent shares through audio. And I do look at podcasting, a lot blogs were back in the day, they can be very versatile, but I think podcasts offer a lot more flexibility as far as storytelling goes. Because there's, it takes a little bit more attention to sift through and read blogs than it does to listen to a podcast while you're in the gym, getting your workout on or doing the dishes. I love listening to podcast while I'm doing the dishes, it makes it go by so fast. And it makes simple, mundane tasks really enjoyable, in my opinion. So the opportunity here is podcasting. To You know, grow your audience, build a platform, earn money, tell your story, and get to know your audience better so that you can help serve them better. Whether that's through doesn't matter what you're doing is to serve them better through true crime stories, through jokes, if you're a comedian, or through educating there's, there's a podcast about coffee, there's so many, there's so many things you can talk about, you can podcast that anything, but it does podcasting does have a big opportunity to it. And what's great about it is there's a low barrier to entry, you don't need a lot of fancy gear to get started, you probably already have the gear you need. And yeah, it's really easy to get started. So that's, that's exciting about podcasting. And you can start to build your platform now and meet other people in your space. And it doesn't take a huge platform to meet other people in and feature other people on your podcast. So that is a couple of benefits of podcasting. One thing I would think about when you are thinking like should I or shouldn't I start a podcast is just start it and then see what happens as you go, right? Yeah, you could stop it later on. If you find it's not for you. But I'll be honest, I haven't heard anyone say podcasting isn't for them, except for the idea that they usually say they just run out of steam on what to talk about. So the issue isn't necessarily podcasting. In itself. The issue that people find with podcasting is staying consistent. And I have a lot of suggestions about that. But the idea isn't just to approach it like you're, oh, you just got to get more stamina and you got to build more. That's, that's not the smartest approach when it comes to anything that you're going to be doing long term. The Smart approach is to reverse engineer why you're doing something in the first place. Just simply examine that you don't need to map that all out. But you do need to examine a little bit at the beginning of like, why am I doing this, you examine who you're helping attach yourself to a larger mission. And you just need to understand how you can set it up in a way that supports your message without burning you out. Because it shouldn't burn you out. It should be something you look forward to. And it should be something that you get excited about. And that you want to do more often than just like, once a week really. And there's nothing wrong with once a week. But you could also record more and release it once a week to so that when the seasons of life come, you can still be putting out episodes and you're not just falling off the wagon, so to speak. So in future episodes, we're going to cover a lot more all these things of staying consistent finding guests, how often should you publish when it comes to speaking into a microphone, things to keep in mind, how to learn about your audience, what building your platform really means everything that comes along with that, what you can learn from your audience, how to learn from the audience, all those things are really important to know. And there is a lot that goes into podcasting. But the simple truth of the matter is, it all starts with just beginning to podcast. You can't think your way to starting and growing a podcast, you literally have to have the thought, okay, I want to start podcasts, but then you have to act on it. Whether that's if you're the type of person that has to put it in their calendar, which then makes you take action on it because it's scheduled in your calendar. Amazing. If it takes for writing on your whiteboard, amazing do that. But if you just have the thought you keep thinking over and over, I want to start a podcast I want to start a podcast. That's not taking action that's just procrastinating on the idea. You start learning and you start figuring out if it's right for you as you go through. And there's a lot of questions that pop up well, I don't know how to with my microphones any good or I don't know if what I need to do to edit the audio. Look at the Edit editing of the audio coming from someone who's skilled in audio engineering and audio production. is so overblown. podcasting is the simplest, anyone who is telling you that podcasting, there's some art and magic to the audio is just trying to sell you something. Because I'll tell you right now, this is as simple as it gets. I'm recording on one audio track right now. And that's it. And I'm going to do a simple edit to to it. And I'm going to run it through this program called a phonic au, Ph. O n, IC. And then I'll maybe add, you know, a little intro music, although just the simple, simple stuff, and then publish it through. I'm using buzzsprout to get this podcast out into the world. And that's it, it puts it on all the platforms for me Simple as that it's not hard. As far as the technical skills of starting a podcast. It's not hard, I promise you this, even some, like I could explain it to anybody. I'm positive about that. The hard part is crafting your message that you're going to talk with your audience about consistently, that's the hard part. staying consistent is the hard part to wrap your head around, how am I going to publish regularly, that's the hard part. The hard part isn't in the tools, the tools are there to make your life easier. And that's what it comes down to is crafting your message consistently. Publishing consistently, that doesn't have to be hard. When you're super clear on your vision, and your message and who you're helping, you can just show up with enthusiasm. And you have a whole new zest for life, because this is who I'm here to serve. And let's serve them because they're waiting. But if you're vague on who you're helping, yeah, of course, you're not going to show up regularly because no one's dependent on you, right. And it's not that you want someone dependent on you, it's that there's people that you want to serve, and you're there to serve them. So you show up to serve them because you're making a difference in their lives. And I'm making the sound serious, and you're like Dylan, I'm just into whatever it is like it could be let's just say on the comedian topic that provides a lot of value in someone's life. Like, you must not be aware, if you're thinking my comedy podcast isn't making a difference in someone's life, if you're making that argument, then there's deeper work there to do. And it just, it's, it's almost not even worth having that argument, really, because it's, it's, it's just, it's, there's people there, there's people there, it's like have have gratitude for your audience and understand that, if they're listening to you, and they care about your message, they want you to show up, and they're going to show up. But if you have this idea that your audience isn't going to show up, and they're not seeking any value out of what you're saying, they're not going to show up. But if you're just consistently showing up, and you're like, I'm here to help you. And it doesn't help, it comes in the form of many different things. It could be entertainment, it doesn't have to always be just education, but it could be entertainment, as well. And trust that and the rest will follow it will all fall into place. So those are a few of the reasons why I think you should start a podcast. And I really do hope you are considering it. And I do hope that you take to heart that the truth of the matter is you can't think your way to doing something, you actually have to do it. You can't say you're something on social media. And not you can get away with that a lot of people have gotten away with that some people have gotten rich from that. But I'm more about the the What do they say tire to the road, I'm more about actually taking action on something and letting my actions speak for themselves and letting that be louder than what I say I'm doing right. As there's an old marketing term, the most powerful marketing is all about showing your audience not telling them. And this is an example of that, right? Yes, I am telling you reasons why you should start a podcast, but I'm showing you through my actions that podcasting is real, it's helpful, it's beneficial to you. And it can be and it will be mine it can be it will be beneficial to your audience, when you start your podcast. That's what I want to leave you with today. And that's the biggest case I can make. In the amount of time I have to, to make a case of why you should start your podcast anyways, I do hope you'll consider. And I'll share a couple of ways that we can work together just so you're aware. I'll leave all the links in the show notes. But I put together a guide a 25 page guide on over 240 resources, tools and resources. Most of these tools and resources are free. But the guide itself is free. And that's at DigitalPodcaster.com slash uide link in the show notes for hat. And basically I put this ogether because I'm like here's going to be a lot of bjections when you sell omething. And they're like all his information is for free.'m like cool. I will give it to ou for free. And I'll put it ll in one space so you don't ven have to look around for it ecause Yeah, you could Google ow to start a podcast or any of hat stuff. Awesome. Cool. Let e put in a 25 page guide. Here ou go, Oh, good. And then for eople that want a little bit ore personal service, I have he profitable podcast Academy, hich is a paid program. And hat's where I have 30 plus ideos, I update it regularly. nd I go, there's templates in here. There's videos on verything you need to know to tart your podcast. But I work ith you through video. Going hrough the course, it's pretty ool and takes all my years of xperience and puts it in one, t takes my podcasting brain and uts it in side of a program. nd yeah, I wish I could just ive away all my time for free nd all that stuff. But I do ave to charge for that one. So hat's profitable podcast cademy. And then I have my ervice content Made Easy, which nce you start podcasting, a ood way to grow it is through reating content for social edia. If you don't have time, r you don't have any desire to reate that content from your odcast, that's where I come in n content again, link in the how notes, DigitalP dcaster.com/cme, for content ade easy. And yeah, that's a l I will give you a little b t of a sneak peek on what we ot coming up. in future episodes we're going to be talking lot about around the mindset eeded to start podcasts And we're going to talk a l t about the approach to podcasti g. And more mostly, so around s rving your audience, because here's the tools and tactics, which is stuff I cover in the p ograms. But the big hump of hose things is in the mindset round your approach to podcasti g. Like I said, a lot of peopl don't have issues with podcasti g. I don't ever hear Oh, I ha e podcasting. I don't actually know that I'm realizing I don't hink I've ever heard anyone s y that they have a problem ith staying consistent is what hey have a problem with. So we're going to be approach ng that mindset here in this pod ast. So if you have any question, please send me an email to hello@DigitalPodcaster.co I'd love to answer those uestions on this podcast and g deeper because this is a con ersation. This is a podcast, it s me speaking to you, but it's also both ways. So email me at h llo@DigitalPodcaster.com. Als, you can find me on Instagram@digitalpodcaster, Facebook. om/digitalpodcaster, YouTube Digital Podcaster. And on Twitt r, @digipodcaster. I don't kn w who took @digitalpodcaste. But on Twitter, @DigiPodcaste most active on Instagra right now but posting on all p atforms. So excited to be on th s journey with you. And like I m ntioned last episode, there is more to this than just podcasti g. The bigger thing at hand is our message and you sharing nd speaking up with the world be ause that is what's going to create real change. And that at he end of the day is the real golden all of this. It's not the tools of podcasti g, right. It's the mindset pproach to sharing your message ith the world. That's the thin that gets me up in the morning. That's my why. And that's w at I'm excited to help you ampl fy. So thank you for joining e. I'll see you next time.