7 Big Mistakes Beginner Podcasters make. 

J. Rosemaie Francis: Big mistakes aspiring podcastasters make. Hi, I'm J. Rosemariie, serial podcaster, a, uh, podcast host and mentor. And today I want to talk about seven big makes aspiring podcasts make. And I'm talking about these because these are mistakes that I made myself and so I wanted to go through them, uh, so that if you're planning a podcast, you't, you don't make the same mistake I. Right. They say that mentors get you to where you want to go faster. So this is your way of avoiding some mistakes so you get towards your podcasting goes quicker.

There are certain fundamental principles that you have to embrace before you launch your podcast

And speaking of goals and plans, that's my number one. That's the number one mistake podcasts make. They don't plan, they just jump into it. And why you can jump and grow wings and the way down. There's certain foundation fundamental principles that you have to embrace before you launch your podcast. And one of them, one of the biggest one, is why, why do you want to have a podcast? What's the purpose of it and who is it for? When you sort through this, this mele lay of information and come up with a plan, then you're able to launch from a, uh, position of strength. And on top of that you can decide in this planning stage your mission statement and things like that. You going who your audience is going to be, when you're gonna publish or often and all those things. So those are the considerations when you're starting a podcast. Make a plan, decide your why, and then start your show. 

The second big mistake aspiring podcast may is skipping and uh, avoiding niching down or defining their avatar. So they fail to define who they're speaking to. I talk about this in episode 112, I believe about defining your ideal podcast avatar. And many podcasts skip this. They just start talking about whatever they're talking about and uh, forget that we're not talking to everyone. We're talking to one person. And that one person is your ideal podcast avatar. And um, that one person is who you're going to develop content for and speak directly to. Make sense. Okay, Number three, the third big mistakes aspiring podcs make is they focus on the downloads. And let me tell you, download can kill you. Because if you look at the downloads and they're not where you think they should be, then uh, it'snna affect your psyche. And when you focus entirely on the downloads, then, you know, you lose focus on the real purpose of your podcast. You lose focus on your vision. You know, number one, your plan, your why. You lose focus when you spend all your time ago organizing over download. So instead of organizing over the download, focus on your ID listener, focus on your audience, focus on providing content that benefits the ideal podcast avatar and the downloads will come. So that's number three.

Instead of comparing yourself to others, focus on your audience

Number four is a difficult one because you want to know what's going on in the industry and you want to know what other people are doing. But as humans, we can't avoid comparing ourselves to others. I've heard many new partdast to say, oh, I want to be just like Joe rogan and have 10 million downloads and day or whatever that figure is. You are never going to be Joe Rogan. You can only be yourself, your audience, listen to your podcast because of you, your unique perspective. So instead of comparing yourself to other people's success, focus on the unique value that you bring to your audience. Share your

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story, share who you are as a person, as a podcaster and share your struggles and your victory. And people, the person and the audience that you're focused on because you should be focused on an audience your're a niche will your message will resonate with and it's for it's them who's going to bring you theards of podcasting. I remember, uh, Pat, Pat Flynn. I quote Pat Flynn a lot because he was one of my mentors when I first startedcasting 10 years ago. And one of the things he said, you know, people say like, I only have 100 people listening, reading, whatever, and he said, if you had a hundred people in a room and you were the speaker, you'd think you have a lot of people. I'm going to encourage you to pretend that. However, however the number of listeners you have on listening to your show, whatever the metrics say, no matter how small it is, focus on them, nurture them, nourish them, and you will see the reward. Because you're not in competition, you're not in competition with anyone. No one compete with you because you're unique and uh, your perspective is unique. I hope you get that.

Number five big mistakes aspiring pod caast make is forgetting that your show is a

Number five big mistakes aspiring pod caast make is forgetting that your show is a living, breathing entity. It is. Whether it's a hobby or a business, you have to remember that it's something viable, right? You have to think about the legal aspects, like copywriting. You have to think of, uh, making money or spending money. One, you're gonna be spending money with a podcast. It may be not a lot, but you're still spending money. And you, if you don't have the budget for it, then you got to figure out a way to make money to pay for those expenses if you want to keep your message going. So I encourage you to recognize that your podcast is an entity. The things you say, you have a responsibility that to make sure that what you say falls under legal construct and that you're not using people's material or content without authorization. So that's things you have to think about. Just treat it as a business, even if it's a hobby, because you're not in your living room knitting, you're on the Internet and people are listening to you. Um, so those are the things I want to, you know, put on the that that title is fre. Number five, forgetting. Don't forget that your show is a living, breathing entity. 

Number six, big mistake. And I made this mistake, but didn't even realize I had made a mistake. Owning your audience. Yes, you must promote your show on social media even before you start, even before you hit publish on the first episode. You will need to promote your show. Tell everybody, instead of talking about fishing or whatever, talk about your show and uh, do that promotion up frontt. But the most important thing you need to do even from day one, is to get your listeners email own your audience. Facebook isn't yours. Instagram is t yours. TikTok's not yours. You could have a million followers and, and each of those platforms, if you don't have access to them, you just don't have access to them. And any day they could say, well, um, we're not showing your stuff to anybody and it will happen. You'have a million people following your line and you post something and only five sees it because you're not in control of who sees yourself. But when you have an email list, you can have a better, better control. Your audience now is in control and if they want to listen to you, then that's good. That's good control

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for them to have. And that way you can develop and nurture your audience to a deeper, build deeper connection with your audience. Um, I have some more material that I've talking about email marketing for podcasters more. And I have a checklist, a free checklist that uh, I'm giving away that you could have so that you can start thinking about how to develop your own email list. If you have getest on your show, it's a great way to collect email email email addresses because they are going, you're going to communicate with them via email, I'm sure. And so that could be the start of your email list. I have spoken to so many people. I had 500 emails and I didn't even realize I had them because I've been interviewing all these people and talking to these people over the Internet and gathered all these email addresses. And so podcasting is a great way to build connection with people. And one of the best ways to build connection with your followers, your, your listeners, readers of your blog, and watchers of your videos on YouTube is to build that email list.

Number seven: You forget to enjoy the ride with your podcast

And number seven and final, um, mistakes that podcasts make thatirn podcasters, you forget to enjoy the ride. You know, I know when you get. When I get frustrated and you know, I have to do another episode, I'm tired, I'm overwhelmed. There's so much to do. I remember number one, I remember my why. And then it started to be fun again because I remember why I'm doing it. But I also enjoy podcasting so much that it's like a no brainer for me. I can't stop doing this thing. I just want to do it all the time. I want to start. I have four podcasts. I have another six in the works, right? And I could get up to today and start recording because I'm planning each. I'm planning each show. Every day I'm planning something for each show. Every day I get a different idea. So you have to learn to embrace where you are and what your mission is. What is your mission for your podcast? Remember that in number one, I talk about planning and determining your why. And in this number seven, I want to encourage you to enjoy the ride, even if it's not as much fun as you thought it would be. Maybe get on Facebook and get into a few groups and start to go back and forth with people and because sometimes, you know, you get caught up in your own littleor cocoon and it seems like it's difficult, it seems like it's overwhelming, and it seems like you're alone. You're not. Join some networking group, there are tons of them online. And just get out there and get yourself some exposure and hear other people's story, gain some perspective, and it will help you to keep your focus on your original message. I hope you enjoyed that this episode. I like to come up with these things because I realized that a lot of these things happen to me and I'm learning as I go along and it's helping me to help you. So if you like this, if this message resonates with you, I'd like subs. I'd like you to subscribe. I'd like you to follow this podcast. Drop me a line. My contact is below. Let me know what you're dealing with in podcasting. Ask me anything, I'll answer it. And don't forget my free guide. Start to Podcast now if you're still hesitating and starting that podcast, enjoy yourself and have a blessed day. Thank.

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