So You Want to Start a Podcast?

Hey there, wild ones—and welcome back to Wildly Unplug, the podcast where we trade burnout for beauty, hustle for healing, and discover ourselves again through nature, art, and adventure.

So… you’re thinking podcasting might be for you? Then I’m here to tell you—it IS.
If you feel the nudge, the whisper, the wild idea that you have something to say—follow that. The world needs your voice. Your stories. Your perspective. 

In this episode, I breakdown for you how to get started on your own podcasting journey! 

My personal notes that I have shared with people who have asked me how to get started: 

• Hosting Platform- https://www.buzzsprout.com/2278247. I like Buzzsprout because it is user-friendly, lets me upload transcripts, can create sound bites to use for social media, and has a monetization option. I used Podbean for the first podcast, and it is lackluster.
• Intro and Outro- Fivver.  I used Bearnie Baggs on Fivver. I shopped around and asked several creators if they could do the style I was looking for. I asked for a Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom style- all of them asked, "What is that?" and only one took the time to look it up and provide me with a sample I liked, so he is the one I went with. I also asked for the song that he used for the background with no voice on it- it was a little extra, but then I have the rights to that song to use in between clips or if I ever decide to change the intro verbiage, I can do that and still have the same song. 
• To find Guests- https://podcastguests.com/featured-guest/ 
• I use Google Drive under an email I made just for the podcast. I have an Excel style sheet (you will notice the name is in blue and underlined because I link it to the "script Google doc" with a checklist for each show to make sure I have done all the things and I also have a "script" for each show with a checklist, list of questions, and other info. Attached is a picture of my Excel checklist, and at the very end of this, I will have a link to the script so you can have visibility to your show.
• I schedule everything on Zoom and send the guest a Google Calendar invite through Zoom
• I save all my Zoom recordings on an external hard drive by the date 
• To edit, I use Final Cut Pro. This is nice because I can export audio for the podcast and video for YouTube
• ITranscribe to get the transcript 
• I use GoDaddy to host my website for my artwork and the show and blog ("field notes")
• Canva is handy for creating social media content- they also have a good section to help keep you "on brand" with your colors

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Transcript

 Welcome to wildly Unplug, sharing stories of nature conservation and creativity. Discover what develops when you unplug and step outdoors.

   📍 Welcome back Explorers to Wildly Unplug the podcast where we learn to heal from burnout and reconnect with nature through art and adventure. I'm your guide, Lauren, and today's episode is gonna be a little bit different. I've had several people ask me before how to start a podcast and I don't wanna gate keep, so I want to share with whoever needs to hear this information because.

Creating, running and producing your own podcast is a lot of balls to juggle, but once you get the hang of it, it is so rewarding. So you're thinking podcasting might be for you, and I'm here to tell you. If you're thinking it, then it is. It is absolutely for you. If you feel the nudge, the whisper, the wild idea that you have something to say, follow that voice.

The world needs to hear your voice, your stories, and your perspective. I was once told that I shouldn't do podcasting. It doesn't make sense for me to do them because I'm not an actor. But here's the thing, this isn't about acting. This is a hundred percent real. I've met so many people along this journey, and it is taking me to so many amazing places.

It is worth it even if no one ever even listens to this show. Because of this podcast, I've had the honor of connecting with incredible guests from Thailand, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, uk, Canada, and so much more. And I wouldn't have had those opportunities if I didn't have a podcast backing me. It's weird to be like, Hey, can I interview you?

But if it's, can I interview to be on this show and share your stories with the world, it's a little less weird. It's led me to some amazing opportunities, like I am an ambassador for Shark Guardian, and it gave me the confidence to write my first book after 60 episodes of Wildly Unplugged and having nearly every single guest tell me that this is so needed for the world and to keep spreading the message of slowing down and connecting with nature that I thought I had to put this in writing and make the information even more accessible to everyone.

So you're gonna wanna start with your why. Before you record anything, it is important to have a theme, something you can center your show around. For me, it's adults who have burnout and want to reconnect with nature. I explore this through art, like photography, painting and nature journaling and adventure, like hiking and scuba diving.

My goal is to help people realize that they're not alone and to show them. The other side of burnout can look like. I try to offer simple steps that feel doable based on your own lifestyle and abilities. There's no pressure, no perfection, just gentle, grounded encouragement. So start thinking about your why.

Why you want to do a show and what it's going to be themed around. Once you have your why, you're gonna want to lock in your title.  For me, I originally went with Wild Development Studio because it was the name of my creative business and my studio, and I noticed that people weren't really understanding what the show was about just from the name.

So I changed it to wildly unplug and everything started to change. The title was a little bit clear, the message was bolder, and my cover art stood out more my. Listenership doubled once I changed my name. So don't be afraid to evolve if something doesn't feel quite right. A strong title makes a huge difference.

And remember, you're in control of your show so you can play around. There's no right or wrong. What works for some person might not work for you and vice versa. So don't be afraid to play around. Once you have your theme and your title, you're gonna want to find a hosting platform. For me, I really like Buzz Sprout.

It's super friendly and it gives me options that support both the creative and logical sides of podcasting. What I like most about it is that I can, I. Upload full transcripts for accessibility. It gives me the option to create sound bites, to share on social media. There is the option to monetize built in, and the interface is just so simple to use.

I have tried Podbean before for a different show, and it worked just fine, but for me, buzz Sprout just feels like a more intuitive platform to be working on. You are also going to need an intro and an outro for your podcast. And it can be super simple, just your voice, or you can do something with some music and a voiceover.

So what I did is I went on to Fiverr and. I did a lot of research and looked up a  bunch of different voice actors and my top choices that were within my price point and fit the style that I was going with. I had a couple questions for them before I hired them, and there was only one that stood out from my questions.

I wanted somebody that could. Do a Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom feel old school safari, adventure type feel, and Bernie bags on Fiverr was the only creator that understood the theme that I was going for. He sent me a voiceover in music that felt nostalgic, exciting, and totally on brand. So I did end up paying a little bit extra for the rights to the music alone as well as.

The intro and outro that he recorded with the music and some extra sound effects. But I do highly recommend to pay the little bit extra for just the track alone because you might use it for other things. Like I created some ads separately and then when I got more comfortable behind the mic like I am right now, just talking by myself, then I went ahead and swapped out the intro and outro from Bernie bags who did a fabulous job. Might I add, but I added my own voice when my listeners got to know me. It just made a little bit more sense and it adds a little extra layer of authenticity and using the same music made everything a bit more cohesive.

Once you have the bones of your podcast down with your title, your theme, and your intro and outro, you're gonna need some guests. Maybe you don't. Maybe it's just gonna be you talking and that is perfectly fine too. I've done a couple episodes like that, and it's a little nerve wracking. I'm a little nerve wracked right now.

I definitely like for me, my favorite. Format of podcasting is a conversation back and forth. So I love interviewing guests and it definitely adds value for me as a podcaster, getting to network with all sorts of different people within my industry. But my point being, if you're looking to find guests, my favorite resource is podcast guests.com.

It's a great place to find people who want to be on shows.  You can browse guests by topic or you can even list yourself as someone who is being open to being interviewed. I, I found some really thoughtful, inspiring people on there who align with the message of this podcast. There's also a ton of podcasting groups on Facebook, but buyer beware on that one.

It's free. It's a free resource. Everybody has access to it, and you have hundreds of thousands of people on there. It can be a little hard to stand out. I would get a one sheet. Where you list what your podcast is all about and what you're looking for as far as a guest and some information about yourself as a host.

That helps you stand out a little bit more on some of those group sites. But you can submit requests for guests to be on your show. And you can also say that you would like to guest on other people's shows. 

Doing a guest swap where you're on somebody else's show and they're on your show, is a great way to get your podcasts out to similar listeners and to spread your message. It is so important to stay organized. I do that with Google Drive. I have a separate email just for my podcast, and I organize everything in a Google Drive and inside there I keep an Excel sheet, and for the Excel sheet I have a checklist for each episode, so I make sure that I have my guest.

Fill out a waiver and I make sure that I email them a list of questions that I've done my research on each guest, so I know a little bit about their background. I don't look too much into their background because I want my questions to come off as being very curious, and I don't wanna have all the answers when I go into an interview, so I get the basics on their website.

Without getting into too much detail. And I also keep track of, have I done my cover art for that episode? Did I pull out a quote that I wanna share on social media? Did I create a blog? So all the things I wanna keep track of, I do a checklist style Excel sheet. I also have a separate document for.

Each guest where I list all my questions, the show notes, any links to their website that I'm later gonna put into the show notes, and then you do some graphics and promo material for each guest. All that stays nicely organized in a Google Drive. It is color code, color coded, and helps me to stay on track and it's.

It's, I've been a lifesaver. That's all I can say about that. Google Drive is where it's at. 

A great way to organize your scheduling is through Zoom. Zoom's been a great resource. They have free options. It is limited to 45 minutes, so keep that in mind. At the 10 minute marker it will start counting down and then it will. Sign you off as soon as it hits that 45 minute mark. So I, when I was using the free version, I would let my guests know, Hey, if we get really chatty and it hangs up on us, know that is why.

And then we either pick back up on Zoom or we will finish out via a phone call or through email. I also send out an invite through Google Calendar, which is super great because it reminds them on their calendar that they have an interview and it will link the Zoom information so they can just click right from their calendar into the Zoom meeting.

After I record the video, I. I back up everything on an external hard drive, like I do not leave my room until that Zoom video is done uploading to my computer, and I save it on an external hard drive, and then I label it by the date and the guest name. This is so huge and so important because if I did not do that, I would've lost a lot of stuff, which I will talk about in a minute when we get to editing.

 I also have a scheduling calendar on GoDaddy, and it links right to my Zoom, and I prefer to schedule this way because it auto generates the Zoom link. And the guest is able to just pick from my scheduling calendar what works for them. And it's. A little bit easier on my end, but it has been glitchy in the past, so proceed with caution on that one.

Editing and transcribing. So I used to edit with Final Cut Pro and it's got a video editor and it also just extracted the audio too, which was great 'cause I could export the audio.  The MP three file for podcasts, and then I'd also take out the video version and use that for YouTube and upload both ways.

And then I would have to take my MP three file, go over to I transcribe and turn the audio into text. This took a lot of time to upload and to generate. I transcribe is a yearly fee  on top of the final cut Pro fees,  when I got back from my artist in residence in November, I was gone for a month. I had projects in Final Cut Pro. That were just completely wiped from the system. My intros, my outros, and there was one big project that I was working on at the end of every single episode I do, I asked the guest what is their top tip to tell someone how they can reconnect with nature.

And I was going to compile everybody's answers. And from my 100th episode, I was gonna get all 100 answers and just. Play that just for fun to see. 'cause there were common themes and it was really neat to see and how everybody's answers were the same, but different. And anyway. Months of that work, just poof, gone.

I don't know if there was a system update or what in the heck happened. Thankfully, like I said before, I had all my Zoom recordings backed up on my external hard drive, so I di I didn't lose any future guest episodes, like singular guest episodes, but those special additions completely gone.

So that prompted me to go to DS script, and when I tell you it saves me so much time and makes my life a million times easier. It just, it still would not do it justice. I would spend almost an entire day editing and processing and, cutting things together. D script. Literally I have it done within an hour.

It is worth every single penny and it's actually cheaper than if I did Final Cut Pro and  I transcribed together. So worth every single penny and it does video clips for social media for you. So highly recommend you can do Final Cut Pro and I transcribe, but. For me, there is just so many more options with D Script.

It's definitely made for podcasters, so I definitely recommend that.

For my branding and graphics, I use Canva, so it's super intuitive. It lets you create polished content quickly. You can save your brand colors, your fonts, your layouts, and it keeps everything looking super consistent. Hot tip. Put your face on your podcast cover. I used to be really camera shy and I would not, I think I added my face to one episode and I even then I was behind a camera.

So I found that adding my photo to my main cover help my audience to connect with me and know that I am a real person. My engagement went up when I changed my name. Of my podcast to wildly unplug. And when my face was on that cover, people really got the message and it was nice for them to see who's the person behind the voice.



Last but not least, equipment. Really all you need is a computer and a good mic. And that's about it. Don't overthink it too much. As long as your voice sounds good, you're golden. I use a sure microphone. It's the model version. MV seven plus, that's M as in Mike, and V as in Victor, seven, the number seven, and then the plus sign microphone. I tried Yeti for a while and for me it. It sounded too tinny and some other microphones would make a really loud pop sound when I would make a pee noise. So I found for me the sure microphone is what works best, and it does come with a windscreen to help mitigate some of the sound issues.

So that is about it in a nutshell as far as when it comes to podcasting. Now you just have to do it, and the more you think about it, the longer it's gonna take you to do it. You just have to jump in and start figuring it out as you go. And. If you need someone to talk to, I am here for you. You can email me.

My email is listed in the show notes. And if you're still thinking maybe I wanna try this, but you're still on the fence. I have an idea for you. Come be a guest on Wildly Unplugged. That's right. If you love nature, even if you're not sure that you love nature, we're all a part of nature and there is some sort of story within you that is wanting to come out.

So whether it's a hike that has challenged your perspective, a favorite animal, how you found peace by the ocean or in the woods, I'd love to have you on the show. No fancy gear is needed. Just a quiet room, zoom connection and your story. It is a low pressure way for you to dip your toe into the podcasting pool, and you never know where it might take you.

That is it for today, wild Ones. If you're curious about any of the tools or resources I mentioned, check my show notes. I've got links to buzzsprout Canva podcast guest.com,  all of my notes that you can use them to start your own podcasting journey. And if you're feeling the nudge to share your voice, follow it.



You don't have to be an actor or have the perfect studio set up. You just have to be you.



Using my own voice for my intro and outro was something that I had to grow into, and now I can't imagine it any other way. It's a reminder that this podcast is mine. It's real, and it's me and your podcast, if you choose to start, one can be fully you too. Until next time, get outside and see what develops.



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