Season One Reflections: The Rules I Broke To Finally Launch My Podcast

What if the rules that are holding you back... are the very ones you need to break? In this season finale of You Are The Magic, host Christine DeHerrera shares what really made her podcast dream come to life—and why letting go of "best practices" was the first step to building momentum. If you’re a high-achieving entrepreneur, creative powerhouse, or storyteller with a vision you’ve been sitting on, this behind-the-scenes look at launching a podcast will leave you excited to take your next bold move.

Christine unpacks lessons learned about episode structure, tech tools (including Riverside, Buzzsprout, and ChatGPT), the importance of endings, and the creative magic that comes from simplifying your schedule to make space for the big project you’re ready to tackle. You'll also hear why building a supportive community and trusting the timing were necessary for sustainable success—and how letting go of “the right way” opened the door to momentum, clarity, and joy in the process.

🎧 Plus: Don’t miss her bonus tip on subtraction and the free guide, The Business Detox Playbook, to help you clear space and move forward with clarity. Season Two launches this summer, but this episode is the one to bookmark when you need a reminder that you can start before you’re ready—and that your message deserves to be heard.

Get The Business Detox Playbook here.

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Thank you for listening and just remember, you are the magic!

Chapters

• 0:03 Welcome to the Season Finale
• 0:55 Breaking Podcast Rules for Success
• 2:55 Behind the Scenes Podcast Lessons
• 6:42 The Power of Endings
• 8:28 Why Timing and Support Matter
• 9:38 Creating Space for New Beginnings

Transcript

Christine DeHerrera: 0:03

Welcome to You Are the Magic! I can't believe it, but we're at episode 14 and our season one finale, and today I want to share what I've learned and what I had to let go of to make it happen. If you've ever had a dream that kept sitting on the shelf, then this episode's for you, because it took me years to start this podcast and then only a few months to publish an entire season. So what changed? Well, that's what we're talking about today. Stick around, because I'm sharing some behind the scenes lessons I didn't expect, from podcast editing and tech experiments to the surprising power of endings, which is not that surprising. And I've got a bonus tip at the end for those of you building your own body of work, plus a few resources that helped me make this happen with a lot more ease and way less hustle. So let's start at the beginning, because what I thought I had to do to launch this podcast? It turned out to be one of the first things I had to let go of, and that's the rules.

Christine DeHerrera: 1:08

I didn't follow the rules. I guess this actually shouldn't have surprised me much, because, if I look back historically, I tend to do things my own way, but sometimes it's so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that someone outside us knows best, especially if they have a great podcast or have published hundreds of podcast episodes or are a famous podcast producer. And as someone who loves to dive deep into subjects and learn every nuance, of course I studied as much as humanly possible from the best podcasters on planet Earth. Every podcast guru says you need at least eight episodes recorded and ready to go before you go live, which makes so much logical sense. But every time I tried to do that I froze. I was overthinking, second guessing everything, even though I knew in my bones I really wanted to do this podcast. I did record almost all of season one's interviews and met with several podcast editors before I started, but it still wasn't coming together. So eventually I gave myself permission to start with the trailer, just the trailer. That choice to publish before I was ready changed the momentum. I always say that action creates clarity and that's exactly what happened. Once I started publishing episodes, everything began to unfold. It finally felt amazing! Now that I finished season one, I know I am able to record in advance for season two. But the only reason I can do that now is because I let myself off the hook of following the rules. Once I gave myself permission to start, I quickly discovered how much I didn’t know, which brings me to some of the biggest behind the scenes lessons I learned about actually podcasting.

Christine DeHerrera: 2:55

I didn't know what I didn't know. First I learned about episode structure. The best episodes had one clear idea. Before I got into momentum, I was trying too hard to include too many ideas, because I am a more is more person. I love more and I personally love a two-hour podcast episode, but that's for people who've been at this a while. Once I realized I was aiming for one clear idea, the entire process got 100x easier, and I think that this is something we can apply to all areas of our life, especially those of us that like depth and learning and don't mind complexity. But when we're starting something new, it's best to take the simpler way and build strength through repetition. This is something I remind my clients of all the time, but I forgot it myself for a hot minute. Luckily, I remembered.

Christine DeHerrera: 3:50

The second thing that I learned about podcasting was about the importance of trying a variety of tech. Of course, I also tried to apply the best practices to all the technology. Some of that actually worked out. I bought one mic and it's been fantastic. It was not the mic that was recommended in many of the courses I took, but it was the one that Tim Ferriss recommended and with like 900 episodes or so, I guess he knew what he was talking about, because it has been a great mic.

Christine DeHerrera: 4:21

For the recording itself. I've done GarageBand for solo episodes and Zoom for interviews. I do have a subscription to Riverside but I haven't recorded anything through that yet. And speaking of the software side, I learned to edit in three different tools Audacity, GarageBand and Riverside. Riverside is amazing. You can edit by text, listen back and make adjustments as needed and if you mess it all up you can just hit restore Highly recommend. Also on the software side, I followed the advice of friends who said to host on Buzzsprout, and they were definitely right. It's been seamless and really fun looking at all the stats.

Christine DeHerrera: 5:02

The third thing about podcasting is the audio itself. This was absolutely the case of I didn't know what I did not know. I work with an amazing editor, so I thought it would be as simple as sharing a link for the files. My misperception was that an episode gets edited, the end. But podcast editing is much more like book editing than I realized. There can be multiple edits that address different aspects of the work to ensure the listener experience feels intimate, clear and elevated. For example, there's a general content editing to erase false starts, extra long spaces, unnecessary tangents and the like. That's where I tell Tim hey, Tim, use this version instead. And I might have to do that three times. There's also the actual sound editing that provides the best audio quality possible.

Christine DeHerrera: 5:54

For the solo episodes this has been a pretty straightforward process, but for the interviews I felt an extra responsibility to the experts who generously agreed to share their wisdom on the show and on these episodes. I have given the beautifully edited file an additional pass, kind of like a final line edit in Booklandia and because I'm a nerd like that, I kind of love watching the file get smaller and smaller, one second at a time, just like watching the word count drop on a manuscript or an article, knowing that those tweaks make all the difference. So all of this experimentation has taught me so much. But it also meant that I was deeply immersed in the process and that's what made me reflect on something bigger– the importance of endings. Of course, having this level of involvement means I'm deeply in the process, from start to finish. This isn't a big podcast where the host just shows up and is ready to record and everyone else is taking care of everything, and that's why the power of endings became so important. Now, of course, I'm being silly because obviously, endings are something I believe is critical to success.

Christine DeHerrera: 7:01

I recorded an entire episode on this, so be sure to check out episode nine if you haven't. But I remember when I first set out on the podcast journey, it was just that–a forever journey. One that kept me stuck until I remembered hey, you need an ending, silly girl. And once I adapted the concept of seasons, everything changed for me. It gave me an on-ramp to get started and a clear off-ramp so I could pause, celebrate and reset. There's something really sacred about completing a creative cycle and in something like podcasting it would be easy to just go on forever.

Christine DeHerrera: 7:38

And this importance of creating this ending in a creative cycle is something we don't talk about enough. If you did listen to episode nine, you know that. I believe endings are an energetic portal. They help you create closure and honor what you've created. This season finale feels like that– exciting and complete, which means a time of rest will be following this, so I can start something new. We all love fresh and new. There's energy in new and also in endings. I'm glad I didn't deny myself the power of an ending with this podcast.

Christine DeHerrera: 8:12

So, with that energy of completion in mind, let's talk about timing and why I truly couldn't have done this podcast a few years ago. While I wanted to do this show for years, I discovered there was no way I could have launched and sustained a podcast even a couple of years ago. The timing wasn't right. The tools weren't there. I didn't have the support I needed. Enter AI. Between chat GPT and other tools, I was able to create show notes, generate ideas, brainstorm titles, and more in minutes instead of hours and hours and hours. This technology didn't replace me or my voice or my ideas. It's just allowing me to amplify it. And for season two, I'm taking that even further with a blog and more promotional materials.

Christine DeHerrera: 9:03

And last but not least, I didn't do this alone. I got into a community of new podcasters. We've cheered each other on, shared what works and what doesn't, and perhaps most important of all, we are in it together, and that makes a huge difference. We're not meant to build our dreams in isolation. The rugged individual is one of the biggest lies the West has ever told. Everyone needs people, and I'm so grateful for mine. With the right tools and the right support, I was finally ready to launch. But there's one more thing that made it possible, and that's what I didn't do. So here's the bonus tip I promised when I finally launched this podcast.

Christine DeHerrera: 9:43

I intentionally did less. Of course, my family, my health and my clients received my usual level of attention and energy, but in order to launch something as big as a podcast, I had to push pause on a few things. I did less on social media. I said no to attending live events and I forced myself to focus on learning how to podcast and not learning 50 other new things that were very exciting and fascinating. So that space, that subtraction, made room for something new. And if you have things in your business that you need to let go of, I've put together a free guide called the Business Detox Playbook. It walks you through what to let go of so you can move forward with clarity and momentum, and you can grab it at the link in the show notes.

Christine DeHerrera: 10:29

It's been a lot of fun on season one, I have had the time of my life. Season two is coming this summer and it's going to be even deeper, bolder and more boundary-pushing, but at this moment I'm celebrating this finish line. Thank you so much for being here. I love getting your notes and your texts and your DMs and your comments. It's so wonderful to hear what's landing for you. I appreciate it so much. Thank you for listening and, most of all, remember you are the magic.