Crisis Talks: 50 Episodes Later - What Podcasting Has Really Taught Us

50 episodes in… and we’ve actually learned a few things!

In this Crisis Talks episode of Midlife, No Crisis, we reflect on what it’s really like starting (and sticking with) a podcast — from chaotic beginnings to finding our rhythm.

What started as a spontaneous chat with zero plan has turned into something much bigger than we expected… and not just in terms of podcasting.

What We Talk About in This Episode

• How the podcast started (spoiler: no plan, no equipment, no clue)
• Why getting microphones was a total game changer
• Learning to actually prepare (a bit!) and structure conversations
• The reality of editing, tech, and behind-the-scenes work
• How we’ve improved our communication and stopped talking over each other
• Social media growth and unexpected viral moments
• What it feels like when people you know (and don’t know!) listen

💡 What We’ve Learned From 50 Episodes

• You don’t need to be perfect to start — just start
• Consistency matters more than polish
• Tech helps… but personality matters more
• Podcasting is more work than it looks (especially without a team!)
• You get more confident (and honest) over time
• Not everyone will like you — and that’s fine

❤️ The Unexpected Bit

One of the biggest surprises?
 This podcast has completely reinvigorated our friendship.

From occasional messages to proper weekly catch-ups, it’s brought back that feeling of actually talking — not just texting.

🌍 Listener Love

From friends and colleagues to unexpected listeners overseas — including Australia 🇦🇺 — this episode is a reminder that even small podcasts can build real connections.

🎯 Why Listen?

If you’ve ever thought about starting a podcast — or just love honest, relatable conversations about life, friendship, and midlife chaos — this episode gives you a real behind-the-scenes look.

Don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends.

Keep in touch, follow our socials or send an email to hellomidlife@icloud.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Hi. Hello, you're right. Fancy seeing you here. What a surprise.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

My poor dog. My poor dog's just run away because another party popper. Another party popper. If you haven't listened to our main episode this week, we're having a little 50th birthday celebration for our 50th episode. And uh in our 50th year. The party poppers didn't go down well with Bailey, sadly.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Oh no. Well, dogs don't like that kind of thing, do they?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

No.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

They're annoying anyway. They don't look like stuff everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Well, these are such shit party poppers, to be fair. They've they've quite contained it. It literally went poop.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Oh, that's right then.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

More pathetic, the better. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Oh, so we're on Crisis Talks, and we're going to talk about what we've learned from 50 episodes of Midlife No Crisis.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

I think we've probably learned quite a lot, really. I think we've actually think about it. I mean, the first one is absolutely shocking. So we're better than that. Have you listened to it recently? I listened to it, I can't remember when I listened to it now. I sent it to somebody is the podcast. I thought, I'm not sending them that one. And then I listened to it, I was like, oh no. It's like drunk ramblings in a pub. I know someone's recorded it.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

I kind of think that was the beauty of the first one, wasn't it? It we it was it was literally, we can do a podcast. Come on, let's go get the get the laptop. And we that's what we did, and we just recorded it in the kitchen with no equipment. No plan. No plan. Just chatting shit. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

And then and then I mean, if you think about it, we have like evolved, haven't we? Yeah. Like we did like picking subjects, obviously. We said we were gonna do that anyway, didn't we? We're gonna have to pick a subject so that we'd have to focus on something to talk about. Yeah, I mean, as it happens, we we don't really we do focus on something, but we do tend to ramble on a lot. Um I do think I like the the microphone was a game changer. Yes, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

When you listen to the first couple of episodes before we both bought our microphones, uh shocking, isn't it? It's a bit like yours last week when you forgot to plug it in. Oh yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

That reminded me.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

I know just makes you realise, doesn't it, how poor the sound is without it.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Yeah, and how good a microphone is.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

And we also like we also I think we just weren't prepared, were we? Um I think the first couple we did, like we both didn't really know where to go in our houses, and I sat in the room, I sat in the kitchen, yeah. All in everybody's bedroom. I know it was, yeah. And then we finally settled on our little places where we can shut ourselves away and just talk to each other for ages.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

I think even though it is just us two having a chat, we do put some effort into it. Yeah, we definitely do. Talk about it. We and and I do think it's like anything, you you need to plan it, don't you? Yeah. To a certain degree. So I do make some notes and we have our shared notes that I can't seem to work put properly, but but we have them.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

I like that that I'm like the technical director and podcasts.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

I absolutely do nothing.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Well, I don't I talk. No, you talk and you plan and you do all of that, but I I mean it is all the stuff that I really like doing because it's techie shit and I like playing with it.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

And I'm terrible at well, you're not terrible at it, but I am, I can't do it. You don't have to present. I don't mind. I know you are, you don't have to be.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Um, but yeah, I I I've really enjoyed learning how to do all of that. It's quite stressful sometimes, but I'm in a rhythm with it now that I can easily just like we record it and it's quite easy for me to edit for me to edit it all, and then it's done. And if we didn't do social media, to be fair, it would probably only take me 10 minutes, but because we do post a few bits on socials, it takes me longer to do all that. But I like what what we've learned technically about things.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

I yeah, I I well with me, I think it is like making the notes about triggers on what you're gonna say, which I never used to do.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Um and I don't know whether that's because I forget lots of things these days.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Or what, but yeah, I kind of learn it's it is like being organized. I think people just think that you we just ring each other up and have a chat and record it. And I like as we've evolved, it's we we understand each other and what don't we?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

And what you're gonna say and how to respond. And yeah, yeah, I th I think that's like we've learned, we've learned that.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Yeah. Yeah, we definitely have, and I think um, I suppose it's it's like I quite what I've learned is being a bit bolder and braver about what we say as well. Because I remember the first one we recorded, and we talked a lot about our teenage years, and we talked about smoking and drinking and all some of the trouble we got into. And and I panicked, like I had for I had anxiety about it for for a good couple of weeks after we posted that, and I actually had edited edited it quite strongly to take some of the stuff that I didn't like the most out, and then when I uploaded it, I uploaded the wrong version. I don't think I've ever told you guys. And I uploaded uploaded the unedited version so it had everything in it. Oh no, I didn't know that. Did you not? Because I think I'd edited a few bits.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I think it was you that was worried about it though. I wasn't too worried. I'm a bit like you I don't know. I think now if you're gonna do a podcast, you've got to put yourself out there, really. Yeah, and like we like we said, it not everyone's gonna like us.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

No, and that's fine, but we're not doing it for that, are we? And I think that's ultimately that we started it because we quite liked the idea of doing a podcast, but we didn't really know what that meant, or what we'd have to do, or like how much of a commitment it was, or anything like that. But I think the thing that's probably been the best bit of it for me, and I said this to you ages ago, is like it's kind of re-invented our friendship as well, hasn't it? Yeah, it has, yeah, yeah. With living so far away from each other, it's hard, isn't it? And it's hard staying. And we've probably talked about this on that friendship episode we did near the start. But this has given us we didn't need a reason, but it gives you a proper like something to base your conversations around. And we talk yeah virtually every day now, don't we? Which Yeah, we do, yeah, yeah. Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

And it's like the it's like the olden days where you used to ring each other at six o'clock, seven o'clock on a Saturday, Friday, whatever. Exactly. And and and it's kind of doing that again, isn't it? Yeah. Going back to like those days, it's like I can see a lovely face. I know. But it is it is like doing that though, isn't it? And you then you do because we used to do that, you'd have an hour-long phone call every week. Yeah. And then it just drops off. And do you know what when it dropped off was that when we all had mobile phones and WhatsApp and all of that? And then because you're WhatsApp in and you're messaging and you're doing that, you think you're keeping in touch with everybody, don't you? But it's not it's not the same. No, it's not the same. No, and you're right, doing this has been good for us, I think.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

And our other friends who don't listen to us, who could catch up on our life stories.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Do you know that's something else I think that's but which we've both said about the friends that listen to this, and it's not surprised me, but I guess I hadn't really thought about it, is that people who I don't see very often who are bumping to, like lovely Karen, who's done some messages for us in the past, like we said, oh, we must catch up for a cup of tea. And she said, Well, I feel like I know everything about you already because I listened to the podcast. And then, like, you know, you sort of you forget, don't you, that you what things that you've said, people get. And it's like, I forget. I've told someone that story on the podcast, and they're like looking at me going, I know this already about you because you've talked about it.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

I know, and people have asked me about like the holidays and stuff like that, and I'm like, Oh, but they've but they ask me things, and I think, how do how do you how do you know that? And then I remember, you're right. Oh shit, podcast, the podcast again. But yeah, and that's nice though, in some ways. Yeah, I quite like the fact that people do actually listen to it. I do as well, I do, and continue to listen to it, yeah. It's like um like Andy in Australia, he messaged and said, Oh, we listen to it, because he was laughing about um Olivia saying that the best part about Australia was the Witch Sunday's not visiting your uncle. I was like, Oh yeah, um standard, um, and then like James um James's tour guide sent me a video of them listening to it on their tour bus. Oh no, they had it blasting out to the tour, yeah. They had it blasting out. I don't know who these people are, what a shame. But not what a shame. Oh god, if that came out wrong, you know what I mean. Oh, it's listened to us on their on their tour of Australia. Um no, it was but it was the Olivia one, so I think that they might oh listen to this. And then yeah, it just makes you think, oh, these like these people are listening to us having these chats. Yeah. I like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah, and I like the fact that you know, I I love going to Pilates, which is uh as an aside, Holly's moving to Australia, so my Pilates class is going soon. We'll tackle that in another another episode because it's too sad. Um, but I do love going to Pilates and having like Jenny will come in and she'll go and she'll start a conversation with me from the podcast, and it's like she'll go something like with with Fre when she messaged me about the the Freya thing with the fake tan, just buy a black bedding. I just love that. I love that kind of interaction with people because it just makes it yeah, it just makes it nice to know that yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

I know, and I've got people saying, Oh, I love like putting like putting you on in the car and having it's like having a chat with your mates when I'm just driving to work and I'm like, oh, that's so nice, really. Yeah. Because that's what it was all supposed to be about, wasn't it? Really?

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Yeah, we're not gonna save any lives or break any records or make any if you say that we may we may still we may still I mean we are fundamentally wise, that's probably something we've learnt about ourselves in doing podcast, isn't it? How what just how incredibly wise we are. Um this advice. I think as well, how much you make me laugh as well, because that's something Sandra at parties always says. She says she's always making you laugh that Katie, isn't she?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Oh, see you do like laugh like belly laugh though, don't you? Like you always do that, and you and then you lose your, yeah, you're right, you lose your shit laughing, don't you?

SPEAKER_01 12:03

You always do that. The problem with that on a podcast, and you don't realise until you start editing something like that, is it goes silent because especially if we're both laughing, because we're both silent laughers when we're really laughing. And it can be like 10 seconds of silence, and I'm like, why is that? And then I realize it's quiet. We need to develop a podcast cackle and we laugh instead of going quiet.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Like that. Yeah, we'll just do that. Yeah, okay. So we'll both do that instead of going like we usually do, we'll laugh quietly. We'll just start going. Don't fake laugh. See, you're off again.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Honestly, me and Lottie have done this before where you try and make yourself laugh by fake laughing, and it is the funniest thing ever in the world.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

But that's the thing, people laughing go to laughing clubs or not laughing clubs, what are they? Yeah, I know. Maybe you've seen it on the tele.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's meant to be very good for stress, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Well, it is laughing. Laughing and crying. That's what that's why you should do things like this. Laugh with your friends.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah, definitely. It's good for the soul. It definitely is good for the soul, isn't it? I think that's possibly why we keep coming back and doing this podcast, because it feels quite it feels like it's a good thing in our lives, and even though it's like another thing to add to that never-ending to-do list that we've talked about, um it's a nice thing, and I wouldn't ever want to stop it because I think it just it's good. Even if we only have so many listeners.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

50 listeners. How many listeners?

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Regular listeners. I I would say a few, yeah. Yeah, I think we've got between about 35 and 40 semi-regulars. Um and then we have the the well, we have what turned out to be AI bots from Vietnam. Um was it an AI bot? Yeah, it was a big announcement on the on the host-in website that we use. Um, so they've stopped them. Which is sad really because they were giving us some good numbers. Um we don't care if it's an AI bot. AI bot, shme AI bot, it's listener numbers. Oh, they're friends with a few robots to be fair. I know. We had a robot in a um a meeting last week, anyway. That's another that's another issue. Um great without podcasting. No. Has has anyone listened to this that surprised you, like any of your friends or family that you didn't think would listen to it?

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Well, my mum and dad told me they listened to it.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

So they they are the secret listeners that we we couldn't identify.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

They that well, yeah, so well in Garden City that must be my mum and dad because they said, Oh yeah, I've listened to it. They they actually said last week, yeah. Um, who else listens? Well, obviously Andy in Australia. Hi Andy. Hi Andy. Hi. Uh yeah, I don't really know anybody. I don't know. Anyone else?

SPEAKER_01 15:04

No. I think work people surprise me because it's like I don't know really. I must I must be boring enough to listen to at work all day and then to listen to me outside. And then listen to it's a bit um punishment. Yes, a punishment. You will listen to me and come back and tell me all about it. Um I'll tell you what's been a bit of a like an eye-opener is the whole social media stuff because like um we started, God, whenever we started, was it September? It was September, wasn't it? Our first episode, and we just we weren't gonna do a lot of social media because you were a bit worried about it. I am yeah, and then so we had an Instagram page because you kind of needed it to promote stuff, and then because we had Instagram, we it l Facebook kind of comes with that, and then we started TikTok, and for m for ages, literally no one was looking at our posts, and then just all of a sudden, in the recent probably last two to three weeks, all our posts have suddenly dramatically gone up in terms of people who've watched them on all the platforms. On all of them, yeah. I mean, particularly TikTok, the last couple of episodes have been massive. And I think Olivia Olivia's episodes on TikTok, like the the clips on TikTok have been really popular. Oh I guess she's the right demographic, isn't she? Yeah, probably for TikTok. And the advice.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Yeah, it's maybe it is just the advice.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Yeah, maybe. But it and it's not just people watching, it's people interacting to if they like the video as well. And I mean, we literally had nothing on TikTok at uh in the early days, and now it's no regularly regular three to four hundred views and loads of likes, and and we've had a few viral bits on Insta and Facebook as well. And it and I mean I don't have enough time to really analyse it, but it always interests me what goes well and what doesn't go well, like what people interact with and what people don't interact with.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Can you even tell that though? I like can you I don't know some videos just do much better than others. That's weird though, isn't it? It we talk about all sorts of things.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

I know and it's always weird. I mean, that litter one of that was immense. Yeah, I know. And then the um the Olivia one's been really popular, the handbag one, to take a handbag or not take a handbag. I mean, like and then depends what strikes a cord with people, doesn't it though? Yeah, and then there was the one about holidays with kids on holidays that we got oh yeah, we got a troll on.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

A troll, yeah. Well, you know you've made it when you've got a troll. Well, you do, don't you? You do.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

But it's been nice, I've enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

I'm quite looking forward to someone slagging us off though.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

I know.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Are you? I want to get into like a a fight online with someone. Oh, you do, that's alright then. I didn't want you to get upset if somebody like slagged us off. Well, I I'm not very good at being criticised, but I don't mind it. I know that's what I mean, but I could not give a shit. No. Bring it on. I'd like honestly, I find it quite funny.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Well, I'm gonna have to hand them social media over to you when that happens, then.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Yeah, so you don't get upset.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

You're gonna have to get your head round it.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

I don't really want to get I'm not getting into a row with somebody, but I just would like to see what people say.

unknown 18:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Unless they're kind, they're probably just what you're looking at out of your window.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

I'm looking because I'm waiting for the the fam to come home and because the dog will go wild and oh I see.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Oh, and ruin the podcast. It'll ruin the podcast. That's another thing about podcasting. Get rid of your dog.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

I know he has I mean, editing the dog out is a regular occurrence for me. Editing my children out, I mean we've had a few a few husband interruptions, haven't we? It's like I need to get like an on-air sign for outside my door. Oh, check you out, that's fancy. We should do that. Yeah, definitely do that. That's polite as well. Yeah, we should do definitely. Um, but yeah, I think all in all, I've enjoyed it a lot more than I expected it, I expected to enjoy it. I've learned so much about just the technicalities of it, but also the the like having a conversation, which I know sounds ridiculous, but um talking. I really notice when we have people on, I really notice how much we talk over. Sorry, not we, because we don't really do it anymore, but other people talk over each other like when they're talking. Because that that's really hard to edit when that happens, but we don't tend to do that. I think we've got better at listening to each other and waiting till one starts.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yeah, you well, I'm always mindful that you might have to edit it out. Like if you um like if you look at some of the what the other podcasts, like the famous ones, and you do think they've got a whole team sorting all of this out, so they've got a whole team coming up with what they're gonna talk about, like giving them probably like prompts and cards, and then they edit it, like they have literally just gotta turn up, sit down, talk for half an hour and walk off. Yeah, and it's not like that, is it?

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Like it's different for us because we have got to come up with everything, and we're homegrown, we're probably homegrown, aren't we? I quite like that. I wouldn't necessarily want to be too slick because again, it's like that, it's not us, is it? Wouldn't be us if it wasn't slightly patchy and a few silences and the odds talking over each other and fate laughter, fate laughter anyway.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

No, we need to stop that. So when Hollywood get hold of us, we're just gonna say no.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Well, it depends how much we're talking.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Yeah. Oh, I don't know if I could cope with that though. Yeah, Hollywood money. You couldn't handle that. You couldn't that you couldn't handle it. You'd be it's it'd upset you. Why would it upset me? Because it would, because people might like to say not nasty things about us, and you won't be able to handle that. As long as I'm being paid enough, I wouldn't care. Right, fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

On that note, Hollywood, if you do if you do want to get in touch, get in touch, but you know, do it quick because we're gonna be like fighting the offers off soon. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

I just find this disgraceful to be honest. Don't worry. I'll even start switching to if if only I could switch to another brand. Ribina? Not the water. No. No. No. No, no. Maybe we'll uh maybe we'll can't even stand the winter whatever you call it. What is it? Wonderfuel. Winter fuel, I really call it, huh?

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Wonderfuel. Tea butter. That's what we need.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

We'll get some tea butter. Tea butter sponsors. Oh, tea butter. Oh. Need to get some of that on my face. I think I've had too much sun. I'm like looking at my face. I look like an old boot. You don't look like an old boot. I look like an old boot. Right, come on, it's time we went. It's it's right there.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Time to end. End time. Just in time for the dog to start barking.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Oh, right, okay. Right. Well, nice to speak to you again. 50th time. Celebrations. 51st time this will be, but yeah. 51st time.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Our 50th week, let's call it that. Yes.

unknown 22:34

Whoop, whoop.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Love it. Right, thank you. Love you. See you next week. Love you.