Jasmine Star (00:00:13) - Welcome back to The Jasmine Star Show, a place where we talk about business. And today we are going to answer a question I've gotten often since I have started this podcast, which is is starting a podcast the best move for my business? Okay, I should probably back up a little bit and explain why I started my podcast. And the easiest answer here is just that I realized I was consuming more podcasts than I was any other type of content. Now, if we go back to 2018, I still, you know, I am a consumer of social media. I'm a consumer of media. But what I started realizing was I preferred long form content via audio because it allowed me to consume while doing other things like making dinner, doing my makeup, driving in the car. And I started realizing that if that was how I was consuming content, other people might want to consume it the same way. That was like the deep thinking in how I started doing podcast. But looking back at it, I wish I could have been a lot more strategic.

Jasmine Star (00:01:16) - And that's what I want to share with you today. So before we even move forward, I want you to just straight out tell you, believe it or not, the answer of whether or not you should start a podcast, it might not be right now. Is that surprising? I mean, so how do you know when it's the time to start a podcast? I'm going to fill you in on the questions and the framework that go into directly into deciding if making a podcast makes sense for your business. But back in 2019, when I go back to this, I was really intimidated with the idea of starting a podcast because I literally knew nothing. But we have the internet and I just started dabbling, I started researching, I started looking at what I might need and how I might be able to do it. And so myself and another team member, I said, I have this idea for a passion project and I call it a passion project because in addition to creating all different types of media, I wanted to make sure that this podcast felt like a creative space for me.

Jasmine Star (00:02:12) - What I didn't realize had been happening, and still happens to this day, is that when we create videos, it's very strategic, like there's a lot of time and effort that go into it. And what I wanted for this podcast to be audio and just feel like me, that it didn't have to be like a strategic thing. Which is why still to this day, at the time of this recording, we're not running ads. I want the space and the time and the bandwidth to say, I want to use this as a way to connect with people. I don't need it to be a money generator. At least I don't need it yet. At some point in the future that might change. But for now, what I want to do is a space to create and connect deeply with other people. And I love the fact that recording this podcast right now, it's just audio. I have a feeling it's going to change in the future, because what I've noticed in the last 3 or 4 years of creating a podcast is that it's really difficult for podcasts to pick up traction.

Jasmine Star (00:03:07) - It is one of the slowest moving marketing mechanisms of all time, like, even if you were to go to Stitcher or iTunes or Spotify and you're looking for something in particular, it's not like you could have a hashtag to search for even their search mechanisms on these platforms. They're not even all that great when it comes to particular topics. So I started realizing that a really powerful way for me to get the podcast to be noticed and expand would be to do it via video. Because YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, people are going to YouTube and they're searching for a variety of things, and YouTube allows podcasts to get discovered in ways that podcast alone can't do it. So you're going to see a big shift in how we're creating the podcast. I will be for all intentionality doing the vast majority of my podcast on audio and video. But for now, since I am making a podcast about podcasting, I wanted to do it without video. I wanted to go back to my very roots and say, for years I did it.

Jasmine Star (00:04:08) - Just me and a microphone for me in the beginning created a podcast with a project that started with less than $700. I didn't know what I was doing and then decided to launch it. And with this idea of launching, I said, I really want people to be a part of this process. So back at the end of 2019, it was just the start. It was just the start of 2020. This was just literally a couple months before I became a mom. I take on this project. You know, how life like you're like, oh, I'm busy. I should take on a project, right? And then you're like, I'm busy. I should take on a new project and have a kid. All these things y'all like. Lookit, looking back at this, it was this exciting, crazy new time. And it allowed me to step in and do something new. I had no idea the impact that this podcast would have on my business, but way more on my life. I am able to connect with you right now, and I am having a conversation as if we're sitting across from each other.

Jasmine Star (00:05:12) - Having lunch. That's amazing. That is such a gift that you and I are having this moment. That, my friends, is total power. You're choosing to spend time with me and I could not be more thankful for that. When we launched, there was a couple things we wanted to get in order. I didn't want it to feel like it was a chore. I didn't want to feel like I was beholden. So we just thought, what is the crappiest way to get this thing live? I had recorded, I believe, six episodes, six, seven episodes before we launch the podcast, but we debuted the podcast with four episodes, so we already had a couple saved up, just in case I needed time and bandwidth to record on the in-between. I was recording a lot of these as just like a state of my thought, my union's. I started inviting a lot of my friends to have these conversations and lo and behold, in less than five months, we crossed our first million downloads to the podcast and that was the most surprising thing to me ever.

Jasmine Star (00:06:16) - Now I want to end the story there. I want to be like, wow, like, look at this project. And this is what it's been amazing. And it's just continued to grow from there. And actually, I'm going to be very real and tell you it's been the opposite. It has been such a slugfest to grow the podcast. And yes, we could tell, oh, millions and millions of downloads, but there have been peaks and valleys of this podcast, and a lot of times I'm just going to start off, I actually am. My goal and vision is to share the ugly parts of starting a podcast. I want to share the ugly so that you know what you're getting into when it comes to creating for your business. I will, if given the opportunity, I would go back and create this podcast 100% of the time. However, just because I would recreate the podcast, I want to make sure that I'm also talking about the difficulties of the podcast. There are some weeks that creating this podcast, it takes us hours.

Jasmine Star (00:07:16) - Just recently the team and I worked on a podcast and this is a really bad example, but the total of us creating one podcast ended up being 11 hours. That's crazy. 11 hours for 43 minutes of content. No that's crazy. We have since really changed the way that we're approaching it, but that's just the truth of it. Do I think that that's the norm? Absolutely not. But there are times where you want to try new things and expand in new ways, and there's ways that you have to readjust what you're doing as you strategize in this business. I will also say that when we started off this podcast, it was a very strong bent on social media marketing and social media marketing has a really wide appeal to a lot of people. So we were seeing our download numbers, just saw people were sharing them a lot more. And since then I love social media marketing. But I realized that's not the only thing I want to talk about. I want to talk about building a business. I want to talk about being not just an entrepreneur.

Jasmine Star (00:08:12) - I want to share the journey of being a CEO. I want to talk about the mindset and the decisions that I'm making to really expand this business in new ways. Now, in the process of doing that, a lot of a listening audience is kind of like, hey, I came for the social media party and now you're serving up mindset and strategy. Is this where I want to be? And I get it. This podcast will not be for a lot of people, and I have made the decision starting at the top of 2023, that I want to create a podcast. For me, this is my creative outlet and I don't want to be popular. I don't even want attention as much as I want a brand extension. I don't need to be all things to everybody. I need to be someone. Actually, let me frame it this way I want to be something to someone. If you are that someone listening right now, thank you. It's you and me. And like a small, rowdy group of people who are out here trying to find ways to expand in massive ways.

Jasmine Star (00:09:19) - So now that you know the good, the bad and the ugly part of this podcast and you're still here, okay, I want to share with you the most simple steps to getting started. And I want to give you a secret. You don't have to be tech savvy, and you don't have to spend a lot of money. Now, before we dive into each step, I want to go over them. First is to identify your business goals. The second step is to understand your target audience. The third step is to assess your time and resources. In the fourth and final step is to make a decision. Now I'm breaking this down as simple as possible, but you really do see things in different ways as a result. So let's start with step number one identifying your business goals. I want you to visit your goals for the next three months and ask yourself if podcasting can help you achieve at least two of them. Now, the reason I'm going through this framework is like I'm literally created this framework.

Jasmine Star (00:10:12) - Work for the Jasmine of late 2019, right? Like this is everything I wish somebody would have told me before I started the podcast. It's like, hey, what are your goals for the next three months? Can a podcast help you achieve at least two of them? If not, probably this is not the right thing to prioritize at the moment. So let's break this down with an example. Let's say a wedding. Photographers three main business goals this quarter. Number one get galleries to clients within a two week time frame. Number two network with local wedding planners and vendors for potential collaborations and partnerships. And three increase brand visibility on social media. Now, if those are her top three priorities for the next three months, I would say that this isn't the time to start a podcast. Why? Well, podcasting is not going to help her get her galleries to her clients faster. Like, let's be real, it might actually take time away from that process. Podcasting probably won't help her build relationships with local wedding planners and vendors in her area.

Jasmine Star (00:11:11) - Like, yeah, it might help expand her networks outside of her area because podcasts don't have borders. But if her goal is local connections, you know, engaging with them on social media and going to in-person events that would work much more effectively and quicker in podcasting, you know, maybe it could have a small impact on increasing her brand awareness on social media, but not nearly as much as like showing her face or behind the scenes of her shoots or engaging on those platforms. Now, on the flip side, let's do another example. Let's say a yoga teacher is three main business goals this quarter are to diversify his income streams by hosting retreats and creating an online course. Or maybe he has a membership. His second goal this quarter is to build his reputation as a yoga expert and grow his audience in three have a resource to send to his students when they ask him questions outside of class time. Okay, now if those are his three priorities for the next three months, podcasting would be a really great use of his time.

Jasmine Star (00:12:10) - Why? Podcasting could definitely open doors to new income streams by expanding his audience beyond his hometown with people who are potentially interested in things that aren't related to his hometown retreats, courses, memberships and this helps him reach his goal of diversifying his income. Now, hosting a podcast can help him demonstrate his teaching style and knowledge, which will help him reach his goal of building his reputation as a yoga expert and growing his audience. And perhaps he could interview other people in the yoga field to position himself as an authority or as a peer of other people in that industry. Now, his podcast would also help him reach his third goal of creating a resource that answers his students questions, which saves him time and ensures consistent information. Okay, so you can probably guess that unlike the photographer, podcasting would definitely be a good use of time for this yoga instructor because it helps him reach all three of his current business goals. Cool. Now I want to pause here and I want to ask you according to your goals, would a podcast help you reach them? Yes or no? Now let's get to the second step.

Jasmine Star (00:13:19) - And that's to understand your target audience. Now, I know if you've been listening to this podcast, you get so sick and dang tired of hearing me talk about your ideal client. On the inside of Social Curator, we really drill down on an ideal client profile. Friends, I have to tell you, I will live and die with this belief. If we don't know who we're targeting, we will never attract them. And I understand we want to build the biggest business in the shortest amount of time. We want to have the highest revenue in the shortest amount of time, with the least amount of friction. And we have to think opposite of what we've been trained to. The more specific are offer becomes, the more in tune it will be with a person who is willing to buy in that moment. Okay, before you start a podcast, you should evaluate if it makes sense for your audience. Here's a couple of things that you can ask yourself to see. Hey, am I ready for this? Is my audience ready for this? Question number one? Is my audience currently listening to podcasts? If so, which podcast are they listening to? You know, how often are they listening to them? What makes that podcast interesting to them? Really put yourself in their shoes to understand their passion or non passion for podcasting.

Jasmine Star (00:14:34) - The second question you can ask yourself what are their interests or what are they struggling with? And can that be answered with an audio only platform? Maybe. Q&A is really great for me to extend my business here. Now the third question is how can podcasting help you connect and serve your audience better? Like, I want you to take at least five minutes. Answer those questions. It will help make it so much more clear if you should be starting a podcast at this time. Now let's go back to our wedding photographer and see. Hey, how can she answer these questions now? The reason why the team and I have been putting examples in here is because I've been getting DMs and sometimes. On our Customer Success team. People will ask follow up questions to the podcast. And even though I can't create examples for every industry, for every business owner, what I want to do is I want to use an example, and then I want you to find yourself within the example. What are the similarities? What are the differences? The goal in this podcast has always been, let's get to action.

Jasmine Star (00:15:31) - Can you start synthesizing yourself in my story or in the examples that we're using to say, oh, okay, I get it. Now I'm going to sharpen my learning curve. Okay, so if we go back to this wedding photographer and we're also going to do the example of the yoga teacher, right. We're saying positive affirmative. Where are you on the spectrum. So the wedding photographer would answer the first question, is my ideal audience currently listening to podcast? If so, which ones and how often? Now her target audience is brides within a 40 mile radius. If they're listening to podcast, it's probably not about wedding photography. Now, if she decided to become an educator in the wedding photography space, that would be another story. Hey, does that sound familiar? You know, it's like I was a wedding photographer and I started teaching other wedding photographers. In that regard, I think a podcast would have been great. A podcast teaching other wedding photographers would be much more in alignment than saying a bride listening to a podcast around wedding photography.

Jasmine Star (00:16:30) - But right now, local brides, they wouldn't find this wedding photographer by her podcasting, or at least not many of them. Now the second question what are their interests like the brides like? What are their interests in pain points that can be answered with an audio only platform like podcasting? Well, her ideal clients pain points is that that bride wants, like the details of her wedding day to be captured and wants a stress free experience. These needs and desires. I don't know if they're going to be really solved by explaining that all in a podcast to be much easier in an email, in a PDF, on a social media post. Now, the third question this wedding photographer ask yourself is how can podcasting help you connect and serve with this audience better? And this time podcast probably. Would it be serving her target audience at all? But maybe she could reevaluate this in the future as her business evolves. Now we're going to do the same thing with the yoga teacher to see how he would answer these questions.

Jasmine Star (00:17:23) - So he asked himself, is my ideal client currently listening to podcasts? Yes, his ideal client, which consists of people interested in learning more about yoga, listening to podcasts about mindfulness and meditation, and practicing. Now they're listening to the yoga Podcast and mindful moments, probably on a weekly basis. This is a good sign for him. Question two where do there interest in pain points that can be answered with my podcast? Well, their pain points are related to stress, lack of work life balance and this is amazing. He can absolutely be effective through audio only with discussions and guided sessions. Now the last question how can podcasting help me connect and serve this audience better? Okay, I think at this point you're probably sold. You know the yoga teacher, he needs a podcast. But anyway, he could serve and connect with his audience by building community and providing them with consistent episodes that feel like reliable resources. So the first step of this framework is to identify your business goals. The second is to consider your target audience, and the third is to assess your time and resources.

Jasmine Star (00:18:29) - And this is where I need to get very honest with you. And then you need to get honest with yourself and ask how much time you're willing to commit to creating the podcast. Now, again, the top two things you are sick of me hearing say is you must find an ideal client or customer. And number two, consistency. Friends. Everything you want is on the other side of consistency. If you want to run a marathon, being consistent, running a little bit every day is going to get you there. If you would like to learn how to bake the perfect soufflé, practicing with consistency is going to help you not have it fall when the time really matters. If you want to lose weight consistently, meal planning up in your protein and working out is going to get you there. Just like these things in life, consistency when it comes to podcasting is really important because this is where it really matters. And I want to be very clear, podcasting is the long game period. Like there's no hacks for it.

Jasmine Star (00:19:42) - Like the results for podcasting aren't immediate, and that's why we're spending time deciding if this is the right decision for you and your business. But for me, this show has been incredibly rewarding. I have deep connections with people I only know online, people who are sending me direct messages and Instagram and giving feedback on the show about things they really like, or things that they didn't find that pertinent in their business. I trust them now to. Speaking to the show. I feel like this has become a creative expression, and now I feel like I have a totally different community. Like, I understand that by making decisions to create different types of content on this show, I am pushing some people away. But when I am pushing some people away, talking about mindset and strategy and high level business things, it also means that I am drawing others closer. I'm doing one of two things with this podcast. I am either attracting you closer in my orbit or I'm repelling you. I only want to attract or repel, and this podcast is giving me the framework to do that.

Jasmine Star (00:20:50) - Also, I'm going to say it again, of all the projects that I have worked on for my personal brand, this podcast is called The Jasmine Star Show. It is an extension of my personal brand. Of all the things that I've ever done for my personal brand, the podcast has been the hardest and the slowest thing to grow. Now I know that there are strategy movies that I can deploy, and I do believe I want to start leveraging this in 2024. I'm not going to talk about what the strategies are because I haven't done them. I will give you a high level view of what you could do to expedite your growth on a podcast, is you could start running ads to your most popular podcast episodes on social media to see people who will click through. You can also have a way and a strategy to be a featured guest on other podcasts, so people become very aware of what your podcast is. You can also send emails to your audience around what that podcast is and be dropping. And so all of these are going to be opportunities.

Jasmine Star (00:21:55) - I just haven't had enough time in bandwidth, nor do I have the team size. I absolutely know that if we were to monetize the podcast, if we were to run ads, that that money would empower me to hire somebody on the team that would help us lift the load for the podcast. I do think that, you know, going into year five, you know, we're not quite there yet, but I think that that's going to be a really great time to reevaluate how much time, money and energy we've poured into the podcast and then asking ourselves, can we hire to get us where we want to go? And if we hire, where are we getting that money from? Right. And so all of that's coming, I want to be transparent with that. We have no plans of monetizing now, but it doesn't mean that it's not going to be in the future. However, if it does happen, it's because we want to expand in very different ways. We want to serve more people in better ways, and also find a way that it still remains a creative place of joy.

Jasmine Star (00:22:45) - Okay, going back, let's get back on track. I would plan go into creating a schedule and planning. Okay, so I would plan for podcasting on a weekly basis. I really, genuinely think that's where you're going to see a big difference. Your audience wants a level of consistency. And so if you are planning on podcasting on a weekly basis, I would probably plan 2 to 3 hours. If you keep your podcast simple. Now, there are some people who can go off the top of their head podcast for like 30 minutes and then write show notes and upload it and they can get it done in an hour, hour and a half. I'm not one of those people. I need a little bit more structure, so it's going to take me around 2 or 3 weeks and that's keeping it super simple. Number two, the second thing I want you to remember is I would schedule each episode to be aired around the same day of the week, like, you know, like shout out to your favorite TV show in the 90s.

Jasmine Star (00:23:39) - Do you guys remember TGIF like Urkel? Full House like they appeared every Friday without fail. And like, I was excited knowing when my favorite show was going to come on. Why? It was.

Jasmine Star (00:23:52) - Consistent.

Jasmine Star (00:23:53) - I want your show to be consistent. I want you to be the future Urkel. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I want you to be Uncle Jesse. Have mercy. Okay, y'all, do you guys get that reference? Come on, Uncle Jesse, who does not love John Stamos? I'm sorry. I know he's doing Greek yogurt commercials. I will forgive him because it's Uncle Jesse, y'all. Oh, okay. Anyway, getting back on track, another thing to remember is that you don't need. I don't care what anybody says. You don't need anything but your smartphone to start your podcast. Now, of course you can get fancy. You can totally do it. Please, please. But you can also do it on your smartphone. You can always plug your headphones in and record a podcast episode.

Jasmine Star (00:24:37) - Period. The end. And I also want you to remember that podcasting is a very popular space, especially now. But I also want to remind people that less than 10%, less than 10% of all podcasts on Apple have made it past episode ten. Okay, there are tens of thousands of podcasts. Less than 10% of all podcasts have made it past episode ten. And here's another. That of that 10% that makes it past ten episodes, only 10% of that 10% makes it past 100 episodes. Friends. Podcasting is for the consistent. You have the opportunity for the lion's share. If you simply decide not to be part of the 10%, and then decide again not to be part of the second 10%. So here are two questions I would consider about your time and your resources. Number one. Is this something I'm willing to commit to for at least a year? Question number two. Do I have 2 to 3 hours a week to commit to production? These questions right here. Simplest way to help you figure out if this is what you're ready to do.

Jasmine Star (00:26:01) - The fourth and final step to deciding if creating a podcast is right for your business is to make the decision. Okay, so considering what we've talked about so far, your business goals, target audience, your resources. Is podcasting the best use of your time right now? If yes, wonderful. Keep listening because we're going to go through a very simple framework to get you started without spending a lot of money. Now, if the time isn't right for you, that's totally okay. Good for you for admitting it. Congratulations on staying committed to your current goals. Congratulations on serving your audience in a way that works for you and them. Okay, so here is a very simple framework for getting started. Now here's the thing. This is the framework for getting started. You are going to optimize this and make this better over time. But I have to tell you the hardest step is the first step. So I want to get you through that first step okay. So the framework step number one is planning and conceptualizing.

Jasmine Star (00:26:54) - Step number two is creating your content strategy. Step number three is recording, editing and publishing. And step number four is promoting and repurposing your podcast. So let's break these down one by one. Why I want you to take an action baby. Step number one is planning and conceptualizing. In this step, you have to define your podcast purpose and decide the main objectives for your listeners. Answer these questions in the planning stage. Okay, here we go. Number one, what are 3 to 6 topics I'm going to cover on my podcast? Now? The reason I want you focusing on 3 to 6 topics is that it will prevent the overwhelm. Overwhelm will stop you from starting. I am trying to start you to starting. I don't even know if that made sense, but dang it sounded good, right? I want to start you to starting. Let's go. So question what 3 to 6 topics will I cover? When I started the podcast in 2018, my three main pillar contents social media strategies, marketing and business.

Jasmine Star (00:27:54) - And today there is been a shift. We are currently in the messy middle. My word of the year in 2023 was rebirth, and I really do feel like I'm in the process of figuring out who this new version of me is. I haven't stopped creating content because I don't know exactly who I am in this moment. I am creating content in the messy middle to show people how they can do the same. I don't think I need to have all the answers yet. I simply need to work and show how I am finding those answers. And when I do, it is not a matter of if. When I find the answer, I will share how it came to be. But because I am in the messy aka sucky middle of a redefining of who I am as an entrepreneur, CEO, the business structure and the team, I will continue. I will not stop now until I have clearly set a vision for the next version of my brand. I'm going to create shows I wish I had in my business earlier, and I am creating to simply find what people find the most interesting and what they want to learn from.

Jasmine Star (00:29:10) - Like side note y'all, when you share the podcast, it is a clear indication to me what you find interesting. We look at every single one of your shares on social media. We look at every single one of your podcast reviews. Friends, I am telling you, they make such a massive difference in guiding the show. But I say it at the end of every show. Send me an Instagram DM, tell me what you like about this podcast. Better yet, take a picture of where you're listening to the podcast because it really does empower other people to learn about the podcast. There it is. There it is. Okay, so I want to know what are your three content pillars like as you're writing these notes? Question number two to ask yourself to getting started is what will set my podcast apart from others in this niche. Now here's the thing. When you're asking yourself what's going to set it apart, you don't need to be magical. You just need to talk about whatever you want to talk about.

Jasmine Star (00:30:03) - From your perspective, that alone is enough to get started. Question number 3 a.m. I going to be writing an outline or a script to stay on track? Some people can have a loose outline and talk. That's my goal. I'm going to tell you guys that is like hashtag goals with a Z. No as goals, Goel z z goals. Look, I couldn't even spell it. I couldn't even spell that. Y'all. Goals. I want to be able to outline and free flow. Right now. I stick on a script closer than I free flow. And you're like, wait a minute, Jasmine. You kind of sound like a hot mess. I know, because I can insert myself within my script, but ideally I want to script less now. The more I've been able to do the podcast, the less scripting I have, which is great. That's the direction I'm going. But I'm sitting here telling you all. Four years into it. It has got me to this point. Now, if you're trying to figure out, hey, am I better outlining or with the script? I got good news.

Jasmine Star (00:31:00) - I recorded a podcast on how to write scripts or outlines and the difference between the two. That podcast is titled How to Become a Better Speaker and Communicator. I give the exact frameworks that I use for presentation. I use them exactly as I do for podcast. I'm going to link it in the show notes. I definitely think it'll be helpful. Okay. And then the next question is, am I going to be using intro or outro music? Okay, that's pretty basic. Do you want music or not? You can buy from a creator or you could simply, you know, Google Podcast music. Now what I don't want to happen is don't let steps like this. Where do I find music? I don't want anything that is unfamiliar because everything feels new, right? Nothing will be perfect when you start. You just need to start. And guess what? You can always change your music after you created those questions and you've listed those answers, I want you to move on to the next thing, which is to focus on your content strategy.

Jasmine Star (00:31:57) - Right? Because in the beginning, what we wanted was planning and conceptualization. I'm getting you to action. Now we're on your content strategy. Why? Because I want you taking action. Here are three smaller steps to take when you're thinking about your content strategy. The first step. The first step is just to brain dump an initial idea of ideas, right? Podcast episode ideas. Like when I started my podcast, I literally just wrote everything that I could possibly talk about, and I would recommend having a month's worth of episodes planned and written into your outline, or a script that is just going to take a lot of pressure off you as you move in the future as you write. Ideally, if you could stay 3 to 4 weeks in advance, ready and prepared. If you ever decide I want to go on vacation, or unfortunately, if you get sick, or if your child gets sick, or if there's a change of plans, you know that you have a cue ready for you and that really changes a lot of things.

Jasmine Star (00:32:53) - Like I mentioned before, when I started my podcast, we launched this podcast with four episodes at once, and I had about a month or a month and a half episodes already recorded because I didn't want to feel stressed out. Do you need to have them all batched and recorded? No. You need us to make the appropriate decisions that is going to help you make you feel the most confident. The second step when we're focusing on content strategy is once you have those episodes planned, I want you to line up any guests you want to bring on your show. Now, I would recommend starting with people you know and creating a pitch to ask them to be guests. Do you need to have guests in your show? Absolutely not. I decided that I wanted to have a mix of solo episodes, guest episodes, and if you've been around the block on the podcast, you've noticed that I have guest host episodes, so I have three types of episodes to help lift the load because I want to start creating the podcast on a regular basis twice a week.

Jasmine Star (00:33:50) - So you're going to see we're moving the needle. But I'm asking myself, how might I streamline my approach? You right now get to decide what is best and easy for you. The third step in creating your content strategy is to gather information from each guest, and then you could write out interview questions or discussion topics. And this is going to be really good, because it's going to make sure that you're prepared when it comes to writing your show notes. These are like the notes that go on your podcast. It's going to empower you to really have proper credit in your notes and optimize that show description. Now, depending on how fast do you work, researching a guest can take you anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. It depends how well you know that. Guest. Now, if you are just starting your podcast, I believe that a conversation for podcast is a lot easier than you trying to float an entire podcast for 20 or 40 or 60 minutes. So if you are planning on having a guest, be prepared so that the conversation flows effortlessly.

Jasmine Star (00:34:51) - Now that you have brain dumped right now that you've burned up your best episodes and you've lined up and prepared your guests, you can move on to step three, which is recording, editing, and publishing. Now, here's one thing I want you to remember. Y'all keep it simple. Just learn from my mistakes and keep it simple. Here are five steps within this step of recording, editing, and publishing. So what you're noticing is you're like Jasmine, you have a lot of steps, right? But what I'm trying to do is just break down the considerations with each sub point. And because I'm recording the audio, it's harder than if I were to create a PDF because you would see the main bullet point and some bullet points. Right now our main bullet point is recording, editing and publishing, and our sub bullet points is going to be keep it simple. And that sub point is going to be first step. Record your episode. You can record your episodes in the voice memo feature that comes on your phone.

Jasmine Star (00:35:43) - You can record them on zoom or you can get a mic if that's what you want to do. Step number two is to edit your podcast. I don't. Want this to intimidate you. We aren't aiming for perfection. I am telling you, if you decide to use music on your intro, you could record an intro and an outro with your music and you can record it once, and then you could use it for all of your episodes thereafter. And if you need help trying to figure out how do I get music and how do I add my voice, I'm telling you, there is a YouTube tutorial for this. There's millions of YouTube tutorials for this if you want to keep it as easy as possible. No music, simply start by saying welcome to my podcast. There you go. Remember action, action, action. When people are still worried about their mistakes and you are so worried about imperfections, I am telling you, the vast majority of my time, I will let my mistakes go on the podcast.

Jasmine Star (00:36:38) - Like I just don't care. I'm not trying to have a podcast where I sound like, you know, the most perfect auditory experience. I am just not. There are times that I have literally. I'm not even exaggerating. I have stopped this podcast. I think four times because I'm getting over a cold and I'm still coughing. So listen, am I going to cut out my flubs? No. Am I going to cut out me hacking into my microphone? Yes I am, so you get to decide. But imperfections are totally fine. The third step is to select a hosting platform, choose a podcast hosting service like Libsyn, Podbean or anchor and you could upload your audio files. And that's how you're going to distribute your podcast. So you're going to be uploading there. And then those places are going to push them out to like Stitcher, Apple, Spotify, things like that. You can research which is best for you. You can use recommendations. You can go with free ones. There's really not a right or wrong.

Jasmine Star (00:37:28) - The goal is don't get petrified. You can always switch at a later time. Make the best decision. Make a decision. Take action. Okay. The fourth step is to create cover art and write your podcast description. Again, I'm going to start with the basic stuff. You can change your podcast art. You can change your podcast description, you can DIY, or maybe you can have somebody else designed the cover art. I am going to tell you that when I designed my first podcast cover art, we literally just cut out my face. The first podcast had my face and my hand was cupping. My face was kind of like leaning over. We just clipped that out. We put that on a background and we added the text to Jasmine's star show. It was so simple, but it showed my face, it showed my title. I didn't want anything more like the saying goes, keep it simple. I would clearly show your show name like we want to make sure that people can see it very clearly.

Jasmine Star (00:38:25) - Less text is more when it comes to writing your podcast description, give like an overarching view. What you want to do is you want to basically help listeners know what are they expecting from your podcast? And hey, is this something I want to listen to more than anything? When you tell them why they should be listening, like results or transformations or the benefits, that's going to be a really good thing to include in the description. The fifth step is to submit to podcast directories. Now, I know this sounds very difficult. Most podcasting platforms like anchor Libsyn the one that I just said they want you to submit to podcast directory. So they're going to make it super easy when it comes to setting up. This is how you're going to get your podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast, all those others. All right, so after you've recorded, edited and publish your podcast, now it's time for step four. This is optional, but I'm telling you it is beneficial. This is the extra credit.

Jasmine Star (00:39:17) - This step is promoting and repurposing your podcast. Okay, so you've just spent a lot of time creating your podcast. Now it's time to share it with the world. And I want you to start with your warm audience, your warm audiences. This is people who are on your newsletter list, people who follow you on social media, friends, family. I like to share my podcast in my Instagram stories. I will occasionally also share them on Facebook stories. There's really no right or wrong way to do it other than social media. You can always have a spot on your podcast, like on your website, you can have a link to your podcast. I would suggest that you can email it out in newsletters now, because in the future, we're going to start really focusing on video and audio for the podcast. I want to use video clips as short form content for YouTube shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok, Pinterest story pins. Like we want to use this to create quote graphics. You know, we can have quotes pulled out, we can have small videos, we can clip them together.

Jasmine Star (00:40:19) - There's a lot of stuff that we can do with video, and that's why we're going to be extending our expansion for the podcast in that way, to get more eyes and ears on the show. And, you know, I just have to reiterate, this is a learning process. I'm in the middle of learning it. I am sharing what I am doing. I hope that it really helps you, but I want to go back to the core of it. It is okay to start small. In fact, I want you to. You don't need to do step four. You can create your podcast and not promote it. And just let it be until you start feeling really confident, and then you could push people to it. You can improve over time. Whenever you get feedback from listeners like Cherish it. People taking their time to give you feedback is really huge. So make sure and respond to their messages. And if you want to build a loyal audience, I strongly believe that being consistent helps you do that.

Jasmine Star (00:41:16) - So I want to review. We're going to start with the steps of deciding if a podcast is a good move for your business. The first step is to identify your business goals. The second step is to understand your target audience. The third step is to assess your time and resources. And the fourth step is to make the decision if you got there, awesome. Because then we went over a very simple step by step framework for starting your podcast, which is step number one, planning and conceptualization. Step number two, creating your content strategy. Step number three recording, editing and publishing. And step number four promoting and repurposing your podcast. Your action step after listening to this podcast is to make a decision. If a podcast is the right move for your business, and if you have started a podcast in the past and you were part of the 10% who didn't make it to episode ten, get recording. Pick up where you left off. It's totally okay. And if you are part of the 10% who got past episode ten but didn't make it to episode 100 friends, no better time than today.

Jasmine Star (00:42:29) - The world is waiting to hear from your perspective. Your business deserves more time, energy, and attention. More than anything, you can extend your purpose. The reason why you are placed on this beautiful earth by way of getting into people's ears and having a conversation. For those of you who have listened to this podcast, I set it in the middle of the show, but I ended the same way. If you enjoy this podcast, would you be so kind to leave a review? And if you have ever tried podcasting in the past, you know how difficult it is to get a review. Y'all, your reviews make a difference. 30s of your time will empower us to make 30 degree changes in this podcast, serve you more, produce better, get better guests and along the way, build a powerful team here to serve and empower you. If you would like to tag me in stories to show me where you're listening to the podcast, you can find me at Jasmine Star on all social platforms. And if you want to send me a personal message, you know how I do Instagram at Jasmine Star.

Jasmine Star (00:43:29) - I look forward to responding and connecting with you in real time, baby. Let's go! Thank you for listening to the Jasmine Star Show.