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How to Run a Successful Podcast Without a Team · Abbey the Podcast Lady

• 0:05
  If you're in the trenches of starting a podcast
• 0:07
  and building it all yourself and you're feeling
• 0:10
  a little overwhelmed Okay, no a lot overwhelmed.
• 0:13
  This is the podcast for you. Hey, welcome to
• 0:16
  another episode of Abby the podcast lady It's
• 0:18
  just you and me hanging out this week on the
• 0:20
  show talking about solo Podcasting now. I'm not
• 0:24
  just talking about like you sitting down and
• 0:27
  not having a guest on your show I'm talking about
• 0:29
  you being everything for your show the editor,
• 0:33
  the host, the marketer, the scheduler, everything.
• 0:36
  You're doing this on your own. And if you're
• 0:39
  overwhelmed, don't worry, you're not alone. Honestly,
• 0:42
  a lot of us have been there too. I'd say most
• 0:44
  podcasters have been there too. A lot of us are
• 0:47
  just doing it on their own. That's how I started
• 0:49
  out. When I started my first show, it was just
• 0:51
  me and a microphone and a Zoom PodTrack P4 recorder.
• 0:56
  and a dream. I was handling absolutely everything
• 0:59
  but that's the trial by fire I needed to run
• 1:02
  my production business successfully. Now you
• 1:05
  might not be in the market to start a full -blown
• 1:07
  podcast production business, but you're still
• 1:09
  trying to navigate what it takes to be a solo
• 1:12
  podcaster. And that is what we are going to talk
• 1:14
  about today. We are going to set you up for success
• 1:16
  being a solo podcaster because a lot of people
• 1:19
  fail. And I don't want you to be one of those
• 1:22
  people that fail and become part of the statistics
• 1:24
  that we hear of everyone starts a podcast, then
• 1:26
  quits. Not you. Not you because you're going
• 1:29
  to have a solo podcaster survival guide to go
• 1:32
  off of to set you up for success in the long
• 1:34
  -term. That was a lot of S's. going to go through
• 1:37
  today on Abby the podcast lady is why solo podcasting
• 1:41
  isn't a disadvantage. It might actually be an
• 1:44
  advantage for you. We're going to talk about
• 1:45
  simplifying your workflow. We're going to even
• 1:47
  give you some monetization tips for you and your
• 1:50
  team of one or maybe team of two if your dog
• 1:53
  is sleeping next to you like mine is while you
• 1:55
  create your podcast. And we're going to be talking
• 1:57
  about how to grow your show without burning out.
• 2:00
  Hopefully. I mean, I can't make any promises.
• 2:02
  Your burnout level is different than everyone
• 2:04
  else's on the planet. We all experience burnout
• 2:06
  at some point, but we're gonna do our best to
• 2:09
  avoid burning out if we can. So let's get into
• 2:12
  it. I wanna start with the core truth of solo
• 2:15
  podcasting. I want you to reframe your brain
• 2:18
  and think about it this way. You don't need to
• 2:20
  do everything. You just need to do the right
• 2:23
  things and do them intentionally with purpose.
• 2:27
  You got it? You don't need to do everything.
• 2:29
  You need to do the right things and do them intentionally.
• 2:33
  with purpose. That is what it is all about. Don't
• 2:37
  do the things that are going to not move the
• 2:39
  needle in the right direction anyway. We're going
• 2:41
  to focus on doing things that are actually helpful
• 2:43
  for you in the long term so you don't feel extremely
• 2:46
  overwhelmed. So the first thing I want to do
• 2:49
  is do a little myth busting. We're going to harken
• 2:51
  back to the early 2000s. Remember the myth busters?
• 2:54
  So I want to clear one thing up. You do not need
• 2:57
  a team to run a successful podcast. Now you might
• 3:00
  be thinking, what? Abby, you run a podcast production
• 3:04
  business. Your whole livelihood is based on being
• 3:07
  people's team for their successful podcasts.
• 3:10
  Why are you telling me that I don't need that
• 3:13
  when that is what you sell? And here's the thing,
• 3:16
  some people need it, some people don't. That's
• 3:19
  just what it boils down to. It all kind of comes
• 3:21
  down to like, what are you actually interested
• 3:23
  in? Are you interested in just being the face
• 3:26
  of your podcast and the voice of your podcast
• 3:29
  and having the conversations with people and
• 3:31
  having what I call the fun part of having a podcast,
• 3:34
  which is talking to the camera with a microphone
• 3:37
  and having engaging conversations? Is that what
• 3:39
  you're in it for? Or do you actually get a little
• 3:42
  bit of enjoyment out of doing the editing and
• 3:44
  cleaning things up and scheduling out content
• 3:46
  and making social media elements and writing
• 3:48
  blogs and emails? Does that light any sort of
• 3:51
  fire inside of you? Because if it does, then
• 3:54
  you don't need a full -blown production team.
• 3:55
  You can do that yourself if you're getting joy
• 3:57
  from it. It's all about what you actually want
• 4:00
  to do and how you actually want to use your time
• 4:02
  when it comes to your podcast and how you're
• 4:04
  using your podcast. So just something to think
• 4:07
  about with that. You don't need a full -blown
• 4:10
  production team to have a successful show. It
• 4:12
  can just be you. If you have the capacity and
• 4:15
  the desire to take it on, you are more than fine
• 4:18
  doing a solo podcast and doing all of the work
• 4:22
  behind it as well. Just think about what is actually
• 4:24
  bringing you joy and what parts of the process
• 4:26
  that if you could outsource it, would you? That's
• 4:29
  when you would hire a podcast producer to come
• 4:32
  in and shake things up and help out a little
• 4:34
  bit. So just a little food for thought, a little
• 4:36
  myth busting to get the show started today. So
• 4:40
  I want to get into a workflow that is actually
• 4:42
  helpful and a workflow that works for lack of
• 4:45
  a better term. So what is your current podcast
• 4:48
  production workflow look like? Are you setting
• 4:51
  up interviews with people? Are you recording
• 4:53
  your show on your own? And then what does it
• 4:55
  look like after you're done recording? So you
• 4:57
  have your finished audio or video file. Where
• 4:59
  does it go from there? Are you taking it into
• 5:02
  specific software? How many different softwares
• 5:04
  are you taking it into? I know personally, it
• 5:06
  depends on the show that I'm producing for someone,
• 5:09
  but like currently I'm recording in the Riverside
• 5:12
  online recording platform, but I touch things
• 5:15
  like Descript and ChatGPT and CapCut and sometimes
• 5:20
  OpusClip and I'm looking for b -roll video on
• 5:23
  Pixabee and there's so many... other softwares.
• 5:26
  Like I was doing my taxes recently and I'm like,
• 5:29
  wow, I pay for a lot of subscriptions to different
• 5:30
  places. But your workflow needs to make sense
• 5:33
  for you and work for you as well. There are so
• 5:37
  many AI tools these days to make podcasting so
• 5:41
  much easier. And you don't necessarily need to
• 5:44
  outsource tasks to different people. You can
• 5:47
  kind of outsource them to different robots or
• 5:49
  different subscription services based on what
• 5:51
  you're needing done. So that's definitely something
• 5:53
  to think about. Like I love Descript as a tool
• 5:56
  for chopping things up and I think they make
• 5:58
  the best like AI clips, for lack of a better
• 6:02
  term. It's not AI, it's just chunks of like your
• 6:05
  show that's you talking and then you can add
• 6:08
  captions to it. I think it's really easy. I think
• 6:10
  they just pull the best ones like for options.
• 6:12
  I don't think they have the cutest captions.
• 6:14
  I think actually CapCut has better captions for
• 6:17
  it. Like stylistically, I think they look better.
• 6:19
  You can get transcripts made from places like
• 6:21
  Riverside and Descript. There's different things
• 6:24
  you can do to outsource and make things easier.
• 6:27
  You just got to find the right tool for the job.
• 6:29
  So make a list of things that you would like
• 6:31
  to outsource and then try to find a tool that
• 6:34
  can do it for you instead of having to hire a
• 6:36
  full -blown person. Like you don't need to do
• 6:38
  everything manually when you're editing. There's
• 6:41
  ways around this. I also want you to think about
• 6:44
  your workflow from a place of how are you actually
• 6:48
  recording your content? Are you doing it on the
• 6:50
  fly? Like right now, I am in the middle of batching
• 6:53
  content for a couple of weeks. So I just got
• 6:56
  done with a interview based podcast where I found
• 6:59
  a guest on pod match dot com, which is another
• 7:02
  great tool, by the way, for finding guests. Sign
• 7:04
  up for pod match. So I just got done with that.
• 7:07
  Now I'm recording up a couple of solo episodes.
• 7:09
  So I have them ready to go when I get a block
• 7:12
  of time that is good to go for editing on my
• 7:14
  calendar. I'll have these sitting there waiting
• 7:17
  for me to go. So I'm not panicking and going,
• 7:19
  oh my gosh, I need a podcast episode for tomorrow.
• 7:21
  And I don't even have anything recorded. Like,
• 7:23
  no, batch your content. Do it all in one fatal
• 7:27
  swoop. So you only have to get ready once. You
• 7:28
  only have to get on camera once. You'll have
• 7:30
  to set everything up once. It's all just readily
• 7:32
  done for you. So then you're working smarter
• 7:35
  in your workflow that way. Batch your content.
• 7:38
  If you take one thing from this podcast, let
• 7:40
  it be to batch your content. And then another
• 7:43
  thing I want you to think about when it comes
• 7:45
  to your workflow is keeping things as simple
• 7:48
  as you can. The more cameras, the more lights,
• 7:51
  the more cables, the more more that you have,
• 7:53
  the more complicated it is and the more you're
• 7:55
  going to feel overwhelmed by it. Right now, my
• 7:58
  setup is my Rode PodMic USB. It just simply plugs
• 8:02
  right into my laptop. I do have an external camera
• 8:06
  that I'm using as a webcam. I'm using my extra
• 8:09
  Muse gimbal camera that I got off the TikTok
• 8:11
  shop just for a little bit better quality than
• 8:14
  just the camera that's built into my MacBook
• 8:16
  Pro. But it's a super simple setup. Like it is
• 8:20
  just that. And then I have a green screen behind
• 8:22
  me and I'm not even using like an actual light
• 8:26
  that I would use for my clients. I'm just using
• 8:29
  a lamp where I took the lampshade off. Like it's
• 8:31
  ridiculous what I'm using as a setup, but it's
• 8:34
  simple and it's easy and I can put it up really
• 8:37
  quick. I can tear it down really quick. I don't
• 8:39
  feel overwhelmed by it. On the opposite end of
• 8:42
  the spectrum, I had a recording with a client
• 8:44
  this week where it was four soft box lights,
• 8:48
  three. XLR mics, my entire Rodecaster, I had
• 8:52
  three cameras set up. Like it's a lot, but that's
• 8:57
  the level of production quality that they're
• 8:59
  wanting from me. And so that's what I provide.
• 9:00
  But for my own self, like I just do what I can
• 9:03
  handle on my own and USB mic, camera, laptop,
• 9:07
  lamp, ready to rock. It can be as simple as you
• 9:11
  need it to be and still be effective at the same
• 9:13
  time. So now that we've thought about our workflow
• 9:15
  and thought about things that we can take away
• 9:17
  from it or maybe even add to it to make our life
• 9:20
  easier, I want to talk about some monetization
• 9:22
  strategies for solo podcasting. This is a question
• 9:26
  I get all the time. It's usually like when people
• 9:29
  contact me and they're like, I want to start
• 9:30
  a podcast. And I'm like, great, what's your idea?
• 9:33
  They tell me their idea. And then the first question
• 9:34
  they ask is, how do I make money from it? It's
• 9:37
  the question everyone's asking. It's the tail
• 9:39
  is all this time in podcasting. I just want to
• 9:43
  touch on some monetization strategies that are
• 9:45
  easy and attainable because I feel like everyone's
• 9:47
  like, oh, I need to get a thousand downloads
• 9:49
  or 10 ,000 or whatever that threshold is to get
• 9:52
  the me on these ad. And that's really not that
• 9:55
  effective. And I've done episodes on that before.
• 9:58
  Go listen to my episode with Jeff Revia from
• 10:01
  I think it was last week. Maybe it was a week
• 10:02
  before that. Something like that. Jeff Revia
• 10:04
  talking about live podcasting because that is
• 10:07
  not a way to monetize. Okay, tangent over. What
• 10:10
  we are talking about is monetization strategies,
• 10:13
  simple monetization strategies for a solo podcast.
• 10:16
  You're already doing it all. It is basically
• 10:18
  a full -time job just trying to keep the podcast
• 10:20
  going. Now you're thinking, how do I make money
• 10:22
  from this? So I just want you to know that you
• 10:25
  do not need a massive audience and you don't
• 10:27
  need to be burning the midnight oil to make money
• 10:30
  from your show. What you need is trust, relevance,
• 10:34
  and clarity. Those three things trust relevance
• 10:37
  and clarity and super serve your audience with
• 10:40
  that trust relevance and clarity There's some
• 10:43
  super easy ways to go about that now your podcast
• 10:45
  is building that trust for you Your topics are
• 10:47
  relevant and you're being really clear about
• 10:49
  your goals your expertise your intentions all
• 10:52
  that sort of stuff Well, you can sneak in things
• 10:54
  like affiliate links like Hey, the camera I'm
• 10:57
  using right now, the extra muse. I got an affiliate
• 11:00
  link for that on my TikTok shop. So when you're
• 11:02
  done listening to this podcast episode, go find
• 11:04
  me on TikTok and get yourself an extra muse camera.
• 11:07
  If you like the quality that it's pumping out
• 11:09
  from my podcast and you're looking for a camera
• 11:11
  yourself. Awesome. Great affiliate link there.
• 11:14
  If you like the way my microphone sounds, I have
• 11:15
  an affiliate link for this Rode PodMic USB. It
• 11:18
  is on my website. It is on my link tree. Like
• 11:22
  there's a bunch of different places that you
• 11:23
  can get it. I've actually made a pretty decent
• 11:26
  chunk of change from affiliate links and I don't
• 11:28
  even like push them very hard. Like I don't even
• 11:31
  think about it. I've just thrown the links in
• 11:33
  a couple places and it generates me a couple
• 11:35
  hundred bucks every year. Now that's not a lot.
• 11:38
  barely covers one cell phone bill a month. But
• 11:42
  it's better than nothing. If I was pushing it
• 11:44
  harder, I'd probably get a lot more traction
• 11:46
  with it. But it's just an easy way like, hey,
• 11:48
  here are my affiliate links, throw them down
• 11:50
  in your YouTube notes, throw them in your show
• 11:52
  notes. It's an easy way to monetize your podcast
• 11:55
  because people are coming to you and they're
• 11:56
  like, well, if they like it, I probably will
• 11:59
  like it, too. Maybe I'll buy it and check it
• 12:00
  out. Another easy way to generate some income
• 12:03
  while you're solo podcasting and trying to get
• 12:05
  everything done all at once. is listener -supported
• 12:08
  private feeds. So those are things like Patreon.
• 12:12
  Or I think Buy Me Coffee is one of those as well.
• 12:14
  Or there's a paywall on Apple podcasts. It's
• 12:16
  those extra things where people can get early
• 12:18
  access or special access or special shows. Set
• 12:21
  up a Patreon. Who knows if people... love you
• 12:24
  and trust you and they want to hear more from
• 12:26
  you and you're adding some value on that platform,
• 12:28
  they might throw you five bucks a month. Heck,
• 12:30
  you might even be surprised and someone will
• 12:31
  throw you 50 bucks a month. Set those things
• 12:34
  up. They're pretty easy to maintain. It's, yes,
• 12:37
  posting in another place, but you're already
• 12:38
  making the content anyway, so you can just drag
• 12:41
  it over and put it on a place like Patreon and
• 12:44
  make a couple extra bucks that way. Super easy.
• 12:46
  And then a third one I want you to think about
• 12:49
  is strategic sponsorships. Now this one is gonna
• 12:52
  take a little bit more time. And I know that's
• 12:55
  not the point of this is we're trying to cut
• 12:57
  back on the time we're spending. We're trying
• 12:58
  to make solo podcasting easy. But if you are
• 13:01
  building that really like tight audience, they
• 13:04
  really trust you. And there's a brand that aligns
• 13:07
  with what you're trying to do. and they believe
• 13:09
  in you as well, they might be willing to sponsor
• 13:11
  your show. So think about those brands that you're
• 13:13
  personally really aligned with and reach out
• 13:15
  to them and say, Hey, I have the show. I think
• 13:18
  we're really aligned. I like what you stand for.
• 13:20
  Hopefully you like what I stand for. And maybe
• 13:21
  we can do some sort of strategic partnership
• 13:23
  on this for X amount of dollars or maybe you're
• 13:27
  willing to trade product or willing to trade
• 13:28
  services. That does take more time. It takes
• 13:31
  more energy. It takes more emailing back and
• 13:33
  forth. It takes visiting them in person if they're
• 13:35
  local, but it's one that could potentially pay
• 13:38
  off in a big way. So just something to think
• 13:40
  about. And like we've talked about before, not
• 13:42
  all of this needs to get done right now. If it's
• 13:45
  not working for you, push it off your plate for
• 13:47
  now. You can always add it back later. What this
• 13:49
  is all about, we're just trying to survive and
• 13:51
  get you back to feeling good about making that
• 13:53
  solo podcast. Now, to kind of wrap things up
• 13:56
  here, get close to wrapping things up, I want
• 13:58
  to talk about burnout. And in the podcasting
• 14:01
  industry, they've been calling this pod fade
• 14:04
  lately. And I know a lot of people are given
• 14:06
  the ick by that term. I think it makes sense.
• 14:09
  I understand why people are like, pod fade, let's
• 14:12
  stop using that. But also like, who cares? So
• 14:15
  there are statistics about how people quit making
• 14:17
  their show after like episode three, because
• 14:20
  it just It's too much work, especially when people
• 14:22
  start out solo and they don't have help to get
• 14:25
  everything done. They realize how much work goes
• 14:26
  into making a podcast. They give it three episodes
• 14:29
  and they're like, I think that's enough. And
• 14:31
  then they get to episode seven and they're like,
• 14:32
  I made it this far, but God, that was, I really
• 14:35
  had to power through. It just wasn't worth it.
• 14:37
  I'm quitting after episode seven. And then I
• 14:39
  think that next threshold, like episode 20 and
• 14:42
  everyone's like, okay, I did this for almost
• 14:44
  half a year. I just, I can't do this anymore.
• 14:46
  And people quit. And that's the thing. And I
• 14:48
  want you to know that burning out happens. I
• 14:51
  burnt out on my own podcast, The Small Town Tourist,
• 14:54
  the show that I originally started podcasting
• 14:57
  with. There has not been a new episode of that
• 14:59
  in over a year at this point. And when there
• 15:03
  were episodes coming out, they were not coming
• 15:05
  out consistently in any way, shape or form. The
• 15:08
  first year was really good. I was really dedicated
• 15:10
  to it. And then I just got too busy. I started
• 15:13
  my own business. I got busy with life and I burnt
• 15:17
  out on making The Small Town Tourist. Would I
• 15:19
  love to bring it back? Yes, eventually. That
• 15:22
  is the goal. That is not going to happen anytime
• 15:24
  soon. So I burnt out myself. I've been through
• 15:27
  podcast burnout. I know what goes into a show
• 15:30
  and you care so much, but you only have so many
• 15:33
  hours in a day and you're still trying to maintain
• 15:35
  some semblance of a life. Just know that burnout
• 15:39
  doesn't mean it's totally over. Take a break.
• 15:43
  Take a break. Put it on pause. End that season.
• 15:47
  Hey, That was the season of a podcast. I had
• 15:49
  fun. It was great. I learned a lot. I grew a
• 15:52
  lot. I know what to do differently next time.
• 15:54
  And you can always come back and start again.
• 15:56
  There's no rules in podcasting. That's why I
• 15:58
  love this medium so much. There's no rules. There's
• 16:02
  no one here unless you have like a sponsor telling
• 16:04
  you like, I need this X amount of deliverables.
• 16:07
  But there's no one telling you, oh yeah, well,
• 16:10
  I mean, you have to hit this many episodes. You
• 16:12
  have to hit this time slot. You have to do anything.
• 16:14
  No one is telling you that unless you have...
• 16:17
  some sort of corporate overlord or a sponsor.
• 16:20
  There's no rules. Do what is going to serve you.
• 16:23
  Do what is going to keep you sane and keep you
• 16:25
  from burning out. I always say consistency is
• 16:28
  the best thing to have in podcasting when people
• 16:30
  ask me, how often should I put out episodes?
• 16:33
  As much as you feel that you can without burning
• 16:36
  out, without feeling overwhelmed, what can you
• 16:40
  maintain long -term? Maybe that's only one episode
• 16:43
  a month. Maybe that's an episode every other
• 16:45
  week. Mine started as every other week. Abby
• 16:47
  the podcast lady did this past, when did I start
• 16:50
  that? In July? I started doing every first and
• 16:53
  third Thursday of the month and then I hit the
• 16:55
  winter months and I'm like, you know what? I
• 16:56
  could actually, I could do an episode every week.
• 16:59
  And that's where I'm at right now. Consistency
• 17:01
  without burning out. There are no rules. Do what
• 17:04
  is going to work best for you. That is the most
• 17:07
  important part. So as we close out this episode
• 17:09
  of Abby the Podcast Lady, if I could send you
• 17:12
  away from this with just one takeaway, I would
• 17:14
  say being a solo podcaster is not a weakness.
• 17:17
  It can actually be a superpower because the limited
• 17:20
  time you have, if you find the right things to
• 17:23
  spend your time and energy on, it can really
• 17:25
  pay off big time. I've watched it happen and
• 17:28
  I think that you got it in you. I truly do. If
• 17:32
  there's things that are not serving you right
• 17:34
  now in your workflow, in your post -production,
• 17:37
  in your actual real -time production of it, get
• 17:39
  rid of it. You don't need it. You can do whatever
• 17:42
  you want. Podcasting has no rules. Do what is
• 17:45
  working. Don't do what is not working. And just
• 17:49
  keep putting out your content, sharing your message
• 17:51
  with the world. That's what's most important.
• 17:52
  And do it in a way that makes sense for you and
• 17:55
  the time you have and the energy you have. And
• 17:58
  I want to see you succeed. I don't want to see
• 18:00
  you burn out. I want to see you keep going. I
• 18:02
  want to see you make a bajillion episodes and
• 18:04
  build a life doing this. Like that is what I
• 18:06
  want for everyone because I just think podcasting
• 18:08
  is the absolute best thing to do in the entire
• 18:11
  world. I want to thank you so much for coming
• 18:13
  and hanging out with me on Abby the podcast lady.
• 18:16
  If you have questions about podcasting or maybe
• 18:19
  you're looking for a specific tool to help make
• 18:21
  your workflow go better. Faster be more efficient
• 18:24
  get some time back in your schedule and you want
• 18:26
  some advice on that I would love to point in
• 18:29
  the right direction if you got specific questions
• 18:31
  send them my way Otherwise, we will hang out
• 18:33
  again next week here on your favorite listening
• 18:36
  app where you're checking out Abby the podcast
• 18:37
  lady I will see you then