Latest / Abbey the Podcast Lady / Starting a Podcast in 2026: Common Questions New Podcasters Ask

Transcript

Starting a Podcast in 2026: Common Questions New Podcasters Ask · Abbey the Podcast Lady

• 0:05
  Hello and welcome back to another episode of
• 0:07
  Abby the Podcast Lady. Today we are getting into
• 0:09
  some FAQs that I get quite often about starting
• 0:12
  a podcast. And I figured, you know what, I'm
• 0:14
  getting these questions on a repeated loop, so
• 0:17
  why not just make an episode about it and then
• 0:19
  I can direct people right there. So we are going
• 0:21
  to get into frequently asked questions for getting
• 0:24
  started with... podcasting. Let's do it. Number
• 0:28
  one is how do I know if I'm ready to start a
• 0:31
  podcast? This is a question that I have gotten
• 0:33
  quite a few times and usually happens in the
• 0:36
  form of someone going, hey, we should get coffee
• 0:38
  and just get caught up on life. And then this
• 0:39
  question gets dropped. I'm like, okay, this has
• 0:41
  turned into a consulting call. But it's okay.
• 0:45
  Because like I've said in episodes past, I like
• 0:47
  being helpful. I like helping people start their
• 0:49
  podcast and find their voice and share their
• 0:52
  stories. So how do I know if I'm ready to start
• 0:54
  a podcast? One, is this something that you think
• 0:57
  you need to do just because a lot of people are
• 0:59
  podcasting right now? I'm not going to say everyone
• 1:01
  is podcasting because not everyone. It might
• 1:03
  feel like everyone, but it is a very popular
• 1:06
  thing to do because it's a great way to go deeper
• 1:08
  with your audience. I would say also ask yourself,
• 1:11
  do I have an audience I'm trying to reach? Because
• 1:14
  if you say, well, I'm trying to reach everyone,
• 1:16
  that means you're also trying to reach no one.
• 1:19
  Like this show, I'm talking to people who want
• 1:21
  to start a podcast, want to get going with the
• 1:23
  podcasting industry. have questions about the
• 1:25
  podcasting industry. If you have an audience
• 1:28
  that is craving information from you in some
• 1:30
  way, shape, or form, I would say that is how
• 1:33
  you know you're ready to start a podcast. There's
• 1:35
  probably, not even probably, there's definitely
• 1:37
  other things you need to take into consideration,
• 1:40
  but I think that's the biggest one is, do you
• 1:42
  know there is an audience you're trying to reach?
• 1:44
  Start searching your soul and your environment
• 1:47
  for those sort of answers. Along those lines,
• 1:50
  another question I get asked is, do I need a
• 1:52
  big audience before I launch a podcast? And to
• 1:55
  that, my answer is... It's helpful, but no, you
• 1:59
  do not need a large audience to start a podcast.
• 2:01
  I started this show with not a very large audience.
• 2:04
  I mean, I have a pretty solid social media following.
• 2:06
  I mean, 10 ,000 -ish on TikTok, but my other
• 2:10
  platforms really aren't that large. And I've
• 2:12
  still seen growth and success and clients come
• 2:15
  from having this podcast. So I would say you
• 2:17
  don't need a large audience to start your show.
• 2:20
  Now, if you have a large audience, you are going
• 2:22
  to see a higher spike in downloads on those initial
• 2:25
  episodes that you put in. and if you don't you're
• 2:27
  probably going to be sitting there going the
• 2:29
  only people listening to this are me and my mom.
• 2:31
  And both are fine options. Podcasting is a long
• 2:34
  game either way. That flash in the pan right
• 2:36
  when you start a show because your audience is
• 2:38
  like, oh, this is new and exciting and I love
• 2:40
  following this person. That's fun and it can
• 2:42
  keep your momentum going. But just know that
• 2:44
  it's all about long -term showing up week after
• 2:47
  week, having that repeatable process that you
• 2:49
  can do on the back end to make sure content goes
• 2:51
  out consistently. That's what's really going
• 2:52
  to be helpful in the long run. Another question
• 2:55
  I get asked is, what should I talk about on my
• 2:57
  podcast? If you are asking yourself that, you
• 3:00
  might not be ready to start your show. And that's
• 3:03
  not to be mean or rude or anything, but you do
• 3:05
  need to have a good idea of what you want to
• 3:07
  say to the audience you're trying to cater to.
• 3:09
  So if you sit down with your phone and you bought
• 3:13
  the DJI mic minis and you clip it to your shirt
• 3:16
  and you just sit there and you go, now what?
• 3:20
  You're probably not ready to start a podcast,
• 3:22
  but that doesn't mean you can't be ready to start
• 3:24
  a podcast. There's this wonderful thing called
• 3:27
  ChatGPT. And you might as well use it because
• 3:30
  it is a tool. And you can type into ChatGPT,
• 3:33
  hey, I want to talk to X, Y, and Z type of person.
• 3:37
  And I want to start a podcast. Give me four ideas
• 3:40
  of what I can talk about or give me 20 ideas
• 3:42
  of what I can talk about and just have it generate
• 3:44
  some ideas for you. I wouldn't say have it generate
• 3:47
  everything for you because that defeats the purpose
• 3:50
  of sharing the knowledge that's inside of your
• 3:52
  brain. But it can help you be a brainstorm partner
• 3:55
  and come up with some ideas of what you can say.
• 3:58
  on your show. Ooh, this is a good one. Should
• 4:00
  my podcast support my business or can it just
• 4:02
  be for fun? You can do a podcast on anything
• 4:05
  and there are no rules to this platform. I think
• 4:09
  that's what makes it so exciting is that, yeah,
• 4:12
  you can have a podcast that supports your business
• 4:14
  like this one does. purely supports my marketing
• 4:18
  efforts for Abby Graves Productions and Abby
• 4:20
  the Podcast Lady, and it helps me share my knowledge.
• 4:23
  But I also had a For Funsies podcast. It was
• 4:25
  called The Small Town Tourist, and it started
• 4:28
  purely as just something fun to do, to get me
• 4:31
  out of the house, to connect with people in my
• 4:32
  community, to share some fun stories of things
• 4:35
  that I found interesting. You can have a podcast
• 4:37
  for fun. And honestly, I like to listen to podcasts
• 4:40
  for fun. I love my business podcast, Don't Get
• 4:44
  Me Wrong, Dishing Up Digital. Ellen, I love your
• 4:46
  show. But I also like listening to some silly,
• 4:49
  goofy, fun shows. Like lately, I've been listening
• 4:52
  to Best of Both Our Worlds, the Hannah Montana
• 4:54
  rewatch podcast. And that's purely for fun. And
• 4:58
  I think that's amazing. So yes, you can definitely
• 5:00
  have a podcast just for fun. It does not have
• 5:03
  to be for business purposes. How do I choose
• 5:06
  the right podcast topic or niche? This one is
• 5:09
  one that I struggle with. a little bit on my
• 5:12
  own. I mean, my niche is podcasting, which is
• 5:16
  a pretty general topic. If I had to really niche
• 5:18
  down further, I'd say podcasting for beginners
• 5:20
  is my niche. But even then, I feel like sometimes
• 5:23
  I get a little too far into the weeds and people
• 5:25
  are probably going, oh gosh, what is she even
• 5:28
  talking about? She's too far down the road for
• 5:30
  me to catch up. And that's definitely an issue
• 5:32
  that I run into myself. And just picking the
• 5:36
  right podcast topic or niche is... kind of a
• 5:38
  challenge and I know I'm one of those people
• 5:41
  who is multifaceted I will say I have a lot of
• 5:44
  different interests and a lot of different hobbies
• 5:46
  and a lot of things that honestly even in my
• 5:48
  business that I do like in addition to podcasting
• 5:50
  I'm also a DJ I host music bingo I run a photo
• 5:54
  booth rental company like there's a lot of different
• 5:57
  things that I do so picking a niche can be very
• 5:59
  challenging but I would say start with the thing
• 6:02
  that you are most passionate about the thing
• 6:05
  that you are an expert on and you can always
• 6:07
  kind of have that core thing and then have other
• 6:09
  things kind of orbit around it like little moons
• 6:12
  to your planet so think of your niche as your
• 6:14
  main planet the main thing you want to focus
• 6:16
  on and then you can always travel to a moon for
• 6:19
  another episode And I think this will be a good
• 6:22
  one to end on. How do I know whether my podcast
• 6:24
  idea is strong enough to last? Now, I've said
• 6:28
  this time and time again, podcasting is a long
• 6:30
  game. You want to be in it for the long haul
• 6:32
  because that's when you're going to see the biggest
• 6:33
  return on everything that you do. You're more
• 6:35
  than likely not going to be an overnight podcast
• 6:38
  success. We can't all be Amy Poehler, unfortunately.
• 6:42
  As much as we all want to be Amy Poehler, we
• 6:44
  don't have a network of SNL celebrities to tap
• 6:47
  into to create some viral content right off the
• 6:49
  rip. do you know if your idea is strong enough
• 6:52
  to last? Is this something that you can talk
• 6:54
  to a friend about for hours on end? Is this something
• 6:57
  that you could get on stage and talk about for
• 7:00
  hours on end? Is this something you care deeply
• 7:03
  about? growing and nurturing and learning more
• 7:08
  about because honestly, you're not going to know
• 7:10
  everything about a topic when you start a podcast
• 7:12
  because things always change and more information
• 7:15
  comes out and more discoveries come out. Even
• 7:16
  in my own show, podcasting changes. I just got
• 7:19
  the email. This will date when I recorded this
• 7:23
  episode, but I just got the email that Spotify
• 7:24
  is adding AI tools to its search. ability for
• 7:28
  podcasts. You can talk to it like chat GPT now.
• 7:30
  So things are always going to change and grow.
• 7:33
  And I'd say you would know your podcast is strong
• 7:36
  enough to last if you are willing to put in the
• 7:39
  work to keep researching and keep learning and
• 7:41
  keep growing and just keep talking about it.
• 7:44
  Keep being willing to sit down behind a microphone
• 7:46
  in front of a camera and just... yap about your
• 7:50
  favorite topic. So just some things to keep in
• 7:52
  mind. Those are some FAQs for getting started
• 7:54
  with podcasting. If you would like more of these
• 7:57
  style episodes, please let me know in the comments
• 7:59
  below. And I will catch you next week for another
• 8:01
  episode of Abby the Podcast Lady.