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Transcript

When Your Podcast Scoreboard Says You Lost · Your Mic

• 0:00
  I'll begin this episode with a quote about failure.
• 0:02
  You ready?
• 0:04
  I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.
• 0:06
  I've lost almost 300 games.
• 0:08
  26 times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot
• 0:12
  and missed.
• 0:14
  I've failed over and over and over again in my life.
• 0:18
  And that is why I succeed.
• 0:22
  Michael Jordan.
• 0:26
  You're ready to quit your podcast
• 0:28
  because your last episode pulled 37 downloads.
• 0:32
  Let that sink in.
• 0:33
  Because it's not nearly as much of an ego wound
• 0:37
  as you might think.
• 0:38
  You're listening to somebody who spent more than 25 years
• 0:42
  in broadcast radio, much of that time
• 0:45
  with a two-time Marconi Award-winning radio station.
• 0:50
  And when I launched my first ever proper podcast
• 0:53
  with that radio station, I'm not talking about a broadcast
• 0:57
  that was just thrown lazily onto an RSS feed.
• 1:00
  I'm talking about an actual podcast.
• 1:03
  My first few episodes didn't even get 37 downloads, okay?
• 1:06
  And even this podcast, your mic,
• 1:10
  a show for aspiring and new podcast hosts,
• 1:13
  there were episodes where I would only get two
• 1:17
  or even three downloads, all right?
• 1:20
  And if you go to my YouTube channel,
• 1:22
  you'll see episodes with just a handful of views.
• 1:26
  And guess what?
• 1:28
  That's okay, but back to Michael Jordan.
• 1:32
  He didn't walk into the league as air Jordan.
• 1:35
  In high school, he got a cup from varsity.
• 1:38
  He had to grind his way back later.
• 1:40
  When Nike signed him in the mid 80s,
• 1:43
  they weren't the empire they are now.
• 1:45
  They were a running shoe company,
• 1:47
  taking a huge swing on a rookie guard out of Chicago.
• 1:52
  Nike forecasted that they might sell $3 million
• 1:56
  worth of air Jordan product in four years.
• 1:58
  Instead, they did around $126 million
• 2:02
  in the first year alone.
• 2:05
  But it only happened because Jordan kept shooting
• 2:08
  when it was ugly.
• 2:10
  9,000 misses, hundreds of losses.
• 2:15
  26 blown game winning shots.
• 2:18
  That's an entire career made mostly a failure
• 2:22
  with a highlight reel edited after the fact.
• 2:26
  Now your show is somewhere between shot one
• 2:30
  and maybe shot 50.
• 2:32
  And you're acting like a single bad game
• 2:34
  means you should hang up the jersey.
• 2:37
  You post 10 episodes with inconsistent release dates,
• 2:40
  week titles, no real promotion,
• 2:43
  and then look at a dashboard that says 31 plays.
• 2:46
  And treat it like a verdict on your own potential.
• 2:50
  It's not a verdict.
• 2:52
  It's your preseason.
• 2:53
  And I may or may not be talking to myself
• 2:55
  in addition to you.
• 2:56
  Now rule number one, commit to a season
• 3:00
  instead of an episode, pick a number.
• 3:03
  Maybe for you, that season is 100 episodes by weekly.
• 3:06
  Until you hit that number quitting is off the table.
• 3:09
  No negotiation whatsoever.
• 3:12
  You are not allowed to quit.
• 3:13
  You can pivot format, you can tighten up your topics,
• 3:15
  you can change your cover art,
• 3:17
  but you do not stop showing up
• 3:20
  until you get to 100 episodes.
• 3:22
  My friend DC Gomez, who is an incredible fiction author,
• 3:27
  even put this to the test.
• 3:29
  She wanted to see if she can make it to 100 episodes
• 3:32
  and she did.
• 3:32
  She's like, well past that now.
• 3:36
  You can go back and listen to that episode
• 3:38
  from late spring, early summer of 2025.
• 3:42
  Now, back to Jordan.
• 3:45
  You review the tape.
• 3:46
  Jordan watched film.
• 3:49
  You have got to re-listen to your own show
• 3:51
  once a month like you're grading somebody else.
• 3:54
  No self-hating allowed.
• 3:55
  Just pick one thing you were gonna tweak next time.
• 3:58
  Maybe it's the cold open, maybe it's the structure,
• 4:01
  maybe it's a crutch word like a, you know, or, right?
• 4:08
  Maybe you tweak the call to action.
• 4:10
  One adjustment per game.
• 4:12
  Don't get crazy.
• 4:13
  Just pick one thing that has been bothering you
• 4:17
  since you started listening to your episodes.
• 4:19
  You got to eat your peas if you want to improve.
• 4:22
  I tell this to clients all the time.
• 4:24
  Eat your peas.
• 4:25
  Listen to your show.
• 4:27
  Also, you got to judge effort and shot quality,
• 4:31
  not just the scoreboard, was the topic sharp for your niche.
• 4:35
  Did you open strong?
• 4:36
  Did you give one clear next step?
• 4:39
  If yes, that's a good shot.
• 4:41
  Even if it rimmed out at 25 plays,
• 4:43
  bad episodes are the ones where you mailed it in.
• 4:47
  Now, when it comes to your closing CTA,
• 4:49
  you don't necessarily earn the right to complain about
• 4:51
  only 37 downloads until you've missed your 9,000 shots.
• 4:55
  Now, we're not talking 9,000 actual podcast episodes.
• 5:00
  That would take well over 20 years
• 5:02
  if you were to try for 9,000 episodes
• 5:04
  with a weekly cadence, okay?
• 5:06
  What's your version of 9,000 shots?
• 5:10
  Now, if you want a game plan,
• 5:11
  so that those shots actually get you somewhere,
• 5:15
  email me Freddie with a Y at SpeakPodcasting.com.
• 5:18
  I'd love to send over the official SpeakPodcasting Robemap.
• 5:23
  It's the official framework that we use
• 5:25
  to help clients get from zero to one,
• 5:27
  so that they're not just launching a scrappy show.
• 5:30
  They're turning their podcast into a real asset.
• 5:34
  And if you find this episode useful,
• 5:35
  please share with the aspiring podcast host in your life.
• 5:39
  Thanks for listening.