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Transcript

Should You Start a Podcast? · The Daily Writer

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, welcome back.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining me as always.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've been podcasting consistently since 2013, 13 years.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: It seems really hard to believe because I remember when I released that very first episode 13 years ago.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And wow, that almost seems like an eternity ago in terms of life and podcasting and so many things that have happened in those intervening years.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And with the exception of a two-year break that I took in podcasting about 10 years ago, as well as a recent six-month break or so, I've been releasing episodes on a weekly or sometimes a daily basis, most of those years.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the interesting thing is that my podcast has actually been through several different iterations and titles.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I started out with a show called The Artist Suitcase, which lasted 30-some episodes.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Then I shifted to a show called Born to Create.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Then I shifted to Smart Business Writing.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think that was around 2018.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then in 2020, six years ago, I shifted to a daily show called The Daily Rider.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And about three years ago, I pivoted that show to a show called The Profitable Rider, which, of course, if you're listening to this show, you're familiar with The Profitable Rider because I just now transitioned from that back to The Daily Rider.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, all in all, this show has been through five or six different uh identities and iterations and versions and titles and all that stuff.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, I've broken every rule in the quote unquote good podcaster rulebook, if there is such a thing.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't regret any of that because podcasting has brought a lot of blessings and benefits into my life.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as I mentioned, I have just now pivoted back to the Daily Writer, which of course, since you're listening to this episode and you've seen the switch in my title artwork, you already know that.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And the really funny thing about all this to me is that I feel like it's only taken me 13 years to find my actual sweet spot in podcasting, which is a really, really long time.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, good things come to those who wait, I guess.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it takes us a while to really circle around and try different things on to figure out what we really want to do with a podcast or with writing or an online platform or whatever it is that we're doing in life.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as I mentioned, I've also um, or rather, as I mentioned, I've made a lot of podcasting mistakes over the years.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I don't regret any of those changes because I've also had some great wins.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: One of the cool things about doing a podcast is that I've gotten to interview literally hundreds of fantastic authors and business leaders over the years.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I've also gotten to release uh, gosh, at this point, probably 1300 or 1400 episodes, most of those actually being solo episodes.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: And through that whole process, I've discovered my podcasting voice and the format that I think suits me best, which is having a daily show.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, one of the biggest benefits of doing a podcast is that I have gotten to reach people that I wouldn't have reached otherwise.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, a lot of people think that when you have blog posts and social media or email and podcast, that some people are concerned when they release the same content in those different formats because they're worried that people are going to be sick of seeing the same thing in multiple places.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is that the people who read your emails and the people who read your blogs or social media content or your books or listen to your podcast, the reality is that the there is some overlap between all those people, but it's it's not, I think, oftentimes a huge amount of overlap.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, many times, oh, sorry, I got a text here.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, excuse me.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a no-frills podcast.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if I get a text or something, I just kind of roll with the punches and I generally don't edit out that stuff because this is kind of a real life sort of podcast.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, there isn't always a lot of overlap between those two things.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've always been a bit a big fan of podcasting because you're going to reach people that won't read your emails or read your social media posts or whatever.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of the many reasons why I have done a podcast.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, many people have seen the benefits that podcasting has brought into my life over the years, and they've asked whether they should start a podcast too.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hence the title of this episode, which is Should You Start a Podcast?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: At this point in this episode, you're thinking, Kent, you've spent four minutes now.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: When are you actually going to get to answering this question?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I wanted to set up this question with a little bit of backstory about where I have been in podcasting.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you are thinking of doing a podcast, which I assume that you are since you're listening to this episode, or maybe you've currently, maybe you're currently doing a show and you're wondering, should I continue?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer to whether you should start or continue your podcast, it's not really a simple answer because everybody's situation is different.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it really depends on what your goals are for your business and what your goals are for your podcast.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you that my goal, business-wise, my goals are to build my email list, to continue creating multiple streams of income, to spread the message of the Daily Writer and other books that I will be creating in the coming years, and also more than anything else, to serve writers and business leaders, both through the things that I create for writers, but also things like my ghostwriting services, which is still my bread and butter these days.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, podcasting is a no-brainer decision for me because it supports all of my goals.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so there are really clear business reasons for me to have my own podcast.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: However, I got to tell you that the real honest to God reason why I like doing podcasting is simply that I enjoy it.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I do a podcast because I like showing up on a mic, I like the uh the format of radio, so to speak, and podcasting is a form of radio, I think.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it gives me a chance to share my voice and to share my personality and to share my point of view.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I like doing it this way.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I like sharing things on a mic, I like having conversations, and that's the real reason why I do a podcast.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why whenever people ask me whether they should start a podcast, my first question is always well, do you want to show up for people on a podcast?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And do you actually enjoy getting on the mic and talking?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because really that's what it ultimately comes down to.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't enjoy talking on a mic and creating audio content, you're not going to enjoy doing a podcast.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you're 100% convinced of the business reasons that and all the ways it can benefit you in your business or your writing or whatever it is that you're doing, all those things can certainly be true.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is that there are a lot of ways, there are a lot of formats that can benefit your business.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Podcasting is only one of those ways.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't enjoy showing up on a mic, you're probably not going to enjoy podcasting and certainly not going to stick with it over the long haul.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would ask you whether you're thinking about starting a podcast or whether you already have one and you're thinking about continuing it, do you simply enjoy this format?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really a simple yes or no.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoy it.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's fun.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is there some editing work involved?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is there some behind-the-scenes work involved?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Of course there is, but it's really pretty minimal for the reason that I'm not creating something new for this podcast.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is basically an audio version of my daily emails that I send out to my list, or almost daily emails.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: This will actually become a daily podcast starting in a few days, but I've been kind of ramping it up here during the month of June.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: So when it comes to this question, do you enjoy podcasting?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: You already know the answer to that.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And if you feel like you have to talk yourself into enjoying a podcast, you're probably not really going to enjoy it.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I would encourage you to do the things to market your writing a business that you actually do enjoy doing, whether that is social media, events, uh blogs, daily emails, whatever the heck you enjoy doing, lean into those things because you're not going to stick with things that you don't enjoy.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: I like doing a podcast, which ultimately is the reason why I'm here.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that's an answer to the question that many people ask me.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's really kind of a simplistic answer, but you know, I don't think life is all that complicated.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we get kind of one shot at life.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that we should do the things that we enjoy, and we should try and avoid doing the things that we don't enjoy as much as humanly possible.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So again, I just go back to this question.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoy showing up for people via audio, I think podcasting is a fantastic addition to what you're already doing, regardless of whether that's solo episodes or interviews or the frequency of the episodes, whatever that is, those are all kind of B tier concerns.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: The real concern, the A-level, the A tier concern is do you enjoy doing this in the first place?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if so, then I think you probably should consider doing a podcast.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now, a couple more quick things before I round out this little bit of a longer episode.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is that I highly recommend that you grab my friend John Stongy's excellent book.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it is called The Podcaster's Playbook: Learn the Surprising Secrets to Downloads, Dollars, and Discovering Your Mission Behind the Microphone.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really excellent book.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's the very best book that I know for podcasters and helping you to think through whether you should start a podcast and the benefits of doing so and how to do it properly.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: John has been enormously successful as a podcaster, very, very successful.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And also, he's just a really wonderful human being.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: 100%, a plus human being.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I read the book in one single setting while I was sitting at a Jimmy Johns sandwich restaurant a couple years ago.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was so riveted, I read the whole book there in one setting and I made a bunch of notes.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a great book.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure and check that out.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to add one more thing.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: As you listen to this show, you'll notice that it is kind of a no-frills production where I don't have intro music or outro music.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have any of that stuff.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is just me showing up on the mic with minimal editing unless I make mistakes.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I do that because I want it to feel like a real conversation and less like a presentation.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope that you enjoy this format.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's just me on the mic, kind of sharing my thoughts.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm basically take my emails and I just riff on those.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And as you can probably tell, this is uh not a very highly produced show, which is exactly the way that I want it.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, I want this to feel like a conversation where we are sitting over a cup of coffee just kind of chatting.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, this is one-sided because I can't hear your reactions, but I'm making this as conversational as I possibly can because I don't want to show up with some big announcer voice and with all this crazy intro music.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's just me and you having a dialogue.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, all right, my friend, that's it for today.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: I hope this has been helpful to you.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I would love to hear actually if this is helpful and what you've decided uh in regards to starting or continuing a podcast.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: You can shoot me an email at Kent at KentSanders.net.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have questions about podcasting, I would love to hear them and I will do my best to use your question here on the show.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so that's it for today, and I will see you next time.