How I started my independent podcast

How I started my independent podcastHow I started my independent podcastI recently received a side hustle style career conundrum from Rachel from Minneapolis on the Bossed Up podcast hotline, who wants to know how to start her own podcast. So todays post is all about my jurney to launching and growing the Bossed Up podcast as an independent show over the last year and everything Ive learned along the way.Know Your GoalsFollow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and morePodcasting has been calledthe new blogging,for how its become an efficient way to communicate regularly with people who share your areas of interest. And while I love podcasting, keep in mind only about36%of the US population has ever listened to a podcast, so it might leid be the right channel for everyone. The way I look at podcasting is that it compliments the writing I do on the Bossed Upblog, the news I send out via our email list, and thecommunityweve created on social media.However, you approach podcasting, make sure youre clear about your goals and enjoy the process. Its not easy to make any money at all through podcasting (although Ill share some best practices for doing so at the end of todays post), so I encourage you to get crystal clear about your goals before venturing into this process.For me, I got lucky. I welches recruited into the podcasting world when Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin stepped down from their post at the HowStuffWorks network, where they created and co-hostedStuff Mom Never Told You. After 8 years, Cristen and Caroline left to start their own independent show,Unladylike. At the time, I was able to negotiate a great deal for myself, recommend my best possible collaborator (Bridget Todd), and had the pleasure of co-hosting Stuff Mom Never Told You for the 9 months we had together. But when management changed at the network and our deal fell apart, I wasnt willing to work for just over a third of what theyd initially been paying us, so I left.I knew, however, that just because I was leaving Stuff Mom Never Told You didnt mean I wanted to leave the world of podcasting altogether. Over those 9 months Id grown to love the creative challenge and the conversations we were able to start with listeners including many of you I didnt want to work with a network that treated its workers incredibly poorly, so I platzset out on the intimidating undertaking of launching my own independent production instead.Establish Your ConceptThink about it what could you talk abouta LOT? Obviously, youre going to want to have a focus to your show, but nottoonarrow a subject matter that youll run out of things to say.Would you want a co-host? Or not? Co-hosts can make a show wonderfully dynamic, but also requires a lot more back-end planning, communication, and logistics.Would you want to produce podcast series like a limited release of 5-10 geschehens all at once? Or a more ong oing, weekly format? Many creators find the series format to be more freeing, in that theyre able to build in breaks and not get overwhelmed with deadlines, but after 9 months of producing 2 episodes a week with Stuff Mom Never Told You, I was confident in my abilities to opt for the weekly format instead.Establishing your concept is a fun and creative endeavor, but dont forget to consider production complexities. For instance, I love ending each Tuesday episode of the Bossed Up podcast by featuring a listener-submitted boss move Its an inspiring and uplifting way to showcase our community. But, if Im being honest with you, its made our production process kind of challenging, because we constantly have to persuade our listeners to call in and brag on themselves which is not the easiest thing to do. In fact, there was one episode in which we didnt have boss moves to share So when coming up with fun, creative concepts like this one, keep in mind how much effort it might take to actua lly make it happen.Another reason I love featuring listener-submitted boss movesandcareer conundrums is because its important to think about how your show will incorporate vocal diversity. Listening to one persons soliloquy can get, well, boring. So when I set out to start this podcastwithouta co-host, I knew it was going to be important to feature interviews and listener voicemails to add to the vocal diversity in each episode.Finally, when thinking about how youll set up each episode, my friendGretta Cohn, who is the Founder ofTransmitter Media,gave me this advice when I just starting out think insegments. Whats your first segment of each episode going to sound like? Whats your middle segment? What are recurring segments you can bring in every now and then to surprise your listeners? What will your closing segment always involve? Listeners like recognizable patterns, so consider segments your building blocks for creating each episode.Equipment SoftwareWhen it comes to equipment, theres a wide spectrum of audio devices you can use, but you really dont need pro-level stuff to produce a great-sounding podcast. Dont get me wrong, audio quality matters, but it doesnt take a pricey mic to make it a reality. I know Myleik Teele of theMyTaughtYoupodcast uses a simple handheld mic with a USB output that plugs right into her computer. Heres a link tosome great mic optionsfrom The Podcast Host at all different price ranges for you to consider.A few more optional pieces of equipment that can take your microphone game to the next level include snagginga mic standand/orboom arm, which help hold the microphone for you, anda pop filterwhich is a little screen that softens some of the harsher, fricative sounds in human speech.Youll also need software to capture your audio as you record it. I like to useZencastr, an online tafelgeschirr that costs me about $20 a month, and can record my audioandmy interview guests audio on two separate tracks, which is important for editing purposes. You can also edit your files straight in the Zencastr platform, but I pay an audio editor who uses more sophisticated Adobe software instead.There are lots of options for capturing your audio files. You can useAudacityorGarageBand, which cost nothing. You can useZoomorSkypeas well. Whichever software you opt for, remember it always takes a little fiddling and experimentation to figure it out at first. You can often google you way to tutorials online specific to whichever audio platform you use.Personally, I especially appreciate the fact that by paying for Zencastr, that $20 a month also includes customer service and troubleshooting, which has saved me a bunch of time when Ive run into technical challenges.Editing Your AudioOnce you capture your audio files, youve got put all your segments together in one final .mp3 or .wav file thats ready to be listened to. But heres the thing when I started podcasting on the HowStuffWorks network, they had in-house audio engineers who w ould do all that editing for me.When I transitioned into hosting my own independent production, I knew that my time and talents were best spent focusing on content creation, not editing audio files. This can be extremely detail-oriented and time-consuming work, so I did a lot of research interviewing a bunch of different editors to work with as an investment in the show.All that research led me to Josh atPodcastGuyMedia, whos been an absolute delight to work with. If its at all possible for you to outsource your editing, I cant recommend Josh enough. In fact, when we put this episode together, Josh kindly offered a discount to any of you who reach out to him via http//podcastguymedia.com/bossedup. Hes offering 25% off the first month of editing and/or 1 hr..That said, I also know plenty of podcasters, includingKathlyn Hartof theKathlyn Hart Show,who do their own editing. Its definitely a skill you can learn, and I recommend these more in-depth tutorials from Pat Flynn atpodcastingtu torial.comto learn more.Publish Your PodcastNow, once youve edited your final podcast file and youre happy with how it all came together, you need a hosting service to publish your show.I useSimplecast, a hosting platform that costs me $12 a month, to upload the raw audio file (in a .wav or .mp3 format), and then add metadata.Metadata in behind-the-scenes information thats associated with each episode, including the title, any related tags or search terms, and both a one-line description and a more detailed description with show notes. By adding this metadata to the hosting platform, Simplecast then communicates all that information via an RSS feed to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, GooglePlay, Stitcher Radio, and all the other places where you get your podcasts.I also like Simplecast, because it allows me to embed a little player widget into every Bossed Up blog post that features my podcast. That way, I can share a link to my blog on social media to encourage people to listen to the show , instead of linking directly to iTunes or any single podcast player.MonetizationOnce you can prove that your podcast reaches a good deal of people (typically 2500 downloads per episode is the minimum), which you can measure using a hosting platform like Simplecast, advertisers might be interested in partnering with you.There are 3 ways Ive seen this doneYou can sell ads yourself.This is somethingI do offerand have gotten a little bit of interest that way, but not much. I set flat rates for my ads, make sure the advertiser is peddling something I truly love and think youd love too, and then my assistant Kirby and I write a script to show what I plan to say for their pre-approval.Work with an agency.These are third-party businesses that work more closely with bigger brands and companies and offer up advertising on a variety of podcasts. They typically earn a percentage of your ad revenue (around 30% is common) and send you advertisers on the regular. I recently started working withTr ueNative Mediain this capacity and appreciate how they manage the process with advertisers for me.You can pitch your show to a network.This is probably the hardest path forward because you have to convince a major media network that your show should be one of their family of shows, via a proposal. This is also my least favorite / least recommended path because the podcast network landscape is currently very volatile and somewhat unpredictable.However,if youre fortunate enough to get past all that, you can make some bigger bucks going this route, as networks take an active role in helping all their shows grow especially through cross-promotion on other network shows and they take a very hands-on role in managing advertisers and production for you.Whichever route you pursue, know that you should always retain the right tonot work with any advertiser you dont like.Ive turned down offers from Modcloth ever since they were bought out by Walmart, a company I have major ethical concerns about. Ive passed on advertisers whose products are confusing or just dont seem all that valuable to me, so I wouldnt want to recommend. And Ive passed on offers to peddle skinny tea and other products I find overtly harmful and contrary to my personal values.More ResourcesI hope this longer-than-usual post has given you some helpful first steps to take when pursuing your own podcast, but for even more beistand, check out this awesome book,So You Want to Start A Podcast? which I recently stumbled upon byKristen Meinzer, one of the women behind the awesomeBy the Bookpodcast.I also recommend attending the annualWERK IT Womens Podcasting Festival,hosted byWNYC Studios, and tuning in to theirpodcast of the same name, which includes live recordings of all the main stage presentations from the festival. You might even stumble uponmy talkfrom a few years back when I delivered a talk that goes into greater detail about how to make money through podcasting.My last recommendation is to subscr ibe toHot Pod, the best podcast industry newsletter out there, written by Nick Quah, with whom I share a book editor. My editor at Hachette, Colleen, who you heard on the Bossed Up podcast about how I got my book deal, is currently editing Nicks forthcoming book all about the podcast industry. His newsletter is great for keeping up with all the mergers and acquisitions happening in the still-pubescent podcasting media industry.What other podcast questions do you have?Id love to hear from you What are you still left wondering after reading todays post? How can I continue to support you in your creative endeavors? And how can I continue to use my podcasting platform to support your career growth?This article first appeared on Bossed Up.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mi stakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people