Everything You Need To Start Your Own Podcast
If you’re new here, my name is Lisa and I host a podcast called The Elevated Podcast. I have been podcasting for over two years now, and I realized that after 70+ episodes that I recorded, edited, and produced by myself, I had a lot of podcasting knowledge and insights to share with beginners to help them avoid the mistakes I made by trial and error.
In 2020, I bought a $300 recorder in the hopes that it would motivate me to start a podcast. For the next 10 months, I just stared at that recorder instead of starting. I was so terrified to start — what if I’m terrible at it? What if people think I’m this or that? How do I even edit? How do I produce a podcast?
Here I am in 2023 with listeners from all over the world. I learned how to record, edit, and produce over 70 episodes all by myself. I have had so many incredible guests on my podcast and have met so many great people through this journey. I feel like I have found my favorite creative outlet for my voice.
If I can do it, you can do it.
I was inspired to help other prospective podcasters start their podcast, because I had to learn a lot the hard way. I wanted to give you every single tip and trick I learned along the way so you can save time and money and devote your efforts to the creative aspects of your podcast. When I started my podcast in 2021, I knew nothing about podcasting but I always wanted to start one of my own.
I was so terrified to put out my first episode, worrying about what people were going to think, worried that I didn’t have the right equipment or editing skills.
Now I have listeners from all over the world.
I created a series for YouTube & Medium which will go over all of the basics so that you can start your podcast with confidence and all the tools you need.
So first we are going to be talking about the concept and mindset as the first part of this series because that’s where it all starts.
I know for a fact that if you’re wanting to start your own podcast, you have something to share with the world. It’s my true belief that we need as many voices in the podcast space as possible, especially with the media & Hollywood often pushing one perspective on us and shunning all the rest.
If you have a particular idea in mind, great! If not, also great! This series will help you gain clarity around what you want your podcast to be. Some podcasts focus on one niche and one brand, while others have guests on from all walks of life.
I am a firm believer that you do not need a niche to be successful. The Elevated Podcast encourages listeners to embrace their multi-faceted qualities and not put themselves into one box.
So take time to reflect and meditate on how you want the podcast to feel to a listener. Think about what you like as a listener. Do you feel like something is missing from some podcasts that you would like to incorporate into yours? This is the fun part, and this can adapt and change as your podcast evolves.
You can make a podcast about anything and everything. Look at your favorite podcasts or most popular podcasts — sometimes they don’t have a focus, sometimes they do. Your podcast can be just chatting with your friends, it can be becoming an expert in your field, it can be interviewing people and learning about anything, it can be a way to share your life experience and advice with more people. It can be all of those things.
So listen to some of your favorite podcasts and ask yourself: what do I like about this podcast? What do I wish was different?
Even if you think your idea has been done before, no one has done it the way you do it because they are not you. I don’t believe in over-saturation anymore in social media. If you got an idea, you gotta share it and the right people and audience will find you.
So to help you with organizing your concepts and ideas, I’ve partnered up with Notion for this video!
Notion is a single space where you can think, write, and plan. Capture thoughts, manage projects, or even run an entire company — and do it exactly the way you want. It offers organizational tools including task management, project tracking, to-do lists, bookmarking, and more. I used Notion to organize myself when I was in my masters program, working three jobs, and working on my podcast and it helped me so much. I use it to plan my content for my podcast and promotion on social media. I create content calendars (which I will talk more about in another video in this series) to plan my content. My link will be in the description below if you want to sign up for Notion — it’s free to start off and a small monthly price as you grow your business. Check out this link to try Notion for free: https://affiliate.notion.so/dvztt9efnssn
With that being said, let’s talk about mindset.
Because maybe you are nervous to put out your first episode or start or even tell people that you want to start a podcast. Maybe you’re even nervous about putting out your 50th episode.
“What will people think if they listen?”
“What if my episode is bad?”
“What if people hate it?”
Etc. Etc.
Admittedly, I still run into mindset roadblocks when I’m about to put out certain episodes. I have moments of being too self-critical. And you know what? I put out the episodes anyway.
It’s normal to feel fear but people who let that fear win never get anywhere. So even if the fear is there, you still move forward with the fear.
I was so terrified to start the podcast because I was worried that my editing skills, speaking skills, or whatever else I could come up with wasn’t good enough.
But if I let that fear win, I wouldn’t have been podcasting for the last two years and I wouldn’t have found my favorite creative outlet or met so many people that were guests on my podcast.
There will be at least one person out there that will need to hear exactly what you say, in the exact way you say it.
You have to start somewhere, no one is really going to be paying that close attention to your first few episodes and once you make 100+, no one is really going to listen to your old ones.
The first one is also never going to be perfect. Your 100th isn’t going to be perfect. But you’re never going to learn what makes good content without starting.
Which is why it’s always important to come back to your why — why am i doing this podcast? To become an expert in my field? To have fun convos with my friends? To share advice with people who need free therapy? Your why keeps you going.
Because there were so many tips and tricks I wanted to share with podcast beginners, I created a downloadable masterclass on how to start your own podcast. I give you every single tip I have from two years of podcasting full-time so that you can save yourself the time and hundreds of dollars figuring it out the hard way.
There are 60 pages of journaling prompts, advice, tips and tricks that address everything you need to start from editing to monetization to reaching out to guests, to creating your intro and outro and so much more.
Start your own podcast with this guide: https://payhip.com/b/8RbCX
I am so proud of you for having the courage to start your own podcast. The world needs to hear your voice and your perspective!
Let me know in the comments below what you want to know about starting your own podcast and I will try to answer as many questions as I can! If you like this blog make sure you give it a thumbs up and follow my channel so you can see the rest of this podcast series!
YouTube: https://youtu.be/r3SVaWqmpOE
See ya next time!
