Bet on Your Podcast Course: https://www.skool.com/abbey-the-podcast-lady-5733/classroom

Work with Abbey: https://abbeygravesproductions.com/podcast-production/

Podcast Planning Journal: https://amzn.to/4gd1Vxs

Takeaways

• There is no such thing as being "behind" in podcasting. The people seeing real traction right now are the ones who simply took action and stuck with it.
• The three biggest excuses for not starting a podcast, fear of being perceived, not knowing the technical side, and lack of time, are all solvable, and none of them are good enough reasons to keep stalling.
• You can spend time on your podcast or you can spend money on your podcast. Very few people have an abundance of both, so it's worth deciding which one you're willing to invest.

Summary of the episode

In this solo episode, Abbey digs into procrastination and why it's the number one thing keeping people from finally launching the podcast they've been talking about for years. She breaks down the myth that the podcasting space is too saturated to jump into now, making the case that no one else has your story, your voice, or your point of view, so there's no real "window" you can miss.

From there, Abbey walks through the three excuses she hears most from potential podcasters: fear of being seen and judged online, not knowing how to handle the technical side of production, and simply not having enough time. She tackles each one head-on, using her own experience running Abbey Graves Productions and working with clients across a range of industries to show how each excuse can be solved, whether that's through building comfort with visibility over time, hiring a producer to handle the technical heavy lifting, or recognizing that time and money are two sides of the same investment decision.

The episode closes with a direct call to action tied to the upcoming Q4 push, historically the biggest spending season of the year, encouraging listeners to stop letting their podcast idea sit on the back burner and start taking real steps toward launching it, whether that means enrolling in Abbey's Bet On Your Podcast course, booking a pick-your-brain call, or hiring her to produce the show for them.

Get the Podcast Planning Journal: https://amzn.to/4fSv5CZ

Takeaways

• Abbey Graves published the Podcast Planning Journal: Plan It, Record It, and Publish It, a guided notebook now available on Amazon, built after her own idea notebook became too scattered to actually use.
• The journal includes a from-scratch show setup section, a pre-recording checklist, 60 episode planning pages, post-recording reflection pages, a guest tracking log, and 12 monthly review pages, enough structure to plan a full year of podcasting.
• Abbey built the journal around the same process she walks her own clients through, and recommends it both for podcasters wanting more structure and as a gift for anyone who has been thinking about starting a show.

In this short, casual solo episode, Abbey Graves announces the launch of her first published journal, the Podcast Planning Journal: Plan It, Record It, and Publish It, now available on Amazon. She explains the problem it solves: her own handwritten notebook of podcast ideas had become a disorganized mix of PodFest notes, coaching call notes, and scattered one-line ideas with no real structure, so she designed a dedicated tool instead.

Abbey walks through the journal page by page on camera, starting with a from-scratch section for defining a show's name, audience, and purpose, then moving into vision and goal planning, a pre-recording checklist, and 60 episode planning pages covering episode numbers, working titles, guest details, hooks, talking points, calls to action, and target length. She highlights the post-recording reflection pages as a favorite feature, since noting what went well and pulling standout moments makes repurposing content into Reels, Shorts, and Pinterest pins much easier.

She also covers the guest tracking log, built to help podcasters follow up with and even manifest their dream guests, and the monthly review pages that prompt podcasters to track wins, challenges, and one small goal to improve each month. Abbey closes by positioning the journal as both a practical planning tool for podcasters at any stage and a thoughtful gift for anyone who has been talking about starting a show but has not taken the leap yet.

https://abbeygravesproductions.com/

Takeaways

• RSS.com's new Max plan lets you upload one video file and publish it to both Apple Podcasts (through HLS) and YouTube, and listeners can toggle between audio and video on Apple without losing their place.
• Video ads start earning automatically on Apple Podcasts from your very first video episode, no download or follower minimum required. Once you activate RSS.com Paid and verify PayPal, you keep 70 percent of eligible ad revenue.
• RSS.com built the Max plan directly from user survey feedback. Industry data shows 63 percent of video podcasters say video helped grow their audience, with over a billion monthly viewers watching podcast content on YouTube.

Abbey Graves records a same-day bonus episode after RSS.com, the platform she uses to host her own show and every one of her client shows, announces a new Max plan built for video podcasting. She walks through why the update matters given Apple Podcasts' push into video and rising demand for short-form content, then breaks down exactly what the Max plan includes: the ability to upload one video file that publishes automatically to both Apple Podcasts and YouTube, a listener toggle between audio and video on Apple, and automatic video ad revenue starting from a creator's very first episode.

Abbey unpacks RSS.com's full pricing structure (Free, Plus, Pro, and the new Max tier), explains how the 70 percent ad revenue share works, and shares that she personally woke up to a small payout from her very first podcast, a show she has not actively promoted in over a year, as proof the monetization runs quietly in the background.

The back half of the episode is a live, in-the-moment walkthrough as Abbey upgrades her own account and uploads a test video episode, covering file size limits, resolution requirements, and how closely the video upload process mirrors a standard audio upload. She closes by comparing the results across RSS.com's public podcast page and YouTube, and shares her honest take on whether the upgrade is worth it for podcasters at different stages.

Key Topics Covered:

• RSS.com's new Max plan for video podcasting
• Apple Podcasts' shift toward supporting video content
• How to publish one video file to both Apple Podcasts and YouTube
• Video ad monetization and RSS.com's 70 percent revenue share
• RSS.com's pricing tiers compared (Free, Plus, Pro, Max)
• A live walkthrough of uploading a video episode
• Whether beginner podcasters should start with audio or video

https://abbeygravesproductions.com/

Bet On Your Podcast Online Course: https://www.skool.com/abbey-the-podcast-lady-5733/classroom

Takeaways

• Abbey's podcast production business started as a free favor for a friend and grew into a full-time career within nine months.
• Every client on Abbey's current roster traces back to one original connection: her friend Liz, who she helped for free before either of them knew it would turn into a business.
• Betting on yourself, even in a small and uncertain way, can lead to opportunities you could never have planned for, from full-time income to speaking on international stages.

Recording from the lake with her dog Norman on her lap, Abbey takes a break from the usual show format to reflect on a milestone that's easy to miss in the day-to-day of running a business: the week she took on her first real, paying clients back in August 2023. She walks through the full origin story of Abbey Graves Productions, starting with The Small Town Tourist, the podcast she launched in January 2023 just to keep her interviewing and audio skills sharp after leaving her job as a radio DJ.

That show led her to help her friend Liz start a podcast for free, purely because she believed in it. Liz's podcast introduced Abbey to Amanda, and a single social media post about helping people with their shows brought in her cousin Megan, one of her first paying clients. What began as a side project while she worked a full 40 hour week at a government job snowballed into late nights editing, then into a full-time business within nine months.

Abbey gets candid about how far that journey has taken her since, from speaking on stage at PodFest in Orlando to producing shows for clients across the country and as far as Australia. She ties it all back to one central idea: take the bet on yourself, because you truly never know what it might turn into. She closes with a reminder about her Bet on Your Podcast course, currently available at a discount before the price goes up, with a larger community platform coming later this year.

Key Topics Covered:

• The origin story of Abbey Graves Productions, from The Small Town Tourist to a full client roster
• How helping one friend for free turned into a referral pipeline of paying clients
• Going from a full-time job to a full-time podcast production business in nine months
• Reflecting on business milestones and using them to plan for future goals
• The Bet on Your Podcast course and why now is a good time to start

https://abbeygravesproductions.com/

It’s August 1st and Abbey’s laying in bed at 10pm having a mini crisis about the calendar (June = Friday, July = Saturday, August = Sunday of summer — you get it). So she recorded this raw, unedited, audio-only episode with one goal: give you a real plan to launch a podcast by Labor Day weekend.

Here’s the 6-step framework:

1. Get your mindset right — Labor Day is your starting line, not a deadline to dread.

2. Focus on a micro podcast — 10 minutes or less, audio-only. Feasible beats ambitious.

3. Answer your FAQs — mine your discovery calls and client conversations for recurring questions. Each one is an episode (and great SEO).

4. Pick 3 content buckets — your niche topics that keep the show cohesive long-term.

5. Batch record — carve out a day (or even an hour) to record a full month of episodes at once.

6. Get help — hire a pro or take a course. Either path works if you’re honest about which one fits you.

The goal isn’t downloads on day one — it’s building a show that’s still going strong past episode 20, 50, 100.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Micro podcast production package — $399/month

• Bet on Your Podcast course — live now on Skool (discount available through the platform)

Bet on Your Podcast Waitlist https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/form/OxdJ2xCtn30zWB41wDF6?notrack=true

Takeaways

• There is a real test for knowing whether to ask for help: are you willing to learn a new skill and do it poorly at first, or do you have zero desire to learn it at all?
• Abbey is currently building her first full coaching program, Bet On Your Podcast, and hitting her own limits on the website and email funnel side, work that falls outside her zone of genius.
• Hitting a roadblock is not a sign to quit. Asking for help, whether that is a coaching call, a course, or hiring someone outright, is what keeps a podcast alive.

Summary of the episode

Recording from the lake again this summer (better internet out there than at her own house, which still baffles her), Abbey uses this episode to work through a question in real time: when do you actually need to ask for help with your podcast? She is in the middle of launching her first full coaching program, Bet On Your Podcast, and while the video lessons, scripts, and tutorials came easily, since that is squarely her zone of genius, building the actual website, email list, and funnels has been a real struggle.

Abbey lays out the test she uses to decide whether to learn a new skill or hand it off: do you actually want to get better at this, even if you are bad at it at first, or do you have zero interest in ever learning it? For her own coaching program buildout, she wants to learn it, so she is pushing through even though it is slower and less familiar territory. But she also shares the story of her longtime client Liz, who has never wanted to learn editing or content creation and has been fine outsourcing that piece from day one, because she knows exactly where her own line is.

The bigger point Abbey wants every podcaster to walk away with is that hitting a roadblock is not a sign to quit. It is a sign to ask "do I want to learn this, or do I want this handled?" and then actually act on the answer, whether that means a pick my brain call, an online course, or hiring someone to take it off your plate completely.

https://abbeygravesproductions.com/

Takeaways

• Abbey breaks down four surprising podcasting lessons using Jimothy the viral raccoon, starting with the truth that feeling weird and out of place is a normal part of starting something new.
• People will silently watch a podcast for a long time before they ever engage, and that quiet stretch is not a sign to quit, it is part of how real growth happens.
• Becoming iconic in your niche does not require reinventing yourself. It requires being unapologetically, consistently you.

This week's episode almost did not happen the way it did. Abbey had a completely different show recorded, edited, and scheduled, but scrapped it to record a "Car Cast" from her parents' lake spot instead, because she could not stop thinking about Jimothy the raccoon, the spinally-challenged internet sensation who has taken over everyone's For You page. What started as an obsession with a viral animal turned into a full breakdown of what Jimothy can actually teach podcasters about starting, growing, and sticking with a show.

Abbey walks through four lessons pulled straight from Jimothy's unlikely fame. First, starting something new always feels weird, and that discomfort is not a signal to stop, it is just part of being human. Second, people are going to double-take when they find out what you are doing, and some of them will judge you for it, but that reaction says more about them than it does about you. Third, and maybe most importantly, people watch silently for a long time before they ever engage. Jimothy existed for a year and a half before he went viral, and podcast audiences build the same way, quietly, before the right person shares it with the right room.

The episode closes on Abbey's favorite lesson: you can become truly iconic just by being yourself. She ties Jimothy's appeal back to figures like Punch the baby monkey and Jenna Marbles, both of whom built devoted audiences simply by showing up as exactly who they were. Abbey's takeaway for listeners is simple: stop waiting to feel ready, keep showing up, and trust that your specific perspective is what will eventually find your people.

Bet on Your Podcast Waitlist https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/form/OxdJ2xCtn30zWB41wDF6?notrack=true

https://abbeygravesproductions.com/

Podcasting Gear for On-The-Go: https://www.amazon.com/shop/abbey-thesmalltowntourist/list/29FTTQQVAALCM?tag=abbeyminke-20&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d&ccs_id=217bd1aa-de0b-40c7-ba67-820474a2f9d1

Takeaways

• Modern podcast technology has made it possible to record a professional-sounding show from almost anywhere, including a dock at the lake, a car, or a sports bar back room.
• You do not need expensive gear to start a podcast. A cell phone and the built-in Voice Memo app is enough to get a show off the ground.
• The best recording setup is the one that is easiest for you to use consistently. Simple and sustainable beats fancy and complicated every time.

In this episode, Abbey records from the end of a dock at the lake while batch recording several episodes on her own version of a working vacation, and uses that setting as proof of exactly what she is teaching: with today's technology, you can podcast from almost anywhere. She walks through the wild list of places she has personally recorded, including the back room of a sports bar, a century-old grandstand at a county fairgrounds, and a flower field.

She traces her own gear evolution, starting with a battery-operated PodTrak P4 recorder and a pair of Zoom XLR microphones when she launched her business nearly four years ago, up to her current on-the-go kit: an Xtra Muse gimbal camera paired with a DJI Mic Mini. She shares how that exact kit fit into her purse and let her batch record client content on location at PodFest.

Abbey also breaks down the myth that better gear equals a better podcast. She points to Only Murders in the Building, where the characters record their fictional hit show on nothing but a cell phone's Voice Memo app, and to real client examples on opposite ends of the spectrum: one client records into her phone from inside her kid's closet, while the Moxie Creative crew shows up every month with a full three-camera, four-light, soundboard setup. Both approaches work because they match what each person can realistically sustain.

The episode closes with practical, low-cost options for anyone who feels stuck on gear: recording in the car (a surprisingly great acoustic environment), using a GoPro or action camera for a wide, portable setup, and simply hitting record on a cell phone. Abbey's core message is that gear should never be the excuse. The only thing stopping you from starting is you.

Key Topics Covered:

• How advances in podcast technology have made recording possible from virtually any location
• Abbey's personal gear evolution, from the PodTrak P4 and Zoom XLR mics to the Xtra Muse camera and DJI Mic Mini
• Why cell phone podcasting, using nothing but the Voice Memo app, is a completely legitimate way to start
• Real client examples of minimal versus maximal podcast setups, and why both work
• Cars as an underrated recording environment for audio and video
• GoPro and action camera audio quality improvements over the years
• Why the best podcast setup is the one that is easiest for you to sustain long term

https://abbeygravesproductions.com/

Takeaways

• Confidence comes after you start, not before. Waiting to feel ready is the biggest reason new podcasters never launch.
• Your first episode is not a preview of your final product. Audiences expect some rough edges from anyone starting something new.
• Delaying a launch to keep recording and building confidence is a valid strategy, not a failure, as long as you keep showing up.

In this solo episode, Abbey Graves tackles the number one thing holding people back from starting a podcast: fear. Not fear of the tech, not fear of the schedule, but the fear of putting yourself out there before you feel ready. Abbey walks through why that fear shows up for almost everyone, including her, and why it never fully disappears even after years of experience.

Abbey shares the story of client Lindsey Salzburn, owner of White Peony Boutique in St. Joseph, Minnesota, who recorded for four months before working up the nerve to launch her show. That extra runway wasn't wasted time. It was what let Lindsey walk into her launch with a backlog of content and the confidence to keep going. Abbey also pulls from her own life, comparing a first podcast episode to a first high school golf tournament: rough, unpolished, and exactly what everyone should expect from someone brand new.

The throughline is simple. Nobody expects perfection from a first episode, a new restaurant, or a rookie athlete, and they don't expect it from a new podcast either. Abbey closes with an update on a client show launching July 29th, called The Love, Truth, and Wisdom Podcast, whose hosts already asked to re-record their trailer after just two sessions because they could hear their own growth. That's the whole point: you improve by doing, not by waiting.

Key Topics Covered:

• Why fear of starting is the biggest obstacle for new podcasters
• The Lindsey Salzburn / White Peony Boutique story: four months of recording before launch
• Why audiences don't expect a polished first episode
• The golf tournament analogy for learning any new skill in public
• How client confidence builds after just a few recording sessions
• Abbey's coaching and consulting options for new podcasters

Work with Abbey: https://abbeygravesproductions.com/

Takeaways

• You do not need an established audience or 10,000 listeners to start a podcast. Nearly every successful creator, from Amy Poehler to Taylor Swift, started with an audience of almost no one and built from there.
• Audiences are far more silent than you realize. Most people who consume your content will never like, comment, or share it, but that does not mean they are not listening.
• A podcast is evergreen. With the right SEO, titles, and show notes in place, episodes keep finding new listeners for months or years after you hit publish, even if you stop making new ones.

In this episode, Abbey Graves tackles one of the most common fears she hears from beginner podcasters: what if I do all this work and no one actually listens? Abbey has helped launch dozens of podcasts around the world, and she has seen success come from creators with an established audience and creators starting from absolute zero.

She breaks the fear down into three parts. First, no one starts with 10,000 listeners overnight. She points to Amy Poehler, Chappell Roan, and Taylor Swift as examples of people who put in years of unseen work before anyone showed up, and reminds listeners that podcasting is a long game built on consistency, not an overnight win.

Second, Abbey reframes podcasting as relationship building rather than broadcasting. Every comment, email, or piece of feedback is an invitation to build a real connection with your audience, and she encourages podcasters to show up for the few people who do engage, because that is how word of mouth and organic growth actually happen.

Finally, she addresses the silence. Most people online are consumers, not creators, and creators are a small slice of the internet. That means your audience is very likely listening, watching, and absorbing your content, even if they never comment or like a post. Abbey closes with a personal example: her podcast The Small Town Tourist has crested 12,000 downloads and continues to grow even though she has not published a new episode in a year and a half, proof that a podcast built with the right SEO keeps working long after you stop actively promoting it.

Key Topics Covered

• Why you do not need 10,000 listeners to justify starting a podcast
• What Amy Poehler, Chappell Roan, and Taylor Swift's early careers teach podcasters about consistency
• Podcasting as relationship building, not just content creation
• Why audiences are more silent than podcasters realize, and why that is not a bad sign
• How evergreen SEO keeps a podcast working for you long after you stop posting
• Abbey's personal example: 12,000 downloads on a podcast she hasn't touched in 18 months

https://abbeygravesproductions.com/