Thank you for listening to the sixth episode of Your Pod Guy! I'm Scott Curtis, Your Pod Guy.
Before I get into the show, I want to let you know that I'm having a contest to celebrate the launch of Your Pod Guy! I'm giving away a great podcast mic, a 1-year subscription to Descript podcast and video editor which I'm using right now, and 2 hours of free podcast consulting from Your Pod Guy. That's me. Head over to yourpodguy.com/contest to see how to enter. Pro Tip: There's ways to get entries every day! The link is in the show notes too.
We're going to cover your podcast "why" today. I think that determining your why is the most important part of planning your podcast. Understanding your why, writing it down, and creating a mission statement from it is what will keep you motivated to continue your show past the seven episodes that is the total run for most podcasts. That's right; the statistics show that 82% of podcasts stop before they reach a year and most podcasts don't last more than seven episodes. I'm going to put the full transcript of this episode into the show notes so that you can refer to it when you are getting to your podcast "why".
There are a lot of reasons most podcasts fail and I believe the easiest way to sum up the failures is to say that they thought it would be cool to start a podcast and when they didn't go to the top of the charts right away, they thought it was too much work. A podcast is a lot of work and determining your "why" will not only help you to be on the winning side of the statistics but will help you determine if a podcast is really a good idea for you before you put in the effort and investment to start it.
I'd like to illustrate how I got to my "why" for Behind the Bits to give you a real-world example. As I mentioned in episode 2, I started performing stand-up comedy at the age of 52. As a podcast listener, I looked for all the comedy teaching podcasts I could find. I found some really good shows but none of them had exactly what I wanted. So, I decided I'd start my own podcast because I figured there had to be more people like me. At that point, I didn't know what I wanted though so, to start, I realized that I needed to write down what I didn't want. I still have the notebook I used to plan Behind the Bits. Here's my list of what I didn't want in my podcast:
- I didn't want the perspective of a one person show. Basically, a lecture.
- I didn't want a lot of small-talk and inside jokes between the hosts & guests.
- I didn't want the same questions posed to every guest. Maybe 1 or 2 static questions like why did you start stand-up?
- I didn't want the host to be the focus of attention.
- I didn't want the subject matter to be too basic. There are a lot of books with that info and more than enough shows.
- I didn't want the guests to be all famous comedians.
That's a lot of what I didn't want! Boy am I picky! After determining what I didn't want in my podcast, I made a list of what I did want:
- Interview working comedians at all stages of their careers.
- Guests chosen for a particular reason. They said or did something that I thought should be documented.
- Branding that didn't include my picture or name. (This was a mistake that I'll cover in another episode)
- A conversation with active listening vs a list of questions.
- Guests in the industry and also industry adjacent (Like club owners, comedy writers, speech coaches, etc)
- Serious conversation with little banter and small talk
- No pre-interview. I want to get to know my guests while the proverbial tape is rolling.
Once again, that's a lot of wants! Between the wants and don't wants, I solidified my "why". It's pretty simple. There wasn't a podcast I found that had everything I wanted and nothing I didn't want. Now, I had to create a mission statement that outlined exactly what my podcast would be. Here's the big reveal:
I want to learn everything I can about stand-up comedy and bring my listeners along for the ride.
That's pretty simple, isn't it? That's what a mission statement is supposed to be. The work is determining what and you don't want in your podcast. After that, your mission statement should be very easy to write. If it isn't, go back and do the work again. Most definitely, don't start your show until you've done the work and have your mission statement, or your show will surely be in the 82% of podcasts that fail. Strong words but they're true.
I expect you'll have questions and I'm here to answer them. you can shoot me an email to [email protected] and I'll answer them right here on the podcast. You can also use a cool toll I'm beta testing called Ask Answer. you just grab your phone and record a video asking me a question and I'll answer it. Pretty cool, huh? Just click the link in the show notes to ask me anything about podcasting.
I'd also love some feedback. Is the information I'm presenting helpful to you? What topics would you like to hear about? I'm not new to podcasting but this is my first podcast about podcasting and I want to make sure I'm putting out what you want to hear.
In producing 4 podcasts, I have become obsessed with great podcasts and want to help make yours great too! That's what Your Pod Guy is all about.
If you like what you hear, subscribe on your favorite podcast app and leave a review to help me reach more podcasters and aspiring podcasters like you!
Head over to yourpodguy.com if you'd like to book a free consultation and while you're there, join the mailing list for more great podcast info delivered to your email.
In the next episode, I'll talk about the big mistake I made with Behind the Bits
I use Descript to produce all my podcasts. This is my go-to audio and video editor and has made my life so much easier. Check it out here:
https://www.yourpodguy.com/descript
I mentioned the contest that is running to celebrate the launch of Your Pod Guy. I’m excited to give away some great podcasting tools like a studio microphone, a 1-year subscription to Descript, and 2 hours of consulting time from me! Click the link below to enter:
https://www.yourpodguy.com/contest
If you have any questions you’d like to ask, shoot me an email to [email protected]
You can also reach me through Ask Answer using your mobile device (I think it’s pretty cool)
Ask Answer
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