Bonus: Making of a podcast - the reality
Friday, July 2, 2021
Today: We explore what you need to turn your podcast idea into a reality. We also review some of of my favorite examples of well-made indie podcasts.
Some of my favorite examples of podcasts that made it happen:
1. Stories of Selling Human, by Alex Smith
2. Own Your Awkward, by Andy Vargo
3. Getting Unstuck, by Jeff Ikler and Kirsten Richert
4. DreamsRecycled, by Tiffany Ann Beverlin
Your turn: We'd love to hear from you. Use the "Message" button on the Anchor app to share a story, question, or feedback related to this episode. Or email us at joe@connectioncounselor.com
Learn more: Details about the book, online course, YouTube tutorials and more can be found at www.connectioncounselor.com/executive-presence-place
Music: Earning Happiness by John Bartmann is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License
“Remember, it’s not what you say, do, or wear. It’s how you make people feel that generates executive presence. Nothing. Else. Matters.”
Transcript hHello, this is Joe Kwon, the Connection Counselor. I'm so excited. This is our last episode of Executive Presence Morsels - bonus edition, before the launch of our actual podcast, Executive Presence Morsels, which is taking place the day after Independence day, July 5th. So starting July 5th, I'll be meeting with you every day, 7:00 AM in the morning, sharing some executive presence insights that you can use throughout your day to elevate your career.
So these episodes have been to give you a little bit of, preview of what's to come, as well as some of the background as to how this podcast is made, as well as if you're interested in making your own podcast, giving you some very simple, streamlined tips and tricks that could maybe nudge you in the right direction and get you creating something, rather than Googling and spending all your time, reading different.
So today we're going to talk about making a podcast - the reality. So these are going to be some of my experiences from actually participating in creating four separate podcasts. And I'll share with you some of my insights and learnings, as well as highlighting some podcasts that I've been on, with colleagues and friends, where I think they're doing something exceptional, that I want to point out that maybe that can give you some insights, as well.
So the first principle I want to share with you is "part of one is better than none." So let me say that again, "part of one is better than none." So many episodes that I've come up with, so many things that I put together, whether it's a book or online training or a podcast, it was done in tiny little pieces.
It's kind of cobbled together over time and then edited to make one cohesive piece. So sometimes it may just be five minutes. It may be 30 minutes. It's very rare that I can actually have the time to go from beginning to end, uninterrupted and create the perfect product. You don't have the time often to do that, unless this is your full-time gig, and even then things get in the way.
And also creatively and energy wise, often it doesn't happen that way. Sometimes you just have 30 minutes of kind of energy or mojo to go, and then you kind of peter out. So anytime you spend after that is actually wasted time. The key is...to do just a little bit, right.
To be consistent. And even if it's like one minute today, three minutes tomorrow, and then you're having a really good day the day after that and you do 20 minutes, it's that consistency and keeping to do it. Because what happens is if you skip too often, then one day becomes two days becomes four days.
I'll go to the gym in a week. And then all of a sudden it's a year and later and 30 pounds later. And you'd never gone to the gym, right, after buying that expensive or what seemed at the time, a good deal, a monthly subscription, right? So doing even just a little bit, right? Even if it's just a thought or writing something down, making an incremental effort really will go a long way to help you produce something consistently. It doesn't seem that way, but it definitely makes a difference.
Second principle I'll share with you. How do you actually get these things done? Right? Like I get that question a lot. So the principle I'll share with you is it's not because I'm super hardworking or more industrious than anyone else. I mean, I work pretty hard, right? But I don't think that's the key.
The principle I'll share is "a factory line saves you time." Right? What does that mean? A factory line, saves you time. What I've noticed is when I'm most productive, I'm kind of repeating the same thing over and over again. Right? So if you think about different things you may need to do for a podcast, there's recording the intro or filling in the titles or coming up with titles. Rather than do one episode and do A through Z for that episode and then repeat, sometimes what helps a lot is let me, let me come up with five episodes.
I'll come up with five titles right now. I'll start to fill in the five intros for those titles and I'll create sort of a production line. And what happens is if you're doing the same thing over and over again, you get faster, you get better, you get better ideas.
So you're actually much more productive doing things repetitively and breaking up into pieces, than trying to go all the way straight through and repeating it. That can be good too, but in general, to be more productive, I feel like having more of a production line or a factory line definitely saves you time.
The last principle I'll share, and this one is so key, I call it "in order to prevail, prepare to fail." Right? So you just have to know that there'll be times where the recording doesn't work well, or you say something stupid or something got deleted by accident. Just understand that these things are gonna happen.
So what are the things that you can prepare to do to offset those? So for instance, If you have a launch date, give yourself enough time and start working ahead of time, so you're not trying to do everything the night before, and then you're up until 2:00 AM in the morning. And then you find out the next day, you totally botched the launch and everyone's hearing your great first episode and it's all staticky or you're totally missing a section and you're embarrassed, and then now you've just given up.
However, if you prepared for the launch and you tested everything three or four days before, you'd have adequate time to rerecord, to rejigger things just to fix what you need to do. So in that way, if you're prepared to fail and know that things can go wrong, you can handle it better. And also you give yourself the space and sort of the mental capacity to go in and fix it.
I want to share with you and highlight just a couple of podcasts of friends and colleagues of mine that I've been on and just really quickly to share some things that I really like about what they're doing. So Alex Smith, he does a sales podcast called Stories of Selling Human.
And what I love about what he's doing is I talked about passion and your topic. He's really taking his passion, which is not sales. His passion is. Operating like a human being, right? Like as a real person that cares about others and not just about yourself. His job is in sales, but it's really about being a human and he brings great, other salespeople who have that same mentality.
And one of the great things that I think he gets to do is he gets to network and meet other great salespeople. So it's really a win-win situation. So Alex is doing a great job - Stories of Selling Human. I'll include links to all these podcasts. Definitely check it out.
Another great podcast is by my good friend, Andy Vargo; met him at the no longer virtual conference. He does this great podcast called Own Your Awkward. I won't spoil the story, but Andy has a really interesting backstory. And his theme is feeling awkward for a lot of his life. And he really turns that and leverages it into a strength and his business. And he makes his living by talking to other people about how they may feel awkward and how you can get through that and how you could actually use that to your advantage.
So check out Andy's podcast - Own Your Awkward. He's also a standup comedian, which jeez, it takes a lot of bravery. Public speaking is tough, but stand up comedian, come on. So Andy has some really great insights to share, as well.
Next Jeff Ikler and Kirsten Richert. Two dear friends also met through him through NLV - the No Longer Virtual conference.
They do such a great job co-hosting, right? So I didn't talk about this much, but you can also co-host. You don't have to go it on your own. Definitely have a good relationship with your co-host, right? Because you don't want to be talking over each other or arguing. I think they have such a good trusting relationship and they've known each other over the years so this works for them and they have this great educational podcast called, Getting Unstuck.
It's about education and innovation and solving those really sticky problems and figuring out ways to do better for, you know, our youth and for the children and people that we're trying to educate. So check them out if you're interested in a co-host format. They do it so well.
I've been on their podcast, more than once actually, and it's just a great experience. It doesn't feel any different than going with one great host. So check that.
And last but not least, Tiffany Ann Beverlin and she has a podcast called, Dreams Recycled. I won't spoil it, but Tiffany also has a really interesting backstory how she started her business, the name of the podcast, how she came into all this. Actually she came on my podcast, Why it Works, and I learned a lot about her backstory on that podcast. So check out her podcast, Dreams Recycled.
What she does really well is she builds community, right? She's got this great website for a community, the podcast caters to that community. And she's really masterful at building things for her community that are important to her community and that address their pain points. Remember we talked about in the content section, "what's the audience's pain?"
And Tiffany has created this great business around understanding, resonating, and connecting with her audience. So just a few podcasts besides mine to inspire you. And hopefully you'll get a chance to listen to those and get something good out of them.
Well, July 5th - coming right around the corner! We're launching our daily podcast, Executive Presence Morsels. Five days a week, delivered fresh to you in the morning a tasty morsel that you can take with you to sustain you throughout the day; think about it, reflect on it and act on it so you can build your executive presence and elevate your career.
My name is Joe Kwon. I'm the Connection Counselor. Remember. You can change your life - one connection at a time. Thank you.ere