Lessons learned from my first year of podcasting
Happy Anniversary! Happy Anniversary! Happy Anniversary! Yes, I am totally singing this song that I learned from Alf many moons ago.
It has been a year since my very first show and I’m a little verklmept. It has been a really awesome year. It has been a really hard year. Isn’t that life though? It’s 50/50. Hosting this show has been so rewarding and life changing. When I started it a year ago, I had an inkling that it would be a game changer for me – I just had no idea how.
I didn’t know that a year later I would have my own coaching business. That I would have left my corporate job. That I would have met so many incredible people. That I would have finally found my calling. All because I followed the whisper of an idea that I had… So today I am popping open the sparkling water (because I am still doing my 75 hard challenge!) and showering you with presents. Which will be revealed at teh end of the show.
Before we get to present time, I wanted to share with you the lessons I have learned from my first year of podcasting. Some of these are specific to podcasting but others are applicable to lots of areas of life. Because how we do one thing is how we do most things. So here we go…
Start before you’re ready. There will always be a reason to keep researching. Start today. You will figure it out I promise. That goes for tech stuff, it goes for organization, it goes for marketing. You will figure it out. You are never going to know all the things. So start with what you do know and just start. This doesn’t just apply to podcasting. If you are thinking of starting a blog – do it. If you are thinking of writing a book or leading a workshop or getting back into the dating pool – do it. Now is the time to say yes to yourself. The rest will fall into place.
If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. When I started this show, I made a list of all of the interesting people I knew and then I set to emailing! I also made a list of dream guests and sent emails. I looked at who I was following on Instagram and slid into their DMs. I posted in facebook groups. I literally ran up to people at networking events. If I thought they had an interesting story or they were an expert on a topic, I asked them to be on the show. Some people said no. Some said yes but then didn’t answer my email. Some said not right now, but maybe later. And some said yes! But if I had sat around worrying that my show was too new, I don’t have the right metrics, I don’t have an in, I would have never gotten 1 interview. So ask for what you want. People want to say yes!
Your audience is waiting. Whatever it is that you are dreaming of doing (whether it’s podcasting, songwriting, photography or finding your twin flame), someone is waiting for you to do it. Maybe you created a product, wrote a story, offer a service, someone is waiting for you. Not only are they waiting – but you are going to change their life. You may not even know HOW it will change someone’s life but I am telling you, it will. When I started this show, I HOPED people would listen and I always told myself that if it helped ONE person, it was worth it. Not even one person a week, but just one person over the course of the show. Because I know that if you can help one person, then you can help 2 or 4. There is a Barack Obama quote that I love that says ““One voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world. Your voice can change the world.” Someone is waiting for you – Stop making them wait!
Consistency is key. When I first started this show, I was told that most podcasts don’t make it to 8 episodes. So I made it a goal to launch with 8 so that I could beat the odds right out of the gate. I’m a little competitive… I recently came across this fascinating statistic – more than 80 percent of all podcasts have not published new episodes in the past three months, and close to 70 percent have been inactive for a year. We have all been there – we get an idea – we are super excited and then the excitement drops as the work of the idea grows. This doesn’t just happen with podcasting. It happens with blogging, exercise. It’s not an isolated phenomenon. This lesson was driven home when, after releasing 12 episodes I took a break at the beginning of 2019. In retrospect, i wouldn’t do that again. I lost momentum and fell out of the rhythm of creating the show. And it was really hard to get back to it. And because it felt hard, I dragged my feet and was away longer than I wanted to be. I have learned that it is so much easier to for me if I keep to a consistent schedule.
Vulnerability is a good thing. A hard thing but a good thing. The shows where I have shared my struggles were the hardest for me to record and they were the ones where on publish day, I just laid on the couch thinking what have i done… And they were also the ones that seem to resonate the most with listeners. Share your story, like I said in #3 – someone is waiting for you and your voice. Which brings me to point 5a – Everyone thinks their voice sounds weird at first. It does and it doesn’t. Do not let that stop you. There’s this guy on youtube that my kids watch named Chills and he has the most annoying voice – to me anyway. That dude has like a million subscribers so clearly he doesn’t annoy everyone. Your voice is unique to you and that’s a good thing. Share that uniqueness even when it kinda makes you want to throw up and gives you the nervous sweats.\
Make a show you love. I know people say you have to know your ideal listener, etc. but I think your ideal listener is you, maybe a year ago. This show is me sharing things that have worked for me or me asking experts to help me with things I am currently struggling with. Make the show that you want to hear. If you are in love with your topic, you will show up for your show and the more you show up for your show, people will show up as well.
Don’t worry about the numbers. As a person who loves data, it feels weird saying that. But when you are first starting out with something new, ignore the numbers. Numbers are meaningless in the beginning. Don’t get caught up in the stats. They aren’t telling you your impact, This goes for whether you are blogging, starting a youtube channel, launching a photography business, or even joining a dating site. Forget the numbers. Forget your likes and follower counts and pageviews. Instead, talk to the people who are engaging with you. Get to know them. Don’t focus on empty numbers. For the first 6 months of my show I had no idea how many people were listening. I just happily interacted with people who commented on instagram or sent me messages on facebook. The first time I saw my numbers I had a moment of “that’s it!? I am doing all this work and those are my numbers?!” And I was in a funk for a couple of days. And then I realized that if that same number of people showed up to see me record the show each week, I would be ecstatic. Mainly because I love interacting with people – oh hi I’m an extrovert in case you haven’t been able to tell yet. Then and there, I made a promise to focus on real people, not mystery numbers.
Done is better than perfect. OOOOH – this is one of those lessons that I keep learning. You ever have one of those? Where you think “this again?! I thought I learned this lesson already!” Yeah. Done is better than perfect is the one for me. I can get very stuck in making everything perfect. But then I don’t put it out there. So I have been practicing doing B- work. I will even say to Tyler when I hand over an episode “this is B- work” meaning, I don’t want him to spend a lot of time editing it. He is practicing the done is better than perfect lesson as well. For this recovering perfectionist, it is a real struggle. I think I need to do a whole episode on perfection….
Being accountable to someone is a great way to get started. Being accountable to yourself is the only way to keep going. In the beginning of the show, I was accountable to the network that picked up Season 1. And that was great to get me to record the first 12 episodes. After that, it was on me. And I struggled. I thought it would be SOOO much easier if I had to answer to someone. Then I took a look at that thought and realized it wasn’t serving me. Was I going to go my whole life having to be accountable to someone else in order to pursue my dreams? That was lame. So now I practice being accountable to myself – doing things because I said I would do them.
Action equals answers. I think about how my life has changed with the simple action of saying “I have an idea for a podcast”. At the time I had no idea where it would take me. I had no idea how I would record the show. But by taking one small action after another, the next step was revealed. I have said it before on the show and I will say it many more times. Baby steps count. All those little steps, all those small actions will get you further than if you tried to take one giant leap. As I took action, answers were revealed to me. If you are struggling with a lot of questions, take a deep breath and then take a small action. It could be a walk – that’s where my idea for the show started. On a walk with my son. So take some action, no matter how small and know that you can change course as you go.
Now it’s present time!!
I have 2 special gifts for you all to thank you for listening this past year.
The first is a PDF I created of my favorite pieces of advice from some of the guests from this past year.
My second present is my personal fave – it’s a 50 minute consult call with me! We will talk about where you are, where you want to go and how to get you there! It’s totally free and if you are interested, just send me an email at hello@lizheron.com and we will set up a time!
I am only opening up 10 of these, so shoot me an email today. Hey! That can be the little action you take today that gets you closer to your damn thing! So what are you waiting for?? Get to it!
Ok my friends – thank you again for an amazing year. Here’s to an even bigger second year! I’ll talk to you all next week!