Did you know that the average podcast does not make it past seven episodes?
And that's fine if you're doing a mini-series or you're covering
a specific topic that only needs a certain number of episodes.
But what about a podcast that is intended to run indefinitely?
How can you definitely get over that slump?
How can you keep having a podcast blast while creating your podcast?!
I am not exactly sure why seven became the magic number for podcast episodes,
but I do have a theory that's based just on my own personal experience:
Once you decide to make a podcast, those first few episodes are super exciting.
Even if you have to schedule things with a co-host, or workout guests, everything is
just more exciting because it's all brand new.
But after a while, that newness wears off and then the realities of the
production routine start to set in.
Then the podcast might start feeling like it's taking time away from other areas in
your life, and it starts to feel more like an obligation and less like this really
fun project that you are excited about.
So then you might decide to take a break, and it can seem really easy to just
"skip a week."
But if you don't have a clear plan of how to actually come back from that break,
then skipping one or two weeks turns into three or four weeks and then
time goes on and your podcast becomes this thing that people just see you
and go, "Are you still doing that thing?"
"The podcast thing?"
And ultimately your podcast then finds itself coming to a very unceremonious end.
So here are two strategies that I've used to make it to episode 8
and beyond!
[oddball music plays] (I tried to sync the legs to the beat)
The first one is to make sure your idea has legs
because coming up with an idea for a podcast is easy,
but coming up with an idea that can go on and on for an extended period
of time is way more difficult.
Even beyond more concrete things like scheduling time for hosts or guests or
production time, finding an idea that you can come back to episode after episode
is really not as easy as it seems.
And as anyone who's taken my podcast ideation course,
The Podcaster Ideabook can tell you. 😉
Sometimes the idea you're most excited about isn't actually the
most sustainable when coming up with a concept for your podcast.
It's important to ask yourself how you can approach it in a way that
won't exhaust all of your ideas after only just a few episodes.
My recommendation is if your podcast centers around a specific topic to
brainstorm out a few episode ideas.
10 is the magic number that seems to work well for me, so I'd recommend at
least 10, and that will give you an idea of whether or not the show actually
has those legs that we talked about.
If the idea is truly
"Legcellent"
Because you don't want to be de-feet-ed.
Legs and feet. Get it?
If you're able to brainstorm 10 ideas and then you get through
actually creating those 10 shows, by that time, you'll probably have
a pretty good idea of what the show should be or is turning into.
Because every idea kind of evolves on its own creatively. If you're trying to
decide between a few different ideas,
and I just do this strategy for all of those ideas,
I literally just get a piece of paper, put each show idea down, and then put
how many episode ideas I can come up with for each show, and that usually
makes it pretty clear which ideas
have enough to kind of keep going and which ones will sort of run
out of steam with after a few episode.
However, say you have two ideas: one of them you're REALLY excited about, one
of them you're pretty excited about. This one that you're really excited about,
you only have three or four episode ideas.
This one that you're less excited about,
maybe you have 10, 15 ideas for.
It makes a lot more sense to go with this one.
And as you go through that, you'll probably, hopefully, find
the excitement for it as you dive into it a little deeper.
And as time goes on and your podcasting abilities improve.
This other idea that only has three or four episodes,
maybe it will be able to be developed into a bigger idea that has multiple episodes,
and that can still turn into its own show down the line at some point.
So just because you don't use one of your ideas right now doesn't mean that you'll
never use it at some point in the future.
[overly festive holiday music ensues] (I thought it made sense because seasons)
And now let's talk about the second strategy for making
your podcast more sustainable:
And that reason is seasons!
If you remember a little while ago I said taking breaks can be dangerous for
your show, but it can also be hugely beneficial if done in the right way.
I've personally worked on a number of podcasts over the years, but my own
personal podcast I started about four years ago and it's almost 140 episodes
in at the time that I'm recording this.
And when I started it, it was just to share my ideas and sort
of get all this stuff that had felt like it was just building up
in my brain out into the world.
It was basically like a free therapy session. And after 21 episodes,
which is a decent amount, I started to feel like, "Hmm, I kind of got
that out of my system. I shared everything I wanted to share,
where do I go from here?"
And so I decided that I didn't want to end the show, but I did want to take a break
for a few weeks to sort of figure out how I wanted to approach it going forward.
And what I decided to do was since that first run of episodes was
very internally-focused,
it was me getting all this stuff that had built up for years out of my brain.
And then I wanted to shift it to be more listener-focused, to explore
topics that I thought would be helpful, beneficial, or at least mildly
entertaining to anyone who might listen.
And after that break, it just made sense in my mind to call that "Season 2."
So then I started another run of episodes that was slightly different
in theme, and since the first season was 21 episodes, I wanted this season
to be 21 episodes, and I ended up doing that for five 21 episode seasons over
the period of a couple of years.
But then I realized 21 is a lot and 21 weeks is a BIG chunk of the year.
And it started to feel a little exhausting.
And I started noticing when I was hitting episode 12 or 13, I was feeling
a little bit tired and it was feeling more like an obligation.
So then I decided to switch things up and do 10 episode seasons
which I've now been doing for 4 seasons, and 10 episodes for me has
been great because it's long enough to sort of come up with a theme
or a purpose for the whole season,
explore that in enough depth, but it's also short enough that there's kind of
always the light at the end of the tunnel.
I can always see when I can take a break, and being able to take that break really
lets me recharge those creative batteries.
So when the next season starts, I'm really excited.
It never feels like an obligation anymore.
I'm always excited to record an episode,
and because I know I'm going to come back for a season, I usually try to
end a season with an idea for what the next group of episodes will be about.
And so the break isn't this thing that will go on indefinitely.
I usually let myself have 2-4 weeks off, and then I
come back for the next episodes.
So I get to enjoy my break, and I don't have to worry that the show is just going
to sort of fizzle out and never come back because I already have a plan in place
for what's going to happen when the break ends.
If I need to take a break, if life happens and I need to miss a week, that's fine.
I try not to put too much pressure on myself, but I also
try to plan around that.
Sometimes that might mean recording episodes in advance and scheduling them,
so even if I can't record one week, there's still an episode that goes out.
I do think 10, maybe 12, is kind of a sweet spot because there's sort of this
natural momentum that builds around season premieres and season finales
I have found, even though they're really no different than other episodes.
The fact that it's the first episode or the last episode
makes me and the listeners kind of more excited about it and they
sort of have a different feel.
And then there's really not enough time in a shorter 10 episode season
to get bored with the show, either for me as the person producing
it or for somebody listening to it.
And then there's enough of a break
where the listeners and me start to miss it.
So if you don't know where to begin with seasons, I would definitely
recommend 10 episodes as a great place to get started, and then you can add
your season seasoning to taste to make sure your show is working for you and
your listeners the best way possible.
Now, with all that being said, it is important to recognize that sometimes
ideas do just run their course.
And if you feel like every time you're creating an episode that
you're trying to choke an idea to life,
it might be time to just let it go and move on to something else.
There's definitely a fine line to walk between pushing yourself through
a creative slump and knowing when something has reached its natural end.
Ultimately though, I think having a podcast should be fun.
Even if your show is about a serious topic or something that's more in-depth,
I think you should have fun, or at least it should be really satisfying
to create and produce and anything you can include in your workflow to help
that happen, not just once or twice, but pretty much every time you make an episode,
is a really great thing to do.
You might even say it's the key to creating a 'cast that lasts!
And speaking of things that last, thank you to everyone who helps
support my channel through Patreon and YouTube Channel Memberships.
And there are two more things I want to talk about before
totally wrapping up the video.
The first is the idea of getting started.
I think having a plan and an idea is really important, but I just
want to remind and encourage you that it doesn't have to be perfect.
You don't have to have every word scripted before you jump in and get started.
You don't have to have perfect equipment.
If you're watching this video, you definitely have enough equipment to
get started to at least some degree.
There are free platforms out there like Anchor, which will help
distribute your show to the entire world, and you can jump in right now, today
creating your first episode of a podcast and let it grow over time.
And the other thing, of course, is podcasting courses.
This is not a shameless self plug, I promise you.
I'm full of shame. 🥸
I do have two podcasting courses and they're a little different.
There's the Podcaster Ideabook, which I mentioned earlier that will help
you come up with ideas for a podcast.
It does not at all talk about production.
It's just
how to come up with an idea, how to decipher different ideas, which one
you might want to work with and how to plan out your first season of episodes.
And my other course is the Podcaster Playbook, which is
totally a production course.
So it assumes you already have the idea and then it runs you through,
from start to finish,
how to produce your first audio podcast episode.
We talk a little bit about video podcasts, but it's mostly audio production.
And by the time you're done, you will have your first episode finished, but you
will also, and this is very important, have created a totally sustainable
workflow to help you keep making episode
after episode.
Neither course talks about how to monetize your podcast because I'm a
firm believer that, 1: it's very hard to make money on a podcast.
And 2: you should be doing a podcast for fun.
I think most creative endeavors should come from a place of intrinsic
motivation and satisfaction.
And down the line, if revenue or something comes along,
that's great! But if you start out with that in mind as being your purpose,
it's just a lot easier to fail and a lot easier to stop having fun along the way.
So there are links to both those courses in the description if you're interested.
And more than anything, no matter how you get started or what resources you use.
I hope you have a lot of fun creating your podcast!