Find Podcast Success While Doing Less - EP 87

What could doing less look like for your podcast? Life is chaos these days. The hours often seem to fill up instantly with all the things on your plate, so don’t feel bad if publishing podcast episodes start to slide to the bottom of your to-do list. Stumbling on the podcasting flow is totally normal—and totally fixable. The good news is that you can cut back on your workload and still release an impactful, exciting show.

Curbing the number of hours you spend prepping, recording, editing, publishing, and promoting doesn’t have to result in lower-quality episodes. By circling back to your original goals and finding ways to trim, rearrange, and even cut tasks that don’t serve you, a process emerges that keeps you excited to create but not bogged down for hours and hours you just don’t have.

Yes, you have the potential to balance more rest and a meaningful show:

• How to check in on your definition of success
• Why you’re getting better with every show, even if you didn’t notice
• How to go out with heart if you decide to take a break

Links worth mentioning from the episode:

• Episode 84, “Simplify Your Workflow to Keep Your Podcasting Passion Alive with Craig Constantine” - https://www.organizedsound.ca/simplify-your-workflow-to-keep-your-podcasting-passion-alive-with-craig-constantine-episode-84/
• Episode 86, “Warm Up to a Healthier, More Confident Voice with Nic Redman” - https://www.organizedsound.ca/warm-up-to-a-healthier-more-confident-voice-with-nic-redman-episode-86/
• Edison Research, Infinite Dial 2024 - https://www.edisonresearch.com/the-infinite-dial-2024/
• Edison Research, Infinite Dial 2023 - https://www.edisonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/The-Infinite-Dial-2023.pdf

Connect with Mary!

• Leave a voicemail with your feedback at https://www.speakpipe.com/VisibleVoice or email visiblevoicepodcast@gmail.com
• Get the full transcript of the episode at http://www.visiblevoicepodcast.com
• Read up on more secrets with the Visible Voice Insights Newsletter https://www.organizedsound.ca/newsletter
• To learn more or work with Mary, check out https://www.organizedsound.ca
• Link up on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/marychan-organizedsound/
• Engage on Instagram @OrganizedSoundProductions https://www.instagram.com/organizedsoundproductions

Show Credits:

• Podcast audio design, engineering, and edited by Mary Chan of Organized Sound Productions
• Podcast cover art by Emily Johnston of Artio Design Co.
• Show notes written by Shannon Kirk of Right Words Studio
• Post-production support by Kristalee Forre of Forre You VA

Transcript with Audio Description:

[MUSIC IN - GHOSTHOOD FEATURING SARA AZRIEL “LET’S GO” BEGINS]

MARY: What's possible if you can do less on your podcast, but still achieve your goals. This very specific moment in time. We're looking at the very end of 2024. We're in early November. As I record this, I feel like the collective Western world is at a standstill, kind of waiting in the wings, in limbo to see what's going to drop next. Whether that is interest rates for housing, local or federal elections, cost of living, like grocery prices rising. And you know, there's still like the day to day stuff like managing your work and your podcast is part of that. 

So there's a lot happening in your world, and podcasting might not be at the top of your list of to do’s. I know. And you know what? I'm here to say that it's okay if that's what you're thinking. Like, I got other things to do than to work on my podcast right now. And yeah, it's okay. And this is coming from someone who makes a living editing, managing and strategizing other people's podcasts. Podcasts is mainly what I do. So that's a scary thought for me that if I'm telling people to podcast less, is that going to be less for me as well? How do I survive that? 

But once you take a step back, less is more. As they say, doing less at this time in history can reap many benefits in the future. During your podcasting journey, just like any other parts of your life, it's always good to take a step back. Ask yourself, is there anything I can optimize or do less of, while still enjoying making my show? So let's get into how you can reassess your podcast, so you can still have fun creating a show that you love and have the work of making a podcast that meets your capacity. 

This is episode 87 on the Podcaster's Guide to a Visible Voice.

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In our fast paced, moving, technological world, many things are grabbing our attention. 

[INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

And as creators of content, how do you want to create content for this world? I would like to think that we're not creating content just for the sake of creating content, adding noise to what is already out there. But you know what? If you want to create content for the sake of creating content, that's your goal? All the power to you. But if you're here to nurture those relationships, get more clients, practice your messaging, and maybe experiment with your thought leadership, then you're in the right place. 

But a podcast with those values is not easy to create. We're not just here plugging in a microphone, sitting around a table, and just shooting the breeze with your best friend. To create a podcast with intention, the effort is a long game. And some days, those days of creating the podcast can feel long as well, and very isolating. Especially with the digital world, we're always on screens and have a lot of technology in our faces and in our ears, but we're also busy with our real, quote, unquote, real life. You know, outside of work, friends, family, life in general, there's so much busyness that we are looking to slow right down, in our world. 

In the last few months, I've been hearing this a lot. I've been hearing you say you want to do less, or pare down this chaotic life that we're in to be less, do, do, do, and just be for once, just be in your space. Everyone is also, you know, looking at your bank statements or, you know, if you don't go through it in a fine tooth comb like most average people, then at least you're looking at the bottom line, right? We're scrimping, saving, hoping for the same, or having more with spending less. 

And that was the scary thing I was alluding to at the beginning. It's like, oh, man, if people aren't investing in a podcast, what am I doing? What am I here for, right? And there's been a lot of talk in the podcasting world, too, where people have put their shows on pause or they stopped it all together because of health reasons. Health is a big issue right now, too. So many of my clients either went through a huge health concern themselves that, impacted their capacity, or they became a family caregiver to someone, focusing their time on that. And, yeah, they still want a podcast, but figuring out, what does that look like now? 

So in my world, it's less scary, because people still want to podcast. It is still something that's fun and that people see meaning from it. So podcasting isn't going away, but in this world that we're in, what does it look like to do less for your podcast? 

[MUSIC IN]

Let's switch over to the podcast listeners themselves. Today, listeners are listening less, in terms of how many shows they dedicate themselves to. So listening to an average of nine shows a week last year in 2023 to only eight shows this year in 2024. That's all from Edison Research's Infinite Dial Reports for those years. Links in the show notes if you want to go back and prove stats, if you're a big stats lover. But okay. Although listening time has gone up, so there's probably more shows now. There's more choice, and the episodes have gotten a little longer. But the thing here is that each listener is choosing to have fewer individual shows to listen to. They still want the content. Doesn't matter how long the content is, but they're being more choosy about which shows they're sticking around for. And overall, like I said, podcasting is still popular. It still grows year over year. 

So I'm not saying to stop your podcast, you know, unless that really is your goal, and it hasn't been fun for you to produce podcasts, so I get that. But these listeners are being choosy. So let's be choosy, too, about how we create our shows. We want to keep them fun and interesting and engaging for your listeners. Because if your listeners are choosing quality over quantity, let's make sure your show is the best quality it can be, but also with the time and energy that you have to create it. 

[MUSIC ENDS]

You know, Nic Redman actually talks about this, too, in the latter half of our conversation on episode 86. That's just the episode before this one. How after a year of her podcast, she reconvened and wondered, you know, what is this all about? Who am I serving? How does this podcast serve, you know, that ecosystem of what you're doing? And I bet a lot of podcasters, and I bet you are thinking about this, too, you know, even though we are continuing to create, we also need to take a step back to wonder, okay, is this doing what I want it to do? And if not, how can I make a shift, but still keeping up a consistency and quality, that's integral to the values of the show, and, of course, your ideal listener. 

[MUSIC IN]

So I'm going to break down a couple of ideas here. These are some ideas that my clients have actually taken on. And like I've always said, each podcast is going to be unique, and so everyone's going to have a different approach. And like anything else, there's no one right answer. Because we're here to redefine success. At the top of the show. I talked about your goals. Your goal is going to be different from everybody else's goal. So what is your goal? How do you want to redefine your success for your podcast? Because it's not going to come down to just the download numbers. What does that even mean? So what does success look like to you? And how can you do less and save your sanity, all while still having some fun podcasting? Sounds like a tall order, but like I said, we're going to break it down. 

[MUSIC ENDS]

One of my personal mantras is, if it's not fun, I'm not doing it. But like everything else in my life, that's not a hard or fast rule. There are many factors to consider, what fun is and what I can control and cannot control to make that experience more enjoyable. So when you take a look at everything you do on your podcast, and I mean everything, what stands out to you? So on a very general level, I'm just going to go through some very general things on creating your podcast. 

So first I want you to actually write it all down. If you already have a checklist of items, awesome. Go through that too. If you don't, take a few minutes, let's write it all out right now and I'll help you brainstorm here. Start with the idea that you have for an episode. You know, how do you organize that? Do you have an organization system for that? And then from there, how do you draft your episode and your thoughts? If you have guests, what are those steps to make that guest happen to come on your show? Including, you know, asking them first, the follow up, the scheduling, the recording, collecting their information. I touched on the recording. So let's get into that. 

Recording of the episode. What is that process? Like, what is that process? If you have guests, what is that process? If it's a solo episode, what is that process? If you do more of a narrative style and you're pulling clips from different things, how do you actually record and create your podcast episodes? And then of course after that, the podcast isn't finished. It still has to be polished up and get out into the world. 

So the post production side, this can include editing, scheduling. Do you also have to publish it to a blog? Do you write transcripts, show notes, create graphics, images? These graphics and images, they could also be part of the promotion. What are you doing to share the episode and market your show? Do you email the guest and thank them? Do you make social media posts? What about a newsletter? All of that is a lot of work and I'll be the first to admit it, not all of it is that fun. My mantra, if it's not fun, I'm not doing it. But back to your values. Let's not have this whole overwhelming thing derail you and this list. 

On a general overview from that list, what sticks out like a sore thumb or maybe even as you're writing, the one thing on the list, what made you go, ugh, or even make a really cringey face. What was that that made that emotion creep up? Or maybe another way to look at it could be asking yourself, why do you have that on your checklist in the first place? Does it actually align with your values for your podcast? Or did you add it because, well, everybody else seems like they're doing it. So if it's there, can you do it differently so it's more efficient, or can you take it out altogether? Would you be able to do that one thing alongside something else so that you can get two for the price of one under one task? 

This reminds me a lot, actually, with episode 84 with Craig Constantine. He talks a bit about publishing schedules and quote, he says, if you're doing things all by yourself, weekly is insane. And I would even say if you have a little bit of support, that is still insane. I mean, just listen to that very general list I rattled off a few minutes ago. Podcasting is an insane amount of work. But like Craig says in the episode, he streamlines what he's not liking and constantly auditing his workflow so that it continues to stay fun for him in the capacity that he needs. 

[MUSIC IN] Remember, too, that your podcast is a learning journey. What you did on episode 1 is not the same as what you'll do for episode 10, 20, or even 100. Yes, they still could sound the same. You might have, you know, same intro, you have the guest, and then you have an outro. The format could still be the same. But, how you create those episodes can differ. You learn with each and every episode you create, even if you're not, like, fully aware that's happening. Yeah, each time, you get to improve one small thing with each episode, whether that's the actual content of what people will hear, or the process in creating that episode. The podcast grows alongside you as a podcaster. 

And since each podcast is unique, each host is unique, you are your own unique selling point, and your voice is a unique thumbprint, that nobody else has. You get to decide what works, what needs improvement, and what can stop. So, experiment, no one magic blueprint is going to solve all your problems. 

[MUSIC ENDS]

So say you want more capacity. You need more time. Like Craig was saying, it's insane, a weekly show. So maybe think about changing to every other week instead of weekly. You can always go back to weekly when your capacity is not as limited, in this current season, every other week gives you more time to incorporate breathing space and spacing out your workload. But that doesn't mean, if you're still recording, editing, and publishing right up to the deadline, even when this schedule is adjusted and you feel like it's still a lot to handle, you might need to actually take a look at your calendar as a whole and schedule in time to do specific tasks, so it doesn't feel so overwhelming at the last minute. 

So what I mean is, if, for example, on your previous schedule you had one week to record, edit, and publish, you can now spread that out over two weeks. So maybe record on one day, take a break for a few days, do anything else you need to do, then come back, edit your show, then take a break, do what you need to do, and then come back again and do the post production, like the scheduling and the publishing and all that sort of stuff. 

You can implement this by adding it to your calendar. So scheduling in those editing and publishing dates, so they are there and blocked out for you. For example, I know a lot of my clients, they like to double check on things and make sure that the scheduling is done like two days before the publishing date. That gives you some buffer time in case you get sick or you're like, I'm going to procrastinate and not do the podcast. But at least it's in your calendar to remind you that you've got to do this this week. 

[MUSIC IN]

Another option could be thinking about shorter episodes. For example, if you like editing but it still feels like a slog, think about shorter episodes. Nothing says you have to create an episode of a certain length. That's actually some old mindset from the old TV standards, when you had to create 22 minutes, there was eight minutes of commercial time to fill. On a podcast, whatever time the content needs is the time it will be. Shorter episodes on interview style shows can also look like doing a bit more on the show prep side of things. 

So, what you could do is review your current interviews that you've done and think about, you know, are you hitting record and stop only because you scheduled a one hour recording time. You know, you're just chatting away and then you're like, okay, well the time's almost up, so I'm gonna ask you one last question. Well, maybe you don't need to schedule a one hour recording time. Maybe start changing that to a 45 minute recording time. So as the times get shorter, over time you're gonna get better at getting to the meat of the conversation and what you want to get out of the conversation so it doesn't just sort of like, drag out for that one hour timeframe. This way you're honing in on your interview skills and you're forced to kind of focus on the topic at hand and have less tangents. 

Or perhaps just to make things shorter, skip the pleasantries, skip the big bios, skip the how did you get here History stuff, and just get straight to the meat of the episode. There are various ways to cut down on an episode time, and these were just some little examples. 

[MUSIC ENDS]

One last advice is, maybe not a popular one, but like I've said before, I'm not here to do what everyone else is doing, especially just for the sake of everything is content type of an idea. You know, in my radio days, that had a lot of impact on your mental health. When you're like, everything I do is going to be part of my show. That's a lot of pressure. So my last idea, which again, isn't say, you should do this, but I want to give you permission that it is an option, it's a possibility, to stop podcasting altogether. Shock, horror, I know, I know. 

But as I said at the start of the show, if it's not fun right now, why are you doing it? Okay, so stopping can look like various forms. For one, a hiatus, just going to take a brief pause, or stopping and actually ending the show completely. But there's a gray zone here as well, right? It's not black or white. It's not one or the other. So to give you an idea of this hiatus, if you want to just pause for, say, a season, create your last episode, and then either explain in that last episode of it’s own or within the intro and outro that, the podcast is going on hiatus, let your listeners know why, and about approximately when you'll be back.

It's only kind of fair when you think about it in terms of, like, a relationship. You've built up this relationship, and so you're just going to let them know, I'm going on a bit of a break. I need that break. Here are the reasons. I mean, you don't have to go in detail, obviously, but I think listeners really appreciate that. And they're going to wait for you to come back, essentially, because they're like, I get it. I'm in the same boat. I need a break, too. We'll come back together. 

But on that train of thought, it's kind of the same, too. If you completely stop and cancel your show, don't ghost your listeners. It'd be really nice to give your show a proper farewell that it deserves. You've put a lot of effort into it. You know, whether you have only created a handful of episodes or you're on episode 100 or going into episode 500. You've put a lot of effort into this, so go out with the heart and values that you originally put into it. You've created a community here, and they would love to celebrate this goodbye along with you. 

But of course, all of this is easier said than done. Ending your show by just, like, not doing anything anymore is also very legitimate. It's called podfading, where you just stop and ghost your listeners and you don't come back to it and you're like, I have some episodes recorded, but I got stuff. Life, it's a very real thing. And you don't have to come back to your podcast. Podfading is real, because, yeah, life. 

You know, I personally went through that with my previous podcast about hosting international students. It's called the Homestay Kitchen. We had to stop because Covid, the world stopped. Students were not arriving, and I had a four year old to take care of while running my podcasting business during COVID So life right? Podcast gone cold turkey ghosted everyone? No, I think we did one episode about COVID and how we don't have any students right now and we might be back, and then we just never came back because life. But what I'm saying is there's no one right answer. Every podcast will go through its own journey and they will have their own path to take, too. 

But starting with your podcast values to see what's jumping out at you right now that you want to stop doing in your podcast tasks, then you can look back and really evaluate to see what you can do to tweak that task to have it feel better or, yeah, just stop it altogether and not do that part. 

[MUSIC IN]

So as we start to wrap up this episode and just like this very natural time in the Northern Hemisphere, we're all turning inwards. We're cozying up in the fall and hibernating for winter coming up. So let's do a bit of collective rest for you and your podcast because I know we all need it right now. So what does rest look like to you as a podcaster? I'd love to know. How are you doing less for your show? As always, send me a note from my website, VisibleVoicePodcast.com or leave me an email to visiblevoicepodcast@gmail.com. 

On the next episode. I have a very special conversation because I wanted to make sure my guest was able to use what she needed to make sure that her side of the podcast was as effective as possible. For her. So it'll sound a little bit different because she'll be outside recording on her iPad. I'll take you along through the experience with the Deaf Queen Boss, Kellina Powell. Kellina empowers deaf and hard of hearing women to express themselves fully to be heard in the hearing world with confidence. So I had a lot of fun with Kalina on this episode. You'll want to hear what she does to be a podcast guest on my show and how you can also make your podcast more accessible and possible for anyone who's hard of hearing. 

And speaking of that, of course, a full transcript of the episode is on my website, VisibleVoicePodcast.com, you can also find it on some of your apps too, so make sure that if you need the transcript, it's there for you. So we'll catch you next time when we chat with Kellina Powell, the Deaf Queen Boss. 

[MUSIC ENDS]

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MARY: Thank you so much for listening to the Podcaster's Guide to a Visible Voice. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you share it with a podcasting friend. And to reveal more voicing and podcasting tips, click on over to VisibleVoicePodcast.com. Until next time.

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[MUSIC ENDS]