#032: What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Podcasting

You don't know what you don't know and for most of us, (myself included 🙋🏻‍♀️) what we don't know about podcasting is ALOT.

In this episode I'll break down what I wish I'd known when I started my first podcast in 2021, what I wish I'd known starting my 5th podcast in 2023, and what I wish I'd known becoming a podcast host for the first time in 2024.

Get your free podcast audit checklist (with walkthrough video) here:
https://morganfranklin.media/podcast-growth-self-audit

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Creators & Guests

Host

Morgan Franklin

Morgan Franklin is a podcast producer, strategist and educator. Since 2020 Morgan has founded and produced multiple top ranking podcasts from the health industry to beauty. Featured everywhere from Good Morning America to Martha Stewart Living Morgan's passion and knowledge for branding and podcasting have helped countless business owners and brands grow their impact and bottom line podcasting. Morgan is the Founder of Podcasts for Profit and Morgan Franklin Media, in addition to host of Podcasts for Profit with Morgan Franklin.

What is Podcasts for Profit with Morgan Franklin | Podcasting Strategy for Podcasters?

If you’re ready to create a podcast that will align you with experts in your industry, position yourself as a trusted leader and create another source of revenue for your business you’re in the right place. Podcasts for Profit will help you create and grow a podcast that cuts through the noise of social media and speak directly to your target audience. Stop letting the algorithm determine your social marketing strategy. Stop letting trends dictate the kind of content you’re able to create. Hosted by expert podcast strategist, producer and educator: Morgan Franklin, Podcasts for Profit is your step-by-step guide to creating a podcast that will transform your business, opportunities and life.

Morgan Franklin: You know,
something I think about all the

time is that we don't know what
we don't know. And I know that

sounds kinda goofy, right, but I
try to remind myself this every

single day, and it's not to
reward ignorance, but it's to

give some grace to myself and
the people that are around me,

because sometimes we just simply
don't know what we don't know,

and that's why learning and
curiosity and working towards

that best version of ourselves
is so important. This episode is

gonna be a little bit different,
and I'm gonna talk to you about

what I wish I had known when I
started podcasting back in 2021

and launching my first show, but
also what I wish that I had

known two years later, launching
my fifth original show, and what

it was like for me, after four
years of producing other

people's podcasts, to finally
start my own show. And of

course, what I wish I had known,
hello and welcome to podcast for

profit. My name is Morgan
Franklin. I'm a Podcast

Producer, strategist and
educator. This podcast will help

you create and grow a podcast
that cuts through the noise of

social media and speaks directly
to your target audience. If

you're ready to create a podcast
that will align you with the

experts in your industry,
position yourself as a trusted

leader and create another source
of revenue for your business.

You're in the right place. Like
so many people in 2020, my life

turned completely upside down.
I've never talked about this on

the podcast before, because it's
very personal to me, but I

basically started over my entire
life. Five years ago, I was a

wedding photographer, and it was
my passion. It was my life. I

have been creating content and
taking pictures since I was 13

years old. I later went on to
work in digital marketing and

photography full time in 2016 by
2020 I was doing mostly luxury

weddings in Nashville and across
the southeast. And, you know, I

really felt like everything was
falling into place. You know

what I'm saying? Like I looked
around and I thought, this is

exactly where I'm supposed to
be. I was getting published in

magazines and websites and
getting brand partnerships, and

genuinely, I could not imagine
myself anywhere else. You know,

it's funny how you remember very
specific things, but I think

about this brand trip that I
took in February of 2020. I was

going to take photos of a
wedding workshop, and I took a

trip to New York City, and I
just I knew something wasn't

right, something in my life was
really off, and I couldn't

really put my finger on what it
was. I remember the last morning

of my trip, I woke up and I
found out that my hometown had

experienced an f4 tornado that
just tore through our city. It

impacted hundreds of people, and
by the time that I made it home

and turned around, we were in a
full lockdown for covid. At the

time, I was living with a
roommate that was an essential

worker. And if anybody else was
living with an essential worker

at this time, you know that it
was critical to not be exposed

to anybody else, to not have
anybody coming around. And of

course, no one was getting
married. I mean, I wasn't

working, I wasn't going
anywhere, and also my first long

term relationship was falling
apart. I'd been dating someone

for about three years, but as I
was kind of scrambling to put

all the pieces of my life back
together that I could that was

also falling apart. I felt like
I had nothing, like things had

changed so quickly, I didn't
know when I was going to be able

to work again. I had lost the
longest romantic relationship of

my life, and I genuinely felt
very overwhelmed, and, you know,

at a lot of times hopeless.
Turns out, being newly single

and careerless in a global
pandemic is kind of a lot to

handle. It was New Year's of
2021, and my dad was calling me

from a party to tell me Happy
New Years. And it's so funny

because I remember that I was
talking to him next to a trash

can. And I don't know why that
memory still sticks with me, but

it does. He told me one of his
friends wanted to run for office

and needed someone to help with
campaigning and social media,

and asked if he could give him
my number. All I can remember is

like I said, Yes, but I didn't
really mean it. You know what I

mean? Like, I was not ready to
move on from weddings, I was not

ready to do something else. But
also, deep down, I think that I

knew and I accepted that the
wedding industry was never going

to be the same. And when I dug a
little bit deeper, I also

realized Neither was I. I was
not the same person that had

gone into this almost a year
ago. And here's the thing about

the wedding industry. And I
think something that a lot of

people, even today do not want
to come to terms with. You only

have so many weekends in the
year. And you know, there's only

four weekends in October. While
I had successfully created a six

figure business in weddings,
there really wasn't anywhere

else for me to go where I was. I
couldn't be any more booked than

I already was without
sacrificing the quality or going

into like ultra luxury weddings.
And at the time, I was not

prepared for either. I just I
wasn't ready. I had scaled this

fast, and I had worked so hard,
but when I really thought about

it, I just, I did not think that
is the thing that I wanted to

do. So I remember my dad's
friend calls, and he schedules a

lunch meeting, and then he
immediately gets covid and

cancels. And that's probably the
most like 2021, story that I

could ever tell. He texts me and
he says that he's gonna set up a

time, and I forget to text him
back. And here's here's just

something about me. I'm not
gonna text you back. I'm so

sorry. It's not personal. I just
forget and then it never

happens. So a few weeks later,
he texts me again. We finally

meet up, and you know, I'm still
not 100% sold on working with

this guy. It's so funny looking
back on this now, because I

could have very easily passed up
on the opportunity that would

literally change my life
forever. But I think that that

should be a reminder to us. It
should be a reminder to you what

is meant for you. Will never
pass you by. You cannot mess up

an opportunity that is meant for
you, even if the meeting gets

canceled and you forget to text
back and all these other things

happen. I truly believe, and I
hope that you do too. If

something is meant for you, it
is going to happen. You are not

going to mess it up. If I
remember correctly, it was

probably the third meeting, and
I did agree to work on his

campaign, and I was really
excited. I of course, had no

idea what I was doing. I'd
worked in digital marketing and

content creation and photography
up until this point, but I was

determined to figure it out. We
had so many ideas and did so

much brainstorming about what we
wanted this campaign and brand

to look like, and I won't bore
you with all that, because by

this point you're probably
wondering and listening to this

and thinking, what does this
have to do with podcasting, and

what you've learned about
podcasting, and here's the

truth, if I've learned anything
about podcasting, it's that

being able to tell a story and
knowing yourself are two of the

most important qualities that
any podcaster can have the

podcast that I created for that
campaign. My first podcast is

still going today, and is one of
the greatest accomplishments

that I have had thus far in my
career. But just to clarify, it

was not all sunshines and
rainbows to get there, and there

are several more particular
things that I wish I'd known,

and I'm gonna share them with
you now. The first one is, know

what success looks like before
you start. Starting a podcast is

hard, keeping it going is even
harder. And when you're thinking

about your podcast and what you
want to accomplish and what you

want this to be, what does
success look like? How can you

measure that success? And when
you're feeling overwhelmed and

tired and like you want to quit,
because you will, what's going

to keep you going towards that
goal, you have to know what you

want to get out of this. And it
can be anything. Maybe it's

money, maybe it's exposure to a
certain community. Maybe it's

growing a follower base,
whatever it is, spend time to

figure out what you want to
accomplish and be as specific as

possible, always. The second
thing is, who is actually,

literally every week, going to
be listening to the show? And

I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I
did not answer this question

when I started my first podcast,
and that is so embarrassing. I

know I had a loose idea I
remember of who I wanted to

listen, but I felt way too much
pressure to make it for

everyone. I thought the more
things that I could throw in

here, the more people would want
to listen. But it's just not

true. If no one can identify and
see themselves in your podcast

or what you're talking about on
your podcast, they're not going

to listen. So in my opinion, the
more specific and the more you

can just drill down into the
exact person you want to listen

to this podcast, the better.
Stop worrying about people not

being interested. That's a good
thing. Stop trying to make it

for everyone. Nothing is for
everyone. And if you can't talk

to one specific person with your
podcast, you are not talking to

anyone. If you get anything out
of this episode, please let it

be. That if you are not talking
to one person with your podcast,

you are not talking to anyone.
Another thing that I wish I'd

known when I started podcasting
was how much time that it

actually takes. And I know so
many people are listening to

this right now. They're like,
yes, yes, if you're listening to

this episode, I know you know
podcasting is time consuming,

and the more that you try to
improve it, and the more layers

that you add on, the harder and
more time consuming it gets. It

takes me probably roughly 10 to
20 hours per episode per podcast

every week. This is a time
consuming media. If I could go

back and tell myself anything,
it would be to create systems to

try to batch writing and
recording and editing and post

production, to streamline
whatever I could with repeatable

systems. Because not only do you
need those repeatable systems

for yourself, for the recording,
for the creating of this

podcast, you need it to be able
to repeat the same kind of

content for your listener every
time your listener needs to know

what to expect, and the more
streamlined you can make those

episodes, the better experience
you can bring to your listeners.

All right, so let's fast forward
a little bit to fall of 2023.

I'm launching my fifth podcast,
and you know, I think I know

what I'm doing right, right?
I've been around the block a few

times. I know what I'm doing.
And you might not have multiple

podcasts, or you might not have
multiple podcasts yet, but I'm

sure you have a lot of other
things going on. And I think

about two years into podcasting
full time is when I really

started to get burnt out. Video
podcasts were coming up

everywhere, and they were
getting more and more exposure,

and I finally agreed to make a
video podcast. This is the

advice that I give every
podcaster, and honestly, it's

because I wish that someone had
given it to me. It is okay to go

one step at a time, and that's
all you can do. That's all you

can do anyway. So stop
pressuring yourself into

figuring out every single little
thing today, if you still

haven't mastered your podcast
audio, don't add a video

component before you figured out
the audio. Not only is this a

huge learning curve for every
part of podcasting and the

equipment that you need, and how
to set it up and how to actually

use it. It is very expensive, so
again, take it one step at a

time. This is one of the most
asked questions that I see on

forums. And you know, when I'm
trying to reply to different

questions that people have on
Facebook groups, when should I

have video? When should I start
video? Let me just say video

almost stressed me out to the
point where I was like, I don't

know if I can do this anymore.
Take it one step at a time,

master your craft and then
continue on. Start with audio.

If you do not know audio and
video, start with audio, learn

audio, Master Audio. Then go to
video. But going back to my

first round of suggestions,
knowing your goals and knowing

how to measure the success of
this podcast, you have to hold

yourself accountable to the
growth of this podcast and

actually take the time every
month to sit down and say, Okay,

did we do better this month than
we did last month? If not, why?

If not, what can we do this
month to do better than we did

last month? Because nobody is
going to be checking on these

numbers for you. I'm not going
to be sending you a message

saying, Hey, did you get more
downloads or something you did

last month? You are the one that
has to look at this. No one is

going to be saying, Okay, we
need to make sure that we have a

10% growth this month, because
we didn't last month. And what

do we need to do? You have to be
that person for yourself every

month. And you need to be this
is so important if you do not

have your eye on how are we
growing? How are we improving

this podcast? There is really no
reason to be creating it at all.

And the last thing that I wish
that I had known in this part of

my podcasting journey was just
how to let go. You know, that's

always something that I've kind
of struggled with, but letting

go, letting this podcast become
what it's going to be. And I

know that sounds really contrary
to everything else that I said

in this episode, but it's
something that we all have to

know and that we have to truly
understand. People will tell us

the kind of content and episodes
that they want to see from us,

and we have to use our strategy
as a roadmap while they drive

the car, because we didn't make
this podcast for us to listen to

for ourselves. We made it for
them. But without a doubt, the

biggest lessons that I've
learned in podcasting, most

recently have been over the past
six months of having my own solo

show, this podcast, podcast for
profit, and like I said, I was

producing. A podcast for four
years before I had my own

podcast. And that's kind of
strange in the podcasting world,

usually someone starts a podcast
or is working for an established

podcast, and they're learning,
and then they become a producer.

So let me just say it was a
major wake up call the first

time I had to go behind this
microphone. So let's just start

there, recording my first
episode, and what I wish that I

had known before getting behind
the mic for the first time,

talking on a solo podcast is
hard. It's especially hard if

you actually want to be good,
and I'll go down 400 rabbit

holes and successfully teach or
entertain or generally give your

audience something of value,
which I think most of us do, and

I was so sure of myself too,
which is so embarrassing. I sat

down with a very thrown together
outline of maybe four different

points and the topic of the
episode, and I hit record. And

it was not fun. It was not good,
and it was not fun. I didn't

know what to say. I was tripping
all over myself. I didn't like

it. I was thinking maybe that
this had all been a big mistake.

Solo podcasting is difficult,
because when you think about

what this skill looks like in
the real world, when was the

last time that you just did a
monolog style talk to yourself

for like, an hour straight?
Exactly, that's a skill in

itself, and I think practicing
improvisation or even how to

talk about stuff on the fly is
just very, very important for

podcasters, especially solo
podcasters, an exercise that I

like to do with chat GPT. It's
so easy. I'll just ask chat GPT

to give me 10 random subjects,
and I'll record myself talking

about those random subjects for
five minutes each. And another

level of this could be that you
ask chatgpt for the 10 topics,

and then you record yourself
into chatgpt, that's a new

function that you can use with
your phone, and I think on

computers as well, you talking
about it, and then ask it to

rate you on those topics and how
good of a job that you did

talking about it and see what it
says, because I'm sure it will

have feedback for you, and I
think that that could just be

another level of practicing
talking about something in a

solo dialog. Another thing is
talk to people. Take the

opportunity to strike up a
conversation with someone when

they say, Hey, how are you?
Don't just say Good. Say, oh my

gosh, isn't this crazy weather
we're having? Wow. I can't

believe we're doing this thing.
I don't know what situation

you're in, but don't just say
Good. Don't just give people one

word answers. Take that
opportunity to speak with

another human being. This is
going to help your

conversational skills, and also,
you're probably gonna make a new

friend along the way. Loose
connections will change your

life, and that is how it
happens. The second big lesson

that I've learned while doing
this podcast, and that I'm still

trying to manage, is
procrastination and saying, Oh,

I'll do that later, or I'll
record that tomorrow. This will

kill your motivation, and
ultimately, your podcast

planning, intentionality, being
clear with yourself over and

over and over on what you're
doing and what you want to

accomplish is everything. So try
to create a schedule, a schedule

that you can live by and say,
Okay, I'm going to have my

script or outline written by
this day, I'll have my

recordings done by this day,
I'll have my editing done by

this day, I'll have everything
ready to schedule and post so

that I can start working on my
promotion on this day. And this

is going to help you stay
organized and, more importantly,

stay accountable to yourself and
not be constantly stressing that

you have a podcast episode that
you need to record. The last

thing that I wish that I had
known before I started

podcasting, and specifically
before I started this podcast

that you're listening to right
now, is that you're going to get

this feeling when you actually
do the thing that you set out to

do. And yes, podcasting is hard
and it's time consuming, and

it's 100 other things, but when
someone says, Hey, I loved this

episode, or this helped me, or I
love listening to your podcast,

and you can feel the pride and
recognition and satisfaction of

creating something that someone
else thought was worth

consuming, that is going to make
everything worth it. And you

know, it might take some time,
it really might, and it's okay,

if it does, it might be a year
before someone organically is

talking to you and just says,
Hey, I love your podcast, and

that's okay. You have to build
the listeners. You have to get

good enough that people will
actually listen and find value

in it. Nothing happens
overnight, but if you keep

going, I promise it will be
worth it. I know that we've.

Covered so much in this episode,
and maybe you're thinking, wow,

I really need to work on these,
or I'm still working on these,

or I haven't even got to this
part, and that is totally okay.

I just want to let you know I am
also working on all these things

like you never just have it all
figured out. That is not the way

podcasting works. It is an ever
evolving quest to make an

amazing podcast. So I want to
comfort you in knowing that we

are all just working on this,
and that is why, when I was

trying to think about what could
really help you after you've

listened to this episode, I went
through and I looked at all of

my resources that I have, and
what I'm going to link in the

episode description and in my
show notes is my podcast Audit

Checklist. It also has a video
accompanying it where I go

through every single question. I
kind of talk to you about what

it means, what it means for your
podcast. And I think that this

is a really helpful tool, just
because this is kind of what I

use to gage where each one of my
paid clients are at. So if you

were to book an hour with me, or
book a year of coaching calls

with me. These are some of the
questions that I would send you

to see where you're at. And I
think that more than anything,

most of the time, we just need
to see, okay, this is where

we're at, and this is what we
need to work on. So that's why I

thought that this would be
really helpful. If you've

listened to this and you're
thinking, Okay, what do I do

now? This is an amazing download
for you, like I said, it will be

in the episode description. It
is what I send to try to kind of

gage where a podcaster is at. I
actually just did this audit for

two of the podcasts that I
produce, and I just went through

and I answered all the
questions, and it was so helpful

to me. So I hope that it's
helpful to you, and as always, I

can't wait to listen to your
podcast. Hey, thank you so much

for joining me on this episode.
If you enjoyed the podcast and

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