Morgan Franklin: Podcast burnout is a special kind of burnout as
someone that's produced and published anywhere from one to
six episodes a week for the past five years, there has been more
than a few times that I wanted to change my name, move to a
remote island and never hear the word podcast ever again.
Podcasting is exhausting. Whether you are doing it on your
own or you have a team. It's time consuming. It's draining,
and sometimes it doesn't feel like it's worth the effort. In
this episode, we're gonna talk about how podcast burnout costs
you money, what to do when you want to quit everything, and how
to manage the feelings of overwhelm when you feel like
you're caught in the revolving door of podcasting. 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. One of the most
daunting parts of podcasting is that it never ends. Literally,
it is never ending, or it can feel never ending. There's
always an episode to write or a guest to research, or I need to
schedule a recording time or edit the end of this episode, or
figure out what song to go on this ad or follow up with this
guest that didn't respond, and all of that week after week
after week is intimidating. It's stressful, and when you finally
feel like you're caught up, it's only about four days before
you're right back where you started. Stress and burnout are
completely debilitating for your creativity and your motivation
to create content, the times that I have felt the most burnt
out from podcasting and creating. I didn't want to get
out of bed, much less record a podcast. You know what? For most
of us, we work through the pain, right? No matter how depressed
we feel or tired we are, we know a podcast has to come out. We
have to record two interviews tomorrow, and we've got to suck
it up and move past that feeling. So let's start right
there. Let's start when you're tired, you're burnt out, and
this is the last thing you want to do, but you know you have to
do it. That's not a good feeling. It's not a good place
to work from, and it's impossible to do your best work
from a place of exhaustion and overwhelm. Whenever I'm feeling
this way, I make a list of everything that absolutely has
to be done for the rest of the week. I'm just talking about the
rest of the week. And this isn't getting ahead. It's not asking
yourself what you could get done. It's what do I absolutely
have to get done by the end of this week? Break those down into
tasks with manageable sections. Usually, I'll do a main task and
break it down to even the tiniest thing. For example, I'll
say, if I'm finishing editing an episode, edit episode, proof
episode, export episode, upload episode, name, Episode, write
episode, description and schedule episode. That's how
much I break it down, and that's what I want you to do, no matter
what day of the week it is, it could be Monday and you're just
falling apart. Make a clear list, an exact list of
everything that you need to finish before next Monday for
your podcast, and start going down that list as effectively
and efficiently as possible and as quickly as you can get your
podcast work done, and when you finish the list, put it away.
Put your podcast away. Do not think about your podcast. That's
why I want you to make a list of everything that you absolutely
have to get done this week. Get it done and do not think about
this podcast until next week. We all need a break. We all need
time to let our brain have a moment of peace. And if you are
constantly thinking and worrying and panicking, you can't give
your brain the space it needs to provide the inspiration and
motivation you need to make anything work. The title of this
episode is podcast. Burnout is costing you money because it is.
You're getting too burnt out on creating this podcast that you
can't make it over the threshold to actually effectively market
or find a big enough audience to. Monetize the podcast. If you
can't build a community around your podcast, you can't bring
money into your podcast. In every aspect of life, we
underestimate how much people can feel what we're thinking or
what we're going through, or what we're actually feeling and
when you're thinking, This podcast is such a waste of time,
I'm never going to be a successful podcaster. No one
even listens to my show. Whether you're saying this out loud to
people or not, your listener can sense it, and it manifests
itself into your life. The other day, I was on threads, and I
said, it's crazy how the more you talk about your podcast, the
more people listen to your podcast. And I was genuinely
surprised by the dozens of people in the comments saying,
well, it's so cringe to talk about my podcast, and trust me,
trust me, I get it. Self promotion is awkward, and it can
feel kind of like a used car salesman, but I really want you
to think about this. If you aren't promoting your podcast,
who will if you aren't excited about your own podcast, who
cares if you're feeling burnt out and tired and like you want
to give up? How much do you think that is coming through in
your podcast, we all have bad days. This is not a message of
toxic positivity, that you have to be happy and that you have to
be having the best day of your life every single day or every
time you record, because that is not realistic, and things are
going to happen, but when you're starting to feel like you're in
that slump where it's not just my cat died and now I have to
record this podcast episode when we're like a constant dread of
having to deal with your podcast, that's when you have to
make a change. I've worked in some variation of service or
consulting for my entire career. I grew up in a hair salon, and
I've been around professionals that are customer facing since I
can remember, one thing I've always been very aware of and
thought about at length when I went to college, was, what kind
of career can I have that isn't going to make me absolutely
miserable in five or 10 years. And I know this is slightly
different than podcasting, but is it? Your Podcast is a really
big commitment, and I think so many times like that, little
innocent, 18 year old going into college, picking a major and
just diving straight into the deep end, we're not really
thinking about the future when we start a podcast and when
times start to get tough, or it's not that shiny new thing
anymore, it gets really hard to keep going. So what can we do?
You know, we've talked about a lot of problems and a lot of
feelings, but what can you actually do to avoid burnout and
get out of the stress spiral if you're going into it. The first
thing is, and this is what you need to conquer. Any long term
goal, you have to know why you're doing it. Why do you have
this podcast? What is the deeper meaning behind this show? And
when you look at what you want to accomplish, what does that
really look like if it's money related, or part of it is money
related? Do you know how you're going to start making inroads to
getting those partners or networking with the right
people, or even, do you know how much you want to make you can't
hit a moving target, or a target that doesn't exist, and trying
to rationalize why you're investing all this time and
energy and money into this podcast when you're already
feeling stressed and overwhelmed is really hard. Is basically
impossible, because there will come a time for every podcaster
that does not have a clear why, and even some of the podcasters
that do have a clear why, when you will think, why am I doing
this? What's the point? And it can be really hard to overcome
that feeling. The next is having a dedicated schedule and true
accountability to this podcast. About three weeks ago, I was
moving into a new house. I'm still renovating the house.
Nothing was packed, nothing was finished, nothing was ready, and
I was very stressed out. The day I moved was a Sunday. I still
hadn't finished my outline for my episode. Monday. The next
day, I didn't know where my microphone was, and I had
nowhere to record. The air conditioning wasn't working. I
had to record the episode under a comforter sweating from places
I didn't even know I could sweat from at 10pm on the night before
that episode came out. This is what I mean about dedication and
accountability. Have you made an agreement with yourself that no
matter what. And this podcast is coming out because there's such
a different energy around I'm doing this, and I might do this,
or I'll do it when I get around to it, and that can be so much
more stressful and consuming than just having the
accountability and dedication of knowing this is going to get
done one way or the other. Sponsors don't want to work with
podcasts that post episodes inconsistently. No one wants to
partner with a podcast when they can't rely on it to come out on
time. Listeners don't want to invest in a show they can't
trust is going to be published. I know we talked about this
earlier in the episode, but make a schedule, make a plan, and
know what you're doing. I might not be able to outline my
episodes until the day I record them, and that might be the day
before it comes out, but I know what episode is coming out in
five weeks from now, and what I need to do and when I'm going to
do it, and there is a lot of comfort in that. Lastly, when
you get to the place where you can hire someone do it, hire an
editor, hire an audio engineer, hire someone to do your social
media or schedule your guest interviews or research your
guests for you, whatever is causing you the most stress and
is the hardest for you to do. Outsource that first. We all
need to take a break sometimes, and you should plan on taking a
break from your podcast. This has to be something that you do,
and whether you take that break from getting ahead, which is
what I choose to do just because I don't want to miss a week of
publishing, or you decide to do seasons, know when you're taking
a break if you do have seasons. And I'm only bringing this up
because I see it happen so often. Let people know when
you're going away and then when you'll be coming back. Don't
leave people wondering where you are or if you'll ever be back.
Make it very clear, this is the end of season four. We'll be
back in a month. Maybe run some reruns or best of compilation
episodes, but don't make your audience or future advertisers
wonder if you'll ever be back, usually anytime in June, July,
August or December. It's the best time of the year to take a
break between seasons. This is when most people are off their
schedule. They're celebrating holidays, or they're on summer
break, or generally not listening to podcasts like they
normally do. And you should use this to your advantage if you
already know you want to take some time off do it during those
months when people are also inconsistently listening to
podcasts. You deserve to have a podcast you love and that you're
excited to work on. Like I've said so many times in this
episode, podcasting is not easy, and if you're making it even
harder on yourself by treating it like a chore, making money
from it will be that much harder. This week, I want you to
work on creating a mission statement for your podcast that
walks through exactly why and who you've created this podcast
for what you want to accomplish with your show, and what
successful monetization would look like for you. So what do
you want to make from every episode? Do not skip over the
details. Be as specific and detailed as possible. I want you
to know who your listener is. Why are they listening? What
will make them come back at the end of the day, what do you hope
they are taking from every episode? How do you want the
podcast to impact their life and your life, and last but not
least, how much money do you want to make from this podcast?
Break it down by episode. How much money do you want to make
for every episode. Answer that question. You can do this.
Podcasting is hard work, but you can do hard work. This is
nothing new, and it's nothing you aren't completely capable of
doing. Know your why, and the rest is on its way. 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 you'd like to hear more episodes like this one, go
ahead and subscribe to the show. New episodes air every Monday
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