In this episode of Business with Chronic Illness, host Nikita Williams encourages women living with chronic illness to start podcasting without the pressure of professional studios or perfect equipment. She frames "podcasting in your pajamas" as a mindset shift that prioritises comfort and persistence over rigid consistency, allowing creators to work within the limits of their health. Drawing on her own experience of launching a podcast after surgery, she challenges the myth that consistency means identical weekly schedules and instead promotes regular persistence that adapts to fluctuating energy levels. Nikita outlines a low‑cost tech stack—AirPods, phone voice‑memo apps, inexpensive lavalier microphones, Zoom, GarageBand or Audacity—and recommends Buzzsprout for hosting, emphasizing that "good enough" audio is sufficient to begin. She addresses common limiting beliefs (fear of judgment, imposter syndrome, societal expectations for women, especially women of colour with chronic illness) and suggests using comfortable spaces (bed, sofa, closet) to reduce anxiety. The episode also explains how an audio‑first podcast can serve as a powerful business tool: building rapport, attracting clients, repurposing video content, and generating revenue, while offering optional coaching, private‑group, one‑on‑one, and done‑for‑you podcast production services. Throughout, Nikita’s tone is motivational, conversational, and supportive, urging listeners to view 2025 as the year they launch a podcast that fits their lifestyle.
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Welcome to Business with Chronic Illness, the globally ranked podcast for women living with chronic illness who want to start and grow a business online. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, and I went from living a normal life to all of a sudden being in constant pain with no answers, to being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses and trying to make a livable income. I faced the challenge of adapting traditional business advice to fit my unique circumstances with chronic illness, feeling frustrated and more burned out than I already was while managing my chronic illness to becoming an award-winning coach with a flexible, sustainable online coaching business. I found the surprisingly simple steps to starting and growing a profitable business without compromising my health or my peace. Since then, I've helped dozens of women just like you learn how to do the same. If you're ready to create a thriving business that aligns with your lifestyle and well-being, you're in the right place. Together, we're shifting the narrative of what's possible for women with chronic illness and we make a living. This is Business with Chronic Illness.
Hello, hello! Welcome to this episode where we're going to talk about how to podcast in your pajamas, why comfort is the secret to consistency when it comes to starting a long-form content marketing strategy for your business when you're living with chronic illness. And this is for all my people who are comparing and despairing, who are seeing, you know, everyone do their podcasts in the studio, seeing the YouTube and thinking, I could never do that, and I have to do video, I have to have like all of the fancy things in order to start my podcast and get it out there and start sharing my voice and start learning and sharing my story and start helping people and start attracting clients and solving problems. This is the episode for you. Now, the reason why I thought this would be funny— podcasting in your pajamas— I'm sure there's probably an SEO friendlier way that I will title this episode when you're actually clicking on it, but really this is what I'm trying to talk about. It's podcasting in your pajamas so that you can have a more likely chance of creating a longevity, a long-run cast, and one that also serves what you want, where you're going, and helps your business to grow.
And this starts really truly with my story. Like, I don't know if many of you know that I basically started my podcast when I was recovering from surgery back in 2016, 2017, and I've been podcasting ever since. And I have been thinking about when I was thinking about this episode, one of the things I had to trade in order to still be doing and having a podcast and having a podcast still serve me in my life and in my business really was trading consistency for persistence and also trading consistency for regular. And what do I mean by that? I think all of us are so triggered and conditioned to think of consistency as this thing that when it comes to certain things in our business, that we are doing it the same, in the same place, the same time every week. We have our own different definitions of the cadence of consistency, and usually it's based on what we see other people saying we should do or other people doing what we think we should be doing. The expectation is all wrapped up in others or other thoughts about what we think we should be doing, or what some of my clients like to guise under the industry standard. And I always like to say, when you're just starting, you are not a part of that industry standard quite yet. You're still trying to get your reps in. You're still trying to find what helps you actually stay regular. And stay persistent to create consistency. Okay, so this is why we podcast in our pajamas. Okay, for a while there, many of us and many of my clients think about being super professional and having all the tech right, and they obsess over those things versus getting down in the dirt of recording an episode with what you got and where you are. And doing it comfortably, right? And do I think as you grow that the way you project your voice and what you're using will help you? Absolutely. Absolutely. But if you're stuck in inaction, that's not going to help you now. Being in the studio, having the perfect mic, your brain as an adult, something that I'm learning while I'm going through my health coach certification, is that your brain as an adult does not operate the same that it does when you were younger. Even though our mind likes to tell us so. Our perception of our mind likes to tell us so. We think, oh, I should be able to just pick this thing up and go because I used to be able to do that. Like, that should be easy. But as an adult, our brain has a lot of other information and data points to tell us we got to do this differently. And we fight that data, we fight that information. And the best way to start taking action for some of us— now, this isn't for everyone— is to do it in a space that feels comfortable while you're in your uncomfort zone. So what I mean by that, for many of you, talking and sharing your story or sharing advice has you in a cycle of thinking, who do I think I am? Who's going to listen to me? I'm not an expert. Who's going to actually find what I'm talking about and find it helpful? What are my friends going to think, that I'm trying to toot my own horn? We have all of these thoughts, these fears, these limiting beliefs, these words that probably have been said to us when we were younger, trying to expand or learn or share something, be seen out of the crowd. Many of us have those narratives still today. And as women and women living with chronic illness, women of color, women in general, we have often been told we are to be seen and not heard, right? So, so in this day and age, to share your story and to speak, you have lots of thoughts and lots of conditioning around that. So it is going to be uncomfortable for a lot of us, right? A lot of us. It doesn't matter if you're introvert, ambivert, extrovert. For a lot of us, this is going to be something uncomfortable. Right? So that is your growth zone. The fact that you're even doing a medium like this is part of your growth edge. This is something that you're gonna do, it's gonna help you grow, that's uncomfortable. But it doesn't mean how you do it has to be 100% uncomfortable. So do it in your pajamas, right? Do it in the bed, do it on the sofa. Make it comfy for you, right? Make it feel safe for you, make it feel fun for you, make it feel good for you. Make it feel flexible and free for you the way you do this very uncomfortable thing, right? I think sometimes we confuse doing something new and growing outside of our comfort zone as meaning everything has to be uncomfortable. We have those extremes, right? But you can find comfort and growth doing the uncomfortable. Okay, so how do we do this thing? Well, one of the first things I want you to think about is that really there's only so many steps in starting a podcast, right? And a lot of you probably listen to this is over-obsessing about the tech. And I want you to know you can start with what you have or something that you can get for less than $25. All right. If you have those lovely, definitely AirPods, use those, right? Be in a quiet space, go in a closet or be in your room in the bed with the blankets all around you in your pajamas, right? Or in comfy clothes. For me, it's usually comfy clothes and a blanket, right? Matter of fact, right now I'm in the middle of chaos of my life because we're getting ready to move. Organized chaos, meaningful, intentional chaos. We're about to move to another state and I don't really have my space. But to be honest with you, I honestly don't always use my studio setup for my podcast. I have recorded my podcast from the car. I've recorded from the bed, from the sofa, from a closet. And today I'm recording it from the bed and it's the middle of the day on a Friday, which you guys usually would have— I would have recorded it earlier in the week and da da da da da. But I'm in that season where I'm giving myself permission to trade this pretty consistency for regular persistence. And that looks a little bit different in this season, right? Looks a little bit different than it may have looked a year ago for me. And I don't make that mean anything, and neither should you. Okay, so going back to what I was talking about, you can use AirPods, you can use— if you still have a phone that plugs in, which most of us don't anymore, but if you do, a hardwired-in headphone that has a speaker to it, you can use that. You can also use that same headphone jack on your laptop to record. You can use your laptop to do that. I'm actually recording this on my phone. Using one of those little— I can't think of the name. It's like a little adapter to your phone that you plug it in and then you have a mic. It's a lavalier mic. I'm sorry, I'm a little brain foggy too. So a little lavalier mic that I just plug it in and then I have the little mic right here in front of my face, super tiny, and I'm using that to record. It's not perfect audio, but it's good enough audio. And that's what I want you focusing on as far as the tech. It's good enough. And I'm recording on my voice memo app on my phone. I'm not using my fancy Descript, which is a great tool if you need to use that. That's a great tool to use on your laptop. You can use that on your laptop to record yourself if you're doing that, or you could use GarageBand or Audacity to record yourself, or you can simply hop on a Zoom and record your conversation without the camera.
Just talk.
That's simple. I used to do that every now and then when I was sitting up in my office and I just didn't feel like doing all of the fancy stuff. Turn on Zoom, record myself talking, and just use the audio, right? So that's all you need to like think about for the tech. And then all you need to do is use an application like Buzzsprout. I recommend Buzzsprout as the place that you produce, or you— the word I'm looking for, you guys. Not produce, but you actually— now you can. Now that I'm thinking about it, on Buzzsprout, you can upload your raw audio, right, that you've recorded with your intro and your outro, and you can upload it to Buzzsprout. It will do a fun AI fixing your sound. It's not perfect, but it's good enough, and it will upload it to Buzzsprout, which is your host provider, which is— it's just like a a website hosting platform, but for podcast audio. And then you can click submit and let it go live and it will syndicate it or send it to all of these other platforms. Right. So that's like general basic information on like how simple it can be. There are a few other little steps technically before you upload it to Buzzsprout in order to make sure you— there's a little setup process is what I'm trying to say before you use Buzzsprout to make sure you're on all those little things. But that's something I help my clients work through. But outside of that, you set it once and forget it, and then you upload to Buzzsprout, to your provider, and then it's done. You, you produce it. And so much so today, here I am recording in my pajamas. I will basically do my little quick edits. I'm a little bit more— I've been doing this for 6 years now, so of course I have, I have my own little flow, but I will upload this to my little platform. It'll take me 5 or 10 minutes. To do my little edits. I will add it to Buzzsprout and then you guys will have it today sometime after me recording. And it'll take me about an hour or two. It's usually just an hour for me when I do an episode this quickly. So do it in a space that feels comfortable for you. It doesn't have to be hard, right? And many of you want to tell your story and always ask me like, Nikita, you're so good at podcasting, you do this so well, it comes so easy to you. And one, it's because I chose to make it that way and I needed it to be that way. You have to remember, my intention of starting this podcast was I wanted to have a way to connect with my audience, to build rapport, to be seen and heard when I wasn't on, quote unquote, all of the time. I didn't want to have to show my face, and I wanted to be able for people to find what they needed, the answers to some of the questions that they were already searching for, and then some, while finding community and connection through a medium that I feel like really connects people to one another through voice. I know video is all the rage and many of us are like, should I start a video podcast? And should I do all that stuff? I'm probably going to stay audio-first podcaster for a while. A while, right? And it is— there's so much information out there that shows that people actually prefer audio first because they don't have to be so focused on video. And there's reports that say that most people who are watching video on YouTube or on TikTok or even on Instagram or any platforms are not actually watching the video. They're watching the words, the captions, right? Because that's what they only have time for. So why not just give them an audio version? So if you're worried about it not being video, you don't have to. Podcast is on the rise. It's still— some people say it's, you know, some people fear that it's saturated. It's not, but it's really helpful for your business long-term because it finds Helps you find and attract people who are looking for what you have to inspire, what you have to educate people on. And having that in mind helps you a regular consistency with your podcast, and you start seeing people download and ask you questions or find you or reach out to you. You'll see how powerful this tool is for being able to market your business in whatever stage or season you're in. For all my video girlies who love videos and lives, and you're like, I don't know if, if I have the capacity for doing a podcast. Well, if you can do video and be consistent and regular, showing up once a week on a live video or doing live conversations with people every day on social media or posting a YouTube video every day or every week, then I guarantee you, you can do a podcast with ease. And then also I can share with you how to turn your videos that you've already done into content for your podcast. It's super simple. There's a way to edit it so that it feels like it's a really good place to be repurposed on your podcast. And you can also do that from bed in your pajamas. It's so easy and simple. So if you've been thinking about doing that in 2025, if you've been listening to my podcast for years, or you're new here and you're like, Nikita, I want to get away from social media. I also want to find a way to connect and nurture my audience and like create clients. Then you want to join us. Join me here. You want to book a call and you want to learn about how to start a podcast with me. And I walk you exactly through the steps on how to start a podcast. And it's only going to be available to my private group clients. Or it's also going to be available to my private one-on-one clients if you would like to work with me that way. And if you're like Nikita Williams, but I'm still freaked out about the tech, I'm also offering done-for-you services for the podcast. I can help you with just managing the production and the editing and the producing. All you have to do is record. So that's just my little check-in with you guys today to talk about the podcast and how you can do podcasting with ease and create a podcast that feels good to you. That feels— that is quote unquote consistent to the outside world, but it's just regular because of your persistence. And you can do it in a comfy place, in comfy clothes. It doesn't have to look like how you've seen it look like everywhere else, which is all professional all of the time. If you need that space just to get the highway going or the runway going, you guys, you know, I'm so bad. I think that's really a thing. I'm so bad at saying so funny. They're like mixed and jumbled in my head. But I digress. I hope you decide that 2025 is your year to start a podcast and launch it. And if so, I hope you take me along the journey with you. I want to help you. I want to make it easy. I want to show you how to record, publish, and make money from your podcast and help it serve you without you having to show your face if you don't want to help you leverage all of the knowledge and information you have in a way that attracts your audience, serves them, and converts them. All right, loves, that's it for this episode. Love you.
That's a wrap for this episode of Business with Chronic Illness. If you would like to start and grow an online coaching business with me, head to the show notes to click a link to book a sales call and learn how to make money with chronic illness. You can also check out our website at www.craftedtothrive.com for this episode's show notes and join our email list to get exclusive content where I coach you on how to chronically grow a profitable business while living with chronic illness. Until next time, remember, yes, you are crafted to thrive.
