Paula Rizzo and Michelle Lamoureux explain how to launch a podcast, from defining your purpose to securing guests. Expect 8-10 hours of work per week and a few hundred dollars monthly for hosting and editing. Michelle started her first show in 2008 and now publishes weekly, using repurposed content and personal networks to fill the schedule.
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Hey there, welcome to Inside Scoop. I'm Paula Rizzo. Seems like everybody has a podcast these days, so what are you waiting for? What's your excuse? Where's your podcast? Has that been on your to-do list for a while and you're like, yeah, get to it, yeah, I'll see, maybe I might, I'm not sure what to do? Well, Today we're going to cover all the things that maybe you've been thinking about and get you to put that podcast out there and fill in the blanks about why you even want a podcast. Why do you even want to do that? So, uh, if you have an idea for a podcast, you've wanted to create one for a while, stick with me because I'm going to make sure to answer all your questions. I have a great guest that I'll bring on in just a moment. Um, but first I do have a freebie for you. I would love for you to check out this brand new freebie that I put together. It's for authors actually, so it's the 10 Questions Every Author Needs to Answer. If you go to paularizzo.com/podcastquestions, .com/10Q, you can get those 10 questions. And I put this together because, you know, I'm a media coach and I help people who want to talk about what they do in the media and on video and on podcasts, of course. So, uh, you know, if you check that out, it will be all the things that I use with my private clients to help them get ready to talk about their books or their projects or whatever it is that they're up to. I'm also a LinkedIn Learning instructor and I have a lot of courses through LinkedIn. So if you're watching on LinkedIn, hello! I hope you check it out on linkedinlearning.com. One of the newest courses I have is something called External Communication Skills for Leaders. And this is a really great one too. There's a QR code right there. If you click on that, you can get right to it and check out the course. But this one is, is great for anyone who's looking to speak in not only in media, but anywhere within your company to make sure that you get your message across. And I want to hear from you throughout this interview. We're going to be bringing on our guests in just a second. But if you have any questions, you have a friend that you're thinking, hey, you know what, this person's been wanting to start a podcast for a while, he or she needs to hear this conversation, tag them below, leave a comment. If you're watching the replay, leave us questions. We'll be sure to come back, uh, and, and grab those and answer them as we can. And so I would love to bring on my friend without further ado, the host of the podcast, the good life coach, Michelle Lamoureux, thank you for being here.
So good to be with you, Paula. Always fun to connect with you.
Yeah, absolutely. And I want to mention that your, your podcast has been ranked in the top 1.5% of podcasts. That's pretty amazing.
Yeah, my podcast editor brought that to my attention. I should probably pay attention to that stuff more often, but, um, I was surprised. And also, it, it just was really— it made me feel really good and keeps me motivated to keep going.
So yeah, yeah, I have— thankfully, I've been a guest twice on the podcast. If you've not heard it, we'll leave some links below so you can check out the interviews that we've done. Actually, I think I've been on 3 times.
I was just gonna say, yes, 3 times. Our last one was on productivity. That one is so good.
Yes, yes, right, productivity. That's right.
Yes, but no procrastination.
Procrastination. That's right. But you've been doing this for a long time consistently. So tell me a little bit about why you decided, when you decided to do it, and how often you, you do your own podcast.
Okay, so I actually had a podcast back in 2008 Many people don't know this. It was before probably anyone was really even listening to podcasts or even knew what they were. Um, but I was also a first-time mom and I recorded about 10 episodes and I decided it was a lot of time and effort and I decided to focus on being a mom. So I picked back the show back up in 2018 because I loved producing it and I knew I would come back to it. And when I did. I was much more clear about who I wanted to reach, women in midlife who wanted to make themselves a priority. And for over 4 years now, I produce one show every week, comes out every Wednesday. And I've just added a new series actually within my podcast on Mondays. It's called Monday Musings with Michelle because my audience asked for more of just me. Cool. So there's now a combination. Yeah. And I cover different topics. Those are really brief, like 8 minutes.
Yeah, so nice to see that there's an extension of what you do and, and you're able to reach so many more people. So, you know, that's one benefit to having a podcast. So what other benefits have you seen in launching your own podcast? What can people get out of doing this? Because it is work, let's be honest.
Yeah, it's actually— it's a lot of work, and it's one of the things I think people underestimate and, uh, realize once they get into it. But the benefits are— there's so many. And I have to say, I just have to say just full stop, that it's been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, both professionally and personally. So if somebody's thinking about it, I'm always really encouraging about them pursuing it because it is such an amazing medium. Um, okay, benefits. Network. So I've done over 200 interviews, Paula Rizzo. These are people I would never have like had any reason to be connecting with. And so let's say I've just read a New York Times bestselling book. So I had James Nestor on my show who wrote Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. I loved his book. And there I was sitting with him for 45 minutes and being able to extract all this great information and share that with my audience. I had heard Stacy Madison on How I Built This with Guy Raz.
Yeah.
And she's the founder of Stacy's Pita Chips. And I thought, gosh, if I had a podcast, it would be amazing. I love entrepreneurial stories. I love sharing those. And sure enough, she came on the show. I would have had no reason to reach out to Stacy or to James.
So it's great access. Like, it's great access into a world, you know, I mean, as a journalist for years, that was always the most exciting part too. You got to interview really cool people, you got to tell great stories. But now that world has opened up, anyone can start a podcast at any point. Uh, how do you— because I think a lot of times what people get stopped up about, it's not only like the ideas. You can come up with ideas, you know, all the time. I'd love to interview that person, I'd love to interview that person. But what about actually, uh, you know, like getting them to agree? Sometimes people feel like, oh, well, I don't have a big enough following, or nobody knows who I am. What— how have you sort of navigated that?
Absolutely. Well, when I started, I had no audience, no mailing list. I mean, I literally was starting from scratch, from scratch, just a concept. And so, um, part of it is you can tap your network. So, um, my very first guest on this show was Lisa Genova, the New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice. And she happened to be very good friends with one of my best friends. And I asked for an introduction. No, there was no guarantee Lisa would come on. Now, a lot of people won't come on your show when it's brand new because they don't know if it's going to last. Um, but she liked the concept of what I was launching, and she's been on my show also 3 times. Wow. Yeah, you want to write really thoughtful, uh, emails when you're doing outreach. You want to— there's— it can never be, you know, copy and paste, cookie cutter kind of thing. I think if you share your intention of what you're trying to do, yeah, um, and you reach out in an authentic way, people want to share their stories. And you'll find that people you think you would never be able to get on are so gracious and they'll come on. And you can also say, listen, how's— you know, we can do a 20 or 30 minute interview. You can make it less to make it more— to make it easier to say yes to start.
Yeah, to get people. And you know, yes, that you did, that was very smart too. I mean, the way we met was through your podcast, really. And it was because someone had been— someone I knew was on your podcast and you had asked, you know, anyone who might be a good guest.
Yes.
Someone suggested me, and the same, I then suggested other people that I knew. And so we sort of like all kind of got to know each other in that way. But that's a really smart way to do it too, to open up the network and say, hey, if you had a good experience, you know, who are some other people that you think might be a good conversation? So that's always a good way to continue the conversation. Um, you talk about a lot of broad topics, which I really love, because sometimes I think people think, oh, I only have to talk about this one thing. Uh, I talk about a lot of broad topics too, just because, you know, I, I enjoy a lot of things. But how do you feel if someone is brand new trying to think of an idea, what are the things that they should, should do right off the bat?
Okay, so yes, the topics are broad, but the people I'm trying to reach, it's women in midlife, right? So I— so it could be health, relationships, career, entrepreneurship, right? So the topics are broad, but who I'm trying to reach is very specific. So when somebody's starting out, they should be thinking about why do they want to have a show, why now, and who do they want to reach. And by getting very clear on those three questions, you start being able to create, like, get very clear on, um, who the show's for and then what kind of content to create. I was thinking about you, Paula Rizzo. You've got— you're the list queen. I call you the list queen. You could have a podcast called Listful Thinking, right? And so you could create a show all around this niche. You could talk all about your techniques. You could bring on other people in your space who also create lists and love lists. You could interview your best friend to celebrities who use lists. I mean, there's like the options— it's— you get to produce what you want. This is the beauty of having your own show. You are the producer and you get to create it and, um, put it out into the world. So I, I'd say, you know, think about who you're trying to reach and why.
And also how to sort of repurpose what you've already maybe done, right? A lot of people, you know, if you're an author, you have a book, you have written a whole book about all of these things. You have probably pod— uh, other podcasts you've done where you've been a guest somewhere, uh, you know, maybe you've written blog posts. Like, that's the first thought that always comes to my mind is like, I have been writing blogs about list making for 10 years. You know, I have tons and tons and tons of, you know, content, obviously. But you could take each of those and turn it into an episode. It could be that you interview someone, or you're able, like what you had said, to do just your solo episodes.
Yeah.
And talk about that. And I do that here on the show too, where sometimes I'll say, hey, you know what, I just want to teach like this one concept or this one thing. I'm going to use some slides and just show some, you know. So it's a little bit sort of like a webinar hybrid sometimes, which is nice with video. But podcasting is a little, is a little bit different. Um, you know, you talk about the audience, which I think is is, is super, super key, uh, you know, because the people who say, oh, it's for everybody, then it's for no one, right? You have to make sure that it's really, really, uh, you know, targeted so that you could reach those people. Now let's talk about the time commitment, because as we said, it is work. You definitely have to come up with a system. You have to, you know, be able to have a cadence to do this regularly. What has this time commitment looked like for you? What should people expect?
Okay, for me personally, it's, it's about 8 to 10 hours a week. And that may sound like a lot, but it is. And if you're doing a solo cast, say maybe 2 to 4 hours, but you know, you produce a show, you're sourcing guests, you're inviting the guests, you're doing the actual interviews. And then from there it's, you know, the editing and then the promotion. And if they've got a book, I'm reading the book. And if they've got a bigger name, there's tons of content and you got to do your research. So I think one of the things that people underestimate is how much time it takes. So just know going into it, it's, you know, for a quality show, it's 8 to 10 hours a week in my opinion and from my experience.
Yeah. And I mean, like, you can take that content and then repurpose it also. I mean, that's something that I do with this show. We do the show, we turn it into a blog post, we turn it into, you know, social media, we take clips from the show, you know. So there's a lot of repurposing the content. So for me, I love the idea of starting with the audio or the video first because this is something that only you as the host can do, right? You're the only one who can do this. You have to step in, do the interview, and then you can outsource some of the other, the other pieces. Uh, you know, my, my assistant Megan is behind the scenes right now pushing the buttons and putting, you know, putting the, the, uh, the graphics on and all that kind of stuff. I started doing this, I did it all myself. And so, you know, that can happen too with a podcast where you're doing everything, you're doing the editing, you're doing this, you're doing that all yourself, and eventually you may then outsource. But you can do it, right? Like, you, you absolutely— I think most podcasters sort of start to do it themselves.
Yes. And actually, when I had my show back in 2008, I did do everything back then all by myself. Um, one of the things that I did know that I was going to outsource was the actual physical editing. So I go and listen, I pick the sound bites, I cut, I ask him to take out the parts that I feel like didn't add value to my audience, and then he evens out the sound and gets it up on all of the podcast platforms. So yes, I did outsource that piece of it because, you know, I want to produce the show and I let him handle the tech. Sure. But it's not hard to do. Um, it's just a matter of, you know, what's your billable hour and where do you really want to be spending your time? And then you can decide what to outsource and what to do yourself.
And I think it's important to know how it works, understand the process, and then from there it's like, okay, fine, I don't need to be doing this part, or I don't need to be doing that part. So, you know, it sort of works in that way. So the time commitment, obviously it's a big one. Uh, you know, what about money commitment? Because, you know, you do have to pay to, to have these hosted somewhere. And, you know, I don't think a lot of people realize that.
Yes. So I'm going to give you a statistic. So 80% of shows are not monetizing. Okay. Yeah. So I think, you know, the benefits that we talked about, like networking and like you said, being able to repurpose content, the global reach, all that stuff is fantastic. It's a way of maybe getting some warm leads into your pipeline for, you know, your services, your consulting, your coaching, your, your, you know, your membership, whatever you might have. Yeah. Um, but you are paying and it depends. I mean, I hired a local musician. It was before COVID and he's now a full-time podcast editor because COVID hit. And, um, yeah, I just Googled podcast editor in my area, and so he was reasonably, you know, priced, but he is fantastic. He's been with me from the very first episode. So you can find people to do it, but the cost really includes the editing and then, you know, the hosting. I pay for Zoom every month to record my podcast, so I pay for Calendly to schedule the interviews because that's something else that you don't have to sit there and do emails, you know, when can you come on and go back and forth. You want to, um, you know, have some of this stuff just automated for you so that you can save time. So yeah, it's a few hundred dollars a month, you know. Yeah, yeah.
And you've consistently done it, which I think is really important to continue to do it, and you enjoy it.
Love it.
Uh, but most podcasts, you said, don't go past Is it 10 episodes? This, this is called pod fading. Who knew this was a thing? This is what can happen to you if you're really excited about it and then you sort of fade off.
Absolutely. Okay. So anyone in the world of podcasting knows about pod fading. So technically back in 2008, I pod faded. I did 10 episodes and then I had my daughter and I picked her as the priority. And I, you know, I wasn't ready to jump in. So when I started again and when I work with people, one of the things that I'm looking at is how they're thinking about doing their show. Or do they have a long game mentality? Are they committed to doing a consistent podcast each and every week? You know, um, do they know their why? And that's going to help prevent you from pod fading. But yes, of the 4 million shows that are out there, what I've read is that about 50% of those never made it past episode 10. So if you go search a name, you're likely to see, let's say, 8 shows, and maybe one of them is active. In that name that you found. You know, there's a lot of names that people gravitate towards, but so it's interesting. So yeah, you don't want to podfade because it takes a lot of time and energy, but there's no shame in it if you do. I mean, at least you've tried. I always think at least you've tried.
Yeah, it happens, it happens. It's true. You know, it is nice. 10, I think, is a good number to sort of have, like, hey, you know, if you get to 10, that's a good goal to say, do I enjoy this? Do I like it? Am I gonna be doing it? You know, it is, it is commitment. Um, so you want to definitely do that. Um, but for you, you know, I know that now this has sort of sparked another part of your own company, of your own business, of your own coaching.
Yeah.
Uh, you know, now people ask you all the time, how do I start a podcast? What do I do? So, you know, how do you now serve people who are looking to create their own podcasts?
Yeah, I love— so the intention behind my show really was to inspire women to listen to their inner whispers and take action on what's important to them. And so with of helping people get their voice out into the world. It's aligned with the mission that I have, which is really to empower people to use their voice and to empower others. I think if you're going to podcast, it should be in service of other people. Um, so yeah, so basically if people have a concept, I help them think about long game, you know, strategy for the long term and help formulate, you know, what's going to work for them. It could be authors, uh, you know, small business owners. And if it's a company that's it's a bit of a different strategy, but, um, it's really what's your intention and who do you want to serve. You always have to be going back to who you're trying to— who you're trying to serve, right?
Who is the audience? Well, and we have there, um, a link, uh, uh, it's a Bitly link, so it's bit.ly/tglcoaching to grab a free 30-minute brainstorm session with Michelle to talk about your podcast, to say, hey, here's my idea, this is what I'm thinking, you know, and see, see how, uh, you know, maybe it'll, it'll fly. We'll see, right? Uh, and, uh, you know, one of Other things too, as far as, you know, you mentioned authors. You know, I media train a lot of authors, and, and many times they'll start a podcast right before a book launch, which is very smart. And also a livestream show like this, which I've coached many people to do, so that you're out there talking, people see you, you're not only waiting for, you know, media interviews where you're being invited places, but you are continuing the conversation beyond the book. So you're taking the book, you're taking the concepts, and you're, you're really making it, you know, into something that is, is in a different form, you know. Um, also for people who have live stream videos or things like this, we talked about this briefly before the show, but, you know, to be able to take, like, let's say this show and put it on Spotify, put it on a podcast. So how do you feel about sort of like cross-promoting in, in that way?
Okay, so let's talk about— you started with authors. So one strategy, if you have an extra hour to a week, I say get your feet wet by being the guest. You don't have to pay for producing the show, right? And then you get to be featured as the expert, right? You're going on with your expertise, and it's a great way to get your feet wet and see if you even like, you know, doing that. And so it's a great way to get started. Um, so that's, that's one thing. Um, so ask the question again, Paula, because I want to make sure I—
so as far as taking something like, if, you know, people are doing videos or a livestream show like this and then turning it into a podcast, that you can also do that?
Okay, so we did talk about this. I was saying this to you, you already are producing this each and every week. As long as you have the audio file, you can, you can just get it up, you know, you can create your show. It can be the Inside Scoop Podcast, and you're already producing the content, so you might as well, you know, get it up on YouTube. It's a— if it's a video format, and that's the largest search engine. And then, um, yeah, you can just get it up onto the podcast platforms. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, one of the things I like about doing livestream— obviously I'm proponent of video, you know, my whole career in video, so I love it. So I'm always like thinking video first, and I use StreamYard to stream this show. And when we stream it live, it streams over all the platforms. So it goes to, you know, LinkedIn and Facebook and Twitter and, you know, all these places, which is nice, and YouTube, for it to go all at once. So it sort of automates the process so you're not having to upload each one. Podcasts don't work exactly in that way, right? You have to upload it to each platform.
Yeah, and I'm shaking my head. So basically your podcast editor will get it up and there's a way through Libsyn— I use Libsyn— and then it disperses it for you. So it's not like you're going into each and every one, right? Okay, so there is an automated element, there is an automated element, and then there's some that I think you have to pay or whatever. And so, you know, you'd have to decide, but you know, you make sure that you're up on the big ones like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. I do have to say though, you mentioned video and video is key and everyone's talking about, you know, video is the future and it's, you know, it's not going away and you want to be doing video. It's one of the reasons that I'm doing Zoom. But I have to say, one of the things that I absolutely love about podcasts is that it's an intimate medium. You are in people's ear. And so let's say I want to take you with me and I can't watch you, right? So I'm in the car or I'm going to the gym, I'm, you know, doing my laundry, whatever. People have you in their ear. Yeah. And, and they— it creates this trust in like, you know, people email me and they feel like they know you. So there's something really intimate about an auditory experience. I'm just going to say that. But 100%. And I'm on, I'm on YouTube for the video too. I think it's really important. And when I'm sharing my little clips, they're all video clips.
Yeah, of course. You have to do both for sure. But, you know, and that is why it was very important to also have have excellent audio. Because if you're going to do a podcast, invest in the microphone. You know, it doesn't have to be a super expensive microphone, but get one so that— because you're in people's ears, you want it to sound really, really great. So that's— that would be, you know, my, my piece of advice, uh, for that. And for videos too, obviously. I mean, I use this microphone all the time. You have a microphone?
Yes.
It's worth the investment for that.
Yeah, couldn't agree with that more. Yeah, and my mic is $100. Yeah, mine is on that Bitly link. It's, you know, people can just find it. Yeah, it's cheap.
So we have the, the Bitly link for the coaching if people are interested in going to, uh, check that out to get the, you know, 30 free-minute brainstorm. But you also have, uh, another resource, Podcasting 101. It is a blog post that you've put together, 5 steps to launching your show. There's a Bitly link right there, it's TGL Podcasting 101, or we have a QR code if you want to click on the QR code, it'll take you right over. We're very high-tech over here.
You are. So yes.
Michelle, any last thoughts on people, you know, for people who are looking to do this? Because, you know, podcasting is not new. So some people might be saying, hey, well, you know, it's kind of missed them. It's over. It's done. What do you think?
Okay. So I'll just give you another stat. There's over 660 million blogs out there. There's only about 4 million podcasts. And as we talked about, maybe 50% of them aren't even producing a show anymore. I think it's a perfect time if you're thinking about it to get going. You're not too late. And even if you decide a year from now, because you're working on a book and you want to wait, you're not too late. The most important part is to just get started. Just start. Yeah, absolutely. And it's like I said, so rewarding. I can't— I cannot stress that enough.
And it, it makes lovely friendships. This is how we—
yes, completely, completely. That's true, right? We had connected but never in person until I had you on the show. That's so true.
Exactly, exactly. Well, thank you so much for your wisdom. I'm so glad that you continue to do this. It's a wonderful podcast. You all have to listen to it. Uh, and thanks for the free resources, of course. And, uh, I have a freebie too for authors out there, or anyone who's looking to talk about what they do, and, uh, you know, in a succinct way. The 10 Questions Every Author Needs to Answer. If you go to paularizzo.com/10q, you can grab that there. And if you have questions, anything coming up, podcast, leave it below. We'll check it out. Uh, thanks for watching, and we will see you next time.
