Effective Strategies For Overcoming Barriers And Starting Your Own Podcast Show

Want your podcast and videocast to be seen, heard, found and rewarded in this noisy digital world, you are not alone. Join the nonprofit community at Podcasters United and podcast industry experts Tom Hazard and Tracy Hazard as they debunk all that outdated and bad advice you've been getting from the podcast gurus and find out what actually works. Today, get ready to finish Feed your brand with smart cut tactics proven to cast your original voice to the world.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to Feed you'd brand. I'm Tracy Hazzard along with my co host and partner, Tom Hazzard, and we are talking a little bit of a 101 kind of concept here. We're going to talk about effective strategies for overcoming barriers and starting your own podcast show. But I want you to insert this. There's always some quick start ways, some things to get your confidence up and get yourself moving. And that's really what we're going to talk today. So it doesn't matter whether you're starting a book, you're starting a podcast, you're starting a videocast, you're starting a new webinar series, whatever it is you're starting in your business. These kinds of principles are something that Tom and I use again and again and apply. And the three things are, Tom, so we set it up is about being professional or acting professional. I'm going to say it and it's like, I don't mean this and fake it till you make it. That's not something we like here. But this is like, do something that makes you feel professional. Because when you feel professional about this, you're going to have more confidence to approach whatever it is, things where you can find a quick start, a way to get into it faster. That's something that we always look for. And then a workaround to get support. So those are the three areas we're going to explore. And obviously we're going to specifically explore this in overcoming barriers to start the podcast show.

Okay, well, I'm all for overcoming barriers because I meet more people coming to us saying, I've been researching this, trying to get my podcast going. Sometimes it's nine months, sometimes it's a year. I've had one person come to me, it's one been over two years. I'm like, okay, let's figure it out. What's holding you back? And just to get that monkey off their back, right? To get that obstacle out of their way.

If that's where you want to start, Tom, then let's start with number three that I was referring to.

I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to hijack the order here.

Yeah, no, no, no. I think this is ideal. If you're saying there's lots of people who are kind of. I'm going to call it on the fence, right? Like, they think they want to start a podcast or they're what we always call permanent potential.

Right. They have this idea that's where many people are when they come to us, and they may even realize their impermanent potential. Usually they have the best of intentions and maybe they're researching it at first because they want to know how to do it or know a little more about it. And that's fine. Curiosity is a great thing. But then you.

They never pull the trigger. They never get started. Right.

A budget of time or a budget of money that then holds them back. I don't have time to figure that out. Well, okay, you can get some support. Let's get that out of the way.

Right. So that's. The section is really getting into the right support. And this is the problem that I find a lot of you go after. You're going after the wrong kind of support. A coach is not always the right kind of support. It may be that you need a consultant. You need somebody who's going to do some things for you. A coach just calls the plays, but a coach that doesn't also provide accountability for you can be a failure for you. So this is this sort of like conceptual strategy style coach. There's lots of them out there, but when they don't have an accountability component, I find in this particular, if you're sitting there in permanent potential on a lot of things, on a lot of projects, and you've been working with someone, that's the wrong type for you. Bring in an accountability component. Bring in. Shift your coach, change it to a different one if that's what it takes. Lots of people switch coaches up all the time. So that's what I would be looking for in this next set of support. So you want somebody that's going to provide you how to do some things or get those things done. The vehicle, the resources to do them. And accountability, if you can combine those things in, you're more likely to be successful.

I agree with that, but I just want to put a little point of emphasis or I guess add to one thing you said there, Tracy, which is a coach calls the place. Put it another way, a coach tells you how to do something, you've still got to do it. At the end of the day, they're not going to do it for you. So there's a big distinction there. A lot of times people are like, oh, I got to learn how to do this. Do I really learn how to do it? Or do I need to learn what I need to know as a host of a show to record good content? Right, Right.

What you said there is really important because a lot of times we think we're in a program that is teaching us how to do something, and actually it's only teach us why we should do something, and that's because they're selling you something on the other side of it. So if you've gotten into a course or a program that doesn't actually have the tutorials, that doesn't actually have the tools, that doesn't actually have the resources, it is a sales funnel in disguise, and you've got to scale up. And this is why we find people who go in. They go in this low 97 course on podcasting, and the next thing they know, they're $9,000 into it, and they still don't have a podcast. And we've seen that happen because now they're masterminding and they still didn't get the how tos, the missing pieces. So this is where I say the missing pieces are those resources on how to do it. We get a lot of people who get stuck because they never set their calendar up like this is it. It's not one of our services. We will support you. We have videos, we have tutorials on how to do it, but because we don't actually physically go to set your calendly up for you, you get stuck. So we actually found a resource that we utilize, and we love them and they're fantastic, and they'll just actually, you can pay for 10 hours of those kinds of things, and they'll get you moving and get you to do it. So it's important to do that because you really have to get those things accomplished or you're not moving. You're not doing what's necessary to get this started. So resources and actual how tos is an extremely important of it. But then accountability of, did you do this? Did you move forward? Did you accomplish that this month so you can be recording those things are the critical factors in getting the right support to get you moving. So another area that I want to highlight, we get a lot of people who get stuck where they do get their show set up, they get their calendar set up, they get all of this going, and they get stuck at that recording. They never make their first Recording, Right. And we have a tactic that we use here, which is our reverse order tactic. And so the reverse order tactic is to record your interview first. And even if you don't plan to do a long term interview show, maybe you can interview a partner or somebody in your business. Because if you do something where you're being accountable to somebody else to record, you're more likely to show up than you are if you were just to make an appointment with yourself and sit down at the microphone. So we always have them record an interview first, then record their biggest question they get or the thing that they repeat the most topic as a second thing. Even if they aren't going to have a topic based show again, we want them to do it because it's a way to introduce yourself to the audience. And then the third thing is to do your introductory episode. And so that is short, 10 minute or under. Maybe a trailer is going to come from that, or maybe you only want it to be a three minute and that's okay too. But recording that introduction of you and why you're doing this and what the show is about. And so if you go in that order, it's like writing your introduction chapter last.

I'm sort of smiling and laughing on the inside a little bit as you're saying this, Tracy. Cause everything you're saying is a hundred percent true. But listeners, I want you to hear, Tracy really buried the lead there a bit. She really. The recommendation is don't record the first episode first.

Right.

Okay. Because so many people that I meet that have been stuck in permanent potential just are stuck about and agonizing over trying to make that first episode perfect or to have it be representative of what their show is going to be about. The problem with doing that is if you don't have a lot of experience podcasting, you haven't done it before. You don't even really know what to expect. So how are you going to communicate to your audience in that first episode what to expect if you're not even sure what to expect? So I always recommend to podcasters, not just even your first couple episodes. I mean, you certainly can. Your plan of the recording those early three episodes is a good one, Tracy. But I would even record 4, 5, 6 episodes of content first. And then you get a better feel for what this show is going to be about. What kind of value are you providing? What can the listeners expect to get from you by subscribing and coming to every episode? And then go back and record that first episode? Because now you have that experience to lean on. Then you know what 50 episodes in your show has pivoted. Go back and rerecord that first episode. You can replace it.

So another way to do that is also if you're really uncomfortable with the idea of doing an introduction episode about or an episode about you. Like, sometimes we're going to do a whole interview show, but we sometimes need to tell our story about why we're doing this so that it sets the context and tone and so the audience can get to know you. We don't really want. And people are sometimes uncomfortable sitting there doing that all alone to the microphone. It feels very uncomfortable. In that case, invite a friend, some member of our team. If you work with us, we're happy to do it for you. Invite a member of our team to kind of interview you and do a interview model about you. Other podcast hosts are really great about doing that. So, like, that's also something you could do and swap with someone else working on someone who's also starting their show, and you two swap and interview each other for the start of your show. You could always edit out the questions and edit it together if you don't want that as a part of your show. But doing it could. Could sometimes help you in the flow of getting started. And that other person is acting like what the audience wants to hear. So they're prompting and pulling it out of you, which can be more effective strategy than you sitting down. And what I definitely don't want you to do is sit down and read a script. So we don't want that to happen. Don't read your bio, don't read a script. Don't do any of that. So if we can get you to do it the other way, have somebody support you and help you again. Putting support and this tactic together could be the success factor for you in getting started, really overcoming that barrier that's holding you back from getting your podcast show started. Let's talk about the last thing, Tom. Feeling like a pro. This is where I do want you to have a piece of equipment, right? I want you to have a microphone. That's it. I don't need you to have anything else. Nothing fancy, but I don't like those coaches who recommend you just take your phone and start recording. It feels too casual. It's unprofessional in the scope of things. You don't feel like a podcaster doing it. It's one of the reasons Tom and I started with the mic blocks, right? Our mic flags, mic blocks, whatever you want to Call them with your show name on it. Our case, our podcast. Pottai's name is on the one that you can see on the video. But I am also flipping around and showing you my show, the binge factor. Right. So you can see that one, too. So you get a sense of this professionalism that you feel as a host of a show simply by having a pretty decent mic, under a hundred dollars, under eighty dollars most often, and a mic flag or a branding thing that just says, this is my show, and it makes that stake in the ground and make you feel so professional. So when you're doing your interviews, when you're recording, it sets the tone. I'm a podcast host. That can make all the confidence, difference you need right there. It's a simple hack to kind of get you through that stage of, no, I haven't recorded a hundred episodes, but I got a mic and a mic flag and I'm good to go.

Well, maybe you're not surprised, Tracy, but I think the listeners might be surprised to learn how much people really want that mike flag who start working with us. They pay for a done for you podcast setup. And it's not the cheapest program out there. This mic flag, we don't even charge them for it. It's like a gift we give them because I don't want to charge tax on that.

I don't want to do that.

Yeah, they're buying a service and we give them a gift of the microphone and the mic flag when they do it. But a lot of times we send them their microphone without the mic flag because we want to get them recording. And their show name hasn't been decided yet, so we don't want to hold that up. So the mic flag comes later. And to us, it's like, oh, nice to have. It's not urgent. It doesn't have to be here there this week. It could be there next week. We get busy as a company and maybe don't always send them out immediately, which I would wish we did. But the reality is, people, they'll call us up, hey, where's my mic flag? Where is it? I need that mic flag.

I feel like a pro.

It's like, wow, it's so. I mean, that's just to the point. Your point, Tracy, that it is actually important to set for your mindset and your level of, like you say, professionalism, how you present yourself, your demeanor. If you feel good about yourself, your message is going to kind of come across better. Pardon me.

Absolutely. This sets the tone for that. So we will really love it if people record, right? Like, it just makes our job easy. If you're set and ready your mindset and you're ready to record and go, then this is so absolutely critically important, is that you're recording. And anything we can do to support you in that is part of that process. So figure this out for yourself. Think this through. Really, what area? Is it? Is it mindset and confidence? Is it process? Is it resources? Is it accountability? What area is the biggest barrier for you? And try some of these tactics and see if it can unstick you. And if none of those work, we have all kinds of resources on our website@potatoes.com go there, find other tools, find other tactics. Type into our help team, type into our resources page. Find something that is going to get you that answer. We're here for you to make that happen. And there's bound to be someone who has a different method, so we'd love to hear that too. So please share your methods and your ideas with us. Many of you are accountability coaches out there. Share some of your accountability tactics. Help other podcasters get going. So critically important.

Anyway, that's our big message today. We're not going to belay for this. We want you to get unstuck. So go do right. So get off of listening, get off of researching. Go do.

I love that, Tracy. But recap those three things. What was that middle thing?

So be a professional. So set the professional tone. Give yourself some confidence. Work backwards. This is a constant tactic. Work as if you're in the middle of something. Write the middle chapters right. Work from the middle backwards to the beginning to the introduction. You're going to know what that introduction needs to be. If you do that and get yourself some support that had resources and accountability in it, you need both things. You don't just need to talk strategy. You don't just need to talk masterminding. You don't need to talk about why you need to do something. You need to get the how and the when so that you do it now.

Awesome. Thank you, Tracy, for recapping that. Very important. Very much enjoyed that. One little other tip, when any of you go to poditize.com, go to the feed your brand podcast page. Start there. Click on any one of the episode blogs. Because once you get into there, there's a great search bar. That's a really good Boolean text search going through all of our content. That's one of the best resources on our website.

And our resource library is being redone. And so we called it the knowledge base, but it'll be up and it's going to be redone completely and it's going to integrate better with feed your brand in the next couple of months. So come check that out as well. So potatoes.com, go to the blog post for this episode and for any episode that you hear Tom and I record or if you're out there catching us in the live stream, know that that's a resource for live stream that we've ever done is also captured there.

All right, thanks so much for listening everybody. We'll be back next time. This has been Tom and Tracy Hazard on Feed.

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