Every single Tuesday, for the last 3 years, I have released an episode of this podcast.
That has led to over 300,000 downloads and I have since started 3 other podcasts. One of those, Business Dad, has won Best Business Podcast in Belgium. All of this has been done in-house, unlike other award-winning podcasts that come from production companies. So, was it easy? Nope. But this week, I’m going to share what I learned along the way.
What value has my podcast brought me? Well, a million dollar launch in 2020.
A huge part of that launch’s success was that lots of my clients were actually podcast listeners. The connection you build with people with your voice is incredible. By releasing podcast episodes consistently, you may be interacting with your listeners more frequently than they interact with their friends.
In this week’s episode, I’m going to talk you through the story of the podcast, how I felt in the beginning, the failures I experienced and the valuable things I’ve learned along the way. By the end of the episode, I’ll have helped you make things simpler and take faster action with your own podcast.
At first I was afraid, I was terrified!
Back in the beginning, in 2019, I had no full-time staff and I did everything in my small apartment by myself. I got my headshots done and I had a dream. I wanted a podcast that had a million downloads, 200 episodes — I wanted what I saw other successful business authors and podcast creators had achieved.
Despite feeling so inspired, I was scared.
Those achievements felt so far away. I kept thinking ‘I’ve never done this before, what if I can’t do it?’. I have always been obsessed with making things perfect and getting everything right, and my inexperience made me nervous.
I was following Pat Flynn’s podcast course and, after postponing the launch twice, I decided it was time to just do it.
I rented a space, threw a party, invited all the important people in my life as well as some connections I thought would be valuable in the future. My launch was a big success and I was over the moon.
Why I waited so long to launch — and why it was unnecessary.
After the success of my podcast launch, I had to wonder why I hadn’t launched sooner. The real reason why I didn’t launch before was because I was afraid of losing, and losing face.
I had already built quite a brand on Instagram and I thought ‘what if I launch this podcast and my audience isn’t engaged? What if people do listen and they hate it?’.
I was scared of failing until I realized that if I have no podcast at all, no one is listening as well. At least if I launch, I can say I have some listeners. Worst case scenario, no one listens and I stop, but at least I tried.
From that point on, I decided to take massive action.
Your podcast can be valuable even if it’s free.
When I started this podcast I had two major goals: fuel my creativity and make money through my podcast.
I was realistic in how I decided to release every week: send out one email and one episode on Tuesdays. I chose Tuesdays because I’m a last minute person and if I chose Monday it would mean last minute scrambling over the weekend. The main thing I implemented into my podcast plans was consistency.
I didn’t sweat the small stuff — it’s ok to create a podcast to fuel your email list and grow your sales.
Some people think you have to choose: make money or be a good person. My podcast helps me help people and also helps me make more money indirectly. Making that money is how I continue producing it.
Perhaps money is even holding you back from making a podcast — monetizing your podcast can help you achieve the goal of producing the content itself. Don’t be afraid to make money off it if it means continuing your success.
The moments I’m proud of and lessons I’ve learnt.
I’m very proud of these three years of podcasting in general. I’ve never missed a Tuesday, and that consistency is probably what I’m proudest of. Some other podcasts have higher downloads per episode, but my downloads are over 300,000 because I have been consistent and released every week without fail.
What would I do differently?
I could have gone for more cohesiveness and I’m still working on what my core message is. I probably could have done a better job of promoting the podcast too.
I spend a lot of energy on growing my team, my sales, my programs, and on hosting the podcast, but I could spend more time on getting the podcast to new people.
However, I don’t mind that there’s some things I haven’t done — success is about continuing to try.
None of us are perfect, and we just have to keep going.
Future success and how to debrief.
So, this year I will work more on getting the podcast to new people. I always debrief my previous year, and this is something you can do regularly to work on new goals. The three things I look at when I debrief are:
- What went well
- What could have gone better
- What am I missing for future success?
For me, this year I will work on a new brand strategy for the podcast. I want there to be a clear message and for people to really know what they are tuning in for.
The main lesson I have learnt is that consistency pays off. Going online and speaking to your clients and customers, it pays off. In 2023, that’s what I’m going to continue doing.
So, if you haven’t already launched your podcast — now is the time! But where do you start? You don’t need expensive equipment, you do need consistency. To help you really understand what you need to get started, I created a guide for you which you can download here: https://fastforwardamy.com/startyourshow.
This guide highlights everything you need to know to get started with your own show and to boost the success of your podcast — and business.
Watch this episode on YouTube or listen via Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and search for episode 165 of The FastForwardAmy Show.
Cheers