So after I released the 100th episodes of this podcast – more than a few people said to me “How in the world do you do a daily podcast? Like, how do you have time for that?” And then another friend texted me and asked me what equipment I use and how I put it all together. Over the next couple of episodes, I’m going to break it all down for you.

So as I was thinking about my process, it really comes down to the four Ps of Podcasting:

Planning, Preparing, Producing, and Publishing

Okay, so let’s start with…

Planning

First, let’s talk about content. How in the world did I come up with enough content to do a daily podcast?

Well, I have the luxury of having been blogging for the past three years, and also running a community of a couple thousand entrepreneurs who are just a few steps behind me in building their businesses, so I get asked a LOT of questions.

I also do a podcast about my own experiences of starting a side hustle with the intent of making it my full-time job, growing it to the point where I could quit, all of my stumbling blocks and lessons learned along the way, so… There’s not a whole lot of research that needs to be done for that! I’m just being myself and telling my story, which once you’ve found your voice is pretty easy to do.

I’ve known for a few years that I wanted to create a podcast… Probably because I’ve got a lot to say about my experiences growing a side hustle and transitioning to being my own boss that bores my friends and my husband tears…

So in planning out this show, I literally opening up a Google Doc and wrote down who this show is for, what I will be talking about in general, and my content pillars as Amy Porterfield calls them – which are Mindset, Time Management, Tactics, Tools, Planning, Execution, and Relationships.

And then under each pillar, I just brain dumped every single thing I could possibly talk about related to that topic. I went through all of my old blog posts and linked them up under that pillar in the Google Doc, and before I knew it I had over 100 topics to talk about.

I definitely didn’t have to force it!

Then I scripted out my intro and my outro, and then I picked a day to be Podcast Day. I know for sure that if I was still working full time I would not be able to do a daily podcast, because I need like a whole entire day to do 7 episodes. But I would have 100% been able to do a weekly podcast.

Okay, so now that I’ve got my content game down and I’ve got the time blocked, I dove into Pat Flynn’s PowerUp Podcasting course. I had actually purchased it over a year ago. I saw Pat Speak at Chalene Johnson’s Marketing Impact Academy in San Diego, and he did a beta launch at the end of his speech. I jumped on the opportunity to have Pat Flynn teach me how to make a podcast even though I knew a podcast was a ways off for me. So lucky for me, I had the course just waiting for me to dive in!

I went ahead and ordered the microphone, the retractable arm and the pop filter he recommends inside the course, which honestly the price was right at the time but the joints and the hardware is all starting to wear out and things fall over – but anyway, I digress… I’m glad I started with the cheap stuff and I’ll work my way up to pro gear as I progress!

I binge watched the course – because I like to know where I’m going before I get started – and then I decided I’d go ahead and install the free Audacity software on my MacBook to record and edit the podcast simply because I’ve used it before in my previous life as an employee.

Then, I created a template audio file in Audacity. I’ve got my intro, my outro, and my music in that template, and I’ll share more about how I use that when we get to the third P.

Finally, I created a folder on my Google Drive for all of my scripts, and I made an episode tracking sheet to help me keep track of the episodes because I know myself, I’ll probably record the same episode twice and not remember!! It’s also to help my team publish the episodes, which I’ll get to a bit later.

Now I’m ready to go, and I’m 100% committed. Because in my mind, there’s no doubt that I have enough content in me for 7 episodes a week, I’ve blocked Podcast Day and it’s non-negotiable, and I’m ready to roll! To me, a podcast isn’t something you do sometimes, you gotta create a consistent schedule and stick to it – I mean, I expect new episodes weekly from the podcasts I listen to, right?

That leads me to the second P, which is Preparation.

I prepare for each episode that’s not a guest episode by scripting it out. script out each pep talk that’s not a guest episode – and the reason for that if I’m just winging it, I have a tendency to ramble on and repeat myself and say you know, um… a thousand times.

I’m a writer, I love to write so it’s not a big deal to me to write these out beforehand and boom, transcripts, and show notes are done!

Sometimes I write the shows on Saturday mornings, sometimes on Monday, and sometimes, I do them on Podcast day. It really just depends on what I’ve got going on that week.

If it’s a guest episode that I have scheduled, I give them a list of questions beforehand, but I start every interview the same way – by asking the guest to tell me about themselves and how they started their business, and then I take the conversation from there – there’s not a whole lot of prep other than reaching out to them, asking them to be on the show, getting it scheduled, and setting up a Zoom call and inviting them to it. Pretty straightforward!

I like to record in the morning when I can, so sometimes preparing means also actually talking so I don’t sound like I just woke up, and I’m like, perpetually stuffy so making sure I sound clear and all that good stuff.

So I write my 7 episodes, or however many I need to that I don’t have guests for, and then I number them, set a publish date for them, give them titles and a super short description, all of which goes into my tracking spreadsheet, and then, I make another cup of coffee, fill up my water bottles and get to work!!

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