What I Love Most About Podcasting (And Advice for Anyone Starting One)

At the Dynamic Women® Podcast's seventh anniversary celebration, listener and past guest Jennifer Kanyumwa asked me: What has been your favourite part of hosting a podcast, and what advice would you give someone wanting to start one?

It's a great double question, so here's my honest answer to both.

What I Love Most About Hosting a Podcast

The Conversations

My absolute favourite part is having these amazing conversations with wonderful business owners and dynamic women. I get to meet some incredible women, and as I ask questions, I not only hear powerful stories and expertise but also uncover smaller, unexpected things.

For example, I have an upcoming episode with Sarah from Neon Collective. She shared how she had a diagnosis of autism and is still creating this amazing business. We sometimes have things that could hold us back: trauma, different situations in our lives, challenges we're up against, and the fact that the people I get to interview still come out ahead is amazing.

Guests Become More Than Guests

I find that guests often become friends, collaborators, clients, or community members. I like the idea that once we've connected, you don't just disappear. It's really nice when people come back.

Knowing It Impacts Everyday Life

Knowing the episodes impact people during their everyday life moments means a lot to me. Maybe you have this in your ear right now as you're walking, doing the dishes, taking care of your kids, or doing data entry in your business. Maybe you're using this as a tool, as part of your education, as a way to move your life and business forward.

Creating Long-Term Impact

I record these as videos, and people might listen during the week, but sometimes I have people reach out and say, "I remember this episode you had three years ago, and it changed my life." Each person listening is capturing their own golden nuggets, which is fabulous.

The only sad thing is that I don't hear enough from my listeners. If you've been listening for a long time, or this is your first episode, I'd love it if you'd email me directly: [email protected] and  let me know how the podcast has impacted you, and a little bit more about yourself.

Advice for Anyone Starting a Podcast

Know Your Why

The key thing is to know why you're doing it. People come to me and say, "Oh, you've been doing it for seven years, you must be making a ton of money off of it." That's not the point for me.

For me, the podcast is part of my content. It's how I start creating content. It's my anchor video that then creates the YouTube, the podcast, the blog, all my social posts and content for the week. I don't want anyone else writing for me or creating videos with AI that aren't me. It's all me. That's why I do it.

But your why will be different, and that's okay. Just know it before you start.

Don't Wait Until You're Ready

That's what my podcast mentor, Michelle Abraham of AmplifYou says: "If your first episodes are perfect, you waited way too long."

Think about Marie Forleo. Her beginning videos look terrible compared to later on, but she was still her, and her content was still great. You don't need a professional studio or fancy editing. All you really need is a good microphone. I use the Blue Yeti and record on Zoom.

Consistency Matters More Than Perfection

Many people get going, do a whole bunch of episodes, and then it just dies off. If you think you can only do it consistently once or twice a month, do that. Some people do daily podcasts, not for me, I have too many other things on the go.

You will improve as you go. It won't be the best at first, but it'll get better.

Tie Your Content to Your Mission

Make sure the topics you put out are tied to your mission, message, business, or community. It's going to feel weird if you go off topic.

I can remember following a woman because she was talking about business, and all of a sudden, she was talking about Botox. Then she started branching out into health and wellness, her makeup and hair tips. She kind of lost me because I was there for the business stuff. Always try to have it tied to why people came to you.

You Don't Have to Start Alone

If you need help, hire someone to hold your hand to make it happen. Michelle Abraham and her team at AmplifYou launch and manage podcasts. Also, my clients have my virtual assistants do it. Having support makes consistency much more doable.

A Few Extra Tips Michelle Gave me:

• Have a few episodes ready to launch from the beginning, so that if someone finds you, they don't just have one and then wait a week. Let them binge on your first four or five episodes.
  
• Make those first episodes about you: why you're doing it and what the podcast is about.
  
• Make sure your title is searchable. Is someone actually typing that in? My community is called Dynamic Women. No one's really typing in "Dynamic Women." But everybody kept asking, "What's a dynamic woman?", and I had a network, so it was fine. Just make sure it's not so obscure that no one will find you.
  

Stay tuned for the next posts in this series, where we feature more burning questions from our anniversary celebration guests. 

You don't want to miss them. ​

Until next time, stay dynamic!