57: How to Deal with Podcast Tech Overwhelm

Written By Britany Felix
 
57 Podcasting for Coaches Britany Felix.png
What's this episode about_ (1).png
 

"The key thing that will see you through to the end, is that you just take one step at a time."

Some of my most frequently asked questions, and my clients’ highest points of frustration, have to do with various forms of podcast technology.

Whether it’s learning out to use the equipment or editing programs, setting up an RSS feed, figuring out which program to use for recording interviews, how to get your show listed on the various podcast platforms, how to get a player in the shows … there’s a lot of things that come along with starting a podcast that can be very confusing and overwhelming.

In this episode, I provide some of my best resources for how to overcome the overwhelm so you don’t get stuck in the launch phase.

Blog Post Headings.png
 

Transcript

Welcome to podcasting for coaches. I'm Britany Felix and I'm a podcast launch consultant who specializes in helping coaches and consultants utilize the power of podcasting as a way to build brand awareness and generate new leads for their business. I realize not every new coach or consultant can afford to hire someone to help launch their show. So I created this podcast as a way to guide you through the process of launching and utilizing your very own podcast to help you grow your business and reach a new audience of adoring followers and potential clients. If you're ready to get your voice and podcast out into the world, head over to podcasting for coaches.com to learn more. Welcome to Episode 57 of podcasting for coaches. In this episode, we are going to talk about a topic that I have been asked fairly regularly, especially recently, and that is how to deal with podcast tech overwhelm. For somebody who is not used to using technology or recording audio or dealing with RSS feeds or anything like that. One of the main reasons why you may be feeling intimidated about the idea of starting a podcast or you're struggling, as you go through that process, if you've already started is you're not familiar with the tech. And it all just seems really, really overwhelming. So in this episode, I'm going to give you a few resources and tips on how to help with this. The first resource that I want to give you is of course, this podcast right here, I have several episodes where I've talked about various technical aspects of the process, and I walk you through those different steps that you need to take. So I'm just going to kind of run through the most relevant episodes going all the way back to the beginning. And then I will of course have links to each of these episodes in the show notes for this episode on my website. And you can find those by going to podcasting for coaches.com. Click on the podcast tab in the main menu and then just go to episode number 57. Or of course, you can just go to the specific episode itself, you can do a search by the number, and it'll easily pop up if you don't want to scroll through the whole list of episodes. So the first one that might be relevant is actually episode number six. That's where I go over the equipment that you'll need in order to start a podcast. So that's going to be the very basic of the tech that's going to tell you what tech you should start with. And I do want to mention, in that episode, I had a major brain labs and I forgot one of the biggest pieces of the process. And that is the recording program Audacity. Check out the show notes for that there's links to everything but take a listen to that episode, and you'll find out where to get started, and what technology you should be using. Next, another episode that might be relevant for you to check out is episode number 15 tips and requirements for creating your podcast artwork. A main reason why some people don't get approved with Apple, which is the most restrictive in terms of their requirements is because their artwork doesn't meet their specifications. So that episode dives into that. Next is episode number 17. How to record your podcast intro and outro. And that is exactly what it sounds like. Number 18 is how to edit your podcast using Audacity. And that walks you through the very basics because it took me a few years to really get fully proficient using Audacity. So I don't expect you to go out and become a professional editor and know how to use it that well. But this will walk you through at least the basics of getting a simple show ready to be published. Next is episode number 21. How to set up your RSS feed in Lipson and I do only cover lives in because that is the hosting service that I recommend and then I personally have used for all three of my podcasts. Next is episode number 22. publishing your first podcast episode. So that walks you through exactly how you do that inside Lipson. Next is episode number 23. How to submit your podcast to the main listening platforms. Now, I want to preface this by saying this episode is about nine months old at this point. So there are a few things that aren't included in that list that have changed or have come up since then. But for the most part, it will get you through the main platforms and you'll be fine. The next episode is number 28 setting up a scheduling system to streamline your podcast interview process. And in that one I walk you through and I think I even include a video of how to set up acuity because that is the one that I personally use and recommend so that you can get your podcast interview scheduled very very, very efficiently. Next is episode number 29 how to conduct interviews for your podcast. And this will provide you with some information and some basic steps on how to use different recording programs. Again, I want to follow up and say that during this episode at the time, I did not recommend using squad cast because I had had some issues with it. I have now since been using squad cast for at least a few months at this point three or four I think and it has been working well for me it does have some quirks. But I am still choosing to use it month after month to record my episodes. So bear that in mind when you take a listen to episode number 29 and then in episode number 34 i talk about understanding your podcast stats that's another thing that is a little bit confusing and intimidating for a lot of podcasters and there are some misconceptions there around the actual stats and what a download means and those kinds of things so that's a good one to check out as well and then lastly another good one would probably be episode number 41 tips and tools to make your podcast workflow more efficient and in that one i talked about some different resources and programs that will help you stay organized and streamline your whole entire workflow now at the time i was not aware of hello cast i just interviewed brandon hall last week who's one of the cofounders of hello cast so i do want you to take a listen to that episode as well if you have not and you're needing to come up with an efficient way to keep track of everything for your episodes and especially if you have a team like a va or graphic designer podcast editor that are helping you with different aspects of it hello cast is a great option for keeping all of that really really organized okay so now that i just threw a bunch of episodes i need to take a listen to again they'll all be linked in the show notes i want to go over a couple other resources really quickly if you find that you need a little bit more assistance after taking listen to my audacity episode which if you want to make your episodes really sound great and you don't have the money to hire an editor i highly recommend doing this next step which is checking out steve stewart's audacity workshop and it is an online course steve stewart is an amazing podcast editor he's someone that i really respect and admire and he has put together a really awesome course and it will teach you the ins and outs of audacity i believe actually his freebie for that course is like the first 10 lessons or modules or whatever for free so definitely go and check that out again link in the show notes and then another resource is youtube i can't tell you how many times i've gone to youtube for something audio or podcast related and not so many other things in my life i've gone to youtube and looked for a tutorial and there are tutorials on there for how to do different things even now still even though i've been doing this for three years occasionally i'll hop on to youtube and still look for something because maybe there's a feature in one of my more advanced audio editing programs that i'm not quite sure i'm using correctly the only thing with this that i want to caution you on is make sure that the videos are fairly relevant i would suggest that they're no more than a year old if they are more than a year old at least make sure that the version of the program they're using matches the one you're using and then once you have a good handle on how to edit with audacity and you've checked out these youtube videos and you're ready to dive a little bit more deeply into the audio quality and understanding how to properly edit audio i recommend chris curranz podcast engineering school and it is a podcast and he does have a course a program that goes along with it as well but that's going to be a much much much higher level education than like a basic youtube tutorial or you know my basic guidance and it covers everything you pretty much need to know about audio in general and then the last resource that i want to offer up is another human being there are people out there who can help you directly with these things so if you are in the process of launching or wanting to launch you can hire a launch consultant mm hmm me i'm one by the way reach out to me and let's see if we're a good fit to work together there are other consultants out there as well if we're not a good fit and even if you're beyond the launch phase even if you have most of it down and you're just having a hang up on one or two things that you cannot seem to grasp or you're feeling very overwhelmed with i do actually offer one off consultation calls so we can schedule like a 30 minute call or a one hour phone call where we can dive into whatever it is that you're having an issue with and i can help coach you through anything you want on that one phone call and then that's it you're not like stuck paying for three months worth of consulting services so that might be a better route for you to go and then if you can't really afford to work with anyone one on one to get some direct consulting reach out to people in facebook groups there are some amazing podcast groups she podcast is one of my absolute favorites and it's honestly the only one i'm going to recommend in this specific episode i've mentioned other groups in other episodes i'm not going to do that now because unfortunately as any women listening to this knows whenever we seek advice especially on something technical it tends to draw out all of the i'm going to be brutally honest here and say douchebags who went to mansplain everything they're either going to talk over your head or they're going to talk really condescendingly to you and again that is not everyone not by any stretch of the imagination i know some great great guys who offer some fantastic advice but if you're just putting a general inquiry out in a podcast group save yourself some frustration and just do it in a podcast where is a really supportive community of women now before you actually post though i want you to do a search because chances are somebody has already asked a question you're going to ask and then if after you do the search you don't see anything that is relevant to the question or the issue that you're having then feel free to post away and if you want tag me in that post. I just had somebody do this today actually a woman that I'm not sure I've ever actually interacted with directly. She had a question about what programs to use to record interviews. And she did the post and she tagged me in the post. And so I responded to her. So feel free to do that as well. You can reach out to me directly via any of my social media channels post and she podcasts and tag me, email me, I'm totally open to helping you out. Okay, so the last piece of advice here that I want to offer is the same for anything. Honestly, when you're tackling something that seems insurmountable, it seems overwhelming, it seems like you're just not going to get the hang of it. There's so many moving parts. The key thing that will see you through to the end is that you just take it one step at a time. Whenever I work with my launch clients, one of the very first things I tell them, when we hop on our first phone call together, is we're going to run through the entire process of launching a podcast and it will seem very overwhelming. But don't worry, because we use a program that helps you take it one task at a time. If you get stuck on something, don't worry about what else you're not doing. Just focus on that one thing until you really have a better understanding of it, and you're comfortable moving forward. So don't think about the finish line. Don't think about that launch podcast at the end. Unless that's a huge motivating factor for you and something that drives you forward. But for most people, I would imagine it's going to seem overwhelming. Just focus on whatever the next step is. That's it, just take it one step at a time, one task at a time, and you will reach the finish line before you know it. Thank you so much for tuning in. And I will see you back here next week where we are going to have an interview with yet another successful podcaster. And don't forget to check out the show notes. To find the links to all the resources mentioned in this episode. Have a fantastic week. And that wraps up another episode of podcasting for coaches. If you'd like to connect with me further, you can do so on Instagram at podcasting for coaches. If you know it's time to finally get serious about starting your podcast, go to podcasting for coaches calm and click on the work with me tab in the main menu to learn more about my one on one launch consultation packages or my self paced online course. And I look forward to seeing the podcasts that you create and put out into the world.

 
Britany Felix
Previous

58: Authentically Connecting with Your Audience Through Your Podcast with Blair Badenhop
Next

56: Using HelloCast to Achieve an Organized Podcast Workflow with Brandon Hull