Just…. Start.
That’s what my roommate and friend Hope Szymanski and I did. With both of us being from Praxis, and both of us being bored, we agreed to take up a project together to keep each other accountable. Conveniently, we both had always wanted to start a podcast, so without much discussion or disagreement, we settled on that.
Choose a recording platform
I did a quick google search to see what was the best for recording, and to start out we settled on one called Anchor (not sponsored). It was easy to use, and as soon as we put out our first episode, they submit your podcast to numerous other platforms so you can be heard elsewhere.
The main downside is there’s no way to edit audio internally if you record in the app. You can only trim the ends. But, for just starting out, it was fine with us.
Pick a name and niche
Our podcast was originally called What School Doesn’t Teach You, and more recently rebranded to Tidbits of Truth. We talk about life lessons we’ve learned from personal experiences or from observing other people. These lessons relate to just about anything, from career, to relationships, to adventures, to home tips. We also will frequently host guests on our show to talk about their life experiences.
Advertising and Growth
It’s out on Spotify and pretty much all major platforms you can stream podcasts on. I want to do a project where I run Facebook or Twitter ads for it to grow our audience to brush up on the skills I taught myself a few years ago, but there are a couple small but important details I need to figure out before I do so. However, I’m looking forward to growing this podcast. Even if we don’t get a big following, the whole process is not only fun, but it’s a good learning experience.
What’s your dynamic look like?
When you have one person hosting a podcast, they have to have enough to talk about to stay engaging and know where they want to go, and what points they want to make. When you have two people co-hosting a podcast, it’s certainly easier to stay engaging, but you still have to learn how to work with each other, give each other time to talk, and stay on track for what the point of each episode is.
Technology
There are also a few technical skills you have to learn, though as of right now they’re less significant. I edited a selfie with some text to make our cover, and when we rebranded we used a new, much more high-quality picture to replace it. I used and recommend the PicsArt app to do this.
I also had to learn how to add sound effects to our episodes, and we monetized our podcast (We’re almost at $7! We’re technically profitable). Anchor made both of these things easy, and also made it very simple to add guests to our recording.
There will be more technicaly hurdles down the line, for example running more sponsored ads, and eventually buying new, more professional equipment. For now, it’s a nice start to add to our knowledge base.
The bottom line
Do I recommend starting a podcast? Yes! Even if you think you have nothing to talk about, there are tons of podcasts where people are just hanging out and chatting about their lives and culture.
My main bit of advice comes from Neal Page in the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: “When you’re telling a story, have a point. It makes it so much more interesting for the listener!”
So basically, don’t just ramble or tell stories that no one else will find entertaining in any way. You have to have something interesting to title each episode, after all.
Starting a podcast has an extremely low barrier to entry. You only need your phone, something to talk about, and a place to record. We used my closet to avoid echos. Like I mentioned before, I would recommend using Anchor to start out since it publishes your podcast everywhere for you.
Go forth and podcast!