← The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcasting Tips, and Podcast Community
The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcasting Tips, and Podcast Community
E627 - Basic Training for Podcasters - Community Approach Over Going It Alone DIY
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Okay, we're rolling. Hey, welcome back to the how to Podcast series. It's Dave with you Hope, doing well. Yeah, it's. We're plugging along, right? We're like halfway through the month. It's hard to believe already halfway through the month of March. I've been doing a daily episode every single day in 2026. And yeah, it's. It's a lot. It's a lot. I. I don't know if I recommend it to anybody to do this, especially if you're just starting out to come up with 365 ideas in a row. It's. It takes a bit, just so you know. And on top of that, I have my other eight podcasts and the podcast community on meetup, and I'm coaching, I'm editing for other clients. I do their editing for their shows and I work and I'm a grandfather of two and my truck broke down in my driveway and yeah, there's all these other things that are going on besides podcasting and. But I, I love the time I have with you. I love hitting record. I love creating things that I hope truly help you in your journey. And I just want to focus on our meetup a little bit today. A short episode for you, but kind of the reason and the rationale behind the meetup and why it exists and why I really think you should be podcasting in community, not doing it yourself and stumbling around in the dark, but you should be a part of a group. As a podcaster, I think there's a lot of benefits. I'm biased because I have a community. Over three years now, we've been doing this meetups and it's been a lot of amazing connections. A lot of great people have been a part of our community in the past and currently, and I'd love to introduce you to them. So you're going to hear me talk about our meetups, and they're free, and I'd love for you to come kick the tires and see if this works for you. Whether or not you choose my media meetup group or not, my community or not, I think you need to consider community as a podcaster. So let's go. I'm going to say it right off the bat. You do not have to podcast alone. You don't have to podcast by yourself. And in many cases, you probably shouldn't podcast by yourself. Often people will start a podcast by researching and going to Google University. They go to Google University, they go to YouTube, they watch videos, they listen to shows like this, and they're like, it can't be that hard. Dave sounds like it makes it easy, so let's just do what Dave does. And they record and they're like, wait a minute. And on their own, without any help from anybody, they try to figure it out on their own. I love that passion to learn. But at the same time, when I hear you say it took you seven hours to edit a 15 minute episode, I'm like, why are you struggling on your own? Why are you doing this all by yourself? It's like my neighbor, when they try to carry all of their groceries in from the car into the house in one trip, and they have bags hanging off of every limb, around their neck, on top of their head, between their legs, everywhere. There's everywhere you can possibly carry anything. They've stuffed it under their arms, and they will, by gosh, get all these groceries in the house with one trip. I see people creating a podcast and they think they have to do it all themselves. And it's like some kind of award or medal of honor that I was able to do this with no help. No, no, I got it. But meanwhile, you're struggling. Please allow us, as your fellow podcasters, to help you. There is no logical reason why you can't accept help when you're podcasting. That's why we created the meetup group. I wanted it to be a place where we could hang out, talk podcasting with people who don't roll their eyes at you and go, are you doing that podcast thing again? Are you talking about your stat? I don't care about your stats. Go pick up your socks. You're like, oh, forgot to pick up my socks. Right? So, yeah, the. The meetup group is there for us to connect with people like us who love what we do, and we don't have to convince them that podcasting is cool. When you treat your show like it's a solo obstacle course instead of a shared mission, you burn more energy, you slow down, and it makes it easier to quit when you. When things get hard, when you do this yourself. On my Living the Next Chapter podcast, I interview a lot of people who have been through the military, through basic training. They've served their country around the world. Black Hawk helicopter pilots, people. Paratroopers have jump out of a plane in the middle of the night. Like, that's got to be fun. People driven tanks and people have done some amazing things. People have been shot at, people have been experienced death, people who have flown drones and drone warfare. I've. But the one thing comes Back to day one, military training, basic training, where they put you on an obstacle course, and it's a physically grueling course on purpose. They want to see your limits. They want to see what you can do, but they also want to see what you can do as a group. And they have this massive wall that you, as a group, have to navigate. Now, any one person on their own might be able to get over the wall, maybe, but it's way easier when you have a team. And the instructors, the people that are running these courses, they want to watch you and see how you interact as a team and that everybody makes it over the wall together. That's podcasting, where we could all individually climb our own walls and navigate and struggle and sweat and swear and get ourselves over this obstacle called podcasting. But why are we all doing it on our own, in our own little silos, in our quiet closets and basements of our homes, without any connection with the outside world? We're trying to create this thing. Why are we doing that? Why are we doing that to ourselves? We need to work as a team. We need to work together with other people. A helpful way to picture all this struggle is, like I said, this military training that people go through. Recruits are often faced with this wall, and they have to scale it alone. Most of them aren't going to make it. But as soon as they work together, one recruit kneeling to form a step, others boosting from below, a few pulling from up on top, the impossible becomes doable, and the team doesn't win until everyone scales the wall. The wall doesn't change. The wall doesn't get bigger or smaller. What changes is the team. Podcasting has its own, very own version of the wall. It might be the tech. It might be figuring out microphones or how the microphone connects to my computer or editing software. How do I take out that. That thing? My dog barked in the middle of my recording. Oh, great. Now what am I going to do? Start all over again? No, you can fix that. What about hosting platforms? What's a hosting platform? How does my podcast go from my. My mouth to a microphone to a computer to Apple and Audible and Spotify and YouTube? What kind of magic craziness gets that content from my head to the. To the Internet? How does that happen? What is an RSS feed? And why do you guys keep using acronyms? Really? Simple. Syndication is a way for your content to be loaded one place and go to multiple places. That's what that stands for. It might be the grind of staying consistent, finding time to prepare this thing called the podcast, do my research, record and publish episodes. Week after week, episode after episode. It could simply be the pressure of promotion and social media constantly creating new graphics, new clips, new posts, new shorts and new emails and new newsletters and new blogs and new everything. For many creators, the wall is is internal. It's who the heck cares about anything that I think it's the fear of being judged. It's the creative blocks when you just don't feel it. It's the feeling like there's no one listening to anything I'm saying right now. Hello? Is there anybody out there? Trying to handle all of that on your own all the time is the equivalent of running at that wall at full speed by yourself, hoping that by brute force and strength and internal feel and everything you got that you're going to knock over this wall. And you're not. You're just going to run into a wall and land on your back. It's not all going to work on its own. A team in podcasting doesn't always mean a team of a bunch of people doing small tasks grouped together to create one big thing called a podcast. That's not always what a team means in podcasting, so let's just stop for a second. A team doesn't have to mean full production company or some big fancy budget that you got from a sponsor. It can simply be a small group of people who share the load in ways that match their strengths. One person might love editing and take that on. Another person might enjoy writing and handling your show notes or descriptions or newsletters. Someone might naturally be good at social media and handling outreach, guest booking or social media. Instead of one person, do every task at 60% or each person gets to do what they're best at. Closer to 90%. It Even beyond task, having a team creates built in accountability when others are expecting you to record, review and approve any something. You're far less likely to drift away from your podcasting goals because people are sitting at their desk twiddling their fingers, waiting for you to send them the next episode. A podcast team can actually be a great motivator to record your next episode. But there's an emotional side to all of this as well. Podcasting alone can be surprisingly isolating and very hard on your mental health. You're in a room talking to a microphone by yourself, hoping someone out there is connecting to something you say and connecting at a later point in the journey. So immediate return on investment is zero. When you're recording episode, you're not hearing me right now because I'm not recording live in front of a studio audience. I'm recording to my cat and a half drank can of Coca Cola and my phone is turned upside down so I can't see the screen right now. So I'm not distracted, even though it's right there. That's me and that's what's happening right now in the moment. And it's quite isolating. A team provides some emotional support and perspective. Podcasting in a community helps. You have people that are thinking of you and you're thinking of them. You're doing life together outside of podcasting and they cheer you on. They understand the days where there's low downloads and the weeks where you feel less than motivated, the episodes that don't land and that guest that doesn't show up or that guest that was kind of a they understand because it's happened to them because it's a community. They understand all these things that happen behind the scenes of podcasting and they can remind you why you started and help you laugh off those tough moments and share in the wins when an episode really does resonate and you get that email or speak pipe or buy me a coffee. Just like recruits lifting each other over a wall, a podcasting community gives you a push when your energy is low and lets you offer the same push for others when they need it. You don't join a community to get something, you join a community to give something. And in giving, you get and from getting, you give. That's what a community is. You don't come to a community as an empty vessel and just soak up all the goodness and leave you come to the community to support each other. There's going to be times when you're going to be quiet, there's going to be times when you're vocal, but you're there. You're there and you show up for them like you want them to show up for you. That's community. Our podcaster meetup on meetup.com links through howtopodcast ca in the show notes. This is like a little mastermind, really. And masterminds are connection of people putting all of their stuff, skills, talents, connections, education, insights, love and care for each other into one specific place for the sake of the group. Again, instead of trying to climb the wall by yourself. I love the idea of this inner circle, this group of committed people committed to each other and committed to the topic and supporting each other and navigating life in a group. I think this is something that is untapped by so many new creators. And I feel like it's your Achilles heel. You know, that little piece that you. If you reach down right now on your heel of your. On your foot, the back of your foot, right on your ankle, that little piece that connects, it seems, your heel to your leg, that little skinny. That you pinch, and you're like, ow. That. That thing, your Achilles heel is you trying to do it yourself. You could be the strongest, biggest person in the world, but you. You hurt that Achilles heel right there, you're done. You're done. You can't. You can't do anything. You need that tiny little piece to continue moving forward. And that's the one thing is we need something like a meetup group or a. Like a team, a community to keep podcasting. You need that. We need to hold each other accountable. We need to show up when. Those days when we just don't feel like doing anything, we get to trade our skill sets, we get to trade resources, we get to simply just check in on each other and see how we're doing. Podcasting, Podcaster mental health is a huge issue, and I don't think we talk about it enough. Again, you're not going to see it at the podcasting conferences. It's not sexy, it's not a fun topic. It's not going to pack a room, unfortunately, because it's not trendy. But it's required to have this kind of community. Ultimately, this basic training wall that we're talking about is a reminder that many challenges are designed to be overcome as a group, not by yourself. You don't know what you don't know. And being around people who know things, they're smarter than you, or they're. They're new to it, and you can teach them. This is what we need. The wall in front of your podcast, whether it's technical, emotional, logistical, or may not get smaller, but it becomes climbable the moment you stop trying to clear it all by yourself. Podcasting in community doesn't just make things more efficient. I think it makes you, the journey that you have as a podcaster, more sustainable, more enjoyable, more rewarding. When you surround yourself with people who can boost you up, support you, and pull alongside of you, you're far more likely to keep going, growing your show and actually enjoying the process of getting your show over and out. Every new obstacle, every new week, every new opportunity, because you have people in your corner cheering you on. So why are you so adamant that you need to do this by yourself? I think we need three people in life. We need somebody ahead of us who knows the road, who has been on this path, they have experience, they're further down the road and we look up to them and go, I want to model my show, my episodes, my content creation, my calendar, my organization, my editing skills, the way they are on the mic, whatever. I want to be like that. That's my goal right in this moment. So I need a person who's ahead of me, I need somebody beside me who's like me, the same level, the same spot, the same hang ups, the same struggles. And we kind of like on equal plane, the two of us. I need somebody right next to me, I need someone ahead of me, I need somebody next to me and I need somebody behind me who's coming up, who looks to me as a inspiration and goes, oh my gosh, I want to be like them. Because if you forget what it's like to start, you will have a hard time. Keep going. As a podcaster, you need to remind yourself of the early days, those early questions, those early concerns. Because as you grow, you tend to forget what it was like when you started. So have someone ahead of you to look up to, have somebody next to you who's in the same spot, you're in the same boat, same time, same experience, same, and you're kind of at the same level. And then one person behind you that you can bring forward. And how do you find these three people? Someone ahead, someone beside you, and someone behind you. You join a meetup group, you join a community, because you're not going to find these three people sitting by yourself alone in your house, trying to do this on your own, thinking you got this. Let somebody else help you carry the grocery bags into the house. You're not impressing anybody by the fact that you think you can do this yourself. You're probably a really strong person. But you do need to realize that there are people out there who would love to help you if you would simply ask, if you would simply allow yourself to be helped. It's humbling to ask for help. And if you're the type of person who thinks you got this all the time, you don't. You don't got this. You need help. You need people around you. Because when you're lonely, that's the moment. That's when all the bags split open, the oranges are rolling down the driveway, you've slipped on three bananas, you're laying flat on your back and the neighborhood dog comes by and licks you on the face. That's the moment when your neighbors are peeking out the window going, I don't think they got it. I don't think they got it. Right now. There's a lot of us in podcasting that resemble the person flat on the ground in front of their house, groceries scattered everywhere, and we're laying there going, I don't got it. It's time for community. Stop trying to impress yourself. Stop trying to be the hero. Allow others to come into your world and be there for you and for all things podcasting. Stop doing this by yourself. Find a community. I would love. I'd be thrilled if we are the answer to your search about community. That would be outstanding to have you come from a listener listening to this, to a community member. Wow. That's meetup.com howtopodcast ca this is where you find us. It's free. Come be a part of this. Make it a priority. Make it something that you're like, I am going to be there. I don't care what happens. I need this not just for me because. But I need to be there to help somebody. I need to identify the person I want to be like. I need somebody beside me that I can do life together as cohorts, and I need somebody behind me that I can reach out and help share my limited knowledge. I've only done this for five episodes. I don't have a sweet clue what I'm doing, but I want to help somebody else. That's what happens in Community, and we need you in our community. And there's other podcast communities that need you as well. One word of caution, do not invest yourself in anybody who has not invested themselves into you first. If you show up at a community and you have to pay and you don't know the community, you don't know the creator, you don't know anything about it. Hang on. They haven't invested in you yet before you give them anything. So be cautious. Before you put money out into a community, I tried this and you put your money out into this community and it's not what you thought it was. Don't do that. Invest yourself where you are invested in first. When the community invests in you, when the community gives you value and then gives you an opportunity to be a part of it, that's where you go first. Because they stepped up first, gave you the best of what they had with no paywall, no expectation that you'd ever spend a penny with them, they gave first. That's an indicator of a good community. When they ask for money up front. Be careful. Our podcast community is free. Has been free. It's always free. It's there for you twice a week for the last three years. It's there for you. You don't owe us a penny. Come join us, please. HowToPodcast ca. Don't podcast alone. We're waiting for you. It won't be the same without you. So come join us. See you on the wall. We're reaching down. We'll pull you up. We gotcha. So I get asked quite often, usually at the end of a podcast, like right now, Dave, how can we help you? Like, how can we, as a listener, like, support the show? Can we come rake your leaves? Can we cut the grass? Shovel the snow? Watch your dog help you move? What can we do? Clean your dishes? Oh, that'd be interesting. Well, if you don't, if you can't do that because, you know you're in Poland, maybe you can help us by supporting us with our Buy Me a coffee. It's right there on our website. And you know, it just will help us to a stay fueled because, you know, we drink a lot of coffee around here and it helps the show. So if you want to help us, it's out of the goodness of your heart. I can tell you that listening to the podcast to this point, you've already helped us so much. But I do have people saying, dave, I'd love to. To give back something small, even just to the show. Buy me a coffee link is on our website, howtopodcast Ca. And you can support the show that way. It would mean a lot to have you on our team supporting what we do here. If you find value in the show, then that's great. Share the show, tell somebody about it. And when somebody says, dave, I want to start a podcast, who should I check out? Oh, you should go check out the how to podcast series because of all the great co hosts and all the things that happen here, the meetups, everything. And I would appreciate that. And then fill her a cup once in a while if you can. But again, thank you so much for being here and supporting the how to podcast series. Take care. Talk soon. Oh, you're still here. Awesome. Okay, so this is the bonus stuff we do at the end of the episode. This is just for the people who stick around like you. So thank you. Not everybody's going to hear this part. And the idea is that we want this to be bonus material for you. Actionable. One tip, take it away with you. Somebody reached out to me and said, dave, I I'm having a hard time getting my guess to fill out my form to come on my show. And I'm like, well, tell me some of the questions on your form. You know, name their book, their podcast, whatever they're promoting. And then they said, what's really important to me as a host is I want my guests to help me title the episode their episode for my show. Because I just want them to tell me what they want me to call the episode. So, you know, what is the title of this episode? So this title of this episode. Basic Training for Podcasters. Community Approach Over Going it Alone. Diy. So that's the title of this episode. They want their guests to knit to title the episode. So I'm going to come on your show, on your podcast and give you the title of the episode for me as a guest on your show. And I'm like, do you realize that you're not going to get great responses from people? How often does a guest title an episode? Many of my guests have never even been on a podcast before. They don't even know what a podcast is. So for me to tell them, hey, give me the title for your episode. They're like, what's a title? What do you mean? It's like naming a baby. Here, name this child and let me know what you think. Steve, I don't know. What do you want me to call this? Bob? Mary? I don't know what to call this baby. I don't know. Just name the baby and tell me what to call the baby. This is your show. You name the baby. That's your job. It's not their job. They can make recommendations. But aren't you more interested in getting that episode out to the world and giving it the best title possible so more people listen? Isn't that kind of your job? So don't put undue expectations on your guest, because if you give them too many things to do, they're not going to do any of them and they're not going to do them well. So you learn how to do good, good titles. You pick out things. You can use AI for that. You can throw in your transcript and say, hey, from this transcript, no outside sources. From this transcript, only the words I give you. Please give me five suggested titles for this episode that are search friendly. That's it. That's all you have to say to an AI tool? Like, I use perplexity AI. I just give it that. Like, can you just give me five suggestions? And I look at them and go, they're really boring. But there's some key words in there that I probably should focus on and I craft from the results. My own version of what I think would be a good title for the episode because I know you as a listener. So I want you to find this episode to build curiosity and make you go, what's that about? That's your job. That's not your guest job. So please stop asking your guests to do your work. It's your show. They're a guest. They're only going to be here once. So don't focus all your attention on their one time appearance to make your show better. Focus on the fact that you've been doing this for a while, you put in the work and if you need help titling episodes, you're like, I don't know how to do it. That's why I asked them to do it. Then ask somebody who does it for like 2000 episodes. Now most half of those are interviews. If you want help, I do this. I yes and yes. Please let me help you. How to podcast CA Stop giving your homework to your guests. It's time for you to do this. You got this. You got it. Let me help you. Take care.