← The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcast Tips, and Podcast Community
The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcast Tips, and Podcast Community
E642 - Why Podcasters Overestimate What Will Happen in 3 Weeks and Underestimate What Might Happen in 3 Years with Your Podcast
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Okay, we're rolling. Hey, welcome back to the how to podcast series. My name is Dave. I'm glad to be here with you and thank you for pressing Play if your first time here. Awesome. Glad to have you on the show. What we do here, we talk podcasting and I know there's a lot of podcasts about podcasting. What we do different is instead of interviews, we have guest co hosts, we have short episodes, we have longer episodes. This year, 2026, we're doing a daily episode. So we're truly one of the very few daily podcasts about podcasting. It's a challenge that I've given myself to create content every day. Also creating content on live online, daily on social platforms, trying live video. We're doing a lot of things. We're basically running with scissors with no permission and it's great. That's what podcasting is all about. We are creating all this content to help anyone who has thought of starting a show, is actively in the process of starting a show, or is podcasting and is looking for some support to continue and to grow and to develop their skills as a podcaster. Many of us start a show with zero background in radio or technology, content creation, writing, none of this stuff. We just have a passion for their topic and we want to connect with people and we jump into podcasting and we really don't know what we're doing. And in that we find ourselves alone. When we find ourselves alone, that's when we need people in our corner who do what we do, understand us, understand podcasting. And we're looking for a community of other people like us, all different levels, new people to podcasting, long term podcasters and benefiting from a community aspect to podcasting. That's what this show's about. To that end, and in addition to the show for the over three years now, over on meetup.com we've had a how to podcast series group and we get together twice a week, Tuesdays and Saturdays here in Canada where I am Eastern time zone, we get together and talk podcasting and we do it in community. So if you're ever interested, it's completely free, you don't have to pay for anything and you get to meet some of the nicest people in podcasting. So go check out howtopodcast ca. All the links and details are there for our meetups and we'd love to have you join us. So that's for the new people joining us. You've been here before, so thank you for coming back. My encouragement for you would be to head over to our YouTube channel and like, and subscribe to our channel on YouTube so that you can see the playlists that we're developing over there where we're grouping episodes together around topics and themes so that you can, you can kind of get what you're looking for easier. Instead of looking at a wall of content with over 640 plus episodes, you can just look at what you're looking for. So we have the behind the Mic series, we have the before the Mic series, we have the behind the Mic series, lots of the series. That's why it's in the name of the show, by the way. We have our co hosted episodes grouped together. We have women in podcasting playlists. There's so many different ways of packaging your show once it's been released. And I love YouTube for the idea of creating my own playlists to help my audience navigate a wall of content. So keep that in mind. Go check out our YouTube channel, Steal My ideas. Happy to help you with that as well. If you want to do that for your own show. I think being on YouTube is a great idea. No matter if your video or audio or a combination of both, you should be on YouTube. It's. It's really going to help you to grow your show. Excellent. Well, we're going to be talking today about why podcasters overestimate what's going to happen in their podcast within the first three weeks and how some podcasters actually underestimate what's going to happen potentially over a three year period with a longer vision of your show. Let's talk about this. Three weeks compares to, compared to three years, what's going to happen in your podcast? Glad you're here. I think podcasters often fall into this trap of chasing the quick wins while missing the power of a sustained long term effort for your podcast. And we overestimate the consistent weekly episodes we'll deliver in just three weeks. But wildly underestimate the transformation that three years of just showing up can build into your show. So there's this three week illusion in podcasting. This is where everybody starts, right. We all start at the beginning. Right? You did. I did. That first three weeks. There's an illusion, there's a, there's a, a passion, there's a understanding of what could happen in three weeks. Was a brand new show in those first three weeks. You might launch with excitement. You record five polished episodes, you nail your branding, you hit 50 downloads and you feel like a pro, right? Yeah. But reality hits, it hits fast. Early Feedback stings. Editing takes twice as long as planned. Your voice sounds off on your playback. Not exactly what you had envisioned. It doesn't even sound like you to you. Listener numbers, they kind of flat in line and they kind of plateau. They kind of just even off and you're like, wait a minute, this was supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows. From what I've heard on all those guru shows, my podcast should have a hundred thousand downloads and I should be in the top 1% globally of my podcast. And you're like, but I'm not. You expected a breakout moment or a viral clip by week three, but instead you're questioning if anybody even cares about this podcast that you created and that initial hype crash. It's normal and it's the gap between the vision for your show and the building of your skills as a podcaster. Three weeks builds habits, not audience. It does not build authority. You're just starting, so don't give yourself undue stress to reach some arbitrary goal. Presented by a guru for five easy payments of 29.99. There's a three year outlook to your show and it's a three year long term vision of where your podcast can be by simply sticking with it. Now, I want to just do a little caveat here that you do not have to have one single podcast that you do for a long period of time because some people feel like that's the only way you can podcast and you're not a successful podcaster if you don't stick with it for a extended length of time. Some people have been podcasting the same show for over 20 years. Great. But is that the normal? Is that these the identifier of a successful podcast that you've been going that long on one topic? No. You can have a short run podcast episode series where you cover a topic from beginning, middle and end and finish the show and move on to a brand new podcast and start something different. You can have a gardening podcast and finish it and then say, you know what, I want to talk about furniture refinishing. Great. Then I want to talk about parenting as a single mom. Great. And then you can go over here and do another show. You don't have to do one show for the rest of your natural life. Don't think that's the only way podcasting works. If you are going to pick a topic that has a long Runway and you feel like you can talk about this topic for a while, then this three year vision of your show, this is for you. Okay? If you're gonna do 10 episodes over 10 weeks. This is not exactly what you need to do as a podcaster, but if you're gonna do a long version of your show, then keep this in mind. Picture three years, roughly 150 episodes in what felt like grinding in month six compounds into something unstoppable. You, your voice becomes more natural. There's a, there's a different cadence and gallop to your voice. Guests rave about your prep and about your questions and how good you are on the mic and how you make them feel. Your editing flows and you can do what you used to do in half the time because you're better on the mic and you're, you're showing up knowing your crutch words and knowing your ums and ahs. You know all that now. And you purposely self edit in the moment and you're doing it without even thinking because you've done 150 episodes over three years. So some of this stuff becomes natural, which saves you time and you start to get into this machine happening behind the scenes where your podcast becomes this well oiled machine that just keeps plugging along and that's great. That's what happens over a longer period of time. In the first three weeks, you're not going to experience this because everything's net new and you're learning it as you go. You've got evergreen episodes now out into the world with 150 episodes over three years that are pulling steady traffic to your show. Episode you did 130 episodes ago are still getting listens. You have steady traffic coming to your podcast and a little niche community starts sharing clips about you and your podcast. People talk about you. You're not even in the room. Sponsors are starting to knock on your door and send you those emails because your metrics prove to them that you're a reliable podcaster that they should be talking to. All these things are good. PR agents somehow find your email and start hounding you for guests to come on your show. Even if you don't have guests, they just, they reach out to you because they see your diligence and you keep showing up. And that one episode from year one, well, it still converts listeners into super fans. And repetition turns good enough into signature style. You've got your own catchphrases now. You have your own rhythm and empathy becomes magnetic. Your show is at a different place at year three than week three. And I think we need to have that kind of long term focus for our podcast and understand that what we're doing here really matters. So let me give you an example. Living the Next chapter. My author podcast, doing this now for years. I have over 750 episodes at the time of recording, and I'm recording this at the end of March. I have up to 10 to 12 interviews a week for that show when everything is just ticking along. 10 to 12 episodes a week of recording. Not per month, not every two months a week, on top of my eight other podcasts. So that's. That's what's going on behind the scenes. And that show was running basically on its own to the point where I have enough recorded content right now at the end of March to take me all the way to July and August if I stopped. And. And you're like, well, wow. But that's even releasing three episodes a week, I still have that much content. So I'm way ahead of myself to the point now where it's uncomfortable to bring a new guest on when I tell them that their episode's not going to go live until the fall of 2026 and we're just coming into spring. That's how far out I am right now as far as content. So this machine that I talked about earlier is running really well. The interviews are getting better, the onboarding's better, I'm getting better guests. I'm getting all the attention of PR agents around the world. Authors are telling other authors to come on my show. People are naturally finding the show by search. All of these things are happening because of the longevity of the show and having way more content than any other author podcast, just in the simple sheer volume of the number of episodes that go live. So there's this snowball effect that happens behind the scenes where the show builds upon itself to the point where I got to be quite open here. I'm actually getting a little bit, a little bit unchallenged with the show where it's too easy. Almost like it's a lot of work. Yeah. But it's almost like a pattern. And I'm like, how can I, how can I grow? How can I make this better? And how can I challenge myself the way I was in the first three weeks of the show? That three week early stage learning opportunity has been replaced by years and years and years and over 750 plus episodes, you kind of get into this groove and when you get into a groove, you get comfortable. So it happens over time. You will grow your show to the point where you can do the show faster, easier, with more accuracy, better results, simply because you've done it so long. So keep that in mind. So let's make some comparisons here. Week three and the in year three. Okay? Week three, your voice and your flow for your show. Week three, you're stiff, you're very filler, heavy. You go on tangents. You're just, you're all over the place, right? You're all over the place. You don't know what. You don't know what's next, right? In the first three weeks after year three, every pause that you use in your show lands. Your stories hook effortlessly. Your questions are deeper and more meaningful. You listen better. That happens through your voice and flow. How you handle your guests. Early on in the first three weeks, you interrupt your guest and you pivot too soon. Later, after you've been doing this for a while, you draw out gold with laser focused follow ups. You know how to craft a story, not just have a conversation. You've turned your podcast from a conversation into a show. And then your audience intuition. Initially, topics miss the mark because you don't really know who your audience is. You're guessing that this is going to be a topic your audience would listen to over the years. You sense what resonates without guessing. You look at your analytics, you see the episodes that land and the ones that didn't do as well as you thought, and you start to hone your content. I see so many podcasters that I deal with, even with my recommendation that they niche down, my friends in America niche down to the point where they have a clear focus of content and delivery, that they, they push back and say, I don't want to do that. I want to, I want to reach everybody. And after a few years, like three years, then they start coming back going, dave, I need to hone my content down. I'm not reaching the people I want to reach. I'm reaching the wrong audience with my show. That's, that's sobering. And I wish people would learn that more in week three than year three, because you could grow so much better if you knew that right from the beginning. So your skills are compounding over time from three weeks to three years. Also, your network and your momentum has an impact as well. Your guests snowball. First, guests are friends, people you know, people that know you. Year three, they're booking you because your show has proof of concept. You've out, out, stayed all of the other shows, they've come, they've gone. You're still here. You become a notable trusted podcaster because you keep showing up. Three years, 150 episodes, you're still Here, you're still doing it. You still love what you do. You haven't given up on your concept of your show or your audience. So you beat all the other ones just by being here. So congratulations. Also your SEO Search engine optimization. We love our acronyms in podcasting. SEO and Discoverability. Three weeks gets you zero search results. Like people don't know about you. Really, if anything you get is going to be by accident or through word of mouth. But really nobody's looking for you because nobody knows about you. I have a friend who has a podcast. She's been going since 2025 and I didn't even know she had a show at all until I flipped through LinkedIn and saw a post about an upcoming episode. I'm like, oh my gosh. Like you have a show. Like, how did I not know this? Nobody knows about your show when you first start. So SEO in week three is not going to be the same as SEO in year three. Over this three year period, you build a library that the algorithms love to tap into. It comes with consistent long term focus and keep creating content as well. Not only the algorithms love your content, but your listeners do as well. You built up loyalty. Short term listeners, they flake the ones in the first three weeks. They come, they go, they take good taste, they kick the tires and then they leave. Long term listeners are your evangelists. They go out into the world and talk about your show. Oh my gosh, you gotta check out this show. It is the best show ever. They help you with your reviews, they renew their subscriptions, they sign up for your Patreon, they support you through Buy me a Coffee. They leave you voice messages, they're in your comments on Spotify. These are the people who really truly love what you do and you need to focus on them. Instead of focusing on who's not in the room, you need to focus on who is in the room. That's how you grow your show. So keep that in mind. What about the expectations versus reality? Week three to year three. In the first three weeks, what do we expect? 500 downloads and a sponsor, right? That's what we expect. Can it happen? Maybe. But what's the reality? 20 to 50 loyal listeners and basic workflow of how you create your show. With a three month period of time, we what do we expect? We expect to be an authority in our topic and what we talk about. What's the what actually happens? We're building confidence in our format and our first repeat guests start showing up again. That's great. With a time Frame of one year for some people, we expect that our podcast after one year will be our full time income. What actually happens? We recognize that our audience is attracted to our voice and that a small community builds and we might not be making any money at all. What about three years in that we expect to be as a podcaster the household name in the space. What actually happens? Sustainable revenue can happen for some industry invites. You become a a go to person in your space, not just in podcasting, but your topic as well. And this all happens over time. So I want to give you some actionable things to do to shift your mindset as a podcaster. First, I want you to do audit your podcast weekly and celebrate the tiny details. Spend some time tracking your voice and the clarity of what you're doing in your show and your listener retention week over week. Not just the total downloads, but keeping track of how your listener base is week to week, episode to episode, and then batch your podcast for momentum. Record more than one episode at a time whenever you can. Do that. Give yourself back your own time in your calendar. You're already set up. You have a window of time and instead of creating one episode and doing everything, create two and then edit and do all your batch editing and stuff later. Create the content when you're in the mood, your voice is good, you have something to say. Try to create more than one episode at a time. Give yourself back time. That's my alternative to seasons. I don't have seasons for the show. I love just creating content and I'm doing it every day this entire year. So when I have time to create, I create more than one. That's how I give myself time. People, how do you do this? How do you make this many episodes? It's organization, it's doing it when you don't feel like doing it and doing as much as you can with the time you have. And just being an organized person really helps me. Also. We got to kind of look at how we play the game of podcasting. Treat episodes 1 to 50 as tuition for the episodes that you're going to do on episode 51 to 150. Every raw file is progress. Every time you turn on the mic, turn on the camera is a step forward. You're going to learn something new and then anchor yourself to a three year vision for your podcast. When motivation dips, Visualize pitching your 150th episode to a dream guest and they say yes because of your track record. When I tell people that I have over 750 episodes of living the next chapter. It's not out of arrogance or vanity. It just shows a dedication to my show and to my guests. And I'm proud of that because it means for my guest, they're going to be on a show that has attention. And the more attention I can give to my guests because of my due diligence of being an active podcaster. Not giving up, still moving forward, I know that my guest is going to benefit from being on my show. And that's a joy for me to be able to put that in front of them. And it opens many, many doors. So keep that in mind. The podcaster's journey rewards patience over perfection. Three weeks shapens the blade. Three years forges the sword. Stay consistent and those overestimated early results become the foundation for something underestimated. Life changing payoff. Think of your show as a learning step in the first three weeks and a growth opportunity in the next three years. And let's celebrate those momentous moments that you reach. No matter if that's your first five episodes, your first 50, your first 500, whatever that is, celebrate them. Keep showing up. Your audience will build into your life over time and you will see the results that come your way. Don't give up. The only podcasts that fail to grow are the ones that stop podcasting. Thanks for being here. So here at the how to Podcast series, we love to hear from you. You might think that we get a lot of feedback, man. We don't. We don't get a lot because people just feel like, why bother? Like, why does Dave really care what I have to say? And I do. I actually do really care what you have to say. I love your input. I love hearing from you. And we've started a survey for our listening audience, which includes you right here, right now. And I'd love, love, love for you to head over to HowToPodcast CA and you'll see our survey right there on our website and take a few minutes, come through, answer the thoughtful questions we're asking of you to make the show better, not just for you, but for everyone. Your feedback is really going to help shape the show. And I selfishly just want to hear from you. So if you're thinking Dave probably already knows what I think. I don't. I really don't. I'm not good at reading minds. My wife will confirm that completely. So I don't really know what you think of the show. I don't know if you like it, if you like how long the show is, how long the Episodes are that Dave's doing 365 episodes in a year. Oh my gosh. Like, I would love to hear from you and get your thoughts on this very show right here. So head over to howtopodcast Ca click on our survey link. It's also in the show notes for every episode in the most recent episodes and I'd love to hear from you. So as a listener of this hear very show, your feedback can make this show so much better. So much better. And I'm not drowning in emails and voice messages and speak pipes and buy me a coffees right now. So I'm putting the ask out to you right now as a listener of the show and you're still here, that you take a moment, head over to our website, click the link in the show notes for any episode, and go to our survey and let us know your thoughts about this show, how it could be better and what you love and what you're like. Dave, can you stop doing this? That would be really helpful. Thanks for being here and being part of the how to Podcast family. See you over at howtopodcast Ca talk soon. Thanks for being here. Bye. Okay, you're still here. Great. This is extra bonus stuff that I do at the end of the episode for people who stick around. I want to honor you and thank you for listening to the end of the show because you still being here means to the app you're on right now. This is a great episode because you're still here. A lot of people come to a podcast and they leave. So by you sticking around, you're showing the app Wherever you are, YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Audible, wherever you are right now, you're showing to them that this podcast matters to you. And when podcasts matter to listeners and users of a platform, then the platforms tend to logically promote the podcasts that have people stay longer. That's the goal of the app. So you being here proves my point. So for you and your show, I want you to give some thought to how you end your podcast, how you end up and wrap up your show. Are you too predictable? So when you say to your guest or you say in your show, well, I think we're getting close to the end here as we wrap up. For some people, that's a signal to leave. So instead of giving them the opportunity to leave by how you frame the exit to your show, change it up a little bit and see if your listeners listen longer. Because I would tell you that most people are going to skip to the next thing if their phone is available and in their hand probably just going to skip the ending. So don't signal your ending so easily. And then also try something like this at the end of the podcast where maybe you've done an interview, you've said goodbye to your guest, you've wrapped up the show, the ending music has stopped and we're done. You come back and give like 1 minute, 2 minute recap from your own perspective of the interview you just had. That's bonus content. You could then clip that if you wanted to and put that portion of you talking right now. This thing I'm doing right now could be a clip for social, so it's not like wasted time. Give your feedback about an interview, give a recap, share a bonus tip, share something that's extra over and above the value you already done in the episode and get your listen listeners to listen longer. Try it. Tell me the results. How do you know your results? You're going to sign into Spotify back end. You're going to sign into the Apple back end and look at the episode by episode retention rate graph. It'll show you that Everybody starts at 100% at the beginning of the episode and then it declines over time. So if people are still here, you want at the end of the episode, you want to raise that number as much as possible. So putting little hidden things like this at the end, you could put bloopers, but really after a while, bloopers are just a bunch of mistakes and not a lot of value might be funny, but maybe something of a little more meaning might help people to stay longer. Try it. Try bloopers. Try a meaningful thing at the end. Try a connection point with your audience. Don't sell just value. See if it works. See if it brings more people to stay longer with your show and that's how you grow your podcast. Need any help? Let me know. Love to help you. Take care.