I cared a lot more about going viral when I was in my 20s. I wanted to post that perfect photo, the perfect poem, the perfect Tweet. Even here on WordPress I was so invested in trying to get shared on Freshly Pressed that I had multiple blogs and would post to each of them every single day. Honestly, I don’t know how I did it. These days I can hardly post two blogs a month.
When I got into my 30s, life became less about “being a famous author” and more about being a decent human being. An authentic, decent human being. I think raising a daughter as strong-willed and stubborn as I am has knocked me down a few pegs. Motherhood has taught me that there are more important things than making it big.
I have been in full experiment mode lately. What this means is I have been trying a ton of new things, filling sketchbooks with “let me see what this does” adventures, and scribbling without an end game. It sounds fun, but this isn’t always welcomed by my conscious thoughts. Mostly because when I’m experimenting my work is all over the place, and I start asking myself a ton of questions like…
What kind of artist am I?
Is this the kind of artist I want to be?
Would this even hang in a gallery?
Is my style shifting?
Do I even have a style?
Can I call myself a professional? Or am I just a hobbyist splashing around? A hobbyist who needs to get a real job..
Starting a podcast was something I’d wanted to start for over a year, but it was only until the beginning of this year that I finally worked up the courage to take the plunge. I listen to a lot of podcasts, but I knew nothing about starting one of my own.
Since that fateful episode one, I have learned a few lessons from the beginner’s perspective, and my goal here is to share these lessons with those of you who are also thinking of starting a podcast but have no clue where to begin (or are in the grips of terror, like I was).
Please note: I receive no kickbacks for any of the sites/software/platforms I mention in this article. These are simply the ones that worked for me.
Lesson One: You Learn as you Go
This might seem counterintuitive to this entire article, but there’s no truer statement when it comes to something like starting a podcast. Those of you who feel like you need to research everything before starting–and, in turn, not researching at all because it’s just…too…much–this lesson should be your beacon. Use it to guide you through the choppy waters of uncertainty and just go for it. There’s no better way to chart a map than to be immersed in the very place you’d like to navigate.
In other words, just start that podcast. It’s the best way to learn how to run a podcast.
Lesson Two: You Don’t Need Fancy Equipment
I’ve heard several podcast hosts say this, and so I already knew it wasn’t necessary to buy the best of the best when it came to mics and headphones and all the fancy recording gear. This helped me tremendously as I wasn’t spending hundreds of dollars on something that may or may not even work out in the end. I managed to find a nice, quality mic at around thirty bucks and it has been a trusty companion since episode two. Episode one was recorded on a simple clip-to-your-shirt mic.
As for the recording software? Go with Audacity. It’s FREE. I haven’t had an issue with it yet, and it’s pretty user-friendly.
Lesson Three: You Don’t Need a Fancy Platform, Either
Honestly, the day I decided to just take the plunge was a day I’d published another article on this blog and WordPress asked me if I wanted to turn this episode into a podcast on Anchor. Minutes later I had signed up and was planning my first episode. The cool thing about Anchor is that you can use it to add your podcast to multiple platforms so that you can be found on the more popular podcast apps.
I’m sure it’s like this for any podcast platform, but I wouldn’t know because I just went with what was available and it has served me well so far.
Lesson Four: There Are a Ton of Good Music Licensing Sites
I did just a little bit of research for this part. I wanted to make sure I didn’t spend a fortune on music licensing, but I also wanted to get quality music and sound effects for my podcast. There are a ton of great sites out there, and it can get a bit overwhelming. The one I eventually went with was Epidemic Sound. It’s 15$/month for a podcast subscription and you get access to all the music and sound effects. Just make sure you plug them in your podcast and in the show notes!
Lesson Five: Prepare For Interruptions
Even if you’ve had the most uneventful day, once you hit record all of the crazy will come flooding in. It’s a button that somehow alerts absolutely everyone. From your kiddos to your spouse to your mother-in-law to that friend you haven’t talked to in ten years. Your phone is going to ring. Your tweet will go viral even though you’ve never gone viral before. Your husband will be unable to find clean socks and has no idea what to do about it. Your kid will suddenly be wasting away with starvation even though she’d just eaten ten minutes ago. If you’re like me, your entire family will come down with Covid after 2.5 years of evading it, preventing you from being able to record those two episodes you’d planned that week.
Prepare yourself. Use that pause button. Take deep breaths. Give your family hugs. The podcast will still be there when you return.
Lesson Six: Write an Outline. Always.
Remember back in speech class when you had to write your bullet points on a little notecard so you wouldn’t get sidetracked? The podcast didn’t exist yet back in those days for me, but who knew that they were preparing me for this very moment?
An outline will not only keep you from getting sidetracked, it will also make the editing process go much smoother. And, if you’re ADHD like me, it will keep you (somewhat) on topic and maybe even remind you to take a breath between sentences.
Lesson Seven: The Process Will Take Forever in the Beginning
My very first episode took me an entire week. A WEEK. I was recording every day, editing, deleting, learning the software, confusing myself over music and things like track volume vs playback volume. It freaked me out. There was no way I’d be able to do this every week and continue to have an art/illustration career. In fact, when I first started recording, my business took a serious nosedive.
I’ll say it again. It freaked. me. out.
The next week took a few days of the above nonsense and I was starting to feel overworked and frustrated. But I pressed on, making Fridays my target day to publish.
Week three was just as discombobulated as week one because I decided to just pick a topic and wing it. Big mistake. This is when I learned the valuable lesson of typing up my script and/or writing an outline.
Once I began putting together an outline, and once I’d gotten the hang of Audacity and Anchor and Epidemic Sound, the whole process began to take less and less time. Nowadays I can record, edit, and publish all within about two hours. So don’t balk at the time it’s taking you the first few weeks. Put aside some extra time for that learning curve, and remember that once you get the hang of things, it won’t take nearly as long.
Those of you who have listened to one or all of my podcast episodes I hope you have enjoyed them! Season Two of the Eccentric Chai podcast will premiere at the end of August.
Scribble Chai 