Creating a Podcast
Starting a podcast isn’t hard - it’s a growing trend that reached $314 million in revenue in 2017 and is expected to grow to $659 million by 2020. While it may not be hard, it can be very time consuming. If you want to join in on the growing trend and make money, you have to spend quite a bit of time up front before getting into a rhythm.
I created a podcast that grew from hundreds of thousands of downloads and views to 2+ million in just 6 months. Before working on Inside the Green Room with Danny Green podcast, I had no experience with podcasts other than occasionally listening to Zach Lowe’s podcast, The Joe Budden Podcast, and the notorious Serial podcast. So how did I get started?
I got a call in the summer of 2018 from my friend, Harrison Sanford (Co-Host of Inside the Green Room with Danny Green), who was thinking about launching a pilot for a podcast and said he needed some help with photos (I also work as a photographer). I agreed I would take the pictures and then we started exchanging ideas about the podcast and decided to collaborate to bring our ideas to life. Later that day, I googled ‘How to create a podcast’ and this article by Gary Vee’s team came up with every detail I needed to know.
From which equipment to buy to software to edit the audio, I found myself learning the very basics of creating a podcast. I needed to start learning how to edit the audio - the most time-consuming and challenging part of the whole experience. I had a lot to learn.
About 5 years before this new challenge, I bought my first professional camera and taught myself how to use it by learning from other photographers on YouTube. When it came time to learn how to edit audio, I knew exactly where to go to find resources: YouTube.
I watched hours of footage on how to use Audacity, a free audio recording and editing tool available online. When I finally got the equipment necessary to record, the rest was learning on the go. I would call friends who were television producers or had worked with mixers and these tools before, and they would rescue me. Thanks to all those folks for being there when I had no clue what I was doing.
With every episode, I got better at capturing the audio. The amount of time it took to edit each episode dropped and I began to get the hang of the whole process. My team and I were finally getting into a good rhythm. The co-hosts (Danny Green and Harrison Sanford) continued to build great chemistry and tell new stories fans wanted to hear.
This brings me to the most crucial point: While the quality of the audio (or video if you choose to incorporate it) matters, your footage is only as good as the content you’re sharing. If your content sucks and doesn’t capture the listener/viewer’s attention, they won’t listen if the footage is crystal clear or noisy and distracting.
My advice: Have a goal in mind for how your podcast is supposed to make people feel. Is your goal to tell funny stories and make listeners laugh? Or is your goal to inspire your audience and make them want to get up and take action? Once you identify the ‘why,’ the rest you’ll figure out along the way.