At some point, starting a podcast stops feeling simple … What do I actually need? What matters first? What can wait? Suddenly, there are ten decisions – and no clear place to start.
If your brain has been bouncing between options, this is that moment. And it’s more common than you think.
In this episode:
- What you actually need to start a podcast (and what you don’t)
- Where all the decisions come from (and which ones don’t matter yet)
- How too many options slow people down before they even begin
- What changes when you focus on what actually matters
RESOURCES MENTIONED
- This Week’s Free Action Guide: The Podcast Decision Filter
- The Smart Soulful Business Facebook Community
SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW
If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts! Your support helps us reach more Christian women who need to hear this.
🎙 Thanks for tuning in to Smart Soulful Business Podcast! See you next week!
LISTEN ON
034: What Do You Actually Need to Start a Podcast? (And What You Don’t) | Starting a Podcast, Part 4
Becky Brown 0:01
If you’re a Christian woman, building a business and want it to be purposeful and profitable, we’ve got you covered. I’m Becky.
Laurie Graham 0:08
And I’m Laurie. We have both built successful businesses that we love without losing our faith, humor or our sanity. This is Smart Soulful Business.
Becky Brown 0:17
Real conversations to help your business fit your life and not the other way around.
Laurie Graham 0:26
Hey, welcome back to Smart Soulful Business with Becky and Laurie. I’m not sure if you’re on your treadmill, if you’re cooking dinner, if you’re at work, kind of sneaking in a podcast while you’re supposed to be on a call—but wherever you’re listening from—we’re really grateful you’re here, and we know that there are a million things you could be doing with your time, and if you are wanting to invest in building something in your future, we help women build businesses that are purposeful and profitable. This is the smart and soulful, like we’re not going to get rid of our brains at the expense of our faith, and we’re definitely not going to get rid of our faith at the expense of building something with profit.
So we’re about both here, and we are in part four of Starting a Podcast series. So far, we’ve talked about, should you start a podcast, why it’s worth it, why it might be worth it, and what actually happens after you say yes. Last week, we talked about some of the issues with consistency, and how many podcasts start and and just stop, even after three episodes. And today, we’re getting into the part where sometimes we can get stuck before we even start decision overwhelm. I’m overthinking, researching—you know—looking into a podcast, and suddenly it’s like, ‘Oh, wait, I thought it would be fun,’ and ‘I need a mic,’ and ‘What platform and what options best,’ and ‘How does it even get on to Spotify,’ you know? And something that felt maybe more simple and fun starts to feel like a whole system that you have to figure out. Becky and I are going to make this easy for you in a lot of different ways. But we want you thinking, ‘Okay, I know what matters first’, and ‘I don’t need all of it’.
Becky and I talk a lot about progress over perfection. Overdone is better than perfect.
And this week’s free Action Guide is going to actually help you in some really cool ways. It’s called the Podcast Decision Filter. We’ll tell you more about that afterwards. But podcast itself—podcasting—it is not complicated. But the way information shows up sometimes makes it feel complicated. So Becky, I’m going to ask you. Why does podcasting feel so big, so fast, and did you have that experience before we jumped into this podcast seven months ago?
Becky Brown 2:40
Yes, yes. So I am a researcher, and there are a lot of upsides to researching. There’s a lot of benefits to researching and learning and digging into things. The downside to researching is that the amount of information on the internet is never ending. You can find 100 different people out there podcasting—100 different ways—and it gets so overwhelming so fast. You don’t know who’s telling the truth, this guy or this guy, which way is actually better this woman or this woman, which mic is actually better this one or this one, but they both are saying they’re the best, like, it gets so overwhelming, so fast, and so just confusing. So muddy. So when you’re starting something brand new like this, there are a lot of decisions, and you’re learning everything from scratch. So everything feels really big in the beginning. It feels like this is my one time to decide the best podcasting mic. Don’t screw it up. And it just, yeah, like the from the equipment, to the topics you’ll talk about, to the platforms you’ll use, and even the decision of when and how recording time is going to fit into our schedule, it just, it’s new, so it feels ginormous.
Laurie Graham 3:26
Yeah, one of the things you’ve helped me with a lot, Becky, just in business, in general, in life, is that decisions aren’t always permanent. We don’t have to think of a permanent decision. We just need a decision to get moving, and we can redecide, although we talk about not redeciding, that’s a whole different edge. But like we, you know, decisions don’t have to be permanent. What do you think people are actually running into when they start researching? Because it’s, it’s not just like, like, non-emotionally looking at options. What do you think we’re running into when we start researching?
Becky Brown 3:57
Yeah, I would say we think we’re running into issues about podcasting, but it’s just completely unrelated. It’s decision fatigue. It’s information overload. It feels like you’re behind before you even begin. It’s all these mental games that we play with ourselves that don’t actually have anything to do with the best podcasting mic. Or should you do this way or this way? I would say everything sounds important and everything feels urgent, and heavy, and big.
Laurie Graham 3:57
Yeah, yeah. And then it becomes not can I do this, because we’re already telling you, you can. Like, what happens when we get into these research spirals? I’ll call them, is, it’s not just, can I do this anymore? It’s what, what do I need? And we’re going to help simplify this in a lot of ways. Like, what do I actually need first?
Becky Brown 3:57
Yeah.
Laurie Graham 3:57
Is probably the better question to ask.
Becky Brown 4:09
Yes. And so, you know, you asked, did this happen to me in the beginning? The reason we’re here is because you were so calm and clear about this is what we’re using. This is the mic. This is the podcast platform. This is the recording, like you were just clear. So tell the people listening, what are the actual essentials to get started? Not everything you’ll need every step of the way right now they decided they want to podcast. What do they need?
Laurie Graham 5:47
Yeah, you know, as I go through the list, because it’s not, it’s not a big list. It’s really not. Podcasting, the tech behind it, is simpler, and the platforms make it really, really easy. But this is one of the things I love about how you and I are teaching and how we’re creating courses, because we’re giving out what helped us. What helped me was you, Becky, just saying. This is my website host, okay, I’m going to use it. This is my email, okay, I’m going to use it in our courses. We literally just say, do this. Just do this, and get started. You may do something different later, but you know, I think most of the issues why most of us aren’t doing the things that we love to do is we just don’t get off the couch. We don’t get started.
So we’re gonna give you like quick starts. This is how to get started. We don’t have to get caught in these research spirals at all, because we’re telling you right now—Becky and I have, together—we have two successful podcasts. We know what we’re doing. I think our quality is great. I think I love our music choice. I love our platforms. We’re consistent. We have good systems. We’re literally telling you this is what you need, okay, so this is what you need. You need a you need a way to record clean audio. You need a way to record yourself, right? Yeah, that’s it. Okay,
Becky Brown 7:04
Yeah.
Laurie Graham 7:04
So that’s number one. You just need a way to record clean audio. Another thing you need is a simple external mic helps. Both of us are using mics that are around $100. It helps.
Becky Brown 7:04
But you told me next, yeah? You told me clearly when we got started, you’re like, ‘Yeah, this is what I use,’ and I instantly was about to buy it. And you’re like, ‘Yeah, but you wouldn’t need that. You really don’t.’
Laurie Graham 7:25
Yeah, yeah. No, when I do interviews, a lot of people are just recording off their computers, like, but external mic helps. Quality matters to me. Another thing you need is a quietish space, quiet-ish space, that matters more than the perfect equipment, right?
Becky Brown 7:43
Which is more challenging for the mom of two, than the mom of adult kids.
Laurie Graham 7:48
Yeah, I have stories I could tell in the quietish space, and what I did before, I just went, ‘Wow, that doesn’t matter at all.’ So you just need a quiet space. You need a way to record clean audio, and you need a podcast hosting platform. Now this is not complicated. There’s only a few big players out there. A hosting platform is just where your episodes live. For us, it’s Buzzsprout. Like, and they are the ones that put your show everywhere. Like, I don’t do anything to put something on Apple or Spotify or, you know, Amazon music, like, your hosting, like, that’s it. Y’all like, that’s it. Record, mic, quiet place, hosting platform. There’s not a whole lot else that hosting platform distributes your show, and that happens through something called an RSS feed, which I don’t understand, and I don’t care, I like to turn my faucet on and have the water come out, right? I don’t care where it comes from.
So if you want to make this complicated and look into—I don’t know, sound wave links and all—feel free, but you’re never going to make a podcast. Like you’re going to get so wound up and stuff like, just listen to us. Just Just do it. Start it. That’s how simple it is. Mic, a way to record, a quiet space, a podcast hosting platform, okay, yeah, that’s what you need to get started.
Becky Brown 8:34
And I don’t know about you guys listening, but even, I have been doing this podcast for seven months, and even hearing you say that again, it kind of made my shoulders drop of like, okay, like, the basics. The basics are enough to get started, and you relieve a lot of the pressure when you make the list so short of the things you actually need versus the things we think we need.
Laurie Graham 9:30
And the podcast course that we have, if you are starting and you want the step-by-step, and you want to know the platforms and the recording and all of that, just grab that course you all. Like, literally, we do it in many modules. Just do one step, one step, one step. You can start a podcast like, you know, within a week, or whatever, like, and we do where we record on, you do have to record on something like, but there’s open-source platforms like GarageBand or, I don’t know what the one is for Microsoft, that’s the Apple one. Or I don’t know what the other one is, but, yeah, we’ll walk you through all that. But the bigger issue isn’t what you need like long term, or what needs to happen, or understanding all the ins and outs. Like, just think in terms of what do we need like right now?
Becky Brown 10:15
Yeah,
Laurie Graham 10:15
Right?
Becky Brown 10:17
Yeah, yeah. And I think that one of the traps that we fall into is we think before—well, okay, I’m going to speak for myself, I am a planner—so before I take the first step, I want to know I can be successful a hundred episodes later. So what, what is everything I am going to need to act like an experienced podcaster. So we’re kind of expecting ourselves to show up as expert, experienced podcasters on day one, when really, let’s just go back to what you just shared that I tell you often is, yeah, you’re probably going to change it along the way. You’re going to learn things along the way, and you’re going to change your mind and you don’t like, maybe, your mic is going to be different a hundred episodes versus day one, and it’s okay. It’s okay. And so you do not need to plan your entire 100 episode content strategy before you record your first episode, because it’s very likely you’re going to learn things about podcasting when you do it. There are things that you can’t learn until you’re actually in it, and you’re probably going to change things as you go.
Laurie Graham 11:27
Yeah, I love that you brought up changing things. So I love branding. Y’all, I’m like, creative. I love color. I love fonts. Like, I could have done a podcast on fonts, like Brick from the show The Middle. You know what I mean? Like, I love that stuff. I had so much fun, like, looking for the music for this episode, Becky, for our podcast. Like, I mean, just what’s what? What is us, what it you know, but those things aren’t necessary, and they’re not permanent, and they’re not even that important. Like, if you look at like, our branding for Smart Soulful Strategy, it’s cute, it has colors. We have reasons for that. But I’m telling you some great podcasts out there that I listen to that have great followings, they have terrible branding. Like when you look at what’s essential. Now, for me, the branding is fun, the music was fun, but when you look at what’s essential, it’s not all that much. Where do you think people get stuck?
Becky Brown 12:17
Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest place is thinking that what they decide today traps them here for forever.
Laurie Graham 12:24
Yeah.
Becky Brown 12:25
This mic that you have now, that’s the only mic you’re ever gonna get, and you don’t get to redecide, and this platform that you decided on—if they go down five years from now—you should have chosen differently, and that’s just a silly expectation to have of ourselves, right? So make the decision to get started today. Yes. Like we are all about planning and intentionality. We love that, but hold them loosely enough to know that as you learn, things are going to shift, and that’s okay. So you don’t need to put the pressure on yourself getting stuck in thinking you can predict, without even getting started what’s going to be down the road.
Laurie Graham 13:01
Yeah, no, I love that. And honestly, this is where it really helps to have someone walking with you, who did it first, who can say, ‘Hey, this is the order.’ Like, this is where you get started, and all of that. And, you know, having people in community who are building along with us, so, so important. Because we don’t need more options. Like, I mean, you know, and even when you get down to which option is better, it’s like a micro, a micro bit different between this platform and this one, or this mic and that one. And you could get the best mic, and there’s a glitch in it with your connection, and maybe the other, you know, we don’t need more options. I think fewer decisions would actually serve us better.
Becky Brown 13:40
Yes, I completely agree. So let’s talk about what happens when you simplify this, what actually changes when you stop trying to figure everything—your 20 year plan—out. So Laurie, can you talk about what this actually looks like in real life, when someone—that shift—when someone makes the decision to move forward with the three things, the three necessities, essentials you talked about, what changes?
Laurie Graham 14:09
You pick your setup, and you do it. Like that’s what’s different. You actually are the 1% of people who are actually doing it, instead of thinking about it. Whether it’s writing a book, doing a podcast, putting a digital course together, like, when we stop trying to figure everything out and make it perfect, we actually become—this sounds weird—but we become the movers and shakers, because we’re actually doing it instead of talking about it. Like, how many people do you know who’ve talked about writing a book or starting a podcast? The ones who do it are the ones who simplify it and just do their first episode. So do it. Like, record your first like, just do it. You can change along the way. You can change your branding. You can change the name of the podcast. I mean, that’s not my preference. Like, I’d rather have it all set, right? But in reality, my business name has changed. My colors have changed. My business strategies have changed. Like, and I think that’s honestly, what makes us successful entrepreneurs, is we pivot and we change. Like, can you imagine if Amazon never changed from when they started?
Becky Brown 15:14
Oh my gosh, yeah.
Laurie Graham 15:14
They were an online bookseller. That’s what they did. Like, they’re not successful because they made all these decisions at once and had it, they’re successful because they pivot and changed.
Becky Brown 15:26
Yeah.
Laurie Graham 15:26
So, yeah, pick something and do it like this is, this is what changes. You don’t need a perfect setup. You need to get off the couch and get started.
Becky Brown 15:34
Yeah. And what I love about your describing is you’re talking about putting legs on your good intentions, right? Putting your good intentions into action, and that is a huge sticking point for a whole lot of people. And so that alone—if you take action on your good intentions—that is going to set you apart. And that is, it’s what gets you moving. So today, we just cannot encourage you enough to really simplify. Not everything needs to be decided right now. You don’t need all of the pieces to start. You don’t need to read every article on the internet about podcasting and the pitfalls and the benefits. You don’t need to read it all. And most of the overwhelm is coming from trying to figure out things that you don’t necessarily need yet.
Laurie Graham 16:24
So so true. So simplify, everybody. What you focus on first is actually what matters the most. So just focus on making some decisions and moving this week’s free Action Guide is called the Podcast Decision Filter. I don’t know if you’ve been watching the clock—but Becky and I are—and we’re ending about 10 minutes early, so you can actually do this today. So if you’re used to a 25-minute episodes, you got a shorter episode. We want you to do this today, because that’s what matters the most. Like grab the free Action Guide. Download it. Take a few minutes. Make some decisions today. If you are at that point of starting a podcast you want more help and support, go grab our course. The course is going to walk you through module-by-module, literally giving you all our recommendations and like, easy steps you can take in, one bite at a time to get your podcast started ASAP. We’ll also get into a few of the things we’re not able to get into about the podcast, like if you have editing, or, you know, the programs for making the voice sound better, and all that kind of stuff. But start where you’re starting. Get that Decision Filter, go to the Show Notes, download. It. Just take a few minutes to sort out. What do you really need right now? What can wait? Where are you overthinking? And then get off the couch and just do something, okay. We’re so glad you’re here with us today and working through the series on podcasting. You know, Becky, at the end of last week’s episode, you said something like, I hope you enjoy the podcast as much as we enjoy creating it.
Becky Brown 17:50
Yeah.
Laurie Graham 17:50
And is that not just a great privilege that we have, that we can enjoy what we’re doing or sharing like, I love it so much.
Becky Brown 17:56
And we want that for you! We want that for you. That’s part of the reason why we want you to start a podcast. It’s fun too! It’s not just for our audience, it’s for us, too!
Laurie Graham 18:05
Yeah, yeah. And if this helps, things feel a little more doable, that’s kind of the point. You don’t need to figure everything out. You just need the next step that makes sense. If you want more support as you build this, come join us in the Soulful Strategy Community. Becky and I spend our time in there showing up, extra videos, extra questions, group coaching, all sorts of stuff. The link for that is in the Show Notes. We would love to walk this out with you. So next week, we’re getting into that question that a lot of people ask around this point, should I even be doing this? Am I the right kind of person? Kind of alluded to that last week, we’re doing a whole episode on it, that you don’t need to be that kind of person to start a podcast, so we’ll talk to you next week. Go team.
Becky Brown 0:01
If you’re a Christian woman, building a business and want it to be purposeful and profitable, we’ve got you covered. I’m Becky.
Laurie Graham 0:08
And I’m Laurie. We have both built successful businesses that we love without losing our faith, humor or our sanity. This is Smart Soulful Business.
Becky Brown 0:17
Real conversations to help your business fit your life and not the other way around.
Laurie Graham 0:26
Hey, welcome back to Smart Soulful Business with Becky and Laurie. I’m not sure if you’re on your treadmill, if you’re cooking dinner, if you’re at work, kind of sneaking in a podcast while you’re supposed to be on a call—but wherever you’re listening from—we’re really grateful you’re here, and we know that there are a million things you could be doing with your time, and if you are wanting to invest in building something in your future, we help women build businesses that are purposeful and profitable. This is the smart and soulful, like we’re not going to get rid of our brains at the expense of our faith, and we’re definitely not going to get rid of our faith at the expense of building something with profit.
So we’re about both here, and we are in part four of Starting a Podcast series. So far, we’ve talked about, should you start a podcast, why it’s worth it, why it might be worth it, and what actually happens after you say yes. Last week, we talked about some of the issues with consistency, and how many podcasts start and and just stop, even after three episodes. And today, we’re getting into the part where sometimes we can get stuck before we even start decision overwhelm. I’m overthinking, researching—you know—looking into a podcast, and suddenly it’s like, ‘Oh, wait, I thought it would be fun,’ and ‘I need a mic,’ and ‘What platform and what options best,’ and ‘How does it even get on to Spotify,’ you know? And something that felt maybe more simple and fun starts to feel like a whole system that you have to figure out. Becky and I are going to make this easy for you in a lot of different ways. But we want you thinking, ‘Okay, I know what matters first’, and ‘I don’t need all of it’.
Becky and I talk a lot about progress over perfection. Overdone is better than perfect.
And this week’s free Action Guide is going to actually help you in some really cool ways. It’s called the Podcast Decision Filter. We’ll tell you more about that afterwards. But podcast itself—podcasting—it is not complicated. But the way information shows up sometimes makes it feel complicated. So Becky, I’m going to ask you. Why does podcasting feel so big, so fast, and did you have that experience before we jumped into this podcast seven months ago?
Becky Brown 2:40
Yes, yes. So I am a researcher, and there are a lot of upsides to researching. There’s a lot of benefits to researching and learning and digging into things. The downside to researching is that the amount of information on the internet is never ending. You can find 100 different people out there podcasting—100 different ways—and it gets so overwhelming so fast. You don’t know who’s telling the truth, this guy or this guy, which way is actually better this woman or this woman, which mic is actually better this one or this one, but they both are saying they’re the best, like, it gets so overwhelming, so fast, and so just confusing. So muddy. So when you’re starting something brand new like this, there are a lot of decisions, and you’re learning everything from scratch. So everything feels really big in the beginning. It feels like this is my one time to decide the best podcasting mic. Don’t screw it up. And it just, yeah, like the from the equipment, to the topics you’ll talk about, to the platforms you’ll use, and even the decision of when and how recording time is going to fit into our schedule, it just, it’s new, so it feels ginormous.
Laurie Graham 3:26
Yeah, one of the things you’ve helped me with a lot, Becky, just in business, in general, in life, is that decisions aren’t always permanent. We don’t have to think of a permanent decision. We just need a decision to get moving, and we can redecide, although we talk about not redeciding, that’s a whole different edge. But like we, you know, decisions don’t have to be permanent. What do you think people are actually running into when they start researching? Because it’s, it’s not just like, like, non-emotionally looking at options. What do you think we’re running into when we start researching?
Becky Brown 3:57
Yeah, I would say we think we’re running into issues about podcasting, but it’s just completely unrelated. It’s decision fatigue. It’s information overload. It feels like you’re behind before you even begin. It’s all these mental games that we play with ourselves that don’t actually have anything to do with the best podcasting mic. Or should you do this way or this way? I would say everything sounds important and everything feels urgent, and heavy, and big.
Laurie Graham 3:57
Yeah, yeah. And then it becomes not can I do this, because we’re already telling you, you can. Like, what happens when we get into these research spirals? I’ll call them, is, it’s not just, can I do this anymore? It’s what, what do I need? And we’re going to help simplify this in a lot of ways. Like, what do I actually need first?
Becky Brown 3:57
Yeah.
Laurie Graham 3:57
Is probably the better question to ask.
Becky Brown 4:09
Yes. And so, you know, you asked, did this happen to me in the beginning? The reason we’re here is because you were so calm and clear about this is what we’re using. This is the mic. This is the podcast platform. This is the recording, like you were just clear. So tell the people listening, what are the actual essentials to get started? Not everything you’ll need every step of the way right now they decided they want to podcast. What do they need?
Laurie Graham 5:47
Yeah, you know, as I go through the list, because it’s not, it’s not a big list. It’s really not. Podcasting, the tech behind it, is simpler, and the platforms make it really, really easy. But this is one of the things I love about how you and I are teaching and how we’re creating courses, because we’re giving out what helped us. What helped me was you, Becky, just saying. This is my website host, okay, I’m going to use it. This is my email, okay, I’m going to use it in our courses. We literally just say, do this. Just do this, and get started. You may do something different later, but you know, I think most of the issues why most of us aren’t doing the things that we love to do is we just don’t get off the couch. We don’t get started.
So we’re gonna give you like quick starts. This is how to get started. We don’t have to get caught in these research spirals at all, because we’re telling you right now—Becky and I have, together—we have two successful podcasts. We know what we’re doing. I think our quality is great. I think I love our music choice. I love our platforms. We’re consistent. We have good systems. We’re literally telling you this is what you need, okay, so this is what you need. You need a you need a way to record clean audio. You need a way to record yourself, right? Yeah, that’s it. Okay,
Becky Brown 7:04
Yeah.
Laurie Graham 7:04
So that’s number one. You just need a way to record clean audio. Another thing you need is a simple external mic helps. Both of us are using mics that are around $100. It helps.
Becky Brown 7:04
But you told me next, yeah? You told me clearly when we got started, you’re like, ‘Yeah, this is what I use,’ and I instantly was about to buy it. And you’re like, ‘Yeah, but you wouldn’t need that. You really don’t.’
Laurie Graham 7:25
Yeah, yeah. No, when I do interviews, a lot of people are just recording off their computers, like, but external mic helps. Quality matters to me. Another thing you need is a quietish space, quiet-ish space, that matters more than the perfect equipment, right?
Becky Brown 7:43
Which is more challenging for the mom of two, than the mom of adult kids.
Laurie Graham 7:48
Yeah, I have stories I could tell in the quietish space, and what I did before, I just went, ‘Wow, that doesn’t matter at all.’ So you just need a quiet space. You need a way to record clean audio, and you need a podcast hosting platform. Now this is not complicated. There’s only a few big players out there. A hosting platform is just where your episodes live. For us, it’s Buzzsprout. Like, and they are the ones that put your show everywhere. Like, I don’t do anything to put something on Apple or Spotify or, you know, Amazon music, like, your hosting, like, that’s it. Y’all like, that’s it. Record, mic, quiet place, hosting platform. There’s not a whole lot else that hosting platform distributes your show, and that happens through something called an RSS feed, which I don’t understand, and I don’t care, I like to turn my faucet on and have the water come out, right? I don’t care where it comes from.
So if you want to make this complicated and look into—I don’t know, sound wave links and all—feel free, but you’re never going to make a podcast. Like you’re going to get so wound up and stuff like, just listen to us. Just Just do it. Start it. That’s how simple it is. Mic, a way to record, a quiet space, a podcast hosting platform, okay, yeah, that’s what you need to get started.
Becky Brown 8:34
And I don’t know about you guys listening, but even, I have been doing this podcast for seven months, and even hearing you say that again, it kind of made my shoulders drop of like, okay, like, the basics. The basics are enough to get started, and you relieve a lot of the pressure when you make the list so short of the things you actually need versus the things we think we need.
Laurie Graham 9:30
And the podcast course that we have, if you are starting and you want the step-by-step, and you want to know the platforms and the recording and all of that, just grab that course you all. Like, literally, we do it in many modules. Just do one step, one step, one step. You can start a podcast like, you know, within a week, or whatever, like, and we do where we record on, you do have to record on something like, but there’s open-source platforms like GarageBand or, I don’t know what the one is for Microsoft, that’s the Apple one. Or I don’t know what the other one is, but, yeah, we’ll walk you through all that. But the bigger issue isn’t what you need like long term, or what needs to happen, or understanding all the ins and outs. Like, just think in terms of what do we need like right now?
Becky Brown 10:15
Yeah,
Laurie Graham 10:15
Right?
Becky Brown 10:17
Yeah, yeah. And I think that one of the traps that we fall into is we think before—well, okay, I’m going to speak for myself, I am a planner—so before I take the first step, I want to know I can be successful a hundred episodes later. So what, what is everything I am going to need to act like an experienced podcaster. So we’re kind of expecting ourselves to show up as expert, experienced podcasters on day one, when really, let’s just go back to what you just shared that I tell you often is, yeah, you’re probably going to change it along the way. You’re going to learn things along the way, and you’re going to change your mind and you don’t like, maybe, your mic is going to be different a hundred episodes versus day one, and it’s okay. It’s okay. And so you do not need to plan your entire 100 episode content strategy before you record your first episode, because it’s very likely you’re going to learn things about podcasting when you do it. There are things that you can’t learn until you’re actually in it, and you’re probably going to change things as you go.
Laurie Graham 11:27
Yeah, I love that you brought up changing things. So I love branding. Y’all, I’m like, creative. I love color. I love fonts. Like, I could have done a podcast on fonts, like Brick from the show The Middle. You know what I mean? Like, I love that stuff. I had so much fun, like, looking for the music for this episode, Becky, for our podcast. Like, I mean, just what’s what? What is us, what it you know, but those things aren’t necessary, and they’re not permanent, and they’re not even that important. Like, if you look at like, our branding for Smart Soulful Strategy, it’s cute, it has colors. We have reasons for that. But I’m telling you some great podcasts out there that I listen to that have great followings, they have terrible branding. Like when you look at what’s essential. Now, for me, the branding is fun, the music was fun, but when you look at what’s essential, it’s not all that much. Where do you think people get stuck?
Becky Brown 12:17
Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest place is thinking that what they decide today traps them here for forever.
Laurie Graham 12:24
Yeah.
Becky Brown 12:25
This mic that you have now, that’s the only mic you’re ever gonna get, and you don’t get to redecide, and this platform that you decided on—if they go down five years from now—you should have chosen differently, and that’s just a silly expectation to have of ourselves, right? So make the decision to get started today. Yes. Like we are all about planning and intentionality. We love that, but hold them loosely enough to know that as you learn, things are going to shift, and that’s okay. So you don’t need to put the pressure on yourself getting stuck in thinking you can predict, without even getting started what’s going to be down the road.
Laurie Graham 13:01
Yeah, no, I love that. And honestly, this is where it really helps to have someone walking with you, who did it first, who can say, ‘Hey, this is the order.’ Like, this is where you get started, and all of that. And, you know, having people in community who are building along with us, so, so important. Because we don’t need more options. Like, I mean, you know, and even when you get down to which option is better, it’s like a micro, a micro bit different between this platform and this one, or this mic and that one. And you could get the best mic, and there’s a glitch in it with your connection, and maybe the other, you know, we don’t need more options. I think fewer decisions would actually serve us better.
Becky Brown 13:40
Yes, I completely agree. So let’s talk about what happens when you simplify this, what actually changes when you stop trying to figure everything—your 20 year plan—out. So Laurie, can you talk about what this actually looks like in real life, when someone—that shift—when someone makes the decision to move forward with the three things, the three necessities, essentials you talked about, what changes?
Laurie Graham 14:09
You pick your setup, and you do it. Like that’s what’s different. You actually are the 1% of people who are actually doing it, instead of thinking about it. Whether it’s writing a book, doing a podcast, putting a digital course together, like, when we stop trying to figure everything out and make it perfect, we actually become—this sounds weird—but we become the movers and shakers, because we’re actually doing it instead of talking about it. Like, how many people do you know who’ve talked about writing a book or starting a podcast? The ones who do it are the ones who simplify it and just do their first episode. So do it. Like, record your first like, just do it. You can change along the way. You can change your branding. You can change the name of the podcast. I mean, that’s not my preference. Like, I’d rather have it all set, right? But in reality, my business name has changed. My colors have changed. My business strategies have changed. Like, and I think that’s honestly, what makes us successful entrepreneurs, is we pivot and we change. Like, can you imagine if Amazon never changed from when they started?
Becky Brown 15:14
Oh my gosh, yeah.
Laurie Graham 15:14
They were an online bookseller. That’s what they did. Like, they’re not successful because they made all these decisions at once and had it, they’re successful because they pivot and changed.
Becky Brown 15:26
Yeah.
Laurie Graham 15:26
So, yeah, pick something and do it like this is, this is what changes. You don’t need a perfect setup. You need to get off the couch and get started.
Becky Brown 15:34
Yeah. And what I love about your describing is you’re talking about putting legs on your good intentions, right? Putting your good intentions into action, and that is a huge sticking point for a whole lot of people. And so that alone—if you take action on your good intentions—that is going to set you apart. And that is, it’s what gets you moving. So today, we just cannot encourage you enough to really simplify. Not everything needs to be decided right now. You don’t need all of the pieces to start. You don’t need to read every article on the internet about podcasting and the pitfalls and the benefits. You don’t need to read it all. And most of the overwhelm is coming from trying to figure out things that you don’t necessarily need yet.
Laurie Graham 16:24
So so true. So simplify, everybody. What you focus on first is actually what matters the most. So just focus on making some decisions and moving this week’s free Action Guide is called the Podcast Decision Filter. I don’t know if you’ve been watching the clock—but Becky and I are—and we’re ending about 10 minutes early, so you can actually do this today. So if you’re used to a 25-minute episodes, you got a shorter episode. We want you to do this today, because that’s what matters the most. Like grab the free Action Guide. Download it. Take a few minutes. Make some decisions today. If you are at that point of starting a podcast you want more help and support, go grab our course. The course is going to walk you through module-by-module, literally giving you all our recommendations and like, easy steps you can take in, one bite at a time to get your podcast started ASAP. We’ll also get into a few of the things we’re not able to get into about the podcast, like if you have editing, or, you know, the programs for making the voice sound better, and all that kind of stuff. But start where you’re starting. Get that Decision Filter, go to the Show Notes, download. It. Just take a few minutes to sort out. What do you really need right now? What can wait? Where are you overthinking? And then get off the couch and just do something, okay. We’re so glad you’re here with us today and working through the series on podcasting. You know, Becky, at the end of last week’s episode, you said something like, I hope you enjoy the podcast as much as we enjoy creating it.
Becky Brown 17:50
Yeah.
Laurie Graham 17:50
And is that not just a great privilege that we have, that we can enjoy what we’re doing or sharing like, I love it so much.
Becky Brown 17:56
And we want that for you! We want that for you. That’s part of the reason why we want you to start a podcast. It’s fun too! It’s not just for our audience, it’s for us, too!
Laurie Graham 18:05
Yeah, yeah. And if this helps, things feel a little more doable, that’s kind of the point. You don’t need to figure everything out. You just need the next step that makes sense. If you want more support as you build this, come join us in the Soulful Strategy Community. Becky and I spend our time in there showing up, extra videos, extra questions, group coaching, all sorts of stuff. The link for that is in the Show Notes. We would love to walk this out with you. So next week, we’re getting into that question that a lot of people ask around this point, should I even be doing this? Am I the right kind of person? Kind of alluded to that last week, we’re doing a whole episode on it, that you don’t need to be that kind of person to start a podcast, so we’ll talk to you next week. Go team.
