Welcome to Help Me Podcast, a show designed to help you launch and grow your podcast. I am your host, Gino, and twice a week I will release a new episode with different tips and tricks for launching and growing your podcast. From audio engineering to planning intentionally to growth tactics, each episode will be a bite sized tip to help you podcast.
Hey. Good morning, and welcome back to Help Me Podcast. In today's episode, I want to talk about the purpose of your podcast and goals and alignment and really like a deeper conversation about evaluating your show and if you should be doing it or if maybe there's another idea that you can move on to and we'll get more into it. But basically this idea kind of came from I was listening to a webinar by Jeremy Ends and Justin Jackson. It was for transistor and I found it on YouTube.
Transistor is my podcast host, and they were kind of just talking about how to get more listens as a podcast, but it was a really good conversation and they went really deep into the why of podcasting. So I really wanted to have this episode to kind of discuss that more and to go a little bit more in depth about why are you podcasting? And hopefully you can ask yourself those questions and maybe come to some answers and maybe come to some realizations about your own show.
So first off, I really want to talk about why are you podcasting? I think a lot of times it's not something that's really thought about or maybe it's like a vague kind of concept of like, oh, I want lots of listeners and that's why I'm podcasting. And I think that could be one reason why you're
podcasting. But I think that I would challenge you to dig a little bit deeper and figure out why are you podcasting other than that and what does more listeners mean and what does that give you in return and what is it that you're really looking for and just being brutally honest about what it is that you want from your podcast? And maybe I'll do a little test with myself and my own podcast here to kind of like show by example of what the ideas I'm talking about are. And
there can be many reasons why you podcast. Some are to entertain, some are to maybe teach. Some are to share an experience or to share some life lessons. Some could be for business and for growing a business, finding new clients, that sort of thing. I think you really have to think about why it is that you're podcasting and what gave you the idea to even start your podcast. Maybe think back to why did you want
to have a podcast, where did the initial idea come from? And then maybe if we think about that, we can think about the motivations behind that. Maybe you saw something that inspired you, maybe you heard a podcast that inspired you, maybe you had a conversation with somebody that inspired you. So for me, I want to do this little experiment with my other podcast working towards a purpose. And for me, if I really think back to why I wanted to start that podcast, it was
multiple reasons. I do own a podcast production company, Pleasant Podcast, and one of the reasons was I worked on people's podcasts all the time, and some people would always ask me like, well, what's your podcast about? And then I would always be like, I don't really have one. So one of them was to show by example how I could help people, like, hey, here's an example of my podcast and what it sounds like I could help you to do at least what
I've done in the past, right? So that was one part of it. The second part of it was my kind of ever growing journey of trying to figure out what my purpose is, right? And that's kind of like where the name came from and intentionally using the word purpose versus passion and kind of just trying to learn from others about what their purpose is.
And really the idea first kind of came from me doing a lot of networking and realizing that there were some people that I met that I just had really strong connections with and they either really inspired me to do something or I was impressed of what they did. And I was like, wow, that's awesome that you did that thing and kind of wanting to learn more about it. A podcast is a really great way to get a one on one with a person like that and really ask them the
questions that you want to ask them. So that was another reason why I wanted to start a podcast, was to dive into people's stories and to basically kind of get mentorship from them and in a selfish way, help myself by learning from these people. And I kind of looked at it as like it was a win win sort of thing because I'm learning from them and then I'm also having other people who listen to the show learn from them. That's kind of the hope. The hope is to also inspire
other people, but then also to support them, right? Because I think that there's, especially in an entrepreneur community, I think it's important to support each other and to support each other's good ideas. And even just as humans, if somebody's doing something that you really think is cool, the best way to help them is to support them. So that's kind of like where the ideas came from for
my show there. And I didn't really look at it as like, I want to get thousands of listeners and then start getting ads and start making money. I looked at it more of like a mentorship sort of thing where, yeah, it's great if more and more people listen. But it's also great just having the conversations and the conversations themselves are super inspiring to me and that's what I'm getting out of it, right? That's the goal of my podcast is to learn and to be inspired and to make a connection
with somebody and that's happening. But I will say that I'd be lying if I said that I don't want more listeners now that I've started, right? I really don't get that many listeners. It's probably less than 100 per episode on average. And although the reception has been nice, people have reviewed and given me good feedback on it and my friends and the network of entrepreneurs that I'm a part of have given
me good feedback on it and that's been lovely. But like I said, I would be lying if I said I didn't want more people to listen to it. So kind of getting back to the topic of why are we starting a podcast, I think for me, the reasons that I started a podcast keep me going and keep me podcasting. Because although I would like more listeners and I don't necessarily have them right now, what's keeping me going is the conversation,
right? So for me, the thing that I'm getting out of the podcast and thinking of it in a selfish way, what I'm getting out of the podcast is these great conversations with people that I really look up to and that's what's going to keep me going because I like the actual conversation that we're having. That was kind of an experiment of why I got into podcasting and what drives me to podcasting and what is my goal, right? And if
I were to refine it even more and say what is my goal? My goal is to have better conversations with people I connect with even more, to have those awesome conversations with people that are super inspiring and help me find out more of what my purpose is and where I want to be in life and what I want to do with my businesses. So that's my overall goal of my podcast. Now, your podcast may be wildly different than that and that's totally fine, but I think it's important to figure out
what that goal is. And I think a lot of times I've had conversations with people about what their goals are and I always try to ask them what their goals are and a lot of times people just say, like, I just want to get lots of downloads, I want to get paid to podcast. And those aren't all bad things, but I think that they're not things that are going to keep you going when times get tough. And I think to just push further past that, to me, it's not a good enough answer. To me, you need to
push further past that. Well, why do you want 100,000 downloads? Why do you want to get paid to podcast? Keep asking why it's like the seven whys or there's some book or something out there. You got to ask why seven times to get to the root of why you're doing something. So all that to say kind of rambling on here. All that to say that I think it's really important to think about why you are podcasting. And then the second half of this conversation is there was a stat that was
brought up. I haven't fact checked the stat, so take it with a grain of salt. But one of the guys on the video that I was watching said that 80% of podcasts don't get to 1000 listens per episode, which is a huge number. Only 20% of podcasts get 1000 listens per episode. And really, 1000 listens per episode isn't even that big. That was interesting for me to get context of like, okay, maybe my 50 people an episode isn't horrible for just starting out. Maybe if 1000 is really good, then
maybe it's not that bad to have less than 100. But either way, it kind of gave me some context as like, okay, it is really hard to get listeners out there and it is really hard. And only the top 20% of the podcast are getting more than 1000 listens per episode. So that for me was almost a motivational stat. But then the second half of this conversation was talking about, is your podcast in alignment? Is it in alignment with your audience? And is it
in alignment with you? And I thought that this was a very interesting idea of is your podcast, right? A podcast is an idea and you can have thousands of ideas, right? And just because you went with this idea doesn't necessarily mean it's the right idea or the wrong idea. I mean, what's that saying about Edison trying the light bulb? And it worked on the thousandth time, right? So it's almost a little bit arrogant to think like, oh, my first podcast is going to be a success and it's
going to be amazing. That's almost kind of an arrogant thought. And I'm talking to myself too. It may be a little bit harsh to think about it in that way, but I mean, it's true. If it's your first idea and you got it started, maybe it's not the right idea. Maybe you're not connecting with your audience. Maybe if you're 30 episodes in and you're still only getting like 50 downloads, or you're not getting the reception, or you're not getting the goal that you are wanting out of your podcast, maybe
it's not connecting with the listeners. And to think about how to connect with listeners and I think that goes back to a lot of marketing tactics and finding a need in the market, right? Finding a need in the podcast niche is there just too much competition in what you're trying to do, especially if you're like in entertaining podcasts or you're a comedy podcast or something like that. There's so much competition out there from successful and famous comedians or actors or whoever it may be,
there's a lot of competition. So just thinking about the idea of are you filling a hole in the market, just how you would think of it in business, right? You can have a great idea in business, but if there's not a need in the market, it's not going to succeed and you're not going to get customers because the customers don't need what you think is a good idea. And it's that hard balance between coming up with an idea and then finding
the need for it. And sometimes that's tough and sometimes maybe it is a great idea, but there isn't a need in the market for it and you got to move on to the next idea. So I think also thinking about your podcast in this way just as if it were a business and just as if you were marketing that business or you're marketing that podcast to the group of listeners and is it something that the listeners want? And of course, you can't only make a podcast for other people and completely
tailor it to what other people want. It's a balance, right? But I think it's important to think about, like, are you in alignment with a specific audience? Are people connecting with it? That's the most important part. Are people connecting with your show? And then to take it even further than that, are you connecting with your show? Right? Because you could also build a show that maybe is connecting with people and is successful, but you hate creating it. And in that case,
that's not really in alignment with yourself. So I think it's important to think about is your podcast in alignment with an audience and a group of people? And also is your podcast in alignment with you and what you want to be doing, and are you reaching the people that you want to speak to? So, all in all, this whole conversation, maybe it's a bigger conversation, but I think I'm going to kind of cut
it short here because we're getting a little long. But I think it's really interesting to think about your podcast in this way and all this stuff is hard. And I think that that's why making a podcast that really resonates with people is difficult because you have to think about all these things. You have to think about specifically the alignment. I think that was a very cool
visual for me to hear that. When I was listening to this video with Jeremy Enns and Justin Jackson, it was very interesting to like that made so much sense to me when they said that you have to be in alignment with your audience and then you also have to be in
alignment with yourself. Because Jeremy Ends was actually saying he gave an example of a podcast that he started that he resonated with people and he found a hole in the market and people loved it, but he hated making it, so he eventually had to stop making it. So that's also something that you want to make sure that it's
something that you want to be doing. And then last thing that I want to say about this as we wrap up this episode is that if you decide that your show is something that maybe you need to end and maybe you don't want to be doing it anymore or maybe you need to start with a new idea, that's okay too. Because I think a lot of times people look at failure as a bad thing or get down on yourself. Or maybe you say, oh, I shouldn't be a podcaster now because my first
idea didn't work. I think that's not a good way to look at it. I think it's more productive to be like, you know what, first idea didn't pan out, that's okay, I'm going to stop doing this idea. And now I'll have all this space to go full force into a new idea, and maybe the new idea will be the one that sticks. Maybe it won't, maybe it will. But all of that work that you did for your first podcast, it wasn't lost. You can transfer all of those skills to your next podcast and make it even
better. And I challenge you to look at it like look at it as a positive instead of a negative one thing's ending. Yes, but it's also now giving me the space and the time to start something new that I could be more excited about now. So
it's not always a bad thing. And if you've listening to this episode and you do this little experiment and you figure out that your podcast maybe isn't the right thing for you, it's not a bad thing, you can still continue to podcast, and you can still continue to express yourself in this way and create something that's even better than you created before. I also really liked the idea that your first podcast doesn't have to be a success, your first idea doesn't have
to be a success. And that's something you learn in business and entrepreneurship is like, you constantly have to pivot, you constantly have to keep changing. And the more you figure yourself out and what you want, the closer and closer you'll get to something that fits and that strikes a nerve with people, and that is something that you really connect with and align with. So hopefully this episode wasn't too rambly. I know it went a little bit longer than normal, but hopefully it was helpful and
hopefully you could take something from this. As always, I appreciate you listening and taking your time to be here with me, and I will see you on the next episode. We've reached the end of the episode, and if you enjoyed this podcast or you got something from it, you might be interested in my weekly newsletter that I send out every Monday morning, full of podcasting, tips, tricks and news. So if you like this show, you might like this
newsletter. To sign up, just go to the show notes and click the link. Thanks for listening and happy podcasting.