Preparing for the New Year in Podcasting with Jamie Kennedy

Hey everyone, Ashley here with RSS.com. In today's episode, we're chatting with Jamie Kennedy of Brave Moon Podcasts. We're talking all about using templates to set yourself up for podcasting success in the new year. So let's get started. Jamie, welcome to the show. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. Well, can you do us a favor and tell us a little bit about what it is that you do? Yeah. So I am the founder of Brave Moon Podcasts. It is a podcast production company.

We basically help our clients with audio editing and show notes, copy, copywriting, marketing, monetization. And I absolutely love to make people's podcast dreams come true. That's awesome. So how did you get started in podcasting? So the story is a little funny. I come from a marketing background in the fitness, the health and fitness industry. And basically I was working for a company, it was a gym and they wanted to start a podcast.

So they decided to look within the internal staff to see if anyone had any secret podcast audio editing tablet. And they stumbled across me. So I said that absolutely, I'd love to help out. And flash forward, I started helping other podcasts through word of mouth and I started Brave Moon Podcasts. And I think the best part about it is I ended up getting to leave my full time career and starting to do this instead.

And the original podcast, the gym that I worked for is still my client to this day. So it just feels really good to be doing what I love. That's awesome. So now I'm curious, why did they want to start a podcast in the first place? Ah, yes, that is a great question. So the head of marketing has been hearing wonderful things about podcasting. And frankly, I guess this extends beyond just what they've been hearing, but that podcasting is a huge opportunity at the moment.

It's really unsaturated at the moment, whereas there are 51 million YouTube channels and there are over a billion Instagram accounts. There's only sitting at about two hundred and a half million podcasts at the moment. And if I heard the stat correctly, only 18% of those are regularly consistently active. So we're really talking about an unsaturated market at the moment for podcasts. And at the same time, we have close to 425 million podcast listeners globally.

So really unsaturated and lots of opportunity. I think another stat that really spoke to me was that 75% of podcast listeners are tuning in so that they can learn something new. So they're really primed for that educational content. So if you're a gym, for instance, or if you're a coach or a nutritionist or a speaker, your target audience is primed and ready and wanting to listen to you on podcasts.

So there's a couple of reasons why they are excited to get going and why every podcaster should get excited to get going and starting a podcast. Absolutely, and I'm so glad that you mentioned the statistic about the fact that there's only about two and a half billion podcasts right now and that only, what was it you said, 18% are active? Yes. Yeah, and when you compare that to, I come from the world of blogging.

And so in blogging, there's like 80 million WordPress websites right now and there's more growing every single day. And so when you talk about a saturated market, I see how people are like afraid, like, oh, everybody's got to podcast these days. But the reality is that when you niche down and you're speaking to a specific audience, there's still so much room for growth. So I'm absolutely thrilled that you said that. So you and I are doing this interview now here in December 2022.

This episode is going to be launching in January. And so we're starting to talk a lot about the new year and how to prepare for the new year of podcasting. So I'd like you to chat with me a little bit about how people can prepare themselves for the new year and kind of avoid getting podcast or burnout or pod fading because pod fading is huge right now.

So absolutely. Podcast or burnout is something that happens. And in fact, we were just talking about that stat that only 18% of current podcasts are active. And I think one of the reasons why this happens is because we aren't getting that instant gratification with a podcast. When we don't get that instant gratification, we wonder if it's working.

But when you accept that a podcast is going to take delayed gratification, meaning it's if you spend the time, if you spend the effort and the consistency to not only build it and continue to create episodes, but also promote it and feel really proud about what you're doing, that gratification is going to come in the future. And so that is the key to staying away from podcast or burnout. One of the keys, I would say. And then the ways that you can set yourself up for success.

So I'm a really organized person. I will be first to admit that slightly, slightly. Yeah, just over the top. But the things that I really need to do in order to get my podcast on track, the first thing I really like to do is I like to make sure that I'm chunking down my tasks.

So I'm not just saying I need to do this episode and then thinking of all of the things that I need to do in order for that to happen. Instead, what I'm going to do is I'm going to say today, I'm going to vet if I'm doing an interview style podcast, for example, I'm going to vet 10 potential guests today. I'm going to send them an email and I'm going to respond to them as they come through.

And then another example would be tomorrow, let's do, let's film or let's record our intro and outro for the next three episodes. So you're going to chunk those tasks down so that they just feel a little bit more manageable. And then the second thing I would definitely recommend would be, this one is kind of funny and I've heard this from, I think it's from James Clear.

I'm not quite sure who told me about this, but if you add your tasks into your calendar, that is going to be a key way to make it happen for you. So I start to recognize how long a task will take me. So it takes me an hour to record an intro and an outro for three episodes, for instance. So let's add that to Monday at 10 AM. So I know Monday at 10 AM, according to my calendar, I'm recording those intro and outros. That's just what I do. That's what I'm not going to get distracted.

I'm not going to let myself, you know, oh, choose to get a coffee instead. Okay, maybe sometimes. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to create that dedicated time and I treat it like it's a meeting with myself. But I had to show up for myself, accountability for my calendar. And then the third thing that I love to suggest and it's something that I do regularly, I'm a visual, I'm a very visual person. And so this is definitely for the podcast listener out there who is very visual like me.

I like to see every step of the way of my episode. So I have this thing, I use Trello and Trello is basically a project management tool if you haven't heard of it.

And you can take an episode, one episode and you can in this template that I use, I move it along, I check off the boxes when I'm done with a task and it feels so gratifying. When you finally move an episode into the completion folder. So yeah, that is something that I do consistently every week. It's something that I live by. And in fact, I do offer it for free on my website. So I know we're going to put that in the show notes for you. So please go ahead and go use that.

Trello is a free subscription as well. So that's something you can do straight away and yeah, take advantage of that strategy that I use.

That's wonderful. And we've actually spoken about Trello on the blog before we have an entire tutorial, which we will also leave in the show notes about how to use Trello to manage your podcast workflow. And I'm excited that you're talking about this template that you have because I actually use Trello myself for managing this podcast. And it's so much easier than trying to remember everything. And I don't really do well as well with track lists.

So I like the idea of something being almost a moving document that you can play with and keep track of everything. So how would you say you created your template? Did you just figure out by trial and error or you sat down and just thought about it? How did you do it? I'm kind of curious. Oh, that's such a good question. So as I mentioned, I'm a very visual person. So oftentimes when I'm at the beginning of any new project, I'll sit down with a piece of paper and a pen.

Now I will have to say that my husband just started working for Miro. It's a digital whiteboard. So I have to say that I've actually moved completely digital. So now I'm using this digital whiteboard instead of a piece of paper and a pen. But it gets the same thing across, which is that I'm ideating visually how I want it to look. So I really sat down and I focused and I thought, what is the process that I experience when I am editing, producing this podcast?

What are the steps that I need to take? And how can I know that everything is being taken care of?

Trello was the answer to that. It has so many tools that you can use, as you very well know, with the due date, the start date and the due date. And you can do a checklist so you can make sure that you're checking every box along the way. And then you can visually move it across, just as you were saying, to show what stage it's at. And so yeah, so that it came together. It took, I would say, a few weeks to really perfect it and to make sure it was working for me.

But yeah, it ended up coming together. Now I can't live without it. I can't produce without it. That's funny. And when you mentioned Mirror, I was kind of giggling because I use that as well in my online business. Now the other thing that's cool about Trello is how many integrations they have. We were talking about the due date.

Like if you set yourself arbitrary due dates or even deadlines that you need for sponsors and things like that, you can actually connect Trello to your Google Calendar or your Microsoft Outlook Calendar. So I think it's awesome. And there's so many awesome templates you can use. And I'm excited that you created one that people can access for free. Absolutely. I hope it helps. I hope so too. I really do.

So while we're talking about, you know, getting started for the new year and getting set up for success, what would your advice be to the beginning podcaster who's trying to get ready to launch this thing? I would say your very first step is going to be setting your podcast niche, choosing your podcast niche. I think a lot of new podcasters, okay, I should say that in general, people are beautiful, multifaceted, multifaceted, multi-passionate people as we all should be.

However, when we're going into the podcast world, when we're going into creating content for people, people are seeking certain information from a podcast. They still have certain hobbies and passions and excitements that they want to hear about in a podcast. So a perfect example would be, let's say there's a 40-year-old woman who is getting into strength training.

She's going to want to find a podcast community that's speaking to her directly, that's talking about her pains, her woes, her challenges, her excitements, her bins, her successes, and all of those things that everybody in that community can relate to. So I know it seems, you know, the first instinct is to say, oh, I just want to create a podcast about everything that I love. And that's beautiful. That's a beautiful thing.

I love multi-passionates, but I think in the case of creating your first podcast, it will help you immensely if you choose a niche, if you choose a target listener that you feel really strongly about that you really want to serve and make it about them. I love that you said that because one of the clients I was working with earlier this year, they have this thing that they do called Wiffem. And I was like, what in the world is Wiffem? But basically it's the what's in it for me.

When a person is listening to a podcast or reading a blog post or whatever it is that they're consuming, they're wanting to know what's in it for me. So I'm thrilled that you basically put it the way that you did, that you're niching down because the person who's coming to your podcast, they're coming for a specific reason. And I love that you said your first podcast should be like that specific niche because you can always start another one.

All right, so is there anything else that you can think of that people need to be thinking about for setting themselves up for success in the new year? I mean, we've talked about templates, we've talked about having a plan. What else would you share? I would say staying consistent is going to be your best friend when it comes to creating a podcast. Most podcast listeners are incredibly loyal.

They love to stick with podcasts that they know and they listen to your podcast weekly or fortnightly or however you decide to set up your podcast.

They become so loyal that in a way you should be loyal back to them. You should be creating a community that they can trust and they can rely on and they are heading on their 7am commute and they want to hear your voice before they go to work. And if it's not there, that can actually be really sad for them. And so staying consistent and being loyal to your podcast listeners I think is a really key thing to take away and to bring more success for you in the new year.

Solid advice and I absolutely love it. So where can people find that template again? Ah, yes, so they can find it on my website. It's www.bravemoonpodcast.com and it's in the free tools section. And I should mention there is actually also a free worksheet to discover your podcast niche. So if you are thinking about starting a podcast and you are curious how you can make that niche happen for you, this worksheet might help or you can do the with him. What's the name? I love it.

I absolutely love it. Well, where else can people find you online? We have your website now, but where else can people find you? Yes, yes. So we have an Instagram. I have an Instagram. It's Brave Moon Podcast. So you can check us out there. We also have a free Facebook community group. This is a networking community group for health and fitness professionals. So I really would love if you could join. We'd love to have you.

Basically it's a great opportunity to be a guest or have find guests for your podcast that are all in that same health and fitness world. Okay. So you've shared a lot of awesome information. We have all of your links. We have all the good stuff, but I got to ask you one question before I can let you go. And it's the question I ask everyone. What's one question I didn't ask you really wish I had?

That is so fun. I actually have two because I couldn't narrow it down. One that's podcasting related and one that is Australia related. So which one would you like first? Oh man, the Australia one. So yes, Brave Moon Podcast is based in California, but I am actually remotely living in Sydney, Australia. So the question that I would ask myself would be, what is your favorite animal that you've met since being in Australia?

And then what's your favorite animal that you've met since moving to Australia? Oh perfect. I'm glad that you asked me instead of me answering my question. So of course you would think of the normal kangaroo and the koala, both amazing animals to meet. But I would say that the one that I was most excited when I actually met one was a wombat. Have you heard of a wombat? I have. I actually have. I follow a group of people that are, they call themselves the wombat cousins and the wombat sisters.

So that's kind of funny.

Oh that's so good. Do you know, I have to admit I never heard of a wombat before I moved to Australia. I'm a little embarrassed to say that, but once we moved here and we met one in Tasmania and it was unbelievable. It was the coolest experience. And as you know, they're like cute, massive, fluffy, flip furry teddy bears. They're very cute. Yeah, we might have to leave a picture of it in the show notes too. Because they're just adorable. Great idea. I love that. Even if it's a link to one.

So all right, we got the Australia question. You got to give us the podcasting one now. Oh yes. Okay. So the other question that I was thinking about is why would you outsource your podcast tasks? Oh, that's fantastic. I'm so glad you brought that one up. I felt like it fit our conversation really well because it feels, it's the thing when you're dealing with potential podcast or burnout or you're looking for success in the new year.

I think what's great about outsourcing your podcast tasks, I don't know why I can't say podcast at the moment. Podcast tasks. I think what's great about it is that first of all, when your time is the most valuable asset that you have in this world, it is the number one thing that you cannot get back is your time. And so what price do you put on that?

And when you can outsource those tasks that are mundane so that you can focus on things that you're most passionate about that feed your soul, that's what you should be doing. And if you outsource things like your audio editing, your show notes, your copywriting, your marketing, even your monetization, these are things that can help you succeed because you're working with experts who know that field very well.

And then on top of that, if you worked with someone like Brave Moon Podcasts, for instance, you would be creating a level of accountability there because I actually am not just, I don't just become your podcast project manager. I actually become your biggest cheerleader. I make sure that you're staying with it and that you're excited about it and that you keep on going with your podcast. So I think that that is, I think that's what everyone should outsource.

Okay, so the question's totally going to come up and so I'm going to go ahead and ask what a listener is going to ask. It's so expensive though. How can you justify, I mean, I know you're saying, and I agree with you, I agree completely that your time is your most valuable asset. How do you speak to the person who's listening to this going, but I'm just a hobby podcaster, I can't afford to outsource.

They're actually podcast outsourcing is actually very reasonable when you really think about it, when you drill it down. It's actually more reasonable than you're expecting in your mind about what you're thinking. I have multiple podcasters that have reached out to me that are, it's just a hobby and they have wanted to do this so that they can focus on their passion and keep it going. And what happens when you keep it going is then you're able to start monetizing your podcast.

And so that investment that you made at the beginning is actually going to be very small compared to potentially how much you'll be making in the future when you continue your podcast and keep it going. Yeah. Hey, that works for me. I love the answer. I'm starting to just kind of dip my toes in the water with all that kind of stuff. So I really liked that you said everything that you said. Well, I know we're wrapping up here.

So is there anything else that you haven't shared that you kind of want to make sure our listeners hear before we call it a day? No, I just thank you so much for having me on the podcast. It's been an absolute pleasure. I really appreciate it. I think everything you've shared is actionable and helpful and will definitely leave all of the juicy goodness in our show notes. And I just want to thank you one more time for being here today. Thank you so much, Ashley.

Well my fellow podcasters, we hope you enjoyed the insights, tips and ideas shared in this episode. To learn more about launching and growing your own show, head over to rss.com backslash blog. And if you're ready to launch a podcast of your own, you can get started for free with your first episode on us. Thanks for tuning in.