What is Podfade & Why Does It Happen

it important? Okay, we're going to cover a lot today, it's probably going to bring up some triggers and emotional baggage that if you've experienced this, maybe a little shame, if you're like, Oh, this is me, I have done this, I have experienced this. And it's okay. Just think of this as you're walking into our beautiful little podcast therapy bubble. That's what this is gonna be today. Because we really need to talk about

this. This is something that I often talk about with really close friends of mine, I don't have a lot of like stranger podcasters that come to me that tell me about this. Because I think that there's a lot of guilt and shame around it. Which is why we need to talk about it because I learned from Bernie brown that you don't keep things like that inside, we need to talk about it. Okay, like I said, this is basically we're in a therapy session now. So just buckle up, because we're just

gonna get right to it. Welcome to the profit Podcast, where we teach entrepreneurs how to start launch and market their podcast. I'm your host, Krystal, Proffitt, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today. Because if you've been trying to figure out the world of podcasting, think of this show as the time saving shortcut you've been looking for. So let's get right to it, shall we?

Like, I feel like I've like put on this? I don't know, I think that I just have that face or that personality that people are like, I think I could talk to Krystal and I think that she would tell me straight up what's really going on or what I should do. But I feel also like this should be a disclaimer, like, listen to everything and take it with a grain of salt, because obviously, I'm not a therapist in any kind of way. But I have dealt with a lot of really hard conversations about

podcasting. And what happens if you just stop and how do you come back from it? And what is like, what does it look like whenever you just kind of walk away for a few months, but then you decide I want to come back. But do I need to rebrand do I need to do all like, I have heard so many questions from really good friends of mine. That is really funny. Okay, so I get this a lot. People are afraid to tell me that they stopped podcasting. They want to talk about all their

other things, right? Like, let's talk about our email list. And let me Let's see what's going on with your lunch and what's going on with this. But I will physically see I've talked to several of my friends like on a conference call, I will see their shoulders like hunched down. And like whenever I ask them, well, how's your podcast going? Like their whole body language changes, and they're like, I don't really want to talk about it. And I'm like, what, what is what does that

mean? Like, what, what's going on? And they're like, well, because you're so into podcasting, and you're so consistent with your show, and I kind of stopped doing it a few months ago, and I haven't looked back and I haven't really had like created a plan on how I'm gonna return and it makes me really nervous. And I feel like you're gonna yell at me and you're gonna get on to me like so apparently, I put off the vibe of like, oh, come and talk to me. Like, you can tell me anything.

But also, I'm gonna whip you into shape and be your coach and give you the tough love that you need. I don't know. I mean, this is this is really who I am in real life. So that makes sense. But I also feel like I don't I don't want to be like, the the parent that's scolding the child for not picking up your room, right? Like I don't I don't want us to have that kind of relationship. So I want to get into the tough love coach hat, the

therapist, I can do that. Okay, I can play these roles in your life if you need me to be your podcast therapist.

Just Welcome to the podcast world. This actually happens more than people talk about, which is why we're talking about it today, because I don't want you to Podfade and then say, I don't know how to come back from this. What am I actually supposed to do? So podfading is simply not publishing your podcast as consistently as you intended. Like, whatever your expectations were, whenever you started your show, maybe you're like, Okay, I was

gonna publish every Tuesday. But then I, you know, I got caught up at like, in my day job or with my family or something happened. And you're just like, I haven't published a new episode in six weeks, and people have been asking me about it. And I don't really know what to do, like, do I come back to it? Do I do something different? This is what I mean by Podfade. And sometimes it just happens as like a reckless abandonment. I know people all the time that they don't even get past,

you know, six episodes, and they're done. They realize podcasting was not for me, I made a huge mistake. It's almost like having commitment issues. Like they can't commit to their podcast, because they are trying to grow their email list. They're trying to create an online business, they want to create a course they want to do a YouTube channel, like they're assuming so many things, and the podcast just falls to the wayside. I see this happening all the time. And I'm here to tell you,

it's okay. Like you can come back from it. But I also want to let you know that, you know, I just came back from podcast movement recently. And the same thing was said in almost every single session I attended. And if there was a successful podcaster on stage, the through line of all of it was consistency, consistency, consistency, consistency, and even in my own business, and in my own content creation journey, I have found that my consistency is the thing that I'm known for.

And the thing that has paid off really well for me. So I get it when people come to me, they're like, I don't want to tell you about my non consistency issues like my inconsistency, not non consistency, inconsistency. That is the correct word. One day, I will figure out the English language and grammar, but it is not today. Okay. It is not on this episode. That's not gonna happen. But I think that people just get nervous

coming to me and tell me they have this issue. And this is why it's almost like I said, going to a therapist, because then they think, well, there's nothing I can do about it. I have this problem. I quit posting equipped publishing on my podcast. And now I just don't know what to do. So I wanted to before we dive into how to kind of evaluate the problem and really see what's going on. I wanted to give you some other examples of why some

podcast Podfade. Because if you're just getting started, and you're like, I don't want this to happen to me, like what How did this happen? Like what do you mean, I'm excited about podcasting, it's gonna be the thing that, you know, drives me at a bit every single day for the rest of my life. I mean, that's kind of how I am. So this is my job to to be the cheerleader, the one that's always enthusiastic and excited to talk about podcasting.

I feel like that is my job. But life also happens while you're podcasting, right, your kid gets sick, you have to suddenly attend to a family emergency, you have to go out of town, you start feeling overwhelmed. And then you say, Well, I don't have time for this, or I don't even know what to do next. I put this episode out, it did terribly than my last five episodes just really didn't perform how I thought so I don't even know

what to do next. And then some people tell me Well, I've been doing this for a while by myself. But now I need a co host and other people tell me, my co host isn't as invested in this as I am. So I don't know if I should pivot. I don't know if I should quit. I can't find any guests. Like all the guests that I've tried to book they bail on me they canceled last minute or they just don't show up at all. Or maybe you've lost all motivation. These are all the reasons why I hear people tell

me they stopped publishing their podcast. And like I said, that is okay, like we can come back from this. This is not the end of the world. If any of these things have happened. It just means you're human. Right and your life happened like your life is constantly have a doesn't just stop and revolve around your podcast, then I don't want it to I don't want your whole life to revolve around. When am I going to publish my podcast? When do I need to record the next one Did I publish that video

clip on Instagram? Did I post it in our Facebook group, like, I don't want it to constantly be something that you're overwhelmed with, I want it to be the other way around. I want you to plan your podcast around your life. So one of the reasons why I often see people, podfading is time, that is really one of the biggest ones is I just don't have time for it. Yes, there may be some other like, sub sub ideas, sub reasons, if you want to call them that I'm thinking of the word

sub topics. But that's not the right thing. You know what I'm trying to say? Right, like sub reasons why they don't have time. You know, maybe it's poor management on their part, maybe it's they don't have a good workflow, or maybe they just set too high of expectations. This is often honestly, from a coaching perspective, I see all I know, you're an ambitious group of podcasters.

You're like, I want to have shownotes, like Amy Porterfield, and I want to have everything look like Pat Flynn's podcast, and I want to have this and I want to have that, like y'all Tell me these things? And I say, do you have a full team of people behind you? Do you? Do you have someone that runs your entire marketing department? Do you have someone else that's worried about all the 17 other things that you have to do in your business?

Or in your personal life? No. Okay, well, then we need to lower the bar a little bit, okay, we need to reset our expectations. Because when you say you don't have time, the reality is, I think that you've set the bar way too high. And I'm going to tell you this just as plainly as possible. Because if we were sitting here, or we're having a cup of coffee together, that's exactly what I would tell

you. And I know, some of you are going to roll your eyes and say, Krystal, you really shouldn't say that, but I'm just gonna be really honest, I try to set the bar pretty low. In many areas of my life, I do, I don't try to be like, Oh, I'm going to, I'm gonna make a million dollars the first time I go out and start my business, and I'm going to run a marathon. And you know, the first six months that I start training and all like I, I said it pretty low. I'm pretty low maintenance

person anyway. And I don't like the idea of having this expectation on me. And the reason why is because I'm a recovering perfectionist. If you've heard any of the interviews that we do on the show, I always asked three questions. And one of them is, Do you consider yourself a perfectionist? And most of the time, people will say I used to, or I'm a recovering perfectionist, we have a lot of them on this show. Okay, we have a lot of them. So that is you, you are in good company, you are

absolutely in good company. But I also want you to know that beating yourself up and saying, Oh my gosh, your show isn't as good as whoever else, like fill in the blank. That's not good. We're not going to do that. We're not going to do that anymore. Okay, so we're going to talk about how you can make a comeback if you've hit this you know, obstacle of Podfade, because we're not going

to say that this is the death of your show. We're not going to go you know, put some rip sign sticker across your artwork and say, Sorry, we tried, like, we just got to put this one to bed, we got to put it lay it to rest.

don't understand. It's been six months. It's been eight weeks, and I haven't published anything. I haven't done anything, haven't there. They've probably have put out amber alerts. And they're wondering where I am. They probably you know, put those posters up around their neighborhood saying Where did Krystal go? I don't know where she is. I can't find her. No, they didn't know they didn't, because most people are more concerned about what's going on in their own world, their own

lives. And if you just happen to stop podcasting, and you're not showing up consistently, they probably forgot about you. Oh, here comes the tough love. Oh, that's when it hurts, right? We don't want to hear that. We don't want to hear that people forgot about our show. But that is the reality. If you've been gone for six months, there's a good chance people forgot about you. But it's okay because you can just start publishing

again and again. Hey, I'm back. Like, we took a little hiatus, but I'm ready to jump back in there. And so whenever I tell people that I do get a lot of pushback, and they say, it can't just be that easy. Yes, it can be. I think we make it a lot more complicated. And I'm going to talk about

some of the other ways that you can come back. But the first is to just start publishing again, just slip right back into the groove, right back where you were, if that's the direction you want to go, now I'm gonna put some resources in the show notes. Because if you want to rebrand if you're like, Krystal, I don't think this is right for me. I think I want to rebrand maybe I want to try a co

host. I have a few podcast episodes, that would be great for you to check out and listen to if you're like in that mindset of like, maybe I need to change things up before I just start publishing again. That's cool. That's cool. I have stuff on pivoting your content, changing directions, all of that it's all going to be in the shownotes KrystalProffitt.com/episode281. But you can absolutely just start publishing again. Now that's the first way. The second is, you can make an

announcement episode. Now, if you've been, you know, you've been on a hiatus for six weeks or six months, you can absolutely come out with a short episode that says, hey, you know, you could explain why you were gone. Or you could just say, Hey, did you miss us, I know we were gone for a little bit. While we're coming back, we've been working on some incredible content and yoga, you're gonna see our next episode dropping on, and you can give them a date. And then it's done.

People who are already subscribed to your show will get a notification or brand new listeners that are maybe stumble upon your show will get that information as well. But don't make it such a big deal. I think that we make it a lot bigger in our heads because it's about our show. But in reality, your listeners might have forgotten about you. It sounds really like hard to say every time I say that. I'm like, Oh, it's it is it's hard to

say because it's difficult to hear. Like I think about like, oh, people forgot about me, like they just make me so sad. It kind of breaks your heart a little bit, right? But it's the truth. So if you do want to make an announcement, say, hey, these are the changes coming or we decided that Tuesday's didn't work for us. So we're going to publish on Mondays, whatever, whatever kind of announcement you want to make, you can absolutely do that. But don't feel like you have to, you can

just start publishing. And then the third option is you could just start a new season, you can write all of your previous content off, like as season one, and then come back and you're like, Alright, we're back for season two. It's kind of it's not a bait and switch. But it is a little bit more of a Hey, like we stopped, like, we know, we were gone. We're acknowledging that we've been gone for a while. But we're actually going a different direction. And we decided like this is

season two, we are back. These are a few options for you. And like I said in the beginning, take all this with a grain of salt, like do this whatever way feels most authentic, most true to you. Like you're going to be able to put your head on your pillow at the end of the night and be like, you know what, I felt really good about doing it that way. Only you can make that decision for sure. But I don't want you walking around saying I stopped podcasting like six months ago,

and I don't really know how to get back into it. I think of it like, you know those people we all know, we've all probably been those people to January 1 comes around and you're like, I'm gonna get into the best shape of my life. I bought all the kale. The people at the store were like, man, why do you have so many fruits and vegetables and I'm like, I'm gonna eat a smoothie every day for the rest of my life, because I'm gonna look so hot in a bikini this year. I've actually never said

that out loud. And I don't really that's not a life goal of mine. But it is on January 1. Most of the time. I'm like, this is the year I'm going to have the hot girl body and it's going to happen. And then what happens we all know, we go to the gym, we're motivated. We're like, yes, this is gonna be my year I'm gonna make it happen. And then by like February 8, we're like, you know, kill really is hard to chew. I'm done eating it if I have to drink one more liquid meal, right like a

whole meal that's just liquid. I'm gonna vomit This is not for me. And you kind of slip out of it a little bit and you're like, you know what, maybe maybe I don't need to run three miles every time maybe I could just walk maybe you know I got off the couch for like, you know a few hours the other day and that I mean that was good. I got up in a walk to the fridge and then to the pantry and I want you to go check the mail like this is good enough. Right, I told you about my low

expectations, right? But I'm just saying, we all slip in and out of things, you know, our habits change, our lives change. And sometimes we just have to do something different. And I just want to let you know, it's okay. As much as I want you to be consistent and you publish on a regular basis.

Like, don't be so hard on yourself. So if you have Podfaded, if you've experienced this, my biggest recommendation for you is to before you start publishing again, no matter which way you decide to come back, ask yourself, Am I still having fun doing this podcast? And if you're not, ask yourself why? Why? Is that the topic? Is it the audience? Is it your co host? Is it the guests

that you're having on? Why? Why did the Podfade happen in the first place, and if it truly is time, I hope you stick around and you get more information from this podcast from our YouTube channel. And you learn how to use your time more effectively and more efficiently. Because that's what I'm here for. This is literally my job, literally my job to be your podcast coach to be your podcast therapist, and to give you some of this tough love whenever you need it, because I

know you need it. Because you wouldn't be asking me these questions in the DMS and sending me emails telling me about your struggles. If you didn't need it, if one of you is asking the question, then 10 or 20 of you probably have the exact same struggle that you're going through. And you're not supposed to do it alone. Okay, you're not supposed to be podfading, like slipping into a mist. Like what I'm trying to think of the abyss but that's not the right thing like slipping into

oblivion. That was the word. See, going back to the big words in the grammar like I shouldn't do it. I need to set the bar lower. We need to Don't try to talk like you're a lot fancier than you are Krystal. Let's just keep everything really simple around here. Because you're going to embarrass yourself. Okay. Yeah, this is how it happens. Okay, so all the things we talked about all the resources, KrystalProffitt.com/episode281.

it. So go to the show notes. KrystalProffitt.com/episode281, for all the details and to sign up, and I hope that you will join us there even if you already have a podcast and you're like, what's this challenge all about? We would love to have you it's going to be so fun again. It's going to be August 23 through August 27 2021. And it's just we're gonna have live q&a.

We're gonna have so many we're gonna have giveaways give away because I feel like one of those Oprah moments like, Oh, you get a car, you I'm not giving away cars. Like disclaimer, we're not giving away cars. But I do have some really fun stuff that came home with me from podcast movement that I can't wait to give away to our challenge people. So make sure you come, all the information is going to be in the show notes.

and everything that we talked about today. And if this is your first time tuning in, make sure you hit that follow button wherever you're listening to this podcast and we would love to hear from you. How are we doing? Can you rate and review this show because that is what helps us get this podcast in front of more people. And I would love to hear what you think about the show. But that's all I have for you today. So as always remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.