Streamlined Podcaster: Save Time Podcasting with Systems and Automation

One of my favorite scenes from Scrubs happens in Season 3, Episode 1. Sarah Chalke’s character, Dr. Elliot Reid, is sitting on her bed, reflecting on the fact that she gets walked all over at work — and she decides to do something about it . With Tom Petty’s American Girl playing, she wrecks her room. She changes her look. She goes back to the hospital much more confident and as a result, she’s mu...

A family walks into a talent agency, and says, “Have we got the act for you…” If you’re familiar with this opening to a joke, you may have had a visceral reaction to it — either you think it’s hysterically funny, shamefully disgusting, or both. It’s the opening to the joke, The Aristocrats , and if you have a weak stomach, I don’t suggest you look it up. See, the point of this joke isn’t actually...

Spotify has made a couple of big announcements this month. First, their second-biggest show, Call Her Daddy , ended exclusively rights. While the show will still be a Spotify show, it will be widely distributed (though video will still be exclusive to Spotify). Then, the following weekend, the same thing is happened with The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE). It will soon be available on other platforms...

As I write this, I feel stuck between two idioms. The first is, “Shoot for the moon, and you’ll land among the stars.” The second is, “he’s always swinging for the fences.” The former has a positive connotation. If you aim high, even if you fall short, you’ll still do something great. The latter can be negative. You’re constantly trying to hit a home run (and striking out) when a single will do. L...

Back when I started my podcast, if I wanted clear, uncompressed audio that didn’t have that random robot voice you’d get from an unstable connection, I’d need to do a few things: Use Skype + eCamm Recorder (RIP) to record my audio cleanly. Send my guest clear instructions on how to record their audio with either Quicktime on the Mac, or Voice Recorder on Windows. Walk through the process with my g...

At the beginning of 2023, it seemed that the maxim “repurpose your content” reached a fever pitch. More agencies are offering repurpose services, and we see lots more people posting the same content across multiple platforms. More people (myself included) are keeping video on for their podcasts to create clips from podcasts. With AI tools, that became easy. Feed one format into an AI and it spits...

On my wedding day, I was standing inside the church, in front of the altar, welcoming the 200+ guests we had invited as they came in and found their seats. My friend Alex came up to me at some point at said, “Joey — you look so calm and comfortable. On my wedding day, I was a nervous mess.” It’s true. I was feeling great on my wedding day; I didn’t feel those nerves because I was used to being in...

Upgrade is one of my favorite podcasts to listen to for Apple and tech industry news. I think they have some of the most measured takes and don’t fall victim to hyperbole. One interesting thing about Upgrade and many (if not all) of the shows on that podcast network, Relay.fm , is that the hosts don’t see each other. They keep the video off, even for them. Read the full story here: https://podcast...

One thing that’s as sure as the sunrise during the Christmas season is that kids and adults alike will look at the gifts under their tree and wonder what’s inside. They’ll stare at the box, hoping to find the answer without opening it. Before the gifts are open, they can be anything. It’s left up to our imagination. Podcast stats can feel a lot like that sometimes. That’s why today’s helpful podca...

There’s a reason that movies have teaser trailers. That TV shows have short “hits.” “Tonight, on a very special Blossom,” came from somewhere. They are designed to create buzz, and entice viewers to go and watch the entire movie or episode when it comes out. And while they are a tried and true method for TV and movies, do they…or something analogous…work for podcasts? Read the Entire Article Here...

Anyone can make a podcast, right? Just pull up a microphone, hit record, then publish it out to the world. While it can be that easy, it’s not always that straightforward, particularly if you’re looking to use your podcast as a source of revenue. If you’re not considering who you want to reach and what would actually help them, you’re just a person on a mic shouting into the void. With just a litt...

A recent favorite podcast of mine is American History Tellers from Wondery. After finding History Daily back in April, I followed host Lindsay Graham’s work more closely — I was already a fan of him from American Elections: Wicked Game and 1865. One of the great things History Daily does is a “Saturday Matinee” episode, where they publish a full episode of another podcast. And in October of this y...

Batman’s utility belt. The Doctor’s Screwdriver from Doctor Who . Tommy Pickles’ toy Screwdriver 1 . These things could get our heroes out of whatever pinch they found themselves in. They were a tool for any occasion. And that’s what Descript is for Podcasters. Read the full article here Sign up for Podcast Advent -- About Streamlined Podcaster: This is the show for solo podcasters who love their...

I am one of the unholy people who commit the seasonal crime of listening to Christmas music too early. I get the itch around early November, but exercise restraint until a week before Thanksgiving. Every year, I set aside some time to review and update both of my lists: the family-friendly one, and my personal list — a combination of classics and slightly more vulgar songs from my youth . This yea...

I actually think there are two misconceptions here. The first is we have shorter attention spans. TikTok increased its video length to 10 minutes, and the sweet spot for YouTube appears to be 12-20 minutes. People’s attention spans are short when they don’t care about the content. But when it’s good content, we can capture their attention. And Podcasters can absolutely leverage short-form content,...

I had a rough weekend a while back, my friends. One Thursday I started to feel sick with the plague my children brought home from school. And I thought I had successfully avoided it. Still, I was feeling well enough to write scripts for one of my solo episodes before resting up. I figured I'd record it on Saturday...after I did rest. And I did. But it was a disaster. I was rambling, coughing, gett...

One of my least favorite things in the whole world is traffic. Mostly because traffic without a big causal event (like an accident, or road work) has always been super confusion to me. It seems like there no traffic, then traffic for NO reason, then all of a sudden it's gone. But the truth is, traffic is usually not due to one big event. It's a bunch of little things that add up to one big bottlen...

I'm a huge Friends fan. Like...watch the whole series multiple times per year. Did you know they did something in Season 1 to grow their viewership 25%? Season 1, Episode 16 was called, “The One with Two Parts, Part 1,” it was the first of a crossover event with two other NBC shows. Before landing the role of Phoebe on Friends, Lisa Kudrow was a waitress named Ursula on NBC’s hit show Mad About Yo...

I want you to think about the times you make introductions to people. Maybe you’re introducing a coworker to your spouse, or a friend from one area of your life to a friend in another area of your life. You likely say something like, “Bob, this is Jean. Jean, Bob. Bob is one of the best copywriters I know! And Jean is fantastic at graphic design.” What you don’t do is say, “Bob, Jean. Jean. Bob. N...

Let’s talk about memberships….specifically the platforms. In the last few years, setting up a membership has gone from “hire a developer to build a custom site” to “I barely need a dedicated website anymore.” So let’s look at a few options that are good for podcast memberships. Memberful. They are really trying to corner the market on podcast memberships, and they’re doing a good job. Rich feature...

Membership…that is, charging a listener monthly for bonus content…is a great way to make money with your podcast. But you need to be cautious. It’s tempting to offer a TON of bonuses to make the membership seem more valuable. But what if no one…or even worse…ONE person…signed up. If one person signs up, you’re on the hook for all of those extras. Instead, take this approach: First, test the waters...

“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” Aaron Eckhart’s version of Harvey Dent said that in Christopher Nolan’s penultimate Batman film, The Dark Knight . Since its release in 2008, that quote has been referenced and misappropriated to fit situations because, let’s be honest, it’s a cool quote. Well, you can add another reference to the pile because it’...

I’ve decided – with a push from my new video editor, Zach – to create short-form videos for episodes. This required me to do a couple of things. The first is actually recording video. I’ve toyed with this in the past, and with other podcasts, but I’ve never done it consistently for How I Built It. Part of it was that I never thought straight interviews were compelling videos. But the other part wa...

Earlier this year, I had 2 conversations that really shaped how I view making content moving forward The first was Tim Stoddart of Copyblogger. He’s a prolific writer, a fantastic business owner, and super down-to-earth. He told me he doesn’t like the term “build in public.” He prefers to say, “Share your journey.” I love this because you’re not giving people a blueprint to follow (despite what th...

Here are 5 things you can do to grow your podcast: 1. Get a Decent Mic. You don’t need to spend $400, but you should use a decent USB mic. I recommend the ATR-2100x 2. Don’t just record and release. Too many people just record a Zoom call and release it as a podcast. Listeners expect more than that these days. 3. Do a little research. Don’t go in cold. If you’re interviewing someone, do some backg...