A podcast seems like a simple enough thing to put together until you actually start doing it. We all know it’s essential to have a plan when you’re starting a podcast. But how do you get that plan? Well, first you need to ask yourself some questions.
On a recent episode of Should I Start a Podcast, we got to listen to Clarissa Rayward’s talk from the We Are Podcast conference. Clarissa was fairly new to podcasting at the time of the conference, but she still had so many incredible insights to offer us.
When starting a podcast, or even when you’re only considering starting a podcast and haven’t done any planning yet, it’s essential to ask yourself a couple of questions. Once you ask yourself these questions, the planning process becomes a lot less complicated.
Why do I want to do this podcast?
This question may seem a bit obvious, but seriously, why do you want to do a podcast? If you’re not sure of the answer, or you’re just going through the motions because you think you should want to do a podcast, you may need to dig a little deeper.
For Clarissa, she wanted other family lawyers to know they weren’t alone in their feelings of doubt or even depression. “I was working in an industry where the people around me were becoming unhappy. I was becoming unhappy. And I was questioning what I was doing.” Like all of us, no matter what industry we work in, the idea of being alone in our feelings is completely overwhelming.
Clarissa wanted to dispell her own feelings of being alone, but also let other lawyers know that they had an ally in her and her audience.
What do I want to achieve with this podcast?
Clarissa was reassured almost immediately after releasing her first podcast episode that she had made the right decision. The emails started pouring in from lawyers, thanking her for the candid conversation on the things they’d be longing to hear about for so long.
She knew she had achieved what she was after; giving a voice to lawyers who were experiencing the same feelings of self-doubt and unhappiness. And showing them ways to bring more happiness to their work and ultimately their lives.
What do you want to achieve with your podcast? It doesn’t have to be some noble cause, it could be something as simple as filling a need that doesn’t currently exist in the podcast world.
As humans, we often feel so alone until we reach out and realize there are so many others that feel and experience things similar to us. If your goal is to reach other people, for whatever reason, that’s enough. That’s a goal to hang on to.
Who is my ideal listener?
Once you’ve answered the first two questions, this one should be easy. Who is your ideal listener? For Clarissa, that was simple to figure out once she settled on her concept. Her ideal listener was a lawyer feeling burnt out in their profession.
A great way to figure out who your ideal listener would be is just to start talking to yourself. Yes, talk to yourself. Start playing with some topics you’ve wanted to cover on your show and make notes on the key points. Once you see your talking points and intended messages on paper, it might be easier to imagine who would benefit most from those words.
Questions are how we navigate the world around us, and it’s no different when starting a new business venture or developing a podcast concept. Ask yourself these questions and listen to the answers. The rest will fall into place.
For more of Clarissa’s amazing insights on starting a podcast, check out episode 180 of Should I Start a Podcast hosted by Ronsley Vaz.
Author: Ronsley Vaz
Ronsley is the founder & chief day dreamer at AMPLIFY. He is an author, speaker & serial entrepreneur.
He has a Masters’ degree in Software Engineering and an MBA in Psychology and Leadership. He is known as the creator of We Are Podcast – the first Podcasting Conference in the Southern Hemisphere, and the host of The Bond Appetit Podcast and Should I Start a Podcast. He has an audience of over 3 million in 133 countries.