Why Bulk-Recording Your Podcast Saves Time and Money

0:01
As a business owner, there are two things I’m always trying to save… time and money. Time because it’s precious. You can’t get any more of it. And money because that’s what makes this big, beautiful world go round. In podcasting, one way to save time and money is by bulk recording your podcast, recording multiple episodes at once. Sounds good, right? But how do you make it work? Take it away radio man! Podcast Your Business!

0:37
Welcome back, everyone. Thanks so much for checking out today’s episode. Welcome to Podcast Your Business. I’m Sunny Gault. I’m a podcast coach and mentor. I’ve been podcasting for a very long time, I think more than 16 years, which makes me sound really, really old. I’m just experienced. I’m like a fine wine, right. I’m also the founder and CEO of Independent Podcast Network. And I am here to help you create amazing podcasts for your business. And we do this by mastering the five P’s of podcasting. Yes, it’s very explosive information, guys. So what are the Five P’s of podcasting? I have a podcast course in which I go through the Five P’s of podcasting and everything you guys need to know in that. So let’s quickly run through this. Prep, that’s the first P. Should you even start a podcast? Just because someone says you should start a podcast does not mean you should actually start a podcast? What do you really need to think about? Plan. That’s the second P. What is the look and feel for your podcast? Number three is produce. How are you going to create amazing content that are going to keep people coming back for more promote? How you’re going to tell everyone about it? How is the whole world gonna find out about your podcast? And number five, the fifth P… Profit. How are you going to make money with this? How is this going to come back and help your business? So radio man, what are we talking about today? Produce. That’s right, today, we’re talking about how to produce your podcast, but more specifically, how to record it. And I’m not talking about what kind of equipment you’re going to use. I know we’ve talked about that a little bit in previous episodes. But this is the style in which you are recording your episodes, it’s more about the process of recording, right, which is a very important part of your podcast, you have to have a process for everything. And so in today’s episode, we’re going to talk about bulk recording your show. It’s also sometimes called batch recordings. So either or works fine. The whole idea is that you’re recording more than one episode at a time. Technically, you could record two and it would be considered bulk recording, but I like to aim a little higher than that, I have found that it’s a little bit more effective. If you do four, or maybe even more than that. We’ll get into that just a little bit. And now right now, your guys’s heads are spinning, you’re like, I’m just trying to get out my first episode. This may be something that you guys work toward. I’m not saying you got to do this right when you’re launching your show, but it is definitely something to kind of keep in the back of your mind because it can definitely save you time and money. So in today’s episode, you are going to learn the best practices for scheduling your podcast episodes, we’re going to talk about the pros and cons of recording multiple episodes at once. We’re going to discuss how bulk recording can save you time and money. And then at the very end, guys, I’ll have information for a free download. It is an episode checklist that will go through everything you need to know from start to finish and producing an episode. So you can have a great workflow for your podcast. So that’s absolutely free information at the end of the show. We’ll get started right after this quick break. Okay, bulk recording or batch recording your episodes. Why are we talking about this today?

4:07
Why is this important for people who run their own business? Because as a business owner, this is one of many things you do your podcast, right? You may do multiple things to market and promote your products, your services. The podcast is just one. So we need you to be as efficient at doing your podcast as possible. Because as you know, time is money. Now guys, I have to tell you, I have a ton of experience with bulk recording podcasts. You guys have heard me talk about my parenting shows. Right? I launched with three parenting shows. I added a couple more I ended up with five okay. And in order to produce five weekly podcasts where I was releasing episodes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I had to bulk record, I would have gone crazy, I would have had no hair today, guys, I would have pulled all of them out. If I didn’t have a process for recording and then taking a break from recording just so I could live my life and not just feel like all I was doing was my podcast, right. So in my situation, what I would do is I would schedule on a Saturday was the day that worked best for me. And I would spend my morning hours recording for one podcast. And that usually took about four hours to record four episodes, so I allowed an hour each. And then I would take a break a lunch break, a glorious lunch break where I like, there was a lovely like, I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was like a, it was a Mexican place I would go to I would have this like burrito and like I don’t know, nachos. And whenever I ate whatever I wanted to because I worked up a huge appetite. That was like the highlight of my day. And then I had to go back and record for more hours for more episodes for a separate podcast. And I did that a couple Saturdays a month. And that’s how I was able to bring these podcasts to life without going crazy. And I did not do this on my own. Okay, I was pouring my blood, sweat and tears into the shows. But there were a bunch of other people volunteering their time I had hosts that were volunteering their time. And that was the big thing for me, I pretty much handle most of the other things. But I made the hosts had to find the experts, the host had to find the other guests, the moms and dads to participate in the show. This was definitely a labor of love for everyone. But doing that kind of bulk recording really worked well for our schedules.

6:48
Now. Does bulk recording work for all podcasts? No, it does not okay. If your show is really heavy into the chit chat, right, we like to talk about, like everything you did over the weekend. And like what your husband’s doing now your wife’s doing now whatever your show is about, you’re gonna have a hard time. Because there’s only so many stories to go around. You almost need fresh content every week to bring that kind of chit chat to life, right. So you might struggle if you have a show like that. Also, just because of the nature or that you’re pre recording the shows, it obviously doesn’t work with a live format, da right. But there are some people that really like to record live, you know, and they put it up on social media and do that kind of stuff. So if you’re planning to do anything, live with your shows, pre recording probably won’t work that well, either. But this does work really well with interview based shows that are not live. And also solo shows like the one that I’m doing right now. I call them guru shows, right? So someone’s instructing you on how to do something. So it’s live your best life or in my case, it’s have the most amazing podcast of your dreams, those kinds of episodes where you have an expert that is giving you tips on how to do something, all of that can be planned in advance, and then you can record right, so that kind of format lends itself really well to bulk recording. Let’s talk about the alternative for a second, okay, because in order to make a decision, if this is a good fit for you, you have to think, okay, well if I don’t bulk record, then what am I going to do? So what I find most podcasters do is they have some sort of online scheduler and I’m a fan of online schedulers. By the way I use one all the time for meetings. For me, they don’t work so well, if it’s a matter of you saying, hey, so and so person, I want to have you on my show, here’s my online scheduler, pick a time that works best for you. Because that gives you zero control over when this happens when there’s a space in your day, you may be going from one meeting to the next. And then you’re just going to squeeze an interview in or something like that. Like it really doesn’t work that well. If you’re going to use online schedulers, you should still keep your recording days consistent. So let them pick which month or which week of the month they want to record with you but it’s still on Thursdays at 10am.

9:15
If you are going to try bulk recording or batch recording, let me give you some pros and cons from someone who has been there and done that I’ve actually tried pretty much every way you could schedule a podcast I’ve probably done it. I’ve had the most success with bulk recording. So here are some of the pros. Everything is already set up. You don’t have to tear stuff down and you know switch out microphones and you know headphones and all that kind of stuff. No, it’s set up, it’s ready to go. You know all you’re pretty much doing is hitting record and stop. And you’re also in the right frame of mind. How many times during the day do you just wish ah would people quit interrupting me I do Just want to get my work done, right? It’s the same thing when you’re recording a podcast, get your podcast work done, you’re in that frame of mind, you’re presenting the information, you’re excited, right? All those things are going for you. And then it’s just a matter of getting it done when I was doing those podcasts, you know, week in and week out, you know, doing them on Saturdays, oh, my gosh, the feeling of relief that I had once that was done, and I knew I didn’t have to record for that podcast for like another month. That is an amazing feeling. And then you can concentrate on other areas of your podcast or for your business. But you can kind of put the recording side aside for a little bit. That’s really helpful.

10:44
Okay, on the other side, what are some of the cons? Well, quite frankly, it can get boring. I mean, it happened to me. Even though I kept bulk recording my shows, oh, my goodness, by the end of the day, I was a walking zombie. And there are episodes that I didn’t even really remember recording. Now keep in mind, I wasn’t necessarily hosting all these episodes, I was hosting some and then I had other hosts come in, but I was just there all day long. Now, did the shows that I recorded at the end of the day, did that get as much attention? Was my energy level? Just as high? No. Okay, I’m not superhuman. That’s going to happen. But that’s what I needed to do. Now. I was able to fake a lot of it. I think most people listening to the episodes would not know the difference. But it took some stamina, recording in bulk is going to save you time and money. It’s just like if you went to the grocery store, have you guys ever been to grocery stores where they sell everything in bulk? Okay, well, when you do things in bulk, you get a better deal, right? It’s the same thing with podcasting. And if you aren’t recording from your home some other things to keep in mind. If you’ve got to go physically to a location, okay, you’re gonna have to travel there, you know, the prices of gas right now, that’s going to cost you more money. If you have to book out a room that could cost you more money, or maybe you’re recording in a more professional studio environment, you’re always going to save more money if you do more of that together, as opposed to setting up separate appointments. Okay, I know I gave you a lot to think about. So I’m gonna give you just a brief pause, we’re gonna take a quick break. And when we come back, I’m going to tell you more about that free download, and how you could get your hands on my episode checklist. We’ll be right back.

12:39
So there’s a lot to think about when you are producing a podcast episode. And it’s real easy for stuff to fall through the cracks. It happens to the best of us, which is why every good podcaster has checklists for pretty much everything, like a recording checklist, a checklist for how you market and promote your show. So I have come up with something I’m calling an episode checklist. So this is going to go over the basics, everything that you need to know, in order to put out a podcast episode, we’re going to cover a bunch of different things and then you’re physically going to be able to check off these things as you go. It’s a great idea to get this laminated because I’m going to provide you with a PDF. Okay, so print it out, get it laminated. And then every time you do your podcast episode, just check all these things off. To get your hands on this nifty little checklist. Check out the link in the episode description. If you guys have already started your podcast and you want a great podcast network to support you, to encourage you and to be by your side as you grow and to offer you amazing tips if I may say so help you monetize your show and just connect you with other like minded podcasters. Check out Independent Podcast Network, it’s at https://independentpodcast.network. Of course that is my network. And I would love to help you and encourage you and to support you as your podcast continues to grow. Until next week, remember…. you should start a podcast!