Creating Your Podcast Team

0:01
Podcasting can be a lonely sport. I personally don’t recommend doing it alone. Having a podcast team not only lightens the load, but it also makes podcasting more fun. So what team members do you really need? How can they help? And who should you bring on first and why? Here’s some of my best advice when it comes to creating your own podcast team. Take it away, radio man! Podcast Your Business.

0:36
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Podcast Your Business. I’m Sunny Gault. I’m a podcast coach and mentor who’s been podcasting for about 17 years now. I am also the founder and CEO of a company called Independent Podcast Network. And you can check us out at https://independentpodcast.network. Today, I am here to help you create amazing podcasts specifically for those of you who are creating podcasts for your business. And we do this by mastering the Five P’s of podcasting. The Five P’s of podcasting are something that I discussed in my first course that I created. It’s a free course it’s online, you can also watch all the videos on our YouTube channel. But we focus on the five P’s, which is prep, plan, produce, promote, and profit, because I believe if you can master these Five P’s of podcasting, then you know everything there is to know about podcasting, and you’re going to have a successful podcast. So when we talk about Prep, we’re talking about should you even start a podcast? What are some of those initial questions you should be asking yourself before you get too far down this rabbit hole? Next planning? What is the look and feel for your show? What is the format for your show things like that produce? How do you create the content and we cover everything from equipment to recording and editing, all that good stuff, promote? How do you tell everybody about it? Because you can have the most amazing podcast in the world. But if nobody knows, that’s a problem, and profit? How do you make money with your show, especially if it’s tied into your business? So it doesn’t mean that you have to go out and get advertisers? It just means it somehow needs to be bringing you extra revenue, it has to be another revenue stream. So we talk about that as well. So Mr. radio man, what are we talking about today?

2:20
Yeah, we’re talking about prepping for your podcast. And, you know, to do the prep work, there’s not a ton of stuff that needs to be done. But there are some, like I said, crucial questions you have to be asking yourself. And one of the things I talk about in that free online course I was just telling you about is how to create a podcast team. And the fact that that is really important in knowing before you even get into this whole podcasting thing right before you plan your show and invest money into it and do things like that, you need to do some prep work. And part of that is finding your team. Now, you could probably also put this in the plan category. But again, I think there’s a little bit more prep that needs to happen before you start planning. This should be one of the first decisions you make for your podcast. And you may find that it’s best to hold off on your podcast for those of you who haven’t started yet, until you have the right resources. And in this case, the resource is talking about people that can help you with your show. Really, you’re taking inventory on everything you need in order to make your podcast work for you. So how it works for you might be different than how it works for somebody else. And this is part of the giant puzzle that you’ve got to put together.

3:33
Okay. Today we’re going to discuss several things when it comes to creating your own podcast team. We’re going to talk about the benefits of working with a team for your podcast, we’re going to talk about different team members you can have for your podcast. So you know what are the different things that they could be doing, we’ll talk about their roles and responsibilities for those team members. And then we’ll talk a little bit about how to find the right people. For those different roles. I do have some experience in this and have had to launch several podcasts in the past and I do have some recommendations, take it or leave it all, you know, give you those at the end of the episode. So that’s kind of the framework. That’s what we’re going to talk about today. And we’re gonna get started right after this quick break. After today’s episode, you will never be lonely again when podcasting. That’s my goal for you guys today. At least you shouldn’t be because what we’re talking about is the importance of having a team surrounding you and helping you with your show. So let’s go ahead and dive into this.

4:35
First of all, why do you need a podcast team? Can’t you just do this whole podcast thing so low? Now the answer is yeah, you totally can. I just don’t recommend it. I have done that. In fact, doing podcasts your business I do this completely on my own. And I have to admit, it is a little lonely. I mean I have you guys and I can oh and I have Mr. radio man. Oh helping me with my episodes. That’s kind of a joke. I have like this random voice that I play every now and again. But it is it gets a little lonely. And so yes, you can do it by yourself. I think that’s one of the beautiful things about podcasting is that if you have the right tools, which that’s becoming easier and easier to get access to nowadays, you can you can do this whole podcasting thing on your own, it’s just, it’s, it can be a lot of work, I’m gonna be honest with you, it can be a lot of work, and it can be lonely. So can you do it on your own? Absolutely, you can. And for those who of you that are doing it on your own fantastic kudos to you, the best thing about doing it on your own is that you’re gonna learn a ton of stuff, which I believe will help you no matter what you do in this life. So, yeah, you don’t have to have a podcast team, I encourage you to at least explore the idea. Even if you start out doing everything by yourself, you may come to a point where you’re like, this is nice, but it would really be nice to have other people that are helping me create and you know, making it not so lonely. So what are some of the benefits of working with a team? And then along with that, are there any downsides to working as a team and my answer to this is probably going to be the same if you’re working with any kind of team, not just a podcast team. But consider some of this, first of all, and this may be the the most obvious is you can share the workload. Because depending on the format for your show, there could be a lot involved in creating your podcast, you know, you got to do some research, you have to maybe do a little bit of script writing or bullet points, things like that, you may have to do research, if you’re interviewing guests, and scheduling guests. And you know that that’s all before you actually even do the recording, then you’ve got the whole, you know, whole recording side of stuff and editing, and whatever kind of promotion that you’re going to do at the end. And then it’s rinse and repeat, right. So that can be a lot of work. In the beginning, everybody thinks it’s amazing. And you’re like I’m a podcaster. Now fantastic. And that’s great. And I love the enthusiasm. Just know as with anything in life, that’s going to start to wane a little bit as you do this more and more. So you can share the workload if you’ve got a team and it saves you time, because I’m assuming you don’t want to spend, you know, a huge portion of your day or your week just focused on your podcast. Those of you that have your own businesses have many other things to do, right, this podcast may be a portion of your business, but it’s not everything. Plus, you want to just relax, spend time with your family, your friends and things like that.

7:39
Next, you can bounce ideas off one another. And I think this is one of the most valuable reasons to have a team for your show. Because, you know, I like to think you know, I’m a creative person, I have a lot of ideas, but it is so helpful. And I’ve kind of created other people that I can reach out to and throw ideas to, you know, mentioned for podcast, your business, I do this completely on my own, I do the episodes by myself, I edit them, I add the music, all that good stuff, the promotion, the publishing, everything is done. But again, I’ve been doing this for 17 years, right? And I still have other podcasters where if I had a question, and I said, Hey, can you listen to this? Or does this sounds really weird, I still have a little community of people that I can reach out to, they’re just not directly involved with my show. So it’s important to have people that you can bounce ideas off of right? Because we’d love to think that we’ve got the most amazing ideas ever. That’s not always the case. Sometimes it’s just amazing in our head.

8:36
All right, you can also rely on other people’s expertise, okay. And this is really important as we start adding people, team members to our podcasts that have specializations, right, people that really know how to edit podcasts Well, or they know a lot about the, you know, the production of it, you know, and how to set up equipment. And, you know, if you’ve got more of an elaborate setup, let’s say you’re doing audio and video, so you can rely on their expertise, you should not have to be an expert in every single thing you do for your podcast. That’s just exhausting you guys. So you can rely on other people’s talents. Know, is there any downside to all of this, as with having any kind of team, I mean, you still need to be at the helm. This is your ship, right ship with a P. So this is your ship, and you need to steer it. And everybody you know, everyone that’s part of your team, you know, you should still you know, the buck stops with you, right? So you should still be able to make the decisions if that’s your setup, right that you you run the podcast, which is usually what happens. You may have some training costs that are involved. So maybe you need to train some people how to do things, or just the time that it takes. You are also just going to have general costs and there’s ways to keep that down. And I’ve got some resources which I’ll tell you about at the end of the show that can save you guys some money, but those are really the two things you No just telling people how to do whatever it is you need them to do for the podcast, and any cost that would be, you know, part of this and then just make sure that, that you still call the shots, right? If that’s if that’s the format for how you have things set up.

10:15
What are some of the team members that you’re going to need for your podcasts now in my online course, that I teach where it goes through the Five P’s of podcasting and everything, I get more in depth into all the possible roles for people working on your show. But for today’s episode, since these are shorter episodes, I’m going to make this short and sweet. And I’m cutting it down to the three most important what I view as the three most important positions or team members that you should consider. And I’m going to kind of do this in order of preference. Okay, so the first one, and you may not even think that this is a team member, but it is, is a co host, I want all of you to consider having a co host. Now you may be thinking Sonny, this is for my business, I run my business, there’s no other person that can do this. Maybe that’s right, maybe that maybe that is still the best format for you. Like I said, podcast, your business, I do everything on my own. That’s how I wanted it to be. But I’ve seen some really cool collaborations happen. When a you either reach out to someone else who kind of has a similar background as you and you do it together, right? Because again, sharing the work. So maybe you do an episode they do an episode maybe you collaborate together on it just depends on how you want to set all this up. But there’s cross promotional value in that, right. So they bring their audience you bring your audience. And if you are recording the episodes together, yeah, you’ve got some scheduling to work out there. But it can really ease your nervousness. If you’re somebody that gets a little nervous when a microphone is in front of you, you know, it may take a little bit of time to work out those nerves and having someone else to chat with. So it’s like a real conversation and not like a monologue, like what I’m doing right now. That can really help, right? So consider a co host do a little bit of research for other podcasts out there, maybe you can join a show that is already up and running, maybe you’ll find someone that’s like, Oh, my goodness, thank you for reaching out to me, because I’ve been doing this for several months now. And, you know, they might be at that stage where they’re just now realizing, wow, this is a lot of work. And I may not be able to do this on our, you know, on my own. So consider a co host.

12:36
Next, I think the next important step is going to be an editor. Okay. And, obviously, editors can be amazing. They make your podcasts look and sound fantastic. But it’s also going to save you time, I always go back to saving you time, right? Could you learn how to edit yourself? Maybe. But is it worth it? Is it worth your time, especially if you’re running your own business? That’s, that’s a lot of time to invest in, you know, learning software and learning how to edit. And it’s really not necessary, because I’ve got a resource that I’m going to share with you. And once you hear the numbers of what you would actually be paying, you’re like, yeah, that’s that makes a heck of a lot more sense. So an editor would be the next thing I would recommend. I want you guys to really be focused on the content for your podcast, not learning all these side things. How do I make social media work? How do I make editing work? You know, don’t worry about all of that. Okay, there’s just not enough time in the day, focus on what you do best. And also, if you have an editor, they may be able to offer additional suggestions, recording suggestions, you know, they’re listening to your episode, at least they should be the good ones. Do they listen to an episode? And they can make recommendations like, Oh, hey, Sunny, you may want to back off the mic a little bit. Or maybe you want to consider this mic. As opposed to this. If you say in the beginning to your editor, hey, please, if you see things that I can improve upon, please let me know. You’ve kind of got a built in we call these air-checks. That’s what we say on like the TV Land. So when you listen to an episode or whatever, that’s called an air-check. You’re listening to your air-check your episode. And so that’s kind of someone that’s built in that’s doing an air-check for you. So that might be something you can work out with your editor. I don’t know ask. And then the third rule that I think is really, really important is an assistant. You may already have an assistant for your business. Maybe this isn’t a new person you have to find but maybe you have whether it’s a virtual assistant or someone that does some side work for you. Maybe they would be interested in helping you with your podcast. Now, I think assistants should be doing the things that you don’t want to do or the things that you don’t have time to do. And I do have a short story I want to share with you, even if you’ve had a bad experience with an assistant I encourage you to try it again, I’m one of those people that I had a really bad first experience trying to find someone to help me grow the Podcast Network. And because of that bad experience, I basically wrote it off. I was like, Oh, I gotta do everything by myself. I can’t trust anyone bla bla bla bla bla. So fast forward, like three or four years later, literally, of doing everything myself for three or four years. Fast forward, and I got a business coach, I was talking to my coach, and she’s like, You really need an assistant? And I was like, no, no, no, stay back, you know, like, make right now. I’m like, making little acts like stay away, stay away. She was like, What’s going on here, and I explained the story of like, this bad experience I had. And she’s like, you just didn’t find the right person. Long story short, you guys, I went through the proper channels of really looking for a good assistant, and someone that can help me. And I found one and I could not be more happy. We’re like on month five or six now. And it’s just going superduper? Well, it took a lot off of my plate, I’m a lot more relaxed. Now. I’m focused on the stuff like creating content, like what I’m doing right now through this podcast. That’s mainly what I’m focused on now. And I don’t have to worry about all the little business stuff I used to have to do before. So all that to say, and assistant is extremely important. I would first try to find a co host, then find an editor then find an assistant. And if you need, you know, more recommendations, like if you’re like, I want to grow my team bigger listen to that one episode. That is, it’s actually not on this podcast. But like I said, it’s the training. It’s part of that online course. And it’ll give you some more suggestions.

16:46
Okay, so how do you find these team members, they may already be part of your business, if you’re a business owner, like I said, you may have an assistant that can also help you do things for your podcast, right. So that’s, you know, if you’ve already have someone that you trust, fantastic, if you’re looking for a co host, I would start looking in podcasting groups online. So you can just kind of do a Google search. Or if you’re on social media, there’s a bunch of groups out there. Or if you don’t want to look in the podcasting groups, you may want to look in other professional groups. So if you’re a dentist, look in the professional groups, I’m sure you know where they are, I don’t I’m not a dentist. But I kind of wish I was I’m gonna save a lot of money throughout my entire lifetime. If I was sidenote, look in those professional groups, and maybe there’s someone else that’s in your boat that would like to start a podcast co-host a podcast together. You never know, right? I think LinkedIn would be a great resource, join some groups in there and just throw out some ideas and see what people have to say, maybe just write a post that says, hey, I’m thinking about starting a podcast, include some of the hashtags, you know, that would be important for your business, and see if anyone responds, you guys never know. Right? Now, for editors, like I said earlier, could you edit your own show? Yeah, you could, I don’t recommend it. Unless you’ve got editing experience, I do recommend you hire out. The next question becomes, how do you find an editor you can trust, because they have to put the show together really well. Or you’re not going to want to release it right? So you have to be able to trust the person. This is what I recommend. You can listen to some podcasts, if you like the way the shows are put together. I’ve done this in the past, I’ve reached out to the show. And I’ve said can you share who your editor is. And a lot of times they do respond. Now the issue with that is that may be way out of your price range. Okay. And earlier, I told you I was going to share a resource with you, that is really going to make you happy at least I think, well, if you are searching for an editor for your show, I highly recommend a company called Podmachine. You can find them at https://podmachine.com. And at least at the time of this recording, you can get four episodes. So if you’ve got a weekly show, that’s roughly you know, one episode a week, I know there’s some weeks, some some months have five weeks, I get it, but you can get a month worth of episodes. So roughly four episodes for $50. You are not going to find it any cheaper than that. And even though that is inexpensive, the work is still extremely good. Now, as you guys know, I do a lot of stuff in podcasting. And I know this group personally because they also run a podcast network and they’re part of a mentoring group that I run meetings for for people that run podcast networks. So this is kind of how I got introduced to them. They do a lot of editing for us when we’re formatting shows for dynamic ad insertion. I’ve been really happy with their work. I’ve recommended several people to them. We have a promo code too. So if you want to save an additional 5% off on whatever you purchase through pod machine, just use IPN. To save 5% That is the cheapest that I found with the best work. And I think you’re gonna be really happy with it. Let me know if you’re not, though, let me know if you and if you try it and you’re not happy, let me know. But I have not heard anything bad out of this. And I know the group personally. So there you go, guys, your co host, and editor and assistant.

20:25
You know, any other tips that I would offer regarding finding team members is go with your gut. Okay, this is one thing I learned with finding my assistant that worked out really, really well is that she was the first I think she was the first resume that I got. But I had a gut feeling about her. And everyone says, Oh, don’t go without you know, we you have to at least interview three people. And I did I interviewed multiple people just because my business coach told me I had to. But I ended up going with her because I had that gut feeling of this is going to be the best person. So I always recommend you go with your gut when when it’s regarding your team members. And then the next recommendation I have is to create contracts. So everyone is super clear on what their responsibility is. You want to make sure that you own all the content for your podcast. Okay, I can’t give you legal advice. But that is one thing that I’ve learned over the years is you have to protect your project, your podcast, and you need to have all the rights to it. So I know there’s a lot of forums and stuff online. If you guys are looking for recommendations, let me know. I’m happy to share whatever I’ve learned in the past, but make sure you’ve got contracts. Okay, guys, those are the most important team members you need for your show. At least that’s what I found in my many years of podcasting. I’ve got some free stuff to share with you. But first, let’s take a quick break.

21:52
Okay, it’s time for our freebie. So while back, I created what I call my podcast plan. And this is just a PDF that goes through for those of you who are brand new to starting a podcast, it goes through some of the things that you’re going to have to do in order to start your podcast. And it’s a it’s basically kind of a form where you can fill in the blanks. And a portion of that asks you who your team members are. So that’s how that ties into today’s topic. But there’s a lot of other stuff that’s mentioned on there, like knowing what your RSS feed is. And this is a nice form that you can fill out and then just keep so if you have any questions later on about different things for your podcast, or like I said, what was what was what was my RSS feed, I can’t remember my RSS feed, you can look back on this document. So I highly recommend it’s absolutely free. There’s going to be a link in the description for this video. So please download it. It’s my gift to you guys. And I appreciate you guys so much. Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. If you haven’t visited our website for Independent Podcast Network, please do so it’s https://independentpodcast.network. Like I said, right now, now that I have my assistant, see the little plug plug that I have my assistant that’s helping me I am able to just push out a ton of podcast content and I do that for free for you guys because I know it’s hard when you’re first starting your show or you know even if you’ve been podcasting a while you’re going to have some questions maybe about advertising and sales and stuff like that we can always grow and learn. And so on the website, there’s a ton of free resources including blog posts, more podcast episodes like this one videos handouts, and like I said, if you’re brand new to podcasting, I highly recommend my free course. It’s the how to with the Five Ps of podcasting. It’s all available on the website. Until next week, remember, podcasts are awesome.