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(By Troy Price) YOU are the most important part of your podcast business. Google “podcast launch strategy” and you will find pages and pages of results about how to get your podcast started.
Google “podcast longevity strategy” and you find three results in the first four pages kind of on point, but nothing that says how to keep podcasting for a long, long time. Now, starting your podcast is important to your podcast business, and you may even make an impact in the world from the efforts of your early episodes. But you will know more about podcasting, your topic, and your audience as you approach your 1000th episode. With that, the impact of your 1000th episode will be undeniable.
Now, my suggestion for reaching your 1000th episode is not podcasting technology or technique related. It is this: simply, take care of yourself. Here are a few tips you might consider.
To be a long-time podcaster you need to bring physical energy to the microphone. Sure exercise and eating right is important in that regard, but what is also important is making it physically easy to get in front of your microphone. The very act of getting your computer off the night stand and getting your recording gear out of the box on the bookshelf and hooking everything up and testing all your connections before an episode requires some physical energy. And imagine doing that 1,000 times! Make it easy for yourself to record. Have a convenient, dedicated space to record your podcast and keep your equipment set up and at the ready between recordings. Make it easy on yourself to record episodes 1-999.
My second and biggest recommendation is actually for a small subset of podcasters. This can be a difficult topic to discuss… Here we go. Podcasters tend to be creative people. Our society tends to say that is it OK for creatives to also experience depression, addiction, or the socially acceptable mood disorder. Some suggest that these issues actually feed our creative nature. But, and this is a big but, when these associations are researched scientifically, there is no direct causation observed between depression, addiction, or mood disorders and creativity. To save me from going psychologically geeky here, please read this article titled, “Creativity and depression don’t go hand in hand, but it can seem like they do — here’s why” written by Lindsay Dodgson which perfectly addresses this in-depth.
So, by processing the information in this article and my knowledge of the podcasting world, here are my recommendations for self-care of the podcasting creatives.
- Get MORE sleep. Too often we podcasters receive encouragement to burn the midnight oil and we hear recommendations to just set your clock one hour earlier and increase our productivity. I say keep a regular generous sleep schedule as much as possible to support your long-term productivity. Remember success is a marathon, not a sprint. 2) Embrace your creativity. I love how the abovementioned article presents that creativity stems from the unique way we process our emotions. The article affirms that the voices we bring to our podcasts are truly unique and have intrinsic value because we are the only ones that create what we bring forth. Treat what you create as you would a treasure! 3) Attack any depression, addiction, or mood disorder that is present in your life. The article also affirmed no direct connection between any of this and our creativity. Further, I have noticed that my creativity did not decrease when I began medication. On the contrary, I could focus more on being funny and creative because I was not focusing on what felt like a black hole at the core of my being that was constantly whispering negativity in the back of my head. I am now allowed to follow my natural desire to create for creativity’s sake, rather than to create to garner appreciation that may temporarily fill that void. It feels good.
I can’t wait for my 1000th episode! I would create something for my podcast right now, but I have to go to bed. If you have any you would like to add, please comment on this article or email me at my email address is below.
_Troy Price is the co-founder of _Front Porch Studios_ in Berea, Kentucky. He’s been involved with podcasting for over a decade. Reach Troy by email at _Troy@frontporchstudios.com.
Comments:
Thanks for sharing your struggles Tony - that takes courage. As I approach episode 100, I’m thinking about peeling back from a weekly to an every other weekly. And I believe my true fans will support this because they truly enjoy the content.