On August 1, 2019, I launched my podcast – Ideal Money Life.

I recorded my first podcast episode on 07-07-19

I launched the podcast with the first ten episodes.

The publishing plan for my podcast is to publish five to six episodes per week.  Each episode will be 20-30 minutes long.

Now to some of you, this may sound like a daunting task.

Five to six episodes a week is a lot of content.

How in the world are you doing this?

How do you get started?

My answer is you just get started.

I absolutely love podcasts.  I’ve been listening to podcasts for years.

Part of the reason why I love listening to podcasts is because they entertain and teach me while I work.

I spend a lot of time in front of my computer working and listening to podcasts brighten my day as I get to have some small connection with people as they share their lives and stories with me.

Podcasting is an intimate way to connect with people.  I’ve been amazed at how connected I feel to people as they share their stories on their podcasts.

One of the first podcasts I started listening to was Planet Money.  This is an economics podcast that was filled with amazing stories of how economics affects our personal lives.

One episode from Planet Money that I specifically loved was the episode where they discussed the process of how the United States medical world, decides who gets a kidney.  In the U.S. it’s illegal to sell kidneys.  How do you get a kidney to someone when there is no monetary price for a kidney.

I then became a huge fan of WTF by Marc Maron.  There are more than 1,000 episodes of WTF.  Marc Maron has a long-form interview podcast where he’s interviewed people from all walks of life.

The first episode of WTF that I listened to was the episode where he interviewed President Barak Obama in Marc’s garage.

He’s also interviewed the following people:

• Mick Jagger
• Keith Richards
• Lorne Michaels founder of Saturday Night Live
• Terry Gross host of NPR’s Fresh Air
• Lisa Kudrow from Friends TV Show
• Jane Fonda
• Brene Brown
• Sir Paul McCartney
• Anthony Bourdain

Marc Maron is one of the first people to start a podcast.  He launched WTF in 2009.

He started WTF at a very low point in his comedy career and built an amazing podcast.

He had almost killed his career and needed to find a way to get back on his feet.

WTF was his way to resurrect his career, and he has one of the best podcasts.

He averages about 220,000 downloads per episodes as of the writing of this article.

Marc is, without a doubt, one of the best interviewers in the world.

My Musings on starting a Podcasts

From time to time, I’ve thought it would be cool to start a podcast.

That’s as far as the idea went. As soon as I thought of the idea, I immediately put the idea out of my mind because I assumed it would be a ton of work and I already had a ton on my plate.

There was no way I would have time to start and maintain a podcast.

Almost all the podcasts I’d listened to interviewed all these great guests.

I don’t know any famous people that I’d like to interview.

I’m here to tell you that starting a podcast is simpler than you realize.  You can have a podcast up and published in less than 30 days.

Here is how I got my podcast up and running.

Nike, which started out selling shoes to runners, has a great motto:

Just Do It!

A few weeks ago, I was telling a friend about my plan to launch my podcast on August 1, 2019.

She inquired, “How are you doing it?”

My reply was, I just started doing it.  In the process of recording the podcast, I came up with new ideas.  I came up with questions of how to do things on the podcasts.  Then I researched how to do it.

Anything new I want to do in my business has already been done before.

If I want to learn how to do something, the only thing I need to do a little internet research.

I’m going to share what I did to get my podcast up and running.

I’m going to share a secret with you.  Launching a podcast is easier than you probably realize once you know what the steps are.

Step 1 Plan Your Podcast

There are a few questions you want to ask yourself before you get started

1. Why do I want to launch a podcast?
2. Who is my desired audience for the podcast?
3. How often will I publish new episodes of my podcast?
4. What type of format will my podcast have?
5. What is my plan for recording my podcasts?

Once you’ve answered those questions, you have enough information to start your podcast.

Here are the ten other steps I took I took to launch my podcast.

1. Pick a name for your podcast
2. Decide on a message or point of view that your podcast
3. Determine the format of your podcast
4. Start recording episodes
5. Create cover art for your podcast
6. Record a promo for your podcast
7. Record intros and outros for your podcast
8. Submit your podcast to as many podcast listing services as you can
9. Create a launch plan for your podcast
10. Publish your first episode(s)

Step 2 Pick a Name for Your Podcast

The name of your podcast is a very important decision to make.  The name I chose for my podcast was a simple decision.  I had started my new company, Ideal Money Life, and I just chose Ideal Money Life as the name of the podcast.

Here are some things to consider when you choose a name for your podcast.

Think about the keywords that represent the message you are sharing with your podcast. I chose the name Ideal Money Life as the name of the podcast because it represented my message.

My message is all about creating an Ideal Money Life through profitable business ownership. Each of the words in the name Ideal Money Life are important to my message.

Ideal represents a target that I’m striving towards.  I don’t believe people can achieve perfection because we are humans.  Imperfection is part of the human condition.  However, Ideal represent an achievable outcome.  Every day we the opportunity to live an ideal day.  We can also build our lives towards that ideal.

Money is an integral piece of our lives.  Money allows us to get the things that are most important in life.  In America, many people avoid talking about money because it is considered impolite.  Many people even avoid thinking about money.

This approach we Americans have taken towards dealing with money has been disastrous.  More than 75% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.  Most Americans are 60 days away from experiencing a major financial disaster if they lose their employment.

We must start talking about money openly and honestly to change the results we are getting with money.

Life is a beautiful gift.  Every day we start with a clean slate where we can take actions to transform our lives.  Every day we can take actions that will improve our lives and the lives of the people we love.  It’s vital that we recognize the gift that we have and use each day to live our lives to the fullest.

That is the message I’m relaying with my podcast.

Step 3 Decide on a message or point of view that your podcast

I was listening to a video by Russel Brunson, the founder of ClickFunnels.  He said that one of the things he did was start a podcast to document his journey as he was building ClickFunnels.

In March 2019, I decided that I was going to build a business from zero to $1 million in 12 months.

I decided that this was going to document my journey of building this business. Every day I would record a podcast based on the things I was doing that day to build my business.

I felt like the idea of building a business from zero to $1 million in 12 months was a compelling topic that I could talk endlessly about.  I also felt like it was a topic I would be interested in learning about.

The biggest sin in media is being boring.  Don’t be boring.

Here’s the great thing.  If you’re excited about a topic, then that means you will not be boring to your audience.

Guess what if you find a topic exciting there are plenty of other people who will find your subject interesting.

Here is the biggest hint I can give you when it comes to creating content.  As long as you are interested in the topic, it will never be boring.

If you’re interested in the topic, your audience will also be interested in the topic.

As long as you’re having fun with your topic, your audience will have fun with your topic.

Don’t worry about being boring.

Step 4 Determine the format of your podcast

I learned from Jim Edwards that there are two format types for a podcast

Monologue and Interview.

Here are the pros and cons that Jim Edwards shares about each podcast format

I initially decided to start Ideal Money Life out as a monologue podcast.

After a month of recording, I started to make a list of people that I learned from.

I then realized I could start interviewing these people for my podcast.  This would enable me to add variety to the podcast and share with my audience some great knowledge from experts.

Step 5 Start recording episodes

Recording episodes is super easy.

There are a lot of podcast hosting platforms available.  All you have to do is an internet search, and you’ll be able to get a list of the available podcast hosting platforms.

Achor.fm is the podcast platform I chose for my podcast.

I chose Anchor.fm because it was recommended to me by someone I trusted.

Here’s what I like about Anchor.fm

Anchor.fm has an app that I was able to download to my iPhone.

I always wear my Bluetooth Airpods will recording my audio.  Once I tried recording without the Airpods. I was disappointed with the audio quality.

The Airpods dramatically improved the audio quality

I hit the record button on the Anchor.fm app to start recording audio.

Once my recording is complete, the audio is automatically uploaded to the Anchor.fm website.

If I need to do any edits to the audio, I download the audio links and edit the audio in Camtasia software.

I already owned Camtasia.  I believe current pricing is around $250 for a single user license.

Once I am satisfied with the audio, I export the audio to an mp3 file and upload the file back to Anchor.fm.

Step 6 Create cover art for your podcast

I used Canva to create my cover art.

At some point, I will probably hire a graphic artist to redesign the cover art.

Canva makes it really easy to do simple graphic design.

I used a picture from a stock photo website.

Be sure to use photos that you are licensed to use.  At most, you would have to spend a few dollars for a picture.

Don’t be stupid and use someone else’s images unless you have permission.

Step 7 Record a promo for your podcast

The promo only needs to be a few minutes long.  For my promo, I introduced myself and my podcast and shared what the podcast was going to be about.

I recommend recording the promo two weeks before your podcast launch date.  Once your promo is recorded, publish the promo on your podcast hosting

To get your podcast listed with a podcast listing service you have to have at least one episode.

It may take a week or two before your podcast gets picked up by the podcast hosting platform.

I waited one week before my launch date to publish my promo.  I wish I would have published it two weeks prior to the podcast launch date.

Step 8 Record intros and outros for your podcast

Think about the TV shows that you watch.  There is always some music and introduction at the beginning of each show.

There is also closing music to the show.

The intro to your show shares the who what and why of your podcast.

The outro closes out your podcast and shares the final thoughts you want to leave with your audience.

My recommendation for designing your intros and outros is to model what your favorite podcasts are doing.

If you like something in those podcasts, it is likely your audience will also like what you like.

Look for stock music on your favorite stock photo websites.  Many stock photo websites also have royalty-free stock music.

Finding the music for my intro and outro was super easy.  I think I searched for inspirational music and had lots of music options.  I saved the music selections in my like folder.

Once I had about ten music clips I liked, I listened to the ten clips and chose my favorite music clip. I chose a music clip that was one minute long.  The price of the music clip was around $39.

I used Camtasia to combine the music and my voice recording for the intro and outros.

Step 9 Submit your podcast multiple podcast listing services

I felt like it was important to have my podcast on as many podcast listing services.

I wanted to have distribution of my podcast episodes on as many podcast listing services as I could.

Anchor.fm provides the service of submitting your podcast with other podcast listing services.

As I had waited until seven days to publish my promo, I didn’t want to wait on Anchor.fm to submit my podcasts to all the podcast listing services.

Consequently, I independently submitted my podcast to several podcast listing services.

Step 10 Create a launch plan for your podcast

The launch plan can be as simple or as difficult as you want it to be.

I chose to have a simple launch plan.  Here are the steps I had for my launch plan.

1. Pick a launch date.
2. Post on Facebook that I was launching a podcast.  I chose a seven day “Facebook promotion plan”  Basically every day for the seven days prior to the launch date I posted something about my podcast launch and then shared the public web link to the podcast.
3. Determine how many episodes of the podcast will be published on the launch date. I chose to publish ten episodes.
4. Announce to as many people as you can that your podcast is published.

I certainly could have done a lot more to market the launch of the podcast.  I could have emailed a bunch of people.  There are lots of different ways I could have promoted my podcast more.

I chose not to do anything more than my Facebook promotion plan because I just wanted to launch the podcast.

There will be plenty of opportunities to promote the podcast in the future.

The most important thing for me was to launch the podcast.

Step 11 Publish your first episode(s)

This step is self-explanatory.  Until you publish your first episode, you are not a podcaster.  Once you launch the first episode, you’re a podcaster.

Final Thoughts

The thing I love most about podcasts is hearing stories of people lives.  Podcasting is a very intimate medium.

Be yourself.  People will like you just the way you are.

Some people will like you and your podcast, and some people will not like you and your podcast.  The people that don’t like you and your podcast are not your audience.

Put boundaries around what you will not talk about.  Some things should not be on your podcast.

Podcasting is a lot of fun.  If you’re not having fun with it, choose a different topic.  It could be podcasting is not the right medium for you.  If it isn’t the right medium, choose a different content medium.

In the beginning, you will probably not have many listeners.  This is completely normal.

You will build an audience over time as long as you publish consistently.