First Day As a B2B Podcaster, this will help.

?First Day As a B2B Podcaster, this will help.

When you start your podcasting journey, you want to put yourself in the best possible position to make something that’s

i) good, ii) listened to and iii) gets your audience to act!

This short newsletter is about psychologically conditioning yourself for your first day as a podcaster.

For everything else, there is my book, my course, my checklist, my podcast and you can schedule a call with me here - www.calendly.com/jasonallanscott

So here, without further ado, are some quick tips to put you in the right frame of mind for setting sail on your new podcasting journey…

1.) Don’t start until you’re ready.?

So today is the day that you become a podcaster. Being a ‘podcaster’ can mean a lot of different things. Even when I am working as just a producer or editor, I would consider myself a podcaster.

Being a podcaster is not about rushing to get in front of the mic. The work is a process that begins with the germ of an idea, that nugget of space in the market. You won’t get to do your first day as a podcaster again — it’s like kindergarten or, you know, making whoopee in that sense — so don’t rush it. At this point, input is more important than output. What you invest in your project on Day 1, you’ll get out on Day 100. We have a process that takes from idea to launch - trust me and many others, this simple system that we humbly call the "Perfect Podcast Process System" has helped so many B2B podcasters - one of the greats is @Matt Coynes who now has 3 podcasts that are simply amazing

- he did the PERFECT PODCAST PROCESS SYSTEM.

2.) Listen to podcasts, and listen to radio.

There’s an idea that you can’t be a good writer if you’re not first a good reader, and the same is true of podcasts.

Be an invested and generous listener.

Don’t listen with too great a sense of competition but try always to take learnings: things that you would’ve done differently, sure, but things that you could build on too.

I will let you in, on a little secret: No content is truly original — every host and every producer recycles material both from their formative influences and from previous projects. The result is a creative collage that owes debts in all sorts of directions.?

There’s nothing wrong with being influenced by other pieces of media — in fact, it’s pretty much inevitable.

The more you acknowledge that the better set you’ll be and the lighter you’ll wear your references.

3.) You probably won’t be very good, to begin with.

?Have I improved as a podcaster over the years? Or was I just born ready?

The reality is that we all improve.

I studied radio broadcasting, I worked at a local station, a regional, and then a national station before I did my first podcast in 2015, and if you listen to episode 1 of The GuestList Podcast I was NOT GOOD>

Practice doesn’t make perfect but it makes consistent.

There are very few debut podcasters who make sensational debut podcasters. And where there are, they are usually supported, on all fronts, by experiences.

Experienced exec producers, experienced editors, experienced researchers, experienced sound designers — whatever.

Don’t be seduced by the occasional big names or journalists who kick-off their career in podcasting with a chart-topping, headline-generating piece of brilliance; they are hiding the project’s experience under the cloak of naivety.

I am not a subscriber to many corporate or self-improvement philosophies but the idea of 10,000 hours practice in order to become an expert is something I’m pretty much in line with.

You will get better, you will make fewer mistakes. And what follows (or precedes), logically, is that at the start you will be worse and you will make more mistakes.

That’s ok, you can even lean into that.

The beginning of anything is a learning process.

Don’t beat yourself up because you’re not making the podcast you dreamed of making on Day 1.

4.) Collaborate as much and as soon as possible.?

The idea that podcasting is a solo endeavor is for the birds. My motherland has a saying

if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together

Unless you are a particular kind of monomaniacal genius (who also has good people skills) you will be advantaged by finding collaborators.

The reason I say that you have to have people skills, even if you’re a genius, is because down the line you will end up being a salesperson and marketeer of your product.

There’s no avoiding that, however good it is.

But early and responsive collaboration is the best thing you can do. There will always be people who are able to bring skills or failing that, perspectives, that you cannot.

The earlier you involve them, the more stake they have in the project, and the lower the chance that you’ll find yourself snowballing into a giant icy sphere of self-indulgence.

Creative arts can also be very lonely pursuits, even when you collaborate.

If your project is very much centered around you, as a person, then you need to be prepared to care more than those you working with and to be the last person left with an investment in its success. You’ll have a happier time of it if you find partners or a team, who can support you.

And if real creative collaboration is off the table, for whatever reason, then find a community: there are so many podcaster communities out there, you need never feel like you are striving alone.

In fact, you are reading this, meaning you have me and my team at KOPUS.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

5.) Back yourself.?

I would very strongly caution you against over-confidence or presuming that you have skills that you have not yet tried or finessed. But being realistic about your abilities is not incompatible with showing yourself the sort of commitment and support you would want others to show you.

You will always end up being your first and last champion. And it will be easy to succumb to negativity on the various days, which we all face, when things aren’t going to plan, and when the world doesn’t seem to thing that the sun shines out your ass.

Self-confidence is about knowing the quality of product you can make: it will stop you from selling yourself short, or from eternal procrastination.

And in order to become a podcaster you are going to have to make some serious withdrawals from your personal bank, not just financially but emotionally, socially and in energy expenditure.

If you half-arse it (as we say in Britain) you will get stuck in that in-between place, where you’ve invested too much to give up but are still a long way off your goals.

Backing yourself means knowing how much carrot and how much stick to offering yourself; it means knowing how long a leash you’re going to need.

And, ultimately, it means believing that you can do this and persevering when external conditions tell you otherwise.

Thank you for reading, if you found value, do drop me a LIKE and a comment, and share with someone or some business that you feel could use a little help to get their voice out there, but no matter what know

YOU ARE NOT ALONE, WE ARE HERE TO SUPPORT YOUR VOICE AND VISION!