Steps for Starting a Podcast

The cat’s out of the bag — I launched a new podcast! The show is called Pre-Loved Podcast and it’s a weekly interview show. I’ve been working on it for about seven months, and the first episode just launched October 1st. Creating something like this is an absolute labor of love. It’s been a lot of work, but I’ve had a ton of fun doing it. So today I thought I’d share the process and give you my steps for starting a podcast.

But first:

The Necessary Plug

Pre-Loved Podcast is a weekly interview show about rad vintage style with guests you’ll want to go thrifting with. Find the show on Twitter at @PreLovedPod and follow #PreLovedPod for updates on future episodes. Listen and subscribe on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play | or wherever you get your podcasts! Please rate & review the show so more vintage lovers find this community.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support! And now what you came here for:

Steps for Starting a Podcast

For me, this process started back in the spring when I attended a Podcasting 101 workshop hosted by the lovely women of She’s All Fat Pod in collaboration with Flyover Fest, a two-day fashion, music, and art festival held in Iowa City. This workshop was a huge help.

April, the host, walked us through defining the mission and theme of a new podcast show. She really instilled in me that creating a show is not about all the technical stuff, at least not in the beginning. It’s about defining your audience, your brand, and your point-of-view. I have pages and pages of notes from this workshop where I’ve scribbled down ideas about my show’s tone, and how to make my point-of-view shine through. Doing these exercises right in the beginning was very helpful for me.

After the workshop I was immediately inspired. I rushed home and joined a bunch of podcaster groups on Facebook, including Women Who Podcast and She Podcasts. These groups have been so helpful when I’ve needed to bounce ideas off of people, especially when it comes to gear and software — but I’ll get to that a little later.

Next I started writing down guests I would love to have on the show. To date, I have 82 vintage fashion-loving guests I’d like to get on the show, so that tells me the show has a lot to say!

Doing the guest research was really affirming. In the process I discovered the things that could make my shows unique. I researched other podcasts dealing with conscious fashion and made notes to myself about what I liked about those shows and what I wanted my show to say that could make it different. I did exactly what the workshop taught me and I figured out my show’s unique point-of-view.

Then I made a simple media kit and started pitching guests. The media kit basically included all the things I’ve talked about here: the mission of the show, target audience, point-of-view, and a little bit about why I wanted to create it. I told myself if I could get eight guests to agree to be on the show, the equivalent of a Season 1, I would move forward with making it. That came together much more quickly than I thought it would, which I think is a lesson in itself.

People Will Support You

 Making something on the internet can be a scary leap of faith. Will people be interested in this? And will they get it?  Will they want to take part? And most of all, will they like it? These, and all sorts of other “impostor syndrome” questions will race through your head when you’re first making your thing.

But I have felt nothing but overwhelming support as I’ve created my show. I’m incredibly grateful for that, and I feel it’s important to share that because if you’re on the fence about making something I have to tell you: MAKE IT! People are waiting for your creation, and they will want to support you.

So signing up guests went very quickly, and now I had to complete my promise to myself and make the show.

Making the Show

When it came to the technical stuff, I did lots of research from blogs, webinars, and Facebook groups that the lovely podcasting community put online. This helped me figure out what recording equipment and software I would need to actually produce a show. The awesome part is, there’s not a lot to it!

I purchased three things for my set-up:

• Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone
• Dragonpad USA 6″ Microphone Studio Pop Filter
• NEEWER Adjustable Microphone Suspension Boom Scissor Arm Stand

So basically, I have a simple microphone that plugs into my laptop via USB. I have an adjustable suspension arm so I can position the microphone at a comfortable height for speaking into it. And I have a pop filter, which just helps soften my hard consonants and gives the recording a more professional sound.  That’s it!

Then I downloaded Audacity, which is a free, open-source recording software. This allows me to cut and edit my audio tracks, add intro music, export files to .mp3, and basically everything else you need to produce a podcast. There are TONS of YouTube videos on how to use Audacity and that’s how I taught myself to use it.

I also created a Zencastr account which is what I use as my VOIP for recording podcast episodes since my guests are often far, far away. Zencastr allows you to create a “call” and send your guest a link which they can access without having to download anything at all. There’s no set-up, they just click on the link and you’re connected. Zencastr records the audio from your computer and your guests computer, and exports the audio files to the cloud so you can download them to Audacity and start editing.

Publishing the Show

Now that I’m publishing the show, I’ve been playing around with tools like Headliner, and Canva which let me make audio promos, branded social media posts, and more for marketing the show. Both are free and easy to use, big thumbs up from me.

I also purchased some royalty-free stock music from Pond5 so I could create the show’s intro and outro music. There are a million options on there, and I was able to find something I like for $20.

Finally, once I actually had episodes to publish, I created a Libsyn platform to help me push the show out to podcast streamers. The Libsyn package I have is $15/month and it hosts my episodes for me and makes it simple to publish them across multiple streaming services without having to upload to each individually.

More to Come!

As I get further along into this process, I promise I’ll continue to share more steps for starting a podcast. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the help of bloggers, YouTubers, and podcasters I’ve connected with online, so I hope to give back in that same way.

For now, if you’d like to listen to the first Pre-Loved Podcast episode, you can find it here. Each week I’ll post the show notes and lots of episode extras and goodies here on the blog.

I hope you enjoy the show because I have truly enjoyed making it for you.

Stay in Touch

As always, here’s my round-up of how we can continue this conversation. We can hang out  over on Instagram or Twitter, where I’m @brumeanddaisy. Or, you can listen to my monthly playlists here on the blog, or follow me on Spotify! Finally, if you’re curious about what I’m reading, come find me over on Goodreads. My next reading wrap up will be coming before you know it! I love chatting with you all, so please do come find me online.

Talk to you soon. Peace and love, -Emily