5 Things I’ve Learned About Podcasting So Far
I started my podcast experiment in April (Yes, that’s my closet at home). Since then, I’ve recorded fourteen episodes. I’ve enjoyed every minute. Here’s five things I’ve learned so far. TLDR: Don’t wait! If you want to do something. Go for it!
1) The Odds are Not In Your Favor, But Who Cares?
According to Grok, “Fewer than 1% of podcasts reach 100 episodes.” You can hear more about numbers like these on my interview with Email Asante (Episode #001) of “The Chad Bozarth Show.” Check out these other statistics from Grok:
“Approximately 90% of podcasts don’t surpass 3 episodes, meaning most podcasts produce only a handful before stopping.”
“Of the remaining 10%, 90% don’t reach 20 episodes, so only about 1% of podcasts make it to 21 episodes or more.”
“Fewer than 1% of podcasts reach 100 episodes.”
That means, that even if you just get past 3 episodes, you’re doing pretty well.
2) How You Define “Success” Makes All the Difference.
Reframing what “success” means makes all the difference. I can tend to be a perfectionist, which gives me a great excuse to overthink everything. Overthinking is a great way to procrastinate and keep yourself from taking action. Many people have said this, but I have found it to be true. For this podcast experiment, I have rewired my brain to consider it “successful” as long as I am making forward progress. As long as I’m scheduling interviews, recording interviews, thinking about questions for interviews, editing interviews, creating thumbnails, whatever, I can feel good about it. I will continue to adjust as I go, but the key is to keep moving.
3) People Are Happy To Help.
I think I’ve recorded fourteen episodes so far (15 if you count the one I did where I interviewed an AI voice assistant, but it didn’t sound great so I haven’t used it, maybe I will). Most of the people I have invited to record an episode with me have said “yes.” That is very encouraging to me. Not everyone has responded. That’s OK. So far, no one has flat out rejected the invitation (maybe no response is a rejection, but silence still leaves room for hope). I’m sure a direct rejection will probably happen at some point. That’s OK. My point is, it has been a great exercise for me to reach out to people. Yes, I have mostly contacted friends or people I at least know. I did cold email an author of a book that was of great interest to me and he said yes! Wow! Cold emailing works! That was an exciting moment for me.
4) Don’t Wait to Do Until You Learn. Just Do And Learn as You Go.
I’m still trying to figure out how to be a good interviewer. I am almost done reading “Talk to Me: How to Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers, and Interview Anyone Like a Pro” by Dean Nelson. I’ve really enjoyed it and gleaned some wisdom from it. I try to prepare for every interview and have some questions ready to go, but I also like for the conversation to be organic. I’m still figuring that all out.
5) Sometimes Your Original Idea Just Requires a Little Tweaking.
I’ve thought about doing a podcast for the longest time. I thought maybe the podcasting world was oversaturated. Again, check out my interview with Email Asante to find out that, despite what things may seem like, the podcast market is not actually oversaturated. Remember, 90% of podcasts don’t make it past 3 episodes. One thing that kept me from jumping in is that I am not smart enough, knowledgeable enough, or interested enough in any one subject to do a podcast on any one topic for too long. I’m interested in a lot of things and I realized that it would be great to just interview people about things I’m interested in and that they know about. I figured, if I’m interested in it, maybe other people are too. Even if it’s just a baker’s dozen who listen, I still get a lot out of the interview personally. I have made it my goal to be consistent. Like I said, “success” for me with this project is forward movement. I decided I would do my best to release one episode a week. So far so good. I can do that.
Are you thinking about doing something? Reframe it in your mind as an experiment and just go for it! Who knows what could happen?
Thank you to everyone who has allowed me to interview them and thank you to everyone who has listened, liked, subscribed, or left a review. I really appreciate it. I hope to keep putting out informative, entertaining, but most of all encouraging episodes for ya’ll. Episode 100, here we come! I always wanted to be in the top 1% …of something.
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chad-bozarth-show/id1814853643
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZLhpAJqmf4ogmeaVsbOzy
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thechadbozarthshow
I started my podcast experiment in April (Yes, that’s my closet at home). Since then, I’ve recorded fourteen episodes. I’ve enjoyed every minute. Here’s five things I’ve learned so far. TLDR: Don’t wait! If you want to do something. Go for it!
1) The Odds are Not In Your Favor, But Who Cares?
According to Grok, “Fewer than 1% of podcasts reach 100 episodes.” You can hear more about numbers like these on my interview with Email Asante (Episode #001) of “The Chad Bozarth Show.” Check out these other statistics from Grok:
“Approximately 90% of podcasts don’t surpass 3 episodes, meaning most podcasts produce only a handful before stopping.”
“Of the remaining 10%, 90% don’t reach 20 episodes, so only about 1% of podcasts make it to 21 episodes or more.”
“Fewer than 1% of podcasts reach 100 episodes.”
That means, that even if you just get past 3 episodes, you’re doing pretty well.
2) How You Define “Success” Makes All the Difference.
Reframing what “success” means makes all the difference. I can tend to be a perfectionist, which gives me a great excuse to overthink everything. Overthinking is a great way to procrastinate and keep yourself from taking action. Many people have said this, but I have found it to be true. For this podcast experiment, I have rewired my brain to consider it “successful” as long as I am making forward progress. As long as I’m scheduling interviews, recording interviews, thinking about questions for interviews, editing interviews, creating thumbnails, whatever, I can feel good about it. I will continue to adjust as I go, but the key is to keep moving.
3) People Are Happy To Help.
I think I’ve recorded fourteen episodes so far (15 if you count the one I did where I interviewed an AI voice assistant, but it didn’t sound great so I haven’t used it, maybe I will). Most of the people I have invited to record an episode with me have said “yes.” That is very encouraging to me. Not everyone has responded. That’s OK. So far, no one has flat out rejected the invitation (maybe no response is a rejection, but silence still leaves room for hope). I’m sure a direct rejection will probably happen at some point. That’s OK. My point is, it has been a great exercise for me to reach out to people. Yes, I have mostly contacted friends or people I at least know. I did cold email an author of a book that was of great interest to me and he said yes! Wow! Cold emailing works! That was an exciting moment for me.
4) Don’t Wait to Do Until You Learn. Just Do And Learn as You Go.
I’m still trying to figure out how to be a good interviewer. I am almost done reading “Talk to Me: How to Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers, and Interview Anyone Like a Pro” by Dean Nelson. I’ve really enjoyed it and gleaned some wisdom from it. I try to prepare for every interview and have some questions ready to go, but I also like for the conversation to be organic. I’m still figuring that all out.
5) Sometimes Your Original Idea Just Requires a Little Tweaking.
I’ve thought about doing a podcast for the longest time. I thought maybe the podcasting world was oversaturated. Again, check out my interview with Email Asante to find out that, despite what things may seem like, the podcast market is not actually oversaturated. Remember, 90% of podcasts don’t make it past 3 episodes. One thing that kept me from jumping in is that I am not smart enough, knowledgeable enough, or interested enough in any one subject to do a podcast on any one topic for too long. I’m interested in a lot of things and I realized that it would be great to just interview people about things I’m interested in and that they know about. I figured, if I’m interested in it, maybe other people are too. Even if it’s just a baker’s dozen who listen, I still get a lot out of the interview personally. I have made it my goal to be consistent. Like I said, “success” for me with this project is forward movement. I decided I would do my best to release one episode a week. So far so good. I can do that.
Are you thinking about doing something? Reframe it in your mind as an experiment and just go for it! Who knows what could happen?
Thank you to everyone who has allowed me to interview them and thank you to everyone who has listened, liked, subscribed, or left a review. I really appreciate it. I hope to keep putting out informative, entertaining, but most of all encouraging episodes for ya’ll. Episode 100, here we come! I always wanted to be in the top 1% …of something.
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chad-bozarth-show/id1814853643
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZLhpAJqmf4ogmeaVsbOzy
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thechadbozarthshow
RSS Feed