I think we’ve all bootstrapped parts of our business at some point. It makes sense to learn to do the thing yourself (and save some dough) before hiring someone to do it for you.
When it comes to podcasting, there’s a huge time commitment. That means if you decide to hire it out, there’s also a big financial investment.
But it’s not just about time and money. There are other factors to consider when deciding to self-produce your podcast or pay a podcast manager to do some of the heavy lifting for you.
This week on the podcast, I’m sharing the pros and cons of both sides to help you make the decision.
And no matter which end you land on, you still need to do the work to outline or script your episodes, research guests, prep for interviews, and so on. And sometimes it’s a challenge to carve that time out of your schedule. Let me help you with that!
In Podcast Ease Membership, you’ll spend 90 minutes a week in coworking time and 60 minutes a week asking me all your questions. We get started September 27 and you can join right here for just $99 a month with no time commitment.
Mentioned In This Episode:
Transcript:
Welcome to episode 198 of the Content Experiment Podcast, a podcast for podcasters that supports the idea that content and marketing are ever-moving targets in any business, and it’s okay if you don’t feel like you’re doing it all right, all of the time.
This is the eighth episode of a series all around bringing more ease into your podcast. Podcasting CAN be time consuming and it can feel really challenging, especially if you’re DIYing most or all of it. Originally I had this series tapped to run for 10 episodes but I’m enjoying it so much that it’s going to continue until at least the first weeks of November. I will host some interviews again soon!
When I look back on the early days of this podcast, I did have some help and that allowed me to launch with some confidence. But it was the weeks and months after that where I really struggled. I didn’t feel like I had a go-to resource to help navigate some of the early challenges. Thankfully, I have a background in content marketing so I was able to work through a lot of the challenges with ease…but I know not everyone is in the same situation.
So I wanted to bring you this series to help, leading up to the three-year anniversary of the podcast AND the 200th episode and beyond.
But there’s only so much I can cover on a single podcast episode. AND I know that your business and your podcast are unique. You might have more questions after listening. I’ve been hosting weekly Q&A sessions in August and September and those podcasters who have been attending have been asking for more.
I love being able to connect with listeners and clients on a different level and the feedback I’ve gotten has been amazing. SO I’m going to continue but in a slightly different capacity.
I’ll still host weekly Q&A sessions at 8 a.m. Pacific every Thursday. But I’m also going to add a weekly Coworking session every Tuesday at 8 a.m. Pacific. The goal of this coworking time is to help you block out time in your calendar to sit down and get some of that podcasting work done. Consider it your podcasting accountability.
You’ve heard me talk about how important consistency is, and it’s true. Your audience expects to hear from you on a regular basis. They look forward to your episodes. But it’s also SO hard to prioritize our own work. We’re so busy making sure our clients and families are taken care of but the work on our own podcasts isn’t going to get done unless we make the time.
I’m going to help you with that.
This Podcast Ease membership is a month-to-month commitment, you can join or cancel at any time. We’re going to get started on Tuesday, September 27 at 8 a.m. Pacific. If you join now, you’ll get one or two bonus pop-up Q&A sessions and coworking sessions between now and then. If you’re listening in real time, I’m currently traveling AND moving so I can’t commit to a time right now but I’ll make sure you’re taken care of!
The investment is $99 a month for weekly Q&A sessions, weekly coworking sessions AND I’ll also pepper in some additional support and trainings here and there.
Just head to thecontentexperiment.com/ease to sign up!
Okay, let’s get into the episode.
This week, in the eighth episode of the Podcast Ease series, we’re going to talk about whether you should self-produce your podcast or hire it out.
Of course, I might be a little biased because my team and I actually produce podcasts for clients. But not everyone is ready to hire it out or even wants to. So I’m going to share the pros and cons of each to help you decide what’s best for you and your podcast.
Self-Producing – pros
Less expensive
You work on your schedule – you can record the night before or even day of if you want
You have full control over your editing
You have full control over your graphics and content
Self-producing – cons
You work on your schedule – if you’re not self-motivated, it might be difficult to stay consistent
It’s really time consuming – someone asked me the other day how much time they should expect to spend on a single 30-minute solo podcast episode. My answer: 30 minutes to outline, 30 minutes to record, an hour to write the show notes and social media promotion, 30 minutes to write the email, an hour to create graphics and load them into a scheduler. That’s 4.5 hours and that’s being conservative. And it’s assuming you’re using something like Audacity and can edit as you record, like I do. I also didn’t include the time it might take to develop your content strategy, find and communicate with guests, and so on. It can be a lot!
If you aren’t knowledgeable about editing, your audio may not sound professional. This is a dealbreaker for a lot of listeners. Learning how to edit takes time. Frankly it’s not something I want to do. I edit my own solo episodes but know having a expert is essential for my guest episodes
Hiring it out – pros
You have built in accountability – and it is released consistently
You cut your time down to the recordings – and you get to spend your time doing the things you love in your business
Your podcast looks and sounds professional
You have someone to bounce ideas off of – and you get a different perspective
Hiring it out – cons
Can be costly, depending on how much support you get
Requires you to follow through with your episodes
Let go of some control of your podcast
Whether you’re currently hiring out all or part of your podcast management OR you’re opting to DIY the whole thing, you still have to sit down and outline and record your episodes. The Podcast Ease membership is just what you need to carve out that time.
It includes weekly Q&A sessions AND weekly coworking time so you can stay on track. Meetings are tuesdays and thursdays at 8 a.m. Pacific and the investment is $99 a month with no time commitment. You can join us at thecontentexperiment.com/ease.
If you found value in what you learned here today, be sure to share it on social media. Take a screenshot of the episode on your phone and share it over on Instagram stories. Tag me at thecontentexperiment. The more you share, the more we can get the podcast into the hands of more business owners, just like you, who need to hear the message that they are not alone.
