A few weeks ago, my doorbell rang at 10PM and I rushed to the door to see who it was at this hour. It was my neighbor and a father of a 20-year old who was standing right there with a smile on his face and told me “I want to start a podcast and I need your help.”
Podcasting has got people’s attention at a scale that was never seen before. Thanks to some big moves by players like Spotify and Luminary and hundreds of thousands of new podcasts, the interest is legit. And so was that of my neighbor’s, as he got back from work and rang my doorbell at 10PM to talk about starting one. He was quick to follow that up with something:
“I’ve been trying to start a podcast and have been reading a lot of blogs and watching videos that talk about starting a podcast, and I’m going nowhere. Can you help me?”
I later helped him with launching his show, and I also decided to document every step along the way to help you start your podcast!
I’ve earlier talked about outlining a podcast as an activity that significantly helps you with starting a podcast. I’ve even talked about coming up with podcast ideas in another article. In fact, after this conversation with my neighbor, I also wrote an article on how to start a podcast. But in this article, I want to introduce you to a tool I’ve been working on to help you do just that, and hopefully start your podcast as soon as in 44 Days.
Why Podcast Launch Challenge?
After helping my neighbor and many others start a podcast I’ve come to understand that starting a podcast is not hard. In fact it’s actually easy.
The hard part is getting it right.
What I mean by ‘right’ is a mix of a lot of factors that include knowledge, flow and sequence, feedback, peer support and so much more. The conversation with my neighbor at 10 in the night was interesting. The conversation went like this:
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Me: “Sure, happy to help you with that. So, what’ve you done so far?”
My Neighbor: “I have picked a name for my podcast, and have also bought a microphone from Amazon. I just need help with how to record the episodes..”
Me: “Okay, what’s your show about?”
My Neighbor: “It’s about office politics.”
Me: “Okay. Can you tell me more? What would episodes look like?”
My Neighbor: “I will interview people on the podcast.”
Me: “Who are your first few guests?”
My Neighbor: “I’m not sure who to invite. I’m unsure if people will want to be on my podcast talking about office politics…”
Me: “Okay. We’ll get some clarity there. How frequently do you plan to release an episode?”
My Neighbor: “No, I haven’t thought about that yet.”
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You probably can guess how this conversation went. He had read a lot about everything – creating artwork, recording, equipments, launching on iTunes, etc. In fact I was impressed with the level of homework he’d done.
He wanted to start a podcast. But he was stuck.
His thoughts were clouded with doubts. He had doubts if he was doing the right things, and he had doubts if anybody would listen to his show ever.
The only way I could get him to move from where he was, to launching his podcast, was to tell him what he needed to do next. And I did exactly that. But along the way, he learned a few tricks that got him to launch his podcast in …that’s right, 44 days!
He signed up for a Podcast Launch Challenge.
So I promised him 1 hour of my time every other day on one condition – he would commit his time and put in the work. To make sure he didn’t wriggle out, I told him that this would happen only for the next 45 days.
And that made me think.
“What if I could scale this?”
“Is there a way I could help more people launch a podcast?”
Introducing The Ultimate Podcast Launch Tool
I decided to put everything together into a simple tool. It’s currently based on Google Sheets, and I chose to call it The Ultimate Podcast Launch Tool.
How does The Ultimate Podcast Launch Tool work?
The tool, in its current form, is based on Google Sheets and helps you launch your podcast step-by-step based on a couple of inputs from you:
- A date from which you will start working on your podcast.
- Level of effort you are willing to put in.
Once you give these two inputs, the tool generates a plan for your launch, along with a step-by-step list of To Dos that will guide you every step along the way.
Where Can I Access This Tool?
The tool is currently available for use at ultimatepodcaslaunch.com.
It’s in very early stages, as we are continuing to build it based on feedback. You also get access to a closed community of podcasters who are using this tool and launching their shows.
But It’s Just a Tool!
Yes it is, but the tool is being built on the back of a number of podcast launches, including mine. When you use the tool, you also get access to me and a community of other podcasters who’ve launched their podcasts.
The tool and the community access is free at the moment. You’ll continue to have lifetime access to the tool if you start using it today and offer feedback.
There are a lot of other benefits you’ll start to see as you continue to use the tool, other than of course launching your podcast.
Why Should You NOT Signup?
This tool is definitely going to help you if you are thinking of starting a podcast. But that said, there are a few reasons you might NOT want to signup for the Early Access program. Here are 3 of them:
- You can afford to hire a coach to help you start and launch a podcast.
- Your tolerance to errors with tools is super low. (this is an early access program and the tool might have bugs and restricted set of features)
- You don’t have time to offer feedback.
Signup Now for Early Access!
We are committed to building this tool, and I invite you to sign up for the tool if you are committed to launch your podcast. You can continue to launch your podcast with the resources from this blog and the Free Your Voice podcasting course (signup below) too.
The goal of The Ultimate Podcast Launch tool is to take a podcast launch to a whole new level, and I hope to have you with us as we build it!
The tool is available now for early access at ultimatepodcastlaunch.com.
