First of all, it’s December of 2020, woo freaking hoo. I’m so excited. So several times a year, I go into group programs, masterminds, membership sites, whatever the case may be, coaching programs, as a guest teacher and I teach and or host a Q and A conversation around podcasting. I have so much fun doing this. It’s one of my favorite things to do because it’s, A, selfishly a great way to get content for the show, but more on that in a second, but it’s just really fun to talk to podcasters. I so love supporting women as they really use their voice in their business. They really are focused on speaking out inside of their space with their expertise on sharing it. And I love, love, love supporting that even if it’s just quickly answering questions. But also, I get paid, which is great, but also I get so much content inspiration from that.
And a direct example is this week’s show, the conversation we’re going to talk about today around relaunching an old show, a conversation we’re going to have next week, and really a whole series we’re going to run in January called Podcasting 101, which will be similar to our Marketing 101 series we ran in, I don’t know, August, I think of 2020. It’ll be similar to that in the sense that it’s a 101 series not just for beginners, because oftentimes more than just beginners need a 101 series. And I totally raised my hand as I say that. And so those really inspire, those conversations, those questions, really inspire a lot of my content. And so I’m really excited to get into today’s episode, next week’s episode, and then of course, our January episodes, where I get to answer these questions because in the future, I’m going to be like, “Well, clearly you don’t listen to my podcast.” And I can’t wait for that moment.
Let’s dig in and let’s talk about the first one, because the first one I think is probably the one of all of the questions we’re going to cover in these upcoming episodes. I think it’s the one I’ve gotten every single time I’ve hosted one of these. I’m trying to think of an instance where I hosted one of these and I didn’t get this question. I’, sort of running through them in my head. And I’m like, “No, I got it then. I got it then. I got it then.” Yeah. I think I’ve gotten this question every single time. And that is, “If I used to have a show, I used to be a podcaster, and I let my podcast kind of fade.” Maybe you’ve heard of this phenomenon, podcast fade? We’ll be talking more about it next year, but, “Now I’m really getting the itch, the bug, if you will, to start a show, to be a podcaster again.
So do I have to start a new show or do I have to use the show I already have as it exists?”
And I wanted to talk about this today because there is some nuance to this decision. I think so often I go into these programs and they ask me questions. They expect me to just say yes or no. And of course there’s nuance, nuance everywhere. So I wanted to dive into the nuance of this in this episode, because there’s not a right or wrong answer of relaunching or starting fresh. And so I want to start by talking about what you need to consider. And it really comes back to those two questions that I talk about two to four times a day around who are you talking to and what are you talking about? Because these two things are likely to inform which path you need to take.
Because if I am thinking about getting into podcasting and I’m going to do a week by week episode by episode re-watch of Schitt’s Creek, as you know, if you listen to the show regularly, which I hope you do, and if you didn’t before now, start for sure. You know this is my go-to example. So if I’m to start a week by week re-watch and discussion of Schitt’s Creek, which at some point I really should just start this freaking show. If you think I should start the show, DM me. Pause the episode. Actually, you know what? The episode can play in the background. Listen to the episode, go to my Instagram, DM me, and just the words start a Schitt’s Creek show. That’s what I want you to, okay? If I get any amount of those whatsoever, we’ll seriously think about it.
The point being I’m going to start this show, and I used to be a podcaster, but now I’m not because I let my show fade, which is fine. It doesn’t mean anything about me. Should I go back and use that? Well, if I’m talking to Schitt’s Creek fans, and so basically just the most beautiful, elegant, wonderful people on the planet, and my old show was about woodworking. Probably not going to be a ton of crossover. I mean, there could be. There 100% could be, mostly because I believe everyone should love Schitt’s Creek as deeply as I do. My husband would probably listen to that podcast with me if I made him, and he does woodworking. So maybe. Forced husbands might count. But there’s probably not going to be a ton of crossover.
However, for most of the people in these communities that are asking this questions, and very likely for you, the show you want to start is more about your current expertise. So maybe you want to start a show about building your photography business. And you used to have a show and it was all around going to art school. You got your degree in photography from an art school. You’re going to have a lot of crossover. You likely have a very similar audience to those shows. There’s not going to be a 100% crossover, but there’s likely to be a lot of crossover. So absolutely, go in, re-brand the old show, and go with it.
Even more so if maybe the case is, and again, this is pretty common of the groups that I talk to, is actually really want to essentially do what they started out doing with their first show, talking to the same group, around the same expertise. Maybe they even have the exact same business, but now they know more about podcasting. Now they know more about time management. Now they have more support in their team and they have the time, or they have the financial wherewithal to hire support for the show that they didn’t have before. Cool. Re-star the old show. There are some real pros to relaunching a show that’s already existed. As long as you kind of talk about the same what and you’re kind of talking to the same who.
If you’re not, it’s a non-starter, you’re launching a new show. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. But there’s a big case to be had for relaunching. One, when is the last time you went and unsubscribed to a podcast that wasn’t regularly showing up in your feed? I’ll wait. I was actually outlining this episode, and I thought of this question, and I went and looked, and there were several shows, several shows that have completely faded that I am still subscribed to. And so if they put out a new episode tomorrow, and some of these haven’t released an episode in 18 to 24 months, I wouldn’t have known the difference. A, because I likely came to these shows later in their run, and I just enjoyed them as they popped up. And two, I think most of the people who I spend time with are old enough to know this reference.
Do you remember appointment TV? Like Thursday nights on NBC for example. It was something you watched live and at the exact time it was going to run, always. You never missed it. Most podcasts aren’t that show. As much as we want to believe that for every single person who subscribes to our show, and I certainly hope this is true of you, but I’m guessing it’s likely not, they don’t wait with bated breath for you to release the new episode. It’s just not realistic. Certainly I’m going to choose to believe right now that this is shocking to you because you every Monday night are like, “I wonder if it’ll come out early?” Because the show goes out on Tuesdays, and on the occasion when the show is not released, I hope there is a confusion and a deep desire to DM me, “Oh my God, where is the show?”
Of course then you get the email from me that week to find out that there’s not going to be a show that week, like we did last week. But that wasn’t a big deal because you’re like, “I still got something from Stacey.” I’m going to choose to believe that’s true for you and me. But that’s not normal. That’s not normal. For the bulk of the shows and the bulk of subscribers and the bulk of episodes, it’s going to be a delightful surprise when you run into it when you open the podcast feed. Yes you have a general idea of when your favorite shows episodes are released, but you’re likely not freaking out if it’s not there. And one weeks turns into another, and two weeks turns into four, and four weeks tend to turn into like 18 months I’ve noticed, but whatever.
And so I want you to let go of this idea that they’re going to be like, “But you abandoned me.” No. All that’s going to happen is a new episode’s going to pop up and I’m going to be delighted. “Hey, look, it’s a new episode of that show I love.” “Ooh, she rebranded. Let’s check this out.”
And so you have a built in download pool. You have a built in listenership.
You have a built in audience, where even if it’s just a section of the original people who listened to the show, you have people to help you find other people. And that is the biggest gift we can think of when it comes to launching a show. And so don’t leave that behind if you’re talking to the same people about mostly the same thing. Utilize that existing audience. All right?
The other pro of relaunching is a lot of your tech is already set up. A lot of your pieces are already going to be figured out, which means you can spend more time in updating the things that are going to matter to you, and by that, I mean process. And that’s really where I want us to shift back the conversation to, is the nuance doesn’t exists in the what should I do? Because the answer to that is those two questions I gave you. The nuance exists here. And that is you shouldn’t do either if you’re not first going to build a plan to not fade or burnout the next time you try this. If you’re going to try to do the exact same thing, the exact same way, you are likely going to end up with the exact same results.
And so I want you to first look at why you stopped recording the show in the first place. Was it time? Was there an expertise piece that you didn’t have? Was it you felt you weren’t getting enough downloads, in which case I want you to talk to somebody about getting some context around how much is good and not good for downloads, but that’s a whole episode in itself. Look at what caused the stop before. Because if we don’t address that, nothing else is going to matter. This is not about buying a new podcast course. This is not about having a new content calendar. This is not about hiring an expert.
It’s about figuring out where your breaking point was. And in some cases it could straight up be.”I didn’t have time. I was in a real aggressive growth phase in my business. I was just flat out trying to deliver and in sales. So the marketing side of things, the content side of things, took a back seat. Now I have some support. I have better systems, whatever the case may be. I’m ready to add in this piece.” Awesome. Go with it. It could be, “I didn’t feel like I had anything else to say. I didn’t feel like I had enough to say.” Cool, sit down with somebody who can help you with your content plan. Talk to your team about how they can support you in staying accountable to getting episodes done. Maybe it’s having your assistant put calendar time on your schedule. Maybe it’s having a meeting with your marketing person before you go into record days so that they can help you map out calendar and some outlines. Maybe it’s having somebody on your team who helps you with writing outline a show for you or script a show for you so that you have a starting point to record from. Whatever the case may be, get support.
The other thing I want you to look at is your recording style. Is it that you were trying to shoe horn yourself into someone else’s process? You know, one of the things I love about how we work with clients is we really do support them in having a process, having a system. Every single client of every single show that we produce goes into a dashboard inside of our project management software so that they can see exactly where their shows at, exactly what’s coming up, exactly when we need their episodes by. So they have a clear understanding of what deliverables are, how it’s happening, where in the process we are. But also they have a clear look at their own expectations, what they need to be bringing to this production cycle for it to work.
Regardless of if you’re DIYing or you’re working with a team, or maybe you have a VA helping you, whatever the case may be, build that out for yourself. Give yourself someplace that is a clear look at what is needed from you. Even if that’s start to front, record, edit, create graphics, write show note, even if it’s every single step of this production process. Every single podcast to do is yours. I still want you to have somewhere where you have that mapped out, where it sits on your calendar, sits in your project management, sits on your task list. I don’t care where it is, but you know what you need to deliver when and where. It’s got to be really clear for you.
And it doesn’t mean doing six shows in a day. It doesn’t mean doing three shows in a day. It could just be you do one at a time and you record them every week and that’s how you do it. That’s fine. We have clients who do that. What I want to encourage you to do is find your style and work that. The one caveat to this, the asterisk and note as a footnote, there might be times where it needs to be different. I’ve talked about it on the show this year, mostly because I think I experienced that more this year than I ever have before. And I don’t expect it to change dramatically in 2021, to be honest. But it, for me, there have been times where I have to really outline the show. Like it’s very near being a script.
And then there are times where I look at the title, like suggestion that I have in my dashboard, and I riff for 20 minutes. And then I asked my team if I made any sense whatsoever. Sometimes the process needs to look different and that’s usually a real feeling thing. It’s a real inside job on this one. How does it feel right now? What do I need right now to get this done? How can I enjoy this the most? That’s a big one for me.
And so figure out what will make you feel supported in being consistent. And until you have that figured out, don’t start the show, because all you’re doing is building that same stress cycle that you went through the first time, or the last time, because maybe the last time wasn’t the first time, which I’ve also heard stories about. And remember that help could be production help, it could be team help within your existing team. It could be sitting with your coach and getting around some mindset stuff. Whatever the case might be. Get that support.
All right, that’s it. That’s this episode. That’s the I think probably one of the most common questions. I don’t think it’s the most common question, but it’s like two or three on the list. I hope this was helpful. As a reminder, Uncommonly More will be closed the last two weeks of this year, meaning there will not be new episodes of the show the last two weeks of this year. That’ll be a great time to listen to some oldies, some golden oldies. There’s plenty of them to choose from. I will, of course be sending out a list during those two weeks of some possible episodes just as I did last week. So if you are not on the list, now is going to be a really good time.
Spoiler alert for those who actually listened to the whole show. Random note, there used to be a podcast that I listened to and they did the show, and then there was like an outro, and then after that, there was like a clip. And it was like, “For those who was listen to the whole show , and it was this like one little, like a bit they did at the end, and it really amused me and I loved it. I think it was Frosty, Heidi, and Frank, years and years and years ago.
Anyways, the point of all that was for those who listen to the whole show. Next year, we are going to be doing a lot of big stuff in email. There’s going to be a lot of support, and connection with my team and I, that are going to be happening via email. It’s really going to be an extension of the show. And so if you want to see what that looks like, and you want to be a part of that, I highly, highly, highly recommend you go on over to the website, make sure you’re on the list. There’s a button right there on the homepage, or send me an email or DM me on social. And we’ll make sure you get on the list because we’re going to be doing some very, very cool things to extend the show into email as we move into 2021. All right? All right.
With that, I will see you very, very soon. If you want to get support in the new year on your show, go ahead and send your form over now. As I said we’ll be taking off the last two weeks of the year, but we can get you on the calendar to speak to us that first week of January. All right? Have a great rest of your week. I will see you next week with another super common question that I got from doing more of these Q and A support sessions for masterminds and programs. All right? I’ll see you next week.