Should You Start a Podcast? Watch This First

90% of podcasts fail by the third episode. Before you buy a single piece of equipment, watch this.

In this solo episode, I'm breaking down everything I've learned after two plus years of podcasting, what it actually costs, what the real ROI timeline looks like, and the mistakes I made that you don't have to.

We get into:
 → Why most podcasts don't even make it past episode three
 → How to actually structure your show before you record a single word
 → The real ROI timeline, and why podcasting is more like investing than marketing
 → DIY versus hiring a premium agency, and how to know which one is right for you
 → What my $30,000 studio fit out actually taught me
 → Why the show is called Delusional, and what that means for founders
 → How a podcast quietly turns into high-ticket clients and rooms you couldn't buy your way into

If you're even a little bit considering starting a podcast for your business, watch this before you spend a single dollar.

Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to Delusional
1:07 Why 90% of podcasts fail by episode three
2:45 How to research and structure your own show
4:12 Who is actually listening, and when
8:38 Why the show is called Delusional
9:40 Building a community, not just an audience
15:15 The ROI timeline nobody tells you about
16:03 DIY vs hiring a premium agency
16:48 Why I didn't believe in myself starting out
21:39 The real cost of a full studio fit out
22:37 How a podcast turns into high-ticket clients
26:17 Industry association: the thing you can't buy
27:44 Final thoughts before you hit record

Got a question about starting your own podcast? 
Drop it in the comments, I read every single one.

Connect with me:
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial
→ https://www.facebook.com/sammykennedycoach/

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, or want to join our movement of ambitious beauty leaders, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedycoach/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial 

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:00

90% of podcasts fail within the first three episodes. And I believe this is because they don't have a strategy, they don't have a plan, and they don't have any guidance on how to actually make this thing sustainable and successful long term. You're not going to get an immediate ROI on podcasting. Podcasting is like an ETF or stocks or shares, however you want to look at it. You just keep putting money into it and it feels like it's not really doing anything. It is expensive to do my podcast studio fit out. We spent about $30,000 and I don't regret it at all. With podcasting, some of the opportunities that can come from it is you're going to have authority. And that is amazing because you having all these conversations with different people in the DMs and then trying to create short form content. Yes, that is valuable and that is one part of the strategy. But the people who are the most successful in their business right now have some kind of long form content because it allows you to go deeper and have a better connection that people who are only doing short form do not get to have. My podcast has got me into so many rooms that if I was just someone without a podcast, I probably wouldn't have had. Hello and welcome back to Delusional. I'm your host, Sammy Kennedy. Now, if you are a business owner, a founder, or a personal brand, one thing that I think is worth considering in your whole business and marketing strategy is podcasting. And the reason why I believe that this is such a powerful tool for you is because in this world of social media, we are getting given so much content. Short form videos, they're going for like seven to 30 seconds. People are shouting at you, telling you what to do. There's funny videos, there's trends. And amongst all of that, it is really difficult to stand out as an authority, as an industry leader, as someone who has genuine value to provide because A, you're competing with so much noise, and B to go into the depth that is meaningful for someone to be able to extract value or truly resonate and relate, it's really difficult to do that in short form content. Now, I have been doing podcasting for over two years now, and I have learned so much through how to do it all yourself and having an agency and building my own team, as well as what topics work, what kind of content format. And what I want to bring you today is the things that you need to consider before jumping into starting a podcast. Because it's really easy to say, oh my gosh, this is so exciting. I'm gonna start a podcast. And 90% of podcasts fail within the first three episodes. And I believe this is because they don't have a strategy, they don't have a plan, and they don't have any guidance on how to actually make this thing sustainable and successful long term. So, first things first, if you are someone who is considering starting a podcast, I would recommend that you actually look at a podcast that you enjoy listening to first. Do some market research. How are they packaging their podcast? What type of content or themes are they talking about? How do they structure it? Do they do storytelling? Do they add in guests? Do they have rapid fire questions? Do they have some kind of unique segment that they do specifically for their show? The more you can actually analyze different shows, what works, what you like, what you would change or improve, it really helps you understand, okay, how would I structure my show? And then another thing to consider is if you are going to do a show, who's going to be the person who is presenting the episodes? Is it all solo? Is it all guest interviews? Is it a mix of both? And then another thing that's worth considering is like who are you speaking to on a deep level? When are they listening to you? Is it on a car drive home? Is it when they're doing their cleaning on a Sunday? Is it while they're doing work? Are they willing to spend, you know, an hour, an hour and a half listening, or do they only have 15 minutes? Because the more specific you can get with understanding who the audience is that is listening to your podcast, the better you can actually structure your episodes so that A, they will listen, B, they will complete, and C, they will take action and just keep coming back on a regular basis. Now, personally, I know with my guest interviews, I love doing around an hour or 90 minutes. And the reason being is if you do it for half an hour, it's really hard to get deep and build that rapport in such a short period of time, extract all the value and then finish on a high. If you do half an hour, you're kind of in, out, and then it's done. Some people do it really well, but most of the time, when you're actually speaking to these guests, especially if they don't know you personally, it does take some time to really build up that rapport so that they do become more vulnerable, they do share, and it's not kind of like, oh, I'm straight here and jumping into it. Another thing is with solo episodes, solo episodes are great because you can create a connection one-on-one with your audience. They will really see your value, and you can storytell, you can actually take them on a journey, you can bring them behind the scenes in your life, you can give them updates. And I believe that personal storytelling is one of the best things you can use a podcast for because when you're on social media, everyone's just showing their lives and talking about all the things they're achieving or what's happening. But when you have a podcast, you can go through in detail like what is going on, how did it all play out, what were mistakes that happened, what were lessons that you've learned. And if you are trying to do more speaking gigs or you're trying to focus on a role like coaching, something where you're actually needing to position yourself as an authority, the solo episodes are amazing. With co-hosting, you might have you and another person running the podcast. I think co-hosting can work really well when you're both offering the same thing, like you're working together in the business, or you offer complementary skill sets. So when I had Ellie as a co-host on the podcast, she was an expert in systems and leadership and being able to have that HR side where I was more the marketing, the branding, the finances. And so you can bounce ideas and get different perspectives. The hard thing about co-hosting is that you do need to have more preparation with you and your co-host because when you're doing solo episodes, you can kind of get away with more just rocking up and talking about what you want to speak about. But when you have a co-hosted episode, it's important that you know what topics you're speaking into, how you're going to bounce off each other and make sure that it's still valuable without going off on too many side tangents and then completely forgetting why you were doing the episode in the first place. Now, guest interviews, I really love having guests on because it creates conversation with different experts, different specialists, different leaders in their fields. And it also allows you to reach a wider audience. So you're bringing this expert in or this person who is an inspiration to your audience and providing them with value, but you're also being able to create content that is going to serve the person that you're bringing in's audience as well. And so that can give you more exposure and growth with the podcast. If you are doing solely solo episodes all the time, it's a lot of a slower growth because you're not leveraging off other people's audiences. So that's a little bit of a rundown of the different ways you could have your podcast. I think ultimately most people forget about who they are creating the podcast for. And this is probably one of the most important things you need to understand because when you have a business, we speak about ideal client. And so many people don't know who their ideal client is. They're like, oh, but I have this person and I have this person and they're nothing alike, and we help everyone. And for a podcast to succeed, it needs to have a clear point of difference. So when I had beauty industry leaders, I specifically chose the name, Beauty Industry Leaders, because I wanted it to create a sense of authority, of status, and of community. So people who were listening to the podcast, they either felt like they were coming and listening to beauty industry leaders or they were aspiring to be a beauty industry leader themselves. And that worked incredibly well because it attracted high caliber guests, high caliber audience, and the brand elevated itself so much. Now, when it came to delusional, I was sitting there for probably about 12 months trying to come up with the right name. And delusional came to me more from the understanding that when you are starting a business, when you're a founder, when you're a visionary, most people will call you delusional because you're sacrificing, you're doing things that other people wouldn't normally do, and you're putting all this time and effort into something that has no guarantee that it will work out. And when you're a true innovator, when you're someone who is like, I need to make this work no matter what. And other people are saying, Are you sure that's safe? Is that really a good idea? I wanted to bring those people together who felt like, okay, I'm lonely on this journey. I'm really ambitious, and I want somewhere where I can come and feel like I'm part of a community, where I'm part of a mission and I am a business owner, and I get to be listening to other business owners going through similar things, but learn through specialists and experts. And so as the podcast evolved and my values changed as well with what I wanted, it was really important that I didn't just choose a different name and not think about the audience. And so as time has gone on, the audience has shifted. And while the podcast may stay similar in some ways, it's also specifically using words like founders, visionaries, personal brands, entrepreneurs, high performers. And if you can start calling out those words of who that ideal client is when you're doing your intros or when you're doing your social media marketing, people will start to associate themselves with the words that you're saying. So basically, if someone saw those words, they would go, oh, that's me or that's not me. And they would know, okay, is this the podcast that might be valuable to me or not? When you try to speak to everyone, no one will listen. And so getting specific about that person, how much money are they making? Do they have a big team? Are they trying to achieve a certain goal? Are they struggling with a certain problem? Do they want a specific transformational outcome? These are things that I usually ask myself in order to attract the right people. And this doesn't just apply to podcasting, this applies to business as well. When I see people who say, I can help you go from this to this, immediately my brain goes, okay, that's relevant to me or that's not. And I think when you're looking at your podcast, it's easy to get into this mindset where I'm just going to create content that I love speaking about and I know other people are going to love. And you actually need to have more of a theme or an understanding of what your audience is struggling with, what your audience actually wants to hear. And then you can weave in your personal experiences, your strategies, and your knowledge into that. But if you just speak from things that you want to talk about on a random day, then you may not get those repeat listeners who keep coming back for more value. Now, one strategy that has worked really well for my podcast has been doing series. So earlier I did a CEO series, and then I also did a marketing series. And when you create a series of podcast episodes, and each one is strategically built so it builds off the last one. So you're not just talking about things in a random order. You know, okay, this is step one, we talk about this. This is step two, now you do this. And by creating a series, you're getting people to come back, listen, and go on this journey with you. And that's how I like to think about all my podcast episodes when I am doing a launch or when I'm building up to something like the retreat, or being able to specifically focus on one kind of topic. There is a financial series that I have had in the back of my mind for a while, and finding guests that can come on board and talk about that. And you could do solo episodes and then you can have an expert come in. Like the more time you spend planning your podcast, the better quality it will be. I do want to say caveat to that though. What can happen with running a podcast is that you feel like it's just constantly something that you have to be on top of. Like there's no time where you go, hey, I'm just gonna have a week off. Because you've either got to plan ahead and do extra work one week or for a block of weeks so that you can enjoy the later weeks off, or you've just got to keep showing up consistently. And it's really important that you look at what is realistic for you to do on a consistent basis, because it's really easy to start out and be like, yes, I'm loving this and this is so much fun and I'm gonna keep doing it. And then life happens, or you get sick, or you're burnt out, and you've made this commitment. But if you don't show up, people are going to lose trust in you. Now, there have been plenty of times where I have not planned a podcast. I've literally come out of the shower, wet hair, and I'm like, oh, I'm just gonna record this because I need to get it out there. There's been other times like I'm about to fly somewhere, or I know I haven't got the time, or maybe I did batch record four or five episodes, and then as they're coming out, I'm going, oh, I wish I did them live because they're not as relevant or keeping things up to date in real time. There's no right or wrong way. And I think when you make peace with the fact that some things will be epic and they will go to plan, and other things will completely not work. You kind of realize that okay, there's some things that you can plan for and you can make well and structure within your podcast, but it is okay to have weeks where it doesn't work and it's not going perfect. Because podcasting is about keeping that consistency over time. It is a long-term game. Which brings me into the next expectation that you need to kind of drop is that you're not going to get an immediate ROI on podcasting. Podcasting is like an ETF or stocks or shares, however you want to look at it. You just keep putting money into it and it feels like it's not really doing anything. And then over time, with consistency, it will start to have this compound effect of opportunities for you. Most people give up before that will ever happen. And when I talk to clients or I talk to other founders about what they want out of a podcast, my one piece of advice is making sure that it is sustainable for the long term. If you throw $5,000 a month or $10,000 a month at this premium agency, and that's only realistically sustainable for you for like five months, six months, then that is not the right option for you. I would first look at, okay, can I do this myself? I would get a platform like Riverside or D Script. I would record my episodes, and then I could, if I don't like editing, I would get someone off Upwork or Fiverr, find someone who could just edit that, produce it for me. And then as I start marketing it and as I can start seeing more growth, that's when I would start reinvesting back into maybe better quality equipment or having different guests on or being able to get someone else to help out who might be more experienced. And the reason why I'm telling you this is because I did not believe in myself at the start. I didn't know what I was doing, and it was uncharted territory. And this is a mistake, but a great lesson that I've learned throughout time is that sometimes it's great to hire an expert and get them to set it up and show you how to do it. And other times it is just better that you spend a good week researching and understanding how to do things yourself. Because when you actually understand how to do things yourself, if something goes wrong, if someone's not available to help, you know how to troubleshoot it. But when you just put something into someone else's hands and just trust that they will do all of it and something goes wrong, it can be really hard to troubleshoot. So if you're starting out a podcast and you don't have a big budget, do not be afraid of doing it yourself because you will learn more about your own creative process, the way that you edit, the way that you segment episodes. It may not be the highest quality, it may not be the best, but usually at the start, you're not going to have thousands of listeners. And that's okay because the ones who do listen, you can have conversations within the DMs and ask them for their feedback and really start to understand okay, what do I want? And then once the podcast is performing well, then you can reinvest into making it bigger and better. Now, in hindsight, I knew when I started that I could not afford to have a whole podcast studio. I couldn't afford to go and record in a professional studio all the time either. And so I just did a makeshift setup at home. And I probably did that for about 12 to 18 months. If I had really high quality guests coming in and I wanted it to be more of a premium experience, I would then invest in booking in the podcast studio to record that and get content. But majority of the time for the first maybe 100 episodes, actually, not quite 100 episodes, maybe 80 to 90, all of them were recorded at home. I literally had my curtains behind me and I would flip my desk around and I had like this ring light, and it was not amazing. Uh, I got a Rode Pod mic. So if you're looking for a microphone, I'd highly recommend the Rode Pod mic because that one is a USB-C. It can just go straight into your laptop and you can record. It's quite high quality. As I've progressed, I've invested in the Shaw SM7DBs. I believe they're around $800 to $900, depending on where you buy them from. And the difference between the sound quality is not such a huge one that you're like, oh my gosh, that's so crap and that's so good. Like the Rode Pod mics are perfect if you're starting out, but if you're going like premium, the Shaw SM7Bs or 7B DBs are a great option. Now, with your podcast platforms, you can choose something like BuzzSprout. There's ACAS, there's honestly, you can actually go on the separate platforms too, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all of that. The reason why I personally use BuzzSprout is because they are constantly updating features, but you can post your podcast episode into one platform and then it will distribute it to all the different ones. So you'll have Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible, YouTube. It's a really great way for you to just not have to think about, okay, now I've got to manually upload here and manually upload here, and you'll just forget and miss things. So you almost want to think of BuzzSprout like a social media manager where you can just put the one post in and then it goes across to all the different platforms. Now, if I was starting out, the biggest thing I would invest in is a good quality microphone. And you can just start with audio only. Make it super affordable and easy for yourself. As you start to see the podcast taking off more, then you can invest in things like having a better camera and lighting and better sound quality equipment or going to a studio. I think the biggest thing is just making sure that the way that you're doing it is going to be sustainable for you. And it's also something that you know you could do every week or every fortnight until you're ready for the next. Stage. So don't go ham and do a whole studio fit out and invest in everything unless you know you're in it for the long haul. Because it is expensive to do my podcast studio fit out. We spent about $30,000 and I don't regret it at all. But I also look at it and go, that's a big amount of money for something that is not necessarily going to bring the ROI just like that. So with podcasting, some of the opportunities that can come from it is you're going to have authority. When people see that you have a podcast, if it is done to a high quality, it's got great branding, you speak concisely and clearly and you deliver value, people really start to see you as more of an authority or an industry leader in your space. Now, another benefit of podcasting is that if someone wants to work with you and you're selling high ticket, they may feel a little bit like, oh, why would I spend $10,000 or $50,000 with this person? Now, if they can consume hours and hours of your content, then they're going to pick up and go, this is the person for me, or no, I don't really think they're the right person. And that is amazing because you having all these conversations with different people in the DMs and then trying to create short form content. Yes, that is valuable and that is one part of the strategy. But the people who are the most successful in their business right now have some kind of long form content because it allows you to go deeper and have a better connection that people who are only doing short form do not get to have. Now, if you are wanting speaking opportunities, whether it's getting on other podcasts or speaking on stages or hosting events, podcasting is an incredible way for you to start building up your confidence in front of camera and also speaking skills. Speaking is a skill and it's not something that always comes naturally. Over the last 115 episodes or so, I have learned a lot about the way you speak, your tone, your pitch, your pace, and I have not always been perfect. Sometimes I get really excited and I speak fast. Other times I'm interviewing someone and I'm like, oh, I just want to jump in and relate to them with another story. And then I listen back and I beat myself up thinking, oh, I've cut them off. But as time goes on, the more you do this, the better you will start to present yourself. And when someone is looking at engaging you, you can send them through podcast episodes to really showcase that this is the value that you can bring. Now, another strategy that has worked incredibly well for me, especially more in that coaching and consulting space, is when someone is in a Facebook group and they are asking a question about a specific problem. If I've created a podcast episode of that answering their question, I will actually link them to it and give them a few notes about my experience or my personal advice or something that can actually help them. And then I will link them to that podcast episode. Now, not all the time do I get a reply to the comment, but what I do find is usually some people who may not even be that person see my comment and then they want to sign up and start working with me, or they'll send me a message and say thank you so much. So it's just giving you exposure. Now, something that I didn't realize until I started going more into video with podcasting and YouTube is that you will actually start reaching a different audience than you might be on audio only. So primarily I was reaching Australia with my audio side of things, so Spotify and Apple Podcasts. But now that I'm on YouTube, I looked at my demographics and it's everyone from the US. Basically, no one is following me on YouTube in Australia, but they're all from the US. And then when I looked into Spotify specifically, I could see that most people were from Australia, the US, and then also the UK. So different platforms have different algorithms that they're going to push your content to. And it's really helpful to be across all the platforms so that you're getting the most opportunities at exposure than just having one platform and then just kind of hoping for the best. Now, the last thing that I believe is something that you just cannot buy without a podcast is industry association. Now, industry association is something that will help you start to increase your positioning as a brand, but also the people who approach you and the opportunities that come to you. So just by having a specific guest on your podcast, A, you can develop a relationship with them directly. B, you can create a relationship or an association with their audience. And C, you can actually start to have these new opportunities open up where it might be. You swap podcasts, you come in as a guest speaker for them, they introduce you to someone. And if you were to ask that person in Instagram DMs, hey, do you want to catch up for a copy? Maybe they're like, I don't have time for that. That's not a value to me. But when you actually approach them with, I love what you're doing, this is my mission and where I think you would be a really great fit because we both align, we're trying to help the same people achieve the same thing, or I really love how you're an expert or specialist in this area and would love to introduce you to my audience. When you can go with providing them with value and a reason to come into your life, then having that podcast is basically a leverage point. My podcast has got me into so many rooms that if I was just someone without a podcast, I probably wouldn't have had that amount of opportunities. So, all in all, when you're thinking about podcasting, you do not have to jump into having your own podcasts and doing weekly episodes and video production and everything. First, I would just pitch yourself to some people who you believe you would be able to provide value to their audience. So listen to their podcasts, what topics do they talk about, who are they helping, and then how can you help them and their audience? And then focus on just being a guest and seeing how you like that experience first. If it's something that you love, if it's something that you're passionate about, then you can look into your own podcast, which is where you want to look into strategy. So do some market research, find your own favorite podcasts and analyze them. Then think about what is your podcast going to be about? Who are you speaking to? How will you structure your episodes? What is your cadence? So are you posting weekly or fortnightly? How are you going to set it up so that it's actually sustainable for you? Look at your weeks. Where would you do scripting? Where would you do recording? Who would do editing? If it's you, how much time are you going to allocate for that? If not, who are you going to outsource to? What is the budget behind that? And so once you create this amazing strategy and you have a deeper understanding, not just, okay, I've got a podcast cover image and I've got a microphone and I'm going to start. Like I want you to go deeper. And the reason why I'm explaining this to you is because I want your podcast to last more than three episodes. And coming from someone who has done over a hundred episodes, I promise you it is a slow burn at the start. But if it if building a personal brand and having industry authority and influence and speaking is something that you are truly passionate about, I believe investing in something like a podcast will be really valuable for you and your business. Now, if you have any questions about any of the things that I've spoken about on today's episode, please send me a DM at Sammy KennedyOfficial on Instagram. I'd love to hear your key takeaways. I'd love to be able to support you in this journey, whether it's introducing you to someone, helping you with what platforms you need to get started. I didn't really have that support in the early days, and I know that it is so helpful to have someone just lay it all out for you so then you can take what bits of information feel relevant and get started on your journey. Thank you so much for taking the time to tune into today's episode, and I will catch you for next week. Bye.