Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

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Thinking of Starting a Podcast? Don’t! Until you read this…

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I love podcasts. They’re informative, inspirational, (can be) fun, but best of all, they’re FREE…

…well, that is, they’re free to the listener, but they are actually quite the investment (time + money) for the host.

And that’s something that I can personally speak into.

According to a 2017 survey from Edison Research,

  • 40% of Americans had ever listened to a podcast, which is up significantly from 11% in 2006
  • 18-34 year olds are the largest group of listeners, making up 44% of the group, with 35-54 year olds coming in a close second at 33%
  • Average listeners typically tune into five podcasts per week, are subscribed to six, and mostly listen at home or while driving

Though it’s been 10+ years since I first entered the world of podcasting as a listener, I’ve actually been recording my own podcasts since 2015.

I’m the co-host of three:

  1. New Churches Q&A Podcast: Church Planting, Multisite, Multiplication, Leadership Development, and Discipleship
  2. 5 Leadership Questions Podcast: Leadership
  3. IMbetween Podcast: Marriage, Parenting, and Faith

And as of April 2018, I’ve recorded more than 350 episodes on the three I co-host, as well as other ones I’ve been interviewed on as a guest.

In other words, I know the cost of starting and maintaining a podcast, and it’s definitely not free for the host!

But if you’re committed to it for a certain length of time, and have determined a clear purpose and reason for doing it, then it can be a fun endeavor to undertake.

I’ll talk about equipment options below, but let me get to the reason I’m writing this in the first place.

If your goal is to share information or spread an idea, a podcast may not be the best means for doing so.

“Wait, I thought you said that podcasts were informative?”

Yes, if that’s what you’re thinking, I sure did. And yes, you definitely do get information by listening to podcasts.

But if all you want to do is talk about a topic, share information, or spread an idea, don’t use a podcast to do it. Just blog about it. It’s cheaper, easier, and quicker.

Information is everywhere. Information is cheap. And with the rise of podcasts, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out, grow an audience, and keep your listeners engaged if all you’re doing is sharing information that can be read elsewhere.

That’s why successful podcasts are about three things: Consistency + Personality + Grit

1. Consistency

While new podcasts are popping up every single minute, they’re also being abandoned on a daily basis.

Just search through a category like “marriage,” or “leadership.” You’ll find hundreds of episodes and podcasts, but when you look a little deeper, not all of them are active.

Now if you’re a celebrity or already have a significant platform, starting a podcast and standing out may not be as difficult, but if you’re wanting to start and grow your podcast from scratch, you’ll need to commit to consistency over the long haul.

After all, the idea of an “overnight success” is really just a myth anyway. Just think about the years athletes and artists grind away in obscurity before they finally get signed or rise to the limelight. If you ask them, it definitely wasn’t an overnight thing.

The idea of an “overnight success” is really just a myth.

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2. Personality

EQ is more important than IQ to successfully start and grow a podcast.

Why? It’s because the best podcasts are hosted by individuals with personality that know how to craft questions (and ask good follow up ones in the moment), engage the audience, and make you feel like family (or a close friend).

EQ is more important than IQ to successfully start and grow a podcast.

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Make you feel like family (or a close friend)…

That’s a key insight there. There are some podcasts I hate listening to, even though they have a significant following. While there are others I love, even though they are incredibly niche and focused. The key factor is whether or not I click with the host and feel like a part of their family or a close friend…

…which is definitely more of an EQ thing than it is IQ.

What about the topic?

The reason this doesn’t matter as much as your personality is because it’s assumed.

In our on-demand culture, if your topic isn’t relevant to the listener, they’re just not going to listen to it. No one is going to force them to listen to it, nor do they have to listen to it so that they can listen to the next show. It’s either play or delete. That’s it.

The best podcasts know who they’re reaching and are more focused on developing raving fans, than distant followers. They know that they’re not going to reach everyone, so instead of being a plain Jane, they decide to be themselves and go for it.

The best podcasts are more focused on developing raving fans, than distant followers.

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3. Grit

Are you focused enough to plan out your schedule? To research and purchase the right equipment? To create a website? To record, edit, and master the sound file? To write show notes? To share about it? To schedule interviews?

Starting a podcast is definitely easier than it’s ever been, but successful podcasts require gritty hosts.

It requires grit to launch a podcast, get the word out, keep it running, and grow it. For most, the podcast is going to start as a side hustle because advertisers won’t even consider sponsoring you until you have a growing and dedicated following.

It requires grit to launch a podcast, get the word out, keep it running, and grow it.

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So do you have grit?

Will you keep at it even if it’s not an overnight success and things are slow? What if you have a dedicated fan base of 100 listeners instead of the millions you hoped for, will you keep going? If not, why are you doing it anyway?

A Good Reason to Podcast

If you’re starting a podcast to become famous, you might as well play the lottery too (so that you can try to buy your way into fame if the whole podcasting thing doesn’t work) because your odds are likely the same.

If you’re starting a podcast to become famous, you might as well play the lottery.

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But if you’re wanting to do it to try something new, to learn, to grow, and to stretch yourself, it’s a worthwhile endeavor and I commend you for it! In fact, I love how Seth Godin has even created a podcasting fellowship program as a way to stretch students and those in the early stages of their career.

Equipment Options

Please, please, whatever you do, do not use the microphone on your computer or on your earbuds.

I know it’s easy and it’s cheap, but honestly you’re being lazy and your podcast won’t take off (that is unless you’re a celebrity…and if you’re a celebrity, you know better than that anyway). Bad sound is the anathema of podcasts, so no excuses.

Bad sound is the anathema of podcasts, so no excuses.

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Sure, if you’re being interviewed on someone else’s podcast, the microphone on your earbuds will do because heck, you’re being interviewed and that’s the interview sound and quality that we all expect. But if you’re the host, you need to take it to the next level.

So here are three options for equipment to help you get started:

1. Low-Cost Boot Strappers (~$150)

I’d recommend everyone to start here. The barrier to entry is low and you’ll get decent sound quality. Buy a Blue Yeti Mic, foam windscreen, and boom studio scissor arm stand. And then plug your mic into a Mac and fire up Garage Band. Record close to your mic, keep your gain levels down, and use these filters in Garage Band and you’ll be set. No one will ever know that this is your setup.

2. Mid-Tier Side-Hustler (~$500)

Buy an XLR mic (at least an SM-58 or Audio-Technica AT2020 quality), a Kopul 4000 XLR cord, a pop filter, suspension boom scissor arm stand, studio headphones, Class 10 U3 SD card, and a Zoom H6 recorder. You’re now recording directly onto an SD card, so it’s a portable setup with less of a likelihood that you’ll mess up your audio file. Afterward, you can apply audio filters onto your sound tracks and adjust levels if need be in Garage Band, Logic Pro X, or whatever else you will use to edit the tracks.

3. High-End Showman (~$1000+)

It’s getting real now. You either have cash to burn, are recording audio books, or you already have a significant podcast audience and you want to take things to the next level. It’d be the same setup as #2, but just with a better mic like a Electro-Voice RE20, Shure SM7B, Heil PR-40, and a better recorder, like the Zoom R16. You don’t necessarily need a Zoom R16 at this tier as the Zoom H6 still works, but if you do go with a Shure SM7B, you’ll definitely need a Cloudlifter.

After you record, you’ll still have to create a website, upload your files to a podcasting hosting service, and then submit it to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, etc., but honestly, that’s another topic for another day. There’s a lot of information on the internet comparing services, so I’d encourage you to start there.

This is what I’ve done for my podcasts (and others that I’ve helped set up):

  • Create a WordPress website
  • Install the Blubrry Powerpress plugin
  • Purchase podcast hosting services with Blubrry (this has to be different than your website hosting services otherwise you’ll crash your website). Use this link to sign up with Blubrry, and you’ll get one month free of hosting on any plan! The promo code is: imbetween.
  • Then submit to iTunes, etc.

I hope that helps and if there’s anything I can do to help you get started, don’t hesitate to leave a comment here or reach out to me on my Contact page.

If this article was at all helpful to you, can I ask you for a favor in return?

My newest podcast is one that my wife, Christina, and I started called the IMbetween Podcast on Marriage, Parenting, Faith, and Everything in between. Can you hit subscribe, and leave a quick rating and review for us on iTunes or Apple Podcasts?

It’ll take less than one minute and be incredibly helpful in expanding our reach and growing this podcast. Remember point #3 from above? This is my grit coming out.

Also, I did this last year, but here are all the podcasts that I was interviewed on in 2017 in case you’re interested:

And here are the podcasts I was on in 2018.

If you’re interested in having me on your podcast, you can shoot me some information here.