Sebastian Rusk00:02 - 08:50
Welcome to Podcast Suck, a podcast about starting a podcast, where we dive headfirst into the wild, wacky, and sometimes frustrating world of podcasting. If you've ever sat down with a microphone, hit record, and thought, what on earth am I doing? Or if you're just curious about the magic behind your favorite shows, then you're in the right place. Get ready for laughs, insights, and a whole lot of what not to do advice as we embark on this podcasting journey together. Let's dive in. What's happening, podcasters, welcome back to the show. Welcome to the show. However, you are joining us today. I sure do appreciate it. It's been a couple of weeks now since I've recorded an episode. Had a gig on a cruise ship last week. No excuses. Had my mic with me, but the hustle and bustle of both speaking and I did a comedy show and there was a bunch going on again. No excuses, but we're back. It's your first time tuning in and you're just now starting to podcast. Make sure you go back to the beginning episode one, because I'm unpacking the entire process that we use here at the podcast launch lab to help us folks go from idea to iTunes in 90 days or less. Well, now it's idea to Apple podcast in 90 days or less, but iTunes just flows a little better with idea. So go back to the beginning. go step-by-step. It's going to help you out a lot. If you have been following along and you're like, yay, another episode. Well, let's dive right in on this episode. I want to talk about last episode. I talked about how to find podcast guests this episode. I want to talk about creating a booking system. So when someone says, Hey, I'd love to be on your podcast or you say, Hey, Fred, let's get you on the podcast. They say, great, let's do it. How do we do all that? There is a process that streamlines people being able to book for your show. What does this prevent? This prevents Bob, are you available Monday? Nope. Can't do Monday, but I can do Tuesday. Nope. Can't do Tuesday, but I can do Friday. Nope. Can't do Friday. How's next month. How's next year. How's two o'clock. Can't do two o'clock. How's 10. That is absolute complete madness and chaos. There is a better way with technology tools like Calendly or once hub, whatever calendar booking solution you use, maybe HubSpot, maybe go high level, whatever your solution is great. If you do not have a calendar booking solution, I do recommend that you use Calendly. And the reason I recommend that you use Calendly, A, it's like 12 bucks a month. B, it connects with your existing calendar. So it's Google, Microsoft, Apple, whatever your existing calendar is. so that you can set your availability. For example, I only record to be on the story podcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. That's it. That way I know on Tuesdays or Thursdays, I'm recording to be on the story podcast, not on Saturdays, not on Sundays, not on Mondays, not on Wednesdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. So when I send a booking link, The only availability that people can choose are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 AM to 1 PM Eastern standard time. The second reason I use Calendly is because it allows you to create 10 questions. This makes your life so much easier. I want the person's, I want the guest name. I want their email address. I want their company name. I want their short bio. I want to know what their subject matter is. I want to know what they want to talk about on the podcast. I want to know what their social media links are. Why? Because all of this information is important. When my team goes to produce the episode, we've got that information already available for the show notes, which should be in there anyway, instead of, Hey, can you email me this? Can you email me that? Because listen, friends, people are not going to do it. They're just not. but they will click on a link and book a time because it's streamlined. I click the link calendar pops up. I see available day. I click on it. I see available times. I choose it. I type in all my information. I click submit and it automatically gets added to their calendar and your calendar. And there's a zoom integration as well, or Google meet or however you record your podcast. that's integrated directly into Calendly. Now I'm using Calendly as an example because it's what I use for beyond the story and what I recommend to our clients that they don't have an existing solution in place. There are several available out there. Calendly is probably the industry leader and it's got the most bells and whistles, if you will, that you'll need, which is, can it sync my calendar? So my availability is in real time. When someone clicks on the time, they know that I am in fact available and I know I'm in fact available. As soon as they fill out the time that they chose the day that they chose all of their information and they click schedule, it automatically goes to their calendar with a zoom link or however you record the podcast. I recommend zoom it for the integration. That way you don't have to wonder when the episode, you'll get a notification that, that Betty booked for the show. And when you go look at November 20th, At 11 a.m. you see the Betty's book for the show with a zoom link and all of Betty's information. You've got to streamline this process. Now, when you go set up your calendar solution, let's just use Calendly for argument's sake. You're going to want to go in there and adjust your availability. Remember I said, I only record the beyond the story podcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 11 and 1 p.m. You can go in there and choose. Don't choose because it's defaults to seven days a week, nine to five. And that will have you every time you turn around and you're like, Oh, I thought I had time to record an episode. You want to put some boundaries in place there and know, okay, on this, these specific days and these specific times I'm recording my podcast episode, I'm going to include a link to Calendly in the show notes of this episode so that you can just go check them out. I think they have a free trial to don't just use the free trial because it's extremely limited pay the 12 bucks a month or for the year, it's a couple bucks cheaper. But this allows you to, again, streamline the guest booking process. You can also post on social media. Last episode, we talked about how to find guests. I'm looking for podcast guests that fit the following criteria. If that's you, comment below and I'll send you a message. When they comment below, you go reply back to their comment and you go send them a message and, hey, thanks for commenting on my post. What do you do? Love to learn more about you. And then once it's a go and it's a green light, send them the calendar link, let them book and move on with your day. Do not go the prehistoric route of asking people to be on the podcast and then it never happens because there's no followup or asking somebody to be on your podcast and then playing the, are you available calendar game that is just organized chaos. And there is in fact a better way. So this episode is all about streamlining your podcast guest booking process. Once you have that done, once you have that down pat, you can then book more podcast guests, not have to worry about whether or not that person booked or not, whether or not have all their information. Once it's booked, it's on the calendar and you are off to the races. And that my friends is the best part about it. If you've got questions, thoughts, ideas, concerns about this episode or any episodes on the show, please send me a message. I hang out on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. My handles at podcast suck. That's two S's, podcast plural. Podcast suck on Instagram and obviously Sebastian Rusk on Facebook and on LinkedIn. I hope you're taking at least one or two things that you did not know about the podcast booking scenario solution, game plan, whatever you want to call it. Then you did before you hit play on this episode. If you like this episode, you like the show, please share it with your friends. And if you feel so inclined, please leave a review on Apple podcasts. It is how new people are able to discover the show. And of course, learn how to effectively launch their podcast launch and grow their podcast in 90 days or less. I'll talk to you next time. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. It's where we get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and share the show with someone you know should start a podcast or may already have one. And remember, podcasts suck if you don't have one. Until next time, friends.