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. Happy Monday, everybody. How we doing? Back with another episode of Podcast Suck. If you don't have one, it's a podcast all about starting and growing and producing a podcast. Makes sense from the podcast guy, right? So today I want to talk about something I get asked about frequently, and that is I want to start a podcast. I just don't know what type of format that I want the podcast to be. Meaning, am I going to interview people? Am I going to share my expertise? Lately, I've been recommending, unless you've got a gigantic following already, where all you're doing is simply throwing the podcast into that, that mix, that funnel, if you will, then you probably want to consider starting a podcast for one reason, actually two. And that is to interview people that you want to build a relationship with and that you want to do business with. The second reason is to get your social media content game in check and consistent because of the podcast. Does that make sense? So I'm not saying that you don't have, you shouldn't share your expertise if you don't have a gigantic following. Typically, you're starting a podcast as a marketing tool and a growth tool for your business. That being said, you probably want to have an interview format. Now, as of late, we've been doing a lot of hybrid formats for shows. For example, you interview twice a month and you do two solo episodes twice a month. So four episodes a month, you're mixing it up and it's a hybrid format of interviewing people and also sharing your expertise. Now there's a couple reasons why you do want to actually be able to harness the power of recording solo episodes. Number one, they're very quick and to the point. So I recommend eight to 12 minutes max. It's very, very difficult. to carry solo time on your own for any longer than that, without sounding like you're repeating yourself over and over again. I speak from experience. This show is a great example of that. I purposely set out to have this show be no longer than 10 minutes per episode. So small bite size bits of information about how to start and grow a podcast. And I also know in my mind, I've only got to occupy about 10 minutes each time I record a new episode, makes it easy for me to do, makes it easy for the listener to digest. Now, from time to time, there are podcasts related conversations that I want to have with other individuals, whether it's a client that launched a podcast with us and has gone on to do some great things with it. I want to showcase and tell that story or I'm actually learning something new about the world of podcasting because it's constantly evolving and growing. And I want to have this individual on the show to discuss exactly what that tool resource, et cetera, may be. So I like to mix things up on podcast suck. The main format here is a solo podcast. It's me sharing my expertise about what I know about the world of podcasting so far. But I do want to interview people from time to time when it is podcast related. Now, for my other podcast, which I don't recommend having to podcast hashtag disclosure, but I'm not the norm. My other podcast, Beyond the Story, that I've had forever and a day and I've rebranded three times and finally stuck with Beyond the Story. That's a strictly an interview format show. every now and then once in a blue moon, I'll get on a good one and want to tell a story about something specific. And I, and I'll go and do that. Or I will repurpose one of my talks that I give into a podcast episode, but above and beyond that, it's really focused on being able to interview people that I want to build a relationship with, interview people that I want to do business with so that, uh, it's the initial entry point of, getting to know them is helping them better understand exactly what we do. It's all done through the means of an interview process. Now, by the way, that's the most undefeated podcast strategy there is out there. It's being used more and more today, but I think people are okay with it. I think people know that if someone, if I've talked to you about starting a podcast before, and I ask you to be on the podcast, I'm doing it because I want to tell your story and I want to further connect with you. But at the end of the interview, when I ask you. When you're starting a podcast, it's not a shock, it's not a sales pitch, it's not salesy, if you will. It's kind of expected. So when you're considering what kind of podcast format you want to leverage for your show, a hybrid model may just be it. Now, most people of the shows that we've launched. Have launched with a interview format. And that's totally the reason why you would want to start a podcast is to interview people you want to do business with, but also to increase your content game. So it's a relationship builder. It's a networking tool, if you will. And it's also a content tool. Those are the two main reasons. We're not trying to go viral here. We're not trying to get a zillion downloads. We're not trying to be the next Joe Rogan. Most people will never get there. I'm not bursting your bubble and telling you what you can and can't do. I'm just saying in my 10 years of experience, most people are utilizing their podcast as a business growth tool. If you're a pressure washing company like our, one of our most recent projects we just launched, shout out to Nick Staten, happy birthday brother. Today's his birthday if you're listening to this on Monday. And he has a pressure washing business in Georgia and does very, very well at, and I said, hey, you can interview property owners, property managers, businesses, associations, and let them know, hey, by the way, if you ever need any pressure washing services, let me know, but you've led with, let's get you on the podcast. So I use that example, a service-based local business, being able to leverage the power of a podcast to interview people that could potentially hire them and do business with them long-term. Something like pressure washing needs to happen, you know, not frequently, but that's not a one-off thing. So that's just one example. We launched a show for a real estate investor. We're about to launch right now. He wants to interview people that he wants to do deals with. He also wants to interview other people within the vertical of his industry of real estate, investing banks, um, lenders, title companies, attorneys, people that are involved with the deal process. Let's see a CPA. We launched their show. They want to interview other CPAs because they offer a CPA software for other accountants to utilize. So he wants to meet other accountants so we can interview them and let them know after the interview about their software and see if there's an opportunity to be able to work together. Now, the other reason that solo episodes, I'm kind of bouncing back and forth here because it's either interview, solo or hybrid. Doesn't matter which one you choose, it's A-OK. I just think that solo episodes are also beneficial when you're first getting started. And every single, very rarely, but every single person that I work with struggles with their first recording of either their first episode of their promotional trailer or whatever it may be. That's why we really get granular into the pacing and tonality and how do you sound and your pronunciations and are you trying to read too fast? Do you sound like you're reading? Are you trying to emulate somebody else? We dig deep into that so that I can really help you find your voice, pun intended, find your voice as a podcaster. There's a, there's an art to this. There really is an art to figuring that out and stepping in to that. But when you record solo episodes, number one, if you don't have somebody to interview, you can totally fill in that episode with a solo episode. So the first it's not uncommon. We launch a podcast with your first two episodes. It's not uncommon for somebody to do between three and six episodes solo. And we call those the pillar episodes of the podcast that allows them to really get in there and lay a foundation for the show and also showcase their expertise. So both of those things. are the reason that solo episodes are beneficial. And then once you've been able to establish those, those foundation, establish the foundation with those pillar episodes, then you introduce the interview series on whatever it may be, or maybe it's going to be a hybrid model right out of the gate. Hey, listen, two episodes a month. You can hear from just me. I'm going to show you tips, tricks, and tools, everything I know about podcasting. Then the other two episodes are going to be interviews with people that know more than I do that are smarter than me that pertain to the conversation around podcasting. So the goal is to bring massive value to you through the podcast, but the format. is a hybrid format where it's just me at times and it's just a guest and I at times. So there are no rules. You make up the rules as you go choosing a format. Most important thing you could possibly do when figuring all this out is just get started. How do you know that you don't want to do a solo series? How do you know that you don't want to do an interview series? Well, I'm bad at interviewing. Guess what? The only way to get good at interviewing people is to interview people. So, Get yourself in the game, get your teeth cut, get yourself acclimated to what it, what it takes to interview someone. I've talked about that on previous episodes. I'll continue to talk about, I'll continue to beat that drum because it's very important on how to interview someone. Another thing where pacing and tonality come into play, but just get started, figure out what you want to do. If you can't figure out what you want to do, start with solo episodes, do 10 solo episodes. Introduce yourself, introduce the podcast. What's it all about? Episode two, list out 10 frequently asked questions you get about your business. Answer those 10 frequently asked questions in your first 10 solo episodes. If you want to take it another 10, write your essay cues out. Those are the should ask questions. Those are the questions that should be asked, but are not about your business. There you go. Boom. 20 episodes in almost half a year. You've, uh, you've got under your belt with episodes. That's 40. I know that's 20 episodes. So yeah, that's 20, 52 weeks. Yeah, there you go. That's 20 weeks, almost a year, almost a year worth of episodes just by rolling with solo episodes. So most important, get started, pick a format, run with it. You can always change it later. questions, thoughts, ideas, concerns about this episode or any episodes on the show, please shoot me a DM either on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook. I hang out anywhere under Sebastian Rusk. Let me know you heard the show. You're watching this on YouTube or anywhere live. We do broadcast this, the recording of this podcast. This is not a video podcast. Do not exist. Stand on my ground on that. But we do live stream the recording of our podcast, which does have a video component. So whatever you want to call that, Feel free to comment wherever you're watching this live. If you're not listening to the actual podcast episode, comment below. I do respond to each and every one of you lovely people. And if I haven't said it already multiple times in this episode, the most important thing you could do in the podcast launch process is just get started. Questions, thoughts, ideas, concerns. Again, hit me up. I'm here to help. If you need help starting your podcast, There's a link below to schedule a call. We can flush out a quick strategy call and figure out what's possible. And if you're a fit for our podcast launch program, we are absolutely undefeated in launching people in 90 days or less, and then helping you continue to produce that show for a minimum of 12 months. And people have gone on to do some really great things. You're never going to be ready. You're never going to have it budgeted. You're never, that's never going to happen. You do got to just start. Remember, it's a tool to be able to get in there and grow your business. So. St. Shameless self-promotion. You're darn tootin. This is my show. I do what I want until next time, friends. 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 a way to 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.