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 another episode of podcast suck. Maybe it's your first episode. Either way. I'm glad that you're here. I'm glad you're taking a couple minutes out of your day to hang out with me to better understand what you don't know that you don't know about the world of podcasting today. I want to talk to you about the extreme importance, and I do mean extreme importance of making sure that you never under any circumstances, edit and produce your own podcast. I know. I know. I know. Wait, don't tell me, but you enjoy it. I'm not sure anybody enjoys it except people that do it as a job. I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again. I would rather wake up in the morning, punch myself in the face and eat my pillow. Then edit a podcast episode. But, I do have an incredible team that thoroughly enjoys that process. So my recommendation to you, whether you're just getting started, you already have a podcast or God forbid you have a podcast and you're not even editing the episodes, shame on you. It is a direct reflection of you. You realize that, right? An actual podcast episode has an intro and outro, and it's edited to master the sound, make sure it sounds good, remove any mistakes that may be in there. You can find podcast editors, they're a dime a dozen, Upwork, Fiverr, like 10 bucks an episode. You just gotta look for them. Get it off your plate. Focus on what you do best. That is hosting the podcast, building relationships, running your business, going to work, doing the best you can at your job. There are a plethora of things that can be done instead of spending time editing your podcast episode. Let's talk about some things that can go South when you try to do this. And I speak from painful, painful experience. So you decide you're going to edit your own podcast episode. You open up whatever you're editing it in, GarageBand, Audacity, you get through the whole thing, you're like, this is amazing. Two hours later, oh, the thing crashes. Software, computer, power goes out, whatever. You got to start all over again. You ever had that happen? Probably. Anchor that feeling and remember that. Now, here's what I also want you to think about. recording a podcast episode, getting done with that recording, uploading the raw content of that episode to your podcast editor and moving on with your day. Think about what that feels like. I'm telling you, it's a great feeling. I'm going to get done recording this podcast episode. I'm going to upload the raw content to my team and I'm going to go hit some golf balls of the driving range. instead of editing the podcast episode. Can I do it? Yes. Do I know how? Absolutely. But I choose not to. Why? Because my time is better used out. But, but I'm doing this part time and I don't have a budget and groceries are expensive and listen, you can't put a price tag on convenience. You also can't put a price tag on saving time, saving time, tick tock, tick tock time. The only thing they're not making more of. So using your time wisely and realizing that if I just record the episodes and I get somebody else to handle the work, telling you, audio editors are a dime a dozen, content creators, content, they're a dime a dozen. I get a hundred DMs a day from spammers wanting to edit my content. They're out there. You just got to find them. Interns, people that'll work for next to nothing. that see your vision on what you're doing. They want to help out, but I really want to drive the point home. That's the purpose of this episode is really understanding the power of delegating the work of editing your podcast. I've talked about this before. I've shot YouTube videos on it. I've said under no circumstances should anybody edit their own podcast. I know, but, but AI tools I use, I just throw it in there and it, listen, none of that is going to be foolproof. There needs to be some sort of human touch in that process. You've got to have a professional intro with music. You should not be doing your intro before every episode. That's a whole nother episode. Actually, that's, that's the next episode, working your intro into the actual episode. So you can cut a corner, learn a long time ago. You take shortcuts, you get cut short. Same, same applies here. And there's nothing worse than pressing play on a podcast episode where there's not a professionally produced introduction. And it's just the host talking about what the episode is going to be and talking and talking and talking and not just getting in to the actual episode. God forbid you have a podcast guest that has to sit there and listen to you ramble along on this impromptu unplanned everlasting gobstopper introduction. get the work off your plate. Make sure the show is professionally produced. Meaning an audio editor, a podcast editor actually edits. I'm telling you 10, 20, maybe 25 bucks, maybe 50 bucks an episode. If I'm exaggerating, you can find people, you record the podcast episode, you tell them, I want you to extract the audio from this video, create the podcast and edit the podcast episode with an intro and an outro. And then I want you to take the video and chop it up into a couple of clips. So I can share it on reels and tick tocks and LinkedIn's and all that fun stuff. So you're able to achieve a couple of objectives by getting the work off of your plate. I promise you, it's a great feeling. Think about it. I'm having a podcast where I don't have to actually edit it. If you're listening to this right now and you're like, well, I have a podcast and we're not editing as well as we could, but we could really use some help. And I don't know where to start. Hit me up. I'd be more than happy to have a conversation with you on what we can do over here at the podcast launch lab. Hashtag shameless plug. This is my show. I do whatever I want. I'm not here to pitch. I'm just letting you work the work that you are currently doing on your podcast. You don't need to be doing and can be, can definitely be delegated. And if you need help with that, let us know. Or if you're a do it yourself or go do it yourself and find some, some, somebody that can do it for you. Do it yourself, meaning go find, go out there on your own and find somebody who can actually help you edit your podcast episode. But for the love of all things podcast, Mike, please get it off your plate. You'll thank yourself for it. You'll be far more productive because of it. Your show will sound better. You'll have a better product and you're not doing all the work. Think about that for a minute. That's a great feeling to know that you are not recording a podcast episode and then editing. I know there's a lot of you out there, a lot of do-it-yourselfers. I really enjoy the process. No, you don't. You know that you do. You know who enjoys the process? People that do it as an actual job. And it's questionable whether or not they enjoy it or not, but they probably do, or they wouldn't be doing it. So I hope you're picking up what I'm putting down here. You're taking one thing away from this episode. It's to, if you're just getting started, record those podcast episodes, find an editor and move on with your day. If you've already got a podcast and you're not editing your podcast at all, shame on you. Start today, record those podcast episodes, get them over to an editor, move on with your day, rinse and repeat that process. questions, thoughts, ideas, concerns about this episode, any episodes on the show, hit me up on Instagram podcast suck. That's plural podcast suck. Just like the show or LinkedIn or Facebook or wherever else you hang out online. I am here to help. This show is about helping you better understand what you don't know that you don't know about the world of podcasting 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. That's the way 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.

Sebastian Rusk