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? Thanks so much for tuning in. I don't know if you're brand new or you're a returning listener. Either way, I am so glad that you're here today. I want to talk about how to get ahead with your podcast recording and production. How do you get ahead of your own podcast game? The answer is simple. It comes in the form of bulk recording. So instead of saying every single week, I'm going to record a new podcast episode on Monday morning at 10 a.m. Well, what happens when Monday rolls around and you've got something else at 10 a.m. or you're just not feeling it? Do it anyway, by the way. Or you just don't know what Monday has to offer. Setting yourself up to record every single week. For that week's episode is also, in my opinion, setting yourself up for potential failure. Instead, bulk record. Let's say every Wednesday, from 10 to 12, we're gonna record between two and four episodes. Or on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we're gonna record two episodes each day. That allows you to record four episodes a week. I know what you're thinking, wait a second, Sebastian, four episodes a week, that's a lot. Not if you're recording 30 minute episodes, which by the way, all podcast episodes should be no longer than 30 or 35 minutes max. So if you're recording two episodes, it takes you an hour, takes you two hours a week to get four episodes. And if you're doing that every week, you're getting 12 episodes. Wait, hold on a second. Four times four, my math's off. 16 episodes a month you're recording. And if you're releasing one episode every single week, well, that's 16 weeks of podcast content. So eventually you're going to get to a place where you don't have to record every single week because you have episodes already in the hopper. Think about that for a second. I know what you're thinking. Wow. Back to back episodes. Listen, choose your pain of recording back to back episodes, two episodes twice a week, four episodes once a week, two episodes a week. I mean, two episodes was going to give you eight episodes. If you're released in four episodes a month, that's going to put you at least a month ahead. There isn't a better feeling than knowing you are so far ahead of the game. I had a client call me a couple of weeks ago, said he was struggling to find guests. I gave him a couple of quick hacks on what he needs to be doing. Go post on social media, follow up with some past people. Posting on social media usually works pretty well. But he was booked for the next 13 weeks, he said, by the end of that day. I said, you realize that 13 weeks is three months in change from now. So you don't have to worry about this for another three months. So use that as motivation. I don't care what your schedule is. Twice a week, we're going to record two episodes. Twice a week, we're going to record four episodes. Whatever number works out and pans out for you. Now, if you're doing interview episodes, even more of a reason. I record my other podcasts beyond the story on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10 and one. So if somebody books at 10 and then 11 and then 12, guess what? I'm going to do back to back to back and I have three episodes done in one day. You really need to think about what this is going to do for your schedule and what this does for your podcast because of the fact that it's one less thing that you have to worry about. You need to work smart, not hard when it comes to recording your podcast episodes. Thinking you're going to record your podcast every week for that week's episode is putting a tremendous amount of pressure on you that doesn't need to be put on you. It's completely avoidable. Come up with a schedule that works for you. Nobody knows your schedule better than you. Maybe it's a weekend. on weekends, Saturday morning. I'm a big Saturday morning work on Saturday morning kind of guy like to work till 11 or 12, just a couple hours. Nothing crazy Sundays. I do no work whatsoever. There's also no AC in my studio, so I'm not coming in on Sunday. It's very, very hot, but I do like to get some stuff done, especially when it's busy work, especially when it's stuff that, Hey, what can I get ahead on? What work can I get off of my plate so it doesn't have to get done next week? There's a quote that says, do something for yourself today that your future self will thank you for. This is one of those things. Recording podcast episodes in bulk, getting ahead of the game. If today is September 1st and you record four episodes this week, September's episodes are done. If you record eight episodes this week, September and October are done. You can schedule interviews the same way, but bulk recording is the best way to streamline your podcast recording process. Bulk recording is the best way to streamline your entire production process. meaning recording episodes, producing the actual episodes. That can include editing as well, but you should not be editing your own podcast. We've talked about that before. I'll continue to remind you that you should be doing one thing, recording episodes, conducting interviews, figuring out who you want to talk to next, and rinsing and repeating that process. I don't want to go off on a tangent on that because this episode is how to streamline your podcast episode recording process. And the best way to do that is bulk recording. I know I've said that a hundred times in the past six and a half minutes, but some of you, it's still not registering that if you just commit to the work, I'm guilty at times too. I don't think I've put an episode out of this podcast in a couple of weeks. I've been busy. I've been trapped. That's all nonsense. If I was bulk recording, which I restarted to do, restarted to do, is that a word? Well, it is now. I've recently restarted bulk recording this podcast episode so that I can be cranking out one to two episodes a week of this podcast so I can better serve you, my community. Why? Because the mission of this show is to help you better understand what you don't know that you don't know about podcasting. And guess what? If I don't put a new episode out, you're not learning something new about the world of podcasting. You're not putting another tool in your toolbox to refine the entire podcast process on your end. I'm doing you a disservice by not doing that. So let's all make a commitment. As you listen to this podcast episode, send me a DM over on Instagram or wherever you're connected with me and say, you know what? I figured out my recording schedule. So first thing you want to do, take out a sheet of paper and then pull up your calendar and then write down exactly who you've already got on the calendar. And then also, who you want to have on the calendar and start getting those booked as soon as possible. If it's a solo show, start writing down the topics, look at your calendar, figure out when you can record and just get it done. That's really the only way to start is to start. Am I clear about that? A little redundant, a little, a little bit of an oxymoron there. No, not oxymoron, whatever the word is. I think you're picking up what I'm putting down. Bulk recording your podcast is going to make your life easier. Bulk recording your podcast is going to allow you to put more episodes out on a monthly basis. Bulk recording your podcast is going to create more opportunities for you. Interviewing more people and bulk recording those interviews, doing it the same day, a couple of days a week. is going to yield more opportunity for you. Does that make sense? I certainly hope so. Thoughts, questions, ideas, concerns about this episode or any episodes on the show, please send me a DM over on Instagram at podcast suck. That's podcast plural or Instagram, LinkedIn, wherever you hang out online, find me. Send me your questions. I am here to help. That's what this show is all about. Helping you maximize your podcast game, from the recording side to the opportunity side, to the production side, which should be completely off your plate. You know what, I'm going to record an episode again. I'm going to, I'm going to go back and we're going to beat a dead horse on why you should absolutely never, ever, ever be handling all of your own podcast editing and recording. Well, I enjoy it. That is a bold face lie. I'd rather wake up in the morning, punch myself in the face and eat my pillow and record and edit another podcast episode. but I got a team that loves to do it. So find somebody that loves to do it more on that on the next episode. Thanks for tuning in until 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. 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