Rule 3 in podcasting

I’ve been writing about my rules for podcasting.

If you haven’t read Rule 1 or Rule 2, go check those out first.

Then come back here for Rule 3.

Making a podcast is more complex than some people make it sound. There are a lot of details you have to understand in order to create a show that people are able to hear and want to hear.

All those details can be overwhelming if you’ve never made a podcast before. And that warning about consequences in Rule 2 might be adding to your hesitation.

That’s why there’s Rule 3 in podcasting.

Start with what you know. Learn as you go.

If you wait till you’ve learned every detail, acquired the perfect podcasting equipment, mastered every detail of the recording, editing, publishing, and promoting process, as well as having planned or written the first ten episodes, it’ll take years!

Or more likely, you’ll never start your podcast. It’ll remain an unfulfilled dream that you’ll look back on with regret.

Rule 3 strongly urges you to start now.

Or very, very soon.

Start with what you know

You probably already know much more than you think.

You listen to podcasts, right?

You listen to several different shows in various categories, right?

If you don’t listen to many or any podcasts, that’s where you start.

Start listening to more podcasts

You need to hear what others are doing.

Listen to other podcasts in the industry you want to podcast in, of course. But don’t stop there. Listen to episodes from way outside your field so you can hear how podcasts can be made.

Then apply Rule 1 to your plans for your podcast. It’s your podcast. That means it’s your choice in format, duration, and all other aspects.

Also start listening to podcasts about podcasting. There are so many! In fact, you’re reading a metapodcast article right now. And you can listen to one at OnTheGo.FM.

But it’s good to listen to more than one.

Everyone who makes a podcast about podcasting has a different perspective on best practices for making podcasts.

I listen to as many as I can find.

Most of them have good insights into the field of podcasting, best practices for making a podcast, and a look into the future so you can keep up with changes that will inevitably come.

Once you’ve started listening to more podcasts of all kinds, and especially the metapodcasts, you can move ahead with starting your own.

Start your podcast as soon as possible

There is a well-known fact in the field of podcasting. You can’t get better until you start. Once you publish a few episodes, you’ll start to understand what’s working and what’s not.

Before you start, you have this idea of what you want to do.

It’s either nebulous—no clarity at all about your goals for a show. Or it’s too detailed—too many specifics in your plan for something you’ve never done before.

Ira Glass calls it “the gap.” It’s this chasm between what you want to do and your inability to make it so. The only way to bridge that divide is by doing the work. You won’t get better until after you start.

Roman Mars spoke at the Podcast Movement in Fort Worth. He talked about the many hours of junk you have to make before you start getting good. Once again, you can’t get to the good without starting.

As you go through he process of planning, speaking, recording, editing, publishing, and promoting, you will learn.

But you cannot learn until you start.

So start with what you know. Learn as you go.