#19 Five Stages of Podcasting: From Launching Your Podcast to Becoming a Podcasting Industry Leader

In this episode, Sober Steve breaks down the five distinct zones every podcaster experiences on their journey from launching to generating reliable income. Whether you're just starting out or already seeing momentum, understanding where you are and what steps to take next is crucial for your podcast's success.

• Pre-Launch Zone (Podcrastinating): Struggling to launch? Overcome tech frustration, perfectionism, and pod envy with practical tips to get your podcast off the ground.
• Launch Struggles Zone (Pod-Pouting): Not seeing the downloads you hoped for? Learn how to boost your growth with a 72-hour marketing strategy and more.
• Momentum Building Zone (Pod-Paddling): You’ve got some traction, but how do you keep it going? Focus on building expert positioning, increasing engagement, and refining your offers.
• Business Traction Zone (Pod-Powering): With 500+ downloads per episode, it's time to streamline your offers, raise prices, and invest in further growth.
• Zone of Reliable Income, Impact, and Growth (PodParenting): You're thriving with over 1K downloads and a clear client bridge. Keep your focus on serving your ideal listeners and maintaining work-life balance.

Ready to move to the next zone? 

• Free Brainstorm Coaching: If you haven't launched and are Podcrastinating
• Free Tune-Up: If you've launched but aren't a Proud Pod Parent yet

Transcript

Steve: 0:00

Hey, they're podcasting that as is it's your host sober Steve, the podcast guy. Welcome to another episode of podcasting. Bad-ass this week, we're going to be jumping right in as I talk about the five different zones to podcasting. The symptoms of where you might be able to find yourself in each stage and tips on how to get to the next level from there. So let's jump right in the first stage that I find most of my clients at is the pre-launch zone. It's before they've launched their podcast. I got this from my mentor, we call it the podcast donating zone, because it is when you know, or you think, you know that you wanted to launch a podcast, but you haven't done it yet. So signs and symptoms of being a podcast, Nater would be that you have pod envy. When you see other people with podcasts, you think it's super cool. You admire them, but you're also a little bit jealous that they're out there doing that thing that you want to do, and they're doing it already. And it seems like they're killing it and you want to be killing it, but you don't know where to start, And one of the reasons why you might not know where to start or haven't launched your podcast yet. And might be procrastinating is because you have a bit of a perfectionist complex. I get it. I can relate. I've been there multiple times and I can still get there if I'm not consciously trying to remind myself regularly that my listeners love it when I'm myself and I am not a perfect human being, nor are any of my clients or any podcasters I've ever met out there, we have our lows, we have our strong moments. We have our weak moments. We have our bloopers and in that giant mix of content that we put out there for our listeners. It shows our listeners, who we are as humans. And they fall in love with us and our brand and our content. And will stay with us no matter what. And that is a beauty of podcasting that you get from this form of media and that you don't get in a lot of other mediums. Where you don't have to necessarily strive for perfect each week, as long as you're showing up and you're being yourself. And so having to shift that because so many times we think that everything that we need to do needs to be perfect. I've talked with people who haven't launched yet, but they have a dozen episodes recorded or 20 interviews recorded. And they're just afraid to put the content out there because they're afraid of what people are going to think about it. This is also where you run into tech frustrations could be another big barrier for you because you've been overwhelmed at the idea and concept of technology and that the idea of having to buy a microphone and learn these programs, or have to find the help to learn these programs or outsource it. The entire roadmap of the technical, how to have podcasting just overwhelms you so much that you've been afraid to even open that book and start diving into looking at what that actually looks like in a step-by-step kind of way. And so it's overwhelming and it's scary. And again, I get it. So many of my clients start off that way and I have to work with them on getting past that because part of it is using my tools and tips and tricks that I've learned from my years and years of doing this. But part of it is also just realizing that a lot of these. Tech frustrations. And a lot of our desire to be perfect are things that we're just setting on ourselves that are not necessarily rules that exist out in the podcasting world, but rules that we've created for ourselves and how we're supposed to be living our life. And that necessarily isn't true for podcasting, nor is it necessarily true for living your own life on a day-to-day basis. And so that's a great lesson that I've learned about life through podcasting. If you find yourself in that pod crest donating zone, where you don't know how to get over those hurdles, you still want everything to be perfect and you don't know how to make it. Perfect. There are certain ways that you can work on that. First of all, is just getting really in touch with what your podcast will be about, who it will serve, what the purpose of it will be, because the more that you're able to then dial into search engine optimization with the names and the descriptions and the titles and that podcast at that point, when you know who you're trying to reach and what that message that you're trying to give them is. At that point, your podcast can start to write itself. I always recommend for new clients to write out at least a 52 week content list of 52 episodes, you can create. That way, if you're doing it once a week, it's a full year of podcasting. Of course, some of my clients do twice a week podcast to they'll hit it there and half a year. But either way. It's great to make sure that you're able to have that amount of content, because if you're 10, 11, 12 episodes in an already struggling with finding what to talk about next, that's going to be a real hard road getting to episode a hundred at that point. But I knew when I was outlining, what I would want to talk about in this podcast before even incorporated my guest episodes that are about two thirds of my episodes, I had 52 so plus solo episodes, and I was able to sit down and write them out in half an hour, because it was easy for me because I love podcasting. I love talking about podcasting and these topics for me write themselves. And so when you're able to sit down and know who it is that you're talking to about what that content can write itself. So write out that content list of your episode ideas. Focus on launching with about five to different types of episodes and topics that will fit into that niche and tell that story in one broad stroke of what your podcast will be about. So if you're doing different formats of episodes, try and have one of each in your lunch. It's really show what your listeners can expect, and you're not just giving them one little piece and hoping they come back for future pieces. And if all else fails and you still find yourself stuck on, I know I want to be a podcaster. I know I have a podcasting bad-ass within me, but I just don't know how to make it appear. Help me get over this podcrastinating. I remember I have free brainstorming sessions where you are able to come on the show. We talk half an hour. One-on-one about advice on how to turn your business or brand or idea for a podcast into a show and what those formats will life would look like and how we can make it a success. And I take the best parts of it. And show it to all my listeners out here, as you can hear in a lot of my brainstorm episodes, but all of that information is just yours to take with and do with however, you please. And it's a great way to get started and move from podcrastinating into being in actual podcaster, which is so bad-ass my clients, the moment that they start seeing their trailers go live and start recording their episodes and planning that lunch day. Not to mention on launch day and beyond. It's just so exciting getting out of that stage and into the podcasting zones where you are actually releasing content. So with that, we'll move on to the first stage that a lot of new podcasters find themselves in. If they've launched. On their own, especially, and that would be the launch struggles zone. I counter so many of my tune up clients that start off here, I've teasingly called it the pod pouting zone, because it is where you are releasing your episodes out into the universe. And to you, it feels like all you hear back is echoes that you're not getting audience engagement, that you are hoping to start in that range of a thousand downloads in the first 30 days. That is every podcaster's dream. But in reality, you get your stats and you're maybe at a dozen, a couple dozen episodes. You're definitely less than a hundred. And those 20 to a hundred people that are listening to you each week, aren't reaching out. They're not emailing you. They're not commenting on your social media posts that you're doing. They're not with you the way that you want them to be on this journey and you're not making money and you're not getting business out of it. And so it's causing this frustration. That is understandable because we podcasts because we want to connect with people. If we wanted to. Just talk out into a void, we would make an audio diary and then just stop it right there and not go through the process of editing it and posting it and sharing it on social media. But we're doing all of that because we have a message we want to share with people. And when we feel like it's not being heard, it can be discouraging. So we find ourselves pod pouting over. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I believe in my content. And so ways that you can get past that. I definitely recommend using a 72 hour marketing strategy for new episodes on social media. Wherever you'd prefer social media to spend your time, but having a strategy of knowing what type of content you're going to be posting to promote these episodes. A lot of times in the pod pouting zone, when I'm talking about. People's podcasts and why they're not getting engagement. I ask about their social media experiences and there's not much to report back there because they're not posting regularly. So make sure when you release content that you also know how you're going to be promoting the content and that you're doing it. I also recommend if you're not already doing it as part of your episode formats to include coaching style episodes, because those generally. Increased listener engagement as well as the engagement of the people that you're coaching. And make sure that you have a very firm and clear call to action. And they're wondering why people don't respond back, but I say what are you asking them to respond with? What's your call to action. Are you asking them to follow you on social media and talk with you there? Or are you asking them to email you. Are you asking them to sign up for your coaching program? Are you asking them to sign up for this? Free workshop that you're doing, what is it that you want them to do? And I hear one of two answers. Generally, the one that I hear from some people in this podcasting zone is that they offer all of those calls to action that throughout one single episode, they will tell the listener to do five to 10 different things. In addition to listen to the episode. Or they don't do any of them. It is very rare. I find someone in the pod pouting zone that says that they have one clear call to action. That people aren't engaging with it's because you either have too many or you don't have any, so make sure you, your listeners as well as what your call to action is. And that it's the same week after week. I have a lot of different offers and programs in my sleeps, but the ones that I talk about consistently from episode to episode are my brainstorming sessions and my tuneups that I offer for free to my listeners here, because that's the perfect next step for you all in your podcasting journey, to get to know me better, to start to see whether we're going to work well together or not. So knowing for you, what your call to action is for your listeners and making sure that you're consistent with that messaging will help with that engagement. And also. Investing in podcast player apps there's a lot of times people say that they spend money on Facebook ads or Instagram ads or this ad or this directory or this thing. And they don't see the return on investment, but my clients that invest in podcast player, app ads, See excellent returns on their investment. So this would be a perfect example of someone in the pod pouting zone would really benefit from one of these free tune-ups that I just mentioned. That's when I talked to someone who already has an existing podcast, like my brainstorm episodes, but it's for existing podcasts. And we talk about what your pain points are, where you're struggling, and I audit your episodes and podcasts and tell you how you can grow it. And you can take all that feedback and grow it in five and 10 times, your downloads from there. And I am happy to report that most of the time, if people are listening to these episodes regularly and definitely if they are my clients, you can skip this pod outing zone. It is not. The natural progression of every single podcaster, but this stage is more of a side effect of what happens when you launch without a clear strategy and plan. My clients almost always skip on past stage two and jump right into the momentum building zone. Which is what I call pod paddling, because they're really learning how to swim in this current, a podcasting. They're getting a hundred to maybe 500 downloads per episode in that first month. So they're already in the top. 50% of podcasting when it comes to stats. They're getting some income produced, but it's inconsistently. Maybe it's one client once in a blue moon or they have a small Patrion community. That's just paying the podcasting dues and fees from your different apps and programs. You're getting some income, but it's not the income that you were dreaming of when you started the podcast, your content flow is consistent. You are releasing your episodes regularly. Most people can't get to a hundred or more. Downloads in those first 30 days, if they're not being regular with their content. So that right content flow is consistent and their social media is consistent. And you might sometimes hear some engagement with your show in those little bits, really make your day and keep you going. But you again want more because you did this to get that engagement. And so the engagement is starting, but could be stronger. So in this pod paddling stage. You're really starting to do all the right things, but there are shortcuts that you can take to learn how to tread and paddle and swim a little bit faster. That includes continue to focus on building an expert position with your coaching episodes and your solo episodes, making sure that you are the expert on your show, two thirds of the time, and do your best to try and be more engaging, not just with your episodes on your podcast, but also with things like live streams on social media. Instagram is huge with that as well as Tik TOK. If either one of those apps are your cup of tea, my. Clients that use those apps for lives have great listener engagement. You can also then go into doing. Audience engagement through your podcasts, like using the bus sprout texts, the show to start each episode with an audience, mailbag of questions or answers and engagement. Get things going where there's contests for reviews, where they might win a freebie or a giveaway or some of your services or trial or whatever works for your podcast in your niche, but do these things that will get people to be engaging with your content, both with your podcast and your social media, that really make them feel like they're a part of the show and contributing to this community that you're building. If you are using this to build your revenue, which most of my clients are, is to simplify your offers down to one or two and consider raising your prices. This is the point where you've started to get some engagement and people are asking you about your offers and you're getting a client here, a client there. But because they're so few and far between these clients contend to make special requests of can I have this little thing where it's a little bit different instead? And client and my clients, my podcasters say, I said yes to that person, next thing I knew, my one or two offers that I had grew into five or six or 10 offers. Just like how back when you were in the pod pouting zone potentially. And you had to make sure that you had that one clear call to action. In the pod paddling zone, you need to make sure that if you're making offers to your clients who listened to your podcast or your listeners, that you're having the one or two. Offers that you're able to have. So you don't get that overwhelm. And consider raising your prices because with this experience that you've been building, you do have that experience to be able to raise it and create that value in your program that you're offering these people because it works. And keep on investing back into your podcast, not only with ads, but with other growth strategies. And sign up for a tune-up. If you haven't already. It's excellent. If you're past the pod pouting zone and you don't need me to help you cover the basics, that makes it even more exciting for me because when we meet for your tune-up and you already have your vision and your social media and everything, like all the basics already covered, that's when we can really get into the nitty gritty of these creative and unique ways to really start growing your show in a way that's unique to you and your audience. That's going to wow. People, because this is where you really need to start working on making your show unique and standing out against the crowd, because that's, what's going to get you from the pod paddling zone. Into the next zone, the stage for the pod powering zone. Because this is when your business is really gaining traction. You are getting anywhere from 500 to just under a thousand downloads per episode, and you're creating a meaningful but inconsistent income. So you're getting more clients than in the pod. Paddling zone bills are starting to get paid. You're not having to worry every night about where that next meal will come from or what your partner might say about your podcasting journey or your business journey. You're not worried about that necessarily, but you're not going to be retiring on your podcasting and business income that you're making right now. There's room to grow still. And we can help do that together. You're also having this consistent content flow, not only with your podcasts, but with your social media, your audience knows who you are because you've been engaging with these people consistently. Through social media, as well as through whatever offers in contest and mail bags that you're doing with your show and your Patrion community potentially, or wherever you're connecting with your people. You're connecting so regularly that you built this entire community around you. That's helping you pod power through the next stage. And so ways that you can continue to work on that. Yes. To build your expert positioning. Not only making sure that you're doing this on your show every single week, because at this point. Let's face it. If you are getting this many downloads and getting that much of a conversion, your audience knows you very well, but make sure that you're also being on other podcasts and, doing social media on other platforms. Make sure that you're guesting on other podcasts and not just the podcasts that come to you saying, Hey, we love you so much. Come on our show, but go looking for podcasts that are bigger than yours that have larger audiences. Knowing that you have something unique and special to offer them and get landed on those shows in the top 200 that are going to launch you into the top 200 as well. And then from there, it's just, sky's the limit with podcasting. So you want to make sure that expert positioning isn't just on your show, but everywhere. And that you're engaging more with these live streams and Q and A's. And you're again, just as simplifying these offers as you're building your brand and your business more, because your one-on-one time is becoming more and more valuable. So if you are at your capacity of one-on-one clients at this point, And your podcasting feels like you're ready to cap out and you can't take on any new clients. That's when you need to start also being like, all right, how can I take these offers that I have right now that have a lot of one-on-one time and scale it back to something where I'm able to do something else and be able to offer group classes, group programs workshops, videos of me doing what I do best that they can access instead, you want to make sure that your time is being spent meaningfully so that you can really graduate onto the final phase of podcasting, the podcasting phase that everyone always dreams about. And the final way to do that as also be constantly reinvesting in podcast growth. You had to spend money to make money. So at this point, if you don't already have a podcasting mentor, or a podcast community, a hive-mind of some sort that you're using to help you grow and push yourself to get onto the next level, you need to be finding that. Getting these ad strategies going where you know exactly where your podcasting dollars are coming in, where they're going out more is coming in and that's going out, which is nice. But that, that going out into advertising. Never stops because that's what feeds that wheel. That's going to keep your business and brand growing as your podcast continues. So make sure that you are continuing to reinvest in your podcast growth, if you are a coach or a service provider who offers a product or an offer, We already talked about simplifying your offers that you're offering on your podcast. You also want to make sure that if you're doing. Any sort of business where you're offering a one-on-one time with these clients. If you find yourself getting to the point where your one-on-one time is maxing out. Figuring out how you can adjust that so that you do more group work or online video tutorials. And that you're able to shift it so that as your business is growing and expanding, and your schedule is filling up, that you're able to readjust that schedule and shift your offers around to make sure that. Your time is being spent in the best way possible. And that oftentimes includes switching those offers around a little bit, tweaking them and raising prices and continuing to reinvest in your podcast growth. Keep that wheel of advertising to new listeners, to clients, taking those clients and reinvesting some of that revenue back into ads and keep that wheel turning. Never let it stop because the moment that you stop the wheels slow down and then people are like why did my download stop? And I'm like how's your advertising going? And they're like I was getting 500, 600 downloads a week. So I stopped. And I'm like What happened after you stopped? The download slowed down. You want to keep on doing that if you want those results to continue. So keep that going. As you're making more money, spend more money in those ads. And then you'll find yourself in the. Zone that every podcaster dreams of it is the zone of reliable income impact and growth. So I like to call this the stage where you are going to be pod parenting for me, I would say pod parenting is at that point where you are at the top of the podcasting. Community, not only with your own show, but other podcasters look at you and say wow, because not only does your show have over a thousand downloads each new episode within its first 30 days, but you're steadily increasing income month after month. Not only are you not having to worry about where the bills are being paid, but you're paying off debt and making investments into your future. And you're doing grownup shit that you never thought you'd be able to do with money. That's coming from your business and the business. Is growing because of your podcast or your podcast has become your business or wherever that little orobourous of podcasting to business, to revenue, to growth works for you. The way that you're building your podcast and your brand, it's beautiful. And you get to this stage because you have clearly define your community to client bridge, exactly. When people find you, how they find you. When they find you, the first thing that they do. Which is oftentimes listening to your show. And, the second thing that they do, which is then signing up for your newsletter or doing a tune-up or a brainstorm in my case, or, you know what their next steps are as they go through the journey, after they do X, Y, Z, that's around the time that most people sign up and then once they graduate from this program or do this, then this is the next stage that they go on to. And you have this client journey that you have very clearly defined and it's working in building itself. You're having a lot of fun while doing it. Because this all feels very natural. If you're into the Japanese concept of icky guy, it's very much a dat where you are knowing that like your podcast is helping people and it's making you money and it's helping people make money or changing their life. However, your podcast is designed to change lives like you're changing lives while living out the life that you were destined to have while being able to support yourself and your loved ones. Is this perfect blend of, a harmony of life that we all dream for with podcasting. And the best thing that you can do to keep it forward, and at that point, your business and brand feels so dialed into who you are and who you're meant to be working with. This is Whole symphony of podcasting has built up this foundation of a life for you. That's going to continue on building itself and you know that because you're not going to stop anytime soon at that point, it's about being a pod parent and paying it forward. Not only do you want to continue serving your ideal listeners, but you want to make sure you avoid chasing shiny objects that take away time from what's working. This is when you get so big and so amazing that these huge opportunities will start presenting itself. And you're going to have to ask yourself is this serving my ideal listener? Is this serving my brand? Is this serving my business? Is this like ad read that I'm going to be doing right for my listeners is this side project going to take away time and energy from working with my clients. You're going to have these things that are going to be a very shiny and very sparkly and very appealing. And that you're going to have to make sure that you sometimes avoid because they're not serving the greater good. And as things change as your availability and time change, as you learn new programs. There's no harm in a little thoughtful, experimenting at times without chasing shiny objects. If it's all in the name of serving your listeners and your main goals as a podcasting, bad-ass better. Always challenging the ideas of creating new offers, but also challenging the ways that you do podcasting. Podcasting is growing so much that every year there's a new app or a new way that these programs that you might already have these new functions and features, especially with AI right now, where you can do new things. And if you're not taking the time when your app has a new update and releases a new feature to learn how that feature can help you. You won't learn how it can help you. So even at this point, even though you're kicking ass and taking names every week on your show, don't stop learning new things. Keep connected, paying it forward and being able to help other podcasters as they're getting started. Being involved in community groups, we're able to share your experience and paying it forward is a great way to give back. And be mindful of that work-life balance and reverse FOMO as well. At this point you might be so invested in how your business is growing and that it's hard for you to take time for yourself to make sure you continue to do that. But also you might start being like I remember when I had more time for this or more time for that's a sign that you need to take that time, because guess what? You can. And you said, keep connected and keep that balance. Keep that wheel going. And you'll be pod parenting through the next decade as the podcasting bad as I'm sure you can. So those are the five stages. I'd love to hear. If you were able to identify with these stages, what stage you're in and how I might be able to help you get to the next stage. If you're interested in a brainstorm or a tune-up that information and link is in the show notes as well as on my website, sober steve.com. Thank you again for listening to another episode of podcasting bad-ass it's your host sober Steve signing up. Thank you. And keep on podcasting.