What I've Learned After Podcasting For One Year

Do you ever feel the pull of an unexplored creative venture? That's exactly the feeling I had a year ago when Creative Space  was nothing but an idea sparked in the heart of the pandemic. Today, we're celebrating an entire year of our journey into creativity. We'll be reminiscing about the birth of this podcast, influenced by my journalism background and a burning passion for creativity. More than just a platform for sharing insights about creativity, this podcast has morphed into a personal chronicle of my rekindled journey as an artist.

As we celebrate this milestone, I'll be sharing some candid learnings from my first year as a podcaster. Tune in as we discuss the demanding time commitment of running a podcast, the need for consistency, the joys of the creative process, and the unexpected personal revelations the podcasting journey triggers. This episode is a treasure trove of tips, lessons learned, and a healthy dose of inspiration for anyone on the brink of starting their own podcast.

Enjoy :)

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SHOW NOTES:

0:00—Introduction

0:48—The spark of the idea

2:07—How the podcast quickly evolved

2:58—The amount of work involved

3:47—Consistency

5:18—Allowing your podcast to evolve

6:36—Getting personal

7:30—Learning about yourself

8:32—Thoughts on social media

9:18—Perfection vs. progress

Transcript

Jennifer Logue: 0:10

Welcome to another episode of Creative Space, a podcast where we explore, learn and grow in creativity together. I'm your host, jennifer Loge, and today we're celebrating a whole year of creative space. The official anniversary is tomorrow, october 9th, but since I published episodes on Sundays, we're celebrating a little early. I thought it would be a good opportunity to reflect on what I've learned so far from starting this podcast and, more specifically, what I've learned after podcasting for one year. First off, a little background.

Jennifer Logue: 0:48

The initial idea to start a podcast at all actually began way back in 2020 during the pandemic. As much as I wanted to start something back then, I wasn't in the right place to launch a podcast. I didn't have a quiet place to record and, as a person, I was very much unsettled, so it just wasn't the right time. But once I found some stability, the idea wouldn't leave me alone. I had become a fan of many different podcasts over the course of the pandemic Jay Shetty's podcast, lewis Howes, gary Vaynerchuk's, and then I remembered way back when I was a full-time journalist. I had been asked over and over again by different people if I had thought about starting a podcast of my own, which I really didn't start listening to podcasts until the pandemic, but anyway, I digress. Anyway, all of these little seeds were planted and finally, as I was doing dishes one night after work, something just clicked and I knew it was time to start the podcast and it would be a podcast about creativity, my absolute favorite thing to talk about in interviews. A year ago, the goal was to scratch the journalism itch that I've missed since transitioning into advertising, interviewing people who inspire me and having thoughtful conversations that would inspire others. But now, a whole year later, creative space took me down a path I didn't expect. It's rekindled my relationship with creativity and, more than that, it's helped me build a healthier relationship with creativity, and that seems like the perfect segue into what I wanted to talk about on the podcast today what I've learned after one year of podcasting. If you're thinking of starting a podcast, do it, and I hope you find these ideas helpful.

Jennifer Logue: 2:58

Okay, number one a podcast is way more work than I thought it would be. I committed to one episode a week, which, to pre-podcast me, didn't seem like a big commitment, but when you factor in doing the research, writing scripts, scheduling interviews with guests, recording the episodes, editing the episodes, publishing the episodes and then sharing them on social media. Even if you do minimal posting, a weekly podcast could easily easily take 10 hours a week Doing this. Now I dedicate one day of my weekend to the podcast because if you don't schedule the time, it's not going to happen. Which brings me to my next point.

Jennifer Logue: 3:47

Number two consistency is key. I did my research before starting the podcast and one tip I kept seeing over and over again is to be consistent. When you post on a consistent day at a consistent frequency, your audience is more likely to stick around because they know what to expect from you and when to expect it from you. Number three make sure you enjoy the process of podcasting. I absolutely love interviewing people and I love writing and talking about creativity and the creative process. It just lights me up I'm just talking about it right now and makes me happy. If you're doing a podcast with the primary goal of monetizing it, you're going to burn out pretty quickly, unless you have a built-in following. Boxes are slow burners. I expected it. As an example, here's a statistic from podcasting platform Buzzsprout If you get 31, 3-1, 31 downloads in the first seven days of a single podcast episode, you're in the top 50% of podcasters. So don't obsess over the numbers, enjoy the process, do great work and let your audience find you.

Jennifer Logue: 5:18

Number four allow your podcast to evolve. I touched on this a bit earlier, but when I first launched Creative Space, I was very much in the former artist, now a journalist, state of mind. I thought I'd be exploring creativity purely from a research perspective on this podcast, being the observer and serving as a vehicle to share wisdom about creativity with listeners. And the podcast is still partly that. But what I wasn't expecting was for things to get personal really fast. With each interview I felt the wall I had built up around my inner artist start to melt away and I realized wait a minute, I'm not done being an artist. So now, apart from sharing wisdom about creativity from creative people I admire, creative Space has also evolved into a personal account of my own journey back to being an artist, and it's holding me accountable because each episode has become a weekly check-in of sorts for me.

Jennifer Logue: 6:36

Number five be prepared to get personal Again. As a journalist, I did interviews in person and over the phone with many of my heroes, but the end product was a print piece, so much of the conversation was left on the newsroom floor, especially my part in the conversation I was cut out in print. I was simply reporting facts from the interview subject. Even if we had an absolutely magical conversation in person, no one was seeing that in the print piece. With a podcast, it's a living, breathing thing. It's not just words on a page. It's your voice, your personality and your life experience coming together for something only you can deliver.

Jennifer Logue: 7:30

This next point is a continuation of getting personal. But number six you will learn so much about yourself, as with any art form and I consider a podcast to be an art form when you take the time to get quiet and come up with discussion topics for your podcast and to develop scripts for those podcasts, you can't help but learn more about yourself. Having a podcast forces you to have a point of view. It forces you to get clear on who you are and what you stand for. When we passively consume media, it's easy to let the world define your narrative. When you're a creator of any kind, especially with something as frequent as a podcast, you define your own narrative and you're sharing your unique point of view with the world. With each episode, it's inevitable that you'll have a better understanding of who you are.

Jennifer Logue: 8:32

Number seven don't obsess over posting to social media constantly. In the beginning I had very lofty plans for social media and soon after attempting to implement such plans I was burnt out. The podcast became much less fun. Now I share two posts to social media each week to promote each new episode, and that's plenty for me. The funny thing is the podcast is actually growing faster now that I've stopped obsessing over social media. But if you love social media, do your thing and amp it up. For me, I'd rather spend my time on social media than on social media. For me, I'd rather spend my time on other creative projects. That's just me.

Jennifer Logue: 9:18

Number eight don't let perfection get in the way of progress. I was such a perfectionist when I started. I didn't post video in the beginning because I didn't like how I looked on camera or how my background looked. I also edited the conversations much more back then. If I didn't articulate every word absolutely perfectly, I would rerecord it. Now I just let it flow.

Jennifer Logue: 9:47

This is a podcast, not my next album. It's a conversation, and some of my favorite podcasters even do episodes on the fly using their iPhone microphones in noisy environments. And guess what? I still listen because I care about what they have to say so. Don't obsess over details so much when you're first getting started. Have fun with it, learn as you go and celebrate your progress. Starting a podcast and sticking to a podcast schedule is a huge deal in itself. Don't let perfection hold you back. And that is all I have to share for this episode of Creative Space. It's been an absolutely fantastic year being on this journey with you. I hope the podcast is helping you grow as much as it's helping me grow, and I'd love to know what you think of the podcast so far. You can leave a review at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Jennifer Loge, and thanks for listening to this episode of Creative Space, until next time.