I Podcast.

You guys! My Podcast has finally been launched! Before I dive into my celebration, I wanted to update you on the mess that has been editing and producing this thing. There were LOTS of lessons to be learned.

The Podcast Production Process: My Personal Hell

For those of you that haven’t been following me as I bumble along figuring out how to make a podcast, you can get caught up here and here and here. It’s definitely been an imperfect journey, but it hadn’t been particularly painful until this last step: Production.

And I must’ve known it was going to be rough because I put it off for as looooong as I could. But this past weekend, I finally decided to focus on getting it done and dove, head-first, into editing.

The Production Steps I Took:

In case you’re interested, I’ll start by walking you through the steps I took to produce my very first podcast. I may eventually outsource this task to a professional, but I wanted to learn how to do it and try my hand at it a few times so I can use that info to inform the way I record my interviews in the first place. So far, this has been a good move. I will definitely record my next episode differently!

1. Record interview

2. Record my intro “blurb” (I don’t know what it’s actually called.)

3. Remove the Micro SD card from my microphone, (I happened to use this one ) and add the digital files from the Micro SD card to my computer’s hard drive

4. Fire up the Garage Band app on my computer and drag my audio files in, along with the music file for my intro/outro

5. Try not to throw my computer out the window as I split, rearrange, cut, fade the different pieces of audio

6. Hate myself for starting a podcast in the first place

7. Take a deep breath and press on with the editing

8. Export the completed podcast as an MP3 file

9. Load my MP3 file into Libsyn and populate all of the show/episode description info

10. Publish the episode in Libsyn!

11. Apply to add the podcast to iTunes

12. Apply to add the podcast to Stitcher

13. Wait

14. Freak out a little when I see my podcast show up on my ACTUAL Podcast feed!,

That list made it seem so simple, didn’t it? Well, not everything went perfectly. Here are a few more lessons I learned while producing this baby…

Lesson #1 - If you’re going to make a 30-ish minute podcast, don’t record 90 minutes of audio.

Remember back when I told you how laid-back I was going to be about how I structured my first interview? And remember how that didn’t really work? Well, it doubly didn’t work because my easy-breeziness meant that my guest and I just chatted casually for 90 minutes. In my head I thought, “This is great! I’ll definitely be able to edit this down to pull out only the best parts.” Doesn’t that sound SO LOGICAL? It really did to me.

What I didn’t properly respect was that editing is Time Consuming. Yes, with capital letters. And what seems like a tiny snippet of an idea you want to capture can take hours to stitch together juuuust right. And then double that if you haven’t touched Garage Band since circa 2002. So yeah, it was a long 2 days of editing. You read that right, two full days to pull together a 30-minute podcast. Ugh. I’ll never get that slice of my life back.

Lesson #2 - Yes, you need a mic stand or tripod.

Ughhhhh, there are so many rustles and crinkles and barumphs in my first episode. And it’s fine. It’s supposed to be a hot mess right now. But still, I wish I would’ve fully understood the importance of a stable mic. Thankfully, my husband gave me one he’d had just lying around, so I’m set for next time!

Lesson #3 - Be conscious of your pitch.

This might be one that’s specific to me, but there were lots of times in the conversation where I went into some weird baritone range of my voice. I think I do this naturally in conversation, but it doesn’t play well on a recording. I recall that during the interview, I was kind of leaning back on the sofa as I talked because I’m so comfortable with this particular guest. Next time, I’ll pay attention to sitting up straight and keeping an upbeat energy throughout so my voice stays in an optimal pitch range.

Lesson #4 - When it comes to audio, garbage in/garbage out.

Similar to Lesson #1 above, I had this idea when I was recording that it didn’t reallllly matter how perfect the mysterious “levels” and room acoustics were when I recorded. I could fix it during editing. But that’s not really how it works. While it’s true that you can “turn things up” and “turn things down,” there’s no substitute for doing it right the first time.

Furthermore, I’m realizing that the fewer separate voice recordings, the better. I ended up with very different volume levels and energy-in-my-voice levels from my podcast intro, episode intro, and the interview itself. In retrospect, it sounds pretty bad, so please hang in there with me…I’ll get better with this audio stuff!

The Celebration

But besides how long and tedious it was to edit, it really did go smoothly. And now that I’ve learned Lesson #1 above, this process should go a lot more smoothly next time (I hope!). I have to tell you, the first time I saw my little podcast appear on iTunes it felt so surreal. Apparently I podcast now.

I hope you’ll check out my very first episode with one of my favorite humans, Inga Varney.

Inga is a Wine-geek, a fellow process nerd, a lover of organized digital and physical spaces, while almost always having thousands of messages in her inbox and large stacks of paper all over her desk and surfaces. She is currently a part-time employee working full-time hours while dabbling in her wine business and hanging out with her darling 3-year-old and lovely husband. (And me sometimes.) You’ll love her.

We talk about…

• Learning by jumping into the mess

• The value of being “the new girl/guy"

• How even the most organized people have trouble prioritizing their day

• How to get on track when your current systems are no longer working

• How to follow the pain to figure out where to start systematizing, and

• How to use constraints to make decisions more easily

It’s a pretty fun conversation!

(Side Note: The ridiculously nerdy (and amazing!) tool we discuss is the Timeular tracker.)

I hope you’ll subscribe! (It can only get better from here!) And just so you know, I had previously identified a certain pair of zebra-print shoes as my reward for finally publishing.

So if you see me in them, you’ll know I’m wearing my “Hot Mess Shoes.”

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You can subscribe to The Hot Mess Business Podcast on iTunes or Stitcher!

Four Lessons for Making Your First Podcast Interview Not Suck

Well, I did it. I conducted my first podcast interview this week. I cleverly signed up someone very near and dear to me to be my first guest. (More on her later) Which kind of felt like cheating, but I'm fine with it.

This friend of mine definitely fits the bill for an efficiency expert - she masterfully organizes really important things every day and then acts like it's no big deal. It's in her blood. So I knew we'd be able to have a fruitful conversation on the topic of making businesses work better.

The Interview

We met one afternoon in my home and set up a cozy nook in my living room to have our chat. I got out my new little audio recorder, adjusted my levels in pure amateur fashion using cheap earbuds, and we set out to do this thing.

As soon as I hit record, I realized I had no idea how I wanted to kick off the interview (Face-palm). So I channeled my inner Tim Ferris and did my best to ramble off an introduction that did my guest justice. (Learning #1: Define how you'll introduce your guest ahead of time.) I think it turned out ok, but I'll find out later this week when I start editing.

The conversation itself also started off a little bumpy, because I'd decided ahead of time that I just wanted to "have a conversation and let it flow" instead of being tethered to the questions I'd come up with. (I’m so chill, aren’t I?) But the conversation has to start somewhere. And it's helpful to figure out, ahead of time, where that somewhere should be. (Learning #2: Define your initial question ahead of time.) I ended up asking her to share a bit about how she came to be the process nerd she is today. Which, again, was fine, but could've been better because it felt too abrupt.  

But I started feeling more at home as the conversation continued. Questions came to me as we talked, as I knew they would, and I did my best to point out insights and connect with her story throughout. I think we both enjoyed the conversation and got something out of it. It didn't feel 100% natural, but I'm sure that's something that will come in time as I get more practice in having these conversations.

In retrospect, though, I lost sight of my "why" for this podcast. And that’s a pretty big deal. She and I were just sort of geeking out about processes, but I wasn't keeping it focused on what my listener wants. This podcast is supposed to be for business owners who feel like their business is an operational Hot Mess, in some way. They don't enjoy geeking out about processes - they enjoy some other aspect of their business: Sales, marketing, strategy…whatever. They need help with the operational part, not further confirmation that they are not wired the same way these weirdos are. I'm supposed to be helping them to feel less alone and giving them strategies for making things work better. I let my listener down.

As I reflected, I recalled something Rob Lawrence taught me at the podcast workshop I attended a few months ago. He said we should think of our audience as a single person who is right there with us while we record. It's our job to keep drawing them into the conversation, just like any good host would do at a real party.

Think about what they're interested in.

Keep connecting to things they'll find relevant.

It's about them. That visual is really helpful for me and I intend to use it next time. I'm also planning to start each podcast by restating what it's all about in the first place. (Learning #3: Keep returning to "who it's for" and "what it's for” throughout.)

Finally, when we got to the end, I encountered a similar problem from the start…I hadn't really worked out how to wrap things up (Face-palm again). I ended up coming up with what I think was a pretty decent question on-the-fly, but this will definitely be something I'll sort out beforehand next time. (Learning #4: Define how you'll wrap up your interview ahead of time.) I love when podcasts start and end in a consistent way each time. It’s a thread that connects each episode to the next. I want to do that.

So, to sum up…

All-in-all, it went…decently. And as much as the perfectionist in me wants to re-interview her to apply all my learnings, I'm not going to do that. First, because there were some valuable gems tucked in throughout our conversation that I think my listener will appreciate and enjoy. But also, because I want to be a living example of shipping before it's perfect. I'm going to do my very best to edit this episode down to make it as valuable and high-quality as possible. And at the same time, I want to look back a year from now and cringe at it because I've come so far. I can't do that unless I get this one out the door.

Deep breath…next comes learning how to edit a podcast.

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