What is the One Thing You Wish You Had Known Before You Started Your Podcast?

The Headliner Podcast: Discovery and Marketing

We started this new thing where we get you, our awesome audience, to participate in our weekly podcasts by asking you to send your answers to our questions. Last week, we asked how COVID-19 has been impacting your podcast, and everyone really showed up with your answers!

This week, we asked you to answer this: What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started your podcast?

Here’s how our listeners answered this week’s question:

James Sabata of The Necronomi.com podcast wishes he had known that practice makes perfect. Your first episode isn’t going to be your magnum opus, and that’s okay! Every episode will teach you something new and help you to build a better show. In the beginning, James was really neurotic about making it perfect, and that took a lot of the fun out of it. James wishes he had known it would get better so he could just have enjoyed the process. When you enjoy creating your show, everyone else will enjoy listening to it.

For Kitty Felde of The Fina Mendoza Mysteries podcast, its knowledge of the LAX takeoff schedule that she wishes she had had. Kitty never thought much about the airport takeoff schedule before starting The Fina Mendoza Mysteries, but once she was outside with a microphone, every single plane made itself known. Next time, Kitty says she would call LAX to make sure she doesn’t waste precious recording time waiting for planes to land.

Emily Harman from Onward Podcast wishes she had known that every podcaster feels a little scared and insecure. The key to success is just doing it despite the fear.

Hannah from The Psykhe Podcast wishes she had known how much fun connecting with people all around the world would be when she first got started podcasting. If she had known, she might have been less reluctant to start her podcast in the first place, and more excited to begin making the connections to her future audience and fellow podcasters.

For Phillip Wilkerson of the Positive Philter podcast, planning ahead would have made his podcast journey a whole lot easier. In the beginning, Phillip planned episodes one at a time but wishes he had known to plan at least 10 episodes in advance to avoid getting caught up in the stress of life. Scheduling helps Phillip stay on top of editing and avoid feeling rushed to get an episode out.

Scott Wyden Kivowitz from The WordPress Photography Podcast wishes he had known about Headliner from the very beginning! Headliner has saved Scott a ton of time, and he no longer has to fiddle around with Final Cut Pro.

Kolby Castilloof Sports as a Job wishes he had known just how rewarding podcasting would be. If Colby had known what kind of influence he could have, he would never have hesitated and jumped into podcasting right away.

If you ask Matt Pollard of Holding The High Line with Rabbi and Red what he wishes he had known before he got started podcasting, he’ll say: Sound quality and post-recording editing are super important. Matt spent several years self-teaching himself the necessary editing skills to make his audio sound good. Matt wishes he had learned some more of the ins and outs of audio before he got started and recommends you learn from this and take some time to get editing skills early on.

Juan Kingsbury from Career Blindspot reminds us that sometimes even the basics are complex by wishing that he had known exactly what kind of podcast he actually wanted to created. As a big fan of podcasts, Juan had tons of inspiration but had a hard time picking one lane. His advice: pick a setup you are likely to use again and again.

Janyl Jusupjan of Chaï Latte & Salt, Untold Stories of Central Asia wishes she had known how difficult it would be to create a podcast in English as a non-native English speaker.

By the way, if you want to participate in next week’s podcast, be sure to sign up for the Headliner newsletter here! Our weekly newsletter always features that week’s question and instructions for submitting your answers.