Insight with Chris Van Vliet - 5 things you need to know before starting your podcast or YouTube channel

Episode Date: March 19, 2021

One of the biggest questions I get asked every day is "I really want to start a podcast, how do I do it?" In this episode I breakdown the 5 main points that I've learned since launching my podcast in June of 2019. It's not always easy, but it can be incredibly fun and rewarding! Let me know if you'd like to hear more topics like this! Could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to https://chrisvanvliet.com  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram:instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter:twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook:facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube:youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, y'all? It's Druski, and I've teamed up with Mountain Dew to produce a hilarious new basketball podcast called The Do Zone with Drewski. Learn the backstories of your favorite ballers and celebrities like Jamal Murray. Did you have like a favorite team? Was it the Raptors at the time or no? Was the Raptors even started around that time? Come on, bro. I ain't that old, Phil.

You're talking like I was 50. Taylor, Rokes, Agent Wilson, and many more. You won't want to miss this. Listen to the Doozone with Drusky on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Yes, good to have you with us. Welcome to the show. I'm Chris Van Fleet. Hope you're having an amazing week. And as you might have noticed from the title,

yeah, this is a bit of a different episode. Usually we're diving into the minds and the habits of the world's best performers. But on this one, I wanted to share a little bit of what I've learned over the last year or so since I began this audio adventure. I get a lot of messages and a lot of emails from people saying, Chris, I want to start a podcast. I just have no clue where to begin. And by the way, this doesn't just apply to podcasting.

A lot of what we're going to talk about here will also apply to starting a YouTube channel as well. And I've put this advice out there on Twitter and on Instagram. I've been a guest on a bunch of different podcasts. And I've talked about this. But I figured let's put this all together in one place. And that's what this episode is all about. It's going to be very quick. It's going to be very much to the point.

But I think there's five main things that you need to keep in mind if you're looking to dive into the wild world of content creating. So here we go. Number one, first and most importantly, ask yourself why you're doing it. Why do you want to start a podcast? Why do you want to start a YouTube channel? One of my favorite books is called Start With Why by Simon Sinek. And he talks about people aren't interested in what you do. They're much more compelled by why you do it.

So find your why. And if your why is to make money, you're in for a rude awakening, at least at first. I mean, I'm assuming you want to start a podcast because you have some sort of interesting ideas that you want to share. But think about what it is that's going to make your show stand out in the sea of more than a million podcasts that currently exist. And a lot of people will start their show and then they just won't really follow through from there. 12% of all podcasts have only ever published one single episode. 6% never made it past two episodes. and half of all podcasts have 14 episodes or fewer.

And I mean, think about it. We all have that friend or that buddy or that family member who started a podcast, got super excited about it, and, you know, a month later, you just never heard about it again. And that's exactly what they're talking about here. And I think it happens because people have the wrong expectations of their podcast, because you will probably have way less listeners and way less downloads than you expect. So it's really important at the outset to understand and realize that this is a

total labor of love. Podcasting requires a lot of effort. I mean, you have to plan, write, research, record, edit, and publish every single episode. And if you don't love every single step of that process, you should probably just give up right now. Because otherwise, you're going to burn yourself out and you're not going to enjoy it all. So number one is Ask yourself why you're doing it. Number two, just start. Like, really, just start. So many people dream about starting a podcast or talk about doing it, but that's where it ends.

Stop worrying if you have the right microphone or the right camera or the right logo or the right name. Because you know what all these are? All of these are just excuses. If you want to do it and you're passionate about doing it, just start. Start today, start tomorrow. Pick a day and just start. And if you realize that every podcast, even Joe Rogan or Conrad Thompson or the very talented hosts of my favorite murder, realize that all of them started exactly where you are.

They all started with zero episodes and zero downloads. It is very much a marathon and not a sprint. And I always say you might have heard me, he said this before. nobody was listening to episode number 61 of the Joe Rogan experience. In fact, hardly anyone was listening at episode 361 of his show. So just start. And once you start, don't stop. That leads us to number three.

Number three is be consistent. If you expect people to show up and listen to your podcast, you have to show up for them. They need to be able to count on you showing up when you say you're going to be there. I mean, that's just great life advice, too. Don't put out two episodes this week and then skip next week. I'd say, at the very least, do one episode a day, or one episode a week, I should say, and do it on the same day every week. Because podcast listening is very habitual. Think about it.

You're probably listening to this right now around the same tasks that you always do every single week, whether that's driving to work, sitting at your desk, maybe you're working. walking the dog, preparing a meal, whatever it is, your favorite podcasts are tied to those behaviors. So as a podcaster, perhaps you say every Tuesday, I'll have a new episode or every Tuesday or Thursday. But get into that routine and then your listeners will get into that routine with you. Number four, bring value. Because if you're passionate about it, other people will be passionate about it as well. People are choosing to listen to your show out of all of the shows that they could possibly listen to. People either want to be entertained or informed. In fact, statistics show that nearly 75% of podcast listeners say that they tune in to learn something. I mean, that's what

this show is all about. And bringing value applies even more when it comes to getting your guests. I mean, it's obvious when you ask a guest to be a guest on your show what's in it for you. I mean, you get to spend an hour of their time with you. But what's in it for them? What value can you provide to them? Because I see far too many emails or DMs where someone says, hey, I have a podcast. I know you're busy. It'd be great if we can interview you.

And then that's it, which only looks at half the picture. That's basically saying, hey, here's what I'll get. Want to help me out? So think about value first. Value your listeners and value your potential guests. And if you provide value, the rest will follow. And finally, number five, think ahead. You've heard me say it before.

Vag goals get vague results. But if you don't know where you're heading, you're never going to get there because you don't know where you're heading. So make a list of potential episodes. So you won't be left scrambling every week. Like make this a big list. Just brain dump everything onto a piece of paper or a word document. Brain dump 10, 20, 50 episodes that you could possibly do, 10, 20, 50 guests that you could

possibly have if you're going to be interviewing people. Because once you're done with your first episode, you should already know what you're going to be doing for episode number two and then number three, and the number four, and then keep that momentum going. I think the biggest reason that podcasts fail is because they don't find their audience. and if you don't have an audience, well, you might as well just be calling up your friend on the phone and telling your podcast to them

because that's pretty much what you'll be doing when you throw it out of the world and you don't have your audience. So that's it. Those are five simple things right there, and I'll recap it for you. Number one, first and foremost, ask yourself why you're doing it. Number two, start.

Just start. Number three, be consistent. Number four, bring value and number five, think ahead. There you go. I hope that helps you either start your podcast, start your YouTube channel, or if you already have a podcast or YouTube channel.

I hope this gives you a little bit of guidance to take those things to that next level. And I can't wait to see you just absolutely crush it. So I love this quote. I love this quote, is it something that is really stuck with me for a long time. You don't need to know all the steps, just the next one.

So there you go. I think we plan those out at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in a way that you can like sequentially go through them. So just take one step, then after that step, take the next one after that one, take another one after that. Hope you enjoyed this. If you did enjoy it, let me know in social media,

let me know in Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Chris Van Fleet. And we'll do more of these. I actually have one in mind, the five things I learned from interviewing the rock. It's more than five things that I learned. from interviewing The Rock, but the top five things I learned, I think will be the next one of these.

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