Podcast journey update!

It’s hard to believe the WLW podcast is only 1 month since launching, yet in some aspects it feels like it’s been around forever. As part of my journey I am keeping a journal of my progress and will share everything that’s been happening over the last few weeks.

Creating a solid plan

By following a “how to podcast” course and having now listened to hours of podcasts about podcasting, I have been able to create a plan taking me from the infamous (early) Launch day right through to the end of this year and into 2023.

My main focus is to use every conversation and episode as an opportunity to learn and improve. I’ve been extremely lucky in having patient and somewhat forgiving guests on the WLW podcast so far, who have endured various hiccups and tech issues!

One of the main benefits of having a guide to follow is that during one of the many moments where self-doubt or a feeling of being overwhelmed kicks in, I just take a step back, focus only on the very next task I have to complete and forget about everything else.

I think this simple technique can help with weight loss also. When you feel like you have “too much” weight to lose, go easy on yourself. Focus on the next 1lb. It sounds and feels much more achievable and is important to celebrate multiple successes along the way, not just when you reach the final target.

Within my plan, I set am setting personal goals for each month to challenge myself and help drive the growth and progress of the podcast.

My current main focus areas are:

Instagram growth.

The reason for this is that so far, the ‘gram has been the place I have started every great conversation with people who have gone on to star as a guest on the Weight Loss Warrior Podcast. It is also my main format for sharing updates and new episodes as they are published.

Whilst I’m not looking to get “instafamous” (I feel so woke using all these made-up words) I’ll be completely honest in saying I want as many people to discover the podcast as possible. In a short time, I have already received some amazing, positive feedback from people describing the podcast as “motivating” and “inspiring”, so am convinced that by reaching even more people, there is an opportunity to be part of their weight loss journey and offer an additional line of support.

Creating a solid “working” schedule

As you may know by now, when not podcasting I have a full-time job and family to keep me busy. This in itself is enough to ensure my normal waking hours are never dull which I love, and am truly grateful for. However, and here comes the “but”, it does mean I have to create pockets of time to lock myself away and focus on WLW, which are often outside what you would consider “sociable hours”. It’s not uncommon now for me to be at my coffee machine in darkness at 4:30am as I get up early in order to get ahead before the rest of the house is awake.

In order to optimise the time I “find”, I have written step by step processes and checklists for each of the main tasks I have on a regular basis:

Podcast episodes

o Recording

o Editing

o Preparing to publish online

o Artwork/stories/reels

o Show notes

Growth

o Finding new success stories

o Building my audience

o Exploring platforms outside of Instagram

Planning

o Speaking to potential guests

o Organising Interviews

o Updating my things to do list

Every time I am going through each topic and discover something else I need do, I add it to the process or checklist. It helps speed things up and already allowed me to remember an important part of publishing I would have otherwise forgotten.

Building a routine

I’ve quickly realised that hosting and publishing a podcast is a lot of fun but also hard work. Each episode currently requires about 3 hours of my time from start to finish. With two episodes per week, it’s easy to spend time every day working on the podcast. One thing I have quickly realised and aim to do though is to batch certain topics. As an example, I plan to record a full month’s worth of interviews within 3 days. This then allows me to complete the editing and publishing schedules ahead of time and with less disruption to my day to day life. As I get deeper into my podcast journey, I hope to find other “trade secrets” from the pros.

Hard Stats

I was never sure how many “followers”, “Downloads” or “Listeners” to expect for the WLW podcast. I still don’t have a clue to know whether my figures are average/amazing/awful compared to other podcasts in a similar niche. All I can go by are my own stats and work to improve them every day, week and month.

As my focus is on consistency and improvement, I am less worried on exactly how many listens a new episode gets but I do want to help as many people as possible. It’s quite simple to expect the more people who hear the podcast, the more people it will help. If this is true and I am able to add even a few listeners every episode, I’m on a good path.

Learning Curves

I am finding new and different ways to improve every day and enjoy the process of learning something different, especially with the sense of doing something to help other people.

I think the most noteworthy “lesson” this month was “recording” a brilliant conversation with Ryan Quinn (winner of the National Slimming World award, “Mr Sleek 2022” and loser of more than 10 stone.) and then when going to listen and start the editing process, discovered it had only recorded MY voice and nothing of Ryan… Again, thank you to Ryan who was kind enough to sit down once more and go on to record an even BETTER episode with me.

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