Do It Right the FIRST TIME: An Essential How-to for Podcasters

Podcast Episode

Feb 7

Paul Colligan, President and Podcast Guru

Are you taking notes? Because we certainly are. Paul Colligan, expert podcaster, author and entrepreneur joins us in this week’s episode to talk about… podcasts! Colligan has been podcasting since the media form itself began to take hold back in 2004.

Here are three lessons from Paul’s episode:

Lesson #1: The Right Kind of Pressure Will Move You into Action

Paul and David discuss how lighting a fire on your endeavours will help you reach them. Having some kind of external pressure can be a positive thing, as long as you’re outlining attainable goals. Pressure will do nothing but make your life miserable if your next milestone is a lifetime away.

So, whether you’re starting a new business or jumping into a new challenge like podcasting, take action and make sure there’s some risk to keep you invested in the game. After all, if you’re not seeing results with the effort you’re putting in, it might be time to reassess where your focus is. Not sure what your main goal should be? We talk more about that in lesson #3

Lesson #2: The Internet Will Always Kill the Middleman

From books to the bank, Colligan emphasizes how the internet has consistently cut out the middleman in almost any given industry. In the world of instant connectivity, it follows that our processes for obtaining anything we desire will become shorter and more streamlined. The internet gave way for massive innovation, and you can either reap its benefits or keel over from obsoleteness. This has only been accelerated by the covid pandemic. Businesses that were still holding on to old ways of doing things either upgraded or died.

The choice is yours. Start paying closer attention to the patterns of new technology and seek new avenues that are constantly being created for opportunities to reach others.

Colligan states, “the internet’s future is anything that shortens the distance between me and what it is that I want to accomplish; money, travel, finances, physical goods, virtual goods, food and drink…”

Lesson #3: How to Cut through the Noise

With the sudden boom in online activity, countless people started their own podcast. Well, that’s a lot of noise that listeners are sifting through. How can you start a podcast that cuts through the clutter? This is where Paul Colligan’s wisdom shines.

Too often, people jump on a microphone without a clear intention and just start talking. Before you do that, says Colligan, you first need to answer four simple questions.

The Four Questions:

What do you want the podcast to do?

How will you know the podcast is doing it?

Is the podcast doing it?

How can you do it better?

So… what do you really want the podcast to do? Generate more business for your company? Sell your book? Get the opportunity to meet more people? There are really no wrong answers, as long as there is a clear and intentional outcome attached to your plan.

Design your show to accomplish its purpose from the get-go and find a way to measure if the podcast is really doing it. You must have something you can track. You should be able to provide anyone who asks you about your podcast with an incredibly clear purpose. And be ready for the next innovation because it will come. If you want to succeed when it does, you’ve got to be ready for the change.