[00:01] You’re listening to The Elevated Entrepreneur podcast. A podcast designed to help retailers, restauranteurs and entrepreneurs simplify business operations and use modern technology to elevate their business. Here’s your host, Dhiren Bhatia.
[00:20] Hello, and welcome to another fantastic episode of The Elevated Entrepreneur podcast. Today’s episode is just you and me, there is no guest. It’s just you and me talking to each other while you’re running, or you’re driving or you’re doing your grocery runs, you’re going to be hearing me for the next 15 to 20 minutes. Today’s episode is all about the lessons that I have learned from podcasting. More specifically, the 10 lessons that I have learned from the 10 episodes that I have produced today. Yes, that’s right. If you’re just tuning in, we have turned 10 episodes old and that’s amazing. So thank you so much for listening to those episodes, and if you haven’t already, please head on over to elevatedentrepreneur.fm, where you can find all the amazing episodes that I have in stock for you. Also, at the end of this episode, I’m going to share with you some numbers and how we’re doing as a podcast.
[01:17] Lesson number one: Getting started. One of the key things that I learned in launching this podcast is getting started. And I say that because it took me a year and a half, and also a pandemic to get this podcast off the ground. I had all sorts of excuses made up in my head to not get this off the ground. For example, I thought I was very busy. I thought that I didn’t have enough time in the day to record and produce episodes. I thought that I may not be sounding as good as I should be because I didn’t have all the right hardware. All of these were just excuses, and I’m sure you have some of them in your head too. When you’re looking to do something, you come up with 1000 other reasons to not do it, which is why I want to share this with you as a first, very important lesson, getting started. Getting started is the key to success. No matter how small the step, we all have to take that step number one. Sometimes we all think we want everything to be perfect. I did and I still do sometimes and that’s not necessarily always the case because if you don’t start, perfect could be very subjective. So my key lesson here is getting started and then learning to improve. Episode one is always better than episode zero. Ten is better than perfect, all the same things, all the same lessons. So I hope that you will take that and apply that to your life if there’s something that you’ve been procrastinating or sitting on because you wanted it to be perfect.
[02:48] Lesson number two: Getting over my dislike for my voice. Now there are lots of people that don’t like their voices, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. You get used to that point as I did. Over time, I’m okay with my voice. I know it sounds a bit funny sometimes or maybe it doesn’t. It’s just me but hey, I’m learning to make peace with that. And the other reason this is important is because it’s important to find a balance. What do I mean by that? I mean that you want to sound authentic in every episode. You don’t want to sound like somebody else. If you picked up some of my earlier episodes, I’m speaking as if I was in grade two. I’m slow, I’m making sure that every word is perfect and that’s not necessarily how I’d speak in real life but at the same time, I do want to make sure that I am understandable – all the things that I say are getting to you clearly. Part of that is finding a balance and making sure that you sound authentic but also are able to get your point across.
[03:54] Lesson number three: Creating a compelling episode is not easy. What I mean by that is it takes effort to create a good episode. And while some people might think that it’s all about just getting in front of a mic and recording, there’s actually a lot of hard work and effort that goes into creating a great episode. Whether it’s a solo episode or a guest episode, it takes some time and practice in putting a good episode together. I absolutely enjoy guest episodes because they are such an amazing way to get to know your guests and hear their stories, but the thing that I want to share here is that it takes time and practice to be a good interviewer. I wish I was like Larry King. I like to think I’m getting there. I hope that I will get a day and it takes time and it has taken a lot of effort to learn to become a good interviewer.
[04:44] Lesson number four: Don’t do it yourself. That’s a lesson that I want to share with you because in life we all try to do a lot of things by ourselves and that can’t always be possible [which] is very true in something like podcasting. I hired a team very early on in the podcasting journey, so I have an amazing team that helps me edit and publish these episodes every single time that we record one, and I think it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made so far. That is something that some people enjoy but it is a lot of work and it can very quickly take the joy out of podcasting.
[05:21] Lesson number five: There is no such thing as an overnight success. This is a good one, isn’t it? When I started podcasting, I was expecting big numbers. I was thinking about a million downloads in the first year. But I’ve learned over time that this takes time and practice and consistency. It takes practice to become a good podcaster and it takes practice to make your podcast available and reachable to many, many people. The big thing here is consistently making content. A lot of people give up within the first three to six months and that’s normal because they’re not seeing the growth that they thought, and that’s why I want to share this lesson. Being consistent for a long period of time is going to pay off in podcasting because podcasting is a long-term play, it’s not a short-term play as some people might think it is.
[06:15] Lesson number six: The process and discipline of podcasting is really, really important. Putting a recording into place takes time and it takes process. I am so glad that I took the course that I took from Pat Flynn before I started the podcast. If I hadn’t taken that course, I probably would not have been so good at what I do today because that course teaches you all the things you need to do before you get started with a podcast, and the process you need to create to get a good podcast off the ground. There are so many courses that you could do, but I highly recommend that you take one so that you can understand from a fellow podcaster what it takes to get a good podcast off the ground and what are some of the steps and processes that you can put in place. So for example, in my case, I do two key things that I want to share with you. Number one, I have a day in a week which is reserved only for podcasting and that is Tuesdays. So Tuesdays are days where I record and when I publish episodes. If you’re looking for me on a Tuesday for a conversation, I’m usually not available because I’m locked up in a room recording an episode or two. The second point in that is having a set process. So because I have a team already in place, we have this amazing process that takes the episode from being recorded, all the way to being published, and I can see exactly where that episode is in its journey. That, I think, is really, really important for any new podcaster or aspiring podcaster.
[07:46] Lesson number seven: Always be learning, ABL. If you’re a salesperson, you’ve obviously heard ABC, always be closing. In podcasting, I think it has to be ABL which is always be learning. Podcasting is an amazing experience, from learning about hardware, to learning about editing, to learning about being a good interviewer, making a great episode. It’s all about learning and keeping an open mind. When I started, I probably knew very little. And if I look back, I think I still know very little because podcasting is changing so quickly. Things are making headlines every single day and it’s hard to keep up. But if you have an open mind, and you have a willingness to learn, it’s a great way to have fun.
[08:29] Lesson number eight: Getting over self-limiting beliefs. Now, I mentioned this at the very beginning of the episode. Self-limiting beliefs have only one place, in the trashcan. I say that because we all have our own versions of self-limiting beliefs. I had many and I still do sometimes. For example, “Do I sound good? Is my episode making sense? Do I have the right content? Is someone actually going to listen to me? Do I sound like an expert?” There are so many different versions of this, but they’re all the same. They’re all what my coach calls SLBs, self-limiting belief. So if you have any of these, chuck them out of the window and tell yourself how good you are because that’s exactly what I do every time I have some of these thoughts.
[09:14] Lesson number nine: Podcasting is an expensive hobby. Well, the problem is, I’m a tech geek. I love new tech stuff, and I love exploring new toys so, for me, podcasting can become very expensive. Now, having said that, you don’t necessarily need a lot of expensive gear to make a good podcast. A simple mic and a recorder in your pc or your phone will do the trick. But me being me, wants to learn and try everything that is new. Someone would call it the shiny object syndrome. I love trying new gear, and for me, this is a great reason. Not necessarily a bad thing because in podcasting, you want to make sure that you have a good audio experience and you want a decent mic so that you sound good, and so that your audience enjoys listening to you. On the same note, when we do guest interviews, I also invested in having a great interview software. So I use something called ZenCast. ZenCAst allows us and my guests to have a great audio experience.
[10:18] Lesson number 10: Monetization. I can’t tell you how many people ask me, “Hey Dhiren, how much money are you making off the podcast?” And to be honest, when I started the podcast, that was one of my key drivers – to make money. But as I started making the podcast and as I launched the podcast, I realized that that’s not the only reason why I’m doing this. I want to produce great content so that you, my listener, can enjoy and have a great experience listening to this podcast. It’s about making connections, opening doors and having an audience that is engaged with you, and I’m so glad that I’ve done what I’ve done. Podcasting has opened amazing doors for me. It’s allowed me to connect with people all over the world and also have people understand what I want to share with them. It’s about making connections with you, the audience, so that you are engaged and you enjoy every episode. So remember, monetization or making money is not the only reason you’d want to start a podcast, although later on, I hope that we can have some sponsors on the podcast. And by the way, if you’re ready to sponsor this amazing podcast, do let me know. You can email us at hello@elevatedentrepreneur.fm and I’d be happy to tell you about the sponsorship opportunities.
[11:32] Now, I’ve mentioned to you the 10 lessons that I have learned from podcasting, but hang on, there’s one more. There is an 11th lesson that I want to share with you. And that’s not such a lesson most than it is a big, big, thank you. I am so grateful that you’ve chosen to be with me on my journey as a podcaster. I’m eternally grateful because I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you for being an amazing supporter of The Elevator Entrepreneur podcast and I hope that you will continue to also help me spread the word to other business owners and entrepreneurs so that they too can enjoy these episodes.
[12:10] Now finally, I promised you that I would be sharing some numbers at the end of this episode, and that time has now come. So I want to tell you how The Elevated Entrepreneur podcast has done over the last 10 episodes. Currently, we are averaging about 1000 downloads. So we started back in March, and since March, we have reached just shy of 1000 downloads overall. That means there are 1000 people that have listened to this podcast and that is amazing. It may be less for some people, it may be more for some people, but the point is, every podcasters journey is different, and I am so happy with mine. I have 1000 people to thank for listening to me and having me in their ears in their daily work life. I’m so grateful that you chose to listen to the podcast. So as it stands right now, we’re just shy of 1000 downloads, and we’re about 110 listeners per episode. Not bad, absolutely can be better. And again, as I mentioned earlier, always be learning. Marketing a podcast takes time and effort, and I’m getting there slowly, one day at a time. So with that said, I’m so thankful that you stayed until the end of this episode. I hope that you enjoyed learning and listening to me sharing the 10 things that I have learned from the 10 episodes of the podcast.
[13:33] So before you go, I want to tell you about a special series of episodes coming right after this one. I love coffee and I’ve loved working with some amazing coffee businesses from around the country and around the world, which is why the next three episodes are dedicated to some amazing coffee roasters. You’re going to hear their stories, hear how they got to where they are, and all the fun things they had to do to run their business. So stay tuned for the next special edition of the Coffee Roaster series. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to The Elevated Entrepreneur show at elevatedentrepreneur.fm or wherever you’ve been listening to this episode. And finally, if you would, please do leave The Elevated Entrepreneur podcast a review so that you can make it easier for other entrepreneurs to find this show. Thank you, much love and I’ll see you in the next one.
