Why Your 30-Minute Podcast Episode Actually Takes 6 Hours to Produce (And Most People Quit After Episode 3)

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Welcome to Podcast Done for You, the show where we make it as easy as possible

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for you to make the right choices to advance your podcasting career.

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So let's get started on the show.

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Why your 30 minute podcast episode actually takes six hours to produce.

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I. And most people quit after episode three.

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Welcome to podcast Done for You, the show, and we have got a very special

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episode for you today because this is one that comes up all the time.

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How long does it take to produce the podcast and what does it actually do to

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you when you realise how much is involved?

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Now, I will say there's lots of courses that are out there telling

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you how to produce a podcast.

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But sit back and think about this for a moment before we even get into this topic.

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When you are thinking about producing your own podcast, what is it doing

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to, in terms of taking you away from what your core area of expertise is?

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You've gotta think about that, and that is exactly why most people

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don't get past episode three.

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So let's just get into it a little bit further and talk about why.

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These 30 minute podcasts really do take about six hours because I

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want you to be, have a really good understanding of the reality of it.

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I don't want to discourage you from having a podcast far from that.

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I want you to have a podcast.

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In fact, if you are here, it's because I.

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You deserve to have a podcast.

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If it's in the back of your mind and you wanna be a thought

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leader in business, then this is absolutely the opportunity for you.

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So what we're gonna do is talk to you about a few different things in,

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uh, in the context of this, because there's a lot of areas to cover.

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So.

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In the early research phase of podcasting, you were just talking

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about getting into a microphone, and then you start realising about the

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editing software, and we've talked about some of those things in the past.

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And then you start talking about how long the episode is going to

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be, and then you start planning for the episode, you start getting the.

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This setup done.

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You start doing, thinking about the post-production and the publishing, let

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alone if you start thinking about guests and conversations with other people.

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There's lots of things to think about in it, so I want you to be realistic

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about it and understand that diving in, it's not just a case of jumping onto

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Zoom, hitting record for 30 minutes.

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And then pressing a few buttons and out it goes out the door.

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The truth is that there is a time multiplier, particularly when it

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comes to expect that a 30 minute episode of your podcast is going to

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take you probably close to two hours and initially maybe even longer.

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Just for the editing phase.

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Now, of course, it depends on how proficient you get at

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editing over a period of time.

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It also depends on what tools you use and how much you rely on some of the ai.

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Now, word of warning, with a lot of the ai, it can take things out and do things

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that you maybe don't really want it to do.

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They are not perfect far from it, and I think that, uh, spending a bit of time

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learning how they work, learning what you can take out yourself often is a

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lot quicker than using the AI tools.

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That's just a little small tip for you, but then.

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You've gotta think about things as well.

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There is the pre-production side of things.

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You've gotta be planning and researching what it is that you

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want to talk about in your episodes.

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Now, let's just assume that you've got past the early phases.

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Phases, I should say, where you've worked out.

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What is this podcast going to be about?

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Who is the target audience?

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What, in fact, are you gonna call the podcast?

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Have you got the graphics set up?

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Have you got the various tools set up?

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We're gonna assume that those things have happened because now you're

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in the recording phase, but there is this pre-production planning

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and research time that you do need.

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You need to think about what is.

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The topic of conversation for this.

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Now, if you are trying to do an episode like this where it's just you talking

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on your own, it's actually even harder because if you don't have the skillset,

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and look, I'm not gonna say I'm perfect far from it, but here's the thing.

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I've been doing this for well.

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A few decades, let's just say, and it's not something that just

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happens naturally for most people.

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There are very few podcasters out there that do a great job

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in pulling off a simple episode where it is just them talking.

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It's hard.

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There's a lot.

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That has to happen.

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And you don't want to be reading a script.

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I'm not reading a script now, and I don't recommend that you read a script and we've

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done episodes about that in the past.

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So check them out if you haven't done already about the pros and cons of

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script of scripting your podcast.

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The fact of the matter is, is you want it to be a conversation.

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Now, ideally, that conversation is happening with someone else, and again,

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this is a little shout out to the service that I offer, which is podcast

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done for You, which simply allows you.

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To have a podcast with me where I'm your co-host, so you're having a conversation

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with me, and therefore, it is so much easier to talk about what it is your area

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of expertise is, rather than trying to do it by yourself and have a conversation

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with someone who's not really there.

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And you can't really bounce off someone then and understand what the

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questions are that they might be asking.

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So.

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You get past the pre-production and planning and research

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time that you need and look.

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You know, you might spend an hour on that.

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Once you get it down pat, maybe you might spend a little bit less time on

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it, but then you've got all the technical setup and all the troubleshooting

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that goes alongside of all of that.

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You have to make sure you have all of that software set up and

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ready to go so that you can record.

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Now, most podcasters will tell you, as I have done in the

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past, as great as Zoom is.

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For meetings.

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It is not the ideal tool for recording your podcast.

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Many reasons for that, but trust me, that is the case.

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So you want some software to be able to do that.

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Now, if you're going to have that software, it's going to require you

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to understand how it works and it's going to have, you're going have to

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understand troubleshooting things happen.

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I was recording a podcast just, uh, a day or two ago and realised

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that there was an echo on the line.

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Now, there were several people involved in this particular podcast,

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so stopping wasn't really an option.

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So in the end I had to work out how do we actually remove

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that echo in post-production?

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Well, we are able to do that.

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I'm not gonna go into the technicalities of that now, but that's

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a good example of troubleshooting.

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There are other ways that if.

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You know, you do want to reduce some of those echo or get rid of it altogether

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while you're actually recording.

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Those sorts of things you have to be aware of on how to do.

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They don't come straightforward to you unless you know and spend the time on it.

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Again, the question is, do you want to be spending that time on it?

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Do you want the podcast, but do you want all of this stuff

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with it post-production tasks?

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Well, that's another big thing to worry about.

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You've got show notes that you have to be concerned about.

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Clips for social media and distributing those.

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Now, show notes is a big part of podcasts as well.

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You want a summary of what's happened.

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You wanna put the chapters together for breaking up the podcast so

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people can jump around to things.

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You want to have content that you can drive people towards, so.

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For example, if you are interested in more information about the kinds of

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software that I use and recommend and indeed recommendations for things like

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microphones and uh, various other bits of equipment in the setup, then check out

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the show notes and you will be able to see a link to a page where you can download

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a copy of all of that information.

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A good example of what you put into the show notes.

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You spend a bit of time thinking about these things and getting the information

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right so that people who are scrolling through and deciding whether they want

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to listen to the podcast will quickly get a sense of what might be in it for them.

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So now let's get to the important points.

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Why 90% of podcasts don't make it past.

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Episode seven and why?

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If you want to be in the top 1% of business podcasts, you just

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have to get past episode 20.

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I'll tell you why.

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It's very, very simple.

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All of these things accumulate if you are spending six hours of

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your time on a podcast episode.

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What is the first thing that goes if a client comes knocking and asking you for

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information, asking you to do a project?

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If there's paid work coming in through the door, it's the podcast.

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Now the problem is that you miss an episode or two.

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And suddenly the value of the podcast flies out the window.

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And like many tasks that we have in life, it disappears.

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Sounds like a good idea at the time and you've forgotten about it.

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The trouble is the podcast is by far and away the best marketing tool that you

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could possibly have for your business.

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Again, not gonna go into huge amounts of detail about that now, 'cause

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we've covered it in other episodes.

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But I will say this to you, undoubtedly, this gives you way more.

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Then you can possibly even imagine right now, because it

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is not just about the podcast.

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It is about all the different ways that you distribute

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that content and utilize it.

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And when you sit down and work out how much time you are spending on writing

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posts for social media, for example, it is actually ultimately time efficient.

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But that is only the case if you don't have to worry about all these

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things that we're talking about today.

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Because the minute you start worrying about all of this stuff, the

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post-production, the pre-production, the things that are happening during the

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podcast is where the time really kicks in.

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And the, where the, the, you know, the potential for you to go, well, this

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is not really what I was here to do.

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This is not really what I want to deliver in my business.

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So what else is there to think about and why they don't get, why

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you don't get past episode seven?

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Why?

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Again, the overwhelm.

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There are other things you have to think about.

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Keywords.

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That's right.

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Keywords comes into it as well.

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How long does podcast editing take is a good example of a keyword that we've

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hit upon for this particular episode.

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Podcast time investment, podcast, production time.

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All of these things are keywords that come into just this particular

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episode that we are thinking about.

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It is.

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All of these things that accumulate.

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That really is why your 30 minute podcast episode actually really

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does take six hours to produce.

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And as I said, why most people quit after episode three, and certainly by

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the time you get to episode seven, 90% of dropped out and 99% have dropped

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out before you get to episode 20.

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Well, that's something that we take away completely.

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The most common thing that happens.

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Really when people like you are sitting there thinking about a podcast is

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the overwhelm, it is overwhelming.

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There are so much that you need to be thinking about.

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It is exactly why Podcast Done for You was established so that it

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completely removes the overwhelm.

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All you have to do is show up and be the expert.

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We take care of everything else, absolutely everything else.

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We'll even work with you on the topics that you need to cover in a particular

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episode so you minimize the amount of time that you need even for thinking about it.

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The rest of it.

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Is all done for you completely to the point where the

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co-hosting is the big factor.

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And we've talked about that specifically in previous episodes.

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But just to recap very particularly, it means that you are having a conversation

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with someone who is playing the part of your audience and is there

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solely to elevate you as an expert.

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And not only that is someone who, in my particular case.

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Is skilled of having worked in the media, worked as a journalist, worked as a

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producer, worked in communications and marketing for countless organizations and

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companies, and small businesses as well.

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I know what I'm doing.

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I know how to elevate you.

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Now, that means that instead of six hours to produce a podcast

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for, that's only 30 minutes.

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All you have to do is show up for 30 minutes, record the podcast,

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we'll take care of everything else.

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In fact, for many of my clients, we compacted even more so we get

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maximized the value, but that's not the topic of conversation right now.

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That's something for you to think about and understand that the 30 minute podcast

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episode that you really want to produce.

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Need not take you much more than 30 minutes, but you need to be

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prepared to ask for the support.

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You need to be prepared to say, this is a fantastic tool for my business.

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I want a podcast for all the right reasons.

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I want to be seen as a thought leader.

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I want to be the authority, the go-to person in my space for my business.

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I want an education and nurturing system for my business that podcasts produce.

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I just don't need to be the person that is doing everything.

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And I also want to warn you of one final trap that many have fallen into.

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They decide, okay, great.

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I'm going to outsource bits and pieces of this.

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Now let's put aside the fact that I've just established that the most important

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thing that you need to do is to have someone sitting in there to co-hosting

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with you, but everything else around it.

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Don't think that you can just simply outsource that and not manage it,

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not have to have systems in place for how you think it should be.

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And again, that it requires a whole lot of learning and a whole lot of additional

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resources that come at a cost or.

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It requires you diverting resources that you have from existing tasks that might

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be more up their alley of things that they should be doing for your business.

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So the moral of the story is your podcast episode.

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It shouldn't take six hours to produce.

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You just need to talk to someone like us at podcast Done for you.

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We are going to make sure that podcast editing.

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It is not a thing that you have to worry about.

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Time investment for your podcast is minimized, and podcast production

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time is zero from your point of view.

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So when you come and ask me that question, how long does podcast editing take?

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It's irrelevant or does the podcast time investment?

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It is as long as the episode is that you want to create.

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And we will make that as efficient as possible for you.

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So it's not even a question of allocating a certain amount of time

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every week, we will bulk record a bunch of episodes, so we minimize

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the time that you lose from being in the business, maximize the outcomes

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that you get from having a podcast.

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So as I said, all of those things taken care of.

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So have a good think about it if you've made it to the end.

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Thank you for listening in and I do hope you subscribe to

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Podcast Done for you the show.

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Wherever you are listening or watching this on YouTube, make sure you never

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miss an episode, and we'd love to have your likes and comments in there.

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If you've got an idea for a topic you want us to cover, by all means let me know.

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All the details in the show notes of how to get in contact with me, and as I

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said, good luck on your podcast journey.

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I'd love to help you with it.

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So do use the links in the show notes to reach out to me, book an

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appointment, and let's have a free chat and see if podcasts done for you

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can be of assistance in making you the thought leader you deserve to be.