How to Launch a Podcast in 7 Days with Sagan Morrow of Candid Conversations
Episode 075: Show Notes
Today we are chatting with Sagan Morrow, who is a small business strategist, published author, and blogger at SaganMorrow.com. With nearly a decade of experience as a freelance writer/editor/social media manager, Sagan now teaches struggling solopreneurs how to create their own customized, actionable strategies for starting and building their own successful, profitable home-based businesses, without the overwhelm. Sagan is an intersectional feminist with a degree in Rhetoric. She recently launched the Candid Conversations small business podcast with her business partner to share the behind-the-scenes real, raw stories of entrepreneurship, in an effort to inspire and guide others through the uncertain landscape that is being a small business owner.
Listen on your favorite podcast player
Sagan and her now business partner launched their podcast in seven days and today we’re going through the steps of how they made that happen, how they figured out the tech, and how they landed a sponsor. We also go over exactly how they got onto iTunes, what kind of hours they put in, and advice that they have for people who are wanting to launch anything in a small amount of time. So if you are ready to get off the fence and get your ideas out into the real world, then you should definitely tune in to today’s episode!
Making An Idea Come to Life
Sagan and her business partner, Dan, wanted to start a podcast to talk about small businesses and the behind the scenes, having real, raw conversations of what entrepreneurship is actually like. So they jumped right in and had a four to five hour brainstorming session and it all grew from there. By the end of the same evening they had decided on the name, Candid Conversations, and bought their domain name. The very next morning Sagan had their first guest and sponsor secured. With their sponsor having an event coming up soon, they realized they had to launch as soon as possible. A mere 48 hours after launching the podcast they rolled out their first interview and that led them to deciding on the direction in which they wanted to take the podcast.
Not Just Another Business Podcast
Realizing that neither Sagan nor Dan were very extroverted, they wanted their podcast to focus on connecting with people on a smaller and more intimate scale. They did not want the podcast to be extremely structured. They wanted it to be much more organic with the conversation running more as if they were just hanging out over a glass of wine or a big cup of coffee. Being transparent has been a cornerstone and foundational piece of their business. One thing Sagan found to be important was to be able to share on all the behind the-= scenes action of business. She also loves the fact that she gets to give people new understanding, ideas and inspiration through sharing other people’s stories and experiences.
Securing A Sponsor For Your Brand New Podcast
Sagan believes that building relationships with people — real actual relationships — is absolutely essential. This is especially true if you want a sponsor for your very first episode, and you don’t have any proven numbers or stats that sponsors might be interested in. Really look at which people would actually be a good fit for your specific type of podcast. Leave the time sensitive ads in, particularly because listeners who are listening to an older episode will realize that the episode is from a while ago, which is handy when it comes to things like talking about your business’s progress. It is also crucial to keep the date on everything, even if it’s evergreen content, because so many things can change over time. It is really important for readers and listeners to be able to know when exactly things were created so that they can put them into perspective for themselves.
Figuring Out the Tech Side of Your Podcast
When it came to figuring out all the ins and outs of the podcast tech world, Dan was the main tech brain behind it all. Using a free and easy software like Audacity for the recording made it easier, and getting their podcast approved on iTunes in a matter of hours was a major fluke. Sagan attributes the good audio quality to their Blue Yeti microphones and keeping the guests local to have them all in one room during the recording. Since so many podcasters face similar and unavoidable tech problems, Sagan plans to educate future podcasters on the tech side of launching a podcast while also having Dan create some tutorials. All of this incredible content can be found on their website in the near future.
Prioritizing and Strategizing Before Implementing
When Sagan and Dan first made the decision to launch their podcast, it was important for them to strategize and prioritize. It came down to understanding how long certain things would take, being able to estimate and to figure out the correct order of things so that they could work out what order was going to make the most sense for them to move forward. Sagan and Dan believe that planning without taking action is just as bad as taking action without having a plan. You absolutely need to have both sides of the equation. This means that you have to be extremely strategic in your planning and you have to actually act on your plan. Sagan learned that without prioritizing and strategizing, you cannot implement your tasks or ideas. You need to experiment with things and test them out, and keep in mind, it does NOT always have to be perfect. Your strategies and business plans simply need to be organic.
Tactics to Launching An Idea
One of the biggest things to remember when launching a new idea, is to choose the ideas that spark the most interest in you and fill you with the most passion. So dive into having those real conversations with people and getting into the nitty-gritty behind the scenes. You need to ask yourself what obstacles you have faced and what wins you have had. That is something that is important, because if you’re going in with a lot of passion for your idea then you are going to actually make it work. Work backwards from where you want your project to be in a year from now, and figure out where you need to be six months from now in order to get to that point. Then look at your barriers and find ways to overcome them. Understanding the why behind so many different facets is going to help you get over those hurdles and actually make progress.
Quote This
Planning without taking action is just as bad as taking action without having a plan.
—Sagan Morrow
Highlights
Find out how to get started and make your idea come to life. [0:03:16.5]
Learn how they set up a different foundation to make their podcast different to all the other business podcast out there. [0:08:54.8]
Hear how to secure a sponsor in 48 hours. [0:15:39.1]
Find out how Sagan and Dan figured out the tech side of their podcast. [0:20:53.3]
Learn the importance of prioritizing and strategizing before implementing your tasks and ideas. [0:26:33.5]
Hear Sagan’s tactics to anyone wanting to launch an idea. [0:36:07.2]
#TalkStrategyToMe [0:44:53.5]
Do brainstorming session of ideas.
Take those ideas and figure out which of it you want to do, create a task list for that.
Take your task list and put it into a timeline of action and implement your action plan.
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Sagan Morrow
Sagan Morrow is a small business strategist, published author, and blogger at SaganMorrow.com. With nearly a decade of experience as a freelance writer/editor/social media manager, Sagan now teaches struggling solopreneurs how to create their own customized, actionable strategies for starting and building their own successful, profitable home-based businesses, without the overwhelm.
Sagan is an intersectional feminist with a degree in Rhetoric. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada, and recently launched the Candid Conversations small business podcast with her business partner to share the behind-the-scenes real, raw stories of entrepreneurship, in an effort to inspire and guide others through the uncertain landscape that is being a small business owner.
KEY TOPICS
Making an idea come to life, Not just another business podcast, Securing a sponsor, Figuring out the tech side of things, Prioritizing and strategizing before implementing, Tactics to Launch an idea
