AP 0087: Do You Release Every Podcast That You Record?

AskPat 87 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: What's up everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 87 of AskPat. So thankful you're here, and I'm here for you to help you by answering your online business questions five days a week.

And really quickly, if you'd like to start a podcast of your own . . . A lot of people have been asking me, “Pat, how do I do this?” Or a lot of people have podcasts and they're like, “How do I take it to the next level?” Head on over to my free podcasting tutorial. That's my free tutorial to help you get started and give you the tips that you need to get a successful show on iTunes that's helped hundreds of people, and I hope it'll help you, too.

Now speaking of podcasting, we have a question about podcasting from Hayden. And I've actually gotten to know Hayden a little bit through Instagram and Twitter through our hashtag bloggers, Rowing Challenge. So whenever we both row at the gym, we take a screen shot or a snapshot of our little time on the ergometer, that's a little rowing machine, and we send it to each other on the interwebs, and it's just fun to sort of see how much faster Hayden is than I am, and you know, he's in probably much better shape, too. So anyway, let's get to Hayden's question about podcasting for you today.

Hayden: Hi, Pat. My name's Hayden from Melbourne, Australia. I have a podcast, PTProphet.com. My question is, do you release every podcast you record, and how do you qualify guests before they come on? Is it okay to release a podcast even if it doesn't suit your audience? It would be great to know. Thanks, mate. Love the show.

Pat Flynn: Hayden, thank you so much for your question, and it's great to hear from you. Now to answer your first part of your request, do I release every podcast episode I record? No, I have not. I actually have about a dozen over the course of, I guess, a couple hundred recordings now that I did not publish, and I didn't publish them because they were not up to the standards that I wanted for my show. And that's really hard, because sometimes you feel like after you record an episode—you spent all that time, maybe you set up an interview or you spent time outlining it—that when it's done, you just automatically have to post it. Hopefully that's the case, where it's good enough that you post it and all is good, but sometimes you get that feeling where you're like, “Wow. This actually wasn't a good episode,” and you have to be honest with yourself and also remember why are you posting this podcast episode? Is it for you and just feeling good that you're getting things out on time, or is for your audience and actually trying to help them? If it's something that is not going to be helpful, then I wouldn't publish it, and that's something you have to really make sure is the priority. Is it going to provide value to your audience? You know, it's not just for you, it's for your audience. That's why we do what we do. Our audience is what pays the money to buy our products and click on our ads or purchase affiliate products. So it's all about them. But it's hard to remember when you spend all that time recording a podcast.

Now, I have about a dozen that I haven't published. Half of those were solo shows, mostly from when I first started out and I was uncomfortable behind the microphone. I was lacking confidence. And I recorded a few episodes that I just wasn't happy with. A lot of those episodes, or I guess the other half of those, are interviews. And that's hard, because you get time with other people and you have to set up those appointments to interview, and you just feel bad when, at the end, you're just like, “This is not good.” And when that's the case, you have to be honest with yourself, but also be honest with the person you interviewed and just tell them, “You know, I'm sorry, but this just didn't turn out the way I thought it was going to turn out. I hope you don't take offense to this. We could perhaps try to re-record this and you know, maybe it was my fault because I didn't ask the right questions, but I felt like maybe you were holding back a little bit. I would like if we do this again for you to open up a little bit more. Is there something I could do to make you more comfortable?” I mean, those are the things I would say if that's the case. And sometimes those people don't want to redo an interview. I mean, I've redone I guess about six or seven interviews that I have published a second time around, and it's just been so much better. So sometimes when you re-record and you know what to expect and you know how the person responds to certain questions and what their personality is like, it's going to be so much better. It's like, “Okay, you've already introduced yourself to each other. You're friends and you're going to have a more comfortable conversation.” Luckily those have been in the past, as well. I did have to rerecord one because I misplaced the recording. That kind of sucked. But I don't think it's good to release a podcast if it doesn't fit your audience's needs. You definitely don't want to. So part of that goes along with making sure you're a great interviewer or you're good at doing solo shows, if that's what you do.

Of course, for myself, on Smart Passive Income, I do both, and I have been doing whatever I can right now to improve both my solo shows and also my interview skills, but part of also what goes along with becoming a good interviewer and asking the right questions and getting deeper and deeper into single questions so you can get the great answers and that golden information for your audience, you also have to qualify your guests. And I believe you asked, “Should you?” And absolutely. And of course, you don't just want to reach out to anybody. There's going to be some people that reach out to you, and you don't want to say yes right away. You want to qualify them and see what they have to add to your audience and the value that you want to provide. Again, it's all about your audience. So I would say that you would probably make a good judgment whether or not it's somebody . . . If you're reaching out to somebody, I would say that you probably have some common sense as far as, you know, is that person going to be worth having on the podcast in terms of the type of information they have or the experience they have that they can add to your show. But if somebody reaches out to you, then you want to make sure you do your due diligence and tap into them a little bit more to see what they have to provide. Perhaps get on a Skype call with them for a couple minutes or five minutes or ten minutes, just to get a little bit more information and also just see how the chemistry is between you two and what it's like behind the mic with them. And if it's not—if you're not feeling it, then you don't have to waste that time to record a podcast episode that you're not going to publish anyway.

So, Hayden, I hope that answers your question, and for everybody out there who records podcasts, I hope that's been helpful for you, too. Hayden, one of my assistants is going to contact you very soon and you're going to get an AskPat teeshirt, and I'd love to see you wear it. Maybe you can snapshot—take a snapshot of yourself at the gym after a row wearing it, although it'll probably be all sweaty and stuff. But, I don't know.

Anyway, I look forward to that. For those of you out there who have a question that you'd like featured here on the show, head on over to AskPat.com. You can ask the question right there on that page, and of course, if you want to get started in podcasting, head on over to PodcastingTutorial.com. It's my own free six-video series that's going to help you walk through that entire process.

And of course, at the end here, I always end with a quote, and today's quote is from Abraham Lincoln, and I love this quote, that is, “If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first six sharpening my ax.” Love it.

Thank you so much for all your support. Thank you for all the positive and even the negative reviews on iTunes. I love the honesty; that's what I want the most from you. And if you have a sec to leave a review on iTunes, that'd be extremely helpful. Thank you so much, and I'll see you on the next episode of AskPat. Peace.