Have you ever thought or heard "it's not hurting their podcast"? Here's why that's
a myth, misconception, and a bad excuse.
Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast. I'm Daniel J. Lewis.
I hear this excuse a lot in podcasting. Whether it's to defend or oppose, some podcasters
seem to think that everything a successful podcaster does is directly contributing to
their success and nothing is costing them profit. P-R-O-F-I-T. Popularity, Relationships,
Opportunities, Fun, Income, or Tangibles. It usually sounds like this. XYZ does or doesn't
do this thing and it's not hurting their podcast. Where XYZ is usually Joe Rogan or
some other highly popular, highly successful podcaster. You can fill in the blank with
whatever podcaster you're thinking of right now.
While this might seem like a logical justification, it's based on several assumptions and it
can't actually be tested or validated. Unless we have a parallel universe for split testing
(like in Amazon's The Peripheral), or unless we have a time machine, or unless we can interview
every person everywhere with an honest and 100% response rate or unless we're omniscient
like God, we can't really know what is negatively affecting a successful podcast. Maybe that
audience would be bigger if that podcaster did or didn't do that thing. Maybe their
sponsorship or licensing payments would be more significant if they did or didn't do
that thing. If that thing is actually negatively affecting their show, you can't actually
know that? Can you monitor a parallel universe where the only difference is that podcasting
thing? Can you travel back in time to have him or her do or not do that thing and then
re-measure the results from the present? Can you interview every person everywhere in the
world to collect data on whether that thing is affecting the person's relationship with
that podcast? Are you God? In case you're wondering, the answer to all of these questions
is no. So instead of assuming successful podcasters are infallible, which is what this excuse
is essentially doing, I suggest approaching every idea with critical thinking and a focus
on your audience. Even if something does contribute to someone else's success, it doesn't
mean it will give you the same success. Think about how many "on fire" podcasts there
have been that interviewed entrepreneurs. How many of those podcasters got anywhere
near the success John Lee Dumas has. How many of those podcasts are even still active? There
will always be outliers, too. Marc Maron's show contains excessive profanity. That doesn't
mean yours should. Dan Carlin's Hardcore History publishes completely inconsistently.
That doesn't mean you should be inconsistent. No Agenda releases two three-hour or longer
episodes every week with multiple long donation segments. That doesn't mean you should do
the same. Plenty of highly popular podcasts focus on controversial moral and political
issues from any side you can imagine. That doesn't mean you should include a tangent
about those issues in your podcast. And on and on and on. Some of these podcasters found
success despite some of the things they're doing or not doing. Not because of those things.
The key to successful podcasting is what works for you, your show, and your audience.
And just like real love, I think your podcasting focus should be on serving your ideal audience
more than serving yourself or anyone else.
Yes, this was a very short episode, but nonetheless, I hope that this has given you some of the
guts and taught you a new perspective on some of the tools so that you can go start and
grow your own podcast for passion and profit.
And if this episode has helped you
and you think it would help someone else,
please share it at theaudacitytopodcast.com/nothurting.
I'm Daniel J. Lewis from theaudacitytopodcast.com.
Thanks for listening.
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