I’m going to be honest with you: starting a podcast is usually a disaster. People tell you it’s easy. They say you just need a microphone and a "unique voice," but that’s mostly nonsense designed to sell expensive Masterclasses. When I decided to figure out how I made this podcast, I didn't start with a high-end studio or a celebrity guest list. I started with a massive amount of frustration and a $60 USB microphone that picked up the sound of my neighbor’s lawnmower two houses down.
It’s messy.
If you’re looking for a sanitized, corporate version of podcasting, you’re in the wrong place. Most of what you see on LinkedIn about "content ecosystems" is just fluff. The reality of how I made this podcast involves late nights editing out mouth clicks, fighting with RSS feeds that wouldn't update, and realizing that my "great idea" for an episode was actually pretty boring once I heard it played back.
The Equipment Trap Most People Fall Into
Everyone asks about the gear first. It's the easiest thing to obsess over because buying stuff feels like progress. It isn’t. When I was researching how I made this podcast, I spent three weeks looking at the Shure SM7B. It’s a beautiful mic. Every pro uses it. But here’s the thing: if your room isn't acoustically treated, a $400 mic will just make your shitty-sounding room sound even more high-definition.
I ended up using an Audio-Technica ATR2100x. It’s a dynamic mic. That’s a crucial detail. Condenser mics are sensitive; they hear your refrigerator. Dynamic mics are like "hey, I only care about what’s right in front of me." That saved my production value. I didn't build a booth. I literally put a heavy blanket over my head and the monitor during the first four episodes. It looked ridiculous. It smelled like laundry detergent. But the audio was clean.
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Software is the real hurdle
You don't need Pro Tools. You really don't. I used Audacity for the first month because it's free, even though the interface looks like it was designed for Windows 95. Eventually, I moved to Descript. If you haven't used it, it basically lets you edit audio by deleting text in a transcript. It felt like cheating. Honestly, without that shift in workflow, this project would have died by episode three.
Editing is where podcasts go to die. It is tedious. It is soul-sucking if you do it wrong. I learned the hard way that for every 30 minutes of recording, you should expect at least 90 minutes of post-production if you're doing it solo.
How I Made This Podcast Find an Audience Without Spending a Dime
Marketing a podcast is harder than making one. The "build it and they will come" philosophy is a lie. Spotify is a graveyard of shows with three episodes and zero listeners.
When I look back at how I made this podcast successful in terms of reach, it wasn't about "going viral." It was about the unsexy work of SEO and guesting. I started looking at what people were actually typing into Google. People weren't searching for my show name; they were searching for answers to specific problems. So, I stopped naming episodes things like "Episode 5: My Thoughts on Growth" and started naming them "How to Scale a Service Business Without Burnout."
The Power of Vertical Video
You have to record video. Even if you don't want to. I hated being on camera at first. My hair was always weird, and I didn't know where to look. But TikTok and Instagram Reels are the only places where the algorithm actually helps you find new people. I would take a 40-minute interview, find the 60 seconds where the guest actually said something profound, and chop it up.
That single shift—turning audio into "snackable" video—tripled my downloads in two months. It’s annoying to do, but it’s the tax you pay for growth in 2026.
The Technical Nightmare of RSS Feeds
Nobody talks about the plumbing. To get a show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, you need a host. I chose Buzzsprout because I’m lazy and their interface is clean. You upload an MP3, you add some metadata, and they spit out an RSS link.
But then comes the waiting.
Apple can take days to approve a new show. Spotify is usually faster. I remember refreshing my dashboard every ten minutes, convinced I had broken the internet. If you're wondering how I made this podcast available everywhere, it was simply a matter of patience and making sure my "show notes" weren't just a wall of text. Search engines crawl those notes. If you don't put keywords in your show notes, you're invisible.
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Reality Check: The "First Ten" Rule
There’s a concept in the industry that your first ten episodes will be your worst. This is 100% true. I listen back to my early recordings and cringe. My voice sounds forced. I interrupted my guests too much. I was so worried about the next question on my list that I wasn't actually listening to the answers.
That’s a huge part of how I made this podcast better over time. I stopped using a script. Now, I use a list of "bulleted curiosities." It keeps the conversation human. If the guest says something wild, we follow that rabbit hole instead of sticking to a rigid structure.
What Most People Get Wrong About Monetization
Don't think about ads. Seriously. Unless you’re getting 50,000 downloads per episode, "BlueChew" or "BetterHelp" aren't going to pay your rent.
I looked at how I made this podcast a viable business and realized the money isn't in the audio itself. The money is in what the audio does for your authority. Because of this show, I’ve landed consulting gigs that pay five times what a podcast ad would. The podcast is the handshake. It’s the proof that I know what I’m talking about.
Niche beats Broad
I see so many people trying to start "The [Name] Show" where they talk about "life and stuff." Unless you're already famous, nobody cares about your general thoughts on life. You have to be the "Expert on [Specific Thing]." I narrowed my focus down to a very specific subset of the business world, and suddenly, I wasn't competing with Joe Rogan. I was just the top person in my small pond.
The Workflow That Saved My Sanity
If you want to know the "secret sauce" of how I made this podcast without burning out, it’s batching.
I don't record every week. I can't. My brain doesn't work that way. I spend one Tuesday a month recording four interviews back-to-back. By the end of the day, I’m exhausted and my voice is shot, but I’m done for the month. Then I send the files to a freelance editor I found on Upwork. Yes, it costs money. But my time is worth more than the $50 an episode I pay them.
If you try to do everything yourself—the booking, the recording, the editing, the social media, the email list—you will quit. Guaranteed.
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Critical Action Steps for Your Own Launch
If you’re sitting there thinking about starting, don't buy the $400 mic yet. Do these things instead:
- Define your "One Person": Write down exactly who is listening. Not "entrepreneurs." Try "solo-founders in the SaaS space who are struggling with churn."
- Record 3 "Zero" Episodes: These are episodes you will never publish. They are just for you to get the "uhms" and "ahs" out of your system and get comfortable with your gear.
- Choose a "Bare Minimum" Tech Stack: Get a ATR2100x mic, use Riverside.fm for remote recordings (Zoom audio quality is terrible, don't use it), and host on a platform like Transistor or Buzzsprout.
- The 48-Hour Edit Rule: Never edit your audio the same day you record it. You're too close to it. Wait two days. You’ll be much more objective about what needs to be cut.
- Focus on the Hook: The first 30 seconds of your podcast determine if someone stays for the next 30 minutes. Stop starting with "Hello, welcome to the show, today I'm joined by..." Start with the most controversial or interesting thing said during the interview.
Making a podcast is a marathon disguised as a sprint. The technical part of how I made this podcast was the easy bit; the hard part was showing up every week when the download numbers were in the single digits. But if you can survive the first six months, you’ve already outlasted 90% of the competition.
Keep the audio clean, keep the guests interesting, and for the love of god, stop worrying about the "perfect" intro music. Just start.