According to Statist, it is predicted that more than 100 million people will listen to podcasts in 2024. While the industry is booming with new episodes every day, it can be intimidating to launch a show. Jessica Abo spoke with two hosts to find out how they got started and how you can too.
Dr. Krystal Conner
The Story of Dr. Krystal Conner
Dr. Krystal Connor says the path that got her to where she is today has been a rocky one. She started as a pharmacist, then worked for the family business, where she became CEO. But at some point, the work didn’t seem satisfying to me. “I started asking myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ What am I supposed to do? It didn’t seem useful. I didn’t feel fulfilled. And I felt guilty.
Looking for answers
Looking back on her life, she felt like she had done everything she was supposed to do. “I went to school, I graduated, I had a family and a home, and yet I kept asking myself, ‘What are you good at?’ What do you want to do?’ I had a friend who was seeing a life coach. And at the time, I was like, life coaching was so stupid. » But once she started working on it herself, everything changed. “I tell you, it completely blew my mind,” she said. “For the first time, it made me take responsibility for my situation in life.” She knew other people who could benefit from this type of personal work and it inspired her to become a life coach herself.
Dr. Krystal Conner
How to be a dangerous woman
Today, Dr. Connor helps women learn to take ownership of their own lives and take back control without looking to the outside world to tell them what they need to be happy and fulfilled. She supports women entrepreneurs through her business, K Connor Consultingand his podcast, How to be a dangerous woman. She does solo episodes on themes like self-sabotage and mindset, as well as interviews.
His advice to aspiring podcasters
Dr. Connor says she made mistakes along the way and had to accept that her episodes weren’t going to be perfect. “The biggest challenge for me with anything new I do is accepting that I’m not good at it, especially when you have the ‘I want to be good at everything’ standard.”
Her advice to people considering starting a podcast is to do it.
“I think sometimes we get discouraged because we ask ourselves, ‘What do I have to offer?’ What do I have to say that hasn’t been said before? And I just believe that we are all called to help some people. And we may be saying the same thing, but someone may receive it from you differently than they receive from me. So I feel like if you have something to say and you have something that needs to be heard, go for it.
Richelle Fredson
Richelle Fredson’s story
For people who don’t have author friends or book industry experts around them, Richelle Fredson says it can be difficult to piece together the road map of what it takes to get published . Having spent more than two decades in publishing, including 15 at Hay House, she has been able to observe the process up close. “I was really able to sit down with agents and aspiring authors, read their pitches and decide what we would buy, what we would invest in, and then be able to predict when my PR team would launch those books. »
She decided to strike out on her own in 2018, after giving birth to her son. “I really wanted to help people who didn’t know the next steps to take, who didn’t know how to develop the right idea, be competitive and get it into the right hands,” she says.
Today, she helps people who want to pursue the path of traditional publishing through her. Book Proposal Program and his podcast entitled “Bound and determined»
Richelle Fredson
Empowering writers through your podcast
In some episodes, it’s just Fredson and the microphone. “I bring them my 20 years of proven professional wisdom.” In others, she invites industry experts to come on the show and discusses with them what’s currently happening in the industry. “What are they looking for as publishers who acquire books, literary agents or marketing agencies? Then we also have conversations with authors. How did this process go? What have they learned? What recommendations and advice do they have for people just starting out?
Fredson says that if you want to create a successful podcast, you need to make it transparent, informative and inspiring. In her case, she’s also trying to bring a sense of community to her listeners who feel alone. “Some people will be like, am I the only one who feels this way or am I the only one stuck at this point? I have encountered this obstacle and I don’t know how to overcome it. The podcast is really here to be both a kick in the pants and a warm hug.
Preparing for success
Fredson says you can take small steps that will have a big impact on your show. First, she says, do your research. “As with launching any brand, “competitive analysis” is essential. Listen to other podcasts and understand what you like, what you don’t like, and what’s missing. Then determine how to best serve your audience and their needs. Then, she says, keep it conversational. “Having an organic conversation with a guest instead of a formulaic interview actually helps hold the listener’s attention for the duration of the episode and allows your wisdom to shine through more naturally.” Finally, she advises taking it easy on the editing. “It’s very tempting to heavily edit your podcast to remove any sound or flaws, but it’s the human moments during a conversation that can be the most memorable and rewarding. I prefer to keep it natural.
