According Statistics, more than 100 million people are predicted to listen to podcasts in 2024. While the industry is booming with new episodes every day, starting a show can be daunting. Jessica Abo sat down with two hosts to hear how they got started and find out how you can too.
Dr. Crystal Conner
The story of Dr. Krystal Conner
Dr. Krystal Connor says the road that got her to where she is today was quite a bumpy one. She started as a pharmacist and then went to work in her family’s company, where she became CEO. But at some point, the job just wasn’t right. “I started asking myself, why am I doing this? What should I do;”. It didn’t feel purposeful. I didn’t feel complete. And I felt guilty.”
Search for answers
Looking back on her life, she felt she did all the things she was supposed to do. “I went to school, got my degrees, 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 thought life coaching was so stupid.”’ But once she started working on herself, everything changed. “I’m telling you, it totally blew my mind,” he says. “For the first time, he took responsibility for where I was in my life.” She knew other people who could benefit from this kind of self-work, and it inspired her to become a life coach herself.
Dr. Crystal Conner
How to be a dangerous woman
Today, Dr. Connor helps women learn how to take ownership of their lives and take back control without looking to the outside world to tell them what they need to be happy and fulfilled. She supports female entrepreneurs through her company, K Connor Consultingand her podcast, How to be a dangerous woman. He does solo episodes on topics like self-sabotage and mindset, as well as interviews.
Her 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 that I do is being okay with not being good, especially when you have the pattern of ‘I want to be good at everything’.”
Her advice to people thinking about starting a podcast is to just do it.
“I think sometimes we get discouraged because we feel like, ‘What do I have to offer? What do I have to say that hasn’t been said before?’ And I just think we’re all called to help certain people. And we may be saying the same thing, but someone may receive it from you differently than they receive it from me. So I feel like if you have something to say and you have something that needs to be heard, do it.”
Richelle Fredson
The story of Richelle Fredson
For people who don’t have author friends or book industry experts in their inner circle, 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, 15 of which were at Hay House, he had an up-close view of the process. “I got to actually sit down with agents and aspiring authors and read their pitches and decide what we would buy, what we would invest in, and then be able to envision the path to when my PR team would launch those books. “
She decided to go out on her own in 2018 after giving birth to her son. “I really wanted to help people who didn’t know the right next steps, didn’t know how to develop the right idea, be competitive with it and get it into the right hands,” he says.
Today she helps people who want to follow the traditional publishing path through her Book Proposal Outline Program and her podcast titled “Committed and Determined“
Richelle Fredson
Empowering writers through her Podcast
In some episodes, it’s just Fredson and the microphone. “I bring them my 20 years of tried and true business wisdom.” In others, he invites industry experts to come on the show and chat with them about what’s happening in the industry right now. “What are they looking for as book acquiring editors or literary agents or marketing agencies? Then we also have conversations with authors. What was it like going into that process? What have they learned? What recommendations and advice do they have for people who might be 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 also tries to bring a sense of community to her listeners who feel alone. “Some people will feel like I’m the only one who feels this way or am I the only one stuck at this point? I have hit this roadblock and don’t know how to get over it. The podcast is really there to be the kick in the pants and the warm hug at the same time.”
Setting yourself up for success
Fredson says there are small steps you can take that will have a big impact on your show. First he says, do your research. “Like any brand launch, ‘competitive analysis’ is essential. Listen to other podcasts and understand what you like, what you don’t like, and what you’re missing. Then think about how to best serve your audience and their needs.” Then, he says, keep it conversational. “Having an organic conversation with a guest instead of a scripted interview actually helps keep the audience’s attention for the duration of the episode and lets your wisdom shine through more naturally.” Finally, he advises to go easy on the editing. “It’s very tempting to heavily edit your podcast to remove any flawed sounds, but it’s the human moments during a conversation that can be the most memorable and rewarding. I prefer to keep it natural.”
