Reflect on Your Podcast Progress & Visualize What's to Come | New Year Reset Series [Ep. 127]

 
 

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Here’s what to expect from this episode:

The end of the year is approaching FAST. And today marks the beginning of a new series all about how you can reset your podcast as we begin a new year (or anytime, really). 

This episode is all about reflection, clarity, and visualizing what's to come. So, if you've struggled with getting specific with your podcast goals, today I'm sharing different ways you can reflect on the progress you've made over this last year (which I bet is a lot!) and some ideas to get you started with visualizing where you'd like your podcast to be in the next 6-12 months. 

There's just something that feels so good about starting the new year with a fresh perspective. And, most importantly, a feeling of rejuvenation and excitement. That's really what I want this series to do for you. And this episode is all about setting the stage for the following episodes in this series.

When reflecting on your podcast progress, it doesn't have to be a formal thing where you sit down with a pen and paper. It's meant to give yourself some space to think about your progress this year, and get those wheels turning on where you'd like your show to go in the new year.

So stay tuned for more quick, actionable episodes to help you reset your podcast for the new year!

Topics covered:

  • Different ways you can reflect on your podcast progress

  • Identifying areas of growth and improvement

  • Visualizing what's to come with your podcast

  • Some ideas and possible goals to get you started

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

favorite podcasting resources:

  • Sara Whittaker 0:01

    Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business. But how do you manage it all bring in new listeners, and convert those listeners into customers. That's what this show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whittaker, classroom teacher turn podcast manager. And I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of podcasting for educators we are, if you're listening to this live, we are officially in December, which is crazy to think about the end of the year is approaching so fast. And today is the beginning of a new series that I will be doing that's going to lead us up into the new year. It's a series all about how we can reset our podcast as we begin a new year. And really, you could use these ideas anytime of the year. But there's something that feels so good about starting the new year with a fresh perspective, and most importantly, a feeling of rejuvenation and excitement. That's really what I want this series to do for you. I know that if you've been podcasting for a while, it's easy to get in these ruts. And this is just a great time to really do some reflection and do some dreaming about what you want your podcast to look like in the next year. So hopefully by the end of this series, you will have this new sense of excitement around your podcast and be absolutely pumped to go into the new year with some brand new ideas and new perspective. To kick things off, we are focusing on reflection and clarity today. When I first sat down to put together this episode, I was going to focus on goal setting but have done an episode on goal setting before which I'll mention later. And I really want you to get clear on a few things before you can really think about specific goals that you want to set when it comes to things like your downloads or your income. I'm going to go through some ways that you can reflect on the progress that you've made over the last year. And then we're going to visualize what you want the next six months to one year to look like for your podcast. If you're at home, you are welcome to actually pause and jot down some notes as I talk through this. But more than likely, you're probably multitasking while you're listening to this, which is totally fine. This episode is really meant for you to just get your wheels turning about progress that you've made. And where do you want to go. Today, we're really setting the stage for this series of episodes, that's going to air in the coming weeks. So to begin, I really want you to take a few minutes and reflect on your progress that your podcast has made over this last year. And maybe you've had your podcast for a few years, maybe you've only had it for six months, or one month or whatever, whatever that timeframe may be for you. But I want you to do a little bit of reflection. And like I said, this doesn't have to be a formal thing, where you sit down and look at all of your data or anything like that this is really just meant for you to just actually give yourself some space to think about the progress that you've made. Now, of course, progress is going to look different for each and every one of you. But I will I'm going to list off some things that you could take into consideration when you are reflecting on your progress. So progress for your podcast could include audience growth, audience retention, content quality. And when I say content quality, this could include the actual quality of your episode content, like do you feel like you have improved on the content that you're putting out there, whether that's the actual content itself, or just the delivery of that content? We are all kind of finding our footing when we first started our podcast. And I know many of us don't like to go back and listen to those very early episodes. So think about that. Has your delivery gotten better? since you first started your podcast? Has the actual content, the way that you're structuring it, the things that you're sharing with your audience? Has that content improved in the last year? content quality could also include show notes. I know that for a lot of you show notes or something that maybe you weren't doing in the beginning or maybe you're still not doing them. So is this something that you have improved upon this year? content quality could also include guests that you've had on? Have you made some progress in terms of the guests that you're inviting onto your show? Are you inviting guests onto your show at all? Some of you start your podcast saying okay, I'm just going to do solo episodes in the beginning. I'm going to add on guests when I can, but maybe that never actually happened or maybe you're not actually pitching the guests that you really, really would love to come onto your show. When we think about the progress that we've made, you might think about audience engagement, has there been any progress with things that you have tried to get your audience more engaged? Have you made progress with conversions? So are you seeing your email list growing based on things that you're promoting in your episodes? Are you making sales on the things that you're promoting on your podcast? Have you made progress with your routines? This could be planning, recording, producing, releasing episodes consistently collecting data? These are all little types of routines that go along with our podcast, have you made progress there? Maybe in the beginning, you were kind of winging it during the episode The night before it goes live. And now you're a week ahead or two weeks ahead. That's progress. Where have you made progress when it comes to your podcast routines. So all of those things are kind of just examples of what you could take into consideration when you think about your individual progress with your show. And I would love for you to kind of nail down what are one to two areas specific areas that you have made progress in this year. And then what are one to two areas where you haven't made as much progress as you had hoped you would make. Now those things might be worth getting your notes app out on your phone. And just jotting that down real quick, those one or two areas that you have made progress in this year, to allow yourself that little tiny celebration of hey, look at this, I really have made progress with my downloads or with my recording schedule, or with my audience engagement, whatever it may be. And then what are once two areas that you haven't made as much progress as you'd hoped, go ahead and jot that down in your notes app. So that that kind of stays top of mind for you. And as we go through this series, you can really have that in the back of your mind, and be thinking about action that you can take to really improve in those areas in the upcoming year. Okay, so that was the first piece that I wanted you to do today was just do a little bit of informal reflection on your progress for this past year. Next, I want you to visualize what's to come in the new year, if you're listening to this in real time, that would be for 2024. This year, maybe you've accomplished some amazing things with your show. Now let's think about the year ahead, this is your opportunity to really reset and really picture what you want the next year for your podcast to look like. So when you begin to visualize this next year, what do you see? Again, I'm going to give you some examples to kind of get your wheels turning. And I want you as I'm listing these out to be thinking about your unique situation. So when you are visualizing the upcoming year, what do you want for your podcast? What do you see, maybe it's reaching a very specific number of downloads, it could be pitching that dream guest to come on your show. Starting to write show notes for your episodes being more intentional with podcast SEO, being more intentional with the actual content inside your episodes. Finally getting ahead in your planning and you're recording, hiring pieces of your podcast out, inviting listeners onto your show to build up those connections with your audience. switching up the structure of your episodes, maybe you're feeling kind of blah, about things and you know that you need to switch something up getting your podcast out in front of school districts or some sort of larger scale audience, landing sponsors for your show. Okay, so thinking about those examples, maybe some of those stuck out to you. Maybe you have other ideas in your head. But I want you now to to really clarify what are 123 things that you are visualizing for your show? What are your big podcast dreams for this next year? It could be something small, it could be something that feels really big. Again,

    Sara Whittaker 9:30

    this part might be worth jotting down, getting out that Notes app if you have an iPhone, not sure what the equivalent is on an Android, but I'm sure that there's something or putting it on a sticky note whatever works for you. But what are those 123 things that you can visualize for your show for 2024? I want you to really take a few minutes to think about this. You can't get clear on specific goals that you want to set or x tends to take to get there. If you don't have a vision that you are inspired by, embrace those first few things that pop into your mind. There might be lots of things that you want to tweak or improve about your podcasts. And really, that's what the rest of this series is going to be all about. Over the next few weeks, we'll have pretty quick actionable episodes that are going to help you deep dive into all the different aspects of your podcasts that you can reset for 2024. Or at anytime. If you're listening to this later down the road. We'll be doing a deep dive into pieces like your podcast routines, your podcast content, your audience engagement, your marketing. I hope today and in the days to come and the weeks to come, you can give yourself some space to reflect on what kind of progress you've made, and where you really want to take your show. Next, a New Year is coming. So let's lean into that energy and make some changes for the better. During this reset series, I'm going to end the episodes by referring you back to a few episodes that you may want to revisit or listen to for the first time that are related to today's topic. So some episodes that you might find helpful after listening to this episode are Episode 17, which is three suggestions for setting data driven podcast goals, and episode 116. Your first three years of podcasting expectations, goals and action steps. Okay, that was episode 17 and episode 116. And of course, I will have those links in the description for this episode in your listening app as well as in the show notes, which you can find it podcasting for educators.com/episode one to seven. If you have not yet written a review for this show, I would love for you to do that today. You can go to Apple podcasts scroll down, click on write a review, and you can title your review episode 127. My podcast progress and in your review share some kind of progress that you have made with your podcast over the last year. It will only take you a minute and it's a great way to share your reflection from this episode with me. All right, I hope to see you back here next week for the second episode of this series where we are going to be looking at one principle that you can use to completely reimagine your podcast routines. I'll see you then. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. To keep this conversation going connect with me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support and launching, managing or growing your podcast, check out my online course the podcasting for educators prep school at podcasting for educators.com/prep school. I'll see you here next time.

More about Podcasting for Educators:

Podcasting for Educators is the podcast for TpT authors and other online educators. It's a show that will help you get your podcast in front of those who need it most - teachers, counselors, literacy specialists, SLPs, parents, and more! Each week, Sara Whittaker and her guests will share top tips and actionable strategies that you will need in order to launch, manage, and grow your podcast. You’ll learn how to leverage your show to build long-lasting relationships with your audience and promote your TpT resources, courses, and memberships, all while providing valuable and accessible content!

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Sara Whittaker