Overcoming Common Podcast Hesitations | EP 315

What's really holding you back from starting that podcast? Fear of technology? Dislike of your own voice? Or the perennial excuse of "not enough time"? In this candid exploration, I dismantle these common barriers one by one, revealing the simple truths that can set your podcasting journey in motion.

The time commitment for podcasting isn't as daunting as you might think. At roughly three hours per episode, the process can be streamlined through batching and strategic scheduling. You don't need to commit to the weekly publishing grind either, seasonal approaches can be just as effective while fitting into your existing commitments. The question becomes not whether you have time, but whether you can afford not to use podcasting as a tool for audience building and business growth.

That discomfort with your recorded voice? It's nearly universal, but remember: your unique vocal qualities are precisely what some listeners will connect with. The podcasting world thrives on authentic voices representing diverse experiences. And as for technology fears, the only real difference between "techie" people and everyone else is the willingness to experiment and learn from mistakes. Most podcast platforms provide clear, step-by-step instructions that anyone can follow.

What truly matters isn't technical prowess or a perfect voice, but clarity about your purpose and message. Whether you're an introvert or extrovert, technically adept or challenged, your expertise deserves to be shared. The world needs your perspective, and keeping that knowledge to yourself when others could benefit is, as I often tell my clients, "a little bit selfish." Ready to overcome these mindset blocks? Your future audience is waiting and my self-study program (currently available at a special discount USE CODE: SS150) can guide you through every step of the journey. The time to start is now.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Mindset Blocks
• 2:23 "I Don't Have Time" Myth
• 6:49 "I Hate My Voice" Concern
• 11:58 "I'm Not Techie" Fear
• 14:45 Creating a Simple, Sustainable Podcast
• 19:47 Podcasting is for All Personalities
• 22:49 Self-Study Program Introduction
• 28:36 Limited-Time Offer and Conclusion

Transcript

Donna Eade: 0:33

You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast, the place to be to grow and streamline your business. I'm your host, donna Eade. Let's jump into the show. Welcome back to the podcast, everybody, I'm really glad to have you here today. We are going to be talking about the mindset blocks around starting your own podcast.

Donna Eade: 1:01

Now, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Donna and I am a podcast mentor as well as the host of this podcast, and it is my job to help people create their podcasts from scratch. From that first inception, that idea that you have to a fully published episode that you can put out in the world, and I absolutely love helping people do that, especially women, because I think we don't have our voices heard enough and we need to be shouting louder. So that is my aim with my podcast and with what I do, and in the last few weeks we've spoken about whether podcasting is worth it in 2025, whether you are ready to start a podcast, and today I want to hit on some of the blocks that you may have when it comes to podcasting. So the first one is I don't have time. It is a classic, it is something everybody says I don't have time, I don't have time. It is a classic, it is something everybody says I don't have time, I don't have money. Those are the two things that kind of come up as a recurring objection mindset block that people have around starting something new. And when it comes to podcasting, the time one is really really common and that is because people don't really have any idea on how long a podcast is actually going to take them and how much of that is going to be ongoing time that they need to carve into their diary. And when we are already so busy with everything that we're doing, it can be really really difficult to work out whether a podcast would actually fit into our plans.

Donna Eade: 2:40

So to give you a brief understanding of the truth of that, the truth behind that, a podcast can take up to around three hours from start to finish, and that's an average length podcast. With a guest, it can be a little bit quicker. If you don't have a guest, it could be a little bit longer. If you talk with that guest for a long time, it could be longer still if there's a lot of mistakes that need editing out, from scripting the idea to recording the episode, editing the episode, then creating the show notes for the episode, getting it up onto your podcast platform and getting it on your website and then writing an email to let people know that they can go and listen to it and creating social media. So around three hours in total, from start to finish, for one episode. Now you can create some more time-saving techniques with this by batching, so recording episodes together, editing episodes together, creating show notes together, etc. You get the gist that can help you save time.

Donna Eade: 3:56

But also there is the reality of how often are you going to upload? So if you are planning to do a weekly podcast, then that is really the time length you're looking at. You need about three hours per episode. You may need a bit less if you are doing shorter episodes. So, for instance, if you're going to do 20 minute episodes and that's it, it's not going to take you three hours to get through all of that stuff. When I'm talking three hours, I'm looking at a 30 to an hour long episode 30 minute to an hour long and then having to do all the other stuff with it. So it really depends on that.

Donna Eade: 4:34

But also if you're going to do a serial podcast podcast so maybe you're only going to release two or three series a year. That's going to be enough for you. Then you can actually really save a lot of time. Obviously, you're not going to be doing it every week and it's not going to be something that has to be batched into your work plan on a regular basis. So you might have a couple of weeks set aside three times a year where you bash out a whole series of podcast episodes and then it's done for the rest of the year. You don't even have to think about it. It's all scheduled, planned, and all you're going to be doing is using it for publicity, using it for direction, using it for your audience building, and it's going to be going out on that weekly basis for however many weeks, and then between series, you can be talking about the last series and promoting the next series, so it doesn't have to take as long. So I don't have time really means that you haven't sat down and really thought about what it is that you want from your podcast and what that looks like, because you can make it fit the time that you have. So that's number one, and also with that, you've got to remember what the purpose of the podcast is. So if you're looking at growing your audience and selling more of what you do, then your podcast can be a great tool to help you do that. So can you afford to not have the time to do it? You know, do you need to actually make the time to do something that is going to help you build your audience and sell your course service, etc. So that's number one.

Donna Eade: 6:16

The second one is I hate the sound of my own voice, and this is one that's very close to my heart right now. I've got some ear and nose problems that I won't go into at the moment, but I feel like I am bunged up like when you've got a cold. Right now I feel like I'm underwater and I feel like I sound like I'm underwater in my head and it is affecting my voice, not just in my head, but vocally as well. What you can hear my voice is not at its peak, so that could be something that would stop me producing podcast episodes, but I'm pushing through it, and a lot of people will say I hate the sound of my own voice, but I hate to be the bearer of bad news. You live with your voice 24, seven, 365 days of the year, so what difference does it make to putting it out there for other people to listen to. You don't have to keep listening to your podcast episodes, but what is the difference with you putting it out there for other people to listen to when you use your voice every day and you're speaking to people on the daily?

Donna Eade: 7:21

Now I had a client who actually had that as a reason why she wasn't going to start a podcast and why she didn't actually go for the career that she really wanted. She wanted to be a radio DJ, and I can't remember if she was told by somebody that she didn't have voice for radio or whether that was just something that she told herself, but it stopped her from moving forward. And the fact is we don't want everybody to sound the same. You might not particularly like the sound of your voice, but I bet you there is somebody out there who does like the sound of your voice. I am an absolute passionate person when it comes to accents. I love accents. So if you've got an accent, I could probably listen to you talk for ages because I just love it. Other people can't stand certain accents, so you're not going to appeal to them, but that doesn't mean everybody hates your accent, you know. So you've got to think about it in terms of the people that you're reaching and the message you've got to share, and you kind of got to get over it a little bit, because we need different voices. We don't all need to be speaking with a BBC Radio 4 voice. That is not what the world is about these days, and podcasts are global, so don't even worry about it.

Donna Eade: 8:32

The other thing I will say on that, though, is my one caveat is clear speech. So if you are somebody who has, for example, the language that you speak is your second language, then I would say that it may be worth having some speaking training just to get more clarity in the sounds in your voice, because if you don't speak really clearly, it can be really hard to understand you. So some people who speak English as their second language, for example and I use this example because it's one that's around me a lot is that they will speak quite fast in English with the accent from their country that they moved from. They will speak with that accent, with English words, and speak fast, and it can be really difficult to understand. So I would say that if you are speaking the language you want to do your podcast in as a second language. It may be worth talking to a coach that deals with speaking just to see if there are any improvements that you could make to your voice. And it's not saying that everybody needs this, but I have heard some people who don't form the sounds as clearly as a native speaker would, and that can lead to difficulty. And I will give you a today example.

Donna Eade: 10:03

I went to the doctors today about my ears. The doctor is not an English doctor, I think, she is from a country in Europe and it was quite difficult for me to understand her because she was talking fast, because she obviously she needs to get on, she needs to get through her patients for the day. She was talking quite fast. She wasn't quite creating the right clarity in the sounds, so it made it very difficult for me to understand what she was saying. I was picking up words here and there that allowed me to get the gist of what she was saying, but I certainly didn't understand everything that she said. So if she was going to do a podcast, I would have recommended that she go and have some speaking coaching. That will allow you to project a little bit more and form those words a little bit better. That will help you be understood, because, at the end of the day, you want to be understood. You don't want to put something out there that people can't understand. And that is just one of the and it's not to say that you should hate your voice and not do it. It is just that you might need to adjust slightly. So that is something to bear in mind.

Donna Eade: 11:12

And then the other one that I hear a lot is that I'm not techie, and I think this is a fear for a lot of people when it comes to doing anything new around computers and tech. And I want to say that the only difference between you, as somebody who classes themselves as not techie, and somebody who is quote-unquote techie, is that the techie person isn't afraid to make mistakes and ask questions, because Because if you put a piece of software in front of somebody who classes themselves as techie, and it's a new piece of software that they've never seen before, they're not going to know how to use it either. They could make some educated guesses, which they probably will do, which will probably lead to mistakes, but they're not afraid of doing that. So I think a lot of times people are really scared of pushing a button in case it messes everything up, and I would say that the thing is is when we are kids, we don't have that fear. You know we'll do anything. We'll touch all the buttons, you know, unless our parents tell us not to. We're touching all the buttons because we want to know what they do. Inquisitive minds want to know and they learn from that. So if something bad happens when they push the button, they're not going to push that button again. So you've just got to learn from your mistakes at this stage, and that is something I think people just get more fearful of the older they get and the more advanced technology gets.

Donna Eade: 12:39

What I will say about podcasting and the tech that is involved is it is really quite simple in terms of what you need to know to get by, and I would say that anything new is scary, but oftentimes, I would say, with podcasting you don't need to be techie, you need to be willing to learn and be somebody who can take instruction. So if you are a learner and if you are able to follow instructions, then podcasting will be okay for you. It's not a huge tech element. There are things that you need to do, but it is basically following step by step instructions. So I have a program that is step by step. When you sign up to a podcast platform and you want to get your podcast out onto Apple and Spotify and all of those different platforms, there is step by step instructions on how to do that on your platform. So it's not a case of like oh, I need to get it out there, I don't know how to do it. It will literally walk you through it.

Donna Eade: 13:47

So I hope that that will alleviate some of your fears when it comes to tech is, you know, you can find the information and follow the step-by-step and you will be able to do it. It is not. It's not coding, you know. It's not creating a website. There is nothing that technical. It's pushing buttons. It really is much more simple than I think people think it is. So the truth behind these blocks is that you just have to be mindful of what the purpose of your podcast is and what you want to achieve with it, and keep that front of mind. You can have a simple and sustainable podcast if that is what you choose.

Donna Eade: 14:31

So, like I said, you do not have to do a weekly podcast. You can do a serial podcast that comes out for 12 weeks of the year and comes out two or three times a year, or eight weeks. You know, whatever you decide, it is your podcast. What I will say is that I would avoid doing something that is bi-weekly just because that can throw people. Did I listen to it last week? Is there a new episode coming out this week? And they're not going to be that bothered about your podcast to find out the answer to that. You know, if there's an episode when they log in they'll listen to it. If there's not, they'll go and find something else to listen to, and then maybe they don't get the notification that you put a new one up because they've been listening to other podcasts more often. So I would say that that is my only sort of caveat. Is bi-weekly, I don't think works very well. I'm about to work with somebody who is going to be doing it monthly, so it'll be like the first Thursday of the month a new episode will come out. That, I think, is more structured and more clear, because it's once a month on the first Thursday. So if it's not the first Thursday, you know there's not going to be a new episode out, so it can be easier for somebody to follow that than going oh well, there's five weeks in this month, there's five Thursdays in this month, like, when's a podcast episode coming out? Which weeks is it on? So just creating that clarity around when you're uploading is important. If you are doing a serial podcast, it's really important to close out that podcast, get people on your email list so you can email them and also talk in between the series about when the next one's coming, so that people are aware of when they need to start listening again.

Donna Eade: 16:27

Perfectionism is not required in podcasting. So when you listen to this episode, I am going to have done minimal editing on it. I fluffed up at one point earlier on, so that will probably be gone and I will take a few ums out, because I've noticed that I'm umming a little bit in this episode. So I will take a few of those out. But other than that, there is not going to be much editing on this. I do three different things to the voice timeline to every episode that I do regardless. So that's kind of my standard thing that I do, and then I will edit out a few of those ums, uhs and any mistakes that I make. That is it. So keeping it simple. Perfection isn't required. I don't take out every um. We all do it. It would be great if we didn't.

Donna Eade: 17:18

And there is somebody that I follow online. His name's Vin I can't remember his surname and he's a great one to go to about speech. Actually he is Asian descent. His parents speak the native language from where they hail from, but he grew up then speaking Australian, but with this accent, and he changed it to speak very much in an Australian accent and very, very clear. I think probably if you didn't see him you would just think he was Australian, born and bred native and that's his heritage. And he has done a lot of work with people or are born into an English country where their parents don't speak English, so you learn from the people around you. So there is this kind of mix when you are first generation of an English speaking country where your parents have this accent and speak in their native tongue a lot, and you are sort of picking up that accent but learning English. So he does a lot and you are sort of picking up that accent but learning English. So he does a lot of work with people that are in that situation to help them have more clarity around their words. It's not about stripping you of your heritage. It's not about stripping you of your accent. It's about getting more clarity around the words that you're saying and he does a lot of work with people like that. And he does a lot of work with being confident in speaking and reducing all those filler words and having a little bit more pizzazz to the way you talk and the sort of melody of how you talk, the ups and downs that in in your voice. He's a fascinating person to talk to. I will link him in the show notes for you. So, um, because I can't remember his surname, but I will link him in the show notes if you want to. Because I can't remember his surname, but I will link him in the show notes if you want to go and check him out.

Donna Eade: 19:14

So you don't have to be perfect. You can start. Simply. You don't have to be on video or have a big audience. So podcasting to me has always been an audio platform. I know that video podcasts are getting more and more popular. There are more and more people doing it, but that doesn't take away from the fact that podcast is an audio first platform and I think that's important to note that. Actually, if you have a podcast, it should be available on Apple and on Spotify, and if it's not, then you don't have a podcast. You have a video cast and you may put your podcast up onto YouTube, but then that's a secondary thing. So that's just something that I'm particular about. If you want to do video, if you're happy to do video and you've got the time and the bandwidth to do video, then for sure do it. People love to watch things and you can cut it up into so many reels. It would be a fantastic tool for that.

Donna Eade: 20:26

But I'd say that it's not necessary for a podcast and you don't have to have a big audience. A podcast is all about building an audience. So to have some people that will listen and support and help you grow the podcast in the beginning is very important, but your audience will grow organically and you can have a hand in that with your social media platforms in growing the audience for your podcast. So you don't have to have a huge audience to start with. So you need to have clarity and a plan, and that is way, way more important than having confidence. I think sometimes those mindset blocks are trying to hide the fact that we're not confident in what we're doing and that comes from learning in the first place. So the other week I did my podcast clarity call. I'm going to be doing that again in September, so if you're interested in that I will leave the link below for you to sign up for September's version. But that program really helped you to create the clarity around what your podcast is going to be, what that would look like and the steps that you need to take to start, which I think is oftentimes what makes people unconfident in what they're doing is that they're just really not quite sure what it's all about and where to start with it, so that confidence is knocked.

Donna Eade: 21:53

But confidence comes from taking steps. Confidence comes from moving forward. It isn't something that's there from beginning. A child is never confident when they get on a bike for the first time. In fact, sometimes they're screaming and you know don't want to do it at all. The confidence comes when they realise that dad took his hands off the bike two minutes ago and they've been doing it all by themselves. You know they might then fall off the bike because they suddenly realise dad's not holding on anymore. But you get the meaning of it. You know it is about taking the steps. So that is exactly what my self-study course will walk you through, and I'll talk a little bit about that later.

Donna Eade: 22:33

I have had clients who have come in as co-hosts, and I've had clients come in as solo podcasters, some that have just done solo episodes, some that have had guests on, some that have had a mixture of both, and it's really interesting to see the different personalities. So there are a varied variety of personalities, coming from extrovert to introvert, shy to confident. They are all in the mix when it comes to podcasting, and the great thing is, I think that is it's one of the things that is more suitable to all types of people in terms of you don't have to worry about being on camera, you don't have to be an extrovert. I'm an introvert and I love podcasting. I love to talk. That's kind of. Probably the only thing that you really need to have is is the desire to talk about the thing that you want to talk about.

Donna Eade: 23:32

Um, so it's really important for my clients that they have the step-by-step processes to start their podcast, and that's what they had when they worked with me, and what happened was some of them took off and got into the Apple charts when they first launched their podcast because they literally followed everything I said, step by step, and it got them there. Others didn't follow it quite as strictly, didn't quite follow the plan, and they still launched and they still get a great response from their podcast, and they still are doing it to this day, a year or so later, and it worked for them. So I would say that you don't have to be perfect and you don't have to follow the system perfectly, but the system is laid out in a step-by-step way that will allow you to create a podcast that you can be proud of, and for me, podcasting is about getting those really important messages out into the world to the people that need to hear them. And so if you have a podcast on your heart and you're like, I really want to do a podcast, but I don't have time, I hate the sound of my own voice, I'm not techie, I don't know where to begin all of those questions then I would urge you to come and have a look at my self-study program. So this program is literally exactly what I teach my coaching clients and my clients that come and do my eight-week program with me. It is the exact same program that you are going to get access to and it is literally step by step. If you listen to any of my clients talk about working with me, they're like Donna gave it to us, step by step. So it's literally push this button, push this button, push this button and by the end of it you will have podcast episodes ready to go. In there you will learn how to record your podcast and I use a really simple, free software for that.

Donna Eade: 25:37

It looks complicated when you open it up because there's lots of buttons and you don't know what they all do. But when you look at it really look at it you'll see that there are a set of buttons that if you're as old as I am, you'll remember from your stereo. You know play, pause, fast forward, stop, record. And then there are buttons that you will recognise from other applications like Adobe and Canva, so the magnifying glasses that will zoom in and zoom out on things. So, and there is also a cursor button and there are different buttons that you will recognise and different things.

Donna Eade: 26:22

And it's set up at the top. It says file, edit, select, view, transport, tracks, generate. This is a menu system that looks very similar to documents and Excel with you've got those first ones that you will recognize. So you don't need to be overwhelmed by what you see when you open it, because a lot of it you will know what it means. And then, actually, when you get into the program and you start working with the recordings, you'll see that very few of the buttons that are there are what you actually need to get a podcast done, because the software that I use, which is called Audacity, which is a free software, is made for doing music and things like that. So multiple tracks, musicians, drums and guitars and all of that jazz. So there is a lot of buttons in there that we won't be using because that's not what we're doing. So we'll then go through the editing, which, again, is done in the same software. It's very easy to do, and you again, it's copy and paste, that kind of thing. So you will understand that.

Donna Eade: 27:27

And then we will talk about your podcast platform, how you get it onto all of the different directories and all of that jazz. So it really is step by step and it will take you through right from the beginning, right from, okay, what you're going to call your podcast, how often you're going to upload, what's your podcast graphic going to look like, right up to okay, set the date, get your hype squad ready and publish your podcast. So it goes through the whole thing. And right now, because this is the first time I've offered it as a self study program, I'm offering people 150 pounds off the price of the program. It's 394 pounds, so you can get 150 pounds off of that using the code ss150. Um, I'm going to clarify that in the show notes, so if you want to use it, please do go and check the show notes, because it might be slightly different to that, but I think it's SS150. And you can get 150 off that program and buy it now. This is only open until the 17th of July with that offer. You can buy it after that, but it will be 394. So if you're thinking about podcasting and you want to get a podcast out this year, then I highly recommend you go and buy it now.

Donna Eade: 28:44

And then you know we're in this awkward stage where it's July, so we're coming up to the summer holidays. I completely understand that. I have people listening that are in two camps. So you're either in the camp that is a mum who is getting ready to slow down her business and wind it back because the kids are going to be home for six weeks and your focus is going to be on them, not your work, and you're not going to want to start anything new. Or you're going to be somebody who's not affected by the school holidays in terms of having children home, but your clients have children so, and they're going to be on holiday, and other people go on holiday in the school holidays as well, and it's going to be quieter and you're going to be twiddling your thumbs thinking what can I do with this time that I've got? So if you fall into those camps people who have got some time this is the perfect time to do it.

Donna Eade: 29:36

If you are a mum and you haven't got the time and you're stepping back from your business a little bit over the summer holidays, buy it now. You have 12 months to complete it. You can put an add on to get lifetime access to it, but you really don't need lifetime access to it unless you really really want to. But because once you've got it up and running, you're up and running. Got it up and running, you're up and running. I do know that one of my clients absolutely loves going back to the editing videos whenever she's doing a guest video, a guest podcast episode. Sorry, she always goes back and looks at it. So if you're somebody who likes to be able to refer back, then you might want to upgrade to the lifetime access. But you've got 12 months and so if you start in September, you can still get your podcast out before Christmas and if you know you've got the program, then you can make the space in your diary to sit down and do the program.

Donna Eade: 30:31

So I recommend two to four hours a week If you want to get it done in less than eight weeks. If you want to spread it out and do a bit longer, then obviously you can spread it out. It is completely up to you. It is self-study, self-paced. You will get access to me through my Facebook group so if you've got any questions you can get those answered. And it's a fantastic program and it has launched some amazing podcasts and I am so proud of everybody who has completed the program and launched their podcast and put it out into the world, because they are some of the best podcasts and I listen to most, if not all, of them whenever I can. The Far Too Fabulous is my number one because my health at the moment is my number one priority, so I make sure that I listen to that one every week, or I at least catch up with it when I don't listen.

Donna Eade: 31:32

So, um, yeah, it's. It's just fantastic to have those resources out there from experts in their field that are willing to share the information. And to that I would say if you are passionate about what you do and you're an expert in what you do and you have a message to share, you need to get it out there. People need to hear it, and it's a little bit selfish of you to keep it to yourself. So I would say get out there, do. It's a little bit selfish of you to keep it to yourself. So I would say get out there, do it, start a podcast, see how it goes, and if you have thought about it and it is on your list to do, then right now is the best time to get into work with me on it, because you can save 150 on my self-study program. So I'll leave all the links in the show notes. Guys, I'm going to be back next week with a guest episode for you, so join me then and I will speak to you soon. Bye for now.