Podcasting 101: The tech you need | Ep. 063

Podcast Tech: Here is what you need to get started. 

To put it simply: lighting, audio, camera, and post-software are all you need to get started, but let’s get into some details about what some of that is.

Today we share some of our favorite tech we use on both the front and back end of our podcast production. We will also share Kacie’s wish list and provide the links in the show notes below.

GRAB MORE INFO FROM OUR PARTNERS:

Kristina Stubblefield
Digital Marketing & Tech Solutions Guru, So In Media Group
Website www.soinmediagroup.com
Podcast Host: Simplified Solutions

The Better Business Bureau
Website https://www.bbb.org/local-bbb/bbb-of-middle-tennessee

__________________________________

WANT MORE? CHECK THIS OUT:

► All The Tech You Need to Get Started:
Audio Recorderhttps://a.co/d/1RWUXkM

Microphones: https://a.co/d/cBdJ5CF

Lights: https://a.co/d/4qx35iW

Software: https://streamlabs.com or https://streamyard.com , https://www.buzzsprout.com/ or https://www.podbean.com, https://www.podpage.com , https://www.descript.com

► Kacie’s wishlist:  https://a.co/d/cQ4zeZF

► Simple Steps to Launch Your Business:
https://www.thebusinessproject.com/28-steps-to-launch-your-business/

► Videos for Growth as a Business Owner
https://www.thebusinessproject.com/

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https://www.thebusinessprojehttp://ctpodcast.com

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-Kacie Bryant and John Crespo

TheBusinessProjectPodcast.com

Transcript

The Business Project Podcast. Business can be complicated. We break it down so regular people like us can understand and find success. I'm John Crespo, accountant and consultant. I'm Casey Bryant, marketer and event planner. If you run a business or want to run a business, welcome to the show. 

What's up everybody?  Hey! Hi!  As we're, uh, thawing out.  Yeah. From this weather. Yeah. The roads were crazy this morning. For you Southerners that don't know how to drive in this weather. Oh, I just moved my whole chair back.  All right. What's up guys? We are so excited to have you here for the Business Project Podcast.

What's going on? This is our third live one and I think hopefully we finally got some things worked out. Third time's a charm. Third time is a charm. So we really appreciate you guys being here today. We are going to go over the specific tools that you need in order to do a podcast. So this is something that we get asked.

All the time and last all the time last week we did, uh, the kind of preparing for your podcast, because I think a lot of people think that you just throw up a camera and a microphone and get moving and, but there's a lot of really. Planning and thought that needs to go into your podcast. Things like, are you going to have guests?

How many microphones do you need? Are you going to be live? Are you going to record it? What's your vision for the podcast? So we talked about that last week. So if you haven't checked that out after this, make sure that you go back and tune in. And even if you're not interested in doing a podcast or have no desire at all to do this crazy adventure.

You can still get some things out of the last episode. So we would love if you go back and watch it. Yeah. I mean, it's the direction that we're going anyway with the technology and the advancements in technology and all of that stuff. Most people get their information from online sources and podcast videos and streams and all that.

So understanding it at least. Can help you in your business. Maybe you don't want to do a podcast, but you want to do a couple of videos every now and then. So this, this could kind of help with that process as well. Yeah, for sure. If you're not doing videos as a business owner, you are missing out on a lot of opportunity.

We have even noticed our business that on Instagram, so we used to get. Really great engagement on Instagram and people love the photos and, and things. And you know, the, we would do like several photos and a post and a little description and it did really well. Our Instagram has just plummeted because we're not focusing as much on video as we should.

And so this year we're really gonna switch and focus a lot more on doing video for Instagram because man, that's what they want. They want video. They don't want pictures anymore. It's true. I think people want to build a connection and, you know, I think more now than ever. People want to know who they're doing business with because there's so much, um, scams going on out there that, um, you know, the video, even putting like putting yourself on video and, and connecting with your potential market, um, goes a long way with.

Generating more revenue because you're building that connection. What is it? The know, like, and trust factor. That's what people are looking for today. Mm-Hmm. . So that goes a long way in building that. It does. Yes. And what a great opportunity as a business owner, especially a local business owner, one of the things that.

makes you different is the fact that you are a person behind the register and behind whatever you're creating. It's, it's coming from your brain and your neighbors and friends. And we live in this community together and people want to get to know you and they want to know who they're supporting and why they should support you.

And so video is an amazing opportunity to share that. Yeah, so I think that a lot of what we went over yes or last week, and then a lot of what we're going to go over today, if you're not wanting to do a full blown podcast, this is the equipment that we're going to talk about today is still some great equipment that you could use to do video, whether you're doing podcast or just Tik TOK videos, these things are going to be really important for all video creation.

If you want to look like a professional and keep people engaged. That's right. Humanize your business.  Humanize your business by doing video. You got to do it today. You got to do it. So before we get into it, should we hear from Christina? I love Christina. Let's hear what she's got to say. Yeah, we got some really cool ones.

So we did, we did this before, but I'm trying to look on my cheat sheet to see what button to push. Um, we did this tip before a couple of podcasts ago, but she's personalized it a little bit. And I just think that. Googling your business, Google, my business is such an important, we cannot stress this enough.

And so Christina is going to give you guys a tip on how to get your business. Notice more online. Great. We love, love, love Christina. We're so thankful for this partnership. So hold on just a minute. And then when we get back from this, we're going to go into the tools that you need specifically to do a podcast or to do professional video in your business.

So let's go for it.  Casey and John with the business project. They always share great information. Hey everyone. I'm Christina stubblefield, a digital marketing strategist and co owner of so in media group. And today I get to share with you a business tip. Did you know that one simple tool can transform your online visibility?

and attract more customers. It's called Google Business Profile, and it's a game changer for your business. Let's uncover the top benefits of using Google Business Profile. Ready? First up, visibility. Google Business Profile puts your business on the map. Literally. It helps you show up in local search results and Google Maps, making it easier for customers to find you when they're searching for services like yours.

Next up, trust. Your business profile is a trusted source of information. Keep your business's hours, location, and contact details up to date so customers know they can rely on you for accurate information. Engagement is key. With Google Business Profile, customers can leave reviews. Ask questions and even book appointments.

It's a direct line to your audience, enhancing customer service and loyalty. And let's talk about insights. Google provides analytics for the customers and how they find and interact with your business. Use this data to optimize your marketing and improve your customer experiences. Now you've seen how vital Google Business Profile is for businesses looking to grow.

So don't wait. Claim your profile today and start connecting with more customers. To get started, go to business. google. com. Your customers are searching for you. Make sure they find you. If you would like to connect with me, just visit my website, christinasdoublefield. com. All  right, we're back. What's up guys.

If you guys have any questions, by the way, we're doing this live for you. So this gives you an opportunity to tune in and ask questions. Even if it's not related to the topic, we're going to have a couple of minutes at the end of the podcast to answer any questions related to business. And we'll be back.

We're not the know it alls of know it alls, but we might know where to find your answers. So you guys feel free to, and whether you're watching on Facebook or YouTube to ask your questions right there. Here's a question for you.  What equipment, if, if you do video or if you're doing podcasting or anything like that, what equipment do you use?

For your videos in your podcast, that way we can, we can compare notes. That's good. Cause there's so, so many options, so many options, there's lots and lots and lots. So  let's get into, we're going to go over today what we use and some options for that. And then we actually in the video description, we have links.

So if you want to find those on Amazon, not a fan of Amazon, I know, but, um, makes it easy for everybody. But if you want to. See, it's really easy. Just go down there and look at our list and click. Very cool. Yeah. There are several things, whether you're doing video, whether you're doing podcasting that are really, really, really important.

Lighting,  obviously camera quality  and audio.  Those are the things, lighting, camera, and audio.  A lot of people think about the camera. Is usually the first thing they think of is camera, and then they don't think of lighting or audio. Other people think of, you know, oh, it's a podcast, I need to do audio. But then they decide to do video, and their video looks terrible.

Mm hmm. So once you can master those three things, I feel like you've got a pretty decent podcast and it doesn't have to cost a million dollars to get a podcast up and running. We did ours, the equipment that we have, I would say maybe 500 is what we spent to get up and running. And so let's get into it.

Yeah, you can get in, you can start a podcast on a budget. Yeah.  And they make, it's not like 10 years ago where you had to spend 500 on a good microphone. They make microphones really good now. I mean, these ones that we have, there's actually a link in the description. These are zoom microphones and it came with a box of two and it came with the arm, the arm.

Yep. And this is a little thing. This comes on and off. And the, and it came with the headphones. Oh yeah. And I think these were like 80 bucks. Yeah. Yeah. So all of this, this is just, This is it. We can do better audio if we want. We could get fancier. I mean, their microphones can be anywhere up to six, seven, 800 for a good microphone, but if you're wanting to just get started, then this is a great way to do it.

Yeah. I think the, you know, look at the type of podcast you're looking to do, you know, if it's just a single person talking head type of podcast, or you want to have multiple people, then I think the, the microphone selection plays into that.  Yep. So the next question is, how do we get the microphone into the computer?

And John, will you hand me that? Yeah, just be careful because everything's connected. We're going to lose you guys.  So this is It won't go that far, but it'll go this far. Because these microphones that we have  They have, I don't know all the technical terms you guys, um, they have these round plug in thingies. 

The connection. The connector. It's not like the, like a headphone connector, it's this thing. So this, this is called a Zoom, um, PodTrack P4. And this is also linked in the description. And I love PodTrack.  This thing is amazing because you can take this wherever it's super simple. And so what this does, this is where our headphones are plugged in at, and this is where our microphones are plugged in at, and you can plug in up to four in here and it, you can adjust the volume of each one because usually I'm a lot louder than John, so we're able to account for that through this. 

And then this is plugged in. This wire right here is plugged in directly to our computer. So that's kind of, that's how you connect the audio. Between this is, what is this thing do, like, what is it for that, that, um, you can also record on that. So if you're doing a recorded podcast and you're not wanting to do it live.

You can record the audio separately in that. And that's really cool because it'll also, so it'll give you one file that has all of your audio, but then it'll give you separate audio files too. So like, there'll be John's microphone will be on a totally separate audio file than mine. So if you need to go in and quickly adjust the different audio levels, if, you know, we mess up a lot.

And so if you mess up and you're like, Oh, Casey was way too loud on that episode.  You can put in both of the audio files and it's really easy to fix. So, so I think for that, if you're having a podcast with multiple people, you want to make sure the sound is consistent. So this helps in creating that consistency.

You don't want to have a higher, um, sound with one person, a lower sound with another person, because it's just, it's going to. You know, it's not going to make for a good, um, user, listener experience. Right. And that, you can see on the, there's little, like, sound level things for each individual microphone.

So on the little screen there, you can see. You make sure that the, when you're talking into it, that they match. It does so much more, but that's just, we're giving you guys the basics today. And we don't record on that. We used to, when we did recorded podcasts, but now we just use that as a tool to get our microphones connected to the computer.

So the microphones are now. Um, go through that and they're connected into the computer and then what we use on the computer is, uh, another program and stream labs is what it's called. I lost it for a second. Yes. So stream labs. And this is again, all of this is in the video description. So if you want direct links to it, go to streamlabs.

org.  Streamlabs is what puts all of it together. So we connect our camera into the, to the computer. We connect our Zoom little box into the computer. And, and then it puts it all together. And we can get a little bit technical about that. And I also put some, there's a couple of other options. Versus Streamlabs, there's a couple of programs out there that'll do that.

So we put that in the description. Also, they all work very similar and, but Streamlabs is what we use. You can live stream with Streamlabs. You can set different, um, different scenes up. So like when you see our intro video, we have that set as a scene and then our camera scene. You could even set several different camera views as seen.

So you can use your keyboard and switch back and forth. So Streamlabs is, is really. Great, amazing tool. I love it. That's like the, the management hub of your stream or your podcast, where you can create the actual experience. So you put everything together. You can add your intros, you can add your sponsorship videos or whatever it is that you have.

Um, that's where you do all of that. Yes. How hard is it to use that thing?  It's, there's a little bit of a learning curve to get it up and going. You got to kind of watch some videos on how to use it. Yeah, just like everything else. And we use it very basic. You, it also has some, um, neat little, like if you switch back and forth from one scene to another, it has these cool things that you can do.

I mean, stream labs does, it does a lot. We just, we use it very basic, but we can even see I'm looking at our screen right now and we can see the chat. That come in, I can't see that far. So I have to have my cheater right here, but, um,  it, uh, you can also see the audio levels on stream labs and it's, it's a great tool.

That's awesome. Yeah. So we talked about audio. Uh, we talked about stream labs, cameras. This is something that, man,  I  have gone back and forth a hundred times with the cameras. Um, right now we're not using the best quality. I have a really nice Canon, um, camera and it just, Canon DSLR. Specifically camera, I can't, Canon, I can't speak to Sony or, um, Nikon or any of those, but it does not work well with livestream.

They do not talk well. They have some little workarounds, but it just, it, it's a little laggy and it doesn't work great, which is a big bummer because a really nice DSLR camera has great quality. So, right now we're using just a  Logi, L O G I, webcam. I think it's like a hundred bucks. You can get a good webcam.

And, um, and it's nice because it just plugs directly into the computer. But I have in my, um, in our show notes a wish list. What I really want is a Mevo. Oh, that's cool. That little thing follows you. Yeah. So it'll track you and the good than the camera. And it's made for that, isn't it? Mevo. Yeah, it's made.

It's kind of like they're a competitor for, um, uh, what are the little like the pros? Yes. GoPro. Thank you. It's a competitor for GoPro. They're not waterproof like GoPro or like rough and tumble, but it does a lot of the same. Similar things. And yeah, it'll follow you. And the camera quality is just really great.

So that's our goal is to get Amiibo. So are there, aside from the Amiibo, like, is there,  um, cameras that are specific for streaming?  Um, aside from we have this, the, um, monitor camera, the webcam webcam, but do they sell like your Canon? Is there a streaming camera?  That's a good question. I don't, I don't think so  possibly there is, but I don't know.

I don't, I don't think specifically, I think webcams and Mevo, like a lot of those are built to do streaming with streaming in mind too. Yeah. I think it also depends on what you're looking to spend, you know, if you want to go all in on some high end. Um, equipment, you'll find it for sure. It'll be thousands of dollars, um, to get to, you know, set that up, but you don't have to go that high.

Right. You can do it much less. Yep. And you can start with some lower quality things and work your way up as your podcast gets better too. We have some comments coming in. Good morning, Ariel. Hi, Crystal. Thank you guys so much. What's up? For joining. Faith. What's up faith?  Uh, Justine, it's cool to see all the pieces that go into making a podcast.

Yes, it is. Yeah. So fun. I'm learning like I don't, this whole equipment stuff thing.  That's not my world.  That's Casey's world. I just  come in and speak. Uh, Belinda says, Hola, finally made it. Good morning, y'all. Good morning, Belinda. We love you. Uh, let's see, Faith, you need a Nikon. Always Nikon. Yes, Faith. I know that you are a Nikon fan.

So, Faith, is a Nikon, um, good for streaming? Do you want to have any lag or anything like that? Is that why you're  That's a good question.  GameGear is watching again too. What's up GameGear? He uses OBS to record. Yeah, so OBS and Streamlabs are almost identical. Streamlabs is just an upgraded version of OBS.

So thank you for. Given that a shout out, um, OBS is free. Oh, cool. Yeah, and it does a lot of the same things, so I don't think you can live stream from OBS. I think there are some limited, um, things that you can do with it, but OBS is another good one. So thank you so much Game Gear, that's great. So there you go, you got more options.

Yeah. You can start out free with OBS and test it out and then see how that works and work your way up. So you can definitely start a podcast on a budget. You can. Yes, for sure. Okay, so we talked about  the microphones, we talked about the program, we talked about the camera, now we're going to talk about lighting. 

Yeah, I forgot to turn on our tree. We all have lights in our tree. Just the white, yeah, just the white one, plug her in. Um, lighting is really, really, really important and we, but it doesn't have to be complicated. This is one of those things it could be. You can spend. Thank you. Isn't that pretty? Yeah, you can spend a whole bunch of money on lighting, but when you're starting, when you're getting started, you really don't need to.

We have a link in the description of some lights. It is good to have different. The lights have a different setting. So different brightness with just a switch is nice. Also being able to go between warm and cold light, warm and white and yellow light  again, warm and bright person. Yes. Yeah. So just having some different options for lighting, uh, when you're looking at lighting is really important, but it doesn't, we have to, we have one on me.

We have one on John. You always want the light to come down. You don't want it. To go up or straight on. So you kind of want it to go down. Yeah. Um, so that's all I know about lighting. So you, I guess you want, you know, people to see you. You don't want to be looking like you're speaking in the, in the shadow.

Right. Right. Um, but you can also pick some, like some LED lighting that has different colors to set a particular kind of mood. Mm hmm. So I've seen a lot of podcasts where depending on the color that they have of their studio painted or wherever they are painted, whatever the color is, they pick a led color to kind of complement that.

Um, and also the different kinds of topics, depending on what you're talking about, has a color associated with it too. And that goes into the whole branding thing that. You know, you know more about the mind control,  because it makes you want to, it brings you into the, to the theme. Yeah, yeah. That's a good point.

I didn't think about that with lighting. There's several ones that have like that backlit with different colors and you can get as technical as you want for lighting. But the one thing to keep in mind too is. The brighter you can get it, if you have really good lighting, it also helps the quality of your camera because if you have really dull, not great lighting, then your camera has to work harder to give you a good picture.

So lighting helps the quality of your video overall, not just looking dark. So for basics, you want a bright  and you want to warm.  Yeah, I'm not a fan of warm. I don't use a whole lot of warm lighting. Yeah, like a warm little setting. Yeah, the, um, the back lit is important too. So, like, if you see, if I go back far, you can see a little shadow behind me.

So, if we wanted to get rid of that and not have it be distracting, you can do a little, like, back light too. Yeah, to make it so that The video is clear. Mm hmm. You want a clear video? Yeah, we have a light that was supposed to be backlit, but we're not using it. Hey, we're working on it. There it is. There we go. 

Um, hey, we're just, we're lucky that we're here and the video is working today, right? You get to see how we test out the lighting. Yeah. There you go. You see it firsthand. Exactly. All right. So, um, let's see.  Hi Edward, so much. Thank you for joining. Warm and cool. Thank you Faith. That's what the lighting is called.

Warm and cool. She's a photographer. She knows what she's talking about. Warm and cool.  Belinda says, I'm still learning with my podcast. I need to work more in the technology part. Thank you for sharing these tips. Yeah, the technology part is the hard part. Um, and Faith was just harassing me. She's good at harassing me with the camera, with picking the camera.

Okay, so we talked about microphones, we talked about We talked about the program. We talked about the camera. We talked about the lighting. So there's one more, a couple more pieces that I want to get into. Um, and, but first, We're going to, let's hear from the BBB. Ooh, Lornath. Yeah. We're going to hear from Lornath.

The Better Business Bureau, if you don't know what BBB stands for. Yes, we love them. We love Lornath. Peter, she's amazing and she's going to come to us every week with some tips. So we have a quick tip from the BBB and then when we come back, we're going to talk about a couple more things that you must have in order to do a podcast well.

And then we're going to get to some of your questions. So if you guys have. So if you have specific questions, make sure you type them in the comments now. And it doesn't even have to be about podcasting, it can be about anything, anything business related. So go ahead and type those questions in while we're hearing from Laurenith and we will be back in just a second. 

Hi, everyone. My name is Lorna Peters, Director of Marketing and Communications at Better Business Bureau, serving Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. And I just wanted to stop by here to share a quick tip with you. I know as a business owner, you are inundated with emails on a daily basis. And sometimes, like you do on most days, you just open every unsolicited email you receive.

But we encourage you to slow down and take a few steps before moving forward when opening that email. 1st things 1st, are there any URL links included in that email before clicking on the URL link? And. Opening it in another window, first hover over that URL link to see if it's an actual URL link or if it can be a scam.

Why? Because scammers utilize URL links to get access to your personal information on your computer or on your iPhone. So before you move forward, any email you receive that's unsolicited, if it's received from someone you may not know, Take a few minutes, review the emails, see what URL links are included in there, hover over the URL link first before opening to ensure you are staying safe, you're protecting your information, and you're also protecting the information of your customers.

If you have any questions, BBB serving Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky is here for you to send us an email at info at go BBB.  org. 

All right, we're back.  Our girl Lorna. I love her. Good job. That's a great tip. Yeah. Scams are rampant today. They're so bad. My goodness. Yeah, I get like  50  emails. I want to say and that's a conservative number a day that I get that are transferred to my spam folder that are just  scam.  Watch out for that stuff.

Yeah. Don't click anything. No. We get a lot of Facebook scams and I've heard of a lot of businesses that have lost their Facebook page because it says you're about to get deleted. Click on this link and they do. Yeah. It's sad. People, guys, come on. Stop clicking on links, man.  Yeah. So thank you so much, Lorneth.

All right. We're going to get into a couple more things that you must have. In order to start your podcast off, right? Yes. And these are things that you can't see, but they are in the links of the description. So the first one is buzzsprout or an option like buzzsprout there. I put two options down there and what buzzsprout does is because you.

You ask, right? So we have our video, we've done it, whether we've done live or we've done a recorded video and you're like, okay, so now how do I get it on all the things? Cause now there are all the things there's Spotify, there's Apple podcasters, I heart radio, there's YouTube, there's all the things. So, um, what this does, what, um, Buzzsprout does is you can upload your audio to Buzzsprout and it pushes it out on all of those platforms.

So when you create your Buzzsprout account, there is a fee for it, but you create your Buzzsprout account and you go ahead and connect all of those things so that when you post it and push it live, it does it all for you. So you don't have to go to each individual one and do it. It's really nice and it's not expensive.

No, it's not. I want to say it's like under 20 bucks a month. Yeah And that's like a you're right. It's a must so, you know it you want to get your information and your content out to every  Every channel, right? And Buzzsprout is what you use for that in the other program that you have on there. Is what you're going to use for something like that.

So you, you need it if you want to get it out there to everybody. Yeah. I look at our stats or downloads on Buzzsprout. It also gives you reporting and things. One thing that really stinks about podcasting though, is it doesn't show you how many people. Listen to your podcast. It only shows you how many people download it.

So the numbers are a little bit hard. Sometimes it's discouraging. Cause you're like, dang, only that amount of people. But in all reality, there's probably way more that heard your podcast. They just didn't download it. So, um, but the, whenever I go back there and look, I'm like, man, I didn't even know that platform existed and people are using these weird random platforms that I've never even heard of. 

I wonder why downloads are so.  Like, I don't, I listen to podcasts all the time. I don't download the podcast that I listen to. I don't know. That is, that's, that's interesting. I wonder if they can't track it if, unless you download it. I don't know. I don't know what the answer to that is. If you guys know the answer.

Let us know. Yeah, yes. So, Buzzsprout is another one that you must have. Again, I put in the description a link to that and also an alternative to Buzzsprout. Buzzsprout is what we use. Yep. Another thing that you need is, uh, I have two more for you guys. The other thing is PodPage.  And PodPage is a website for your  Specifically for your podcast.

So it's not your business website. It's a website for the podcast. And what's really cool is pod page links with Buzzsprout. So again, we're not having to post things in a hundred different places. Once you publish it onto Buzzsprout, then your pod page will automatically pick it up and put it in there.

So this is a great landing page. The reason you want to do pod page is because you don't know if So if somebody listens to Spotify or YouTube, and so when you're trying to share out your podcast, you can give them your pod page website so that they can see all of the different places that they can click it instead of just having to put all the links wherever you're posting it.

Is that also good for if you're having guests? Yes. Yes. Good question. Good lead question, John. Yes. So, PodPage is really cool, too, because you can create a form that you can send out when you have guests, and so they get an email with a little link to click, and then they fill out their information. They can upload a picture and put links to, you know, their  And then you can, once that podcast goes up, you can link their profile with that podcast so people can go in and they can click on their picture and get all of their information.

They can also, if you have them multiple times on your podcast, they'll, it'll list all the episodes that they've been in. So that is really cool too. Yeah, that is awesome. You need something like that because, um, in podcasting. Right. Um, you want to participate in other people's podcasts and you want people to participate in yours.

And I think the, from what I've researched is the algorithm picks up those  backlinks. Um, and really if they see that there's backlinks going on where you're visiting other people's podcasts and they're putting your information on and vice versa, then it helps to share your information out there. We did a really good episode with Brittany.

Um, months ago, I don't even remember what episode that was, but if you search in Brit B R I T T in the business project, you can see an episode that we did with her. That was great. It talked a lot about collaborating and partnering with other people and that was a, yeah, that was a really good, I think that's our most popular podcast that we've done.

Yeah. So head back in and check that one out. It goes into that more detail, but yes.  It also makes when you bring a guest on your podcast, and I think we might've gone into this a little bit last week, but I, it's definitely worth rementioning when you're bringing a guest on your podcast, you want them to have a good experience, they're spending their time and their energy and time is money to come on and be a guest on your podcast.

You want to have things put together. That's one of the reasons we're not doing guests right now is because this whole live thing is very new for us and we don't want to bring somebody in and. Have the video not working or, you know, we want to make sure that it's a great experience for them. So working out the kinks.

Yeah. So that is, um, that's something to consider too, as you're building out your podcast and pod page just helps improve that experience for your guests too. Love it. Yeah. So, there's the pod page, and then the last tool that I'm going to mention, and then if you have some questions, we will get to your questions, but the last tool that we need to mention is a video editing software, because what you really want to do is The social media part of it.

You can't just create a podcast and post it in Buzzsprout and then hope that people come. You also want to do, just like anything else in business, you also want to market it and get it out there and do clips. Chopping it up and all and doing some shorts and reels and all that stuff and sending it out there?

Yes. Alright. A really good one is called Descript. Descript is amazing. That's also linked in the show notes. But Descript is, it's a different way of editing. Normally when you use Adobe or Final Cut, you You can edit on a timeline, so like you import your video and then there's a timeline and you can add layer things on top.

Descript is really cool because once you import your video, it creates a transcript. And the cool thing about that is when you're doing your buzzsprout, when you're posting on buzzsprout, you can also add a transcript. So you just copy and paste that transcript from Descript right into your buzzsprout, which is really easy and simple.

And then, um, You can edit your video by editing the transcript. So if you want to take a certain part of your podcast, you upload it, you can read through it and you're like, Oh, this clip is really good. So you just highlight that clip and export it and it automatically edits that part of the video app for you.

You can also make it horizontal, you can make it vertical. And, and another thing is it adds captions. So if you want to. Captions are really important. A lot of people now don't even, they're at work and not supposed to be scrolling through the volume way down, but they want to know what's going on.

Exactly. So captions are really helpful. You'll reach more people if you have those. So  it automatically creates captions on there too, which is really nice. Descript.  I like that. Yeah. You need the, you need these tools because getting your, getting your awareness out, building your awareness.  You're not going to do it without social media today.

So being able to take what you've created, chop it up in the formats that are good for those social media accounts, and then pushing it out there is what's going to drive people to your, to your video.  Yep, for sure. Really good. I think the most important takeaway, if you guys have a takeaway from this week and last week is  there's a lot that goes into podcasting.

It's not as simple as just sitting down with a camera and talking. I think it can, it can be. Uh, and I think that maybe there are people in the past that have been successful with just a ring light and a camera and going for it. But that's very, very rare. And so I think just, Preparing yourself for success, planning your podcast out, um, putting the right tools in place to make it high quality and also, you know, putting, saving time by using tools like buzzsprout and Descript and putting time into your social media.

That's another thing. I mean, social media now takes a lot of time, so having a plan for that. That is really, really important. Yeah. Yeah. I think this all ties into that. Going back to the preparation where you have to look at what you want to present. Do you want it to be a long, is it longterm? Do you want to do these videos for the long haul?

Right? Then you got to prepare yourself to be able to do that. Most like we said last week, most podcasts fail within the first two years. So even though a lot of people are starting podcasts, most of them fail because of the lack of preparation and the lack of, of saying, okay, do I want to do this for the long haul?

All right, well, let me put the tools in place to be able to make that happen. Yeah, it definitely is not something that you can just put up and then become famous overnight. It's a building. Very rare. Yes, and you learn you learn from each episode. I mean we did for the first year We've did we did recorded episodes and we wanted to start doing live because we want to be able to answer your questions live and make have more of a Relationship here.

So if you guys are listening to us, um, from our recorded episode, we go back and we look at the comments and we take these comments and we use them to build our podcast. So if we're not live anymore and you're watching and you have questions, please feel free to put them into the comments or shoot us a DM because.

We love your questions. That's why we're here. We're here for you. And if you guys aren't telling us what you need, then we can't read your mind. Exactly. And we know you need something. Mm hmm. And if you're struggling with it, most likely there's another person that's struggling with it too. So asking your question is actually also helping other people.

Yeah.  And if we don't know the answer to it, because we don't know everything, I, we probably know where to find it. We will find it and come back to you. I was always taught in one of my previous employers that if you don't know the answer, you always say, Hmm, let me look into that and get back to you. So we will look into that and get back to you. 

Alright guys, if you have not already, please make sure to like our podcast, subscribe to our podcast, share our podcast in business groups, and it just helps, it helps reach more people. Yeah. And we, we want this live podcast to become. Uh, an opportunity for business owners to get look up and get out of their little bubble and and even talk to each other.

This is a great way for you guys to talk to each other and get to know each other through this community. Yep. It's an open forum. Let's get the conversation going. Let's help each other and let's build strong small businesses. Yeah.  I had an idea for next week's podcast, but I forgot what it is. So we're just gonna leave it as a teaser  You guys will just have to tune in and find out it's gonna be good though.

We'll send teaser clips  Messages. All right. I don't see any questions that have come in. You guys have done a great job though engaging. Hi don Thank you guys so much, um, for, for participating. Thank you so much. Hi, Joy,  to, um, Christina and Lauren at the Better Business Bureau for providing those tips. We will continue to have those for you guys every episode and take some action.

Yes. Instead of just sitting here and listening and doing nothing, take something that you learned today and take some action on it. Visit those links, check them out, watch some videos and you know, create something with it. Do your Google my business profile. Oh, yeah, follow that Christina tip. That's important.

Mm hmm. All right.  I Think we are out  Out. See ya. Out. Out. See you guys. You have a good one. We'll see you next Friday. Live at eight 30 on Facebook and Instagram.  Y'all have fun. Justine, I need you to stop the video.  . Thank you. She's over there being our rock star on social media to see you later. Dance. Yeah, 

All right. Bye guys.  .

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