Conversations with Tatum
My son wanted to start a podcast after listening to some podcasts with me in the car. So, in the name of being a good father and helping him pursue things he is interested in, I said yes. I wanted to use this as a place to document our journey into podcasting and any resources we use along the way.
The first place I went was to this site. I've listened, on and off, to the Smart Passive Income podcast by Pat Flynn for several years. Pat lays out step-by-step in this guide how to start a podcast and the tools he uses. This is the process that I will be following.
The first step in the process is to "Choose a topic you can commit to", create a list of 25 episode ideas, and imagine what it will look like a year from now if the podcast is a success. Since the podcast is being hosted by a 7-year-old, there aren't a ton of very deep topics that he knows much about, but he is very curious, so we decided on a show where we have conversations. The conversations will vary widely from flag football to Beyblades (his new obsession), baseball to Pokemon, and favorite foods and favorite movies. I have also asked several friends and family members if they would like to participate by being a guest on the show to talk about various topics in which they are experts or have deep knowledge.
The second step in the guide is to "Pick a Show Title", this was fairly easy given the content above. "Conversations with Tatum" seemed like an easy decision for the title. I have a little trepidation with not having a more descriptive title, but we can always change it or add to it depending on how it goes.
The third step is to "Write a Compelling Podcast Description", making sure to use keywords that are important for your podcast but making sure it is still written for your audience. The best way to think of this is how someone who listened to the podcast would describe it to a friend. I have skipped this step for now, it is what I plan on working on next.
Step four is "Decide on your Podcast Format", will it be an interview or a monologue, how long will each episode be, how often will it be published. Given the topic and name of the podcast, this will be an interview/non-monologue format mostly, unless Tatum decides to start doing solo episodes when he becomes more confident with this. I have several people lined up to interview, but haven't decided on the length of each episode. Judging by how talkative some of the people are, the episodes could be 15 minutes or they could be an hour, but I'm thinking the average episode will land in the 15 to 20 minute time frame. At this point I think that a weekly publishing schedule is all we can handle.
The next step, five, is "Get Your Podcast Artwork Created". I've hired a freelancer through Fiverr, but will have to update this later.
Step six is "Purchase Equipment and Test Your Recording Software". I am going to use Audacity for the software, which is what was recommended for Windows users. Apparently, COVID-19 has sparked alot of interest in podcasting and/or disrupted some microphone production because all of the recommended microphones were out of stock, so I ended up going with this one. I've tested it out and I think it will be a good one, it is less expensive and also contains all of the recommended items in one package.
This is as far as I have gotten, I'll continue the updates as I continue to make progress and will definitely add a launch date when the time comes.
