165. What to Do When You're Unmotivated to Podcast

Sara Whittaker 0:01

Sarah, 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 the show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whittaker, classroom teacher turned podcast manager, and I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators. Well, hello and welcome back to another episode of podcasting for educators. Thank you for being here today.

Last week, I shared some trends that I've seen with podcast downloads over the last several months, and I gave some explanation for why your downloads might be down compared to years past. If you're somebody who's had a podcast for a few years now, seeing downloads stay stagnant or even decreasing at times is not fun. When this happens, it might cause you to feel unmotivated to keep going to sit down week after week and hit that record button. Or maybe you have other reasons for being unmotivated. Maybe it's just because life feels extra busy, or you just had a baby, I can relate to that one, or you're kind of feeling just blah about your business overall, I would venture to say that most of us have probably all felt this way at one point or another. So what do you do about it? Today, I want to talk about what to do if you are feeling unmotivated to podcast but you're still feeling that pull to keep going. I actually brought this question up to my Instagram at the beginning of the summer, because that's definitely a time of year when it can feel hard to get work things done. So I want to share your responses. What you all said to me when I asked you, hey, what do you do when you are not feeling motivated to continue your podcast? And I think here I'm mostly referring to that feeling of of motivation that has disappeared for a while now, like it's not just one week randomly where you're not really feeling like you want to record, this is a feeling that has kind of grown over time. It's been a while now, and you're just not able to get that motivation back. What do you do? So when I asked you all this on Instagram, there were four common clear themes that popped up. The first big solution that came up in your responses was that if you're feeling unmotivated, that you might need to get a little more clear on your plan and the direction of your show. So one reason that you might not be feeling that motivation right now is because you're lacking a little bit of direction. Maybe you're feeling like you're kind of just throwing spaghetti at the wall week after week as you're putting out episodes. And you might feel the same way on Instagram or with your email, like this might be a bigger problem in your business. So taking some time to really get clear on what you really want your show to look like and what kind of results you want is going to be really helpful for you, and what could that look like? Sometimes that means getting better systems in place, like maybe you are really great at recording episodes, but you're not sharing them at all. So how can you put a system in place and a routine in place so that you're ensuring that you are promoting your episodes every single week? Maybe you feel like you need to get clear on who your ideal listener is. Maybe your ideal listener right now is too niche, or maybe it's too broad. So taking a look at that can really help, because that kind of has a trickle effect of okay, if I'm really clear on my ideal listener, I'm gonna be more clear on the topics that I'm gonna cover in my episodes. Sometimes getting clear on the direction for your show could mean that it's time to make some changes with your podcast and what your podcast looks like. I can speak to this for sure, because when I start to feel unmotivated or kind of like about my podcast or about other things in my business, making some sort of change, getting like a fresh, new feeling that helps me get motivated, I need some sort of change that's kind of like a signal to me, Hey, it's, it's, it's time to do something a little bit different. It's time to try something new. And that could mean you changing the format of your show. It could mean new cover art. It could mean a new intro or outro. It could mean, like, a full rebrand for your show. There's so many little and big changes that you can make with your podcast that will spark a new sense of excitement for you, and I just want that to be a reminder to you that the show that you started with doesn't have to be the show that you continue with. Okay, you can make changes at any point. Is your podcast, you can make it look however you want. Okay, so that was the big kind of first clear theme that popped up was getting more clear on your plan and the direction for your show. The second common theme that popped up was, if you're feeling unmotivated to podcast to talk to your people, one of the responses here was actually from one of my clients, who said that she surveyed her email list and she asked them, this is the exact question that she asked them, if I could answer one question for you, what would it be? And she got some amazing responses. And then she said she literally just plugged their questions into her content calendar, and then she just winged it when she sat down to record. So she just kind of sat down, looked at the question for the day or for that episode, and answered it. Okay, nice and organically. Doing this has so many benefits. I mean, number one, if you're going to use direct questions that you've gotten from your audience, you know that you are creating episodes about things that they specifically want to hear about. So that's number one. Number two, then you can once that once you've created that episode, you can respond back to that person or send it out to your email list and say, Hey, you said you wanted this. I created this for you. Here it is, go take a listen. And it's just, it's a great feeling to be able to create content, create specifically podcast episodes about something that you know somebody in your audience wants, versus like, I don't know. I'm sure most of us have sat down and recorded an episode and then thought, Hmm, I wonder if anybody is actually going to be like, be interested in this topic. No, in this situation, you know that people are going to want to hear the answers to their questions. Similarly, somebody else had responded on Instagram saying that when they feel unmotivated, they like to talk to a friend who is doing the job that this person is trying to help. So for example, if you are speaking to elementary teachers on your podcast, or you're speaking to coaches on your podcast, or you're speaking to SLPs on your podcast, whoever it is talking to somebody that you actually know in real life, and getting a feel for what they're struggling with at that time, that can be a really good motivator. Because again, back to what this person said. I didn't share their full response before I started rambling on, but she said I talked to a friend who's doing the job I'm trying to help, and listen to their problems, listening to where they're struggling, makes me want to help. So then I feel motivated. I love that. So again, kind of like what I was saying before, when you're sitting down to answer a very specific problem that you know your audience is struggling with. That's a great feeling. That's like that internal motivation for you. All right, the third theme that popped up was when you are feeling unmotivated to podcast. Some of you said that getting help was the answer for you. So getting some sort of help with your podcast production, whether that's a full podcast manager or somebody who's just doing the editing or just doing the show notes or just doing the scheduling, or maybe somebody who's repurposing your episodes for places like social media or YouTube or email. There's so many ways that you can get help when it comes to your podcast, but some of you said that this was helpful to you, because then you could you were feeling overwhelmed before with all of the different things that you were having to do to keep up with your podcast. So when you hired help, you were able to focus on your content, and like, on the creative side of your podcast, I can say, from personal experience that this is so true. I have Brandi who produces my show, so I'm able to just kind of, like, focus on the content, and then she is doing, you know, the editing and the scheduling and the show notes and all of that, which is a huge weight off my shoulders, and that's what we do for our clients too. We do full production for them. So if you are somebody who needs help, you can always reach out to me, and we can talk about how we can help you with your podcast. But this is definitely a really good solution for again, just breathing new life into podcasting for you, and if you cannot afford to get help with your podcast, that's okay. There's other things you could do. I would recommend getting yourself help by way of accountability partner. Find another podcaster or multiple podcasters, and you guys can be accountability partners for each other and keep that momentum out. Help keep that momentum up and bounce ideas off of each other, and, you know, hold each other accountable for staying on track week after week. Okay? And then the fourth and last theme that I saw your answers being grouped into is that, if you're feeling I'm motivated to podcast and maybe. Tried all the things, and it's just you're just still kind of struggling. Take a break. Okay, there is no shame in taking a break. There were several of you who shared about how you had taken a break, and that's what did it for you. That's what just got you, got you your groove back, and got you back into things. One person says that they took a break and really focused on some other things that brought them joy, so that they could kind of get that spark back. And they also took that time during their break to really better organize their space that they work in and that they're recording, because the clutter was just driving them kind of crazy and oh my gosh, that is so true. Having a nice, neat space, I know, for me, makes a world of difference. It makes it it makes it become a space that you want to be in and that you're excited to be in, and that can have an effect on your podcast, on where you're sitting down to record another specific response was they took an unplanned break and they returned when it was right. So I liked this answer a lot, because they were just kind of leaning in to how they were feeling. They didn't plan to take a break. They didn't announce it. They just they said, you know, enough is enough. Like I need to stop for a little bit and refocus and get my energy back and my motivation back, and when I feel like it's right to return, I'm going to return. And this person specifically has since returned. I'm happy to report, she took a fairly long break, and she did come back, and she came back with so much excitement to get started again. And then one more answer that kind of fell into this category was that they switched to only doing solo episodes and gave themselves a couple weeks off. So it sounds like maybe guest episodes were becoming a lot for them. Maybe it was like the planning that they were having to do with people, or finding the right time to record, or finding a quiet time to record. I know how that goes. It can be kind of stressful sometimes, especially if you have kids at home who are making a bunch of noise and you are trying to sit down because you found that perfect time that works for you and your guests. And it's just it can be stressful. So they found that switching to solo episodes and then also giving themselves a couple weeks off. So I do want to reiterate here that a break can mean whatever it means for you. It could be a week, okay, I

s, early,: 2000

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