195 | Why Your Podcast Isn't Fun Anymore—And How to Fix It

[00:00:00] If podcasting feels like a grind rather than a good time, this episode is your reset button. We're ditching the pressure, cracking up the fun, and bringing the spark back. Because if you're not having any fun, what's the point?

[00:00:20] Sound matters. Be heard. Welcome to the podcast where you get exclusive behind-the-scenes tips to make your own show sound truly spectacular. This is Podtastic Audio.

[00:00:33] What's happening? How are you doing today? Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris and yeah, this is the show you clicked on, Podtastic Audio. This show right here, the one you clicked play on, is all about making sure that an indie hobby podcaster like you and like myself here can make an amazing show just like everybody else. Podcasting can be fun for everyone. And that is exactly what today's going on.

[00:01:07] Today's episode is all about. It's all about making sure that you can have fun podcasting. It doesn't have to be a grind. It doesn't have to be a job. It doesn't have to be this big chore that some people turn it out to be. You ever find yourself creating a podcast and you're thinking like, hey man, do I really have to podcast today? I'm just not in the mood. Or perhaps maybe you've got a co-host that decides that they're not in the mood to podcast. Maybe you are, and maybe they're not.

[00:01:35] And you're just losing the fun. You're losing the thrill of podcasting. Hey, listen, I get it. I totally, totally understand what it's like to lose the passion behind creating a podcast. I mean, after all, it all sounds fun in the beginning. That actually goes with probably almost any project you've ever started. Think of how many cars are in people's garages right now that they picked up for a bargain. Oh, I'm gonna get this project car.

[00:02:05] That's gonna be amazing when I'm done with it. And then they go buy it and they tow it to their house. They put it in their garage, maybe get the tools and the parts are ordering things are looking all things up and all that stuff. Maybe one Saturday goes by, they work on it. Maybe the second Saturday. And then a few things go by and they're busy doing other things or this other project gets in the way and things like that.

[00:02:27] And then eventually that project car that's sitting in the garage is still a project. How many months, maybe even how many years later? Yeah. Hopefully podcasting does not become similar to that project car. Hopefully your podcast journey has been something fun from the beginning and that you continue to have fun making your podcast.

[00:02:50] And I know, and I totally get it. Things happen and things get in the way, but don't you worry in this episode, I'll help you rediscover the fun side of podcasting because when you're having fun, your audience is also having fun and they feel it too.

[00:03:07] We'll break down what causes burnout. Well, you probably already know a lot of things cause burnout and how you can bring joy back into your content and why reconnecting with your audience starts with reconnecting with yourself. You know, when I first got involved with podcasting as a listener of podcasts, podcasting was probably fairly new, at least, well, it probably was around years earlier.

[00:03:37] But when I say fairly new, what I mean is when it really kind of hit mainstream, when it became part of the Apple ecosystem. If you had an Apple iPhone or an Apple iPod back then, you saw the cool podcast feature, you plugged your phone into the computer or maybe you did it. I don't think you could do it right on the phone back then.

[00:03:58] I think back then you had to plug into your computer and do everything through iTunes, find the shows you want to listen to, and then physically download those episodes to your phone or iPod. Then you can listen to them on the go. But besides all that stuff, I had such a thrill finding shows that I really wanted to listen to at times that were convenient for me.

[00:04:23] Because that was the one big draw to audio podcasting back then for me was surfing all these new shows or different shows. There wasn't a lot back then to choose from, but I would find things that kind of interested me. Then I was physically able to actually download those things right to my phone and take that thing with me, earbuds or plug it into the car radio. However, I did it back then. I think I just used AirPods back then and just drove around.

[00:04:51] I don't know if that's illegal or not, to tell you the truth, but I would drive around with those AirPods and listen to podcasts while I was working. And I thought this was super cool because Gary listened to a show that reminded me of those morning radio shows where he had co-hosts talking about something. But here on a podcast, they cut out all of the commercials, all the music, all the traffic reports, all the other nonsense. And they were just talking about a single topic, a single discussion.

[00:05:19] Because the morning shows I listened to, they would try to do this. This is, of course, way before podcasting was even thought of. They did these morning show rants and they would only have maybe 10 to 15 minutes tops to cover the entire rant they're going on, to cover the exact topic. So what they would do was, is they would maybe do it over multiple segments, just keep carrying it on.

[00:05:43] And I'm thinking, this sounds pretty cool, but I hate all the other fluff in the middle, all the commercials and all the other stuff that they have to go to break and promo spots, all that regular stuff. Like, man, I was really into that one thing. Now, back then, the hot topic that they were covering on the radio was the show Lost. And I absolutely love the TV show Lost. I'm sure there are podcasts about Lost that came out right after that.

[00:06:08] But back then, the radio show I listened to, they were talking all about this new TV show called Lost. And I was all in on it. And they went like half the morning, you know, covering just one topic, which would be this one new TV show, which was very, very popular back then. And I'm thinking, man, it would be kind of cool. I know they couldn't do this, but it would be kind of cool if somehow they could make an entire morning show just based on that one TV show. And of course, they couldn't do that.

[00:06:37] But now we have podcasting. And with podcasts, we physically can do that. We can cover an exact, an entire movie, an entire TV show, a whatever it is, an entire single topic you can cover on a podcast. And the listener to that podcast can listen to it anytime that is available to them. They don't have to be there at 530 in the morning to listen. They can listen anytime they want.

[00:07:04] And that is what drew me into listening to podcasts because it was tailored content, so specific for me that I can press play on and listen at any time I want. Which made me extremely happy. Podcasting and having the ability to do whatever I want, when I want, when it came to listening to content, audio content, which I thrived on audio content, made me extremely happy.

[00:07:31] And as a content creator, more specifically a podcaster, you want to make sure that your show does that very same effect on your listener of your show. But you also have to enjoy creating a podcast. Podcasting should be fun. It should be fun for you. And it also should be fun for the listener.

[00:07:56] But sometimes, somewhere along your podcasting journey, whether it's months, years, episodes, hundreds of episodes later, sometimes you maybe might have lost that spark, lost the motivation. You realize that podcasting is not fun anymore. So when that happens, things go downhill because the listener to your episodes, they can feel it.

[00:08:26] Even though you may be just doing audio only, like right here, the listener can tell if you are not enjoying creating the podcast. There's a lot of emotions that kind of come through with audio that you don't really think about. I know with video, you have the tears, you have the facial expressions and emotions and things like that. Yeah, I get that. But with audio, the listener, because they're not focusing on all the other distractions, really, they're listening to your voice.

[00:08:54] They're hearing the things that you were talking about. They got theater of the mind going, ripping through their mind right now, hearing exactly what you're saying, imagining what you're looking like saying it. Yeah. So in other words, the listener can feel if you are not having any fun with your podcast. Now, imagine if you were a listener of a show and the host maybe perhaps didn't sound like they were having any fun. Maybe they sounded like it was a complete and total chore.

[00:09:22] Maybe to the listener, the host perhaps just didn't feel like they needed to be there anymore. Like they just were like over it. And you can tell. Now, if you were listening to that, you'd probably check out. You'd probably turn it off. You'd probably be like, yeah, this show's not for me. I don't care what the subject says. I don't care what the title of the episode is. If the host sounds like they don't want to be there, then why do I need to be there?

[00:09:48] Now, everybody has their own personal story and everybody has their own conflicts they're going through right now. And everybody is going through something right now, whatever possibly could be. It could be a job loss. It could be a divorce. It could be a, you know, maybe you are moving from one location to another and you cannot have the studio set up yet before. Maybe you are doing a co-hosted show and one of the co-hosts just doesn't want to do the podcast anymore.

[00:10:18] So what do you do? Let's say it was the Jim and Joe show and Joe decided to take off and say, I'm not doing this anymore. So Jim's like, what am I going to do now? Because it was a Jim and Joe show. So what are you leaving me hanging here? What are we going to do? So at that point, the show either pod fades or possibly, you know, Jim decides to do his own show. And it just doesn't have that quite same spark. It just doesn't quite feel the same because Joe decided to leave.

[00:10:47] So Jim's trying to carry the show himself and maybe Jim needed Joe in this scenario here. I'm just totally spitballing. These aren't real people, by the way. Don't look up the Jim and Joe show. It doesn't exist. Well, maybe it does. I don't know. But I'm just saying that in this example here, if one of the two people decide to leave the podcast relationship, because I get it. Things happen. Work gets in the way. Jobs, you know, moving. Who knows what?

[00:11:13] There's a million things that happen with an indie podcaster because this is not our full-time gig. We do this podcast after we do everything else, which in itself can make it very, very difficult to want to get in here and record a podcast episode when you are stressed about everything else happening in your life. Podcasting is like the last thing you want to think about or work on or do. And I totally, totally get it.

[00:11:42] And those are some ways and some reasons why things start to fall apart. People go their separate ways. And the joy of podcasting is absent. I get it. I totally understand. I feel you. I feel your pain. I know exactly what you're going through. It's tough. It is really tough because once you lose that joy, it's really hard to get it back.

[00:12:04] But once you do recognize that the joy of doing the podcast has slipped away and that it does not feel the same as it once did, then perhaps maybe if podcasting feels like a chore to you, then it's time for you to realign and let's bring back the fun.

[00:12:25] But before we can bring back any kind of fun into our podcast here, we need to know exactly why the joy of podcasting faded out of our show. Where'd it go? What happened? Well, did you ever consider that possibly, just maybe, maybe here, that you might have been overthinking the pressure to be perfect on your podcast? What? I know. Imagine that, huh?

[00:12:54] Well, sometimes as us indie podcasters, we usually are just a one-man show. I know I am for this show. And I do feel the pressure from time to time to get an episode out every single week and to make each episode sound and look as perfect as I possibly can make it. It has to sound and look great. And I think what happens is that we also start to overthink all of the details to be perfect. And it really messes with our head.

[00:13:24] We start to really screw things up and we start getting really super stressed out thinking, oh my goodness, you know, this show doesn't go out exactly perfect. If I don't take out every single um, or if there's one little slight click sound in the episode, here I got an hour-long episode. There's like one little click sound. If I don't get in there and remove it, oh my goodness, I got to take the whole entire show down. Relax. It's okay. We all make mistakes. I've made mistakes. I've made plenty of mistakes on podcasting.

[00:13:51] This podcast, the other podcast, maybe my client show, but don't tell them that, okay? But I try to make sure that every show sounds as natural and it's fun and has a good tone and a good pace. And I try to make every show the best possible show I can with the time I have allowed. Because, you know, being an indie podcaster, we don't have an unlimited amount of time to do the podcast.

[00:14:18] We may have a few hours of maybe less than that to create an episode like I am right now today. I'm making sure that I have this time block available to create the podcast. And that's what I give myself because that's what I have. And that's what I have to work with. Now, another thing that can cause burnout for an indie hobby podcaster to suck the joy right out of your show is possibly trying to be too consistent at the cost of creativity.

[00:14:46] Now, what I mean by this is do you do an interview show with random guests that come on and you just randomly are spit firing out to every PR agency you can get a hold of, every single type of podcasting, guesting service you can get a hold of just to get anybody on the show because you have to have somebody on the show this week. And so you might possibly record multiple interviews in a certain week just so you have consistent content. But none of the guests are interesting.

[00:15:15] None of the guests have a great story. Some are dry. Your questions are dry possibly. And you're just trying to just burn through guests just to get that, you know, consistent episodes out every week or twice a week or whatever you're doing. You want to get the consistency going, the reps in as quickly as possible just so you build a backlog of episodes so you're good for a year or two out in the future without even thinking about, is this show any good? Are these episodes any good?

[00:15:44] Are these guests any good? Where's the creativity in that? There isn't any. And then it feels like you're just phoning it in. It sounds like a job interview. It sounds like you're just being, you know, not very creative, not very fun on the microphone. It just sounds like you don't want to be there. And if it sounds like you don't want to be there and it doesn't sound like your guest wants to be there, it just sounds like nobody wants to be there. Why would anyone listen to that? Okay. And a big one, what could suck the joy out of a podcast, suck the joy out of anybody's podcast.

[00:16:43] And just creating fun episodes. I think the fun may return back to your podcast because you think about it. When you first started your podcast, episode one, you had zero downloads, right? When you recorded episode one, you had no downloads because it's brand new. Nobody listened to it yet. But yet you had fun creating it, right?

[00:17:06] So if you can go back to that moment before you started obsessing over numbers and obsessing over all those metrics and different things way before that, then it's possible you could bring some fun back into your podcast. And then also, most importantly, before you do any of this stuff, go back and think, why did you make the podcast in the first place? What was your why for doing it?

[00:17:34] Once you figure that out, you might find that spark. You might realize, oh yeah, I know why we did this podcast. I remember that. That fun will return, hopefully. Now, it doesn't always work that way, but hopefully it will. And you know what happens next after the joy is sucked out of your podcast, when the fun fades away from creating the podcast? You know what the next evolution step happens in this whole podcasting process?

[00:18:05] That's right. You pod fade. Now, pod fading is what happens when the joy leaves your podcast and the fun never returns back to your podcast. And unfortunately, that is the sad, hard truth that has happened to a lot of shows. They all pod faded. And I get it. All these things happen. This is the reasons why shows do pod fade in the first place. And it sucks. It really does.

[00:18:32] But I think if you had fun and if you have joy creating the podcast, then possibly it'll stop you to make you think twice. Like, hey, we're having fun doing this show. And fun should be an ultimate reward to podcasting. Having fun and the listeners are having fun. Everybody's having fun. Making podcasting fun for everyone. Okay. Okay. I get it, Chris. Yeah, I hear you. So how do we bring the fun back to our podcast if we're already slipping down the slope of pod fade doom?

[00:19:02] How do we pull out of that? How do we pull up so we don't crash and burn? What do we do? Here are some tips and tricks that you can put in place right now. Hopefully, we'll make podcasting fun again for your show. Tip number one really is what you can do. Now, this is totally optional. Like I said, these are all just fun ideas you can put in place right now. And the first one is that you can record a just-for-me episode with no editing and no pressure.

[00:19:32] Now, what does this mean and what does this do? So have you ever played around with your microphone or played around with podcast equipment? When you first get it, you start recording stuff, testing stuff. Maybe you edit stuff just to play around to see what can happen. I know I did when I first started doing podcasting. The first thing I did was start recording nonsense into the microphone. You know, me and the kids and whoever and whatever just messing around with this stuff. Making like little mini episodes that were maybe five minutes long.

[00:20:02] I was playing around sound effects, maybe playing around with different things. I record it, play it back. It wasn't going live. It wasn't going over any podcast or any YouTube thing at all. It was just pure nonsense just to get stuff out, just to get back in the fun zone with podcasting. Because I think that if you have recorded my confronting you and you know that this episode is going to go live and you know that this video is going to go on YouTube and hundreds, if not maybe thousands of people

[00:20:31] are going to watch or listen to this thing, there's some pressure that gets involved. So if you decide to do something just for yourself with absolutely no pressure at all, having a fun time on the microphone, getting creative with sounds and the way you talk and present things, just having fun just might make you have fun with your podcast all over again. Okay, the second thing you can do to help you bring back the fun with your podcast is if you could,

[00:21:00] now this is possibly if you could do this, ditch the script. Yeah, let me say that again. Ditch that script and focus and embrace your personality, whatever it is. I know it might sound like a challenge. I can't lose the script, Chris. I can't lose the teleprompter. I can't lose that. Yeah, I get it. I totally do. I understand. But it might make podcasting fun again.

[00:21:26] If you go off of your own personality and get creative and showcase more of the fun side of your personality, which is going to bring more fun into the podcast, which is going to bring more listeners involved, because they're going to feel and hear the real you, not the generic seven steps to success, blah, blah, blah, that they can find anywhere. Great.

[00:21:48] But if you can say it in a fun personality, funsy way, then possibly listeners will enjoy that more. Okay. So moving on to the third tip I have to bring the fun back into your show is possibly try doing some weird segments, silly intros or unexpected topics. Now, I know if you're in particularly a niche show and you have, you know, you're focused on, say, Hot Wheels toy cars,

[00:22:18] that's all you're talking about. Maybe branch out a little bit and do some fun things. Talk about maybe NASCAR stuff or other cars or maybe other cars in general. It doesn't have to be about the toy cars. It can be other things. Mix it up. Try some weird segments like possibly. Did you know that Hot Wheels wasn't invented this time or that time or what car was never been a Hot Wheels car? You'll figure it out. It's your show. You can do whatever you want. You know, have fun with it. Okay.

[00:22:45] And the next tip I have for you to bring the fun back into your podcast is that if you can bring back some really good storytelling and laughter. You know, podcasting, at least audio podcasting here, really thrives on really good storytelling and laughter. Good storytelling with really good humor, they go hand in hand.

[00:23:10] Some of the best comedians I've ever seen in my entire life know how to tell a story in a very funny way. So possibly to bring some fun back into your podcast, mix in some really good storytelling and some good jokes. Mix them up and be real. Be yourself. Possibly share a story of something happened to you that might be interesting. Find a funny angle to that one story. Share it on the podcast. Laugh about it. Laugh at yourself.

[00:23:39] Laugh at your own stupid jokes. It's all good because the listener is going to really enjoy that. Now, I know it's a little tricky to do if you're doing a solo show like I'm doing right now. But when you are doing a storytelling show with a co-host, swapping stories. Hey, if your stories are inside jokes, don't do those. Make sure the listener to the show, no matter who's listening, kind of understands what you're talking about. You know, hey, Joe, remember the time we went to the 7-Eleven and you did this? Oh, that was so funny.

[00:24:08] The listener has no idea what you're talking about. So kind of fill them in. You know, you have all the time in the world. Stories and podcasts that are on stories. There's no time limit on a podcast. You probably already know that. It's not like the morning radio shows where you only had 15 minutes to get the entire segment in, end it, and close it. You have as much time as you possibly want to create your podcast. So have fun and enjoy every single thing you do. And take your time telling your stories. Have fun. Enjoy it.

[00:24:38] And make it fun for the listener. Okay, and the last tip here to make your podcasting fun again. And make your podcast show fun again for you and for the listener. Listening is especially if you talk to that listener. Talk to your audience as if they're your best friend. That will go a very, very long way.

[00:24:59] Because when you talk to your friend, I'm sure you talk to them a lot differently than possibly you talk to maybe your boss. Because when you're around your friends and you're having a great time just chatting it up, whether it's at work or at home or wherever you are, at the pub or the bar, wherever. If you're having a great time with your friends, everybody's laughing, having a great time, swapping stories, and it's just a great experience.

[00:25:28] Your listener to your show, they want to be part of that experience. They want to be in your circle. When you're out with friends hanging out, the listener wants to be involved in that experience. How do you make that happen? You get your audience to feel like they're your best friend. You talk to them as you would your friends. You talk to them as if they are included into the conversation.

[00:25:54] And that is exactly what brings the fun back into your podcast. And the great thing about podcasting, audio podcasting specifically, I would say, is that with podcasts, they actually have a really good connection with the audience. And it's about that connection. It's not about perfection. When a listener listens to your podcast, they are there for companionship.

[00:26:24] The top seven best ways to do whatever it is that you're probably talking about on your show doesn't compare to the companionship that the listener gets when they listen to your show. They want to enjoy listening because they enjoy being there. They enjoy listening to you, the host.

[00:26:45] So if you, the host, are more honest, more vulnerable, and more real on your podcast, it really kind of opens up that connection with the listener and the host together. So what happens is that the listener of the podcast, without ever having actually met the host of that podcast, they feel like there's a connection.

[00:27:13] They feel like they really know that person, even though they really don't know them face to face. Hey, people don't come for the info. They come for you delivering that info. Hey, I'm willing to bet that when you first started your podcast at the very beginning, you did it because you had something you wanted to say, something real, something that was particularly you in your message.

[00:27:40] Now, don't let the pressure steal your passion. If it's not fun, you can always pause, play, experiment, do whatever you got to do. Just remember that your audience wants you. That's right. Your show, they want to hear from you, and they want the you back into your podcast. And when you're having fun, they will have fun too. Your audience, it's a win-win for both you, the audience and the podcaster, you yourself.

[00:28:09] So I hope this helped you bring the joy back into your podcast because podcasting should be fun for you as a creator and the listener as well. Fun for everyone. Thank you once again for listening all the way to the very end of this episode. And as a reminder, I'm still giving away free copies of the book, Podtastic Playbook. Hey, did you know I wrote a book? Yeah, check that out. Imagine that, huh?

[00:28:34] The book, the Podtastic Playbook is available on Amazon and all your regular digital places. The link's below in the show notes. But if you want to get yourself a free copy of the Podtastic Playbook, I'm giving away select free copies right now. So all you have to do is go to my website, podtasticaudio.com. Go to the contact page and say, I want a free copy of the book, Podtastic Playbook. Or book, I want a book. I'll know what you mean.

[00:29:01] I'll put you in the drawing to win yourself a free copy of Podtastic Playbook. And you have yourself an amazing week. And I'll catch you next time. Happy podcasting. Happy podcasting.