You can't expect to scale your podcast without having a production plan. This is a non-negotiable. This is the show for creative entrepreneurs who have a message to share and want to live a life of freedom. Learn how to grow your network and net worth. Hear from exciting guests and more. My name is Dylan Schmidt and welcome to Digital Podcaster. Hello and welcome to Digital Podcaster. Today we're going to talk about one of the biggest challenges that podcasters face and that is balancing podcasting with other commitments. Those commitments being absolutely crucial such as family and jobs, things that require your attention before you can sit down to record, not to mention to do all of the other tasks you have to do along with podcasting. And I've seen a lot of podcasters become victim to what's called podfade. Podfade is a term used to describe when a podcaster stops producing content and it's not typically that they don't enjoy the podcast, it's because there are just other things that take a priority so their podcast starts to fade away. So how can you avoid podfade? Or maybe you've already been a victim of podfading your own podcast and you're looking to start back up strong. There are five keys that I'm going to go over and if you focus on these five keys you won't have to worry about podfade ever again. So key number one is understand your priorities. The first step to balancing podcasting with other commitments is to understand your priorities. You've got to determine what is important to you and make a list of your responsibilities. This will help you create a realistic schedule and allocate time for podcasting. For example, if you work a nine to five job, you can set aside time in the evenings or on the weekends for podcasting. I don't care how busy you are, you can set aside time if it's a priority to you. And even if you think you know your priorities, unless you have them written out, they're just a guess at best. I wish I would have done this with podcasting sooner because you can save yourself a lot of pain and time if you just take a few minutes to think about the categories of your life. And if podcasting falls under the work category for you, for example, then prioritize where podcasting lies in what's important for your work to succeed. If podcasting falls under the for fun category for you, then prioritize your for fun activities. Because it's simple, if it's a priority to you, then you'll prioritize it. If it's not a priority, then you'll not prioritize it and maybe just visit it later. Key number two is creating a production plan. All right, so once you have a clear understanding of your priorities, it's time to create a production plan. And what your production plan should include is setting aside time in your calendar for recording, editing, and publishing episodes. You can separate your production days into three areas. That would be pre-production, production, and post-production. Pre-production would include things like research, topic selection, and outlining. Production would include recording sessions. Post-production would include editing, mixing, and publishing the episode. And you might also want to consider marketing be a part of the post-production as well. You can't expect to scale your podcast without having a production plan. This is a non-negotiable. This is also something you share with people that are helping you grow your podcast. Key three is using time management techniques. So let's talk about time management. There's not a one size fits all technique here, but I'll share what works for me. So this is how I'm able to manage consistently publishing two episodes a week for digital podcaster and running content clips and having consulting clients and podcast academy and all of the other things I'm like creating and doing in life. Also just having a life outside of creating content. Can you believe that? I like to use time boxing. So I have a pretty non exciting schedule. It's probably also why I get so much done is because it's not that exciting my schedule. I don't want it to be that exciting because I want to have a little bit of predictableness around there. I work pretty regular hours, but when I'm working I'm focused and I'm not trying to record this podcast and check my social media check Instagram at the same time. And I think that's the key is to focus on just one task at a time. So to bring it back to time boxing, time boxing is where I'll put a timer on, let's say for 45 minutes and just focus on one podcasting task until the timer goes off. Now I might do multiple tasks during that time, but I'm only doing the work during that allocated time, like 45 minutes. This helps me stay focused and allows me to get way more done in a shorter amount of time. And just how I covered the production plan in the last key, What I'll essentially do is break down the production plan and time box each task that I need to complete. Is it sexy? No, but it doesn't need to be. It just needs to get done. So the fourth key is going to be utilizing automation tools. Looking at your production plan, I'm sure you'll see tasks that will take you a while and then certain tasks that will take you hardly any time. There are certain tasks that require you to do them. And then there are certain tasks that require you to not do them. And you could make columns and list them, you know, in the right columns. if you want, if that's easier for you to spell it out, or you could just put a star next to it. But here's what I want you to do. The tasks that don't require you to do them as much as possible as your budget allows, outsource them to another human or have technology handle them. For example, you can't automate recording the podcast like we need you to record the podcast. And sure, there is AI things you can do with your voice. Not a big fan of that. So let's not like, let's just put that aside. Let's not automate that. There are things like chat GPT though that can help you write titles, show notes, and episode descriptions. You can also use tools like Zapier that can automate certain tasks. Like for example, after you record an episode, that episode recording is automatically backed up in your Dropbox account. And again, what I'm talking about here is the little tasks that don't require you. Sometimes they don't even require another human, but these add up huge over the months and years of your podcasting journey. And these are crucial to take time to set up now. I know a lot of people who like the idea of this and then they just never do it. They'll say, oh, I'll get around to it. And then they hit pod fade. Setting up automation for your podcast will, yeah, take more time in the beginning, but over time you will gain back a lot of time to make your podcast better and to grow it. The mission of digital podcaster is simple to equip as many podcasters as possible with the tools and strategies they need to succeed. But I can't do it all myself. This isn't actually a one man show. If you found value from listening, one of the best things you can do to help the show and to help other podcasters like you is to share this podcast with your co-host, friends, family, anyone that you think could benefit from the resources and insights that we provide. Word of mouth goes a long way in helping, and I'm not asking for donations or for you to buy anything. I'm just simply asking you to share Digital Podcaster with other podcasters so we can get one step closer to our goal of helping as many podcasters as we can. Thank you, and let's dive back into the show. Lastly, in key five, I want to talk about staying flexible. So even if you try your best to manage your time, there's just going to be times when unexpected events happen or emergencies that are going to disrupt your whole schedule. And I really encourage you when those happen to remember that it's important to stay flexible and adapt to the changes as they come. Some life events won't require you to adjust your production plan, you'll just have to rearrange your schedule to fit it all in. But there are going to be other times when other things will be more important than recording your podcast. And for most people, they get into podcasting for the freedom it gives them. The last thing you want or I want for you is for podcasting to be something that you start to resent. So let's recap what I've talked about here because I know I've covered a lot. Despite your best efforts to manage your time, there will be times when unexpected events or emergencies will disrupt your schedule. And because we know that life will happen, that's why we want to get ahead. That's why we're talking and doing this stuff. So I listed out some keys to help us get ahead. Key number one is understanding your priorities by writing them down. Key number two is create a production plan by separating the tasks that you need to do for your podcast. Key number three is manage your time using a technique like time boxing to help you stay focused. Key number four is utilize automation tools where you can. And key five, stay flexible because you can plan for the unexpected, but it's how you adapt that will determine how successful you will be. When you're feeling overwhelmed by the whole podcasting process, I invite you to revisit this episode. It's not revolutionary what I've laid out here, I know. It's the foundations of podcasting and it works. I'll talk to you in the next episode.