From Doubt to Determination: Pushing Through the Podcasting Dip

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What really makes someone a successful podcaster? Is it a certain number of episodes, downloads, or reviews? Is it whether content creation has become their full-time job? Or could it be because they've been recognised with a prestigious award?

In truth, we can gauge success in many ways, but ultimately, there's no certificate and a great degree of subjectivity. One thing we can all agree on, though, is that the best way to get to a position where you or your audience consider your podcast a success is to create quality content, consistently, over a prolonged period of time.

If there's one single answer to the "How do I make podcasting work for me?" question, that's it. It's an answer that sounds way too simple and obvious. And yet, actually doing it is much harder than choosing the right mic, the best software, and getting listed in all the major listening platforms.

Starting a podcast is relatively easy. Riding the wave of early enthusiasm to publish your first couple of episodes is easy, too. But to keep doing it for upwards of 300 episodes, or for over ten years? That takes something extra.

In this season of Podcraft, we're speaking to some of the best indie podcasters in the game. We want to really dig into how they've kept on going, the ways they've navigated each challenge or roadblock, and the many lessons they've learned along the way.

Listening to this series won't automatically pop a few hundred episodes in your own back catalogue, but it'll certainly arm you with enough knowledge and motivation to get there under your own steam.

In our opening episode, our Indiepod Legends share their insights into why they started out in the first place, and in many cases, it's because they made the podcast they wanted to listen to.

We're also going to talk about the thing that defeats many fledgling podcasters—quitting. You'll learn that many of our panel members have either wrestled with thoughts of giving up or taken long breaks to regroup and get back on track. Consistency over several years or hundreds of episodes isn't a straightforward, linear journey. If you do it for long enough, you'll hit many snags. But, as you'll learn in this episode, your podcast doesn't need to fall at the very first hurdle.

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