Why I’m NOT Embarrassed About My Low Download Numbers

Unedited Transcript of the Episode:

Hi. I’m Andy smiley your friendly podcast guide. I help you create and grow a podcast that is fun and fulfilling. Whether you’re just starting or a few years in, I share tips, stories from my own journey and insights from podcasters. I admire. Today, I’m giving you a behind the scenes peek on how the friendly podcast guy did in October.

Also happy election day. If you’re in the U S I turned my ballot in early and it has made my life significantly less. Less stressful.

In this episode, I’m sharing how the friendly podcast guide is doing last month episode, download numbers, how much money I’ve made and how many podcasts coaching calls I’ve done. Along with reporting back on how last month experiments went and the experiments that I’m trying out this month to improve my shell.

I’ll also be introducing the theme for this month podcast episodes.

So you can get excited about what’s coming up. But first, I always like to answer the questions that I ask. Every guest that I have on the show. The first one is what is the last podcast you listened to just for you?

And that one is the podcast Knox and Jamie. I love their banter. I just think they are so much fun to listen to. And whenever I need. Something lighthearted that just will boost my mood. I pretty much always choose the podcast with Knox and Jamie they’re just delightful.

The other question I ask is what is a simple life hack that’s making your life better right now? Probably the biggest one for me right now is I deleted my email off of my phone. So my email apps are no longer on my phone and. It’s been a game changer. One thing I was noticing is like my work and family boundaries were getting a little bit porous. Like. They were bleeding into each other and.

When I got rid of my email apps off of my phone. It truly just made. Made it so much easier to have like a more solid boundary between work and family and, and just like me time also. When I first did it. It was interesting because I would go, go to check my email. At like the breakfast table, like who needs to be checking their email at the breakfast table?

Not me, but I thought I did, or at least like I was in the habit. And so. Now that I’m a couple of weeks in to doing this. Um, I kind of just forget that I even have email. Like it’s just not even on my radar and I just check it maybe once a day. And it has been so amazing, like,

it’s really helped me to be more in the moment, either with my kids or at work. Like I’ve just been able to focus on what’s in front of me instead of getting distracted by emails that. I don’t need to be answered right away, even if that’s how it feels. So if you need a little help with like boundaries,

Maybe you try deleting your emails is a really good fit for me.

Okay. Now I get to introduce this month’s theme and this one’s the. Little, and this month’s theme is starting a podcast. The reason that I chose this theme for this month is because there are some amazing women out there that have incredible ideas for a podcast, but there’s something that’s holding them back. If that’s like the technical side or maybe that’s that, they’re not sure if they have enough to talk about whatever it is. This month episodes, I’m hoping we’ll clear away some of those barriers

so that I can help as many women as possible.

Get their awesome thoughts and ideas out into the world.

Some of the things that you can look forward to learning from this month episodes are, um, I spend an entire episode talking about the 10 things that I would do if I were starting a podcast in the new year. Um, that was a fun one to make, and I’m really excited for that one to come out. In other episodes, I talked about how to get approved on apple podcasts. What a podcast hosting platform is.

And some of my favorite hosting platforms, um, And then I got to do an entire interview with Catherine, who is the host of nothing much happens, which is a top sleep podcast. Like really big. She has so many people that listen to our show. So many people that she helps and it was a delightful conversation.

And I learned so much from her, like, I’m so excited for that episode to come out because you too will. Learn so much.

And you’ll also get to know Catherine A. Little bit better and she’s just a lovely human. So it’s just a great episode all around. I’m really excited for that one to come out this month.

Okay. Now we get to dive into how the friendly podcast guide is doing last month. Download numbers. R. A little bit embarrassing if I’m going to be completely honest. Um,

but one of my goals as a podcast coach is to do things differently than other podcast coaches. So you had to hear my numbers that aren’t as great as I was hoping they would be.

And. Once I tell you, I want to talk a little bit more about download numbers just for a second. Before we go on to like how much money I made in how many podcasts coaching calls I’ve done. So this month download numbers. Um, the first episode, like how the friendly podcast guy did in September that one got 43 downloads.

Um, the episode about time traveling Tanya got 48. The episode about for the love of history got 44. The episode about don’t drink the milk got 46. And then last week’s episode. What I learned from putting my podcasts on YouTube. So far has 38 downloads. Uh, um, technically still has the rest of today.

So.

It may or may not be a higher number in the end, but as of right now, it’s 38. I don’t love those download numbers. Cause if you remember, I had a goal of my episodes getting 150 downloads by in the first week.

So, obviously I’m not making that goal at the moment.

And I’m realizing that there’s nothing wrong with me not meeting that goal. As I’ve been talking to. Women who are starting podcasts. One of the main pieces of advice that I’ve been giving is to not have a download numbers goal. Um, when you’re first starting your podcast. And. I obviously did not take my own advice.

And I think I should have, because, well, I have been podcasting and this podcast has been out in the world. Four. Two and a half. Almost three years, um, because I switched.

What my podcast is about. It’s kind of like, it’s a new podcast and I’m realizing that I should not have had a download numbers. Goal for this first season. And honestly, I don’t know if I’m going to have one for season three, just because.

When I open up my analytics and check my downloads once a week, just to see where I am. It’s been kind of a let down because I’m not reaching that goal.

And I know that what I’m doing and what I’m saying is good information and will help a lot of people. And I don’t want that discouragement that like bummer of a feeling inside to stop me from doing what I’m doing.

So I know that I had a goal of 150 downloads. Per episode in the first week, but I think I’m going to kind of like shelf that goal. For now. And. Come back to it after I’ve. Been doing this new version of the friendly podcast guide for a couple of seasons, and then dive back into having that. Goal. Because.

46 people who listened to my podcast. Is a lot of people and. I don’t want to discount that and discount the progress that I am making while. My show is growing. And while I am helping the people that I’m helping right now, so. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop telling you how many downloads I get, because I think. I still want to be really transparent about that. But my goal of 150 downloads per episode. Is going to be shelved for now.

And I will revisit it. I will have goals around download numbers. Eventually, but right now, my main goal that I’m going to be focusing on is podcast. Coaching calls so that I can have one-on-one conversations with moms who are podcasters to help. You reach your goals and get your podcast into the world. So. There’s my little spiel about download numbers. How much money I’ve made this year. Um, as of this recording, hasn’t changed still at $529.

But, like I said, last month. My main goal right now isn’t making money well, yes, I do want to make money. Eventually right now, I know that focusing on making money is probably going to kind of like download numbers. Honestly, it’s going to just make me feel. Bummed and depressed.

Well, I’m CA I’m in a growing phase right now. I’m trying to.

Figure out exactly how to help you the most. And the biggest way to do that is through one-on-one conversations, podcast, coaching calls. So I’m excited to say that . Right now I’ve had 17. Podcast coaching hours. And I did four in the month of October. So one goal that I have that I don’t know if I’ve actually said on the podcast, but my goal around coaching call hours is that I want to do 30. Coaching call hours by the end of the year. So I’m more than halfway. I still have two more months left and I. I’m thinking that I might actually do more than 30 hours, which would be amazing, but my goal is 30, 30 hours by the end of the year. So if you want to. Hop on a coaching call with me, please. Reach out to me. I really, really love doing coaching calls is my favorite to sit one-on-one with you and figure out what is holding you back or how we can make your podcast even better. It’s pretty much my favorite thing. So send me a DM. Comment on this video, whatever you need to do, get ahold of me.

The first coaching call with me is always free. Totally and completely, and we just get to chat for an entire hour and.

Help your podcast be even more amazing than it already is.

Okay. Now I get to talk about the experiments that I tried in October, which ones worked. And which ones didn’t. And this is kind of the thing I’m the most excited about because. Doing experiments is like essential. Four. Improving your show. And I think sometimes we forget that and it feels a little overwhelming to try experiments. So I really like talking about the experiments I run, because some of them are not that big, but it’s good to just always be trying things and seeing what works and what doesn’t.

So last month, Um, I had 1, 2, 3, 4 5, 6. Six experiments, which was a lot. The first thing I learned is that’s too many experiments for one month.

And I didn’t even end up doing some of them because it was just too many. So let’s start at the top. So, um, cold intros trying cold intros. Um, I had a couple of people reach out to me asking me what a cold intro is.

So let me explain, I apologize for not explaining what a cold intro is. Um, that’s when I. Like my voice reads, uh, a little like blurb. , On someone else’s podcast. Episode, like before, like before their episode starts, there’s a little cold intro of me saying, Hey, for the love of history listeners, this is Andy smiley.

I’m the host of the friendly podcast guide. I got to talk to TK about her show. And it was delightful. Listen to my episode with TK after you’re done with listening to this one. That that’s not exactly what my cold intro sounds like, but that’s the vibe

So I tried again this month, if you remember in September, I tried to do it and it didn’t work out for any of them. So I was like, okay, I’m going to try it again in October and see how it goes. And honestly, I wasn’t able to get any this month either. And I think part of the reason is because it wasn’t like a trade per se.

It was just me asking the guests that have been on my show. If I can do a cold intro on the episode that comes out around the same time as the episode that they’re on, on my show. So.

I think I’m going to take a break from doing cold intros. But I, I am going to try them again. But when I try them again, I’m going to make sure that it’s just a trade. So I’m going to talk to other podcasters and say, Hey. Do you want to do a cold intro on my podcast and I’ll do a cold intro on your podcast, then it feels, I think it will be. An easier sell that way. We’ll see. I’ll I’ll try that experiment later. And when I do, I’ll let you now. But one thing that did come out of,

Trying to do cold intros with my guests on my guest shows, is that Rachel, the host of don’t drink the milk did give the friendly podcast, get a shout out at the end of the episode that came out. On the week, That her episode came out on my show and that was fun. I listen, I am a listener of don’t drink the milk.

And so it was fun to hear her shout out the friendly podcast guide. I was like, oh, hi. That’s me. So that was fun. Um, So I don’t think that I’m reaching out and asking about cold intros. was a bad thing per se, because I did get, you know, Rachel was like, oh, well I can’t do a cold intro, but I can shout out your show.

So I feel like good things came out of it, but it’s a lot of work to write up the script and send it off and try and figure it out over email. So I think I’m just going to take a break from it for now and try it again. Later. Another experiment that I was trying in October was coming up with a name. Four. Listeners of the friendly podcast guide.

So I don’t call you listeners all the time. Um, But I didn’t, I could not think of a name. Um, I didn’t want to force it.

I didn’t want it to feel. In genuine ungenuine however you say that. Um, and no good ideas came to me. So. I’m going to shelf that as well for now. But if you have a good idea for what you want to be called, please let me know. I am all ears. I would love to call you something other than just listeners, because.

That just feels like cold. And anonymous. And I don’t want you to feel that way because I really love this friendly podcast guy, community, and I want.

It to feel.

More like a community and less like me just talking at you.

Another experiment I tried was putting a clip from the interview as the first thing that you hear in the episode. Um, I did that with, for the love of history episode and. It was fun. It made me happy. So. I’ll probably do that again.

But I don’t know if it helps, um, with download numbers, but it did make me happy.

So if there’s ever like a really awesome fun poll quote, I think I’ll do that again. And just pull out a clip that I think is fun and grabs your attention. And put it at the beginning. One big experiment that I didn’t end up doing, but I had high hopes of doing

in October was to start a new Instagram account. This did not end up happening. First of all. I had so many other things going, it just wasn’t going to be a good fit. And honestly, I feel like as of right now,

I want to stick with the Instagram account that I already have.

Because I’ve been able to connect with some amazing people. With the account that I already have and starting over feels like one more extra thing that I don’t know if I really have space or capacity or time for it right now. So. I might try again, try to start a new one again later, but for now, It seemed like a thing that didn’t have to happen.

So. We’re not doing it right now.

Another experiment was doing more solo episodes. So this month, I’m going to be doing three solo episodes and one interview episode, which is kind of like flip flopped from what I’ve done in the past. A couple of months. Um, but this is going to help me have a little bit more control over. What the episodes are about and what I talk about.

And then it’s also really going to help me with content creation for social media. Um, I, I noticed that when I have a lot of interviews, Um, It’s so great because really I love to talk to podcasters. I love to learn from them and I love that you all get to join me and learn. With me, and that is so much fun. But. It has made it a little bit harder to have like a cohesive theme for the month and it’s made it kind of hard to make sure that I’m talking about the things that I know that you have questions about. So we’re going to try doing more solo episodes and I’m really excited. I’ve got some fun ones lined up and. Yeah, it’s going to be good.

So last month was the first time I experimented with recording the episode the day before it was supposed to come out. And I’m doing that again this month. Um, last month it went pretty well. I did the thing. It happened, the episode went out, but I did forget to do the intro and outro music. For the episode.

So that was less great. So the goal is to make sure that the intro and outro music is there. For this. Month’s episode. So if you heard the intro music. At the start at this episode, then that means we’re winning. It was nice. Um, I’m recording the episode the day before, because then I had the most up-to-date download numbers. And I was able to. Honestly, just kind of prove to myself that I could do it, that I could record an episode and put it out the next day. It’s not my favorite.

I do like being able to batch episodes. That is still my number one favorite thing to do, but it is kind of a good experiment for me and a good reminder that I can do hard things. So during the end of this month and. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully you remember the music this time. Now, I’m going to tell you about the experiments that I’m trying this month. And there’s only three of them because I learned from last month, having six was just too many. So the first one is, instead of just saying I’m offering. Podcast coaching calls. I am offering a specific type of coaching call this time and it’s called a podcast jumpstart session.

Very proud of that name. It was very fun to come up with and it’s to help women who want to start a podcast. Um, but something’s holding them back. So these sessions are an hour long they’re for moms, especially who wants to start a podcast. They have some questions, some concerns that are like keeping them from starting a podcast.

So if you know a mom who’s wanting to start a podcast has been talking about it for a while, but doesn’t know where to start. Please send them my way. I would love to have give them a. Free session where we can talk about podcasts. Help them take their podcast from just an idea in their head to full-blown podcasts, getting their ideas and thoughts out into the world. That’s the goal. That’s what I really want.

As I’ve been doing podcast coaching calls.

Those have really just been my favorite, which is another reason that I decided to just

do a whole month, that is just for helping moms start their podcasts. The second experiment that I’m trying is I left way more mistakes in this month’s episodes. Um, When I was editing them so that I could sound more human and less like a robot. I’m interested to see if anyone notices or comments on the uptick in mistakes that are in these episodes. And I’m hoping that they’re going to help me seem more real and help more people relate to me a little bit better. So we’ll see, and I will report back on if there’s anything that happens because of it.

The last experiment that I’m trying is I am figuring out what keywords help people find me and the friendly podcast guide. And then I’m going to put like a block of keywords at the bottom of my show notes and like the video description to see if that helps more people find my episodes through S E O

I found Brittany Herzberg, who is like an SEO queen. She knows oh, much about SEO. I found her and I’ve been learning a lot from her. And she specific, she does SEO for all types of businesses. I think. That was the vibe that I got, but she talks a lot about SEO for podcasters and I’ve been learning so much.

And that was one thing that I got from learning from her was having like a block of keywords can help people just to find you. So, We’re going to try it out.

See if it works. If it does great. If it doesn’t, we’ll try 📍 something else.

Will you share this episode with your podcasting friend? Who’s been thinking about starting a podcast, but doesn’t know where to start. I can help her realize that she can start her podcast right now when it isn’t perfect yet. And experiment along the way, and that is just the best way to improve your show is to just start and then improve as you go.

Because then you’re getting like real life feedback instead of just. I’m trying to figure out what’s going to be the best in your head.

In next week’s episode, I am talking about all of the things I would do. If I was starting a podcast in 2025, including what type of microphone I would buy and why I would plan on doing a video podcast from the beginning instead of audio at the beginning, and then adding video later. Thanks for being here and I’ll talk to you next week.