March Podcast Income, Stats & My Podcast Naming Story

The story behind naming The Friendly Podcast Guide

When I first launched my podcast, I wanted it to feel open, welcoming, and non-judgmental. Back then, my focus was helping moms find great podcasts to listen to. But as my business evolved, I pivoted to helping moms start their own podcasts—which makes my podcast name even more perfect now.

The naming process, however, was a saga. I brainstormed for weeks, texted my brothers, asked my kids (then ages 4, 2, and a newborn), and stressed way too much. Finally, my youngest brother, Mark, asked, “What are you trying to convey with your name?” When I told him, he immediately said, “The Friendly Podcast Guide.” He was right, and I eventually embraced it.

That’s why I created my Name Your Podcast Tool—so you don’t get stuck like I did. It walks you step-by-step through naming your podcast in 30 minutes or less using AI tools like ChatGPT. Grab it here.

Links & Resources

• Free Name Your Podcast Tool

• The Popcast with Knox and Jamie, Recasting The Hunger Games Characters episode

Connect with me

• Instagram

• Threads

Unedited transcript of the episode:

 My eyes looked tired today. Okay.

Hi, I’m Andy Smiley, your friendly podcast guide. I help you create and launch a podcast that is fun and fulfilling. I share tips, stories from my own journey and insights from podcasters I admire. In this episode, I’m talking about the money I made last month.

I’m excited to say that that number is significantly higher than the last type that I shared last month. I’m also gonna share other stats from last month’s podcast episodes, and the story of how I came up with the name for my podcast. Also, just as a reminder, if you only have the capacity to implement one thing at the end of the episode, I’ll tell you what that one thing should be so you don’t feel overwhelmed trying to figure out where to start.

I’m gonna start today’s episode answering the two questions that I ask every guest that I have on the show. because I wanna share some of my favorite things too. So the last podcast episode that I listened to just for me was the podcast with NOx and Jamie.

And it was the episode where they were recasting, the characters in the Hunger Games but they did it in different, like decades, I guess. , Jamie Recasted using, actors from the nineties and then Knox Recasted using actors from like the early two thousands.

It was so fun and funny and I haven’t really thought about the Hunger Games in a hot minute. Um, even though the new book came out about Hamit. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on the list. So that was really fun. It was just a delightful listen, and I laughed a lot. and then the other question that I ask my guests is, what’s a simple life hack that’s making your life better right now?

And. A life hack that I’ve been using a lot, especially for podcasting, is I have been using chat GPT so much more, and specifically to name my episodes. I have a really hard time being creative when it comes to naming things, as you’ll hear later when I talk about the story of naming my podcast. Um, and so , using chat GBT, just kind of like to start.

The ideas rolling, I’ll, put in the main topics from the episode along with like keywords if I can think of them. And then be like, hi, give me five names that you think would be, appealing to people. And then it usually takes a couple of rounds in Chachi, BT I, Chachi, BT has yet to get it right the first time, but it’s just nice that I don’t have to spend as much time or like brain cells on trying to name my episodes because I want them to be good. But also I have a lot of other things that I need to get done in my day. And naming podcast episodes is just something that I’m not very good at. I’m practicing. But chat GPT has made it significantly easier.

So if you aren’t using chat GPT for things that you’re not very good at, this is me giving you permission to do that because it’s been so nice.

Okay, now I’m gonna tell you about how the friendly podcast guy did last month in March. First of all, download numbers, so I like to share these, mostly just to help you know that.

Your download numbers aren’t through the roof, so many thousands of downloads or whatever, you’re not alone, and that doesn’t mean that you’re not successful. So here is me being vulnerable and sharing my download numbers. So

my first episode of season three was Honest podcasting, my numbers, my break, and a giveaway, and that one had 59 downloads. Then the second week was what the Barbie movie teaches us about podcasting. That one got 55 downloads. Um, and then the week after that was how to Build Your Podcast Community with Jamie b Golden.

I still love that episode so much and I keep hearing from you that that’s been a really fun episode for you to listen to, which has just made my heart so happy because I just loved that episode so much. I don’t know if I said it, but 54 downloads, that one got 54, and then the last one, which was last week was Wins, fails, and what I do differently, my season three launch, I just kind

walked through my launch and what went well, what didn’t and what I learned from it. Um, and that one actually only got 34 downloads, which I’m a little bit surprised. So I wanna dig into that a little bit more of like why that one got significantly lower downloads. If I come up with anything, any like big revelations, I’ll let you know.

I’m wondering if it might have to do with like, that title doesn’t feel. As like grabby. I dunno. We’re gonna have to see. I’ll dig into it a little bit and see if I can find anything. But truly, isn’t that a beautiful thing? I, I know, I know that when I first started my podcast, if there would’ve been one episode that was significantly lower in downloads, I.

Would just kind of go into a tailspin and kind of freak out and be like, oh my gosh, I’m a terrible podcaster. Why am I even doing this? And now I can look at that and be like, Hmm, this is information let’s figure out why this is the way that it is. And I am just really proud of myself for that.

I’m still, you know, I don’t love that that one got 20 less downloads than the week before, but I know that I’m still a good person, even though that one didn’t get as many downloads. And truly, there’s plenty of information that I can gather from that, quote unquote failure to make my episodes even better in the future. And I’m really grateful that I can have that mindset now ’cause that was not always the case. Okay. , the next thing I wanna talk about is how much money I’ve made so far this year, and the number is now $102 and 41 cents. And I have goals that are significantly higher than that as far as money goes, but I am really, really proud of myself for making that money so far, like really proud of myself.

Yeah, exciting.

And then the last thing that I talk about, um, when I talk about how the Friendly Podcast Guide is doing is

how many podcast coaching calls I’ve done. When I started season three, so beginning of March I was at 40 and now I’m at 43. So I did three in the past month and truly I was planning on not doing any and just stopping altogether, but that made me sad. So I decided to do it, I’m just so happy that I’m still doing them. Um, I thought I would have to stop. While I was putting out weekly episodes, um, but I’ve been able to make it work, so that’s been really, really fun. So this next section is talking about experiments that I tried out last month in March. Um, I am a huge proponent of experiments and not getting stuck doing, your podcast in one certain way. Which is why I like to share some of the experiments that I try. The first experiment that I tried in March is incorporating more storytelling.

Um, I noticed that most of my favorite podcasts have an element of storytelling incorporated in it somehow, and I realized that mine didn’t have as much storytelling, so I wanted to add that in, and I did a good job. I, I thought that I did a good job and it was honestly really fun and, um. It worked, my creative muscle trying to add storytelling in, um, especially with the episode about, um, learning from the Barbie movie and then last week’s episode about the recap of season three launch.

Um, I had a fun story in there about, the day that my first episode was released. So if you haven’t listened to it, you should go listen to it. I’m really proud of it. And then the other experiment is I had a goal of talking about my podcast in real life every day of March. So not just on social media, which I have a lot of practice in, and I do that regularly.

Um, but actually like talking to a person about it and not just talking to a screen about it, and I talked about it 24 of the 31 days in March. And truly, it was hard. It was way harder than I expected, but it really did push me to think about ways to talk about my podcast, um, in normal conversations and not make it weird. And. I had some really fun conversations with my friends, um, but also with like complete strangers at the grocery store or at the dentist.

It just pushed me out of my comfort zone a little bit to talk about my podcast more often because I am proud of my podcast and I like to talk about it. I just need to push myself a little bit to do it more. So I don’t know if I’m gonna make that a goal again. For April. But I do wanna try and incorporate it more just into my life because I am proud of my podcast and I might as well talk about something I’m proud of.

Right, right. In the month of April, the main experiment that I’m going to try is sending out an email every Friday about that week’s episode, and I wanna see if it increases downloads

and truly, I want to figure out if it is a good use of my time and if it’s hard, like if it’s really hard for me and it’s not. Helping at all. Then I’ll re reevaluate and see if I wanna keep doing that. But in the past couple of weeks, I’ve realized that more people open emails from me than I get in story views for the most part on Instagram.

And I had been talking about my podcast episodes way more in my stories than I was in my email. And so I’m trying this out to see if having an email every week coming out about, each episode. Might help my download numbers go up. So we’ll see.

And I’m excited to see like what information I gather from this experiment. Okay, now it is story time. I’m trying something new. I wanted to tell you a story from when I started my podcast. And looking back on it, what I learned and what I probably would do differently

and this time I’m gonna tell you about naming my podcast. For those of you who don’t know, I made a pivot last fall, and changed what I’m talking about on my podcast be when I first started my podcast, I was helping moms find podcasts that they love.

Podcasts are such a huge part of my life and they have truly made my life so much better as a mom, and I wanted to help share that with other people and, just help more moms find podcasts. And truly, I still do love to do that. So like, if you need some podcast recommendations, just DM me on Instagram and I will send you all the recommendations.

I love giving podcast recommendations, but last spring, like pretty much a year ago from right now, I realized that my business, my podcast coaching business and my podcast were too much for me, and so I needed to unify them and make them one thing.

So now on the friendly podcast guide, I help you start your podcast instead of giving podcast recommendations. That will inform the story that I’m about to tell you.

So when I was naming my podcast, I wanted the vibe of my show to be super open, nonjudgmental, everyone is welcome vibes, but I had no idea how to do that with a name. , I also knew that I wanted to talk to moms who had littles still at home. Um, and even more specifically, Kids that were not in school yet, because that’s when I found podcasts and they helped me a lot as a mom. So that’s why I really wanted to make sure

that it spoke to those I spent weeks making lists, texting my brothers. I have no sisters talking to Scott. I even was bouncing ideas off of my kids who were at the time, four, two, and a newborn. And honestly, I feel like I was so stressed trying to figure out the name of my podcast, and one day I just sent a list.

To my youngest brother, his name is Mark, and was like, do any of these even sound good? And he just texted back, Andy, what are you trying to convey with your name? And I gave him the vibe of like, open, non-judgmental. Everyone’s welcome. Comfortable. He said the friendly podcast guide is the one that conveys that the best. And I said, okay, thank you. And then I proceeded to, stress about it and think about it even more until I finally was like, he’s right.

That’s the one I’m gonna go with. Also, PS none of my brothers are like podcast experts at all. I didn’t really have any like podcast friends when I started my podcast. So. That’s another reason that I am a podcast coach is because I know that when you’re first starting out, usually you don’t know anyone in the podcasting realm, and I wanna be that person that you know that you can get ideas from and tips that actually work for moms.

So then I finally settled on the Friendly podcast guide, and I really do love it. Sometimes it’s a mouthful, but it really does convey what I’m trying to convey. And truly, if I’m being completely honest, I feel like it’s an even better name now that I’ve pivoted , to being a podcast coach and helping moms start their podcast, which I think is just a little ironic, so naming my podcast was getting in the way of me moving forward with starting my podcast, and that makes sense. My name is really important and I wanted to make sure that I got it right, but also it was stopping my momentum and making me not excited about my podcast.

Or at least not as excited about starting my podcast ’cause I just could not figure out the name.

And that is why I created a podcast naming tool because I didn’t want anyone else. To run into this problem. So this tool walks you step by step through the process of naming your podcast with the help of chat GPT. Yes, I’ve already mentioned chat, GPT once. Here it is again. Or if you don’t use chat, GPT, whatever AI chat bot you prefer, it works with all of them.

And the best part is when you follow these steps, you’ll have the name of your podcast in 30 minutes or less. Like it does not have to be a roadblock at all. You can do it like during your kid’s nap time, even if your kid takes really short naps.

I put a link to this. Name your podcast tool in the show notes so you can grab it. It’s free, because I don’t want naming your podcast to be a roadblock for you starting your podcast. As I’m wrapping up this episode, here’s the one thing you should implement in starting your podcast. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start, please use chat, GPT or another AI chat bot.

It makes your life so much easier. You can use it as I talked about, to name your podcast, to name your episodes, or I’ve started using it for my emails about my episodes too. Um, usually to make the email a little bit more concise and make sure that I’m getting my main point across.

And it’s been such a game changer for me, because I just don’t have as much time as I would like to create. My podcast and using chat GPT has really helped me to make sure I’m using my time to the best of my ability. Will you share this episode with your friend who is stuck in the name your podcast step of starting her podcast, so then she can hear my story and realize that she does not want that to happen for her, and she can just grab my name, your podcast tool, and make the whole process be so much quicker and 📍 easier.

In next week’s episode, I’m talking about the three things that I wish I would’ve done differently when I started my podcast. And I know that if I would’ve done even just one of those things, I probably wouldn’t have burned out last year. So I really think you should listen so that you don’t ever have to burn out and you can just learn from my mistakes.

Thanks for being here, and I’ll see you next week.   Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to my wonderful mom. It is her birthday today, the day that I’m recording this. So happy birthday, mom. And tomorrow, the day that this episode comes out is my sweet mother-in-law’s birthday. So happy birthday, Debbie. I.