As you know, we launched our podcast last week! We can’t believe it’s live and ready for all of you to enjoy. The journey to this launch has been pretty long with lots of interesting learnings. Today, we share that journey with you!
The Workr Beeing Podcast idea has been around since the start of Workr Beeing. It was one of the first things we knew we wanted to do. We knew we had to launch the website first and build some content there, but the podcast was never too far away in our minds. We just needed to figure out the right timing.
The Beginning
After we launched the site in October 2017, we started planning out our podcast approach. It started slowly, but we were so excited. First, we were doing some research into what it would take to actually do this. We realized we needed some equipment to make it legitimate. The men in our lives were very supportive. Dan, my boyfriend, got me my first microphone and pop filter for Christmas. Brendan, Katina’s husband, got her equipment for her birthday! We were just being spoiled with resources! 🤣
Now that we had our equipment, it was time for us to figure out how to actually use it and how to start recording. Our podcast angel came to our aid at this point. My good friend from high school, Ali Johnson, asked if she could help us with our podcast. She works in the music industry and wanted to get her feet wet with podcasting. Luckily, we were her answer. Honestly, we would not be where we are today without her. She has taught us so much and really helped make this process smooth. Without her insights and knowledge, we’d probably still be learning how to edit!
In February, when Katina came out for the Create & Cultivate Conference, we spent one day with Ali to get ready to start recording. Ali came over to my apartment and we practiced using our mics, downloaded the appropriate recording software, and learned various tips and tricks around finding a good spot in the house to record. It was such a helpful working session. Working together in person was extremely valuable too since it let Ali physically show us how to do various things instead of just trying to explain it. Since we were so new to all of this, the ability to show us what to do was key.
Practice and Learning
March was the start of our recording sessions. At first, Ali would jump on every call with us to make sure we were doing ok and understood everything. Again, where would we be without her? There were a lot of learnings throughout the first few weeks. Recording from two different locations posed a few challenges we needed to overcome.
- How do we make sure our sound is similar enough from two different locations? We used a lot of testing of spaces and moved recording locations until we found a set up that worked.
- We struggled with showing agreement or encouragement to each other in a way that worked for a podcast. Both of us tend to say “yeah” a lot when someone is telling us a story! It’s a way to show you are listening. However, that does NOT translate well to a podcast! Poor Ali had to edit out hundreds of “yeahs” at first! Our solution: video chat. Being able to see each other and nod instead of say “yeah” helped us immensely!
- Luckily, combining 2 audio recordings was no challenge for us because of Ali! That was definitely something we were worried about before she joined our team. Remote podcasting is much easier with an expert like her!
We also learned a lot about our tone of voice and our volume. There’s still that we have to adjust as we continue this journey but we’ve come a long way. The first month or two resulted in unusable episodes. All great learnings but definitely not something anyone should be forced to listen to!
Launch
After months of recording and learning, we were finally close to launch! In May, we decided that we would want another “Podcast Boot Camp” day prior to our launch. Katina was able to fly out in July, the weekend before our launch date, to sit down with Ali and I and get everything ready!
The day included building out content on our website, figuring out our hosting service, Blubrry, and submitting our podcast to all of the various services we are on. Dan, who’s a graphic designer (and made our awesome logo!), worked on our podcast artwork alongside us. It ended up being a very full and very long day. Again, the commitment to do this in person was so helpful. I’m grateful Katina took the time to travel to us and get us ready! There were moments where we thought we would have to delay the launch but it all worked out nicely in the end. And we were able to end our evening with a celebration at my favorite Thai restaurant. Obviously, the three of us needed some fun too!
The days leading up to the launch after our “Boot Camp” were filled with approvals for our various submissions and lots of promotion on our social media sites. It was such an exciting time! We couldn’t wait to get it out there to share with you! We are so happy that our hard work paid off and we have finally launched. Honestly, we’re thrilled to share our podcast with you. Most of all, we hope that all of you who want to do something similar see that it’s possible! Your dreams are never out of reach – just go for it!
If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, check out our podcast page for more details. Or, you can subscribe on Apple, Google, Stitcher, and TuneIn.
Update! We’ve recently been rated as a Top 55 podcast. Check it out!
