How Much Time Does It Take Per Episode?
And two new podcast episodes :)
This is a common question I have received over the 5+ years of podcasting.
Before I jump into the details… ask yourself these questions about “time”?
when are you spending time creating something?
when are you spending time learning something?
when are you spending time building relationships?
That’s a lot of what podcasting is about for me! I can see people say “I work 40 hours of week. So another 10 hours a week, that’s A LOT.”
Well, it is. But it is also intentional time spent on things that matter to me!
Here is a quick video explaining that it takes ~10 hours to produce each podcast episode. The details are written below too:
Outreach email: 1 Hour
This includes figuring out who to email, what to say, and for it to be a high-quality outreach email. A high-quality email makes other things easier and may ultimately save me time 😉
Interview prep: 2-4+ Hours
Listening to someone on other podcasts is an incredible way prepare for an episode. Commuting or walking somewhere? Both are great *times* to listen to an episode to prep. Can you see how time can be looked at differently here???
Books, newsletters, social media, etc is also where I spend time preparing. If I am speaking with an author, I really try to read their book. Does that count as work? Or something else that I want to do anyways?
Editing and producing: 4 Hours
There are three main components here:
First editing pass: where I am listening to the episode to make minor edits, remove big gaps of time between sentences, and remove some “um’s” and “ugh’s” (mostly by me).
Second editing pass: this is mostly improving the sound quality by trying to make the sound levels match. Basically, I want you to hear everything and for all of the speakers to generally be at the same volume level.
Final touches: write an episode intro script and then record it. Figure out the episode teaser clip and then put everything together into one final file.
Packaging: 2 hours
Upload this final file into Simplecast, my podcast hosting platform, write an episode title and episode description.
Create a new episode website with time-stamped notes.
Total time: ~10 hours
What *has* saved me time?
Recording good quality audio, which reduces editing time. Quality in, quality out.
Hosting community-led Podcast Mixers saves me some time. These can almost effectively eliminate the “Interview Prep” time. That time is kind of replaced with inviting people and friends to the event… Isn’t that a good use of time though???
Speaking of Podcast Mixers, I want to know if I should expand them into more public type events. Would you want to come? If so, sign-up to learn more about potential future ones. Reply back with any questions and/or ideas too! 👋
🎧 Portfolio Career Podcast Episodes
#307: The Creative Act Book Chat with Kai Zheng
In this book chat episode, we covered a lot of ground! If you want to learn more about creativity, my creative process, how podcasting changed me, things you can do change up your creative world, and so much more, then listen to this episode!
#306: Hot Seat with Gail, Abbas, and Krupa
The un-intentional theme of this Hot Seat Podcast Mixer was relationships.
Gail talked about the type people she tries to surround herself with, how dressing up helps people connect because it’s easy to talk about, how she has diverse and big friend group, etc
Krupa talked about her relationship to NYC and leaving it (for now right?), the types of conversations she wants to have, how she wants to feel, work transitions, etc
Abbas talked about building friendships through 1-1 outreach, bringing people together, being part of a friend group, robots, legacy, etc
Alright, that’s it for now. Maybe I should look to save time on writing my newsletter lol 🤣
-David Nebinski, who wants to know more about how you spend your time and if it might be at a Podcast Mixer or not
PS: feel free to reply back and say hello too!