The Greatest Cost Of Podcasting isn't money

Are you prepared to spend a lot of time for a podcast?

Microphones are cheap, domains are only a couple bucks a year, and hosting services are relatively inexpensive.

You could begin a podcast for as little as $100.

So, what is the greatest cost of podcasting?

The greatest cost of podcasting? Time

The real cost to podcast is harder to measure: TIME.

This is the biggest obstacle for new podcasters. We all believe it takes 60 minutes to produce a 30 minute show.

This is never the case.

It takes me up to 6 hours to produce a 20 – 30 minute audio podcast and 2-4 hours for a 10-30 minute video.

Here is an estimate of how much time it takes me to release an average 25 minute audio podcast episode:

Show prep (idea generation, research, outline): Varies from 30 minutes to 3 hours
Set-up (hooking up equipment, cueing sound clips, etc): 5 – 10 minutes
Recording: 45 minutes
Editing: 60 minutes
Converting and uploading the audio recording: 20 minutes
Writing show notes, releasing the episode, announcing on social media: 1 hour

Streamlining the podcast recording process

Some of these things happen simultaneously but you can expect to spend a good part of the day working on one episode.

A few things I do to streamline the process is to create a generic outline, use the same intro music, and practice some mouth exercises before recording.

Recording an episode isn't the only commitment of your valuable time. It takes a long time to grow a dedicated following.

Very few launches get more than 100 downloads in their first week so be prepared to grow your audience. Respond to every comment, Tweet, or email until you are so busy that you need to hire someone to do it for you! 🙂