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Podcasting from Scratch
A podcast puts your voice in your customers' ears for 30 minutes a week — trust no ad can buy. By the end you'll have launched a real show: concept, gear under $150, recording, editing, publishing to every directory, and a growth plan.
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Thirty minutes in your customer's ears beats thirty seconds in their feed — trust no ad can buy. In six modules you'll nail your concept, set up pro-sounding gear for under $150, record and edit like you mean it, and launch on every directory. A real show, not a hobby mic in a closet.
What you'll learn
- Build a show concept people actually subscribe to — not "talk about my industry."
- Set up great-sounding audio for under $150, because bad audio kills podcasts faster than bad content.
- Edit with free software using the 80/20 manual workflow that turns raw recordings into tight episodes.
- Publish to Apple, Spotify, and everywhere else via hosting and RSS — then grow the show on purpose.
Is this for me?
Who is this course for?
Founders, experts, and creators who have something to say and want a direct line to their audience's attention.
What do I need before starting?
Under $150 for gear — the course shows you exactly what to buy — a quiet room, and a topic you won't get bored of in 20 episodes.
How long does it take?
Six modules at 30–45 minutes each. Most people record their first episode within two to three weeks.
Module 0
Module 0: Start here
What this course is, how to use it, and what you'll walk away with. Ten minutes now saves hours later.
Module 1
Module 1: Concept and positioning
Most podcasts die by episode 7 because the concept was "talk about my industry." This module builds a show people actually subscribe to.
Module 2
Module 2: Gear and setup under $150
Bad audio kills podcasts faster than bad content. The good news: great-sounding audio costs less than a dinner out.
Module 3
Module 3: Recording like you mean it
Recording is a performance skill. These are the habits that separate listenable shows from rambling ones.
Module 4
Module 4: Editing — the manual craft
Editing is where good recordings become good episodes. Learn the 80/20 of audio editing with free software.
Module 5
Module 5: Publishing and distribution
Your MP3 needs to reach Apple, Spotify, and everywhere else. This module covers hosting, RSS, and the launch itself.
Module 6
Module 6: Growing the show
Publishing is the starting line. This module is the long game: turning a good show into a growing one.
Choose your track
Not everyone needs the same path. Pick the one that fits where you are.
Starter track
Modules 0–3 first: concept, gear, and recording. That gets you behind the mic with a positioned show — the hardest part. Then do Module 5 (publishing) so your first episodes are live, and save Modules 4 and 6 (editing craft, growth) for once you're publishing regularly.
Advanced track
All modules in order, plus the teardown and the final exam. Add the Module 4 editing deep-work: re-edit your first episode with the 80/20 pass and compare. Finish with the Module 6 growth system — guest outreach, repurposing pipeline, and the 90-day growth plan.
Your build brief
Everything you write in the build brief prompts across this course's modules collects here. Download it as a designed PDF — and we keep a copy too, so when you're ready for us to build it for you, we already know exactly what you want.
Your answers save automatically as you type — on this device and to your signup email.
Teardown: the "business chat" podcast trap
Pick any mid-size city's business podcast — "conversations with local entrepreneurs," two hosts, 45-minute episodes, 23 episodes over 14 months, then silence. The cover art is a skyline. The description says "inspiring stories." The latest episode has 11 plays. This show did everything the modules warn against, which makes it a perfect autopsy.
What they got right: they actually published. Twenty-three episodes is twenty-three more than most "I should start a podcast" people ever make. The audio is decent — they clearly read Module 2's advice about rooms and mic placement, or stumbled into it. And interviewing local business owners is a legitimate format; guests shared episodes, which is the only reason the show got any listeners at all.
Where it broke: the concept fails Module 1's ten-second test. "Conversations with local entrepreneurs" describes ten thousand shows. No specific listener, no specific outcome — so no one subscribes, because no one feels spoken to. The episode titles are the giveaway: "Chatting with Dave from Dave's Plumbing," "A Great Conversation with Sarah." Titles that promise nothing get clicked by no one; Module 5's title rules would have flagged every one of these.
The cadence tells the rest of the story. Fourteen months for 23 episodes means they missed weeks constantly — the exact "choose the schedule you can keep on your worst week" failure from Module 3. And there's no repurposing anywhere: no clips, no quotes, no audiograms. Each episode lived and died inside the podcast app, which means the show never gave the feed algorithms (or humans) a reason to discover it.
The fix, in order: narrow the concept to "how [city] service businesses get customers" — one listener, one outcome. Retitle every episode as a promise ("How a Plumber Books 40 Jobs a Month Without Ads"). Cut to 25 minutes, publish biweekly without fail, and clip one 60-second moment per episode for social. Same hosts, same mic, same guests — completely different show.
Want this done for you?
Rather do it with us? Our Podcast Launch Plan ($997) — concept, branding, and launch strategy. You record; we handle the rest.
See done-for-you services