Are you making your podcast guests do your work for you? Too many hosts fall into bad habits that frustrate guests and make their shows look unprofessional. Here are three common mistakes to avoid — and what to do instead.
If you want to create a better guest experience and produce content your audience actually enjoys, this will help you cut the clutter and focus on what matters.
Top Takeaways
- Never auto-subscribe guests to your mailing list — it’s often illegal and always disrespectful.
- Don’t make guests write their own interview questions — that’s your job as the host.
- Stop requiring guests to share the episode — your job is to make the content worth sharing.
- Your responsibility as a host is to serve your audience — not to use guests as a growth engine.
Want to learn how to make real improvements to your podcast process? Take the Overwhelm Quiz at https://streamlined.fm/overwhelm
Looking for great podcast hosting built for podcasters? Check out RSS.com
00:00:02 --> 00:00:06 Welcome to the streamlined podcaster, a podcast
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 that shows you how to put the right systems in
00:00:08 --> 00:00:12 place so you can stop spinning your wheels, focus
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 on making great content and see your show grow.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 Because there's nothing worse than putting a
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 ton of effort into your show to see very few
00:00:20 --> 00:00:24 benefits and even fewer downloads. My name is
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 Joe Casabona and I know you're strapped for time.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:34 So let's get into it. Hello, hello, today I want
00:00:34 --> 00:00:40 to talk about three things that you should not
00:00:40 --> 00:00:45 do as part of your podcast guest process. Now,
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 I'm a guy who recommends, hey, automate as much
00:00:48 --> 00:00:52 as possible, do things that will make your life
00:00:52 --> 00:00:56 easier, but everything should be in the service
00:00:56 --> 00:01:01 of you being able to show up more personably
00:01:01 --> 00:01:06 build relationships and do right by your guests
00:01:06 --> 00:01:10 and your audience. And I've noticed just like
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 a terrible trend lately in things that podcast
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 hosts are doing that they should not be doing.
00:01:15 --> 00:01:19 So here are three things to remove from your
00:01:19 --> 00:01:23 podcast guest process immediately. The first.
00:01:23 --> 00:01:27 auto -subscribing guests to your mailing list.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 If you're in the United States, you are not allowed
00:01:29 --> 00:01:33 to do this. As part of the Can Spam Act of 2003,
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 you need to make it so that people explicitly
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 opt into your mailing list and there is an easy
00:01:39 --> 00:01:43 way for them to unsubscribe. But just beyond
00:01:43 --> 00:01:47 that, don't assume that your guests want to get
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 your emails just because they're coming on your
00:01:50 --> 00:01:55 show. Maybe your emails don't help your guest.
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 What you're essentially saying is, hey, thanks
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 for giving me your free time. I'm also going
00:02:02 --> 00:02:08 to invade your inbox. So if you want your guests
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 to join your mailing list, add it as a tick box
00:02:11 --> 00:02:16 to your Calendly form and say, hey, I think my
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 mailing list would be really helpful to you.
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 Would you like to join it? If you're not doing
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 that and you're just auto -subscribing them,
00:02:24 --> 00:02:28 what you're doing is, at worst, illegal. And
00:02:28 --> 00:02:34 at best, just kind of crappy. It makes it seem
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 like you only have your podcast to build your
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 mailing list and who cares what the guest thinks.
00:02:38 --> 00:02:42 And don't be surprised if they unsubscribe either.
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 This happened to me recently. Somebody added
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 me to their mailing list I didn't give them permission
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 to. And then they didn't have an unsubscribe
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 button. And so I had to email them and say, hey,
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 remove me from this list. And they were like,
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 I'm a little surprised. I'm like, well, you shouldn't
00:02:57 --> 00:03:01 be. I didn't give you permission to email to
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 put me on a mailing list. You know, and so I
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 feel real strongly about this. Your guests are
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 taking time out of their day to give you free
00:03:09 --> 00:03:14 content. Don't reward them by invading their
00:03:14 --> 00:03:21 inbox. Similarly, number two. Don't tell them
00:03:21 --> 00:03:26 to provide questions for you to ask. I'm sure
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 I've talked about this before because this is
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 a pet peeve of mine. My guest form is easy as
00:03:31 --> 00:03:35 possible. If I am inviting somebody onto my podcast,
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 they should not have to fill out a million forms
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 or a million fields. When I've been invited on
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 shows, I've had to fill out 10 or more questions.
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 What's your social media handles? How many followers
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 do you have? What topic should we talk about?
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 And, oh, give me five to seven questions that
00:03:55 --> 00:03:59 I should ask you. That's your job as the host.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 You know your audience better than me. You're
00:04:03 --> 00:04:07 presumably having me on your show to bring my
00:04:07 --> 00:04:11 expertise. So when you're inviting somebody onto
00:04:11 --> 00:04:15 your podcast, you should already know what you're
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 going to talk about. Otherwise, it just seems
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 like you'll interview anybody in an attempt to
00:04:20 --> 00:04:25 just churn out to be a content factory. So when
00:04:25 --> 00:04:26 you invite somebody on your show, you should
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 know what you're going to talk about and generally
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 what questions you're going to ask. When I invite
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 somebody on the show, I always propose a topic.
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 Hey, I'd love to have you on to talk about this.
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 Does that make sense for you? they'll either
00:04:39 --> 00:04:40 say yes they should say yes because I've done
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 research or they'll say oh I'm not really talking
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 about that I'd rather talk about this does that
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 make sense and if it does great and if it doesn't
00:04:47 --> 00:04:53 like I know not really but I I always propose
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 the topic and then I come up with the questions
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 because I as as the host I know my audience I
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 know the story I'm trying to tell I'm not trying
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 to get you to do the interview for me Because
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 that also makes crappy content, right? Because
00:05:06 --> 00:05:07 what am I gonna do? I'm gonna think about the
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 questions that I get asked the most often or
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 questions I never get asked that maybe have nothing
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 to do with your audience. Ask me what my favorite
00:05:16 --> 00:05:20 pizza topping is. Spoiler alert, it's cheese.
00:05:20 --> 00:05:25 Cheese pizza is the only good pizza. So like,
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 that's your job as the host. Stop asking your
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 guests to do your job for you. Related. Number
00:05:30 --> 00:05:34 three. Stop telling guests that they have to
00:05:34 --> 00:05:38 share it with their audience. That is also not
00:05:38 --> 00:05:43 your job. They are not your PR department. If
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 you are just having them on so that they share
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 with your audience, you are not doing right by
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 your audience. You are not doing right by the
00:05:50 --> 00:05:55 guest. Your job is to do a good enough job interviewing
00:05:55 --> 00:06:01 that the guest wants to share. And I will do
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 that. If I am on a particularly good interview,
00:06:04 --> 00:06:05 like here's because here's the thing, right?
00:06:06 --> 00:06:10 I go on a lot of podcasts. Good like people who
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 enjoy podcasting or podcast guesting tend to
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 go on a lot. I'm not going to email my my list
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 every week with, hey, these are the three podcasts
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 I was on this week. I have a content schedule.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 Also, hey, here are the three podcasts I was
00:06:26 --> 00:06:27 on this week. I talked about the same exact thing
00:06:27 --> 00:06:31 on all of them. Now I'm not serving my audience.
00:06:31 --> 00:06:38 I'm not that active on social media. I saw one
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 recently that was like, you promised to share
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 this within 48 hours of publishing. This ain't
00:06:44 --> 00:06:48 a legal contract. This isn't an agreement that
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 we're entering into. So I can either lie to you
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 and say, yeah, sure, I'll do it. And then you
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 can't do anything if I don't. You can unpublish
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 it, I guess. But who cares, right? I mean, it's
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 kind of obvious that you don't have a good audience
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 anyway if you're forcing me to share it with
00:07:02 --> 00:07:07 mine. Or I always choose to be upfront with these
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 things and say, hey, I'm not going to promise
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 to share it. Like, if you want to have me on
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 your show, great. If you're only using me for
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 my audience, then we shouldn't do this. Same
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 thing with the what questions should I ask you?
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 I always say, you know your audience better.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 So you come up with the questions. And like,
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 if that's not good enough, that's fine. I don't
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 want to waste my time going on like crappy podcasts.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 And like as a host myself, I put a lot of effort
00:07:31 --> 00:07:35 into making sure my guests have a good experience
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 and that we cover things that they don't normally
00:07:37 --> 00:07:41 cover. Because that is how I serve my audience.
00:07:41 --> 00:07:45 And now let me rewind and tell you what I'm not
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 saying. Number one, don't auto subscribe them
00:07:47 --> 00:07:51 to your mailing list. You can still get permission
00:07:51 --> 00:07:55 to add them to your mailing list. Number two,
00:07:55 --> 00:07:58 telling them to provide questions to ask you.
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 Don't make them give you five to seven questions,
00:08:01 --> 00:08:02 but say like, hey, is there anything you want
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 me, is there anything that you definitely want
00:08:05 --> 00:08:10 me to cover on this show? That's fine, right?
00:08:10 --> 00:08:11 Because now you're like, hey, if you have a book
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 coming out or something and I don't know, it's
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 not public knowledge, definitely tell me. And
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 number three, telling them they have to share
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 with their audience, don't do. Ask them, provide
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 some assets for them to share. Definitely do
00:08:24 --> 00:08:28 that. Tag them on social media? Absolutely. But
00:08:28 --> 00:08:32 like, don't invite them onto your show and then
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 force them to do a bunch of things that are good
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 for you and have no benefit for them. Because
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 that's not your job. That's not their job. Your
00:08:41 --> 00:08:45 job is to create great content for your audience.
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 The guest's job is to help you do that. And as
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 long as they hold up their end of the bargain,
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 you shouldn't force them to do anything else.
00:08:53 --> 00:08:57 I feel very strong about this. Right? And again,
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 if the guest comes to you and says, like, hey,
00:09:01 --> 00:09:05 I usually like covering these topics, or these
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 are some questions nobody ever asks me, or I
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 have a book coming out in a couple of months,
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 I'd love if you asked me about that. That's fine.
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 Or if they opt into your mailing list, also fine.
00:09:18 --> 00:09:22 Right? If they choose to share it, great. Our
00:09:22 --> 00:09:30 job as podcasters is to serve our audience, not
00:09:30 --> 00:09:35 use our guests as a growth engine. So definitely
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 remove those things. If you're doing that, I
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 came at you really strong today. I feel really
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 strongly about that. People's time is valuable.
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 Don't waste your guests time by forcing them
00:09:47 --> 00:09:48 to do a bunch of things that you're supposed
00:09:48 --> 00:09:53 to do. You deeply disagree with me. Let me know
00:09:53 --> 00:09:57 over at streamlinedfeedback .com. Thanks so much
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 for listening to the Streamlined Podcaster. I
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 really appreciate it. And until next time, I
00:10:03 --> 00:10:07 hope you find some space in your week. Thanks
00:10:07 --> 00:10:10 so much for listening. If you are wondering how
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 you can save more time in your processes, if
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 you're feeling overwhelmed, Head on over to streamlined
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 .fm slash overwhelm and take the overwhelm quiz.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:23 It's six questions and you will get personalized
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 results, a personalized blueprint for what to
00:10:25 --> 00:10:29 do based on your answers. That's over at streamlined
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 .fm slash overwhelm. And again, thanks so much
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 for listening to the streamlined podcaster.