Your Mission Statement Matters More Than Ever [Day 20 30 Days of Podcast Notes]
September 20, 202600:06:51

Your Mission Statement Matters More Than Ever [Day 20 30 Days of Podcast Notes]

I recorded this straight off the back of Ops-Oh, Layla Pomper's event at ProcessDriven, where I met a lot of people who run podcasts without living inside the podcasting bubble — a useful reminder as I start looking at where the medium is now. The thing that hasn't changed, and matters more as AI slop fills the content space, is your mission statement. The exercise I always teach: my podcast helps [a specific kind of person] with [their problem] by [your solution]. Entertainment shows need one too — you're still solving something, even if the problem is just that nobody's covering the thing you love.

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00:00:00 --> 00:00:05 Hello and welcome to Day 20, Episode 20 of 30
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 Days of Podcast Notes. If I am a little more
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 baritone than usual for these next few episodes,
00:00:13 --> 00:00:15 it's because I'm recording them right after I
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 got home from a fantastic event called Apsahoy
00:00:18 --> 00:00:22 put on by my friend Leila Pomper at Process Driven.
00:00:22 --> 00:00:27 It was an absolute blast. And... I met a lot
00:00:27 --> 00:00:31 of cool people who, in addition to whatever work
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 they were doing in the ops space or just in their
00:00:34 --> 00:00:39 own businesses, had podcasts. And it was really
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 refreshing to kind of see people outside the
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 podcast space talk about podcasting because I
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 think it's easy to get into a little bit of a
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 bubble. And as I start this kind of, what does
00:00:50 --> 00:00:54 podcasting look like today series? I think it
00:00:54 --> 00:00:58 really reinforced for me the first thing I want
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 to talk about in these next five -ish episodes,
00:01:02 --> 00:01:06 which is mission statement. Over the last 20
00:01:06 --> 00:01:12 episodes, there was a retrospective of what podcasting
00:01:12 --> 00:01:16 looked like in the early 2010s, or the early
00:01:16 --> 00:01:20 10s, I guess is how I'll say it, and how I started
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 my podcast. how things evolved over the decade
00:01:23 --> 00:01:27 and how COVID changed things. But the thing that
00:01:27 --> 00:01:32 hasn't changed and will likely not change in
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 the future, it will be even more important as
00:01:35 --> 00:01:43 more AI slop permeates our content space, is
00:01:43 --> 00:01:48 your podcast needs a good mission statement.
00:01:48 --> 00:01:55 You need to serve a specific audience. You need
00:01:55 --> 00:02:02 to give people a reason to listen. And so I'm
00:02:02 --> 00:02:08 noticing a trend of YouTubers, podcasts like
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 this. Part of the reason I'm doing this 30 day
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 series is an experiment. Like, do I need super
00:02:13 --> 00:02:17 high production value to capture people? if what
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 I'm saying is good and we still need to be good
00:02:20 --> 00:02:27 at storytelling storytelling is so primal for
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 human beings we need to tell good stories but
00:02:30 --> 00:02:37 do we need the highest editing the greatest audio
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 quality these are really questions I'm going
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 to explore over the next several episodes but
00:02:42 --> 00:02:46 what we always need What i'm noticing I guess
00:02:46 --> 00:02:50 I like I got a little in the weeds there is that
00:02:50 --> 00:02:54 Yapping is becoming a thing right or is a thing
00:02:54 --> 00:02:58 where people just talk and it's it's less edited
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 the youtube videos i'm seeing are are very similar
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 to that as well where it's Yeah, sure. There's
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 cuts and things like that, but I feel like we
00:03:07 --> 00:03:13 are post mr. Beast editing style maybe where
00:03:13 --> 00:03:17 It doesn't have to be these massive cuts and
00:03:17 --> 00:03:21 whiz -bang transitions and just a little changes
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 in the visual cues to keep people engaged. But
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 as long as what you're saying is good, then people
00:03:26 --> 00:03:32 will remain engaged. And so that all goes back
00:03:32 --> 00:03:36 to having a good mission statement. Who is your
00:03:36 --> 00:03:41 podcast for? Be specific. What are their problems?
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44 If you have an entertainment podcast, Why are
00:03:44 --> 00:03:48 they bored? What lights them up? You can still
00:03:48 --> 00:03:52 have a mission and solve a problem. Maybe the
00:03:52 --> 00:03:56 problem is I don't feel like drummers are front
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 and center. And so I'm going to start a podcast
00:03:59 --> 00:04:03 about drummers throughout the last hundred years.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 And I'll do something semi -biographical about
00:04:07 --> 00:04:13 them. Right? That's entertainment. But I'm also
00:04:13 --> 00:04:17 solving a problem. So you pick your audience
00:04:17 --> 00:04:23 the way I've always taught this is My podcast
00:04:23 --> 00:04:30 helps blank that is niche type of person With
00:04:30 --> 00:04:35 blank that's the problem By and that's the solution.
00:04:35 --> 00:04:41 So with the streamlined podcaster, it's my podcast
00:04:42 --> 00:04:46 helps business owners who want to have a podcast
00:04:46 --> 00:04:51 to support their business produce so that was
00:04:51 --> 00:04:56 the audience the problem is produce a show that
00:04:56 --> 00:05:01 doesn't take up all of their time by and here's
00:05:01 --> 00:05:06 the solution showing them ways to improve the
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 way they work to speed it up without sacrificing
00:05:09 --> 00:05:14 quality And some of that is practical advice.
00:05:15 --> 00:05:19 Some of that is experiments like this. If these
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 30 days, these episodes just take off, I'm going
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 to tell my clients that and I'm going to say,
00:05:24 --> 00:05:29 hey, I recorded and did not edit 30 episodes
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 where I talked for about five minutes each and
00:05:32 --> 00:05:36 they absolutely blew up. Do I think that's going
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 to happen? Probably not. Maybe one of them will,
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 though, so. That's how this show helps people.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 I encourage you, whether you are thinking about
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 starting a podcast or you have a podcast and
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 you feel like it's stagnated, to perform that
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 exercise because the mission is more important
00:05:53 --> 00:05:57 than anything else. That's it for this episode
00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 of The Streamlined Podcaster and 30 Days of Podcast
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 Notes. If you're enjoying this series, be sure
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 to like and subscribe, give us a rating and review.
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 All of those million calls to actions I tell
00:06:07 --> 00:06:11 people not to have. If you are a small business
00:06:11 --> 00:06:15 owner who has a podcast to support your business
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 and you are overwhelmed by all of the work you
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 have to do, not just in the podcast, but in everything
00:06:20 --> 00:06:26 else, my newsletter helps people like you. So
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 you can sign up over at streamlined .fm slash
00:06:29 --> 00:06:34 join. You will get tips and tricks to Improve
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 your process, save time, automate and delegate
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 where you can, and find the right tools without
00:06:38 --> 00:06:43 wasting all of your time evaluating those tools.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 Thanks so much for listening to this episode
00:06:45 --> 00:06:49 of the Streamlined Podcaster. And until next
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 time, I'll see you tomorrow.