Episode 51
051: Honor the Season Your Podcast Is In and Grow Without Burnout
Your podcast may not be stuck. It may simply be in a different season than you think.
Many spiritual women entrepreneurs feel pressure to constantly grow, publish, monetize, and expand all at once. But podcast growth is not linear. There are seasons of launch and clarity, seasons of visibility and guesting, seasons of monetization and refining your client pathway, and even seasons of recalibration where boundaries and sustainability matter more than downloads.
When you understand the season your podcast is in, you stop pushing against yourself and start making aligned strategic decisions. Growth becomes intentional, your calls to action become clearer, and your podcast begins supporting your business in a way that feels sustainable and powerful.
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Transcript
Hello there, beautiful women.
Speaker A:It's Kim Parkinson with podcasting for your spiritual business.
Speaker A:And today we're going to identify the season that your podcast is in so you can stop pushing when you are actually meant to refine.
Speaker A:So last month we talked about podcast visibility.
Speaker A:We talked about all the different ways of being visible, including the coaching call last week with Laura, who, while she's brilliant at helping people with their emails, she has actually paused her podcast and she is no longer at this time putting out new episodes.
Speaker A:And I have actually had a gamut of clients recently come to me.
Speaker A:I've had some that are in a launch phase, I've had some that have been in a visibility expansion phase, some that are looking at monetization and refinement and others that are maybe in that recalibration or that pause, that sacred pause right now.
Speaker A:And so I wanted to kind of go over those four different phases of your podcast and maybe just have you reflect on how each one of those phases can work for you, for your business, and maybe refine them a little bit so that you can, you can really work on the phase that you're in.
Speaker A:And let me also mention, there are no, there are no right or wrong phases, first of all, obviously right, but there's no set timeline for each phase.
Speaker A:So you can actually be in the launch phase of your podcast for longer than it takes you to actually what, what most people consider launch your podcast meaning from idea of I want to start a podcast, creating the name, creating the title, the description, the graphics, the first four episodes, and putting it out there and publishing, that typically would be what I would consider a launch phase.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Of your podcast.
Speaker A:But when you are still coming up with different topic ideas, you're coming up and you're pivoting and you're changing and you're shifting and you're still gaining followers and you're still talking about it, those can all still be within what I would consider your launch phase.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because that is going to be where you're creating your identity of your podcast, where you're creating the clarity around your podcast, where you're creating that foundational content and where you're creating that consistency.
Speaker A:And now let's look at my podcast real quick here.
Speaker A:Just to kind of give you an idea.
Speaker A:I definitely have an identity.
Speaker A:I think, think I have.
Speaker A:You know, I'm pretty positive I've got clarity here of what I'm talking about.
Speaker A:And then I definitely had the consistency.
Speaker A:But I realized today I still have some foundational content that I want to put out there.
Speaker A:I would love to create an episode around podcast production and editing and like the different tools that I use, the behind the scenes, I think all of that would be amazing content, but I haven't done them yet, so.
Speaker A:So I'm still kind of in that maybe foundational content.
Speaker A:There's still some foundations that I want to put out.
Speaker A:Would I still consider my podcast to be in the launch season?
Speaker A:Maybe, maybe not.
Speaker A:But I do feel like I am in that transition.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So I'm almost done with getting all of.
Speaker A:I didn't say all of, but getting quite a bit of my foundational content done.
Speaker A:But now I'm onto the second phase, which is my visibility, my expansion season.
Speaker A:This is when I'm going to be focused on podcast guesting.
Speaker A:I'm actually going to have a couple more additional guests on this this month, and I'm actually going to bring in case studies where I'm going to have clients come on and speak and they're going to be guesting.
Speaker A:And then I'm looking at collaborations and always looking at SEO and organic discoverability, refinement and sharpening my position so that I know what it is that I talk about.
Speaker A:I know who it is that I talk to.
Speaker A:And even that has changed a little too.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:If you listen to the first, maybe, you know, 15 episodes, 10, 15 episodes of this podcast, I was very priestess specific, very, very specific to the woo clientele.
Speaker A:And while I have a lot of woo clients, right.
Speaker A:But I also have ministers and pastors, and then I also have Christian women.
Speaker A:And I have.
Speaker A:Women don't have anything to do with that.
Speaker A:And they have therapists and.
Speaker A:And then I have an entire segment of clientele that has absolutely nothing to do with that whatsoever.
Speaker A:And they talk about engineering.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But here's the thing.
Speaker A:I can still put out episodes that can give you a general view of what it is that you can do for your podcast.
Speaker A:So I'm still giving that visibility.
Speaker A:I'm still helping with that.
Speaker A:And that is important to note when you're thinking about your visibility, are you really wanting to be pushing all the time?
Speaker A:Are you in that phase of your podcast where you're like, I want to reach more people.
Speaker A:I want my podcast to be bringing in a hundred downloads per episode.
Speaker A:I want my podcast to have a regular subset of people that are maybe reaching out to me.
Speaker A:Maybe you have a specific website that you're sending them to and you're not getting the clicks on that website.
Speaker A:Or what is it that we can do to shift to try to get them to there to do that call to action.
Speaker A:What is it that is going to be putting your podcast visibility out there?
Speaker A:More posting on social media, doing more newsletters.
Speaker A:Maybe you're going to do more summits and bundles and collaborations of some kind.
Speaker A:All of that is that visibility and expansion season.
Speaker A:So, yes, again, going back to the launch phase here, I'm going to pull them all together continuously here.
Speaker A:I still have some foundational content I want, but I'm in that visibility stage, right?
Speaker A:I'm in that stage where I want to be more visible, I want to do more podcast guesting, I want to do more collaborations, I want to.
Speaker A:I'm always doing the refinement, so I am in that stage, but I still have some, some foundational.
Speaker A:But maybe I always will.
Speaker A:Maybe there's always going to be those episodes where I'm like, oh, I should have talked about that and let's do that now.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:For me, I feel like it's always going to be another topic to talk about.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And maybe that's how you feel as well.
Speaker A:Now, the next stage after your visibility, of course, is going to be the monetization and that refinement.
Speaker A:So you're going to be tightening those calls to action, right?
Speaker A:And this month specifically, in our my 28 day podcast growth activation, we're talking about podcast guesting.
Speaker A:And that is always going to be what calls to action are we going to talk about when we guest on other people's podcasts?
Speaker A:Are we going to be sending them to a very specific episode?
Speaker A:Are we going to be sending them to our program?
Speaker A:Are we going to be sending them to our website?
Speaker A:Are we going to be sending them to our socials?
Speaker A:So we're talking about those tightening of the calls to action not only within podcast guesting, but also within your own episodes.
Speaker A:Are you talking about your offers in your episodes organically, not just at the end, but are we, we really tightening those down and really getting those refined?
Speaker A:Are we sending them to the newsletter?
Speaker A:Are they sending them?
Speaker A:Where are we sending them?
Speaker A:That's important.
Speaker A:And those are some of the refinements that we need to be making.
Speaker A:And again, you can do this in the launch phase, you can do this in the visibility stage.
Speaker A:But then again, this is the monetization and refinement.
Speaker A:And so this is.
Speaker A:They're all kind of balanced together.
Speaker A:It's like a, it's like a ball that we're just kind of juggling all of these.
Speaker A:Now.
Speaker A:Again, the launch phase, you could have dropped it already and you're done with that.
Speaker A:Now you're juggling just between visibility and mon monetization.
Speaker A:And there's nothing wrong with that either, right?
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker A:Now with the monetization and refinement season and phase, are you improving your client pathways?
Speaker A:How are they going to be getting from your podcast, which is top of funnel, into your next step?
Speaker A:Is that going to be into your newsletter?
Speaker A:Are you inviting them to join your newsletter?
Speaker A:Are you inviting them to join your program?
Speaker A:Are you inviting them?
Speaker A:Where are you inviting them?
Speaker A:So that is going to be your client pathway, right?
Speaker A:Getting them to the next step.
Speaker A:And then you want to make sure that you're always creating aligned offers, whatever those offers might be, whether or not that's your program, whether or not, again, that's your newsletter, whether or not that is a call with you, right?
Speaker A:I have clients and what they're, what they want is they want people to get on a call with them.
Speaker A:That is their number one thing that they want.
Speaker A:So are you talking about that in your episodes and then are you tracking that information?
Speaker A:Are you going into your stats and taking a look at how many downloads you're getting per episode?
Speaker A:I had a client meeting more recently and she had not been tracking her stats.
Speaker A:And when we did take a look at them, she was surprised to see how many downloads she had been getting and then how many people she had been getting into her newsletter list.
Speaker A:And sometimes those correlate because that is the next call to action.
Speaker A:So are you turning your listeners into newsletter list subscribers?
Speaker A:Are you then able to turn them into clients?
Speaker A:This is kind of like that monetization, although monetization could also be if you are looking for sponsors.
Speaker A:Or are you really refining who you're talking to and are you making sure your editing is on point?
Speaker A:Are you sending out letters to different companies to get sponsors?
Speaker A:Are you.
Speaker A:Maybe you're starting with a Patreon and are, have you refined that?
Speaker A:Do you know exactly who you're going to be reaching out to for Patreon?
Speaker A:Are you then creating the different tiered levels within that?
Speaker A:There's lots, there's lots of pieces there, right?
Speaker A:So if that is the direction that you are going to, and again, that is kind of the monetization and refinement season, right?
Speaker A:There's another season there.
Speaker A:The next one could be recalibration and boundaries, right?
Speaker A:And this could look like a simplification in production.
Speaker A:Maybe you've been sending out too many, too many different assets every week, and it's just Bogging you down now, When I first published my podcast, I was sending out assets every single week, twice a week, because I was doing two a week.
Speaker A:And it was just not sustainable for me.
Speaker A:It really was not.
Speaker A:It's not where I wanted to lie.
Speaker A:It's not where I wanted to go.
Speaker A:And so it was really.
Speaker A:It was really bogging me down.
Speaker A:It was really draining my energy.
Speaker A:And so I needed to create those boundaries.
Speaker A:I needed to create that I don't have to do this every week boundary.
Speaker A:And so I stopped.
Speaker A:I stopped most of them.
Speaker A:Uh, I stopped maybe all of them, some might say.
Speaker A:So what I did is I made sure that the content that I have is really SEO and organically discovered.
Speaker A:And I always do mention it.
Speaker A:I add that extra step on, I'm adding in maybe that, that little call to action after the thank you pages or in my newsletters or in my nurture sequences, and sending them back to one specific episode, one thing for them to move that needle on so that that's where I'm the recalibration right now.
Speaker A:Now, I do have clients, and their recalibration is to make that pause.
Speaker A:They're choosing to stop their podcast right now to focus on something else in their business, similar to what Laura did.
Speaker A:She is using the content within her podcast in her newsletters as an authority, sending people back there, but she's no longer sending out episodes on a regular basis.
Speaker A:So her podcast is in that phase of slowdown of a recalibration of I am not sending out new episodes, but I'm still using the episodes to maintain my authority, maintain that way for people to find me, because it is a great way for people to find you too.
Speaker A:So you can be in multiple phases.
Speaker A:I would say that if you're in the launch phase, you're probably not in the recalibration stage, unless you've pod faded, but chances are you haven't done that.
Speaker A:And if you are in the visibility stage, you could still be in the recalibration stage, right as Lara is, she's still getting visibility from a podcast she hasn't been publishing to.
Speaker A:And then you could also be in that monetization stage, because if that podcast is still working for you, still being visible for you, still getting clients for you, it's still monetized, you're still getting something from it.
Speaker A:So you could be in many stages at once.
Speaker A:But it's important to note that just because you could be and just because you are, because you are all are, you're all in some type of a stage of your podcast, whatever that stage may be, it's important for you to acknowledge that and note that even though right now you may be not pushing for growth, knowing that you have other areas that you could refine, other places of visibility, maybe other places of clarity, and you don't have to be exhausted doing it.
Speaker A:And here's the other thing.
Speaker A:If publishing weekly is becoming a burden, you can change it so that you publish every other week.
Speaker A:Or maybe you are sending out some older episodes, or maybe you are just sending out small episodes where you're just giving them one thought of the day and saying, this is all I have time for right now.
Speaker A:This is all my world will allow right now.
Speaker A:And that's okay, too.
Speaker A:Every bit of podcasting is individualized.
Speaker A:There really isn't anything that is hard, fast rules that you need to be worried about.
Speaker A:There is no part of podcasting that you can do incorrectly.
Speaker A:But if you are looking at where you are in your podcasting journey and you're saying, this is a lot, this is a lot for me to push right now, right now, I need to, you know, see it stand on its own, that's okay.
Speaker A:That's okay, too.
Speaker A:You can do that.
Speaker A:And if you're in the area where you're super excited about launching your podcast and you're like, let's go, I can't wait, then that's good, too.
Speaker A:That's amazing.
Speaker A:And especially if you are a woman and you're looking to start a podcast, there are less and less women podcasts out there right now that are being published, and we need more women to put their voices into the world more and more every day.
Speaker A:So if you are a woman and you're thinking about starting a podcast, I highly encourage it.
Speaker A:But if you are a woman and you are needing to take that step back from your podcast and let it stand on its own for a while, I acknowledge and respect that as well.
Speaker A:So they're all right.
Speaker A:None of them are wrong.
Speaker A:All of it is still going to be beneficial to you, your business, and ultimately, your wisdom is still out there.
Speaker A:No matter how many episodes you've done, Whether you've done one episode or you have done 444 episodes, all of them are where they need to be.
Speaker A:And you are exactly where you need to be right now in your business.
Speaker A:So hopefully this can help you kind of refine some places that maybe you need to look at.
Speaker A:Maybe you just need to honor the season that you're in right now, what season your podcast is in right now as well.
Speaker A:Just take a look at it and make sure that you're moving in the direction you want and go for it, whatever that direction might be.
Speaker A:I'm here for you.
Speaker A:All right?
Speaker A:If you have any questions, please reach out to me.
Speaker A:I am@kimp creativemedia.com I would love to hear what you had to think about this episode and where you are in your podcasting journey.
Speaker A:Are you looking at maybe taking a step back because it's overwhelming and maybe you need some refinement for that?
Speaker A:Or are you like, you know what?
Speaker A:I am go.
Speaker A:I am go, go, go.
Speaker A:I want more content on visibility.
Speaker A:I want more.
Speaker A:You know, what else can I do?
Speaker A:Let's get me out there.
Speaker A:I'm ready to be seen.
Speaker A:I'm ready to be heard.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I love all of that.
Speaker A:I love all of that for you and your business and your voice.
Speaker A:So until next week, where your voice flows, your business grows.
Speaker A:See you soon.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Podcasting for Spiritual Women.
Speaker A:If you would like more strategies and tips and some tricks on how to make your podcast better, I recommend that you join my newsletter list.
Speaker A:You can find that@kpcreativemedia.com Newsletter.
Speaker A:Until next time.
