Kristen
Hey y’all, and welcome to a very special episode of the savvy teacher seller. I’m your host, Kristen Doyle. And today we are celebrating the one year anniversary of this show. I thought it would be really fun to do a little twist on our show today. And I have my podcast manager, Sara Whittaker, from podcasting for educators at the microphone to interview me for a change. So listen, as I share the story behind how this podcast got started, and why I dove into podcasting, some of the things I’ve loved about it. And I’m also going to dish out a little bit of the challenges I’ve faced along the way.
Kristen
TPT sellers ready to seek growth in your business? You’re in the right place. Welcome to the savvy teacher seller. I’m Kristen Doyle. And I’m here to give you no fluff tools and strategies that will really make an impact on your sales. Let’s get started y’all.
Kristen
Hey, Sara, thank you so much for being here and agreeing to interview me today.
Sara Whittaker
Hey, Kristen, this is so exciting. I’m so pumped for this and happy one year of your podcast.
Kristen
Thank you. It’s so exciting.
Sara Whittaker
It flew by right? Yes,
Kristen
it has flown right by. And newsflash. I’m still loving my podcast.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah, that makes me so happy. When we first started talking about possibly doing this, I couldn’t believe that had already been a year. It’s wild. How quickly time flies by.
Kristen
It really does.
Sara Whittaker
Alright, so I get to interview you today in celebration of your one year, which is super exciting. So we are going to get into some questions. I get to ask the questions. And we get to hear all about your experience with podcasting. So to kick things off, why don’t you tell us like before you started your show, how long have you considered starting a podcast in the first place before you finally decided to take that plunge?
Kristen
Yeah, so this might be a surprise to some people, it won’t be a surprise, if you know me well at all. For the person who teaches SEO, I do not like blogging. I really just I know that content is important. But I don’t like typing out blog posts. It just does not light me up at all. But I do like talking to people and I like recording course lessons and things like that. So I had been thinking that maybe a podcast was the right direction to go really been kind of weighing do I want to do a podcast or a YouTube channel or what and I knew something recorded versus typed out was the direction that I needed to go.
Kristen
And I don’t know, I guess I’ve probably have told you this story. Maybe not. I was actually in my car, on my way to Atlanta from where I live in outside Nashville. So it’s about a four and a half hour drive. I was going to meet a couple of TPT friends for just like a quick little weekend, I actually only stayed one night and came back the next day and had this nice long drive. And I knew you had a podcast, I started listening to your show, and I am a start at the beginning kind of person. So I pretty quickly found you had a series pretty early on in your show about how to start a podcast. And I’m pretty quickly found that and started listening and I’m fairly certain I reached out to you on Instagram at a rest stop or at a gas station or something halfway through my drive because by then I had decided like this is what I want to do.
Sara Whittaker
Podcasting works people, look at that, quick ROI.
Kristen
Absolutely. I decided just from listening to the way you talked about podcasting, and just thinking through kind of the differences between video and audio and how easy it seemed to record audio and not have to worry about the video part. Which the backstory there is I always record the video every single time.
Sara Whittaker
I remember the first time you had reached out to me on Instagram and then we were like talking a little bit. You’re asking some questions. And then there was like a little bit of a gap. And then I heard from you again saying okay, I’m ready. I’m definitely ready this time do it. Yes. And I remember you asking about YouTube because I think in the beginning, you were kind of considering Okay, should I start YouTube right away? And then I think you made a really smart choice to okay, we’re going to start with audio but I’m going to go ahead In video, all of my episodes so that when I’m ready to put things up on YouTube, I’ll have all of my episodes, which was so smart.
Kristen
So I have three episodes up on YouTube, I pulled just some of my most popular ones to play around with video editing and kind of learn the ropes. But at some point down the road, when I decide to go all in on that side of things, I’ll have a whole year’s worth of content ready to put up there. So like you said, it was smart to go ahead and start recording video from the very beginning because now I have all of that video to pull from.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah, absolutely. And like not only for you, too, but you can pull that video for Instagram reels, but things on Tik Tok. Like, there’s so much content, so much video content that you can do so many things with.
Kristen
Yeah, and we’ve been pulling for Instagram reels all along. So we have been using the video even if it’s not full episodes that are posted anywhere just yet.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah. Okay, so you talked about how you really weren’t a fan of like sitting down and writing a blog post from scratch, which is something I hear from so many people. There’s a lot of people that are just like, Alright, I’m done with this, I need to try something new. Did you have any other big reasons for deciding to start a podcast?
Kristen
I just had a lot of content in me that I wanted to get out. And obviously, as an SEO expert, I know how important it is for Google for me to be putting out content on my site on a regular basis. So I just wanted a way to get that out without having to do all of the writing. So this felt like the perfect avenue to go.
Sara Whittaker
Yes, absolutely. Okay, so then after you made that decision to launch, let’s like, think back to that week that you actually put out your first episodes. How did it feel like were you nervous at all to get the podcast out there for people to listen to hear feedback? Or were you just like, purely excited?
Kristen
I was definitely both. I have a friend who calls it scare-cited.
Sara Whittaker
Oh, I love that.
Kristen
I was scared excited.
Sara Whittaker
That’s perfect.
Kristen
So excited to get it out there. But also Yeah, definitely nervous that people might not love it. Or maybe I’m talking way too fast or too slow. Or you know, all of those things. I remember the first week at some point, after the first few episodes to dropped, asking on my Instagram Stories. Am I talking way too fast? Am I too slow? Like is it okay? And I think everyone was really happy with it. Because if you felt like I was talking too slow, you can always play it on one and a half.
Sara Whittaker
Absolutely. And so many people do that. Yeah, definitely. And the great thing is like, there is some things that can be done in editing, if you’re if that’s something that anybody who’s listening is like nervous about, if you’re thinking about starting a podcast, you can put some extra spaces in there. Or you can close things together. If there’s too many gaps of silence, but I feel like you’ve got a really perfect speed. And like you said, Everybody’s kind of got their own preferences. Like some people just love listening to all podcasts on one and a half speed or even to it. That would be me. Do you would you do one and a half?
Kristen
Yeah, I do one and a half for basically everything. There is one person I cannot listen to on one and a half speed. And funny enough. It’s my pastor of all people. If I ever listened to his podcast, he talks so fast. I have to slow it down.
Sara Whittaker
Yes. Oh my gosh. Well, we both know. And I know she won’t mind me saying this. We both know Sarah Marie, who has a podcast, and she always laughs at herself, because she’s a very fast talker. And people always comment to her about how quickly she talks. But she’s like, Listen, this is just who I am. And she tries to talk a little bit slower. But it’s, it’s hard. It’s like a lot of things that you have to be aware of when you’re recording.
Kristen
And the nice thing is we have speed controls, so you can speed it up or you can slow it down if you need to.
Sara Whittaker
Yes, for sure. And I remember the week that you launched what you said to me, you said I wish that I had done this sooner?
Kristen
Yeah, definitely. I think initially, I just didn’t think of it as an option. For a while. I didn’t really know much about podcasts. And then I don’t know, I just didn’t think of it as an option for me. And once I realized it was yeah, I definitely wish I had started my podcast two years ago.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah. Were you nervous at all about, like not having enough content or being able to like keep up with it week to week?
Kristen
Oh, yeah, for sure. I was really nervous that I would at some point run out of ideas. In fact, that was part of the delay. With me getting back in touch with you was I was just kind of not willing to take any steps forward until I had at least I don’t think I gave myself a set number. But I felt like I had a decent amount of content ideas. I didn’t want to start something and get, you know, two or three months in and be sitting down like, oh crap I have to record. And I don’t know what to talk about.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah, it’s a scary thing. A lot of people are scared about that. And then as I’m sure that you’ve realized is once you actually start recording, you get so many new ideas from the episodes that you do record.
Kristen
Yeah, and I get ideas from episodes. People messaged me ideas unsolicited, which is great. I love that I actually got a DM yesterday afternoon with an unsolicited podcast episode idea that I liked.
Sara Whittaker
Yes, I love that.
Kristen
And then the other thing that’s helped a lot is I at your urging, I sent out vodcast survey back in, I guess, January or February, and just asked my listeners, what do you want to learn about and that was so enlightening, and it has helped me really plan out the content for the rest of this year. And I know that it’s content everybody wants to hear, because it’s the things that my listeners told me they wanted to hear.
Sara Whittaker
Yes, it seems so simple. But it’s so effective. And I remember when you because I knew that you had sent your survey out. And I remember asking, Hey, have you gotten any results yet, and you sent me your results. And it was a lot, you got a lot of amazing feedback. It’s so great. So if you’re listening, the next time you see Kristen, put out a survey, make sure you fill it out. Because it is helpful for you’re planning to make sure that you’re creating the right content.
Kristen
I definitely have the best listeners when it comes to things like giving me feedback and sharing what they want to learn about and all of that. So thank you all.
Sara Whittaker
Yes. Which is not always the case for a lot of podcasters. So I just I love that you’re hearing from people and getting that feedback from your listeners.
Kristen
Me too.
Sara Whittaker
So tell us so far, what is something that you are really loving about podcasting?
Kristen
This is gonna sound so cheesy, but I love the way it is. Let me connect with my audience. Because prior to that my connection with my audience was some Instagram posts, which let’s face it wasn’t super consistent about because then you have to come up with content for that too. And Facebook group, which is Facebook group. We all know how that goes, you know, Facebook groups, you get busy, and people are in there just to ask quick questions, you don’t really build a connection that way.
Kristen
But with the podcasts, I have gotten to connect with lots of teacher authors that I’ve interviewed. So that’s been super fun. Connecting with other people who serve teacher authors, like you has been super fun too, because I’ve interviewed a lot of people on that side of things. And then just making connections with listeners as well. So I’m sending out weekly emails about the podcast. And I get lots of replies to those. And we can carry on a little bit of a conversation in email. Same thing with Instagram, it just now that I have this helpful content that’s going out, it makes it so much easier to talk to my audience and to really be in touch with them and get to know them better. Because we have something to talk about.
Sara Whittaker
Yes, absolutely. And because you’ve got these podcast episodes going out, it just makes it easier for people to learn from you and to really get to know you. So you’re able to really kind of bridge that gap, which is so cool and so unique about this medium. And I feel like one of the most unexpected things about podcasting are those relationships that you build, like you mentioned, not just with your listeners, but with the guests that you have on and with other podcasters that you meet. It’s so much fun.
Kristen
Yeah, absolutely. It’s been so fun just to get to know people. And of course, there’s business reasons behind the podcast to you want to grow your audience and direct people toward paid products and offers and things but building those relationships has just been so much fun for me.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah, absolutely. Okay, not everything I’m sure is like rainbows and butterflies. So is there anything that’s like super challenging with your podcast?
Kristen
Definitely. It’s not all perfect. I still love it more than blogging it’s not all perfect. I mean, we were talking just before we started recording right now I am home my entire family including the dog. Everyone is in the house. And I’m recording at home. And my office is in what was initially set up to be a dining room in our house. So it doesn’t have actual doors that close. Which means before we start recording, I have to send my whole family upstairs and pray that the dog will be still because she doesn’t listen. And I swear she knows the minute I turn on my podcast voice, she knows and she hops up and her little nails are prancing across the floor right next to my office.
Sara Whittaker
Yes, I’m dying because I have the exact same setup, it’s carpet in my office, but then it opens up to hardwood floors. And it’s the same sound, the dog nails on the hardwood floor, because they know they have this sense that right when we push record, there they are. Yeah, it’s hard. And I think people like to create schedules and routines around recording, but the reality is like your mom, and you have things that pop up, especially with it being summertime, it can be extra challenging to get your recordings in. And even if you plan to do it, things pop up. And yeah, it’s hard to eliminate those distractions. And then not even mentioning like things going on outside of your house, the garbage trucks, people ringing your doorbell, which also sets the dog off. There’s a lot of factors.
Kristen
Always, it is a lot easier during the school year because my kids are school age. So they’re at school, and I just try my hardest. I would say 95% of the time I record in the mornings while they’re at school. So it’s no big deal. It all works out. And I only have to worry about the dog who usually unless it’s nasty weather outside, I just pop her outside for a few minutes. So I can record in peace.
Sara Whittaker
Yes, perks of having a fenced in yard.
Kristen
Yes, absolutely.
Sara Whittaker
So beyond that, is there anything else that has been challenging during this process?
Kristen
You know, I really can’t think of anything else I would say is a big challenge. I mean, you do start to run out of ideas in the moment. But all I really have to do to fix that problem is sit down and spend some dedicated time looking at Instagram, you know, questions I’ve gotten and responses to stickers and that kind of thing. Looking back at my survey, you know, I just need to spend a little brainstorming time and then I’m kind of back on a roll for a while again after that.
Kristen
The other thing I would say that is not a challenge, but would be is just the time it takes after recording, to be able to edit everything, get it scheduled, you know, create the show notes, all of that stuff. And I am just so so glad that I have you to do that for me. Because I really don’t know how I would do it all on my own.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah, you got too much going on for that. Yes, I mean, game changer to be able to like pass that off after you’re done recording.
Kristen
Although I will say I have learned with the private podcasts now that I am actually editing. It’s not so bad.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah, I actually I enjoy editing, it can be kind of like a relaxing task, because it’s very, like, you see the result right away at the end, if that makes sense. Which is kind of nice. It’s satisfying.
Kristen
Yeah, it is for sure. I actually edited an episode on the plane last week on the way out of business retreat. And it was so nice to just pop my earbuds in and do my editing on the plane. And by the time we landed, my episode was scheduled.
Sara Whittaker
Yes, I know. It’s amazing. Now, because you are a year in at this point, is there anything that you can share with us as far as like how things are just going overall with the podcast beyond what we’ve already talked about?
Kristen
Yeah, like we said at the beginning, it’s hard to believe I’m a full year in on. So exciting. I am super proud that I’ve stayed consistent, that I have kept putting out I haven’t missed a single week yet, which is pretty fantastic. I definitely have batching and staying ahead of my recording schedule to thank for that because there have been some weeks where I lost my voice or we were all sick, or whatever. And there’s no way I was recording. But thank goodness, I had something that was already recorded because I was working a little bit ahead.
Kristen
So yeah, it’s going really well. I have been just floored at how much my audience has grown since those first few episodes, how many more listeners we’re getting consistently now versus where we started. And how much that has grown all the other parts of my business to like my email list and my Facebook audiences for one I am running ads and that kind of thing. It’s just been such a good way to share some helpful content with people to build those connections, like we were talking about, and then also just to grow my audience.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah, that’s what I was going to ask is like, what are some things that you can celebrate or some wins that you’ve seen? And it sounds like exactly what you just said, you’ve seen your email list grow. You’ve got the private component of your podcast where people can join to get those bonus episodes for a fee, you’ve utilized ads, you’ve done so much. And for anybody who’s listening, this is a huge deal to reach that year milestone, like the far majority of people do not ever see a year because they just have a hard time keeping up with everything, especially if they’re doing it all by themselves. So you should be so proud of yourself out of you.
Kristen
Thank you, I definitely owe a whole lot of it to your help.
Sara Whittaker
Well, I’m happy to help you been the best to work with. And I’m so glad that you decided to do this thing, because you’ve had such an awesome response from your audience. And there’s not that many podcasts that are dedicated to the audience that you serve. So it’s just so cool that people have this as a resource. So I’d love to know, what advice do you have now that you are a year in? What would you tell somebody who’s considering starting a podcast of their own?
Kristen
I would say do it. Absolutely. If it’s something you are excited about the idea of if you don’t love writing your blog posts every week, yeah, then definitely start a podcast advice. Can I tell them that there is this girl Her name is Sara from podcasting for educators and she will tell you all the things.
Sara Whittaker
Yes, yes, I will. I will teach you.
Kristen
Everything I know from about podcasting comes from you.
Sara Whittaker
Well, thank you, that makes me feel very good. Yeah, it’s been so fun to be able to like, through my podcast, and like through people I’ve worked with, like, just actually see people taking that leap and starting their show and seeing the impact that it’s having on their audience. It’s so fun to see, it’s just such a cool platform to be on.
Kristen
It is so fun. Let’s see actual advice. I think my actual advice would be just do it. It’s not that hard. You don’t need fancy things. In fact, I know Sarah, you’ve got lists of recommended tech and stuff. And I bought that once that you recommend it, and they’re not that expensive. You don’t need anything fancy,
Sara Whittaker
under 100 bucks
Kristen
And just get started.
Sara Whittaker
I think that’s great advice. I talked to people who by the time they finally come to me, people will tell me that they’ve been like sitting on this idea for years of starting a podcast. And then they finally start and they say what you said I wish I had started this earlier. And the only way to get it started is to just do it and have things set and a good foundation set. But you’re going to learn as you go. And it’s going to be a little bit uncomfortable at first, like I think we can both agree that, especially when you’re recording by yourself like yeah, it’s a little weird, especially the first few times to sit and talk into a microphone, but you get used to it and it becomes more comfortable over time.
Kristen
My first couple episodes, I think were fully scripted out, because I was so nervous about recording that I didn’t want to be thinking about what I was going to say. But that has relaxed a lot over the course of a year.
Sara Whittaker
Probably take some time off your plate to to not script the whole thing.
Kristen
And the more you do it, the more comfortable you get. Sometimes they are bullet points. Sometimes my brain just works in whole sentences. So sometimes my bullet points are whole sentences and then I just add some, but every now and then it’s like a topic idea and I just start recording.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah, I do the same thing. It just kind of like depends on the episode. Sometimes I have a more of a script. Sometimes I’m just kind of going off the cuff and you just kind of do what feels right. But you also have the video component. So I don’t blame you for like, especially in the beginning, I would definitely have a script because you’re also worrying about where you’re looking at and what you’re looking like on camera, there’s alot to think about.
Kristen
I’ve definitely figured out where to put my outline on the screen so that I still look like I’m looking at the camera and I’m not looking away off in a corner somewhere.
Sara Whittaker
Yes, oh my gosh, I just have to tell you all, I am blanking on the name of the app that I downloaded. I want to say it’s just called captions because I downloaded it to add like some fancy captions to video clips. And they have an AI feature on there where they will move your eyes so that you’re looking at the camera if you’re looking away from it and it’s accurate. It looks like you would have no idea that it was AI that did it. It’s pretty wild.
Kristen
That’s amazing. AI is so cool.
Sara Whittaker
here’s so many amazing tools out there to help you with your podcast to help you write outlines and create titles and all kinds of things.
Kristen
I definitely lean on chat GPT to get some title ideas, because I feel like mine all sounds the same, a year in. I think a little more than 52 episodes now. And a lot of my titles start to sound the same if I don’t get a little help.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah, oh, I think chat GPT is great for titles you can just put in the topic that you’re doing and do you have a certain prompt that you use? I usually just say like, can you give me 10 options for podcast titles?
Kristen
Yes, I say give me 10 titles for this episode about whatever. And then I usually don’t end up copy pasting any of them, but I kind of pick and choose a little bit it just gives me some more start.
Sara Whittaker
Yeah, oh my gosh, yeah, I just kind of sparks those ideas and you can kind of mix and match them together.
Sara Whittaker
All right, Kristin. Well, this was so fun to hear about how this journey has gone for you so far, why you decided to start how things are going one year in still can’t believe every time we say that, but it’s already been a year. And I just want to say again, congratulations, and thank you for letting me be a part of your podcasting journey.
Kristen
Thank you for rolling with my crazy idea and coming on my show to interview me. And you know, just for being there and teaching me all the things and keeping me accountable because goodness knows I need it. I definitely have you to thank for making it this far, at least in parts. Thank you so much, Sara.
Sara Whittaker
No, of course. Thank you, right back at you. I loved working with you. It’s been so much fun.
Kristen
That is it for this special birthday episode of the savvy teacher seller. Thank you so much for listening in. I hope you enjoyed this deep dive into kind of the behind the scenes journey of this podcast from coming up with this idea on a road trip last year to where it is today. And I just want to thank you so so much for being just the best group of listeners I could ever ask for. You guys have engaged with episodes and sent me encouraging DMS on Instagram and I just cannot thank you enough for your help and making this podcast a success and I look forward to many more podcasts birthdays in the future and sharing more super helpful content with you to help you grow your TPT businesses.
Kristen
If you loved this episode, and maybe you are thinking about starting a podcast now you definitely do not want to miss next week’s episode for Sara will be back to talk all about starting a podcast, some things that you will need to know and some steps that you’ll want to take. Don’t miss that episode it is going to be amazing.
Kristen
I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. If you did, please share it with another teacher seller who would also find it helpful. For more resources on Growing Your TPT business. Head to Kristendoyle.co/TPT. Talk to you soon.
