May 30, 2025 • 41 mins
It is our 300th episode and 4 YEARS since The Psychology of your 20s first began. To celebrate, I'm releasing one of my most requested topics ever that has nothing to do with psychology: how do you start a podcast? More broadly, why is it a good idea? What do I wish I'd known when I'd started? How much does the gear cost? What happens if no one listens? All your burning questions on my journey and where to start will be covered (along with a few tears of gratitude), thank you for 300 episodes and giving me the best job ever!
ORDER MY BOOK: https://www.psychologyofyour20s.com/general-clean
Follow Jemma on Instagram: @jemmasbeg
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @thatpsychologypodcast
For business: psychologyofyour20s@gmail.com
The Psychology of your 20s is not a substitute for professional mental health help. If you are struggling, distressed or require personalised advice, please reach out to your doctor or a licensed psychologist.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to
the podcast, new listeners, old listeners, Wherever you are in
the world, it is so great to have you here
back for another episode as we, of course break down
the Psychology of Our Twenties. I want to formally welcome
you to the three hundredth episode of The Psychology of
(00:23):
Your Twenties. And it's not just our three hundredth episode,
it is also the four year anniversary of the podcast,
which completely blows my mind. I don't really have the
words to express how insane that is to me that
I started this four years ago. It feels like it
was yesterday and also a decade ago. At the same time,
(00:47):
it has completely changed, transformed, you know, just yeah, just
blown up my life in the most magical, beautiful way.
And for the three hundredth episode, I knew I wanted
to do something special, and I was racking my brain.
I was thinking about it, and the one thing that
people always ask me about that has nothing to do
(01:08):
with psychology and kind of also nothing to do with
our twenties, is this thing right here is podcasting. How
do you start, how do you do it, how do
you make money from it? Why is it a good idea?
Should I start a podcast? And my answer to that
final question has always and will always be absolutely yes.
(01:29):
But I feel like a lot of people don't really
know where to start. It feels like the market is saturated.
We have this deep fear of being perceived, and in
many ways I completely understand because four years ago, I
was at that very place that I'm sure some of
you are right now wondering is this a good idea?
Is this something that I should do? And what I
(01:53):
really want to talk about today is what I wish
i'd known when I started my best learnings, wisdom advice
that I can bring you from the last four years
and over three hundred hours probably more at this point
of episodes, just to you know, bring you into the
behind the scenes area, kind of break the fourth wall.
(02:14):
You guys know what the psychology of your twenties. We
are not about gatekeeping. And there is something so I'm
going to use a very cliche word, so magical and
transformative about a medium like podcasting that makes me see
it as a very special thing. And if you can
(02:34):
do it, and if you want to do it, I
really think that you should, and I think that you
should have the opportunity and kind of the advice needed
just to start. So that is exactly what we are
going to do today. We are not holding back. I'm
going to talk you through the last four years, what
it's done for my life, the origin story. If some
of you don't know how the Psychology of your twenties started,
(02:57):
my seven best practical tips for starting your own podcast,
and why if you are in your twenties right now,
I absolutely believe that you should. So I want to
say thank you so much to every single person who
has ever listened to an episode, to the people who
have been here since genuinely day one. I know some
(03:20):
of you started listening in twenty twenty one and you
DM me every now and again, and the fact that
you have stuck around for so long is just incredulous
and amazing to me. So thank you, And to my
new listeners, welcome. If you've only been here for a day,
for a week, for a month, you mean so much
to me and to this community, and we are constantly
(03:41):
bringing you people into the world of psychology and into
the world of practical explanations for your twenties. So thank you,
every single one of you. You have absolutely changed my life,
and I do not say that lightly. So without further ado,
I want to hopefully give something back to you guys,
especially those of you who want to a podcast. Let's
(04:01):
get into it. So if you don't know the story,
if you're a new listener, or if you have heard
this story, I'm gonna remind you. I guess of how
exactly the podcast The Psychology of your Twenties, and now
the book Person and Progress came to be because I
realized that I don't think I've ever sat down and
(04:22):
given the story. You kind of had to be around
for a while to kind of understand it. So back
in twenty twenty one, I went through a breakup. I
went through this really terrible breakup. Actually it was my
first really serious relationship. I thought that this person was
the love of my life. How sadly mistaken, but also
(04:44):
how great that it ended. And I'm in a completely new, happy,
healthy relationship now. But I think that's this. There's this
element to our first breakup that is just so wildly
disruptive but also sacred and in kind of my grief
and my lone holiness. After that relationship ended, I had
this idea I was studying psychology at the time at
(05:06):
a and U, the Australian National University, Shout out to
anyone who is currently or has been to that UNI.
And I was actually doing a Bachelor of Politics, Economics
and Philosophy and a Bachelor of Arts. And in my
arts degree, we had all these options to do electives.
I'd chosen my major as psychology, and I just found
that all I wanted to do was psychology. I wanted
(05:28):
to do every single possible course that there was, and
slowly but surely I found myself not really caring so
much about the economics and the politics and all that
element of things. All I wanted to do was learn
about human relationships and the human mind and the human spirit,
I guess, and the biology that shapes us, everything that
(05:49):
shapes us from a psychological perspective. So these kind of
things intersected. At this very important point in my life.
I was going through a breakup and I wanted to
know why hurt so badly, and so I started reading
all these academic papers and reading all these articles, and
you know, revisiting theories that I learned, and I was like, oh, wow,
there's this whole explanation and then I started bringing that
(06:12):
to other things as well, thinking, Oh, why does it
suck so much to be job hunting right now? Why
is my fomo so intense? Why do I get anxiety?
What's this quarter life crisis thing? And as I was
trying to I guess explain it to myself, I also
had friends coming to me and we would, you know,
sit around the dinner table or be studying together, and
(06:33):
they'd bring me their dilemmas as you do as a friend,
and I couldn't help but be like, my copt, did
you know there's this article and did you know there's
this researcher who can explain this for you? And it
was there that the psychology of your twenties was really born.
Like I said, the intersection of all these all these
you know, cruel but also amazing but also very human experiences.
(06:53):
I've talked about this before, but the name the Psychology
of your twenties, it almost felt like it dropped from
the sky into my lap. And if you listen to
our episode with Elizabeth Gilbert, you'll know that she has
this analogy that ideas are actually not ours. Ideas are
their own things. They're their own living breathing organisms, ideas
for books, ideas for movies, ideas for songs, and basically
(07:15):
they want to find the person who is most likely
to make them happen, who was most likely to bring
them into a form and make them alive. And I
feel like that's kind of what happened to me. This
idea that just seemed to happen out of nowhere was
really already an idea that existed. It was just looking
for a host, and I was its host. Pretty quickly
(07:36):
after I had the idea, I started the podcast. I'm
saying like within a week, and the first few episodes,
actually the first like ten episodes were recorded on my
phone in the back of my car, which was like
a super forester on my friend's floor, and there was
really like no structure, no ambition. I just wanted to
(07:57):
do it, and that's how it kind of continued. I
got it to a new relationship. I kept podcasting. He
broke up with me. I kept podcasting, And I need
to be completely real with you guys when I say that,
for the first year and a half, I did not
have any lessons. I continued along that way for quite
some time. I went and worked a corporate job, and
(08:19):
I really thought that my life was going to be
climbing the corporate ladder as a management consultant. And I
was working in the mental health space as a management
management consultant, helping out the government make mental health programs,
and I was like, I'm really fulfilled and I'm happy,
and this is what I'm going to do and this
is who I'm going to be. And then this strange
thing happened in September of twenty twenty two. Suddenly people
(08:44):
like you started finding the podcast. The biggest question I
always get is how did you make that happen? How
did you get people to find you? And the answer
is I have quite literally no idea. I really don't
and it's not even me trying to safeguard's secrets, like
I really don't know. I didn't have social media, I
(09:05):
wasn't really doing guest episodes. I wasn't appearing on other
people's episodes. I didn't have any money in it. I
wasn't another publicist, I wasn't featured anywhere. It was all
word of mouth. It was you guys, the listeners, sharing
this with other people, and overnight it blew up and
(09:25):
I was number ten. Then I was number three on
the podcast charts, and then I was number one, above
a Rogan, above all these other people, And it was
terrifying because suddenly people cared about what I had to say.
And until that point it had just been like ramblings
of a twenty something, and now it felt really serious.
And pretty quickly I realized like, oh, this is my calling,
(09:50):
this is gonna be my job, like this corporate career
that I invested so much in, like this this might
actually not be it. I was so lucky. I found
an agent from the US. She approached me, and I
remember getting her email and being like this is a scam,
Like this is totally a scam. And she was the
one who was really like, you have to make a decision.
(10:10):
Do you want to quit your job and do this,
because it's going to take a lot from you, Like
you really got something here. People are already listening. I
think we can make it happen. And so at the
start of probably the middle of twenty twenty three, April
twenty twenty three, I walked into work and I quit
my job, and podcasting became my career, became my full
(10:32):
time professions. That as well was two years ago. Now
I have another podcast called Mantra. I wrote a book.
I just finished this amazing Dinner with Strangers series of
events across Australia where we met one hundred two hundred
people who came out and chatted to us and met
each other. I speak on panels. I get to meet
(10:53):
you guys, and that is so different to how I
thought my life was going to turn out. And I
always try and use my story to emphasize to people
that your life can change for the better at any
given moment if you give the idea that you think
is almost good enough a chance, and if you give
yourself a chance. Now, I'm not saying that everyone who
starts a podcast is going to be able to quit
(11:14):
their job, but I think that even if I hadn't
been able to quit my job, this whole experience would
still and would remain to this day be invaluable. And
I want to explain why I think that if you
are in your twenties, you should start a podcast. And
it has nothing to do with money, and it has
nothing to do with success or visibility or fame or
whatever else. It has everything to do with the fact
(11:37):
that it is a completely eye opening experience and it
will open slash put up a mirror to the deepest
parts of yourself. Let me explain my four arguments for
why you should be doing this. Number one, Starting a
podcast in your twenties is basically a way of keeping
a personal journal of the things you care about and
(11:57):
what you're going through right now. It is not for
anyone else. When I started, what I really wanted to
do was explain my own experiences and capture this like
decade and all these moments that felt like so important.
I remember being like, this is something I want to remember.
And I had this weird obsession with not forgetting things
(12:18):
and with holding onto memories, and podcasting was my way
of doing that. A podcast acts as like this incredible
time capsule for the point in your life that you
are at now, and I really want to emphasize that
it's not for anyone else. It's for you. And even
if no one ever listens, this thing could live on
the internet for years and years and years. It will
live on the internet for years and years and years.
(12:39):
And how amazing would it be to be thirty five,
forty five, sixty and be able to listen back to
the voice of you at twenty one, what she or
he cared about, what they were going through, what they
thought was fascinating, what they thought they knew about life.
The second reason why I think podcasting is a really
important if you were in your twenties is that it
(13:02):
teaches you to really follow through. So this was another
element of the story that I didn't really talk about,
and it was that I was very, very lost when
I started the Psychology of your Twenties. I actually didn't
have my corporate job yet, I didn't have any job offers.
I was about to graduate. In fact, I think I
had already graduated from one of my degrees, and I
(13:23):
had no clue what I was doing. And I just
felt this overwhelming sense of like the path in front
of me is going to always be me doing things
for other people. And it feels very like laid out,
like I graduated, I get the job, I do this,
I do this, I do this, And I hadn't really
challenged myself, and I hadn't really given myself a goal
(13:45):
to follow through on that wasn't according to a timeline
that was given to me. So to explain it, like,
obviously I had a goal of graduating university, but that
kind of felt expected. I had a goal of getting
a job, but again I needed to make money, and
I was like, when was the last time I actually
did something for myself? Because I wanted to prove that
I could do it and I wanted to follow through,
(14:05):
and podcasting really gave me that opportunity to trust myself
and to say to myself, I'm setting a goal. I'm
doing this not because anyone else is going to give
me praise or it's going to give me an award.
I'm doing it just for me, and I have the
motivation and the capabilities and the trust in myself to
(14:25):
do it even if no one else is watching. So
that's the second reason why I think it's really important
to have a podcast or do some have some kind
of project that is just personal to you. The third
reason why I think it's so invaluable is that it
allows you to climb Cringe Mountain. You've probably heard this,
but so many people these days say something along the
(14:46):
lines of everyone has a podcast now, Everyone does this nowadays,
and it's kind of set in a way to I
don't know, tear down the people who do it and
to discourage people trying and to make it seem like
this is easy and anyone can do it and it's
not valuable. I have a theory the people who always
(15:09):
say that, and I've heard it before, I think they
actually secretly want to do it, but they don't have
the courage, and so they have to convince themselves that
this thing isn't desirable as a way to not look
in the mirror and realize that they actually just don't
have the courage to do it. They don't have the bravery,
They can't put themselves out there. That is not going
(15:31):
to be you. You're not going to be that person
who belittles other people's ideas or who tries to downplay
other people just trying. One of my guiding philosophies in
life has always been that you will never be criticized
by someone who is doing better than you or by
someone who you admire, especially if that person is secure
(15:53):
in themselves, because someone who has done the thing that
you want to do is going to understand how hard
it is. It's going to understand what it takes to
be successful, and is going to understand how brilliant of
an opportunity it is to just try. And so they
will look at you and think, Wow, I'm so excited
for you. Wow. Come and join us, Come take a
seat at the table. The people who are going to
(16:15):
criticize you for putting yourself out there aren't the people
who are already sitting at that table. They're the people
who are standing over in the corner, looking over and
enviously and with jealousy, and thinking I don't actually want
to sit there, but they do. Podcasting allows you to
climb cringe mountain, and it allows you to understand that
some people probably won't like what you have to say.
(16:37):
Some people will think it's embarrassing. Some people will think
that you're entering into an oversaturated market. It really doesn't matter,
because it's something that you want to do, and that
is the most valuable part of this exercise. I actually
have a story for you on this. When I first
started podcasting, I was dating someone and I remember him
telling me that some of his friends thought that my
(16:57):
podcast was in no uncertain terms laying I remember him
telling me about this one friend who said to him, Oh,
like that Gemma's podcast is like kind of weird, and
like that name is too specific. The psychology of your twenties,
like no one's going to listen to that. It doesn't
appeal to a broad enough audience. And god, that's just
(17:20):
so funny to me now because I have no idea,
I have no clue what that guy is doing. But
here I am getting to do my dream job. And
I remember saying to the guy I was dating after
he told me these things that his friend had said,
I kind of indignantly was like, well, I don't really
care if I'm not successful. Don't you see that this
isn't for applause, This isn't for visibility, this isn't isn't
(17:43):
for fame or whatever. It is like, this is because
I like it, And the fact that this other person
can't see that shows that he has a real insecurity
towards people trying because he can't. Finally, the reason I
think you should start a podcast is because it's fun, firstly,
but also it's a really good thing to put on yours.
It shows that you care about things. It shows that
you have a passion. It shows that you have followed through.
(18:06):
It shows that you can handle a project. I always
get resumes from people who want to work for the
Psychology of your twenties, and if they have started a podcast,
I will always look twice, and I always even if
I don't reply to them, because sometimes I can't, but
I will always check out their podcast because I think
it's such a personal reflection of someone's you know, in
(18:27):
a self and who they are and what they care
about and what they represent. And you know, if you're
struggling in the job market at the moment, if you
are finding that you can't get opportunities, it's a great
way to make an opportunity for yourself and to leverage
that into maybe a job, or leverage it into an internship,
leverage it into a connection, and have this thing that
(18:50):
you have made that says I do care, I have skills,
I can be a self starter. So that is my
argument first and foremost for why you should start podcast
in your twenties. I hope you don't need any more convincing.
I hope you're sitting there thinking, yes, I'm going to
do this. What I want to now talk you through
is exactly how and what I wish I had known
(19:11):
before I started, because it was a lot of trial
and error, and now that I'm at this point where
I think the error is a little bit less, I
can share those learnings with you, and I can give
you kind of the blueprint and the roadmap to maybe
getting to where I am. Hopefully getting to where I
am where you get to live out what is an
amazing career. So stay with us. We'll be back after
(19:32):
this short break. So my best tips for starting a podcast.
I took this very seriously. I was up last night
after me and my boyfriend had dinner, and I was
like making all of these notes on my little iPad
around exactly what I wish i'd known. The first tip,
(19:53):
and the first thing you kind of have to the
hurdle you have to jump across is what do I
even want to talk about? How do you find your topic?
The best question to ask yourself is what do you
already talk about all the time anyways? What is the
thing that fascinates you to no end? What do you
chat with with your friends? What do you like to
(20:14):
read about, what do you like to watch? What do
you really care about? That's your topic? I would really say,
don't try and copy what someone else has already done,
because you won't care about it as much as your
own idea that comes from your passions and comes from
your interests. And people can really really tell if you're
(20:36):
just doing something because you've seen that it's worked for
someone else and you don't actually care about the content matter.
I remember someone actually started a podcast. This is awkward.
I don't know if I should say this, but I'm
going to. I have no ill will towards them. But
it was called The Philosophy of Your Twenties and they
started a while back, and it basically was a point
copy of what I'm doing. She copied my artwork, she
(20:58):
copied my episode titles, my bio, my Instagram, lay out
my colors, and it really bumped me out. I was like, Oh,
I put a lot of time and energy into this thing.
This is like my entire identity. At that point, I
was so like consumed with podcasting. I really didn't do
anything else, and so it really hurt me kind of.
And then I was like, I know how much effort
(21:20):
this takes. I know how much work is actually contained
in making something you're proud of. And the only thing
that's going to drive you to do that in that
initial like starting phase is if you genuinely care about
what you're talking about. So what do you already talk
about a lot? Right? Now what do you already feel
fascinated by. You're allowed to mix and match some things,
(21:42):
like you can talk about politics, and you can talk
about pop culture, and you can talk about books, but
you can also talk about music, and you can talk
about dating, but also about science. Like there's as many
combinations as you want. Just find what you care about. Secondly,
my biggest tip here is don't worry about having all
the gear. Just start with what you have. Sometimes having
like the five thousand dollars microphone or even the two
(22:04):
hundred dollars microphone can be discouraging because you feel like
you need to make your production more professional at the beginning,
and that adds a lot of pressure, which can really
just be gasoline on the procrastination fire. Start with what
you have. You can record with your phone. I recorded
(22:26):
with my phone. In fact, you can go back and
listen to episodes where you can hear that that is
an iPhone whatever. It was an iPhone eleven, Like, it
wasn't great, But I just started with what I had,
and then as I got further along and I knew
I had my follow through, I upgraded my equipment. What
we're really focusing on here is consistency. That is the
(22:49):
most important ingredient for you to have in the first
three months. So if you're intent on starting a podcast,
I want you to choose just one day a week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
and force yourself to post an episode. Force yourself to
post anything, even if it is literally a five minute
(23:09):
rant about someone who cut you off at the grocery store,
even if it is just your take on something small
or random, even if it's like it just it can
be anything. I just need you to start posting one
day a week consistently. We know the science. It takes
three months to form a new habit, three months for
(23:31):
your brain to say, oh, this is something that we do.
We are someone who makes a podcast, and three months
for you to really adapt to the energy and the
effort needed and to feel like this is part of
your routine. After that three months is up is when
you can start focusing on other things. That's when you
can start focusing on polishing your form, on improving small
(23:52):
things about the content, about audio equality. But in the beginning,
you know, don't worry about video, don't really worry about
having the most perfect spectacular audio quality, don't worry about
arms and ours. I used to edit on garage band.
I still do. It's like the free software on my computer.
I still use like the I still sometimes use my
(24:15):
phone for audio pickups and for ads and for filming.
Like podcasting is like the best thing to be a
beginner at, because people can't always notice that that's the case.
Another element of this is also don't focus too much
on social media. So I don't think I really focused
on social media until maybe a year and a half
(24:37):
in Again evidence of this, if you have some extra time,
scroll down to the bottom of my Instagram feed. At
that psychology podcast. It was terrible. It was like Canva
graphics that just look awful. And I would just post
like the cover of my podcast with a different title
on it, over and over again. And you know what,
(24:58):
I think, if I'd been too focused on the social
media appearance or the visibility, I wouldn't have put the
time and attention and the care into making the long
form content matter. And I see this all the time
where people are like, I've launched the Instagram, I've set
it up, I've got my phones and my posts and
I'm doing this and it's like, but you're not starting
(25:18):
in Instagram. You're not starting a brand, You're starting a podcast.
Like it's a different thing. Focus on perfecting the long
form content first, and then you can get to the decorations.
Another tip, don't do guest episodes at the beginning unless
it is the theme of your show. So what I
mean by that is finding guests for a podcast is
(25:41):
actually quite difficult, and you want to find people that
you align with and that interesting and that will bring
you something. I really think that at the beginning, as
you set the tone and the theme and the idea
of your podcast, it needs to be you. Your voice
needs to be the one who comes through. So I
would say for the first ten episodes, make them solo,
(26:01):
unless obviously you have like a co host, make it
just you two, and then as you get further along,
you can add in guests when they feel appropriate. And
this is something that I still do to this day.
I have guests really sparingly. Obviously, we have like the
Twelve Days of Guests in December, which is just an
opportunity for me to really just talk to cool people.
Hate to break the hate to break the news, but
(26:23):
it's entirely selfish. I still feel like guests are really important,
and I love learning from them, But my voice is
the one that I wanted to come through, and it's
the one that matters. You know, people, those people who
are guests have their own platforms, and the reason they've
been able to build their own platforms is because they
understand that what people are really tuning into is you,
(26:44):
and is to your voice and your personality and your takes.
So I know it can be kind of anxiety and
ducing to put yourself in the spotlighted on center stage,
but it is really important for those beginning moments. I've
got two more tips here. This one I also think
is important if you can't already tell I obviously think
all of these are important. Don't compare even one hundred listens.
(27:08):
One hundred listeners is more people than your brain could
even imagine. Like I genuinely want you to imagine one
hundred people right now and give them all distinctive names
and distinctive faces and professions and remember them all. And
you can't do it because one hundred people, even fifty people,
is a whole lot of people. If you put all
(27:29):
of these people in a line, you would be amazed by,
like how big that number? Is you know at the beginning,
you know, small numbers are really mighty. If you're not
an influencer, if you're not a celebrity, it's unlikely that
someone is gonna people are going to find you from
your first episode and that you are immediately going to
(27:51):
have listeners and have a big audience. And that's actually
good because it means that you can try things out
and that you're not worried about what other people think,
and that at the core of this experience, remember like
you're doing this for you. What kind of content do
you want to make? And that's really my final tip.
Have fun with it. Don't worry or start thinking about
(28:13):
what other people want to hear. What would you want
to hear? That is my biggest tip. Actually make what
you would want to hear. That's why I think the
Psychology of your Twenties has been so successful is because
I'm making something that I already knew I would tune into,
and so people who are probably like me would also
tune into it. And wasn't trying to appeal to some
(28:36):
anonymous amalgamation of a listener. I'm trying to appeal and
make myself happy. And I think that makes it authentic,
and it means that hopefully you guys can see that
when I choose topics and I talk about things, it's
not like I'm giving you a Wikipedia overview. Like I
really want to know myself and I really want to
explore that with you guys. Okay, I'm going to finish
(28:58):
up with some listener question around how to start podcasting.
I asked you guys over on Instagram at that psychology
podcast to send in your burning questions because I feel
like people don't really talk about the functional parts or
the practical parts of creative work. And yeah, I wanted
to give you as the opportunity to just ask whatever
you wanted. This was our first question. What are the
(29:21):
overhead costs of starting or producing a podcast? So this
really ranges. You can keep them minimal or you can
get really expensive. I typically see it as occurring in
three tiers. So tier one is the beginner's ideal point.
It's recording at home on like a cheap thirty dollars
(29:42):
MIC or on your phone using free audio software, editing
on garage band, and filming with your iPhone if you
already have a phone and a computer, which I'm kind
of assuming you probably do. That means that starting a
podcast for you is basically free. Then want to choose
a particular platform that you want to host your podcast on.
(30:04):
So this isn't like Apple or Spotify or iHeart. Your
podcast does not live on one platform. It lives on
your RSS feeds. So you want to choose a hosting
platform that works best for you. The one I use
is Omni. I also use Spotify for podcasters or order
See or really good options, And it basically means that
this is where you upload audio and then it distributes
(30:27):
out for you. This is where you can see how
many people are listening. This is where you can even edit,
or you can add in ads or whatever it is
that you want to do. Choose one that works for
you for a beginner, I always say Spotify for podcasters.
The second tier where it gets expensive is if you
hire a studio. I see a lot of people do this.
I wouldn't recommend unless you've been doing it for at
(30:48):
least a year, or unless you have you know it's
for work, or you've already got money behind the podcast,
because it is incredibly expensive. When I had a studio
that I was paying for, which I know it was
like three hundred and twenty five dollars per hour, which
is I know that it's costly. It's not expensive because
I know that that money is money they do need,
(31:10):
like the studio. That is the cost of running a studio.
But for someone who was you know, that was maybe
year three, Like I didn't have that money and it
was kind of a waste for me. But that's when
it can get kind of expensive. Tier three is when
you make your own home studio. Now this might even
fall between tier one and tier two. It's kind of
like a create your own situation. If you want to
(31:34):
really elevate your podcast, you want to get a good mic,
you want to get a good camera, you want to
get a good audio software, and you want to get
a good soundboard. And that's what I have now. So
I always recommend a road mike or a sure Mike
shu Are those are incredible. Get like a Yamaha plug
in box that you can plug into your computer. And
(31:54):
the camera I'm currently recording on is Sony, like a
V one sovlogging camera. That was all an investment that
I made, but I think the total for all of
it would have been around two grand. If you see,
like people like Alex Cooper or Jay Shetty who have
their own studios, they that would probably end up costing
around twenty grand. You know, they're building out cameras from
(32:18):
multiple angles, they're building out mics that stand up, they're
buying furniture. But the best thing about podcasting is that
it can really range for you. All Right, I feel
like I spent too much time on that question. But
the next question is how do you generate episode ideas?
There's a great question. It's a combination of things that
I'm experiencing, things that my friends are experiencing, things that
(32:38):
I'm seeing in the news or online that I'm like, hmm,
there's probably some interesting psychology behind that, and also episode suggestions.
So the last episode I did on emotionally immature parents
that came from a listener. Another episode that I'm doing
coming up also came from a listener. It's on chronic apologizing.
(32:59):
So that's kind of how I get my episode ideas.
But I would say the majority of things that I'm
currently experiencing on questions that I have that I selfishly
just want to answer for myself, if that makes sense.
But I find that again what's personal to you is
what is going to be most informative and interesting to others.
(33:20):
Question three, How long do you work on one episode? Four?
So typically between five to ten hours, So the longest episodes,
I find an idea and then I dive into the
research and I'm reading sometimes twenty to thirty forty academic
papers that relate to that, or website entries or watching
(33:43):
ted talks that relate to it. So that research phase
is normally around five hours in itself for really long episodes.
Then I will write the entire script. So people always
ask me, is the podcast scripted? Yes, it is scripted.
For the most part, I would say around eight twenty
percent of it is stuff that has already written down,
and then I add my own takes and as I
(34:04):
go along, or if I have an idea of I've
forgotten to mention something, I'll add it in. But I
find that having a scripted episode works best for me,
just because I don't want to give people false information
and I want to be able to reference certain studies
and certain concepts as best as I can. The recording
phase for me, I've gotten it really quick, so I
don't have a producer. I edit it all myself, because
(34:25):
I'm a bit of a control freak in that way.
But I record directly into garage band, so I can
edit as I go along. If I make a bad take,
if I stumble, I'll just start the recording again from
where I left off and I can continue. And I
find that's easiest. And then publishing doesn't really take that long.
I normally upload, put in whatever ads I need to,
(34:49):
am required to buy my company, and write the little
description and then it's out. The other component of it
is then promoting it on social media. That's something that
I now have to do at the level that I'm
at that probably takes around I would say ten to
fifteen hours per week. If you guys have seen like
my elaborate like Instagram posts that I do of like
(35:12):
the episode descriptions, like I put a lot of time
and energy into them that I probably shouldn't. So that's
definitely a big part of it nowadays. And then there's
just other little things that come with podcasting that aren't
to do with episodes that you have to do. So
you have to talk to lawyers every now and again
for I don't know, copyright disputes. You have to record
(35:35):
ad reads, you have to jump on calls with people
who are handling the website or people who are handling
you know, whatever it is, So that also kind of
fills in some of the gaps. And then now that
I do video and I'm recording on YouTube, that's a
whole other level. So I typically think that in a
single week, I'd probably spend twenty hours actually writing and
(35:58):
recording episodes, and then the remaining I don't know, fifteen
to twenty hours doing other little jobs and little things
like social media or other things like that. Okay, the
next question, how do you handle things you want to
share but you know wouldn't make good content. I share
them anyways. You guys will know. I did an episode
(36:19):
about a year ago on my mental breakdown, on when
I had yeah, really terrible, terrible time for a couple
of months, and it was just awful and I just
it was a really dark, low place. Sorry this has
taken a turn, but yeah, it was really rough. And
when I was going through it, I remember being like,
(36:41):
do I talk about this? Is this something that I share?
And I remember thinking, no, don't share that. No one's
going to want to listen to that. That Nah, don't
do it. It's too personal, it's too private, it's too weird.
People aren't going to trust you anymore if they know
that you're really struggling. And I was like, whose voice
(37:02):
is that? Because that's not my voice. That's that's the
voice of my inner critic. Is not my voice. It's
someone else's. It's people from high school who believe me.
It's teachers who didn't believe in me. It's ex boyfriends
who are cruel to me. What I want to do
is I want to share. And that episode actually ended
up being not one of my most popular episodes, but
(37:22):
definitely one of my most engaged episodes. The amount of
messages I got from people who were like, I can relate,
I feel seen, that is really what mattered to me.
So I'll just share it. Honestly, I don't There's certain
things maybe I won't talk about, but the majority of it, Yeah,
I'll just share it, and if people don't like it,
There'll always be another episode coming out in like the
(37:42):
next three days. The final question I have is what
is the piece of advice you wish someone had told
you the day you started. I wish someone had told
me that to do it well, it's a lot of
hard work, but to just do it, it's not and
that it is so valuable. And also so to just start.
It doesn't need to be perfect. You just need to start,
(38:04):
and you just need to get consistent, and you just
need to do it for the right reason. And remind
yourself why you want to do it. Is it because
you want you want to time capsule of this time?
Is it because you want a project? Is it because
you want to forward your career? Is it just because
you really care about something and you want to find
people who also care about that. Remind yourself of the why.
(38:26):
It takes time, But it is so rewarding and it's
you get exactly what you give. It like you're going
to get back every hour, in terms of community, in
terms of a sense of pride, in terms of this
thing that is going to exist out there for as
long as you live and that you can return to,
and which will make you feel accomplished, even if you know,
(38:49):
even if you never get a listener, it will make
you feel accomplished. So I want to thank you for
listening to the end of this episode. If you made
it this far, drop the name of your favorite episode.
Down below, and if you haven't been listening for that long,
drop the name of an episode that you want me
to create, and I'll let you know if we've already
done it, or I'll put it to the list. I'll
add it to the list of one of two hundred
(39:12):
plus ideas that we have that we want to make
into into shows and into episodes like this. Thank you
for listening. In general, I just feel so emotional thinking
back on when I started and the times when I
wanted to quit. You know, there was a period where
I didn't make an episode for over two months, and
I think that could have been the end, and for
(39:34):
some reason, I don't know why I came back, and
I'm I just I'm wow. I'm like, oh my god.
I'm just like, thank god I did, Like, oh my goodness.
I like, I just can't even think about what my
life would be like if I hadn't, if I hadn't
just been like, no, this is something I want to do,
Like it really changed my life, and I just I
(39:57):
really don't have the words for what my life is now.
It's everything I ever wanted when I was a kid,
and a large well, almost all of it is because
of the people who tuned in and who shared episodes
and who followed along, and so this episode is really
for you, and just it's a love letter to you
(40:18):
guys listeners to say thank you, thank you, thank you
so much for listening and for sharing. And oh my god,
I'm getting original, but yeah, it just means my god,
oh my god, I'm crying. Yeah, just means so much.
And oh my god. And yeah, the fact that like
now I've written a book, and yeah, I just met
(40:41):
so many beautiful people and it just is I don't know,
I just never imagined it would be like this. And
yeah that like twenty one year old who was like
heartbroken is now a twenty five year old who was
sitting here and who has a book and who has
two podcasts, and who has friends she never would have met,
and you know, the partner she never would have met
(41:04):
if this hadn't happened. So thank you for listening. Oh
my god, I can't put again emotional again, but yeah,
thank you for listening. And until next time, stay safe,
be kind, be gentle with yourself. Start that podcast if
you have the desire, and we will talk very very
soon
Hello everybody, Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to
the podcast, new listeners, old listeners, Wherever you are in
the world, it is so great to have you here
back for another episode as we, of course break down
the Psychology of Our Twenties. I want to formally welcome
you to the three hundredth episode of The Psychology of
(00:23):
Your Twenties. And it's not just our three hundredth episode,
it is also the four year anniversary of the podcast,
which completely blows my mind. I don't really have the
words to express how insane that is to me that
I started this four years ago. It feels like it
was yesterday and also a decade ago. At the same time,
(00:47):
it has completely changed, transformed, you know, just yeah, just
blown up my life in the most magical, beautiful way.
And for the three hundredth episode, I knew I wanted
to do something special, and I was racking my brain.
I was thinking about it, and the one thing that
people always ask me about that has nothing to do
(01:08):
with psychology and kind of also nothing to do with
our twenties, is this thing right here is podcasting. How
do you start, how do you do it, how do
you make money from it? Why is it a good idea?
Should I start a podcast? And my answer to that
final question has always and will always be absolutely yes.
(01:29):
But I feel like a lot of people don't really
know where to start. It feels like the market is saturated.
We have this deep fear of being perceived, and in
many ways I completely understand because four years ago, I
was at that very place that I'm sure some of
you are right now wondering is this a good idea?
Is this something that I should do? And what I
(01:53):
really want to talk about today is what I wish
i'd known when I started my best learnings, wisdom advice
that I can bring you from the last four years
and over three hundred hours probably more at this point
of episodes, just to you know, bring you into the
behind the scenes area, kind of break the fourth wall.
(02:14):
You guys know what the psychology of your twenties. We
are not about gatekeeping. And there is something so I'm
going to use a very cliche word, so magical and
transformative about a medium like podcasting that makes me see
it as a very special thing. And if you can
(02:34):
do it, and if you want to do it, I
really think that you should, and I think that you
should have the opportunity and kind of the advice needed
just to start. So that is exactly what we are
going to do today. We are not holding back. I'm
going to talk you through the last four years, what
it's done for my life, the origin story. If some
of you don't know how the Psychology of your twenties started,
(02:57):
my seven best practical tips for starting your own podcast,
and why if you are in your twenties right now,
I absolutely believe that you should. So I want to
say thank you so much to every single person who
has ever listened to an episode, to the people who
have been here since genuinely day one. I know some
(03:20):
of you started listening in twenty twenty one and you
DM me every now and again, and the fact that
you have stuck around for so long is just incredulous
and amazing to me. So thank you, And to my
new listeners, welcome. If you've only been here for a day,
for a week, for a month, you mean so much
to me and to this community, and we are constantly
(03:41):
bringing you people into the world of psychology and into
the world of practical explanations for your twenties. So thank you,
every single one of you. You have absolutely changed my life,
and I do not say that lightly. So without further ado,
I want to hopefully give something back to you guys,
especially those of you who want to a podcast. Let's
(04:01):
get into it. So if you don't know the story,
if you're a new listener, or if you have heard
this story, I'm gonna remind you. I guess of how
exactly the podcast The Psychology of your Twenties, and now
the book Person and Progress came to be because I
realized that I don't think I've ever sat down and
(04:22):
given the story. You kind of had to be around
for a while to kind of understand it. So back
in twenty twenty one, I went through a breakup. I
went through this really terrible breakup. Actually it was my
first really serious relationship. I thought that this person was
the love of my life. How sadly mistaken, but also
(04:44):
how great that it ended. And I'm in a completely new, happy,
healthy relationship now. But I think that's this. There's this
element to our first breakup that is just so wildly
disruptive but also sacred and in kind of my grief
and my lone holiness. After that relationship ended, I had
this idea I was studying psychology at the time at
(05:06):
a and U, the Australian National University, Shout out to
anyone who is currently or has been to that UNI.
And I was actually doing a Bachelor of Politics, Economics
and Philosophy and a Bachelor of Arts. And in my
arts degree, we had all these options to do electives.
I'd chosen my major as psychology, and I just found
that all I wanted to do was psychology. I wanted
(05:28):
to do every single possible course that there was, and
slowly but surely I found myself not really caring so
much about the economics and the politics and all that
element of things. All I wanted to do was learn
about human relationships and the human mind and the human spirit,
I guess, and the biology that shapes us, everything that
(05:49):
shapes us from a psychological perspective. So these kind of
things intersected. At this very important point in my life.
I was going through a breakup and I wanted to
know why hurt so badly, and so I started reading
all these academic papers and reading all these articles, and
you know, revisiting theories that I learned, and I was like, oh, wow,
there's this whole explanation and then I started bringing that
(06:12):
to other things as well, thinking, Oh, why does it
suck so much to be job hunting right now? Why
is my fomo so intense? Why do I get anxiety?
What's this quarter life crisis thing? And as I was
trying to I guess explain it to myself, I also
had friends coming to me and we would, you know,
sit around the dinner table or be studying together, and
(06:33):
they'd bring me their dilemmas as you do as a friend,
and I couldn't help but be like, my copt, did
you know there's this article and did you know there's
this researcher who can explain this for you? And it
was there that the psychology of your twenties was really born.
Like I said, the intersection of all these all these
you know, cruel but also amazing but also very human experiences.
(06:53):
I've talked about this before, but the name the Psychology
of your twenties, it almost felt like it dropped from
the sky into my lap. And if you listen to
our episode with Elizabeth Gilbert, you'll know that she has
this analogy that ideas are actually not ours. Ideas are
their own things. They're their own living breathing organisms, ideas
for books, ideas for movies, ideas for songs, and basically
(07:15):
they want to find the person who is most likely
to make them happen, who was most likely to bring
them into a form and make them alive. And I
feel like that's kind of what happened to me. This
idea that just seemed to happen out of nowhere was
really already an idea that existed. It was just looking
for a host, and I was its host. Pretty quickly
(07:36):
after I had the idea, I started the podcast. I'm
saying like within a week, and the first few episodes,
actually the first like ten episodes were recorded on my
phone in the back of my car, which was like
a super forester on my friend's floor, and there was
really like no structure, no ambition. I just wanted to
(07:57):
do it, and that's how it kind of continued. I
got it to a new relationship. I kept podcasting. He
broke up with me. I kept podcasting, And I need
to be completely real with you guys when I say that,
for the first year and a half, I did not
have any lessons. I continued along that way for quite
some time. I went and worked a corporate job, and
(08:19):
I really thought that my life was going to be
climbing the corporate ladder as a management consultant. And I
was working in the mental health space as a management
management consultant, helping out the government make mental health programs,
and I was like, I'm really fulfilled and I'm happy,
and this is what I'm going to do and this
is who I'm going to be. And then this strange
thing happened in September of twenty twenty two. Suddenly people
(08:44):
like you started finding the podcast. The biggest question I
always get is how did you make that happen? How
did you get people to find you? And the answer
is I have quite literally no idea. I really don't
and it's not even me trying to safeguard's secrets, like
I really don't know. I didn't have social media, I
(09:05):
wasn't really doing guest episodes. I wasn't appearing on other
people's episodes. I didn't have any money in it. I
wasn't another publicist, I wasn't featured anywhere. It was all
word of mouth. It was you guys, the listeners, sharing
this with other people, and overnight it blew up and
(09:25):
I was number ten. Then I was number three on
the podcast charts, and then I was number one, above
a Rogan, above all these other people, And it was
terrifying because suddenly people cared about what I had to say.
And until that point it had just been like ramblings
of a twenty something, and now it felt really serious.
And pretty quickly I realized like, oh, this is my calling,
(09:50):
this is gonna be my job, like this corporate career
that I invested so much in, like this this might
actually not be it. I was so lucky. I found
an agent from the US. She approached me, and I
remember getting her email and being like this is a scam,
Like this is totally a scam. And she was the
one who was really like, you have to make a decision.
(10:10):
Do you want to quit your job and do this,
because it's going to take a lot from you, Like
you really got something here. People are already listening. I
think we can make it happen. And so at the
start of probably the middle of twenty twenty three, April
twenty twenty three, I walked into work and I quit
my job, and podcasting became my career, became my full
(10:32):
time professions. That as well was two years ago. Now
I have another podcast called Mantra. I wrote a book.
I just finished this amazing Dinner with Strangers series of
events across Australia where we met one hundred two hundred
people who came out and chatted to us and met
each other. I speak on panels. I get to meet
(10:53):
you guys, and that is so different to how I
thought my life was going to turn out. And I
always try and use my story to emphasize to people
that your life can change for the better at any
given moment if you give the idea that you think
is almost good enough a chance, and if you give
yourself a chance. Now, I'm not saying that everyone who
starts a podcast is going to be able to quit
(11:14):
their job, but I think that even if I hadn't
been able to quit my job, this whole experience would
still and would remain to this day be invaluable. And
I want to explain why I think that if you
are in your twenties, you should start a podcast. And
it has nothing to do with money, and it has
nothing to do with success or visibility or fame or
whatever else. It has everything to do with the fact
(11:37):
that it is a completely eye opening experience and it
will open slash put up a mirror to the deepest
parts of yourself. Let me explain my four arguments for
why you should be doing this. Number one, Starting a
podcast in your twenties is basically a way of keeping
a personal journal of the things you care about and
(11:57):
what you're going through right now. It is not for
anyone else. When I started, what I really wanted to
do was explain my own experiences and capture this like
decade and all these moments that felt like so important.
I remember being like, this is something I want to remember.
And I had this weird obsession with not forgetting things
(12:18):
and with holding onto memories, and podcasting was my way
of doing that. A podcast acts as like this incredible
time capsule for the point in your life that you
are at now, and I really want to emphasize that
it's not for anyone else. It's for you. And even
if no one ever listens, this thing could live on
the internet for years and years and years. It will
live on the internet for years and years and years.
(12:39):
And how amazing would it be to be thirty five,
forty five, sixty and be able to listen back to
the voice of you at twenty one, what she or
he cared about, what they were going through, what they
thought was fascinating, what they thought they knew about life.
The second reason why I think podcasting is a really
important if you were in your twenties is that it
(13:02):
teaches you to really follow through. So this was another
element of the story that I didn't really talk about,
and it was that I was very, very lost when
I started the Psychology of your Twenties. I actually didn't
have my corporate job yet, I didn't have any job offers.
I was about to graduate. In fact, I think I
had already graduated from one of my degrees, and I
(13:23):
had no clue what I was doing. And I just
felt this overwhelming sense of like the path in front
of me is going to always be me doing things
for other people. And it feels very like laid out,
like I graduated, I get the job, I do this,
I do this, I do this, And I hadn't really
challenged myself, and I hadn't really given myself a goal
(13:45):
to follow through on that wasn't according to a timeline
that was given to me. So to explain it, like,
obviously I had a goal of graduating university, but that
kind of felt expected. I had a goal of getting
a job, but again I needed to make money, and
I was like, when was the last time I actually
did something for myself? Because I wanted to prove that
I could do it and I wanted to follow through,
(14:05):
and podcasting really gave me that opportunity to trust myself
and to say to myself, I'm setting a goal. I'm
doing this not because anyone else is going to give
me praise or it's going to give me an award.
I'm doing it just for me, and I have the
motivation and the capabilities and the trust in myself to
(14:25):
do it even if no one else is watching. So
that's the second reason why I think it's really important
to have a podcast or do some have some kind
of project that is just personal to you. The third
reason why I think it's so invaluable is that it
allows you to climb Cringe Mountain. You've probably heard this,
but so many people these days say something along the
(14:46):
lines of everyone has a podcast now, Everyone does this nowadays,
and it's kind of set in a way to I
don't know, tear down the people who do it and
to discourage people trying and to make it seem like
this is easy and anyone can do it and it's
not valuable. I have a theory the people who always
(15:09):
say that, and I've heard it before, I think they
actually secretly want to do it, but they don't have
the courage, and so they have to convince themselves that
this thing isn't desirable as a way to not look
in the mirror and realize that they actually just don't
have the courage to do it. They don't have the bravery,
They can't put themselves out there. That is not going
(15:31):
to be you. You're not going to be that person
who belittles other people's ideas or who tries to downplay
other people just trying. One of my guiding philosophies in
life has always been that you will never be criticized
by someone who is doing better than you or by
someone who you admire, especially if that person is secure
(15:53):
in themselves, because someone who has done the thing that
you want to do is going to understand how hard
it is. It's going to understand what it takes to
be successful, and is going to understand how brilliant of
an opportunity it is to just try. And so they
will look at you and think, Wow, I'm so excited
for you. Wow. Come and join us, Come take a
seat at the table. The people who are going to
(16:15):
criticize you for putting yourself out there aren't the people
who are already sitting at that table. They're the people
who are standing over in the corner, looking over and
enviously and with jealousy, and thinking I don't actually want
to sit there, but they do. Podcasting allows you to
climb cringe mountain, and it allows you to understand that
some people probably won't like what you have to say.
(16:37):
Some people will think it's embarrassing. Some people will think
that you're entering into an oversaturated market. It really doesn't matter,
because it's something that you want to do, and that
is the most valuable part of this exercise. I actually
have a story for you on this. When I first
started podcasting, I was dating someone and I remember him
telling me that some of his friends thought that my
(16:57):
podcast was in no uncertain terms laying I remember him
telling me about this one friend who said to him, Oh,
like that Gemma's podcast is like kind of weird, and
like that name is too specific. The psychology of your twenties,
like no one's going to listen to that. It doesn't
appeal to a broad enough audience. And god, that's just
(17:20):
so funny to me now because I have no idea,
I have no clue what that guy is doing. But
here I am getting to do my dream job. And
I remember saying to the guy I was dating after
he told me these things that his friend had said,
I kind of indignantly was like, well, I don't really
care if I'm not successful. Don't you see that this
isn't for applause, This isn't for visibility, this isn't isn't
(17:43):
for fame or whatever. It is like, this is because
I like it, And the fact that this other person
can't see that shows that he has a real insecurity
towards people trying because he can't. Finally, the reason I
think you should start a podcast is because it's fun, firstly,
but also it's a really good thing to put on yours.
It shows that you care about things. It shows that
you have a passion. It shows that you have followed through.
(18:06):
It shows that you can handle a project. I always
get resumes from people who want to work for the
Psychology of your twenties, and if they have started a podcast,
I will always look twice, and I always even if
I don't reply to them, because sometimes I can't, but
I will always check out their podcast because I think
it's such a personal reflection of someone's you know, in
(18:27):
a self and who they are and what they care
about and what they represent. And you know, if you're
struggling in the job market at the moment, if you
are finding that you can't get opportunities, it's a great
way to make an opportunity for yourself and to leverage
that into maybe a job, or leverage it into an internship,
leverage it into a connection, and have this thing that
(18:50):
you have made that says I do care, I have skills,
I can be a self starter. So that is my
argument first and foremost for why you should start podcast
in your twenties. I hope you don't need any more convincing.
I hope you're sitting there thinking, yes, I'm going to
do this. What I want to now talk you through
is exactly how and what I wish I had known
(19:11):
before I started, because it was a lot of trial
and error, and now that I'm at this point where
I think the error is a little bit less, I
can share those learnings with you, and I can give
you kind of the blueprint and the roadmap to maybe
getting to where I am. Hopefully getting to where I
am where you get to live out what is an
amazing career. So stay with us. We'll be back after
(19:32):
this short break. So my best tips for starting a podcast.
I took this very seriously. I was up last night
after me and my boyfriend had dinner, and I was
like making all of these notes on my little iPad
around exactly what I wish i'd known. The first tip,
(19:53):
and the first thing you kind of have to the
hurdle you have to jump across is what do I
even want to talk about? How do you find your topic?
The best question to ask yourself is what do you
already talk about all the time anyways? What is the
thing that fascinates you to no end? What do you
chat with with your friends? What do you like to
(20:14):
read about, what do you like to watch? What do
you really care about? That's your topic? I would really say,
don't try and copy what someone else has already done,
because you won't care about it as much as your
own idea that comes from your passions and comes from
your interests. And people can really really tell if you're
(20:36):
just doing something because you've seen that it's worked for
someone else and you don't actually care about the content matter.
I remember someone actually started a podcast. This is awkward.
I don't know if I should say this, but I'm
going to. I have no ill will towards them. But
it was called The Philosophy of Your Twenties and they
started a while back, and it basically was a point
copy of what I'm doing. She copied my artwork, she
(20:58):
copied my episode titles, my bio, my Instagram, lay out
my colors, and it really bumped me out. I was like, Oh,
I put a lot of time and energy into this thing.
This is like my entire identity. At that point, I
was so like consumed with podcasting. I really didn't do
anything else, and so it really hurt me kind of.
And then I was like, I know how much effort
(21:20):
this takes. I know how much work is actually contained
in making something you're proud of. And the only thing
that's going to drive you to do that in that
initial like starting phase is if you genuinely care about
what you're talking about. So what do you already talk
about a lot? Right? Now what do you already feel
fascinated by. You're allowed to mix and match some things,
(21:42):
like you can talk about politics, and you can talk
about pop culture, and you can talk about books, but
you can also talk about music, and you can talk
about dating, but also about science. Like there's as many
combinations as you want. Just find what you care about. Secondly,
my biggest tip here is don't worry about having all
the gear. Just start with what you have. Sometimes having
like the five thousand dollars microphone or even the two
(22:04):
hundred dollars microphone can be discouraging because you feel like
you need to make your production more professional at the beginning,
and that adds a lot of pressure, which can really
just be gasoline on the procrastination fire. Start with what
you have. You can record with your phone. I recorded
(22:26):
with my phone. In fact, you can go back and
listen to episodes where you can hear that that is
an iPhone whatever. It was an iPhone eleven, Like, it
wasn't great, But I just started with what I had,
and then as I got further along and I knew
I had my follow through, I upgraded my equipment. What
we're really focusing on here is consistency. That is the
(22:49):
most important ingredient for you to have in the first
three months. So if you're intent on starting a podcast,
I want you to choose just one day a week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
and force yourself to post an episode. Force yourself to
post anything, even if it is literally a five minute
(23:09):
rant about someone who cut you off at the grocery store,
even if it is just your take on something small
or random, even if it's like it just it can
be anything. I just need you to start posting one
day a week consistently. We know the science. It takes
three months to form a new habit, three months for
(23:31):
your brain to say, oh, this is something that we do.
We are someone who makes a podcast, and three months
for you to really adapt to the energy and the
effort needed and to feel like this is part of
your routine. After that three months is up is when
you can start focusing on other things. That's when you
can start focusing on polishing your form, on improving small
(23:52):
things about the content, about audio equality. But in the beginning,
you know, don't worry about video, don't really worry about
having the most perfect spectacular audio quality, don't worry about
arms and ours. I used to edit on garage band.
I still do. It's like the free software on my computer.
I still use like the I still sometimes use my
(24:15):
phone for audio pickups and for ads and for filming.
Like podcasting is like the best thing to be a
beginner at, because people can't always notice that that's the case.
Another element of this is also don't focus too much
on social media. So I don't think I really focused
on social media until maybe a year and a half
(24:37):
in Again evidence of this, if you have some extra time,
scroll down to the bottom of my Instagram feed. At
that psychology podcast. It was terrible. It was like Canva
graphics that just look awful. And I would just post
like the cover of my podcast with a different title
on it, over and over again. And you know what,
(24:58):
I think, if I'd been too focused on the social
media appearance or the visibility, I wouldn't have put the
time and attention and the care into making the long
form content matter. And I see this all the time
where people are like, I've launched the Instagram, I've set
it up, I've got my phones and my posts and
I'm doing this and it's like, but you're not starting
(25:18):
in Instagram. You're not starting a brand, You're starting a podcast.
Like it's a different thing. Focus on perfecting the long
form content first, and then you can get to the decorations.
Another tip, don't do guest episodes at the beginning unless
it is the theme of your show. So what I
mean by that is finding guests for a podcast is
(25:41):
actually quite difficult, and you want to find people that
you align with and that interesting and that will bring
you something. I really think that at the beginning, as
you set the tone and the theme and the idea
of your podcast, it needs to be you. Your voice
needs to be the one who comes through. So I
would say for the first ten episodes, make them solo,
(26:01):
unless obviously you have like a co host, make it
just you two, and then as you get further along,
you can add in guests when they feel appropriate. And
this is something that I still do to this day.
I have guests really sparingly. Obviously, we have like the
Twelve Days of Guests in December, which is just an
opportunity for me to really just talk to cool people.
Hate to break the hate to break the news, but
(26:23):
it's entirely selfish. I still feel like guests are really important,
and I love learning from them, But my voice is
the one that I wanted to come through, and it's
the one that matters. You know, people, those people who
are guests have their own platforms, and the reason they've
been able to build their own platforms is because they
understand that what people are really tuning into is you,
(26:44):
and is to your voice and your personality and your takes.
So I know it can be kind of anxiety and
ducing to put yourself in the spotlighted on center stage,
but it is really important for those beginning moments. I've
got two more tips here. This one I also think
is important if you can't already tell I obviously think
all of these are important. Don't compare even one hundred listens.
(27:08):
One hundred listeners is more people than your brain could
even imagine. Like I genuinely want you to imagine one
hundred people right now and give them all distinctive names
and distinctive faces and professions and remember them all. And
you can't do it because one hundred people, even fifty people,
is a whole lot of people. If you put all
(27:29):
of these people in a line, you would be amazed by,
like how big that number? Is you know at the beginning,
you know, small numbers are really mighty. If you're not
an influencer, if you're not a celebrity, it's unlikely that
someone is gonna people are going to find you from
your first episode and that you are immediately going to
(27:51):
have listeners and have a big audience. And that's actually
good because it means that you can try things out
and that you're not worried about what other people think,
and that at the core of this experience, remember like
you're doing this for you. What kind of content do
you want to make? And that's really my final tip.
Have fun with it. Don't worry or start thinking about
(28:13):
what other people want to hear. What would you want
to hear? That is my biggest tip. Actually make what
you would want to hear. That's why I think the
Psychology of your Twenties has been so successful is because
I'm making something that I already knew I would tune into,
and so people who are probably like me would also
tune into it. And wasn't trying to appeal to some
(28:36):
anonymous amalgamation of a listener. I'm trying to appeal and
make myself happy. And I think that makes it authentic,
and it means that hopefully you guys can see that
when I choose topics and I talk about things, it's
not like I'm giving you a Wikipedia overview. Like I
really want to know myself and I really want to
explore that with you guys. Okay, I'm going to finish
(28:58):
up with some listener question around how to start podcasting.
I asked you guys over on Instagram at that psychology
podcast to send in your burning questions because I feel
like people don't really talk about the functional parts or
the practical parts of creative work. And yeah, I wanted
to give you as the opportunity to just ask whatever
you wanted. This was our first question. What are the
(29:21):
overhead costs of starting or producing a podcast? So this
really ranges. You can keep them minimal or you can
get really expensive. I typically see it as occurring in
three tiers. So tier one is the beginner's ideal point.
It's recording at home on like a cheap thirty dollars
(29:42):
MIC or on your phone using free audio software, editing
on garage band, and filming with your iPhone if you
already have a phone and a computer, which I'm kind
of assuming you probably do. That means that starting a
podcast for you is basically free. Then want to choose
a particular platform that you want to host your podcast on.
(30:04):
So this isn't like Apple or Spotify or iHeart. Your
podcast does not live on one platform. It lives on
your RSS feeds. So you want to choose a hosting
platform that works best for you. The one I use
is Omni. I also use Spotify for podcasters or order
See or really good options, And it basically means that
this is where you upload audio and then it distributes
(30:27):
out for you. This is where you can see how
many people are listening. This is where you can even edit,
or you can add in ads or whatever it is
that you want to do. Choose one that works for
you for a beginner, I always say Spotify for podcasters.
The second tier where it gets expensive is if you
hire a studio. I see a lot of people do this.
I wouldn't recommend unless you've been doing it for at
(30:48):
least a year, or unless you have you know it's
for work, or you've already got money behind the podcast,
because it is incredibly expensive. When I had a studio
that I was paying for, which I know it was
like three hundred and twenty five dollars per hour, which
is I know that it's costly. It's not expensive because
I know that that money is money they do need,
(31:10):
like the studio. That is the cost of running a studio.
But for someone who was you know, that was maybe
year three, Like I didn't have that money and it
was kind of a waste for me. But that's when
it can get kind of expensive. Tier three is when
you make your own home studio. Now this might even
fall between tier one and tier two. It's kind of
like a create your own situation. If you want to
(31:34):
really elevate your podcast, you want to get a good mic,
you want to get a good camera, you want to
get a good audio software, and you want to get
a good soundboard. And that's what I have now. So
I always recommend a road mike or a sure Mike
shu Are those are incredible. Get like a Yamaha plug
in box that you can plug into your computer. And
(31:54):
the camera I'm currently recording on is Sony, like a
V one sovlogging camera. That was all an investment that
I made, but I think the total for all of
it would have been around two grand. If you see,
like people like Alex Cooper or Jay Shetty who have
their own studios, they that would probably end up costing
around twenty grand. You know, they're building out cameras from
(32:18):
multiple angles, they're building out mics that stand up, they're
buying furniture. But the best thing about podcasting is that
it can really range for you. All Right, I feel
like I spent too much time on that question. But
the next question is how do you generate episode ideas?
There's a great question. It's a combination of things that
I'm experiencing, things that my friends are experiencing, things that
(32:38):
I'm seeing in the news or online that I'm like, hmm,
there's probably some interesting psychology behind that, and also episode suggestions.
So the last episode I did on emotionally immature parents
that came from a listener. Another episode that I'm doing
coming up also came from a listener. It's on chronic apologizing.
(32:59):
So that's kind of how I get my episode ideas.
But I would say the majority of things that I'm
currently experiencing on questions that I have that I selfishly
just want to answer for myself, if that makes sense.
But I find that again what's personal to you is
what is going to be most informative and interesting to others.
(33:20):
Question three, How long do you work on one episode? Four?
So typically between five to ten hours, So the longest episodes,
I find an idea and then I dive into the
research and I'm reading sometimes twenty to thirty forty academic
papers that relate to that, or website entries or watching
(33:43):
ted talks that relate to it. So that research phase
is normally around five hours in itself for really long episodes.
Then I will write the entire script. So people always
ask me, is the podcast scripted? Yes, it is scripted.
For the most part, I would say around eight twenty
percent of it is stuff that has already written down,
and then I add my own takes and as I
(34:04):
go along, or if I have an idea of I've
forgotten to mention something, I'll add it in. But I
find that having a scripted episode works best for me,
just because I don't want to give people false information
and I want to be able to reference certain studies
and certain concepts as best as I can. The recording
phase for me, I've gotten it really quick, so I
don't have a producer. I edit it all myself, because
(34:25):
I'm a bit of a control freak in that way.
But I record directly into garage band, so I can
edit as I go along. If I make a bad take,
if I stumble, I'll just start the recording again from
where I left off and I can continue. And I
find that's easiest. And then publishing doesn't really take that long.
I normally upload, put in whatever ads I need to,
(34:49):
am required to buy my company, and write the little
description and then it's out. The other component of it
is then promoting it on social media. That's something that
I now have to do at the level that I'm
at that probably takes around I would say ten to
fifteen hours per week. If you guys have seen like
my elaborate like Instagram posts that I do of like
(35:12):
the episode descriptions, like I put a lot of time
and energy into them that I probably shouldn't. So that's
definitely a big part of it nowadays. And then there's
just other little things that come with podcasting that aren't
to do with episodes that you have to do. So
you have to talk to lawyers every now and again
for I don't know, copyright disputes. You have to record
(35:35):
ad reads, you have to jump on calls with people
who are handling the website or people who are handling
you know, whatever it is, So that also kind of
fills in some of the gaps. And then now that
I do video and I'm recording on YouTube, that's a
whole other level. So I typically think that in a
single week, I'd probably spend twenty hours actually writing and
(35:58):
recording episodes, and then the remaining I don't know, fifteen
to twenty hours doing other little jobs and little things
like social media or other things like that. Okay, the
next question, how do you handle things you want to
share but you know wouldn't make good content. I share
them anyways. You guys will know. I did an episode
(36:19):
about a year ago on my mental breakdown, on when
I had yeah, really terrible, terrible time for a couple
of months, and it was just awful and I just
it was a really dark, low place. Sorry this has
taken a turn, but yeah, it was really rough. And
when I was going through it, I remember being like,
(36:41):
do I talk about this? Is this something that I share?
And I remember thinking, no, don't share that. No one's
going to want to listen to that. That Nah, don't
do it. It's too personal, it's too private, it's too weird.
People aren't going to trust you anymore if they know
that you're really struggling. And I was like, whose voice
(37:02):
is that? Because that's not my voice. That's that's the
voice of my inner critic. Is not my voice. It's
someone else's. It's people from high school who believe me.
It's teachers who didn't believe in me. It's ex boyfriends
who are cruel to me. What I want to do
is I want to share. And that episode actually ended
up being not one of my most popular episodes, but
(37:22):
definitely one of my most engaged episodes. The amount of
messages I got from people who were like, I can relate,
I feel seen, that is really what mattered to me.
So I'll just share it. Honestly, I don't There's certain
things maybe I won't talk about, but the majority of it, Yeah,
I'll just share it, and if people don't like it,
There'll always be another episode coming out in like the
(37:42):
next three days. The final question I have is what
is the piece of advice you wish someone had told
you the day you started. I wish someone had told
me that to do it well, it's a lot of
hard work, but to just do it, it's not and
that it is so valuable. And also so to just start.
It doesn't need to be perfect. You just need to start,
(38:04):
and you just need to get consistent, and you just
need to do it for the right reason. And remind
yourself why you want to do it. Is it because
you want you want to time capsule of this time?
Is it because you want a project? Is it because
you want to forward your career? Is it just because
you really care about something and you want to find
people who also care about that. Remind yourself of the why.
(38:26):
It takes time, But it is so rewarding and it's
you get exactly what you give. It like you're going
to get back every hour, in terms of community, in
terms of a sense of pride, in terms of this
thing that is going to exist out there for as
long as you live and that you can return to,
and which will make you feel accomplished, even if you know,
(38:49):
even if you never get a listener, it will make
you feel accomplished. So I want to thank you for
listening to the end of this episode. If you made
it this far, drop the name of your favorite episode.
Down below, and if you haven't been listening for that long,
drop the name of an episode that you want me
to create, and I'll let you know if we've already
done it, or I'll put it to the list. I'll
add it to the list of one of two hundred
(39:12):
plus ideas that we have that we want to make
into into shows and into episodes like this. Thank you
for listening. In general, I just feel so emotional thinking
back on when I started and the times when I
wanted to quit. You know, there was a period where
I didn't make an episode for over two months, and
I think that could have been the end, and for
(39:34):
some reason, I don't know why I came back, and
I'm I just I'm wow. I'm like, oh my god.
I'm just like, thank god I did, Like, oh my goodness.
I like, I just can't even think about what my
life would be like if I hadn't, if I hadn't
just been like, no, this is something I want to do,
Like it really changed my life, and I just I
(39:57):
really don't have the words for what my life is now.
It's everything I ever wanted when I was a kid,
and a large well, almost all of it is because
of the people who tuned in and who shared episodes
and who followed along, and so this episode is really
for you, and just it's a love letter to you
(40:18):
guys listeners to say thank you, thank you, thank you
so much for listening and for sharing. And oh my god,
I'm getting original, but yeah, it just means my god,
oh my god, I'm crying. Yeah, just means so much.
And oh my god. And yeah, the fact that like
now I've written a book, and yeah, I just met
(40:41):
so many beautiful people and it just is I don't know,
I just never imagined it would be like this. And
yeah that like twenty one year old who was like
heartbroken is now a twenty five year old who was
sitting here and who has a book and who has
two podcasts, and who has friends she never would have met,
and you know, the partner she never would have met
(41:04):
if this hadn't happened. So thank you for listening. Oh
my god, I can't put again emotional again, but yeah,
thank you for listening. And until next time, stay safe,
be kind, be gentle with yourself. Start that podcast if
you have the desire, and we will talk very very
soon
Host
Jemma Sbeghen
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.