Solo podcasts are the future. If you can get yourself past the awkwardness of talking to yourself vs a guest, it can be a brilliant way to capture information. It’s basically a way for some to HEAR or WATCH you. 75% of people say they listen to podcast to learn something new. So why not develop a relationship with your listeners through solo podcasts? It will take longer and be much harder in some ways that guest episodes. But the payoff is worth it.
Podcast Transcript
What’s up everybody. My name is Misbah Haque and today I want to talk to you about, some of the differences between having guests on your podcast and doing a guest episode versus doing solo episodes. Personally, I feel that when you start a show-off, having a combination of the two will make it a little more dynamic, because if you start with having guests on your shows. not to say that you’ll fall into this, I did, for a little bit where. you’re trying to get bigger and bigger guests, and it becomes more about like, I don’t know who, who has bigger region falling than like, am I really interested in this person? I had a conversation with a professional athlete at once who I was just like, dude, this person’s not interesting at all.
And we don’t, we’re not connecting in any way, but you know, that was a lesson learned.
When you are talking to somebody.
It’s like going after people that you are interested in if you are choosing the route of having guests on. Obviously, when you are talking to somebody, it can bring out a different side of you, right. It can bring out a more playful side of you. If you’re talking with a friend that you’ve known since the third grade. If you’re talking to somebody that you really respect in your field, you might, maybe you’re a little nervous, right? Maybe you’re a little inquisitive. Maybe you’re trying to, you know, there’s a different curiosity that you’re going to bring to the table depending on who you are talking to. So the advantage of having guests on does not only do you get to improve your conversation skills by talking to a diverse variety of people. But you also get to capture all the dimensions of yourself.
And it really paints a colourful personality compared to when you’re just focused on like, I’m doing a fitness podcast, I’m going to go and get the biggest guests that I possibly can. I only have professional athletes on and you know, that’s what I do on this show that could very well be your premise. But enjoy it genuinely and make sure those conversations with people that you’re going to be having are fun. Now, if you launch a podcast and you start with having solo episodes, to me, the advantage there is that the audience will come for you. They will build a relationship with you when you have guests on. And I experienced this with my very first show, Miz Unfiltered at the time it was called the airborne mind show.
The expectation when you do Guest Episodes
I did only guest episodes until I don’t even know, like episode 75. I tried my first solo one and I was super scared to do it too.
But the expectation at that point, like people, were coming for other guests, really big names, right? And then hopefully they would stick with me and enjoy the rest of my catalogue. But if you have episodes from the start, not only are you training your ability to converse in a very unique format. That is the skill set of being able to talk to yourself or talk to people while nobody’s around. To me, it brings out a certain type of reflection, like things I’m thinking of and saying. I’m going to discover other connections while I’m doing this. Then if I even had somebody like my girlfriend was in the room and she was listening to this, do you know what I mean? So the real advantage of solo episodes is capturing your personality.
People connecting with that and them coming for you. It may not get as many downloads as guest episodes would.
The Ideal Duration of Guest Episodes
It may not become as popular as maybe a guest format show would. But the people that will follow you and that will listen, are going to be very, they’re going to be your truest fans. If they can sit through 15 to 30 minutes of you just talking, they’re interested in what you have to say. So I highly suggest when you’re launching a podcast in your first 10 episodes, have a mixture, have a solo one to begin. Then you have a guest episode, then you have another solo, maybe two guests. It is also very valuable in terms of production and the flow of you getting an episode from you. Sitting down to recording it, to actually getting it into the ears of your people with the guests, you have to rely on scheduling them.
There’s a little bit more planning and effort that goes into that.
That’s not a bad thing. It’s just something that you have to be prepared for. Uh, in the long haul. Here’s the bottom line. It’s going to take you a little bit of time to build a following a little community, a listenership around your show anyways. And if that’s true, then why not start with a format that is basically creating a bit of an audience in both styles, right? So you’re going to have some people who just consume your guest episodes. And you’ll have some people who maybe just consume your solo ones and that could be your mother, but it could also be your cousin. And it could also be your cousin’s friend. You never know. All right. The world is a very small place and very cool things happen when you start podcasting.
