How to Start a Podcast in One Hour

I decided to start a podcast… on a whim!

I’ve really started to love podcasts while in lockdown. They sort of emulate what I used to like about working from a coffee shop – a bit of background chatter that you can tune in and out of as you see fit. Except better, because you can choose the topic of conversation.

I also love how you can adjust the speed on a podcast. If I want to learn something quickly I just pop on a podcast at 1.5x speed and away we go!

A big part of my personality is conveyed through the way I talk, and I got to thinking – do people online who never hear me speak really know me if they haven’t been exposed to one of my long rambling chats at hyper-speed?

So I was playing with the idea of starting a podcast for a while, but I kept putting it off. I kept thinking I needed to write a script of what I wanted to say. Then, one evening last week, I thought… screw it. I was determined to get my podcast up and running in a couple of hours.

And it actually only took me about one hour in the end!

Step 1: Start a podcast with Anchor

I actually had no clue how to start a podcast from a technical stance until after I’d decided to get mine started ASAP. I did a quick search and came across Anchor. It said it was free and is owned by Spotify. I mostly use Spotify to listen to music and podcasts so I was sold in that regard. I quickly created an account.

Step 2: Create an intro and outro for your podcast

This was honestly the “hardest” part, and even it only took me about a half-hour. I went on Uppbeat and found a tune that I liked (it’s very jazzy). Then, I used Garage Band to record an intro and outro with the music.

I was able to upload both of these to Anchor and save them to my Library so that I can always use them going forward.

I also made a little graphic for my podcast cover. The minimum size for podcast cover art is 1400x1400px, and the max is 3000x3000px.

Step 3: Record your first podcast episode

This is the part most people, including myself, are probably most scared of. But in the end, I just did it! I promised myself that I would just do one take and put it out into the world, and that’s what I did. It ended up at about 8 minutes of me explaining why I wanted to start a podcast and what my plans were going forward. And that was it!

All I had to do after that was drag my intro and outro from the Library and arrange them in the right order.

Step 4: Post your new podcast!

From there I typed out a quick title and description and BAM, I was a podcast host.

Anchor takes care of the distribution. It pushes the podcast out to the various apps. It can take a few days to make it to each platform, but of course it was pretty much instantly available on Spotify since they own Anchor. And you can direct new listeners to your Anchor page where they can listen and subscribe!

Introducing… the Pretty Content podcast

So, here is the final result: the Pretty Content podcast!

I’ve already told you what the first episode is about, so I won’t say more – just give it a listen! But I generally want it to be an extension of this blog, with some more personal stories thrown in! I’ve also recorded episode 2 which will be live on the 6th of April. It features the story of The Most Expensive Mistake I Ever Made. So it should be a good one!

I’m super proud of myself for taking some messy action and launching the podcast with very little preparation and planning. Now I know that I can just put an episode out whenever I have a spare 10 minutes to chat into a microphone for a bit! There’s really no reason to NOT give it a try, if you’ve ever even been a little bit intrigued about how podcasts are made, or if you enjoy the medium!