The questions you need to ask before starting a podcast in 2026

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Got dreams of being a professional podcaster, but have no idea what you're doing. This is impossible. That's about to change.

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A new kind of school.

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Welcome to the PodSchool podcast.

Rachel Corbett: 00:00:10

Hello there. Final episode of the year. How have we made it here? My goodness, I hope you're gearing up for a great end of year break this episode.

I thought I would talk a little bit about some things to think about before you start a podcast next year. Some questions to ask yourself, some things to focus on so that you know that you are channeling your energy in the right direction. It's interesting.

I've been thinking a lot this year. I think I mentioned it in the last episode about my business, about this podcast, about what I want to focus on next year.

It's funny how parenting does that to you. You know, a lot of things shift in your mind and you start to think about things.

But I've really been thinking about how my course will look next year. What, what community offerings I want to provide, how I can help people.

Because it's so interesting how this industry has changed and how my experience and perspective has changed over the years. You know, when I started my business and when I started this podcast years ago now, maybe almost 10 years ago now, I was a professional media person.

I'd worked in radio for over a decade. Podcasting was relatively new, it was growing, but there were a lot of people that didn't know how to make a high quality show.

I had all these skills and experience creating daily radio. I had worked in that environment for years. I understood how to record, edit, come up with content ideas.

And I thought, well, holy heck, I've got all of this stuff that people need to know when they're at home that could actually fast track their learning, but also make sure that they were actually creating something really valuable at the end of it. And so that's why I started up the course. And that was kind of the beginning. And now I've spent nearly a decade running networks.

I think I started my business and a year later I started running a network for Mamma Mia. And so now I've worked on really big commercial shows, large scale monetization deals, integrated campaigns, the big business of podcasting.

And despite all of that, my heart is still very much with the people who are right at the beginning of the journey. So if that is you, you are really who I made this show for, who I made my course for, what I started doing this for.

And I really want to work more with people who want to make a really high quality podcast, not because they're chasing fame or a network deal. If that comes, fantastic.

But because they care about doing a show really well and creating a really great product for their audience, because that's what an audience is going to to rally around.

I also think I've been thinking a lot this year about success, and that has been a big thing in my teaching over the years, is finding a success metric that works for you and your life and your show.

I speak to and see a lot of creators who have small audiences on their podcasts, but those shows are wildly successful for those people because of the metrics of success that they have. Some of them are definitely monetizing. For sure. They're not making $300 million, but they are monetizing.

Some of them are getting the creators speaking gigs or have got them, you know, marketing and PR that they could never get. There are a bunch of different ways that the content you are creating on your podcast could be very, very, very valuable to you.

And you do not need a hundred thousand downloads to realize that value. So I think having success metrics that are reasonable and will keep you going are so key.

And that is something that I am going to be thinking about a lot in my content next year and my business and the coaching. I really want to set people up for success.

And I think understanding how success could look for them when it's different to other people, compare and despair. You know what they say, it's just not worth it to look at other shows. And I think that's a really important thing to have in mind.

Because success in podcasting, it's just not one size fits all. And in most cases, you will actually need far fewer downloads than you think to get real results, whatever those results are for you.

So I think I would encourage you to really think if you are thinking about creating a podcast next year, what would light you up? And when you're doing this exercise, try and put your ego in another room for a second. Because $300 million would light us all up.

It's mostly because you probably want your ego wants $300 million. And sure, your bank account does too. But what about things like building a community, no matter how big that community is?

What about connecting with people that you would never get a chance to reach or to meet in real life? What about owning some really valuable intellectual property?

What about creating something that you can be proud of, that can exist as an asset that you can have and point people to fore? There are so many things that having a podcast can bring for you that can make you feel really, really successful.

And so I think taking some time to do that exercise and sit down and kind of reframe how you're thinking about your show and what is going to be success for you can be really helpful.

The other thing I think to think about and to really not ignore is that while there's so much noise out there in the industry and so many people saying that they've got the perf perfect answer to being immediately successful and everybody's talking about algorithms and discovery and reach and video being this thing that's going to save all our lives, everything comes back to a well crafted, thoughtful, high quality show. You cannot do any of the other stuff and ignore that and expect to be successful.

And so I think putting time and effort into really thinking about creating a high quality product, not a perfect one, doesn't have to be perfect, nothing is ever perfect, but a considered one. Something that has real intention behind it, something that you have built with your audience in mind. And I can definitely help you with that.

If you want to head to the description of the episode, there's plenty of ways you can work with me. But also I have plenty of free resources on this podcast on my website to help you do that work.

And I think in: 2026

Honestly, if you were starting your show 10 years ago, 12 years ago, I'd say put a mic up, go for, go for your life. A lot of people that are successful now started back then and the episodes sounded terrible. But we don't got time for that no more.

We need to fast track things because it is a different industry now. There are a lot of shows out there. You cannot take 15 years of crap audio to build up.

Cause there aren't people that are just interested in podcasting just to see what it is who'll listen to through to crappy audio. Now you've got big, big, big, big, big networks and brands making big, high quality shows and there's a mountain of stuff out there.

So you really want to put your time and effort onto thinking about how can you create a high quality show. Cause everything stems from there. The other thing to think about is that it is not too late. It is not too late.

I have people ask me this all the time. Have I missed the boat? Are we at peak podcast have we got too many podcasts?

I say all the time there are millions of podcasts out there, but there are only hundreds of thousands that are actively releasing episodes because the vast majority of people quit. There are way less podcasts than there are YouTube channels, blogs.

This is actually a really uncluttered space and a space where you can still make an impact and you can still build an audience and build a show. So yes, you can start now.

It is a great time to start a podcast right now because there is a lot of interest in the industry and once you start, as long as you have considered what you're doing and you're thinking about it, you will start to build audience from there. You can never build audience if you haven't got something out, but you also don't want to just kind of run out and go, I'll just give it a crack.

And then you don't build audience because you haven't really thought about your idea and you're like, I failed. No, you didn't. You just didn't think about your idea. There is always room for thoughtful, well made content. I have in my newsletter.

If you are subscribed to my newsletter, head to the link in the episode. If you are not subscribed, I send out every single week a podcast recommendation. I have done that for eight, nine years. That's 52 podcasts a year.

I am still looking for new shows. So there are always people that are looking for new podcasts to listen to and that could be your show.

So don't let the fact that there are a lot of shows out there make you feel like you can't make one. You can, you can do it. You just need to be considered and intentional in terms of what you're doing. Really think about your idea. Who is it for?

Who is your audience? What is your point of view? What are they getting from this? What is unique about what you're delivering to somebody else?

How are you going to bring them along on the journey? Tell the story? How are you going to deliver and present your show in a way that is engaging? How are you going to set up your environment?

Environment and make sure that you are recording high quality audio?

You don't have to pay for a studio, but how are you going to make sure that your show sounds really good and that you're publishing consistently so you can have a sustainable show and it can be going in the long term? And then how are you measuring your own success so that you can keep on showing up for your audience?

You don't need to have everything figured out perfectly from day one. You need to really care about creating something meaningful that's valuable and well crafted and the rest will come.

If you want some help doing these things, please head to the description of the episode. Click on the Work with Me section. You can see a couple of options there.

ering that I'm bringing in in: 2026

I just really want to help you create a great show and this podcast will be coming back next year.

I'm work on what that will become, how things will shift, and I obviously have a mountain of free resources on my website as well as my new newsletter. There are plenty of ways to really get help with your podcast because I would just encourage you to do the work.

I think that is the really important thing to do when you are wanting to create a high quality show. You can't create a successful show without really putting some thought into what you're doing. Winging it ain't gonna cut it I'm afraid.

ait to see what you create in: 2026

You know, if if any of the tips and tools have helped you, I always love to know that. So please send me an email. You find that in the description of the episode too.

And if you want some help with your podcast, make sure you check out some of the ways that you can work with me and I will definitely have more options available as the year goes out. I am doing a lot of work on that over the Christmas break and I'm excited to offer more of that in the new year. So have a wonderful holiday season.

Have a wonderful New Year's.

That is a wrap for pod school: 2025

And I will see you next year.

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That's all for today.