Kate Erickson Discusses Systems and Processes in Podcasting

Whether you've been podcasting for a few months or are just getting ready to broadcast your first episode, systems and processes can be a great way to make your podcasting more enjoyable. In this episode, we have invited the Queen of systems and processes, Kate Erickson. She will talk with us and share her knowledge about setting up systems and processes to get back your time, and have more fun in podcasting!Getting to Know Kate Erickson[00:59]Kate Erickson is a podcasting enthusiast. She's one-half of the Entrepreneurs on Fire duo. In 2012, she and her partner, John Lee Dumas, started a podcast called Entrepreneurs on Fire. The podcast had taken off in early 2013, roughly six months after its introduction. With a growing audience, people began approaching John asking if he provided coaching, as well as how they he the podcast and made it successful.[1:41]John asked Kate if she wanted to quit her job and come on board as the operations or heartbeat behind the whole setup. For the past nine years, they've been producing Entrepreneurs on Fire. They have since launched seven or eight different kinds of podcasts.Breaking Down the Systems and Processes[03:23]They emphasize the need of having a content system in place so that, regardless of the type of podcast you're producing, you have a production strategy and system in place. With a podcast, consistency is so critical that if you debut and then spend all of your time trying to stay up with your production schedule, it's not as much fun, and you'll quickly grow irritated because things aren't going as planned.[04:26]Their content production system is one of the most important systems they have. It's mostly dependent on content batching.Tools to Create Systems and Processes[6:36]Systems are incredibly simple at the ground level. Most of their systems are built on a Google spreadsheet or a task management system like Asana.[9:42]Creating templates and having a checklist to look at every time you perform that thing and enhance it is an important step in the process.Implementing Systems and Processes From the Very Beginning[11:36]Systems are going to help you get back time.What Kate wishes she had known when she was planning her very first podcast[14:01]Not everything has to be perfect. Not everything is going to be perfect.Podcasters not using systems drive Kate bananas[16:03]No one who uses systems and processes ever regrets itThings that Kate is doing that doesn't have a system in place for yet that she still wish she did[17:30]Being a guest on other podcasts or doing series, Kate goes in waves of being adamant about having people use her scheduler so that she's batching those and then having an opportunity come along that she wants to do, but it's totally off from her schedule. Kate is working hard on making exceptions few and far between. But sometimes, it's tough because she loves doing this stuff.Kate shares the free program they have[19:03]They have a free podcast course. https://www.eofire.com/fpc is a completely free eight video series on how to create and launch a podcast. In addition to that, they have an online course and community called Podcaster’s Paradise, where they'll help you create, grow and monetize your podcast.