Podcasting Is Easy… Until You Try It | Learnings From One Year of Rigour & Flow

Everyone has a podcast. But very few people sustain one.In this final episode of Season 4, we mark one year of Rigour & Flow - a milestone that feels both significant and, at times, improbable. Because behind the weekly releases, the conversations and the growth, there have also been moments of doubt, exhaustion, and the very real question of whether we could keep going.We reflect on what it actually takes to build and sustain an independent podcast. Not just creatively, but emotionally, relationally and practically. This takes us back to the beginning: the original names we nearly chose, the friend who thankfully stopped us being ‘Ditsy Wise’, the poll that pointed us one way, the reality check that forced us another, and the emergence of ‘Rigour & Flow’ as the title that could hold the tension between depth and levity, critique and ease, research and culture. We talk about how the show has changed us. Aiwan speaks about getting to understand, from the inside, what clients go through when they try to make podcasting sustainable. Tamanda reflects on how hosting has expanded her sense of identity, raising new questions about research, knowledge, public thought, and the blurred line between scholar and public intellectual. Finally, we look back at the first year of the show itself: 52 episodes, platform features, awards, global listeners, growing audience connection, the first signs of monetisation, and the reality that sustainability has to become the next serious conversation if the show is to keep evolving. 🎙️ In this episode:One year is no small thing: Why sustaining a weekly podcast matters more than simply launching oneThe podcasting apocalypse horsewomen: Burnout, time and despair as real threats to creative consistencyThe names before the name: From Ditsy Wise to In Tandem to Rigour & FlowFrom producer to podcaster: What Aiwan learned by living what clients faceResearch in real time: Tamanda on audience, interpretation and the question of public intellectual workThe archive before the show: How relationship video diaries became the seedbed of the podcastWhat the show has changed in us: Podcasting, identity and becoming ourselves in publicMarking the journey: Apple features, awards, global listeners and building from zeroSustainability and the future: What has to change if independent podcasting is going to endure 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts
🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7kq4dvcwNMw🔁 Share with someone trying to build something that lasts ☕ Want to support the show? Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rigourandflow   Please rate, review and subscribe for weekly episodes.Connect with us on:TikTokInstagramLinkedInAiAi StudiosRoots & RigourThis is an AiAi Studios Production©AiAi Studios 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.