9 Lessons We’ve Learned from 2 million Downloads
It’s been one hell of a ride to 2 million… Here are 9 lessons we’ve learned along the way. 🙌
1-Don’t stop
Ninety percent of podcasts don’t make it past episode three. And only 1% of podcasts crack 20. It’s easy to start a podcast, but a real test of will to keep it going. We’ve recorded 150, and, in the early days, we thought about stopping. A lot. But we didn’t. The reward for not quitting is a community, an audience, an epic backlog and a hell of a story to tell.
2-In the beginning... there was us
It took us one year and 25 episodes to reach 10,000 downloads. Now, we get that on a really good day. When we started, we didn’t care who listened (which was lucky because no one did). All that mattered was that we were happy with it.
3-Diversity is everything
It started strictly football. Then it became other sports. Then media. Then comedy. Now, it’s everything and anything; the most interesting people we can find. One of our most popular episodes was with a sexologist. This week’s one with an Afghanistan refugee is one of our best (imo). Many of our favourite episodes have been with the guests we knew the least about.
4-The detail is important
Good work is the culmination of hundreds of tiny details. Sweat the small stuff. We spend a lot of time on headlines, intros, outros, social media posts, episode structure, questions, editing video reels, writing good captions. Consistency and ‘big wins’ are important, but tiny gains are the real cheat code.
5-Get a good team
We’re now business owners (with a very exciting announcement coming next week). And the team we’ve built is epic. Surround yourself with good people with the same drive as you. We have a producer, marketing manager, video editor and accountant who are all now close friends. We also have a very ‘honest’ group of close mates who aren't afraid to tell us when we’ve dropped the ball.
6-Public speaking can be fun...
…when you’re talking about yourself. We’ve put together a pretty cool keynote speech that we deliver at businesses, about how we grew a chart-topping podcast from Steve's garage. When you’re the talent, and the audience is invested in your story, there’s no feeling like it. It’s an area we’re excited to develop in 2024.
7-Safe is where the magic happens
Treat guests with respect, do your homework, value their time and make them feel safe – and they will pay it back in spades. If you give a shit, they will give a shit. Making them feel comfortable to tell their story, is an art.
8-There are legends everywhere
Everyone has a story to tell. Sometimes they don’t even know it. Our Low Key Legends series - platforming 'lesser known' Kiwis with epic tales makes what we do feel important. The platform is changing lives.
9-We’re just getting started
We’ve built a huge audience. 90,000 people from around the world downloaded our show last month. We take great pride in what we’ve created and have big plans for the future... watch this space.
