If I Were Going To Start Over, Here Are 3 Things I’d Tell Myself On Day One Starting a Podcast

I’ve officially been podcasting for two and a half years.

Last week, I talked about what those first two years looked like, including the fact that I wasn’t always sure I was seeing a direct ROI from the podcast. Now that I’m more than 100 episodes in, that has started to change.

But it got me thinking: What would I tell the version of myself who was about to sit down and record episode one?

There are three really specific things I’d tell her.

Not because I regret starting this podcast. Far from it. It’s genuinely been one of the best things I’ve done for my business, both financially and personally. I feel like podcasting has helped me grow so much as a business owner and as a person.

But I also know a lot of you are thinking about starting a podcast. Or maybe you’ve already started one and you’re somewhere in the messy middle, wondering if it’s still worth it.

So, if I were starting over today, here are three things I’d do differently on day one starting a podcast.

Before I get into what I would tell baby podcaster Kara, hi, if you’re new here, welcome. There’s a good chance you found this through Google, which is very on brand for the show.

I’m Kara. I run a content marketing agency where we do blogging for SEO, Pinterest management, and turn podcast episodes into blog posts. We mostly work with people who are done with the social media hamster wheel and want to get their businesses found online, whether that’s on Google or through AI search.

This podcast is where we talk about all of that, plus whatever business thing I can’t stop thinking about that week, especially when it comes to scaling your business online.

And if you’ve been around for a while, hi, friends. Last week, I got into what changed for me two and a half years into podcasting. Consider this the other half of that conversation.

1. I’d Make It Easier for the Right People to Find Me

Let me explain what I mean by this because, obviously, getting found online is literally what I do for a living.

SEO is my jam. I write a blog post for every single podcast episode, and getting people to find my content through search hasn’t necessarily been the problem.

The bigger issue is who I wanted the podcast to be for.

When I started the podcast, I was desperate for a creative outlet. At the time, I was talking about blogging and Pinterest everywhere. It was a huge part of what I shared on Instagram, Threads, my blog, and basically every business conversation I was having.

I wanted somewhere I could talk about more.

I wanted to talk about entrepreneurship, AI, marketing, building a business, and whatever I was learning in real time. I wanted to interview interesting people. I also felt like I had a unique perspective because I work behind the scenes of businesses that a lot of people look up to and admire.

And, increasingly, I wanted to build more of a personal brand.

We started seeing this shift in 2024, and I think it’s become even more obvious in 2026. People want to know the founder behind the business.

I also wanted to have more advanced conversations about business. And I’ve learned that’s harder than I expected.

There’s a reason so much business content is created for beginners. There are simply more beginners.

The further along you get in business, the smaller your potential audience becomes.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t create more advanced content. I still love that I do. But it’s something I would think about much more intentionally if I were starting again.

If I Wanted a Faster ROI, I’d Niche Down

This is probably the biggest lesson from my first point.

If my number one goal had been to make money from the podcast as quickly as possible, I would have niched down.

I probably would have created a blogging podcast, an SEO podcast, or a search marketing podcast.

It would have made it incredibly clear who the show was for and what I could help them with. And I think I would have seen a direct financial ROI sooner.

But there’s a tradeoff.

I’m not sure I would have enjoyed making that podcast for two and a half years.

I would have been talking about the same handful of topics over and over again, and part of what has kept me excited about this show is that I can follow my curiosity.

So I wouldn’t necessarily go back to day one and tell myself, “You need to niche down.”

Instead, I’d make sure I understood the tradeoff.

If you want your podcast to generate revenue sooner, getting specific about your niche can make that easier. If you want more creative freedom, a broader show can absolutely work, but you may need to be prepared for the ROI to take longer.

2. I’d Make It Easier for People to Stay Connected

For a long time, my main freebie was a PDF, like so many of us had forever.

Then, in 2025, I recorded a private podcast called Build It Once, Get Found for Months, where I break down my entire search-driven marketing philosophy. I absolutely love it, and it finally gave me something I was genuinely excited to promote.

But there was still a problem.

Until literally a month or two ago, it didn’t have a nurture sequence attached to it.

I send a weekly newsletter, but I wasn’t doing a good job of taking someone who had just found me, signed up for my email list, and intentionally warming them up into my world.

Looking back at all the new people who have found my podcast over the last two and a half years, that feels like a huge missed opportunity.

My email list is relatively small considering how many podcast episodes I’ve published and how many new listeners have found me. I was doing the work to get found, but I wasn’t doing nearly enough on the conversion side.

And I think the reason is something most business owners can relate to.

I was always going to do it next week.

Then next month.

Then next quarter.

I moved that task around ClickUp for what felt like the end of time.

If I could go back and start again, I’d have my freebie, nurture sequence, and the rest of that funnel ready before I published episode one.

Because once the podcast starts, the wheels are in motion. There’s always another episode to record, edit, publish, and promote. The things you swear you’ll set up later can very easily stay on your to-do list for two years.

3. I’d Make It Easier for People to Work With Me

This is a big one.

When I started my podcast in 2024, the online business landscape already felt like it was beginning to change. By 2026, that shift feels impossible to ignore.

Buyers are more cautious.

They’ve seen big promises. Some of them have been burned. They’re asking more questions, doing more research, and taking longer to make larger investments.

For a long time, though, there were basically two ways to interact with my business.

You could listen to my podcast for free, or you could hire my agency for a fairly significant, ongoing investment.

And I don’t exactly sell something like a website where you make one investment, get the finished product, and you’re done.

My offers are more like, “Hey, want to work with me forever?”

That’s a pretty big jump from free.

Yes, you could start by hiring us for something smaller, like two blog posts a month. But I didn’t really have a true low-cost way to work with me, experience my approach, or see what my delivery was like before making a bigger commitment.

And I think that matters more now than it used to.

My friend Colie James of Business First Creatives has talked about this on her podcast. She’s hesitant to hire a service provider without trying something smaller first. Maybe she’ll buy an audit, see what it’s like to work with you, and then consider the bigger offer.

I completely understand that because I’ve done the exact same thing.

When I hired a coach in 2025, I started with a one-hour strategy call. After that experience, I hired her for a much higher-ticket offer.

We want a taste before we commit to the whole thing.

Yet, for most of the last two and a half years, I haven’t really offered that.

I have my membership now, but that only launched a few months ago. Looking back, I think I should have prioritized creating something smaller much sooner.

Maybe it could have been a one-hour strategy call, although even as I say that, I know that probably wouldn’t work for me. When someone asks me a question, I immediately want to dive into the data, and unless we have everything ready beforehand, an hour disappears pretty quickly.

But the exact offer isn’t really the point.

The lesson is that I needed something between free podcast listener and long-term agency client.

Something that let people experience how I think, how I work, and what it feels like to get my eyes on their business before making a much bigger investment.

And I don’t think this only applies to podcasters.

If you’re a service provider, writer, strategist, designer, photographer, or anyone selling a higher-investment service, it’s worth asking:

Is there a way for someone to try working with me before they make the bigger investment?

Because in a market where people are taking longer to buy, giving them a smaller first step can make that decision a whole lot easier.

The Three Things I’d Do Differently

Those are the three things I would go back and tell myself on day one:

1. Make it easier for the right people to find me. I’d seriously consider niching down, especially if getting a faster ROI was the priority.
2. Make it easier for people to stay connected. I’d have a freebie and nurture sequence ready so that even someone who was completely new to me could quickly understand who I am, what I do, and why they might want to stick around.
3. Make it easier for people to work with me. I’d create a smaller first step that lets someone experience working with me before jumping into a larger, longer-term investment.

But there’s actually one more thing I wish I’d done differently, and it has less to do with marketing.

Bonus: I’d Find More Podcast Friends

This is something I keep learning over and over again in adulthood: friendships don’t happen as organically as they did when we were younger.

And I think the same thing applies to business friendships.

Looking back, I wish I had actively sought out other people who were starting podcasts around the same time I was.

People I could talk to about what was working. People I could celebrate milestones with. People I could text and say, “Is this happening to you too?”

I’m very fortunate to have business owner friends and friends outside of work. This isn’t about not having people in my life.

It’s about having people who understand this very specific thing.

Podcasting is a weird way to market a business.

You put content out every single week without always getting much feedback about whether people liked it. The data isn’t particularly satisfying. Sometimes you publish an episode you think is incredible and hear absolutely nothing.

If you want to hear me rant about some of the things I don’t love about podcasting, episode 99 is basically dedicated to that.

But I think I would have enjoyed the last two and a half years even more if I’d intentionally built a little community around podcasting.

Because there are so many tiny things I’d love to talk about with other podcasters.

What’s working for your show? Which title formulas are getting the most clicks? What are you doing with your intro? What are you seeing in your numbers? What are you experimenting with?

It would be nice to have people to compare notes with because podcasting really is such a unique way to market a business.

So if you’re reading this and you have a podcast, email me. Seriously.

I’d love to connect with more people doing this and have more conversations about what’s actually working.

Would I Still Start a Podcast Today?

Absolutely.

There are things I would change if I were starting from episode one again, but starting this podcast is still one of the best decisions I’ve made for my business.

If you’re thinking about starting your own, hopefully my first two and a half years give you a few things to consider before you hit record.

Make it easy for the right people to find you. Give them a reason to stay connected. Create an easy first step for working with you.

And maybe find a few podcast friends along the way.

If you have questions about starting a podcast or want to compare notes about your own show, I’d love to hear from you. Otherwise, I’ll talk to you next week.

LINKS MENTIONED

• Hire us to write SEO-driven blog posts for you
• Learn more about our Pinterest management services
• Learn more about working with our marketing agency here
• Follow me on Instagram