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Hey everyone, Ashley here with RSS Podcasting.

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On today's episode, I'm bringing you DeepD Ahuja.

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DeepD is a podcast producer with HCSparkcast and she has produced more than a hundred podcasts

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in a single year.

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Collectively, the podcasts she helps to produce have earned more than 55 million downloads.

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Enjoy the show.

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Well, DeepD, I'm so excited that you're here today.

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Can you tell everybody about what it is that you do?

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Absolutely, Ashley.

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I have been a podcaster, a podcast producer and podcast coach for the past almost two

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and a half years.

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I work with the Hindustan Times podcasting leg, which is HDSparkcast.

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And in the past two years, they've been really good years.

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Pandemic for a change has been really good for podcasting.

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It's a controversial opinion and I shouldn't be saying it, but let's not celebrate that

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fact as well.

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So I have thus far produced about 181 podcasts and in 40 journals in six languages.

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So yeah, life's been good.

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It sounds like it's also been really busy.

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It's been very busy.

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And now did you say, did you say 180 podcasts, like separate shows?

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Separate shows, 180 podcasts out of which on two of our podcasts, we just crossed thousand

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episodes each.

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Oh my word.

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So that's a lot of work.

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Yes.

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Okay.

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So when you say you're a podcast producer, do you mean that you actually have a hand

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in helping with each one of these episodes?

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To an extent.

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So I have a very small team.

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Here's how it goes, you know, the entire process.

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So Hindustan Times is a large publishing house.

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We have print, we have radio, we have digital agencies, we have all of that.

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Every other podcaster, most of the podcasters are either print journalists or they are RJs

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or, you know, they are just people who are passionate about podcasting and want to try

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out the medium.

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They are also CEOs, the HROs, you know, all of that, the entire corporate world is also

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on podcasting.

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So in our little universe, we have about 120, 150 podcasters, right, at EdgeD.

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And apart from that, you know, of course, we also open podcasters from outside and we

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call that EdgeD Smartcast Originals.

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Now, the thing is that my team just consists of five people.

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The core team is just five people.

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And so we had to create this entire, what is it called?

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Like, you know, an inventory of things, a way, a method to do things.

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Like a workflow.

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Absolutely.

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So we have a content calendar that's updated, you know, on a monthly basis where we have

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almost 25 episode releases in a day.

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Apart from that, you know, we have a pipeline where we release at least five podcasts per

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month.

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And what I tend to do is I tend to train all the podcasters so that they can become self-sufficient

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and they have their own agency and they enjoy themselves.

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They have their own space to, you know, explore the medium in their own way.

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And considering the fact that they come from such a legacy company, credibility has never

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been an issue for us, right?

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So in their own agency, in their own way, the way they explore their own medium, then

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they have the ownership, you know, to sort of, they're responsible for their own weekly

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episodes and all of that.

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And I intervene every, say, three months when I want to discuss data with them, when I want

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to discuss their podcast performance and so on and so forth.

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I hope that answers the question.

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It actually does.

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No, it's fantastic.

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I think it's, I think a couple of the things that you mentioned are pretty interesting.

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You said that you train the podcasters to be self-sufficient.

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So you give them like a checklist almost, if you will, of the things that they should

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be doing in order to produce a good episode?

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Yeah, so we take about three to four weeks to release any podcast, right?

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And we bank five episodes, which we do with them, you know, which we record with them.

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And during that time, the training is ongoing.

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So a lot of them speak faster and so they don't know how to breathe really well.

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A lot of them have issues scripting because, you know, say, for example, they come from

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the print world and the way you write in a print format in that medium is very different

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from the way you'd write scripts for a podcast, right?

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Some of them don't even write a script.

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And so you have to give them a little bit of structure.

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So each person, each individual is very different.

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And I coach them for about three to four weeks.

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Apart from that, I have, you know, we have the HD Smartcast social media channels and

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I have my own social media channels that I keep putting out these small nuggets of information

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where, you know, people can just do a revision of the thoughts.

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Plus, we've come up, you've come on our show, yeh podcast, podcast kya hai, right?

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Where we have expert opinions.

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So anyone who needs to sort of who needs a, you know, a refresher course, who needs like

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a crash course in podcasting, who needs a follow up.

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They can, there is enough information out there.

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And of course we also make ourselves available almost 24 seven to them so that they feel

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supported.

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Yeah.

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That's amazing.

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I mean, it sounds like you basically take anybody who wants to create a show and you

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give them all the tools necessary to make it happen.

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Absolutely.

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Constantly, to be honest.

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I mean, you know, because things keep changing in the podcasting world.

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I mean, you've come up, RSS has come up with such amazing things already that we spoke

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of in our episode on your podcast, podcast kya hai, we were blown.

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Everything keeps changing so fast.

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So we keep refreshing the content as well.

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The educational material that is there on podcasting.

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That's amazing.

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And what's interesting is I actually had the luxury of speaking to our founders for the

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very first two episodes and just listening to them about all the things going on in the

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background that a lot of people don't even realize.

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Because I mean, you know, you open your podcatcher, like your Google podcasts or your iTunes,

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and you turn on your content, you listen to whoever it is that's speaking and you don't

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realize all the moving parts going on in the background.

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You don't realize that they're having to book the interviews.

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They're having to write the podcast scripts.

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They're having to put all these systems and processes in place.

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And so to me, it sounds like what you do is an invaluable service.

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So why is it that you think that someone should hire a podcast producer?

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So, you know, podcasting the way it was marketed initially, at least in India, we were told

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that it's such a friendly, democratic medium.

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Everyone can do it.

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Anyone can do it.

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And the first person who should be listening to your podcast who could give you feedback

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are your close ones, your loved ones.

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But the thing is that your loved ones don't always understand the medium.

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They won't always understand the subject matter that you're talking about.

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They don't have expertise there.

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And another controversial opinion right here that a lot of times they might just not be

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invested in you in that way.

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Right.

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And so hiring a podcast producer becomes very clean.

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It becomes a cleaner process for you where, you know, the producer is being paid to provide

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a service where they keep you in check, where they can give you enough feedback.

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They can do secondary research or primary research for you.

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They can coordinate guests for you.

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They can help you edit or they can get it edited from someone if they have a team, if,

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you know, if an individual podcaster decides to hire a team, they will also help with

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the distribution side of things because it's a constant, you know, it's a constant partnership

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with your distributors.

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You can't just leave your episode there.

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You have to market it.

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You have to talk about it.

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You have to talk to different kinds of distribution channels and your podcast producer would be

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invested in your content more than they would be probably invested in you and your personal

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relationship with them.

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And so therefore it just falls in line, right, because on podcasts content is king.

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It's so true.

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And you know, something that you said that really struck me is you had mentioned that

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the podcast producer, because you're paying them, they are invested in you.

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And it's kind of like how if you go to the gym, let's say, and you decide, all right,

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I'm going to get healthy.

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I'm going to get fit.

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I'm going to work out.

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And you go into it and you have, let's say you find an accountability buddy, someone

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who's going to say, you know, come with me.

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We're going to keep working out.

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We're going to keep getting thin.

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Well, and then what happens?

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Eventually they stop coming with you.

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They stop checking in.

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They stop asking how much weight you've lost, but a personal trainer, someone that you've

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paid, they're going to be checking in with you because they know if you're not getting

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the results that you want, what are you going to do?

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You're going to fire them.

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And so, yes, exactly.

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And so I think that, I think the idea of having a podcast producer, that's actually really

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brilliant because like you said, if you're getting paid to do it, you're going to be

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actually keeping them top of mind rather than letting them fail.

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Absolutely.

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It's a part of their performance as well, right?

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It becomes a part of your podcast and becomes a part of their portfolio as well, where they,

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you know, say that, oh, I produce this podcast and this podcast is this successful.

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It has these many listens.

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It has these kinds of guests.

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So they would also be proud to, you know, sort of own the property along with you.

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Absolutely.

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I mean, that makes perfect sense because if someone's actually, if someone's there and

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they care about it, they're going to do everything they can to help you be successful because

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their, your success becomes their success and their success becomes your success.

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And the more that, the more that you can show that you have downloads that are coming in,

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you have, you know, new listeners that are coming in, then that becomes your piece that

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you can say, Hey, I'm a podcast producer.

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I helped this guy become successful.

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Here's what I can do for you.

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Yeah.

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It's in the beginning itself.

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Like when you asked me what I did, that's exactly what I said, right?

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Like so many podcasts, so many languages, so many genres.

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And the one thing that I forgot to mention was that 55 million listens on all of my podcasts

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to date.

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I mean, that is my achievement on a whole.

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And that is something a podcast producer would also take care of for your podcast.

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That's incredible.

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I mean, those kinds of numbers, people dream about that kind of stuff.

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And so I think that the idea of having someone who can help you achieve it, I mean, who wouldn't

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want to hire a podcast producer?

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I don't know.

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You tell me.

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One of the things you mentioned actually really struck me.

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You said that the pandemic, even though it's a controversial opinion, has actually helped

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podcasting.

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And the reality is it's so true because whenever we were all at home, what did we do?

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We were looking at our phones.

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We were looking at YouTube.

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We were looking at, you know, even our podcasts, our pod catchers.

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So I'm curious now, whenever the pandemic first hit, did that like immediately give

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you guys a reason to start reaching out to people or did you do anything to tell people,

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hey, you should start your podcast?

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What was it that you did directly as a result of the pandemic that helped in the business?

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I'm just curious.

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When we started, yeah, when we began, we were, I think I entered the company in November

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2019 and I was already given a task.

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I was already told that, hey, you have to produce these many podcasts.

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I was a little shocked because, you know, that's not the number that I thought would

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come to me.

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And then the pandemic hit and it was expected that, you know, the number will drop.

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We ended up revisiting a lot of us.

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I mean, you know, a lot of different mediums ended up revisiting, you know, their end of

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year tasks and, you know, all of those things.

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But the thing is with podcasts, the moment the pandemic hit March 2020, that was, oh

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my God, I can't believe you're entering 2022.

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Wow.

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Wow.

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It's hitting me.

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Anyway, so March 2020 from a couple of lack of listens, we straight away hit 1.2 million

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listens and then we were consistently making 1.2 million listens up until December 2020.

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That sort of motivated everyone to come on board and make a podcast of their own.

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The other thing that was happening was that a lot of people, a lot of Rjs, print journalists,

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a lot of influencers, a lot of, you know, corporate people inside the system, there

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was a lot of shuffling happening and, you know, we were just, we were just, we, all

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of us, we suffered a recession like world over.

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And there was this thing of protecting personal brand or at least having a personal brand.

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And this is exactly what podcasts did for each and every podcaster that I have on board

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today.

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It made them a personal brand.

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It gave them personal branding on a medium that is still organically growing.

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There is no, you know, paid stuff happening over here.

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Everyone is still collaborating with each other and collaborating, by collaborating,

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I mean, the true sense of the word, you know, not like paying to collaborate and, you know,

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all of those things.

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So when that happened, it gave all of them a personal brand and therefore gave them a

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little more confidence about their careers, about their jobs.

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And in a way, reduced stress, you know, the career stress that you're all facing.

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So it kind of did that.

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So the pandemic sort of brought down the stress of all of my podcasters to quite an extent.

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Right.

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And the moment we hit January, 2021, we shot up to like 6 million listens.

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So we thought, yeah, so we thought it's going to go down because now, you know, it's been,

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we've been in ER into the pandemic.

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And then, you know, that year, we don't know what the next year is going to look like.

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Are we going to have the second wave?

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No tablet.

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Are the markets going to open up?

250
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We didn't, we didn't have any clue.

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Right.

252
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But the moment we hit 6 million listens, right, in January, we were like, okay, this medium

253
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is autistic.

254
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At least in India, this medium is autistic.

255
00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:53,880
Yeah.

256
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I think, I think it's not just in India.

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I think it's also in the States because as people were starting to go back to work, you

258
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know, as soon as they had that commute again, it was, okay, well, what can I do while I'm

259
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on my way to work?

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Have something to listen to, whether it's to educate, to entertain, to inspire, or even

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just get through the day.

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Yeah.

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Because let's face it, I mean, podcasters, they have some really cool stuff to share.

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They, they're not only just sharing their personal stories, they're sharing, you know,

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educational content, entertaining content.

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Some of them make you laugh, some of them make you cry, some of them scare the crap

267
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out of you.

268
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I mean, let's, talking about the true crime stuff.

269
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You listen to the, yeah, the true crime podcast, those freak me right out.

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But, but it is fascinating how, you know, what, what used to happen was if you wanted

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to get your message out to a lot of people, you had to go and, you know, either get a

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radio station to hire you or get a newspaper to hire you.

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And then you almost had to pay to play.

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You had to get all this stuff in place and you had to have a really good message because

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if you didn't have a good message, you were let go, or you were told you couldn't do it

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anymore.

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But podcasting has kind of democratized the content system.

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It's made it so that anybody who has a microphone and has a voice can speak out and share their

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message.

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And I think it's pretty cool that a podcast producer can take that message, refine that

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message and help get it out there even more.

282
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So I'm curious, let's say I want to start a podcast and I come to you and I say, all

283
00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:36,760
right, tell me the first step.

284
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What would you say to them?

285
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Two things.

286
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One, that we will inculcate discipline because that's very necessary.

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The fact remains that any podcast that hasn't run, you know, for 54 episodes, it's not going

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to be successful in that sense.

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Even if it is, then, you know, it's an anomaly, but you should at least have 54 episodes,

290
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which means that you should produce your podcast for at least one year.

291
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Right.

292
00:18:06,120 --> 00:18:08,240
So it of course requires a lot of discipline.

293
00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:16,960
But the thing is that I never simply say discipline and then, you know, get the cane out.

294
00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:21,800
With me, with me, it's always supposed to be fun.

295
00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:22,800
Right.

296
00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:24,800
You know, that's, that's my feedback.

297
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If my podcaster in training says, oh, I had a lot of fun.

298
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My job is done.

299
00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:30,920
Right.

300
00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,920
I had, I just had to get them hooked onto the medium and that's my job.

301
00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:40,720
Now the thing is that I start off with a couple of things that make sense to them later.

302
00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:45,880
So for me, there is this very important quote that, you know, has made sense to me all

303
00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:53,120
my professional life, which is by Walter Murch, which is editing begins, you know, editing

304
00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:59,520
starts at the beginning of your project, which is what we try to do with, you know, a concept

305
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:00,520
note.

306
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Then we go into voice training.

307
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We go into writing scripts.

308
00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:07,640
If anyone requires it, a lot of people are natural speakers.

309
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A lot of people are, you know, natural orators.

310
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A lot of people aren't.

311
00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:14,920
And so different people have, you know, different ways of doing things.

312
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:15,920
Right.

313
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:20,080
And my first, first few sessions are just, yeah, just speak, just talk, I'm listening.

314
00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:21,720
You know, we just have a chat.

315
00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:22,720
Right.

316
00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:28,480
And then we go into, and the one thing that works very well with podcasters in training

317
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:33,680
is that when they get to hear their own voice, when they get to hear a playback, that's

318
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,480
when they're, then that's when they have those, you know, aha moments.

319
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,920
They go like, oh my God, I sound so good.

320
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Or, oh my God, I sound so bad.

321
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:47,160
Or, oh my God, my content is just amazing.

322
00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:54,480
Maybe I need to work harder on my voice or, oh God, I can't do the content, but can you

323
00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:56,840
please get someone to write for me?

324
00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:02,400
You know, and so we pick out these small, small little things and then we start working

325
00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:03,400
on it.

326
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,560
So no one podcaster has one set pattern.

327
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Each podcaster is different.

328
00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,560
And so their training is also extremely different.

329
00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:16,400
And once they feel confident enough, so as I said in the beginning, the ownership, the

330
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:18,840
agency comes from the podcaster.

331
00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:23,880
The moment a podcaster says, can we please record an episode and get it out there?

332
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,240
That is when we go for first recording.

333
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:27,240
Okay.

334
00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:28,240
That makes sense.

335
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,480
So now you said 54 episodes.

336
00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,680
That is impressive, but I'm curious now.

337
00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:35,680
Okay.

338
00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:39,120
So you said 54 episodes and so that's about an episode a week.

339
00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:41,080
Do you do them weekly or do you do them daily?

340
00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:42,080
Do I weekly?

341
00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:43,080
How do you do this?

342
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:46,440
Some of my podcasts are weekly.

343
00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:47,440
Some of my podcasts are bi-weekly.

344
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:54,280
Some of the podcasts we produce are also daily and some of them are released, episodes are

345
00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:56,080
released twice a day.

346
00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:57,080
Wow.

347
00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:02,200
So now I'm curious with all that content, so are people paying you to produce these

348
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:03,200
episodes?

349
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:10,840
Some of, you know, so the kind of podcasting that brands want to do, the format in which

350
00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:17,600
the brands want to pay money to, you know, sort of have podcasts talk about them is branded

351
00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,480
episodes or branded podcasts for us in India, at least.

352
00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:27,360
That's what most of the Indian podcasting industry is catering to at this point of time.

353
00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:32,000
And slowly and steadily, of course, you know, the more educated we are about podcasting,

354
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,960
the more educated the entire industry, the advertising industry and brands become about

355
00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:42,680
podcasting, then we will, of course, bifurcate into the other kinds of, you know, formats

356
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,320
for monetization.

357
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:51,360
But yeah, some brands absolutely do pay upfront and very happily so.

358
00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:56,400
Now can the average Joe off the street come to you and say, I want to produce a podcast

359
00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:01,240
or is it more that you're looking for a specific type of person who comes to you and says,

360
00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,040
I want to start a podcast?

361
00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:04,200
Okay.

362
00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:06,640
So here's the difference.

363
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:12,000
A lot of companies are UGC companies, which means they are user generated.

364
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,760
They produce user generated content and, you know, they basically have a bigger platform

365
00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,260
with a lot of listeners on their platform.

366
00:22:20,260 --> 00:22:23,360
And so therefore that's how the model works over there.

367
00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:28,080
For a lot of companies like HD Smartcast, we do a lot of PGC work, right?

368
00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:33,400
Where we produce the content, we edit it, we take care of the podcast, we take care

369
00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:35,080
of the podcast.

370
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:41,600
And when an individual from outside the company, from outside the HD universe comes to us,

371
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,880
we tend to, you know, strike a partnership with them.

372
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,040
So of course they are also, you know, working twice as hard.

373
00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:54,320
If they are subject matter experts in whatever they are going to talk about, we are subject

374
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:58,840
matter experts in training them to become better broadcasters, right?

375
00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:02,920
And then we also take care of the editing, we take care of the post-production, we take

376
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,400
care of distribution, we take care of marketing.

377
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,760
We also give them data insights.

378
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,960
Like I said, after three months, I mean, I just step in and I go like, okay, time to

379
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:18,520
revisit everything and see what we want to change and see what we want to keep and what

380
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:20,840
is working for you on an individual level.

381
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:26,480
Want to work for your audience, you know, on a larger level and what might work for

382
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:31,400
brands for them to come and pay to be on your podcast, right?

383
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,280
So it's a partnership.

384
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:39,360
We share, it's a rev share model, if I'm okay to say that.

385
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:40,360
Absolutely.

386
00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:45,480
I think that makes perfect sense because it's similar to how like Google and YouTube work

387
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:51,160
where if the person creating the video succeeds, so will YouTube.

388
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:55,360
So the goal is, all right, we're going to give you all these tools because like YouTube

389
00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:59,880
Creator Academy, they give you all the tools you need to start a YouTube channel completely

390
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:04,800
for free, but then, you know, you put the content up and if you do well, they get a

391
00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,880
cut and even if you don't do well, they get their cut.

392
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:08,880
No, absolutely.

393
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:16,160
Because I mean, they are, see, the thing is that when an individual starts to podcast,

394
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:24,240
they're definitely taking a braver step than the podcast company and that needs to be recognized.

395
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:28,920
That needs to be validated because you can't as an individual.

396
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:34,120
I mean, it's just, you know, inhuman to not validate that.

397
00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:36,280
It's as simple as that, right?

398
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:42,080
When I was an individual podcaster and I hadn't started a podcast production as such as a

399
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:47,240
career path, when I wasn't on the podcast production and podcast coaching career path,

400
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:54,160
that's what I faced and I felt lost and I felt alone in the entire process.

401
00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:59,920
And to be honest, podcasting is not, you know, it looks like it appears that you can do everything

402
00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:03,680
on your own and that you can do everything in isolation.

403
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:04,680
That's not true.

404
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:08,720
It's just like any other medium also, you know, where things happen in collaboration

405
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,120
and the more you collaborate, the better it is.

406
00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:12,120
Right.

407
00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:15,760
Yeah, that makes perfect sense because I mean, you know, people forget that when we're behind

408
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:19,720
our microphones, we're sitting at home, we're sitting at home and we're speaking out to

409
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:21,600
the ether, if you will.

410
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:25,240
And we have no idea if the content that we're producing is going to land.

411
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,720
We don't know who's going to hear it.

412
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:33,640
So I definitely, I definitely can see the perks of having someone who's in your corner

413
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:38,640
basically saying like, yeah, you got this, you're doing it and keep going.

414
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:39,920
So yeah.

415
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:44,760
So I think that everything that we've been talking about today, what is really sticking

416
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:50,160
out to me is that having a podcast producer in your corner is more than just having someone

417
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,280
who's helping you produce your content.

418
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:56,840
It's also someone who's like backing you, who's giving you the validation that maybe

419
00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:58,920
a listener won't.

420
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:04,000
It's someone who, who's going to be your cheerleader, who's going to be, like you said, your coach,

421
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,600
but also like you also said, your partner.

422
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,000
And I think that's, I think that's really beautiful.

423
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,880
We're having a touching moment here in this podcast.

424
00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:16,240
It's a warm fuzzy feeling.

425
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:21,360
Well, most certainly is, especially the person who's around the corner.

426
00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:26,240
So I'm curious, you said that one of the things that you do is you, whenever you start coaching

427
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,320
people, you give them systems and you give them, you know, almost like a checklist, if

428
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:31,320
you will.

429
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:36,480
So do you have like a template of things that you give them or is it, is it individual based

430
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:39,240
on the podcast you're working with?

431
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:40,240
I do have a template.

432
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:41,960
That's, I mean, that's how I roll.

433
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:44,080
I have systems for everything.

434
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:49,480
That's how, you know, a team of five people is producing 180 podcasts today with like

435
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:53,320
50 to 55 active podcasts every month.

436
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:55,400
So of course there's system for everything.

437
00:26:55,400 --> 00:27:01,080
I'm a very, very hardcore and administrative sort of a person, despite the fact that I'm

438
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:05,120
a quote unquote creative person.

439
00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:06,120
Right.

440
00:27:06,120 --> 00:27:07,800
So, so yeah.

441
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:09,360
So I do have a system.

442
00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:14,960
There are a couple of documents that are ready for a podcaster.

443
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:20,560
Of course, one is the podcast hygiene, where we talk about how to record, how to record

444
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:24,200
in different formats, how to write a script.

445
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:28,080
And even if they want to write pointers and they don't want to write the entire script,

446
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:29,080
that's also fine.

447
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,680
So there are pointers for those.

448
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:36,840
Then how to, you know, then there is an entire concept note, which I give to each one of

449
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:41,120
my podcasters so that they think for their podcast, so that they understand exactly what

450
00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:42,680
they want to do.

451
00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:46,040
And the questions are very, very specific.

452
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:47,120
Right.

453
00:27:47,120 --> 00:27:52,560
So if I have an audience question, if I, if I, for example, want to ask my podcaster,

454
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,400
who do you think your target audience is?

455
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,320
It's not going to be just one question.

456
00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,920
So they have to write, of course, you know, whether they are, which age group do they

457
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:02,240
belong to?

458
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,480
What sex is it?

459
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:06,800
What city do they belong to?

460
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:08,400
What SEC section they belong to?

461
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:10,120
And, you know, so on and so forth.

462
00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:11,120
Right.

463
00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:13,760
All of those things, educational levels, all of those things they have to write.

464
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:18,760
But apart from that, then there are questions like, so what does, you know, a day in the

465
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:20,520
life of your listener look like?

466
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:21,520
Right.

467
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:26,400
Because that will determine for them when their episode should be released.

468
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:31,440
Then they would have a question like, what is your audience really looking for?

469
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:32,440
Right.

470
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,840
So someone can say, oh, they will stumble upon my podcast because they're just looking

471
00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:37,480
to escape from reality.

472
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:38,480
Right.

473
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:42,720
But then what will you offer as a podcaster to your listener?

474
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:48,560
And then the question then becomes that, okay, so maybe they clicked on my podcast because

475
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:50,040
they want to escape reality.

476
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:53,920
But what they will get in turn is the sense of community.

477
00:28:53,920 --> 00:29:00,880
They will get a sense of belonging, that they will get an expert advice on something that

478
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:04,480
they were looking for and therefore were feeling lacking.

479
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:05,480
Right.

480
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:10,760
So these are the kind of questions that very, very like, you know, streamlined questions

481
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,760
is what I do with my concept note.

482
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:18,920
And then it goes on to, you know, guidelines for show notes, guidelines for podcast intro,

483
00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:21,920
podcast outro, all of those things.

484
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,200
And you know.

485
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:29,920
That's really amazing because everything that you're describing sounds like not only giving

486
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:34,000
them ideas to make them start thinking about it from a listener's perspective, but what

487
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:38,400
you've been describing sounds like everything that someone would need to know if they actually

488
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:40,260
want to be successful.

489
00:29:40,260 --> 00:29:43,600
Because if they're not thinking about the end listener, the end person that's going

490
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:48,880
to be consuming the content, then they're setting themselves up for failure.

491
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:49,880
That's true.

492
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:50,880
Yeah.

493
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:51,880
And wow.

494
00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:52,880
To keep visiting it.

495
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,560
I mean, so like I said, every three months they revisit their concept note too.

496
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:57,560
Okay.

497
00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,400
So you actually do quarterly checks to make sure that they're living up to the expectations

498
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:03,200
that have been set from the beginning.

499
00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:04,200
Absolutely.

500
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:05,200
Absolutely.

501
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,800
I mean, I'm, I'm, uh, I'm playful.

502
00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:12,800
I'm fun, but I'm also a hard-tussed master.

503
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,560
Cracking the whip, making sure they do what they need to do.

504
00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:16,560
Absolutely.

505
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:21,360
Their success is my success and my success is theirs.

506
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:22,360
That's fantastic.

507
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,440
Well, where can people find you online if they are interested in learning more about

508
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:27,520
your podcast production?

509
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:35,720
So if anyone has a question for me, they can always reach out to me on my Instagram handle.

510
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,000
It is mind your podcast, like mind your language.

511
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:40,320
It is mind your podcast.

512
00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:42,320
M-I-N-D-Y-O-U-R-P-O-D-C-A-S-T.

513
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:47,600
And for any kind of inspiration regarding podcasting, right?

514
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:52,600
I mean, that was just information on podcasting, but if you want to be inspired to become a

515
00:30:52,600 --> 00:31:00,080
podcaster, then you must, must follow us on at HTSmartcast, that is H-T-S-M-A-R-T-C-A-S-T.

516
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:05,000
And we are available on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Clubhouse.

517
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,280
Um, have I left anything out?

518
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:09,280
I don't know.

519
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:10,280
Have I left?

520
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:11,280
I'm not sure.

521
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:12,280
That was a lot.

522
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:18,480
What's awesome is if you look at HTSmartcast, you might even find me, Ashley Grant from

523
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:19,480
RSS.

524
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,720
Believe me, on this podcast, what is this podcast?

525
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:26,960
So all you've got to do is if you want to listen to our previous conversation, our first

526
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:35,880
conversation ever on a podcast, you must go to HTSmartcast.com, that is H-T-S-M-A-R-T-C-A-S-T.com

527
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:39,040
and either search for Ashley Grant or RSS.

528
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:41,640
Yes, Ashley with RSS podcasting.

529
00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:42,640
Yeah.

530
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:49,040
And what is this podcast, which is Y-E-Edge Podcast, what is a wordcast?

531
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,840
Yes, we'll make sure we leave a link in the show notes.

532
00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:56,320
Um, now I'm going to ask you the same thing I ask everyone and it always puts them on

533
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:57,320
their toes.

534
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,840
Is there anything I didn't ask you, you would prefer that I had?

535
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:07,720
Oh, well, there are so many questions, Ashley, but I think we should continue our conversations

536
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,800
after the recording stuff.

537
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:18,640
I'm so much so, you know, Ashley, uh, me, of course, uh, after all the, and you know,

538
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:23,840
conversations with people globally have been eyeopening, one of them being you, right?

539
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:30,720
And it's been so amazing to, I mean, not walk for an industry where you don't know where

540
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,160
it's going, right?

541
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:34,520
Now we know where it's going.

542
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:40,640
Now we, now we know where we are all going in terms of podcast industry globally.

543
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:41,640
And I love that.

544
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:48,200
So yeah, so that's one thing and we will continue our conversations, but, um, maybe off the

545
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:50,840
mat of the records.

546
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:51,840
I love it.

547
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:52,840
I love it.

548
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:54,800
Well, I just want to say that I really appreciate your time today.

549
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:55,800
I know that you're very busy.

550
00:32:55,800 --> 00:33:01,600
I mean, a lot of podcasts going on, so thank you for taking the time to chat with us.

551
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,320
Thank you so much, Ashley, for calling me.

552
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:04,800
This is really, really nice.

553
00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:06,240
It made my day.

554
00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:07,240
Thank you.

555
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:11,120
Well, my fellow podcasters, I hope you enjoyed all of the insights Deepti had to share with

556
00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:12,120
us.

557
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:17,360
To learn more about how to grow and launch your own podcast, visit our website at rss.com

558
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:18,360
or the podcast.com.

559
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:21,960
You can get started for free and have your first episode on us.

560
00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:48,400
Thanks for tuning in.