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You're listening to Up an Octave, a podcast by Sonivia, the podcasting agency that believes that women and non binary people deserve to take up space in the podcasting industry because our thoughts, voices, and stories matter. Here you'll learn how to make dope podcasts that inspire, educate, convert, and most importantly, make your voice shine.
I'm your host, Rue Spence, and I'm here to take podcasting up an octave. Let's get into it. Oh, hello, and welcome back to up an octave. Today we are talking about content that cannot be batched. So this is going to be your current event podcasts, or the podcasts that just don't have a workflow that allows you to plan them super far out. Burnout is a huge thing that impacts these type of creators, so we're going to talk about how you can put systems in place to stave that off.
So first up, let's talk about the elephant in the room, what burnout looks like for content creators. And of course, specifically here, I'm talking about podcast creation, but this is kind of a put a finger down or, uh, POV, you're this, because, oh boy, do I know how this feels, and I'm assuming that you do too, whether it's in podcasting or a different facet of your life.
If you are feeling just like general overall fatigue, a lack of motivation, or a creative block, if each week you're like, what the heck am I going to talk about on the podcast this week? What the heck am I even doing? Like, when it starts to not feel great and doesn't light you up, there's a really big chance that there is something not working.
But if you still really are passionate about the content that you're making and you still love the topic, chances are you're burned out. And when we see people start to get burned out, that's when we really see content starting to get just phoned in. That's when things feel less authentic. That's when things feel less valuable and deep and kind of like you're just scraping the surface a little bit.
And so to avoid that staving off burnout as soon as you feel it coming, um, Is so, so, so important. So I recommend checking in with yourself, maybe even monthly, just have like a start of the month or end of the month audit, and feel how things are feeling. Do you feel like you're getting burned out? Do you feel overwhelmed with the pace that you've set?
How are things feeling within your content creation? And the first thing you can do to stave this off is just to set realistic goals and expectations. Learn And I especially want to double down on this about your analytics. If you're, you know, someone who's like, I'm only going to feel successful if I've got 17 million views or downloads or whatever you're analyzing with.
You know, that's the only way it's going to feel valuable to me. Like you're, you're definitely going to get burned out because that is not realistic for when you're just getting started. Try to avoid over committing, and this is one of those that's like so much easier said than done. But if you are trying to take on the world, you're going to start dropping plates.
Like it's, ask me how I know. Something is going to have to be set down. And if you are not setting up systems where you can set it down gently, you're going to start dropping plates. They're going to start shattering. You're going to have to sweep it up. Life's going to be messy. Having these systems in place is really going to help you stave it off.
And then also building in some not super critical stuff that, you know, if you can have kind of a break glass episode that you have batched out, or you just kind of Keep it under lock and key. You know, maybe it's a deep dive. If you're doing a political show, you know, maybe it's a deep dive on how did the Electoral College get started and you can just always drop that in if you need to, or if it's, you know, current trends in it.
You can drop a, the history of the Bob, you know, something that's kind of evergreen that doesn't have to be recorded that week. That way, if you get sick or something happens or God, you get to go on vacation, you've got content that's available to you. I also recommend that this type of show go with a season format.
That's going to help chunk things up in your mind, so that you're like, okay, I have 10 weeks on, a week off. Or 16 weeks on, 2 weeks off. You know, whatever that looks like for you, that's going to help avoiding burnout feel more manageable. And it's also going to build breaks in that are going to allow you to regroup.
And come back more excited and of course, planning ahead and this is tough if you're doing like a news cycle type podcast where you're like, I don't know what the news is going to be, but there are some overarching things that you can kind of plan for. So, like, with the election that's just recently happened.
Had you been in this sphere, you could have prepared, okay, I know that November, or really October, is going to be dedicated to the run up to the election, or I know that mid November is going to be the aftermath of the election, and obviously we didn't know how it was going to go. Ah, existential panic.
But you knew that there was going to be an outcome, and that that would inform the type of content that you're making. So there are certain things that you can kind of guesstimate are coming on the horizon. If you are a sports podcaster, you know, you want to be live to talk about the outcome of this game, etc.
But you know the beats of the year. You know when training season is. You know when playoffs are. You know when The finals, whatever your sport is, you know, when those things are happening. And so you can kind of strategize the way that you want to make the content around those different periods of time.
And then just kind of plug and play with what actually happens. So you're like, cool, it's, you know, this week I'm going to be talking about what happened with the Chiefs Raiders game. And I can kind of pencil that in because I know that there was a Chiefs game this weekend. And the things that I might not know are the outcome.
Did any players get hurt? What was the scoring like? Was Taylor Swift in the audience? Oh my god, that's all that they talk about. But you know, those types of things, you know that you're going to want to talk about that. So plan out what type of content you're going to do when. And then also it's so helpful for these types of shows to have an episode framework or template.
And this is even something that ChatGPT can help support you with. So if you know that you want to start out every single episode with A, a top line note of here's a fun story that happened before we get into the really dark, terrible stuff. If you're a news podcast, I want to have that part. Then I want to have this main body.
Then I want to break and talk about a fun fact from the story. And then I want to finish the story. And then at the end, we're going to talk about. On this day in 1942 or something like that, if you have a framework that's set up for your podcast, it's going to make plugging things in in real time feel that much easier.
And then there's also some, you know, little sneaky back end stuff happening there when you have really predictable content. It's really attractive, and bingeable, and engage worthy for your audience. This is the same reason that, like, authors follow story beats. If the rom com doesn't end with a happily ever after, people aren't happy.
They want the meet cute. Boom. They want the starting to fall for each other. Boom. They want the really cutesy scene. Boom. They want the thing that makes it all fall apart and it gets really, really, really sad. Boom. Then they want the reconciliation. Boom. Then they want the happily ever after. Boom. If you're following those bits, I can fill that in with a million different stories.
I can fill that in with a million different characters. So definitely having that framework is gonna help you just plug and play, drop things in, And then push on to the next thing. Self care is also going to be wicked huge for making sure that you don't succumb to burnout. And this can look like prioritizing getting outside and taking a walk for your mental health, um, which I should also be doing more, taking a few minutes for mindfulness, doing like a deep breathing activity or breath work.
Um, spending some time on the things that you love to do. That's all gonna help with the next thing, which is setting boundaries around your podcast, especially as you climb in popularity. You're going to have more people reaching out to you and you're going to have more things that are expected of you.
And so I think it's incredibly helpful to set really strong boundaries of, you know, maybe you're not going to respond to anything podcast related between 8pm and 10am. You're allowed that. Maybe you're only gonna pitch for guest opportunities on Thursdays. Things like that that you can set in place that help you to set those boundaries are really freaking helpful.
And honestly, like, more boundaries in 2025, just in general. So. Next up, build your support system, and hi, I would love to be part of it, but before we get there, delegate and collaborate. So if you have a co host, or if you have other people on your team, lean on them. And if you can't lean on them, find a better team.
And I say that while holding your hand, but find a better team. Find a team who can collaborate with you. Even if they don't work directly with you, I have other people who are in my space who I can lean on, who I can talk to and be like, hey, what do you think about this trend or thing that's happening in the industry?
Have someone like that in your corner, whether they are a technical collaborator or they're just like a bestie who you like to check in with and get coffee with. that's in your niche. Have that person who you can be like, Hey, I still need a story for this week's podcast. What do you, what's been on your mind lately?
Like, what do you help me generate? And that's so helpful. It's also just helpful to like get outside your head and, and have that network, have that support person. And the same is true for connecting with other creators. So I always advocate joining like an online podcasting community. I love the podcast support community on Facebook.
Where I'm a mod, but there's, you know, more niched down groups and spaces that you can be a part of. I, again, will advocate that I am really, really, really loving Threads. Threads is becoming such a happy place for me and a place that I feel really good to be. Like, I feel good to engage with social media in that capacity, and that's been really rejuvenating and exciting.
And that can help also with staving off burnout, especially when you need something that moves as fast as the 24 hour news cycle. And lastly, seek professional help. Whether you just end up needing, like, a VA who can answer emails for you so that you can actually get into the studio or wherever. I say studio even when I'm talking about your desk, because baby, you own that.
Uh, whatever you need to do to make sure that you can set the time aside to record your content. But also, I highly, highly advocate outsourcing post production and other parts of podcasting. And this is where I'm super excited to talk about the opening that I have starting in January for a weekly editing client.
It always gets me so excited when I get to offer this opportunity to a new podcaster. Whether you are someone who's doing, you know, really time sensitive weekly podcasts, or you're able to batch out, I really want to work with you, and I would love to hear more about your project. So I'm currently taking applications.
There's going to be a link in the show notes. If you think that you might be a good fit for me, and if you think I might be a good fit for you, let's chat. Let's make some magic happen. I'm also offering a month's worth of coaching calls for content clarity and just really tunneling in to make sure that your podcast is sending the right message to the right people, that you sound amazing, that your show notes are optimized, that your titles are looking good.
All things that my podcast management clients get. You don't have to sign up for all that. It's a free gift to thank you for coming to hang out with me and becoming my newest client. 2025 is gonna be big, it's gonna be great, it's gonna be heart led, and I'm so excited to meet you. But anyways, back to avoiding burnout.
Reconnect with your why. Anytime that you start to feel like this is really overwhelming, why am I doing this? Have an answer to that. Have an answer to why do I do this? Because you will ask yourself that question and in a perfect world, that's when I can hit you up on Boxer and be like, Hey babes, uh, I see that you're freaking out.
What's up? But if we're not working together, be able to do that for yourself. Be able to say, I do this because I'm passionate about making this difference in the world. Know that, let it be unshakable from your foundation, and use that to keep pushing forward. And finally, celebrate your wins. Whatever that looks like to you, whether that's the first DM that you get about, Oh my god, I loved this episode.
Whether that is reaching a hundred downloads, whether that is having people join your community or buy your offer or however you're measuring success, celebrate those wins. Treat. Yo. Self. Alright, so that is it for today. Check in the show notes for the sign up form. I can't wait to talk to you and help you make some podcasting magic in the new year.
In the meantime, if you want to come hang out, I'm over on Instagram and threads at Sonivia Studios, or you can email me directly at rue. sonivia at gmail. com. I will see you back here next week, same time, same place, baby, and thank you for helping me take podcasting up an octave.
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