We’ve Hit 10,000 Downloads, Thanks To YOU!

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Written by

Krista Goon

Published on

August 14, 2022
BlogNews

Just last week, I checked my podcast stats and found out that Womenpreneur Asia has hit the 10,000 download milestone (to be exact, it’s 10,510 downloads). This was a metric that I had set for myself even BEFORE I started the podcast.

Why 10K? It seemed like a nice round number to target but it was also my own way of challenging myself. At that time (July 2019, Hawaii), I was given 7 minutes to present my project which eventually became this podcast. I had no expectations of myself back then – I pitched my idea to my Asia-Pacific friends and everyone loved the concept and motivated me to go ahead.

Except that I didn’t know how.

Now, 57 episodes into my podcast with 10K downloads, I reflect on how far I have come. From zero knowledge of podcasting to arriving at this magic number, I am grateful. I am grateful to the women who have heartily opened up to me and even to the snob who refused to be on my podcast.

I’ve spoken to women in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, India, Mongolia, The Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. I’ve spent more than 100 hours on the phone, on Google Meet and on Streamyard. I’ve done so many pre-interview calls that I can do them with my eyes closed. I used to have 1-hour pre-interview calls; they’re now 20 minutes maximum.

It gets easier now that I have some track record but in the early days (think 18 months ago), I was pitching my podcast to potential guests! It helped that all my entrepreneur friends happily got on board and helped me. They believed in me when I hadn’t even had a single episode recorded.

So what have I learned in the course of doing this?

  • Ask. If you don’t ask, you don’t get it. Yes, I got rejected. Some had interesting reasons (two women in China were afraid to speak honestly about their situations and I had to respect that. And it gave me food for thought. How often do we take our freedom to speak for granted?) and one woman was so uppity because she had had so many media appearances that my tiny podcast wasn’t good enough. Was I upset? I was shocked that she could be so presumptuous and nasty when all I wanted was to highlight her story but I shrugged it off. It’s her loss because I will never ask again if someone is rude. And there’s a special place in hell for women who refuse to help other women.
  • One step at a time. If I think about it, all my fears, in the beginning, were about HOW to get it done. We all suffer from this. We get ahead of ourselves and want to start doing and realize we don’t have the technical know-how to get things started. (And I have been doing digital stuff as long as I can remember and I am not afraid of tech. What more if you are not in this industry and have no idea of the tech?) What I learned is that if I have a growth mindset, I can learn. It could be tough but I can always learn. If I didn’t, I could also outsource or delegate to someone. Were all my episodes perfect? Hell no. I cringe at the early episodes because I sounded like I was whispering instead of speaking. But I keep them to remind me that I have progressed. I have become more confident as the seasons rolled on.
  • Get help and ONLY do what you love best. I tried using Garage Band to add music to my podcast in the first episode and I couldn’t do it. I probably had no patience so I gave the job to a team member, PC, who happily did it for me. He also smoothened the audio. Now, my husband helps me with all the audio engineering and combines the intro and outro to the main interview. What I do is what I like to do and can do well which is editing my interviews, editing videos and creating audiograms. I would like an intern to help me though so if you know anyone who is great with communications, let me know.
  • Find an angle. My pre-interview calls are now more focused. Besides getting to know the person, I am also searching for an angle to anchor my interview. Having an angle enables me to probe deeper and gain insights that add value to you, the listener. It makes the conversation more meaningful and shines a light on the tough stuff that most people shy away from.
  • Questions are only a guide. Some guests ask for a list of questions before we record. Others simply go with the flow. But my questions are only a guide. An interview is like a tango – I follow where my guest leads me. Her replies prompt the next question. It’s more natural this way. In the earlier episodes, I tried to ask every question I had prepared. By doing so, I lapsed into inattentiveness. Now I listen deeply and try to ask questions that arise in my mind as I hear the answers. The process seems a little organic and messy but it works. My guests often are more relaxed and we have a much more empathetic dialogue!
  • Finetune as you go along. I’m a big believer in starting at 80% readiness and launching something even if it’s not perfect. I used to be worried if something wasn’t 100% but I’ve discovered that there’s no 100% and delaying is simply the fear of not putting your work out there for the world to see. We’re all afraid of being judged. Even now I think, someone out there is listening to my podcast. What will they think of me? Will they like it? Will they hate it? I also know that I can improve once I have launched. I am still improving my interview skills, my editing skills, my writing, my pitch, and my workflow from getting on a pre-interview call to recording the episode. I’ve become more effective with my time now as many of the processes are either automated, streamlined or processed using AI. (Thank God I am a digital person!) I use Calendly to schedule recording appointments, email templates that I can easily copy, paste and personalise, Canva to create graphics and more.
  • Having fun is key. Creating podcast episodes is fun for me. I love the idea of talking to another woman in business, being inspired by her intelligence, hard work, beliefs, philosophy and learning from her life experiences. I enjoy creating scalable, digital content that others can benefit from. It’s really not “work” because I keep getting inspired each time I record an episode. So here’s my big hairy audacious goal – to interview 10,000 Asian women in business. I don’t know how I’ll get there but I know somehow I will (and I will need your help!). Even now, I am thinking of other ways to have fun with this incredible network of women I know. I shall keep you posted.

So there you have it. It’s all from the heart. I have no PR agency doing this. This is me, experimenting, tweaking, growing, and learning as I enjoy my podcasting journey.

I am also considering doing episodes without any guests – just me talking about business, marketing, communications and leadership. Is this a good idea? You tell me.

Since I have hit 10K, my next milestone will be 100K downloads. What say you?