The Cost And Time Needed To Create Pick My Adventure Show Podcast
When I first thought to myself, I want to start a podcast, I honestly thought I would just being talking into my built-in computer microphone/speaker (wherever it’s secretly located) – as if I were Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson with their heads squeezed together in The Internship – and there might be a website that records it for me before that same website would publish it to the world with the click of a button!
Well, I was WRONG! My first clue that the process might be more difficult was when asking my friend, Shobeir, the host of The Shobeir Show, what all goes into creating a podcast. It was pretty daunting to learn that I would have to do more than two things to publish a podcast! I thought long and hard about scrapping the whole idea and going back to just mindlessly scrolling Instagram for the rest of my life.
But then I remembered that I used to challenge myself with things I don’t know about! Like that time I wanted to see if I could smash a watermelon open with my head. I didn’t just think about doing it. I did it! Learning how to create a podcast might stimulate me once again, challenging the very fibers of my being! (Btw, I could not smash open that watermelon with my head. 😥)
So, I proceeded to get my hands dirty and teach myself how to do every little thing along the way to publish my podcast, Pick My Adventure Show. I watched many hours of YouTube videos on how to use almost every website below, as well as read countless blog posts and articles. Here is everything you need to know about starting your own podcast. (It should be noted that I can spend an hour online researching the best brand of toilet paper that offers the most square feet of distance at the best cost. So, rest assured that I spent hours researching every product/website I ended up choosing below. 😉)
Plus, you just look so much more professional with a microphone in front of you when interviewing someone! (See pic under #2 😉)
COST: $76.03
Also, let’s say you have remote interview guests? You can send out “studio” invite links, so when they click on the link, you’ll both be in the same online room and you can press record whenever you’re ready to begin.
COST: $180/year or $15/month. 
Having used Wix to build my PR website (Empathy PR), I can tell you that Squarespace is far superior!
COST: $172.80/year
You’re going to need cover art (3000 x 3000 pixels) for all the podcast directories, plus a long landscape image for YouTube, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other site you might want to create a presence for your podcast in –which I recommend that you do. Don’t forget, if you’re creating a video podcast, you’ll probably want to have some transparent logos that will always be shown on screen, which you can also create on Canva.
COST: $6.49/month
Well, turns out there’s actually a lot of free music on the web! I guess there’s a reason there’s all those starving musicians out there! While I went with a song on YouTube I liked, I also checked out Pixabay, which is also a great site for free music.
COST: FREE! (Finally!)
COST: FREE!
I chose Podbean after researching nearly a dozen sites – there’s a lot out there! – because it’s one of only two sites that support video podcasts. In all my research, video podcasts seem to be the next iteration of where podcasts will go. In fact, many pundits argue that it’s a missed opportunity for many people, when you can easily turn your audio podcast into a video. FOMO is my middle name, so my podcast is a video podcast.
COST: $29/month
TOTAL COST: $464.32
All of the above took me about four months from conception to publication, but should probably take less time for someone who doesn’t spend eight hours a day scrolling Instagram 🤦🏻♂️. There’s also plenty more that went into creating this podcast, including researching and cold-emailing interview subjects. Since my show is dedicated to interviewing the world’s most traveled people – there are less than 300 people in the world who have traveled to every country – I knew exactly who I needed to research and find.
While at times I felt it was rather daunting to learn how to do things I have never done before, I knew it would be rewarding in the end. And it was! Going through this process reminded me a bit of when I taught myself how to write screenplays and proceeded to write two of them. I also attempted to shop them in Hollywood. They didn’t sell, but it was such a rewarding process to challenge myself and learn a new industry.
What I found in my time then was that nearly EVERYONE wants to write a screenplay, but 99% of the people never even try. They’d rather someone do it for them. I can’t tell you how annoying it was when people would hear that I wrote a screenplay and would say, “maybe I can tell you my idea and you write mine for me!”
No, you lazy idiots. 🤦🏻♂️
I’d imagine many people will read this post who are considering starting a podcast and see the amount of work it takes and decide to throw in the towel. I hope you don’t. I can’t say it was easy, but what rewarding endeavor in life is easy?
Don’t be lazy.
You go find your watermelon, but be sure to choose a ripe one! 😉
If you have any questions, I’m always happy to help answer. If you’d like to check out my video podcast, you can find the videos on YouTube here and the podcast on all available platforms. More information here: https://pickmyadventure.com/.
Sincerely,
Kevin Leu
Host, Pick My Adventure Show
But then I remembered that I used to challenge myself with things I don’t know about! Like that time I wanted to see if I could smash a watermelon open with my head. I didn’t just think about doing it. I did it! Learning how to create a podcast might stimulate me once again, challenging the very fibers of my being! (Btw, I could not smash open that watermelon with my head. 😥)
So, I proceeded to get my hands dirty and teach myself how to do every little thing along the way to publish my podcast, Pick My Adventure Show. I watched many hours of YouTube videos on how to use almost every website below, as well as read countless blog posts and articles. Here is everything you need to know about starting your own podcast. (It should be noted that I can spend an hour online researching the best brand of toilet paper that offers the most square feet of distance at the best cost. So, rest assured that I spent hours researching every product/website I ended up choosing below. 😉)
1. YOU NEED RECORDING EQUIPMENT
Bought a Samsung Q2U Microphone – Turns out there’s a large discrepancy between using the microphone on your laptop (which captures ALL the noise around your laptop) to using a specially-designed microphone that captures the audio in a cleaner, deeper tone.Plus, you just look so much more professional with a microphone in front of you when interviewing someone! (See pic under #2 😉)
COST: $76.03
2. YOU NEED RECORDING SOFTWARE
Chose Riverside.FM – Riverside.FM records your video and audio podcast, while also allowing you to edit it on their site. When you’re done recording, it also transcribes all the audio to text for you, so you can have a text copy of everything that was said. This is great for closed captioning, a blog post, or even editing out excerpts you don’t want to include in the final version.Also, let’s say you have remote interview guests? You can send out “studio” invite links, so when they click on the link, you’ll both be in the same online room and you can press record whenever you’re ready to begin.
COST: $180/year or $15/month.
3. YOU NEED A WEBSITE
Chose Squarespace – Well, you could get by without one, as one of the other websites (Podbean) I mention later in this post gives you a website. However, having your own dynamic website that gives you numerous options and advanced functionality is better. Plus, the “free” website is branded with the company’s name in the URL, unless you want to pay more to remove it.Having used Wix to build my PR website (Empathy PR), I can tell you that Squarespace is far superior!
COST: $172.80/year
4. YOU NEED LOGOS/COVER ART/GRAPHICS
Chose Canva – While I’ve been thoroughly impressed with every website I’ve used, I enjoyed exploring Canva the most! It’s really easy and fun to create cover art on Canva. They have numerous templates you can use and just swap out your own pictures and change the text.You’re going to need cover art (3000 x 3000 pixels) for all the podcast directories, plus a long landscape image for YouTube, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other site you might want to create a presence for your podcast in –which I recommend that you do. Don’t forget, if you’re creating a video podcast, you’ll probably want to have some transparent logos that will always be shown on screen, which you can also create on Canva.
COST: $6.49/month
5. YOU NEED MUSIC
Chose YouTube No Copyright Music – What TV show doesn’t have a catchy jingle at the beginning and end of the show? What radio show doesn’t? Well, I scoured all the top travel podcasts, and they all seemed to have a jingle as well! Great. One more thing I know nothing about.Well, turns out there’s actually a lot of free music on the web! I guess there’s a reason there’s all those starving musicians out there! While I went with a song on YouTube I liked, I also checked out Pixabay, which is also a great site for free music.
COST: FREE! (Finally!)
6. YOU NEED EDITING SOFTWARE
Used iMovie – How else are you going to edit in the logos you created on Canva, the music you downloaded from YouTube, and overlay text into your podcast? Even if it is just an audio podcast, you still need to be able to edit in the free music you just downloaded. Fortunately I have a MacBook, so iMovie comes with the laptop. Not sure what you might use on other PCs. Maybe Adobe Premiere Pro?COST: FREE!
7. YOU NEED A HOSTING AND DISTRIBUTION PLATFORM
Chose Podbean - Why Riverside.FM doesn’t push your podcast to the various podcast platforms (Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, and more) baffles me. Instead, you have to find a hosting platform that stores your edited large files and distributes them to the various podcast sites. You could do this yourself, but all of the hosting sites offer this service.I chose Podbean after researching nearly a dozen sites – there’s a lot out there! – because it’s one of only two sites that support video podcasts. In all my research, video podcasts seem to be the next iteration of where podcasts will go. In fact, many pundits argue that it’s a missed opportunity for many people, when you can easily turn your audio podcast into a video. FOMO is my middle name, so my podcast is a video podcast.
COST: $29/month
TOTAL COST: $464.32
All of the above took me about four months from conception to publication, but should probably take less time for someone who doesn’t spend eight hours a day scrolling Instagram 🤦🏻♂️. There’s also plenty more that went into creating this podcast, including researching and cold-emailing interview subjects. Since my show is dedicated to interviewing the world’s most traveled people – there are less than 300 people in the world who have traveled to every country – I knew exactly who I needed to research and find.
While at times I felt it was rather daunting to learn how to do things I have never done before, I knew it would be rewarding in the end. And it was! Going through this process reminded me a bit of when I taught myself how to write screenplays and proceeded to write two of them. I also attempted to shop them in Hollywood. They didn’t sell, but it was such a rewarding process to challenge myself and learn a new industry.
What I found in my time then was that nearly EVERYONE wants to write a screenplay, but 99% of the people never even try. They’d rather someone do it for them. I can’t tell you how annoying it was when people would hear that I wrote a screenplay and would say, “maybe I can tell you my idea and you write mine for me!”
No, you lazy idiots. 🤦🏻♂️
I’d imagine many people will read this post who are considering starting a podcast and see the amount of work it takes and decide to throw in the towel. I hope you don’t. I can’t say it was easy, but what rewarding endeavor in life is easy?
Don’t be lazy.
You go find your watermelon, but be sure to choose a ripe one! 😉
If you have any questions, I’m always happy to help answer. If you’d like to check out my video podcast, you can find the videos on YouTube here and the podcast on all available platforms. More information here: https://pickmyadventure.com/.
Sincerely,
Kevin Leu
Host, Pick My Adventure Show
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