If you’re considering starting a podcast for your gym or fitness business you’ve come to the right place. Whether you’ve envisioned a strictly CrossFit podcast, a nutrition-based podcast, or perhaps a podcast on surviving the in-laws during the holidays, there is no wrong way to do it.
Simply put, you must first just START.
As an affiliate owner and/or a coach, you know there is a ton of information about health and wellness that you just can’t fit into an hour-long class. Even if you manage to talk about the sickness/wellness/fitness curve or explain what Paleo is at your nutrition seminar, how do you relay that information to members who weren’t present? What about non-members who have a strong interest in your topics and learning?
One way is to do a blog post (like this!) Having something written down and on the internet to share is a great way to share information without having to recreate it over and over (systems anyone?) Another way is through starting a podcast.
Thank you to Chris Plentus(CF-L3), owner of CrossFit Kanna in Ambler, PA for this guest post. (See Kanna’s CrossFit podcast here although it covers everything nutrition, fitness, and wellness.)
Podcasts and audiobooks have exploded in popularity over the last few years. The advantage an audio podcast has over a written blog post is it gives listeners the ability to multitask.
Being able to listen to a podcast while driving to work, school, home, etc. allows people to soak in knowledge without taking time away from other things.
Maybe you’ve thought about starting a podcast, but have no idea where to begin.
Here’s just one way you can start a podcast at super low cost (read: FREE)
STARTING A PODCAST
Step 1: Create First. Refine & Plan Later
Your phone probably has a voice memo app.
Open that sucker up and record something.
I like to record things that my ideal members would want to hear like my most recent podcast about surviving the holidays and navigating office parties, family gatherings, etc. (Side note: read Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz if you haven’t already – or better yet, get his audiobook)
Step 2: Get On a Platform
Download the app “Anchor.”
I first heard of it from Gary Vaynerchuk and while the main function is to be the “Twitter for voice,” I like that you can turn episodes into podcasts for free. Most importantly, they get pushed out to iTunes, Stitcher, and other major podcast platforms. FOR FREE.
While most serious podcasters pay for internet storage (hosting), you don’t have to. If your episode is less than 5 minutes, you can actually use the native Anchor tools to record and post up.
If it’s over 5 minutes, then use the phone voice memo app and go to Step 3. (But keep it under 90 minutes as that’s a restriction by Anchor)
Step 3: Upload
You need to get the voice memo file into Anchor, but as of now, you can’t do that with your phone so transfer the audio file from your phone to your computer. (Mac users can AirDrop it)
Once on the computer, go to the Anchor website (anchor.fm), login, and upload your audio file. Give it a title like “10 Tips to Stay Fit in the New Year” or whatever you talked about.
Step 4: Distribute
Go back to your phone, open the Anchor app and now you’ll see the long voice memo was chunked into mini episodes on your “station.”
These will disappear after 24 hours, but you can hit the “+Episode” button and convert them all into one podcast. Doing this will push your podcast out to all of the major distributors like iTunes, Stitcher, etc. and it happens automatically.
That’s pretty much it! There are always ways to upgrade your equipment and process if you realize you want to do this long term.
For in-person interviews, I use two Rode smartLav+ and an adapter to connect the mics to my iPhone. For Skype interviews, I just use the free Quicktime app to record the audio.
When starting a podcast, there’s a slew of recording apps for both phone and computer, but for now, keep it simple. If you want to get fancy with musical intros/outros and editing, you can use the free Audacity program or splurge for something like Adobe Audition (~$20/mo).
There are a ton of guides out there recommending fancy recorders, microphones, headsets, and apps, but the best thing to do is start easy and see if you even like doing podcasts.
As with most things related to life and business, imperfect action is better than procrastinating because you want things to go perfectly. So just get started. Record something that you think would be useful to your members and put it out there.
My first “podcast” is a really quick tip about buying a rotisserie chicken and sweet potatoes as a quick dinner.
Listening to it now, it’s awkward and not really like my other podcasts. I think about deleting it, but I keep it up there to remind myself what it’s like to just start.
So go ahead and open up your voice memo app, talk into it as if you’re talking to one of your favorite members, and put it out there. You got this!
Chris Plentus (CF-L3) is the owner of CrossFit Kanna located in Ambler, PA. If you’d like to get in touch, you can email him at chris@crossfitkanna.com.
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