It’s been called a healer, a teacher, and the most important currency.

Everyone gets the same amount, but it’s never enough. Successful people use theirs much more efficiently than others. Once it’s gone, you can never get it back.

Next to perhaps money, time is the most valuable commodity you have as an entrepreneur.

You already know why it’s so important to spend some of this time planning and launching a podcast. But now that you’ve officially decided to go through with it, you’re wondering how you’ll find time in your already-packed schedule for the many things that a successful podcast host and creator has to take care of.

Don’t worry. While there’s always going to be an investment of time required for successful podcasting, with the proper planning you can maximize your return on this investment to create a great podcast without it dominating your schedule and taking away from your other responsibilities.

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Plan early and extensively

As the old saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.” It’s also planning to waste a lot of time: without a plan in place that says what you will do, when you will do it, and how you will do it, you’ll struggle to launch your podcast efficiently.

Just a few concepts that should be handled during the planning stages of a podcast include:

• Determining how long your shows will be and how often they’ll be released. Marketing research shows that around 20-30 minutes is the best length for a podcast, but you may choose to go longer or shorter depending on the nature of your show
• Choosing your structure: will you hold interviews? Q&A sessions with your listeners? Discuss news stories in your industry? These are all common elements of podcasts in every industry
• Promoting your podcast. There are plenty of unique ways to promote a podcast, but you can’t spread yourself too thin when it comes to marketing your podcast. You’ll want to choose a few methods that will provide the most benefit for your show, based on its content and target demographic

Of course, you don’t want to spend so much time planning your podcast that it takes away from the actual launch. But the more you can plan out in the future, the easier it will be to stick to that plan and keep things on track for your launch.

Manage your expectations

The decision to start a podcast requires a certain amount of confidence. Undoubtedly, having this confidence is what has helped you succeed in other areas of business and life.

But there’s a fine line between confidence and foolishness when it comes to expectations for your podcast. It takes lots and lots of sustained effort and time to build up a podcast audience and keep them engaged long-term.

Don’t try to do too much all at once. It’s nice to imagine a thriving podcast with multiple releases each week, tens of thousands of listeners, and consistently innovative content that sets the bar in your industry, but this just isn’t realistic. Not at first, anyway.

There’s no ceiling to what you can accomplish with your podcast, but when you’re first starting up your show you should aim to simply get on a consistent release schedule and start promoting your podcast regularly.

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Block out dedicated time for your podcast

Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most successful comedians of all time. He created a sitcom ranked as one of the best in history and always ranks highly on the lists of the top-earning comedians in the world.

What’s the secret to Seinfeld’s success? Consistent dedication to his craft.

When he was starting out, Seinfeld reportedly placed a large calendar on his wall and wrote a red X on it for each day that he wrote new jokes. After a few days of writing consistently, he had created a “chain” on the calendar and kept himself motivated to write new material every day by not wanting to miss a day, in effect breaking the chain. This type of consistent dedication is necessary for success at any large-scale endeavor, whether it’s launching a podcast, getting in shape, or writing jokes that make people laugh for over two decades.

When you’re already busy, you’ve got to block out time to plan your podcast

It’s fine if you can’t dedicate time every single day to your podcast, but you’ll want to ensure that you are consistently putting time into your podcast every week. Try setting an appointment on your calendar tool and treating these appointments as you would one with a prospective customer or doctor.

Outsource the right things

In today’s fast-paced world of breaking news and instant communication, it can be tough for marketers to decide which tasks they need to take care of personally and which ones can be delegated to their team members or outside contractors. If you’re already pressed for time and you want to start a podcast without it cutting into your existing work or personal time, you must outsource.

However, there’s one critical rule that should guide all of your outsourcing efforts: never outsource your core competency.

Focus on what you are good at, devote all of your time and energy to that, and outsource as much of the rest as you can. In the case of podcasting, you will most likely want to outsource administrative things like editing audio, tagging audio files, and creating art for your episodes.

You’ll want to keep tasks like creating content and interacting with your listener base in-house. There are lots of resources that you can use to find a suitable contractor or part-time team member to help take care of things you want to outsource, so that you can free up time to focus on your core strengths. Podcast Motor offers varying levels of service packages, so that you can choose which tasks you want to outsource.

Integrate your podcast with other marketing efforts

If you’re savvy enough to understand the marketing benefits of podcasting, you probably also get why it’s a good idea to have a blog, social media pages, email list, and so on.

Your existing marketing tactics are a great place to start when it comes to building an audience for your podcast in the shortest amount of time possible. A few examples:

• Running a blog? Hold a contest that people have to enter on your blog and announce winners on an episode of your podcast
• Publishing videos? Record one of your shows or parts of the preparation to release to your audience
• Using social media? Share unique episode artwork or interesting snippets from content that you discuss on your shows

With some creative thinking, the list of ways that you can integrate your podcast into the tactics you’re already using to promote your brand is endless.

Don’t let time become a feared nemesis when it comes to your podcast. Plan carefully, outsource what you aren’t great at, and include your podcast in your current marketing efforts, and you’ll find that time is firmly on your side when it comes to planning and executing a great podcast.

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