There seems to be a common misconception out there that creating a podcast is really expensive. Well that’s just not true, and I’m going to show you today how to start a podcast for $221 right now.
I know this isn’t our usual episode, but so many creatives have asked me about this exact thing that I feel that I need to talk about it. Besides, starting a podcast is one of the best ways to grow your business for a couple reasons.
1. It gives you immediate authority in the niche you are looking to target. We’re not going to talk about format in this episodes, but rest assured if this goes well I will have a follow up episode in the future.
2. Podcasts allow you to contact influencers in your space to whom you would otherwise not have access. I can’t tell you how many amazing people I was able to meet and connect with specifically because I had a podcast.
3. It allows you access to your fans and the ability to give them incredible value for free. One of the keys to success is providing incredible value, and a podcast allows your fans and potential fans to get that information in one of the most intimate ways possible: by allowing you access to their earbuds.
Those are all great ways to start a podcast, but the best one is the unwavering desire to want a podcast. Podcasts are tons of work in booking guests, and creating questions, and marketing something new. They are so worth it though. I love this podcast in a way I never thought I would, and can’t see my life without it.
But I’m cheap. I wasn’t about to spend $1000-$3000 setting up a podcast though. That would be crazy. I wanted to hack the system and find the cheapest way to get started and sound professional.
So below is the exact set-up I use for my podcast. I’m not advocating this for anybody else. I’m just relaying the exact information as I’m using it to help you cut costs by thousands of dollars and actually make your podcast a reality.
And I’m going to do it for $221. Let’s put $221 on the big board.
AMOUNT LEFT: $221.
I should say before I get started that I’m in the USA, and these numbers might be different in other countries. This is still the CHEAPEST way to launch your podcast. Note: This is assuming you have a computer decent enough to run all of these programs. This is also only for the first year.
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AMOUNT LEFT: $221.
STEP 1: MICROPHONE - The first thing you are going to need for a podcast is a microphone. I highly recommend the Blue Yeti.
The Blue Yeti is what most podcasts without enormous budget use. It is pretty objectively the gold standard of bootstrapping podcasts like The Business of Art. What’s great about this mic is there are four settings, gain control, and volume control so you can use it for multiple people, just yourself, or any combination in between.
Right now the Blue Yeti is $109 on amazon, but I have seen it for under $100.
If you don’t want to go baller, you can also get the BLUE SNOWBALL for $50.00. The Snowball is also by Blue and I know plenty of podcasts that use this one. It’s only designed for one person and doesn’t have quite as good audio quality as the Yeti, but still a solid choice.
For these purposes I’m going all in and buying a Yeti. You can also buy a pop filter for under $10. I like this one. You can also buy a shock mount and a boom stand, but for this exercise we’re not gonna buy any of that.
AMOUNT SPENT: $110
AMOUNT LEFT: $111
STEP 2: RECORDING GEAR – Once you have your dope microphone, you can set off into the wild world of recording. If you are going for perfection then you could buy a travel recorder, equalizer, and a bunch of other gear, but we’re doing this the cheapest way possible, right? So here’s what I use:
Travel Recorder – My smart phone. That’s right. When I go to live shows and do on the road interviews I use my iphone with an app called Recorder Plus. It’s how I used to record my audio before I stated podcasting for everything. This is FREE. After I’m doing recording I just email the files to myself. Note: if you are doing that this exports a file not supported by Audacity, so you have to do some free conversion tool you can find online.
In Studio Recording – When I’m at home, I use Audacity to record all my intros and outros, as well as this episode. Sometimes I also bring my computer on location with me and use Audacity there as well. This is a free, relatively easy to use program. There is a learning curve, but there are also guides on Youtube to walk you through set-up.
In additional to Audacity, you need something to record guests. All my guests are remote and call in using Skype. Skype is free to call between Skype names, but you can pay $2.99 to get unlimited domestic calling to phones (again, only in the US). I have this, but only because some of my guests have terrible wifi.
Skype doesn’t allow you to record audio in app, so I use MP3 SKYPE RECORDER to record everything. So far we’ve recorded 40 episodes and it hasn’t failed me yet, knock on wood. This is also free!
Because I have so many different USB plugs (computer, microphone, etc) I needed a 4 port USB adapter to fit everything. I chose this one which is about $10, but you don’t need this. It is absolutely a luxury, but an amazing luxury.
Because we’re going for the cheapest way possible, I going to say you can get all of this for FREE!
AMOUNT SPENT: $0
AMOUNT LEFT: $111
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STEP 3: MUSIC AND LOGO – Now you have all your gear. You can record at will! However, you are probably going to at least make it sound nice with some music and have a cool logo right? If you don’t want to beg your friend or hire an artist, there are a couple resources that work really well.
First, if you google ROYALTY FREE MUSIC + GENRE, you will find scores of instrumental tracks for very cheap in the genre you see fitting with your podcast. Whether it’s rock like WTF with Marc Maron, or Weird Barbershop Quartet like You Made it Weird, or techno explosion like The Tim Ferris Show, you can find something you like for under $10. I spent a grand total of $15 on music by using this method, and only because I bought three tracks to test. I wanted chiptunes music like the Start-Up podcast.
I’m going to assume you can find something similar for around what I paid for 3 tracks. So I’ll say you can find a track for $15.
Then, it comes to graphics.
What’s great about graphics is there are programs out there that make you look awesome. Whether it’s Canva for PC, Phonto for Android/OS, or Typorama for IOS, you can find something that makes you look like a boss. I did my logo on Phonto for FREEEEEE! It took me about 10 minutes. You can spend a few bucks to unlock some awesome extras, but I’m going to assume you will use the free version like me.
AMOUNT SPENT: $15
AMOUNT LEFT: $96
STEP 4: PODCAST HOSTING – There are dozens of choices when it comes to website hosting, including self-hosting, but I didn’t want to deal with that. I wanted somewhere who would syndicate out to as many places as possible. You see, itunes and others do not host podcasts. Oh no. They only pull from podcast feeds on other sites, like Podbean.
If you go the self-hosting route, you’ll have to make sure everything is perfect on your end before submitting to itunes, and it’s still going to cost you money to get a site and a theme. If you are looking for a wordpress site, I highly recommend Bluehost with the Podcaster theme. Bluehost allows you do one click Wordpress install in a snap and it’s cheap. I love it.
However, I host everything with Podbean because I didn’t want the hassle. I wanted to make sure that everything was syndicated properly because this was my first podcast ever. The only reason I got another site is because sponsors asked for it. Podbean costs $8/mo, which is on the high end. If you want to get a theme and a site you are looking at about $6 for Bluehost and $50 for the Podcaster theme. There are other choices out there for hosting as well.
I’m going to say you go with Podbean because who needs that hassle.
AMOUNT SPENT: $8 x 12 = $96.00/yr
AMOUNT LEFT: $0
And there you have it, a fully functional podcast for only $221 set-up cost. Now, you’ll have to spend $100/yr in recurring costs, but even in 20 years that’s less than most people will have spent just to set up their podcast initially!
After you get set up, then you can talk syndication to other networks and actually monetizing this bad boy.
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