This series is all about libsyn’s podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community!
Q & A with Lindsey from The Perfect Stool
When did you start podcasting?
November of 2018.
Why did you start podcasting?
I have been interested in and reading about gut health, the microbiome and fecal microbiota transplantation (AKA fecal or poop transplants) for more than 20 years due to my own gut health and later autoimmune issues.
I started a new career as a health coach in July of 2018 and finally had the time to consider sharing my passion with others. My husband is a podcaster as well (America Adapts: The Climate Change Podcast) so there were very low barriers to entry for me in terms of equipment, software and training.
He would periodically ask me and others: “If you were to do a podcast, what would it be about?” So I guess he planted the seed.
What’s the name of your show and what is it about?
The Perfect Stool: Understanding and Healing the Gut Microbiome
On the show I interview medical practitioners treating the gut, scientists and researchers researching the gut microbiome and patients who have done a fecal microbiota transplant either in a clinic or at home.
And every other episode I speak on a gut health topic from a functional medicine perspective. I try to provide detailed information that will either help people figure out their gut health problems on their own or know when and how to find the right kind of practitioner who can help them get better.
What’s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.
I use my husband’s microphone and headphones and record on Skype on my laptop.
I use Audacity to edit my audio and then run my shows through Auphonic to equalize the sound, reduce the file size and get rid of buzzes and hums.
I also create audiograms on Auphonic with graphics made on Canva. All are free software or programs for the amount I’m doing.
It’s all done on a shoestring budget. My only expense was the $15/month for Libsyn. 😁
How have you promoted your podcast?
I have an Excel chart with a series of related Facebook groups and subreddits on Reddit, plus my own business and personal LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter feeds. As I branch into new topics, I join more related groups or subreddits.
Starting one to two days after Libsyn publishes, I systematically post to all those locations first an audiogram then one week later, a quote post with a photo of my guest if I have one.
When I share in Facebook, I post first to my business page (High Desert Health), then I share that post to the many Facebook groups I belong to either as my business or as myself (depending on whether they allow businesses to be members).
That allows my typical audiogram posts to have 3000–5000 views despite my own Facebook following only being 500, and has meant steady growth in downloads and Facebook followers with each successive podcast.
I do have to be much more careful now though about posting too quickly to different Facebook groups as twice I’ve had my account restricted for a week for posting too fast and looking like a bot.
I typically wait at minimum 10 minutes before posting to more than 2 groups at a time.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
I knew a lot because of my husband’s experience, but I guess the main thing would be that I was relatively naïve about the caliber of guests I could recruit for a new podcast and could have saved myself some trouble by not going after big names right off the bat.
But fortunately, as my podcast has gotten more popular, and my guests have gotten more influential, I have found it easier and easier to recruit high quality guests.
The other thing I wish I had thought of at the beginning was how to best use my podcast as a tool to promote my business. Only interviewing guests didn’t establish my own credibility and authority on the topic of gut health. So that’s why I started doing some solo podcasts, and that has paid off with more requests for appointments coming through the podcast since I started that practice.
There was also a disconnect between my original niche in my health coach business (weight loss) and my podcast’s topic. I should have had those two sync better from the beginning.
If you are in any way interested in gut health, or bettering your gut health plus functional medicine convos around the topic, then this is the podcast for YOU! Subscribe via Apple Podcasts!
If you have a topic that is incredibly niche and you feel that you’d love to help others know more about the subject why not start a podcast? We would love to help you with that! We have a wonderful start podcasting blog series, a Podcasting Quickstart webinar, which is the best free podcasting education and if you don’t need any help getting started the best podcast hosting around!
