The Content Production System That’s Kept My Podcast Weekly for Five Years | Ep 288

Please note: This transcript was generated using automated transcription tools and may contain typographical errors or inaccurately captured words or phrases.

Dr Steve Day: This year we celebrated five years of this podcast going out. We have never missed a single episode despite life getting in the way many, many times. In January, for example, I got pneumonia and I was laid up for a couple of weeks. My kids were also ill at the same time so I was looking after them and trying to look after myself.

There was no chance on earth I was gonna record a podcast episode. However, this podcast still went out on time every single week while I was ill and I was recovering. Today I want to share why I believe consistency is nothing to do with willpower. Is nothing to do with grinding away or having grit. To be able to force through and get things done and stress out about it.

It\'s about having a system or a process. That means that even when you are feeling, having the least amount of willpower, the thing you\'re committed to will still get done with or without your involvement at the time. That is why I\'ve never missed an episode and today I want to show exactly how we do it. Whether you\'re recording an episode or anything else that you need to commit to produce on a regular basis.

Creating content on a regular basis is something that many businesses try to do. Especially if you\'re a coach or an expert, and it\'s the way you attract people into your world. But the problem is, that I\'ve seen so many times, is those ideas just die a death. Because people aren\'t consistent. They lack the motivation to keep going, they feel they don\'t have the discipline to continue, and they just sort of peter out.

That is exactly what happened with my Facebook Group. We hit 3,000 odd members really quickly in the first year or so. And then the posts started not seeing quite as much reach as they did before. I started getting less consistent with it. I was getting distracted with coaching and other things.

And because I hadn\'t planned any process or system behind that, it was really me doing everything. So I would have to plan the content, I\'d have to record the content, edit the content, publish the content. And as soon as one of those parts fell down because I just didn\'t have the discipline, motivation, energy to do it, the whole thing fell apart.

So my Facebook Group hasn\'t really progressed beyond that for a long time. Because I\'ve not actually applied a process to putting regular content that is connecting with the members of it. Had I done that from the beginning like I did with this podcast, I believe that Facebook group would be still growing today and still really active.

And it\'s something that I\'m gonna get back into in the near future. But I will be approaching it in a completely different way than I did before. I\'m dyslexic, I\'ve got ADHD, I struggle with keeping consistent about stuff. I struggle with doing things that don\'t really motivate me. So I\'ve got to have structure behind me. That allows me to do the stuff I really enjoy at the time I\'ve got the energy to do it and the motivation to do it.

And then other people or other things or systems or AI or automation can take care of the rest. That means that I get to do the bit that I will do. And I can plan that, I can batch it, I can actually get it done, those moments when I feel in the mood to do it. And then the rest of it is taken care by the system, by the people, by the technology.

That way I can be consistent. I can get stuff done like this podcast, get episodes out every single year on time for five years going- five years consistently. Without it having to be reliant on me keeping up my discipline, my motivation, my willpower.

And this isn\'t about applying fancier tools to the problem. It can involve things like AI. It can involve things like automation, schedulers, and things like that. But the main crux of this is actually understanding what your process is. It\'s about mapping out the system behind the thing you\'re trying to do consistently. And identifying exactly what it is that you have to do that no one else can do for you. And then figuring out ways to get other people or technology to help you with all the rest.

That\'s how I get this podcast done consistently. I record the audio, and that\'s it. I\'m hands-off for everything else. I do read over the emails once they\'ve been drafted to make sure they\'re in my voice and make sure they actually say the thing I want them to say. But it\'s not me actually doing any of that hard work anymore.

I don\'t do any of the publishing, any of the editing. I don\'t do any of the fancy stuff like graphics or thumbnails and all that stuff that goes out into these podcasts. Because if I did, I would just find excuses why I wasn\'t gonna do it today, because I had something far more important to do. And the podcast would die a death, just like my Facebook Group did many years ago.

So today, I wanted to share how we break this down, how we make this happen so that you can do this too.

So let me just break down the actual process, the step-by-step process that goes into creating, publishing, and promoting this podcast. This is our podcast production and promotion system. It\'s how we get this done consistently. And this can be applied to any type of content you\'re producing. And actually any part of your business where you want things done consistently. But don\'t wanna have to be the one holding and sticking all the, being the glue that sticks everything together and connecting all the dots.

Now, there\'s a lot of cliche expressions there, so excuse me. But the point here is that I wanna get out of my brain what it is I want to happen in a way that other people can do it for me. I say people, it could be AI, it could be automation too. This process of actually understanding how to map things out is even more important now than it\'s ever been.

Because where we get AI involved, we need to be super clear about what the AI is doing, what it isn\'t doing. How it gets the information it needs to do its job, and where that information goes afterwards. Just like if you\'re working with a human or if you\'re working with AI, sorry, with automation. It doesn\'t matter how things or what is actually doing the work. We still need to plan out exactly what that work is, when it needs to be done, what inputs they need, and what outputs they will produce.

That has never changed since the day I started business. And has been in existence forever since any task was ever delegated at any point in the past. So the process is relatively simple. And it\'s something that anybody can learn. It\'s not a technology thing. This is just a mindset thing. How can I break down the steps of the thing that I do into the smaller pieces to realize there\'s actually very few of them that are solely reliant on me.

For me, I started out by saying, \"Look, what am I currently doing?\" And at the time when I started this podcast, it was pretty much me doing it. I did have a virtual assistant, and I was able to get them involved really early on. And that\'s why this actually worked and went forward, was because I handed over stuff as I created it, as I figured out how to do it. And then eventually she then took over and actually started managing and developing the process and the system herself as well.

But in the early days, it was like, \"Right, I\'m gonna record a podcast. How do I get this from being something I record to something that\'s published on my podcast channel and then promoted into the world?\" That promotion in the beginning was literally just putting a post out onto Facebook and just saying, \"Hey, I\'ve recorded a podcast. Here it is.\"

But that was what I was doing. I was recording the content, I was editing it if it needed it. I was then handing it over to the agency who then put it onto the podcast channels for me. And then I was literally just saying, \"Hey, here\'s the link to the episode. Go listen to it if you want.\" We didn\'t have YouTube, we didn\'t have thumbnails. We didn\'t have multiple channels being promoted out, we didn\'t have emails going out about the podcast. It was simply me just recording it and getting it done.

I started the podcast because I wanted to start building a history behind the journey that I\'m going on with my own business. About the systems that I\'m creating, about creating authority in the world. This is something that I\'ve thought about for five years, actually a lot longer than that. But I\'ve been talking about it openly and publicly for five years. And so it provides that history and that authority that people can go and look and find out, yeah, Steve actually has been thinking about this for a long time.

So at the beginning, I wasn\'t bothered about it going out to a wide audience and being like the top number one podcast. Because that wasn\'t the intention of this. And having that very clear intention about why I was doing it was really important to know what was important in the system in the early days.

So rather than saying, \"Hey, I\'m gonna have this big podcast. Gonna compete with Joe Rogan or something.\" And trying to actually go massive first of all and think about all the moving parts that needed to be in. I said, \"No. What is the first thing that\'s important to this?\"

And for me, it was going out consistently, and it was going out and getting it recorded and published onto the podcast. And that was it. So my first ever system I created was really simple. It was Steve record the, or Steve plans what he\'s gonna talk about. We record the episode, we edit and publish that episode. And then we promote the episode in a really simple way.

Then once that was then handed over to my assistant, I then started just taking the bits only I could do. Like the planning part of the episodes. To me, that\'s something I actually do. And I use AI to help a lot with it and actually structure things. But it\'s still me that\'s driving the content.

That\'s not to say it\'s always gonna be. Because there\'s loads of ways we can actually go out and find viral content and bring it back and say, \"Hey, I\'m gonna record an episode on that.\" And actually, the whole planning part could be completely done by my assistant plus a little bit of AI. But for now, I actually record the stuff that I\'m currently thinking and working on. So I don\'t actually need to do that for the purpose of my podcast. Because I\'m not trying to go viral and big. I\'m trying to be consistent and authentic.

So next step was, okay, the editing of the podcast. So I used to do all the editing to begin with. Until I figured out, actually, I didn\'t need to edit the videos. I could tell someone to go through, watch the video. Find out the mistakes I made, the bits where I repeat stuff, the bits that just need to be cut out. And I could just create a simple tutorial to show someone how to do that. So that was the editing gone.

Then it was the promotion part. Could somebody post on my behalf? So I figured out how to give them access to my Facebook. So they could then post on my behalf without me getting involved. That was then the entire system except for the recording of the audio done without my involvement.

And then I was able just to record those audio files whenever they, the idea sparked in my head. And I was able then to start building up a backlog of audio. That then could be produced and then published whenever they were needed. That\'s why when I\'m on holiday, the podcast still goes out. That\'s why when my kids are off sick or I\'m off sick and I can\'t possibly record a podcast, the podcast still goes out. Because I\'ve got a backlog of podcasts.

Now, one thing we\'re moving to now with the help of, well, the advice of Neil Patel. Who I\'ve been following for many years, is to batch that into actual days of podcast production. So today is actually one of my first days of doing a batch of podcasts. So my intention is to record five episodes today. This is episode one, so we\'ll see how we go.

And that means that I\'ve now got five episodes, which is a month\'s worth of episodes plus a little bit. And that then means that we start building up a backlog even faster of episodes that can then be recorded in one day. So I can block out one day and get it done. They can then be produced in one day, which is a huge time saver for my assistant going forward. And then they\'re ready to be published whenever they need to be.

I believe doing this batching will save around 50% of the production time as well. Because everything can be done in a streamlined, systemized, and automated way on one day. Involving AI and other tools as well, rather than being sort of spread out over the course of the month. So that\'s the next evolution of this.

Now, where I involve AI, if you\'re interested, is in many parts of this production process now. First of all, the actual idea for the podcast. I may have a loose idea of something I want to talk about. I can now use AI to brainstorm stuff to figure out how can I make this into something relevant to other people without it sounding forced. Like it\'s like the five lessons I learned from walking my dog or whatever people talk about on social media.

And I can then do that initial brainstorming, actually get some better ideas together. I then use it to create keywords and key phrases. And I\'ll be honest, I\'ve not done that for this episode because it\'s a very personal episode. In that I\'m not actually using those key phrases effectively in the content I\'m now actually talking about on this, what I\'m speaking about, sorry.

But when it comes to actually using those key phrases and keywords for the emails that go out, the social posts that go out. The, all of the content we have, the blogs we produce or anything like that. That\'s all driven by AI produced content research and key phrase and keyword analysis. That used to be done by a human. But as we\'ve developed our AI stuff, that\'s now actually predominantly done by AI.

When it comes to recording the episode, I get AI to actually plan the episode out for me now. This is a relatively new thing. I think it\'s the second podcast I\'ve recorded using our podcast episodes framework skill that I created. But it means that I\'m actually got some structure now to the way I\'m recording podcasts, all done by the AI.

I throw in the idea, I tell them what I want to record it on. I might give the lesson to a course that I\'ve just created. Or sorry, a link to a course I\'ve just created. It then structures that and creates a podcast recording framework for me to go through.

Once that\'s done, the video editing is still done by a human. Because we struggle to get the AI yet. To be able to edit based on the transcript despite having spent a considerable time doing that. That\'s only a matter of time before that changes.

We then get AI to help with the thumbnail production. It\'s still a human-driven. But then when we get into the promotion side, that\'s when AI comes in big time again. So we\'re using it for producing our emails, our LinkedIn posts, our social media posts across Facebook and Twitter, and Instagram, and wherever else we\'re putting stuff out to.

It does all of that based on my copywriting engine tool that I created within Claude. That allows me to get the AI to write in my voice, on brand. The way that I would write, the way that I speak. None of those cliché, AI-type phrases or common things that you just spot a million miles off. It produces content that is totally undetectable by AI detectors that I then read through it and agree, \"Yeah, that is how I would say it.\"

And I may make a few tweaks and then update the copywriting engine afterwards. But by having this copywriting engine in place and having developed it over a couple of years, it means that now I\'m doing five minutes of work, if that, per episode. When it comes to all of the social media stuff that\'s going out and my emails.

Whereas it used to take me a couple of hours to do that. Even with the early day AI stuff, I was rewriting so much it was still taking me at least an hour. Now it\'s just a five-minute over, like glance over, tweak a few little bits, and then it goes out. This means that back to picking out the bit that only I need to do, all I do is record the audio now. Everything else is done.

It\'s done by my virtual assistants. It\'s done by AI. It\'s done by the scheduling tools, for example, that we use. Means that we can just post everything in one day, which saves a lot of time of going back into different channels. And it all goes out consistently on the days that we want it to go out to promote each episode.

So all in all, the podcast production system or the content production system is now driven hugely by AI. It\'s got humans involved in the parts that need it to be involved. But the whole thing flows together in a process which we map out in a process map. So the one skill to take away from this is to actually learn how to map out your process using a simple process map. So we use something called BPMN 2.0 as a standard. Because I want to keep things standard and consistent so anyone can understand my process maps.

But even if that scares the hell out of you actually. Or not scares, like bores the hell out of you thinking about that, like just learn how to put a diagram down on a page. Such that it maps out the steps in the process. You can then either break those steps down further. Which is, one of the key parts of good process mapping. To break it down to individual components.

So for example, recording an episode is not the same as recording and then editing the episode. Like editing the episode is not the same as editing and then publishing as in like putting the intro and stuff like that in. And then publishing is not the same as creating, copy and promoting. And so by breaking it down into these individual steps and then thinking, \"Do I need to do that? Can I get an assistant to do that?\"

That\'s the first step. \"Can I now get an AI to help the assistant do it? And then is there stuff that can be automated to join the dots to make it even more fluid and less time-consuming?\" So that\'s the process behind it. We break it down, we map it out, we hand it over, we apply technology, we automate where we can. And now we have something that\'s truly consistent.

And to manage all this, we use a project in our project management app called Asana, and we build what\'s called a pipeline, and this pipeline has stages in it. So stage one, stage two, stage three, stage four. And the stages are broken down into the things that we\'re doing. So are we in the content creation mode or stage? Are we in the content editing mode, in the production mode, in the promotion mode or stage, sorry.

And each time we move from one stage to the next, we literally move the card in our project. Which is each card represents our podcast. And we\'ll move from one stage to the next so we can see exactly where they\'re up to.

I can also then see at a glance how many podcasts we\'ve got in the backlog. How many are ready to be published, how many are at the point of being, ready to be produced. And how many then I need to then produce or sorry, record. To keep up with our agreed backlog, or our agreed bank, I should say. So that we\'ve always got enough episodes just regardless of what the world throws at us.

So having this method of brain dumping stuff into process map. Creating that pipeline that manages it in our project management software. Understanding about the handovers between human and technology. And having it visible so we can see exactly where everything\'s up to. Is how we get this done consistently and with very little involvement from me. Which is why it goes out every single week without fail.

And if you\'re sat there thinking, \"Look, I\'m not a systems person. I\'m a creative person. I haven\'t got time to sort of be in that mode of process mapping, or whatever it is\". Like, I\'m not a disciplined person. The reason I create processes is actually because I\'m not a disciplined person. Because I\'m not consistent in stuff. And it\'s because I have realized that the way for me to actually be able to be consistent, to get stuff done, is this one skill. To be able to transfer the ideas in my head. Because I\'m a hugely creative person.

I come up with ideas all day, every day. And that\'s a massive gift and also a massive hindrance, if you like. Because I\'m constantly coming up with new stuff. Meaning that everyone around me is chasing tails and not knowing what they should actually be working on.

So being able to just take a moment and actually get out of your head. And put down in a way that other people can understand what it is you are thinking about. \"This is what I want to see happen. This is what I want to- how to turn the vision that\'s in my mind into operational flow.\" If you can do that, then suddenly all these amazing ideas you\'ve got as a creative person become things that are tangible. And actually produce real world benefit. And that\'s when you start actually seeing huge benefits of being a distractible creative person.

Without that skill though, those ideas can often just peter off into nothing. You get distracted on the next idea. You lose motivation. So for me, this was an essential evil to overcome and master, so I can then actually get stuff done that without me being the one responsible for doing it.

So I encourage you to give this a go. To think about one thing that you are currently doing that you enjoy maybe some parts of it, but not others. And actually just grab a pen and paper. Grab a piece of software if you want. So we use an app called Lucidchart. There\'s free apps out there as well, like Google Draw.io. Anything that allows you to actually map out the process. Or as I say, just pen and paper is absolutely fine.

And just map out the steps or write a checklist of the main steps, not the detail. The main steps of what is involved in that, and circle the ones that truly only you can do. And everything else that isn\'t circled, sit down with your team, with your virtual assistant. And start thinking about how you can hand this stuff over. Is it a person problem you need to hand over? Is it an AI thing, is it an automation thing, is it a technology thing?

To begin with, I\'d say everything can just be handed over to a virtual assistant. And then you can start building up the technology behind as you go. If you do that, then you\'ll see that your consistency goes up because- and also your energy levels go up. Because you\'re now focusing on doing the stuff you actually enjoy doing, that only you can do. The highest value work that you can offer.

And you\'re not getting distracted and into the lower value tasks, the admin type work. That goes to actually creating value from that thought leadership or that, the creative stuff that you feel you\'re the best at doing. Or the leadership stuff, or how do we turn that into something tangible, implemented in your business. So it actually drives revenue, so it actually attracts new people.

Whatever it is you\'re trying to do, that\'s the bit we need to systemize. The ideas, the creation part, that\'s yours, that\'s your genius. So stick with that and get everything else off your plate.

So that\'s it. I hope you found today\'s episode helpful and interesting. And if you did, then please do hit subscribe. Make sure you don\'t miss out future episodes to help you live with more presence, purpose, and peace. And please do share this with anyone else you know who runs a small business. Who you believe would find it useful to know how to automate your content or any other type of production system within their business.

Thanks very much.

The Content Production System That’s Kept My Podcast Weekly for Five Years | Ep 288

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Content Production Principles You Can Apply Today

BEST MOMENTS: Content Production Insights Behind Consistent Results

TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW

Episode Transcript

VALUABLE RESOURCES

LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST

ABOUT THE HOST

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The Content Production System That’s Kept My Podcast Weekly for Five Years | Ep 288

​KEY TAKEAWAYS: Content Production Principles You Can Apply Today

BEST MOMENTS: Content Production Insights Behind Consistent Results

TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW

Episode Transcript

VALUABLE RESOURCES

LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST

ABOUT THE HOST

For more articles related to Content Production Systems, you may also like:

Process Mapping and Pipelines related articles:

Why Your Team Can’t Work Without You—And How Systems Break the Cycle | Ep 242

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How Small Business Owners Leverage The SixR System To Achieve Time Freedom In Under 90 Days

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KEY TAKEAWAYS: Content Production Principles You Can Apply Today

How Small Business Owners
Leverage The SixR System
To Achieve Time Freedom
In Under 90 Days