This is episode 30 of Getting Heard, and it's me making the case that attention was never really the problem. Something else has changed, and once you see it you stop panicking about how long your episodes should be and start thinking about the thing that actually matters.

I also share the length of the best-performing reels on Instagram right now, which genuinely made me stop, and the one thing I want you to hold onto every single time you sit down to record.

It's five minutes, and it'll change how you look at every piece of content you make.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Make sure you're on the waitlist for my new Start Your Pod Shot Challenge HERE

I know you keep telling yourself you haven't got time to make all the content you feel like you should be making for every platform. After ten years running a podcast agency and more than 1,000 shows launched, the bit that still gets me is how little has to go in for so much to come out, so in this Pod Shot I do the maths with you, and I make the laziest possible case for starting (and I mean lazy as a compliment).

I share exactly how many pieces of content I've made since starting this experiment from zero, what's already come back into the business from it at barely a quarter of the way through, and one small thing you can do today with a post you've already made, so you can see how this works before you've recorded a single word.

It's five minutes, and it might just change how you think about your week.

Join the waitlist for the Pod Shots Challenge before it closes on 20 September: [waitlist link]

New Pod Shot every weekday, and you can find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Joint the Pod Shot Challenge Waitlist HERE

Can I let you off the hook a bit? You're holding up your first few episodes against somebody else's best work, years in, and that was never a fair fight. When you play your show back straight after some big polished one, you're putting your episode 3 next to their episode 300. I've launched upwards of a thousand podcasts, and I watch this stop capable women before they've even recorded a word.

In this episode I tell you where that gap between your show and theirs actually comes from (it's simpler, and more freeing, than you think), why the woman you're making your podcast for isn't comparing you to anyone at all, and the one practical thing I want you to go and do today. It takes less than a minute and it changes how the whole comparison feels.

It's a short one, like always. Press play and let yourself off the hook.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Most people go a bit shy about it. They give away all their best stuff for free, then get icky about the part that pays the bills and mumble it at the end, if they mention it at all. I understand why. But after ten years of this and more than a thousand shows launched, I can tell you it's costing them, and it's almost always women doing it.

In this episode I get into why staying quiet about your offer and your prices isn't classy, it's just making life hard for the people who genuinely want to work with you. I also give you the simple way to ask without feeling that ick, and one thing I want you to write down today and stick somewhere you can't ignore it.

It's five minutes, and it might be the thing that finally gets your podcast earning its keep. Have a listen.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Join the Pod Shot Challenge waitlist for free HERE

I started both my new accounts from absolute zero, no followers, on purpose, so I could show you from the inside what actually happens when you build a show from nothing. Ten years doing this for other people, and this time I'm doing it in public, warts and all.

In this episode I get into why the podcast is what builds your audience rather than a prize for already having one, why a tiny audience who really listen leaves a big passive one for dust, and the honest truth about chasing download numbers that I want you to make peace with before you record another episode. I also tell you where to see how the first quarter of the whole experiment has actually gone.

Have a listen, it's shorter than the time you'd spend fretting over your follower count.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

I've spent this week on Getting Heard talking about why you've been staying quiet, and this episode asks the one question that's left: what is it you're actually waiting for, and is it ever coming? I've launched more than 1,000 podcasts over ten years, and I'll be honest, I didn't feel ready for my very first one either.

I share one of the first questions I ask every client in our strategy sessions, and what the women who actually launch do differently (they aren't braver than you, before you ask).

There's a small job for you at the end, and you can have it done before the weekend's out. If you'd like a hand with the rest, the waitlist for my Pod Shots Challenge is open now: [waitlist link]

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and say hello on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

If you do, you're in very good company, and it might be the real reason you still haven't started the podcast you keep meaning to start. In over ten years of recording women, I've heard "I hate the sound of my voice" more than almost anything else, and it's hardly ever actually about how you sound.

In this episode I get into why your own voice sounds so wrong to you, where that cringe really comes from (it goes back a lot further than you'd think, and it's got very little to do with how you actually sound), and the one thing your listener is hearing instead, that you'd never guess. There's also a one-minute job to do today that'll prove the whole thing to you.

Give it a listen, it's shorter than the voice note you're too scared to send.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

I'm going to take that excuse off you. I've launched over 1,000 podcasts in the last ten years and I have never once seen somebody win because they said a thing nobody had ever said before. That is not how any of it works, and it's not what your ideal listener is deciding on either.

In this episode I go through why nobody is buying from you for your original thought, what she's actually building with you every time she hears your voice, and the number of touch points it now takes before somebody trusts you enough to spend money with you. That number surprises most people, and it completely changes what your job is. I also give you a 60 second thing to do today with nothing but your phone.

Five minutes, and you'll stop calling it saturated.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

This one's me working out loud on something I've been saying for years without fully understanding it myself. Ten years running a podcast agency, and it took me until this week to properly clock the pattern that was hiding in plain sight. Once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it.

I share the number I worked out that genuinely stopped me in my tracks, why starting your own podcast was never only about your voice, and the one small thing I want you to do today before you talk yourself out of it again.

It'll take you less time than the scroll you were about to do instead. Go on, press play.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me over on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Because this is what I actually think. You keep telling yourself you haven't started your podcast because you're too busy, and I don't buy it. I think you were trained your whole life to be seen and not heard, and I think it's the real reason you keep not pressing record.

In this one I walk through where that training comes from and how it followed you from the classroom into the boardroom, the way you still make yourself smaller in the tiniest things without noticing, and the one number about who hosts the biggest podcasts that genuinely winds me up. And then why you starting isn't self-indulgent at all, it's the whole point.

Have a listen, and do the little thing I set you at the end, it's uncomfortable in a good way. New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Get on the waitlist for my ‘Start Your Pod Shot Challenge’ here

https://site.wavemakersaudio.com/pod-shot-challenge-waitlist

Quick and careless aren’t the same thing, and this episode is me being properly honest with you about how one of these actually gets made. How long it really takes me, what I do before I ever hit record, and the bits I genuinely don’t bother with that you might assume you have to.

There’s a trap on both sides here, the rambling-into-your-phone version and the hire-a-studio-for-an-hour version, and I tell you which one kills more podcasts before they’ve even started. Then I give you one small thing to do today that tells you, honestly, whether your first episode is actually ready or not.

Have a listen, it’s a good one to take into the weekend before you start thinking about recording. New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

I go through where people say they’re really discovering shows now, and it’s probably not where you’d guess, and definitely not just Apple and Spotify. This matters because if your whole plan is to upload your audio, cross your fingers and hope the right people stumble across it, I’m sorry to say it, but that plan doesn’t work anymore.

This isn’t me telling you to give up on audio, it’s the exact opposite, and I explain why the finding and the trusting are two completely different jobs that need two completely different things from you. I also get into why the clips you make aren’t an afterthought at all, and the one thing a happy listener can do for you that’s worth more than any ad.

Have a listen, then go and do the little task I set at the end, because the answer you get might change how you show up. New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

There’s research behind this, thousands of people surveyed, looking at trust across every kind of content people consume, and audio podcasts came out somewhere that genuinely surprised me. In this episode I tell you where, and then I explain why the very thing that makes your podcast look weak on paper is the thing doing all your selling for you.

I get into where your listener actually is when she’s hearing you, why she can’t act in that moment even if she wants to, and how to tell your podcast is working when the numbers look flat. I also give you one question to ask on your next enquiry call that your analytics will never answer for you.

If you’ve ever looked at your download stats and felt a bit deflated, this is the one to press play on. New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Loads of listeners say they’d be less likely to carry on with a podcast they love if they found out it had AI voices in it. I sell an AI voice product, so you’d think that would be bad news for me. This episode is me telling you exactly what I think that number is really measuring, and why it isn’t the thing everyone assumes it is.

I get into who those listeners actually are, why audio people feel differently about this than video people, and the one word buried in the research that changes the whole meaning of it once you spot it. I also tell you exactly where my own line is on using AI, and it might not be where you’d expect.

Have a listen and then come and tell me what you think, because this one’s a proper debate and I genuinely want to know. New Pod Shot every weekday.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Wherever it came from, I’d put money on it being borrowed from shows with big budgets, big teams and a ten year head start, and it’s almost certainly far bigger than it needs to be. This episode is about where that number really came from, why it’s talking you out of starting before you’ve recorded a single word, and what a normal podcast audience actually looks like once you take away the show-off numbers you see on social media.

I go through the figures on what most podcasts genuinely get, and then I do the little bit of maths that changes how the whole thing feels, the one that works out how many listeners you actually need when you’re selling something worth thousands rather than selling advertising. It’s a much smaller number than the one you’ve been carrying around, and by the end I want you to have worked out your real one.

It’ll take you five minutes, which is about what it costs me to record one of these. New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Of all the podcasts launched in the first half of this year, a huge proportion had already stopped within six months. The wider picture is worse than that, and I take you through both sets of figures, including how many of the six million shows being tracked are still publishing anything at all.

But I'm not sharing it to frighten you, because every one of those was somebody who had the idea, bought the mic, made the artwork and pressed record. They weren't lazy and they weren't rubbish at it. In this episode I explain what actually got them, why it's the best possible news for you, and what happens to the people who try to come back to a show they've let go quiet.

I also tell you the one thing I'd change about how you design your show before you launch it, and it's the opposite of what most people do.

Then there's something to think about today about your worst week, and what it tells you about the format you should really be starting with.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Join the waitlist for my new challenge starting in September

New research this year surveyed over 5,000 people on where podcast listening actually happens, and once you know the answer it changes how you record. In this episode I go through what those four situations are, why they're the reason audio still beats everywhere else you're posting, and the things you've been assuming your listener can do that she genuinely can't.

I also cover what to do with a number so it survives, why you should say the name of the thing rather than pointing at a link, how to build an ask that doesn't need her hands, and a trick I use on you in nearly every episode without you noticing.

Then there's something to think about today. It takes about ten seconds and it'll change the next episode you make.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Join the waitlist for my new challenge starting in September

Somebody has told you the podcast market is saturated. Maybe you've told yourself. There are four million podcasts already, so what would be the point.

That four million number is real, and it's also doing an enormous amount of lying. In this episode I take you through the real figures, because a registered podcast and a running podcast are two completely different things, and almost nobody tells you the second half of that sentence. I've also broken it down for business podcasts specifically, which is the category your show would sit in, and the number that comes out of that is the one I'd like you to hear.

I explain why saturated is a feeling rather than a fact, why the bubble you're posting in has skewed your sense of how many people are really doing this, and the one thing about audio that means it still outperforms everywhere else you're showing up.

Then there's a two minute job to do in Apple or Spotify that will show you the real size of the pool you'd be swimming in. I'd be surprised if it's more than three.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

I'm a fortnight into recording a daily podcast episode, and I've just changed how I'm making it. Not because it stopped working, but because I sat down and looked at my calendar and saw what was coming. In this episode I explain what I've changed, why batch recording is what I recommend to every client in my agency, and the exact number of episodes I'm going to record in one sitting to stay far enough ahead.

I also tell you why I'm not switching to batching permanently, even though it would be easier, and the one thing that makes a podcast stop that has nothing to do with running out of things to say.

Then there's something I want you to do today with your calendar. It takes about two minutes and it'll show you the exact date your buffer has to exist by.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Join the waitlist for my challenge starting September!

Not thinking about it. Actively getting ready. Sorting the branding, working out the niche, planning the first twelve episodes, and somehow still not pressing record.

I've launched over a thousand podcasts in ten years, and the ones that never happened were almost never the ones where the woman couldn't do it. In this episode I tell you what they did have in common, why the way podcasting gets taught keeps you preparing forever, and what I've decided to do about it.

I also tell you what happened ten days into my own experiment. It's two numbers, and one of them is much smaller than you'd expect, which is exactly why I want you to hear it.

Have a listen, then go and do the thing I ask you to do at the end. It takes about a minute and you can do it on your phone.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

There's a reason for it, and it's physical rather than anything to do with your voice being bad. When you talk, you're hearing yourself two ways at once, and one of those two ways is something a microphone can never pick up. So the first time you play a recording back, you're hearing a version of yourself you've genuinely never heard before.

In this episode I explain what's actually happening in your skull when you speak, I tell you about a study where they played people their own voices without telling them whose they were, and what those people said about them is not what you'd expect. I also tell you why your fifth take is nearly always worse than your first, what the woman listening is actually judging (it isn't your voice), and the one thing I want you to do with your phone today.

It takes 60 seconds and you can do it before you've finished your coffee.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

There's a show title and there's an episode title, and they're two completely different things doing two completely different jobs. One gets you found. The other gets you picked. After ten years and more than a thousand podcast launches, the split I see almost every time is weeks agonising over the first one and about thirty seconds on the second.

In this episode I go through what your overall show title is actually for, why the clever, quirky name you've fallen in love with might be working against you, what I want you to check before you write another episode title, and the one podcast naming habit that is my absolute ick. I say all of it with love. I also tell you what my own shows have been called over the years, and not one of them is clever.

Have a listen, then go and have a proper think about the title that's been floating around your head.

New Pod Shot every weekday, and you'll find me on Instagram and TikTok at @lynsaymakeswaves.

Nearly everyone still quotes the rule of seven. It came out of 1930s Hollywood, it was about filling cinema seats, and it was never even seven in the first place. The research has moved a very long way since then, and in this episode I take you through where the number actually sits now, why it goes up again every single time somebody studies it, and what that means for you if you're running your business on your own and don't have the hours for 50 separate conversations with everyone who's thinking about hiring you.

I also tell you exactly how many pieces of content I made from last week's five episodes and how little time I spent recording them, plus how the one unusual way I'm measuring this whole experiment is going, eight days in. And there's a two minute job I want you to do today that'll tell you why one particular person hasn't bought from you yet.

It's six minutes. Which is quite a lot less than 50 conversations.

There's a new Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

I said at the start of this experiment that I'd tell you exactly what happens, good or bad, so this is the first week's report. Twenty five minutes of recording, five episodes, and a set of numbers I've just sat down and worked out. Some of them are what you'd expect from a show starting from zero. One of them isn't, and it happened on day five.

In this episode I go through what those 25 minutes actually turned into, the thing I genuinely hadn't anticipated that's changed how I'm choosing what to record next, and the one unusual way I'm measuring whether any of this is working, which isn't downloads. I also give you a two minute job to do before you go and do anything else today, and it'll hand you your first episode.

It's shorter than the time you'd spend deciding whether to listen.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

I run a podcast agency, so this is the episode where I talk you out of hiring me. In ten years and over a thousand launches I can usually tell on the first call who'll still be going a year in and who'll stop by episode 10, and it's almost never about confidence or kit. It's about a handful of things being in place, and if they're not in place yet then starting now costs you more than waiting does.

I go through what those things are, why stopping at week 10 does more damage to how people see you than never starting at all, and what to do instead if it turns out you're not quite there. There's also a five minute exercise at the end that'll tell you more about whether you've got a podcast in you than six months of thinking about it will.

You can do it today, on your phone, and nobody ever has to hear it.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

I've spent ten years watching brilliant women talk themselves out of starting a podcast. Not good enough yet. Hate the sound of my own voice. Who does she think she is. And the big one: I'll do it when I'm ready, except ready never actually turns up.

So I'm sharing four statistics about women in podcasting that genuinely broke my heart when I read them, including the one that tells you exactly what you're walking into when you start a podcast as a woman in business. Then there's a one line exercise for you. Thirty seconds, brutal honesty required, and whatever you write down is the reason this show exists.

Getting Heard is the podcast for women in business who want to start a podcast and actually be heard. New episodes every weekday.

Follow me on Instagram @lynsaymakeswaves for something brand new coming to my community soon.

Everyone says video is king. But there are two numbers worth knowing before you decide, one for how much of an audio podcast people actually listen to and one for how much of a video podcast they actually watch, and the gap is far bigger than you'd expect. My agency produces both audio and video podcasts, so this isn't me picking a side.

I also cover why voice builds trust faster than video, the one caveat where I still want you filming, and a question to sit with before you plan your next episode.

If the camera has been your reason for not starting, press play.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

If you can't remember, you're not the only one, and there's something happening behind that which most people publishing long episodes have no clue about. Podcast engagement doesn't work like Instagram or TikTok. It's measured by how much of your episode somebody actually listens to, and that one difference decides whether Apple and Spotify start recommending your show to new listeners or quietly leave it sitting where it is.

In this episode I run through what happens when two shows publish the exact same content at two different lengths, why we all got the idea that longer means more valuable (and why it doesn't), and the one thing I want you to do to your content plan before you record another word.

It'll take you less time than the episode you didn't finish.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

For a decade I told women exactly like you that a weekly podcast episode was enough. In this Pod Shot I explain why I no longer believe that, what the latest research on buyer behaviour actually shows, and why the maths of weekly is quietly working against you.

I also share the one number I worked out today that genuinely stopped me in my tracks, what five daily episodes really turn into behind the scenes. It's a bigger figure than you'd think, and it changes everything about what's possible for a small business owner in 2026.

And I leave you with something to work out about your own business today. It'll show you exactly how long a stranger is currently waiting before they trust you enough to spend a penny.

Five minutes. Press play, and let's break a rule together.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

A Pod Shot is a five-minute daily podcast episode that feels like a voice note from a friend, built to turn listeners into clients. In this first episode, I explain what a Pod Shot is, why I created the format after ten years running a podcast agency and launching over 1,000 podcasts, and the shift happening in the podcast industry that most small creators haven't spotted yet. If you're a coach, consultant, or founder thinking about starting a podcast to grow your business, this shift changes what you should build.

I also reveal the experiment I'm running on myself between now and Christmas, and the one unusual way I'll be measuring whether it works. It isn't downloads, and most podcasters wouldn't dare say it out loud.

Press play. It's five minutes, and you'll never look at daily podcasting the same way.

Follow Getting Heard so tomorrow's episode lands automatically, and watch the experiment behind the scenes on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves