Getting Started in Podcasting with Kara Gott Warner

Danielle Napolio Cox 0:04

This week I have a special episode for you. I have my friend Kara Gott Warner on the show. She is the go-to person if you are interested in starting a podcast or expanding your podcast, let me tell you about Kara. Kara is one of those lovely people who knows her stuff, believes in people even when they can't believe in themselves, and makes everything feel so much easier to do. So you want to pay attention today because Kara is really going to explain why podcasting is the place to be. She's going to share her brilliance and insight and expertise with all of you. She's been podcasting for a very long time I call her the queen of podcasting because she's been doing it since 2014. Before podcasting was a thing. She wasn't on the bandwagon she started the bandwagon and you don't want to miss her today. So with that, I introduce you guys to Kara Gott Warner. She is a certified life coach and the queen of podcasting. Welcome to the episode in the podcast, Kara.

Kara Gott Warner 1:14

Oh, thank you so much, Danielle, that was such a nice introduction.

Danielle Napolio Cox 1:19

Oh, you're welcome. I invited you to be on here today because you are a podcast coach. My listeners who have listened since the first episode will know that the very first decision I made when I decided to start a podcast was I needed to get a coach. I did not know you at the time but I wish I did because you are amazing at what you do. I credit 100% of my ability to launch my podcast from zero to launch in 30 days, without working more than one hour a day Monday through Friday because I had an expert to guide me through the process. That's why I'm bringing you here. Since I launched you have helped me when I would get stuck. So tell us a little bit about yourself. Tell us about podcasting. Let us enjoy all the expertise that you have to offer today.

Kara Gott Warner 2:08

You gave such a good introduction. So but yes, I am a certified life coach, and I help life coaches and female entrepreneurs, to start and launch their podcasts. I help them confidently get behind the microphone so they can reach the baby birds that they want to reach. I always love to say that because it's where we get to be the mama bird. I really help empower life coaches to really connect to that. Because a lot of the times I see that's where the struggle is, there's fear, like “I don't know enough. I'm a new coach, or I need to get all the equipment” It's really interesting, my, my journey because I so I started out in the online space as a business and my business mindset coach, and I was helping creative women to start businesses. They started to see mindset stuff is always coming up. So then I got certified with the Life Coach School in 2002. I got my certification in 2020. I added that to my coaching toolbox.

Then I started having my peers, my coaching peers asking me, “Hey, I heard you’re YouTube, podcasting.” I mean, I've been doing it since 2014. It's always been there. It's always been in the background, always whispering, and also I've taught at live events when I was in the craft world. It's always been something that I've had in my back pocket and so I started to have my, my coach peers say, “hey, can I ask you a question. I need some help with this or that.” I just started helping coaches for free. I was literally giving them everything. Then one day I had this pivotal moment, one of my friends who I would talk to every week. You know, how we have those kinds of friends, those coaches in our life that we just kind of get it get on a zoom call and talk every week and she's banging the table. She says you have to do this. coaches need you and you are a certified life coach, you're a coach just like them. You also understand what it takes to start a podcast and nobody else is doing it. That's a coach, a life coach for life coaches who get them. So you do it, you have to do it. So, I mean, I was just like, oh, it was that was it? I just knew. This has been calling to me for so long. It was such a pivotal moment. So that was how it started and so that's why I kind of say I'm a little bit of an accidental podcasts coach for life coaches. It wasn't as if one day I woke up and said, Oh, I think that would be a great niche. No, it just didn't go that way. So yeah, that's kind of the story there. Yeah,

Danielle Napolio Cox 5:14

That's a great story. I really think sometimes you don't find the niche, the niche finds you. You're a perfect example of that. Right? It's all here. I just need to own it and embrace it and fully step into it.

Kara Gott Warner 5:30

Then after I got my certification, I decided I was going to do competence coaching for creatives. If you remember, you were because you were on my last iteration of my podcast, it was called craft your confidence. I was all confidence. Of course, I'm always confident, even now that I'm a podcast coach, at the end of the day, it's always confidence. Isn't that amazing? Now I get to do both, right.

Danielle Napolio Cox 5:57

Yes, exactly. Exactly. You're leveraging all of your expertise. So let's go and talk about podcasting. So it seems like ask, podcasting is quite popular. But at the same time, there are lots of other platforms people might use to get known to a bigger audience. Tell me, why do you and your experience, why do you think podcasting is the best platform to grow an audience?

Kara Gott Warner 6:19

Well, I'm really biased, because I love it. I'm like a kid on Christmas morning. I really love that platform. So I think I'll tell you why I think it's a great platform, or I think it's the best platform, although we all have to find our own thing that we're really in love with. But the reason why I think podcasting is the best is that it really is different than social media. It's not social media, it's not Instagram, it's not Facebook, right, you get to create your own kind of community, your own legacy. You also have this different kind of ability to create a level of intimacy, because people are listening on their, on their, their phone, they have their earbuds in, you're really close to them in that way.

It's an amazing way to build that trust over time. You get to coach and teach on-demand, which is amazing for coaches. I think that's why I felt even more passionate about being a podcast coach for coaches because you are here to help people, this is a way for you to coach and teach them on-demand, anytime you want to put them or bring them through your, your program, or whatever it is that you want to bring out into the world, you get to do that, behind the microphone. You also are creating an asset, an asset in your business, that only gets more valuable over the course of time. So the more episodes you create, the more value you create. It is an incredible teaching tool that you can tap into with your current clients too, which is really a beautiful thing. Um, yeah, so though, there's a lot, there's a lot more to that. But I think I would say those are the best. I think that's why it is the best platform to grow. I love that.

Danielle Napolio Cox 8:17

I love the idea that it's the conversation you're having in someone's ears, right? You get to talk to them. It feels very intimate because it's an intimate experience that you're having, when you're you have your earbuds in or you're listening to a speaker. So that is amazing. Well, thank you. For those who are either who are considering starting a podcast, my listeners who are thinking they want to jump on the bandwagon and get that podcast that they're starting to believe that maybe this is the right platform for them. What would you what are the three things that stopped most people from getting the podcast started?

Kara Gott Warner 8:54

Yeah, that's a really good question. It's fear. Really, it's fear. It's not equipment, and there are other tactical things, but really, at the end of the day, it's fear, disguised as something else. Well, I need the equipment. I need this stuff, right. So the fear is, I'm not good enough. You know, I won't have anything to say, people won't take me seriously, people will criticize me. Even coaches that are fairly new think that they're too new, and they have nothing to share. I know you've probably heard this before many people have, but it's like you that many people have said this. Sometimes when you're really close to where someone else is, you are the best teacher for them. Don't buy into what people say, Oh, you have to wait to a certain level to start a podcast. If you're excited about it, and that it's something that you're just it's gonna light you up, then why not start because then you're doing something from this place of authenticity, right? You're going to just create the most amazing content from that place. So fear is number one. Number two really is equipment. It's the equipment, rabbit hole because they allow that kind of the fear kind of trickles into that. “Well, I got to have the best microphone and I have to sound amazing. I have to be polished.” So if I do all those things, and nobody, nobody can criticize me, I just need to be perfect.

Then the other thing that I see is they want the chicken before the egg. So let me explain that a little bit. A lot of times, because they're maybe stuck in the equipment rabbit hole. They'll think that, though, they'll take the advice of someone that says they should start a podcast, because it's a great thing to promote your business, it's a great way to teach, and it's a great way to coach. It's a good thing. That's the next step. So I always ask people, and I've gotten really good at pinpointing and really getting them to see, “Oh, I really do need to try.” I ask the question, “What have you done? Have you recorded? What did you record?” Usually, it's sort of a deer in headlights? “I didn't do that yet.” So how do you know? How do you know if you're even going to love it? Right? How do you even know? I always suggest to people that they really, and this kind of goes into some things I can share later for how people can get started, but really, it's keeping it simple. Keeping it so. So bare-bones simple. You really don't have to like complicate things you can literally record today. Literally, you don't and that's how you play in the sandbox. Then you figure out, Oh, I really do love this. This is a lot of fun. When you're like, “hey, this isn't for me.” We got to figure that out first. So those are the three things that I see.

Danielle Napolio Cox 11:56

I love the idea of experiment and discovery, right? That's entrepreneurship, coaching, all of it is about just exploring and being open to the process, and not hung up on how perfect it is one thing you said about the idea that, especially for people starting out who feel like they may not have enough expertise to talk about one quote that resonated with me, is James Wedmore. He's an online entrepreneur, he runs a program called business by design. Hit one of the things he says all the time is when he asks ”what's required to teach math to a fourth-grader? Who do you need to be?” His answer always is “all you have to do is be a fifth-grader.” You just be one step ahead.

LIke what you're saying, is that it's in there, your life, our life experience has given us all wisdom and insight that we've gained the hard way. We can share that. So I love the idea of jumping right in and sharing what you know because what you know, can help somebody else who doesn't know it yet. Then the fear disguised as something else. If this was a Facebook post, I would have shot up a bunch of hearts on that quote, because that's exactly how it shows up. As perfectionism shows. Vision, shows up as confusion around technology, all of these details then just throw up walls to stop us. Then just getting started. That is great. Because I know you have a great love like how you got started, was not super glamorous like it is now. I do want to talk about that. Why don't you tell us? Yeah, when you got started, granted, this is 2014. But it's the same way you start in 2020. So I got started in podcasting.

Kara Gott Warner 13:39

I love telling this story, because it's just yeah, the memories are just so sweet. So I started in 2014. I had a podcast, I call it the morning cooldown. Again, it was another accident. It was another accident because I had no intentions to, oh, I'm gonna get into this and I'm gonna promote it or whatever. So I started. I still do this to this day, because I'm crazy. But I have so many ideas. So I want to go out running and walking. I will record notes to myself on my phone. If I did I would do that, well, they have all these ideas for my business or life or whatever. Then one day, I was like, “hmm, this could become a podcast, I heard about this thing called the podcast. So, maybe I'll do that.” That's what I did. I called it the Morning Cooldown. Because it was after my morning run, and it was during my cooldown. I was like this before I knew anything about life coaching because I didn't know about that until later.

I already believed that I would have a topic at the end of my run. I always did. I'll always have something to do. It just kept the confidence there cuz I'm like, “of course I'm going to have a topic” even if it's “alright.” I love to talk. I'm from New Jersey, what can I say? I would record and I had no music. I had no intro. I mean, maybe it's a “Hey, it's me again, Kara.” I would say I had this little spiel that I would say and with the birdies for my background music, because that was it, the chirping birds. Sometimes I'd start and I wouldn't talk because of the birds. “Oh, listen to those birds” and I would just kind of start the episode. That was it. I would talk like this right into my phone. I did it this way. Yeah, people wouldn't think I was crazy. It's walking with a headset on or whatever. But I didn't care if they thought it was crazy. About a month after doing this, this way with no bells and whistles. I call it bare bones, podcasting. New York Times bestselling author, Hal Elrod, wrote the book called the Miracle Morning. I don't know if you've heard of that book.

So I've been a morning practitioner for a long time, right. I read his books, I knew who he was. I was like, “Oh, this is great. He's my person. He's right.”. I was just doing my thing in the morning. One day, I got an email from Hal Elrod, an unsolicited email. He was just like, “hey, do you have guests? Do you know, do you accept guests?” At the time, I didn't say anything. I was freaking out because I was like, “Oh, my gosh, no.” But I thought when I replied to him, “of course I do.” from that point on. This is why it's really important. It's how I really help coaches to build on the foundation and start where you are and then add from there. Because it was then, at that point, where I was like, “you know, all right, I'm gonna get a new microphone.” That's when I got this one. Then I started playing around with editing software. And I was having so much fun because I geeked out, I loved editing, I was like, “Oh, this is the best thing since sliced bread.” So nothing was heavy. Nothing was cumbersome because I had no agenda. I was working in the publishing world, I was a magazine editor. At the time, I had a date. I was getting paid, got a nice paycheck. I was like, “I just want to do this thing on the side.” So it was all fun. It was just all experimenting, all playing in the sandbox. A month after playing in the sandbox, and really having fun. That's when he reached out. That was it. I just kept recording, with guests like him in the studio. I still went out every day. That was how I kept that episode, that podcast going for over a year and had 80 episodes in the tank, in under a year, because I was doing it every day. Then maybe there were days where it was like, “Oh, I didn't do it”. But it didn't matter. It was consistent, I was showing up just about every day. I wasn't worried about it. That was it. That's how it started. Then it just kept stair-stepping from there. That was how it should be organically. This experience I think is, can be a really beautiful thing that doesn't have to be that way. That's how mine went.

Danielle Napolio Cox 18:24

I love that. Because really what trips us up is in our own mind, all the things we think that matter when what really matters is just showing up is all that matters. Showing up at the moment. Authentic. I love that. That's such a great story. It's so inspirational every time I hear it. We've chatted about it a couple of times and I love to hear about you and Hal Elrod is amazing. The fact that he to you, because you just were showing up without any worry about what was going to happen from you showing upright, you've let go of you detached from the outcome and enjoyed the moment and so that is so inspirational. Kara. I just love that.

Kara Gott Warner 19:04

Can I tell you another part of that? It's funny because he was my first guest ever. He showed up? He's quite an interesting guy. He showed up without a shirt on. He's like, “this is just how I do all my calls”. I remember this. I just thought of it now and I forgot it for a long time. This is how we show up on interviews without a shirt. I was like, “okay. Oh.” but I just thought it was really funny. He's like, this is how I do interviews. Maybe it was just a lucky charm or not a lucky charm, but a superstitious one.

Danielle Napolio Cox 19:35

Exactly the opposite of a shirt that they never washed because they win. It's a fun fact. That's why we don't see him interviewed on TV I guess.

Kara Gott Warner 19:47

I guess not but the morning cooldown has disappeared and I still have archives somewhere and people have been asking me lately for it. I gotta figure out how to get that back. I don't. I got to figure that out. This is helping me to remember that.

Danielle Napolio Cox 20:04

That would be great. Yes, definitely let me know if you are going to bring that back up because there's something amazing about just the rawness of unproduced talking to the microphone experience, both for you as the podcaster and as the person hearing it because that's when it's really the conversation with a friend, is when it's just the conversation.

Kara Gott Warner 20:25

Yeah, cuz I would walk out and be okay. Waving to people in the morning. I didn't just, I thought that was just totally part of the experience.

Danielle Napolio Cox 20:33

Kara, let's talk about, for my audience, for anyone who's thinking about starting a podcast, I would love to know, the one thing that you think they can do or that you suggest they do right now. Now I'm going to go ahead and preemptively answer for you. I'm going to tell you that the best thing I ever did was hire a coach. I'm not sure if you're familiar with my process when I started looking to start a podcast, and I asked around, I asked people where I could learn how to do this. What was interesting is most people recommended certain big names in the podcast industry. “Oh, join this program.” But I very quickly knew that's not what I wanted. Here's why. I'm sharing this for you and for my audience. I knew I needed somebody who could understand my life, my situation, my timeframe, my experience, my holdups, my strengths, my weaknesses, and I knew in a program, I would get lost. I knew I'd be one of many, and that the likelihood of my own success would be severely diminished. So for me, personally, I immediately decided to work with a guide. That's why I'm featuring someone such as yourself, who's an expert who works with individuals, and gets to know them and understand them at a deeper level. That's why I have you here today. So to my audience, my first suggestion is to get a guide. That's what I always say, to get started. But other than getting a guide, Kara, why don't you tell us the one thing that they can do to get started on starting their own podcast?

Kara Gott Warner 22:04

I like to keep it really simple, kind of going back to my philosophy, and how I started. Because this really helps you to kind of remove the obstacle from your brain, because that's where it is nowhere else. I just talked about this in a live training that I did, and I, I call it my three P's, three P's. To get started, I don't know what it is about the peas, podcast peas. I have a little acronym that I'm going to share with you with the word podcasts, and every letter stands for something. But here are my three P's. So you got to start with passion. Okay, that's number one. Sounds really simple. If you don't have that figured out, figure out why you want to do it. Start with that tether to the passion tether to why. Yes, as coaches and entrepreneurs, we really want to help and serve but think about how you want to. Think about what is in it for you, too. It's okay to be a little bit selfish and be brutally honest with yourself. You're like, “oh, I want to serve,” but really, do you get excited to jump in and start talking about something that excites you? Because chances are that's gonna excite your listeners, right? So find the passion. This is my little acronym...your listeners can't see this. I was gonna show it. I'll say it. So podcast, right. So it's my podcast, passion blueprint. This is something that if you put it on a sticky note, and just keep it somewhere, to remember why.

P stands for passion, purpose. O stands for one vision. Having one purpose, one North Star, and that North Star can change events at some point. To really know what that is, feels really good. You can feel really connected, right? It's a done deal, like “you're doing it.” Podcasting is a long game. It's a labor of love. There are times when we want to give up. There will be times when you want to give up. But if you remember your Northstar, you'll keep going. Commit and stay in self-integrity with yourself. That's how you will stay in self-integrity. If you commit, even when times get tough and things get dark. You're like, “Nope, we decided we're committing.” because if you go back on your commitment, and you're breaking that self-trust and you can you erode that self-trust with yourself. We may think that doesn't happen, it's okay to break our promise with somebody, it's not okay to break our promises with someone else. When we do it to ourselves, it really does hurt us and it can really erode our confidence too. Right there keep us from creating more confidence and authenticity, be vulnerable, and share your authentic story. S is speak even if your voice shakes. I just got a t-shirt. It's a Ruth Bader Ginsburg t shirt. That's what it says, it's like one of the memes and I just thought that was so inspiring. I was like, “I have to get this. I have to because this is the thing.” People are scared, they're afraid. Even if your voice shakes, you're going to feel it more, your heart's going to be beating more, no one's going to be able to tell. Remind yourself of that. Speak, just speak. Finally, T is Tell, tell your story.

P - Passion

O - One Vision

D - Done Deal

C - Commit

A - Authenticity

S - Speak

T - Tell

The Three P’s

That was the one thing that was one. Passion, that's what the acronym comes in. The second P in the three P's is the Plan. That simple plan, maybe five topics. 10 would be bonus points. Because when you have five little things on a pad of paper even. Then dive in and play podcaster - record. That's my third one, play. My third P - Press record. You can do that in a simple app called Anchor. I'm not affiliated. I mentioned Anchor all the time. I'm not affiliated with them. I just know, I know enough about Anchor to be dangerous. But it's a great app, because it's sort of an all inclusive all one, one stop shop. You can do everything in there - you can practice, you can leave everything as a draft, you don't have to release anything to the world. They show you how to do all the things. In the beginning, you can practice there. The three P's passion, plan and play. That's it. You know what, when you play, when you press record, use, use your phone, and then use the earbuds these earbuds are really good. If you have an iPhone or even with android.

They're pretty good. The mic sets, the earbuds are really good quality. That's what I would say for someone just starting out. If someone is ready to roll up their sleeves, like you are Danielle and they're like, “No, I don't wanna waste my time. I want to work with someone who's who's done all that work, who has figured out all the things has made mistakes, and then figured out how to really get in there and bring it together under an umbrella” Then here it is, we're going to walk right through that we're going to do it we're going to we're going to when you walk away, you have a podcast, you're going to be plug and play ready. You'll know exactly what to do.

Danielle Napolio Cox 27:41

That is brilliant, Kara. That's exactly what I encourage everyone listening to do. I'm a coach and I invest in coaching. The reason I do that is because I know it works. If you want results fast. If you don't want to waste time, which time is the only thing we cannot get back. We can make more money, we can get thinner, we can get healthier, we cannot get the time back no matter how hard we try. If you guys want that, I encourage you to reach out to Kara. Now Kara, will you share with us your website address, but also I'm gonna let you guys know that she does offer the free discovery call. You can contact her and just find out if she's the right guide for you. Find out about her services, she offers VIP packages. You can have a one day experience that is really impactful and get going on your podcast. Don't let another 3, 6,12 months go by before you start jumping in the pool. It's great. We're all in here.

Kara Gott Warner 28:39

This is where it's okay to jump in the pool. Right? That's right.

Danielle Napolio Cox 28:42

This is a pool. Go jump in and swim! What is the best way for people to connect with you?

Kara Gott Warner 28:49

I try to keep it super easy, right? That's my philosophy. So Karagottwarner.com and from there, you'll be able to see how you can work with me. right now I am only offering the VIP days. I open up enrollment and then I close. Depending on when you release this, Danielle, it may or may not be open. Then you can get on the waitlist. That's it. KaraGottWarner.com I'm on Instagram. My handle is @KaraGottWarner on Instagram, super easy. Then, of course, on Facebook I'm @CoachWithKara. That's my handle over on Facebook. Of course, just Googling my name. You'll find lots of goodies there. I don't know if you've ever Googled yourself but it's really kind of fun to do.

Danielle Napolio Cox 29:40

You know what's funny, my daughter Googled me, and then she loves to make fun of me for what she finds. Like “why did you put that picture?” It's hilarious. So, guys back to Kara. We got through an entire podcast episode and did not once mention the name of your podcast. So please tell us how can we listen?

Kara Gott Warner 29:58

I thought I mentioned it, but I didn't because usually I introduce myself. Then I say, and I am the host of the Podcasting with Purpose podcast. So, Podcasting with Purpose for Life Coaches is kind of my handle. But really, Podcasting with Purpose for any human that wants to share a message. I think I'm going to change my tagline to that.

Danielle Napolio Cox 30:27

Everyone listening, all of these details will be in the show notes, and on the website page and on social media, so you will absolutely be able to get in touch with Kara. She's amazing. I suggest you reach out. Thank you for being here today, Kara. It's been a pleasure connecting with you and for my audience. Take care and have a great week.