17 | Behind the Scenes – How I Documented My Podcast Production Process SOP

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Before we get started, I want to invite you to the workshop coming up: 3 Steps to Organize Your Digital Files to Save 2 Hours a Week. I am going to teach you three simple steps so you have a clear vision for an organized business. You’ll be able to find any digital asset in seconds. This is for brand new and seasoned coaches.

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I don’t care if you’ve already taken a workshop with me in regards to your digital files, I want you to be there! This is going to be so helpful for you. I’ve had so many people go through this process with me, and they just can’t believe it. Their mind and how they see their digital files changes, and they’re so amazed.

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You are going to get out of the overwhelm by doing this. You’re going to feel confident that you can find anything in your business. You’re going to have a plan in place by the time we leave the workshop to know exactly what to do with a clear vision. No one teaches us how to organize, really, so don’t settle for a digital mess.

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Let me teach you the simple steps to organize your business assets so you can register for that at training simplysquaredaway.com/digital. Or just go to my website Simply Squared Away and at the top of the page, the top bar will have a link for you to register. That is coming up Wednesday, September 13 at 02:00 PM

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Central Time. This is one of my favorite topics to help people get their digital assets organized. It’s not as hard as you think. Join me in the workshop to get the digital part of your business organized as we head into quarter four, into the fall and into the new year. Can’t wait to see you there.

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Now, for today, I am sharing my own podcast production SOP with you, and I’m going to talk through the six steps to creating an SOP, but then use my own example of how I did this for my podcast episode creation. It’s not all that pretty, how it went for me, and I’m still kind of refining the process now. But this episode is really good because it’s made me actually finalize this document. The great thing is I’m sharing the document with you. So the link is in the show notes for you to get my actual SOP for podcast production.

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You can make a Google Doc copy of it, and then you can change it, you can duplicate it, you can use it for yourself. I wanted you to see how it looks, how it’s formatted, and have fun with that. Now, don’t worry, even if you don’t have a podcast, you’ll find this helpful because I do talk about other areas of your business to think about to start with and areas that you’ll for sure want to document. You can use this formatted sheet and use it for another area. Have fun and listen in.

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Let me know what you think. Here we go. Are you ready to work less, feel more organized and productive? Streamline repetitive tasks, and implement systems that allow your coaching business to run smoothly even without you? If so, you’re in the right place.

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Welcome to the Organized Coach Podcast, your go-to source for practical tips and solutions. I’m your host, Tracy Hoth, professional organizer, certified life coach, simplifying expert, and most of all, down to earth fellow coach just like you. No matter if you think you’re missing the organizing gene, have ADHD or just love anything organizing, I’m here to help you become an organized coach with a business that works for you. Pull up a seat and let’s get started.

00:03:55
I learn best when I listen to people, when I see someone else do it, when I hear a specific example. I love examples. So today I want to share with you my specific example of how I’m creating a process for producing a podcast episode. And I thought it would be fun just to walk through. Now I’m on episode.

00:04:18
This will be Episode 17. I’m still not finished with it. The first thing is to remember that this is messy, you don’t write down your process and it turns out perfectly. You write it down and then you tweak it, you fix it, then you actually use it, and then you make adjustments and then you fix it.

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When you think you have it down, then have someone else on your team run through it. They fix it and you just keep working on it until you have the process that you want. Just remember that as you start creating your own processes, you don’t get discouraged that it’s a messy thing. You’re writing just the raw steps down and then you’re making adjustments as you go. Here are the steps that I’ve used to create this process for my podcast production.

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1. I open a Google Doc. 2. I make a list of all the steps and I break them down as small as possible. 3. I add all the links and passwords needed so that if someone was following this outline, they would be able to get into all the accounts and be able to log in and all of that. 4. I print out the checklist. Now you don’t have to print it out, but one thing I love is that you can use the little squares, the little checkboxes, so that as you go through each step, you can put a little checkmark in front of it.

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I love having a header and then having each of the steps have a little square in front of little what do you call that? A little checkmark box instead of a bullet point or instead of a number, I have the little checkmark box and that’s available in Google Docs. If you don’t know it’s right next to the bullets and the one, two, three, then there’s also a little checkmark. Okay, then I print the document out. 5. I’m going to follow the steps and make any adjustments that I need to as I go.

00:06:23
I’m going to test it out and see how it works. An optional 6. I use a screen recording software to record myself doing this process. Maybe there’s some stuff online I want to screen, share and record it so that the next person that’s doing it is able to know exactly how I do it. Some people like video in their SOPs and some people don’t. But for this, I don’t have one made for my part of it.

00:06:51
As I’ll explain, I might have my virtual assistant or graphic artist do this part. Also I want to share that in the show notes. I’ll include a link and you can go to the link and download my podcast. SOP for free you can make any adjustments. I’ll just have it where you have to make a copy of it.

00:07:13
I’ll take out my links. You can add your links. I’ll put a highlighted area called links so you can add yours and change anything that you need. You’ll have a structure set up and you can go through it and see what you need to change to make it your own. Then you’ll have one process in the books.

00:07:31
If you have a podcast that is available to you now, I want to share the specifics. I interviewed Jenny Lakeman and that episode will come out soon. Jenny loves processes. It’s such a good conversation that we have around processes and systems in your business and how to create them. I love them, but I feel like I’m a little messy.

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Here’s how it went with me. I got really excited and I was going to start my podcast and I was going to make this amazing process. As I went, I was going to document everything and follow the process and it was going to be amazing because I’m organized. This is how it really went. So this is where in my intro I say I am just like you, an ordinary person, just like you figuring this stuff out.

00:08:23
What I do is, what does it say? Open a Google doc. I opened a Google Doc. I named it Podcast Production SOP and then I started to make a list of all the steps.

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One thing I do that I love, it has subheadings, and the subheadings are what platform I’m in at the time of these tasks. For example, the first thing is Google. I’m in my Google Drive. I go into the podcast folder, to the episode folder,

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I make an episode number, and I number my file. Then I create a document in that folder. I change the name of the document to match the episode number or the podcast guest. Next, I open the document and I create an outline. I am improving my ability to create an outline.

00:09:16
I start creating an outline, and then I get bored. I start recording the episode. It takes me so much longer because I am recording it without a proper outline, getting distracted. I know I have a lot more editing to do because of this, but I’m working on it. So I create an outline.

00:09:33
I make sure to put this in my SOP so that I would know that I need to have a call to action. I want to have a story and I want to have a plan of what I’m going to teach or talk about the concept. So that’s what I do in Google. Then I’m ready to record. Right now I’m using Audacity or Descript.

00:09:54
I’m kind of testing both of them to see which one I’m going to use. I open, let’s say audacity. I check the mic and make sure the MIC’s correct, and then I record. Then I edit.

00:10:06
I like to edit it right after I record it, and I’ll eventually pass this off, I think. But in the beginning, I just wanted to be able to know the whole process of editing and how that looks and know that I could do it if something ever happened. I edit the episode, and then I add the music intro and the music outro. What I wrote down is then I go to Capsho (I’m testing Capsho), which is an AI platform. I open it, and then I upload my episode and I finalize the show notes and the title.

00:10:40
I finalize what quote I’m going to put into my blog post. I finalize the bullet points and timestamps. If I’m going to use that, I finalize the links that are mentioned in the episode because it pulls that from the recording. And then if needed, I re upload into Audacity to record the intro. Sometimes in Capsho, after writing my show notes or seeing my show notes and editing them and editing the timestamps and what we talk about, I get a clear idea for the intro, the part before my music intro that I talk about.

00:11:17
I may have recorded it already, but I may have to go back and record it. Then I download it from Audacity and it has the correct title and the information and the tags and all of that. Then I open Podbean – that’s where my host is. I add my show notes, my bullet points, and I can kind of pull those from Capsho from what I’ve edited, and I add the links.

00:11:40
I copy and paste the normal connect with me information that I include in each episode. I schedule it to air on the assigned date. Then I copy the embed code while I’m in there. Next thing on my list, I go to my blog. I clone the template, because I’ve made a template in my blog post for each podcast episode.

00:12:01
Next, I paste the embed code where it’s supposed to go in the episode. Then I paste the show notes, I paste the bullets and the timestamps and the links. I paste the quote as a Tweetable quote, and then I grab the transcript from Capsho and I paste it into the episode. I know there’s lots of discussion about transcripts being included and all of that, and for now I just decided I’m going to include it in there. Next I go into Google again and I go to my podcast episode catalog and I make sure that the title of the episode is correct, that the number is correct, I put the date that it’s scheduled to be published, and I fill in a few more columns in there.

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Then the final thing, I have the subheading as closing. I add the final podcast to my Google folder. In my folder is now the final podcast, edited, ready to go, and the Google document that has my outline and notes in it. I include the Raw episode in there also. Then next in my process is what I have my VA do, and I’ve included her tasks kind of in the same format where I have she goes into Canva.

00:13:13
Canva is the subheading, and then I have all the things. She makes a featured image, she creates a pin, she creates a quote, and she does the in headliner, creates a wave story. Then she goes into the blog and she edits the blog post, adds the graphics, adds SEO, and pushes or schedules it to go out. For promotion, she goes into Capsho to get any other Facebook or Instagram description ideas, and she schedules Instagram and Facebook links to go out or posts to go out.

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She then schedules the pin. For her closing task, she messages me for final approval of everything. That is my process. As I tell you all this, it sounds so much. It sounds like so much.

00:13:58
Oh, the last thing she does too is add all the graphics to the folder to make sure they’re in the Google folder. That’s one thing I love, is that the Google folder has everything I need. If it’s me promoting something and I need to find the graphic, I go to the folder and there it is. It’s so awesome. It’s organized in a way that I really like.

00:14:17
But as I read through this process, it seems like a lot it seems like I do a lot. Now, some of you that have podcasts might have someone doing a lot of this for you, but what if they were gone? What if they were sick? What if they couldn’t do it and they were out of town? Who is going to be able to do it?

00:14:38
If they had a list like this with all the links and everything they needed, it could get done easily. That’s my idea for you is to create this process. Use my template if you want to, and have one complete process in the books. What happened for me, as I did this, is I created this process, and then I kind of left it in my folder and didn’t look at it. Then I might remember, okay, I got to make sure that process is right.

00:15:05
Actually printing it out helped me so it’s right here on my desk, and I can go through the steps to make sure that’s what’s actually happening. It’s a little bit different when I have a guest. If I had a guest, I could include in this same process the steps that would change if it was for a guest. And then where do I store this?

00:15:25
If you go back to one of the beginning episodes, I talk about organizing your digital files. I start with home and business, so obviously this is business, so I go into business. One of the main files is Operations, which you might call Admin, whatever you want to call it. In Admin, you want to have a SOP file. This document would go in the SOP file.

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Now, you may not have a podcast, so what next? I wanted to run through some examples of other standard operating procedures (SOPs) that you might want to create. One of the first things you can do is think about what tasks do I do that I want to hand off to a VA. Maybe that’s creating and posting on social media. Maybe it’s customer service in your membership or your group.

00:16:12
Maybe it’s email. Like, what do you do with your email? How do you check it? What are some common responses that you give? You can start there to create your SOPs, because you’ll need those if you hire someone to follow those.

00:16:27
That’s a great place to start. Maybe you want to start with onboarding your client. You want to have a system and a process in place, documented so that you know exactly what to do when you’re onboarding a client. Within the Client Tracker that I have available, we walk through that process. It’s really easy to create a process for yourself.

00:16:50
Maybe it’s your monthly tasks. This is something I kind of avoided and now when I’m evaluating my KPIs, once a month I go in and I have a list of exactly what I want to do. I have a process documented in place that I can follow so I don’t avoid this task. Maybe it’s your digital cleanup.

00:17:13
You want to have a checklist. Just a simple process that you go through each month, each week, however you have it set up, where you clean up your desktop and other digital areas in your computer to keep it organized and functioning well. Especially you would want to start creating this. If you’re doing a webinar or a training or a workshop, if you’re hosting a workshop, get a document out and start writing down the tasks that you do and the steps that you take this first time. So for me, this has been a long process because each time I do it, I don’t go back to my document, which maybe you’re like that too.

00:17:52
Just remember that it’s a messy process and whatever it is, you’ll find it easier to keep maintaining them, to keep following them and refining them because you can find them. That’s maybe one of the big things.

00:18:19
Another one is to launch your program or digital product. Create a process for doing that. Create a checklist. Okay. I hope this was helpful for you to see that it is a messy process.

00:18:33
I’m not perfect at it, but continuing to go back to it and refining it and not ignoring it, not giving up, is the key to creating processes in your business. Let’s do a quick review. First step, you open a Google doc. Second, you make a list of all the steps, breaking them down as much as possible. Third, you add all the links and passwords needed.

00:18:58
Fourth, you print out the checklist or pull it up. Number five, follow through the steps. Follow them, refine it to make any adjustments and optional 6th go back and make a loom video recording it. I hope this was helpful for you to see that it’s messy. For me, it’s not easy, but it’s okay that it’s not easy.

00:19:20
I’m here for the hard work. I’m here for the struggle to get through it. But on the other hand, if you’re completely overwhelmed, you do not want to do this by yourself. You want someone to help you with it. Then reach out to me.

00:19:34
This is one of the things I help my clients do. It’s fun to have someone pull the steps from your brain. Go get the free podcast production SOP that I’m offering. At least you can see, even if you don’t have a podcast, you will be able to see kind of how I formatted it and how simple it can be. And I wanted to share.

00:19:51
I was driving home from my workout class, and I was just reminded it’s all about the person that we’re becoming in the process that counts so just remember, it’s not how perfect you do, it how fast you get these done. If it’s done the right way, it doesn’t really matter. As you’re working on this process of documenting your systems, just realize this process is helping you become something. It’s changing you, and that’s what counts. And as I was thinking about it for myself, I was like, it’s so fun to think about that.

00:20:24
I’m so grateful for just this process of creating this podcast and documenting how I’m going about it. I’m becoming better, I’m becoming more skilled, more disciplined, more aware. It just made me so grateful that I’m doing this. I hope you can feel the same way. One more thing I want to point out.

00:20:45
What would you have to believe in order for you to create systems in your business? There’s a few ways to go about thinking about this. I love walking through this. If I had it done, what would I be thinking? I would think, I’m so grateful that I followed through, that I did this.

00:21:02
I would also think I was being so kind and helpful to my future self. For me, I always bring my faith into it in my weakness (and this may be your weakness too), God is there to carry you through, to make you strong, to provide ways and answers and help that you need. I might also think, I’m here for the hard times.

00:21:24
I am here to push through. My business isn’t always fun, and I don’t always have to do things that I like. I can do the hard things too and I’m here for that. As you think about it, what would you have to believe?

00:21:36
Don’t forget to go register for the 3 Steps to Organize Your Digital Files to Save 2 Hours a Week. That website is training simplysquaredaway/digital or you can go to my website, Simply Squared Away and the top bar will have a link for you to register. That is coming up Wednesday, September 13 at 02:00 PM Central Time.

00:22:04
I am so grateful for you. I will see you next week. Thanks for listening to the episode. Please share this episode with your coaching bestie and tag me on Instagram at @racyhoth. Of course, I would be so grateful if you could subscribe and leave a written review on Apple podcasts.

00:22:23
It’s the number one way you can thank me. To thank you, go grab the File Naming Formula Cheat Sheet and watch the workshop replay 3 Secrets to Organize your Digital Files. Both are linked in the show notes. Until next time, have a beautiful week.