Changing Seasons of Your Podcast

Welcome back to the Mindset of podcasting. So this is episode 52. It is going to be the last episode of season two, and I decided to do a solo episode. I'm actually going to be doing a lot more solo episodes coming up in season three, which is going to start on January 10, 2023. Can you believe we're in 2023 already?

Like this year went really fast. So since this is the end of season two, I decided to do an episode about changing seasons of your podcast. Now, do you have to change seasons? No, I have clients who have never changed seasons. They just keep going.

All the episodes, they actually don't take a break because they batch record ahead of time. So they always have episodes ready to air. So why am I doing seasons? Well, I'm doing seasons basically because I want to take a vacation and I want to rest and relax. Yes, I could batch record a bunch of them ahead of time, but I really just don't even want to worry about promoting new episodes during my time off or anything like that.

So I do seasons and I do it by the dates of the year. So for me, for season one, I ended it in August of this year because I took a two week vacation in August and I didn't want to have to worry about trying to promote new podcast episodes during my vacation. So I decided to take those two weeks off and to start season two when I came back. And now season two is ending here right before Christmas because again, I want to enjoy my holiday and I don't want to be promoting new episodes during Christmas. So I decided just to take these two weeks off again.

And I will be back January 10 so that I can actually enjoy and relax during my vacation. Because even if you batch record ahead of time, you still have to promote the episodes when they come out. And I just didn't want to be on social media the whole time that I'm not working. So I decided I don't want to promote anything during that time. I want to enjoy my vacation.

Because here's the thing. You can take a break from social media. It won't kill you. It won't destroy your business. You can take a break.

So take that break if you need it. Now, some people do a certain number of episodes each season. Like maybe they do ten episodes of season or six episodes a season. It's really up to you. Some people have different topics for each season.

Like they do one whole season around Mindset and then the next whole season around Affirmations. I don't know. I'm completely making that up off the top of my head. But they have different subjects for each season, so you could do it that way. Also, I just talk about what feels right in the moment, but that's entirely up to you.

This is your podcast. You get to do what feels good to you. So you can decide if you just want a batch record and keep going all year. You can decide if you want to do seasons based on when you take vacations in your business. You can decide to do ten, take a break, do another ten, take a break, completely up to you.

Now, when you do take these breaks, I do suggest telling your listeners, like I am telling you now, that there will be no new podcast episode for the next two weeks and we will be back January 10. So do advise your listeners so that they're not looking for your podcast episode next week and they're like, where is it? So make sure you do tell them at least in the episode right before you are to take your vacation or your little break from podcasting. Now, if you don't want to leave them with absolutely nothing during the time that you are off, you could rebroadcast an old episode, pick one that you really liked or got lots of views, got lots of listeners, and rebroadcast that just put it back out again. You could also do a mashup episode of maybe your best tips.

If you have solo episodes, take a few different tips from each episode and put them all together in one. Or if you have guest episodes, take a bunch of your best guest advice and put them all into one podcast episode. Yes, that does involve a little more work, but you will give them kind of new information because they haven't heard it all together like that. So that's something that you can give your listeners. If you do want to still give them something while you are gone, you don't want to leave them with just nothing.

So rebroadcast know that episode, do a bunch of master of episodes, but still let your listeners know, hey, there's no new episodes, this is what I'm doing, why I'm taking a vacation. Just so they're not left like, oh, what is this? I've heard this one before. So just make sure that they know. But my most important thing that I want to tell you is your podcast.

You don't have to do it the way anybody else does it. You need to focus on your listeners and what they need. So one, keeping them so one, letting them know what's coming up, letting them know you're taking a vacation, letting them know what's going on, and two, giving them what they need. If they like seasons with different topics, do that. If they like to take a break during Christmas too, give them a break during Christmas too.

But really keep them in mind when you're doing all this and again yourself too, and your mental health, because it's a lot of work to keep up with the podcast. It is like recording and editing and doing all the things. It is a lot of work. So make sure that you're taking care of yourself, too, and giving yourself those breaks. You can take a break from the podcast.

It's not all going to burn to the ground. While you are on vacation or even not on vacation. You're just taking a break. It's not all going to burn to the ground. Give yourself that rest that you need.

Because if we don't take care of ourselves, we cannot take care of our business and our podcast. So make sure you are taking care of yourself. So, with that said, I will be gone for the next two weeks. This is the last episode of season two. Join me in season three, where there will be a lot more solo episodes.

And when I do have guests, those guests are actually all podcasters. And we are going to find out the behind the scenes of how they run their podcast, how they got started, the fears that they were feeling. So come back for that. Any questions you want to ask, any questions you want to ask anybody who has a podcast, DM me over at Jillian Grover Podcast Solutions on Instagram. Or you can email me jillian@jilliangrover.com, and let me know your questions that you have for anybody who has a podcast that you would like to ask them.

If you want to get behind the scenes and really ask them, like the intimate questions that you've been dying to know, please head over and let me know. And I hope you all enjoy whatever holiday you celebrate, even if you don't celebrate a holiday. Enjoy the end of the year and relaxing, and I will talk to you next here.