219: Five Things I Wish More Podcasters Knew in 2026

Number one, stop building your podcast like someone else's.

I see this all the time.

Someone sees a big podcast doing something and immediately assumes that they should also be doing that too.

This could be video podcasting or releasing multiple episodes per week, being on a podcast network, running ads, creating content every single day.

And while all of those things can absolutely work, they work for a podcast because they support that podcast's goals.

The problem is many podcasters will actually skip the part where they ask whether the goal of that podcast is the same as their own.

And the reality is that most of the podcasts that people are trying to emulate are backed by big media companies, large teams, huge budgets, and a built-in existing audience.

Or even worse than all of that is a business model that looks nothing like their own.

For example, a lot of podcasters who are business owners trying to leverage their podcast to grow their business are emulating the things that media companies are doing.

There are podcasts that are actually structured as a media company, meaning that they're not driving people somewhere.

They are just entertaining, and by just entertaining, that's hard work, so don't take that the wrong way.

They are simply entertaining their audience, and then they are relying on the advertising budgets of people who are paying to put ads on their shows, which is a very different strategy than what many of you that listen to this show are doing.

So if you're a business owner using a podcast to support your business, your goals are probably different than the big podcasts that we all follow, right? You don't necessarily need the millions of downloads that they need.

You don't need all the studio gear and the cameras and the equipment.

And you don't need to publish every single day.

There's actually a whole strategy around why publishing every day is a bad idea for podcasters, specifically in the automatic downloads world.

That's a conversation for another day though.

The thing is, you need a podcast that helps you achieve your goals.

And that is why every podcast decision should start with one simple question.

Why am I doing this? Not because someone on Instagram said you should, or because you saw another podcast doing it, or because it is the latest trend.

You should only be doing things in your podcast because it serves a purpose in your overall strategy.

Now, last week, I actually talked about video podcasting, so I won't spend too much time there, but it is the perfect example.

The podcasting incredible success on YouTube often have a dedicated YouTube strategy, a dedicated YouTube audience, and a dedicated YouTube team.

And in addition to that, they're creating content specifically for YouTube that's not on their podcast.

They are not seeing success because they turned on a camera.