The How To Podcast Series - Revolving Co-Hosts, Actionable Tips, And A Community for Podcasters

Episode 628 - Shout Out Your Listeners - We Love To Hear Our Name, Comment and Our Voice on Your Podcast

In this episode of the How to Podcast Series, Dave reflects on his ongoing podcasting journey and shares a powerful reminder about the role listeners play in building a thriving show. After seven years, nine podcasts, and nearly two thousand episodes, Dave has reached a point where podcasting has become a well running creative machine. With content scheduled months in advance and a steady stream of guests reaching out, he continues to challenge himself in 2026 by publishing daily episodes and creating more content across social platforms. The goal is not simply to produce more episodes, but to stay creative, push personal boundaries, and explore new ways to connect with podcasters.
At the heart of this episode is a moment that reminded Dave of something many podcasters forget. While listening to another podcast, his message to the hosts was read and acknowledged on the show. Even after years behind the microphone himself, hearing his name and contribution mentioned brought genuine excitement and a sense of connection. That small moment highlighted a powerful truth about podcast audiences. Listeners love to feel seen and appreciated.
Dave explores how recognizing listener engagement can transform a podcast from a one way broadcast into a true community experience. When podcasters acknowledge comments, voice messages, emails, or social media interactions on their show, listeners move from passive consumption to active participation. Being mentioned on a podcast creates an emotional investment. It encourages listeners to contribute again, share the show with others, and feel a deeper connection to the podcast and its community.
The episode also emphasizes that creating these interactions requires intention. Podcasters must make it easy for their audience to engage and must actively invite feedback. Whether through voice message tools, comments on podcast platforms, direct messages, or listener questions, every interaction becomes an opportunity to highlight the people who support the show.
Dave encourages creators to regularly feature listener voices, celebrate community wins, acknowledge thoughtful comments, and shine a spotlight on audience members who participate. These simple moments can have a lasting impact and often inspire others to join the conversation. Over time, this creates a cycle of participation where listeners contribute, receive recognition, and encourage others to get involved as well.
Podcasting becomes much more powerful when the audience feels like they are part of the show. By elevating listener voices and celebrating the people behind the downloads, a podcast can grow into a shared space where ideas, support, and community lift everyone involved.
Key Takeaway
When podcasters intentionally recognize and celebrate their listeners, they transform passive audiences into engaged communities, creating stronger connections and encouraging ongoing participation that helps the podcast grow.
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Episode 627 - Basic Training for Podcasters - Community Approach Over Going It Alone DIY
In this episode of the How To Podcast Series, Dave reflects on the realities of podcasting and why creators should stop trying to build their shows entirely on their own. While podcasting often begins as a solo effort, the journey becomes far more sustainable when creators connect with others who share the same passion.
Dave opens by acknowledging the workload many independent podcasters face. Between recording episodes, editing, promoting content, managing multiple shows, working full time, and balancing family life, podcasting can quickly become overwhelming. Yet despite the pressure, the creative act of hitting record and sharing ideas remains deeply rewarding.
The episode focuses on a central message: podcasting does not have to be a solitary experience. Many creators start by teaching themselves through online searches, videos, and tutorials. While that independent learning is valuable, it often leads to unnecessary struggle. Tasks such as editing, understanding microphones, managing hosting platforms, or navigating promotion can become frustrating when tackled alone.
To illustrate the importance of collaboration, Dave compares podcasting to military basic training. Recruits often face a large wall on an obstacle course that seems impossible to climb individually. However, when the group works together, helping each other up step by step, everyone eventually clears the wall. The obstacle does not change, but the team approach makes the challenge achievable.
Podcasting presents similar walls. These challenges might be technical issues, creative blocks, time management, or the emotional pressure of speaking into a microphone without immediate feedback from listeners. Attempting to overcome every obstacle alone can lead to burnout, frustration, and isolation.
A supportive community can transform that experience. By connecting with other podcasters, creators gain access to shared knowledge, encouragement, and accountability. Some members may be stronger in editing, others in writing or promotion, while others simply offer encouragement during difficult moments. The result is a network where creators help each other grow.
Dave also highlights the emotional side of podcasting. Recording episodes in isolation can feel discouraging, especially when download numbers are small or progress feels slow. A community provides reassurance that these challenges are normal and that other creators are navigating the same struggles.
One helpful way to think about community is through three types of relationships. Every podcaster benefits from someone ahead of them who has more experience, someone beside them who is at a similar stage, and someone behind them who is just beginning and can learn from their journey. A community environment makes these connections possible.
The episode concludes with an invitation for listeners to consider joining a podcasting community where creators support each other, share resources, and grow together rather than struggling alone.
Key Takeaway
Podcasting challenges rarely disappear, but they become far easier to overcome when you stop trying to do everything alone. A supportive community provides guidance, encouragement, and shared experience that helps creators continue growing while enjoying the journey.
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Episode 626 - Your First Love - Coming Back to Why You Started Podcasting
Podcasting often begins with a spark. It starts with curiosity, excitement, and the simple joy of hitting record for the very first time. In this episode of the How To Podcast Series, Dave reflects on what happens after that spark fades beneath the growing pressure of expectations, advice, and endless “must do” strategies.
Over time, many podcasters drift away from the original reason they started. What once felt creative and energizing can begin to feel overwhelming. Suddenly podcasting is no longer just about recording and sharing your voice. It becomes layered with advice about video, social media, newsletters, SEO, community building, and monetization. While these tools can be useful for some creators, they can also bury the very thing that made podcasting exciting in the first place.
This episode invites listeners to pause and return to their “first love” in podcasting. Dave uses the metaphor of a first romantic relationship to illustrate how we often start something with enthusiasm despite not knowing what we are doing. Just like those early relationships, the experience may be awkward, imperfect, or messy, but the excitement and authenticity are what make it meaningful.
The same principle applies to podcasting. Many creators begin because they love the intimacy of audio, the chance to have real conversations, or the opportunity to share ideas that might help someone else. But as time passes, external pressures can turn that creative outlet into something that feels more like a full time job.
Dave challenges the idea that every podcast must become a business, scale into a media brand, or chase massive growth. Instead, he encourages podcasters to ask a few simple questions: What part of podcasting originally brought you joy? What still feels energizing today? And what parts now feel heavy or draining?
For some creators, the answer might be returning to a simple audio only format. For others, it may mean reducing the number of platforms they try to maintain or simplifying their production process. The goal is not to shrink ambition, but to protect the passion that keeps a podcast sustainable.
At its heart, podcasting is about connection. A message from a listener, a thoughtful comment, or a small community of engaged followers can be far more meaningful than chasing anonymous download numbers. Even a handful of listeners who genuinely connect with your work can be a powerful reminder of why the podcast exists.
Dave also reflects on the mental health side of podcasting. The pressure to constantly grow, monetize, and optimize can lead to burnout. When creators measure success only by metrics, it becomes easy to forget the deeper value of simply creating something meaningful.
This episode offers permission to step back from the noise. You do not have to follow every trend, adopt every new tool, or replicate what large podcasts with big teams are doing. If your first love is simply recording your voice and sharing ideas with the world, that is enough.
Podcasting does not have to be complicated to be valuable. Sometimes the most sustainable path forward is returning to the original reason you started and letting that guide the future of your show.
Key Takeaway
If podcasting has begun to feel overwhelming, reconnect with the reason you started in the first place. Protect your first love for the medium, simplify where needed, and remember that creating something meaningful for even a small audience is more than enough.
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Episode 625 - Being Original is Overrated - Podcasters You Don't Need to Reinvent The Wheel
Podcasters You Do Not Need to Reinvent the Wheel
In this episode of the How To Podcast Series, Dave challenges one of the biggest pressures creators place on themselves: the need to be completely original. Inspired by the book Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon, he gives podcasters permission to “steal” in the healthiest, most creative sense of the word.
The episode explores the idea that nothing is truly created in isolation. Every creator is the sum of their influences, experiences, and inspirations. Rather than chasing an impossible standard of total originality, Dave encourages podcasters to embrace the reality that creativity is often a remix. If you copy one person, it is obvious. But when you draw inspiration from many sources, blend them together, and add your own perspective, that is where your voice begins to emerge.
Dave reflects on the common fear that “it has already been done.” In podcasting especially, it can feel like every topic is covered. But just because something has been said before does not mean it has been said by you. Your lived experience, tone, and intention are what make the content unique. The wheel is still the wheel. It works. You do not need to reinvent it to build something meaningful.
The episode also highlights the importance of curiosity and research. Chase references. Read widely. Follow ideas deeper than the surface. The goal is not to obsess over being groundbreaking. It is to keep learning, collecting influences, and refining your craft.
Dave shares a practical example of how borrowing with intention can help shape a creative voice. Modeling tone, structure, or delivery from multiple sources can be a powerful training tool. Over time, those influences blend into something distinctly yours.
He closes by reminding listeners that their uniqueness does not come from inventing something no one has ever heard before. It comes from being themselves. If you feel called to create, that is reason enough.
The episode ends with an invitation to connect directly. Dave is aiming to have five conversations each month with listeners and encourages anyone interested to book a free chat. He also offers practical advice on planning content calendars, using seasonal themes, interviews, and recap episodes to reduce overwhelm and build consistency.
Key Takeaway: Stop chasing perfect originality. Learn from others, blend your influences, and trust that your perspective is what makes your podcast stand out.
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Episode 624 - Engagement Starts With You as the Podcaster - Be Sure To Acknowledge Your Listeners

Engagement starts long before a listener sends you a message or supports your show. In this episode, Dave shares why meaningful interaction is the responsibility of the host first, and how simple, free tools can help you build a loyal community around your podcast.
He begins by inviting creators into a free online meetup community designed to combat the isolation many podcasters feel. There is no paywall, sales funnel, or upsell, just podcasters supporting each other, listening to each other’s shows, asking questions, and offering feedback so no one has to create alone. This sets the tone for the whole conversation: community is built on showing up consistently and being available.
Dave then walks through two key engagement tools he sets up for every new podcaster he works with: Buy Me a Coffee and SpeakPipe. Both can be added from episode one so that as listeners discover your back catalog, they already have clear ways to support and speak to you. He emphasizes that you can podcast for free using tools and resources that keep your financial risk low while you learn, experiment, and grow, rather than overspending before you know what your show will become.
The heart of the episode is about what happens after listeners actually engage. When someone sends a donation through Buy Me a Coffee, Dave refuses to treat it like a generic transaction. Instead of a canned reply, he records short, personal thank-you videos, acknowledging each supporter by name and intent. When listeners leave voice messages through SpeakPipe, he responds with his own audio replies so they hear directly from him. For him, ignoring messages, comments, or donations is breaking a promise; if you ask for feedback, you need to be there when it arrives.
He also urges podcasters to claim their show on Spotify for Podcasters so they can see listener retention data, access in-episode comments, and respond to those comments where listeners are already trying to talk to them. Too many shows complain about a lack of engagement while overlooking the messages and comments they already have. Dave challenges hosts to stop asking for interaction if they have no intention of replying, because every message represents a significant act of trust in an online world where people are wary of scams and empty asks.
The episode closes with a bonus reflection on storytelling and personal point of view. Great podcasting lives at the intersection of useful content and the host’s unique lens on life. Listeners come for the topic, but they stay for you. By leaning into your own stories and perspective, you become a trusted guide, deepening the bond with your audience and giving them more of what they truly want: your authentic voice.
Key takeaway: Engagement is not a numbers game, it is a trust game. If you want more listener feedback, support, and comments, show up consistently, respond personally, and build community around your unique point of view.
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Helping Podcasters Everyday! 
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