Start a Podcast Production Business
Companion to "Guests Are the Engine" and "Interviews That Open Doors."
Skeleton: open with something specific (an episode of theirs you heard, a post you used), name the show and the listener it serves, propose a concrete topic, make the time cost explicit. Send in the channel where you actually have a relationship. You are offering a platform, not asking a favor.
Hi Priya. Your post on rebuilding a ops team after a layoff stuck with me, especially the part about keeping the survivors' trust. I host The Transition Desk, interviews with ops leaders about what they did next. Would you come on for about 40 minutes and walk through that rebuild story? Listeners are ops managers mid-transition, so this would land squarely with them, and you are welcome to share the episode anywhere it is useful.
Hi Priya, just floating this back to the top of your inbox in case it got buried. The invitation stands, and the topic still feels made for you.
I understand if this isn't a fit right now, I'll check back down the road.
The graceful close leaves the door open; the second ask converts at a far higher rate once the show visibly exists. Keep the name on the list with a re-ask date. Rejection is information, not verdict: usually timing, bandwidth, or a spam filter.
When someone says yes, one email sets expectations and captures consent at once: the date and length, the recording setup (their end just needs headphones and a quiet room, your platform link arrives the day before), the topic in one line, and the release language, plus the swap: links and clips they can use anywhere.
Confirming [date], [length]. Your end just needs headphones and a quiet room; the recording link arrives the day before. Topic in one line: [topic]. By participating you consent to the recording and its publication and promotion by the show; you keep the right to share and reuse the episode and clips anywhere. After publishing I'll send links and clips you're welcome to use.
Episode's live: [link]. Two-sentence blurb you can paste anywhere: [blurb]. Clips attached with captions; explicit permission to reuse everything, anywhere it's useful. Thanks again for a great conversation.
The kit: episode link, a two-sentence blurb, one or two short clip files with captions, explicit permission to reuse. Guests sharing to their own audience is the single biggest early growth channel a young interview show has.
| Dream list: thirty to forty names in three rings (inner = will say yes, working = the business, moon = six surreal names) | ☐ built |
| Thirty minutes of outreach every week (a monthly blitz books nothing); tracker updated | ☐ |
| Record two guests for every episode slot (no-shows are a constant) | ☐ |
| Never book the same recording window twice; batch back-to-back sessions | ☐ |
| Maintenance loop: personal note the week the episode publishes, check-in a month later, quarterly touch; no asks attached | ☐ |