If you are thinking about doing a podcast then let me share 13 months of experience producing the Business Oddcast – we have hit the 3000 download mark and I thought I would give you what it takes us every month to do our 1hr show on Neurodiversity in the Workplace and Self Employment.

Our BusinessOddcast.com launched in September 2025 is starting to get noticed and building traction nicely. We are now involved with Ben Branson who heads up The Hidden, a charity campaigning about neurodivergent matters. So, it has got us noticed… However it’s not as simple as talking & recording.

1) You need to know “What’s the long term goal”? Why are you doing this? Info only or do you need the audience to take action and do something with the info/content? Or is it entertainment only?

2) Production plan – schedule of episodes release dates and production notes. Nothing gets done unless it’s in the plan.

3) Scripts – even a list of talking points will make a big difference. You will have a more productive conversation/interview that will seem more polished and prevent you going round in circles or repeating your points.

4) Recording – where/when/how/what equipment does the team have etc? You can record on your phone, but it’s not going to be easy to edit or have the sound quality of a studio mic. Start with either second hand stuff or budget friendly kit, if you progress then you can always improve your production quality. I went all in, our kit cost circa £1K, and I have my own StuDio so that’s a cost saving. It may be cheaper to rent a space with the equipment, at least to start with whilst you figure it all out and build your audience.

Here’s the note I was given when I was writing for the BBC R4 Week Ending – audio quality is everything. People will live with bad lighting, and shaky cam if they can hear you clearly (and you have something worthwhile to listen to!)

5) Editing – just edited our latest Oddcast and for a 1hr show it took me 3 hours to edit, and I am quick as I know our foibles, and have a rough idea of what to cut directly after the recording. I’ve also edited lots of things for myself previously, so all of my early mistakes will not be heard. The learning curve might be steep if you are not technically minded.

6) You need a podcasting platform to distribute to all the other platforms (like Spotify, Apple, Play, etc.) or have to do it all manually, and that will take time (and suck).

7) You need artwork, and copy for each episode and a full transcription for accessibility. Chuck the edited MP3 into NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook) and then get a rough transcript you can whip through and make human readable.This takes time, @Hannah my co-producer and co-host does this for us, she says she gets it done in “about an hour”

8) Distribution – we’ve had just over 3000 downloads in 13 months since launch. Approx 250 listeners per month, and it’s grown to that slowly. We had hardly any listeners for the first 6 or 7 months. Also, not all “listeners” listen all the way through, for us about 20% do, so that’s about 50 people we are reaching every month. You may get more quicker, you may get none at all. Do not be afraid to pivot, change or otherwise tweak your output BUT don’t chase listeners. Have something amazing that people will listen to then PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE…

We do promotions on Socials etc.

TIMINGS TO PRODUCE AN EPISODE
1) Planning 1 hr for all pre-production work

2) Recording 2 hrs for an hour episode. By the time you are sat with scripts ready to roll can take 30 mins of natter and studio prep. Then about 75 mins of chat, cut to an hour in the edit and 15 mins after checking stuff and ensuring no issues. (bare in mind, that’s 2 hrs for two people or 4 work hours)

3) Post production – just getting to the point where you can start to edit takes 30 mins, import of files, sound processing and generally fixing any sound issues.

4) Edit – 1 hr production takes about 3 hrs if you have no problems, I schedule a half day.

5) Publishing – I am doing this right now, takes about an hour to get it all ready for release and uploaded.

All told a single 1 hr ep takes a full day (if not more) to produce. We’ve got efficient, so it may be closer to 7 hours, if we do a really good show with few errors, or sound issues.

If you decided to do a monthly show, ask yourself; Do you have at least one full day a month to write, record and publish a podcast? Regularly? And if that is a weekly event, that is one full day per week, per episode…

We did once a week for 6 months and it took everything we had, and we launched with 5 weeks recordings in hand. We now do one ep a month.

They are great – but to get a following takes work, you need to ensure it is done right and build a process to ensure you can be as efficient as possible.

BusinessOddcast.com – all 38 of our episodes are there inc. an interview with the lovely @emma-beattieunmaskedstudio-co-uk a member of SiGNAL BiZHUB, who shared her incredible story with us last month and told us all about the work she does with neurodivergent candidates, helping them find and sustain employment.

So… that’s what it takes, have a listen, let us know what you think???

Then come and tell us at the Hampshire Founders Roadshow on the 23rd of Oct at Paulton’s Park!