Admit it. You sang the title of this post.
It’s cool…I did too.
As we close in on the end of the show’s first week, I thought it might be interesting and helpful to chronicle its growth over time. After all, I have big goals for Becoming UnDone, and there are two things I really dislike about big shows and unreachable hosts: 1) there is very little transparency to see how those shows went from nothing to something, and 2) those hosts are (understandable) difficult to reach or connect with.
I’m starting from less than nothing here, so should the show become a smashing success as intended, then this blog will be a great resource for others to use. And I promise: I will never forget the disappointment I have felt in getting big-timed by other speakers and hosts. So you have my word that anything I can do to help another aspiring host or entrepreneur, I will do.
Before the Beginning
The show might have debuted on 1/1/2023, but it actually started sometime in early October. I bought two domain names (becoming-undone.com, which I hated the dash but the more obvious choice was taken, and undonepodcast.com, which seemed to roll off the tongue easier to me). I already had a hosting account, so there was no cost there. I have also owned and operated a graphic design company for 15 years, so all the website, logos, artwork, etc. were paid for with sweat equity. That said, late October, November, and December consisted of setting up the site, recording several interviews, and preparing for launch day. I had a laptop and a Yeti mic, but that was it, so I had to buy quite a bit of hardware to create a useable workstation. Here’s the summary of my purchase and expenses:
| Recurring Costs | |
| Convertkit | -$24.16 |
| Artlist | -$16.58 |
| BuzzSprout | -$24.00 |
| Magic mastering | -$12.00 |
| -$76.74 | |
| One-time Expenses | |
| Website | $0.00 |
| Graphics | $0.00 |
| Production | $0.00 |
| Domain names (2) | -$24.34 |
| First episode editing (Fiverr) | -$15.00 |
| Adjustable boom arm | -$12.79 |
| Command strips | -$12.50 |
| Webcam | -$34.99 |
| Headphone rack | -$8.50 |
| Cable wraps | -$11.86 |
| Speakers | -$115.49 |
| HDMI adapter | -$3.95 |
| Dell keyboard | -$49.95 |
| Monitor | -$309.99 |
| Foam Windscreen | -$10.64 |
| Mic shock mount | -$12.39 |
| Laptop docking station | -$50.16 |
| Mic screw adapter | -$9.60 |
| Headphones | -$37.50 |
| Keyboard | -$19.99 |
| -$739.64 | |
| Total | -$816.38 |
| Income | |
| Nada | $0.00 |
| Net | -$816.38 |
I used Buzzsprout for all things podcast, and in order to get the show indexed/listed on all the major platforms, I had to produce a 1-minute promo reel. It got a total of 16 listens in December.
In order to monetize, Buzzsprout requires several things: 1) at least 5 published episodes, 2) 1000+ downloads in the last 30 days, 3) episodes at least 23 minutes long, 4) verified email, 5) at least 3 podcast categories, and 6) be on a paid plan.
I didn’t have enough episodes, downloads, or length to even be considered, so income for October-November =$0
So far, I’ve got on the order of 60 hours of time and just a touch over $800 invested.
The goal is to be eligible for monetization within six months (June 1) with at least 3 episodes per week plus the initial launch bunch for a total of at least 75 episodes by then. My goal for the year is 150 published episodes.
We Can Do This!
Tune in next week for the January update!
If you’d care to support the show, that’d be cool, too. But I don’t expect it. I just want you to listen, enjoy, and share.