74. The Hidden Costs Of DIY Podcasting

You started your podcast with big dreams, but somewhere along the way, it started feeling heavy. Maybe you're doing every single thing yourself: recording, editing, writing show notes, promoting, scheduling guests, managing social media... and you're exhausted.

In this episode, we’re getting real about the hidden costs of DIY podcasting. I’m not here to guilt trip you or sell you a "one size fits all" solution, but I am here to help you recognize where your energy is leaking, where support could change the game, and why doing it alone isn’t the badge of honor you think it is.

🧠 Inside this episode:

• Why so many podcasters end up doing everything solo (and why it’s not your fault)
• The sneaky ways DIY podcasting leads to burnout, creative block, and missed opportunities
• How the mental load of managing your show silently drains your energy
• A simple Podcast Energy Audit you can do in 15 minutes
• Different types of podcasting support at every budget (from free to full-service)
• How to know whether it’s time to get help or let something go altogether
  
  

🎁 Want My Eyes (and Expertise) on Your Podcast?
 If you’re ready to stop carrying your podcast on your back like Luisa and the donkeys in Encanto, my Day of Voxer service might be the magic you need.
Spend 24 hours with me in your back pocket—no Zoom calls, no pressure—and get personalized support to finally move through your biggest podcasting bottlenecks.

Book a Day of Voxer Here

 Let’s Keep the Conversation Going
DM me on Instagram or Threads: @SONIVIAStudios
Email me: rue@sonivia.com

You don't have to do everything yourself to prove you're serious.
 You just have to keep showing up for your podcast, your people, and yourself.

Music Credit: Up An Octave Theme by Rue Spence with additional vocals provided by Darnell Spence

Up An Octave is hosted by Rue Spence of Sonivia. Up An Octave is a podcast for women and nonbinary people who are ready to take up space in podcasting to share their voices with the world.

Transcript

 You are listening to Podcasting Up in Octave, a podcast by sovia, the podcasting agency that believes that women and queer people deserve to take up space in the podcasting industry because our thoughts, voices, and stories matter. Here, you'll learn how to make a dope podcast that inspires, educates, converts, and most importantly, makes your voice shine.

I'm your host, Ru Spence, and I'm here to take podcasting up and octave. Let's get into it.

Hello. Hello and welcome back to Podcasting Up and Octave. I am trying to get back in the zone because I just recorded a killer intro to this episode and then, uh, my SD card was full, so that's lost to the ether. I'm trying to get my mojo back. But today we are talking about the costs of doing your podcast alone.

And this is near and dear to me because almost all of these are things that I ran into when doing my first show, or they're things that I have heard time and time again with people who eventually go on to hire me, to work with me as my clients. And it's something that I've just really observed comes for us all.

So how many times have you told yourself it'll be faster if I just do it myself? How many times have you said I'll figure it out? I always do. And how many times have you been up late, exhausted and frustrated googling how to fix a podcast problem that you didn't even know existed until 10 minutes ago?

I've been there. I've lived there. And this episode is for the podcaster who's been carrying their show on their back, like Louisa, with the donkeys from Encanto. Whether it's been by choice, necessity, perfectionism, or just being in survival mode, you've been doing it solo and it's starting to take a toll.

Today we're breaking down the real hidden costs of DIY podcasting, not to guilt trip you or to pressure you to outsource, but to help you actually name what's weighing you down. Imagine what the right kind of support could look like. So let's get into it. Why do so many of us end up doing our podcast alone in the first place?

Maybe your budget's tight. Maybe like me, you're a little Virgo, type A and your standards are high. Maybe you've been burned by flaky contractors or tech that has overpromised and under-delivered, or maybe you're, like I said, type A and it feels easier to keep everything within your control. There's no shame in any of this and TBH, these are all pain points that my clients have.

Talk to me about during discovery calls and podcasting can absolutely start as a solo project, and for some people it will always be a solo project. But for a lot of us, at some point, the scale tips and it starts to cost you more than it gives you. And this can be for a lot of different reasons. This can be because your show has grown and you have new things that you didn't know you were gonna be worried about, like merch or, or in navigating advertisements.

Or maybe because your podcast is part of your business, it has caused your business to blow up, and the time that you were spending, editing and doing whatever with your podcast now needs to go to your business itself. So the real cost of doing it all, let's name that you are spending time. This is the most precious and most finite resource that any of us have.

You're spending hours every week doing work that isn't in your zone of genius, doesn't light you up, doesn't set you on fire. You're spending joy. You used to love podcasting, but now it just feels like a chore because it's such a big part of your to-do list. Creative burnout. Your best ideas are getting buried under a mountain of editing and admin or production tasks, stalled growth.

You can't see the forest through the trees because you can't focus on strategy and visibility because you're so stuck in the weeds of actually producing your show and missed opportunities. You are too overwhelmed to pitch yourself to monetize or try something new because of how buried you feel. And here's the kicker.

A lot of us normalize all of these things because we think that this is just how it's supposed to feel. Well, you signed up for this. Here you go. But it's not, and it doesn't have to be. There's also the mental load that we don't talk about enough in this industry. If you're feeling like your podcast is constantly taking up your mental space, and not just the recording and editing, but remembering deadlines, thinking ahead, doubting your messaging, trying to do strategy, scheduling, guest management, social media, copywriting, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

On top of everything else that you do in your business or life, and just hoping that you're doing it right. And listen, if you're someone who struggles with executive dysfunction, decision fatigue, or just busy human life stuff, this mental load hits different. Doing it all yourself doesn't just slow you down, but it wears you out quietly and slowly and over time until you realize it and you're in too deep and you're like, why do I even do this anymore?

And you spiral and cue the pod fade. Maybe you're DIYing because you don't even know what help to ask for, and this one is big. There have been times where I have someone who reaches out, they're at their breaking point. They're like, I just need someone to do X. And I'm like, that's cool. Tell me about, you know where your bottlenecks are, and they're like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I really. I'm struggling so hard with doing Y, and if I had someone to do X, I could do Y. And I'm like, that's cool. Do you hate doing X? And they're like, well, no, it's fine. And I'm like, but do you hate doing Y? And they're like, oh yeah, I hate doing Y. And I'm like, cool. So maybe you keep X and I take Y. And you know, people don't even understand what types of support exist because it's one of those you don't know what you don't know things.

That's why I encourage anyone who's kind of getting to this point of like, I'm doing everything by myself and carrying it all by myself is really heavy to start with a podcast energy audit, and this is a little bit different than the traditional audit or like the audits that I offer because this is more of the like shadow work in the journal type of audit, which you know is where I ask you take 15 minutes.

And write down every task you do right now to produce your show. Everything, everything, right, like literally everything. And next to each one I want you to mark, find some kind of metric, an emoji or color code it with highlighter. I enjoy this. I don't mind it. I dread this every time and just this simple act of identifying what's burning you out will clarify what kind of support you're longing for and what you're not.

And the ways that you navigate that will look different. But here are some options. Batch the thing that burns you out if it's editing or writing. Show notes. Try batching that one task for two or three episodes. You don't need to overhaul your entire workflow to start feeling that relief. Plug the energy leaks by just getting it done.

Find community. Being in community of podcasters makes a huge difference. You get unstuck faster, you'll be inspired more often, and you'll realize that you're not the only one struggling. With whatever your issue is and if you don't have your, your group or your think tank yet, DM me over at Sovia Studios and I'll help you find one that fits.

Finding community is such a big part of what I love to do and I'm really excited about that kind of stuff. So hit me up and we can chat. Another option is let it Go, and this is like very weird for me to say because I think a lot of times. There's this like very hustle culture, very like masculine energy around.

We'll just push through and pull yourself up by your bootstraps and just get it done, because of course, why wouldn't you? You signed up for this, blah, blah, blah. And maybe the one thing that's causing you stress is pointing what doesn't serve you. And you know, in, in part of that energy audit, it's worth seeing, like, do people respond to this?

Do people comment on this? Does it seem like it's going nowhere? If you hate making tiktoks, maybe it's because that energy is better spent on a different social media, and you will know this by. When both of these things are true, it's definitely GTFO time. If you hate making tiktoks and no one watches your tiktoks, why are you making tiktoks now where you have to start asking yourself if this is something to offload, if this is something to just power through, if this is something to let go of a different burden so I have more energy for this.

Do you hate making tiktoks? But they go rival every time. That's a slightly different equation. If you hate how long you have to talk when you record, maybe your episodes don't need to be that long, and there is no perfect formula. There is data on what performs best, but that's not true across the board.

And episodes that are longer than they need to be don't ever do well. Like if you're just kind of talking because you feel the need to fill an hour slot. That's not gonna perform as well as something that could be super tight. My last couple episodes have been like 10 minutes because I am in a season in my life where I am not hemming and hawing.

Like if we need to just like talk about something, we're just gonna talk about it and then get back to our real life. Because I have diapers to change, I have edits to do. I have fun to go have I have mountains to climb. Like I am too busy to sit and talk to you for any longer than you and I both can commit to listening.

So. And also, you know, if you decide to go with a pro, there are a ton of different options at every price point. The right podcasting professional is gonna feel like a perfect fit with supports that make things feel easy. And that's where you know, when you're having a discovery call or you're interviewing a podcasting professional, if they're trying to upsell you and be like, I'll just do all of this.

And you're like, no, no, no, I really love handling this part. You know, it should be somebody who can offer you the supports. That make your show feel like magic, not just, okay, I guess this is what I have to do now. You know, go with somebody who's gonna serve you and your show and keep it feeling like your show.

And there are options at every level. You know, not everyone wants to or isn't a place to outsource everything. There are some of my little high strung Virgos, I see you, I am you. I hold your hand when I tell you this, that you know are never gonna wanna outsource. The good news is that you don't have to support, can look very different at different price points, but also at different levels of intensity.

So for low cost or free, you can, you know, get some of this lightning of the burden with like template packs and guides. It's like, I've got my editing with Audacity Guide or my 12 week podcasting planner. These are things that I have created for you. With my knowledge and expertise that you get to take and still feel like you are the batty in control type, a Virgo queen, but you're getting a little bit of that support by learning and accessing new tools.

There are free Facebook groups or discords for podcasters. There's podcasting forums on Reddit or threads to crowdsource ideas and answers. I am a big Reddit user, even when it's toxic and cringe, but that's just that. Mid-tier is where you kind of mix. DIY with a pros help. So this is like, you know, pre-made kits or courses, little strategy calls for quick wins without big commitments.

VAs who take recurring admin tasks off your plate, maybe it's just you hate pitching and they just pitch for you. Research assistants who can help bring your episodes to life without you having to scour and vet for hours on the web. But then there are also the like high touch and often high cost supports.

And this is like hiring a podcast manager who you sit down to record and they do everything else, or editing and post production teams or like full service concierge level supports, which are, you know, for the content creators who really want to say they create a podcast and don't wanna know what any of the backend is.

So. Those can all look a little bit different in how they function, but they serve a very similar goal of like, I don't want to be in the weeds in the backend. The truth is there is no right way to build your support system. There's only your way and anyone who encourages you to do it a certain way because that's how it's supposed to be done is for sure.

Z's trying to sell you something. And not only what they're trying to sell you is probably their services, but what they're also trying to sell you and what's a little bit more sneaky is that they are trying to sell you, quote unquote, the right way to do it. And I just wanna impress upon you that there is no right way.

The right way is what feels good to you. So if today's episode gives you clarity, if your energy audit gives you clarity on what you don't want to do anymore, honor that, that is the start of your next step. If you're listening to this episode and you're thinking like, oh my God, I think she's talking about me, I wanna let you know that I do have my day of Voxer service, and this is 24 hours of voice and text access to me.

That's no calls at a certain time. No pressure, no worries about your kid or mine, keeping it together while you're on a Zoom call, just the space to unpack your podcast bottlenecks. Think on things, do a little journaling, come back, ask new questions. Uh, brainstorm your next steps. And finally feel like you've got this on lock.

You don't need to know exactly what you need help with. You just have to know that you're ready to stop doing it all alone. You can find the link in the show notes or DM me at Send via Studios. If you have some questions. I wanna talk it out first. Please, please, please remember that you do not have to earn rest.

You do not have to do everything alone to prove that you are a quote, serious podcaster. And you're not behind just because you're tired. Your voice matters, and the steps that you take to keep it resonating matter as well. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening, and thank you for helping me take podcasting up and octave.