Advice For The Hesitant

I'm back from a long hiatus -- we'll get to that some other time. Meanwhile...

If you haven't started your podcast, what's holding you back? I'm betting that some of you are just confused on where to start, because even though countless companies have tried to make starting and producing podcasts as simple as possible, you're still being bombarded with conflicting and confusing messages.

Here, let me simplify it for you:

1. Do you know what you want to talk about on your show? If no, don't do a podcast until you know. If yes...

2. Are you doing this because you want to or because you've heard you need to? If the latter, don't. If the former...

3. Do you care if you make money on it or not? If not, that's your green light. If you do, we'll need more columns to explain what you'll need to do and be realistic about how it'll play out.

If you made it through those questions and you're ready, just start. You don't need fancy equipment -- your computer or your phone will do to start -- and you can use any reputable hosting solution, some of which are free and which offer simplified recording and editing tools. Start with that and you'll learn what you need along the way. You can always change hosts and buy and add equipment based on what you find. But to start, just... start.

There. We can get to deeper discussions now.

Got a question about podcasting? Go ahead, send it to psimon@allaccess.com or tweet it at @pmsimon. That's what I'm here for.