Welcome to the streamlined podcaster, a podcast that shows you how to put the right systems in place so you can stop spinning your wheels, focus on making great content and see your show grow.

Because there's nothing worse than putting a ton of effort into your show to see very few benefits and even fewer downloads.

My name is Joe Casabona and I know you're strapped for time.

So let's get into it.

Hello, hello, today I want to talk about three things that you should not do as part of your podcast guest process.

Now, I'm a guy who recommends, hey, automate as much as possible, do things that will make your life easier, but everything should be in the service of you being able to show up more personably build relationships and do right by your guests and your audience.

And I've noticed just like a terrible trend lately in things that podcast hosts are doing that they should not be doing.

So here are three things to remove from your podcast guest process immediately.

The first.

auto -subscribing guests to your mailing list.

If you're in the United States, you are not allowed to do this.

As part of the Can Spam Act of 2003, you need to make it so that people explicitly opt into your mailing list and there is an easy way for them to unsubscribe.

But just beyond that, don't assume that your guests want to get your emails just because they're coming on your show.

Maybe your emails don't help your guest.

What you're essentially saying is, hey, thanks for giving me your free time.

I'm also going to invade your inbox.

So if you want your guests to join your mailing list, add it as a tick box to your Calendly form and say, hey, I think my mailing list would be really helpful to you.

Would you like to join it?

If you're not doing that and you're just auto -subscribing them, what you're doing is, at worst, illegal.

And at best, just kind of crappy.

It makes it seem like you only have your podcast to build your mailing list and who cares what the guest thinks.

And don't be surprised if they unsubscribe either.

This happened to me recently.

Somebody added me to their mailing list I didn't give them permission to.

And then they didn't have an unsubscribe button.

And so I had to email them and say, hey, remove me from this list.

And they were like, I'm a little surprised.

I'm like, well, you shouldn't be.

I didn't give you permission to email to put me on a mailing list.

You know, and so I feel real strongly about this.

Your guests are taking time out of their day to give you free content.

Don't reward them by invading their inbox.

Similarly, number two.

Don't tell them to provide questions for you to ask.

I'm sure I've talked about this before because this is a pet peeve of mine.

My guest form is easy as possible.

If I am inviting somebody onto my podcast, they should not have to fill out a million forms or a million fields.

When I've been invited on shows, I've had to fill out 10 or more questions.

What's your social media handles?

How many followers do you have?

What topic should we talk about?

And, oh, give me five to seven questions that I should ask you.

That's your job as the host.

You know your audience better than me.

You're presumably having me on your show to bring my expertise.

So when you're inviting somebody onto your podcast, you should already know what you're going to talk about.

Otherwise, it just seems like you'll interview anybody in an attempt to just churn out to be a content factory.

So when you invite somebody on your show, you should know what you're going to talk about and generally what questions you're going to ask.

When I invite somebody on the show, I always propose a topic.

Hey, I'd love to have you on to talk about this.

Does that make sense for you?

they'll either say yes they should say yes because I've done research or they'll say oh I'm not really talking about that I'd rather talk about this does that make sense and if it does great and if it doesn't like I know not really but I I always propose the topic and then I come up with the questions because I as as the host I know my audience I know the story I'm trying to tell I'm not trying to get you to do the interview for me Because that also makes crappy content, right?

Because what am I gonna do?

I'm gonna think about the questions that I get asked the most often or questions I never get asked that maybe have nothing to do with your audience.

Ask me what my favorite pizza topping is.

Spoiler alert, it's cheese.

Cheese pizza is the only good pizza.

So like, that's your job as the host.

Stop asking your guests to do your job for you.

Related.

Number three.

Stop telling guests that they have to share it with their audience.

That is also not your job.

They are not your PR department.

If you are just having them on so that they share with your audience, you are not doing right by your audience.

You are not doing right by the guest.

Your job is to do a good enough job interviewing that the guest wants to share.

And I will do that.

If I am on a particularly good interview, like here's because here's the thing, right?

I go on a lot of podcasts.

Good like people who enjoy podcasting or podcast guesting tend to go on a lot.

I'm not going to email my my list every week with, hey, these are the three podcasts I was on this week.

I have a content schedule.

Also, hey, here are the three podcasts I was on this week.

I talked about the same exact thing on all of them.

Now I'm not serving my audience.

I'm not that active on social media.

I saw one recently that was like, you promised to share this within 48 hours of publishing.

This ain't a legal contract.

This isn't an agreement that we're entering into.

So I can either lie to you and say, yeah, sure, I'll do it.

And then you can't do anything if I don't.

You can unpublish it, I guess.

But who cares, right?

I mean, it's kind of obvious that you don't have a good audience anyway if you're forcing me to share it with mine.

Or I always choose to be upfront with these things and say, hey, I'm not going to promise to share it.

Like, if you want to have me on your show, great.

If you're only using me for my audience, then we shouldn't do this.

Same thing with the what questions should I ask you?

I always say, you know your audience better.

So you come up with the questions.

And like, if that's not good enough, that's fine.

I don't want to waste my time going on like crappy podcasts.

And like as a host myself, I put a lot of effort into making sure my guests have a good experience and that we cover things that they don't normally cover.

Because that is how I serve my audience.

And now let me rewind and tell you what I'm not saying.

Number one, don't auto subscribe them to your mailing list.

You can still get permission to add them to your mailing list.

Number two, telling them to provide questions to ask you.

Don't make them give you five to seven questions, but say like, hey, is there anything you want me, is there anything that you definitely want me to cover on this show?

That's fine, right?

Because now you're like, hey, if you have a book coming out or something and I don't know, it's not public knowledge, definitely tell me.

And number three, telling them they have to share with their audience, don't do.

Ask them, provide some assets for them to share.

Definitely do that.

Tag them on social media?

Absolutely.

But like, don't invite them onto your show and then force them to do a bunch of things that are good for you and have no benefit for them.

Because that's not your job.

That's not their job.

Your job is to create great content for your audience.

The guest's job is to help you do that.

And as long as they hold up their end of the bargain, you shouldn't force them to do anything else.

I feel very strong about this.

Right?

And again, if the guest comes to you and says, like, hey, I usually like covering these topics, or these are some questions nobody ever asks me, or I have a book coming out in a couple of months, I'd love if you asked me about that.

That's fine.

Or if they opt into your mailing list, also fine.

Right?

If they choose to share it, great.

Our job as podcasters is to serve our audience, not use our guests as a growth engine.

So definitely remove those things.

If you're doing that, I came at you really strong today.

I feel really strongly about that.

People's time is valuable.

Don't waste your guests time by forcing them to do a bunch of things that you're supposed to do.

You deeply disagree with me.

Let me know over at streamlinedfeedback .com.

Thanks so much for listening to the Streamlined Podcaster.

I really appreciate it.

And until next time, I hope you find some space in your week.

Thanks so much for listening.

If you are wondering how you can save more time in your processes, if you're feeling overwhelmed, Head on over to streamlined .fm slash overwhelm and take the overwhelm quiz.

It's six questions and you will get personalized results, a personalized blueprint for what to do based on your answers.

That's over at streamlined .fm slash overwhelm.

And again, thanks so much for listening to the streamlined podcaster.