Recently, I celebrated the 100th episode of my podcast, Let the Adventure Begin with Chris Denker.

As I reflected on this accomplishment, I also thought about what I’ve learned so far on this adventure.

Lessons I’ve learned so far.

I’ve created, recorded, edited, produced, and promoted each episode for 100 weeks in a row. I’m a one-woman show, and so I’m doing everything from ideation to publishing. That seems pretty awesome to me. I need to celebrate what I’ve done so far rather than minimize what I’ve done.

I’m not getting hung up on my stats, because growth is what matters. However, here are a few that excite me. I have a modest number of downloads, but I have already surpassed the number of downloads from year one. My podcast has been listened to in 40 countries and 296 different cities.

I think it’s okay to check stats but not get obsessed with them. For example, my most listened to episode is called Release (Your Inhibitions), and I honestly have no idea why it has resonated with so many people. As my sister pointed out to me, maybe it was more of a call to action than lessons learned. She also mentioned that I talked about both debt and losing weight, which a lot of people are focused on. That tells me that maybe I need to talk about those areas more on future episodes.

Adding interviews once a month has been a great addition in year two, but it is a lot of hard work. I’ve been fortunate to chat with mostly people I know so that has made the conversations flow pretty well. I know it will be challenging to find new people as I move forward who are willing and excited to talk about their adventures. There are also the moving parts of setting up the interviews, rescheduling when needed, sending out questions ahead of time, and then prepping adequately so that I can share parts of that person’s story without giving too much away.

Eventually, I want to make money from my podcast, but I know I’m not there yet. I don’t have enough regular listeners to make it lucrative for others to advertise on it. I also know that I will be pretty choosy in who I partner with and who fits the vibe I have. So, for now, it’s a hobby with regular monthly expenses, but it’s worth it because I know I’m in it for the long haul. My monthly expenses aren’t huge. On average I spend $40-50 a month for general operating expenses outside of the time spent on it beyond my full-time teaching career.

I’ve learned that while I do things well at the last minute (both a blessing and a curse), I want to do a better job of planning and recording 2-3 podcasts ahead. I want to have a couple in the hopper if something falls through with an interview.

Continuing to have a growth mindset is huge, and I feel like the podcast is so much different from the first episode to the 100th. My intro is different, the way I format the episode itself has evolved, and I’ve been promoting it more on social media, including TikTok. I know it will continue to change incrementally as I learn from others.

Which leads me to this, it’s important to keep learning from others. My primary mentor has been Rich Roll. His podcast is the first one I started listening to with regularity. He has been doing it for over a decade now, and his growth has increased incrementally over the years. While I’m not into long-format interviews like he does so in such an engaging way, I’ve learned to be a better listener, let the person I’m interviewing finish their thought instead of jumping in to comment or ask another question, and figuring out better questions to ask in the process.

The first 100 episodes have indeed been a labor of love, but for me this is more than a podcast. It’s a way for me to serve, create community, and add value to others’ lives. It is my classroom beyond my classroom. One day, it will be my only classroom, and I can’t wait to see where my adventure takes me.