10 Things I’ve Learnt From Podcasting

Happy hump day all! I can’t quite believe that we’re on Wednesday already, but it’s here and that means that a new episode of ‘At Home With…‘ has dropped. Seeing as this week’s vlog is a little behind the scenes (but not really) of a podcast recording day that we had last week, I thought I’d share 10 lessons that I’ve learnt along the way through doing this whole podcasting malarkey…

1. It ain’t as easy as it looks; let me tell you. The idea of a podcast between Lily and I had been cooking for almost two years and the prep that goes into the whole thing is long. The fact that Lily and I are no-budge perfectionists when it comes to all aspects of our online careers probably doesn’t aid this matter, but the behind the scenes to making the podcast is quite the process. From reaching out to guests, co-ordinating schedules and pre-recording interview prep (a.k.a Google is AMAZING); emails and WhatsApp’s fly across between our guests, their PA’s, our producers and Lily and I every single day.

2. On the flip side to that, it ain’t half fun. It’s been great to get our claws into a completely new project and embrace a new medium for us, which thankfully you lot have embraced along with us too. We’ve actually only got two more guests to record now, so we’re sadly nearing the end of series one. It both feels like it’s been an age since we booked our first guest and like it was yesterday.

3. Snooping around people’s homes is easily the best part of it all. Shhhhhhh. I inherited by Grandma’s nosy gene and when you couple that with my love for ELLE Decoration, ‘At Home With…‘ is basically my dream and we just happen to record a podcast whilst I’m snooping. It’s also given me some new interior design ideas and after seeing the living quarters of our latest guest I’m thinking that I need to add a touch of yellow to our home (you’ll hear all about that in episode 8).

4. Speaking of our guests I feel like I’ve learnt lessons from each of them and always come away with a fire in my belly to be the baddest badass I can be when it comes to business. I’d quite like Jo Elvin to be my personal mentor, Kate Johnson is my interiors muse, Terry de Gunzberg my friend who tells me what lipstick to wear and feeds me homemade cookies (she did both of those things during recording, I’m just adding in the ‘friend’ bit), Lisa Eldridge to invite me over for girlie chats and movie nights, Alexia Inge as my business coach and Madeleine Shaw as the mate that invites you over for the world’s best home cooked dinner.

5. Lily and I were so nervous when we recorded our first episode that I’m not sure we actually breathed until we’d finished the recording with Jo Elvin and when we got outside afterwards we were so relieved that it went well that we did a group hug with our producer and sound technician. Thankfully we now remember to consume oxygen during the episodes and as the series has continued it’s something that we both feel way more comfortable with. Practice makes perfect remembering to breathe much easier.

6. The great thing about podcasts is that you could wear a bin bag whilst recording them and no one would be none the wiser. It’s great. As we often slot recordings into London days of trotting around from meeting to meeting, we often look a tad bedraggled which we don’t care too much about until we reach the end of recording and remember that we always grab a picture with each guest. Our guests look pristine as Lily and I look like hot and bothered bookends. FAIL.

7. There are so many podcasts out there! My eyes have been opened to the podcast world and aside from listening to them whenever I commute between Brighton and London, Mark and I pop on politics podcasts whenever we have long car journeys together because we can never decide on what music to play (Arctic Monkey’s and Red Hot Chili Peppers are the only two bands that we both agree on). The Guardian one is a good’un.

8. I couldn’t imagine doing this alone for many reasons, but the one great knack that Lily and I both have are that we are a good team and I can tell when she’s flagging and pick up the pace and she can tell when I’ve said a sentence and have no idea how it’s going to end and she can finish it up for me. We tag team; picking up the slack with emails and scheduling when the other one is away (big love to Lily for arranging a load of the guests and sorting out the artwork whilst I was away in L.A and New York back in April) and just generally being there for each other. Lame, but true.

9. Speaking of teams, doing the podcast has made us rely on a team of people more than we ever have before in any other project that we’ve worked on and it’s been a great learning experience. Our producer Sam, cuts it all together and then the sound guy, Adam, smooths out the audio and helps with mic set-up. It’s good to surround yourself with people who have great strengths in areas that you don’t, as Alexia Inge pointed out in her episode (subtle episode plug right there).

10. When it was decided that we would launch the podcast in May. A month where I had absolutely no free weekends down to hen parties, baby showers, birthdays and speaking engagements, crammed weeks and our wedding at the end of it, my hands got clammy and basically stayed that way until the end of the month. But seeing it through, having the most manic month ever and it still being pretty good (YAY WEDDING!) is a reminder that being crazy busy is actually ok and as long as it’s coupled with a bit of downtime in the evenings and plenty of RuPaul’s Drag Race. All will be ok.

Photos by Lauren Shipley