Mastering Solo Episodes: The Podcaster's Secret Weapon

Ever wondered why your podcast isn't building the audience connection or business results you expected? The answer might lie not in who you're interviewing, but in how little airtime you're giving yourself.

In this perspective-shifting conversation with award-winning podcast strategist Isabella Sanchez Castaneda, we uncover why solo episodes are the secret weapon most business podcasters overlook. Isabella shares her journey from journalism student to podcast powerhouse, explaining how the obsession with guest interviews often undermines your authority-building efforts.

"They want to fall in love with YOU, not your guests," Isabella emphasizes, pinpointing why so many podcasters struggle to convert listeners to clients. When you consistently prioritize guest voices, you surrender 95% of your airtime, leaving precious little opportunity to develop that crucial "know, like, and trust" factor with your audience.

Fear holds many back from speaking alone – fear of judgment, fear of taking up space, fear of having opinions. But as Isabella explains, that very discomfort signals the transformative potential of solo episodes. When listeners hear you confidently sharing expertise without a guest's safety net, they subconsciously elevate your authority. We explore practical approaches to structure solo content, from the simple five-paragraph essay format to strategic content planning that naturally leads to your offers.

Whether you're podcast-curious or hundreds of episodes deep in a guest-focused show, this conversation provides the mindset shift and tactical approach to make your voice the centrepiece of your podcasting strategy. Ready to step from the shadows of your guests into the spotlight of thought leadership? This episode is your roadmap.

Connect with Isabella:

Website
https://www.isamediainc.com/

Podcast:
https://www.isamediainc.com/visible-with-isa-media-inc

Socials:
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabella-sanchez-casta%C3%B1eda-818b38120/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/isamediainc/
YouTube
https:/

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Isabella Sanchez Castaneda
• 3:22 Podcasting Journey and Common Misconceptions
• 6:57 The Case for Solo Episodes
• 9:52 Creating Valuable Solo Content
• 13:35 Overcoming Fear of Solo Episodes
• 18:08 Starting Solo with Guest Experience
• 23:31 Final Thoughts and Resources

Transcript

Carl Richards: 0:04

Welcome to Communication Connection Community, the podcaster's podcast. This podcast takes a deep dive into modern day communication strategies in the podcasting space. We chat with interesting people who make the podcasting and speaking spaces exciting and vibrant. We also dive into the podcasting community with news updates, latest trends and topics from this ever-evolving space. So strap in, it's going to be one amazing ride.

Carl Richards: 0:32

Let's dive into today's episode, and my guest today is Isabella Sanchez Castaneda. She's an award-winning podcast strategist and producer for Expert Personal Brands. Isabella is the CEO and founder of ESA Media Inc. A digital marketing agency focused on helping you grow your visibility and revenue through podcasting A person after my own heart, as a matter of fact, because we do very similar things. So, combining her background in journalism, dedication to marketing and years in podcasting, isabella is here to help you know exactly what to say in your next podcast episode, and we're going to do a dive today on. We're going to do a deep dive into hosting your own show, hosting solo episodes, but before we do that, let's find out more about Isabella. Isabella, welcome to the podcast.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 1:25

Thank you so much for having me. I know this is going to go deep and nerdy about podcasting.

Carl Richards: 1:31

Do you think I hope you put two podcast strategists in the same room at the same time? What could possibly happen?

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 1:40

Beautiful ideas.

Carl Richards: 1:41

Pretty much everything. How did you find yourself in this space? What led you to podcasting?

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 1:46

Yeah, so the first show I ever produced was completely random. I had studied journalism in college and part of our requirements was to also do production work. So audio media, video, everything. And so I had taken an audio production with a group of other students and one of those students, a few years later after we both graduated, was offered a podcast opportunity. It was freelance, it was just like hey, a couple hundred dollars to come record edit. She happened to be moving to London and so she, without even running it by me, was like I have someone else that can do it, she's going to do it, it's fine, I get the text message. I set up a call with that podcast and I'm still producing them about four years later now. They're incredible.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 2:34

And I still didn't go fully into podcasting. I just had something on the side, because at the time I was working as a digital editor, I was leaning more into social media, leaning into website building, everything. That's what got my business started. But podcasting kept pulling me back. I started my own, I made a lot of mistakes on my own and more people started to ask for hey, can you help me start mine, can you help me start mine? And pivot after pivot after pivot, have found myself here in podcast strategy.

Carl Richards: 3:06

It's a great place to be. My journey into media was a few years before digital even existed. It was analog. We were editing on reel to reel tape, so it's a couple of years before, but same kind of journey where it? You know, I spent 25 years in radio broadcasting. I've mentioned that several times on the show and it just led to many opportunities to work with people. I also spent some time as a speaker trainer, which also led to some great opportunities. And then, when COVID hit, then did the pivot. And here we are, and it's a great place to be.

Carl Richards: 3:38

There's still so many opportunities in the podcasting space, not only for people like you and I, who help others get into the space and manage and maintain their shows, but also for people who are looking to get in and do more of the things that we do. But I'll tell you, there are so many people when they look at this space, they think, oh, my goodness, I want a podcast, and it's going to be very similar to, let's say, joe Rogan. He's the top podcaster in the world, right? I want my show to be just like his. It typically doesn't work out that way for the average podcaster, though.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 4:12

Absolutely. I have to lovingly tell my clients I think you're incredible, I think you have amazing expertise. You will be famous one day, but you are not Joe Rogan and you have not built a brand for yourself via other things yet. And so calling your show the Susie Smith show is not going to pan out the way you think it is, and I again have to do it in a very loving way because it's not for the listener, it's not for us to offend you, it's to make sure that you can build that brand to eventually be among the Joe Rogans of the podcasting world.

Carl Richards: 4:52

And I think too, the other challenge is that we draw from examples of what we already know. So we draw examples from, for example, radio, where there are several successful radio people, some of whom have gone on to do great things. Ryan Seacrest, for example, is not just a radio guy, he's the host of several different programs. But again to the example of, he's not the average person, right, he's not the average individual that's getting into broadcasting. He's not the average person doing things with journalism as it is today. He's hit that pinnacle.

Carl Richards: 5:29

And when we look at podcasting, we have to look at it from the perspective of what is my message, what do I want to share and why is it that people should listen to my message? Not only that, but what is it I want to get out of this show? What is the purpose of it? Because it's still the Wild West when it comes to podcasting. There's still so many, as I said, great opportunities, and when we embrace them the right way, I think that we'll all do just fine in it. Right, we'll all do great in it, but we need to know that there's a place for each of us and not to try and get into a place that we're not even remotely ready to embark on.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 6:04

Yeah, and I think a lot of people underestimate the amount of effort, time and resource it takes to produce a good show, and not even a great show, but just a good show, because so many people, myself included, started their show with just plugging in a microphone and talking without a title show with just plugging in a microphone and talking without a title, without an intro, without anything. And then you realize, oh, distribution costs money, oh, having a good editor costs money. Oh, I want to add video now. Well, I need to have a better camera and just little things that start to add up. And that's why people get so discouraged, because I think we want that quick win. There's folks who want that ease and just I want to be famous right away. And I become famous just by starting the podcast, instead of what we were kind of saying before we started recording, instead of really thinking about what does it mean to serve an audience rather than serve yourself through your podcast?

Carl Richards: 7:02

Yeah, 100%. And this is a good transition, I think, to dive into the meat of what we want to cover today, and that's there are so many great podcasters out there, and I know you've met several of them as of I, and you work with them, as do I, and how many times has somebody said, yeah, I want to do a podcast and I'm going to get guests and I only want guests, and it's all about the guest, guest, guest, guest, guest. That's not necessarily the best way for most individuals let's say, most business owners, coaches, consultants, real estate experts to look at this space.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 7:37

I completely agree.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 7:39

I think it's a really common misconception, because we see celebrity podcasts be guesting, we see the big names that got the big Spotify deals have guests, and so people again are emulating that, but they're not thinking about what is the end goal, what's the end result that you desire. And so, for example, right now, I hope that your listeners are falling in love with me and getting to know me. Example right now, I hope that your listeners are falling in love with me and getting to know me. But if you're not intentional, carl, about doing it as well, about putting yourself out there, they're never going to know anything about you.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 8:18

You're simply the kind of conduit, the middleman between them meeting their favorite people instead of you becoming their favorite person. And so, for the person who's about to start, how can you create a podcast where you become their favorite person? Maybe you sprinkle in a couple other people that are really, really aligned with you as a guest, but mainly doing solo, and getting them to say, wow, I love the way that you think, I love the way that you present that idea. If it's real estate, I love the way you sell a house, or I love the way you explain neighborhood development anything. They want to fall in love with you, not your guests, and you want them to fall in love with you and not only your guests.

Carl Richards: 8:56

Well, you have to develop that know, like and trust factor, and if you don't allow for that to happen, if you give your guest 95% of the runway for your show and you leave yourself with 5%, which is I know that sounds maybe a little bit far-fetched, but that's probably the average individual who's hosting guests on a consistent basis will give themselves the intro, say welcome to the podcast today.

Carl Richards: 9:19

My guest is, and then at the end they'll say thank you for being my guest today, we'll see you next week. What's that about 5% of the whole conversation? So it really needs to be about developing that know, like and trust factor, and it's harder to do when you have guests. You also need to be able to share your, your IP, you know your intellectual property, your ideas, your thought processes, your beliefs, and if your podcast, for example, is for your passion project, you need to be able to share that, so it has to come from you. So what is one of the key ingredients, then that you would say is flour to a cake, for example, for having a solo episode?

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 9:59

It first starts with where are you leading them to? So, because I work with coaches and consultants primarily, it's usually to some sort of lead magnet or email list. So if I know that there's a program that they want to fill, I was recently speaking to a budgeting coach and so if she wants to sell her budgeting spreadsheet or that's her budgeting freebie, she wants to send them there and that eventually leads to her larger course about budgeting for a family. Then we want to make sure that the episode is about something around budgeting, around feelings, around budgeting definitions that they need to know, around budgeting, so that when you pitch them, hey, natural invitation, you can go get this lead magnet. It's going to make this episode that much more powerful. Go for it. It feels like it's natural versus.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 10:49

I think a lot of people hear solo episodes and they go the extreme and they go okay, I'm going to treat this as my diary. I'm just going to go ahead and talk about me going to the park with kids and then at the end say, by the way, I have this freebie, I have this budget spreadsheet thing. Thanks for listening to me talk about going to the park with my kids and you're like I didn't learn anything. So it's always starting with the end in mind, starting with where we're leading them, and then that informs you of the topics, of what do your ideal clients, ideal customers, need to know, believe and feel before they can confidently invest in you. And those are where we source the topics from.

Carl Richards: 11:31

I like that. I like that it's very systematic. I know when I've sat down and created content for my show and I've shared this with prospects, or when I taught a course, I've said, okay, here's what we're going to do. We're going to do a brain dump. You're going to write down all the topics you possibly think of that you've talked on, and if you get to 20, great, stop there and then let's take another couple minutes, see if you can get to 25, and then just keep doing that. Keep doing that as a foundation to firstly get the brain moving and thinking about topics and then, like you say, reverse engineer them, think about what's the end result and then from there, if you are having guests, you can then say, oh okay, I know somebody who would be perfect to support my opinion or my take on this, and it's Isabella. I'm going to get Isabella on my show because I know she supports this 100%, which is why she's here today, because she supports solo episodes, which I've talked about many times.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 12:23

But, again.

Carl Richards: 12:24

Having that structure, having that idea and not just thinking, oh, I need a podcast, oh I need guests, oh I don't have a guest this week and think that you can't do it by yourself and that's why you're here, is to help people figure out. How do we systematically put an episode together and also realize that your solo episodes don't have to be 60 minutes. They don't have to be 30 minutes. I've seen podcast episodes that are two and three minutes long with more value than some of the longer episodes.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 12:58

You can change someone's life in two minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes. You don't have to force yourself to make it to 60 minutes just because that's what you've seen other people do. And then people say well, how do I know if what I've said is enough? How do I know if I've explained the topic or gotten to the point well enough? And so I take them back to high school and I say do you remember writing a five paragraph essay in English class or in history class, where you have your intro, your thesis, your three body paragraphs and your conclusion?

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 13:33

If you can do that five paragraph essay and hopefully most of us have gone and passed high school or figured it out another way If you can do that and you've made it here, to whatever age you are, you can put together an introduction, a thesis statement, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. It takes you two minutes to read through that outline. It takes you two minutes and that's a good episode. If it takes you 30 minutes because you included a lot of detail and a lot of explanations, then it takes you that long and that's perfect. But it goes back to the intention of knowing what you're saying and how you're saying it.

Carl Richards: 14:10

And, by the way, this doesn't happen by magic. It also doesn't happen in your first five to 10 episodes. That might seem very clunky, or they might seem very clunky at first, but the more you do this it's like anything else, it's muscle memory. You get comfortable with it. I remember and again this is going back a couple of years, starting out in radio broadcasting, where I could not open my mouth and speak unless I had everything written out word for word, including the call letters, the song title, the artist, the time, the temperature, my name, which I already know and then what I'm going to talk about in that particular break. And I did that religiously, probably for the first two to three years in my career, and now I'm not in that business anymore. But now it's afforded me the opportunity to do something like what we're doing and that's have an organic conversation, very little prep, very little detail of where we're going, because now I can organically have this conversation, because I've hit that comfort zone. But it didn't happen overnight.

Carl Richards: 15:14

And, by the way, I will admit, when I started my podcast in 2019, it was almost like I went back to 1997, starting in radio, where I didn't have to write it out word for word, but I still had to have notes in front of me with 0.1, 0.2, 0.3. What's the problem I'm solving, what's the conclusion or what's the call to action I want at the end? Now I can do that almost ad lib, almost Not all the time. Sometimes I still need to make notes, but that's after 25 years of doing it professionally in one capacity or another. So if you're hearing this right now and you're wondering, oh, that sounds pretty easy and you just try and do it and you fall flat, it's not that you failed, it's just that it's going to take some time to get it out there. And don't let that be the determining factor of whether or not a solo episode is right for you, because honestly, as we've already said, it's probably where the right for you.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 16:05

Because, honestly, as we've already said, it's probably where the to turn a phrase it's probably where the money's at 100%, and I also think you're never too good for a well-prepared outline, and so there are also people who are listening who. You are the expert of experts. You have been giving conferences, you have been giving talks, you've been lecturing in universities and for your podcast you're still going to want an outline, because when you're just staring at yourself and your little webcam or your nice DSLR, the mind goes blank. The tangents get wild. You are never too good for an outline and John Maxwell is a leadership and speaking coach and one of the best, and he has his 16 laws of communication and it sticks with me so much.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 16:50

I believe it's the first or second one. He says to prepare is to respect your audience. So to prepare for your podcast is to know that your listeners are valuable, the people who are tuning into the two of us right now. We care so much that you walk away from this and say I just learned something about podcasting today and we prepared, and preparation might look different for us now with a bit of experience, but we're never too good for that extra preparation 100%.

Carl Richards: 17:18

I could not agree more, even though I just admitted that every now and again, I'm comfortable opening the microphone, and with very little that's not to say I don't prepare is with very little preparation being able to do it. But again, that's not everyone's comfort zone, and it comes from years of experience, so you're absolutely right there. Let me ask you this question, though, because obviously you figured out that the niche is to help coaches, consultants, not just do podcasts, not just get them in that space, but help them carve out solo episodes. What's some of the pushback that you get from clients or from prospects?

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 17:52

So many of them are thinking that it's selfish. They're like oh, but they already hear so much from me on Instagram, they already hear so much from me on my email and I'm like they don't. They're scrolling and seeing something for 10 seconds, 20 seconds. They're not absorbing your thought leadership the way that they are in a podcast, so I usually push back on that.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 18:12

I think there's a lot of people who are afraid to say I have an opinion, I have something worth listening to, because when you have a guest in front of you, you're just saying look at my cool friend, and so if your cool friend has a bad opinion, oh well, that was their opinion. That wasn't my opinion. I was on the show but like I had nothing to do with it. But if you are doing a solo episode, there's a fear that comes from years of being told not to speak up, being told to fit in with the crowd, being told to be a little quieter, that someone's going to think bad about your opinion. They're going to say I didn't like that opinion and you're going to have to say I stand behind my opinion anyway, or maybe learn from it, and so I see those two as the biggest thing. Either people just don't want to take up space or they're afraid of other folks' judgment.

Carl Richards: 19:01

Wow it's funny that you mentioned that, because I think that that hits the nail on the head, too of again years of being told nobody cares about your opinion or just go along with what everyone else is doing and be a follower, not a leader, even though we're told the opposite we actually do. We do follow more than we lead, right? So taking leadership of your own show and being the expert, being the person who is putting your credibility on the line, that speaks volumes to how you're going to build out your show, who's going to follow you, how you're going to continue to bring people into your camp and have people agree or disagree with you. Either way, it's a win.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 19:43

And that's exactly the power of solo episodes. It's the scary part of solo episodes, but it's also the power, because when people listen to a solo episode, they are subconsciously saying, well, that person must be important. If they just put their opinion out on such a large platform, they must have something worth listening to. Even if I disagree with it, it must have some weight. And you're creating this subconscious. We go back to the know, like and trust that we mentioned earlier. They're saying, well, I now need to know them, I now need to explore whether I can trust them. And it's just you saying, hey, I'm actually the expert in this, I'm building my authority in this, and other people follow suit and if you are putting out good information, valuable information, they go and take that step further with you. But it's just on the other side of that fear.

Carl Richards: 20:34

What would you say to somebody who is up to this point? They have been in podcasting, maybe even semi-successful at it. Let's be respectful. There are a lot of successful podcasters out there who have guests on their shows. What would you say to somebody, though, who has had a lot of guests on their show and maybe it's time for a pivot? What would you say to them? What would be the first thing or something to consider, as they're considering doing solo episodes? If not for the first time, maybe for the first time in a long time, what would you say to that individual?

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 21:05

I think there's a way to dip your toe in the water. And so I had this conversation with someone who was very successful. He had over 400 guest episodes and had never once done a solo episode. And I said, if you're still afraid to put your own authority and credibility on the line, let's start by borrowing the guest credibility again. And I want you to go back to an episode you did two months ago and say, hey, I'm still thinking about His show is a lot about personal development and mindset.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 21:43

So maybe he's saying, hey, I'm still thinking about what Susan said about discipline. This is how, since recording that episode, I have practiced the principles of discipline that Susan shared. And so you're kind of practicing your authority, but you're still leaning on Susan. And so if you are someone who has done all of those and he can do a bunch of those solo episodes and he's driving traffic back to that other episode, so it's also a secondary strategy, but then he's just putting it into practice of I'm going to start sharing my stories.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 22:10

So if you do have the fortune of having all those guests episodes, try something like that, and then there could also be a world where you do a solo episode that you don't publish yet, but you just try it a couple of times. I'm sure if you've been successful with multiple guests, you have a pipeline of guests and you have a little bit of runway. Let's practice. What is one episode that you can do, what is one lesson that you can share? And just get your foot wet, a little toe in the water and it gets easier over time.

Carl Richards: 22:41

I love it. We could talk about this for an eternity. We can't because we have clients to serve and probably our own podcasts to look after as well. What's one thing you'd like to pass along to the audience? Do you have a resource or something you'd like to share with them?

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 22:54

So my podcast is called Visible with ESA Media Inc. And the sole focus of that show is solo episodes for coaches and consultants. Please feel free to check that out, and from there you'll be led to all the other places.

Carl Richards: 23:11

Awesome. We'll make sure all of those links are in the show notes, of course, so you can click directly if you, regardless of what podcast application you're using, just click on it and start listening. Once you're finished listening to this episode though don't do it now, Just wait until you're finished listening to this one. My guest today has been Isabella Sanchez Castaneda. Before I turn you loose to do something great in the podcasting space, I'll give you the final thought.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 23:42

I think the most amazing part of what we get to do and this podcasting space is that everyone does get a time to shine if they're willing to take it. So listen back to this episode, get the courage to do your first solo episode and build that authority for yourself.

Carl Richards: 23:54

I love it. Isabella, that's a great place to leave it. Thank you so much for being my guest today.

Isabella Sanchez Castaneda: 23:59

Thank you so much for having me.

Carl Richards: 24:01

And thank you for joining us today. Special thanks to our producer and production lead, Dom Carrillo, our music guru, Nathan Simon, and the person who works the arms all of our arms, actually my trusty assistant, Stephanie Gafoor. If you like what you heard today, leave us a comment and a review, and be sure to share it with your friends. If you don't like what you heard, please share it with your enemies. Oh, and if you have a suggestion of someone who you think would make an amazing guest on the show, let us know about it. Drop us an email, askcarl at carlspeaksca. Don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter as well. You'll find all those links in the show notes, and if you're ready to take the plunge and join the over 3 million people who have said yes to podcasting, let's have a conversation. We'll show you the simplest way to get into the podcasting space, because, after all, we're Podcast Solutions Made Simple. We'll catch you next time.