I broke my podcast last year.
Not because the interviews weren’t good. They were, and I cared deeply about my guests and audience. I broke it because I built something big and amazing without building a system that could actually support it.
The GrowthShifters Podcast started as a long-form, thoughtful interview show. That made sense given my background in media and documentary storytelling. I love slow conversations where people have space to think out loud and reflect.
What I didn’t fully account for was what it would take to produce that kind of show week after week, on my own, while also running a business and having a full life.
Behind the scenes, I was doing everything: Booking, onboarding, pre-interviews, interviews, editing, writing blogs, preparing social posts, coordinating guest assets, managing timelines, and keeping track of details. I was switching between roles constantly.
There was no buffer, or margin, or room for anything unexpected. If a guest cancelled, I scrambled. If my child got sick, everything stalled. If I fell behind even slightly, it took weeks to recover.
At one point, a mentor said something that landed hard: if you’re not publishing consistently, you don’t really have a show. Structure and consistency is what builds trust and turns good intentions into something people can rely on.
That’s when I stopped trying to “fix” Season 1 by working harder and started redesigning the whole thing.
For Season 2, my focus is sustainability. Episodes are shorter, guests come on through a simpler, one-call process and I stopped scripting every detail and started trusting the conversation again. I also made one strategic investment and got Fina Charleson to create professional intros and outros so I wasn’t reinventing the wheel every week.
Each change might seem small on its own, but together, they’ve made the show feel lighter, clearer, and more realistic to maintain.
One of the most important reminders came from my web designer, Christine, who shared her podcast tips at the end of this episode. She points out that podcasting is supposed to be fun!
When I started this show, it was fun. I was energized by the people I met and the conversations I had. Somewhere along the way, though, the production work took over and the joy faded.
Season 2 is about restoring that balance.
I want this to be enjoyable for me, supportive for guests and genuinely valuable for the people who listen.
If you’re building something ambitious and feeling stretched thin, I hope this encourages you to look at your own systems with curiosity. Does the way you’re working support your life or compete with it?
You can listen to this episode linked above, and if you’re curious about how this journey started, you’ll find links to Season 1 in the show notes.
