Starting a Podcast With Your Mother

Hi, I’m Joshua Williams from North Yorkshire. I work in social media and marketing but my side hustle/hobby podcasting with my “weird but wonderful” mother. Just like my Instagram bio states, “I’m a sad man who does podcasts with his mum”. The podcast is called “Pod in a Pod”, basically for people who don’t know (which is probably everyone) it is a mother and son podcast which is recorded in a camping pod.

Initially, we wanted to start a podcast in 2019, but I was lacking confidence and then COVID hit. So, we put it away for a while. However, since then everyone (and their mums) has started podcasts. So, at the end of 2022, I told the family “Screw it I’m creating the podcast!”.

I wanted to create this podcast with my mother because of our chemistry together. She is so random, funny, and innocent in the way she views the world. We also have so many funny stories to tell the world about our family and I think the podcast is a great way to get them out there. Not to mention, it would also create more funny memories and discussions.

The whole aim of the podcast was for people to listen, have a laugh, and feel like they are in the conversation with us. We want to make our listeners turn to their friends or family and say something on the lines of “Oh my god! These stories! This mum is so much like mine!”. Our hopes are that others can relate to these stories with their loved ones.

It’s very hard to get people to listen to a podcast, especially in the early days. We have to do all the writing, producing, video editing, guest organising, and advertising on our own, which is a lot of work! So, for me, success at the moment is taking the little wins such as the number of downloads (compared to previous episodes), the views our podcast clips have received on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts. However, the main success is the positive messages we receive from people.

One milestone I am proud of is receiving my Spotify end of 2023 stats and seeing that Pod in a Pod is the number 1 podcast for 56 people. I know it doesn’t sound a lot to some but me and my mum were proud of that. Especially since it was our first full year, and we only release one episode per a month.

I would like to think that within the next year or two; this podcast journey is still going strong. I am constantly looking at ways to improve our podcast production and our video clips - we are always evolving. For example, if you look at the first ever podcast clip I made, it is completely different to the video clips I create today.

In the next two years I would love to be signed with a podcast company, but then again, I do like the fact how I’m in control of the podcast now. So maybe not, it’s hard to say.

Yes, and we have more collaborations in the pipeline! Our most recent collaboration was with a TikTok star under the name “Jack Bean” with 5.8million followers and 245million likes.

This came about when I was planning some topics for a podcast episode and had a funny idea. The idea was for mum to learn about TikTok, and I thought it would be funny if I got a big TikTok star on the podcast for her (my mum) to ask them random innocent questions. So, I sent him (Jack) a message and he replied back and was 100% down for it. We had a Zoom meeting with his manager, he liked the idea, and the episode is now on the podcast.

While it was a lot of fun, I don’t believe it was 100% beneficial to the growth of our channel. This is because it was only the eighth episode we had released, and we didn’t have lots of content on our social media account to encourage viewers to stay.

If you’re trying to lure someone in to click on your account, you’ve got to persuade them why, and having that additional content there is key! If you’re lacking good quality content and still telling people to click the link, they’re not going to do it, simple as.

Do it! A lot of people have creative ideas but lack confidence or always put it off. Start it today! Create a plan, a social media strategy, and put content out. You’re not going to get likes or views straight away, but you need to start from somewhere. Also, don’t get worried by critiques or upset by analytics.

Not every video you create will be amazing. You might think it’s the best thing since sliced bread, it’s not! However, that doesn’t mean it’s time for you to hang up your boots. It’s best to ask yourself “Why has this not done good?” and “What can I do better next time?” It’s like school, if you do your research and homework, it will help you out massively.

You can listen to Pod in a Pod on Spotify & Apple podcasts.

Follow us on our socials for more content, funny video clips & take part in our podcast polls!

We are active on both Instagram & TikTok.

If you have a funny question you want to ask my mum or a dilemma you want my weird and wonderful mum to help you with, send us an email, Ask Alison Anything - A.A.A.