How To Easily Start Podcasting or YouTubing

Today, you could start YouTubing, podcasting, or both. And if you did, I'd recommend you make it simple and easy!

The goal is to make it happen consistently and build the habit. Growth and success will be future goals, but will ultimately come from doing the work and getting a little better each time you do a video or episode.

To start, you'll need a camera. Use your smartphone or computer web camera. Sound matters more than video. I used a crappy webcam on my podcast for years before upgrading. If you don't have a decent smartphone camera or you want to buy a camera for your computer, I'd recommend getting the AverMedia PW513. It shoots up to 4K and is a great value for the cost.

If you're going to record on your phone, get the DJI mini mic set. It's incredible, easy to use, and sounds great. It's plug and play. If you want a microphone for your computer, buy the AverMedia USB microphone.

If you're going to record video with your smartphone, I'd also order the DJI Osmo SE gimbal and use it as a tripod. By going with their smartphone gimbal as a tripod, you can also get all the other benefits of the device for making videos. It'll make shooting videos by yourself much easier and nicer.

With a camera, tripod, and microphone in place, you can now record and start editing. Depending on how easy you want to make the editing, how much control you want, and what type of output is needed, you'll want to pick an editing system that gives you those things. But to start, find an easy way to edit your video footage.

With smartphone editing tools like Edits by Instagram or CapCut, you can record the video on your phone and edit it in one of those tools, or one of the many others. I'd recommend checking out Riverside. It allows you to record from your phone or computer and is ideal for interviews (it's what I use for the Share Life podcast and some of my YouTube videos). Riverside has AI tools for automatic editing and other automatic video and audio improvements.

If you want to edit on your computer and are willing to learn, check out Davinci Resolve. It's more involved and complicated, but if you want more control, it's what I use. I'll sync my videos from my iPhone to Amazon Photos in the cloud. This creates a backup, and then I can download the files to my computer for editing.

If you're doing a podcast, I'd recommend doing it as a video and audio podcast so you can publish the videos to YouTube and build your channel (to eventually get monetized). Riverside has the functions built into its system to publish a podcast, where it'll automatically put it on Spotify and other places. Spotify also has a tool you can use for the distribution if you don't want to use Riverside.

We're entering a creative renaissance, and with AI, everything is getting easier for creators to make cool things. If a podcast or YouTube channel is one of the cool things you want to make, it's easy to get started.