Why I research guests now before they come onto my show

One thing I kept hearing when I did these 100 podcast episodes in the last couple of months was “I try not to do too much research on interviews so it feels natural.”

And I realized how…kind of insulting that felt to me every time, so I made sure to make a change in my own show.

I used to say the same thing, and now I regret it.

Now, I research every guest to make sure I’m prepared to speak to them. If I don’t know them, I try to read at least one of their books or run through their website to try and create a framework for their interview.

I try to read articles by them or look at their old Kickstarter campaigns. I now understand that if I’m not willing to research a guest, then that’s not a guest I should have on my show.

I don’t spend a huge chunk of time on every guest. Even an hour of research is enough to build a framework for an episode, but more importantly, it will set you apart in the eyes of your guests.

And that’s what is about. Making your guest feel special, and building a good relationship with them. Plus, I find that doing my research means that I can dig deep and have a more in-depth conversation with each person, instead of keeping everything surface level.

I’m not going to be doing a lot of podcast guesting moving forward, and I will get into why I don’t think recording all those shows was worth it, and what WAS worth it about it another time, but being a guest gave me a better appreciation of what I should do as a host to set myself apart and get to the next level.

For the last few months I’ve been researching every guest before I have them on, and it’s changed the shows in a ton of interesting ways.

I’m able to geek out with guests about their books, for one. In the ELA interview, I was able to have an in-depth conversation about their brand identity, and what each tenet of their philosophy meant to them, and why it was important.

For the Jane Friedman episode, having her book as an outline allowed me to track the conversation and create a way for us to discuss the work of building a writer business. If I didn’t do research I wouldn’t have any idea that she even wrote THE book on that subject.

So much of my own work is living in the world and seeing in what ways processes are broken and then working to fix them in my own work to make it a better experience for everyone.

It didn’t feel good for me as a guest to hear “I didn’t get a chance to look over your work” and I don’t want my guests to feel like that, so I changed. This isn’t the first thing I’ve been able to fix in my own business by living in the world and keeping my ears open, and it won’t be the last, but I have found that it is the easiest way to set yourself apart from other people.