Address various aspects of slow living, restful sleep, calm, confidence, and support for stressful lives.

I've been pursuing life with intention and purpose for the past three years. I started out writing a blog on Substack and realized that most of my thoughts were about slow living, finding peace and embracing calm. The podcasts were an outpouring of that passion, in sort of compartmentalized forms. My listeners are my peers - those seeking a slower pace, moments of calm in a chaotic world, and realizing that we all deserve a little peace each day, even if we only have five minutes to spare. Affirmations for Calm & Confidence especially meets that need, as it's a podcast that is always under five minutes and you can listen any time you can make space for a brief break in your day.
 

I've always loved affirmations and started to meditate about two years ago. I also happen to suffer from insomnia and started to realize that, as I embraced a slower pace, rest became easier. I wanted to find a way to share what I'm passionate about, fueled by feedback from friends, family and readers of my blog, and podcasting seemed to be the right next step. I think my initial motivation was simply to share some of the things I was already doing, but I now enjoy the creative expression of writing my own meditations and curating my own lists of affirmations. The concept for The Meditation Nest was born in September 2025, after reading an article about Science Backed Tips for Better Sleep. A few of the recommendations really made a difference, and I started listening to podcasts about better sleep. I decided to write sleep stories, which taps into my creative spirit for writing fiction, something I had tucked away to the side of my life for many years. I started writing these stories and after I had about 10 written, I started to record and in January 2026, I began to publish them weekly. I started releasing two stories a week in May. I was excited to see that, once I published them as a podcast, my listening audience was really receptive. I was already doing affirmations and meditations as part of my own daily routine, so it made sense to expand by putting them down in writing and recording them to share with others. By March 2026, I was ready to start streaming for both the Affirmations for Calm & Confidence and the Calm in Minutes: Meditations for Stress & Anxiety podcasts. Both of these also seem to be enjoying a growing audience. I try to address a variety of topics that I see people discussing in my social media circles, as well as those that impact me personally. I recently released a few about feeling overwhelmed by digital overload and also the stress around all the bad news that is in our daily feeds, and those episodes have been super popular.
 

I'm an independent podcaster, so I consider this my somewhat expensive hobby, but when you really think about it, the costs are not any worse than some crafting hobbies. I had to buy equipment and software and a few subscriptions to support the production of the podcasts. I still work a full-time job, so most of my time recording and editing and publishing is done in the early hours, after dinner, and on weekends. Thank goodness most of my social media postings can be scheduled in advance, so I load promotional stuff in advance for most of my posts. I'm hopeful that, by the time I retire (5 years from now, with a goal to be able to reduce that by 1-2 years) the podcasts will be making some passive income through monetization. I spend about 20 hours a week - some weeks a bit more - working on these podcasts. The fact that I can do a little each day keeps it fresh. I try not to work more than 3 hours at a time, so on a Saturday, I may start and end my day with this hobby. Loading the social media stuff can be done while watching TV, so I leave a lot of the administrative tasks to times when I'm vegging out on the couch, lol.
 

I recently joined ekoz.ai, which clones your voice (with your permission) and offers paid host-read advertisements that are aired only on my shows. That was a cool concept, I thought, and I was pleased that the sound of my voice was of decent quality. You can't stop AI from happening, but I'd rather know when my voice is used. This is a passive income option that I hadn't considered before, and I successfully landed a gig within my first week of participating. It's too early to know how successful it is, as of the time of this interview, the ad has only run for a day (36 impressions on Day One, and I'm up to 55 at the moment I'm typing on the morning of Day Two). I haven't really delved deeply into sponsorship opportunities, although I am proud to participate as part of the Spreaker Prime network. Across the three podcasts, I am currently at about 67K downloads a month. I think the thing I love the most about podcasting is the supportive community of other podcasters out there online. We all root for one another, listen and share feedback, and sometimes I get some really solid tips.
 

I use NCH WavePad for editing. Right now I'm using a Blue cardioid mic to record and Spreaker to distribute. I also take advantage of my PodSEO.com subscription to understand more about the use of keywords and positioning among my competitors to write show notes and decide on episode titles, as well as to discover new ways to network. That's actually how I found out about Listen Notes interviews! I've learned so much about the importance of SEO optimization, and it's been a game changer for me. I believe I'm much more "discoverable" in listener searches.

I usually batch-write 2-3 episodes at a time. As I mentioned earlier, I use feedback from my blogs as well as looking for trending topics featured in all the social media accounts I follow to decide which topics to include. I always choose one topic that's relevant to me, personally, as ultimately I podcast for myself. I don't want to lose my authenticity as I continue choosing episodes. I try hard not to focus on numbers, because I don't want to fall down the rabbit hole of caring too much about "how many" downloads, listeners, or countries I've touched. It is exciting to see those metrics, but it can't be what drives me. I focus on the mission of sharing meaningful content that I'm hopeful will be as helpful to others as it is for me personally.

I used to have a podcast that involved guest interviews, but I abandoned that after my co-host decided that podcasting wasn't really her passion. It was hard to recruit quality guests, and I was out of "hobby money" to invest in guest-matching platforms, so ultimately I chose to "go solo" with these podcasts. It gives me the freedom to move at my own pace and during the off-hours that I have available. And it works out really well for me!
 

My largest audiences are on Apple and Spotify, and I have a small YouTube following of about 1.6K at this time. All other listeners are in small percentages. I post to Instagram, Threads, Facebook, X, and Bluesky and, due to the genre of my podcasts, I post some of my content on InsightTimer.com. I still love my weekly Substack blog and the community of creators on that platform who are highly supportive and inspirational.

Again, I think my strongest marketing tool is through PodSEO, using SEO optimization in the background to make sure others can find my content. You can hire people to do that part for you, as well, but it's costly for independent startups. There's definitely a learning curve, and this particular platform really helps you learn fast. I don't get paid to promote it, lol, but it's been my strongest partner so far in this journey.
 

So many learning lessons. Here are the highlights.

Don't start a podcast if you expect to go viral. It can literally take years to gain a meaningful audience that will afford you the luxury of monetization that matters.

Realize that podcasts require planning. If you can't write down at least 50 brainstorm-level ideas for different episodes to develop, then you may get frustrated really quickly.

Research SEO optimization, even if you want to do it fully free through AI. It will help you on your journey more than you know. I used to try to write my show notes from the perspective of "make it interesting," when really you need to write them from the viewpoint of "make it searchable." Same goes with trying to create "cute" show titles - boring ones that include your most important keywords every time will serve you well.
 

You can find my podcasts wherever you listen to them. I included my Apple links for this interview.

My Instagram handle is @PodcastsByBeth.

I also stream at https://youtube.com/@PodcastsbyBeth

Finally, you can find my weekly blog and daily inspiration over at https://substack.com/@bethbutram.