The Proffitt Podcast
Are you thinking about starting a podcast? Launching a YouTube channel? Repurposing your old blog content into something fresh? Hi, I'm Krystal - host of "The Proffitt Podcast." And I'm happy to say you've come to the right place!
Business owners and content creators dream of building a platform where they can connect deeply with their audience, and marketing feels easy. But I also know what it's like to feel confused and overwhelmed.
Join us weekly as we strip down those processes and remove all the overwhelm with new tips, simple strategies, and great conversations with creators like you. Tune in to hear how I help creators start, launch, and market their content confidently. The motto here is, "We all have to start somewhere."
The Proffitt Podcast
Why Do Podcasters Ignore Systems & Workflows?
Ever wonder how some content creators maintain a relentless publishing schedule without burning out? It's not superhuman discipline or mysterious productivity hacks—it's all about systems and workflows.
After recording over 1,500 podcast episodes and publishing more than 500 YouTube videos weekly, I've learned that consistency stems from strong organization rather than just motivation. Many podcasters resist creating systems, citing their creativity as a reason, but that’s often just a lazy excuse.
The key to consistency lies in implementing frameworks like the PREP'M Method (Plan, Record, Edit, Publish, and Market). This five-step process clarifies each stage of content creation. Supporting tools like content calendars, episode templates, and organized files create a foundation that not only smooths day-to-day production but also positions you for sustainable growth. These systems help reduce decision fatigue and make delegation easier, protecting you from the dreaded burnout.
You don’t need to overhaul your entire workflow at once. Start by pinpointing where you feel the most stress in your content creation process. Even small improvements, like a checklist or an organized folder, can lead to significant changes in quality and consistency. Embrace organization, and you might just uncover the true magic of content creation. What system will you implement today to enhance your podcasting journey?
Click the "Send Krystal a Text Message" link above to send us your questions, comments, and feedback on the show! (Pssst...we'll do giveaways in upcoming episodes so make sure you leave your name & podcast title.)
People have asked me, crystal, how have you been consistent? You've never missed a week of publishing your podcast. You've never missed a week of putting out YouTube content, sending your newsletter, posting on social in some capacity. Like, how has this happened? It's systems and workflows. Like, if you want the magic, like that is the magic formula. There is no magic formula. It's systems, it processes and showing up consistently and the only reason I've been able to record over 1500 episodes I was looking the other day I've posted over 1000 YouTube videos, between shorts and long form content and streaming and all those like, I've created a lot of content and the only reason it is sustainable is because of systems and workflows.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Profit Podcast, where we teach you how to start, launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, crystal Profit, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today, because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time-saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we? We're diving into episode four of our five-part series. Why Do Podcasters Ignore Systems and Workflows? Hello, if we have not met, my name is Crystal Prophet and, like I said, we have started this five-part series called why Do Podcasters Ignore, and today we are exploring systems and workflows.
Speaker 1:Now, this is something that I didn't pay a ton of attention to in the beginning, aside from like a literal printed checklist that I put on my desk. I actually put it in my like desk drawer because I didn't. I was so terrified that someone would walk in and see that I have an actual like 10 point checklist of like turn on your microphone, make sure it's plugged in. Checklist of like turn on your microphone, make sure it's plugged in, make sure it's on the right setting, make sure it's on it. Like. I was legit embarrassed of how detailed I needed to get in this very, very basic checklist, but there you go, I've added myself. This is exactly how I started and I can tell you we are way more complex and a lot more strategic in where we are today with our systems and workflows here at Profit Media, and I think that podcasters like you don't get an easy out just because you figure out how your systems work and how everything operates behind the scenes. Like you're going to have some oopsie daisies moments, and you can avoid a lot of those if you do have systems and workflows and how you operate your content.
Speaker 1:So I'm gonna give you a quick overview of all the things we're gonna cover today. The first is why podcasters avoid systems. Ooh, gonna have some juicy stories and details in that one. Then we're gonna talk about simple systems that can make a huge difference. Then we're going to talk about how systems actually help you scale your business, your content, all the amazing things that you're already doing. So let's jump right in right.
Speaker 1:So we're going to talk about number one why do podcasters avoid systems? Let's just call it what it is it takes work. It's like it takes work when people come to me and say, hey, how do you have these systems and processes and these SOPs in place in your business? And I'm like it took work. I had to sit down, map it out, I had to come up with a strategy, or I had to put together the workflow or the system, and then now we operate within that system every single day.
Speaker 1:But most people are like, well, I'm just too creative. I don't want to be the organized person. I want to have 50,000 different icons on my desktop and I want to have 20,000 tabs open at any time. Because I'm a creative, I don't have time to deal with organization. That is not going to be your excuse anymore. That's lazy. I'm going to say it again that is lazy. That's lazy thinking, it's lazy attitude and it's not going to be the thing that gets you to scaling your content, scaling your business and making a bigger impact. Okay, so, don't have this like well, I'm just a creative, I don't have to be organized. Let's leave that for the type A folks who, like to you know, have everything color coded and have systems. No, no, no, no. You are going to be successful when you have color coded systems and you have things in place that you follow. Every single time, you create a brand new piece of content. Okay, like, are we in agreement on this? Like, no more excuses, no more lazy thinking. We're actually going to take what you learn from today and implement it so that you can have bigger results through the rest of 2025 and into future years. Got it Okay?
Speaker 1:Now the second one is I don't have time to build a system. Right, again, this is what so many of you have told me. It's like I don't have time, crystal, I don't have a VA working for me, it's just me. I don't have a VA working for me. It's just me. I don't have time to do it, and I've heard this said so many times that you need to, and when I say you, I'm talking about you and me. Right, I'm talking to myself too, because this is what helped me kind of get my act together and record some of the things that I needed to document in my business, and that was, of course, you don't have time to build a system. You're making it too complicated. You think that you have to sit down and write out an entire Google Doc of step-by-step of everything you have to do, or maybe you have to record a 10-step video course of how your whole business operates. Like, of course, that sounds overwhelming, but what you really need to do is say what are the repeatable processes in my business and how can I create a system around that.
Speaker 1:We're talking about tools in a second, of how we can actually implement these things, but no longer have the excuse of I don't have time to build a system. Okay, say it with me. You no longer have the excuse that you don't have time to build a system. I'm going to help you with this and I want you to ask questions along the way. So if you're like that's me, like, if you've already like I've already said I'm not creative, or I'm creative and I'm not organized, or I don't have time, like tell me, just tell me in the comments, say that's me. No judgment here. We've all been there, but I want you to see that you are not alone and that other people do this too.
Speaker 1:And then the other common thing, or the common reason why podcasters avoid systems they're like I'll just figure it out as I go, we'll just build this plane as we're flying it, and who cares if it's going to have this scary nosedive of like oh, we're really about to crash, but we'll figure it out as we go. Like it gives me anxiety just thinking about it. So please don't have this attitude anymore. Even if you've gotten to this point with this attitude, that's okay. Like we're not going to judge the past. We're going to say, from today forward, we're no longer going to have the idea or the identity of I figure it out as I go, because this will keep you in the loop of being stuck. It will keep you in a place of feeling disorganized and discombobulated because you haven't taken the time to sit down and get intentional and get strategic and think things through. You're just kind of operating in this like endless loop of well, this is how I did it one day. Therefore, this is how I'm going to keep doing it. Please don't do this anymore.
Speaker 1:So let's move into some of the simple systems that we can use that make a huge difference, and I have to start with our PREPIM method. So if you're brand new around here, you may not be familiar with this. That's okay. We have a video right here. We have content that we'll link to in the description. That's all about our PREPIM method, but what this stands for is plan, record, edit, publish and market. So if that is literally the only system or workflow that you adopt this year, please let that be something, because it is. It's simple. Like that's not rocket science, right? Like that is so simple. Plan, record, edit, publish and market. Now these are the five steps that we use here at Profit Media to release any piece of content.
Speaker 1:You got to record a podcast episode prep a method. You got to record a podcast episode prep a method. You gotta record a YouTube video prep a method. You have to send an email newsletter prep a method. Instagram posts, youtube short, like you get it right. Like, every single piece of content that we create here goes through the prep and method process, and it's one of those that you can use Like, please steal it. I'm not saying that that's like my proprietary thing. Don't touch it. Don't say like, please take this system and implement it in your business today, because that will make all the difference in how you operate your business tomorrow, in six months, in two years, in 10 years. And you have to start building systems slowly, and I want you like. They need to be foundational. If you're going to start anywhere with systems and workflows, please let it be something that's foundational to everything else that you do in your business, because you will realize that things become easier the more systems that you have in place. Now let's talk about some of the other simple systems that can make a huge difference A content calendar Y'all I have content for days about content calendars.
Speaker 1:Whether you wanna do it in Asana, you wanna do it in a Google Sheet, you wanna do it in some other fancy system, like, I don't care, but you need a content calendar. Now, what this is gonna help you do it's gonna help you execute your prep. A method, because where do I go to plan my content, I put it in the content calendar. Where do I go to when I sit down to record? What am I supposed to record today? I look at my content calendar. When I need to edit something and figure out the next deadlines for editing and publishing, I go to the content calendar. Oh yeah. And then for marketing, what do I need to talk about on Instagram today? What episode do I need to promote? I go back to my content calendar. So this is a simple system and, like I said, we have tons of resources on content calendars and how they work, and I even have some step-by-step videos that will show you behind the scenes of what my Asana looks like. This is where I plan all my content. This is where I keep all my notes. It's where I have the due dates for everything.
Speaker 1:So finding a project management tool that can help you do that it's going to make all the difference, but, like I said, at the end of the day, you could just use a Google Sheet. It doesn't have to be this very cumbersome process. Just start with something and then go from there. The other thing that's a simple system that you can have are episode templates. Now, episode templates are very simple. You could just look at it as like okay, what's your hook of your episode gonna be? What's your intro? What are your main points you're gonna make? What's your strategic call to action? What are some other things that you need to mention in your episode? Like, those don't change every single episode. I use the same formula, if you want to call it, for every single podcast episode, youtube video that I put out, and so it's a template, right?
Speaker 1:So how else can you implement templates in your content? Like, tell me in the comments if you're like gosh, I wish I had a template for this. Like, tell me in the comments. Like, finish, fill in the blank, I wish I had a template for, because I bet you we probably have some somewhere that we can send to you. So let us know what kind of templates you're looking for. Are you looking for a podcast episode template? Are you looking for email newsletter templates? Like, let us know, because we have a lot of content. I just saw like, and I'm looking. As I'm looking at my notes, I saw standard intros and outros. We have YouTube videos all about how to record a podcast intro, a podcast outro, what it looks like for solo content or interview content.
Speaker 1:So make sure you go check those out, because these simple systems can really help you in bigger ways in your content that you didn't even realize were causing you stress or causing you anxiety or making you kind of avoid everything because you don't want to deal with it. And I know a lot of you just nodded Yep, she sees me, she hears like Crystal, are you in my office with me? Do you know the things that are happening in my head? Yes, I do, because I've talked to hundreds and thousands of creators and it's all the same, right Like, if we don't have systems and processes, it can feel super chaotic. So this content here today is meant to help ease you of those common struggles and obstacles.
Speaker 1:The other simple system that you can implement today is file organization. So several years back I took a program with Amy Porterfield called Systems at Scale. I actually have one of her star testimonials right on the sales page. You should go check it out. But Systems at Scale was something that helps me understand how to organize my files and systems in a way that would make sense but also help whenever I go to do a promotion, a launch or be strategic in where, where do all my podcast files live, like myself and my VA. Like we're in there all the time in our Google drive and poking around and I, like, we know specifically like hey, go to this file if you want anything related to our YouTube channel, go to this one if you want anything related to brand pictures and photography that we use for our brand.
Speaker 1:Like, we have a very specific file organization structure and, again, it was intentional, it was done over time and it is where we save all of our content and you don't want it to just be this like, well, we just throw everything into one folder and then we do a quick search whenever we want to find something. Y'all, y'all. That's chaos, that is pure chaos and it will not be what helps you grow and scale in the future. Because I want you to picture this, picture this If you're someone that maybe you have a small team right now, maybe it's you and a VA or an editor of some sort, or maybe a marketing assistant, and it's just maybe two to three people, but in the future you're like I want to scale my business, I want to hit six figures, seven figures, eight figures and I want to have a whole team of people that are supporting the business. Do you think that you're going to be able to onboard people and send them to one file and say good luck, I hope that you find what you're looking for? No, no, you're not. So implement the file organization today as if you had 20 people working for you and they all had different functions and job, families that they had to support and the things that they had to do in their business or in their daily work, their daily tasks, and make a system that makes sense for you but can also support you as you grow and scale the number of people that you have working on your team.
Speaker 1:Now I want to give another quick shout out for the PREPA method. Again, this is something that you can use for how you plan, record, edit, publish and market your content. Right, like this is proprietary. I said earlier I was like this is a proprietary. Yes, it is, it's proprietary to PREPA profit media, but it's not something that I'm not like hey, you can't steal this. Yes, like, go take it, it's yours, it's free for the taking. Right, it is just the simple step-by-step uh formula that we follow for every single piece of content here at profit media.
Speaker 1:Now let's move into how systems can help you scale. We've kind of touched on these simply a little bit. The first one is helping reduce decision time in what you have to do, and it really makes delegation easier. So I get asked the question all the time Crystal, how do you batch your content? And the only reason, the only reason that I'm able to batch content is because I have systems, because I know when I go to my content calendar, I can look at it and see, okay, these are the next few episodes that are coming up. I can go to Asana and see, okay, these are the deadlines for those. All right, I have a few extra hours to spare on this Friday afternoon. Why don't I just record the next two podcast episodes? Or maybe I don't sit down and record them? What if I just plan the next few podcast episodes? That's also batching. It doesn't just have to be about okay, I'm going to sit down and I'm going to plan and I'm going to record, then I'm going to edit and then I'm going to schedule it, like that's overwhelming. That's overwhelming.
Speaker 1:I read in this book a long time ago, the One Thing, and I had the pleasure of meeting Jay Papasan. He's one of the co-authors of this book. I met him last summer at a conference and it was so interesting to pick apart his brain and we had a coaching call later and it was so fun. But to think about, like, the one thing that you want to do in your content and or just in your business or in your life in general, and the one thing that they mentioned in the book is all about task switching. Like we've said, that we can multitask and do all these things at once, but I have found, as someone that's been creating content I've recorded over 1500 podcast episodes and I've been creating since 2018.
Speaker 1:And the thing that I've learned is actually task switching confuses my brain, like as it should. It's very different skill set to sit down and plan an episode versus record it, versus edit it, versus schedule it in Buzzsprout or YouTube or all the places it's going to be on, or marketing, like. Those are all very specific skill sets that you need for all the tasks within the prep and method. So, whenever I do have those opportunities for 30 minutes or two hours to do something, that's how I can sit down and batch, because I have systems in place that tell me well, you have this deadline coming up and, oh, you're going to be out of town for a week and a half, so that means you're not going to be recording for a week and a half and you're likely going to need to record something before that. But also, you're not really going to want to jump in straight when you get back from vacation, so why don't you record the week after? That can support you so that you can actually take time off. This is how systems can work for you and I can see like, oh, I can actually delegate these other tasks to my VA to handle when I'm on vacation. Like this is your future self, thanking you for having systems and being smart about the things that you're delegating, the things that you're doing ahead of times or the things that may not even matter in the future. Like there are things that are obsolete now that we used to do in the past. But once we started dialing in our systems, I was like, oh, we don't need to do that anymore. Or, even better, ai, chatgpt, can handle that for me, or I can rely on another tool that helps me do that. But at the end of the day, systems equals sustainability, right?
Speaker 1:People have asked me Crystal, how have you been consistent. You've never missed a week of publishing your podcast. You've never missed a week of putting out YouTube content, sending your newsletter, posting on social in some capacity. Like, how has this happened? It's systems and workflows. Like, if you want the magic part, like that is the magic formula. There is no magic formula. It's systems, it processes and showing up consistently and the only reason I've been able to record over 1,500 episodes I was looking the other day I've posted over 1,000 YouTube videos between shorts and long form content and streaming and all those. I've created a lot of content and the only reason it is sustainable is because of systems and workflows. So I wanna know what questions do you have about workflows, about systems? Which ones do you wanna see me create content systems? Which ones do you want to see me create content about? I would love to know. So tell me in the comments what you are most excited about.
Speaker 1:But as we close out today, I want to say that ignoring systems, like not paying attention to these at all, is a fast track to burnout, and you all know you've heard me talk about this. We've had a burnout expert on the show Like, burnout is the enemy around here. It is the common enemy that we are trying to avoid like the plague. We do not want burnout creeping into your business, creeping into your life, creeping into your content. And so please look at the systems that you need to have and if you're like well, crystal, I don't know what systems I should start with, where are you the most stressed in your content today? Where are you the most stressed in your business?
Speaker 1:Those are likely the first places that you need to implement a system and analyze, like, what can I do to make this better? And you don't have to start big, start small. Tackle those things that are bugging you every day. Or when you sit down to do your business, you do your content and you're like, oh my gosh, this is the thing that's going to make me quit today, like hello. That's a red flag that it needs to be addressed. It needs to be something that you don't keep ignoring, because it's just going to continue to grow and grow and grow until you do eventually hit burnout.
Speaker 1:So start with something small one checklist, one template, one item. Maybe it's just organizing one folder on your desktop, maybe it's one folder within your Google Drive. I don't care where you start, but just start somewhere today, right now, as soon as you're done watching this video, you can absolutely get into action and do something really simple, because those simple processes can lead to even bigger improvements and it can really open up space for better content, better results, better interactions with your audience, better customer engagement. Who knows what opportunities lie on the other side of organized? I feel like should I just quote myself on that of organized? I don't know. I feel like should I just quote myself on that? Who knows what lies on the other side of organized? Like, come on, like I feel like I've watched too much of the home edit. Maybe I got that from them, but I mean, if that's not a quotable like, it should be, because it is what we live for around here as organization, systems, processes and workflows, and I think that it's something that you need to consider today as you work on your business and your content. But that's all I have for you.
Speaker 1:So make sure you hit that follow or subscribe button wherever you're listening and watching today and, like I said, let me know what systems, what templates, what do you want to know more of? What behind the scenes do you want to see behind our business? Because I would love to share them with you. Make sure you check out the other resources that we have, the other videos, the other content, the other resources that we have, because we want to help you in your content journey and help you with digital marketing. That may feel a little confusing or overwhelming and we want it to be something that's simple and consistent for you. And one last thing I almost forgot to remind you next week is our last video in the five-part series. Why Do Podcasters Ignore, and we are talking about, why do podcasters ignore repurposing? So you do not want to miss that Tune in next week, but that's all I have for you today. So make sure that you hit that follow or subscribe button and, as always, remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.
