You know that idea for a podcast you had over the holidays?

It's a good one.

It's better than you think it is.

Maybe you had it during a lively conversation with family or friends over a good meal. Maybe it occurred to you when you were alone on Christmas Eve, plans canceled by COVID. Maybe it jumped into your head on a long walk in the cold, or when you read something that lit you on fire.

Whatever it is — advice you can give to your community, something you want to teach, an investigation into an injustice, an exploration of raw emotions around uncertainty and the state of the world — try it out.

I know your idea is better and bigger than your self-doubt from years of experience creating content. In our Podcast Liftoff pilot program that just finished before the holidays, the #1 challenge people worried about was whether or not their idea was worthy.

All those people you are sure feel more confident than you do? They don't. And all those people who worried about whether their idea is worthy? It is.

But that doesn't mean your idea is necessarily fully baked. Frankly, after a lifetime as an editor, I can say with experience that it probably isn't. Yet.

Maybe your idea needs a little tweaking. Or you could use a little guidance, some direction, some hand-holding.

Ideas bloom in a combination of solitude and creative companionship.

Here are three questions you can use to test your idea. They come from Plan with Purpose, the first phase of the Podcast Liftoff class that will open up soon.

1. Who is your target listener? Can you speak to just one person?

2. How will you serve this person? What is it you have to say?

3. What are your strategic objectives, or those of your organization? How will your podcast help you achieve them?

Exploring these questions, and others, helped pilot student Krystal Covington make some big changes. Krystal is an amazing PR professional and the founder of the enormously successful networking group Women of Denver, and I was so honored that she took our course. Here's what she had to say:

"I began my journey believing I already knew the direction and overall strategy for my podcast, but the questions this course asked of me brought me to new answers I hadn't discovered on my own. After completing the course, I now have new direction, a better understanding of the right audience to pursue, and plan that I believe will be more beneficial to my business and brand."

Try out these questions on your podcast idea. Where do you get stuck? Did you confirm you're on the right path? Did you make some tweaks?

Learn more about Podcast Liftoff: From Creation to Promotion, Get Your Podcast Off the Ground