35 Podcast Episodes Later: The Part of Starting a Podcast Nobody Talks About

Starting a podcast is exciting.

You choose the name.
Create the cover art.
Record the introduction.
Plan your first few episodes.

You hit Publish for the first time and suddenly your podcast exists.

And then comes the part people don't talk about enough:

Getting people to listen.

I launched The Optima Method in February 2026.

This week, I reached 35 episodes.

And I wanted to share the numbers, not because they're massive, but because they're real.

Because building something new takes time.

And sometimes the most important thing you can do is keep showing up long enough to give it a chance to grow.

35 Episodes. 434 Plays and Downloads.

Since launching in February, The Optima Method has generated:

• 35 published episodes

• 434 total plays and downloads

• 189 Spotify plays

• 245 downloads from other platforms

• 303 measured audience events

• An average of approximately 4.7 plays/downloads during an episode's first seven days

My highest-performing episode during its first seven days generated 10 plays/downloads.

Read that again.

Not 10,000.

Not 1,000.

Ten.

And I'm sharing that intentionally.

Because social media has made it incredibly easy to believe that everything should take off immediately.

We see the viral Reel.

The podcast with thousands of downloads.

The entrepreneur celebrating 100,000 YouTube subscribers.

The business owner announcing another record month.

What we rarely see are the months, or years, of work that happened before those results.

Starting Something New Is Tough

There have absolutely been moments when I've looked at an episode that received two, three or four plays during its first week and thought:

Is anyone actually listening to this?

That's the difficult part about building something from scratch.

You don't immediately know whether your effort is working.

You're creating before you have a large audience.

You're learning before you have enough data.

You're improving while you're still figuring out what people actually want from you.

And you're showing up without the external validation that often makes showing up easier.

That's entrepreneurship in a nutshell.

But Then I Looked at the Bigger Picture

When I audited the podcast after Episode 35, something interesting appeared.

My monthly plays and downloads looked like this:

MonthPlays + Downloads

• February 51

• March 42

• April 59

• May 58

• June 36

• July 58

• August 55

• September 75

September isn't even finished yet, and it has already become the podcast's strongest month since launch.

That's when perspective matters.

If I only looked at an individual episode receiving three or four plays, it would be easy to think:

This isn't growing.

But when I zoom out?

People are listening.

They're finding older episodes.

They're discovering the podcast outside of Spotify.

And the catalog I've spent the last seven months building is beginning to work as a library rather than 35 individual pieces of content.

That's progress.

Consistency Doesn't Always Look Like Growth at First

One of the things I'm most proud of isn't the number of downloads.

It's the consistency behind them.

Across the first 35 episodes, the overwhelming majority were published approximately one week apart.

Week after week.

Record.

Edit.

Publish.

Share.

Repeat.

Sometimes the episode performed well.

Sometimes it didn't.

But I kept publishing.

And I think this is where we often misunderstand consistency.

We expect consistency to create an immediate upward line:

Show up → grow → show up → grow → show up → grow.

Real growth often looks more like:

Show up.
Show up.
Show up.
Learn.
Adjust.
Show up.
Question whether it's working.
Show up anyway.
See a small signal.
Adjust again.
Keep going.

Eventually, those small actions begin compounding.

Your First Version Isn't Supposed to Be Your Final Version

My podcast has changed since February.

My business has changed.

My messaging has become clearer.

My ideal audience has become clearer.

I've learned which topics resonate.

I've learned which titles perform better.

I've learned more about SEO, discoverability and how my podcast connects to the rest of the Optima ecosystem.

Episode 35 was:

What Is Optima Operations Consulting? Systems, SOPs & Structure for Small Business

It generated 8 plays/downloads during its first seven days, 107% above my normal performance.

That's data I didn't have when I published Episode 1.

And I couldn't have learned it by sitting behind a laptop trying to create the perfect podcast strategy before launching.

I had to publish.

The First 35 Episodes Were About Building the Library

I see the next phase differently.

Episodes 1–35 proved I could consistently create the content.

Episodes 36–50 are about learning how to distribute it better.

Better titles.

Better search visibility.

Stronger connections between the podcast, blog, YouTube and social media.

Clearer calls to action.

More intentional topics.

More repurposing.

And continuing to learn what my audience actually needs.

Because consistency doesn't mean doing the exact same thing forever.

Consistency means continuing to show up while being willing to improve.

This Applies to More Than Podcasting

Maybe you're not starting a podcast.

Maybe you launched a business.

Started posting on LinkedIn.

Created a YouTube channel.

Built a digital product.

Started an email list.

Created your first offer.

And you're looking at the numbers thinking:

This is taking longer than I expected.

It probably will.

Building something meaningful usually does.

The first blog might get five readers.

The first podcast episode might get ten plays.

The first product might get zero sales.

The first Reel might get 200 views.

Those numbers don't automatically tell you whether the idea can work.

Sometimes they simply tell you:

You're at the beginning.

Keep Showing Up Long Enough to Learn

There is a difference between blindly repeating something that isn't working and consistently building something while paying attention to the data.

That's what I'm learning through The Optima Method.

After 35 episodes and 434 plays and downloads, I'm certainly not looking at a viral podcast.

I'm looking at something much more important:

A foundation.

Thirty-five searchable pieces of content.

Thirty-five opportunities for someone to discover Optima.

Thirty-five conversations about business operations, systems, leadership, AI, SOPs, strategy and building a business intentionally.

And seven months of proof that I can keep showing up.

The audience can grow.

The strategy can improve.

The numbers can compound.

But none of that happens if you quit before you've given your work enough time to be discovered.

So if you're building something right now and wondering why it isn't moving faster:

Keep showing up.

Pay attention.

Learn.

Adjust.

Improve.

And give consistency enough time to do its job.

Because sometimes progress isn't thousands of people discovering what you've built.

Sometimes it's looking at 35 episodes and realizing:

I kept going.

And that's exactly how momentum starts.

The Optima Method explores the systems, structure, strategy and practical operations behind building a business that can grow without consuming your entire life.