One-on-One
Weekly one-on-one mentorship.
The APC Podcast Mentorship Program pairs you with a working podcaster for a weekly one-on-one session. Your mentor helps you set goals, build a plan, and work through each step of it, and the program is open to members of the Collab.
Every mentor in the rotation has run a podcast in Arkansas, from the first idea through a steady release schedule. They answer questions from the position of having already solved them on their own shows.
Your mentor is assigned based on the kind of show you are building and what you need help with. You set the goals together in the first session. Each weekly session after that is a working meeting built around whatever you are stuck on, and it ends with a specific next step.
Mentorship covers the decisions that depend on your particular show. Classes teach the mechanics, such as how to use a microphone. A mentor helps you evaluate whether the show you have been planning is the one worth making, and how to change it if it is not. Those judgments are faster to make with someone who has made them before.
The program is limited to ARKAST members because it takes an hour a week from both the mentor and the mentee. If you are still deciding about becoming a member, there is a free 7-day trial that covers the rest of the membership.
Session Topics
What mentors help with.
Weekly sessions follow whatever the show needs at the time, and the topics below come up most often.
Goals and roadmap
Where the show stands now, where you want it in three months, and the steps in between, reviewed again each quarter.
Audience growth
How to build a returning audience after the launch-week spike fades, using cross-promotion with other shows, network building, and episode choices that keep drawing listeners over time.
Gear and workflow
Which equipment purchases matter for your show and which ones do not, and how to shorten your editing time without lowering audio quality.
Guest strategy
Building a guest list that fits your show, how to approach a guest, and how to prepare an interview that listeners pass along.
Monetization
Sponsorships, memberships, merchandise, and live events, and which of them are realistic at your current download numbers.
Format and pacing
How to tell when a format change is warranted and how to test one without losing your current listeners.
How It Works
From application to first session.
Apply
The application asks who you are, what you are working on, what you want help with, and whether you can commit to an hour a week.
Get matched
We pair you with a mentor whose show format and experience match what you are building. Matching is done by hand and takes the longest part of the intake.
Meet weekly
You set goals in the first session, then meet weekly on a recurring calendar slot until those goals are met.
FAQ
Common questions.
Serious podcasters at any stage who want a structured weekly working relationship with someone who has done the job before. It is for people willing to put in an hour a week and act on what gets discussed.
Yes. Mentorship is exclusive to ARKAST members. If you are not sure about joining, we offer a free 7-day trial so you can sample the rest of the membership before committing.
Whatever is in the way of your show growing. That could be monetizing, growing your core audience, choosing equipment, upgrading your workflow, or building the right guest list. You and your mentor set the goals together at session one.
Mentorship runs on a session-by-session basis. Most pairings work in stretches of a few months around a specific set of goals, then pause or renew based on where the show is.
Wait until your schedule allows it. The program is built around weekly working sessions, and the classes program is a better starting point if you cannot hold that time.
Apply
Send in your application.
Applications are reviewed as they come in. After the review we match you with a mentor and put the weekly session on the calendar.