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If you have ever hosted a podcast, you know how real the research grind can get.
Every episode starts with excitement about meeting a new guest and ends with hours lost in Google tabs, scrolling through bios, websites, and social media profiles to find that one golden insight.
Podcast research is often one of the most time-consuming parts of the process. It takes effort to craft thoughtful questions, tailor conversations to your audience, and keep each interview engaging and relevant.
For me, podcast research used to take up to two hours per guest, and that was before recording, editing, or promoting the episode.
Multiply that by several interviews a month, and suddenly my creative passion was eating up my calendar. I loved connecting with my guests, but the repetitive prep work left little room for strategy or rest. That is when I realized I needed a smarter way to manage my time.
But what if you could automate your podcast research and get back those lost hours without sacrificing quality?
In this video, I will show you exactly how I did it.
I am breaking down how I cut my podcast research from eight hours per month to just ten minutes per episode using ClickUp AI.
The best part is that I did it without changing my entire workflow.
Everything still runs in ClickUp, only now my research process runs itself.
Streamlining the Podcast Research Process with ClickUp
Before introducing AI, I already used ClickUp as the main hub for my podcast workflow. Every guest application came through a ClickUp form that gathered bios, websites, and both personal and business insights. Having that structure in place made the next step easy. If your podcast process is still scattered across spreadsheets or emails, I highly recommend organizing everything inside ClickUp first. A clean foundation makes podcast research smoother and automation effortless.
With all guest information in one place, I could review applications, choose guests, and track their progress from submission to scheduled recording. ClickUp gave me the structure, but the real magic began when I added automation on top of that system.
Podcast Research Before vs After Automation
Let’s be honest. Podcast research can be a full-time job in itself. Before automation, I spent up to two hours digging into each guest’s background, studying their recent projects, and writing custom questions. I loved being prepared, but it was exhausting.
Once I added ClickUp AI, everything changed. Now, when I mark a guest as “recording scheduled,” the automation takes over. The guest’s task moves into a new list, and the AI agent begins the podcast research instantly. No more copying data into ChatGPT. No more jumping between browser tabs. The system handles it all while I focus on creating a better show.
Building a ClickUp AI Agent for Podcast Research
The best part about this setup is how simple it is. I did not rebuild my workflow or add complicated steps. I just created one new automation that runs whenever a guest is scheduled to record.
Here is how my ClickUp AI research agent works:
It understands the mission of the She Is a Leader podcast and the interests of my audience.
It scans the guest’s website and bio, using ClickUp’s web browsing ability to pull the latest details.
It generates ten to twelve strategic interview questions that balance personal stories, systems, mindset, and practical tips.
It delivers those questions inside ClickUp, fully formatted and ready for me to adjust or copy into my prep notes.
Within ten to fifteen minutes, I have a complete list of smart, customized questions that feel personal and natural to my guest. This single automation has completely changed how I approach podcast research.
Customizing Your Research Workflow
AI is powerful, but it still needs a personal touch. I always tell my clients and students that the best system is the one you actually use. That means customizing your AI prompts so the output feels like you.
For podcast research, I include prompts that keep my brand voice consistent and focus the questions on what my audience truly cares about. I even ask guests to share “no-go” topics in the submission form, so the AI knows what to avoid. This keeps interviews comfortable and respectful while still digging deep into valuable stories.
And this method is not limited to podcast research. The same setup can automate other repetitive tasks like client research, competitor analysis, or even hiring background checks. If you are spending hours gathering the same type of information repeatedly, you can probably automate it inside ClickUp.
The Results of Automated Podcast Research
The difference is incredible. I now spend less than ten minutes preparing for each episode. My ClickUp AI agent handles the heavy lifting, giving me back hours every month. Those hours go into building my business, nurturing my community, or sometimes just enjoying life outside of work.
Automation has made podcast research faster, but it also made it more reliable. I never miss key details about my guests, and I always walk into interviews feeling confident and ready.
If you want to try this yourself, start with your existing ClickUp setup. Make sure you are collecting solid guest information through a form, then design a custom AI agent that reflects your show’s goals and audience.
Conclusion
Podcasting should be about connection, not endless prep work. By automating your podcast research with ClickUp AI, you can stay focused on conversations that inspire and skip the manual grind that drains your energy.
As I always remind my audience, real success is when your business keeps running even while you are on vacation or living your digital nomad dream. This podcast research workflow is just one example of how automation can give you that freedom.
If you are ready to save eight hours every month, start refining your ClickUp process and let AI take care of the repetitive parts.
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Video Transcription:
Yvonne Heimann [00:00:00]:
I used to spend eight plus hours for every single month of producing a podcast that is one to two hours each and every episode just on research for my podcast. Now this whole process takes me about 10 minutes. So I cut two hours of each podcast down to 10 minutes and for the whole podcast production, I barely need to press three buttons. And in this video I’ll show you the ClickUp AI setup that has made this magic happen and now allows me to be ready with questions for my guest without spending two hours on every single episode. As you can see, we are in the submission form right here in my podcast submission list within ClickUp. We have a ton of applications right in here. Each of these applications includes a bio, a website, and a few business and personal question that get filled in directly from the application form. Now, before I dive into the process of building this AI agent and how to integrate it into that existing workflow, the existing podcast workflow is exactly what I need to bring up here.
Yvonne Heimann [00:01:21]:
This is not something that you can implement if you are not already following our process. We have the podcast process right here and you need to ensure before you keep watching that you have your podcast process running in ClickUp that you are collecting your guest information with a ClickUp form and simply just follow the process that I’ve been teaching here on my channel. As I said, you have this ready yet, right? Cool. Because that means now you are already halfway through the process of all of this. Now look, if you are running a podcast, you know the research grind, researching guests, background, their expertise areas, recent projects, any special touches that makes the episode special and engaging. It all adds up fast. And I was spending a minimum of one hour each episode, often up to two hours, just on prep work to research my guests and get all the information I needed to show up as a great host. And that’s time I could have been spending on revenue generating activities or just take a vacation.
Yvonne Heimann [00:02:32]:
The next step from the submission is me inviting them. We have the recording running. You watch the process video on this. Cool. You know what’s happening. Once they scheduled, you know I need to choose them as recording scheduled. So the moment I mark them as recording scheduled, that entry, that specific podcast guest moves from my submission list into my scheduled list. And right here, now is where the magic happens.
Yvonne Heimann [00:03:01]:
I build a ClickUp AI agent that does all the research for me automatically. Just done. No typing into ChatGPT. No copying and pasting. Nope. ClickUp AI agent takes care of all the work. And the real magic is I didn’t even have to change My podcast process? Nope. We simply just added an additional step into our existing podcast process that runs the AI agent and ClickUp just preps all the personalized questions for me and has them ready for me when I’m getting prepped.
Yvonne Heimann [00:03:39]:
10 minutes, 15 minutes before the actual podcast recording with them being scheduled. There is a couple of things going. I know I’m repeating myself, but have you watched the video? Yeah. Cool. Part of that is also when a task is moved into this location, meaning I mark them as recording a schedule means that task, that guest resource, that guest information was moved in here. And now my AI agent starts to work. This AI agent specifically has given the information of what my podcast is, what to do. So it goes through.
Yvonne Heimann [00:04:15]:
Hey, I need you to create a strategic interview questions for the she is a leader podcast. So Chatty G right in ClickUp knows which podcast this is. It needs to know who it’s working for. It also has been told that it will find all of the information within the custom fields in the description. I give it my target market. So the questions are specifically focused to answer the question that my target market has and matters to them. Then we go through please analyze their website, generate 10 to 12 question, format each question in a specific way, include a mix of personal, systems, mindset and practical questions. And then here is an example on what I want this to look like.
Yvonne Heimann [00:05:04]:
Giving me the links, all of the stuff, all of the things that it needs to know to do its job right. All the information I give it is within the scheduled list and it has access to web browsing feature and that’s it. So every single time we move a episode, a guest in here to be recorded. What it does is the AI agent runs and then next to a whole bunch of other automations. As you can see, what it does is there. It is giving me 12 questions for Goldie. Great episode coming up by the way, with personal questions, transformative questions, systems and framework. And what I do is I copy and paste all of these in in the description so I can do a little bit of text changes and specific questions that I really want to highlight right in here.
Yvonne Heimann [00:06:03]:
And that’s how simple it really is to run this. And not only that, yes, I’ve shown you this in our example as a podcast producer, as a podcast host that generates weekly episodes with amazing women. But you can also use the same AI system with works for client research, for hiring somebody and background checking them, find them on social media. Let this same research agent do similar work or a competitor analysis. Any repetitive research task that’s eating your time can be automated the same way as you know me. Yes, the best system is the one you actually use and the one you customize to yourself. So you’ve seen how we prompted our AI agent in ClickUp. Customize your own agent.
Yvonne Heimann [00:07:00]:
Don’t just use the one size fits all. Customize it to you and set up your own dedicated AI agent right in ClickUp. Yes, AI is smart. Yes, I can do a lot of things, but it needs your input to really have your your brand voice to polish to give you the output that you want. So make sure you really review the questions and adjust your AI prompt if needed. The better your initial form questions are, the better your prompt is, the better the AI agent’s output is one of the big things here. Podcast Host Pro Tip. Ask for no Gos what do they definitely not want to talk about? And yes, AI agent will follow those instructions and skip those topics. You Ready to save 8 hours every month and let ClickUp AI handle the work? Let me know in the comments.
Yvonne Heimann [00:08:00]:
What is your biggest research time waster? I read every single comment and you might just inspire the next video. Want to dive deeper into time saving automations in ClickUp? Check out this video right here where I talk about how I saved five hours a week with ClickUp Automations. And remember, true success is when your business keeps growing even while you are on vacation or digital nomading. This ClickUp AI Research Agent workflow is just the first step. I’ll see you in the next one.
