The First Question to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Editor

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Are you thinking of hiring a podcast editor, if you are, you know, that

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that can be a bit of a daunting experience.

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There can be a lot of decisions to be made, and sometimes that can be confusing.

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Today we're going to talk about one question that you can ask that will really bring the most clarity to that decision.

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It's the first question you should ask him when you're done.

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You're going to know exactly what you need to think about

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Welcome to Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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My name is Bryan Entzminger.

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I'm a podcast, editor and manager at TopTierAudio.com.

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This show is intended to help you be able to find the right podcast editor for you, whether you're

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looking for your first editor or your next editor.

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In season one, we're going to help you get clarity on what you really want before you start

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connecting with editors and then provide you with the tools to make the right decision for yourself.

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This show is sponsored by TopTierAudio.com, where we provide podcast production services for

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multi-passionate coaches, trainers, and consultants.

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Be sure to stick around to the end, and I'll tell you how you can get a free tool to help you organize

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your thoughts and make sure you don't anything.

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So when you think about hiring a podcast editor, there are a lot of questions to consider, but there's one question

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that's going to help bring the most clarity to the process.

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And it might even be something that helps you decide whether or not you actually want to hire an editor.

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You might actually ask this question and then realize you don't want to, and that's fine because

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we want you to make the right decision for yourself.

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The question you're going to ask yourself is, Why do I want to hire a podcast editor now?"

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Why do I want to hire a podcast editor now?

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And of course there are a multitude of reasons.

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I'm going to talk through a couple of the reasons that I've hired editors in the past, and then provide you with some thoughts

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also around how you might answer this and to talk about this.

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We're going to divide this question up into two parts.

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The first question is, "Why do you want a podcast editor?"

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And the second part is, "Why now?"

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We're going to start with, "Why do you want a podcast editor?"

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There are a lot of reasons you might want to hire a podcast editor, and I'm not here to convince you that

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hiring a podcast editor is the right thing for you.

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I want you to think about your situation and why you want to hire a podcast editor.

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If you listen to the end, you'll get a link to a resource, which you can kind of use this to think through your

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thoughts, but you can also just jot this down on a piece of paper or type it on your computer or whatever.

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And the question is, "Why do I want to hire a podcast editor?"

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Now, as I think about the reasons that this might be, I've looked at reasons like this in the past

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for myself, because I've also hired podcast editors, and one of them might be quality or expertise.

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Maybe the editing that you're doing or that you're able to do isn't up to the standard that you want.

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Another reason might be that you're running out of time and you're not getting some stuff done.

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You might also be looking for the focus or perspective that having another person on your team might provide,

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and I think of that as wanting to invest in people instead of tools, or instead of investing specifically in myself.

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Now when I was running my first show, which was the Engaging Missions Show, and you can find a link to that

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in the episode description, just tap in your podcast, tap or wherever and go there, and you can check that out.

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If you want to.

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This isn't a commercial for that show.

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But at one point I was to the, place where I wasn't able to deliver the quality I wanted, I was starting

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to run out of time, and I was wanting to invest in myself to improve my skills as an editor, because I

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saw what I thought was going to be a future in that.

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And so in order to be able to move forward, I actually brought on an editor to help me with my show.

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His name was Geoff Butterworth.

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he's at Sound Paradigm Studios.

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And he had a background in music production.

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At one point before we were both married, we had been roommates.

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I knew him.

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I knew that he was good at what he did, but the reason I brought him in, instead of investing in tools and

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automation and stuff like that was because I wanted to bring in somebody with a different perspective.

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I wanted his expertise.

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I wanted the quality that I knew that he could bring to the table, but I also wanted to be able to have him provide me

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with feedback, because I don't know if this has been your experience, but sometimes when I'm editing myself, I can get

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lost in the weeds and start wondering, "Should I cut this um," and start getting really, I guess, prideful or, uh, focused

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on myself rather than on what I'm trying to accomplish.

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And so by bringing him in, I was able to allow him to focus on those technical aspects and sort of what I

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would call the nuts and bolts, and I was able to improve or focus on improving my skills by working on other

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shows, because I did have other shows I was working on.

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And also I was able to focus myself for my show on the content and on the guests and on the marketing

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so that I wasn't feeling quite so spread out.

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And if I hadn't done that, it might have been a place where I had decided that I needed to quit that show.

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And that is kind of the, the bridge question about "Why?"

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and, "Why Now?"

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If you're at the place where you're thinking, "I might have to quit making this show if I don't bring on an editor," that

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might not only be the "Why" behind why you want to bring on an editor, but also the "Why do I want to bring an editor on now?"

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Now there are other reasons that might be in, in consideration, for example, maybe you are thinking of

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launching a show; you've never edited, and you just want to bring somebody in to edit from the very beginning.

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Or maybe you've started missing your publishing deadlines.

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Or your focus on your business or your family is starting to become a little bit lax.

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Maybe you're getting some feedback from the people that work with you or from kids - in my experience,

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I've had times where my kids have come to me and said, "Hey, you're not spending enough time with us."

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And of course they say that in their own way, but maybe you're getting that kind of feedback from your family

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or maybe your audience is letting you know, "Hey, I love the content, but I can't listen because the

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production value isn't there," or something like that.

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Maybe your health is starting to suffer or maybe you're starting to see a future constraint or a future

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that you want to build that involves other people.

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And that's actually why I brought on the second couple of editors that I've got working with me now was becase I work

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a full-time job and I'm building a production business, and I was at the place where I was out of capacity.

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And I also recognized that I was taking time away from my family and that I wasn't really able to do a good job of taking

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vacations away from work and also keeping my clients whole.

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And so I was making a lot of trade off decisions that were assumed to be required or appropriate, but at the same

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time, they weren't the ones I wanted to make long term.

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And so that's where I started looking to bring on editors for my editing business.

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And this is, uh, something that I think a lot of times we don't think about as many times editors

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that are producing audio professionally also have editors that are working either with, or for them.

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And that's where I, I brought on some other people is because I wanted to build a future.

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For myself and for my family and for my clients that delivered on things that I couldn't do.

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Things like, business continuity.

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If I were to happen to get sick, I didn't really have anybody before that time to say, "Hey, you can

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take on a portion of my work," or to reach out to.

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And so that's why I brought those people on.

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Now, as you think through these questions, your answers may be different from mine, and that's fine

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because we want you to find the right editor for you.

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And if you get all done with these and you're like, "You know what?

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I'm not really sure that I understand why I want to hire an editor," or "I don't really understand why I want to do it now."

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Maybe it's because you heard somebody say you have to, or because you want to be like somebody else.

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If those aren't the right reason.

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If you're not willing to invest your time and your money in a person so that they can do this, for the reasons

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that you've listed, then you probably don't need to pursue hiring editor, hiring an editor at this time.

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And that's absolutely fine because we want you to make the right decision for you.

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If you'd like to be able to get the clarity you need to avoid making a hiring mistake, be sure to download our

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guide, "15 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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You can find it at hiringapodcasteditor.com/15questions, and it'll be linked up in the show notes.

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It's totally free.

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We don't require an email address or anything like that.

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We just want to make sure that you have the tools that you need to make the right decision for you.

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That guide has the questions we'll talk about on this show.

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Some instructions and suggestions.

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Even a place to take notes.

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If you want to get even more out of it, though, be sure to subscribe to the show at

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hiringapodcasteditor.com/15questions/listen and share it with the rest of your team.

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Your work is important.

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Now.

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Go out there and make a great podcast.