You Should Ask a Podcast Editor This First

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Does the prospect of starting to interview prospective podcast editors or managers or producers sort

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of start to produce some butterflies in your stomach?

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If you're like me, the thought of starting to interview people can seem a little bit overwhelming,

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but it can actually go much more smoothly, and you can have a lot more confidence if you have a plan.

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That plan starts today.

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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.

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Whether you're looking for your first editor.

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Or your next editor in season one, we're going to help you get clarity on what you really want before you

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start 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 miss anything.

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If you've been with the show for a while and you've been going through the process, you probably already have a

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pretty good handle on what you're looking for in an editor.

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We've gone through that process and you, you should have a pretty good handle on that.

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In fact, you've probably already got it filled out in the free download.

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15 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Eeditor, which is at HireAPodcastEditor.com/15questions.

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If you.

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I would encourage you to go back and do that bit.

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It can seem maybe like it's taking longer than you would hope.

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However, having this in place will be really helpful when it comes to starting to interview and evaluate the prospective

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editors or managers or producers you want to talk with.

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You should also by now have a pretty good handle on a few people or companies that you want to talk with.

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But again, if you're like me, that can seem a little bit daunting, and that's where having a plan comes in.

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And I'll share with you that a lot of this idea comes from some hiring and interview experiences that I've had separate.

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From podcast editing, I actually spent several years in food service and the hiring process

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in food service, was not always super robust.

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And a lot of times we would spend maybe 15 minutes with somebody talking about the job and their

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qualifications of their desire to have the job.

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And these were not highly technical jobs by any stretch of the imagination.

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But then after.

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15 minutes, maybe, maybe 30 minutes at the most.

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We had to make a decision about whether or not we wanted to hire this person and we, we didn't always

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get the best people because we didn't always have a really good way to screen the right applicants.

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We had an application, we had an interview, and that was it.

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We.

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However, since I've also spent time in the corporate world, there's a much different process in a lot

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of large companies when it comes to hiring people.

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The company that I've worked with for the past 17 years, we actually had a really robust hiring process that would involve

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multiple panels of people, and we would have standardized questions that were all based on the job that we were

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looking for this person to do, and some of the fit with the team or the fit with the company, those kinds of things.

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And.

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That process actually is very helpful.

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Now, like some of the work that's come before this, it might seem a bit tedious at times.

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However, having that in place makes it really.

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Really useful, and we've done a lot of that background work.

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We've essentially started to create a job description.

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Even if we're hiring a freelancer or a company, we know what it is that we're looking for them to do.

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So we've got kind of a job description.

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We know ourselves a little bit better, and now it's time to start talking to them.

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Hi there.

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I'm popping in for just a second to tell you about Boomcaster.

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If you're going to be recording your podcast while streaming live, either with a co-host or with guests

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or something like that, you're going to need a service that does that and gives you high quality

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recordings and Boomcaster is a great service for that.

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They offer an excellent live streaming experience.

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And super high quality audio and video recordings.

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So later you can edit those into your final podcast episode.

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You can find them at Boomcaster.com or click the link in the episode notes.

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If you use that, you'll also get a discount on your purchase and your purchase will benefit the show.

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So I'd really appreciate that.

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Boomcaster is what I recommend for you to capture those great recordings for your podcast.

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When we do this, it's really good to have a plan with the questions that you want to ask.

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Some of the questions might come from the things that you've filled out, and some of the questions I'm going to offer

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up to you, and the one that I've got today might seem like a no-brainer, but sometimes people forget to ask this.

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And the first question I think that you should ask when you start talking with an editor is, what are the services that you offer?

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What is it that you.

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You might already have a good idea.

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You if you've spent some time on this person's website or this company's website, you might have a pretty good idea

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what they offer, but it's good to ask this anyways because sometimes websites aren't a hundred percent current.

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And sometimes editors or producers may offer things that aren't advertised.

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I know on my website, I've paired down some of the offerings that I present or some of the things that I

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present in my packages because I don't want to overwhelm people because what I've found is sometimes people

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come to those websites and they see this huge menu of.

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and it's overwhelming and they don't know how to make a decision.

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So what I've done is I've put up the things that are the most popular, the most common.

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But if somebody asks me what I do, I'll share some of those packages and then if they want to dig further, I

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may share some of the other things that I can offer that may not be listed in those sort of standard packages.

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Now while you're doing this, Feel free to take notes.

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It's perfectly appropriate to take notes during an interview.

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In fact, I would recommend that, and don't be afraid to ask probing questions.

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If the person you're talking with uses a lot of jargon or big words or things that you don't understand, feel free to ask.

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It's better to know now what you're talking about than later, and also I would encourage you to maybe as you're

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taking down your notes, note any emotional reactions that you're having during the discussion, because these might be

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keys to how you might feel when working with this person.

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An example might be if you're talking to somebody and they use big words and you ask

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for clarification and the clarification maybe.

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Doesn't really help you feel more confident, you'd want to take note of that because their communication style is important.

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You have to remember that you're going to be working with this person or this company potentially for years.

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This doesn't mean it's a bad person, it doesn't mean that they wouldn't be great to work with, but it might be that

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you wouldn't feel great working with them, and that's okay.

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You don't have to work with everybody.

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You need to find the right person or the right company for you.

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The key to this, Really looking for clarity.

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Don't be afraid to ask probing questions, especially if there's jargon, even if you know what those words mean,

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because those words might mean one thing to you and they might mean something else to the person you're talking with.

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Especially in the area of podcast editing where people tend to view things a little bit differently.

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Once you have a really good understanding of what they offer and the packages that they have, if they're packaged

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together at all, I think you're ready to move on to the next question, but that's, that's going to be for next time.

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This is enough for now.

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The first question you want to ask is what do you offer?

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And then be happy to take notes and to ask questions, and to search this one and probe

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this one until you're comfortable with it.

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Then we'll go onto the next.

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

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15 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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You can find it at HireAPodcastEditor.com/15Questions.

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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, 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 a though, be sure to subscribe to this show at HireAPodcastEditor.com/listen

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and share it with the rest of your team.

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Your work is important.

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Now go out there and make a great podcast.