Your 1-2-3 Decision Process for Hiring a Podcast Editor

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If you ever been getting ready to talk to a podcast editor or a service provider and you just start to feel

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a little bit overwhelmed or like you're just not quite sure what you're doing, or you're not quite sure that you're going to make

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the right decision or a good decision, we're going to talk about that today and we're going to talk about a couple of things

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that you can do now to help you make that better decision later.

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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 listened to the previous several episodes and you've been working through the workbook, 15

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Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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You probably already know what's coming, but if not, then this might be a surprise to you.

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Here's the thing, deciding how you're going to make a decision.

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On the person who might be the most important outsider you bring into your production process is kind of important.

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We've spent the last several episodes envisioning the future, planning some ideas around the path and

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timelines, identifying what you need and what you want.

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We've even started to spend some time clarifying what's most important.

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There are really only two things that remain before you start looking for an editor.

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We're going to be covering one of those today.

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This one, we're talking about deciding how you will decide, and here's kind of why I'm bringing this up.

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We all know that life involves trade offs, right?

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But it be, it can become challenging when you start talking to more than one person and you start

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discovering that different editors don't all offer.

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The same things.

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Some of them might offer different levels of editing.

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Some of them might offer other things besides editing.

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They all probably have different pricing and they may have different timelines and things

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like that, and it can become confusing.

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When you start trying to weigh all of these things out and say, Well, this one's a little faster, but this one offers more things

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and this one's a little bit less expensive, and it can start to kind of jumble around in your head, or at least it doesn't mind.

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And so that starts to make it more difficult.

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To make a decision and what becomes a potential outcome is that maybe one of the people who has a little bit stronger

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personality or maybe is a little bit more well spoken or something, starts to look like the best option because all

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of these other things kind of conflict with each other.

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Then it makes it hard to decide.

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But if you want to be the one who's really emotionally in the driver's seat, then you.

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Take some time right now to determine how you're going to decide, when we talk about how we're going to decide.

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We've already done a lot of the work.

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We've already talked about that.

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There's a lot of this work that's been done, but we need to decide.

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Of three different things, which one is the most important?

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And then we also need to talk about non-negotiables.

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First off, we're going to talk about what I call pick two or pick three.

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The idea comes from some of those memes that you might see floating around that come from the world of project management or

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that kind of thing, where you might have basically a Venn diagram where in one area you have quality and in another you have speed.

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And then the last one you have.

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Cost.

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Right?

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And it says you can have two, but you can't have three.

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The idea here is that.

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If you want something that's really high quality and something that's very fast, it's going to cost a lot of money.

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You can't have it for less money.

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If you want something that's really inexpensive and you want it to be very fast, then you're probably

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going to have to sacrifice on quality, and we, we acknowledge that there are some trade offs.

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However, I'm not going to ask you to pick one or pick two.

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What I'm going to ask you to do is just to prioritize them.

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Think through speed, scope, and spend.

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And I like those because they all have s.

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And it makes it easy for me to remember.

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So if you had to pick just one, which one would you pick?

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If you had to pick a second one, which would be the second, and then which is the third?

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It's not saying that any of them are unimportant, and it's also not saying that one of them might ultimately be a deal

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breaker if it's just outside the scope of what's acceptable.

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Right.

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But when I think about speed, I'm typically thinking about turnaround time.

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How much time does an editor want or need between when.

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Files are delivered to them or what an agreement is made, or whatever the starting point is for.

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And when you get back, whatever that finished product is, for some it might be hours or days or maybe

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weeks, and it all depends on what's important to you.

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So you're not only determining whether speed is the most important, you're also determining what

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decision criteria are you talking about for speed.

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If you need something turned around in a week and one of the editors can do it in 20 minutes, well that's great.

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That doesn't necessarily make it better because that's kind of overkill if you think about it, because that extra five

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days or six days that you're getting back isn't really going to benefit you unless it does, and that's up to you to decide.

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So that's what I think about in terms of speed, is how quickly can you get that back.

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Scope is a little bit broader, and I think of this in a couple of things.

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One would be the.

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Quantity or the breadth of services that this editor offers.

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Do they offer audio repair?

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Do they offer show notes?

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Do they offer graphic design?

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Do they upload and schedule?

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Like that's all part of scope.

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Equally, I think part of scope is what's the quality of work that they do?

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And that's a little bit tough maybe to identify, but thinking about like, are you looking for

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somebody to just add the top or the tail?

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We talked about that before.

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Or are you looking for somebody who's going to do a full.

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Detailed editor, Do you need somebody who's going to do story editing and script writing and all of that kind of stuff.

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All of that plays into the scope.

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And then the last one is spend, and I think this is probably for most of us going to be, what's the cost to us?

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And it's probably going to be in money.

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I don't know that there was anything else that we might trade for things.

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But basically, what's it going to cost you to have this done?

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So I'm going to ask you to take a minute and think about what does speed mean to you?

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What does scope mean to you, and what does spend mean to you?

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Are there any things within this that are deal breakers?

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In other words, if they charge $20,000 an episode, well that might be too much.

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So are there any break points in these and then prioritize 'em and say, Okay, which is the most important?

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Is it speed, is it scope, or is it spend?

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And which is next?

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And which is last?

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None of them are unimportant.

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Just choose and then put them in the order.

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That's right for.

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And then after you've determined which are the most important, put that in the worksheet.

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That's on page 10 or 11 of the worksheet.

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15 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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You'll have that right there.

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Hi there.

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

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If you're going to be recording your podcast while streaming live, either with a.

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Co-host or with guests or something like that, you're going to need a service that does

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that and gives you high quality recordings.

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And Boom Caster is a great service for that.

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They offer an excellent live stream experience 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@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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Boom Caster is what?

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Man for you to capture those great recordings for your podcast.

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So we've already touched on this a little bit when we were talking about speed, scope, and spend, but there is the

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reality that some things are going to be deal breakers or non-negotiable requirements for you, and that's okay.

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It's perfectly appropriate for you to have some requirements.

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One non-negotiable requirement might be that the person that you bring into your business is familiar with the topic

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that you're covering about, because maybe that's relevant.

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If you've got a show about medical things and you need somebody who can.

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Work on that and know what they're working on.

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Well, yeah, that could be totally a non-negotiable requirement.

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We've also talked about how that kind of fits into speed, scope, and spend, right?

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If somebody takes six weeks to turn something around and you need it in two days, well that becomes a non-negotiable requirement.

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Take a little bit of time with that worksheet and think through, are there any other things that are non-negotiable about the.

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About the person that you're working with or anything like that.

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A great example might be that if you're working with an agency, you only work with agencies who

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treat their contractors or their employees well.

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Now I don't know exactly how you would measure that, but that could be a non-negotiable requirement for you.

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So just make that list and then as you're thinking through this, Also think through.

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Are there any other things that are really, really, really important to you?

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Maybe they're not truly non-negotiable, but these are very important to you.

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And just make a note of those within the worksheet.

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These will help you.

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Then when it comes time to start deciding, because we do have a framework for making decisions.

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I'm working on that right now, but.

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These will become important to you.

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So we've gone through the process of talking about speed, scope, and spend.

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We've also, now as you've finished this up, gone through the non-negotiables.

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After that, there's really only one thing left and that's what's often the elephant in the room.

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That's what's coming on the next episode.

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You won't want to miss that, so make sure you come back for it.

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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, 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, 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 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 now.