Thinking about hiring a podcast editor? It can seem daunting at first, because there are so many variables - quality, turnaround time, consistency, cost, and more. But more fundamental than that are questions you need to ask yourself first.

However, there's one question that is the most important - by a wide margin.

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As you listen today, you'll discover

• What that most important question is
• How that question will influence whether you even hire an editor
• Why that question isn't always really about "right now"

Links & Resources

Links & Resources

• Engaging Missions Show - This is the show that I was producing at the time that I brought on my first podcast editor. It's on an indefinite hiatus, primarily because editing was taking over my life and this show was costing money rather than making money.
• Top Tier Audio - I was producing multiple shows for Top Tier Audio at the time that I decided to hire my first subcontractor to edit.

Listen to Hiring a Podcast Editor

Hiring a Podcast Editor website

Mentioned in this episode:

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Sponsored by Top Tier Audio

Check out Top Tier Audio! We offer professional podcast production for coaches, trainers, and consultants.

Top Tier Audio

15 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Editor

If you want to get the clarity you need to avoid a hiring mistake with your podcast, you will want to grab this free guide. No email required. We just want you to make the best decisionfor yourself and your show.

15 Questions Download

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Bryan Entzminger: 00:00:00

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.