Hello and welcome, fellow editors and audio enthusiasts. Today on Podcast Editors Mastermind, we have a crucial conversation lined up, one that veers into the often overlooked territory of the podcast editing business—beyond just the financials, we delve deep into the mindset essential for success.
Together, we will shed light on the vital practice of setting boundaries with clients, not just to preserve sanity, but to establish a sustainable business model. It's about knowing when to raise those rates or, if necessary, part ways with clients that may not align with our business goals or values.
We'll explore the challenges of scaling our services, striking a balance between growing our business and maintaining the quality our clients have come to expect. Heather will also share her expertise on classifying workers correctly, navigating payroll, and the importance of suitable bookkeeping practices.
Be prepared for an enriching session that will arm you with the insights needed to take actionable steps toward solidifying the foundation of your editing business. You might find the ideas discussed today to be just as crucial as the latest editing software or mixing technique.
So let's embark on this journey of professional growth together. Prepare to be informed, inspired, and ready to take your podcast editing business to greater heights.
Heather Zeitzwolfe is a seasoned professional with a sharp grasp on the complexities of scope creep in service industries, particularly where creative work is involved. With extensive experience dealing with varying business dynamics, she recognizes the challenges caused by work that expands beyond initial projections—whether due to employees exceeding the brief to impress, clients requesting unrecompensed extras, or communication failures.
This episode of the Podcast Editors Mastermind was edited by Alejandro Ramirez. You can find him on Facebook if you're interested in talking with him about editing your show.
If you're a podcast editor, we'd love to see if you'd be a fit for a future episode. Fill out this form to let us know you're interested, and we'll contact you to see if it's a good fit.
The Podcast Editors Mastermind is for professional podcast editors who want to grow their business and get more clients. We’re creating a community of like-minded professionals that are passionate about the art and science of editing podcasts.
Our goal is to help you build your business by providing tools, resources, and support so you can focus on what matters most—your craft. This isn’t just another group where everyone talks about how great they are at podcast editing; we show our work!
Follow or subscribe and take the Podcast Editors Mastermind with you today!
So How much is that?
Jennifer Longworth:Welcome to Podcast Editors Mastermind. This is the business
Jennifer Longworth:podcast for you podcast editors out there. We started
Jennifer Longworth:as a small mastermind, what, 4 years ago almost
Jennifer Longworth:at this point, and now we share it with you guys. It's kinda
Daniel Abendroth:the thing about, like, it's it was like, what, in March of 2020? March of
Jennifer Longworth:2020. Well, our first episode was recorded in the hallway at
Jennifer Longworth:Podfest. Wow. Kinda nuts. But I'm Jennifer
Jennifer Longworth:Longworth with Bourbon Barrel Podcasting. And my cohost
Jennifer Longworth:today? Daniel Abendroth at
Daniel Abendroth:RothMedia.Audio. And not appearing are Bryan and
Jennifer Longworth:Carrie. Hopefully, they'll be back again with us soon. And we have a very
Jennifer Longworth:special guest today, Heather Zeitzwolfe. Heather,
Jennifer Longworth:unmute yourself and welcome to the program. Hey. Thank you. I I you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:know,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, probably Easter or something, but it looks like something out of,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, Midsummer Night Dream. I I love it. Oh, there's Bryan. Bryan is
Jennifer Longworth:joining us in the comments today. He's not feeling well.
Daniel Abendroth:Unfortunately, he's still recovering from COVID. He's all good to go except a
Daniel Abendroth:cough, which, as you can imagine, trying to record an hour long podcast when
Daniel Abendroth:you have a tickle in your throat is probably not the best idea. So
Daniel Abendroth:he'll be joining us in chat,
Daniel Abendroth:though we do miss him on the show. And we welcome anyone to join us
Jennifer Longworth:in chat. We love to see questions, comments as we go along. Please
Jennifer Longworth:jump in and be part of the conversation. So our special guest, I'm
Jennifer Longworth:gonna give you the official bio here. Actually, I'm stealing it from your
Jennifer Longworth:LinkedIn profile. Oh, I don't know. I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:haven't, but I don't know if I've updated that. It still sounds like you. It
Jennifer Longworth:says you are a creative, empathetic nerd who enjoys numbers.
Jennifer Longworth:Right? Yep. That hasn't changed. Right. She helps her clients understand their
Jennifer Longworth:finances so they can make empowered decisions in their business. Her approach
Jennifer Longworth:is nonjudgmental and shame free. She's not
Jennifer Longworth:your dad's accountant, unless your dad's accountant has funky
Jennifer Longworth:colored hair transforms tofu into delicious desserts and geeks out
Jennifer Longworth:on writing sketch comedy. Still you. Yep. That's still me.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:All right. Right. Her passions include cooking amazing plant based
Jennifer Longworth:food, standing up for animal rights. This includes humans and helping
Jennifer Longworth:podcasters. So again, welcome to the show. Thank you.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. And if people were at
Jennifer Longworth:Podcast, you were the amazing closing keynote this
Jennifer Longworth:year telling us Thank you. The fairy tale of the
Jennifer Longworth:scope creep, which Yes. Basically was just
Jennifer Longworth:a message for Editor. And I felt very called out,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:which is why you're on the podcast. Oh, well, you know, there was a lot
Heather Zeitzwolfe:of juicy details that had to be cut out for time. And,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:truth be told, I was scrambling to cut things before
Heather Zeitzwolfe:coming on stage. That's why I was looking at my notes because
Heather Zeitzwolfe:there was just so much to go over, and I had to cut a lot
Heather Zeitzwolfe:of juicy good stuff. So I'm glad to be here to talk
Heather Zeitzwolfe:further about this stuff. So give us a quick definition of scope
Jennifer Longworth:creep. Yeah. Scope creep. You know, it's one of those words that some people are
Heather Zeitzwolfe:familiar with and other people have never even heard of scope
Heather Zeitzwolfe:or scope creep. You know? And so I think it kinda just depends on the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:type of business that you've worked for or, like, the type of
Heather Zeitzwolfe:office or whatever. But scope creep can exist in pretty
Heather Zeitzwolfe:much any kind of service industry. But with creative
Heather Zeitzwolfe:people that are producing something, it can happen a lot
Heather Zeitzwolfe:because the scope creep is this thing that comes in
Heather Zeitzwolfe:where you end up doing things that were either
Heather Zeitzwolfe:not what the client asked for, but you thought they
Heather Zeitzwolfe:wanted it, or you're going above and beyond
Heather Zeitzwolfe:more than they need the client, or the client asks
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you to do extra things that you never intended to based on the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:price that you came up with, or it can also
Heather Zeitzwolfe:kind of flood into, like, not having the right communication with your
Heather Zeitzwolfe:employees or your contractors where they understand
Heather Zeitzwolfe:what you're getting paid for, so the company is getting paid for because a lot
Heather Zeitzwolfe:of employees love to go above and beyond, or maybe
Heather Zeitzwolfe:they're just dragging themselves and taking way too much time,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:and then it blows your budget. So you can blow your budget either way.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:So it can happen in all these different areas, so that's why we have to
Heather Zeitzwolfe:look at how we're pricing ourselves, our contracts with our our
Heather Zeitzwolfe:clients, and just having a real clear definition of
Heather Zeitzwolfe:what it is that we intend to deliver and what they
Heather Zeitzwolfe:want us to deliver. So one of the things you said when we were
Jennifer Longworth:talking about this about eliminating scope creep, because that's kind of what we
Jennifer Longworth:wanna do is starting with the right clients in the
Jennifer Longworth:first place and Exactly. Getting it a good understanding
Jennifer Longworth:of of the expectations and everything too. So
Jennifer Longworth:the most commonly asked question in the podcast editor group is how do I find
Jennifer Longworth:clients? But we also need to know how we find the right clients. So what
Jennifer Longworth:what's your insights on that? Yeah. You know, it's so so difficult
Heather Zeitzwolfe:when you first start a business. You know, like, you're so eager to make money
Heather Zeitzwolfe:because you gotta have cash coming in that, you know, tend to, like, just take
Heather Zeitzwolfe:whoever or we may take our friends. And friends
Heather Zeitzwolfe:could be a good relationship, but also friends may, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:overstep their boundaries if you haven't really defined those
Heather Zeitzwolfe:boundaries. They may also kind of expect a discount
Heather Zeitzwolfe:or you feel obligated to give them a discount, and now you're
Heather Zeitzwolfe:getting inundated with a bunch of work that maybe you're getting underpaid
Heather Zeitzwolfe:for and you're maybe over delivering. So, friends, it's
Heather Zeitzwolfe:a great way to kinda start your business off, especially if you're just kinda dipping
Heather Zeitzwolfe:your toe into something and maybe you give them the friend's price or whatever. But
Heather Zeitzwolfe:let them know this is not always gonna be the price and I'm doing you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:a solid. So there's that. It can ruin a friendship
Heather Zeitzwolfe:too. I talked about this in my presentation, the friendship thing.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:And then the other thing is, like, looking for clients. So
Heather Zeitzwolfe:probably you're gonna look within your network that you already are
Heather Zeitzwolfe:surrounded with. So, Jennifer, you're in Kentucky. So you said
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you've gotten some local clients, so you're looking in your local community. You meet people
Heather Zeitzwolfe:in your local community, but are they going to be the right
Heather Zeitzwolfe:fit for you? You know, it's a lot of it is just having really
Heather Zeitzwolfe:good conversations with people and not being so eager to just take on a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:client. And, again, granted, if you need money coming in, you're
Heather Zeitzwolfe:gonna just take somebody, but you may decide later on, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:maybe this isn't the right client for me. So have things in
Heather Zeitzwolfe:place where you can evaluate, like, is this client the right
Heather Zeitzwolfe:fit for me? Maybe I should get other clients,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:and I believe that's probably something we're gonna talk about later on. It's kind of
Heather Zeitzwolfe:looking to see who is the right fit clients. Yeah. I know
Jennifer Longworth:after I'm into it who's not a good fit.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Yeah. So once you start to get that data of, like, you know what
Heather Zeitzwolfe:makes not a good fit, like, start writing those things down. And then when you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:have, like, they call it discovery calls or whatever you wanna call it,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:You know, start to ask them questions to kind of vet these things out.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:What are some problems that you encounter, Jennifer? Like, late payments or,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, delivering stuff to you too late or what a
Jennifer Longworth:It's Divas. Oh. Okay. So the, like, the high
Heather Zeitzwolfe:maintenance, that sort of thing. That I'm expected to drop
Jennifer Longworth:everything and fix their show right now. And I've
Jennifer Longworth:lost 2 clients because they were divas, and I'm like, see you. Don't let the
Jennifer Longworth:door hit you on the way out. You know? Yeah. So
Heather Zeitzwolfe:maybe you have like a no diva policy or something in your business.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Like I have like a no jerks. Like, I'm not work working with any
Heather Zeitzwolfe:jerks. When I first started my business, I had a jerk. And I was like
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I thought to myself, wait a minute. This is the whole reason why I started
Heather Zeitzwolfe:a business to begin with is I don't have to take jerks anymore. Mhmm. So
Heather Zeitzwolfe:maybe just let them know, like, in the scope of it, these are the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:parameters of when you can, you know, ask me to do things. This is
Heather Zeitzwolfe:the hours that I work, and then you can define it. And if they are
Heather Zeitzwolfe:a diva and, you know, you can just say, like, hey, this was in the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:contract that we agreed on, and I would just clearly define that.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:But some people are still gonna be divas regardless. Right. You know? So I always
Heather Zeitzwolfe:have this thing where at the end of the year, I look at, like, how
Heather Zeitzwolfe:much clients paid me through the year. You know, if you track things like in
Heather Zeitzwolfe:QuickBooks or, you know, some some way that you could track the invoices of your
Heather Zeitzwolfe:clients, you could see, like, okay, which ones were, like, the the highest
Heather Zeitzwolfe:paying ones. And then you can kind of rate them on, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:pain in the butt client versus easygoing, always
Heather Zeitzwolfe:on time, pays on time. And then you can factor
Heather Zeitzwolfe:in, like, a pain in the butt fee if you really wanna keep them on.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:You know? That's what I do. Yeah. I was telling my kid about that last
Jennifer Longworth:night when I was, you know, complaining about somebody. I was like, yeah. I need
Jennifer Longworth:the pain in the butt fee. Do you put that item line on
Daniel Abendroth:your invoices pain in the butt? But I put it on my calculation. It's in
Heather Zeitzwolfe:my sales spreadsheet when I'm calculating the price. I put it in a little buffer
Heather Zeitzwolfe:in there. Yeah. Yeah. The other thing is, like, if you find that certain
Heather Zeitzwolfe:clients like, if you've got prices for things and you know that,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, some clients are gonna ask for a little bit more and but
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you don't know yet if they're going to ask you for those little bit more
Heather Zeitzwolfe:types of things. Maybe just put in, like, a 10%, 20% buffer
Heather Zeitzwolfe:of, like, time and and payment, you know, just to make up for
Heather Zeitzwolfe:the the pain in the butt potential. Pain in the butt
Jennifer Longworth:potential. Mhmm. And then you just start working that in.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Or, you know, the first time you work with them have, like, an onboarding fee
Heather Zeitzwolfe:and, like, kind of onboard go through the onboarding producer, and then
Heather Zeitzwolfe:maybe you'll find from that isn't just not a good fit. I don't know. That's
Jennifer Longworth:true. It's like a probationary time, you know, where they're
Heather Zeitzwolfe:filling you out and you're filling them out. But well, Bryan's not here, but he
Jennifer Longworth:has a question in the comments. Okay. Is there a common
Jennifer Longworth:driver between those who most often ignore their own
Jennifer Longworth:boundaries and step endoscope creep? Oh, that's a good
Heather Zeitzwolfe:question. Yeah. I mean, I think that a lot of times it's just
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that people just don't know because we haven't set any boundaries.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:So I'm one of those people, like, if I get an idea in my head,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I'm just gonna text the person that's involved with it. Like, I don't even think
Heather Zeitzwolfe:about, is it 2 in the morning? Is it the weekend? Like, the ideas popped
Heather Zeitzwolfe:in my head and I just send it. And it's not like I don't respect
Heather Zeitzwolfe:their boundaries. It's just like that's my thought. But I know people, like, put
Heather Zeitzwolfe:things on their phone where it's like do not disturb and all that kind of
Heather Zeitzwolfe:stuff. And then when I see that, I'm like, oh, they probably don't want me
Heather Zeitzwolfe:to contact them. So, you know, let people know. I mean, it could be good
Heather Zeitzwolfe:natured, like mine is. I'm not trying to I'm not trying to be a diva.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I'm just like ideas come into my head. I oftentimes have very little boundaries.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Like, I just let let people contact me anytime they want. So you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:just have to to let them know, like, hey, I'm with my kids
Heather Zeitzwolfe:3 days a week. Don't bother me during this time or something. But as
Heather Zeitzwolfe:far as, like, what kind of people? I'm not really sure. I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:mean, high maintenance people, I guess. Or really, really low
Jennifer Longworth:maintenance people who don't think about boundaries like me.
Daniel Abendroth:Yeah. I know I've run into, like, acquiescing too much
Daniel Abendroth:because, like, I have my email, you know, linked to my phone. So whenever I
Daniel Abendroth:get an email, like, 7 or 8 at night, it's like, I feel like that
Daniel Abendroth:urge to, like, respond right away and would, like,
Daniel Abendroth:take care of it. But it's not, like, stop myself and be, like, this can
Daniel Abendroth:wait until the morning. Yeah. And then once you once you set that standard,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:if you do respond quickly, which I do oftentimes, then you've
Heather Zeitzwolfe:set that expectation now forever. And so then when you don't respond
Heather Zeitzwolfe:quickly, they're like, hey. Yeah. What happened? And maybe you just
Heather Zeitzwolfe:say, hey. You know, I'm getting back to you right away on this because we're
Heather Zeitzwolfe:we're first starting out together. But in the future, there's gonna be maybe
Heather Zeitzwolfe:a 24 hour turnaround. You know? So let's say you
Daniel Abendroth:are working with a client, scope creep is happening. You figure
Daniel Abendroth:out, like, down the road, they're not a right fit. Like, I guess, what do
Daniel Abendroth:you determine is, like, not the right fit? And then how do you
Daniel Abendroth:proceed to essentially, like, fire your client? Like, what is your strategy there?
Daniel Abendroth:Because for me, it's like well, the one thing I struggle with is, like, I
Daniel Abendroth:guess, like, coming from, like, a scarcity mindset is, like, I don't wanna fire
Daniel Abendroth:this client because now I'm making less money. Mhmm.
Daniel Abendroth:And, like, that feels icky. But then also, like, the process
Daniel Abendroth:having that conversation of, like, we're not a good fit. Goodbye.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Yeah. Well, if you don't like that uncomfortable conversation, raise your rates.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:That's even worse. But it was
Heather Zeitzwolfe:seriously, though, if it's just not working out, maybe find somebody that would be
Heather Zeitzwolfe:a better fit for them. Mhmm. I mean, do you work with
Heather Zeitzwolfe:mainly, like, one industry? Like, I know some people are like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:oh, I only work with lawyers or, you know, with doctors, you know, whatever.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:And they kinda know the expectations of those, you know, people that are,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, are in that same industry usually have the same kind of tendencies.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:But if you've got a whole wide range of clients, it may make it a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:little bit more difficult. But you're saying, like, you've gotta pay the bills and
Heather Zeitzwolfe:stuff. You gotta weigh that, like, the pros and cons of, like, if I let
Heather Zeitzwolfe:this person go, okay, maybe my stress level is gonna go down, my
Heather Zeitzwolfe:health is gonna be better. I won't be working such long hours. Yeah. I'll be
Heather Zeitzwolfe:get paid less, but I won't have all those awful things. So,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you know, that is part of business, but I'd find somebody else for them.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Like, give them, like, 3 recommendations of other people that they could work with maybe,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:but or raise rates. Yeah. Yeah. I think
Daniel Abendroth:I had, like, a a while ago or something that that like, it's always in
Daniel Abendroth:my head. It's, like, if there's something you don't wanna do or somebody don't wanna
Daniel Abendroth:work with, give them like a really high number because either one, they don't wanna
Daniel Abendroth:work with you and problem solved or 2, they do, but at least you're getting
Daniel Abendroth:well compensated for the discomfort. And I
Jennifer Longworth:tried to break up with a scope creep client recently. I was like, you know
Jennifer Longworth:what? Maybe I'm not the one for you because I
Jennifer Longworth:have this day job. I can't drop everything during the week. And
Jennifer Longworth:they went, we'll fix it. Oh. We'll cater to you. And I
Jennifer Longworth:was like, well, drat. Hope you get one in.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Yeah. Well, so sometimes, you know, you just have to and things will probably
Heather Zeitzwolfe:turn around for that person, I would imagine. Yeah. I mean, a lot of times,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:it's just like setting the boundaries. But that whole presentation that I did,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:it really all came down to, like, the contract. And, like, from the contract, set
Heather Zeitzwolfe:the terms. And that way, they know what to expect. You
Heather Zeitzwolfe:know what to expect. And when those things don't align, then you're
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, hey. You know what? I know you're in a rush for this. There's
Heather Zeitzwolfe:gonna be an extra fee, you know, and then, you know, you're gonna get paid
Heather Zeitzwolfe:more and maybe you have to bring in a contractor to help you with it,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:but at least you're getting compensated for it. So let's
Jennifer Longworth:talk about that contract. Yeah. Is what it all comes
Jennifer Longworth:down to. My contract is kinda weak right now, and I know I need to
Jennifer Longworth:revamp it, especially since I'm bringing on new contractors and,
Jennifer Longworth:and things are, are changing in my little business. That's not a one
Jennifer Longworth:woman show anymore. I'm like, oh, maybe need to consider
Jennifer Longworth:this. So when drawing up a new contract, what
Jennifer Longworth:are some things I need to be considering? What do I need to think of?
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Okay. So if you are thinking that you're gonna outsource some of this work,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you'll wanna think about okay. It's different if you're doing the work and it's
Heather Zeitzwolfe:going directly to you, but now you're bringing out somebody else, you have to pay
Heather Zeitzwolfe:them. It's gotta be something that I mean, unless you're, like, sending it overseas or
Heather Zeitzwolfe:something, you're gonna be paying a decent rate. Right? So then there's gotta be some
Heather Zeitzwolfe:kind of markup for that. Again, in my presentation, like, I talked about,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, rather than paying by the hour, maybe pay by the project.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Definitely. And so if you do pay by have them pay by the project, the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:client should also be paying by the project, like, within a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:certain scope. So that way you have expectations of, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:okay. I know, like, every time I do this show for this person,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:if it's x amount of length or whatever, I'm gonna pay my
Heather Zeitzwolfe:contractor this, and I always know that I'm gonna make this percentage. And that
Heather Zeitzwolfe:way, you know, you've covering all your costs. So I would make sure, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:think about, like, okay. Am I gonna pay a contractor to do this? How much
Heather Zeitzwolfe:am I gonna pay them for this? And then what do I wanna have
Heather Zeitzwolfe:left over? So figure out those pieces, and then you can
Heather Zeitzwolfe:do some things to kind of, like, sweeten the deal of, like, having a little
Heather Zeitzwolfe:extra things, you know, like, I talked about bundling your offer. Like, you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:could have, like, a, you know, 3 tiered thing, or you could have
Heather Zeitzwolfe:little I was gonna say hors d'oeuvres. That's not the word I'm thinking. A la
Heather Zeitzwolfe:carte. A la carte. Yes. You can have some a la carte
Heather Zeitzwolfe:type stuff that will be extra. But, again, thinking about, like, if it you have
Heather Zeitzwolfe:to outsource it, how much is that gonna cost? So put together a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:spreadsheet, or if you hate spreadsheets, put it just down on a piece of paper
Heather Zeitzwolfe:and kind of figure out how much you wanna make. And, you know, you can
Heather Zeitzwolfe:start with, like, how long it took you to to do this, what you wanna
Heather Zeitzwolfe:make from it, what you were making before, and then you're gonna have to add
Heather Zeitzwolfe:a little bit of buffer. So prices are probably gonna have to go up if
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you are bringing on contractors. Oh, yeah. Prices are going
Jennifer Longworth:up. Watch out. Oh, we got a question. Is there
Heather Zeitzwolfe:a typical upcharge that would help us be in an appropriate
Heather Zeitzwolfe:range? Yeah. You know what? It really depends on a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:lot of your overhead. Oh, wait. I, enough to cover
Heather Zeitzwolfe:the admin, but not so much as to be gouging.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Yeah. Okay. So, you know, the thing with our business is it kinda all starts
Heather Zeitzwolfe:with if this is not a side hustle, if this is our bread and butter
Heather Zeitzwolfe:business, right, this is our main gig, we need to be able to pay our
Heather Zeitzwolfe:bills. Right? So we need to look at, like, what is our budget
Heather Zeitzwolfe:for our personal life? And then how much do we need to make in
Heather Zeitzwolfe:our business to cover that? Because, hopefully, our business is
Heather Zeitzwolfe:gonna cover that. And then how much extra do we want? So we
Heather Zeitzwolfe:can kinda start from there and kind of backtrack. Like, how many clients do I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:wanna take on? How much do they need to how much would they have to
Heather Zeitzwolfe:pay if for me to make the money that I wanna make? And you can
Heather Zeitzwolfe:kinda back into it that way and start to figure, like, okay. If I'm
Heather Zeitzwolfe:gonna have 10 clients and they're each, you know, spending
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I'm just making things up. A 1,000 a month. Okay. Are you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:making a 1,000, or is that, is that, like, net of all your costs,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:or is that before all the costs? Like, is that the sales price? So you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:gotta have to think about both. Like, what do I wanna charge them? What do
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I wanna keep in my pocket? So I'd start with, what do I wanna keep
Heather Zeitzwolfe:in my pocket and back backtrack? And you'll find that that's a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:scary number. Like, you think like, oh, yeah. I wanna make, like, 200,000
Heather Zeitzwolfe:net income. And then you, like, look and you're like, oh my god. I have
Heather Zeitzwolfe:to, like, bring in $700,000 worth of,
Daniel Abendroth:you know, business. Then you're like, do I really wanna deal with that? Maybe
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you don't wanna have certain services where the margins are
Heather Zeitzwolfe:thinner. Maybe you wanna have things that have higher margins. So,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:where you make more from that service. So you you kinda have to look
Heather Zeitzwolfe:at the blend and the mix. That's why I like to have bundled services because
Heather Zeitzwolfe:it's, you can, you know, put in some little extra things in there
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that maybe are, like, recordings, you know, prerecorded
Heather Zeitzwolfe:classes that you've done or something that you can offer them. Oh.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Something that's not gonna, like, take that like, you do it once, and
Heather Zeitzwolfe:then you just give it to them. Like, you put together, like, a pitch deck.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I'm just making things up. Like, oh, you like to be on podcast. Okay. These
Heather Zeitzwolfe:are great pitches that you can use to go on podcast, or maybe you've
Heather Zeitzwolfe:done some research on different podcasts that would be great for them, and they could
Heather Zeitzwolfe:buy this little book from you of, like, great podcast
Heather Zeitzwolfe:to apply on. You know? I don't know. Mhmm. Something you just do once.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:You know? Chap GPT it, you know, and then and then, you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:know, and then you could put it as part of the bundle as, like, you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:know, say, like, oh, this is normally, like, $700 or I don't know
Heather Zeitzwolfe:what you're making, but, you know, so you can add it in. But I
Daniel Abendroth:like that because, like, initially, I what comes to mind is, like, okay. What can
Daniel Abendroth:I do that's worth a $1,000? It's like, okay. Well, I can, you know, show
Daniel Abendroth:notes, Francis, blah blah blah. Stuff that's, like, adds a lot more to your play
Daniel Abendroth:each episode. But the idea of having something that you create,
Daniel Abendroth:like, my wife and I, so we're, like, business partners in this ordeal.
Daniel Abendroth:Someone's been, like, on our to do list for years now is, like, a course
Daniel Abendroth:on, like, how to start a podcast or whatever. But just, like, have some sort
Daniel Abendroth:of, like, videos. Like, you put in a lot of effort upfront, but then
Daniel Abendroth:it adds to the value of your service without
Daniel Abendroth:adding work onto your plate for every client for every episode. I mean, as long
Heather Zeitzwolfe:as it's something people want. Right. So you don't wanna go through all that effort.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I would, you know so before you do something I mean, check g g p
Heather Zeitzwolfe:t, you know, so I'm not gonna take you long, but putting all the courses
Heather Zeitzwolfe:together. But I would ask your stable of clients now. Is this something that
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you'd be interested in? If so, like, how much do you think it's worth?
Heather Zeitzwolfe:You know? And just ask around and put it in some podcasting
Heather Zeitzwolfe:meetup groups or something and ask people, like because, I mean, it would be people
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that are podcasting that would be interested in that. Right? So Right. You
Heather Zeitzwolfe:get geared towards the people you're gonna edit shows for. So and maybe, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:if you do stuff that's, like, like, just say it's, like, it's, like, the real
Heather Zeitzwolfe:estate, I'm just making it. You know? You work with realtors or
Heather Zeitzwolfe:something. Then you look into all the, like, the podcast that would be for, you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:know, around real estate. And then maybe you find some good manager, and maybe it's
Heather Zeitzwolfe:part of, like, helping them get on shows and it's already people that you already
Heather Zeitzwolfe:know and it's not a big deal. You know? So So we talked a little
Jennifer Longworth:bit about the contract. So I get a contract. I figure
Jennifer Longworth:out how much I'm charging, but I gotta get
Jennifer Longworth:paid. Mhmm. How we get paid. Part of the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:contract should have your payment terms in there. When you're doing
Heather Zeitzwolfe:something like a podcast, you are You
Heather Zeitzwolfe:don't want that to happen. Right? No. It sucks. Yeah. That would suck. You don't
Heather Zeitzwolfe:want that to happen. Right? No. It sucks. Yes. That would
Heather Zeitzwolfe:suck. And, you know, there are terrible people out there that
Heather Zeitzwolfe:do stuff like that. And I've got a a client that works
Heather Zeitzwolfe:in a creative field, and she was using
Heather Zeitzwolfe:PayPal and I think Venmo.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:And she would do the work, give them the deliverables, and they
Heather Zeitzwolfe:would pay, but then they would take the payment back. Oh. And,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:after she delivered it. And so they were just scamming her. You know? And it
Heather Zeitzwolfe:wasn't that she delivered something bad. It was just they so you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:wanna make sure that you when you're taking payment, it's through something that someone can't
Heather Zeitzwolfe:take the payment back. Wow. I mean, it's it's different if you give them a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:refund, but, you know, they can contest with PayPal or something like that.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:So just be careful. Make sure that you get the payment up front if you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:can. If you're, like, put them on a retainer, if that's a possibility where they
Heather Zeitzwolfe:just get maybe they get a, like, a monthly invoice from you that,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you know, you have an agreement, like, you're gonna do 4 shows a month or
Heather Zeitzwolfe:3 shows or whatever it is. And if they say, like, I can't afford this
Heather Zeitzwolfe:now, maybe you just take a partial payment every week. But
Heather Zeitzwolfe:before you give them the deliverable, make sure that they make the payment
Heather Zeitzwolfe:because once you give them the deliverable even if it's friends. Oh my god. They're,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, the worst. Oh. Because you, like, think, like, oh, I don't need a contract.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:It's my friend. You know? Yeah. I've been burned by that. How,
Daniel Abendroth:like, ironclad does your contract need to be? Because one thing that I
Daniel Abendroth:struggle with is having just like, I'm
Daniel Abendroth:just turned off by the idea of, like, the legalese jargon and,
Daniel Abendroth:like, client, hitherto known as party a blah
Daniel Abendroth:blah blah agrees to the following term, but it's just like, ugh.
Daniel Abendroth:This makes me cringe. It's like, I want something simple that just
Daniel Abendroth:outlines what I need, but, also, I wanna make sure I'm protected. And I
Daniel Abendroth:think we sat down to do something simple. But by the time we actually
Daniel Abendroth:included, like, all the stuff we wanted to, it's, like, 8 pages. And now
Daniel Abendroth:I'm, like, oh, I hate it. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm not a lawyer, so I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:can't really answer that. But I think Gordon Firemark, I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:think he has something on his website that may or maybe he
Heather Zeitzwolfe:has, like, something you could purchase from him. I'm not sure. Wanted specifically
Jennifer Longworth:for podcast editors. Oh, interesting. Oh. I
Jennifer Longworth:need to reach out to him about that. Alright, Gordon. That's something
Heather Zeitzwolfe:he should draft. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, I would just think
Heather Zeitzwolfe:about, like, you know, if you're not into, like, the whole legal thing, I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:mean, you want it to be something that they sign, that you both sign. I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:mean, that's something you can take, like, a, you know, put it through
Heather Zeitzwolfe:DocuSign. So it's, you know, can be a, electronic signature.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Again, I'm not a lawyer, but you could make some agreements through an email first
Heather Zeitzwolfe:and then draft it up and then put it into a document of some sort
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that they sign. So you can go kinda go back and forth with the terms,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:so it's not like they're inundated by this, like, horrible thing. You know? You can
Heather Zeitzwolfe:make it more casual at first and then just document the whole thing and then
Heather Zeitzwolfe:have them sign it. But, yeah, I'm sure that there's
Heather Zeitzwolfe:a gbt. I'm just taking a drink taking a
Jennifer Longworth:drink. No. Just I would think about, like, all the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:deliverables that you do for clients, the areas where you, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you end up spending extra time, you know, like, is there a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:buffer of, like, how many redos that you do? Like, I I would just, you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:know, put in all the things where you feel like start to notice, like, oh
Heather Zeitzwolfe:god. I feel like I'm going above and beyond here. And I'm just kinda go
Heather Zeitzwolfe:back and look. Maybe look at some shows that you've editor and be like, oh
Heather Zeitzwolfe:my god. Yeah. Oh, that was, you know what if there's, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:sounds like the guy's got a lawnmower going on one side and you gotta deal
Heather Zeitzwolfe:with that? Or, like, one time I interviewed somebody who was in a coffee shop,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:and I'm like, oh god, why are you in a coffee shop? There's, like, so
Heather Zeitzwolfe:much clanging and, you know, then it was terrible. So maybe just
Heather Zeitzwolfe:have clear terms of, like, hey, you gotta be in a quiet okay. You know,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I don't know. Unless and just say, like, I gotta charge you extra. Yeah.
Daniel Abendroth:We need to have an upcharge for people who use Blue Yetis. Yes.
Jennifer Longworth:Thou shalt use a dynamic microphone or else I'm not editing your
Jennifer Longworth:show. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:That's funny. So you had said freebies and incentives.
Jennifer Longworth:How do we leverage freebies and incentives, Heather? Okay. So
Heather Zeitzwolfe:freebies and incentives. So that would be like, you know, we wanna try to
Heather Zeitzwolfe:get in new clients. So if we're looking for leads, you mentioned like, hey. How
Heather Zeitzwolfe:do we get clients? You know? We we can have some freebies, which
Heather Zeitzwolfe:would be like a free download kinda thing. And, again, you could use, you know,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like well, maybe you don't wanna tell people how to edit it, or maybe you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:make it look like it's so complicated people want it.
Jennifer Longworth:Look how hard this is. Don't you wanna hire me? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then
Heather Zeitzwolfe:incentives would be like, hey. If you pay me for 3 months
Heather Zeitzwolfe:worth of podcast upfront, I will give you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:this deal, or I will, you know, throw in this extra thing
Heather Zeitzwolfe:or, you know, something. You could, you know, give them a little something to
Heather Zeitzwolfe:make them sweeten the deal. That that's what that is. So it may
Heather Zeitzwolfe:be it doesn't, like, cost you much extra, but it sweetens the deal for
Heather Zeitzwolfe:them. Maybe if they wanna pay you in increments because every time
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you do a transaction, you know, there might be those transact extra transaction
Heather Zeitzwolfe:fees. Say, like, hey. If you pay me in 6 months chunks,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:oh, you know, reduce this by this amount for for that, you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:know. That way you get the money upfront. Yeah. You can do things like that.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:And then freebies, another freebie thing is, like, you guys could
Heather Zeitzwolfe:put on events where podcasters get to come
Heather Zeitzwolfe:on to Zoom and, like, podcasters meet you and they all get
Heather Zeitzwolfe:to meet each other and, you know, this can be like a a networking group.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I mean, other people do that, and people love that kind of thing where they
Heather Zeitzwolfe:get to network with other podcasters. So if if you start to be that person
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that brings them in, then they're like, oh, and then by the way I add
Heather Zeitzwolfe:it, you know, and then, okay, now they're gonna think of you. So, you know,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:there's you you can get creative with it. That's an interesting idea of, like,
Daniel Abendroth:having almost kind of a podcast or mastermind or a meetup or something.
Daniel Abendroth:It's, like, come together and share ideas or ask questions and
Daniel Abendroth:get advice. I host 1 once a month.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. You do it once a month. You can stream it. You
Heather Zeitzwolfe:can also put on workshops. So, you know, again, maybe it's how to editor,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:and then you just show them, hey. It's really you know, this is a lot
Heather Zeitzwolfe:of work, and then they'll wanna hire you. So I'm sending a note to
Daniel Abendroth:my wife that we needed to, like, enter like, look at this. Yeah. Or
Heather Zeitzwolfe:maybe it's why you need a podcast. Maybe that's better. Like Yeah. Do
Heather Zeitzwolfe:a workshop on why you need a podcast, and then you can show them, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:what your clients are doing. Like, you can show, like, the different shows that
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you've been working on and how it's increased their sales or how
Heather Zeitzwolfe:they've utilized it, how it's increased their
Heather Zeitzwolfe:speaking. I don't know. Yeah. Whatever it's sent for them. Bryan's comment. We
Daniel Abendroth:say it's for the audience, but we're the ones taking notes. Hey. I brought Heather
Jennifer Longworth:on specifically because she called me out without knowing it at
Jennifer Longworth:Podfest. So, of course, we had to find out for ourselves. You know, it was
Heather Zeitzwolfe:really funny. I had somebody contact me after my my speech, and she
Heather Zeitzwolfe:was not an editor. She was a podcaster, and she
Heather Zeitzwolfe:said, I I had to contact my editor right away
Heather Zeitzwolfe:after your presentation because I felt so bad about all
Heather Zeitzwolfe:the things I've been asking for. Oh, wow. Oh, I love that.
Jennifer Longworth:My biggest mistake lately that I'm fixing is being like,
Jennifer Longworth:oh, yeah. I can do that for you. Yeah. But now I'm adding I can
Jennifer Longworth:do that for you, and it costs this much more. Yeah. Yeah. You
Heather Zeitzwolfe:know? I had that with, like, one of my first clients. It was, like, it
Daniel Abendroth:started out just editor, and it's, like, oh, I wanna start doing YouTube. Okay.
Daniel Abendroth:Sure. Well, not got charged extra, but not enough cause I didn't know what I
Daniel Abendroth:was doing. And I was like, hey. Could you, like, write a blur for the
Daniel Abendroth:for each episode? Oh, yeah. That's not much work. I can do that. Blah blah
Daniel Abendroth:blah. And then suddenly, I was spending 6 hours a week for a $100.
Daniel Abendroth:It's just like, okay. This is not working out. So one of the other
Jennifer Longworth:things you sent was look at your numbers and examine what went
Jennifer Longworth:right and what went wrong, then make projections for the future. So
Jennifer Longworth:I'm in a money class right now with our local chamber of commerce, and
Jennifer Longworth:I'm learning that I really don't know anything about this stuff.
Jennifer Longworth:So what are some basic how to look at your numbers and examine on
Jennifer Longworth:that, you know, talk to me like I'm 5 type thing. Okay.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Hopefully, you know, you're keeping things in, like, QuickBooks or some kind of bookkeeping
Heather Zeitzwolfe:software. Maybe you're not. Maybe you, hopefully, you're keeping at least, like, an Excel.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:No judgment if you're not keeping it at all. Hopefully, you got receipts and then
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you add it up, you know, for tax time. But if you can do it
Heather Zeitzwolfe:on a monthly basis, then you can kinda see how things are
Heather Zeitzwolfe:going. Take a client that you feel like there was, like, a lot of extra
Heather Zeitzwolfe:work there and kind of examine. Like, maybe when you first start with a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:client, as much as I hate timing things, maybe you start timing things and
Heather Zeitzwolfe:just see, like, how long is it taking you to do these things. I know
Heather Zeitzwolfe:when I go to hire a contractor, every step that I'm gonna have them
Heather Zeitzwolfe:do, I time myself doing that activity so I know
Heather Zeitzwolfe:approximately how long it should take them? And then I can kind of figure
Heather Zeitzwolfe:out by the hour that I'm paying them, or is it by the project? So,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:again, whenever you can pay by the project, I'd rather do that. So kind of
Heather Zeitzwolfe:examine each little piece and then go back and say, like, okay. What
Heather Zeitzwolfe:were all the costs associated with me with this client
Heather Zeitzwolfe:with this project? Did you have to buy, you know, new piece of
Heather Zeitzwolfe:software? Did you have to learn a new piece of software? Did you have to,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like you were talking about YouTube. Like, now you're now all of a sudden, you're
Heather Zeitzwolfe:having to do these, like, your thumbnails, you had to get software that did
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that, and now it's taking extra time, like, all the extra little things,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:and then figuring out, like, okay, if I did this, like, you can give
Heather Zeitzwolfe:yourself an hourly rate or something, kind of look at and see, like, holy
Heather Zeitzwolfe:crap. Did I only made, like, $5 an hour? Like, I mean, if you start
Heather Zeitzwolfe:to look at all the stuff that goes into it and then
Heather Zeitzwolfe:educating yourself and granted, you're gonna have that knowledge for later, but still, it
Heather Zeitzwolfe:takes up time. You know, it's like, all that stuff goes into it. So
Heather Zeitzwolfe:look at all the time that you spent and then put a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:number attached to it, like an hourly rate or something. And just look look to
Heather Zeitzwolfe:see, like, did I make any money off of this thing? Unless we're kind of
Heather Zeitzwolfe:going back and and looking, we we may kinda have a gut instinct
Heather Zeitzwolfe:about it, but we may not know, like, how bad it was or maybe it
Heather Zeitzwolfe:was better than we expected. But then that gives us some data that we
Heather Zeitzwolfe:can use for the future when we go to price something. So
Heather Zeitzwolfe:we can make a standard, like, spreadsheet and try to figure, like, okay. If I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:do show notes, I'm gonna charge this much. You know? And then but then
Heather Zeitzwolfe:look and see, like, how long did it really take you to do those show
Heather Zeitzwolfe:notes? Like, was it 5 manager, or was it, like, an hour? Do you
Daniel Abendroth:have a tool that you use to track your time? You know, there's so many
Heather Zeitzwolfe:tools online to do that. I mean, you could even use your phone. But, I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:mean, there's certain ones where you can, like, put in a client. I hate
Heather Zeitzwolfe:timing things, so I I do too. But there's there's a lot of free
Heather Zeitzwolfe:ones out there, and some of them have gone out of business. I don't even
Heather Zeitzwolfe:wanna say what they are, but, like, I keep a lot of stuff in Notion.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Like, when I'm doing my podcast, like, everything is in there. So you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:could depending on where you organize your stuff for your client, there may be a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:timing tool. I don't know. What do you guys use to organize stuff for your
Heather Zeitzwolfe:clients? I use Airtable. Okay. Do they have a timing thing in
Heather Zeitzwolfe:there? I wonder. I currently use RescueTime because
Daniel Abendroth:I, like, tracks whatever software you're using. And so I kinda keep track of, like
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Right. Oh, you're watching YouTube versus now now you're in
Daniel Abendroth:Reaper, so you're working blah blah blah. Mhmm. But it's just like it doesn't
Daniel Abendroth:track per project, so I don't know because I know, like, how long I'm working
Daniel Abendroth:and, like, being productive versus not. Mhmm. I used to use
Daniel Abendroth:toggl, t oggl, and you could, like, start as a timer.
Daniel Abendroth:So you put in, like, what I'm working on, you know, this client now,
Daniel Abendroth:start. And when you're done, you can stop it, then you get a report. Like,
Daniel Abendroth:my assistant uses that to keep track of whatever she's working on. Mhmm. And, like,
Daniel Abendroth:it be a report and everything. But my problem is I always forget to, like,
Daniel Abendroth:start and stop. And then I'm never, like, working on, like, one
Daniel Abendroth:client, like, one per thing consistently. So it's, like, okay. I'll
Daniel Abendroth:bring 3 shows into RX. Like, oh, I'm gonna work on
Daniel Abendroth:this one. Like Mhmm. Get this process going while that's running. I'm gonna do this.
Daniel Abendroth:And now it's just it may get convoluted. I need to, like
Daniel Abendroth:well, I really need to, like, do better at tracking and, like, focus for, you
Daniel Abendroth:know, a month and be diligent about tracking it and kinda see where I'm
Daniel Abendroth:at, but it's just I don't. Yeah. I mean, at least when you first bring
Heather Zeitzwolfe:on a client or something and see unless you have, like, an extra fee for,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, onboarding type stuff. But once you get in the groove of what it is
Heather Zeitzwolfe:they're paying for, yeah, maybe time. I I know. I hate that too because I'm
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Mhmm. I'm a multitasker. I work on, like, a bunch of things. But you could
Heather Zeitzwolfe:be working on, like, bringing in something that's, like, it's generating the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:transcript. So you can have that going, that time. Yeah. Is that still the time
Heather Zeitzwolfe:for that? And then you could be working on email while that's still going and
Heather Zeitzwolfe:or, you know, for another client and put that time. You could have double time.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I mean, it's still time. I mean Yeah. You still have to wait for it.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:One of the other things you had also with we've talked about hiring contractors,
Jennifer Longworth:the difference between hiring contractors and actually hiring
Jennifer Longworth:employees. So there's a huge difference, and you just made a
Jennifer Longworth:face for those folks who are are listening later and can't see. I haven't made
Jennifer Longworth:an epic face over that of, oh my goodness. Don't make the wrong
Jennifer Longworth:decision here. With contractors, you know, it's gotta
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like make the smell test for what a contractor is. And so
Heather Zeitzwolfe:there's the IRS has their own standards of what a contractor is, and then each
Heather Zeitzwolfe:state might have, like, California is very strict.
Daniel Abendroth:Mhmm. So you don't wanna you know, if you've got somebody working for you in
Heather Zeitzwolfe:California and they're doing things that the smell test is
Heather Zeitzwolfe:more like an employee, then you better have them on payroll. The thing with the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:contractors, they had need to be invoicing you. They need to have their own
Heather Zeitzwolfe:business separately. So, you know, it's like they invoice you.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:And with contractors, they should be using their own tools,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:making their own schedules. Like, there's, like, different parameters around
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that. You're not giving them a laptop. I mean, I I'm sure, like, you can
Heather Zeitzwolfe:probably have them log in to your software. You know? I'm not saying that
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that's true for everybody. This is not tax advice.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:You know, make sure that they kind of fit the parameters of what a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:contractor is. It gets fuzzy in these creative worlds,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you know, I think people are probably acting more
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like employees than contractors, but, you know, I oftentimes
Heather Zeitzwolfe:see, he'll go to a website and I'll see people on the website
Heather Zeitzwolfe:and it's like, this is my team. And I'm like, I thought they were supposed
Heather Zeitzwolfe:to be contractors. Now they're showing up as your team on your website.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Like, that looks like an employee to me. So I'd be careful
Heather Zeitzwolfe:about being, on the Internet with that kind of stuff where you're showing,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, my team. And it's like, the IRS just does a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:quick Google and they see that, and they're like, wait a minute. You don't have
Heather Zeitzwolfe:any payroll. What's going on here? Not like they're doing that, but, you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:know, I would be afraid of that. You know? Mhmm. The thing with an employee
Heather Zeitzwolfe:is that you have to pay them their tax, payroll tax.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:And so, you know, a lot of companies are trying to avoid payroll tax. So
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that's why the IRS is so strict about this. And in California,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:there's a lot of, like, employee protections and, like, they wanna make sure
Heather Zeitzwolfe:everybody is okay, you know, paid correctly. And I'm not an expert in
Heather Zeitzwolfe:California. For an employee that, you know, they've got you bring them on,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you hire them, there might be a set, like, as amount of
Heather Zeitzwolfe:hours that you give them, they work in a certain
Heather Zeitzwolfe:span of time, you know, like, from 9 to 5 or whatever it is
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that you have them work. But you can look at on the, you you know,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:on the Internet and see, like, what is the parameters for, like, a
Heather Zeitzwolfe:contractor versus an employee. So, yeah, I would just be very careful.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:But if you do do employees,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I definitely would use payroll software. Don't try
Heather Zeitzwolfe:to, like, do it yourself. I've seen people try to do payroll
Heather Zeitzwolfe:themselves, and you don't wanna mess around with payroll taxes,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, no. Because you could find yourself in a world of hurt.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:So I use Gusto. I have an affiliate link. If you wanna use it, you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:get, like, a $100 or $200. It depends on when they when you sign somebody
Heather Zeitzwolfe:up. So Cool. Yeah. Feel free to share that. Yeah. We'll put it in the
Daniel Abendroth:show notes. So if you anybody listening that wants to use that affiliate
Daniel Abendroth:link or honestly find any links we talk about or links to
Daniel Abendroth:work with or find more about Heather. Just check the show notes, podcast editors
Daniel Abendroth:mastermind.com, and you'll find it all there. I use wave.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Uh-huh. Yeah. Waveapps.com. It's free except you Yeah. Like, the
Daniel Abendroth:month what you pay is in transaction fees. Whenever somebody pays an invoice,
Daniel Abendroth:then they take a little cup of that. Super easy to use, and they do
Daniel Abendroth:offer payroll. I think it's $40 a month, and then it's, like,
Daniel Abendroth:$6 per employee, they kinda do it all
Daniel Abendroth:yourself, which is pretty nice. Never had to use it. I would imagine you could
Heather Zeitzwolfe:set up your contractors through that too. And so they Yeah. You can file your
Heather Zeitzwolfe:10.90 nines and everything through that. I did that 1 year, but it was
Daniel Abendroth:really frustrating because, obviously, around tax time, they
Daniel Abendroth:get really busy. And I made a mistake on the 10.99. Like, Like, hey. I
Daniel Abendroth:need to do revision, and it took, like, weeks before they finally get around
Daniel Abendroth:to it. And plus, like, you had to sign up for, like,
Daniel Abendroth:their payroll service. So, like, you're paying the $40 plus $6 per
Daniel Abendroth:person. And then after, like, that one year, it's like, you know what? I think
Daniel Abendroth:I use, it's like, 10.99 through text something.
Daniel Abendroth:Manager website, it's, like, $3 to file the 1099, so I said
Daniel Abendroth:that. But if I was doing payroll and, like, that would
Daniel Abendroth:totally, yeah, they can do the 10.99 filing and do all that
Daniel Abendroth:for you. Yeah. I would definitely use a cheaper software for that. Yes.
Daniel Abendroth:Made that mistake. 1 year, never again. I don't know if you ever listen to
Jennifer Longworth:our show, but towards the end of our show, we like to draw a card
Jennifer Longworth:from our pod decks. Oh. Deck of cards.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Okay. And has a random question on it. Now Okay.
Jennifer Longworth:I don't have the pod decks, but Bryan does, and I made him draw a
Jennifer Longworth:question before the show. He says, what's the
Jennifer Longworth:best piece of advice you've ever been given?
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Oh, best piece of advice I've ever been
Heather Zeitzwolfe:given. Oh, okay. This is one,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:that I hold near and dear to me. I used
Heather Zeitzwolfe:to volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Oh.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:And I was matched with my little who
Heather Zeitzwolfe:came from a home that was, like, poverty stricken. It was, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:something that I've never witnessed before. And
Heather Zeitzwolfe:the mom, some of the things that she did,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:she wouldn't show up places. You know? It's like and I'm going through all this
Heather Zeitzwolfe:effort to to be there for her little kid and, like, I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:got her kid, like, all these, like, calendars and cute things, and then, like, and,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, next time I'd come and they'd be in, like, in the garbage and, like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:just like all these. And then I knew that the the mom
Heather Zeitzwolfe:couldn't pay rent, like, she was and, like, they were maybe gonna get
Heather Zeitzwolfe:evicted and, like, but then she got some money and then she went and bought
Heather Zeitzwolfe:toys for the kids. And I was just like and I'm like, oh my god.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Like, she's making all these bad choices. And this was my own judgment of,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, what I thought what I would do differently. And I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:was putting that those what I would expect her to act like
Heather Zeitzwolfe:onto her. And I learned from talking to my
Heather Zeitzwolfe:advisor at Big Brothers Big Sisters that, like, you can't expect people
Heather Zeitzwolfe:to behave in the way that you behave. Like, they
Heather Zeitzwolfe:have a background that's totally different. They're in a totally different situation.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:There's all these different factors that are like, yeah. You're not walking in
Heather Zeitzwolfe:the same shoes as this person, so you can't expect her to act the same
Heather Zeitzwolfe:way that you would. And that was a very good
Heather Zeitzwolfe:lesson because now when people act a way that I'm
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, god. Why are they acting that way? I'm like, well, you know what? I
Heather Zeitzwolfe:don't know their whole backstory. I can't, you know, have any judgment
Heather Zeitzwolfe:against the way that they act. That was a a great lesson. That was
Heather Zeitzwolfe:quite a while ago now that I think of it. It was 17 years ago
Heather Zeitzwolfe:or something. So So for me recently, it's,
Jennifer Longworth:it's yet to be determined if this was good advice. But, hey,
Jennifer Longworth:my business is growing. And I was in another mastermind group. They're like, well, you
Jennifer Longworth:have to raise your rates and hire people. Are you prepared to take on more
Jennifer Longworth:stuff? You're gonna have to raise your rates and hire people if you're gonna grow.
Jennifer Longworth:I'm like, okay. So we'll see what happens. So that's what I'm doing.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. If you wanna grow your business, unless you're
Heather Zeitzwolfe:doing something that is passive where, you know, it's just you're
Heather Zeitzwolfe:selling things while you sleep, if it's something like this where you're
Heather Zeitzwolfe:producing something, yeah, you're gonna have to take on more people. And then
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you take on that role of being more of, like, a manager of
Heather Zeitzwolfe:manager and and CEO, the visionary. Right? Until you
Heather Zeitzwolfe:can until you can hire a manager. Right. So, you know, a lot of times
Heather Zeitzwolfe:people get into business because they like to do something like editing or, you know,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:this is, like, fun for them. And then when they grow, they
Heather Zeitzwolfe:find, oh my god. Now I have to, like, take care of a staff, and
Heather Zeitzwolfe:now I gotta be a I gotta be a manager. Like, I don't like that.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:I don't like hiring and firing and doing all these things. So sometimes
Heather Zeitzwolfe:growth isn't made you know, it's not for everybody. Maybe it's just
Heather Zeitzwolfe:like, you know, you just don't have one contractor. You know?
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Everybody doesn't have to grow, but just depends. And then also,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:when you do grow, that doesn't mean that you're not gonna have more money in
Heather Zeitzwolfe:your pocket. That could mean that you actually are, like, you've got all these people
Heather Zeitzwolfe:doing this stuff, but then if your profit margins
Heather Zeitzwolfe:aren't a certain amount and your costs aren't a certain amount, you may end
Heather Zeitzwolfe:up just taking home the same amount. Yeah. So it's wild that
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you can have way more clients, and you're making the same
Heather Zeitzwolfe:amount in net profit. Yeah. For me, it's,
Daniel Abendroth:imperfect action beats perfect inaction. Oh.
Daniel Abendroth:Better to do something, like, not ideal than
Daniel Abendroth:to wait and wait and wait to get it perfect, and then you end up
Daniel Abendroth:never doing it. Yeah. Nice. I use that with my clients all the time. Now
Daniel Abendroth:they're struggling to get started because they want it perfect. It's like, imperfect action
Daniel Abendroth:will beat it every time. Yeah. Well, yeah. And, you know, I I don't know
Heather Zeitzwolfe:why. I mean, the one that I thought of of don't expect people to act
Heather Zeitzwolfe:the same way Mhmm. I was like, well, how does this even tie into this?
Heather Zeitzwolfe:And I'm like, oh, wait a minute. That is, like, with scope creep. It's like,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:exactly. Like, you're expecting somebody to act a certain way or, like, behave a certain
Heather Zeitzwolfe:way. Like, well, these are how all my clients, you know, treat me or this
Heather Zeitzwolfe:is what I've always done, you know, but then they act a different way
Heather Zeitzwolfe:and it's like so that's why we gotta make sure that's we have
Heather Zeitzwolfe:clear Boundaries. Boundaries. Well, Heather, if people
Jennifer Longworth:wanna get in contact with you, the Radical Profit Fairy, as
Jennifer Longworth:you, sometimes call yourself, What's the best
Jennifer Longworth:way for us to connect with you? You can find me on
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Instagram @getradbiz. That's probably the easiest
Heather Zeitzwolfe:way to find me because my last name is kind of a a hard
Heather Zeitzwolfe:one to spell. I know that feeling. But,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:yeah, hit me up anywhere. You know, it's like, you know, you can find me
Heather Zeitzwolfe:on LinkedIn. I'm barely on TikTok, but so
Heather Zeitzwolfe:Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. You can send me an email
Heather Zeitzwolfe:at heather@getradbiz dotcom. Yeah. Just contact
Heather Zeitzwolfe:me and, you know, if you are interested in tax, bookkeeping,
Heather Zeitzwolfe:or any kind of other kind of services, like, I do profit
Heather Zeitzwolfe:advising. So this type of thing that we're talking about today, like, looking
Heather Zeitzwolfe:at your business and, like, drilling down, like, if you don't wanna look at the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:numbers, like, I will geek out on your numbers for you and look at the
Heather Zeitzwolfe:data and we'll, you know, figure out some a good plan of attack for
Heather Zeitzwolfe:you. Yeah. Love it. Well, Daniel, if someone wanted to be a
Jennifer Longworth:guest on our show, what would they need to do? They simply have to go
Daniel Abendroth:to podcasteditorsmastermind.com/beaguest, fill out the
Daniel Abendroth:form, and we will get in touch with you. And this is perfect for anybody
Daniel Abendroth:who, like Heather, is an expert and wants to share their knowledge and
Daniel Abendroth:expertise, or like me and are struggling
Daniel Abendroth:and want somebody to give them advice and expertise and to kind of soak it
Daniel Abendroth:all in. So if you are struggling with something and you want to mastermind
Daniel Abendroth:it and get advice from people that might have different experiences
Daniel Abendroth:than you, we love doing that as well. So
Daniel Abendroth:podcasteditorsmastermind.com/beaguest.
Jennifer Longworth:Alright. And this has been Podcast Editors Mastermind. I've been your host, Jennifer
Jennifer Longworth:Longworth. You can find me at BourbonBarrelPodcasting.com. My
Jennifer Longworth:cohost this evening has been? Daniel Abendroth, and you could find me
Daniel Abendroth:at RothMedia.Audio. And not joining us
Jennifer Longworth:live, but he was in the chat, Bryan Entzminger with Top
Jennifer Longworth:Tier Audio and also not joining us with Carrie Caulfield at
Jennifer Longworth:Carrie.Land. Heather, again, thank you so much for joining
Jennifer Longworth:us, and we'll keep in touch. Awesome. Thank you. Thank
Jennifer Longworth:you.
Heather Zeitzwolfe:So How much is that?