Shownotes
Hey there, fellow audio wizards! Get ready to have your mind filled with golden nuggets of podcast editing wisdom in this latest chat we stitched together for you.
Jennifer and Bryan have been in the trenches, debating if the magic of our editing hands needs a showcase or if word-of-mouth does the trick. Spoiler alert: we don't exactly hear ear-to-ear on this (see what we did there?). While Bryan is all for flaunting your audio flair, Jennifer’s got a point — some clients care more about the whisper of a solid testimonial than a flashy edited collage.
We’ll dive deep into the world of demo reels, those pesky legal bits to think about before using your work as samples, and that headache-inducing task of updating your website. We might even shed light on why you should swap that "Hire me!" page for Jesse McCune's suggestion for something different.
So buckle up, pour a fresh cup of joe, and let's chop it up, editor to editor. And as always, we've got some laughs in store because, let's be honest, life's too short for dull conversations. Let's hit play on this treasure trove of insights!
Episode Notes: https://podcasteditorsmastermind.com/episode/pem089-portfolios
Listen to Discover
- The challenges an audio-first medium faces when creating a portfolio.
- Why we need to be super choosy about what we put into our portfolios.
- One creative way to showcase your work WITHOUT highlighting client mistakes.
- A potential SEO strategy you might be able to use.
- What Steve Stewart says might be more valuable than a portfolio.
- How we incorporated a bit of AI into creating this episode. :)
Links And Resources
- Podchaser - Bryan Entzminger - Bryan shared how the link to Podchaser includes EVERYTHING you're credited with. Not just your editing work.
- Podchaser - Steve Stewart - Steve Stewart shared the link to his Podchaser credits. This is one way to give people a taste of the work you've done.
- EXAMPLES | protechmusic.com - These are the audio examples that Tim shared. We discussed them in the episode.
- Podcast Editors Mastermind Group - Our recent Facebook discussion about portfolios.
And while we waxed poetic about demos, portfolios, platforms, and the cheeky antique key conundrum (got any ideas on that?), we didn't dive into a long list of tools this time. We focused more on the "how" and "why" behind showcasing your mad editing skills.
If you're hyperventilating because you expected some software name-dropping, don't fret! A previous brain-picking might have just what you need – check out our episodes archive or our Facebook group for those nitty-gritty details.
Keep those ears sharp and your sense of humor sharper, and remember to only share the work you have rights to. Legal oopsies are no joke! Happy editing, and let's continue making podcasts sound like a million bucks.
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Our Editor
This episode of the Podcast Editors Mastermind was edited by Alejandro Ramirez. You can find him on LinkedIn if you're interested in talking with him about editing your show.
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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.
Your Yetis Are
- Daniel Abendroth | Roth Media
- Carrie Caulfield | Carrie.Land
- Bryan Entzminger | Top Tier Audio
- Jennifer Longworth | Bourbon Barrel Podcasting
About the Podcast Editors Mastermind
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!
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
So How much is that?
Speaker:Hey there, and welcome to the Podcast Editor's
Speaker:Mastermind early edition. That's right. We started a few
Speaker:seconds early today because we saw somebody was online and we're like, hey, we can
Speaker:join them. So, Patrick, we know you're watching already. It's great to have you.
Speaker:Today's show, we're gonna talk about portfolios. And this show
Speaker:will be partially powered by AI, and you'll know more about that as we get
Speaker:to the end of it. But we get to use the AI word today, so
Speaker:we're pretty happy about that. Before we dig into this, we'll do quick introductions.
Speaker:I'm Bryan. You can find me at toptieraudio.com and over here.
Speaker:Jennifer Longworth of Bourbon Barrel Podcasting. Well, my new logo behind me
Speaker:if you're watching live. Yeah. It looks really pretty. In fact, for those of you
Speaker:that are listening to the podcast, of course, you can always join us live, or
Speaker:we do actually stream this to Facebook and YouTube. You can watch the video
Speaker:later if you really want to. Now, today, we're gonna talk
Speaker:about portfolios, and I think this
Speaker:is gonna be fun. This is something that I don't really consider myself a super
Speaker:big expert in, so I did a little bit of research. But this is something
Speaker:that we see popping up from time to time in the Facebook groups. Like, how
Speaker:do I build a portfolio? Do I even need a portfolio? So we're gonna talk
Speaker:about that. Unable to join us tonight are Carrie Caulfield, who you can
Speaker:find at carrie.land, and Daniel Abendroth, who you can find at
Speaker:rothmedia.audio. As we go through this, we would love to have
Speaker:your comments, not just about, hey, we love you. Although, Patrick, if you have
Speaker:comments or questions, we would love to have that be part of this as well
Speaker:because we wanna make sure this is valuable for you, but also that this
Speaker:features you because we realized that neither of the 2 of us have all the
Speaker:answers. In fact, we were talking beforehand about how in this
Speaker:particular thing, there's really not one right answer. So it doesn't matter what we say.
Speaker:We can still be wrong. So congratulations to us. On the
Speaker:portfolios, I thought probably the first thing to do is just talk about what is
Speaker:a portfolio. I think we all generally know, but we just
Speaker:wanted to make sure that we we talk about that. So when we're talking about
Speaker:a portfolio, we're talking about some kind of demonstration of your
Speaker:work. If you've gone to a photographer's website, a lot of times they'll have
Speaker:a gallery. Right? That's their portfolio. We're talking about that
Speaker:for podcast editor. And really, you know, like, what's a
Speaker:portfolio? How can you build a portfolio? What are some different strategies
Speaker:as well as like, what are some of the hurdles or the roadblocks? So my
Speaker:first question, I'm gonna ask Jennifer. I'm gonna put her on the spot since she
Speaker:said I could host. Jennifer, does a portfolio even matter for
Speaker:a podcast editor? I say no.
Speaker:And the reason I say no is because people hire me
Speaker:without asking for examples of my work. So either
Speaker:they found it without asking or they don't care.
Speaker:So my answer is no. Word-of-mouth and testimonials
Speaker:go farther. Okay. And just for the sake of the conversation,
Speaker:I will take the opposing view of saying, I think they matter. I
Speaker:think that there are some people that do want a demonstration of what you can
Speaker:do. That's maybe not the clients that Jennifer's getting, or maybe because it's
Speaker:word-of-mouth, they've already heard a show that she's worked on. So I would actually pause
Speaker:it that some people are hearing your unofficial portfolio before
Speaker:they ever hire you. Right. They've heard a show that you've worked on or something
Speaker:like that. And so I
Speaker:But I think they matter. Jennifer says no, that's great. In the comments, if
Speaker:you disagree with either of us, you're certainly welcome to share that. Or if you
Speaker:have a slightly different perspective, because we do want to feature your perspectives here as
Speaker:well. So I think a portfolio matters. But the
Speaker:question I think is why? And I think that comes to the whole comfort level.
Speaker:Right? So if I go to and I'm gonna use a terrible example. But if
Speaker:I go to a copywriter's website, I'm going to wanna see examples
Speaker:of what they've done and how their creative work
Speaker:is generating results. And a lot of times, that's going to be not only how
Speaker:well is their website laid out, because if they're a copywriter, hello, you should have
Speaker:a good website, sort of what you do. But also, how can I know
Speaker:that it delivers results? As a podcast editor, I know that I
Speaker:can deliver results for my clients, but my prospective
Speaker:clients wanna know that, especially if they're not coming to me as a referral.
Speaker:Right? I think that's also, Jennifer, why your particular
Speaker:clients maybe don't value your or value having a portfolio on
Speaker:your website quite as much. But those are my thoughts. I've never had
Speaker:someone come into me and go, oh my gosh. I loved your work on women
Speaker:changing leadership. I wanna hire you. Yeah. That's fair.
Speaker:I mean, this is fun. Right? We're taking the opposite approach, and I'm I'm trying
Speaker:to think through both because in truth, I'm actually in the camp that it kind
Speaker:of matters. Right? I don't think it matters all the time. Right. I
Speaker:mean, it could matter. It it also depends on
Speaker:like what style of show you're doing. I
Speaker:don't touch audio drama. If I were looking
Speaker:for an audio drama editor, I might wanna know more
Speaker:about their sound design. Oh, and then how they
Speaker:use the music and the effects and all the things. I don't go
Speaker:there. If you want a audio drama editor, I'm
Speaker:gonna send you to Steve Stewart to ask him to post it somewhere and
Speaker:get you an editor. Because I don't even know anybody who does that. And,
Speaker:like, narrative, I tried narrative once. I don't do narrative. It's
Speaker:a different skill set kind of that you gotta be pickier about. And I
Speaker:think that speaks a little bit to some of the challenges also
Speaker:for a a podcast editor who's wanting to build a portfolio.
Speaker:Again, take the perspective that a a portfolio matters.
Speaker:But as a person also who goes to websites that have a portfolio
Speaker:and honestly, for an editor, it's really hard to
Speaker:work with a portfolio that's been presented. And I think
Speaker:that's because, in my mind, the portfolio
Speaker:for a podcast editor or any kind of audio editor actually
Speaker:has different challenges than the portfolio for
Speaker:a graphic designer or a photographer or a a videographer.
Speaker:And the reason is because when I go to a website of a photographer and
Speaker:I check out their gallery or their portfolio, it's a very fast
Speaker:thing. Right? Because the entire picture is there
Speaker:at once. And the challenge for a podcast editor is, like, my
Speaker:portfolio page is, I think, 3 episodes of different shows that I've
Speaker:worked on. Like, if you wanna hear examples of my work, these are things I've
Speaker:worked on. They're real shows. They're really shows I've worked on. People paid me for
Speaker:this work, but each one is 30 to 45 minutes long. I think
Speaker:that speaks to a specific challenge. And I think that there are some potential
Speaker:strategies to deal with that. That and the lack of any kind of
Speaker:visual representation to go with it is kind of like the 2 big hurdles that
Speaker:I see for a podcast editor wanting to do that. And to
Speaker:Steve's point, as I'm jumping ahead, the sign of a great editor is you don't
Speaker:know they were there. This, I think, is the third challenge if I can go
Speaker:there. Right? Is I could post for
Speaker:you a show that was recorded perfectly and for which I did
Speaker:essentially nothing. But because it was a good recording, right, if I
Speaker:use the music industry, if I got great stems to start with
Speaker:and all I did was a really quick mix and master, you'd never know that
Speaker:I'm actually an idiot and I have no idea what I'm doing. I just managed
Speaker:to not ruin it. Whereas I'm gonna throw Zoom under the bus for a
Speaker:second. If I get a Zoom recording with 3 people that can't string a sentence
Speaker:together to save their life, and I turn into some that into something that's coherent
Speaker:and listenable, that's actually a lot more work, but it's probably not gonna get me
Speaker:a client because it's still gonna smell and sound. Smell. It's still gonna sound
Speaker:like a Zoom recording. Yeah. And so that's where choosing what goes in
Speaker:your portfolio is super critical. Right? I think it's not just whether or not you
Speaker:have one, but also choosing. I'm gonna shut up because I've talked a lot. Jennifer,
Speaker:what would you like to say? Well, my quote portfolio
Speaker:is just say my current clients include
Speaker:on my website. I think somebody said in the comments something about
Speaker:having it before and after. And I had one of those on my website
Speaker:while it didn't matter. I mean, it was a challenge
Speaker:and I'm still in the no one cares. As far as
Speaker:mine. Jennifer says no one cares. We're done. Yeah.
Speaker:Not now we're done. I'm listening. I'm listening. And I see I see Patrick
Speaker:commented that he just thinks they sound fun. Yeah. And they
Speaker:can. This is where I would go with these. It depends. Right?
Speaker:If what you have is an hour of, 2
Speaker:PhDs talking about a topic that you don't care about, nothing against
Speaker:PhDs or a particular topic, but that might be a very disengaging
Speaker:portfolio. I don't know how you turn that into a sales pitch.
Speaker:Well, I've got some strategies that we might get to later. Were there any other
Speaker:comments that stood out to you, Jennifer? There are a lot of comments. Boom. Boom.
Speaker:Boom. Steve says he's here to listen to both sides. So that's
Speaker:good. Perfect. Tim, for as long as I can remember, a demo reel
Speaker:has always been used. They're easy to create. What would be the
Speaker:downside to offer? So that's a great point. Right? So we're talking about
Speaker:portfolios as though they're a full episode, right, or
Speaker:a series of full episodes. The reality is, with
Speaker:permission from the client, I suppose they don't have to be. Right?
Speaker:Demo reel, a sizzle reel, that's actually something that
Speaker:I've considered and I have as a potential strategy. I think it's Steve who
Speaker:typically talks about having it before and after. I think Daniel may have written something
Speaker:in the notes knowing that he wasn't able to be here just to give us
Speaker:something smart to say. That demo reel could potentially have
Speaker:I don't know how to build one. Right? I I think about, like, what a
Speaker:station a radio station might put together. Maybe it's something like that with
Speaker:sound effects and all that stuff, but then also some before and afters. I think
Speaker:that could be a really powerful thing. Yeah. I don't know. I I like the
Speaker:idea of a demo maybe even more than I like a portfolio page. I don't
Speaker:know. What do you think, Jennifer? If it's really like succinct,
Speaker:I guess, or like to the point instead of listening to
Speaker:talking heads for an hour to see that you made them sound less boring.
Speaker:I don't know. Or not.
Speaker:Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, the demo reel's a great idea. I think
Speaker:there and there I don't know that there is a downside other than just
Speaker:especially if you're talking about before and after, making sure that you're not
Speaker:throwing your client under the bus and revealing that they actually can't string a
Speaker:sentence together to save their lives. That's always kind of the the moral
Speaker:hurdle for me is to go. My commitment to my clients is always to leave
Speaker:the garbage on the cutting room floor. I really feel weird about putting it back
Speaker:into a demo reel. Yeah. So Patrick's asking lots of
Speaker:questions. The most recent one, you be couldn't have demos
Speaker:in a portfolio? I think you absolutely could. I was thinking full
Speaker:episodes. Demos or Demo Reel is absolutely, I think, an
Speaker:option to do that. In fact, when we asked this on Facebook,
Speaker:because we asked this in the Podcast Editor Mastermind Facebook group, One of
Speaker:those things was, I think, Tim in the group actually shared a
Speaker:demo reel that he had put together on his website, And
Speaker:that's definitely an option. In his case, he just say save some audio to
Speaker:SoundCloud, and that was his demo reel right there. But, yeah, I think that's definitely
Speaker:an option. Okay. Patrick also says, as a contractor, I need
Speaker:to figure out what's involved in using my work as samples.
Speaker:There's a network host guest or need permission from all parties
Speaker:or no? Yeah. So I think this is where I put on my not a
Speaker:lawyer hat. My first question would be, is there anything in the
Speaker:contract that specifies one way or the other? If you have specified in your
Speaker:contract that you're able to do that, then I think the answer would be yes.
Speaker:How far that goes? I don't know. If the contract says no, we have a
Speaker:nondisclosure in place or we don't reveal work producer that's not,
Speaker:like, whatever that would might be, then the answer would be no. If it's not,
Speaker:I think it's a conversation. Maybe you're able to go to them and go, hey,
Speaker:because I think you've been, I know Patrick, you've been a few months now with
Speaker:what I think is probably your first client. Maybe you just go to them and
Speaker:say, Hey, are you happy with my work? I'd love to find more clients like
Speaker:you. Could I put together a demo reel or put together something
Speaker:based on the work that I've done for you to highlight your show and
Speaker:also maybe give them, just let them know, Hey, I'll let you listen to it
Speaker:first, make sure that I'm not putting anything out that you don't want to go
Speaker:out. But, you know, I'd like to highlight your show. I love working on your
Speaker:show. I'd like more clients. And maybe there's a way that I hate to use
Speaker:the word spin, but maybe there's a way you can frame that up to make
Speaker:that valuable for them. That's actually what I did to get permission to put the
Speaker:clients on my portfolio page is, hey, do you mind if I feature you on
Speaker:my website? My contract says I can do this, but I
Speaker:also don't wanna break the relational part of it because I can
Speaker:manage to a contract, but I think the relationship is the more important thing to
Speaker:maintain. And if they say, no, I'm not comfortable with that, I don't wanna go
Speaker:back to them and say, well, the contract says I can, so I'm just gonna
Speaker:do it. I wanna honor them because they're valuable people. And
Speaker:honestly, if I don't, they won't be a client for a very long time. Okay.
Speaker:So I wanna hit Jesse's comment because he says I'm kind of
Speaker:thinking prospects are generally looking to see that others have paid
Speaker:you to do the work social proof links to your work should be enough, which
Speaker:is kind of what I have on my website. It's like, here are
Speaker:some shows that people have paid me to do this. I don't think
Speaker:any of the non payers are on the website. That's interesting. And I
Speaker:appreciate you putting that up, Jesse, because I'd never really thought about just
Speaker:linking to the work being enough. I've always wanted to actually
Speaker:include the episode on the website, but yeah, that's, I
Speaker:think another viable strategy, as long as you have permission to share that
Speaker:you work on the show, which you probably do linking there, I think that that
Speaker:would be great. And also, you know, if I think about SEO and the
Speaker:value for the client, it points them right there. If somebody is coming
Speaker:to check you out, you're actually pointing people to that client's website, whether
Speaker:they are the ideal audience or not. Maybe there's a connection to be made
Speaker:there. So, yeah, maybe that's also a benefit for them. Yeah.
Speaker:True. Patrick also said, I think you could just describe what
Speaker:the product was before giving the after so you can have
Speaker:a different category of samples. I love that.
Speaker:And this is where my crazy brain goes a little bit nuts. Because when you
Speaker:say describe it, I'm thinking, like, putting up a picture of a dumpster fire.
Speaker:Right? I I know that's not what you mean. Some of them are,
Speaker:but, you know Yeah. I think that's good. I had a guy say it 11
Speaker:times in a row once, and then I cut that out, and it sounded a
Speaker:lot better. I don't want to, like, put that original on because he sounded
Speaker:so horrible. But I could say, like, hey. This guy said it
Speaker:11 times in a row before I cut it to 1. One thing I've
Speaker:seen done, and this is sort of like an anti portfolio, and
Speaker:I don't remember who it was. And even if I did, I probably wouldn't tell
Speaker:this person's name, but they basically made a demo reel
Speaker:of only the things that got cut. So it was
Speaker:like 2 minutes of silly music with, or
Speaker:yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so it was done really,
Speaker:really well. And I do wonder as long as you're not throwing somebody
Speaker:under the bus, if that might be funny, I know that Mike Wilkerson does
Speaker:that for his clients on their first edit. He sends them what was cut.
Speaker:So they recognize the value of what they're doing. I don't believe he publishes it.
Speaker:He's not the person that I had in mind. Maybe something there is with the
Speaker:anti demo reel. Right? This is what's on the floor. Oh, Patrick says he's done
Speaker:that before too. I've never done that, but I've always wanted to.
Speaker:Because to me as an editor, it's really funny when I sit down and I
Speaker:listen to a minute and a half of umms over circus
Speaker:music or something. Is that still our, like, official intro music?
Speaker:Remember when we first started this podcast, is that still,
Speaker:like, like, someone listens to this?
Speaker:So Yeah.
Speaker:That's our very short umura reel from an episode that had a lot
Speaker:more umms in it than Yes. What made it into the intro. I was like,
Speaker:I never go back and listen to this podcast. I'm just on it, and I
Speaker:know what happens here. I'm like, are we still even using that?
Speaker:I'm wondering. We've talked about building a portfolio as though it's a thing that
Speaker:goes on your website, but maybe that's not the only option.
Speaker:Okay. I think that's an option. And honestly, that would be my
Speaker:preferred option. Right? I wanted to send people to my website, have all the things
Speaker:there. But let's be honest. If you are
Speaker:working on a platform like Fiverr or
Speaker:Upwork or some other marketplace, that body of
Speaker:work that you've worked on so long as it's available for other people
Speaker:to see, that can be your portfolio. And that's
Speaker:a living, breathing list of all the stuff that you've
Speaker:done. I didn't even know that was a thing. The other thing, especially
Speaker:for editors like you and me, Jennifer, would be if we're on a service
Speaker:like Podchaser, making sure that we're credited for
Speaker:all the work that we've done. Right. I think Steve brought that up
Speaker:as an option where he just points people to Podchaser and
Speaker:said, hey. This if you wanna see what I can do, this is where it
Speaker:goes. I actually took Steve's idea, and I updated my website.
Speaker:So I've got 3 episodes. And then basically, if you want more, go here, and
Speaker:it lists everything I've done in Podchaser. Now the unfortunate thing about
Speaker:that is when it goes there as a person who hosted a couple of
Speaker:shows that have gone away, has been a guest on a number of shows, and
Speaker:also has edited across a variety of shows. I
Speaker:have probably 1500 editor, and not all of
Speaker:them are episodes that I've edited. If I hosted
Speaker:a show and I edited the show, I've credited myself twice. And
Speaker:so what I haven't figured out is how to go to just the editing part,
Speaker:but that is a way that you can show your body of work for sure.
Speaker:The other thing, and whether it's on a website or not, I think that
Speaker:sizzle reel or that demo reel is a viable option. Right?
Speaker:That's something that I wanna do. High speed video of you doing work. Oh, I
Speaker:love that, Patrick. I have done those for Instagram. I have
Speaker:not put one of those on my website. For those that are watching or
Speaker:listening and don't know what we're talking about, I have, on occasion,
Speaker:set my iPhone on the desk, pointed at my monitor, and set it to
Speaker:record a time lapse. So it takes a snapshot every however often it
Speaker:does. And I'll record 30 minutes of me working on an episode. And when you
Speaker:play it back, it takes, like, 90 seconds. And it's just all this scrolling around,
Speaker:cutting, moving, pasting stuff. I had never thought about that
Speaker:as a portfolio. There's no sound with it, but you could certainly
Speaker:put sound under it in a video editing program, but it wouldn't be what you're
Speaker:actually editing, which also means you're not throwing any clients under the bus. For those
Speaker:that are watching later or listening later, and you, if you wanna reach out to
Speaker:us, just email us info at podcasteditorsmastermind.com. We'd love to
Speaker:hear from you on that because this, I think, is one of those things
Speaker:that can potentially set us apart. And I think my implementation currently
Speaker:is not. And so I'm taking this as a learner as much as
Speaker:a person who's brainstormed about this. Well, I'm gonna throw it to Daniel
Speaker:who's not here, but one of his comments in our our notes was
Speaker:to include client testimonials in your portfolio,
Speaker:have clients record testimonials, and turn them into audiograms for the
Speaker:website, which goes on, like, to what I was saying that and what Jesse
Speaker:was saying more like the social proof and the referrals or
Speaker:Yes. So maybe we've been too focused on calling it
Speaker:a portfolio page. Maybe it's a why should you hire me
Speaker:and how can I prove to you that I can actually do what I can
Speaker:do? I like that. I don't think that's gonna fit in a website header bar,
Speaker:so we'll probably need need to figure out a different word. Jennifer, can you can
Speaker:you do that for us? I had typed that into chat gpt,
Speaker:drink and ask. Yeah. So now powered by AI already.
Speaker:Jennifer is gonna generate for us a website title, hopefully.
Speaker:So yeah. The basically the why should you hire me page. I love that
Speaker:because portfolio, social proof testimonials potentially
Speaker:sizzle reel or demo reel potentially links to all the things you've
Speaker:done. I like calling it the why should you hire me page. All because
Speaker:of something that Daniel typed into something and I never read it that way until
Speaker:you did. Well, thank you. Yeah. I think the question I would have for those
Speaker:that are joining us in the chat, have you heard anything so far that you
Speaker:think you might implement? And if so, how are you planning to do that? For
Speaker:me, I'm planning to change mine to something more like a
Speaker:why should you hire me page. And I'm probably gonna go for the testimonials before
Speaker:I do a demo reel. I don't know. Jennifer, what about you? Agreed.
Speaker:The only thing about my website is that I pay somebody
Speaker:to, update it for me and I haven't, I don't wanna pay
Speaker:them. So I'll have to figure out something that doesn't involve updating my
Speaker:website, like doing a time lapse video for
Speaker:a reel somewhere. Time lapse video of a reel. Yeah. I
Speaker:love that. Steve also mentioned, and I hadn't thought about this,
Speaker:supplying a PDF download of your portfolio to prospects or on your website is
Speaker:high level professionalism. I don't have a PDF of mine. Jennifer, do
Speaker:you have a PDF of yours? I have an ebook, but it's
Speaker:not about it's about how to start a podcast. It's not about my portfolio.
Speaker:What I send prospective clients is a series of
Speaker:8 questions to think through before you hire a podcast editor, and they work whether
Speaker:you're gonna hire me or not. But it's basically just helping them start thinking about,
Speaker:like, what does success look like? Why am I doing this? What's my budget?
Speaker:That's what I send. I like the idea also of having a
Speaker:PDF portfolio or something like that. How do you
Speaker:PDF audio? We wouldn't PDF audio, but you can
Speaker:build links in. Right? You can put a click here button. So if you go
Speaker:to Canva, right, you create an element, you attach a link to it.
Speaker:Let's see. I'm not sure what order to take these. Okay. Did this do it
Speaker:in the order in which they came? Tim says, for me, I like to be
Speaker:able to showcase my recording, editing, and original theme music producer,
Speaker:and a short 5 to 7 minute demo. Well, you're doing a lot of
Speaker:things there, Tim. I think that's the one that we had on the Facebook group
Speaker:from ProTech Music where he had the demo reel or the
Speaker:the demo was loaded into SoundCloud and had a couple of
Speaker:different things there. It was really, really, really well done.
Speaker:So, yeah, I think that's a good one. Jesse says,
Speaker:I shy away from why should you hire me and focus
Speaker:more on how can I help you and don't start with saving
Speaker:them time? They already know that. Yeah. I don't have anything to add
Speaker:to Jesse's. He's dropping the mic as usual. I love that.
Speaker:So, Jesse, would you literally call it the what can I help you
Speaker:page, or would you call it something else? Protechmusic.com/examples.
Speaker:Thank you, Tim. We will have links to all this stuff in the, episode
Speaker:notes. I'd never considered the client testimonials page being
Speaker:part of my portfolio, but I have heard
Speaker:of, I think I took some sort of sales training once when they
Speaker:were talking about getting video testimonials of your
Speaker:clients and like calling them on a zoom call and recording
Speaker:the 2 of you talking about it together.
Speaker:Okay. And, then using that for reels
Speaker:and stuff. But I've never tried that either. I just have, like, little
Speaker:quotes. My favorite testimonial I have is
Speaker:we believe in God because Jennifer came work miracles.
Speaker:That's awesome. It was a Christian podcast, but that's what they
Speaker:said about me. Jesse says case studies work well
Speaker:too if you have a bigger story to tell. Yeah. So I think
Speaker:this one could be really powerful, especially with client
Speaker:permission. Right? So whether you're working on a storytelling show and
Speaker:talking people through the process of how you developed a storyline and how you worked
Speaker:with a client, this could also be this was the audio
Speaker:we started with. This is how we approached the repair. This was the thought
Speaker:process that went into the editing and then sort of the before and after. I
Speaker:think that could be really powerful as well. That's one that makes me
Speaker:personally a little bit uncomfortable because I feel like I'm kind of airing the
Speaker:client's dirty laundry if we talk about the challenges. So
Speaker:I would tread lightly on a personal level. But, hey, case studies
Speaker:are a big deal. Right? And people don't come to you because they don't have
Speaker:a problem. Nobody comes to a podcast editor and says, I'd like for you to
Speaker:edit for me because I've got everything working perfectly and I don't need anything to
Speaker:change. Right? Right. Patrick says, I mean, really,
Speaker:your entire website could kinda be considered your portfolio.
Speaker:It served lots of purposes, I suppose. It does.
Speaker:Yeah. So have a website, people. Have a website. Yeah. I think
Speaker:this is where Carrie would normally insert her. If you don't have a
Speaker:website, set up your basic domain and your basic website.
Speaker:Mine's on WordPress. Jennifer's is on WordPress. It doesn't have to be right.
Speaker:It can be a one page website if that's what you need. If what
Speaker:you have is nothing, that will probably be better than what you have.
Speaker:Jesse says how you've helped improve their audio through equipment
Speaker:and training, I guess, going back into case studies and testimonials and
Speaker:stuff. Yeah. Especially so, Jennifer, this would be great for you with launch clients.
Speaker:Right? Because you're you're doing a lot of launches right now. This could be
Speaker:huge because then you can demonstrate that you're not giving the
Speaker:same advice to every person. Right? A solo show
Speaker:doesn't necessarily get the same equipment list as a co hosted
Speaker:in person show versus a co hosted over the Internet
Speaker:show. They get a little bit different guidance. Yes. Yeah. In
Speaker:person show, you're probably gonna get them an interface, a proper interface.
Speaker:And you might give them the same microphones, but you're not gonna say, hey, plug
Speaker:in 2 USB mics and go to town. No. I I don't tell them that.
Speaker:Nope. Because you know that. That doesn't work. I love that.
Speaker:You know, we started talking about portfolios. Now we're just talking about all the things
Speaker:we should I should have on my website. Oh, is that what
Speaker:these little notes are? Bryan's taking notes in his shared
Speaker:Google Docs, and I'm like, what's he doing? He's he's Yeah. I'm taking notes of
Speaker:all the things that I'm telling myself I might do after we get done
Speaker:because like I said at the beginning, we didn't come into this thinking we
Speaker:were experts. Right? We're we're coming. We're bringing what we've got. And some of
Speaker:you have really brought something to the table tonight as we've been recording this live.
Speaker:This has been great. What else about portfolios? What what are we not thinking
Speaker:about? Are there any pitfalls to having a portfolio? I don't
Speaker:think there would be a pitfall unless you had someone who got mad about
Speaker:you throwing them under the bus in it. So get permission if you're
Speaker:gonna do before and afters, I guess. But I don't
Speaker:see what, like, from a client facing
Speaker:perspective or whatever. I think the only pitfall
Speaker:that I see would be and we talked about this with,
Speaker:Tom Kelly. Tom Kelly. We talked with him about that where when he
Speaker:started his first editing his first show or a few shows,
Speaker:they were so bad. The audio quality was so bad even after he got
Speaker:done that he didn't want them to go on to a any kind of
Speaker:portfolio. So I think just being careful what you choose
Speaker:to go in your portfolio can be a really big deal. That's something with a
Speaker:couple of clients that I have on my portfolio that I had to
Speaker:wait until I had an episode that I was comfortable putting on my
Speaker:portfolio. Jesse says pitfalls to before and
Speaker:after is you could attract clients with unrealistic
Speaker:expectations or wanting to deliver low quality
Speaker:audio so you can spend a year working on it.
Speaker:Yes. I would never publish anything where I'm showing that
Speaker:I took out goat sounds from an episode. It happened. Right?
Speaker:But I'm not gonna not gonna create that expectation. That is certainly
Speaker:something to be careful with. The photographer who decided to
Speaker:document her whole episode by having throughout the
Speaker:whole thing. Well, every time the flash went off. Yeah. I don't wanna
Speaker:encourage people to do that. Yeah. Or maybe when you've got a a metronome
Speaker:going off in a band, Editor
Speaker:has some skills with metronomes. Let's hit Steve's comments.
Speaker:So Steve's comment is that what he's gathering is that portfolios don't matter as
Speaker:much as having a website, a media kit, and or testimonials and
Speaker:client recommendations. I think for the bulk of us,
Speaker:I would agree with you, Steve. I think the only time when a
Speaker:portfolio might be more important than testimonials or recommendations
Speaker:might be when you're not getting referrals, when it's
Speaker:somebody coming and saying, hey, I need to check you out, And I don't have
Speaker:any other way to do that. But I don't think that's most of us. And
Speaker:as Patrick says, he thinks it's obviously probably more valuable or worth the time and
Speaker:effort if you're a new editor needing clients.
Speaker:Declining over the last year as multiple shows, let let themselves
Speaker:go. And you're currently working on brand strategy. Do we know someone like
Speaker:that? We know one person like that. And, honestly, he's kind
Speaker:of not moving very fast, but he's been very thankful for all the
Speaker:help he's gotten so far. And that's me. Jennifer, anything else we
Speaker:need to hit on portfolios? We've gotten all of the thoughts that I
Speaker:had and several that I didn't have. Yeah. And several Daniel had.
Speaker:So thanks for being with us in spirit, Daniel. Yeah. For those
Speaker:that have commented, we're very thankful. We're now going to move on to the
Speaker:powered by AI portion of this show. Jennifer, do you wanna explain what's
Speaker:happening and why? As you may or may not realize, if you've
Speaker:listened to the show for any amount of time, we typically when we get to
Speaker:this point, we go to our pod decks question of the day. We have
Speaker:been through the deck, and we're getting repeats and having to throw out questions
Speaker:because they're not appropriate and all the things. So we have
Speaker:decided to come up with the chat
Speaker:GPT question of the day instead powered by AI.
Speaker:If you are currently drinking a water like I am, this is your this is
Speaker:your chance to take a drink because we said AI and chat GPT. Jennifer is
Speaker:the chat GPT maven, so she's gonna tell us what our question
Speaker:is. Well, I editor chat GPT, give me a
Speaker:random question. And here's the question. What
Speaker:would you do if you found yourself in possession of a
Speaker:mysterious antique key with no idea what it
Speaker:unlocks? Those of you joining us live, we're interested in what you would
Speaker:do, especially if you host a show about creepy and
Speaker:mysterious things. I don't host one of those shows,
Speaker:but I'm thinking that I would probably have to take that key
Speaker:and put it in a wooden case with a velvet lining and very
Speaker:carefully close the clasp and put it on a shelf where I
Speaker:could view it and be interested in it. And if I ever got
Speaker:the courage, maybe start walking around and take the key very carefully
Speaker:out of the wooden case with velvet lining and stick it into
Speaker:various locks until I find out what it opens. And then probably runaway
Speaker:screaming realizing that I wouldn't want to see what's behind that door anyway.
Speaker:Editor. My daughter's favorite movie is Coraline. So
Speaker:that's the key key that went to my head, first of all, and
Speaker:and it took her to creepy other dimension. So I'm
Speaker:like, Yeah. I don't know. She ended up throwing it into a
Speaker:well. But in
Speaker:reality, I'd probably throw it in a drawer with all the extra keys and forget
Speaker:about it. Jesse says that he would sell it on eBay as a lost
Speaker:relic. Patrick's gonna throw it in the junk drawer. I think with that, we'll go
Speaker:ahead and close this episode down. We're done a few minutes early. But our
Speaker:commitment to you is we will try to bring as much value as we can
Speaker:and then go away once we're not doing that anymore. And I feel like we've
Speaker:crossed that threshold. We could talk about thresholds and how they got their name, but
Speaker:that's not the purpose of this show. Well, you know, they ask how
Speaker:long a podcast should be. Right? You get this question all the time? 2
Speaker:minutes shorter than ours. Right? No. As long as it
Speaker:takes to tell the story, not a moment longer nor shorter.
Speaker:Yes. So for those of you that joined us live, thank you so
Speaker:much. We really appreciate you being here. Those of you in the comments, we appreciate
Speaker:your questions and your suggestions. Great stuff coming out of the
Speaker:comments section. Really glad that you could be here. If you're joining us later
Speaker:listening, we're glad that you could do that. You can always join us live. We
Speaker:would love to have you here. Jennifer, if somebody wants to be a guest on
Speaker:the show or has a suggestion for a topic that we should cover, what would
Speaker:they do? They could go to podcasteditormastermind.com, click be
Speaker:a guest, or find us in the Facebooks because, I mean,
Speaker:this topic came out of the Facebook chat. Behind the scenes, we
Speaker:do have a running list of possible topics. This was 1, but because
Speaker:somebody asked, that's why we talked about it. With that, I'm Bryan
Speaker:Entsminger. If you want to, you can find me at toptieraudio.com, and you can
Speaker:check out my portfolio there. I'm
Speaker:Jennifer Longworth. You can find me at BourbonBarrelPodcasting.com.
Speaker:For those that are wondering, both Daniel and Carrie were not able to join us
Speaker:tonight. Daniel is at Rothmedia.audio and Carrie is
Speaker:at carrie.land. And we would love it if you would check them out as well.
Speaker:You haven't already subscribed to the show, podcasteditorsmastermind.com is
Speaker:the place for all of that. We love you, and we're really glad that you
Speaker:were here. And now I'm going to try to hang up. So bye. Thank you
Speaker:very much. Bye.
Speaker:So How much is that?
Speaker:Think it's hanging up. I think it's hanging up. There we go.
