Deciding HOW you're going to make a decision on what might be the most important outsider you bring into your podcast production process.

You've spent a good bit of time envisioning the future, planning your path, and identifying what you need and want. You've even spent time clarifying what's most important. Only two things remain before you start looking for an editor, and we're covering one of those today.

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Listen to Discover

• Why comparing editors can be challenging
• How to position yourself in the driver's seat
• The trade-off between the "Three S's"

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15 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Editor

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Bryan Entzminger: 00:00:00

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

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

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

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

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Welcome to Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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My name is Bryan Entzminger.

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I'm a podcast editor and manager at TopTierAudio.com.

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This show is intended to help you be able to find the right podcast editor for you.

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Whether you're looking for your first editor.

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

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start connecting with editors, and then provide you with the tools to make the right decision for yourself.

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This show is sponsored by TopTierAudio.com, where we provide podcast production services for

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multi-passionate coaches, trainers, and consultants.

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Be sure to stick around to the end and I'll tell you how you can get a free tool to help you organize

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your thoughts and make sure you don't miss anything.

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

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Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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

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

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

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

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timelines, identifying what you need and what you want.

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

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

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

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

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We all know that life involves trade offs, right?

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

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discovering that different editors don't all offer.

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The same things.

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Some of them might offer different levels of editing.

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Some of them might offer other things besides editing.

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

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like that, and it can become confusing.

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

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

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And so that starts to make it more difficult.

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

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

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of these other things kind of conflict with each other.

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Then it makes it hard to decide.

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

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

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We've already done a lot of the work.

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We've already talked about that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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And then the last one you have.

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Cost.

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Right?

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

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The idea here is that.

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

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You can't have it for less money.

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

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

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

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

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Think through speed, scope, and spend.

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And I like those because they all have s.

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And it makes it easy for me to remember.

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

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

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

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

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Right.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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decision criteria are you talking about for speed.

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

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

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

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

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

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One would be the.

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Quantity or the breadth of services that this editor offers.

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Do they offer audio repair?

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Do they offer show notes?

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Do they offer graphic design?

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Do they upload and schedule?

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Like that's all part of scope.

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

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

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somebody to just add the top or the tail?

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We talked about that before.

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

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

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All of that plays into the scope.

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

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And it's probably going to be in money.

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

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

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

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

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Are there any things within this that are deal breakers?

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

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

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

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And which is next?

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And which is last?

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None of them are unimportant.

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Just choose and then put them in the order.

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That's right for.

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

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

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15 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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You'll have that right there.

Bryan Entzminger: 00:07:15

Hi there.

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

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

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

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that and gives you high quality recordings.

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And Boom Caster is a great service for that.

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They offer an excellent live stream experience and super high quality audio and video recordings.

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

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You can find them@boomcaster.com or click the link in the episode notes.

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

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So I'd really appreciate that.

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Boom Caster is what?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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treat their contractors or their employees well.

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

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

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

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

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And just make a note of those within the worksheet.

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These will help you.

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

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I'm working on that right now, but.

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These will become important to you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bryan Entzminger: 00:09:58

15 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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You can find it at HireAPodcastEditor.com/15questions, and it'll be linked up in the show notes.

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It's totally free.

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We don't require an email address or anything like that.

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We just want to make sure that you have the tools that you need to make the right decision for you.

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That guide has the questions we'll talk about on this show, some instructions and suggestions.

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Even a place to take notes.

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If you want to get even more out of it though, be sure to subscribe to this show at HireAPodcastEditor.com/listen

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and share it with the rest of your team.

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Your work is important now.