Case
Studies
01
Degree Free Network
From Fiverr To Me: A Tale of Transformation
Key Insights:
- Produced 100+ episodes to deliver a consistent content flow over several years.
- Generated millions of views through engaging short-form content derived from the podcast.
- Cultivated a robust content pipeline that generated thousands of leads, significantly increasing profitability.
- Developed in-house AI tools that function as a whole team of writers, saving the companies thousands of dollars per month.
- Written hundreds of SEO-optimized episode blogs, driving substantial traffic and boosting page views.
TLDR: My client was working with a contractor from another platform(hint: $5), and they weren’t happy with their work. I took over, and we lived happily ever after.——
Chapter 1: The problem
So let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time, in the land of Podcastopolis, where Mr. Hunky Donkey reigned with his noble podcast,”The Degree Free Podcast”, there came a time when the editing woes of his show became too much to bear.
Seeking respite from the arduous task, he ventured into the vast realm of outsourcing platforms.
Lo and behold, amidst the myriad of contractors, he stumbled upon the illustrious Mr. Fivah.
With stars shining brighter than the heavens themselves and reviews singing his praises, Mr. Fivah seemed like the answer to Mr. Hunky Donkey’s prayers.
And oh, the price! It was as if Tim Ferris himself had bestowed his blessings upon this divine bargain.
Initially, all seemed well.
The edits were crisp, the highlights dazzling, and the work arrived punctually, like clockwork.
It was as if Mr. Fivah truly cared about Mr. Hunky Donkey’s podcast as much as he did himself.
But alas, good things seldom last forever.
As time passed and orders piled up, cracks began to form in Mr. Fivah’s once impeccable facade.
The quality of work started to wane, like a flickering candle in the wind.
Divided attention, as Mr. Fivah juggled numerous clients, led to a decline in the standard of edits.
Mistakes slipped through the cracks, revisions multiplied like rabbits, and poor Mr. Hunky Donkey found himself drowning in a sea of frustration.
Yet, in the darkest hour, a beacon of hope emerged. Mr. Hunky Donkey, weary but determined, sought out a new savior: yours truly.
With a flourish, I stepped into the fray, armed with expertise and a commitment to excellence.
And thus, the tide turned.
With meticulous care and unwavering dedication, I took the reins of Mr. Hunky Donkey’s editing woes.
The podcast regained its former glory, shining brighter than ever before.
Mistakes were vanquished, revisions dwindled, and Mr. Hunky Donkey was free once more to focus on his noble cause.
And so, dear reader, this tale concludes not with a happily ever after, but with a promise—a promise of quality, reliability, and unwavering support for all your podcasting needs.
Chapter 2: The Solution
Now that Mr. Hunky Donkey has enlisted my services, we wasted no time diving into action.
Our first step was to conduct a thorough analysis to pinpoint the root cause of the issues at hand.
What exactly was causing Mr. Hunky Donkey stress?
Primarily, it was the subpar quality of the podcast episode editing, but he also grappled with the challenge of efficiently managing and organizing the podcast.
To tackle these challenges head-on, our initial focus was on establishing a robust project management system.
We set up a comprehensive Notion page dedicated to managing every aspect of each episode with meticulous detail.
Additionally, we crafted templates for various components of the podcast, including emails, descriptions, and titles, and even developed writing guidelines and compelling calls to action.
With the framework in place, I delved into the editing process.
It took a few episodes to tailor the editing precisely to Mr. Hunky Donkey’s preferences, but soon, the improvements were undeniable—his exact words were that the editing was “much better than anything we’ve had before.”
With the editing under control, it was time for me to expand my role and take on more responsibilities.
One significant task was to assemble a team to help streamline and scale up podcast production.
I found a local individual whom I could personally train in editing techniques, ensuring seamless continuity and reliability in our operations.
Thanks to meticulous documentation and well-established systems, the new team member quickly acclimated to their role.
In addition to refining our editing processes, we utilized various tools to enhance content creation from the podcast.
I developed an internal AI-powered tool that simplifies the creation of titles, descriptions, show notes, and timestamps—all from a simple transcript upload.
Furthermore, we integrated tools like Opus to streamline the selection and creation of podcast highlights.
Now serving as the podcast manager, our efforts have paid off tremendously.
We’re now reaching hundreds of thousands of impressions each month, thanks to the collaborative efforts of our team.
With the operational side of the podcast running smoothly, Mr. Hunky Donkey can now dedicate his focus to expanding the podcast’s reach.
Even his wife is making waves as a TikTok star, leveraging her expertise.
Their newfound freedom allows them to pursue their passions, and the podcast has flourished ever since.
02
STEAL THIS SHOW Podcast
How to Turn A Podcast Into a 4-Hour Workweek Operation by using
Key Insights:
- Worked with a top team to boost podcast engagement, reaching 300k++ listens through delivering consistent, high quality episodes.
- Managed a growing Patreon community, ensuring consistent support and loyalty that fueled the podcast’s growth.
- Scheduled high-profile guests worldwide, enhancing the podcast’s credibility and improving listener retention and engagement.
I believe that one of the keys to growing your podcast or any other endeavors is learning how to delegate and I noticed that the majority of podcasters have no idea how to do that.
Learning how to delegate the minutiae and then focusing your efforts toward things that bring big results is a much better strategy than doing it all.
Also, because of the pandemic situation we’re currently in, hiring remote workers is becoming more relevant so I decided to share my knowledge in this area. This can be applicable to other areas of your life or other businesses too so, read on!
My experience
When I was just starting out as a VA, I worked with numerous individuals and businesses where they had no idea about managing a remote professional. It’s understandable because I’m usually their first hire.
There’s no clear structure on how to operate, and everything is just a pure mess. I felt very unproductive too and we’re not getting the results we need. They just ask me to do something, and then I try my best on doing that task, and usually, that’s not enough.
Even though I used to solve differential equations and finished an electrical engineering degree in my country, I felt dumb when I’m executing some basic tasks because it’s sometimes not up to the standards of the business.
As I learned stuff and eventually became good at it, I got the chance to be promoted to manage a remote team for a small business in California. I encountered another dilemma:
How can I make sure that the remote team works on our company’s standards? How can I make sure that they’re productive? How do I keep them motivated? And tons of other questions…
So I did my research, spent countless hours browsing the internet, reading books, and then I devised a solution based on my previous experience as a Virtual Assistant myself.
The problem
I was approached by an award-winning filmmaker who started out a podcast. He invited me to work as a VA and as I learn stuff, I created a remote system for the podcast.
We interview authors and well-known individuals in cyberspace. He’s really good at what he does but he needs a little help on the podcast so that he can focus on growing the podcast or working on other stuff, such as new films.
He wanted me to work on scheduling guests, managing his social media, managing his Patreon, and the nitty-gritty of running a podcast such as publishing the episode, coordinating with the editor, and much more.
Also, there was no system in place so he just taught me everything through video calls. It took quite some time but I became good enough but good enough is usually not enough. We, humans, are prone to mistakes, and it’s normal. We have limited attention span and energy. The best we can do is to create systems to mitigate the risk of mistakes.
The Solution
This is the step-by-step process that we did on our podcast and feel free to edit the system or set it up to your needs.
1. Write clear goals and decision-making guidelines.
The first thing we worked on was creating the 2 core documents. I learned this from a book called Work the Systems by Sam Carpenter. It consists of the Strategic Objective Guidelines, it’s the document that establishes the direction and goals of the company as well as its values and personality. Every procedure and procedure should conform to the Strategic Objective Guidelines.
The second document is the General Working Principles, it’s the team’s ‘guidelines for decision making’. It should state what the VA should do when they’re put in a situation to make a decision. It should also include the work culture of your company. You can see their template on Work The System Book’s website and you can edit it to fit your needs.
2. Document every task.
The next step is to create a collection of Standard Operating Procedures for every task. It consists of step-by-step written instructions on how to execute each task. This will make sure that all tasks are executed consistently with the same standard and this will reduce the rate of error significantly. Humans are prone to mistakes because of our limited attention span, especially in this modern era and we also have limited energy. SOPs are used to ingrain a habit to your VA and after executing the same task by following the SOP strictly and sequentially, it’ll be like an automatic thing for them when they’re executing the task. Without an SOP, even a top-quality VA who’s tired and hasn’t slept well will make mistakes but having the procedure ingrained in them will reduce the mistakes significantly.
After defining your strategy and summarizing your operations, you should be able to break it down into smaller tasks. We broke down the podcast operation into 30+ tasks. For instance, one of our strategies to grow our social media account is by posting audiograms, posting relevant articles, and engaging with the relevant audience so we created SOPs for each of those tasks.
We created SOPs for tasks such as on How to upload the episode to Patreon, editing buffer articles, Writing guidelines on scheduling guests, and much more. We wrote specific instructions for the VA, the editor, and the host. We documented every single task.
I highly suggest using Google Docs and TechSmith Capture for creating SOPs. Also, I noticed that this task is very time-consuming and if you don’t have time to do this, go ahead and record yourself doing those tasks, write instructions on how you’d like to structure your SOPs, and then hire a VA to do the documentation for you. I’ll write another post soon on how to hire the best VA for your needs.
3. Set-up the Virtual Assistant’s Daily Routine
After writing the core documents and the collection of Standard Operating Procedures, we figured out a way to keep it all together. This was a hard part for us until we stumbled upon Basecamp. It’s a project management tool but we set it up for operations. You can use any other tool that you like as long as you can set recurring tasks or something similar.
The first thing we need to do is to create the VA’s daily task routine. It lists the tasks that the VA needs to do every day for the podcast. It also includes the time or time due to each task. Each task has a link to its Standard Operating Procedure along with other stuff relevant to the task. The VA will just simply check off the task after…
I wrote the full case study here on Reddit:
www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/hcn8ig/how_to_turn_your_podcast_into_a_4hour_workweek/
Check it out on Reddit. It became the top post of the week on r/Entrepreneur!