http://www.tropicalmba.com/seeking-writer-and-producer/

Our podcast is over 6 years old. During that time we’ve produced over 300 episodes. On the whole, I’m proud of the work we’ve done. I’ll be 34 this year, and so far, it’s been the best stuff I could come up with.

I had a lot of help. My co-host and business partner Ian kept me inspired and paid the bills. Many wonderful guests and friends have dropped by to share their knowledge. Our listeners gave us incredible amounts of encouragement.

I never thought about hiring a podcast producer until this year. In my mind, I had stopped “producing” the show years ago. I can’t remember the last time I edited an audio file or posted an episode. Most weeks I send the recordings off to my editor, and a few hours later, it was live.

What I never accounted for was all the effort that goes into the creative side of the show. Research, writing, scheduling, evaluating guests and topics, and outlining episodes.

This year I got into a bad habit. Occasionally, during weeks when things got busy, I would skip the show. Not for lack of curiosity or interest. I just ran out of mental gas.

Many weeks I found myself at my computer late on Wednesday nights, trying to come up with a good episode concept. I was probably driving myself a little loopy because it took way too long for Captain Obvious to drop by. When he finally did, he said something like “hey man, get some help!”

I figured the best place to look for that help was right here. To find a producer/writer amongst the fans of our work. If you have a friend looking for a gig like this, I’d very much appreciate you sharing this with them.

Seeking Part-Time Assistant Writer and Producer

Your goal is to help create quality podcasts and articles for TMBA readers and listeners. You’ll be working directly with myself and Ian to ensure this happens. There’s probably a lot of other projects that will come up, but our main focus will be this blog.

We currently publish 4 podcasts a month (on Thursday mornings, 8AM EST), and we’d love to publish 4 articles a month as well.

Based on my experience, this isn’t a full-time job, so we’ll be looking for someone to start working 40 hours per month. That’s roughly 5 hours per post.

Specifics:

• Join a phone call every Tuesday. 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Write detailed outlines of podcast episodes.
• Write and research questions for interviews.
• Help identify and evaluate interesting guests; coordinate and schedule interviews.
• Help prepare interviewees / contributors.
• Create instruction documents for audio engineer.
• Schedule and prepare for 2 to 4 monthly interviews.
• Research, edit, and proofread posts. Help solicit and edit contributors. Sketch out post concepts from author’s core ideas.
• Initial goal: help create and publish 4 podcasts and 4 articles monthly.

Logistics:

The position will be a part-time, paid, independent contractor role, with a maximum of 40 hours per month. Payment will be made via wire transfer. You can batch your work and perform it on your own time.

This position is location independent. We don’t care where you live as long as your internet connection is capable of effectively sharing large audio files and having clear Skype calls. If you are regularly in areas of the world with spotty internet, this isn’t a good gig for you.

You must show up to a call every Tuesday.

We will be using Slack and Google Docs to manage the work.

This role exists so we can spend more time generating interesting articles and podcasts for this site.

Our suggested salary for this position is $1500 a month. If you feel that you have experience that warrants a different pay level, you can indicate that on the application.

Job Requirements:

We are not looking for someone who wants to be mentored in entrepreneurship. We are looking for an editor and writer who has a demonstrated love of blogs and podcasts. You’ll be encouraged to make improvements across all the elements of the site– from design to usefulness to perhaps even a few business deals– but your primary function will be helping us to make great articles and podcasts.

Specifically, you should:

• Be tech savvy, comfortable working online, and have a familiarity with WordPress.
• Be happy to do self-driven research and writing projects.
• Have a strong editorial point of view. For example, when you read TMBA articles or listen to our podcasts, could you easily list 5 ways you could improve them? If so, would you feel comfortable executing them yourself?
• Be willing to create recorded interviews (with your voice) that will appear on our podcast.
• Be familiar with the TMBA brand and passionate about it’s mission and impact.
• Have a ‘writing first’ mindset. We don’t see our show or articles, generally speaking, as ‘marketing.’ We want to create entertaining informative stuff that stands on it’s own. I don’t want to make short articles because “people don’t read long stuff.” And I don’t want to spend all day in analytics trying to figure out what people want. We’re looking for a strong and confident editorial voice that can deliver for our readers.
• You must be passionate about location independent entrepreneurship and the types of lifestyles, entrepreneurs, and business models we focus on at TMBA.

This Job is Not for You If:

• You were looking for more of a mentorship role in order to start your own mico-multinational business.
• You want to grow your own brand and publish your writing on TMBA. This is mostly a behind-the-scenes role.
• You are looking for a short-term gig.
• You can’t build a routine for a series of projects and work independently.
• You don’t believe in the power of words and podcasts to positively affect people’s lives.

You made it all the way down here? Here’s how to apply:

Please fill out the job application form here.

Deadline is – Tuesday August 25th, 2015.

In the blank box at the bottom of the job form, please write the word “bocadillo” before you hit submit.

Thanks for your interest! We look forward to working with you.

 

Cheers,Dan

PS, if you have any questions at all, please post them in the comments section (even if you do so anonymously). I will do my best to answer them for all to see.