Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Sometimes we get so wrapped-up in the auditioning, and the marketing…keeping up with technology and making cold calls that we forget voice acting MUST be run like a business.

Sure we need to brush up on talent skills, but do you have a business plan?  How do you track your financial progress?  What’s your next goal?

Bettye Zoller is an ace talent, and well-recognized voice coach, but lately she’s got an axe to grind about keeping a good business sense about your BUSINESS of voiceovers.

See “below-the-fold” for some answers to a few questions I posed to Bettye about that, but even more so…saunter on over to THIS site, and sign up for a live webinar featuring Bettye next Thursday, November 19th. 

The webinar is being expertly organized by John Florian’s VoiceOverXtra online resource.  If you know Bettye at all, you know she doesn’t mince her words…and always speaks from a wealth of experience in a very frank and engaging manner.  You will learn a lot!

HERE is a link to a FaceBook page with info too.

CourVO

DAVE:  Bettye, most everyone recognizes you as a greatly experienced voice talent and voice coach, but much of your success is due to an astute business sense you’ve honed over the years. Can you offer a few MUST-DO business pointers for voice actors who have neglected this side of their enterprise?

BETTYE: Have promotional materials on hand to mail and to give out. These include attractive postcards with color printing on one side, room to write a personal note on the other. Business cards should look expensive. Do not print them at home. The card stock is thin and looks cheap and the card appears “homemade.” There are several printers on the internet who supply good looking paper products economically. Do not use your photo on these. I prefer that voice talents are “heard but not type cast.” And a note to those who look “terrific” and think their photo should be on everything…you’re typecast too as the “blonde youngster” or the “handsome jock” or whatever. No matter your age or appearance, old, young, good, or not so good, don’t mix visual with voiceover. Unfortunately, the internet sites have upset that balance because most want a photo on the page.

Hire a good accountant to prepare your taxes. Keep records of deductible expenses all year long. This is a business. Act like it! Use the same tax preparer each year. They become familiar with you and your business and do a better job at finding every dollar you can deduct.

Network at least twice each week, preferably, meeting new people. Always have your vo demos and promotional cards with you. Carry a packed shoulder bag or briefcase with you at all times and have a box of promotional materials in your car.

DAVE:  How important is it to set stated & reasonable long, medium, and short-term goals to achieve your voiceover dreams?

 BETTYE: I don’t believe we set the goals. I believe “life” brings us opportunities many of which could not be planned in advance. I have never been a “goal setter.” I work every day making the most of that day. I advertise, network, please my clients, get new ones, work with my agents, do all business activities every day…over the years…goal setting is not what I do.

DAVE: In a time when online pay-to-play sites are the popular client lead-generating source of jobs, you often admonish your younger peers to put all the eggs in several baskets when it comes to seeking work opportunities. What other baskets are worth finding and filling, and why?

Not putting your eggs all in one basket means having multiple streams of income. What those are depends on the person, where that person is based, who he or she knows, his or her talents and experiences in the work arena. What is important is to have many ways of generating income other than “acting or singing.” That’s your insurance and provides the money to go to the grocery store and keep the lights on!

DAVE:  How much importance do you put on learning the finer technical points of audio production for today’s crop of voice over talent?

BETTYE:  As for becoming a pro audio engineer…that’s a long road that takes a long time and many experiences. Voice talents today have to be able to record a voice audition. That’s all. Leave the serious mixing and editing to the pros who know how to do it. Concentrate on your voiceover work. Most pro engineers have become good at what they do because they do ONLY THAT. Are you a voice talent or an audio engineer? Becoming both when you’re new at this is nearly impossible and weakens your efforts in both areas as you spread yourself ‘too thin.’

DAVE:  How much of a modern voice-actor’s time should be spent seeking opportunities and creating relationships in the developing world of New Media or Social Networking?

BETTYE: I love social media. FB and twitter are favorites. As a famous actor said to me recently, “where else can I talk to 800,000 people at the same time except on FB?”

DAVE: The voiceover world of today brings some different challenges than those of the late 20^th century, do the opportunities remain rich? I know you are an apostle for audio-books. Can you summarize the promise there, and in any other niches of VO?

BETTYE:  Today’s newcomer to voice work must realize that now, the field is crowded and littered with people who really are not experienced or even talented as voice actors. Just because you “talk” does not mean you are a voice actor. Oh sure, there are plenty of those local jobs around yelling at us to buy a car from this certain dealer in this small town or to shop at this shopping center. That’s local stuff. I’m talking about the big money jobs…the character voice jobs…the major publishers who hire narrators for big-money audio book jobs, the network promo jobs, the KFCs and MASTERCARDS and SEVEN ELEVEN jobs. There are many levels of those who call themselves “voiceover people.” Some will remain small and others will make huge fortunes. Isn’t that the way with all fields of endeavor? Some hairdressers are rather inexpensive while others are charging $500 for a haircut and are the beauty consultants to the “stars.” Everyone finds a level. So be it.

Never concern yourself with “competition.” I don’t believe in it. As the Mary Kay Cosmetic company says, “we’re not worried. Everybody has skin and the world is a huge place.”

Go for it!

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Bettye Zoller teaches voiceover workshops and accepts guest professorships at universities worldwide. She books far in advance, so invite her to your location well ahead of time! You can always take note of her activities on her website www.voicesvoices.com. Home is Dallas, so because her recording studio is there, she must stay home part of the time. Thus, many workshops and her private consultations and her recording studio production takes place there. She’s known for her “killer voiceover demos” and people travel far to work with her in her studio. She also produces audio books. She’s an ace audio engineer as well as a voice talent. She learned her craft over a thirty year period as creative director of several production houses before “digital” was a word.

She also consults privately by phone and in Dallas and wherever she travels offers time for private sessions with clients. “Take advantage of my one-on-one sessions when you can. They’re very valuable to my students.”

Over the decades, she’s voiced Chiffon Margarine, Cadillac, Seven Eleven, Disney projects, Simon and Schuster audio, Promos for ABC, NBC, PBS, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Pepsi, Coke, Macys, JC Penney, Avon, the Smithsonian Museum, the Holocaust Museum, Ellis Island, WABC in New York, and so much more. “I can’t even remember the names of most of my jobs…there have been hundreds upon hundreds. It’s a great life and I’m blessed.”

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