5 End-of-Year VO Reminders

December 14, 2011 By CourVO 4 Comments

2011.

Was it good to your business?…a “growth” year?…a “development” year?…the “payoff” year?

Regardless, if you want to continue to build momentum into 2012, some 2011 housekeeping duties will put you in a good position for the New Year. Just a couple of items that come up about this time of year that might be easy to overlook.

My short-list of end-of-year reminders:

1) Are you a Sub-S Corp? Then you need to pay your shareholder (usually you) at least once a year to meet your legal commitment. It can be a dollar or $1,000 but if you overlook this…then the IRS will start looking at you. Call your accountant and share with them an estimated profit/loss comparison, you write yourself a check, and they will file this report for you electronically. Done! This may vary according to the state you’re in, but call and ask either the IRS or your accountant for the details. Not a Sub-S?…maybe you’re a Sole Proprietor?…Incorporated?…and LLC? There may be a similar consideration you overlooked before. It won’t hurt to check.

2) Download bank and credit records before Dec 31st. Some of these financial institutions may cut off the easy download of data after that. My bank cuts off access every three months. Most credit card companies will let you download your month-by-month transactions into a QuickBooks, Microsoft Money, or Quicken format right from your accounting software up until the end of the year. Failure to do so could result in you having to manually enter each individual transaction for your tax return. I haven’t…uh…had to uh…do that…but I’ve er, ah…heard it’s time-consuming.

3) Back up any and every file on your computer that constitutes personal data, creative effort, or irreplaceable information. Programs can be re-installed, but not that demo file you worked so hard on. All those recordings your clients are expecting you to keep archived, and invoices, documents, and personal letters or emails may be part of your business record you’ll need to prove binding agreements and a trail of decisions. I recommend Carbonite for a seamless, painless, inexpensive, behind-the-scenes back-up of important files all year round. Now might be a good time to defragment and do some file housekeeping to optimize your hard drives, too.

4) Get paid for 2011′s work in 2011. Send out those invoices, follow-up reminders and maybe not-so-gentle notices to clients who still have not coughed up the compensation for the hard work you did in…August?…September? This is YOUR business, of course, but don’t let someone take advantage of you with hair-brain excuses.

5) Take advantage of Santa. Need something for your Studio? Hey!…you’re hard to buy for!…so tell your loved-one what it is you really need to make you happy for Christmas. Online sales are through the roof…many are offering free shipping, and unbelievable Holiday deals. Ebay sales also increase this time of year, as people dump stuff they don’t need to get cash for buying gifts. Search for and bid on that TLM-103 you wanted. Some vendors are planning new products for 2012, and are trying to dump 2011′s inventory. I’m just sayin’.

Honorable mention: Start thinking about 2012. In the back of your head, what did you do right, where did you fail, and what do you want to put on your VO New Year’s resolution for 2012? These things need to percolate. Get the creative and analytical juices flowing so you can come up with a realistic list of goals for the new year. I’ll revisit this final admonition later in December.

What did I miss?

CourVO

Filed Under: Advice, Business-end-of-things, Heads Up! Tagged With: end-of-year, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voices

5 Inexpensive VO Gifts for Christmas

December 8, 2011 By CourVO 2 Comments

Give this list to your husband/wife/partner/better half/spouse/mate/POSSSLQ.

Things are tight. Chances are, whatever they buy you for Christmas will come out of your VO profits anyway, so let’s make it easy.

The following list contains just 5 simple VO gifts you will appreciate, that will not break the family budget.

1) $25 HoldOn Log’s Voice Over Artist’s Booked Projects contains organizational pages for logging and tracking 100 Voice Over Booking Appointments (Contract Signing, Edit Sessions, Follow-Ups, Invoice Submissions, Meetings, Member/Session Reports, Recording Sessions, Research, etc.). Each form records Booking Details, Contact Info, Booking Expenses, Submittal Source, Post-Booking Info, Pay Details and Follow-Up Reminders. There is also an Income Management Section to record payment details.

2) $10-$25 New Pop Filter. Let’s face it…your old one has been spit on, sneezed on, scratched, dinged, and bent. Tell your loved one to visit Amazon.com, Guitar Center, BSWUSA.com, MusiciansFriend.com, a Guitar Center Store, Sweetwater.com or any number of other online and brick ‘n mortar places, and get you a new pop filter. Fabric or metal…either’s OK…and pic up a new 10-ft mic cable while you’re there.

3) $34.95 SOUND ADVICE by Dan Friedman. OK, so this is the most expensive item on the list, but Dan’s an audio engineer, and he’s done his homework. Think of it this way, spend $34.95 now, and earn thousands in 2012 from the great advice he gives (editor’s note: you have to read the book).

4) $10 – $20 annual fee. ANY CLOUD COMPUTING ACCOUNT. Evernote.com, SugarSync.com, Box.net, DropBox.com, Yousendit.com, DropSend.com, Zoho.com, or get 25 Gigs for free at Microsoft’s SkyDrive. This will end a lot of large-file-sending headaches, make relations with clients a lot easier.

5.) $7 Voice Registery Platinum account. With the Platinum you can participate in the Weekend Workout. The Weekend Workout is hosted each week by a different VO Mega Talent, Agent, Director, Coach, or someone well connected in the business. (verbatim from Bill Brady’s Blog). Bill and others say this is GREAT feedback well worth many times over the $7 fee.

Honorable Mention. With tax season approaching, spend nothing, and enroll the VO person in your home with FreshBooks. This online bookeeping site is gaining a lot of traction with freelancers everywhere. Eventually, to get all the full functionality with bells and whistles, you may have to spend a little, but now may be the time to move away from QuickBooks that comes out with a new $125 upgrade every year for a nominal increase in functionality.

Got any better ideas? Let’s hear ‘em!

CourVO

Filed Under: Advice Tagged With: Christmas, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover talent

Avoiding Studio Disasters

December 1, 2011 By CourVO Leave a Comment

The Recording Review is a frequent source of inspiration for this blog.

Here’s a direct link, though, to a rather irreverent article written by Brandon Drury (some rough language here ‘n’ there).

The article is directed at mostly musicians, but there is some real wisdom for all us voice actors, too…especially militantly enforcing a “liquid policy”.

8 BulletProof Ways to Avoid Studio Disasters

CourVO

Filed Under: Advice Tagged With: studio, VO, voice, voice actinig, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice over artist, voice over talent, voice talent

7 VO Reasons to go paperless…

November 4, 2011 By CourVO 4 Comments

…and none of them are ”green” reasons.

Not that I don’t believe in saving trees…I’ve just found other compelling arguments for eschewing stacks of studio paper.

1) Flatscreen monitors are felony cheap. I bought a 23″ LG HDMI monitor at Fry’s Electronics for $189. The deals get better every day. If you’re a Windows guy (not sure about Mac), set up your studio with two monitors in Control Panel settings. Put your DAW interface on one screen, and read your copy off your other screen.

2) No rattling of pages, or page turning sounds. Don’t pooh-pooh this one. If you’re an audiobook or long-format narrator, this can save a lot of time in the long run — in editing and physically having to handle the pages (and edit out the sounds of pages and paper).

3) Tablet Computers are the bomb. Forget #1, get a tablet computer (iPad, Motorola XOOM, Samsung Galaxy, etc). Buy an inexpensive mount and position it anywhere in your studio. Heck, hold it like a piece of paper! Use your finger to turn pages. Silent!

4) “The Cloud” solves all. The same company that makes Dragon Naturally Speaking (Nuance), also makes PaperPort. With a small investment, and access to a scanner (use your iPhone!), you can make your whole world paperless! Store .pdfs, .docs, receipts, letters, invoices…ANYTHING on paper can be transferred to the cloud, and called up from the cloud onto your smartphone, tablet computer, computer monitor, even your TV screen.

5) “The Cloud” part II. DropBox may be the most ingeniously easy invention of the last 5 years. Many of my clients use it so send copy and receive audiofiles. AudioBook publishers use it for workflow. It’s drop-dead easy and brainless. Same with Box.net, SugarSync, Evernote, and SpringPad.

6) Save Space. This is so obvious, I almost didn’t mention it. No more file cabinets, drawers, folders, notebooks, shelves, dust, paperclips, staples — it all goes away with digital storage of documents.

7) Searching is a Cinch. Unless you’re incredibly organized and disciplined, searching digital documents beats the heck out of sifting through endless files and drawers. Just tell your computer to do the search for you. Saves on paper cuts, too.

Honorable mention: Going paperless (especially with the aid of a tablet computer) empowers you to have more control of your business…with the flexibility to work when, where, and how you want.

I am so not the first person to make a list like this. Below are some others (and they all used the crutch argument of

“going green”):

Six Good Reasons to go Paperless Today

Five Reasons you should go Paperless

Top Ten Reasons to go Paperless

Three Big Reasons to go Paperless

Three Practical Reasons to go Paperless

The Top Five Reasons to go Paperless

Did I miss something? Please comment below and let us know.

CourVO

Filed Under: Advice, VO Business Tagged With: going paperless, paperless, paperless office, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover talent

StrongArming Stress

September 21, 2011 By CourVO 2 Comments

So funny that I got such a supportive response to yesterday’s blog about Caring for your Cords. By the end of the day Tuesday, I was coming down with a sore throat. Ack! (self-fulfilling prophecy?)

On top of that, I had a full load at the TV station, a ton of work to do in my VO studio, I’m trying to develop yet another cutting-edge resource on Social Media that is a total time-suck, I’m preparing for a flight Saturday to the Midwest, and I’ve got a new puppy peeing on the carpet everywhere!

STRESS!!!

Unbelievably one of my favorite freelance websites had just the solution: Freelance Folder.

In her excellent article: FREELANCING STRESS 3.0, Author Laura Spencer lays out today’s big stress generators, and provides 11 helpful links for understanding stress, dealing with stress, and not letting it defeat you — specifically for freelance VO’s like you.

Take a moment to read, and then….take a deep breath and tell yourself it’s gonna be alright!

CourVO

Filed Under: Advice, Freelance, Published Articles, Web Resources Tagged With: Freelance, freelancing, stress, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover

JJ DID TIE BUCKLE

August 30, 2011 By CourVO 3 Comments

This may be the first worthwhile thing I’ve gotten from the folks who’ve jammed our emailboxes with fluff about BranchOut.

I’m still on the fence about this service known as “FaceBook’s Answer to LinkedIn”.

It’s just an app! But I must admit it’s made a splash.

I’ve connected with a few heretofore unknown friends…written a few endorsements…gotten a few endorsements…and I’ll admit…I really haven’t TRIED to make it work as a marketing tool for me, yet…so no judgements here.

BUT.

The other day someone on BranchOut sent out an email with this acronym: JJDIDTIEBUCKLE. As a mnemonic: “JJ DID TIE BUCKLE”. Each letter is meant to remind you of “…fourteen leadership traits and they are true and effective whether you are a marine, a choir teacher or anything in between.”

At the risk of sounding like a chain email that you’re supposed to pass on to 10 other well-meaning apostles, I’m reprinting the list of 14 traits below. Call me a sentimental sap, but I actually think they nicely summarize an ethical standard that will serve you well as a business leader.

JUSTICE
Justice means being fair. Treat others equally. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you and so forth.

JUDGMENT
Judgment is the ability to effectively assess the situation. You must be able to accurately understand the implications of the situation you are in so that you can make good decisions. Judgment is also known as common sense.

DEPENDABILITY
Dependability is nearly self explanatory. People must be able to depend on you to provide support, accurate information, guidance and motivation. People must be able to trust in your honesty as well as your competence.

INITIATIVE
Initiative is your tendency to approach your responsibilities in a proactive manner. A leader with initiative will not wait for direction before taking action. If you see something that needs to be done, do it.

DECISIVENESS
Decisiveness is the ability to make solid decisions quickly. With sound judgment, you will have enough information and with confidence in your information, you can make the decision now without hemming and hawing about.

TACT
Tact is a skill that enables you to communicate with people in a direct and effective manner without spurring conflict. This goes back to people skills. You need to be able to give direction without making people angry. Tact will help you inspire confidence in your leadership abilities and gain trust and loyalty.

INTEGRITY
Integrity is essentially honesty, which is crucial to being able to lead people effectively. Without honesty, there is no trust. Without trust, others will not truly follow you and support you’re motives or efforts.

ENTHUSIASM
Enthusiasm deals directly with your ability to motivate. It is about maintaining and putting forth a positive attitude. Enthusiasm expects success and drives us closer to achieving it. It fosters optimism and inspires others to follow your lead.

BEARING
Bearing is a trait that is often not discussed in civilian organizations but is none the less critical for good leadership. Bearing is the way you conduct and control yourself. It is your appearance, your posture and your manner that reflects self confidence and self control. Stand straight and exude a demeanor of leadership and authority. Bearing lets people know that you take your role seriously. Do not slouch about or goof off. These things do not inspire confidence in others that you can lead them.

UNSELFISHNESS
Unselfishness is another that is self explanatory. A good leader is looking out for the good of the team. A leader is not selfishly seeking his or her own best interest. Leaders have no ulterior motives.

COURAGE
Courage is the trait that is paramount in all good leadership. You must first have the courage to lead, to expect success, to accept responsibility and to face challenge. Leaders do not fear failure, they embrace it and learn from it in order to minimize its impact and the likelihood that it will occur again. Look fear in the eye and grin. Courage is the chariot that carries us to victory.

KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is another important component of good leadership. You must have the experience, training and information necessary to see the operation to a successful end. Without knowledge, we are merely guessing our way through life. Without knowledge, there can be no judgment or sound decision making.

LOYALTY
Loyalty involves being devoted to the task or the goals of the organization that you are a part of. It means that you make the goals of the team your own. The loyal leader stands behind his people and supports them. He truly believes in what he is doing. Loyalty in leadership promotes a loyal following.

ENDURANCE
Endurance what keeps us going when the going gets tough. Endurance encompasses our dedication and tenacity to see the job through to completion regardless of obstacles or challenges along the way. It embodies both our mental and physical stamina as well as our will power.

As a leader, carry these ideas with you wherever you go. Commit them to memory and put them to action. People will notice and your leadership skill will improve tremendously. You will be well on your way to being the best leader you can be.

(posted on FaceBook by Lalit Ranka)

CourVO

Filed Under: Advice Tagged With: Branchout, FaceBook, LinkedIn, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover talent

2 VO Rules to Live By

June 27, 2011 By CourVO 8 Comments

Last week was a wash. Literally.

I washed up on the shores of Belize, Isla Roatan, and Cozumel on a cruise ship excursion with my family, and two other families for a week. Yeah. Hate that.

The picture of me there is on the beach at Passion Island North of Cozumel. ‘An afternoon that I kinda remember (open bars are dangerous).

While I was gone, I “sandbagged” 5 blog articles, and scheduled their posting each day so there would be some semblance that all was as it should be at Camp CourVO. I don’t like to FaceBook or Tweet while I’m away. Robbers are savvy, too…and it wouldn’t take much to put our house on the map while we were gone.

Below is a video I put together of some of the best moments of our cruise, but that’s not really why I’m blogging today.

POST-VACATION BLUES

Like clockwork, auditions and VO opportunities tend to pile-up the moment you walk out the door. Immediately catching up to those loose ends is a priority. I also returned to 1875 emails in my primary account. I haven’t even looked at the other two accounts yet.

Do I feel overwhelmed? You betcha!

Will I hit a brick wall of post vay-k depression?…Mmmmm….likely.

Can I possibly recover one week’s worth of Social Media presence in the next week?
Do I want to?
Is it worth it?

TWO VO RULES TO LIVE BY

1) You can’t do it all. Not in a day. Not in a year. There will never be enough time.

2) Check-off your To-Do list by answering the following question: Did I make progress today?

(Honorable mention: force yourself into a rewarding distraction when you feel it’s all too much — even a small diversion is worth it)

So, this week I’m back at it. Much to do…but it’ll get done. Thanks for reading this far, now enjoy the video below.

CourVO

Filed Under: Advice, Fun Stuff, Ramblings/Off-Topic Tagged With: advice, down time, vacation, VO, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover

Top 10 Tips To Combat Procrastination

March 21, 2011 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Rather than wait to post this to my Amplify distribution channel TOMORROW…here I am at 3:15am….doing it now!

See? It’s already working!

But, honestly, who can’t benefit from a quick review of tips like this?

My favorite is #5…Don’t Over-committ. BIG problem left unchecked.

Hope you can find something here you can use today…or…er, uh …tomorrow.

CourVO

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/haamPs

URL: http://freelancefolder.com/10-top-tips-to-combat-procra…

Filed Under: Advice Tagged With: business, critical, dangerous, freelancing, procrastination

7 Proven Process Points

March 10, 2011 By CourVO 2 Comments

Working two jobs can drive you crazy. In my case, the drive is revealing.

One job is rigid. It has immutable deadlines. The pay is fixed. I work for someone else. They tell me what to do. I MUST get along with others.

The other job personifies flexibility, finesse, and self-direction. There’s a little more room to fudge, but no one else to blame.

There are loads of pros and cons to both, of course, and I’m not here to judge…only to say that being a VO requires SO MUCH MORE personal discipline.

The trick to discipline — beyond will power — is PROCESS. “…a continuous action, operation, or series of changes taking place in a definite manner.”

I’m wasting time if I try a different method of recording, editing, naming and sending a file to a client every time. Decide on the most workable PROCESS and stick to it. Combine that with the process for answering email, the process for sending out newsletters, and the process for tracking your expenses, and you’ve got a SYSTEM. A system makes you more efficient and more effective. An effective voice actor is a working voice actor, and a working voice actor makes more deposits.

The following are 7 suggestions for streamlining your VO process.

1) Trial and error is good. But it can’t last forever. Nothing’s perfect. Decide.
2) Find what works. Do that.
3) Take advantage of amazing hardware & software tools to help you stay on task.
4) Plan. Visualize your plan. Enable your plan.
5) Schedule. Schedule. Schedule. Stick to it. (even schedule your sleep, and don’t cheat)
6) Set alarms. Be reasonable and realistic with your deadlines.
7) Change will happen. Set a new process to adapt.

I’m not a Process expert. I’m Dave. These are some observations I’ve made. I DID, however, consult a number of online sources, and my favorite was: BUSINESS PLANING PROCESS TIPS, STRATEGIC PLANNING, LIFE PLANNING.

I also found a pretty cool Marketing Process Map.

I hope these thoughts have helped you. Feel free to add your own in the comments below.

CourVO

Filed Under: Advice Tagged With: process, VO, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover talent

Beat the Noise

March 3, 2011 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Michael Minetree is churnin’ out the videos these days. I meant to get this particular video posted on my blog before I left for FaffCon. (this is why people ask me “When do you sleep?”).

Believe me, a week later it still offers plenty about how to eliminate noise in noisy environments as you use Sony’s Sound Forge!

Check it out, or any of the many other “Tips-Tricks-Advice” videos MineWurx studio is making available today. When you view this video on his YouTube channel, simply look to the right column for related videos.

CourVO