Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Archives for VO Business / Business-end-of-things

Advice Advantage

January 25, 2012 By 4 Comments

“Pay-it-Forward” became a cliché the day after the movie of the same name was released.

But no one’s come up with a better way to briefly phrase the ethic that extending value IN ADVANCE of reward, holds great promise as a lifestyle, a marketing plan, and a business plan.  I try to live by that creed in this blog, and I can’t tell you how many times it’s payed dividends.

One of the gents I greatly admire in the voice over business is Bill DeWees.  He’s left behind a number of successful endeavours during his life, and is now making the voice-acting business look easy.  Note, I say “business“.  That’s how Bill treats it, and therein lies his success. That’s a familiar theme among the more seasoned pros.

Even though he’s a voice actor, Bill is maybe just as well-known for his pay-it-forward brand of how-to videos.  See the Bill DeWees channel on YouTube.

Yesterday on my Voice-Over Friends  FaceBook Group, Bill posted a link to an instructional video he produced as a live seminar recently.  You can view it for free, and in my estimation, there’s a gold-mine of VO business strategies in just the first hour, and then the show continues with valuable Q & A.  Please make an effort to watch as much of this as you can afford.

Among the gems in his presentation are reminders to treat all your past customers as future prospects through consistent follow-up.  Along with newsletters, postcards, emails, and phone calls, Bill shared that he uses the SmartContactTool to help automate some of this duty. When you click on that link, you end up on a site called Happy Grasshopper.

And then it hit me!  That’s how I met Bill! He had seen my blog about Happy Grasshopper from March of last year, and later contacted me to say thanks.

See!  Pay-it-forward brings its own rewards in due time, or to paraphrase:  What Goes Around Comes Around.

CourVO

Filed Under: Business-end-of-things Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

12 Trends: MUST READ!

January 5, 2012 By 2 Comments

Every year, David Ciccarelli — the technical genius behind VOICES.com — delivers a wealth of VO research in an easily digestible report.

His latest survey on the “state of the union” for voice-acting is out, and it’s called 12 Trends for 2012.

If you’re a VOICES.com subscriber, you may have already received your email link to this study.

Puh-leeze take the time to read this.  It may be THE MOST important data you will review this year.  The conclusions Ciccarelli reaches are nothing short of seminal and brilliant.  Yes, it is somewhat of a commercial for Voices.com, but there’s plenty of meat (or soy, if you’re a vegetarian) here for anyone to chew on beyond the Voices.com references.

Here’s the link again:  12 Trends for 2012.

Click.

Read.

CourVO

Filed Under: Business-end-of-things, Referral, Surveys Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Quick 2012 Business Survey

December 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This week, I’m entertaining relatives, enjoying all my daughters being home, and NOT working my TV job.

What I’m clearly seeing, though, is that the freelance VO  job is a juggernaut that CANNOT be relegated to “back-burner” status — even (and especially) during the holidays.

I promised some days ago to post some thoughts about planning now for your upcoming successes in the new year, and came across this simple and brilliant survey that touches on a lot of the things we should all be thinking about. TechRepublic.com: What’s Your Outlook for 2012?

In addition, Tom Dheere is sharing some excellent (and specifically some VO) thoughts about preparing for 2012 on VoiceOverXtra…a wonderful follow-up to my post on the same site about tidying up a few things for 2011.

Also, if you have a couple more minutes, you might want to check out:

FreelanceFolder.com  More Client Leads

Edelman Digital: Social Business Planning in 2012

Strategic Business Consulting: Business Planning Advice for 2012

CourVO

Filed Under: Business-end-of-things, Freelance Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

You’ve Got Mail

December 22, 2011 By 2 Comments

Email drives my day.

It’s the first thing I do in the morning…and I keep up with it all day. It’s my daytimer, my reminders, my to-do list, my address book, and my calendar.  I curry it, preen it, harvest it, and cull it’s ranks constantly.

Oh, I keep to-do lists, a calendar, and a long- and short-range goal notebook too, but email is at the heart of it. I use Comf5 mostly, Gmail, and Outlook occasionally.

I have my most of my social networks send me email notices and even smartphone notifications when anything happens on those platforms.  That way, if something gets deleted on those  media, I still have an email copy.

Like ISDN, many and vociferous are the voices claiming email will go away.  My college-age daughter says when she wants to get in touch with old people, she sends email.  Otherwise, it’s FaceBook for her.  As far as I’m concerned, she’s missing out.

My POINT is…don’t ignore your email.  Sure, there’s plenty of spam, and lots of fluff…but pay attention…there are valuable nuggets buried therein!

In the last week, I’ve gotten pertinent updates on changes to FaceBook, SlideShare, Source-Connect, CamTasia, and several other software and online products I use, and all those notices came through email.

I’ve also gotten — just this week — three unsolicited offers for work from people I’ve never heard of before, and who chose to make initial contact with me through email.

I handle official documents, contracts, invoices, W-9′s, Non-Disclosure Agreements, scripts, and endless negotiations through email.  For that reason, I keep handy .pdf/.doc conversion software, and bring a portable hand-scanner with me wherever I go.

I use my smartphone as a scanner as well, and tie all my connections into DropBox, SugarSync, Box.net,  SpringPad, or Evernote.  ALL of those accesible to send and receive through email addresses.  I can even post to my Voice-Over Friends FaceBook Group with email.  You can too…the address is listed at the top of the page. It’s: [email protected]

There’s more:  I can post to my Posterous, Tumblr, this Blog, and Twitter through email.

It goes on and on and on!

Are you doing all this?  Am I missing something that works for you?

CourVO

Filed Under: Business-end-of-things, Networking, Web Resources, Web/Tech Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

5 End-of-Year VO Reminders

December 14, 2011 By 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: , , , , , , , , ,

VO Infographic from Voices.com

February 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

David Ciccarelli of VOICES.COM’s been busy crunching numbers again.

He writes with some of the latest stats he’s compiled for our business.  (I hate calling it an “industry”.  That term is so….19th century!) Let’s face it…a business that doesn’t keep track of its numbers isn’t really playing it smart.  (R U keeping track of your website traffic?)

This latest release includes figures on:

* Number of Jobs
* Average Payment Per Job
* Highest Payment Per Job
* Total Amount Earned by Voice Talent
* Which Job Categories are in the Highest Demand
* Which Languages are Most Requested
David says these numbers are based upon the last several years of data they’ve collected at Voices.com.

See the graphic on their website…below is the info in narrative form.

  • 155,915 Voice Over Jobs
  • This figure represents the total number of public, private and direct message job opportunities that have been awarded to voice talent at Voices.com.
  • $252.97 Average Payment for a Voice Over Job.
  • From business recordings, product demonstrations and online tutorials to phone system recordings, :15 and :30 second radio commercials and even podcast intros and outtros, many of the projects posted at Voices.com range between $100 and $500, resulting in average payments of $252.97.
  • The Highest Paying Voice Over Job was $37,000
  • The highest paying project to a single voice talent that we are aware of was for $37,000. This voice talent prefers to remain anonymous, however several others have earned five figure sums for extensive eLearning applications, a 50,000 word phone system, national television commercials and other dream projects.  Other projects which have involved multiple talent have even reached into the six figure realm and recently Voices.com has launched the new Enterprise Edition to serve some of the largest organizations in the world.
  • $39,290,580 in Total Earnings by Voice Talent at Voices.com
If you have been wondering about the jobs being posted or if talent are booking on Voices.com, this number is of great comfort. Voices.com is fulfilling its mission to connect businesses with professional voice talent all around the world. 10,000+ people have earned a respectable income from doing voice overs with Voices.com serving as a key part of their marketing strategy.

Thanks Ciccarelli’s!

CourVO

Filed Under: Business-end-of-things, Surveys, Trending

Mo’ OverFlo

February 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The scene is hoppin’!  The following info is on the web if you look for it, but why?  You can find it all here!

AUDACITY

Michael Minetree has been posting really great YouTube tutorials on how to best use everyone’s favorite free DAW: Audacity.

Search YouTube for “MineWurx”…or the name of the first video is:  The Voice Over Coach – Audacity Basics 1 – Envelope Editing. Then click on the link above the play window to go to his other tutorials.  Nice going, Michael!

TOBIAS!

Stacey Stahl of Creative Entertainment Management writes to say preeminent VO coach Marice Tobias will be in New York on business February 11-17th.   She is available for private sessions only Friday, February 11, 14 16 and part of the 17th. Please contact Stacey ASAP if you would like to schedule time to work with her. 503-246-2239.  I wouldn’t wait.  Marice is among the best you can find anywhere.  I’d go, but it’s ratings in TV-land, and I’m under a little thing called a talent contract with the TV station.

VOICE OVER CENTRAL

Australian Katrina Kross writes in the FaceBook Group “Voice Over Central”  (almost as good as Voice-Over Friends ;-} ) writes:
“…For VOs who would like further non-exclusive representation outside their already existing home country representation, check this out. Shane Cormier heads up this new agency, and many of you will know of his experience and expertise in the industry. Also, if you have no agent as yet, this is for you.

Please share and distribute.
Idiom Talent – WorldwideIDIOM Talent Agency – Worldwide Agents.

Shane Cormier is the former head of Special Artist Agency; Celebrity Voice-Over Division, Head Voice Over Agent at the Daniel Hoff Agency and Coast to Coast Talent. He’s been in the voice over industry for over a decade – well versed in all aspects of talent relations and commercial production.

Lena Morgan comes onboard with over a decade of music and production experience as well as being involved in A&R and publishing and is currently running the day to day ops for Idiom Talent and More Models.

Our 3rd creative director is Dave Palomares who is the principal of the modeling and talent agency division, More Models and Talent; specializing in high fashion and lifestyle models and is a former executive with Grey Advertising.

CourVO
Filed Under: Business-end-of-things Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 10 Commandments of Customer Support

December 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I especially like #8 and #10. This is gold.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/hNjV1P

Filed Under: Business-end-of-things Tagged With: , , , ,

Common Freelancing Mistakes

August 3, 2010 By 1 Comment

No, I didn’t think to write this one, but I wish I had.

I troll many different sources to find inspiration for blogs.  One of my regular stops (using a feed-reader, of course) is FreelanceFolder.com.

One of the recent posts on that site is: 26 COMMON FREELANCING MISTAKES TO AVOID…things like: “Failing to get an agreement in writing”…”Not knowing what to charge”, etc.  This stuff is golden, folks, and it all applies to VO businesses.

Check out the 26 mistakes to avoid, HERE.

CourVO

Filed Under: Business-end-of-things Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Send With Your Name

July 27, 2010 By 2 Comments

Full disclosure: the genesis of this blog comes from the VO Yahoo Group, but it’s such a great idea (I hadn’t thought of) that I wanna make sure you hear about it.

The thread starts with the usual dialogue about zipping files to send, or whether to use DropBox, YouSendIt, DropSend, or some other large-file-transfer utility.  Any of those three are workable solutions for making sure you client receives the typically large audio files that you may be generating in your VO work.  DropBox depends on the client having installed the program on their resident computer, though, and that can be another layer of inconvenience you may not want to impose on your client.

YouSendIt and DropSend are pretty popular, low-cost, subscription services that allow easy automation of your files, scheduling, follow-up, and tiered-pricing.

So what could be easier than that?

Your own website, that’s what.

If you’ve already paid for the domain name, and the hosting, it’s likely you have FTP access, and extra space you’re paying for, but not using.

Create a subdirectory for your client, and store the finished files there.  That way you bypass any sort of email layer of interface, and your client not only gets the name-branding of your website reinforced, but also will likely feel as if they’ve been given a higher level of customer care.

The difference is answering mail sent by YouSendIt, or acccessing a subdirectory like:  http://MyVOwebsite.com/ClientName.

There’s no additional monthly fee, you avoid the irregularities of email, the files stay there as long as you want, accessible from any computer, anywhere, and you customer feels a closer connection to your VO business.  What’s not to like?!

Check on your hosting service plan to see how much storage you originally purchase.  Chances are for not that much more, you can upgrade to a bunch  more space.

To see the original Yahoo VO Forum thread, click HERE and HERE (you have to be a member).  The second link also includes a handy list of other file-send utilities than the ones I mentioned here.

CourVO

Filed Under: Business-end-of-things, Web/Tech Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
Next Page »