Voice-Acting in Vegas
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
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
A few days ago, I blogged about a “Sublime Predicament“. The predicament being that I had no efficient way of cohesively keeping my work records (jobs, invoices, pay-dates); and sublime because I AM getting jobs, and sending invoices, and receiving payment.
One of the early responses I got to my quandary was from Brian Vermeire, the CEO of Holdon Log. I’ve long known of the various services Brian’s company provides to the acting business, and have even blogged about them, but didn’t think to consider one of their products as the solution to my ‘sublime predicament’.
Vermeire contacted me. After some back ‘n’ forth emails, and an online demo, I’ve decided to give Brian’s PERFORMER TRACK online software solution a try. So far it’s a thumbs-up.
Making a good product
Brian’s company has developed, listened to it’s subscribers (mostly actors), then responded by augmenting, changing, and building a solution for keeping track of your business that is top-notch. Even since I signed-up a couple of weeks ago, they’ve made some small improvements. The online software package is “in the cloud” so it’s accessible from any computer, anytime. It’s deep…broad…well-conceived…and it’s especially designed for the needs of actors.
Secret Ingredient: YOU
Like any other record-keeping solution, though…it DOES take some time to set up, and there is a constant input of information IFF you want it to really work for you. For instance, I no longer record my auditions, send them, and turn off the light in my studio. After sending the audition, I log onto Performer Track, and enter the date and time of my audition. I input the KIND of audition it was (commercial, industrial, cable, etc.), who sent me the lead, the nature of the spot, the copy involved, whether it deserves a follow-up, the price quoted, and even more if I needed to.
With actual jobs completed, I note the date an invoice was sent, enter contact information, enter the day and the amount of payment, and almost every other conceivable sort of contingency has already been thought-of and offered in drop-down lists as options.
Pudding (The proof is in the)
The real pay-off will be in a few months, when I can collate all that information into an analysis report…and yes, Performer Track does that too.
For all the questions I raised in my previous blog about record-keeping for my acting business Brian’s Performer Track solution seems to have an answer. Nice going Brian!
In six months, I’ll let you know how things worked out, and whether I’ll be re-upping for the better-value year-long subscription.
CourVO
For months, I’ve been working to be paperless. I’m almost there. So much so, that routines and devices I used years ago, I now view as somewhat quaint (daytimers, notepads, and Palm Pilots).
I confess a weakness for fountain pens, so I’ll never be entirely free, but for the most part I think my efforts have been fruitful and timesaving.
However, I could use your help. While I keep my business finance records with Intuit’s QuickBooks, maintain a chronology of jobs and contacts more or less through e-mail, and categorize my completed jobs in a subdirectory structure on my hard drive, I’ve yet to find a quick non-paper method for keeping track of the following:
–pending jobs (date when the deal is consummated)
–jobs in process (with its associated deadline)
–completed jobs ( and when completed)
–sufficient details of the job to finish an invoice the client will recognize (using their nomenclature)
–date of invoice sent
–date of payment received
–associated contact details would be nice
I’ve fiddled around with “Time & Chaos” and MS Outlook…but nothing seems to hit the mark.
Anybody?
CourVO
Hopefully SOMETIME before last Thursday, you met your obligation to the US Government in the form of taxes.
For many, the day is dreaded, and quickly/conveniently forgotten till sometime early next year. For the more organized among us, that won’t/can’t/shouldn’t be the case, because as we all know, paying attention to tax matters ALL YEAR ‘ROUND saves the heartache on April 15th.
That subject came up in a thread on the wonderful VO-BB online VO community the other day during a discussion on forming your business under an LLC or S-Corp.
As independent freelancers, often accepting full pay without submitting a W-9 to the client, Voice Actors are then expected to nonetheless pay a portion of that to Uncle Sam according to the tax code. No W-2, or form 1099, and no withholding doesn’t mean you should withhold information about your gross pay to the IRS.
Rather, most freelance contractors voluntarily & grudgingly set aside a certain amount out of each of their compensation checks to offset the tax bill in April. This requires a supreme amount of self-control and realistic planning.
So…how much to hold back? Variables that determine the level of tax you’re required to pay are sometimes undetermined until many months later…maybe even as you’re doing your taxes.
You can hold back too little, and have to raid savings come April 15th…or you can hold back a surplus as a pad, and maybe even have enough left to buy that new mic you’ve been wanting…but in theory, you want to hit it on the mark as best you can.
On the VO-BB thread, some VO’s subscribe to the rule of holding back 1/4th of each paycheck…others, 1/3rd. One person uses a general rule of thumb in the area of 25-30%.
NYC-based bilingual voice-actor, and friend Liz de Nesnera, has a wonderful formula that she’s given me permission to reprint here. Maybe in the midst of all these suggestions, you will find a formula that works for you in tax year 2010. (BTW, Liz is a scheduled presenter at VOICE2010 in June for “Talking Telephony”.)
Here’s Liz’s worksheet:
In terms of setting $ aside, whenever I get paid I always do the following:
- Deposit said payment into my Biz checking account
- transfer 30% of said amount in my Biz savings account – this is what I pay taxes from (& sometimes for extraordinary expenses, but is not touched otherwise)
- transfer 25% of said amount into my “Wealth” account, a money market account I use as what I “pay” myself. – this is used for personal bills (I transfer money out of this account into a personal account to pay household bills), and is in effect my “salary”
- transfer 5% of said amount to a “giving” account that I use for charitable contributions.
So lets say I get $1000:
- $1000 is deposited into checking
- $300 gets transfered out from checking to Savings
- $250 gets transfered out from checking to “Wealth”
- $50 gets transfered out from checking to “Giving”
This leaves $400 of that payment in my Biz checking for business expenses
I do this every time I make a deposit.
(Yes the tellers at my credit union know the drill when I show up! 
)
By doing things this way I have always been able to keep enough aside for Taxes and Bills and it keeps things clear for me.
Thanks for sharing, Liz!
CourVO
That’s such a loaded term these days. But, look…as voice actors we tend to wear lots of hats to keep our business going, and guess what gets lost in the shuffle? Auditioning. Practicing. Learning. Marketing. Growing. Cold-calling…the CORE activities that define our central goal.
Didja ever consider that other free-lancers like yourself might be able to do some of those un-core tasks off your hands for a fair price? It’s not that you CAN’T do it…but could it possibly be cost-effective to “farm” out some of that stuff?
Perfect example: You probably know I love dabbling in techy stuff, be it software, hardware, social-networking, blogging, site-authoring. But as much as I love it…should I be spending inordinate hours DOING it? Enter Brett Bumeter, who runs SoftDuit: “…Helping adapt business models to the web with WordPress powered CMS sites..” Brett so deftly, affordably, and creatively moved my old blog to the new WordPress format it made my head swim. I coulda spent days doing what he did in no time!
Working a long-format naration? Don’t have the time or motivation to edit the fnal production? Many voice-actors send off the raw sound-file to someone whose bread ‘n’ butter is audio editing.
Lousy at writing a bio, cover letter, resume? Send it to a professional writer who can spruce it up. You’d be surprised how they — like you — produce quality work in a timely manner.
Many voice actors have a CPA or an enrolled agent handle their taxes. Why not seek the proper expertise for designing your audio-chain? That can be at LEAST as arcane as the tax code sometimes!
The point is, it pays you to hire a professional to do certain specific tasks, just like you would expect someone to hire you to do the very specific work of voice-acting.
Not only do you benefit from their expertise, it makes YOU look better, and you stimulate the freelance marketplace.
Do a web search for ‘virtual assistant’ or ‘office assistant’, and you’ll find services that’ll do everything from walking your dog, to taking out your dry-cleaning.
Hey, if those mundane tasks are the mental roadblocks that stand in the way of me getting my next voice-job, then I’d hire ‘em in an instant.
Unfortunately for me, no one offers outsourcing help for my roadblock: the inability to take my own advice!
CourVO
So many variables go into the setting of rates for freelance entrepreneurs. That’s my opinion. Others differ.
The arguments can get quite philosophical — wrapped up in value judgements of self-worth, market conditions, and even personal relationships.
I’ve heard ‘em all. I especially love the hard ‘n’ fast rules that always seem to come from the highly successful long-time voice actors who typically will say something like: “….I never even turn on my mic for less than $450…”
Well that’s just all fine and good. Did you start with that?
Those of us still struggling to keep a daily flow of work…who are developing a full stable of clients…who are ever seeking the threshold of fair pay for hard work… THOSE kind of hard ‘n’ fast rules are elusive. At least they are for me.
Let me relate a story that just happened to me:
The call came out of nowhere. A local producer wanted to hire me to be the voice of a conference being held in Vegas…I quoted directly from my rate sheet, and he seemed happy with that, AND my work. All good all around.
Then he asked if I could refer him to a voice actor of the female gender. He had another project, and needed a certain type of voice.
I returned to him a couple of names and contact information.
One of the referrals — a seasoned voice actor with a sterling reputation — returned a thank you, and continued to keep me in the loop with communications back and forth.
Then came the e-mail today. She quoted him a price for the project they were negotiating, and then he returned to her an email ATTACHING MY RATE SHEET. She then very nicely mentioned in an email to me that she hoped she hadn’t scared-off my client because her rate was “…significantly higher than mine.”
OUCH!
Reactions:
– The client faux pas’d by sharing my rate sheet in the first place (I told him so)
– I launch into a gut-wrenching rationalization of my rate sheet
– I also launch into a soul-searching re-evaluation of what I’m worth and what I charge
On the VO-BB some time ago, the notion of “SPINE” became popular. Rightly so. The idea being that only those Voice actors with spine will stand up and ask for the price they truly think they’re worth. Raise the bar. Take charge. Have chutzpah.
Great!…but there’s just this one caveat….
CourVO
A revealing study on the state of affairs with the voice and speech industry shows a very robust market.
Research available from Voices.com. Apparently you have to call them for the full content. You’ll find that contact information, along with a synopsis of the article HERE.
Thanks to Podcast-Marketing.com for the tip on this info.
CourVO
What’s a fair price for earnest work?
The quibbling over that simple question can cost you money if things aren’t laid out clearly from the outset. Now I understand why some Voice actors demand a contract, and at least some pay up front.
Here’s a real-life example (names omitted to protect the innocent):
.
APPROACH
A friend approached me about recording the first chapter of a newly-written book. The author is a multi-millionaire, rags-to-riches CEO of a hugely successful XYZ firm. The book is his inspirational personal story of how entrepreneurship lifted him out of life’s early disarray to find wild success.
My friend is handling some of the online marketing and SEO challenges for this company, and needed the chapter narrated ASAP for a deadline to launch a certain milestone for this company.
COMPLETION
Within 24 hours, I had the chapter narration done, editing completed, and file delivered with a smile. My friend was grateful for the favor, and promised payment whenever I invoiced.
The uncertain but hoped-for promise in all this was that I may eventually get the nod to narrate the entire book.
CONFLICT
When the author heard my read, he liked it, but HIS public relations people were telling him since it was such a personal story, that maybe HE should narrate it. That’s still undecided. We all know there are just a handful of authors who have the wherewithal to artfully narrate their own book. I don’t know…maybe he’s one of those.
Regardless, when my friend attempted to pass the cost of my narration on to the author, this is the response we got:
“I asked for a test version just to hear how he sounds with the book. I wasn’t expecting an invoice for the test or I would have had him reread it with changes until it was a finished to my satisfaction. I am considering him for the full audio, but that phase isn’t ready as of yet. My understanding was this was his bid for the entire project and not something I was paying to test."
ANALYSIS
Let me offer a handful of observations:
It strikes me as somewhat insincere that a guy who’s a self-made millionaire based on principles of entrepreneurship (as stated in this very book)…is unwilling to recognize the efforts of another entrepreneur in setting a fair price for earnest work.
Granted, there may have been a miscommunication between my friend and the author, and it’s to his credit that my friend is stepping up to offer compensation even though the author is unwilling.
Finally, disregarding the quibbling about whether the narration was an “audition” for the whole book, or verbally-contracted work…an “audition” or “scratch-track” of this length (18 mins) would certainly demand SOME renumeration. No?
LESSON
Some voice actors have a hard ‘n’ fast rule about signed contracts, and at least some pay up front. They say it’s just a matter of time before you get burned. I haven’t been burned yet, and my business doesn’t have the force of, say, a Jennifer Vaughn or a Harlan Hogan.
How do you, or would you handle this?
CourVO
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
![View Dave Courvoisier CourVO@CourVO.com [LION]'s profile on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/img/webpromo/btn_myprofile_160x33.gif){kind=small}
Recent Comments