Voiceover Insider for August

Recently I was selected to review Julie Williams’ new version of “How to Make Money in Voiceover, Even If You Dont’ Live in N.Y. or L.A.”

I enjoyed the opportunity to review these 5 cds, and WOW! I was blown away by all the information.

Here is my review for “H2MMIVO”:

“How to make money if Voiceovers”…is 5 cds PACKED with valuable information for the Voiceover Pro – at whatever level you might be.

I remember being told that if you invest in a product to improve yourself, and you get One good idea that you can implement, you have made a great decision on your purchase.

 

I have two plus pages of ideas to implement for my VO business after listening to “How to Make Money in VO…”.

This Audio Presentation/Course is terrific!!

 

 

I could not believe how up to date all the information is in these CDs. As I listened, I heard that there were at least two earlier versions of “How to make Money in VO…” previous to this one.

 

Well, Julie has lined up an all star cast to really give Voice Talent a genuine look at the industry ,plus, the most benefit for their money.

 

Who is in this program? Stephanie Ciccarelli, Jason Sikes, Frank Maranzino, Larry Maizlish, Krisitine Oller, Gabrielle Nistico and Robert Sciglimpaglia (say that one 5 times fast!). These interviews are filled with marketing tools and information that are so helpful to up and coming talent. I thought about who I believed was the most “useful” interview for me, yet looking thru my notes and ‘potential tools’ to implement, I learned something from every interview.

 

 

Julie’s experience in VO shows as well; she brings together so many marketing ideas from the ‘30,000 foot view’: SEO, Websites, an honest short take on Unions, legal aspects of the business, setting up your studio…I could go on and on, but I need to go back and listen again to hear what I missed the first time!

 

 

 

You can see more reviews in the August 08 Voiceover Insider from Julie Willams.

 

 

 

 

Voices.com Rolls Out the Bling Bling for Summer

….And its not Gold or Silver…it’s Platinum!

This looks like a cool new service for working VO talent with lots of benefits and links on several new niche VO websites all from the creative minds of Voices.com!!

More info about the Platinum service is right here.

Great Time in the Old Town Last Night!

Bettye Zoller is in Nashville this week teach classes for the NATS conference, and last night she took on a handful of Voice over talent to talk about the business of VO.

What a great time!

Everything from Aftra to agencies, marketing and demos, setting rates and Character Voices… We really touched on alot of major aspects of the Voice industry.

It was great to meet Bettye and other talented folks from the Mid-South Like Clinton, Jerri, Philip, Angela, Jake, Lyle, Cathi and Beth. 

Bettye knows what she is talking about, and brings her real life experience to class. Its fun to hear VO stories from folks who have been at it, and been successful doing it!!

There were many nuggets of wisdom that I learned from the class, but the one that comes to mind first is this:

“You have to continue growing your business while doing your business”

I can keep working with the clients I have, but if I am not marketing myself and growing my business, my current clients could dry up…and then where would I be?

Up a stream with out the much needed paddle!!!

I look forward to keeping in touch with new VO friends and also joining Bettye in another class sometime in the future!!

Bettye Zoller Voice Class in Nashville June 29!

 BETTYE ZOLLER SEITZ  

MAKING MONEY WITH YOUR VOICE!

 AWARD-WINNING VOICEOVER TALENT/STUDIO SINGER/FORMER RCA RECORDING ARTIST/EMI-SCREEN GEMS SONGWRITER WINNER CLIOS, ADDYS, GOLDEN RADIOS, AUDIES

DALLAS-BASED VOICE COACH/RECORDING STUDIO OWNER/AUDIO ENGINEER/AUDIO PRODUCER

2008 Feagin Guest Artist Professor Theatre Dept. Tulsa University (Former Faculty SMU, UTA)

WHEN: JUNE 29- SUNDAY EVENING (5:30 – 9:30 p.m.)

WHERE: Guesthouse Inn (Across from Opryland) 2420 Music Valley Drive)

FEE: $159  (MC VISA CHECK) Call for info if mailing check

Networking! Cool Refreshments! Tips and Techniques You’ll Treasure! Take-Home Packets!

Learn How You Can Make Money In the Studios Plus Voice Projects Worldwide Without Leaving Home With Your Computer Recording Studio and Online Opportunities!

Enroll online at www.voicesvoices.com in online store

(Private One Hour Consultations In Nashville Available on Limited Basis)

Phone: 214-638-TALK (8255)

EMAIL: btzol@aol.com/brian.fine@cox.net

Tell ‘em You’re Gonna do it, Do it, Tell ‘em you Did it

I was reading Kitzie Stern’s Blog today and read about her marketing adventures and fun with Excel.

 

I have been working at the other end of the spectrum today.

 

 

(imagine dramatic music and reverb here:) Billing/Invoicing

 

I, too, would rather be voicing something like she mentions, yet, as I was thinking about it, a phrase came to my head that I hadn’t thought about in quite some time.

 

I first heard it sitting in Bill Dunnavant’s Office at WZYP in Huntsville, Alabama.

 

My Program Director, Bill West, was out for the day, and I was getting a quick introductory lesson on Marketing and Promotion. 

 

It came down to the quesion: How do you get as many listeners involved with a promotion as possible? 

 

The answer was this: 

 

Stu, You have to Tell em you’re gonna do it, Do it, Then Tell ‘em You did it. 

You have to have all three parts!

 

It seems to me that it also applies to voice work as well.

 

*Marketing/Promotion

*The VO work itself

*Invoicing and then maintaining contact!

 

The Three Headed Voice Monster!

 

Who is this ROSS and why does he have REPORTS?

As I was out spending some birthday cash yesterday, I finally came across ROSS REPORTS that Harlan Hogan mentions in his book VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice- Actor. (I am sure others mention it as well, I just happened to read it from Harlan first)

 

I hadn’t seen them yet in any book store, so when I happend upon them at Borders, I was very excited.

 

I am enthusiastically going thru and looking at casting directors and agents who cast and represent VO Talent!

Officially Announcing…

It’s Official now!!!!

Stu Gray Leaves ‘Dawson McAllister Live’

“DAWSON McALLISTER Live” Creative Services Director/Producer/Image Voice STU “CRUZ” GRAY will be leaving his full time responsibilities with the program to focus on his voiceover/production/copywriting company STU GRAY CREATIVE on a full time basis. GRAY has been with “DAWSON McALLISTER Live” for three years.He will continue providing production and voiceover service to “DAWSON McALLISTER Live” on a client basis and picks up syndicated talk show “Empowering Your Health with Dr. ASA ANDREW.”For more information email GRAY at stu@stugray.com and visit www.stugray.com.

From Allaccess.com

Settling Accounts and No More Accounting Nightmares

I was reading Dave Courvoisier’s blog and his resolutions for the new year.

his first resolution:

1.  Invoice all clients who haven’t paid for work I did in 2007.  Whether I did it in December or August, a new year is always recognized as a milepost in settling accounts.

This is a great idea. I have a couple outstanding accounts and agree that this is a great time to get em put to bed!

Along those lines, I thought this was a great article from Freelance Switch about accounting.

Enjoy!

—
Other Posts you might enjoy:

33 Things, 33 Years
Regaining Passion in Your Life
Learning Customer Service from a Fast Food Visit
Who is Stu Gray?

The 12 (+2) Links of Christmas

As a fun Challenge to myself, I wanted to see if I could actually give “link love” 12 times in this post – and still have the post make sense!! – Merry Christmas!

(I originally titled this post “Getting Things Done With My Voice”)  

After several metaphorical “taps on the sholulder” from the likes of Karen Commins blog, Rodney Saulsberry’s Podcast on voices.com, and David Bourguois’ podcast from voices.com, plus the conversation between Peter O’Connell and Tim Mclaughlin, as well, I decided to sit down and do some thinking and planning for 2008.

 

I have stumbled in and out of David Allen’s method of organizing and time management called “Getting Things Done” a couple of times in the recent past. I read the book, read the follow up book…and can keep the process going for about 2 weeks. Then I usually bail, or forget something that is involved and the whole system falls apart.

 

I wanted to sum up the whole GTD philosophy, but not ALL of it is applicable here. If you want, you can read about Getting Things Done yourself.

 

I got a new notebook like David Boureuios and Karen Commins suggested

 

Right now, I have these labels:

-Goals

-Marketing

-Blog/Web

-Follow Up

-Misc. Ideas

As I was starting the  process for  this coming year, I noticed some similarities between what I had  heard and been reading, and the GTD philosophy.

The GTD similarity, is that each tab represent a different ‘list’… with the premise of

1. being able to get everything out of your head and on to paper, and
2. determining what you have time to accomplish on each list

  

A couple differences :

I don’t have a “current projects” list…

As I think about this, I realize, as Harlan Hogan says in his book, that “the work of voice work is getting the work.”

 

This new notebook for notes, thoughts and ideas has a lot to do with “marketing” and “pursuing” the jobs…(ie. “getting the work”)…and not a lot to do with the actual “Voice Work”…and I think that explains the lack of “current projects” list – at this point and time.

Also, I do not have a Calendar in this book. I think I will stick with Google Calendar for now.

Perhaps in my “Goals” section, I will also use that as a “Next Action” list (like GTD suggests)

I am early in the process here, so there will be glitches and reworks as I continue to plan for 2008 – I am sure!

Are you taking the time to do some planning for next year? I would love to hear your thoughts about what your process is… Do you incorporate any more of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” philosophy to Voice Work? How so? I think that could be an interesting conversation!

(I ended up with 14 different links…if you were keeping track at home!)

Always Marketing…

I ran across this great post from Seth Godin as I was reading today.

He talks of how he observed a dinner where a speaker was standing in front of a highly disengaged group of people.

I thought he was going to make a point about the ’speaker’. Yet in a complete 180, he says the audience was “marketing themselves to the speaker as uninterested, tired and hard to reach.”

He turned the tables on me in this short story…and made me think.

How do I come across to people? To potential clients? To clients I already serve?

Do I act uninterested in them, or how I present myself to them?

Could it cost me a future relationship because I come wearing baggy beaten up faded jeans, Superman t-shirt and flip flops to the studio instead of looking more presentable – like I really care!?! (and I should)

Godin’s point : “We are always marketing”

This was a great reminder for me, being in a business where I am not always seen, but still able to make a positive or negative impression.