Direct Marketing is a challenge for most voice actors. We’ve talked about it before in this here blog right here, but since I last blogged about and the fact that I taught the subject just last week, my thoughts have evolved a bit. (FYI Direct Marketing is all the stuff you do to get a voice seeker’s attention and stay top-of-mind) It lines up with how my thoughts about branding have evolved, too. For years I said you MUST brand yourself and you MUST use Direct Marketing. I realized that I always recommended them because I was able to use them effectively to help me realize MY definition of vo ..read more

The Periodic Table of Ideas is here! I had the pleasure of narrating this fascinating audio book thanks to my friend and author Ben Cheung. This is the second audio book I’ve narrated for him, the previous one being The Four Elements of Thinking. To quote the blurb… The Periodic Table of Ideas is a collection of pivotal concepts in history spanning the disciplines of business, economics, philosophy, psychology, science, and technology. These ideas represent the pinnacle of human thought and achievement. They are among the most ingenious and enduring ideas you will ever encounter.  ..read more

Do you have a SEP-IRA? Do you even know what one is? Let’s zoom out for a sec for an IRA refresher… An IRA, or Individual Retirement Arrangement, is an account set up at a financial institution that allows you to save for retirement. What’s the difference between a SEP-IRA, a Traditional IRA, and a Roth IRA? To quote Vanguard.com: A SEP-IRA (Simplified Employee Pension) is a simple, tax-deferred retirement plan for anyone who is self-employed, owns a business, employs others, or earns freelance income. If you’re self-employed, your contributions are generally limited to 20% of ..read more

Rejection is a way of life in the voiceover industry. Recently I saw a social media post regarding a “PFO” email the poster received. PFO stands for “Please **** Off”. It was a “Thanks for your audition! We loved it but decided go to in anther direction.” email. That post and the discourse that followed really rubbed me the wrong way. Why would you assume the voice seeker is lying and actually telling you to **** off? Why would they bother to write that email in the first place? Do you really think they took the time to write that email just to stick it to you? Is it possible they really DID l ..read more

There are a lot of voiceover-related webinars out there. Heck, I’m leading eight of them in April alone! It may look like five webinars (see below), but I’m leading three sessions and moderating a panel at VO Atlanta so that conference counts as four webinars so nyah. Anyway, I not only lead webinars but I attend a few here & there as well. I strive to learn & grow as much as I can so I occasionally take a class to explore a new genre or brush up my narration skills. Recently I attended a webinar to explore a genre I’m interested in pursuing. In this 90-mnute webinar, there was about 3 ..read more

I love Google Drive. I bring this up because as recently as last year I posted this blog about cloud storage and Google Drive was one part of my data storage strategy. I’d also been using DropBox, Box, and OneDrive to store my data, MultCloud to sync my cloud storage websites, and Carbonite to back up my hard drive every day. All gone! I deleted my accounts for Box, OneDrive, and Multcloud. It was too much space, gray mail, and accounts that could get hacked into that I just don’t need. I also downgraded DropBox from a paid account to a free account. One day it stopped syncing and everyth ..read more

The 1099 form is often confusing for voice actors filing their taxes for the first time. Here is some 1099 101… If you earn more than $600 from a client and they didn’t take any taxes out when you got paid (withholding), you should receive a 1099 form from them. Until this year you got a 1099-MISC form. Now you get the new 1099-NEC (Non Employee Compensation) form. The 1099-MISC form is now used to report miscellaneous payments of $600 or more to individuals for: Rent Prizes and awards Other income payments (excluding self-employment activities) Medical and health care payments Crop insurance ..read more

Bottlenecks in your voiceover business are a common and often addressable challenge. Let’s define the term first, shall we…? Bottleneck – 1a: a narrow route b: a point of traffic congestion 2a: someone or something that retards or halts free movement and progress b: IMPASSE https://www.merriam-webster.com/ What kind of bottlenecks could you have in your voiceover business? Cash Flow: you don’t have the money to run your voiceover business effectively Tools: you don’t have the right equipment or skills or use your equipment effectively Technique: you don’t have enough trai ..read more

Client retention is a challenge. Most voice actors think it’s only a matter of clever marketing to maintain a high level of client retention. That is somewhat true, but it’s only a part of it. There is much more to client retention than just the occasional desperate “do ya have more work for me?” email that most voice actors send. First off, understand that no matter what you do, you will lose clients that will never come back. This happens for a number of reasons: The company closes. These things happen. In 2012, I lost a huge client to Super Storm Sandy. It literally washed their business a ..read more

I’ve been narrating Explainer Videos since 2006 and blogging since 2008. I can’t believe that in all that time I’ve never blogged about Explainer Videos! I guess I was too busy trying to book them. Anyway, an explainer video is a quick and easy way to ‘explain’ a product, service, or idea. It can be anything from a website service to a new invention to a Kickstarter campaign. And no matter how professionally produced a live-action, animated, or whiteboard explainer video is, how effectively it reaches your audience hinges on the quality of the narration. To get an idea of what I’m talking abo ..read more