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Voice Acting and The Periodic Table of Ideas – The Not Silent Blog 04/27/2021

Apr 27
3 min

Voice Acting and The Periodic Table of Ideas – The Not Silent Blog 04/27/2021

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 hu

Voiceovers and the SEP-IRA – The Not Silent Blog 4/20/21

Apr 20
3 min

Voiceovers and the SEP-IRA – The Not Silent Blog 4/20/21

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,

Voice Acting and Rejection – The Not Silent Blog 4/13/21

Apr 13
3 min

Voice Acting and Rejection – The Not Silent Blog 4/13/21

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 pla

Voiceovers and Finding Work – The Not Silent Blog 04/06/21

Apr 6
3 min

Voiceovers and Finding Work – The Not Silent Blog 04/06/21

Are you having trouble finding work? If you are, you’re not alone. Recently, voice actors of various experience levels have asked me why they have so much trouble finding work nowadays. There is more voiceover work than ever in every genre so what exactly is going on? To borrow from a blog entry from last year, let’s start with these possibilities: Lack of talent: you entered a business you have no business entering Lack of training: you got minimal or no coaching Lack of res

Voice Acting and Webinars – The Not Silent Blog 3/30/21

Mar 30
3 min

Voice Acting and Webinars – The Not Silent Blog 3/30/21

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

Voiceovers and Google Drive – The Not Silent Blog 3/23/21

Mar 23
2 min

Voiceovers and Google Drive – The Not Silent Blog 3/23/21

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

Voiceovers and the 1099 – The Not Silent Blog 3/16/21

Mar 16
2 min

Voiceovers and the 1099 – The Not Silent Blog 3/16/21

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

Voiceovers and Bottlenecks – The Not Silent Blog – 3/9/21

Mar 9
2 min

Voiceovers and Bottlenecks – The Not Silent Blog – 3/9/21

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 th

Voiceovers and Client Retention – The Not Silent Blog 03/02/21

Mar 2
2 min

Voiceovers and Client Retention – The Not Silent Blog 03/02/21

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 compan

Voice Acting and the Explainer – The Not Silent Blog 2/23/21

Feb 23
2 min

Voice Acting and the Explainer – The Not Silent Blog 2/23/21

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 i