Goodwill saved my ass last week.
Last week was one of those weeks that new voice talent hope for and veteran voice talent have come to love/loathe; I got buried in last-minute voiceover bookings and advance sessions that kept getting rescheduled. That created a ripple-effect where I had to move other sessions around, sometimes more than once.
This effected the audio book I’m currently recording (see last week’s blog entry) as well as many of the VO Strategist students I’m working with (BTW I have a new demo production page!) Fortunately, every time I asked anyone (be they client or student) if we could reschedule, I got a resounding and supportive yes.
Here’s the definition(s) of goodwill:
friendly, helpful, or cooperative feelings or attitude.”the plan is dependent on goodwill between the two sides“
the established reputation of a business regarded as a quantifiable asset
TIP OF THE WEEK
How does one promote goodwill in the voiceover community? How can you set yourself up for success when things get weird?
Be a really good voice talent. Consistently deliver quality narration with minimal technical and performance errors. Under-promise and over-deliver. Be professional, prepared, and a pleasure to work with.
Be flexible with rates, deadlines, and script changes (within reason). Always be happy to work with the client in these areas since they have their own pressures to deal with and you always want to be the problem-solver, not problem-maker.
Be graceful and grateful. Always put your best foot forward when interacting with voice seekers as well as when you interact on social media. I’ve lost count of the amount of times voice talent have behaved themselves out of Facebook groups for their flamey/belligerent/misogynistic/poopy posts.
NEWS AND NOTES
Thursday, February 20th @8PM EST: My next Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar will be ‘Time Management’. In this one-hour webinar, we’re going to talk about how to keep your voiceover business on track on a daily basis. Click here to sign up.
Thursday, February 27th @8PM EST: My next Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar will be ‘Brand Yourself’. In this one-hour webinar, we’ll talk about the basics of telling the story that is your voiceover business. Click here to sign up!
Sunday, March 1st @10AM EST in NYC: Scott Brick & Johnny Heller present: The New York Audiobook Business Workshop 2! I will be part of two conversations that day – social media and “office crap”, as in which software we use to run our businesses. Click here to sign up!
The VO Atlanta X-Session registration is OPEN! I’m leading two X-Sessions this year…
Thursday March 26th @9:00 AM EST: (PRE-CONFERENCE X-SESSION) Learning to do eLearning
Friday March 27th 6:30PM EST: eLearning Script Writing & Performance Intensive
These special workshops carry an additional fee on top of the VO Atlanta registration fee BUT you don’t have to attend VO Atlanta proper to sign up for these workshops. Click here to see the full list of X-Sessions offered.
Thursday May 28th @2:30 PM EST: “Learning to do eLearning”. Are you in town for APAC Week? Curious about eLearning narration? In this two-hour workshop you will learn what eLearning narration is, it’s sub-genres, narration tips, how much to charge, demo specs, and there will be live coaching! It’s $100 to attend, but if you use the promo code EARLYBIRD528 you get in for only $75! Seats are limited so sign up ASAP. Click here to register!
November 6-8, 2020: the Mid-Atlantic Voice Over (MAVO) conference in Herndon, Virginia. I have the honor of presenting yet again! In addition to the regular sessions (which will be announced soon) I will also be leading a special 3-hour Mastery Session. The topic: ‘Manage Your Money Like a VO Pro‘. These sessions fill up quickly so make sure you get your spot! Click here to sign up now!
HAPPY HAPPYS
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Tom Dheere is a 20+year veteran of the voice over industry who has narrated thousands of projects for hundreds of clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a voiceover business & marketing consultant known as the VOStrategist and produces the comic book “Agent 1.22”.