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I had the pleasure of narrating “The Four Elements of Thinking” for my friend Ben Cheung. When he announced the release of the print version earlier this year (being the smart-ass that I am) I jokingly asked him if he needs me to narrate the audiobook version. And he said yes! So there you go, my fellow audiobook warriors; it never hurts to ask! Here are some excerpts from the blurb: Stuck mulling over a problem? Is it hard for you to make decisions? Do you struggle to be creative, original and innovative? Are you ever overwhelmed by information overload? Do you get thinker’s block? The four elements of thinking introduces tools in your thinker’s toolbox. This book encourages you to think about the process of thinking. AIR THINKING is a proxy for creativity. It is composed of the Investigation, Incubation, Insight, and Innovation components. EARTH THINKING represents reasoning that is coherent and logical. It is composed of the Evidence, Inductive reasoning, Deductive reasoning and Abductive reasoning components. WATER THINKING symbolizes synthesis which is composed of the Linking, Perspective, Synthesis, and Pivots components. FIRE THINKING stands for Evaluation. It is composed of the Decision, Judgment, Contingency and Validation components. It’s a fascinating journey into the world of cognition and how to take a thoughtful, methodical approach to solving any problem. It was a pleasure to narrate! If you’d like to listen to The Four Elements of Thinking for FREE, be one of the first three people to email me at tom@nulltomdheere.com! TIP OF THE WEEK How can you apply The Four Elements of Thinking to your voiceover business? Use Water Thinking to synthesize your Air Thinking (Creativity) and logic (Earth Thinking), then evaluate what you’ve come up with Fire Thinking. In VO Strategist terms, try to ground your Systems of Thought and Systems of Execution in reality and be able to look at your voiceover business and the way you think & comport objectively. This is a hard thing to do! As I’ve said many times in the past, as Americans raised in the 20th Century we have been trained to think like soldiers and factory workers, not self-determining entrepreneurs. Using the Four Elements of Thinking approach, we can come up with sound ideas to run our voiceover businesses and not let our minds get in the way of our brains. Or is it not let our brains get in the way of our minds…? NEWS AND NOTES Wednesday, June 12th @8:30 PM EST: I have the honor of kicking off the The Summer Series with the webinar ‘Online Casting Sites’! In this special one-time webinar, I’ll talk about the pros and cons of online casting sites in general and Pay-to-Play sites in particular. Thursday, June 13th @8:oo PM EST: The “Business and Money 201” Webinar, ‘Managing Your Money’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about what to do with your paycheck and how to manage your finances, credit cards, taxes, insurance, and retirement. Thursday, June 20th @8PM EST: Marketing 201 webinar, ‘Brand Yourself’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about what branding is and how to build your own brand. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Iced Tea Day and Peanut Butter Cookie Day! 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 VO Strategist and produces the comic book “Agent 1.22”.

Living in the 21st Century is hard, especially for us voice talent. How hard exactly? A few years ago I had the privilege of writing an article for Stage 32, an entertainment industry social media platform. It was called ‘You Will Hate This Blog.’ Stage 32 reached out recently and asked me to write yet another article. This one is called ’10 Steps to Becoming an Effective 21st Century Performer (NOT a 20th Century Starving-Artist)’, which you can read here. I encourage you to read the entire article, but here are the ten steps: Stop Relieving Yourself of the Responsibility of Your Career Start Thinking & Executing Like a Business Understand that the Entertainment Industry is not Vertical Rub the Stars Out of Your Eyes Learn to Develop a “Craft” Mindset Determine What Success Looks Like For You Manage Your Money Like a Business Develop Marketing Skills Be a Cloud-Based Artist Be a Good Human & Collect Good Humans Thank you Stage 32, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to your message of enlightening and strengthening the entertainment industry! TIP OF THE WEEK I break down the aforementioned ten steps in the article, so let’s look at this from a different angle. As I’ve mentioned in previous blog entries, I’m big on examining assumptions and managing expectations. What are your 20th Century assumptions about voice talents and voice seekers? For example, more than a few times I’ve seen voice talents brand & market themselves citing songs, TV shows, and movies from the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s in the 21st Century. For example, if you have a classic bassy, announcer-y sound and are attempting to engage voice seekers under the age of 40 (which more and more are these days), with the tagline “You…asked for it, you got it! My great voice!” that may not be effective because they have no point of reference. My point is that you must employ 21st Century Systems of Thought with 21st Century technology on 21st Century voice seekers to be the most effective. I know, I know, old dog new tricks. But a freelancer’s ability to adapt is critical to survival. Don’t be left in the dust! NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, July 11th @8:oo PM EST: The “Business and Money 201” Webinar, ‘Cost/Benefit Analysis’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about determining how and why you generated your voiceover revenue. Wednesday, July 17th @8:30 PM EST: The Summer Series continues with my webinar ‘Agents, Managers, and the Union’! Here’s the blurb: When entering the voiceover industry, most aspirants have the same questions: How do I get an agent? What’s the difference between an agent and a manager? Should I join the union? Tom Dheere will answer these questions and many more in Agents, Managers, and the Unions. Click here to sign up! Thursday, July 18th @8PM EST: Marketing 201 webinar, ‘The Sales Funnel’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about what the Sales Funnel is and how to push voice seekers through it. Thursday July 25th @8PM EST: The Voice Over Xtra webinar, ‘Voice-Over Online Casting: The Basics And Beyond’. In this webinar, we’re going to talk about online casting sites and the pros & cons of the Pay-to-Play model. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day and Barbecue Day! 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 VO Strategist and produces the comic book “Agent 1.22”.

Facts are sometimes hard to find in the voiceover industry’s social media conversations. Here are two examples from just last week… In one social media conversation, someone tried to convince the voiceover community that you’ll be sued if you don’t get permission from a company to use their brand in your voiceover demo. The thread flamed all day and the original poster was repeatedly rude & insulting and provided no facts to substantiate his claim. FYI the flamer in question is apparently a voiceover coach and demo producer. I listened to both his and some of his students’ demos. Oy. Oh, and this “coach” has no coaching website or even a voiceover website, just a Pay-to-Play profile. Double oy. It reminded me of the “Respect” blog I wrote earlier this year. The guy in the Respect blog was being a jerk, but this guy was clearly looking for trouble a.k.a. “trolling“. Both people effectively destroyed their potential to develop meaningful relationships with the voiceover community. That may not mean much to you, but I’ll say it again: last year, over half of my voiceover work came from recommendations or referrals from fellow voice talent. In another social media conversation, The owner of a new P2P site tore the VO community a new one because he’s sick & tired of the myriad of complaints that some subscribers haven’t booked any work yet. I’m not a member of the P2P site so I can’t speak intelligently about it. I will say that recently the majority of social media conversations I’ve seen starts with the question, “Has anyone booked anything yet?” followed by a string of “no’s”. That may explain why the owner went postal, and I don’t blame him. Is it possible that the reason this thread comes up so often because the majority of aspiring voice talent are not able to book work in general? Hmm… TIP OF THE WEEK Let’s address some of these “facts”. Can you use existing brands & companies on your demo? YES. A voiceover demo’s purpose to DEMO-nstrate your skills, not to make money off the backs of the brands you use on a demo. You can write your own copy, use existing work, or both. If you’ve never booked a voiceover gig on given P2P site, is there something intrinsically wrong with said P2P site? NO. Some may argue that there is something intrinsically wrong with all Pay-to-Play sites, but that’s a different conversation. There are many reasons why you may not have booked a gig yet. Look at the way you set up your profile, your demos, and the quality of your auditions. Have you had trouble booking gigs via other Portals? To be an effective voice talent, you must have your facts straight. Do not rely on social media to get your facts. Do you own research and talk to your coaches and mentors. They will be happy to help separate facts from fiction. NEWS AND NOTES Tuesday, July 23rd @8:30PM EST: “Biz Shiz – Part 2 (or, How to Manage Your Audiobook Business)”. In this Audio Publishers Association webcast hosted by Suzanne Elise Freeman and PJ Ochlan, audio book legend Scott Brick and I talk about the ins and outs of managing your audio book business. (for APA Members only) Thursday July 25th @8PM EST: The Voice Over Xtra webinar, ‘Voice-Over Online Casting: The Basics And Beyond’. In this webinar, we’re going to talk about online casting sites and the pros & cons of the Pay-to-Play model. Sunday July 28th @11:30AM EST: The Voice Actors of NYC workshop, ‘In The Trenches: Running Your VO Business Day to Day”. In this donation-based live workshop, you’ll learn how to manage your voiceover business down to the hour to get the most out of the precious time you have to move your voiceover business forward. We’ll discuss the ins and outs of time management and workflow to maximize your efficiency, productivity, and ability to focus. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Sprinkle Day and Thread the Needle Day! 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”.

Gambling and voiceovers. What do they have in common? First off, let me say that historically I’ve never been a big gambler. Until the past year or so, I’ve been to the track once (and won some 2 dollar bets, squeee!), been to a casino once, and entered a few poker tournaments (and won a decent-sized one so that was nice). Since then, I got married in Las Vegas and have been to some casinos in NJ & CT. I still don’t consider myself a gambler, but it is fun! I mostly play the slot machines, which a friend classified as “expensive video games”. I like that perspective and it takes the pressure off of winning. TIP OF THE WEEK Do you need to be lucky to be a voice actor? Absolutely not and I have talked about that in severe detail. I will say that both gambling and voiceovers share a common ingredient: hope. Hope that your time, money, and effort pays off. Like gambling, trying to do voiceovers for a living is a risk. The odds are not in your favor and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If they do, they’re trying to sell you something. How do you increase your odds of “winning”? Like gambling, learn to manage risk. Empower yourself with knowledge by understanding how it works. Learn the “rules of the game” as well as sound strategies & tactics (quality training, effective demos, a thoughtful marketing plan, etc.) Also like gambling, only play with what you can afford to lose. Voiceovers, like any other business, requires capital and investment. I’ll never tell a voice talent how to spend their money, but if you don’t understand the rules and the risks, you will walk away empty-handed. NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, August 15th @8:oo PM EST: The “Business and Money 201” Webinar, ‘Rates’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about how to build an effective Rate Sheet, how to negotiate rates with clients, how to bill them, and how to make sure you get paid. Thursday, August 22nd @8PM EST: Marketing 201 webinar, ‘4 Words that will Kill your Marketing’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about your vocabulary can seriously damage, if not destroy, your voiceover career before it even starts. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Cheesecake Day and Walk on Stilts Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK How do you not love someone who forces you to do your best? Aaron Sorkin 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”.

Facebook Groups are probably my biggest time-suck right now and I bet it’s yours, too. But we’ll get into that in a moment… First off, I’d like to say thank you for the MASSIVE response last’s week’s blog got. I’ve never had a blog entry commented on, shared, and re-posted so many times. A special thank you to those who sent me private messages of appreciation and support. It seems to have resonated with many members of the voiceover community. Curiously, there wasn’t a single negative comment. I guess when you shine a light on something important, the roaches scatter. 😉 Anyway, I want to engage in one of my favorite ego-driven exercises: quoting myself. I have HAD IT with most of the voiceover-related Facebook groups. Many have gotten too negative and often downright toxic. It feels like every other blog post I write stems from someone’s awful behavior on one of them. It’s great blog fodder but it definitely increases my tension level. It’s like every day there is another smart-mouth know-nothing newbie, scumbag predatory demo coach, knuckle-headed flamer, holier-than-thou union member, or jaded veteran who has nothing better to do than Statler & Waldorf the group minus the funny. I think it’s safe to say that Facebook Groups are a mixed blessing. They can be a wonderful place for fellow voice talents to gather and share important information, ask questions, share war stories, celebrate their victories, or just commiserate. They can also be a place to brag, proselytize, insult, inflame, prey upon aspiring talent, or just be a dick. Even worse, they can waste hours and hours of your valuable time by participating in a soul-crushing thread, checking every single damn notification, or just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling… TIP OF THE WEEK What can we do to get a better handle on Facebook Groups? Control Your Facebook Group Affiliations: leave the ones that are redundant, inactive, distracting, or raise your blood pressure. Control Your Feed: you have a lot more control over your Facebook feed than you used to. Click the arrow just to the right of the Help button on the top-right corner of your page. Control Your Notifications: you can manage whether you get notifications from any given Facebook Group and how often. Just click the Notifications button in any Facebook Group. Get The **** Off Facebook: You have important things to do to run your voiceover business every day. There’s nothing wrong with checking out the Facebook Groups once in a while in between auditions, research, cold calls, etc. but don’t jump down the rabbit hole every time someone asks what we think of Voices Dot Com or what microphone they should buy. You’re a grownup. Act like it. Control yourself. NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, August 15th @8:oo PM EST: The “Business and Money 201” Webinar, ‘Rates’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about how to build an effective Rate Sheet, how to negotiate rates with clients, how to bill them, and how to make sure you get paid. Thursday, August 22nd @8PM EST: Marketing 201 webinar, ‘4 Words that will Kill your Marketing’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about your vocabulary can seriously damage, if not destroy, your voiceover career before it even starts. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Lemon Meringue Pie Day and World Elephant Day! 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”.

To be a successful voice talent, competence is critical. I think that’s safe to say that for any profession, but in many professions there are universally recognized methods to acquire competence. Getting a college degree, passing a certification test, and passing the bar exam for example. In voiceovers, not so much. Anyone without training can give it a shot. I bring this up because I recently watched the fascinating Ted-Ed video “Why Incompetent People Think They’re Amazing“: There are a lot of aspiring voice talents out there who think they are competent but really aren’t. I myself was one of them for a very long time. I had talent, training, and a demo but nothing beyond that. Needless to say it took a painfully long time to become competent. TIP OF THE WEEK What does it mean to have competence as a voice talent? Mirriam-Webster defines competence as: “the quality or state of having sufficient knowledge, judgment, skill, or strength (as for a particular duty or in a particular respect)” Let’s break that down… Knowledge: understanding the voiceover industry, genres, rates, etc. Learn, learn, and keep learning. Judgement: making good decisions i.e. how to make good choices on the fly when narrating a script or determining which microphone to buy. Learning when and how to ask good questions is a big help! Skill: having quality narration training and the ability to use your hardware, software, etc. Strength: turning your knowledge, judgement, and skill into a synergistic, effective asset that will help get and keep clients. That last one is the biggest indicator of competence: the ability to consistently book voiceover gigs and keep clients coming back for more. Like the video says, you are not as good as you think you are. Be objective and honest with yourself. Don’t be delusional. Find your pockets of incompetence. Seek feedback to improve. Poor performers don’t know how badly they are doing. Don’t be one of them! NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, September 12th @8:oo PM EST: The “Business and Money 201” Webinar, ‘Workflow’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about how to run your voiceover business from home on a day-to-day basis without losing your mind. September 13-15: VoCation NYC is almost here! This shiny new conference will focus on the business and marketing side of the voiceover industry. There is an incredible lineup of presenters who specialize in the marketing and business side of the voiceover industry, including keynote speaker J. Michael Collins and… Carli Silver Casting Tom Dheere Direct Marketing Dr. Rupal Patel (VocaliD) Future of Voiceover Tim Walsh (Atlas Talent) Agents Eileen Schellhorn (DDO) Agents Robyn Starr (ACM) Management Jill Kershaw Casting (CEO of Sound & Fury) Jim Kennelly Negotiation Melissa Exelberth Turn Non-Union Work Union Tracy Lindley Mastering LinkedIn Matt Dubois Online Casting Carin Gilfry Pay to Play Rob Sciglimpaglia Business Structure / Tax Joey Schaljo Working Pro Panel Maria Pendolino Working Pro Panel Andy Roth Casting Hugh Edwards Future of Voiceover Alissa Zea Working Pro Panel Jamie Muffett Home Studio Setup Johnny Heller Audiobooks Jo Anna Perrin Audiobooks Robert Fass Audiobooks Scott Jacobi Audiobooks Freddie Feldman Future of Voiceover Attendance is limited to 150 seats and they are selling fast. Go to VOcationconference.com to learn more! Thursday, September 26th @8PM EST: Marketing 201 webinar, ‘What Your Website Says About You’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about how your website can help you gain or lose clients without you ever knowing it. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Cheese Pizza Day and Fight Procrastination Day! 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”.

Effectiveness is everything in your voiceover career, especially in the booth during a live session. Here’s an example… Last week I had a recording session for a commercial demo spot. That’s when they semi-produce a commercial and test it before they decide to fully produce it and put it on TV. I booked it via a representation-generated audition and we recorded it in a nearby studio here in NYC. I had a great time and both the producer and engineer were a pleasure to work with. I’m not at liberty to discuss the product in question, but I do want to talk a bit about the process. The session was an hour long for a fifteen-second spot (about five lines of copy). We did roughly ten takes of the entire spot and some ABC’s of a few lines. “ABC” is when they ask you to do the same line three times in a row, each time a little differently. One thing that was nice was that the audio engineer was editing my takes to video so we could see the finished product as we were going. The music and Foley was edited in, too and that’s always a big help with helping me determine tone & pace. Another nice thing about this session is that it quickly turned into a collaboration instead of a line-reading clinic. That’s when the client tells you exactly how to say each line. Some voice talent find that infuriating and others don’t mind. I used to hate it but it doesn’t bother me that much anymore. If giving me a line-reading gives them exactly what they want, everybody wins. Anyway, the session went smoothly and even though we were focused and working hard, everyone had a good time. TIP OF THE WEEK Effectiveness: the degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result; success. How do you demonstrate effectiveness during a live session? Listen, listen, listen. Good voice talents are good listeners. Your opinion of how think the copy should be read does not matter. Your job is to focus on what the producer/director tells you to do and by extension seek the author’s truth. That means getting out of your own way, internalizing their direction, and channeling it into your read. Give them options. A huge part of effectiveness in the booth is to be able to deliver a variety of reads on command. There are an almost infinite variety of ways to do this. You can speed it up or slow it down (spot time permitting). You can alter the inflections (upward, downward, circumflex). You can add a “wink” or a bit more smile to a given word or line. And much, much more. Your opinion only matters when they ask you for it. Do not share what you think of the writing or your takes unless they explicitly ask for it. And for Pete’s sake, don’t react to your takes! In other words, don’t sigh, heavily exhale, or many any other noises that express your dissatisfaction (or satisfaction) with a take. It’s their job to like or dislike your takes, not yours. Effectiveness is achievable if you remember your training, stay calm, and use common sense. NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, September 12th @8:oo PM EST: The “Business and Money 201” Webinar, ‘Workflow’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about how to run your voiceover business from home on a day-to-day basis without losing your mind. September 13-15: VoCation NYC is THIS WEEK!!! This shiny new conference will focus on the business and marketing side of the voiceover industry. There is an incredible lineup of presenters who specialize in the marketing and business side of the voiceover industry, including keynote speaker J. Michael Collins and… Carli Silver Casting Tom Dheere Direct Marketing Dr. Rupal Patel (VocaliD) Future of Voiceover Tim Walsh (Atlas Talent) Agents Eileen Schellhorn (DDO) Agents Robyn Starr (ACM) Management Jill Kershaw Casting (CEO of Sound & Fury) Jim Kennelly Negotiation Melissa Exelberth Turn Non-Union Work Union Tracy Lindley Mastering LinkedIn Matt Dubois Online Casting Carin Gilfry Pay to Play Rob Sciglimpaglia Business Structure / Tax Joey Schaljo Working Pro Panel Maria Pendolino Working Pro Panel Andy Roth Casting Hugh Edwards Future of Voiceover Alissa Zea Working Pro Panel Jamie Muffett Home Studio Setup Johnny Heller Audiobooks Jo Anna Perrin Audiobooks Robert Fass Audiobooks Scott Jacobi Audiobooks Freddie Feldman Future of Voiceover Attendance is limited to 150 seats and they are selling fast. Go to VOcationconference.com to learn more! Thursday, September 26th @8PM EST: Marketing 201 webinar, ‘What Your Website Says About You’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about how your website can help you gain or lose clients without you ever knowing it. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Salami Day and Make Your Bed Day! I make my bed every day. Wish I had more salami, though… 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”.

I had the distinct honor and pleasure of speaking at the Voice Actors of NYC’s inaugural (and one-of-a-kind) voiceover business & marketing conference, VOcation NYC. This is truly a unique event! Never before has anyone attempted to create a conference dedicated solely to the business & marketing side of voiceovers, but VO wizards Carin Gilfry (the voice of CVS) and Jamie Muffett (VO School Podcast producer) did it. And they did it oh-so-well. This three-day event was jam-packed with invaluable content. Everything from marketing tips to website info to legal advice were presented in highly-informative breakout sessions. The panels were stacked with agents, production companies, and even notables from ACX and Voiceovers.com. Even yours truly got to present a session about the virtues of Direct Marketing… Thanks for the Instagram love, Finley! Go to VOcationconference.com to learn more about VOcation NYC. It was a truly special event I’m looking forward to VOcation NYC 2020! TIP OF THE WEEK I did the math and I’m pretty sure VOcation NYC was the 22nd voiceover conference I’ve attended. Wow! VOcation ranks pretty high up there. If you are looking to learn more about the “in the trenches”, “grownup” stuff that will truly move your voiceover business forward, save your pennies and go to VOcation NYC next year. Be sure to go to www.vocationconference.com, scroll to the bottom of the page, and sign up for their mailing list. NEWS AND NOTES Do you love 30 Rock? Tina Fey? Socrates? Free stuff? Follow these simple steps for a chance to win the audio book “30 Rock and Philosophy“! Click here to listen to a sample! Share this blog entry on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter with the comment “I want to go to there! @vocationnyc” Send me a private message demonstrating your social media prowess The winner (or perhaps winners?) will be announced Tuesday 9/24/19 in this here blog. Good luck! Thursday, September 26th @8PM EST: Marketing 201 webinar, ‘What Your Website Says About You’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about how your website can help you gain or lose clients without you ever knowing it. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Guacamole Day and Constitution Day! 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”.

A while back I wrote a blog about managing expectations based on your assumptions. Today let’s talk about examining your assumptions. People enter the voiceover industry with certain assumptions and manage their expectations accordingly. After achieving (or not achieving) certain types of success, their assumptions may evolve. Some assumptions are accurate. Others, not so much. Here are some examples… Some aspiring voice talent assume you have to be in the union to be a successful voice talent. Some union voice actors assume that if you are a non-union voice talent, you are unethical. Some voice actors assume their only way to get into the voiceover industry is to use Pay To play voiceover sites. Some veteran voice talents whose voiceover careers pre-date the advent of the Pay To Play business model assume that if you use Pay To Play voiceover sites to find work, you are unethical. Assumptions like these are not restricted to the voiceover industry, but that’s a rabbit hole we may not be able to climb out of. 😉 In case you’re not aware, none of these assumptions are accurate. I’m just going to touch upon one of these assumptions to make my point. This is coming from someone who used Pay To Play sites successfully for a few years than abandoned them since I assumed they are unethical by definition. By definition they are not but by application they can be. TIP OF THE WEEK There are assumptions and then there is reality. The reality is this. If you are a 20, 30, or even 40-something and you have to cast a voice talent for the first time when you know nothing about the voiceover industry, you are going to use Google. The first results page is festooned with P2P sites. You will click on some of them, do a little research, and be amazed at how quick & easy it is to cast a voice talent for your project. If you or I were outside of the voiceover industry and were in the same situation today we would do the exact same thing. If you use P2P sites to start or further your voiceover career and screen your casting notices effectively, audition professionally, and bid ethically, you are not unethical. You are being realistic in 2019. It can be a facet of your voiceover business model, but don’t make the assumption that it should be the entirety of your business model. Auditioning on P2P sites will only get you so far. Representation and direct marketing are powerful tools that will give you access to some clients & projects that P2Ps will not. My point is this. The voiceover industry has changed drastically in the past few years and some stances are no longer accurate or realistic. P2P sites and a proliferation of non-union voice talent are here to stay. Examine your assumptions before you get left behind, if you haven’t already… NEWS AND NOTES The winners of a free copy of the audio book “30 Rock and Philosophy“ are…Steve Z. and Sharon B.!!! Congratulations and enjoy! Thursday, September 26th @8PM EST: Marketing 201 webinar, ‘What Your Website Says About You’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about how your website can help you gain or lose clients without you ever knowing it. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Ice Cream Cone Day and Elephant Appreciation Day! 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”.

App narration is one of the many voiceover genres I’ve had the pleasure of participating in. I’m in the middle of narrating my second app right now. The first one I did is called Mind Warrior, a therapeutic app. You can check it out here. As to my second foray into app narration, since I’m in the middle of doing it I don’t feel comfortable talking about it until it releases. I will say that it’s designed for workplace training, which I think is a great application for an app. See what I did there? 😉 TIP OF THE WEEK When it comes to preparation and technique, app narration (at least the two I’ve been involved in) seem to fall under the eLearning umbrella. I don’t think SAG-AFTRA has a contract specifically for app narration, but I’d guess it would fall under the Corporate/Educational (Co-Ed) Category 1 contract. If it’s a gaming app, the Video Game contract may cover it. The Global Voice Acting Academy Rate Guide has a section on app narration (pasted below for your convenience): FYI there are 2.8 million different apps in the Google Play Store and 2.47 million apps in the Apple Store. Not all of them require voice talent, but this could be a genre you may want to investigate to find more voiceover work. NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, December 5th @8PM EST: my next “Business and Money 201” webinar topic will be ‘Goals’. In this one-hour webinar, we’ll talk about how to set yourself up for success in 2020 by writing an effective business plan. Saturday, December 7th @5PM: The 11th Annual NYC Voiceover Holiday Extravaganza! Click here to join the festivities at Hurley’s Saloon in New York City! Wednesday, December 11th @8PM EST: The VO Strategist workshop, “How do I Market my Demo?” In this 90-minute webinar, we will discuss general marketing strategies and some specific tactics to help you determine how to get your voiceover demo into the right hands! Click the link to sign up! https://www.vostrategist.com/events/how-do-i-market-my-demo Thursday, December 12th @8PM EST: Marketing 201 webinar, ‘Brand Yourself’. In this one-hour webinar, we”l talk about the basics of telling the story that is your voiceover business. The Mid-Atlantic Voice Over (MAVO) conference Mastery Session signup is open! My session, ‘Manage Your Money Like a VO Pro’ will take place Friday, November 6, 2020. These sessions are optional and have a supplementary fee because they are not part of the main MAVO 2020 Conference. These sessions fill up quickly as there is a max of 12-15 so make sure you get your spot! Saturday, February 1st 2020 @2PM PST: I will be speaking LIVE at the Voice Actors Studio in sunny Las Vegas! The topic is “THE VOICEOVER BUSINESS AND HOW TO ACT LIKE IT”. Registration is now open! March 26-29 2020: I am proud to announce that I am the VO Atlanta 2020 eLearning/narration Track leader! Very soon I will announce my teammates and the sessions we’re offering. Stay tuned…! HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Cookie Day and Dice Day! 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”.

2020 is almost here! Are you ready for it? To plan for 2020, let’s look back at 2019. Did you achieve all the goals you set for the year? Specifically: Did you hit your Cash Flow goals by making/spending the money you hoped you would? Did you book more clients/gigs than in 2018? Did you acquire the Tools you needed to improve your business? Did you improve your Technique by taking more classes or getting more coaching? Did your Marketing campaigns work? Did you maintain or improve your Health physically, mentally, and spiritually? TIP OF THE WEEK Write down the answers to the questions I just posed and look at them objectively. Why did you succeed or fail in 2019? What can you learn from your successes and failures to make 2020 better? If you succeeded; can you determine what steps you took to succeed? Can you repeat those actions or do you need to come up with new tactics? If you failed; was it due to a lack of knowledge, resources, time, or effort? Which of those can you address in 2020 and how? No matter what happened in 2019, your goal in 2020 is to move all areas of your voiceover business forward. Improve your Cash Flow, acquire better Tools, develop your Technique, create more effective Marketing strategies, and maintain good Health both outside, inside, and upstairs. If you had a “good” Tools year but a bad “Marketing” year, that’s okay. It’s really hard to hit a home run in every category every year, but the goal is to strive for improvement in as many areas of your voiceover business as you can. Remember; vague goals will give you vague results. Specific goals will give you specific results. Think about your voiceover business both holistically and by area, write it down, make a diagnosis, craft an Action plan, and set yourself up for success in 2020! NEWS AND NOTES NEW CLASS!!! Wednesday, December 11th @8PM EST: the VO Strategist workshop, “How do I Market my Demo?” In this 90-minute webinar, we will discuss general marketing strategies and some specific tactics to help you determine how to get your voiceover demo into the right hands. Use the promo code VOSDEMO10 to get 20% off! Click on the link to sign up! https://www.vostrategist.com/events/how-do-i-market-my-demo Thursday, December 12th @8PM EST: the Marketing 201 webinar, ‘Brand Yourself’. In this one-hour webinar, we’ll talk about the basics of telling the story that is your voiceover business. 2020 EVENTS!!! Saturday, February 1st, 2020 @2PM PST: I will be speaking LIVE at the Voice Actors Studio in sunny Las Vegas! The topic is “THE VOICEOVER BUSINESS AND HOW TO ACT LIKE IT”. Registration is now open! March 26-29, 2020: I am proud to announce that I am the VO Atlanta 2020 eLearning/narration Track leader! Very soon I will announce my teammates and the sessions we’re offering. Stay tuned…! November 6-8, 2020: Are you going to 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 as there is a max of 12-15 so make sure you get your spot! HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Pastry Day and Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day! 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”.

Ah, social media. The constantly moving target and Achilles Heel for both aspiring & veteran voice talent alike. I bring this up because lately when I’ve been updating my contacts in my CRM I’ve been deleting their Klout and Google+ links, two of the most recent social media casualties. Which platform is next to fall, I wonder…? Social media platforms in general and Klout in particular are guilty of inducing Status Anxiety. Status Anxiety: the constant tension or fear of being perceived as “unsuccessful” by the society in materialistic terms. This definition comes from the book “Status Anxiety” by Alain de Botton. I talked about the quest to achieve higher status earlier this year in this blog entry. As voice talent, we are doubly screwed when it comes to social media. Why? Because… We are constantly trying to “keep up with the Jones’s” with status updates proclaiming our victories & prowess which actually make us look needy, desperate, clueless, boastful, or all at the same time We don’t know how to use social media to land clients, much less do #1 effectively TIP OF THE WEEK Why do most of us attempt to use social media to advance our voiceover business and not get far? Many reasons. I think the biggest one is that when using social media, we don’t begin with the end in mind. In other words, we don’t set clear, specific, actionable goals nor do we understand the tools we’re trying to use. With that in mind, here are a few 2020 social media goals you can set for yourself: Learn why each social media platform works the way they do. Each are designed to have a different conversation and achieve different types of engagement. Feel free to use multiple social media platforms at the same time but pick one and get really, really good at it. Take an online course to develop your proficiency. I recommend StackSkills. Set specific goals within each social media platform. Sure, achieving a certain number of connections is fine, but that doesn’t mean squat if you don’t know how to achieve consistent, positive engagement. Use the social media platforms you like and ignore the ones you don’t. If you don’t like Twitter, don’t use Twitter! NEWS AND NOTES This is the last Not Silent Blog entry for 2019. I want to thank all of you for your support over the past 11 years and I hope to stay ‘not silent’ for the next 11. I wish everyone a safe & happy holiday season and here’s to kicking arse in 2020! December 13-25: The Julie Williams 12 Days of Christmas Sale!!! You can get discounts on webinars from some of the top folks in the voiceover industry (and me). Click on this link to get 20% off my “The Voiceover Biz & Taxes” webinar! 2020 EVENTS!!! Wednesday, January 8th @9PM EST: “Managing Your Money” courtesy of the fabulous casting director Mary-Lynn Wissner of “The VO Pros”. In this 2-hour webinar, we’ll talk about what to do with your paycheck and how to manage your finances, credit cards, taxes, insurance, and retirement. Click here to sign up! Sunday, January 12th: The Voice Actors of NYC workshop, “Get Your *** Together for 2020”. In this in-person-only workshop, we will discuss how to build a voiceover business plan and set your goals for the New Year. Registration starts soon and this donation-based class will sell out super-fast so stay tuned…! Thursday, January 16th @8PM EST: My next Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Rates, Negotiating, and Billing”. We’re gonna talk about, well, rates, negotiating, and billing. Wednesday, January 22nd @8:30 PM EST: The encore presentation of ‘Online Casting Sites’. In this special one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about the pros and cons of online casting sites in general and Pay-to-Play sites in particular. Thursday, January 23rd @8PM EST: my next Marketing 201 webinar will be “4 Words That Will Kill Your Marketing”. We’ll talk about how think like an effective marketer. Saturday, February 1st, 2020 @2PM PST: I will be speaking LIVE at the Voice Actors Studio in sunny Las Vegas! The topic is “THE VOICEOVER BUSINESS AND HOW TO ACT LIKE IT”. If you live in the Las Vegas area there are still a few spots left! Click here to sign up! HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Maple Syrup Day and Write a Business Plan Month! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Don't be a playwright unless you can't be a complete person without it. Edward Albee 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”.