As freelancers, voice talent have to deal with a lot of things to run their business. One of many is handling different forms of payment. There are news forms of payment popping up all the time so I figured it would be fun (well, fun for me in a voice-nerdy kind of way) to explore the different forms of payment out there right now.
Check: while getting a paper check sent you via snail is a bit antiquated in the 21st Century, this is a relatively secure way to get paid. I have no issues getting paid this way. I must admit it’s still bit of a thrill getting a check in the mail. 🙂
Direct Deposit: what’s nice about direct deposit is that it goes directly into the bank account of your choice with no fees and only takes a day or two to clear. It’s relatively fast and secure.
Wire Transfer: often used by my international clients. Also relatively fast and secure but the fees stink. They’re around $12-$18 per payment so I’ve been trying to steer clients away from this one.
Credit Card: yes, clients can pay you with a credit card. I’ve never used that method so if you have experience with that, please share. I will say that I’m in the process of building a new VO Strategist website (I’ll let you know when it goes live) and I just joined Stripe so I can accept credit card payments.
PayPal: PayPal is one of the most common forms of payment these days. It’s instant and relatively secure. It also does a currency exchange so you don’t have to get paid in your home currency. Just make sure you know the exchange rates.
The two big problems with it are the fees (which seem to get higher and higher every day) and I have heard more than one horror story of payments being withheld for long periods of time or just lost. I have clients both domestic and international who pay me via PayPal and I’m trying to get them to use different forms of payment. Here are my two favorites…
Zelle: Zelle is awesome. It’s a bank-to-bank app so you can instantly transfer money with no fees. Almost every major bank in the US uses it. Zelle doesn’t work outside of the US so for my international clients I like…
TransferWise: TransferWise is also awesome. It goes directly into the checking account of your choice and the fees are tiny. It also does currency exchange and I have had no issues with it.
Venmo (owned by PayPal): I have a Venmo account and used it once with no issues but I can’t say much more about it. If you’ve used it and have any experiences to share, please do.
Payoneer: I’ve learned about Payoneer only recently. More and more voice talents are using it so I’d love to hear about it from those you who have.
Google Pay/Android Pay/Apple Pay: I used Google Pay a few times at the insistence of a vendor who got hosed by PayPal. It seemed to work fine. I don’t have any experience with Android Pay or Apple Pay so please share your experiences with them.
There may be a few more forms of payment out there, but those are the major ones. If you know of any others, please share.
TIP OF THE WEEK
You have a lot more control over your Cash Flow than you realize. There is nothing wrong with telling your clients your preferred forms of payment. If they use a payroll service, you get paid the way they have it set up and that’s fine. If it’s a smaller company or even a one-person company, let them know about the other forms of payment out there. Who knows, if you save them a few bucks in transaction fees they may remember you for future projects. 😉
NEWS AND NOTES
If you subscribe to this blog and didn’t get the email last week, my apologies! I had to do some contact database maintenance and as a result some contacts were unintentionally deleted. If you know of any fellow subscribers who didn’t get my blog emailed to them, have them reach out to me and I’ll be happy to get them back on board.
Thursday, September 20th @8PM EST: My next Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Workflow”. We’re going to talk about how to streamline the day-to-day operations of your voiceover business. Click here to sign up.
Thursday, September 27th @8PM EST: My next Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar will be “What Your Website Says About You”. We’re going to talk about everything that you need (and don’t need) on your voiceover website. Click here to sign up.
SOLD OUT Sunday, October 14th @11:30 AM EST: At Arts On site in Manhattan I will be leading the conversation, “Marketing For VO”. In this 2-hour in-person-only workshop we will discuss the basics of marketing, branding, the Sales Funnel, and much more! This is a donation-based event. $35 is the suggested donation, but you are free to contribute whatever you want. If you want to get on the waiting list, just PM me with the subject line “Add Me!”
SAVE THE DATE Sunday, November 4th and Sunday, November 18th: I will be leading two workshops at Soundvine Studios in Manhattan. More details to come…!
November 9-11: MAVO 2018 is only two months away! Organizer Val Kelly just released the schedule. Click here to check it out. There are still a few tickets left! Click here to register.
HAPPY HAPPYS
Happy Teddy Bear Day and Chocolate Milkshake Day!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Remember, the girl you’re with is somebody’s sister. And he’s perfectly capable of kicking your ass.
From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, The H is Silent, but I’m Not.
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 voiceover business consultant known as the VO Strategist and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.
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