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In last week’s Tip of the Week, my first bit of advice regarded respect. To narcissistic-ally quote myself…
The most important factor in a relationship is respect. I talked about it in this blog from a while back. Respect your clients, respect your partner, and respect yourself. Respect them the way you would want to be respected.
I left out two important things. Respect the voiceover industry in general and your fellow voice talents in particular. I bring this up because just a few days ago there was an (ahem) interesting exchange on a voiceover-related Facebook group. Man, if it wasn’t for people shooting their mouths off in Facebook groups I’d have nothing to talk about. 😉
Anyway, someone asked about adding music & sound to voiceover demos and offered a distressingly low rate to anyone who could provide them. Another member of the group (a highly respected sound engineer) suggested they use a professional demo producer and sound engineer to make the demo properly. Since I’m not at liberty to directly quote the exchange, trust me when I say it didn’t go well. The person in question was rude & dismissive to both the engineer and one of my students who advocated investing in a professional coach & sound engineer to produce a competitive demo. The person in question also bragged about awards won and how often they do voiceovers “on the cheap” or for free. Hoo, boy.
The lack of respect demonstrated here represents everything that is wrong with the voiceover industry today. It represents the shabby, bottom-feeding, course behavior perpetrated by some voice talent and voice seekers. This has no place in our industry and I will not stand for it. Neither should you!
TIP OF THE WEEK
Let this be a lesson on how NOT to comport yourself. Here are three ways to respect the voiceover industry, it’s people, and yourself:
Invest in a competitive demo produced by an experienced professional. Making a demo from scratch without coaching or a sound engineer will not serve you. Don’t do it “on the cheap” or you will be just another starving artist clogging voice seekers’ inboxes and wasting everyone’s time. BE PATIENT. Invest in your training and demo production properly, even if it takes longer than you want it to. You will thank yourself in the long run.
Don’t do voiceovers for free or on the cheap. I’ve talked about this extensively in a previous blog entry. It is not something to be proud of. The practice damages our industry in a myriad of ways. It devalues and commoditizes voice talent which makes it harder for everyone to get paid a rate that is commensurate with the industry standard. KNOW YOUR VALUE and stop selling out the rest of us.
Don’t be a jerk on social media. The voiceover industry is a small world filled with kind souls who talk to each other regularly. We as a community have no tolerance for condescension, self-aggrandizement, and petty jabs. I don’t care how many awards you have won or national gigs you have landed. It does not relieve you of the responsibility of having manners. BE KIND. Kindness will always serve you better than derision ever will.
NEWS AND NOTES
Wednesday, February 20th @8PM EST: my next Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar will be “4 Words That Will Kill Your Marketing”. We’ll talk about how think like an effective marketer. Click here to sign up.
SAVE THE DATE Tuesday, February 26th @9PM EST: I will be leading a “Managing Your Money” webinar hosted by the wonderful Julie Williams. Details to come…!
Sunday, March 3rd @10AM EST: I am honored to be one of the guest speakers at the NY Audiobook Business Workshop hosted by Scott Brick and Johnny Heller. I’ll be leading a discussion on how to file your taxes as a voice talent. Learn more here.
SAVE THE DATE Sunday, March 24th @1:30 PM EST: I will be leading a “Managing Your Money” workshop at Arts On Site hosted by the Voice Actors of NYC Facebook Group. We’ll talk about all things financial as a voiceover business and tips about filing your taxes in 2019. I will post the link when tickets are available. FYI the VANYC donation-based events sell out FAST so when tickets go on sale, don’t dawdle!
March 29-31, 2019: VO Atlanta 2019! My Breakout Session will be “The Sales Funnel” and my X-Session will be “Managing Your Money”. There are still a few X-Session seats left so sign up today!
HAPPY HAPPYS
Happy Peppermint Patty Day and World Marriage 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”.
Photo by twicepix
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