As a freelancer, are you outstanding? Not just in your voiceover abilities or business negotiations, but in your customer service. You have all the other bases covered. What difference could one small adjustment make?
Apparently, a big difference.
When you go the extra mile to make things easier for your client on any project, everyone benefits. Not sure just what you need to do to run the distance and make it happen? Read a recent article from Freelance Folder to learn more.

For voiceover talent, the message of ’social media’ has brought the ever expanding voice business to a new level. Have you learned all you can about the new aspect of marketing for your voice business?

Where are you with Social Media? Are your voiceover demos on YouTube? Is your voiceover business on Facebook? Or are you personally on Facebook as a voice talent? Are you a freelancer? Do you have a voiceover company? (It’s okay if you don’t. Read Karen Commins post about having a day job at another person’s company – and pursuing your voiceover career on the side.) Do you regularly post personal observations on Twitter?  If your voiceover company is on Twitter, do you post comments about public relations or training seminars?

If you are still new to the area of voiceover marketing, check out a few sites of savvy marketers who’ve grabbed hold of social media and are running with it:  Voice Acting in Vegas and Social Media VO.

For freelancers, check out a previous post about the world of voiceovers here. Yes, that’s my ‘media assistant’ Scout. Grrr.

So I’ve been reading, observing and questioning everyone about the enterprise of social media.  And I ventured over to YouTube land, figured out (kinda – sorta)  how to upload, to favorite and come up with a  vlog on the YouTube site for spotcomm.

It was easier than I thought.

When you start your own business – whether it’s writing, sales, marketing, voice overs – you get to call the shots. That’s one of the reasons why you decided to be your own boss.

The other obvious reasons?  You do the work you enjoy whenever you want to work, forfeiting the 9 to 5 grind. Plus, even in a down economy, you’re in control, because you own the company.  Is turning a profit as a small business owner for you? According to an article by WSJ’s Sue Shellenbarger (Plumbing for Joy? Be Your Own Boss), ”’seeking out enjoyable work and finding a way to do it on your own terms, with some control over both the process and the outcome, is likely for most people to fuel satisfaction and contentment.””

So you’ve decided on your voiceover business, and it’s chugging along, making money, staying out of debt. But then came the downhill economy. You have your existing customers, and you’re doing all you can to keep them happy. Yet potential clients may be hesitant to spend any money. Still, how do you keep the momentum going - no matter what the economy may be saying?

Stay flexible. The reason you freelance/own your own business –  is so you can set aside some personal priorities, like spending time with family, continuing your education, writing a book or being a spokesperson for something you believe in.

Stay in touch with your customers. Even if you’re not currently working with them, connect with them – offer your services.  Continue to take classes in your field. Network at events – large and small. Voice over talent – get a voice coach if you feel you need one. (a good one is well worth the time and money!) Keep marketing to your current clients, past clients and potential clients. Find new ways to market yourself so that customers will benefit.

Cut back on expenses. Splurge - okay, just a little - when you get a new gig, re-up with an exsisting client, or complete a challenging project in the studio.

Spend a few hours a week with a charity. Non-profit agencies are having a tough financial time as well – a few hours from you could mean all the difference, and will give you a new perspective on life outside of the studio. You will benefit from the experience. Trust me.

Need more info on being a savvy business owner? Check out Freelance Folder and Entrepreneur for ideas on growing your company.

In any economy.

(reprinted from an earlier post) dbr

Every voiceover talent needs a team. Their best team. Who are yours? If you were in the studio, and needed something done quickly (dubbing in an extra voice, a production piece, some copywriting advice) who could you count on? Who do you trust? Who could you call right now to take care of one detail? Would it be another voiceover talent, a producer, a voice coach, an agent, a manager? Who helps you achieve your goal? And more importantly, can you help them achieve their goals?

This week, Kyle Whitford helped me out – at the very last minute – from New York City, no less. (He has studios there and  in North Carolina). He’s a jetsetter producer who steps in and gets the work done. I’ve known Kyle to be there to help me out in production, voiceovers, project management – just about anything that goes on at any given time in the studio.  A client came in with a last minute copy change. A great client – and we wanted to be there for them. I sent the copy to Kyle in an email, followed by a phone call.  Could we get this done? Could we! He had the audio in an email back to me within the hour and I forwarded the voiceover back to the client. Voiceover talent Armando Plata, who helps me with Spanish scripts, is another professional I can count on with last minute requests. Always efficient with turnaround time.  To make deadlines easier for everyone, I usually get a script to Armando translated into Spanish and send it over to his studio, to make it easy for him when he’s recording. So of course when I need language translation, I count on a team of exceptional translators to provide scripts from English to Spanish. It doesn’t matter what the deadline is – or even if there is a deadline. The work gets done, and we’ve reached the goal.

Which is what any successful business/company – small or large -  is all about. Setting goals. Reaching goals. It’s what you do as an entrepreneur. Keeping the can-do attitude spirit going, even during moments of adversity; focusing on goals; and most importantly, knowing your team shares the same spirit of entrepreneurship.

Find your team. And thank them. Often.

(reprinted from an earlier post) dbr

A new promo for the Houston Ballet – now on youtube. Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by the updated site! I’ve joined both www.spotcomm.com and www.spotlightcommunications.com websites into one.  There will be more stuff added to this new combined site eventually – blogrolls, voiceover info, the kitchen sink, perhaps even stellar commentary - although that might be a stretch.  But only on Mondays. In the meantime, feel free to listen to a few new voice over demos, including the ESPN golf promo and documentary reads.

On Saturday, February 20th at approximately 2:20 p.m. MDT, the web server that our account is on experienced some hardware failure as a result of an annual fire system inspection at our web hosting Data Center (DC). An inadvertent release of Inergen was triggered in the DC environment. The release was triggered by an actuator that was not removed as required in the DC’s pre-test checklist. As such, the entire DC was impacted at some level. This error was not the result of a mistake by Spotlight Communications employees, our hardware or systems. The mistake was triggered by an error from a vendor. With that said, we take responsibility and are doing everything we can to restore all systems completely.

We are currently working to restore our website and should have the site up in 24 hours. The ftp site is now operational, so we can now post your voice over projects. Please call us for the new usernames and passwords.

Please contact us if we can be of assistance.

Donna Reed
SPOTLIGHT COMMUNICATIONS
Voiceovers for TV, Radio & Film
p: 281.403.7811
ISDN – Source Connect – FTP
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