Blog – Page 7 – Connie Terwilliger

Usage has Value

One of the lessons free lancers – independent contractors – need to learn in this Internet age is to negotiate a fair price for their work. We see it day after day – people wanting the free lancer to work – well, to work not necessarily for free, but close to it. And in fact, in some cases – people DO expect it for free. It is happening in all creative areas.

Oh, for the good old days…

You wouldn’t ask the plumber to cut rates by half or more. The dry cleaner. The tailor. The electrician. But on the creative side of things – the graphic artist, the writer, or the voice talent – it seems like a “name that tune” experience nearly every day.

Part of it is educating the people doing the hiring. But the people […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:06+00:00June 22nd, 2015|Categories: Business, Communication, Musings, Negotiating|

A Change of S-pace

Coming up on about a dozen years ago, I did a major remodel of my kitchen, complete window replacement and interior repainting. What I learned was that I am actually quite comfortable in a much smaller footprint. I lived out of my back bedroom with one of the bathrooms doubling as the kitchen sink and found it actually soothing. Perhaps because I didn’t have so many choices at every turn.

I had a chance to experience this change of space again recently. After attempting to rid my deck cover of termites using a heat treatment, I opted for the more drastic, but more conventional tent and gas method. The last time I tented a house was probably 20 years ago. It ended badly, with the house robbed as soon as the gas dissipated enough not to kill the perps. I am fairly certain it was an inside job, but it wasn’t […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:06+00:00June 19th, 2015|Categories: Communication, Musings|

Alphabet Soup

When a normal person hears the words “alphabet soup” they probably think of the kind you eat with the little noodles shaped like letters. When a voiceover person hear the words “alphabet soup” it means that their mouth is going to be filled with lots of acronyms.

One of the things that endears a voice talent to clients is a talent’s ability to see past the noodles in this word soup and find the broth. This doesn’t necessarily mean understanding every word that is spoken, but it does mean understanding the context and how the words relate to each other.

It helps to have a little bit of understanding about a LOT of stuff. For voice talent who do marketing pieces, informational and corporate communications work – we see scripts for IT, healthcare, the financial business, the military or the government and many other […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:06+00:00June 10th, 2015|Categories: Business, Musings, Techniques|

Getting Your House In Order

I am a bad homeowner. About 10 years ago, I had a major remodel done that included replacing all of my windows with new wood dual pane windows. Of course I was told that wood windows needed to be maintained. A coat of paint every few years was part of my responsibility as the homeowner.

Did I do it? No, so the result is going to about $1000 worth of repair and then new paint everywhere – which I will probably hire out because the idea of painting 14 windows and all the trim around the top of front of the house seems like a daunting time suck – plus I don’t have a ladder tall enough to get up to the roof line.

The list of things to do around the house after living here nearly 30 years is starting […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:06+00:00June 8th, 2015|Categories: Business, Musings|

The quest to get better without losing who you used to be…

Connie and Liz de Nesnera on the way to the workshop – Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner.

I just got home from a weekend workshop in Henderson (just outside Las Vegas) with Marice Tobias. It was an all-woman workshop with 10 working pros held at Melissa Moats new voiceover studio The Voice Actors Studio. Marice does this same thing with all men and also co-ed. The women’s workshop is usually – OK, pretty much always – a lot more emotional therapy along with the voiceover component. It was a wonderful weekend for many reasons and I think it has shown in the auditions and the projects I have done since getting back to my studio on Monday.

Getting coaching is something that a lot of working voice talent does during the course […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:06+00:00June 3rd, 2015|Categories: Acting, Auditioning|Tags: FaffCon, Marice Tobias, The Voice Actors Studio|

Curiosity Creates Opportunity

I was thinking about the phrase “curiosity killed the cat” today as one of my cats climbed up on a pile of empty cardboard boxes that were piled high on a work table to see what was going on and everything came down in a huge, yet rather quiet crash – except for the startled yelp of the cat as he was propelled into the air.

Most of us know what curiosity killed the cat “means.” Poking around can have dire consequences. But I was curious as to it’s origin, so I did some Googling and found this info on Wikipedia. It started out as “care killed the cat.”

Ben Johnson, an English playwright in 1598 used something like it one of his plays – followed by Shakespeare in 1599. It evolved into the […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:06+00:00May 23rd, 2015|Categories: Auditioning, Business, Musings|Tags: curiosity, Wikipedia|

Marketing. It’s part of the job.

Most small businesses struggle with balancing time. How much time you spend working vs. how much time you spend seeking the work. There is no magic formula, but you have to be aware of the fact that no matter how talented you are, if no one knows about it, you won’t have a business very long.

That means marketing what you have to sell to the people who want to buy it.

Putting up a website and just hoping people find you is simply not going to happen. My business is global and as each day passes and more and more people buy domain names and throw up websites, it becomes harder and harder to get the right eyes on you and what you offer. Even if you throw a lot of money into SEO, there are larger companies out there using the […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:07+00:00May 17th, 2015|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: Marketing, referrals|

Doing it for a live audience

After a two-year absence from the stage, I was cast in a show at one of my favorite theaters here in San Diego. Scripps Ranch Theatre. I played Rose, the aging neighbor in a Brooklyn apartment near Sunset Park (also the name of the show).

Marley Sims, one of the writers was able to come to the Preview and Opening Night. She hadn’t seen the show in 10 years since it premiered in Los Angeles and seemed to be pleased with our interpretation. And for me as an actor, it was fun to have her in the audience.

It wasn’t a huge part, so I was able to enjoy the process without the stress of being in every scene. A perfect way to get back on the boards.

That meant a lot of time backstage with the three other actors with minor roles and the stage manager. The interaction has […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:07+00:00May 16th, 2015|Categories: Musings|

INTEGRATING A SHOPPING CART

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Connie Terwilliger2015-02-18T16:54:06+00:00February 18th, 2015|Categories: Support, Tips & Tricks|Tags: Commerce, Shop|

WHICH HOSTING IS BEST FOR WORDPRESS MULTISITE?

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Connie Terwilliger2015-02-18T16:53:08+00:00February 18th, 2015|Categories: Servers, Tips & Tricks|Tags: Host, WordPress|