About Connie Terwilliger

Full-time voice talent working out of professional studio for clients around the world providing high quality VO for narration, eLearning, commercials, animation, telephony and more.
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Work. Invoice. Thank. Promote. Repeat.

It’s really a simple recipe. Do the job. Send the invoice. Thank the client. Promote the results (to the right places at the right time). Repeat.

OK, perhaps it isn’t all that simple. And I am still struggling – after all these years – with the thank yous and the promotion part of the formula. The repeat part is one of the keys to actually making a living in this business. And if your database is bloated with old leads you may be missing those repeat opportunities.

If you are just starting out, this formula is predicated by knowing what you do well and finding the people who want to buy what you have to sell. If you have been in the business for a while – or a long while – you may have the same problem I am trying to address – too many names in my contact list. And if […]

2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00June 6th, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: , , , , |
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Time for a Studio Tune Up

I upgraded to Adobe Audition 3 recently on my recording tower and started to notice a difference in my noise floor. A visual difference apparently – certainly nothing that my ears picked up, but a distinct difference in the way the single pixel line that denotes silence looked. It didn’t “look” quiet anymore.

My mics were changed out a little while before the software change – picked up a couple of ADK Hamburgs (after my AKG capsule blew and the new capsule sounded too bright). I also had my recording area acoustically “re-treated” after experimenting with locations. I also had the whole area upholstered.

I have never had any complaints or even a conversation about the “sound” of my space, but it just “looked” noisey.

Other factors that contributed to my ultimate seeking of expert advice…

  • An aging analog Mackie Mixer
  • A Gentner phone patch that was sort of patched through the Mackie and worked well enough, but not the […]
2011-04-26T19:13:56+00:00April 26th, 2011|Categories: Technology|
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The Mail You Don’t Ever Want To See

I don’t get a lot of first class mail these days in my home mailbox – mostly store flyers and bulk mail solicitations stuffed with calendars, greeting cards and address labels. Or the occasional birthday or Christmas card.

My business address is used to collect checks, so I don’t usually see money in my home mailbox. No, when I see a regular number 10 envelope arrive, it is usually somebody wanting money – like the IRS.

I got one of THOSE letters on Friday and am on hold right now to try to clear it up. I’ll probably have to drop off before someone answers and will try again later.

The last time this happened, the IRS had mistakenly added a zero when entering the information from one of my 1099’s – instead of noting that I had earned $5,600 from one client that year, it ended up as $56,000.

After a flurry of phone […]

2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00April 25th, 2011|Categories: Business|
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Tonight! Another Part of Our Job – The Legal Side

Edge Studio has free teleconferences for the voiceover community. Some are pretty basic and I don’t pass along the information to all of them on this blog, but the one tonight looks like it would be helpful to the working pro.

VO talent and lawyer Rob Sciglimpaglia (and after many years of seeing and saying his name, I can now pronounce it without batting an eye) will be on the line to help us understand how not to get in a legal bind and not get taken. He will cover the basics of voiceover contracts, NDAs, Work for Hire agreements and more.

When: Tonight, Tuesday April 19, 2011
Time: 9pm – 10pm ET
Dial information:

  1. Dial 1-641-594-7078
  2. You’ll ANONYMOUSLY be connected with other callers 
  3. ONLY the first 100 callers get through, so dial in early!

Click to hear a REPLAY (posted Thursday) and other ARCHIVED “Talk With A Pro” tele-panels

Click for the upcoming schedule

2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00April 19th, 2011|Categories: Announcements, Business|Tags: , , , |
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J.S. Gilbert Deconstructs Parade’s Annual Salary Review

Sorry for the gushing, but my friend J.S. Gilbert is a crazy good writer. And prolific! Maybe not with his blog, but certainly he contributes volumes of thoughtful and articulate (albeit filled with interesting typos) content on various message boards. I want to be just like him when I grow up.

I don’t get the paper, but somehow, I always manage to see Parade Magazine’s Annual Salary Issue with all the little pictures with job title and “salary.” (From the look of the pictures, I guess people just send in their info along with their very best snap shot and someone reaches into a basket and pulls out the selections?)

The whole Salary Review is really sort of mostly pointless – to compare what I make to a movie star or a barista – or to someone living in Idaho – simply isn’t relevant. What struck me was the number of people stating that they […]

2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00March 13th, 2011|Categories: Musings|Tags: |
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FaffCon Vibe in the Groove!

FaffCon 2 T-shirts
FaffCon 2 T-shirts waiting for their owners

So we were in a different location across the country, in a hotel that soared above the city, with about 75 people in attendance (25 or so more than in Portland) – and the end result of FaffCon 2 – Electric Boogaloo – fabulosity.

Seriously, this sharing ideas, experiences and even a few secrets with your working peers has all kinds of consequences:

  • Better business methods
  • Cool marketing strategies
  • Increased technological understanding
  • Practical performance ideas

But probably the most important is the feeling of long-term connection with your fellow performers with whom you share much more than the space next to them at a lecture.

While many of us do benefit from more organized conferences in some ways, FaffCon is different in that it is:

“…not VO 101. FaffCon is a participant-driven […]

2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00March 6th, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|
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Conversational Read? Sure – What Flavor?

We get it all the time in casting directions these days – the client wants a conversational read. They specifically tell you that a non-announcer read required.

But what flavor of conversation do they want? There are a lot of different ways to be “conversational.” Just listen to real people have a conversation. In fact, record yourself having conversations with different people.

(It might not be a good idea to record your conversation with the phone company after your phone lines have been down for 3 days. Or your call to the power company after the hot switch of the meter blew out your dishwasher and microwave. Although there are probably copies of those calls and if you run for public office they will surface.)

A lot of the nuances in just what conversational style will be right will come from the particular script you are reading, but Pam Turlow recently blogged about this subject and listed […]

2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00March 2nd, 2011|Categories: Auditioning, Techniques|Tags: , , |
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Unsubscribe at your own risk!

I’ve heard stories about how clicking on unsubscribe links can actually lead to more spam email. And I know about spoofing and fake URLs. But I thought my spam filter was doing pretty well at keeping the flood of “illegitimate” spam (or would that be “legitimate” spam because it actually IS spam?) away from my In Box, so I have been madly clicking on “unsub” links and trying to get off most of the commercially oriented lists that I have over the years accumulated. These are companies that I have bought something from one time, or asked a question, or something and ended up on their mailing lists, but am now simply trying to see if I can cut back a bit.

So far, with pretty good success. But today, I got an email from a company selling (ironically) mailing lists and saw an unsubscribe link at the bottom. So in a […]

2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00February 14th, 2011|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: |
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Thinking about FaffCon 2

Just about 2-weeks now before FaffCon 2 – this time tagged with Electric Boogaloo – so I am trying to find appropriate clothes and platform boots. I do have a pair of macrame earrings from the 70’s so those are going into the suitcase.

The trip to Atlanta will be a double treat because prior to the weekend conference, I will be able to spend some time with a friend who moved there several years ago. Hope that it warms up a bit there over the next week or so!

No doubt, FaffCon 2 will have a completly different vibe* than the groundbreaking first unconference for working voiceover pros, but I am sure that information exchanged will be equally valuable – perhaps even greater in value because of the lessons learned. Prior attendees may be more prepared to lead and/or contribute to the posted sessions – and will be able to jump right into […]

2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00February 12th, 2011|Categories: Announcements, Business, Techniques|Tags: , , , , , |
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The MacGyver Approach to VO?

A post on a Facebook thread* this morning got me thinking about what you need to start a business. Can you make it in the voiceover business with “duct tape” and creative thinking? Well, not eveyone can be MacGyver. There is a bit more to it than that.

David Cross, a man with natural talent in voiceover and a deep background in marketing and business stated:

…for anyone “starting a business – don’t think you need any investment. It’s easy to get your first sales in through duct tape and creative thinking and use that money to put back into building the business. “Never a borrower nor a lender be.”

To which I too quickly replied in a lame attempt at humor…

I know duct tape is wonderful, but I tried to make a mic with it and failed utterly.

David followed up…

Duct tape is a “metaphor for getting things achieved even though apparent obstacles […]

2018-02-06T06:48:35+00:00February 6th, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|Tags: , , , |
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