Blog – Page 29 – Connie Terwilliger

Know Thyself and Focus!

I am where I am today (making a living as a voiceover talent) by having a wide variety of sounds and doing a wide variety of projects. But I am not where I want to be – which is spending far less time working, marketing, bookkeeping, etc. What will get to me to where I want to be (making a much BETTER living as a voiceover talent so that I have more time) is focusing on the “real” me.

Kevin Delaney – Voiceover Ninja – writes about this often and has created a new blog called The Wealthy Bohemian that is even more focused on the topic of wealth building by using all the tools of today (the Internet, Social Networking, email).

And then, the other day my friend Bob Souer discussed this same general concept on his blog with lots of great […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:55+00:00October 3rd, 2009|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: bob souer, kevin delaney, voiceover, voiceover ninja|

Evolve or Die…

Yes – it’s true – we must evolve or we will go out of business. I’ve used that phrase before (Evolve or Die) when discussing the changes that the performer’s unions need to make in order to survive, but it is also the premise of today’s Voice Over Today electronic newsletter published by Edge Studio.

TO SUBSCRIBE: send a blank email to: VoiceOverToday-on@edgestudio.com

They highlighted four areas that will cause you to lose clients. This is a message every voice talent (beginner or pro) should think about. Most of the folks I know do think about these Four Points, but it never hurts to have a reminder. So see below for the article – written by Edge Studio.

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**Vocal Delivery: ARE YOU NO LONGER TRAINING?

Story: A while ago, one of our clients hired a student we had just trained to narrate a large series of videos. They loved his voice. Recently we hired him back to […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:55+00:00September 30th, 2009|Categories: Business, Marketing, Teaching, Technology|Tags: Business, Marketing, professionalism, Technology, training, voiceover|

Amateurs vs Professionals

The Internet voiceover community is ablaze with controversy these days. Perhaps it is the business climate fanning the flames, but there has been a lot of talk about professionals versus amateurs. Who should be allowed to play in the sand box? Should there be separate sand boxes?

Check out Paul Strikwerda’s Double Dutch blog this week. He reposted it on LinkedIn as well, so be sure to follow the threads in both places. Very interesting. I love the way Paul writes in general, but this post included references to classical symphonies -a subject near to my heart because my brother is a world-class Horn Player with (according to Paul’s sources) the world’s 6th best orchestra.

http://nethervoice.com/nethervoice/2009/09/23/should-amateurs-be-ousted-from-voice-over-sites/

http://www.linkedin.com/newsArticle?viewDiscussion=&articleID=71289844&gid=137057

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:55+00:00September 25th, 2009|Categories: Business|Tags: Double Dutch blog, Paul Strikwerda, professional vs amateur, voiceover|

What!? Friday!? Again!? Already!?

OK, so it was a short week, but it came in with a bang and kept on going.

Some nice gigs with regular clients – even a couple through my local agent. Lots of auditions – through Voice123 (quite a flurry there), and various agents and other places I’m listed across the country. A direct contact through Voice123. An ISDN session scheduled for Monday with no audition – sweet!

And there was the fleeting potential of a gig with a new client who found me on the net. He was looking for a backstage live announcer for a large corporate meeting coming up in January of 2010. Love those jobs. Nothing like live to keep your brain active and your energy up. Three days – in town. Cool.

But, wait – the end of January? Hmm, I have been booked the past three years at the end of January on ANOTHER backstage live announce job. Was […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:55+00:00September 11th, 2009|Categories: Auditioning, Business|Tags: agent, Auditioning, back stage announcer, booking, live announcer, loyalty|

An actual holiday!

No voiceover work this weekend! I have projects I can do – but no looming deadlines, so I was able to actually not record this weekend. No juicy auditions on any of the P2P sites, so seriously, I didn’t have to chill down the studio at all for 3 whole days.

Did I use the time wisely? Well, I guess that depends on your point of view. I took down the screens from the front windows. Hosed them down. Vacuumed and then scrubbed the window sills. Went to the gym a couple of times. Longs brisk walks. Laundry. And a daily trip over to a friend’s house to feed and play with her cat.

Picked about 50 pounds of figs and prepared them a couple of ways for a pool party. First I sliced the nice ripe ones in about 1/4 inch slices and drizzled them with Balsamic. Ah, yummy. Then I […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:55+00:00September 7th, 2009|Categories: Business|Tags: figs, holiday, pool party, voiceover work|

To Do More Coaching?

As many of you know, in addition to being a full-time voiceover talent, I teach a Voice Acting Class at San Diego City College – one class in the Fall and one in the Spring – usually in the day from 9:30 to noon. Given my regular voice work, it has been getting harder and harder to carve out the time to actually get to the class.

This semester the class is in the evening and I am noticing a couple of things.

The students seem more attentive
Homework is complete and has been turned in on time
And I am able to make it to class without flying out the door at the last second (OK, I did that once this week.)

It is still early, but I am looking forward to the rest of the semester – and then seriously comparing it to the Spring class which will be in the daytime again.

But the […]

Connie Terwilliger2009-09-04T17:07:14+00:00September 4th, 2009|Categories: Teaching|Tags: San Diego City College voice acting class, VOICE 2007, VOICE 2010, voiceover coaching, Voiceover Experts, voices.com|

School’s Back in Session – Let the Learning Commence

I teach a voice acting class at San Diego City College – just the one class, but carving out the 5 hours per week to get there gets difficult at times – especially since it usually meets mid-morning to around noon. This semester though, for the first time, it is being offered in the evenings from 6PM to 8:30PM. This pleased my local agent who has had to work around my “teaching” time since 1999.

The first day of classes was last night and the first thing I noticed is that it is a heck of a lot easier to park! And it is another huge class – with the budget cuts reducing the total number of classes offered and more people wanting to take classes, most classes are full with wait lists. I think I managed to accomodate everyone, but will be crossing my fingers for some drops in the next […]

Connie Terwilliger2009-08-25T09:16:24+00:00August 25th, 2009|Categories: Teaching|Tags: acting class, learning, san diego city college, voiceover|

When is it just plain irritating…

Something came up on a VO forum the other day and it has been on my mind ever since. With everyone trying to find something interesting to post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, MySpace, their blogs – when does it cross over from pertinent, interesting, amusing to just blatant self-promotion? Actually, you find a lot of people hawking their wares who will never be interesting or amusing.

Think about your experiences in real-life face-to-face situations where you walk into a room and instantly move away from the really irritating person who you know is going to talk your ear off about themselves and how you should hire them for something. You don’t like it there, why should it be any different online.

I’m going to grab another cup of coffee – I need to put on my thinking cap before going online to update my status. Want to contribute something pertinent, valuable, […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:56+00:00August 19th, 2009|Categories: Marketing|Tags: Marketing, selling, voiceover|

Phone Patch vs ISDN vs Self-Directed vs Outside Studio

Had two back to back phone patch sessions today that started me thinking again about the various methods of doing a session. Live in-person at an outside studio. ISDN. Phone Patch. Self-directed. There are pros and cons for each depending on various factors such as the type of script and how far away the outside studio is.

The first session today was with a studio that I have had to drive to in the past for sessions. It is up in Orange County. I’m practically in downtown San Diego. The last time I made the drive – about 1.5 to 2 hours or so depending on traffic – was the day Sarah Palin was announced as a Vice Presidential Candidate. The drive up and back that day was anything but boring.

But it does take a chunk of time out of your day – a minimum of about 4 to get there, do the session and […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:56+00:00August 11th, 2009|Categories: Musings, Recording|Tags: ISDN, phone patch, recording session, self-directed, studio session|

Friday is trash day

Friday is REALLY noisy around here. And even noisier every other Friday when the Black “trash” AND the Blue “recycle” bins are picked up. Prior to the trash trucks grinding down the alley – are the alley elves who push their shopping carts along looking for bottles and cans to recycle.

Then there is the Volkswagon that comes home at noon everyday down the back alley and idles while the garage door goes up – then revs up and goes into the garage. Add that to the random and scheduled selection of police and news helicopters and my frustration level definitely goes up on Fridays.

But for some reason, during a session, things seem pretty quiet and when something does rumble past in the alley or overhead it is only the smallest of interuptions.

So why do these interuptions bother me so while I am trying to get auditions done on Friday!

Connie Terwilliger2009-08-07T12:27:04+00:00August 7th, 2009|Categories: Recording|Tags: Recording, voiceover work|