Business – Page 10 – Connie Terwilliger

Today’s ROI Wasn’t About Money

Had a yard sale today at my mom’s house in preparation for her move to an Assisted Living Community. She is very excited actually and chatters non-stop about it to anyone who will listen. This is actually good news, of course. Two and a half years ago, this wasn’t even on the radar of options. Frankly, 5 months ago, this wasn’t something that she would consider.

But after a few months of a home share situation – with a house mate who helped her with medication reminders and getting dinners, she learned two things – that she needed help – and that she didn’t like sharing her house. All that strange food in the refrigerator! And just which bar of soap was hers!

So next week we do the final move of the heavy items to her new apartment in La Mesa California, just down the road from wonderful Lake Murray. The […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:22+00:00July 23rd, 2011|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: assisted living, La Mesa, Oakdale Heights, ROI, voiceover acting|

Tax Form for the Marginally Employed

My voiceover friend Rowell Gormon just posted a link to an important tax document for the army of self-employed working out of their homes.

You must qualify of course. Do you spend at least 8 hours of daylight in your pajamas? Do your medical expenses include naps, toothbrushes, garlic dill pickles, elixirs, etc.? Do you Tweet? There’s a complex formula for that. Don’t Tweet? Sorry, you don’t qualify for that deduction. Oh and be sure to include your time wasting allowance – and your Hollywood Protection Act deduction (100% of the cost of blockbuster movies you didn’t really want to see).

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/13/opinion/20100413_opart.html

*Be sure to consult your tax preparer to get the latest form. This is the 2009 form, so I’m sure it has changed considerably over the past couple of years. The Obamamania deduction for inauguration expenses has probably been deleted – however, they may have added an […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:22+00:00July 12th, 2011|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: Rowell Gormon, tax form, voiceover|

Balancing Life and Work

The past few years have been interesting to say the least. After getting my mom to move across country in order to be closer to me so that I could start to help her as her need to be helped increased – I started to see a dramatic increase in personal time in my calendar.

As a rabid type A – most of my time has been spent working. As a free lancer and the sole means of support for my critters and my house – most of my time was spent working or marketing or bookkeeping or networking or something else that required large amounts of time in my “cave.”

So, learning how to carve out the time for my mom was a challenge.

Combine that with the down turn in the economy and there was a bit of a dip in work – which in retrospect was perhaps a good thing […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:33+00:00July 11th, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|Tags: Marketing, voiceover work|

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 […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00June 6th, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: female voice talent, ISDN voice, Marketing, voice over talent, voiceover|

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 […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00April 25th, 2011|Categories: Business|

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:

Dial 1-641-594-7078
You’ll ANONYMOUSLY be connected with other callers
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

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00April 19th, 2011|Categories: Announcements, Business|Tags: Edge Studios, legal information, Rob Sciglimpaglia, teleconference|

FaffCon Vibe in the Groove!

: 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 […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00March 6th, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|

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 […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00February 14th, 2011|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: unsubscribe|

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 […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:34+00:00February 12th, 2011|Categories: Announcements, Business, Techniques|Tags: Atlanta, education, FaffCon, unconference, voiceover, voiceover professional|

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 […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:35+00:00February 6th, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|Tags: David Cross, duct tape, Nancy Wolfson, voiceover business|