Business – Page 13 – Connie Terwilliger

Head’s You Win – Tail’s You Win

I have missed a bunch of Paul Strikwerda’s blogs recently, but this one caught my eye in an email update on one of my LinkedIn groups.

He postulates that you have to be many things to be a freelancer. Some things are diametric opposites and yet it is often best to do them both. He uses the Ying and the Yang concept.

His first question – should you Specialize or Generalize – big debate about this actually – but his advice – “find your own voice and be flexible” – works for me. Too narrow a focus and you limit yourself and end up doing the same thing over and over. Too broad and you risk being just another nameless faceless cog.

He ended the article with a nice long list of other “contradictions.” My favorites…

Be personable and keep things strictly business.

Be proud of your accomplishments and stay humble.

Be […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:39+00:00July 16th, 2010|Categories: Business|Tags: Paul Strikwerda, voiceover business|

Marketing Maxim from Maxine

My dear friend and fellow voiceover talent Maxine Dunn had an article published on VoiceOverXtra discussing something near and dear to my heart – Cold Calling.

“Smiling and Dialing.” The act of picking up the phone and actually speaking to someone. People make a huge deal about the idea and the reality of “cold calls.” In reality – it ain’t that bad – and it can yield fabulous results.

http://www.voiceoverxtra.com/article.htm?id=5kegz3y2

The Competition?

One of the Social Media Networks on my radar is the Working Voice Actor group on LinkedIn. The group host is Ed Victor, a voice talent now in Florida. He tries to “whack the hornets nest” each week with a topic. This week he posted a question about competition or camaradarie. Are we competing against each other for the job? Or are we simply “trying out” to see if we’re the right fit?

The voiceover community seems to be heavy on being congenial with the competition – probably because we are all different. We offer advice to newbies who may end up auditioning for the same work. We actually like to travel – sometimes long distances – to have a chance to see each other face-to-face.

More and more – as the ways of doing business evolve away from in-person auditions to […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:39+00:00July 9th, 2010|Categories: Auditioning, Business, Marketing|

Mixing Business with Pleasure

So, this trip to Europe that I just took – two weeks traveling around Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland – was part pleasure and part business. I was visiting my brother in Munich, but was headed to Italy to meet with a client. My mic and pre-amp were not on my packing list, because I knew I was going to be traveling quite a bit, and didn’t think I would have time for jobs or auditions.

As it turns out (see earlier post), my brother’s practice room was actually a sound booth, so I could have worked while I was in Munich – and a good audition did appear in the In Box. But there was a lot so see and do there before I headed off to Italy to meet my business associate.

I did check for jobs and auditions each day – had a loaner BlackBerry with global service – and was able to postpone most of […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:39+00:00July 2nd, 2010|Categories: Business, Marketing, Recording|Tags: Connie Terwilliger, Jerry Kay, MediaPiu Studio, Paolo Tonetto|

More from VOICE 2010 – Maxing out the Internet

This was one of my favorite sessions at VOICE 2010, because my good friend Peter O’Connell was on the panel – well, OK, it was filled with great information from the rest of the presenters too.

John Florian kicked it off with some of the top level statistics from the first ever survey of voice talent conducted to find out how voice actors use the internet to enhance their business. Look for detailed results in upcoming columns on VoiceOverXtra.

Peter encouraged us to focus on who we want to find us – and figure out what we want to say to them – and it ISN’T how great we are! We need to identify what sets us apart and tell them what is in it for them. We should all do a SWOT on our careers: Identify our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Doug Turkel came […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:39+00:00June 9th, 2010|Categories: Business|Tags: David Kaplan, Doug Turkel, Internet marketing, Marketing, Peter O'Connell, Trish Basayani, voiceoverxtra|

CAN * DO * WILL (Never I Can’t, I Don’t, I Won’t)

One of the best things about VOICE 2010 was finally connecting face-to-face with people who I have know for years in the virtual world. One of those was Tim Underwood from TheWebvoice.com.

I have been listed on Tim’s roster of talent for years now and was thrilled to see that he would be speaking at VOICE 2010. His topic was “How to be a Go-To Talent.”

His packet of handouts was very funny and included space to take notes and do some doodling (in case we got bored – which we didn’t of course).

A few of the top things I took away from his session – besides a lovely photo taken after the session with Tim and two other of his “go-to” talent – Charlie Glaize and Amy Taylor):

Always have a Can, Do, Will attitude. Skip the excuses!
Be ready to say Yes! And […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:39+00:00June 8th, 2010|Categories: Business|Tags: Amy Taylor, Business, Charlie Glaize, Technology, The Web Voice, Tim Underwood|

Round and Round and Round She Goes…

The voiceover world is abuzz! Not sure where this ride will stop, but let’s hope a twist on the adage “what goes down, must go up” comes into play.

Less than 10 years ago, a lot of voiceover casting moved to the Internet. The Pay 2 Play sites appeared and suddenly the role of the agent was bypassed and assumed by the talent who entered into a bidding war against other talent – most of it completely blind – with no ability to vet the potential client. Remember the old TV game show “Name That Tune?” That’s what it is like – someone else tells the client that they can do that job for less than you will do the job – much less. Well, at some point we have to be able to say, name that tune and move on.

Is there a bottom to the falling rates? I hope so. And our […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:41+00:00May 8th, 2010|Categories: Business, Marketing, Negotiating|

Door Prizes are Cool!

Was at a San Diego MCA-I meeting tonight at Phil Ferrari’s studio – the annual NAB wrap-up meeting with stories from members who attended and presentations from the top vendors in the industry talking about their new toys.

3-D is the happening thing apparently. So be prepared, you will need to buy another new TV very shortly.

We had Panasonic, JVC and Sony there with new equipment to show off – and lots of door prizes…not just from the big three, but from our local suppliers (I will add them as I confirm who contributed – Video Gear for sure) and some of our members as well. Luke and Mark always pick up a couple of hum-busters (Empire State Filters) to donate to the door prize pool.

I won some fabulous ear buds from JVC – Marshmallow stereo headphone – and a very cool black ball […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:41+00:00April 28th, 2010|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: Ferrari Productions, JVC, mca-i, NAB, networking, Panasonic, Sony, video production|

A Dozen “C’s” for a Career in Voiceover Work

My friend Marc Cashman – a voice over instructor and performer has identified and described 12 voice over skill sets that will help you to refine your current skills and develop new ones. Here is the list – the whole article is available at Vox Daily.

1) Clarity

2) Cleanliness

3) Consistency

4) Connected

5) Conversational

6) Cold Reading

7) Chop Chop

8) Coordination

9) Characterization

10) Convincing

11) Control

12) Confidence

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:42+00:00April 13th, 2010|Categories: Business|Tags: Marc Cashman, Voiceover career, Vox Daily|

Shut up! And 7 other things to do AFTER reading your script! Advice from Edge Studios

Got this in an email a couple months ago from Edge Studios and found it again going through my InBox. Some great advice here for the beginner and a reminder for the pros…

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Shut up! And 7 other things to do AFTER reading your script!

It’s not just getting the gig that’s important.
It’s making sure the client hires you again.

So we’re sharing 7 things many voice talent forget to do after reading their copy!

1. Shut up when done reading your copy. Don’t tell your client how you did – you’re liable to contradict their opinion and/or create more work for everyone by opening up a can of worms. Instead listen to their direction. Read again when prompted.

2. Conversely, when the job is done, talk. Thank them. Request a copy of the finished product. Request a testimonial.

3. Later that day, send an email. Say it was nice to work with them. Compliment them […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:42+00:00April 9th, 2010|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: Edge Studio, voiceover business|