Musings – Page 10 – Connie Terwilliger

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|

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|

For some things you need to commit with every fiber of your being

How do you make the jump from good to great? It’s not hard to identify not-so-good from good, but just what it is that sets “great” apart?

Some of this is subjective, yes. We don’t all agree on who should win the Golden Globe or the Oscar for example. When it comes to Fine Art, there is even more subjectivity. But mostly we can see or hear when something is “good.” Or maybe not. Is it just natual ability?

When it comes to work where timing is critical – say dance, music – or – wait for it – (rim shot) – comedy, I think there has to be some natural ability to achieve “good.”. But you need much more than that to be “great.” You need passion, energy, and enthusiasm. And even then, if the audience doesn’t understand what is happening, then the ability to discern “greatness” falters. You also need committment, but if that […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:35+00:00February 5th, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|

Hey, it’s cold here too!

A lot of my clients are snowed in. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to get around in all that snow and ice and just plain cold. It’s been a long time since I had to scrape a windshield. And this week I have had a number of sessions, calls or emails where the subject centered on them wishing they were able to transport themselves to sunny San Diego.

Please know that, while there is not 12 inches of snow on the ground – I did have ice this morning in a shaded area of my backyard – and I am presently sitting in my studio with a turtle neck sweater, a sweatshirt, scarf and gloves. It is pretty chilly here too!

In fact, the temps here in San Diego have been much cooler than normal over the past year or so and I have been thinking about moving somewhere closer to […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:35+00:00February 3rd, 2011|Categories: Musings, Recording|

Cardio Needed for Conversation Muscles

Ah – the loneliness of the voiceover actor these days. Day after day – alone in our padded rooms with only the occasional directed session – we rarely get to converse with our clients – much less actually see them face-to-face. Skype does’t count. And, like anything, if you don’t use certain muscles, they atrophy. Time for some cardio for my conversation muscles!

The VO team is usually a small one to begin with – so even if you do have a phone patch or ISDN session – you are still only talking to a small earful of people. Most of the time, it is my fingers doing the talking to the client, and my voice is reserved for the booth.

Last week, I learned that face-to-face interaction with clients and crew takes a lot more energy than I remember. After an all day on-camera shoot (OK, mostly all day) with a crew filled with […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:35+00:00January 9th, 2011|Categories: Communication, Musings|

Digging Through the Receipts and Adding Things Up

Probably should have done this last month, rather than the last few days of the year, but I am pulling up reports in my QuickBooks to make sure I am maximizing my deductions and charitable donations for 2010.

That includes remembering to include the transactions in a now closed bank account. If you changed banks this year, don’t forget about that old account! I nearly did when searching for a donation to my college and university to see who I paid what this year. I was befuddled for a few minutes when the searches came up with nothing, until I remembered that I had deactivated that account.

Bookkeeping is one of my least favorite things about this job – probably because my math skills are so bad. This lack of confidence in basic math also affects the time it takes to get out an accurate bid. Accounting programs such as QuickBooks and Quicken […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:35+00:00December 28th, 2010|Categories: Business, Musings|

Blogs and Blog Stats

I have been a bit busy the past few weeks – not counting a trip to New York for the VO Mixer that Erik and Lindsey threw this past weekend – and have not updated my personal blog in the past week or so. I have been on my class blog, because I post homework assignments there.

In checking stats for this blog a moment ago, I noticed that I didn’t have ANY hits at all on November 28th. And only a few here and there in the days since.

It begs the question of why do I blog at all if no one (or very few are reading) it. Perhaps I will re-evaluate who I am blogging for or how I am promoting my posts.

Mostly I write the blog because I like to write. But for a blog to be seen, the writing must be a bit more consistent – and promoted […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:36+00:00December 7th, 2010|Categories: Announcements, Musings|Tags: blogging, onlinedegrees.org, Top 100 Classroom Blogs, voiceover, voiceover talent|

Gah! Facebook is wonky!

OK – I think I can clearly see my addiction now. Facebook has been going down frequently over the past few days and I find myself compulsively refreshing the screen begging that its little blue interface appears.

There are many people with whom I have no other contact other than through Facebook. No email. No phone. Just a wonky URL.

So now I need to spend some time getting additional contact information from at least some of these folks. Hold on a moment…

Ah – Facebook is back up – for the time being…

See you later!

Connie Terwilliger2010-09-25T11:44:08+00:00September 25th, 2010|Categories: Communication, Musings|

Sunday night. What am I doing at the computer!?

Yes, that is the question. What am I doing at the computer on a Sunday night at around 7:30 in the evening? Well, the answer is that one of my compadres in MCA-I is in New Zealand and he is up and working already and we have a small project to tweak on the MCA-I website. Plus, I am waiting for my nephew from Germany to arrive from Vegas after a cross country trip that started in Connecticut. He and his friends got a late start and probably won’t roll in to SD until late, so I need to find things to do that keep me close to home.

Sunday night is also a good night in general to get prepped for a busy week. Of course, that would assume that one hasn’t spent much time in front of the monitor during the rest of the weekend. Ha! I think I need […]

Connie Terwilliger2010-09-19T18:53:36+00:00September 19th, 2010|Categories: Musings|

A Pat on the Back

We “voiceoverists” (a term coined by self-proclaimed and deservedly so Top Voiceoverist Philip Banks) are celebrating our wonderfulness this month! Out of the blue it is National Voice Over Appreciation Month – or simply National Voice Over Month. It should probably be International Voiceover Month, but the domain says National, so I guess we’ll just have to assume that this means any voiceover folk in ANY Nation!

http://nationalvoiceovermonth.com/index.html

Peter O’Connell was one of a small cadre of voice talent who brainstormed this idea. Peter says, “For the thousands of professional male and female voice over talents, the joy of participating in this industry is recognition enough. But National Voice Over Month allows everyone the chance to understand and appreciate these special artists.”

Dave Courvoisier, Advisory Board member of the non-profit Society of Accredited Voice Over Artists (SaVoa), says “Calling for a month-long […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:37+00:00September 2nd, 2010|Categories: Announcements, Business, Musings|