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small business

Top Ten Voice Over Blogs – Debbie Grattan

blogs

There are a lot of balls to juggle in running your own business as a voice over artist. Staying on top of industry trends and learning from others who are doing well in the the voice arts is one of those spheres. I regularly check out blogs (and podcasts & vlogs) of some of the cream of the crop in our industry. Now anyone can talk can blog, but not everyone creates insightful content worthy of my (or your time). Earlier this year,  I began my To Ten Voice Over Blogs to Follow list and released interviews with people on the list.

Released in alphabetical order, we’ve so far heard from J Michael Collins, Dave Courvoisier, Bill DeWees and Anne Ganguzza. As well as following our next blogger for some time, I recently had the pleasure of working with Debbie Grattan on a national commercial, and as well as being inspired with her talent and skill set was impressed with her kindness and professionalism on set. Without further ado, here is number five from my list of the top ten voice over blogs to follow.

Voice Over Artist Debbie Grattan

voiceover industry artist
Voiceover Artist Debbie Grattan

Debbie, why do you blog about voice over?

SEO is the primary we reason we have a blog. But sharing information and writing articles that show my level of experience, professionalism and knowledge also helps in general marketing. Whether it’s sharing articles on social media or among my clients in an email newsletter, having content to put out is a big advantage when you’re trying to get peoples’ attention and have them check out your demos.

 

Do you have a theme to your blogs?

We have a couple main categories that are voice over related. Posts are written either for an audience of other voice over talent, or for an audience of people who hire voice over talent. Generally, we prefer to write content that appeals to the latter group, since that is what will most likely generate business. We also like to write about challenges we face and observations we make as small business owners and entrepreneurs. Much of our success in this business comes from maintaining a clear, consistent state of mind, a positive attitude when facing adversity and the ability to improvise when necessary. So we like to write about those topics as well.

 

Do you plan it out or wait for inspiration to strike?

We do a little of both… We have a planned number of blog posts we intend to publish per month, and we do what we have to do to stay on that schedule. Sometimes we want to highlight a certain topic, for example a specific genre of voice over, and we will write a series of articles on that topic.  Other times we just go with whatever topic idea we like, and find ways to skew it in the direction of voice over.

 

What are your favorite kinds of blogs to write about?

My husband and business partner worked for many years as a personal coach and he often contributes ideas that go in the direction of personal development, success strategies and just noticing what works and what doesn’t. So we like those types of articles, however, the most important topics to cover are those that appeal to the audience of voice talent seekers.

 

What kinds of blogs have you noticed get the most attention or feedback?

The post that has the most number of comments by far, is a post that my husband initially proposed about annoying speech patterns. Just type in “annoying speech patterns” in google and you should see it at the top of the list. He had been listening to NPR while driving the kids to school in the mornings and was on a rant about how these supposedly professional radio people used some very annoying speech patterns. So, that post started as a rant basically, and we seem to have tapped into something judging by how many people read and comment on the post still to this day.

We’ve also seen a lot of traffic on posts that address “male versus female voice talent.” And another hot one at the time it was written was a post on “Is your website mobile friendly?” That got huge traffic back when Google was updating their algorithms to favor sites that were compatible with smartphones. That is an even more important topic now that Google is using the compatibility metric in search results to an even greater extent.

 

Do you have anything else you’d like us to know about your blog in particular?

I recommend anyone who wants to get into voice over or improve as a voice over talent, do a lot of reading of blogs written by successful, experienced voice talent. There is a lot of wisdom out there. But keep in mind that everyone’s path is different and what works for one person may not work for the next person. I am not a voice over coach, yet I get contacted several times per week by people looking for guidance on how to be a voice talent. I always refer them to my blog and then suggest they look for reputable coaches and/or do some workshops. I’ve tried to put my “secrets of success” into my writing, so it’s all there for people to read. But, obviously, just reading it won’t make it happen. It takes consistent right action applied over a very long time period.

 

Filed Under: blogs Tagged With: blog topics, female voice over, NPR, seo, small business, voice over blogger, voice talent, voice talent seeker, voiceover, voiceover blog, voiceover talent

How to Run your Professional Art like a Small Business

Voiceover Business

Business. The word alone used to send icy shivers down my spine. But, to be a professional artist, as in be able to write “artist” or “musician” or “dancer” or “actor” on your annual tax forms (aka more money coming in than going out) you must understand your talent or product IS your business. Perhaps it was my childhood, growing up lean, but I’ve always had a healthy respect for money and when I began cashing checks, I thought of my voice work/acting as my business. But when I began running my voiceover gigs like a small business, I noticed a huge shift. And took it to the next level.

 

I had the advantage of watching and learning from my husband who studied Commerce at McGill and ran a successful recycling business for a couple of decades. His bizzy side rubbed off on me and this is what I learned one should do to take on that small business mentality and apply it to your art/dancer/musician/acting business.

 

Kim Handysides Voiceover Run your Professional Art like a Small Business
Credit: Alexander Milo

 

 

Goals – set them.

Start long term and work backward to short term. What do you want to have accomplished 10 years from now, 5, 2, and in one year.  Break them down as much as you can by filling in steps you will need to take to accomplish them.

 

 

 

Business Plan – come up with one.

To create a business plan, you forecast what sales you will be able to make. This is part of your goal setting, but now you are putting it in another form. How much you will make in sales, how much you will reinvest in your business (skills, equipment, conferences, coaches, product materials, promotional materials, subcontractors, etc.) You create kind of like a budget, and estimate not only how much you’ll pay out and how much you bring in, but where your sources of work will come from, how you’ll budget your time, including whatever equipment/resources you need to make it work.

 

Sales – make them.

Kim Handysides VoiceOver Run your Professional Art like a Small Business
Credit: NeonBrand

Easier said than done? Sales goes hand in hand with marketing and its set of related tools you’ll need to create your marketing plans/materials. If you’ve never done sales before, it’s a great idea to either read up on it and/or make one of your supporting jobs in something like retail sales. You have a product (or service), your client has a need, you want to close the deal. It sounds so foreign to an artist, but when you substitute the words of our trade, it makes more sense. You have a song (or audition piece, or sculpture), your client (or producer or director or dealer) has a need (to sell your song, cast his film, showcase your work) and you want to close the deal. Make sure they pick you. So, you can make money at your art and then go make more of it. Closing the deal often involves more than your talent. It involves finesse. Respecting the other person’s position and time. Letting them know that a you understand there’s a bottom line to your work that you value. I asked one of my clients once why they regularly hired me as the voice over actor for their advertising campaigns, and they said, “Because we know you deliver the right read, in the time frame, on budget, every time.”

 

Marketing – make it reflect you.

Twenty years ago everyone needed to have business card. Perhaps business post cards. Five to ten years ago, to be considered serious, you needed to create a website. Even one page. The must-have now is a video on your website. That’s just so you can be found. There are social media sites to consider. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Pick one and make it yours. Don’t forget one-to-one marketing communications. People who market in the arts appreciate creativity. So have fun with your marketing plan. Although now somewhat out of date, a couple of decades back, in order to break into my local major market advertising agencies, I hired a fellow actor to accompany me Signing Telegram Style along with my commercial demo and complimentary coffee and chocolate biscotti. The theme was “listen to the demo on your next coffee break” and by the way, here’s some coffee and cookies to supply you with on that next break. The campaign was successful. We were never turned away. My client list went from 3 to 30 within a few weeks.

 

Kim Handysides VoiceOver Run your Professional Art like a Small Business
Credit: Anthony Intraversato

Financial Control – keep it.

Your dollars in have to be more than your dollars out. As an artist, one of the ways I have been able to thrive is to squirrel away money for the slow times. Learn about money so you can make what you have grow, and be smart where you spend it. My car is always second hand and that’s ok. It means I can afford the kind of vacation I want. I make my own coffee and pizza and reinvest in equipment, marketing materials, courses and coaches.

 

 

Discipline – develop it.

Yes, with your craft. Work on it every day. But also work on the more practical aspects. Your invoicing, your banking, your marketing, your taxes. Doing a little every day will avoid the spring dread and horror of a week to ten days of sifting through receipts and sorting out your tax stuff. If it helps, enlist a partner or group to help keep you on track. In my accountability group, we check up on each other and hold the rest accountable on 5 weekly goals: financial, craft, marketing, equipment, and physical (cause healthy body, healthy everything else, right?) Build yourself a schedule. A flexible schedule, if you like, but make it as unshakable as brushing your teeth or putting on deodorant everyday.

 

Start thinking of your art as your small business and acting like it is one and see if it doesn’t bring you greater returns, more joy and more time and love for your art and craft. And let me know how it goes!

 

A voice actor, coach and narrator extraordinaire, Kim Handysides loves expressive arts in pretty much any form.

 

Filed Under: Voiceover Business Tagged With: accountability, business, coach, marketing, narrator, professional, show business, small business, voice actor, voiceover

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