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VO Business Year in Review

December 13, 2021 by Laura Schreiber

Reflections on 2021

It’s somewhat hard to believe it’s now December. Somehow the last few months have blown by in a busy whirl. For me, as a working mom of twins who happen to be high school seniors, this fall was extremely busy. With the New Year fast approaching, I am starting to reflect on 2021: what I’m proud of and what I might have done differently. The year is not over yet, and I plan to use the rest of the month to end strong.

Thoughts on My Business

I like to think a lot about where my business came from. The clients who came directly to me, not through a pay to play or an agent, were up 44% from last year. Repeat clients makeup 2/3 of my business. Clients from my website were up 136% compared to 2020, so I was very pleased with that number.

I also grew my coaching and demo production business substantially this year, and it made up about 3.5% of my annual income thus far. I was pleased with that.

My pay to play numbers were down. While I did have some stellar bookings on CastVoices that I am pleased with as that site is just starting, my bookings on Voice123 with new clients were down more that 30% from 2020. While I continue to submit, I find this quite frustrating. One major goal is to surpass my 2020 numbers in 2022.

Reflections on Equipment and Gear

I made some sound equipment upgrades this year that I am very pleased with. Dave and I added the Presonus to direct clients when they come in for demo sessions. I got a fantastic new desk setup for outside of my studio space. I am really happy with this. I added the EVO4 preamp to my travel rig. I also finally got to use my new rig that I invested in before my trip. That has been fantastic for me. Most recently, I upgraded my laptop that I use daily when outside the booth. My original one was from 2015, and it simply died. I am so happy to have a new, fast, working device.

Marketing Thoughts

I have a lot of thoughts about my marketing efforts. This is the one area I put so much time and on-going effort, every, single day. I updated my headshots. I kind of felt that the photos should actually look how I look, and if I looked in the mirror and looked nothing like the gal in the photo it was probably time to change! My website was then updated with the new photos. My website was not only updated superficially, but it got an update from the inside out, as it also now meets the requirements for Google Core Values. That update actually just happened, and I hope that clients now have an even easier time finding me. I continue to reach out to clients and industry friends with my monthly newsletter. After so many years, I am finally feeling more comfortable with mail chimp and have improved the format. I have also gotten a lot better with Canva this year and use their template consistently for my instagram posts. I have tried to be very much on top of my social media posts in 2021 and have grown a much larger following. I have also continued to blog at least once a week, and sometimes twice a week. I am proud that I have maintained my efforts with my blog.

I do feel that since August I have not been as on top of my direct emails. I feel that as I got busier with my twins, I became too relaxed and did not follow up as I typically do, especially in two main areas: with repeat clients and with my radio imaging outreach. When I sit and do it I regret that I dropped the ball a little.

Let’s end the year strong!

The year is not over! The next week and a half until Christmas can be a strong one! All marketing an be done with gusto. All auditions can be awesome. All booked work can be submitted with extra effort to make clients feel appreciated. Every single day matters, and each booking counts. As I reflect back on the year, I am so thankful for another year to pursue my dreams, and another year to work in the field I love. With the SOVAS this weekend, I am so excited to spend the last Sunday before the holidays surrounded by so many industry friends who are flying in from all over. Sometimes I say “there are no words” but for this weekend there are many words, and they are words of reflection and gratitude.

A Day in the Life of a Voice Actor…

December 6, 2021 by Laura Schreiber

My jam

You might be thinking, hey- I wonder what it’s like to be a voice over actor? As a full-time, professional voice actor, sometimes my days can feel a little bit like Groundhogs Day, meaning that there is a certain rhythm to my days that tends to play and repeat. To be honest, as a working mom, I’ve come to count on this routine and structure and don’t mine it at all. I find this order and structure is really helpful and as my business has grown over the years, and I have expanded into coaching and demo production, I have carefully worked all of that into my schedule. There are some basic elements that are to be expected in every voice actor’s day:

Auditions:

I typically do these quite early, and I think my auditions serve as a great warm up for my actually paid work. Whether they are for pay to plays or for agents, I love running through the pace of auditions and feel that this helps me stay on my toes and understand the current industry trends for what is being sought after. Daily submissions are a must, and I typically submit early morning and late afternoon at a minimum. I like submitting, and relative to other talents I know, I regularly submit a lot. I think it depends on your specific goals, but auditioning is for sure a part of my daily routine.

Booked Work

Then I begin my booked work. Depending on what is do when, and how urgent some bookings are, I decide my order of events. Sometime the vocal age of the casting comes into play for me. For example, if I am required to sound young, I have a specific window when I sound really young during the day, so I make sure to record at that point. Conversely, if I need to sound like a mom, or a 40 something, I save those recordings for after lunch. Thus, I plan my day.

Website Updates

I am often doing website updates. From adding blogs like this one, to adding client logos, testimonials, new demos we have done for students, and samples of finished booked work, the like of website updates goes on and on. I try to do these regularly so they do not become insurmountable.

Marketing and Direct Outreach

Marketing is a constant it my daily routine. I think the only day of the month when I do not send any emails is the day my newsletter goes out. I have different groups of people I work on reaching out to, and I am always keeping in touch with current clients and reaching out to new ones. I also do all of my own social media work, so marketing is a daily constant.

Billing and Invoicing

I do this regularly. Every time I deliver finished audio to a client, I send their invoice along with it. I send regular reminders, and am very on top of my invoicing. After all, voice over is not a hobby!

Equipment

My gear is so important. It is the foundation of all of my work. Whether I am researching my next purchase or neatening my wires, I am doing something related to m studio gear every day. I also constantly watch YouTube videos about equipment and find tis very helpful.

Dog walking

A highlight of my day, throughout my day, are the breaks I take with my studio dogs Violet and Daisy. I love walking with the girls and taking these sporadic breaks every few hours is really good for me. It is so good to leave the studio and get actual fresh air. I occasionally run into neighbors and that is really nice too.

Workouts:pilates

In addition to walking, I do Pilates regularly and this is very much a part of my routine. I find that scheduling this time for my self is essential to my mental and physical wellness. I tend to do these reinvigorating workouts either early morning, before work, or mid-day on my lunch break.

Household Chores

As a wife and mother, my daily household chores are endless. From cooking and cleaning to laundry and homework help, the list goes on and on. This time of year, there are holiday chores too like gift wrapping and all of those cards!!

The Glimpse….

So a lot needs to happen to run a successful voiceover business. There are a lot of moving parts, and when something falls off of my radar, ultimately it means less work will come in. So, it’ on me to make sure that my work gets done, and all of my ducks are in a row.

Talking VO Websites with Karin Barth from Voice Actor Websites

September 12, 2021 by Laura Schreiber

In Good Company…

Sometimes you are blessed with knowing the right people, and knowing Joe Davis and Karin Barth is a blessing indeed! While I am fortunate to have worked with them for years on my website and SEO, I am doubly blessed to call them dear friends and amongst my favorite people in the world. When I have important decisions to make about my business, I trust them not just because of their superior expertise, but because they are truly mensch (someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character) in every sense of the word. I have shared holidays and dinners out with them, they have been to my home and know my family, I share personal details of my private life with them, so when I tell you that I trust their guidance for websites… I mean that I fully and completely trust what they have to offer.

So this past Friday, even with just returning from Dallas and the Jewish holidays to boot, Karin Barth made time to speak with me and Diana Birdsall on our weekly Clubhouse “Ask the VO Coaches” about all that we could jam in related to websites and SEO. We had some great participation and all were dazzled by Karin’s brilliant insights. In case you missed it, here is a brief recap of some highlights.

Why Websites Are So Important

Karin put it simply: You want to get your voice heard, your demos heard, and people to hire you. I always tell me coaching students your website is your virtual storefront. She did not use those words but that is how I think of it, and your business really does not exist if your website is not up and no one can find you. A regular to our Clubhouse room, Vijayan, offered that people know that you value yourself and your work once you have a website. He also said that prior to his website, he had an issue with transparency in his country. There was always a middle man. Once he had a website, he was able to interact with clients directly and could negotiate on his own. It was so refreshing to hear his reflections, as I had my own website before my business launched, and I had never considered this issue.

What Voice Actors Need to Start

Karin said in order to begin you need to have had some coaching and completed a professional demo. As a voice over coach and video demo producer, I cannot tell you how happy this made me to hear. She shared an anecdote about a woman who wanted to do a website and had no demos. This lady thought she could just record some stuff on her phone. Karin said in this scenario they advise folks new to voiceover to instead invest in coaching and then revisit a website down the road.

We then asked Karin if voice actors come to them with a Wix or Square space page if they can work that. The answer is yes, but there is an advantage to having a Word Press page. Since June, Google has changed its core web vitals. Word press makes it easier to comply.

Diana then asked Karin if we should be regularly changing our videos for our SEO. I was fascinated because while I typically add new videos, I tend not to delete old ones as I am really proud of the work I have done and get attached to my content. It never occurred to me to swap it out. I also like the idea, personally, of amassing a large body of work. Anyway, Karin explained that the idea is to train the google bots to come to the site. You want to continually add more relevant content so that your site continues to rank.

Features All Voice Actors Should Have

I of course found this interesting:

Demos: They should be downloadable, not just playable. Karin also mentioned you should be mindful of how you name them. For instance, don’t just label it “commercial demo” because a casting agent could be very confused if they download it and it does not have your name.
Bio: There are a few important details that Karin mentioned. First, be sure to have unique, original content and not to use the same bio on Linked In, your website, and other places! Next, while folks are often excited to share their backstory, Karin suggests starting with where you are now. What service do you provide? What are your selling points?
Contact Form: I will tell you I have changed mine over the years but they do an awesome job setting this up for you and Karin also sets up “recaptcha” so you don’t get spam.
Testimonials: This is so important to help build your trust factor
Client List or Client Logos: Again, this helps with your street cred.
Videos: We chatted about how people like to take in information in different ways, and offering video to people who do video production just makes a lot of sense!

Insights From Google Analytics

We also spent a little bit of time talking about Google Analytics and what you can learn from them. Your bounce rate is how long someone stays on your site, and Karin explains you can actually look to see the behavior flow and try to see if there are trends in where they drop off. This can give you an idea if you need to add a different call to action. Basically, the longer they are on the site the better. I found this fascinating.

Final Thoughts…

Those of us who work with Karin and Joe know we are lucky. They know their stuff and there is a reason so many of us turn to them.

VO Holiday Wishlist: Have I Been Naughty or Nice?

December 20, 2020 by Laura Schreiber

Daring to Dream

‘Tis the season, and this season, after another year of really hard work, I’m sure hoping that I made Santa’s nice list! Anyone who is an established professional in voice over will tell you that at some point we were bold enough to chase a dream. I would not be where I am in voiceover today if I didn’t have confidence in myself and passion for voiceover, but ultimately, it all came from a big dream of a career in voice over. Having dreams, or visions of where my career will go has served me well, and what better time of year to think about what I want for myself in 2021 then the week that Santa is getting on his sled! So Santa, please stuff this VO Mama’s stocking with:

Commercial Campaigns

For the past two years, I have been focussing on booking more campaigns and fewer one-offs. Slowly but surely, it is happening. My hope is that in the coming year, these campaigns continue to bring a blend of tv, radio, and social media. Usage has been a big part of the conversation in most of my bookings recently, so my hope is that as more campaigns come in, the usage for clients is more clear and they are prepared to pay industry standard rates for it! I enjoy working with my clients on these repeat spots, so I sure hope Santa sends some my way! Here is one from a campaign I did in the last few months:

https://youtu.be/lZHAdtN3QZ0

Rosters

Santa, please help me join more rosters this year! Whether they are for eLearning content providers, explainer companies, or commercial producers, here I am! I am already on the rosters for Pandora, Spotify, and iHeart Media, and I love working with their teams and look forward to the repeat business. For my eLearning clients, when the work comes in, it is really exciting to hear from the instructional designers and know that they had my voice in mind specifically. I look forward to building my roster of rosters in 2021!

Website Updates

Santa, a website package would be great this holiday! It’s been a while, and I sure need to shake things up! I love working on my website. I look at it as my storefront, and I try to add new content regularly. This year, I think it is time to freshen up my branding. A lot has changed in my business since it was done five years ago, and I would like my website to reflect that. I love the team that I work with, and I want to come up with something that still reflects my brand but also works better with how I want my clients to see me. I want them to know how hard I will work for them and to have confidence when casting me. I still want my bubbly personality to shine through. My dilemma, because of the pandemic, is whether or not to keep my headshots and work with them or to get new ones, so let’s see that Santa suggests!

New Demos

Santa, it is time for some new demos! In 2020, the only new demo that I did was a Covid-19 demo. I also did a refresh of my commercial demo and added in real, booked work that reflected trends in what I am typically asked for. While I have some demos that are still pretty solid, I think it is time to enhance my sweet of demos at this point. I think in 2021, I will focus on narration. I want to have demos that display the current, bookable reads and show my range. I think my basic narration demo is a little old and could be updated. I also have a medical narration demo in the works.

Demos

Let’s Get Real

Do I actually expect Santa to stuff my stocking with all of these treats? In truth, Christmas is not a holiday that my family observes, but as an American I have always LOVED this season. From the decorations to the cookies, I savor this time of year with my family. I enjoy thinking about the idea of Christmas magic. In truth, I have seen many hard working talents on the verge of giving up. A little holiday magic could help us all. What I believe most is that success takes vision, hard work, commitment, talent, and yes, a little luck. So this Christmas, as we eat cookies, drink eggnog lattes, and enjoy time at home, my dream is also for a little holiday luck for all my VO besties.

Why Voice Actors Need Their Own Brand

September 27, 2020 by Laura Schreiber

…. When We Are the Voice Of the Brands Everyone Knows and Loves

Brand Identity

When I started working with my first voice over coach, Anne Ganguzza, I loved her website. It made her standout not just from other voice over actors but from other coaches. It was bold, it was easy to navigate, and it established Anne as a professional. In large part, because of the brand that Anne created on her website before ever speaking with her I trusted that Anne was a voice over professional and if I worked with her I would be successful. This is no accident. If you met Anne Ganguzza, then you know that she is a branding genius.

As voice over actors, daily we play both the role of the talent and the role of the small business owner. Immediately in 2015 I decided that not only would I coach with Anne but I would hire her to help build my brand, as I needed to learn all that I could from her. She hit the nail on the head, working hard to get to know me so that the brand that we built for Laura Schreiber Voice is truly a reflection of the work that I do and what I bring to my clients. As a working creative, we are in a unique role because we ultimately get hired by other brands to represent them, but it is in solidly establishing our own unique brand that we can distinguish ourselves from others in our industry. According to Forbes article from March 2018, “your brand often acts as a function of your reputation and visibility.” As a professional voice over actor, it is essential to establish your brand so that your clients will get to know you as an individual and will trust you as a professional.

Your Website

As a solopreneur, your brand begins with your website. It is your store front. Clients can listen to your demos, see samples of your booked work, and find out how to contact you. Those are the basics, but the fun begins when you use your website to do two things: show clients how you are different than other voice over actors and how you will best meet their needs. Kristin Wendys of The SelfEmployed.com advises “Think first with the eyes of a client and analyze what he is looking for, what are his biggest concerns, and what problems he needs to solve.” Some voice actors have brief summaries so that clients can quickly learn about their services, but much in the way that I am very chatty, my website is overflowing with long narrative explanations that I hope will help my clients connect with me.

Your Logo

Visual images help create your brand and your logo is very much a part of this. I have both an avatar that I love and a Laura Schreiber Voice Logologo. I use them both differently. My logo is on official correspondences like invoices with my avatar is on my business cards, thank you notes, return address labels, stickers… all marketing materials essential to establishing my business brand. According to Entrepreneur, “Simple branding is best, especially if you can make an association in people’s minds that helps them remember you.” My hope is that the feeling that people get when they see my logo and avatar will help build our connection. Everything associated with my brand is very pink and matches.

Why Clients Need To Understand Your Brand to Relate to You

The more clients feel that the know you, the more they will trust you and want to work with you. They want to know not just that you can do the job, but that you will make their life easier because they trusted you to do the job over someone with similar abilities and qualifications. It is wonderful to meet clients in person, but now more than ever this is not often possible, so your brand helps clients get to know you!

What Your Brand Enables you to Do When Marketing

As small business owners, building a brand that clients recognize enables them to hire us directly in lieu of going through a casting site or a talent agency. This direct rapport, booking through our website without our middleman, is the goal of our branding. If we are savvy enough to create a unique brand, we have an opportunity to book voice work directly. According to Forbes in October 2019, “By definition, brand familiarity is the process of creating brand presence by providing awareness, emotional connection, value, accessibility and relevant differentiation for your audience. Building strong brand familiarity is one of the most significant hurdles companies face.” If you are getting direct bookings, this is a great sign you are doing a good job with your brand and if you are not you likely need to keep working on it.

Here are some useful links if you want to research more about branding for solopreneurs:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/349667

https://www.forbes.com/sites/yec/2018/03/15/how-to-build-your-brand-as-a-solopreneur-in-2018/#3ce49ef69631

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223070

https://www.theselfemployed.com/10-branding-hacks-for-solopreneurs/https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/10/22/to-convert-more-customers-focus-on-brand-awareness/#f5d566d20759

How the Ability to Upgrade My VO Website Represents my VO Journey as a Whole

July 19, 2020 by Laura Schreiber

The Importance of Amazing Website People

Laura Schreiber with Team for Voice Actor Websites and Kim Handysides and Shelley Avellino — It was a true joy when Karin Barth, Joe Davis, Kim Handysides and her husband Ed, and Shelley Avellino came to visit!

If you are in voice over and you have never met Joe Davis and his right hand woman Karin Barth of Voice Actor websites, that

would surprise me. They are incredible people. I don’t know what the average professional voice actor’s relationship is like Joe and Karin, but they are warm, trustworthy, and brilliant with everything from website design to SEO. If our website is our store front in voice over, it is essential to have a solid relationship with the folks who run your store front. Having a solid relationship with people like Joe and Karin is so easy, they are two of the kindest, hardest working people I have every met. I can think of dozens of examples of times when I have had “emergencies” and they have been supportive and helpful, and one time when I changed my email signature (which they of course designed and coded) and I could not get it to load in my iPhone, Joe offered to fly from Florida to New York to help. Now that is customer service. So to say that I am appreciative of the team at voice actor websites and that I depend on them would be accurate. It would also be accurate to say that the success of my business is intertwined and inextricably linked to my voiceover website. Consequently, the journey I have taken with my voice over website is representative of my voice over journey as a whole.

https://youtu.be/2_RNm68QpPE

Voice Actor Websites Team- What Makes A Great Voiceover Website (https://youtu.be/2_RNm68QpPE)

How it All Started

Laura Schreiber With Brad Newman and — Here I am with Brad Newman of Upper Level Hosting and Nazia Chaudry at VOcation

It all started with a single scrolling webpage. I did not know about Brad Newman, sadly, years ago and I had to deal with host gator hosting and that is another long story, but I am also so very thankful to have hosting with Brad now and have the joy of his outstanding customer service at Upper Level Hosting. Anyway, I had one scrolling page. There was a menu at the top and if you clicked on it the cursor would jump to the section selected, so it felt like there were multiple pages, but really there was just one page. When my page was first created, I was very concerned with branding. I worked with Anne Ganguzza and she came up with the concept you see today. While branding was on my mine, SEO was not. The initial website that launched in March 2016 looked amazing. I was so proud. It was breathtaking.

Initially I did not Do Anything On My Own

When I started my business, Sara Waters designed the site and Joe was in the picture, but he was not the entire picture. At some point early on he ran the show. The transition was seamless because I cannot pinpoint a moment in time when the transition occurred, it was juts my friend Joe running things and before I knew it the more I worked with him the more he and his team became my friends. I did not do a single thing for my website on my own. NOT. ONE. THING. Here is a list of basic support I got from the team at voice actor websites:

adding client logos
adding testimonials
adding and/or updating demos
adding/posting blogs
SEO services
eSignatures
marketing materials
social media banners and updates

I was extremely dependent on Joe’s team. First, once I tried to do an update myself and made a big mess of my page. Next, it saved me time to have them do it. Time they were doing these services is time that I could be in the booth recording or simply doing other things. I lacked a skill set that they all had, and their expertise was extremely reassuring. Not only was it reassuring, but it helped me to establish myself as a professional in my field.

The Big Upgrade

Home-NEW

In 2018 I made a huge website update. I went from a single scrolling page format to a multi page format. I had amassed an impressive body of booked work to post. I also had worked with so many coaches by that point and had so many professional demos produced that I really needed different pages for each genre so that I could showcase the demo and booked work I had done in a more spectacular, attention getting way. What I did not understand when I initially started the process in 2015 was that my single scrolling page, as beautiful as it was, would never have the SEO that the multi page site has. Joe and his team coordinated efforts. I began writing content and organizing all the video clips. Voice Actor Websites continued to help my professional dreams come true, my store front made a huge leap that year and the website truly became a place to show where I was professionally and all that I can offer my clients.

The Bold Move: Learning to Do Some Things in Word Press

After YEARS in the industry, I have gotten better at time management. I love learning new technology related to anything in voice over. So, I became curious about the workings of Word Press. I wanted to understand the magic that went into adding a logo or inserting a testimonial. I started small. I started by posting my blogs. But one day it occurred to me, if I could post my blogs, then surely I could learn to do more. Karin spent a good bit of time teaching me how, step by step. I made note cards and I was really excited. More than that, I was inspired. I decided to make a bold move and add an entire page to my site.

Covid Response and Emergency Management

I did have one little hiccup when doing it, when I added this page I somehow made my commercial page disappear, but Joe fixed it!

Taking Ownership

I am extremely thankful for all of the support I have gotten from Joe and Karin of the years. Having a team of people who are wonderful like the team that Joe has built has helped make success possible for me. I have no doubt that as time goes on there are many services I will need to pay them for and many lessons I will need, but the sense of pride that I got in being able to upload my own client logos and add content as I want to meant the world to me! As small business owners, voice actors wear a lot of hats. For me, my website was the wild west, and feeling that it is not such uncharted territory fills me with so much joy.

A Day in the Life of a Voice Actor…

Talking VO Websites with Karin Barth from Voice Actor Websites

Why Voice Actors Need Their Own Brand

How the Ability to Upgrade My VO Website Represents my VO Journey as a Whole

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