July 2008 Archives

I looked at and made a decision about every piece of paper in my filing cabinets. I found an e-mail message that I sent to a client in 2002. I extracted the main portion below because I wondered if you have found yourself in a similar situation:

I had produced my first demo and had mailed it without success for about 6 months to agents and prospects. I also created a database, using data I found on-line and in organization directories. I then started mailing postcards to these prospects.

Lesson 1: Always qualify your prospects before adding them to your database. I had not even contacted people to find out if they hired voice talent before entering all of the contact information into my database. Mail-outs are expensive, and I learned the hard way that repeatedly mailing things to people who would never hire me is a colossal waste of time, money and energy.

One person called me after receiving one of my postcards. I was elated when he said he wanted to hire me for a radio commercial. My first job, and a radio commercial, no less! I wouldn't have cared what the job entailed; I was giddy with the knowledge that I had hit the big time! I didn't ask any questions except for the scheduled time and directions to the session.

When I arrived at the address, I was confused. The address was at a duplex in a somewhat seedy looking neighborhood. Surely this producer had hired a recording studio? Was I at the wrong address? I rang the doorbell. I was at the correct address and felt a little distraught when the producer led me to a back room. I started thinking how I might escape and was relieved to see microphones at a table. He sat at one, and I sat at the other. I had produced my demo in a gorgeous studio at Todd A/O/Editworks (now R!OT Atlanta). I naively thought that all recording studios were of the same caliber.

We decided to redecorate my office with new furniture, which meant pulling all of the files out of the drawers before the furniture could be moved. We made numerous trips to gather armfuls of hanging file folders that we stacked on the floor in the upstairs hall. Although the clutter in the hall was overwhelming, we agreed on the arduous task of examining every piece of paper and file so that we would only keep those things we needed.

Throughout this project, we have shredded at least 6 bags of paper and thrown away countless sheets. In addition to finding a multitude of outdated records about our health, finances and possessions, I was incredulous to see just how much paper I had accumulated in my work as a voice talent.

When I do an audition, I save the script so that I will have it available when I am booked for the job. I had folders overflowing with scripts from agents and on-line casting services. I also maintain folders for clients and their jobs.

My system works well -- EXCEPT that I never got rid of anything! In making decisions about voice-over paperwork to toss, I combined principles discussed in 2 books on seemingly disparate subjects: Michael Port's bestseller Book Yourself Solid : The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling and Catherine Ponder's classic work The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity.