Friday, July 02, 2010

Tips From Voice123: "Questions From Trainings"

Every Thursday, Voice123 does a free training on how to use the Voice123 SmartCast system, but also offers tips on how to work online as a voice over artist. Today, we present questions asked by you, the Voice123 Community, that we hope will assist everyone who has not attended this special training!

"This person loves my voice, and wants to hire me, but how do I say no?"

Simply put, there will be times when people reach out to you that you did not expect. Voice123 does not screen private messages. If you know you cannot do a job, responding and saying you are not available is the best way to go. Why? You save someone more time by not keeping them waiting for an answer, or a false promise, and they will remember you for doing this in a positive light.

"I don't know this person. What do I do to find out if they are a legitimate business?"

There are two different ways of looking at this:

First, working online has given more businesses access to finding voice over talent, so you may indeed here from someone casting for major motion picture, as well as, that friendly person down the street needing a voice over for his/her new phone message. You, as a 'do it yourself' voice talent business, have to decide what is legitimate for yourself. Repeat customers and people who pay you often can assist in making that decision.

Second, with the explosion of social media, if you cannot find any information about a person, or his/her business using Google, it tells you something about how new they may be to the Internet, and you are working online. Try this: Type your name, followed by Voice123, into your web browser, and examine the results. If you are not sure about who contacted you, do the research through your web browser. You will be able to judge from what you see through web content, who you may or may not be working with.


"This person seemed kind of strange. Will I get in trouble for turning down work?"

No, not at all. Voice123 serves as a connection service, and not an agency. We make no commission. We do recommend when you see something that appears strange to take a moment, and remember that this is a global marketplace. Not everyone will be used to your style of communicating, and given that communication face to face is 90% body language, but you do not have that online, you have to first give someone the benefit of the doubt. "People are strange, when you're a stranger". When you do book work on Voice123.com, be sure to let us know and maybe we can upload your work onto our youtube page!

We hope to bring you more community questions in the future, and hope you find this helpful!

Thank You Always!


Voice123 - The Voice Marketplace

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
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Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
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Photo by Oberazzi

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