Liz de Nesnera. Best of Both Worlds VO.

Fluently Speaking Your Script's Language in English and French.

Back to Basics

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I’ve been in the voiceover industry for over two decades. I’m in my 14th year of being a full-time voiceover talent. I love what I do. And I am lucky enough to have built a business that has allowed me to keep a fine roof over my head, in a place I love to live, to keep food on the table and my awesome stick-shift-AWD-Subaru Forester (named Whitaker…think about it 😉 ) in the driveway.

I’ve trained in voiceover technique with some of the best in the business, and I run my business AS a business.

So?

Sometimes things happen that make you stop and think.

This year, the “things” were that two of my best clients decided to change direction when it came to their voiceover needs. One was bought by another company which had their own roster of talent, and another has changed the way they record their projects.

Now, remember when I said above that I run my business AS a business? Good thing!

Years ago, a friend of mine, and a very successful VO in his own right asked me this question: “If your two best clients decided to go elsewhere, would your business survive?” I never forgot that question, and today I can say without a doubt: ABSOLUTELY!

In fact over the last 10 years, at the end of every year, I run my reports and REMOVE the revenue from that year’s top two clients to see where I would be had I not gotten that income. You should try it, it’s in interesting exercise. 🙂 How top heavy are you with your top two clients? Do they make up 10% of your income? 30%? 50%? Ask yourself: “If my two best clients decided to go elsewhere, would my business survive?” Would you still be able to pay your bills and put food on the table?

So with that in mind, and while my business is still thriving, I decided to go back to basics.

I signed up for a 6-week marketing course. I just finished Week-1. Wow. What an eye-opener! I’m diving deep and committed to expanding and finding my next new two-three-four-five best clients.

How about you? Do you need to get back to basics? Whatever that means to you, it might just be what leads you to your next success.

Remember that saying about first impressions?

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You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

In my work as a full-time voiceover talent, I record in many different genres: eLearning, explainer videos, commercials and…yes…Telephony.

To many voiceover talent, it’s not even on their radar or, honestly, it’s looked down upon as not worth their time.

For those not in my industry many know this as “voicemail jail.” Which is really sad.

What many don’t realize is how important it is for companies to have a professional sounding phone system.

It truly is often the first impression that people get of a company.

(How many rants have we all heard about the awful system and sound someone had to deal with when they called a certain company)

I just got off a session for a major luxury brand. There were two people on the line from the agency and client side, plus the engineer.

(For my VO friends: Yes, this was a Union booking via one of my agents, Desanti Talents recorded via ISDN)

We spent 40 minutes recording 3 paragraphs for their phone system.

These people get it. They understand that the people who call their company expect a certain sound and a certain quality. It’s also a sign of respect for the customer. Their customers don’t want to hear someone who’s just “phoning it in” (pun intended!)

I was thrilled to be hired to represent them.

So, the next time you hear a bad recording, what will you think of the company? Will you feel respected?

If, on the other hand, you hear a good recording, you’ll know that the company cares about their image, and you their customer.

Do the Footwork

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I’d like to chat about something I’ve been thinking about a lot these days.

It’s about doing the footwork.

We all take steps every day to advance our careers, enhance our relationships and make a better life for ourselves and our loved ones. Here’s the thing though….you don’t really know how it’s all going to turn out. Sure, you want it to turn out in your favor. You want that happy ending, but sometimes you never know what action you take will make that ripple and ultimately have that positive (or negative) impact.

Sure, a new voiceover demo is great. A new website? Fabulous! But sometimes it’s about sending an email thanking someone for writing a book that made you laugh….which can lead to a wonderful friendship. Or attending a business conference where you meet someone who becomes your best friend….or even the love of your life.

Just keep doing the footwork, and as someone once told me: “Stay out of the results.”

Be true to yourself, and you’ll be surprised at where you’ll be led. I know I have been.

A Community. Not Competition

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When I became a full time voice talent (or actor, or “-over” or artist, or faffer…whatever you want to call it these days! ;-), one of the statements that I heard over & over again was “Oh forget it, it’s always the same 10 people that get booked for those jobs.”

Really?

So how have I managed to make a full-time living at this? [Read more…]

Education of the voiceover….and of the most basic kind

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There’s a lot of talk these days about voiceover coaching and education.

Voiceover Coaching has become a veritable industry unto itself with some good coaches and – as always – some charlatans. I’m not going to get into that here.

I have been lucky enough to be coached by some of the best, and I’m STILL being coached and educated. I really feel that it’s a constant process of developing my skills and taking my abilities to the next level.

It’s an education that I take seriously. [Read more…]

You never know who’s listening, watching, reading.

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In today’s day and age of social network-meetup-hi-look-at-me-ing you never really know who’s out there peeking in your website-blog-twitter-facebook-window.

That’s not a bad thing, in fact it can be pretty cool!

I had a wonderful experience at the NYC Voiceover Mixer hosted by Voice Talent Productions last month: a fellow voice talent, who I had never met in person, came up to me and told me how much she appreciated my posts about telephony and how much she learned, and thanked me for the help I had given…virtually. That made me feel really nice! [Read more…]

Happy New Year!

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OK! So it’s “that” time of year again…Resolution-time!

What interesting about the concept of “resolutions” is that they usually involve some sort of major sacrifice or herculean effort….losing weight, quitting smoking, getting to the gym more often…Resolutions, frankly have a bad rap because they usually DON’T involve efforts we really want to make …but rather ones we feel we SHOULD make….and that’s why they are so often NOT kept.

On the other hand, when it comes to my voiceover career – that I LOVE – I see resolutions not as bad, but as opportunities to play and expand and grow as a voice talent and a business owner…I WANT to do these 🙂 What a concept! [Read more…]