Home Archives - Page 2 of 14

Social Responsibility Begins at Home

Talk to anyone about a company’s social responsibility and some of the first images that come to mind are the rain forest in Brazil, with the associated need for conservation, and the sweatshops in the Far East, where small children make T-shirts for the West. In other words, things far away from home; big multinational stuff, the sins of globalisation that the Seattle warriors fight by burning McDonalds’ franchises. Society is a nice concept that, if a bit vague, a bit idealistic and a bit moral, fits well in company mission statements. After all, imagine the alternative. Do you know of any company that would admit to wanting to pollute the environment, destroy social relationships or run workplaces like concentration camps?

The trouble with global social responsibility is that it distracts from what is happening next door or downstairs. Companies that are ‘socially responsible’ – by the stereotype standards of no-pollution-no-child-labour – may, in fact, operate socially irresponsible policies affecting their own staff. Sumantra Ghoshal, a professor at the London Business School in the UK, refers to the atmosphere in some companies as being like ‘Calcutta in summer’, a suffocating environment. Such companies may have mission statements espousing their commitment to social responsibility: promising no polluting of rivers, while ignoring the daily pollution of the minds of their work force.

Let’s face it, Ghoshal is right. Some working environments are not nice! High levels of internal politics and personal wars, disregard for the life of employees who are just numbers on a spreadsheet, and irrational ‘contingency policies’ (hire fast/fire fast) may lead to a ‘Calcutta in summer’ workplace, even if the company swears it will never dump a chemical in the nearby river.

Social responsibility, like charity, begins at home: in the manager’s office next door and downstairs in the HR department and the labs. It has to do with understanding that people spend a great deal of their daily life working for organisations and that the company – whether it wants to recognise it or not – has a ‘social responsibility’ to them. A responsibility that involves a duty to provide an environment that respects the individual, enhances the human condition and values the employee. Surely, if it’s good for trees, it must be good for humans.

Those who think this is airy-fairy stuff are no different from those who think that the pollution of the river by the chemical plant is a necessary evil if business is to meet its objectives. Years ago, such people got away with murder because the population was largely ignorant of the issue, or silent or insensitive. Today, such practices make headlines that backfire on the company in a way that it can’t afford. Probably, some years from now, the Calcutta-in-summer workplaces will make headlines in a similar way, with similar consequences.

As a self-confessed novice in matters green, who still needs to be reminded what a recycling box is for, it may seem strange that I should use ‘green examples’. I am not bringing them here as an expert practitioner but to compare and expose the double standards of so-called social responsibility.

The circadian mind of a manager

One of the behaviours one finds in a less than socially responsible environment is a kind of management schizophrenia. Outside the office, a manager may be a kind, civilised and perhaps church-going human being. In the office, he may transform himself into a careless nine-to-five manager who, quite frankly, may not give a damn about the ‘working environment’ as long as ‘the numbers are achieved’ (and his bonus is safe). Perfectly reasonable human beings become very unreasonable managers on entering the office as if affected by some sort of toxic gas. Once in the office, toxic management takes over. It’s as circadian as night and day.

A company’s obvious need to have policies and procedures is a perfect excuse for toxic managers. They say, “Sorry, it’s not me, I have to do this, it’s company policy” or “If it were up to me, I would allow this, but I don’t make the rules“; or “I can’t allow you to do that, because then everybody will expect the same“. And the employee is denied a small privilege that would have made no difference to the running of the business, but that might perhaps have made all the difference to a working mother, such as a little flexibility in her working hours.

Managers who hide behind company policies – ‘I don’t make the rules’ or ‘I have to treat everyone the same way’ – are often simply lying. In many cases, they do have the power and ability to interpret company policy. They could grant an exception to the rule and accord the individual a special concession because common sense says that the rule was not invented to make life difficult.

One of the best defence systems of the toxic manager in the Calcutta environment is the use of ‘internal equity’ as an all-seasons argument. “We must see the equity aspects of this issue in the organisation,” a manager or an HR leader will say, “We can’t give this to Smith or it will set a precedent for others“.

That kind of argument assumes many things, but the one that has always puzzled me is that it presumes that the entire organisation may want the same as Smith. This is not true in most cases. For example, I did an MBA sponsored by my employer. As I remember, there were no rigid criteria about who could do it. I knew a couple of colleagues like myself who were sponsored. My boss did not have a long queue of people in his office wanting to do an MBA! As a matter of fact, it was hard work that some of us did on top of our normal workload. In another organisation, such an opportunity would not have been available because (here it comes): “It would not be fair in terms of internal equity!”

Fairness, the greatest parapet

Fairness is a word that can be used with a great deal of semantic discretion. Many managers – and many HR departments – seem obsessed with defending fairness. And yet, under this parapet, they exhibit the greatest unfairness of all, that of homogenisation. Fairness, as unilaterally dictated and interpreted, may boost the manager’s moral ego but may not impress anybody else. Salary differences between staff, executive privileges, boards driven by personal gain, are all unfair, yet they are part of daily life.

At this point you may be convinced that I am determined to paint a dark picture of business life. Let me be clear: I know business life can be highly rewarding and enlightening. I also appreciate that much work takes place in non-Calcutta environments. But the cynical way in which corporations deal with so-called social responsibility should not be covered up. The company is socially irresponsible, despite all its ‘care for the environment’ policies, when all it achieves is a good track record of clean rivers, but it is a place that is not worth working in as internal mental pollution merely replaces external pollution. Blame it on my lack of environmental education, but I can’t stand those environmentalists who care about recycling their memos, who dispose of cans in special containers and who use the same hotel towel every day to save water, while they pollute the working environment of the people working for them. Maybe we should have offices or cubicles painted in green for those managers.

Pending revolutions

The customer revolution took place in the 1980s with a proliferation of customer services departments. Today, these are the baseline; they don’t raise eyebrows of admiration any more. Companies are supposed to have them. The Quality movement focused on quality as a final end, today, this is the starting point. In a few years’ time, you won’t see an ISO logo on letterheads or on the company van.

Now, as the shareholder revolution is beginning to take off, the actions of boards and management are increasingly scrutinised. The next big revolution will be the employee revolution. At that point, toxic management will be uncovered and companies that are internally socially irresponsible will make the headlines. Those companies that are brave enough to look at themselves in the mirror and identify socially irresponsible internal practices, and who are then also brave enough to do something about them, will win the game.

You and I know of companies full of ‘nice people’. In many cases, though, it’s as if we were saying: “Individually, we’re all basically good guys. Collectively, we can be a bunch of arrogant people who use the excuse of rules dictated by somewhere else to exercise power and control“. If a working environment can produce and nurture Calcutta-in-summer managers, who otherwise are ‘nice guys individually’, this environment is toxic; you should avoid it if you can. And that’s the problem: the ‘if you can’. After all, a few million people live in Calcutta. Many can’t afford to be anywhere else and, indeed, some may even like summer there.

Social responsibility is not merely a green issue or an ethical corporate governance approach which takes a stand on not polluting rivers and not cutting trees in Brazil. It must begin at home. That is, in the office next door, the manufacturing plant or the project team. None of this, however, is taught in business schools.

Start a Home Based Company With Small Business Grants

In this day and age as we witness the rapid advancing of technology in unison with the increasing unemployment rate, many American citizens are turning to small business grants sponsored by the US government as a means of establishing home based online businesses. This practice is becoming more and more popular each and every day as the evolution of technological business enhancements is rapidly rendering traditional methods of company operations obsolete.

There is no better time than now to begin considering telecommunication and virtual office positions as a regular work or career procedure. This is the age of computers, and web cams, and digital this, and automated that. It’s seldom that you are ever even able to reach an actual live representative when calling most customer service centers. It is pretty frightful to think that your job can actually be eliminated and replaced by an inanimate object, yet those days are growing near. It is a daily occurrence that thousands are laid off of their long time jobs while major corporations downsize employees to redirect payroll funds, in order to upgrade their automated systems. Becoming self-employed is seemingly the last chance at any type of job security for some, and small business grants are often the only chance of achieving that.

The smartest thing about using small business grants to establish an online “work from home” business is, obviously, because this is free government money. Most taxpaying American citizens are eligible to qualify for business grants, and the best part is, they never have to pay them back. There is no credit check, cosigner, interest, collateral, or anything else. This is a gift from the government awarded to you to establish your new business. By using these funds to create an online web and/or home-based business, you can virtually open up shop and see an immediate profit with absolutely no overhead whatsoever. No other type of business can achieve those highly favorable results.

You can acquire enough free government money in small business grants to start your home-based business in the utmost of professional fashions. It is entirely possible to be awarded enough funding to…

*Construct and/or set up an efficient and well equipped home office

*Purchase computers, software, telephones, copy machines, fax machines, printers, and all other essential major electronic or technical equipments to keep your company running smooth and efficiently.

*Buy all paper, pens, folders, professionally printed letterhead stationary, calendars, business cards, and all other necessary office supplies that you will need.

*Afford advertising materials and services to properly promote your business, whatever it may be.

*Obtain special training or college courses that correspond to your choice of career path to enhance and improve your business.

These are just a few of the advantages of creating your own online business. We haven’t even touched on the pleasure and freedom of not having a boss, not having to commute to work, not having to pay for gas or parking, wait for trains or buses, get stuck in rush hour traffic, be late for work, take a cut in pay, or get laid off. Sounds pretty appealing, doesn’t it. Well imagine being able to do all of that, for free.

Follow the links below to see how much free government money you qualify for in small business grants. It may not be long before you are enjoying lifetime job security in that plush corner office with a window…with a view of your patio.

Home Typing Services and Secretarial Services – How to Choose a Name

Choosing a name for your secretarial services or typing business is important. Select it carefully.

Be sure the name fits these criteria:

o Indicate you are providing secretarial, transcription, VA, data entry or typing services.

o Easy to remember.

o Distinctive – stand out from your competition.

o Catch the client’s attention.

o Create a professional image.

o Inspire clients to buy from you.

Which of these has more appeal? HyperTyper or Judy’s Word Processing? “HyperTyper” tells what Gloria does. She provides typing services and she types fast. Many people have commented they choose Gloria’s typing services because of her business name.

Choose a simple name your clients will be able to remember, pronounce, and spell. They have to remember your business name to look you up in the phone book or call information when they lost your phone number.

List Characteristics

List all the characteristics of your business. Find synonyms. Check several categories in the Yellow Pages and look for existing names you like. Play with combinations and variations of all of the above.

Send a short survey to your friends and business associates. Have them vote from 1-10.

If you offer secretarial services, try using any of these descriptions in a name: Word Processing, Data Entry, Secretarial Services, Transcription, Medical Transcription, Legal Transcription, Office Support, Desktop Publishing, and Graphic Design.

Should You Use Your Own Name?

Using your name, followed by the type of service works well if you have a reputation in your specialty. An example is “Michelle Smith’s Medical Transcription” or “Ann Johnson’s Legal Transcription.” Looking like a one-person organization makes your business more personalized. People like to deal with the same person rather than with different people each time. Try your own name in combination with any of the above. Add words such as Professional, Excellent, Reliable/Dependable, Fast, Express, and Creative.

Test Your Name

Once you have chosen a few names, test them out on friends and family, potential clients and everyone you know. Ask them what kind of service they think you provide and what feeling they get about the name.

After selecting your business name, you can now start creating your logo, letterhead, envelopes, and business cards.

Sample Hardship Letters Helping to Save Your Home

A foreclosure for anyone can be devastating financially, emotionally and psychologically. Your family is forced to physically move away from friends, family and neighbors that they have come to love and lean on. As if that is not enough, you have to face incessant calls from bill collectors and explain to them that you are still unable to pay your bills.

The foreclosure process is not only lengthy it can be humiliating. As soon as a homeowner realizes that they are in over their heads, a financial hardship letter becomes a way out, or light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Written properly, a financial hardship letter can result in a positive outcome for all parties involved.

Contrary to popular opinion, lenders do not relish the idea of losing money in a soft market due to foreclosures. They have to look at the loss of income due to an empty property and the expensive legal fees that it costs them to actually precede with a foreclosure.

Lenders are also not realtors. It is not their job to try to sell your home and as a result, they are inadequate at it. They must now finance the maintenance, insurance, security and marketing of a home that they know very little about. They may have the black and white facts about it, but they know nothing about details of selling your home. The simple writing of a financial hardship letter can help to avert this fate for both you and the lender. Federal funds have been put in place that will help the lender, through the loss mitigator, give the homeowner options to avoid a foreclosure.

Loan modification is dependent solely on the initial submission of a financial hardship letter. This gives the lender a written decree of reasons that the homeowner has fallen behind on payments. This letter gives the loss mitigator a glimpse into the financial and personal reasons of the homeowner’s hardship. It also gives the lender personal reasons to help the homeowner try to salvage the mortgage with either a short sale or loan modification.

The lender will want to know as much information as possible about why the homeowner has fallen behind. The financial hardship letter gives the lender this information in a clear and concise manner. They need this information to be able to refinance or offer a short sale.

The lender will need to know the following details in your financial hardship letter:

1. Is this an ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage)?

2. Has the borrower been convicted of a crime that may cause prison time?

3. What is the current state of the borrower’s income?

4. Has there been some catastrophic illness in the family?

5. Has their been a layoff or job loss?

6. Is the borrower having to commute a long distance to survive?

7. Has their been a business failure?

8. Has their been a death in the family effecting contributions to the mortgage?

9. Is the primary borrower divorcing?

10. Is the borrower out for a military post?

11. Has their been significant damage to the home due to weather or fire?

A financial hardship sample letter is the key to a homeowner getting a timely answer to their request for loan modification. This sample letter will make sure that you have all the necessary information that a loss mitigator will need to help you as soon as possible to avoid foreclosure on your home.

How to Make a Great Living Working Mainly From Home As a Professional Voice Actor

The internet has completely changed the fortunes of professional voiceovers – for the better. These days, we can forget driving round radio stations and recording studios in the desperate hope of finding the odd suitable advert script in the production department’s “in-tray” to record; dismiss to the past a day lost travelling to the city to audition for a single line of a TV advert voiceover where you rarely hear back. Your client base can now be based in an area bigger than your region or even your country. In fact, there are clients all round the world who may feel your voice is perfect for their projects.

You don’t need to physically meet the clients, or even use their recording studios. You can record in your own “home studio” and send them broadcast quality audio files via a file transfer service such as WeTransfer.com. Sometimes clients will want to direct you over your headphones while you record the script, using Skype, ipDTL, ISDN, or one of many other systems available that are quite inexpensive and reliant on just a decent internet connection. But usually, you’re left on your own to record the script sent to you with instructions as to timing, voice style, pauses etc., then you’re expected to edit out your mistakes, optimise the levels and to then simply send the file (s) in the technical format requested. You then wait for any retakes required, then you can send in your invoice; job done.

Over the years, I’ve done a lot of full time “staff” jobs in my time working for both the BBC and ITV as producer, director, and I even ran a TV channel once. (Granada Men and Motors if you’re interested, and I gave Richard Hammond his first TV job for my sins!) But for the last 10 years, I have been a full-time freelance voiceover, and apart from a handful of trips to London studios each month, I work from my little studio at home and have never earned so much money in my life, for doing such little “work”. I’m totally independent and I don’t have an agent, so regularly I have to work on the “Search Engine Optimisation ” of my websites, and email or call potential new customers and expand my client base, but if you don’t want to do that, then choose the agent route. They’ll do all this for a % of your fee. Both ways are valid. It’s just that I like to be in full control of my success, but, hey, we’re all different.

There are so many uses for voiceovers, and there is honestly plenty of work out there for voice styles of all types and ages. As well as the obvious TV and radio commercials, the easy low hanging fruit comes from recording corporate promo videos or museum narrations. They may be deadly boring to record, and you need to look up the odd Polish word or acronym, but it’s quite an art to sound enthused about a grommet manufacturing plant in Gdansk! Also, there are telephone prompts for various organisations that regularly need renewing, saying things like: “your call IS important to us… !” and so on.

Also, don’t forget awards ceremony voiceovers that are either recorded or you do them live, so you can adlib when a winner doesn’t tip up… or when a winner literally tips up on the edge of the stage. But the real fun to be had is acting in video games. My voice is now on many video games and trailers playing a wide variety of characters. The top-end games still insist on the voice actors being physically in the studio, and that’s after a rigorous auditioning process.

But for every high profile game, there are hundreds of projects lower down in the pecking order, that still pay decent money and once you record a few samples of your character(s), the games studio just ask you do 3 takes of each line and you just send them one big wav file for them to select the best takes and chop up into smaller files for the coding. It really is quite easy money, as many of the lower end games feature stereotypical character voices and accents that are not hard to manage to any actor worth their salt, and the recording can be much fun to do, especially if you have to do a barrel load of “non-vocal” takes of random mumbling or “dying” sounds and fight grunts.

You won’t just get clients from English-speaking countries. English is an international language, and every country has companies and organisations where videos would need an English soundtrack version as well as one recorded in the home language. You may just get sent a Word or PDF document and asked to record it in the style of one of your showreels. Or you may need to record the English version in the style of a video they provide to you with the original language. Don’t worry if you don’t speak the original language, you’ll be able to get the timing and mood required from watching this, and that’s all you need.

In the week of writing, I’ve recorded such sessions from Germany, Spain, Denmark, Italy and UAE. You’ll get a link to view the “foreign” language version on Vimeo or YouTube, to ascertain the timings and the style of the VO. Then you’ll get a script which should sync approximately to the non-English version. If you can offer a full syncing service as well, where you’d chop up your VO on a video timeline to exactly match the non-English paragraphs, fine, but usually they do this detailed editing at their end.

It is perfectly possible to create a good business over about 6- 12 months from scratch. Life is very flexible, and you’d look to your email “in-box” for your daily income. You’d build up your client base to an extent that statistically you KNOW that each morning there’ll be a good day’s work in the offing, even if you have closed off all jobs the night before. The best thing about being a VO is the variety. Doing silly voices, characters for video games, audio books and training video scripts where you learn so much, plus commercials where every split-second counts, means no two days or indeed jobs are the same.

So are you already an actor or actress? Do you already “do” voices? That’s fine. Recording voiceovers is very similar in that you get into a character voice and stay in character. That character may be of a certain age from a certain part of the world with a certain social status, etc. etc. It’s your job to look at the script and think of the character in your head, even down to what they look like and what they would be wearing.

Many of the scripts may not really be characters as such, but “narrator” voices, but even here, you still need to create a type of person that you are playing. If you are given a script for, say, the tourist board of Romania aimed at future visitors, you imagine you are a professor at the University of Bucharest, proud of your country and its history. You have written many books about Romania and enjoy walking and cycling in the forests at weekends. There… have you a picture in your head?

You may have an industrial safety video to provide the voiceover for. So you imagine that you are the head of health and safety who has just taken to hospital a person seriously injured after ignoring the safety rules at the factory. You want to stop others having to go through the same trauma. You now have the passion and the fire in your belly and this will come across in the words that you read.

Yes – you are giving performances. A different one for every script that you are given, but they are still performances, and you need to be able to snap into one of many characters very quickly and sustain the feeling, the voice, the stance, the reason why you are speaking.

Of course, you could attend acting classes to understand all this much more fully, but you need to crack this technique yourself first. If you playback your recordings and it sounds like you are merely reading a script, then you must tackle this problem as soon as possible. Often I am asked to record TV or radio commercials where I need to sound enthusiastic. In real life, I may not care at all about the silly product that is being featured, but I would SOUND like I really genuinely cared!

So how do you learn this technique? Well, it’s all down to the melody of the “song” in the voice, the timing of the words, the words that are emphasised, the little gaps, the breathing, the slight imperfections that make speech sounds natural and not merely read off a script. The best way to “get” this performance technique is to find a recording of a professional experienced voiceover which you admire, ideally with a voice style similar to your own. Then transcribe the voiceover or find the script. Play a few words and pause. Now you read the script yourself – repeat the way the words are said, find the “tune” of the words, the way they go up and down, the pauses, the words that are emphasized – every little nuance. Now play the next section and repeat till the end. Go back to the start and do this again, mimicking the voiceover as closely as you can.

Now forget the recording and YOU read the script again and record yourself. Are you now communicating the energy, passion, the feeling, the character of the original voiceover? If not, try to picture the original voiceover – what would they be dressed in? Would they be holding the product they are enthusing about delivering to a TV camera, or musing out of an open window on a summer’s day? Get the picture.

The idea is that you “get inside the head” of the original voiceover; after all they got the lucrative gig to voice that national commercial and you didn’t. So, you’d copy them as best you can, do this for other voiceovers and actors that you admire and then with the knowledge in your head, and the ability to use “mental pre-sets” to snap into various characters, you then develop a personal style of your own and you’ll get to know your strengths and weaknesses in vocal acting.

1) STUDIO & SET UP

Buy the best microphone you can afford – but it needs to be right for your voice. You need to go to a well stocked audio or music shop in a city, try some out in your price range and record your voice using a top of the range “pop” filter hoop on each… essential for every voice artist. Ask for playback through decent HiFi speakers in a quiet room. Don’t just listen through headphones live, that won’t give you any useful feedback to the quality of the microphones you are testing.

So what are you listening for on playback? Well, you need a microphone that picks out all the “nice” harmonics in your voice and diminishes the “bad” elements. I personally use a Neumann U87 and Neumann TLM 103, as they seem to suit my deep bass voice. It gives my voice resonance and authority while keeping top end (treble) clarity. Years ago, when testing microphones, I found Electovoice microphones made my voice muffled for some reason, and AKG ones were thin and lifeless when recording my voice. Yet I know VO people who love these and other microphones, so you have to see what is right for your own voice and the way you use the microphone.

You’ll find USB microphones at really good prices, (like the Rode NT or the Audio Technica AT2020) but I suggest you avoid these. For the best quality, you really need a traditional large condenser microphone with an XLR audio socket, not a USB digital socket. There are boring technical reasons why this is the case, feel free to Google if you really need to know! As a rule of thumb, you’d be looking to spend at least £500 / $650 on a microphone, and you may be lucky and find a cared for used one on the net for a big discount on the new price. In the microphone shop, you’d also buy a good quality pop filter (double filter ones are usually the best) and a quality anglepoise type mike stand so you can position the microphone exactly right, plus a cage or sprung mount for the microphone so it doesn’t pick up vibrations from the desk.

The microphone needs to plug in using a thick quality screened XLR cable into very good quality preamp such as a Focusrite Scarlett or Steinberg UR22 that then plugs into a USB port of a computer. (Note this is not the same as a “USB” microphone plugged in direct; this route just described gives better quality) Aim for total silence in both the microphone and recording chain and also the room or voice booth you are recording in. Unless you want to just record “shouty” hard-sell scripts, there will be occasions where the slightest small bit of interference or hum will ruin what is called the “noise floor” of your recording. Once you have found a quiet room, the walls and ceiling need to be treated with foam acoustic tiles. This has to done to create a “dead” recording zone with no acoustic reflections. Until you can afford professional acoustic tiles, it’s amazing how old duvets on the walls and ceiling plus thick carpet do the trick.

You may not want to record your audio directly on your computer. I don’t, apart from quick demos. I prefer to plug my microphone into a stand-alone solid-state recorder, one of my trusty old Marantz PMD 661 machines. It gives me more flexibility to pop the SD card out to edit the audio on train journeys, and I like the confidence that the stand-alone recorder with its whisper quiet and high-quality pre-amp is doing its job 100% of the time and that no computer programs are interfering.

So, what about the location where you are going to record your voiceovers? At home, ideally, you’d have a big room or even a garage with a professional voice booth built in, but they are very expensive, at least £3,000 / $4,000. These booths are very heavy, and they get delivered in a huge box in a kit form. They are basically a big box that you step inside via a door and there is usually a triple glazed window. Inside will be a desk and chair plus your screen microphone, keyboard and mouse.

If you can’t afford or have the space for a voice booth, you’d probably start with a small room that you’d adapt. Remember you want the nasty noisy computer with its fans OUTSIDE the room you are in, next door with wires and appropriate USB amplifiers leading to your keyboard, mouse and screen in front of your microphone set up. Or if you have a soundproofed cupboard that offers ventilation for the computer, that could work as well. If you can afford it, buy a “Silent PC” or one with SSD memory rather than spinning hard disks that make a pesky whirring noise. The audio output leads also need to come to your amp and loudspeakers and audio meters (ideally sensitive professional PPM meters) in your studio that will have a headphone socket for directed sessions by phone or Skype, or any of the systems like ipDTL that are very high quality “record at their end” set ups.

On the computer, you’ll need audio editing software, (I use Adobe Audition) Skype, Word, PDF reader and that’s about it, apart from the email system that you’ll use to receive jobs.

2) WEBSITE

Then you’ll need a superb website with very good SEO built in. If you don’t know what you’re doing, hire a pro who does. It needs to look clean, professional and with lots of voice samples that can be downloaded as mp3 files. As well as a main “greatest hits” showreel, you’ll need showreels for subjects and voice styles, such as “Corporate”, “Training”, “Hard sell”, “Soft sell” etc. Look at my own site if you like for examples of the very many styles you’ll need. ( http://www.theenglishvoiceover.com ) Variety is very important. If you are a client looking to record a medical script and you have showreels from two great quality voices, one is reading a medical script with complex medical terms and one a furniture store commercial, who would you choose? So, yes, do a “Medical showreel”. Good at a “forlorn, arty” sound? Record a showreel. Great at a Santa voice? Go for it.

3) ONCE SET UP… HOW TO BE SUCCESFUL

No, you don’t really need an agent, unless you have a guaranteed excellent hard-working one who wants you and believes in you. For the last couple of years I have earned a healthy full-time income without one, unless you count freelance sites like Voices.com, Voice123.com, Envato, etc. who take a cut; no, you just need to network. Email production companies, studios, ad agencies, make some calls, audition for everything that’s suitable and soon one great job leads to another and your empire will grow. For me, it was about a year to build up slowly a great client base which is at a size so I know it is statistically realistic to get some good jobs sent each and every day, 7 days a week. You’d create a “rate card” – usually longer scripts are charged more.

Broadcast use is charged more than non-broadcast. In an day, you may be sent a variety of small scripts, and they may be low budget projects, but still add up to $300 / $400 for the day. Other days, as well some small scripts will come some more lucrative projects with broadcast use. Last month I recorded a set of TV commercials for a $250 “session” or recording fee. Then I was contacted to be told they were to be used on air in Australia and was offered a further $2000 for the usage there. Yes, extra money for absolutely no extra work on my part, and I wouldn’t have known if they had been used elsewhere! Such is the crazy world of the voiceover.

4) YOU NEED TO BE PROFESSIONAL AND RESPOND FAST

The world of media is a fast moving one. Most of the people who will hire you will be production companies who have their own clients they want to look efficient to. So, you need to respond fast to any communication and ideally record speedily too. This is so very, very important. I know for a fact that many of my regular clients use me, not because I am the absolute best voice for the job or even the cheapest, but they KNOW that they will get a fast turnaround so they can add the voiceover to their video and impress their client.

You have got be absolutely dedicated in this. I personally make myself available 06:30 – 22:00 UK time, 7 days a week. No, that’s not working all the time, (in total, we’re talking 6 hours max of actual work) but that’s to catch all the countries working hours, that when you should be checking emails and texts. Ideally you’d be near or in your studio so as soon as an urgent job comes in, you’d fly in front of the microphone, scan the script and instructions and hit record. You’d get it recorded and uploaded right away. If you’re not near your studio, respond right away and give a realistic time when you CAN deliver. Make it sound that you’re in the middle of a big TV commercial session or something, not that you’re collecting the laundry… you get the picture! UNDER promise and OVER deliver, every time. Clients always love voiceovers going the extra mile. For short scripts I often give 3 takes in different styles so they can choose the best, unless they give strict instructions to the contrary.

5) A TYPICAL JOB

You’ll get an email from a client who has found your website and likes your samples. If they haven’t given this detail with the script you need to ask them the following:

1) STYLE What voice style do you want… is there a showreel you like?

2) PACE What speed? Does it need to fit into 2m25s for example?

3) CHALLENGING WORDS How do you pronounce certain words or acronyms? Ideally they’d send you an audio file saying challenging words very slowly and also at normal speed. Don’t just rely on forvo.com, or howjsay.com. For non-English words, Google Translate gives you a good idea sometimes if you click the right language, but don’t rely on it! For unusual non-English company names, you may find a video on YouTube that mentioned how to say the word you are looking for.

4) FILE TYPE What file type do they need? WAV? AIF? mp3? What data and bit rate? For example, even though most modern digital recorders capture at 32bit 48KHz, San Francisco’s Voice Bunny insists on files that are WAV but 16 bit and 44.1KHz. ACX or Audible audio books need files that are mp3 files, 192Kb/sec and normalised to -3dB, plus with 0.5 second mute at the head (start).

After you have all the information, you’d record, peaking between “4” and “6” on your calibrated PPM meters or equivalent if you are using VU meters.

5) FILE EDITING & PROCESSING

You can’t send the raw audio to the client, although some studios insist as they want to deal with waveforms without any processing. At the very least you need to delete your mistakes, after all you’re a professional that doesn’t make mistakes, aren’t you?! Here’s the order I personally process files. I can do this very quickly as I have keyboard presets on Adobe Audition, which saves so much time. (Use ALT + K if you have Audition!)

– Open the waveform

– Chop off the rubbish at the start and end

– Cut out mistakes. A good technique during recording is to leave a 5 second or so gap when you mess up. You won’t be wasting this time, you’d be re-reading the script to ensure you don’t flub, or you can sip some water. When you see the waveform later, you’ll instantly see the gaps that need attention. Don’t listen to people who say you need to play back up to the mistake and “punch in record”, this technique takes too long and is unreliable if you get the timing slightly wrong.

– Deal with “spikes” – these are nasty sounds that show up as high lines on the waveform. They can be treated with an electronic pop filter or if too bad, it may need a retake.

– Add 0.5 second of silence at the start of the file. Add 2 seconds at the end of the file.

– Deal with breaths. A natural sounding read will usually be fine with breaths left in, but for a fast reading commercial, you may need to spend time carefully cutting out breaths in a desperate attempt to save milliseconds!

– I normalise the waveform to 100%, then add light limiting – 9Db – to give the waveform a “haircut”, then “Normalise” the file to -3Db, before saving.

Never ever attach files to emails, even small ones add up to clog your send box. It’s far more professional to email a link from a file transfer service. If your client does not ask for specific file types, send a 32 bit wav and a small email copy which is useful in case the production company need to email it to their clients. If you use WeTransfer, for a small fee the “splash page” where the download link is can be an advert for your services!

7) FEEDBACK

I recommend that you offer “unlimited” retakes, like I do. In other words, if the client wants any changes, you don’t penalise them in any way. For no extra charge, you will re-record the sections required or even the whole lot if they want it. In my experience, unless you really haven’t understood the brief you’d been given, most people will be fully happy first time or just want a few retakes in the style and speed of the original that they can “patch” over the original recording.

8) INVOICING

It’s rude and desperate to send invoices right away; it’s usually good form to wait a few days at least! Unless you are happy with your own accounts system, I recommend Xero, the system that I use. It’s great because it’s a cloud-based system, no installation, so you can reconcile your accounts on your phone, tablet or any computer anywhere. You can set up multiple currencies in PayPal, a must for an international voiceover. My Xero is set up with GB Pounds, US Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Australian Dollars and Euros. It works out currency conversions as well. But the killer application is that the system securely “sniffs” your bank and PayPal accounts once a day so you don’t have to enter anything. You just need to match your invoices with the payments that Xero has sniffed out and everything is fine. As Xero is cloud based, your accountant can log in as well, so you don’t need to waste time doing the yearly account submission with a carrier bag of invoices or receipts as you’ve already done it all!

9) GROWING THE BUSINESS

Update your website once a month at least, keeping in mind SEO. Pepper your site with varieties of of words that are similar to “voiceover” or “voice actor”, such as commentator, audio recordings, audio studio, audio talent, etc. Don’t forget featuring keywords of your specialties such as “medical voiceovers, medical narration, pharmaceutical narration, etc. Ensure the “id” and “Alt tag” of your photos and illustrations isn’t some random number but something that search engines can read.

Each day do at least 20 minutes of marketing, even if you are busy. Find new production companies and look up their websites then email them with a short, professional message offering your services. Target a country per week if you like. Mandy.com have a superb international directory of production companies that is free to access. LinkedIn is great too if you use it properly. Ask these sorts of people to join your network: Production managers, Creative Directors, Producers, any video production company, audio production companies, etc. Don’t forget that when they accept your invite, you will be sent an email. Don’t ignore this as you’ll get a link (in small blue writing – don’t miss it!) saying “Send a message”. This is gold-dust as you can send a direct message including your contact details without buying any “in-mails” from LinkedIn.

Consider signing up to voiceover websites where clients post auditions and you send in your best shot. These so called “pay to play” sites have had loads of criticism, but usually from voiceovers who don’t use the sites properly, and therefore don’t get much work from them. Some sites you pay a subscription and then they also take a % of the fee, but they offer a voiceover access to some very high profile clients. The most professional and active sites are in my opinion: voices.com; voice123.com, the voicerealm.com then voicebunny.com, and bodalgo.com. Don’t forget the general freelance sites where you can post your voiceover services… People Per Hour, UpWork etc. Fiverr is also a great money spinner, but don’t sell VO’s for just one $5 gig, that’s crazy… use the Fiverr package options to include loads of perceived “extras” that people will generally need anyway, such as fast delivery, wav file and so on. Using this technique my actual minimum fee on Fiverr is $50 which is worth reading something for!

Online Press Releases Create Loads of Free Publicity for Your Home Business

Online press releases are one of the fastest and easiest ways to get your home business in front of your target market.

Many times when people think of the term “press release,” what comes to mind is a major life-changing news story published by a large corporation or government agency. According to the World English Dictionary, however, a press release is simply “an official announcement or account of a news item circulated to the press.”

What does that mean for the home business entrepreneur?

You have a powerful tool for generating publicity and getting noticed — right at your fingertips.

Why Online Press Releases?

In the past, news was released in print, on television and on radio. In recent years, however, the internet has completely changed the way individuals and organizations get the word out.

The average consumer now expects to get their news immediately, especially online, so when you publish a press release about your home business on the web, it’s possible to see a major influx of traffic to your business within hours and minutes instead of the weeks and days it used to take.

Here’s why it works.

Many of the press release sites are considered important authority sites by the search engines, so if you optimize your report properly as explained in this article, your news item will appear higher in the search results for the terms your prospective customer cares about.

Moreover, the fact that they are identified as authority sites means the links from the press release sites to your website are given more weight. So from the search engine perspective, you are more of an authority and your website rank increases, making it easier for your intended audience to find you online.

Additionally, due to the relevance associated with press release sites, your perceived authority in the minds of your readers multiplies. You then have an avenue by which you can educate the consumer about your home business, build rapport and truly form a connection.

But What Would I Write a Press Release About?

As stated above, a press release doesn’t have to be about an earth-shattering event (although big news can garner a lot of attention quickly, as you’ll see below). Here are 10 ideas you can use to gain free publicity using the power of the press:

1. Announce the opening of your business. If you’ve been in business for a while and have never written a press release about it, write a piece announcing your mission statement. Tell the world who you are and what it is you have to offer.

2. Publicize a new product or service you’re launching. Share the benefits your customer can expect, and tell them how to do business with you.

3. Announce your teleseminars and webinars. A press release is a fantastic vehicle for attracting attendees, so always include enough information to ensure you’re drawing the right audience.

4. Reveal a special sale or any special offers you have going on. Tell your prospective customer exactly why they should do everything possible to seek you out.

5. Remember that major news story? Link big news with something happening in your company. As an example, about two weeks before the time of this writing, Prince William announced his engagement to Kate Middleton. The Franklin Mint then announced the production of a limited edition Kate Middleton portrait doll.

6. Start a Meetup group for home business owners in your area and promote it with a press release. You can announce the establishment of the group itself and send a news release before each event. In this way, you grow your membership and increase attendance at the meetings.

7. Publish a news piece when you launch your website and every time you make a major change to it. Be sure to include an incentive for the reader to actually visit your site.

8. Create a press release when you hire support staff. This is an implied statement that your home business is growing rapidly and your prospects need to do business with you now, while they can still work with you personally.

9. Set up a charitable event and tell the world via a press release. One of the best ways to implement this idea is to offer a product for sale and commit 100% of the proceeds to the charity of your choice. This is especially effective if the product for sale is an information product because it minimizes your cost. Don’t have an information product? Set up an interview with a well-known figure in your market (let them know it’s for charity), record the interview, and sell the mp3 download.

10. Start a contest and write a news article to announce it. Include enough information that the reader can clearly understand the rules and benefits. Contests are fantastic tools for building your list of prospects.

So What Goes In a Press Release Anyway?

One of the keys to success with online press releases is to write your news item so that it will be found when people are searching for what it is you offer.

In order to do this, spend several minutes brainstorming and writing down specific words and phrases your ideal prospect is likely to enter into the search box when they’re looking for the solution you provide. Then use a keyword research tool, such as the Google External Keyword Tool, to identify the most popular search terms in your market.

Select 4-5 of the most popular terms. One of these will be your main keyword, and the rest will serve as supporting – or secondary – keywords. These are the words you’ll focus on when writing the press release for your home business.

Now that you know your keywords, let’s look at what to put in the press release.

1. Title. A good press release title is short, starts with your main keyword, and grabs the reader’s attention immediately. Use action words and power words such as results, secret, risky, revealed, and announces. Remember the goal is to motivate the audience to want to read more.

2. Summary. The summary is one or two sentences that describe what your news item is about, and it should include 3-5 secondary keywords. The summary should entice the prospective reader to read the entire article. It’s also a good idea to place a link to your website in the summary of a press release so the reader can immediately visit your site if they so choose.

3. Dateline. The dateline must include the date and a clear, concise declaration of the news. When someone reads the dateline, they should have an immediate understanding of what you’re reporting.

4. Main Body. The body of your press release should be 300-800 words long, written from the third-person, neutral point of view. It must answer the 5 W’s — who, what, where, when, and why. The body text should focus on a single news item and must not be written like an advertisement. Instead, tell the reader what’s happening and why they should care. Be certain to include 1-3 links to your website in the body of your press release. At least one of the links should use your main keyword as the anchor text (the visible, clickable text in the hyperlink) and at least one of the links should use your actual website address as the anchor text. Take the time to be sure one of your keywords is in every paragraph of your press release.

5. About/Boilerplate. Give the reader of your press release a high-level look at your home business. Tell them about any special certifications, awards, and honors you’ve received. Convey your unique selling proposition. Then place a call to action, with a direct link to your website, as the last line.

6. Contact Information. Provide your name, the company name, your telephone number and the website address for your business so the reader and members of the media can easily contact you. Do not use a personal email address.

So I Just Write a Press Release and People Start Calling?

Well…no.

After you write your press release, you do have to submit it to the online distribution services. These services share your news items with multiple websites so your content is published all over the web, thereby increasing your exposure and the likelihood that your target audience will connect with you and learn about your home business.

While there are some paid services, there are also several that allow you to distribute your news items for no cost.

Home Computing in "The Cloud"

The trends lead me to believe the computing we do at home will soon predominately reside “in The Cloud.” This means the applications we use and rely on everyday are not on our computer at home but in an application out on the Internet and accessed by your browser.

Move Yourself To “The Cloud”

Many folks have already made the move. Here are some of the typical things others have done and what you can do to make the switch yourself:

Use Google Docs as your basic productivity tools. Not only are they very effective and free tools, but they are on-line and available wherever you go (docs.google.com). You don’t need to buy Microsoft Office or even download the free Open Office at OpenOffice.org. I find that on my six year old PC, Google Docs will launch an application (e.g., Documents, Spreadsheet, GMail, etc.) in The Cloud faster than I can launch a Microsoft Office product (e.g., Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.) on my PC. Also, there is freedom in not being tied to that one PC sitting someplace where you can’t always get to it. A notebook works pretty well in this regard, but what happens when that notebook breaks or it goes missing? It kind of feels the same as when you lose your wallet or your keys. It does not feel good at all. With home computing in The Cloud, it is a problem to lose your equipment, but little of what you had been working on is lost.
Use Mint.com, Quickenonline.com or other online financial tracking programs. First, they are currently free. That is one big advantage. They are not as good, in my opinion, as an installed program such as Quicken, at least not yet. However, if you are doing nothing other than wanting to track your current balances to ensure your cash flow is positive (i.e., not overspending), then these look like great tools.
Use Facebook, LinkedIn or other social networking sites. These sites provide a powerful place to manage your social and professional life. This includes keeping in touch with family and friends and showing your photos, to staying networked with business associates and looking for that next big opportunity.
Get your news from CNN.com, USAToday.com or get more focused news of interest from more specialized sites. For example, I pour through consumerist.com and pcmag.com for practical information I can use every day.

Access “The Cloud” From Anywhere

Because I’ve moved much of my mainstream computing to The Cloud, I find I can access it from just about any PC and from my mobile phone. Having my Cloud in my phone, which can browse the Internet, is a phenomenal tool. If the Palm Pre or the iPhone were to work with my wireless service provider, I would upgrade and give up my trusty Motorola A1200.

Use “The Cloud” But Backup Your Critical Data

Do keep backups of your data, especially data you need to access your sites on the web.

For passwords I use Password Safe which is free from sourceforge.net. This way I have all my passwords in one place. Consequently, I also have all those key sites I access in this same place. (This, I discovered, was very handy when I changed my e-mail account recently.) I backup the password file everyday to The Cloud using IDrive.com. I also do a monthly backup of the password file to a USB drive which I keep stored in a fire safe.

Be Secure In “The Cloud”

The scariest part of moving to the Cloud deals with the protection of your privacy and with security of your information. I admit this still worries me a bit. Can I really trust Google? Or how about trusting QuickenOnline.com with my financial data? We hear about data breaches every day. Some hacker broke in and stole personal information from thousands of customers. I have been notified more than once that this has happened at a company with which I do business. I have free credit monitoring right now due to a recent incident at an investment company.

I have also been called by my bank asking about charges made to my credit card. They turned out to be fraudulent and the bank removed the charges from my account. What was interesting is that I had just downloaded my most recent bank transactions into Quicken. I did not see these fraudulent charges. I immediately did another download of my bank transactions. There they were, along with transactions reversing the charges. My bank had detected and responded very quickly to these illegitimate activities.

My confidence in reasonable security in The Cloud is based upon my doing business over the Internet since the early 1990s when the Internet opened to commercial sites. The examples with my bank and with my investment company have helped reassure me that they are proactively trying to minimize the risk of loss. There is no guarantee of security. However, it is not obvious that your risk of loss is any greater in The Cloud than it is anywhere else.

“The Cloud” Is Here And Advertising Will Pay For It

I do believe that what we know as personal computing is moving into The Cloud. In the near future we will have much less reliance on a single piece of equipment loaded down with lots of pricey software, much of which we will never use.

Of course, like the broadcast media for decades, this Cloud is driven by advertising. So just as we once watched TV for free, before cable, and still listen to radio for free, it looks like we are going to a personal computing Cloud paid for by advertising. The personal computer will be needed to access The Cloud, but your software applications and information will be in The Cloud and not on your personal computer.

Internet Home Business Opportunity – Start to Earn Money With Zero Cost Investment Plan

Would you like to earn more cash with internet home business opportunity?

Blogging is the place where one can easily express his thoughts, wishes and ideas about his interested niche to so many people.

Another platform is named as word press, which is highly accepted by the search engines that continuously presents fresh content on your site, this way you can enjoy the taste of internet home business opportunity.

If you look back last 5-10 years, blog was the only facility for expressing views and ideas but now a days due to recent trend of information technology blog is very powerful tool to earn cool income easily for people like us.

This Internet home business opportunity gives such good returns, that’s why people are getting ready to leave their jobs and join this business to earn more money through blogging.

Now question or doubt will arise in your mind that how this blog will help in generating money for you and even first and most important thing you will feel that you don’t have knowledge about blogging, then how you can take the advantage of this platform.

So answer is you can get the best benefit from this internet home business opportunity and for that you don’t need to learn HTML and other technical languages.

So don’t worry you will earn better returns though you don’t know about this stuff.

Simple way is to create free account on blog sites like blogger.com and you can enjoy bogging there,and it won’t charge any hidden cost so it’s purely free of cost.

One more option to find more blog sites is Google station and it will really help you to drive with numbers of free blog sites.

So what you need is to create your personal blog to go further and it’s very easy.

Once you create your personal blog then you have to do in-depth research on search engine and come out with the target market that will give you best returns and business.

There are various options where you can jump and can easily start like internet marketing, blog marketing, etc but you must have interest and knowledge so it would be easy for you to come with more ideas.

You have to use solid keywords to come out on the top on search engine list and other trick is to keep your blog updated every single time to offer fresh content. You can easily use these tricks to post your blog in very efficient manner.

Last but very important thing is to focus more on blogging by offering affiliate products, this will make you more money.

Blogging is most famous and well known for internet home business opportunities through search engines and will give heavy traffic to your site.

In this way you can see continuous flow of income by promoting your blog and ad on it.

So you don’t need to think more what you need is to take action right from today itself and get the best outcome from your internet home business opportunity through blogging.

10 Best Home Based Businesses Selected From Top 100 to Have Guaranteed Success Online

Due to the current economic crisis, managing your overall expenses is not as easy as it used to be. Luckily, we can now have extra income from doing business at home. Apart from the hectic schedule, you might wonder how to successfully set up and maintain it without completely losing track of time. Well, the good news is that having some of these 10 best home based businesses selected from top 100 doesn’t require too much time.

1. The best one to start with is an affiliate program opportunity, since you can join free and also earn lifetime commissions. Having the right products to sell can give you an excellent income online.

2. The next one is desktop publishing. This requires minimum setup because all you need are graphic design skills and a good layout program. From invitations to brochures and flyers, you can take on this business on a project basis. This means only accepting orders when you don’t have too much work on your hands. You can still maintain your regular Monday to Friday routine, and work on this during weekends.

3. The third from the 10 best home based businesses selected from top 100 is blogging. Maintaining an online journal is profitable especially once you have a strong reader base. Once you have a regular audience, you can immediately post different articles on exciting topics if you have the time. You can also earn from ad spaces and banners to be placed on your site.

4. Freelancing in photography might also be a good idea. Offer clients with weekend and holidays service. Since these are the days which you don’t have work, you can cater to their needs at once. You’ll need to invest in equipment to start your business.

5. The fifth one is a pet grooming service. Hold grooming sessions on weekends for pet owners that don’t really have time to give their pets a bath. Schedule a number of dogs per week.

6. Selling products online can also become a profitable hobby. This can range from drawing, knitting and painting. The best places you can sell stuff are on eBay and other sites that have a lot of members.

7. Content writing is also becoming an increasingly popular choice for people who have backgrounds on copywriting. These including producing press releases and research writing on a certain number of products to promote a company online.

8. The eighth one of the 10 best home based businesses selected from top 100 is the virtual assistance job. Virtual assistants carry out tasks that cannot be handled by the company due to the volume of jobs their employees have to fulfill. These take up more time because of the regular working hours, depending on the country to be operated at.

9. You can always use web design as your home based business. You’d be surprised at the potential income opportunities for this field.

10. Lastly, consulting jobs are also among the jobs which one can fulfill because it doesn’t take up too much time. Engage in a field that you specialize in.

It is very much necessary that you acquire appropriate knowledge and skills that you need to run some of our best home based businesses selected from top 100 successfully. Although the internet has made it possible to achieve your goals, it takes hard work and determination to fulfill your dreams in life.

Internet Home Business Idea – 5 Steps That Lays Golden Eggs

What if you have tried everything but have failed to start your own successful internet business?

In this article you will learn the exact 5 step formula that I personally use to start a new internet business and achieve my internet home business idea.

The purpose of this article is to get you started on the right path towards the way to internet riches and financial freedom.

Your 5 Simple Steps to Make Killer Money Online…

1. Create a Goal.

2. Create a Plan.

3. Create a Treasure Map.

4. Cut Them Down.

5. Create a Time Table.

Lets get started…

1. Create a Goal.

It is extremely important to define your end goal that you want to achieve. It can be to make $2000 every month or start getting 500 visitors to your site every day.

Clearly write down your goal in detail.

2. Create a Plan.

Create a step by step plan to achieve your goal. Write it down, color it and create a road map.

It is the exact road map that you will follow to shoot your goal. Stick your plan in a place where you will always see it.

3. Create a Treasure Map.

Now that you have a plan write a simple todo list from start to finish that you will follow to achieve your plan.

4. Cut Them Down.

Now cut down your treasure map into daily, weekly and monthly tasks. You will follow these tasks the way you write down in this step without fail. Persistency is the key to success.

5. Create a Time Table.

Once you have your daily, weekly and monthly task create a step by step time table as to when you will achieve these tasks.

Follow the time table patiently and make sure you complete your tasks as per the time you have allocated. Be desciplined in completing your tasks as per your time table.

Apply the above 5 steps to any complicated project you are doing and success is right at your doorsteps.

This simple blueprint will make sure that you achieve your internet home business idea in the shortest and quickest way possible.

The purpose of this article was to give you the exact system that I personally follow to start my internet business and make money online.

Every successful internet business enterpreneur will follow this plan in one way or the other as it is a very important element to achieve success and increase your focus in achieving your internet business goals.

Whatever you do I wish you all the very best and success in life and business.