Welcome to My Blog!
The Very Latest…
Yes, You CAN Compare Yourself to Others: Doing It the Right Way for Your VoiceOver Business
Don’t tell me not to compare myself to others. It doesn’t work. We all do it. Here’s the way to make it productive for your voiceover business.
Just Before that…
A Little Risk is a Good Thing
…so don’t even try.
Why YOU are still the final arbiter of your brand
Will the Fear of Coronavirus Affect Your VO Business?
The answer is complicated by a lot of things, not the least of which is worldwide media coverage.
2nd Edition of “More Than Just a Voice…” Now Available!
Six years after the release of my first book, the follow-up act is published. Here’s why the new edition was inevitable.
‘Nothing Strange About WOMM
Honestly, I don't even remember who told me. But I was intrigued. I do remember that the source was reliable, and the pitch was believable. When I got home that night, I called up NetFlix on my TV, and started watching "Stranger Things". In the next 36 hours, I had...
The Addition of a 2nd Edition
This week will see the new version launch of the venerable 2014 edition of “More Than Just a Voice., the REAL Secret to Voiceover Success”. 300+ pages of fresh material.
The Best NDA-Signing Apps and Programs
Have you noticed, more and more clients are requiring the non-disclosure agreement. Here’s how to get it done with the least hassle.
Voice Over Education
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World Voices #WoVochat
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VO Business & Compensation
Producers & Agents: Tell Your Clients to Define “Conversational”
You Can't Handle the Truth! "Conversational" is the most lame, hackneyed, and meaningless script direction you can give. Admit it, clients typically have no idea what conversational means. Asked to define it, they would end up writing directions longer than the...
Happy New Year!
Oh yes, 2019 will be good! Why? Because you will make it so! Start now.
The Definition of Sanity
What's that old definition of insanity? "Doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results". Yeah, THAT definition. So the definition of sanity must be to embrace change. [bctt tweet="tweak just one little thing in your routine that will not endanger...
Voice Over Education
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Voice Over Hardware & Software tools
Improvisation
Life can be messy. Work too. Perfect formulas for success are a phantom. There are a lot of people who think they have the answers. Self-help books. Coaches. Webinars. Seminars. How-To Books. Sometimes I think I have the answers too...and I've passed along some...
VO Leads Through Google Alerts
My daily routine includes sifting through a number of emails sent to me through Google Alerts. If you are not doing this yet, you should be. Here's the link to Google Alerts. In the spirit of "Google IS your resumé", you might want to start with a simple alert based...
You Are What You Write
Think about it. If you're old enough...how much did you write every day BEFORE social media came along? Not everyone has made the transition to the New Media world with grace. Yet...in a day's time, you (1) text (2) email (3) post on FaceBook (4) post on some other...
The Blog That Keeps On Giving
Back in May of 2010, I sat down to my computer in the wee hours of the night and wondered what the heck I was gonna blog about that day. Just then, that gene decided to express itself. You know...the one that often makes me feel fulfilled when I make a LIST of...
Thrufer Twosday
My fear is that I'm always late to the party with the content of the post I have for you today, but then again it could be you HAVENT' yet heard...and even if you HAVE...it might be a good reminder. First AudioCatch..."where any media project that requires music,...
Air Turn
That's actually a hardware/software product....not a Nike ad slogan. The folks from Air Turn had a booth at VOICE2012, and the product generated a healthy buzz among conference attendees. Air Turn is a Bluetooth footpedal apparatus that works with your iPad or Android...
Giving Voice to Your Invoice
The invoice is admittedly one of the most important documents your voice-over business will generate. Not just because you want to be paid, but because it's an extension of your brand, your business savvy, and your bookkeeping practices...and ultimately customer...
LinkedIn Lip Service
"Oh yeah!...I'm on LinkedIn...I just don't use it much." ('Wish I had a Neumann for ever time I heard that!) In about three weeks and three days I'll take the stage with Terry Daniel and Trish Basanyi at the Disneyland hotel during VOICE2012 to talk Social Media...
Bi-Linguage
Having grown up in white-bread middle-America in the 50's, I never imagined a future for this country that accepted anything else but English. I won't mince my words: I think it weakens our country to be bi-lingual. That sounds odd coming from me. I'm the son of a...
Coffee with CourVO
Fellow VO Social Media geeks Terry Daniel and Trish Basanyi several weeks ago resurrected their highly-successful VO podcast series, and renamed it "Voice Over Cafe". I was lucky enough to be 3rd on their list of guests, and recorded with them the other day. We talked...
Voice Over Events
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Listen to my Commercial demoVoice Over Niches
Ah, the Mic. The Mighty Mic!
The mic is a voice talent’s axe.. While we can’t escape its necessity, there’s no reason to let it overburden us either.
A Little Risk is a Good Thing
…so don’t even try.
Why YOU are still the final arbiter of your brand
Will the Fear of Coronavirus Affect Your VO Business?
The answer is complicated by a lot of things, not the least of which is worldwide media coverage.
Voice Over Hardware & Software tools
Be A Cubby Fan (no baseball required)
Like the weather, there is a never-ending supply of clouds in the online universe. These are things that I catch on my radar, 'cause they help me access the files, docs, pics, and demos I need from wherever I am, regardless the location of the computer where the...
Free Software!!
No, really! There's a ton of it out on the internet, and some of it is very good, stable, feature-rich, and virus-free (think Audacity). But OhEmGeee there are SO many scams out there associated with software downloads. Still, two top sites consistently shine in...
Forget Cs5.5, Cs6.0 is in!
Scant months ago, Adobe touted the release of it's newest iteration of Audition since 3.0 (which stood for years). I've barely cracked open my Cs5.5 packaging and now 6.0 is available. Adobe recently adapted the software to OSX devices. Mac users tired of the...
Books, Docs, Jacks
BOOKS Jeff Kafer has carved out a successful niche for himself with determination, savvy, and entrepreneurship. Proof that he's a success in the field of narrating, producing, and casting audiobooks comes with the invitation from top AudioBook coach Pat Fraley to...
PodCast: LinkedIn Tips
Sometimes I forget that Las Vegas is a hotbed for Social Media activity, consistently ranking among top cities for participation, engagement, and innovation. Small wonder, then, that I'd find Lindsay Metter in the mix with a high profile, and a pocket full of useful...
Tangled Out
This is a picture of the cords under my desk where I work at the TV station. I confess, I care less about how it looks than if it were in my home. But seriously, folks...when something goes wrong, I'm on my knees in my suit, doing my best imitation of separating the...
It’s the Bomb!
Video is in. Big woop CourVO!...uh, I think we knew that. No, I mean, really...even if you don't want to be on camera...you should learn to work with images, take videos, edit montages, graphics, and even think about posting your demos with a video cover (talk to...
Doddle (tech tools)
Stuff I find (or people send me) that just might make your VO business run a little more smoothly: We love Gmail, but even with all it's functionality, and dripping with G+ integration, still someone found a way to improve it. How 'bout scheduling your email to send...
Cracking CraigsList
Newspapers hate CraigsList because it DESTROYED their classifieds (and their revenue). Most everyone else loves CraigsList...but as a lead-generating source for voice over jobs? Meh. Like Guru, O-Desk, Elance, and a number of other online freelance job...
CourVO on Blue Blog
At the most recent CES confab in Vegas, I ran into one of my all-time favorite many-times-over-entrepreneur, John Pozadzides (his friends call him John-P). We crashed into each other at the Blue Microphone exhibit, cause, well...let's face it... they have the coolest...
The Richness of Life
HAPPY THANKSGIVING...!!! Origins of the word and the image of the cornucopia go back to Greek and Roman Mythology. But over time, meaning of the Horn 'o Plenty has never wavered: Harvest - Prosperity - Abundance When Thanksgiving rolls around, I'm reminded of the...
The Current State of Social Media for Voice-Actors (Part 2)
INFO OVERLOAD? You would be hard-pressed to OVERstate the impact of information and content sharing -- through the internet -- on voice acting today. Many things about the internet have changed our business permanently, and most would say: for the better. The free...
Forget SEO, It’s All About The Reader
Google is re-writing the rules of SEO. As a journalist, I kept hearing that Google "Authorship" was the new thing. Then Steve Cunningham came along at FaffCon6 and blew the doors out. Cunningham is a professor at USC's Thornton School of Music. In his...