The VO Business Health Check: Stop Guessing, Start Strategizing

Tom Dheere
Mar 12, 2013
4 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Why a VO Business Health Check is Non-Negotiable

I’ve been pretty slammed this year with a bunch of projects and other stuff, so I’m behind on a few “Quadrant Two” things. You know, the important, non-urgent stuff that actually builds the business.

One thing I finally got around to was doing a deep-dive analysis of my business.

An Autopsy of My 2012 VO Business

I counted the amount of revenue-generating sessions (gigs, seminars, private coaching), the type of session, and how much revenue was generated. Here’s what I found:

Percentage of Total Sessions by Genre:

Audio Books: 18%
Commercials: 17%
E-Learning: 24%
Industrials: 8%
Explainer Videos: 20%
Video News Releases: 8%
Other: 1%
VO Strategist: 4%

Revenue Generated by Genre:

Audio Books: 21%
Commercials: 13%
E-Learning: 21%
Industrials: 14%
Explainer Videos: 17%
Video News Releases: 12%
Other: 1%
VO Strategist: 1%

Finding the "Why": How to Squeeze Strategy from Your Data

So how do I break this junk down?

One way to look at it is to see which types of work give me the most bang for the buck. You know, ROI?

Industrials and VNRs seemed to have a higher percentage of income than the percentage of sessions I put in. Focusing on those could yield more revenue for fewer sessions.
Commercials historically have the highest ROI, but the numbers were skewed that year because I spent a lot of "commercial session time" recording tags, which are less income per session.
This data also doesn't show that I outsourced my audio book editing, which drags down the net profit for that category—a classic business blind spot if you're not careful.
Audio books and e-learning were tied for revenue percentage, but one audio book session could be four hours long, and many e-learning gigs required a long commute. That's a huge "opportunity cost."

The ways to interpret this data are endless!

How to Run Your Own VO Business Health Check

This is just one of many ways to figure what works, what doesn’t, and how to create actionable ideas based on those findings.

The industry is speaking to me (and you!) through these analytics. This data shows the results of my marketing efforts—or lack thereof.

I get it. Looking at a spreadsheet can be overwhelming. Where do you even start? What should you be tracking?

How do you turn all those numbers into a real-world plan?

That's exactly why I created my new how-to video: "Your VO Business Health Check."

It walks you through the exact process I use to analyze my business, figure out what's working (and what's not), and build an actionable plan for the year ahead.

The Bottom Line

I strongly recommend you look at the work you got last year, try to figure out how you got it, and craft a plan to improve your efforts. Don't wait until you're slammed or things feel "off." Be proactive. Be a strategist.

Run your own VO Business Health Check. You’ll be happy that you did!

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

If you don’t know, say you don’t know. Only politicians and middle managers find shame in ignorance and the irony of that should not be wasted on you. Phillip Banks

NEWS & NOTES

The latest episode of The Voice Over Cafe is up! http://voiceovercafe.org/ This is our ninth installment and our special guest is Dan McKeague: the voice of the AFLAC Duck. FYI we will have a LIVE podcast show at FaffCamp on Sunday, May 5th at 4:00 during the Faffter Party. Be there!

The audiobook “Avery McShane” released last week. It was a blast narrating as a 12-year old boy. Thanks John McElroy for casting me! Click here to check it out!

My next “Business and Money 201” webinar will be this Thursday, March 14 at 8:00 PM. The topic: Tax Time! I’m gonna talk about how to prepare to file, what you can (and can’t) write off, and how to keep track of all that junk.

I had a fantastic time at the “NYC VO Meetup…just because!” event this past Saturday night in New York City. About 25 voice talents gathered at Hurley’s in Midtown for dinner and, according to certain hungover anonymous reports, the festivities didn’t end until 6AM! A big thanks to Trish Basanyi and Christian Rosselli for putting it together. BTW my sources have revealed that we’ll have another one in July. Stay tuned…!

Last week I saw “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”. I enjoyed it! My favorite line from the film was “You accept the love you think you deserve.” Deep!