"How do I set and negotiate proper voice over rates?" That's one of the most common questions I get from newer voice actors. In fact, just this week I had one of my students in the VO Freedom Master Plan ask it in just this way. “I also feel like a huge obstacle for me is pricing knowledge. Knowing how to price myself and how to justify my prices, I don't want to do cheap work in many businesses I've reached out to directly have told me they just use places like Fiverr to buy cheap VO. Drives me nuts"

It drives a lot of people nuts, so let’s get into it.

business, business development, mindset, rates, the vo industryPaul SchmidtSeptember 1, 2022GVAA, rates, bad rates, negotiation Comments

How To Avoid BAD Voice Over Rates

One of the hardest things to learn when you're in the first few years of your voice over career is rates. Specifically how to avoid bad voice over rates, how to deal with aggressive voice over job listings. You know what I'm talking about? How to negotiate voiceover rates and when and why in perpetuity is bad for voice actors.

Now, when you're in the first few years of your career, rates and negotiation tend to be a bit of a black box.

First of all, why do we negotiate? Why do we negotiate voice over rates? How do we spot aggressive voice over job listings on the voice over websites and voice over job boards? And ultimately, how do we avoid bad voice over jobs and bad voice over deals?

The Top 3 Worst Sites For Voice Over Work

Nobody starts out looking for the worst places to find voice acting work.

But if you're going to look for the best voiceover websites to find voice acting jobs online, it's also useful to know the voiceover websites to avoid and more importantly, why they're sketchy at best.

Quoting All-Media Buyouts in Voice-Over

A fellow voice actor recently reached out to me on LinkedIn:

Hey Paul!

I was wondering if you had a quick minute to help me price a VO project. I'm not great at pricing things, tbh, and I don't know what to do with the GVAA rate guide when it comes to multiple usages. I could really use your guidance!

It's a [foreign] production company that's doing a [category] campaign. They want a :90 script with multiple cut downs, a :20 script, 5 years, worldwide, all media.

I'd love your thoughts on this!

Let’s discuss the All-Media Buyout.

business, rates, mindset, messagingPaul SchmidtMay 26, 2022buyouts, all-media Comments

Quoting Voice-Over Rates: Abundance vs. Scarcity

I’ve been pretty vocal on social media about so-called “coaches” in this business who purport that Fiverr, Upwork, Craigslist (for chrissakes), and the like are the key to a career as a professional voice actor.

My problem is not with these sites. My problem is with the scarcity mindset and the so-called “coaches” who teach it.

How To Handle Lowball Budgets – 2 Real World Examples

It can be very confusing trying to figure out how to handle casting notices that come in that are well below the going rates.

This week, I thought it might be useful to show two real-world examples I’ve received very recently as well as my actual responses so that you can see how to handle these less than ideal requests.

business, rates, work, working with a VOPaul SchmidtApril 28, 2022lowballers, marketing, quotes, rates Comments

Businesses Don’t Beg

Businesses, especially businesses who sell to other businesses (B2Bs) set their own rates as the seller at whatever they deem necessary, within what the market will tolerate. They don’t go groveling to their customers every year and beg.

Many voice actors and freelancers, the overwhelming majority of whom have likely been employees at some point, carry this submissive seller mindset into setting and maintaining professional rates.

rates, businessPaul SchmidtDecember 16, 2021rates, negotiation Comments

Free Food Will Cost You

I recently came across a video on YouTube by a voice talent whose stance was that it’s ok to charge $5 for a voice-over in certain circumstances, notably for new voice talent who wanted to get potential buyers to “try” or “sample” their wares.

Good idea? Not if you want to be in business.

business, business development, professional development, ratesPaul SchmidtNovember 4, 2021rates, priceComment