You’ll find a challenging, through-provoking article in the Holdon Log article archives with that simple title: The Business of… You, Inc. Though the article is clearly intended for actors of all kinds, there’s a lot of gold here for voice actors; most especially because we all need to consider the real answer to this question posed at the begining of the article.
“Do you have a performing business
or a performing hobby?”
Once you’ve answered the question, take a few minutes to read the article. Now, ask the question again. Has your answer changed?
Holdon Log publishes an online program called Performer Track. I’m sure this article was written, at least in part, to encourage folks to subscribe to their software. Whether you do or not is entirely up to you. I’ve been using it for over a month now and I find the ability to keep track of not just my booked projects (obviously I always kept track of them in my accounting software) but also my auditions, and to see which book is extremely helpful in taking an ever more professional and business-like approach to my voiceover business.
In the interests of full disclosure I’ll mention here that Holdon Log provided me with 6 months of service on Performer Track specifically so that I could review the program for them. But, I’m very seriously thinking about continuing as a paying customer after my 6 months ends because of how valuable I’m finding the program. Yes, the reporting features aren’t fully implemented yet. And there are a few things I really wish were there. Most especially the ability to sync the calendar with my Google calendar and my Palm Treo Pro. Or to import at least a selected subset of my many professional contacts. But, overall I’m very impressed.