This Episode:
Be customer service driven… making your customers happy is not only going to drive your business forward and make it sustainable, it takes it from being self focused to something that is outside of yourself.
Louise
In Episode 10, we talk about working from home. We discuss our own lists of pros and cons of working from home as a freelancer, then Louise share her top 10 tips for staying focused and motivated, while Brad shares his 10 favorite working-from-home productivity tools.
We also reach into the Mail Bag, to hear from some of our favorite listeners!
Are you a freelancer navigating the complexities of working from home? Do you identify as an introvert in a world that seems to favor the extroverted? If so, you’re not alone, and this week’s episode of ‘Inside Voice’ is just for you.
Louise Porter and Brad Grahowski, both voice actors and self-proclaimed introverts, delve into the intricacies of freelance life, from the importance of creating a routine to the power of writing things down in a physical planner. They share their personal stories, struggles, and successes, making you feel like you’re sitting down with two friends who truly understand the freelance grind.
In this episode, they tackle the age-old question: How do you put yourself out there when the last thing you want to do is, well, put yourself out there? Louise and Brad discuss the pros and cons of working from home, touching on everything from the lack of a steady paycheck to the freedom of setting your own priorities.
But it’s not just about sharing woes; they offer practical advice and tools to help you stay motivated, productive, and connected. Brad introduces us to his favorite digital tools like Trello and Moxie, while Louise emphasizes the importance of physical activity and a balanced diet for mental clarity.
Listeners also get a peek into the ‘mailbag’ segment, where Louise and Brad respond to messages from fellow voice actors, sharing encouragement and tips from the community.
The episode is filled with relatable anecdotes, laughter, and genuine advice that will resonate with anyone who’s ever felt the pressure of self-promotion as an introvert. Whether you’re looking for strategies to manage your freelance business or just need a reminder that you’re not alone in your struggles, ‘Inside Voice’ is here to amplify your introverted voice.
So, grab your headphones, find a cozy spot, and give this episode a listen. You might just find the inspiration you need to tackle your next big project or take that well-deserved break. After all, as Louise and Brad remind us, finding balance is key to sustaining a successful and fulfilling freelance career.
Ready to discover your ‘Inside Voice’? Listen to this week’s episode now.
Anton H. Gill: http://antonhgill.com
Lauren Michelle Smith: http://lmscreative.com
Trello: https://trello.com
Moxie: https://create.withmoxie.com
Nimble: https://www.nimble.com
Voice Overview: https://voiceoverview.com
Adobe Express: https://express.adobe.com
Headliner: https://www.headliner.app
Canva: https://www.canva.com
WeTransfer: https://wetransfer.com
Google Drive: https://drive.google.com
Remarkable Tablet: https://remarkable.com
Transcript:
00:00.00
Louise: High brad. How’s it going good how I’m good I’m excited. It’s episode 10
00:03.71
Brad: Will we? how are you? good yeah um how are you yeah I’m excited to excited to catch up with you a little bit. See what’s going on. Yeah episode 10.
00:19.52
Louise: Yeah, totally um, episode 10 I know that’s I feel like it’s it’s a little bit of a milestone a wee one and then you also had sent me a message yesterday saying that we had over 500 downloads which.
00:27.92
Brad: Um, yeah.
00:32.91
Brad: Um, yeah I I think it is yeah I think he I think it’s just him like hitting the download button 500 times um but it’s nice to see like.
00:35.67
Louise: It’s amazing I wonder if it’s just 1 person downloading 5 but my partner maybe I should ask him? Yeah, ah.
00:51.65
Brad: It’s sort of it’s pretty evenly distributed across the episodes too. It’s not like we’ve had 1 breakout episode. So I feel like that means that the people who are listening to us are interested in kind of listening through.
00:56.76
Louise: Um, ok, interesting.
01:06.67
Brad: You know what? I mean I’m I’m not seeing anybody’s listening to all the episodes I can’t tell that but it looks like pretty even distribution. So I think that’s nice I Think that’s good.
01:14.34
Louise: That’s cool. Ok so we’re we’re remaining relevant at least and maybe slightly entertaining. Hopefully hopefully that’s all that matters.
01:21.26
Brad: Um, hopefully you know what we’re entertaining to us.
01:30.11
Louise: Ah, um, ok so this week we were gonna we were gonna do a new thing because you had um, a couple of emails which was great from listeners and yeah, a couple of people that you know which is.
01:39.77
Brad: Yeah, some notes some messages. Yeah.
01:46.58
Louise: Um, fun. So we wanted to introduce a new segment called the mailbag. Yeah, the mail bag. Oh.
01:51.43
Brad: The mail bag that’s that was my nickname in college.
02:01.11
Brad: I I’m sorry I I just thought popped into my head and I couldn’t not oh man, we.
02:07.86
Louise: Um, ah I love it Even if it’s true I Love it.
02:15.47
Brad: Oh boy Yeah, the man my whole bank.
02:17.20
Louise: Um, ok so so go go ahead and reach into that mail bag Brad I’m going to add the sound effect in post I think we’ve ruined it all right.
02:24.28
Brad: Which quick quick quick. Oh I like that. Okay here. Okay, we’ll do that I’m goingnna reach into the mail back here. We go choosing 2 random messages randomly choosing 2 messages.
02:33.67
Louise: Brad Brad reach into that mailbag 2 random messages. The only trouble messages that we’ve ever received. Ok.
02:45.52
Brad: so yeah so I heard um ah my my friend Anton H Gill ah messaged me sent me an email really nice email just with some encouraging words and appreciation. Um, really nice and he he went so far. As to offer some ah topics suggestions for the podcast which we loved In fact, we grabbed one of them right? off the bat and his suggestion was pros and cons of working from home including self-motivation isolation and staying productive and it is not a coincidence.
03:08.74
Louise: Yep.
03:21.40
Brad: That that is the theme of our show today. Not a cook. Thank you.
03:24.79
Louise: It is absolutely not a coincidence and thank you and Ton gill for um, messaging us ah, emailing us and providing those he’s he’s given us a couple other ones too. So we’re we’re.
03:33.97
Brad: Yeah, yeah.
03:37.85
Louise: Absolutely going to do those So anybody else if you have ideas or questions or anything definitely get in touch. Yeah, um, so.
03:44.22
Brad: Um, are just want to engage with us. Yeah, at connect at the inside voicepodcast.com I put it in our little show notes.
03:51.51
Louise: I Got to remember to do that and remember to do it seamlessly and it’ll be in the show notes is anything in the show notes. Do you actually put anything in. Ok thank you I Appreciate that.
04:02.80
Brad: Yeah, yeah, it says right? there connect at the inside voice podcast.com yeah ah yeah, so that was what and he also and just a um teaser for the end of the show today. Ah he left some tag. Closing tagline suggestions that we’re going to share so you want to you want to stick around for that. Ok. Oh yeah, let’s milk it let’s milk. It yeah um, yeah, he also.
04:22.41
Louise: Yeah, so I felt I feel like we should just do one of his this week and then the other one next week. Yeah, just to draw out the mystery a little bit. Yeah, but yeah, that’s what we should do all right? Ok so um, I’ve got i’ve. Ah ahead. Sorry.
04:39.10
Brad: He also had a recommendation ah because we talked ah a little bit about how I was looking at Moxie as a tool for interacting with my direct clients and he recommends or suggests that I look at honeybook.
04:51.20
Louise: Right.
04:58.10
Louise: Honeybug Yeah I’ve heard of Honeybook I’ve heard other people talk about it. Yeah.
04:58.33
Brad: I haven’t looked at it yet I will be honest so this isn’t an endorsement. Yeah, but but Anton said that it it’s um that it had crossed his radar and he hasn’t had time to assess it either but he did want to share that as an option. So I just thought it would bring that up as that’s yeah.
05:11.94
Louise: Ok, great. Well I can’t wait to hear how that um transpires maybe he’ll give us some more Intel on that as time goes on cool.
05:18.69
Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we’d also ah the second message we got was from Lauren Michelle Smith who is in our sandwich land group. The sandwich land is.
05:31.28
Louise: Yeah, you were sandwi I’m not in that group but you are yeah, that’s right.
05:35.59
Brad: You’re not in the sand because you don’t live in sandwich land I call. So there’s ah, there’s a huge group ah active group of voice actors that meets that live south of Dc like in the Northern Virginia Alexandria area. And they’re they were always posting about events and I’m in the the group online but I could never make it all the way down. It’s just a long long drive down there. Um, and back on a you know on it for a week night evening or um, so I started as I started meeting people in. North of Dc but south of Baltimore because I live kind of between I live close to Baltimore but between Dc and Baltimore um, and I thought I started like collecting people that I knew that lived in this area and I started to call this like sandwich land because it’s sandwiched in between the 2 beltways right.
06:14.93
Louise: Yep.
06:23.55
Louise: How like I just automatically assumed maybe because I love sandwiches so much that it had something to do with like you being in an area famous for some sandwiches I was like oh my god there’s somewhere in Baltimore called sandwich land I’ve got to go there.
06:36.44
Brad: There probably are some pretty good I bet there are places with really good sandwiches in between Baltimore or and DC beltways but that’s not why? Um, that’s not that’s not why I pick the name.
06:42.36
Louise: Give me all the sandwiches.
06:47.54
Louise: So in sandwich land. There is also good sandwiches but it’s because it’s sandwiched. But anyways all right. This is ok. So.
06:55.94
Brad: Yeah, yeah, and there’s about a half a dozen of us and we we have ah a chat group and a Facebook chat group and then we try and meet once a month in person and just to socialize and share thoughts and ideas and it’s nice. It’s just nice to have some local people and.
07:04.73
Louise: Nice.
07:12.51
Louise: Yeah, that’s rad.
07:13.94
Brad: Kind of all working together. Um, but Lauren Michelle ah messaged me and she yeah and I I yeah I checked with her to make sure she was ok with this. Um.
07:20.13
Louise: Why don’t you read us that message.
07:28.63
Louise: Yeah, yeah.
07:32.32
Brad: She said I’m currently listening to episode number 8 and can totally relate to how I felt when I first got to um vio atlanta which we talked about she said I have to say I didn’t realize until I was there that I have social anxiety layered into my introversion and shyness. Woof. That’s what it says hoof got hit by that like a mac truck. Really appreciate you and louise doing this also loved when you spent time discussing the different types of introverts. So I thought that was really nice and mm.
08:03.67
Louise: Really appreciate. Yeah, that’s really really nice. Thank you so much Lauren Michelle for that um message.
08:11.54
Brad: Yeah, so that’s the mail bag and you can um if you want to find out more about Anton you can go to Anton Hgill Dot Com and Lauren Michelle is at l m s creative dot com so check, check them out. They’re both great. Fantastic voice actors in their own right? So yeah.
08:22.53
Louise: Um, awesome.
08:26.16
Louise: I Have just a lost where hang on one second I’m I have to cut this out when I’m editing because I’m not seeing Zen castor on my thing there. It is ok I just I panicked and was like are we still recording.
08:33.14
Brad: Sure.
08:44.12
Brad: Ah, yeah, your waveform is way bigger than mine now. Yeah, your waveform is way bigger than mine this time. So.
08:45.92
Louise: Um, and we are. That’s what happens when I switch between windows and don’t know what I’m doing is it. That’s because I actually I turn my gain up. It’s the it’s the volume Wars Hopefully I’m not like clipping or anything. We’ll see.
08:58.75
Brad: Yeah, yeah, it doesn’t look like it but you can balance it out.
09:05.45
Louise: And if I am it’ll be um Irvin Russell to the rescue my partner the sound engineer who I have to call on every now and then to help us out of little pickles.
09:10.41
Brad: Yeah, all right? we ready? yeah.
09:19.27
Louise: Um, ok so back to Anton’s suggestion ah that we pulled randomly out of our weekly mailbag. Um, the pros and cons. What.
09:22.46
Brad: yeah and again yeah and I was just going to say and again if you want to interact with us connect at the voice. The inside voice podcast.com I also want to say if you enjoy what we’re doing or you’re getting anything out of it. You’re finding any value in it please. Subscribe to the podcast wherever you prefer to listen to podcasts and and leave a review that is super helpful for us in finding more audience members so that instead of 500 downloads total. We can start to hit 500 downloads an hour.
09:51.23
Louise: Yep.
10:00.44
Louise: Yeah, that’s where we and also I just want to ah piggyback onto that message and say that even if you don’t find any value and you actually don’t like this podcast but you just feel sorry for us please like subscribe rate review just lie about it.
10:09.46
Brad: Yeah.
10:16.77
Louise: That’d be great. All right.
10:18.58
Brad: All right under this week’s topic that that we again want to thank Anton for um, what we’re talking about today is.
10:25.99
Louise: The pros and cons of working from home including self-motation isolation and staying productive. So should we just I um maybe share each of our pros and cons lists I I came up with one. Ok.
10:37.35
Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:40.50
Louise: So my pros list was I basically came up with I think five five for each so was not to drag it out too much here. So ah, prose list. No shoulder tapping. So by this I mean like when I worked in my previous career. It was just a lot of interruptions in the day so you’re kind of way more in charge of that. Obviously you’re going to have messages coming through from clients and other stuff but you get to be in charge. So if I’m let’s say I’m recording a long form project or I want to do a sort of Marathon hour two of auditioning or whatever. The long task is.
11:00.94
Brad: Um, yeah.
11:15.78
Louise: I can turn off notifications I can turn off my phone I So no interruptions if you don’t yep yep Yes, so you have full control over shoulder tapping in.
11:19.60
Brad: And I can attest that you do do that because I try and tap your shoulder sometimes and an hour later. You’re like hey man sorry I was recording and I’m like that’s cool.
11:35.52
Louise: Um, environments where you’re working for someone else. You don’t have any control even if you work from Home. You basically constantly have to be available and I find that’s really difficult for me Personally, It’s just really hard to stay on task. It can be stressful and um, aggravating to be Frank. Ah, second point on a pro is work life Balance. You’re also kind of more in charge of ah hello. Oh So weird beep. Did you hear that? Ok, um, so work life balance I Don’t think I need to add anything to that I’m just going to say work life balance as a pro.
11:53.85
Brad: Ah.
11:58.84
Brad: Ah.
12:02.76
Brad: No I didn’t.
12:13.64
Louise: Um, no Commute. So This saves you time and money allows you to probably get more rest and more work done. Um, eating at home This sounds like really basic but I feel like when you work in an office environment. Even if you. Sort of someone who who might even be on track with like packing a lunch and stuff it’s way more um tempting when you’re out in an office environment to like go out for coffee and moffins or whatever with your co-workers or go out for lunch or grab a sandwich somewhere. Um, so I think you can just have like a more healthy balanced diet when you are at home staying at home to eat. Um, and you’re going to save money doing that too. It’s a huge pro for me.
13:03.51
Brad: Yeah yep I agree though.
13:06.97
Louise: Um, and then the last one is you set your priorities and goals for each day week months year? Whatever So yeah, what are your prose? great.
13:16.16
Brad: Yeah, good. Good. Good. Yeah, so we have some some overlap which is cool. It’s like boggle where you don’t get to count the words that you both got. Um I have flexibility I like that. Ah, if i. and and I come from I’ve I had been working from home for my day job for 15 years right? but it was very set schedule I had to be up. Yeah that’s right, but I would I would be up to log in by 8 a m and I would log out at 5 a m and I just.
13:38.40
Louise: Um, except you went in on Tuesdays you went into DC right
13:49.60
Brad: Was at home but I didn’t really have flexibility in my schedule but now five p M yeah ah it was a really long day. Ah, ah, but um, but now you know if I am up till 1 or two a m working on an audio book or a big project or something I can.
13:49.59
Louise: Do you mean logout at five p M It’s like that’s strange, really long day.
14:08.95
Brad: Let myself sleep in a little bit in the morning to make up for it and know and I’m and I’m fine. You know I can manage my schedule is what I mean if I need to run out at lunch or schedule a meeting with you know, an acquaintance or a friend or something. Yeah, yep, yep.
14:12.52
Louise: Um.
14:16.80
Louise: Yep yep.
14:23.13
Louise: Go to a doctor’s appointment. Whatever yeah, um.
14:26.00
Brad: Availability for my family which is huge for me. Um I was able to take my son to doctor’s appointment yesterday and it’s it’s not a thing. It’s not a problem you know and I love that flexibility.
14:38.20
Louise: Yeah, like today and I do just a pickback on that too I do ah I try most Fridays to do a half day or at least finish early in the afternoon that I go hiking usually with a good friend of mine now. So that’s a work life balancing too. But yeah, yep.
14:44.66
Brad: Yeah, yeah.
14:51.19
Brad: Yeah, yeah, I love that yeah come comfort I put ah in that you can kind of choose where you want to work in your house and you can choose if you want to so work from your bed. You know what I mean depending on what you’re working on you know.
14:55.27
Louise: Keep going.
14:59.36
Louise: Oh yeah. Totally Yes, Okay, yeah.
15:07.99
Brad: So a lot more lot more options for comfort. Ah more efficient and effective. Ah this I think this this approaches the the shoulder tapping like when I used to go into the office in Dc or when I had jobs where I had to go in I got so little done because everybody wanted to talk and of course everybody’s. Procrastinating whatever and you know what I mean. So yeah, yep, exactly? Yeah boy boy boy boy oh yes.
15:27.57
Louise: You can get in inundated and it can become so counterproductive and then the other thing is meetings aren’t meetings like so often such a huge waste of time like things that could be literally put in 2 sentences in an email.
15:42.40
Brad: Yeah, they they could have been an email hashtag absolutely I also had no commute as someone who had a 2 hour each-way commute on Tuesdays for 15 years I absolutely appreciate that I have people envy you I don’t know if that’s a pro or not. But.
15:46.40
Louise: Yeah, ah.
15:52.87
Louise: Yeah.
16:01.90
Brad: I thought I like to be envied and people do like people are like oh I’d love to be able to work from home I I heard that much more prior to Covid because I think during Covid a lot more people ended up working from home. But ah lunch is better. So that’s exactly what you were saying So not not only like you can.
16:02.20
Louise: Ah, that’s a funny one.
16:11.49
Louise: Yeah.
16:19.47
Brad: You have to go into the office you can take your lunch with you. But then it’s you know you’re eating a sandwich that you made 4 hours ago like when you work from home when you eat a sandwich you just made it so the yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:26.95
Louise: Yeah I know I can just make a nice omelet or something too sometimes like I we do tend to pre preparere the night before for um, our our lunch like for my partner’s lunch as well. But um, if if I don’t do that I can.
16:35.86
Brad: Who.
16:44.54
Louise: Easily cook something hot. So that’s nice leftovers. Yeah, um.
16:47.23
Brad: Yeah, we cook dinner a lot and we make enough so that we have some at least for lunch the next day which helps a lot right? Um, relaxed to dress even though I don’t I draw I’m someone who gets up and I get dressed in the morning I don’t put on a shirt and tie. But.
17:00.67
Louise: Okay I don’t like I’m I often I’m in my pajamas until I have to I give myself a heart stop at the end of the day and I go for a really long walk but that I’m often in my pajamas at the end of the day still and I.
17:03.94
Brad: Yeah.
17:10.68
Brad: Yeah.
17:16.98
Brad: Yeah, so I put it it as a pro that you can be even though mentally I I know I’m much more productive I feel better about myself and I get more work I like I’m more attentive to my work if I get up and get dressed. Um, yeah huh.
17:27.54
Louise: Yeah, that’s interesting because it doesn’t make a difference to me at all at all. Oh I don’t I don’t care. Oh I am so da.
17:34.13
Brad: I Just feel so sloppy. You know what? I mean I feel like I’m not taking my life. Seriously, if I’m not at least and again I’m not talking about putting on a shirt and tie or anything but what’sapp. Okay, you were ragged on me again weren’t you.
17:44.19
Louise: Oh no I was listening.
17:50.26
Louise: I was gonna but I.
17:52.31
Brad: Um, I’ll hear I didn’t hear what you said, but I’ll hear it when night we play it back? Um, no, but yeah.
18:00.96
Louise: I’m not in my pajamas right now. But for the last episode I was when we were ah had our first guest Rob Smith which was super fine by the way. Thanks again. Rob I was in my pajamas for that. Yeah anyway.
18:08.44
Brad: Um, yeah, that was a great I was so nice talking to him Cool Yeah, and then the last the last one I have is tax write offs ding ding ding because you can write off part of your your studio space and internet.
18:18.19
Louise: Oh right? yeah.
18:26.80
Brad: And phone usage and all kinds of stuff if if.
18:27.84
Louise: Yeah, you get to use your gross income. Um, before any taxes come off so rather than getting taxed on like rather than only spending your net income. You can spend your gross income and then what you spend on your businesses in taxed just to give it.
18:43.81
Brad: That’s right, Yeah, that’s right? Ah yeah, maybe that’s the Canadian perspective on taxes I don’t know I think so too.
18:44.96
Louise: Ah, another way of phrasing tax write off. Yeah.
18:51.38
Louise: I Don’t think so I think that’s the louise trying to make sense of things that feel complicated to me personally and I have to rephrase them in a way that makes sense to me and that’s the way that I have come up with to organize it in my brain.
18:59.50
Brad: Got it. Got it got it hey I like it hey man if it makes sense to you. It makes me happy. So that’s what I had for prose. So what do you have for cons and and what’s funny is I think one of.
19:09.74
Louise: Yeah, all thanks man, Ok cool. Ah, for cons I had.
19:17.67
Brad: Your prose I think I have on my con list. But now I don’t remember which one it was okay, go ahead, Go go go go.
19:23.60
Louise: Oh interesting. Well the only one I can see on my pros list that might have been a con was that you set the priorities and goals for each day week month. That was my only pro that wasn’t so I had no shoulder tapping work life balance no commute eating at home and you set the priorities. Those are my 5 pros.
19:32.37
Brad: Yeah.
19:38.87
Brad: Ok, yeah I I think it was that one well go ahead. What will we? we’ll get into it. Yeah.
19:41.54
Louise: Okay, anyways, ok interesting. Ok so my 5 cons and I actually I had to so I had to think about my cons list and I had way more pros than these five I had to think about the cons list for quite a bit to come up with even 5
19:53.70
Brad: Aha. Like oh okay, like.
19:59.56
Louise: Because I just find that it’s just the best thing that I’ve ever done. So it’s It’s really hard for me to think about the negative parts because there just aren’t that many in my mind. Yeah yeah.
20:08.16
Brad: Yeah, that’s fair and I will say some of my cons are potential cons right? like they they could be a problem. Yeah.
20:17.00
Louise: Ok, so these are my 5 cons. Ah no steady paycheck.
20:24.60
Brad: Um, is that from working from Homer is that freelancing in general.
20:25.66
Louise: Sorry so that’s not from working from home. Yeah, yeah, you’re right? So maybe ok, that’s ok so I’ll just add a caveat that that’s being a freelancer and working from home running your own business.
20:31.60
Brad: So.
20:40.19
Brad: Gent. Yeah that yeah, that’s fair, yeah.
20:43.62
Louise: So there’s no steady paycheck. It’s you’re on a roller coaster. Well all the time. So ah, that’s can be terrifying. Um, then I had you can easily both overwork or underwork.
20:48.10
Brad: Ah, yeah.
21:00.34
Louise: Right? Because you just you’re the only person you’re accountable to for the most part unless you have a partner as well and then you have financial accountability with someone right or a family that you have to support. Um, it can get Lonely I don’t personally get that Lonely just because I’m an Introvert you know.
21:06.74
Brad: Sure.
21:18.36
Brad: Yeah.
21:20.30
Louise: Um, so it doesn’t affect me that much though though it it can I think sometimes um number four I had you need to constantly self-assess because there are no higher ups to give you like you know, constructive feedback and um and I and when I say that I’m talking. Even Beyond. Let’s say the voiceover performance aspect because I think we all sort of have this idea of Voice. You know you’re a voice actor. So what? what are you going to need to Self-assass. It’s you’re just going to need to be working on your performance. That’s not that is a small teeny tiny. Yeah, ah.
21:55.48
Brad: Ah I laugh at you that idea? Yeah because you’re building a business and yeah.
21:59.42
Louise: A teeny tiny part of it. Um, you, you’re building a business so your self-assessment has to reach so far beyond that I mean performance is going to be a major part of it especially in the beginning. But um, this is everything from you know how you take care of your clients to. Um, how you’re building your business and how you’re tracking things and managing your might yeah exactly um and then the fifth one I had is that there’s no one to congratulate you on your wins.
22:19.34
Brad: And yeah and managing your money and marketing And yeah, yup, yup.
22:31.43
Brad: I like that and I relate to that.
22:34.35
Louise: Right? So and and so I apologize because I realized this isn’t all about working from home anymore. This cons list The cons list because maybe I don’t have any cons about working from home I don’t think I do ah it’s mostly just about working for yourself. Yeah.
22:40.51
Brad: Ah, yeah.
22:46.13
Brad: I Do like that one though. Although I guess I guess if you work from home. But you have like I I did like you work from home. But you have a job with a company. Yeah that there was definitely though there were those things. But yeah.
22:54.90
Louise: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Definitely my Cons list is more when you’re self-employed freelancing etc. Ah yeah, no one to congratulate in your wins. So It’s like what you Know. You’re sort of just in a little echo Chamber Yeah, ah.
23:11.43
Brad: Yeah, that is absolutely true and that’s why it’s important to do like you and I have done and and with Troy and with other friends to make sure you’re building a network of people you trust and you like and.
23:24.70
Louise: Um, yeah.
23:28.40
Brad: That you can share with and that you can kind of share what you’re doing and hold each other accountable and get excited for each other and what can I give 1 piece one one thought that I have on that and and I see if I can do this without sounding judgmental and I’m not talking about anybody’s specific. But if you’re in if you’re building a relationship like that.
23:33.70
Louise: Yeah.
23:48.23
Brad: With an acquaintance that’s becoming a friend something that is hard for me to do. But I think is valuable to do if somebody if if the person that you’re talking to has a win or a loss.
23:55.65
Louise: Yeah.
24:04.63
Brad: Right? Like either something really good happened or something really bad and they share that with you don’t make sure you don’t use that as an opportunity to share your own winner loss like give them the the moment to like be excited or be upset because the minute you say oh well I had a.
24:08.38
Louise: Um, yeah.
24:18.35
Louise: Yeah.
24:22.91
Brad: A success too Then that’s pulling the spotlight away from that moment that they need like they need that or they wouldn’t have brought it up.
24:29.89
Louise: It’s it. That’s a really really great point Brad and I I think it’s a lesson in um, effective listening skills and empathy and um i’m.
24:39.11
Brad: Um, and I I’m not going to say I’m not going to pretend I’m awesome at that like I struggle with that too. But I just know that I’ve seen between 2 people that can happen or people might have done that to me and and so I’m just I’m just offering that as a.
24:52.81
Louise: Yeah, it’s sort of it’s hot. It’s a hot. It’s a form of hijacking It’s like turning the attention back onto yourself and I I think we should all be really mindful not to do that and to take people seriously when they’re struggling to like don’t gloss it over and be like it’ll be ok I mean not that.
24:54.90
Brad: Is a thought. Yeah.
25:12.81
Louise: Like honestly I am shrived on that to you Brad You got this like those kind of platitudes I mean I feel like I mean it when I say that but I don’t think it’s always that helpful either like sometimes people just need to be heard. Um.
25:17.78
Brad: Yeah, sure. But sometimes I do need that you know what I mean like I know I’ve had moments where I’ve been like man I don’t know if this is going to work My this month is going really Slow. Do I need to find a you know a. Job doing something and you’re in I’ve I’ve been able to share that with you and have you tell me Brad Shut up. Dude you just need to keep going where we got this. We’re good and that’s super valuable. So um, it’s hard to know and and that also doesn’t mean there aren’t times when for example, you and I might be talking and.
25:44.34
Louise: Yeah, yeah, you know.
25:55.13
Brad: We’re like okay cool What what wins if you had what wins have I had that’s different. That’s like a mutual conversation that we’re having right like ah that’s different than sure.
26:01.24
Louise: Yeah, and I feel like maybe it depends on how well you know the person to and what kind of relaxed discourse or not so relaxed thing you have like if it’s sort of at the beginning stage is like I I feel like being mindful of making sure that that you’re really. You know listening and being empathetic is hugely important I’m glad you brought it up. It’s great. Why sorry you still there? yeah.
26:22.66
Brad: Yeah, what? what? all right? So yeah, so ok, my cons you ready and again we had some overlap ah I have that it’s hard. It can be hard to develop a routine if you’re working from home.
26:36.85
Louise: Okay.
26:38.67
Brad: Because of all that flexibility and all of that freedom that you have it can be hard to stay focused like if you’re really easily sidetracked or procrastinating or whatever and you you know there are a million other things you could be doing other than working on your business other than auditioning other than you know, working your marketing.
26:53.79
Louise: Um, um, yeah I tend and I I I tend to procrastinate the things that are the hardest for me. We talked about this in another episode where you said you had encouraged your.
26:58.14
Brad: Um, so I.
27:07.84
Louise: Son to work on the hard thing which I think was drawing hands and I thought that was such a great tab is like force yourself to work on the hard things I need to do that way I need to do that more often. Yeah.
27:10.11
Brad: Mmm. Yeah, yeah, just to remind yeah and just to remind what we’re so my son when he was Younger. He’s 20 now. But when he was younger and relearning how to draw and illustrate and he would always hide hands as most you know middle school early high school kids do and.
27:33.21
Louise: And ah and a I is doing apparently and yeah.
27:33.55
Brad: You know? Yeah well I should do more ah but ah and you know and I I said you know what? what I like to do is figure out what the hardest thing if I’m trying to learn a new set of skills figure out what the hardest thing is and do that the most. So. Um I encouraged him to just draw hands and he filled pages of his notebooks with hand drawings and um it was super effective right? It it got him to the point where so that’s what yeah, That’s what that reference was to um so when I also have you have to be self-motivated and and that’s kind of what I was getting into also like.
27:56.82
Louise: Yeah, that’s great. Love it.
28:08.19
Brad: You have to you. There’s no one looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re getting the job done and you have to if if you struggle with that then it’s hard and I frankly I.
28:11.96
Louise: Yeah.
28:19.73
Louise: Yep.
28:26.55
Brad: I love voiceover and I want so badly to succeed at this that self-motivation hasn’t really been a problem with me. Um, in fact I have the opposite I have to force myself to take a Friday night and play Boulder’s gate I could be doing Mark you know what I mean but I’m like I already worked.
28:31.93
Louise: Same with me.
28:42.50
Louise: Yeah, right.
28:45.53
Brad: An eight-hour day and then I came back did that back down after dinner and I worked two more hours I can play a video game for a couple of hours and um, but that’s tricky when you work from home. There’s nobody to to push you into that it can be isolating like you said it can be lonely and I think.
28:51.78
Louise: Yeah.
29:03.15
Brad: Even if you’re ah, an Introvert the problem is when when you work in a company and you’re going in and you’re meeting people face-to-face. You’re doing professional networking every day right? Even if it’s within your organization. You’re seeing your boss. You’re seeing your boss’s boss. You’re seeing you’re visible’s you know the people.
29:13.68
Louise: Yes.
29:21.77
Brad: To whom your presence matters are seeing you but when you work from home. That’s really tricky and um, it can be really hard to be recognized for what you’re doing. Ah.
29:32.84
Louise: Yep.
29:35.11
Brad: I I put this as a pro but I also put it as a con availability to my family I love my family and they’re so important to me. Ah, but I had to when my wife started working from I used to sit in the living room. This wasn’t for voiceover. This was for my day job I would sit in the living room in ah, a big chair and that’s where I would do my work. And then my wife started working from home and suddenly I was being asked to empty the dishwasher or you know straighten something up or and I was just too available like it was too easy for things that needed to get done that my wife saw for. To ask me to do them. This is just 1 example right um.
30:14.56
Louise: Right? So the idea that just because you’re at home that somehow you’re more available to not be work doing your actual paid job. Yeah, right? Yeah, um.
30:20.64
Brad: Yeah, exactly? Yeah yeah, yeah, ah and the next I have is work life separation can be hard when you work from home and maybe I think that might have been the pro that you had ah it can be really hard to so end your day and walk away and. Separate emotionally and mentally um and I I worked really I was very precise and explicit about that when I still had my my corporate job I would start at 8 and I would end at 5 if something came up, you know I might hang out till 155 or five thirty but
30:41.52
Louise: Yep.
30:48.29
Louise: Right.
30:58.29
Brad: I was pretty I drew that boundary and and was pretty explicit about it.
31:04.17
Louise: Yeah, and see that’s 1 thing that I wasn’t that that actually caused a lot of mental health issues for me in my previous career was um, just constantly being ah, expected to be available at all hours
31:12.40
Brad: Sure.
31:20.65
Brad: Um, yeah, yeah, that’s so dumb. That’s so awful and and counterproductive for the employer. Yeah.
31:22.18
Louise: Even when I was on vacation and it was just yeah it and this happens with salaried employers right? You’re on a salary sudden like you know and I remember what I happened thinking? Oh This is great I’m finally on salary and this is a long time ago. But um, you know going from an hourly rate to. Salary You sort of feel like you’ve you’ve made it you know and ah, honestly, sometimes like depending on the organization. Sometimes it can really work against you. Um, and it certainly did for me. So yeah.
31:45.46
Brad: Um, here you got a big.
31:55.36
Brad: Yeah, um, and the last thing I have is dedicating space in your home because working from home. You need space and it needs to be dedicated and it needs to be space that you can leave and that space that you could use for other things if you aren’t working from home.
32:05.49
Louise: Um, yeah, yeah.
32:14.14
Brad: Ah I I had to make I The the room that my studio is in right now I used as a bit of a woodshop and workshop before I started doing voiceover and I had to make a decision and I had to sort of give that space up.
32:27.82
Louise: Um, yeah, yeah, Murder Room Total Murder room I mean even more so now that you’ve got like you’ve got like a got a whisper room in there too where you wouldn’t be able to hear anybody if there was screaming So there’s that.
32:29.86
Brad: To use it as my studio and you saw the pictures of it as I was transforming it. It’s all like cinder blog at Venture Loquisism Doll yeah, that’s true. Yeah, and I got a venture loquism doll that was my first covid. Ah, attempt at what new thing can I learn during Covid was the ventru luquism and then it was accordion and then I found voiceover and then just never stopped. Yeah I.
32:52.30
Louise: Um, are you kidding.
33:01.51
Louise: Wow How this quite I mean most people are like baking you’re like ventrique um accordion.
33:07.76
Brad: But I know but you have to remember that I was coming into covered coming out of being ah a performer and a musician and doing vaudeville type stuff and so these were things that were very sort of natural extensions of what I was doing before. So yeah.
33:19.37
Louise: Right? weirdo ok.
33:24.57
Brad: But out of context. Yeah, what you’re under quarantine. What are you going to do ah I’m going to get a ventriloquism doll and an accordion.
33:28.77
Louise: I I just I I don’t think I thought of this before but we have another thing in common and that is the accordion. So I don’t play the accordion anymore. But when I was little when my.
33:37.26
Brad: Um, oh yeah, oh really are ah.
33:47.15
Louise: When my me and my family when I was small when we lived in Montreal I took accordion lessons I was like a true little like french canadian like british born suddenly thrust into the french canadian culture and I don’t.
33:51.61
Brad: Um, how I didn’t take lessons. Yeah, that’s.
34:01.85
Louise: Whose idea was but I feel like it must have been mine. My brother was taking guitar lessons. So yeah, right.
34:06.80
Brad: Um, that’s awesome. Well now we get. Yeah, we can do the inside voice accordion concert. Um I didn’t get very far I was just learning on Youtube and I was having fun with it for a few weeks and I was.
34:16.31
Louise: Right? oh.
34:21.29
Brad: Ah, posting on Instagram I think as I was doing it. But um, so that’s what I have from icons. Um, yeah.
34:25.47
Louise: That’s fun. That’s great I Love it all right? Well um I’ve got my well I I feel like it’s um.
34:32.17
Brad: I Hope this is I hope this is helpful for people I don’t know.
34:41.55
Louise: At least going to be helpful to Anton who gave us to yeah anybody else anybody else who hates this they can blame Anton I’ll give you his email address just joking.
34:44.56
Brad: Ah, no one I find it no and it and I’m finding it helpful justice. Yeah I’m finding it interesting just to sit down and think through and and write these things out and you you know what? I mean. So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, ok, cool, cool.
34:55.53
Louise: Yeah, and I’m finding interesting hearing yours too. Yeah, ok so I’m going to go ahead if it’s ok with you I can give you my personal top 10 tips to stay motivated productive and potentially less isolated.
35:08.36
Brad: Um, ah.
35:13.59
Louise: Now this is going to vary I mean this is just my personal. These are the things that I do you can do whatever you want. But I’m you know it’s ok, that’s fine. We are not allowed to comment on anything. Um now ok.
35:18.31
Brad: Yeah, and and just just a warninging I don’t have a top to I didn’t do it format it the same way. Ah, but but I I will be happy to comment on your top 10 Oh man.
35:33.26
Louise: Here we go Louise’s top 10 tips to stay motivated productive and potentially less isolated as a freelancer who also works from home I don’t know in what situation it would be a freelancer not work from home I guess that’s just one and the same right.
35:46.44
Brad: I Guess if you went into a shared space thing all the time I guess I don’t know that’s true and let’s say you had a booth there you know I don’t know.
35:50.50
Louise: Oh yeah, ok well, that wouldn’t make sense doing voiceover because you need quiet. So yeah, ok so number 1 is and you covered this already kind of but find a buddy wow I’m working up to number 10
36:01.66
Brad: Where are you starting from number 1 or are number 10 and working way up to number 1 Okay, that’s that’s weird. Ok all right, all right.
36:10.48
Louise: So they’re not in no particular order of importance actually um, this is just how I wrote them out so one is find a buddy that you can chat with daily meet up with once a week um like you and I do right? um.
36:19.16
Brad: Yes, yeah, hundred percent agree with that one.
36:27.40
Louise: And because and I wrote this down. It’s like having the world’s best co-worker except you get to pick them and you don’t have to see them every single day. Ah yeah, and you got to see all of the iterations of my weird.
36:35.60
Brad: That’s right because oh my God forbid if you had to hang out with me every day I think you would kill yourself.
36:46.85
Louise: Pajamas in our video chats. Um, ok 2 now you’re going to laugh at me because I know you’re Mr. Trello and Mr. Whatever that thing what moxi see that you’re using my number 2 is get a notebook slash.
36:50.32
Brad: Ah, yeah.
37:05.19
Brad: Um, yeah.
37:05.47
Louise: Daily planner and right to do lists So I have my daily nonnegotiable tasks ah like and ongoing lists to get at the ongoing list is like the things to get out when things are slow and then I have my sort of non-negotiables daily tasks. So these can be.
37:17.25
Brad: Yeah.
37:22.98
Louise: You know I have to reach out to so and so I have to do a follow up or I have to record XYAndZ whatever it is and then um and then my other ongoing list but for me physically writing things down is extremely helpful. Um.
37:36.61
Brad: I I like that. In fact, you know so I I invested in a remarkable tablet I don’t know if you’re familiar with that. It’s basically it’s a tablet but it’s only for writing like there’s no games or video or anything like that. It’s just.
37:42.59
Louise: Now.
37:51.24
Louise: But you’re typing it out. Oh ok I I So my but my greater point is is a physical book. This is not digital at all.
37:54.58
Brad: No, no, no you write it by hand with a stylus and it’s it’s like E paper. It’s like it’s a tablet but it has its textured like paper.
38:06.44
Louise: You’re getting a physical daily planner and I know I’m hammering this point home here but I firmly believe in this we’re in the digital age. Everything is done that way like I feel like we are tactile by nature and for me it honestly makes a difference like I think it helps with your memory. Um I think it’s proven that when you write things down it helps.
38:13.60
Brad: Yeah.
38:24.92
Brad: Oh I agree when I was in doing theater and right learning lines I would write write my lines to help memorize. Yeah.
38:25.66
Louise: Like physically have a pen in your hand and a paper to put it on anyways. Ok write them down. Yeah yeah, you get out of the cerebral and in this case out of the out of the digital and paper and pen pen to paper. Ok so that was number 2
38:41.80
Brad: Well okay I was just going to say the remarkable is kind of the best of both worlds because it is physical. You have to you’re writing it? Yeah no, no, no right? and I’m just sharing how I sure she.
38:45.53
Louise: Ah, okay.
38:47.57
Louise: I get but this is my list.
38:55.13
Louise: Ah, can you share that on your list that no I’m just joking. Um, ok so for anyone who doesn’t want to listen to my stupid advice.
38:59.46
Brad: Pizza Re is ah.
39:06.99
Louise: This isn’t even advice. This is a shed that works for me. Ok number 3 create a routine. Yeah and you did cover this as well is like you you know, get up and go to bed around the same time every day exercise at the same time eat at the same time like get that routine going. It’s.
39:09.10
Brad: You’re the best.
39:23.38
Brad: Ah.
39:25.47
Louise: Very very helpful I think people are creatures of habit and you can create healthy habits and that goes for your your work life as well and your and your um your out your off time as well. Like you know you’re creating your time off too right? with that. Um.
39:41.58
Brad: Yeah.
39:44.77
Louise: Number 4 is get outside if you can hopefully you’re not in some kind of weird climate where going outside is going to kill you or something but get outside every day you need fresh air. You need the sun on your skin or like in my situation in the pmw like filtered through a million layers of cloud sun on your skin.
40:02.17
Brad: Right.
40:04.61
Louise: Just do something to get outside every day even if it’s just for a few minutes. super super healthy um 5 if you find yourself getting down on yourself try and remember how far you’ve come because this happens to all of us right? and it’s probably pretty amazing if you.
40:23.58
Louise: If you look at it through that lens lens like like you’re you know from from where you were as a total beginner newb to wherever you are now right? like just try and remember how far you’ve come and if you.
40:36.38
Brad: Um, ah.
40:41.33
Louise: Are a beginner and so you may not have that lens with this particular thing like freelancing or voiceover free like voiceover if you are a beginner and you don’t have that lens remind yourself of things that you’ve had to learn or overcome in the past because likely there’s a lot that you can draw on.
40:57.21
Brad: Ah.
41:00.70
Louise: When you’re feeling down like that. Um you can do hard things you’ve done them before number 6 is take workshops get a coach or coaches pay experts for their time and expertise they are totally worth every cent.
41:00.69
Brad: I like it.
41:14.92
Brad: Oh.
41:17.27
Louise: You can’t exist in ah in a vacuum in an echo Chamber It’s you need outside perspective and you paying people for their outside perspective when they’re experts in a field is a much shorter route than.
41:33.59
Louise: Trial and error on your own part right? And that’s going to vary from person to person obviously depending on your situation. Ah number 7 was to help prevent overwork give yourself a hard stop and have it be a non.
41:34.36
Brad: Yeah, um, yeah.
41:49.55
Louise: Negotiable. So like for me, my hard stop is is at the end of the day I have a certain time or it’s it’s a flexible time. So I say hard stop. But maybe it’s actually more of a soft stop but it’s between um, it’s between 3 30 and 5 because sometimes shit comes up at the end of the day and I really want to deal with it. Um, and that’s it I stop and I get on with with what I’m doing for the evening which is usually some exercise going for a really long walk. Um, 8 is plan your time off. So.
42:06.16
Brad: Ah, yeah.
42:24.59
Brad: Ah.
42:24.85
Louise: For me I plan like you know I was talking about not working on the weekend and I’ve realized since I had that whole lecture that and I think I did reiterate this before is I’m not saying you can’t work on weekends you get, you’re going to have to work on weekends, especially if you work another job but even in my situation and I know in yours Brad we.
42:43.92
Brad: Yeah.
42:44.60
Louise: Probably are working on weekends fairly fairly often. Um I just didn’t want to glorify or or say that that’s you know the way things should be but just from a mental health perspective and for the health of your relationships and and your work life balance plan for time off. So for me. And particular I try to plan one day of the weekend. Ah, that is a solid day off and and plan the day and that can look like anything. It can be like a walk in the woods with my partner or my dog or even if you’re just staying home to play video games or I don’t play video games but you do play video games or watch movies all day. Whatever the thing is it does not matter. Just plan on actually not working. We need that time. So that’s number 8 number 9 is and this has to do with diet and it sounds like I don’t want to lecture people on what to eat all I’m saying is figure out like a healthy diet that works for you.
43:34.98
Brad: Um.
43:41.75
Louise: So I’ll give you my example for me, not having um starches and carbohydrates carbohydrate like heavy meals during the morning and afternoon. So we’re talking like sandwiches Sushi Pasta cereal that kind of stuff that keeps me from getting that like like.
43:53.70
Brad: Yeah, yeah.
44:00.60
Louise: Afternoon late morning brain fog fatigue like where you feel Dopey and sleepy that has that has changed my life Honestly, that’s my thing So I I always save those kinds of meals until the evening. Um, but find what works for for you like.
44:02.30
Brad: Yeah.
44:17.24
Louise: Look at your diet and how it might be affecting your energy levels because you need to be able to concentrate and not, you’re going to get way more distracted if you’re tired or if you’re you know your blood sugar’s crashing or any of those things right? So It’s way more important than people give it credit I feel like and then number 10 is. Be customer service driven because because here’s the thing we are as voice actors when you’re at the beginning of this. We all sort of start off thinking and like dreaming about being a voice actor and we think about like the cartoons and the animation and the big whatever sort of like ideal.
44:38.70
Brad: Oh yes.
44:55.13
Louise: Image you have in your mind of what voice actors do which is like nothing like what most of us do but at the end of the day you’re providing a service so like making your customers happy that is not only going to drive your business forward and make it sustainable. It.
45:06.34
Brad: Yeah.
45:13.16
Louise: It takes it from being the self-focused thing to something that is outside of yourself right? So if you can be of service to others. You’ll sort of naturally ah begin and continue to be the best version of yourself which in turn is.
45:20.50
Brad: Um, yeah though I like that.
45:31.32
Louise: Is going to help you stay motivated focused and kind of connected to um the point of it all really, you’re being of service to others is what you’re doing. So um, that’s my top that’s my top 10 tips hey no worries.
45:44.49
Brad: Um, that’s awesome. Thank you I love that? Um, yeah, and I I try to do all those things I I like ending the day is hard for me. Um, well I don’t know I I try and finish at 5 but sometimes things leak over and I’m down here till 6 but sometimes it’s four o’clock and I’ve done all the things I need to do and I can go upstairs and spend you know an hour with my wife that I wouldn’t have gotten to so you know.
46:15.94
Louise: A.
46:20.30
Brad: Struggle. But yeah, that’s great. So I I focus more on the tools that I use So this I think this kind of complements wealth I like that your list was about strategies that use in mind is going to be more about the tools and and the software that I used to kind of keep myself focused and.
46:22.46
Louise: Um, call.
46:38.31
Louise: Yeah, and I and I think that’s sort of um, something that is more helpful to you and you you tend to lean in that direction Anyway, whereas I run from those things. So.
46:39.48
Brad: Motivated.
46:49.85
Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s fair, sure. Ok ah first is a hammer. Um, ah yeah, ah, no first I put I think this.
46:51.70
Louise: But I would love to hear your list of tools so software and stuff. Yeah, nice. Yeah.
47:00.55
Brad: Almost goes without saying in this day and age but Google suite and Google drive. Ah I think I don’t think any of us could even get by without them I don’t know how we did um so good. Okay I’m like what really ah I as I going to say like louise we use it all the time.
47:02.60
Louise: And.
47:09.71
Louise: What’s Google drive I’m just kidding now we have we have a little sheet in our Google in our shared drive I know for this podcast. It’s the only thing I use it for though now I’m just and I’m totally joking.
47:19.88
Brad: Ah, yeah, and and then well you use? Um, ah what do you? We send it or whatever it’s called we ah the we transfer. Yeah I don’t I tend to use Google drive more I’ll ah because I have.
47:29.54
Louise: We transfer? yeah.
47:39.42
Brad: The the master directory that my dos saves to is on Google drive. So I have access to it on my desktop and in Google drive. So anything I render out from reaper automatically is is on Google drive.
47:54.87
Louise: Ok, sorry I’m just going to pause right? there anybody who’s not a voice actor doesn’t understand what Brad just said he’s his da is reaper so his digital audio workstation is called reaper. It’s a editing software recording software.
47:56.42
Brad: So then it’s super easy for me just to share a link. Yeah.
48:01.82
Brad: Sorry the editing software. Yeah.
48:11.85
Louise: And you’re talking about how you save and send files to clients. Basically right? and so you’re saying you’re doing it through the Google drive I’m saying for large files I use we transfer so just to clear that up for anybody who was like I’m sorry could you speak english please brad please continue.
48:14.50
Brad: Yes, That’s right, Thank you? Yes, That’s right use. Yeah,, that’s exactly right? Yeah yes, Thank you. I Also I Love and I don’t know if I’ve mentioned my remarkable tablet at all in this episode or not. But ah I Love my remarkable tablet because it is the the act of physically writing things out with a pen. Ah but it saves it digitally and I don’t have to keep. So getting new notebooks and you know and they get wrinkled and then that bugs me and you know? Yeah yeah I like it hey out, but this is what works for me.
48:52.19
Louise: I love a wrinkled notebook I love looking back over the year at like my fall notebook and then getting a freshie in January or at the end of December I love it. Yeah I know.
49:05.93
Brad: I use Trello for task organization. Um, trello is ah um, what’s it called? Ah, there’s a japanese word for it. Um, yeah, no, but you you basically you write your tasks you have columns for your tasks.
49:15.17
Louise: Or Aami Ari Gotto Okoaki those were actual Japanese words I Just said by the way. Ok.
49:25.62
Brad: And then you the yes they were that is true. Ah, and then you create cards for each task and then you move them from column to Column. So I I have 3 3 boards that ah it’s a Kona board or something darn out. Why can’t I Remember. I Have my um ah my the simplest one I have is my in and out so checklist So Taskless. So I have a task list of things when I do when I first get into my studio and sit down in the morning and then a list of things that I do at the end of the day to sort of close out. Day. Ah I also have a production flow So when I get a new job I create a a card for it and then it goes from booked to in production to I don’t remember what they are said I can look it up. Actually if anybody’s interested From. Ah.
50:22.93
Louise: Um, um.
50:23.52
Brad: Yeah, booked to in production to production completed to revision to delivered to accepted to build to paid to complete. Um, so then I sort of I can tell where any job is that I have just by looking at this board and seeing where the cards are sure. Yeah, yeah I like it.
50:38.54
Louise: That’s great I might pick your brain a bit more about that when we’re not online.
50:43.11
Brad: It it really works well for me to keep especially when you get busy right? like you have a bunch of jobs and you know I’m always afraid of dropping the ball or forgetting about something. Yeah, and then I have what I call my today tomorrow today to done list. Um, so it’s similar to what you have.
50:47.81
Louise: Um.
50:51.41
Louise: Of course. Yeah.
51:02.57
Brad: But um, the to do list is just like all this stuff anything I can think of that needs to get done I put it my to- do list the tomorrow list I move things in there that are things that are like short range that I need to get done but they don’t have to get done today and the things I have to do today which I’m not as good about as I should be.
51:14.34
Louise: Okay.
51:21.35
Brad: Those get moved into my today list and then once I’ve done them I move them to the to done list and then I archive the ton to done list at the end of the month. Yeah, that was actually Liam’s idea ah he named? yeah he he came up with a to do today to done and I added tomorrow. Um.
51:25.68
Louise: I Love it. It’s to done list. That’s great to do to done really.
51:38.72
Louise: Um, that’s fantastic I Love it.
51:40.10
Brad: Just because I needed something in between. Yeah, so it’s fun to say and and keeps miracle to do tomorrow today to done so he is smart. Yeah I don’t know what happened? um then ah.
51:46.21
Louise: Um, that’s where that he’s your son. He sounds so smart. Yeah.
51:56.91
Brad: Moxie is I’ve talked about that on the podcast I know this is a brand new tool for me and it took me a little while and a little brain-render itrending to get it set up just the way I like it but I love it and I’ve started using it. So if.
51:57.80
Louise: Yeah, yeah.
52:11.82
Brad: You’re my client and we’ve decided that I’m going to do a job for you I send you an email that takes you to a form that you just fill out the form with all of the details that I need when you submit that it creates a project for me and then I can manage that project within moxie and we can message back and forth. Um, well. It’s connected to my email so I can I can message my clients in moxie without all of the other email stuff getting bogged mixed into it and then when I finish the job I can deliver it and then send the um the invoice directly from moxie and that’s tied to my paypal. and ah um ah square and um and so it’s all just this nice. This nice project management flow from beginning to to from booking to ah invoicing and. Even then it gives me an opportunity you know in the final email and the invoice to share a link to my Google ah my um, what do you call it? Ah Google ratings so you can you know hopefully give me some stars for Google.
53:26.90
Louise: Wow This kind of sounds amazing. Maybe I should hire you ah to set it up for me because I don’t want anything to do with yeah you.
53:28.48
Brad: And and Linkedin I’ve I’ve been thinking about? yeah I I um maybe helping you do it would be a good good trial run to see because this isn’t ah this is a tool that I haven’t heard of any other voice actors using.
53:39.17
Louise: Ah, yeah.
53:45.62
Brad: And it like I said it took me a bit to figure out how to get it to set up to do all of this like this whole sort of complete flow through.
53:47.54
Louise: I know I was poo pooing before but it’s not I’m actually never poo pooing any ideas or things that you are looking into what I’m what I’m poo pooing. It’s like a deflection of my own inability to concentrate hard enough to figure it out.
54:00.15
Brad: I get it? Yeah no I get it and and and and I think I think that all stems from anxiety about things like that right? and that’s totally fair right.
54:06.98
Louise: And the rage that it causes me to have to even yeah. Yeah, and just learning abilities and like what where you lean in terms of just things that you’re good at and things that you’re not and I’m just not good at those kinds of things like I feel like some people have a natural aptitude or maybe they’ve been working and.
54:23.00
Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
54:30.10
Louise: Ah, field that where that they do a lot of that kind of thing like I think that’s probably the case with you probably both of those things but I am neither. So yeah.
54:36.90
Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s definitely an advantage and a privilege. Absolutely yeah yeah, ah the next tool I’ve got on my list is nimble which is a Cms ah a client management system and I use that to ah, keep track of all my leads all the clients that I’m currently um.
54:44.59
Louise: Right.
54:53.91
Brad: Ah, get connected to or whatever. Um I do all of my email marketing through nimble ah are nimble and Moxie redundant in some ways but I’m using them for very different things. Yeah.
55:04.43
Louise: I was going to ask that like it’s too bad. You couldn’t It’s too bad. Somebody hasn’t come up with something that will just wrap all that into one. That’s what drives me mental because I’m like I don’t want to but all these things.
55:12.10
Brad: Yeah I I kind of prefer them to be supper because I’m using for them for separate things right? like nimble I’m using just to keep everybody in and I I I have I have automated using the work. The the workflows in nimble to make it very. Efficient to do my? ah my email marketing every week but then moxie I’m using once we’ve made a connection I so you’ll so we’ll switch over to moxie and it’s a whole different environment so it does make sense. Um.
55:33.16
Louise: Yeah.
55:41.65
Louise: Okay.
55:46.59
Brad: I also use voice overview and that’s something I think you and I have talked about I love voice overview. Um, you basically enter every in theory you could ah you could after every audition you do every job you book. Ah, and it’s almost like a Cms again. It feels redundant to. To trello I mean to moxie and nimble. But again, it’s its own thing. It tracks all of your stats. So I can tell you ah how much I booked this month how much I booked last month I can tell you how much I booked last year to date year say month I can tell you that I’m my revenue is 200% um, and this is true. 200% improved over year to date last year at the same time. Ah I I also book all of my expenses there. Um so I can tell you.
56:37.42
Louise: Oh for me I have um I bought I bought like a big spreadsheet think specifically for canadian small businesses through its from out seller on Etsy that’s been great for me, but it sounds very similar.
56:40.65
Brad: Yeah.
56:46.71
Brad: Yeah that’s great because it’s yeah and it’s I think the main difference it probably is very similar The main difference is this is set up as a web app. So. It’s all sort of you don’t see all the data you just you’re just entering it. I mean you can see all of the the jobs that you’ve done and everything like that. But it’s not. Ah, spreadsheet. it’s it’s all there’s a nice interface to it is what I’m trying to say yeah but in either case, either way I think it’s super important to be tracking your business like that to know how much money you’re making how much money you’re spending how much better or worse you’re doing than last year
57:08.53
Louise: Bright. Got it cool.
57:18.54
Louise: Um, ah.
57:22.11
Louise: Absolutely.
57:24.34
Brad: Which client which clients are your top 10 clients where is your money coming from where is your money going and what are the trends super important to be able to manage your progress I use Adobe Express
57:33.76
Louise: Um, yeah, absolutely.
57:40.34
Brad: A lot most people use. Um, what is it called where the the web app that you use to make little signs and thumbnails and canva. Yeah, that’s it most people use Canva I don’t know how I started using.
57:51.41
Louise: Oh can I use Canva Canva pro. Yeah.
57:59.28
Brad: Adobe Express it used to be called Adobe spark um, it’s the same thing like for you did? yeah yeah yeah I use the paid Adobe Express and
58:04.27
Louise: I used to use Adobe Spark and I like canva ah canva. But now that I have the pro canva pro obviously to pay for the pro but I really like canva pro over Adobe. Okay.
58:18.23
Brad: I I Really like it. Ah I don’t know that it’s better I’ve never really used canvas. So I can’t say better or worse I don’t know I think it’s one of those things whichever you know better is the one that’s going to work better for you sort of thing and then I use headliner I Um I really like headliner a lot for specific things I know some of the ah.
58:26.46
Louise: Totally.
58:37.88
Brad: Clips from this show I’ve posted on social media. It’s basically a tool that allows you to take a picture and an audio clip and then it plays the audio clip over the picture and you can have it do the little sound waves. It’s a really good way of presenting audio online and I use that for lots of stuff.
58:47.91
Louise: Right.
58:53.22
Louise: Calm.
58:55.48
Brad: I also use it. They have a new podcasting tool and I’ve spent experimenting but with it for this podcast and I haven’t really talked to you about this actually? um, it uses um it uses Ai it. Basically you feed it your podcast episode. And it listens to it and it writes up a description of the podcast. It gives you all the links to the podcast. Yeah, it gives you a blog post ah that you can post about the podcast and of course I go through when I I rewrite stuff to make it.
59:19.12
Louise: Oh we need this? yes.
59:31.68
Brad: Human and to make sure that it makes sense and it’s real. But if you’ll look on the first. Yeah exactly but you’ll see if you look on the website now at um, ah the inside voicepodcast.com um I think the first and episode 9 and maybe 8 you’ll see that the.
59:34.49
Louise: Oh yeah, you use it as a tool and then you yeah you tweak it.
59:50.79
Brad: The blog The the postings there are much longer blog posts because I’ve I’ve leveraged the assistance from from headliner to do that? Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah for sure. Yeah, yeah, hey, thanks for making us sound good.
59:56.91
Louise: That’s fantastic. What a great tip and thanks for doing that. Thanks for doing those things on the back end. Um, it’s very appreciated Hey well you know I have to also thank my partner because I’m not I don’t do it alone right? I mean I.
01:00:08.66
Brad: Yeah, sure.
01:00:12.91
Louise: I Do as much as I can and then when I hit a roadblock I’m like babe I need help and then he helps so.
01:00:21.65
Brad: Yeah, so that’s what I’ve got for my tools that I use. Um, yeah, and and what I use them for yeah.
01:00:25.79
Louise: Those were great. Thank you so much I I really I’m so resistant to things like that as I’ve said a million times but I found myself wanting to take notes on what you were saying and I’m going to listen to that once we put the episode out I’ll listen to it again.
01:00:44.40
Brad: Cool and I’d be open to working with you and and just sort of stepping through the setup of Moxie If you’re interested because I think that’s something that would be I think that’s something that might be valuable to people that I I could look at um, just.
01:00:44.36
Louise: And um, ah.
01:00:51.60
Louise: Um, yeah I think I probably would be yeah.
01:01:00.61
Brad: Finding a way to help people do that it it I just.
01:01:01.92
Louise: Yeah, almost as as as like a virtual assistant kind of thing but specifically for people in our in our field right? is that what you mean.
01:01:12.26
Brad: No I mean just helping them set up the the the ah set up that that Moxie app yeah to work well for voiceover for what we do right.
01:01:17.86
Louise: Oh that specifically? Yeah yeah, yeah, you don’t have time to be Someone’s V a I Yeah yeah, that’s a great idea.
01:01:28.90
Brad: Now. Ah, no, so that’s where that’s that cool I think we covered all the the stuff we were hoping to right.
01:01:36.17
Louise: Um, we did um I loved I loved Anton’s suggestion it obviously gave us a lot to discuss and think about and share. So thanks again Anton and also.
01:01:45.81
Brad: Yeah, yeah, so thanks again Anton and if if you go go ahead I was just going to say if anyone out there has any other suggestions. Ah for topics that you’d like to hear us discuss let us know connect at.
01:01:53.80
Louise: Know you go ahead.
01:02:00.74
Louise: The inside void I am just I don’t know what is wrong with me with that I just connect at the inside void the inside void it’s I feel like that was a F fortyian slip.
01:02:02.54
Brad: The inside voice podcast.com oh sorry there’s nothing wrong with you? Louise.
01:02:17.22
Brad: Ah, that that’s a different podcast but I think I would like to do that podcast.
01:02:19.70
Louise: The inside void. Ok um, so now we’re at the end here and let’s do so the tagline that um he sent us to Anton Gill sent us to oh ok.
01:02:28.18
Brad: Yeah, wait. But but but before we get to that I Just want to say one more time if you like what we’re doing if you want to hear more of it if you want us to keep going please subscribe and and leave us a review that would be awesome.
01:02:41.21
Louise: And even if you don’t but you just feel sorry for us. Ok so.
01:02:45.86
Brad: Yeah, so so Anton’s closing tagline. He actually gave us 2 and we’re going to talk about 1 today. Ok.
01:02:52.52
Louise: Just do one just do the first one good and I because I love them both. So let’s do the first one? Um, so the first half I’ll whisper and then you say the second half and then we’re done.
01:02:58.69
Brad: You want to do the first half and are the second half sure. Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, okay yeah.
01:03:07.98
Louise: Yeah, ok ready inside voice. Yay! thanks Anton all right well thanks again Brad and um, yeah I’m heading for a hike we’re recording this on a Friday and um.
01:03:12.70
Brad: Amplifying introverted voices hey thanks Anton you’re the best. Yeah great talking to you.
01:03:28.80
Louise: Gonna get out into the forest and go for a nice long hike with my good friend Amy and my little dog Danny yeah ok bye.
01:03:31.50
Brad: That sounds ah that sounds amazing. Please enjoy it all right? Thanks everybody by louise.
01:03:47.86
Brad: Yeah.