AMA II: Electric Boogaloo. And Then There Was Day 2.

hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
I thank you so much for tuning in today
because we’re gonna continue on with the
AMA number two for this year electric
Boogaloo
ask me anything we asked earlier in this
series you have any questions about
voiceover about performing about
internet marketing about productivity
about efficiency about mindset art
science Commerce me in particular if you
have any questions nobody asked any
questions about me fine with me but we
got some great questions and there’s so
many we had to do more than one episode
just like we did earlier in the year so
let’s get right to it Dave
just Dave asks why are most of the p2p
sites so dodgy and I’m assuming that you
mean p2p sites pay-to-play sites in the
world of performance and voiceover in
particular because there are pay-to-play
sites in the world of on-camera work as
well so here’s the thing I think that
some people some players in this space
are actually bad actors and I don’t mean
bad actors in that they don’t know how
to act in a scene I’m talking about they
have a an approach to this business that
is pull as much money from their target
audience as they possibly can and in the
case of one of the big pay to plays it’s
because they have a big investment from
a an investment bank and their metrics
for success have nothing to do with
helping us achieve greater success as
voice over talent they say they do but
their number one priority is to have a
return and investment occur for the bank
that invested so much money in them so I
think that’s one thing but I want to
warn you that even though my notion
about that is that there’s no
accountability to us as performers
that’s not there that’s not their goal
and that their business model comes
first even the ones that have pretty
good reputations ones that are
legitimate like breakdown services their
business model has to come first
as well now that many of them have man
to combine the idea of supporting
performers with the business model that
they have where they charge you to be on
their site and I’m thinking about actors
access I’m thinking about voice one two
three they will do educational things
for us some of the bigger sites do it as
well but it’s very clear that their goal
is profitability it’s also very clear
that all the other ones have to have as
a goal profitability and we sometimes
confuse the idea of profitability with
being mercenary and that’s not true
profitability is essential if you want
to be around tomorrow and next week and
next year and have continuity with your
clients I have to be profitable as a
voice-over teacher coach as a performer
or I can’t continue in this business I
have to go find something else to pay
the bills and so the only time I’ve ever
gotten pushback on that
I’m pretty sure the guy that sent me the
email who was in Florida so Florida man
sends email to David H Lawrence the 17th
just screaming at me about just wanting
to make a buck off the back of voiceover
talent and all you’re in it for is the
money and what he’d ask me to do is to
let him take my classes for free and I
said I really can’t do that I I owe that
to the amount of time that I would put
into it I have to cover I have to make
sure that I because I have other things
that I want to do with my time I’ve
other things that can make me money the
opportunity cost there is a little high
for me to do that and he hadn’t done
anything to make me think he was
destitute he just decided he’d ask and
um again as I said I’m pretty sure when
I when I got his response that he’d been
drinking
I’m not I can’t say for sure but he did
write me two years later and apologized
for that
and oddly enough that’s the only piece
of email I’ve ever gotten from somebody
who was really really really angry and
and into name-calling and things like
that no have we sent emails like that to
some of the p2p sites for what they’ve
done
I’m pretty sure many people watching
this video the answer is yes I haven’t
sent emails that have been screaming or
name-calling but I’ve sent emails that
as you know if you’ve watched these
videos in no uncertain terms let them
know I wasn’t interested in doing
business with them one of them asked me
to be a coach or to be part of their
referral program and I said I’m sorry
but neither I nor any of my coaches are
available for that so you know I think
that part of it is we mistake putting
your business model up front as an
important requirement as being uncaring
or unfeeling but again there are there
are groups there are companies in this
business that act as pay-to-play sites
that clearly do not have any love for
talent they have love for the people
that they can make money from and the
talent is often that target and so I
would be careful about that all right
Michael Schafer says first I absolutely
love these daily videos as they are
incredibly helpful and insightful well
thank you Michael I appreciate that
going to miss them every day
well there’s again there’s a couple of
months left and then we’ll do it weekly
I think I’m I’m thinking I’m gonna do it
on Wednesday because there’s not a lot
of people that put stuff out on
Wednesday and maybe I’ll call it the
hump day video or something okay just
saying that out loud and probably not
but once a week is what I’m gonna do
anyway my question how do you handle
clients that are a bit slow to pay after
60 90 plus days and you still haven’t
received your money what do you do and
how do you address the client so I want
you to think back maybe a couple weeks
to a video that I did where I was so
complimentary of Tallahassee Coates and
his ability that when asked a question
that he didn’t know the answer to his
ability to say I don’t know I I’m not
qualified to answer that question I want
you to think about that because I don’t
know I’m not qualified to answer that
question because I don’t have much
experience with clients that don’t pay
I’ve seen others who have had experience
and I know what they do but will that
work for you is that something from my
own personal experience that I can share
with you you know I mean I’m gonna give
you a couple of suggestions but know
that I am NOT a an expert in collections
and it’s for a very good and very
embarrassing reason kind of I’ve never
had to collect from somebody I’ve never
been in a situation that I can recall
anyway where somebody hasn’t paid me
right on time or even before most of the
time I’m asking for deposits so but I’ve
never had anybody stiffed me on the back
end that I know that I can recall that I
can recall now if that were to happen
one of the things that I’ve told people
to do is to use the friendly and
perfectly persistent model do not stop
reminding them until you get your money
and once you do get your money thank
them for doing that and consider whether
or not you want to continue doing
business with them in the future you
know the problem that we have as
performers is that we say yes to
everybody who asks us if we want to do
work for them you know if they give us a
reasonable offer it’s like oh yeah sure
well once somebody treats you like that
you really have to be harsh about the
idea of do you want to continue to do
business with them and you should have
the permission you should give yourself
the permission to drop them if you want
to if you decide it’s too much work it’s
too much effort now if they stop
contacting you entirely if they’re not
making constant excuses oh yeah I’m
sorry my accounts payable person is out
and they didn’t get around to doing that
I’ll take care of it and they never
quite get around to to getting to it or
if they simply stop their whole effort
to contact you back to continue the
conversation then it’s time to talk to
an attorney or to go to small
skort again I don’t know I’m not the
expert there the only time I ever went
to small claims court was because I
rented when I first moved to Los Angeles
and the landlord wasn’t gonna give me
back my my security deposit after her
pipes burst and she blamed it on me I
mean that was a lovely day I was just a
lovely day I’ll tell you about it in the
video so if you want me to tell you this
story in a video let me know but man it
was just beautiful I happen to live a
couple of blocks away from the
courthouse and if you have that facing
you maybe you want to go in that
direction because it’s your jurisdiction
you did the work in your town and so you
can even no matter where they are you
can take them to small claims court if
it gets to that but again I want to
circle back and say I don’t know so I’ve
given you what I can but what I would
say is if that ever happened to me I’d
be like on Google like crazy trying to
look up how to collect from clients who
don’t pay I’d be talking to other people
I’d be posting it’s a great question but
it’s a question that although I’ve said
ask me anything that doesn’t mean I can
answer everything and so in this
particular case I don’t know but I would
love to know what you all think those of
you watching this video what have you
done when you have had to collect from a
client who was slow to pay now I will do
one one little thing that I will tell
you I did work for the government for a
long time and I know you have to say and
know ahead of time that if you work for
the government you’re gonna get paid in
180 days if you’re lucky six months
because that’s how slow the government
is to pay at least here in the United
States and it may be the same wherever
you’re watching this video I don’t know
but in some instances you may have to
wait that long I think one of the
reasons that I haven’t had that
situation is that I’m in the Union and
the Union has very very specific
requirements about when you need to be
paid by ten business days if you do work
on set or in studio and the Union will
go after the people that owe you money
if they don’t pay you so I kind of have
collection agency that I can use if I
ever want to but I’ve never been in a
situation like that so I apologize for
not being able to answer but I’d rather
say I don’t know then go yeah
so I googled that and here’s what you
should do that’s that’s that’s not what
I like to do so there you go I thank you
so much for the question Michael
Schaffer and I thank you for watching
the videos and I thank you for your kind
words and I thank all of you for
watching as well if you’ve got a comment
on any of the answers that I’ve given
today or on any of the questions that
have been asked please let me know in
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have you as part of our little tribe I
thank you so much I’m David H Lawrence
the 17th I thank you for watching I
thank you for asking I thank you for
listening to my answers and I will talk
to you tomorrow.