13277: Casey Brown Says “Know Your Worth. Ask For It.”

Raw transcript:

Two questions.
Do you know your worth?
And more importantly,
are you at peace
with asking for what you’re worth? I’ve
got a resource for you and some thoughts
on that in this episode of the VO
Heroes podcast.
I’m often asked to narrate audio books
on ACX and uh rights holders will ask
what my rates are. Some of them are
nonplused
when I tell them how much I charge per
finished hour or for the uh hourly rate
uh uh in the royalty share plus
equation. I charge more than most people
who are working on ACX or in the
industry in general charge and I do so
because I’m really good at what I do and
I also post-produce the product and lead
the project. Those are very valuable
skills and I’m not at all shy about
saying what I charge and uh being able
to say no if if somebody if it doesn’t
fit their budget. I get that. It’s not
an emotional thing for me. But people’s
relationship with money,
man, it can be fraught with unst and
anxiety and danger and questioning your
self worth. Okay, I get that. And what
I’d love to do is help you at least
start the journey towards being at peace
with being an awesome performer and
being able to confidently and surely ask
for what you’re worth.
I’m not the first person to talk about
this. It’s been talked about since human
beings have been charging other human
beings for providing products and
services. This is nothing new. But
there’s a wonderful TED talk, oddly
enough, there’s a TED talk about this.
Casey Brown talked about this over a
decade ago
in a TED talk in in a city that I love,
Columbus, Ohio.
And she is very clear about knowing your
worth
and asking for what you’re worth. But
she makes two really good distinctions
in her TED talk. Number one, um, people
won’t pay you what they’re worth. She
actually starts her talk with this.
People will never pay you what you’re
worth.
They will pay you what they think you’re
worth. And those are pretty powerful
words. It’s a pretty powerful
distinction. The second big takeaway is
what your work is worth. In our case,
our acting, our narrating, our writing,
what that is worth is a very different
concept from what you are worth. And
sometimes those two things get
conflated. Well, I’m nobody. Why would I
charge, you know, hundreds of dollars
more per finished hour for doing an
audio book or more per word for an
article? Why? Who am I? Who are you?
Where do I start?
First of all, you found this podcast,
which I’m thrilled about. So, that puts
you in a different class. You’re not
pity patting at this. You want to raise
your skill levels and and be as good at
it as possible. I hope that’s why you’re
watching this. Um, I’m going to give you
the link to the TED talk in in the in
the show notes for this episode over on
vohhereroes.com.
I want you to go take I think it’s 8 n
minutes long. I don’t know. It’s not
very long at all. And she’s a consultant
who helps people price their products
and services. She even talks about the
fact that she herself, you know,
physician heal thyself. You know, the
shoemaker’s kids have no shoes. She went
through this whole process. And I want
you to as well. I want you to be able to
confidently
stand there and say, “Yep, this is what
I do. This is what I charge. I hope we
can work together. I’d love to do that.
And be able to take that moment when
somebody goes, “What? Wait, I’m sorry.
Could you repeat that? I I I thought I
heard you say X.” And you’re like,
“Yeah, and that’s what I Yeah, that’s
right. That’s a That’s a That’s a badass
boss move to be able to do that. And I
want you to have this
because
actors and voice talent and writers, my
my peeps, in another episode I talk
about us having words if you minimize
yourself in my presence.
I want you to have that skill and I want
it to be a done deal, right? I don’t
want you to have to worry about it. I
want you to struggle less and succeed
more and know that you don’t have to
worry about the rent or the mortgage
because you’ve decided you’re not worth
a certain amount of money per unit, per
hour, per word, etc. So, check out the
link below and please let me know in the
comments if you’re willing to do so, if
you’re brave enough to do so, because I
know it’s it’s something that a lot of
people don’t want to talk about. in the
comments on the page where this episode
lives on vioheres.com. Let me know what
you think about what Casey has to say,
what I’ve had to say here today. Uh you
can hit the like button if you like what
you’re hearing.
You can subscribe to the channel if
you’d like, and I’d be thrilled if you
did. You can join my mailing list. You
can hit the notification bell if you’d
like to be notified when the next
episode comes out. Uh, share this with
an actor or a writer or a voice talent
who’s constantly underelling themselves.
Do them a favor. I’m David H. Lawrence
the 17th. I thank you so much for
watching and for listening
and I will see you in the next episode
of the VO Heroes podcast.

(from YouTube)