We’ve all heard the term business plan. Fundamentally, the term seems straight forward, but what is a business plan really? Is it just your brilliant idea on a napkin, your secret sauce to creating millions in your voice-over business, or is it more than that?
In this blog post, we will outline what a solid business plan for your voice-over business should look like, how it should be executed, and what can be expected as a result.
A well thought out comprehensive business plan is an essential component to any successful voice-over business. After all, a goal without a plan is just a wish, right? So what should a competent business plan in your voice-over business look like?
Simply put, a business plan is a written out statement of the business goals and a working blueprint (or roadmap) of how those business goals will be accomplished. A good business plan has a plethora of benefits, but we will be focusing on three main benefits in this blog post.
To start, a well written business plan is a critical tool to attract business partners. Partners in your voice-over business can provide various kinds of leverage. Referrals, marketing assistance, and quality production are a few of these. Having a strategic partner in your voice-over business may help you to break into specific kinds of voice-over work or produce a better quality product for your client more quickly than you could do on your own.
Here’s an example: website developers are seeking business clients who need website upgrades or websites produced from scratch. As a freelance voice-over professional you can offer your services to the web developer as a value-add to produce professional quality audio on the website. This could come in the form of an audio recording or as a voice-over video on the website. You are benefiting the web developer by providing an additional feature to the website. You are also setting yourself up for future work.
Another critical reason for having a comprehensive business plan is to attract investors. All growing businesses will need to acquire capital from time to time in order to grow to the next level. Even if your voice over business is doing great and making money, additional capital can take it to the next level. If you’ve ever seen television programs like Shark Tank, the Profit, or Hungry Investors then you’ve seen this process in action. The entrepreneurs on shows like Shark Tank are essentially pitching their business plan to potential investors to make their businesses grow. The clearly identified goals, logically thought out planning, reliable market research, and promising returns on investment are key components of the business plans that receive funding.
One of the great advantages of a voice over business is that the low overhead and other low costs of doing business make profitability much easier to attain. In voice-over, your product is literally your voice. Your studio is a space in your home, and your marketing strategy is the world wide web. All of this lends itself to little or zero need for capital, but what if you are just getting started or jumping from part-time to full-time? Business startups can rapidly increase their trajectory to success when properly capitalized. A part time voice-over artist can make that jump to full time much easier with small influxes of capital into their business. A well put together business plan is an essential tool to acquiring this capital.
The last, and arguably the most important reason to have a comprehensive business plan, though, is for the creation of a crystal clear, laser focused, super consistent, and unwavering outline of strategies and tactics to follow to accomplish your business goals. After all, in the words of coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights, “Clear eyes and full hearts can’t lose.” Your business plan provides the clear eyes. Your desire generates the full heart. Planning and your work and working your plan is what sets you up to win in your voice-over business.
At Such A Voice, we are dedicated to the provision of all resources, tools, and planning necessary to set up our students for extraordinary success in your voice-over business. Strategic planning is a big part of this. Our newest program, the Marketing and Career Advisory Program offers our students an opportunity to create their own personal business plan for their voice-over business under the supervision of a professional voice-over coach. If you’d like more information on this new program, call 847-693-4428 or schedule a call using this this link: Schedule a call with Lonny. You can also receive more information on this program by clicking here.
Lonny Hogan is a marketing and business development expert, working directly with Such A Voice to grow the brand.
