SYWDVO: IDK what to ChArGe!! “Quoted by voice actor”
Know what to charge ‘em.
This is such a difficult question, and difficult question to answer. It plagues every small business owner. You want to charge a fair price, stay competitive but also not charge so low you undersell yourself. My daughter asked me this a few years back as she opened her graphic design business, luckily I was taking course work for a Master’s degree that helped out immensely.
We figured out her fixed and variable costs, ensured she was paid fairly…so we decided 10 bucks an hour. Also considered the length of a project and time spent prepping and other expenditures of time and money. It came out that an adequate charge for her graphic arts was 40.00 A billable hour. Later she started to get more requests than she could possible get to…she was turning folks down!! so I told her to start charging 60.00 A billable hour. She asked why…I explained that you are missing out on a portion of your clientele and that equates to money lost. So, you have to charge more to compensate for that loss, and the more demand for your time. So, for VO we can do this in 4 different ways:
Option 1:
Figure out the cost of your setup (booth, mic, software, computer, etc) adding in electricity/gas, space rental, upkeep and maintenance, website, P2P site fees, and your salary (yes, you HAVE to pay yourself)….PHEW!!…Sounds intense, right?? Yea…and a little daunting. No worries, there are tools to help you and simplify the process.
Option 2:
You could always shell out 3K for a SAG – AFTRA Membership as long as you meet the qualifiers. They break all rates down and that’s pretty much that. Easy peasy.. OH BTW!! Like any union, once you’re a member of the SAG AFTRA union you are not “supposed” to do non union gigs. You can look up their rates here
Option 3:
Global Voice Acting Academy (GVAA): Not a union, more a resource for freelance voice actors. So the GVAA has a breakdown, by category (Radio or TV Broadcast, e-learning, videogames etc…) to help with navigating cost. It’s all on handy dandy charts that explain each charge. I use this for pricing myself. It can be a touch confusing navigating the charts, but once you get the breakdown down…it’s manageable. You can view the GVAA rate guide here.
Option 4:
you can always look at what other folks are bidding and charging. I would highly recommend this. Pricing is completely organic and mostly unique to the niche. I find this most helpful on fiverr and upwork.
Bottom line________> > >
There is no right amount to charge a client. It is completely up to you. If you give a good quality product, with minimal fuss, in the parameters that the client wants you’ll get what you ask. It’s hard starting out, and often people will quit or get frustrated. Keep on going…remember that According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as reported by Fundera, approximately 20 percent of small businesses fail within the first year. By the end of the second year, 30 percent of businesses will have failed. By the end of the fifth year, about half will have failed.
However, as long as you're proactive and keep learning and doing better than yesterday You’ll stay away from that 20% and keep on keepin on!!…
you got this!
