LOLB Sneak Peek Answer Vault
Q.DAY 1: Where can I find the LOLB Master spreadsheet?
A. DAY 1, scroll down, click the button to download the LOLB Master spreadsheet. Inside the zip file is the spreadsheet as an Excel document if you are on a PC and Numbers document if you are on a Mac. Still can't find it after you download it? Look in your downloads folder. It should be there.
Q.DAY 1: I think I have a problem with the LOLB Master Spreadsheet. I opened it and I only have the first 4 tabs: Content Creation, Terrific Testimonials, Tribes to Titles and Dream Client Avatars. In your Day 1 Video, there are 4 more tabs / sheets. Is this correct?
A. Well spotted! Actually if you look at the text below the Day 1 video you'll see that in my videos I have many tabs in MY spreadsheet....but the downloadable spreadsheets throughout the course that students get, have less tabs because I want you to focus on that one spreadsheet and not get overwhelmed with too many spreadsheets. So yes, you're doing everything right. There will be more spreadsheets coming (don't you worry;-) but for now those spreadsheets that you have in YOUR LOLB Master Spreadsheet are all correct. You're not missing anything. You have the most updated version: You are doing everything correctly. Oh and by the way, your hair looks great today;-)
Q. Q.DAY 1: I'm getting anxiety about the CONTENT CREATION spreadsheet. I've never done something like this before. Am I doing it right?
A. Think of the CONTENT CREATION spreadsheet as a journaling exercise and not a legal document. It's you doing you. You need to add in as much about you in there as possible in order for you to pull things from it for the rest of the course. And no, you won't use ALL of what you wrote in there, but you will use some. So write as much as you can in there and don't worry about the outcome. It's more like a stream of consciousness writing exercise than anything else. No need to panic.
Q.DAY 1: When I post my work in the FB group will you give it a seal of approval?
A. Yes. Make sure you tag me. I usually always give a like and a comment like "good work". That means you are on the right track. If however I feel you've done excellent work I will write "excellent work." If however I feel your work could improve I'll write "good work... here is where there is room for improvement...."Hope that helps!
Q. Q.DAY 1: When you say "creative space", do you mean physical space we work in or our mental creative space/how we like to work?
A. Great question. Creative space as in where you do the creative work that you do. For a VO that's usually in the booth. For an actor that's in a rehearsal room or at home learning lines. For a photographer that's in the photo studio or on location or behind their computer editing. Hope that helps!
Q. DAY 2: In TERRIFIC TESTIMONIALS you mentioned testimonials can be from anyone and I think I may need to look outside my specific industry as well as within my industry. Is it ok if I ask professional friends/contacts outside my industry to write me a testimonial? Or shall I just wait until I have had more clients to pick this up again?
A. Yes reach out to people outside the industry and inside the industry. It never hurts to have testimonials from all over. Just make sure your testimonials pertain to you as a creative person and your creative career. Make it work for you. And one more thing, just like I said in the video, testimonials build authority FOR you... so whether that person is within your industry or not, as long as the testimonial itself pertains to your creative career, you're all good. The more the merrier.
Q. DAY 2: I'm thinking of reaching out to a few people who've said great things about me in previous emails and asking if I can use what they've said. It's also an opportunity to reconnect with those I haven't been in touch with for a while. But is there something coming up in the course I haven't reached yet that relates to specific methods of reaching out to people you've worked with but not for a while - and I should wait until I get there? Or is this as good a method as any?
A. Reaching out to a past client and asking for a testimonial is great. That is what to do for the testimonial part. Reaching out to a past client and touching base with them but not asking for a testimonial is part of your Big Give in Week 6. In that situation you will use the Hello Stranger. This will all make sense in Week 2.
Q. DAY 2: What should I put as the subject line when reaching out to the people I'm asking for a terrific testimonial?
A. Quick question /or/ Long time no see /or/ Reaching out /or/ Can I ask you a favor? /or/ Following up /or or or/
Q. DAY 2: In TERRIFIC TESTIMONIALS you mentioned testimonials can be from anyone and I think I may need to look outside my specific industry as well as within my industry. Is it ok if I ask professional friends/contacts outside my industry to write me a testimonial? Or shall I just wait until I have had more clients to pick this up again?
A. Yes reach out to people outside the industry and inside the industry. It never hurts to have testimonials from all over. Just make sure your testimonials pertain to you as a creative person and your creative career. Make it work for you. And one more thing, just like I said in the video, testimonials build authority FOR you... so whether that person is within your industry or not, as long as the testimonial itself pertains to your creative career, you're all good. The more the merrier.
Q. DAY 3: I must be missing something. I feel like I’m not doing the TRIBES TO TITLES module correctly. For job titles do you mean MY job title (I'm a voice actor) so for example, narrator, story teller, announcer, spokesperson, or do you mean the job titles of people who can give me work?
A. For the Tribes To Titles module you are looking for the JOB TITLES OF THE PEOPLE WHO CAN GIVE YOU WORK. Not who YOU are.
Q.DAY 3: Job titles. I was a tad confused about it and not sure how specific we should be about job titles. Should they only be the end user or final decision maker or can we also pull titles that may not be the end user but maybe great contacts for long term connections?
A. Of course the direct person who makes the decision to hire you is the most direct way to connect with them. But as I always say, make it work for you. If you have a list of direct people who already give you gigs and you feel that the list feels pretty good, you might want to reach out to more influencers or do 50/50 split. List building never stops, there is a plethora of different people you can reach out to. Remember, there are 7 billion people on this planet. Some of them are dying to get an email from you. It's your job to make that initial contact. And that's what you're doing in LOLB.
Q.DAY 3: When looking for job titles, are we looking for the titles of the person we think would be the end decision maker for hiring or can we also contact people who may have influence but not necessarily be the final decision maker, for example, a PR Agency or Marketing Director for a larger firm.
A. Figure out first who you would be directly hired by or the person(s) in charge of making the decision to hire and reach out to them. Keep in mind, if there is a job title that could be an influencer, that doesn't hurt to as well.
Q.DAY 3: In the spirit of make it work for you, how can we tweak things a bit if we already have an established client list but are looking to build it more?
A. Excellent question. First ask yourself, have I tapped into the local market so much that I can 100% say I have all the contacts that are out there in my local market? If the answer is yes then ask yourself this follow up: when was the last time I scoured the internet to find new businesses in my local market? If the answer is 2 years or more, then you are not up to date with your local market. Start locally, then build from there. If the answer is less than two years and you can honestly say that you have absolutely every single contact in your local market then you are allowed to journey out of the local tribes and venture into the medium fish, medium pond (or regional) tribes. If you are already established with a client list and you want to build it even bigger, then you may have bought LOLB to get you there. Awesome! So make it work for you. Instead of the local tribes, look for more regional tribes. I go into the tribes during weeks 3, 4, and 5 but at the end of the day, DAY 3 is all about narrowing down the job titles so you can create a DREAM CLIENT AVATAR on DAY 4. I'm more interested in you having a solid Dream Client Avatar than you worrying about which market to fish in. Make it work for you.
Q.DAY 4: For DREAM CLEINT AVATAR, suppose we would love to do a cartoon for Pixar, in this example should the dream client be Pixar itself, the director, the casting company or the talent agent?
A. The bigger the brand or company, the more difficult it will be to get in. So you have to reverse engineer it, as in work backwards! For example, one of my biggest voiceover clients is Red Bull. They are based in Salzburg, Austria. When I made contact with them, I checked them out via LinkedIn, Twitter and Google, who the creative directors in Salzburg, Austria were. And then looked at the ad agencies that work with Red Bull. I found the bigger ad agencies were hiring smaller voiceover agencies, then ad agencies, then creative directors……So in a nutshell, you need to cast a wide net if you want to work for a company as big as Pixar. Note, the bigger the company the more time it will take to get things flowing, to get the audition, to ultimately get your foot in the door.
Q.DAY 4: My goal from the start has been to remain free to work anywhere in the world I wanted, I am not interested in looking under rocks in my current hometown for freelance jobs. How do you recommend, I choose geographically specific assignments?
A. In weeks 3, 4, and 5 I'll discuss the 3 Oceanic Markets (Big Fish, Little Pond / Medium Fish, Medium Pond / Big Pond, Little Fish) Start off with Big Fish, Little Pond and exhaust that. Then branch out to bigger markets. There is a lot of work in your local market, you maybe just haven't noticed it or gotten it yet. That's where week 3 will help you out. THEN when you have that down, then would I recommend picking other locations to reach out to.
Q. DAY 4: I’m an established commercial, voiceover audio book narrator but I’m new to e-Learning and I want to use LOLB for that. I’m afraid that I won't have enough knowledge of the industry to ask the right questions for the DREAM CLIENT AVATAR spreadsheet. Will I still get what I need from this?
A. Google job description of e-learning company or job description of education developer. See what pops up. Use that terminology.
Q. DAY 4: Should I be focussing on one niche or multiple niches?
A. In your DREAM CLIENT AVATAR focus on one and only one. Exhaust that. Crush that. Do that. Then once you have done everything I teach you in weeks 2 and 3 for that specific demograpahic, then go back to the drawing board, do the Dream Client Avatar for the SECOND niche, exhaust that, crush that, do that until there's nothing more to do with it. Then repeat the process again and again.
Q.DAY 4: What if I already know the CCO of a company, that’s looking for a voiceover for the company. You get called by the advertising studio but you want the one who influences the decision.
A. If you already know the person, then use one of your cover letters to reach out to them directly. In week 2 use the Hello Stranger template to craft an email to this person.
Q. DAY 4: Still struggling with getting in their heads part of the DREAM CLEINT AVATAR, being a relatively new Voiceover Actor I don't know much about medical producers jobs industry to know what their struggling with now or in the future. Can you point me in the right direction to research that i.e, are there industry forms for these industries?
A. Google this: medical producer job description. FInd all the things that take time, energy, and money from them. Then integrate that into your Dream Client Avatar. The more hyper specific you can be the better.
Q.DAY 4: Got a casting call from an advertising agency for a client they have and is really a dream client for me, actually I have the phone number and Email of the CCO of that company but haven't contacted him in a long time. How to approach the CCO again and “influence” the choice?
A. If it’s a casting call and it’s time sensitive, you can’t wait till week 6 of the course to do your Big Give. Gently reach out via email. If it’s not time sensitive then wait for week 6 and your Big Give.
Q.DAY 5: I have only had one testimonial come back and it's been almost a week since sending out my emails. Should I reach out to others?
A. If you have other people to reach out to then yes. Go for it. Not everyone will get back ASAP. And that's ok. It's an exercise in putting something out into the world and letting it go. At the end of the day, if you have 1 or 2 testimonials you are good to go.
Q. ANOTHER QUESTION: Can I start the modules before the official start of the course?
A. Yes.
Q. ANOTHER QUESTION: Why can't I access weeks 3, 4, 5, and 6 yet?
A. Because there are time-based challenges for weeks 3, 4, and 5 it wouldn't be fair for you to skip ahead, do those modules before anyone else, and win the time-based challenges unfairly, now would it? The week 3 modules will be unlocked at the start of week 3. The week 4 modules will be unlocked at the start of week 4. The week 5 modules will be unlocked at the start of week 5. And the week 6 modules will be unlocked at the start of week 6. Week 6 there is a non - time based challenge but in order to find out what that is you have to do the work in all of the modules leading up to week 6 in order to qualify for the week 6 challenge. The weekly challenge prizes will be announced in the Facebook group.
Q. ANOTHER QUESTION: I have zero clients.
A. You are in an awesome position! Using League of List Builders to reach out to a big company like Pixar may be a bit too soon, but you can totally rock your local and regional market. Focus during weeks 3, 4, and 5 on that. Think outside the box. Think locally, e.g, hairdresser. Think in a local market, think of your friends - what do they do? Do they work in the service industry? Do they have a Mom and Pop store? Is there a way you can do their voicemail? Could you offer to do the audio for a children's book? The big companies is not the only way to get work. There is a slew of work out there and you can find it locally.
Q. ANOTHER QUESTION: Can I do LOLB at my own pace? The website will always have the course to do? Correct?
A. Yes! You have lifetime access to the course. Whenever you want to do it, you can do it. I just guide you through it through the 6 weeks.
Q. ANOTHER QUESTION: Will there be a LinkedIn segment this round?
A. In the free bonuses there is a free LinkedIn 101 free bonus. so for Alums, if you want to use LinkedIn instead of Google this time round, watch the LinkedIn 101 module in the free bonus section and use that strategy for weeks 3, 4 and 5. Or Twitter strategy for weeks 3,4 and 5 if you’re more of a tweeter. Newbies should only use Google for the first round just to get into the swing of things.
+ Other Tips from the Group
+ Before I had Agents, 90% of my work was through LinkedIn. Just reaching out to those I wanted to be a resource for and started developing a relationship. Another way of getting passive networking in your inbox each week is to manage or create a group pertinent to your business, something people will want to discuss and post under topics for. People asking to join the group can be welcomed by you and you can develop a relationship. Don't create a group of just other people in your industry rather focus on in YOUR AREA being the creative ambassador for local companies.
Initially got more in roads by managing/taking over two groups for a director. Basic searches for the titles of people I was looking to connect with still got me fairly far. But managing the groups….That allowed me to message new members instead of needing to email them. I manage Entertainment Media Producers and Professionals and Kids TV People currently.
