Over the years I’ve heard the term “transactional relationship” but wasn’t exactly sure what it meant. It hit home last week while I was narrating the audio book “The Long-Distance Teammate“. The book referred to it briefly but profoundly so it spurred me to do some research.
There is no official definition of the term “transactional relationship”, but it reminded me of when I had a part-time job at a store I had been a regular at for many years. I worked there for about 2-3 years and got pretty tight with the owner. You know, celebrating each other’s birthdays, our families got to know each other, etc.
When my voiceover career got to the point where I didn’t need to work at the store any more, I gave the owner a month’s notice. When I told him, he said “OK” without even looking at me and all of the social stuff abruptly ended. It seemed that he only valued our friendship as long I was of value to his business. Since I no longer had value, the friendship was over.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Don’t be a gold digger!
Don’t treat your relationships with clients, subcontractors, and especially fellow voice actors as purely transactional. I’m not saying you have to be real-life friends with everyone you work with, but don’t act like you’re friends with certain people just to get work, auditions, introductions, gossip, etc. It’s unethical and just plain shitty. BTW, the voiceover world is a very small one and we all talk…
Focus on building long-term relationships in all aspects of your life. You have to give, think past yourself, look out for others, and always seek ways to pay it forward.
NEWS AND NOTES
Thursday, August 6th @8PM EST: My next Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar will be ‘Time Management’. In this one-hour webinar, we’re going to talk about how to keep your voiceover business on track on a daily basis. This webinar caps at 25 attendees and sells out fast. Click here to sign up.
Sunday, August 9th @1PM EDT: The Voice Actors Studio presents…’How to Manage your Money Like a VO Pro‘. This workshop is THIS WEEKEND! Since it’s virtual there are plenty of seats available. Sign up here!
Thursday, August 13th @8PM EST: My next Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar will be ‘Brand Yourself’. In this one-hour webinar, we’ll talk about the basics of telling the story that is your voiceover business. This webinar caps at 25 attendees and sells out fast. Click here to sign up!
September 11-13: The 100 eVOcation early bird tickets sold out in six hours! Since it’s a 100% digital conference about all things voiceover business & marketing there is still room. Click here to sign up.
HAPPY HAPPYS
Happy Ice Cream Sandwich Day and Underwear Day!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Tom Dheere is a voice actor who has narrated thousands of projects for hundreds of clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a voiceover business & marketing consultant known as the VOStrategist and produces the comic book “Agent 1.22”. You can subscribe to his weekly blog and the monthly VO Strategist Learnin’ Stuff Notice here.