©iStockphoto.com/ferrantraite

Does this picture look familiar? Many of us in the voice-over business are email-obsessed! We check our Crackberry constantly – even though we have it set to notify us of new emails (Hey, just in case I didn’t hear it!). Our laptops have become appendages (Oh, no I have to go back – I forgot my laptop!) and if we had a water-proof one, we’d probably take it into the shower.

No one can blame you for not wanting to miss bookings and auditions - that’s the nature of our business. The problem is that unless we focus and limit our email-checking time, we can get distracted too easily and that takes us away from doing what we love to do. I follow Timothy Ferriss’ suggestions in his book “The 4-Hour Workweek.” I literally limit my morning web session to exactly one-hour.

Now there’s a way to limit it even further. It’s called AwayFind from SET Consulting. They’re all about NOT checking email and encourage you to do the same. From their website:

But what if there’s something urgent that you might miss when you’re not checking email? Don’t worry! AwayFind allows emergencies to get through to you.

It really is like having a secretary screen your emails for you; except it’s much more affordable. There’s a Basic (free) plan, but I recommend the Professional one. It’s only $6.95 per month (or you can pay for a full year at $49.95). That’s only about $1.74 or $0.96 per week; to have someone else “screen”’ your emails twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week!

There are many reasons why I recommend the Professional plan for the voice-over artist:

• Branding - upload your logo to your form
• Targeting - Separate buyers from window shoppers via custom categories like BOOKING, AUDITION, QUOTE, etc.
• Delegate - depending on the category, it can forward the request to anyone else, like your agent, manager, assistant, etc.
• Retention – have visitors redirected back to your site
• Assistance – you get email support, and so far they’ve been great about responding

If you’re still unsure, check out their 30-day free trial and they’ll give you a free PDF eBook with great ideas, resources, and tips on how to batch your email workflow, how to clear your inbox (even if you have thousands of emails in it like I did), and how to prevent unnecessary distractions. That alone is worth the trial. Print it and hang it in your studio.

Check out my AwayFind form here or send me an email so you can get my autoresponse. They give you several templates and suggestions for autoresponders. I have my AwayFind text me only when it’s a booking or hold. Alternatively, I could have it email booking and hold requests to my agent, auditions to me, and quotes to my wife (she drives a hard bargain). Or I can get even more specific and add categories for voice-over genres, like movie trailers, and have those emailed to my manager.

There are, however, a couple of things that I would like to see implemented, and I intend to shoot them an email with more suggestions as I go:

1. I’d like to be able to customize my form via CSS or HTML so I can integrate it into my sight seamlessly
2. I’d like the email message it sends you to say my name instead of “user anthonyvo” just in case I’d like to have my agents handle the booking requests

I’m sure they’ll keep evolving it. In the meantime, I’m onboard.

One of the creators is Jared Goralnick and his blog is called Technotheory. Like the Lazy Voice-Over, if you’re interested in using technology to save time and create peace of mind – along with some other psychological benefits – then you’ll enjoy Jared’s blog. I’ve had it on my Google Reader for a bit now, but today it’s going on The Lazy Voice-Over’s blogroll.

I think I’ll take a vacation now.

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