On Monday I launched a weekly radio program for solopreneurs on Blog Talk Radio.

Last Friday I decided I wanted to find a professional to “voice” an introduction for the show. My goal was to have the intro ready for my second show.

Following is a chronological description of my experience of hiring a voice-over professional.

Friday: The Voices.com Experience Begins

I had heard positive things about Voices.com several months earlier. I remembered the name of the site, so I started there.

Voices.com functions like a lot of the online boards that match freelancers with projects. The person with the project posts a description of the job, and the freelancers submit bids.

I liked that Voices.com establishes a base price for all work/jobs. (The base price for my job was $100.) Nobody is allowed to low-ball, and I appreciate the professional relationship that this approach creates.

I spent about an hour browsing through the demo recordings of the Voices.com talent, and I was extremely impressed with the quality. Even the people who were new on the site and didn’t have any user ratings yet sounded terrific and possessed a lot of experience.

I wrote the text for my intro and timed it at about 15 seconds. I then submitted my project with these specs (selected from Voices.com options):

Title of Project: Introduction to program on BlogTalkRadio
Category: Podcasting
Language: English (North American)
Gender: Female
Age Range: Young Adult
Union: Non-Union
Budget: $100-250
Deadline: November 8
Job Description: This is a 15-second introduction to a weekly, 30-minute business program for solopreneurs. The job very likely will lead to future assignments for the program.
Sounds Like: Upbeat and Conversational

I also attached the script.

I chose “female” because the audience for my Web site skews heavily (65 percent) toward women. My radio audience might not be the same, but regardless, I thought that balancing my voice with a female presence was a good idea.

I really enjoy British voices, but I think the use of Brit voices is on the verge of moving from trendy to cliche, so I decided on “North American English.”

I sent my submission on Friday night and waited to see what would happen.

Monday: This Isn’t Easy (But That’s Good)

I received an e-mail at 10:32 a.m. from Voices.com, informing me that “We have notified professional voice-over talents who meet your requirements and they will be responding shortly.” They weren’t kidding about the “shortly” bit.

Late in the afternoon I went to Voices.com to see if my ad had been posted. I never got that far, because I saw that I had received 34 responses already. (I eneded up with 41.) Wow.

All responses include a short demo. When I reached the third response, I was amazed to hear a demo recording of my script. I was not expecting that, and I was impressed that this respondent would go to the effort. As I continued to work down through the list, I found that she wasn’t alone: roughly half of the respondents sent demos of a reading of my script.

The offers ranged from $100 to $225. Interestingly, I think all of the $200+ offers did not provide a reading of my script. Apparently my job wasn’t worthy.

My friend Nicole Fende was using Voices.com at the same time as me, and she said several of the voice artists suggested a “workaround” that would allow them to make a deal outside of the Voices.com platform. Nicole’s reaction to that was: “It made me wonder about their ethics.”

As voices, all of the respondents were skilled, talented, and professional. And every one of them pronounced my last name correctly, which is extraordinary. In my second listening of the responses, however, I began to notice differences in the demos that would separate my top choices from the rest.

First, anyone who didn’t send a reading of my script was eliminated. Second, anyone who made a serious error (like forgetting to include the word “Life” in The Solopreneur Life) was eliminated. Third, anyone whose reading was done in a style that didn’t fit the subject (business) was eliminated. That left me with 11 readings, all of them superb.

It was not going to be easy to get it down to one.

Monday night I cut the list to five finalists. There was nothing wrong with the six that I eliminated. I simply chose the five that I thought were the best fits for my program.

A description of the finalists:

#1: A low-alto voice and a clean script reading that would require only a minor tweaking. A very distinctive, memorable voice, which I wanted. But would such a unique voice be a negative for listeners? $137.
#2: This was the first respondent who had included a reading of the script, so a sentimental favorite, and an excellent reading, $110.
#3: A perfect reading of the script, with all of the correct intonation and weight, $137.
#4: A faster reading, delivered in a newsy, serious manner that stood out from commercial-sounding demos, $167.
#5: A high-energy, smart reading, and a way of pronouncing my name that I loved. (My last name can be difficult to pronounce: it’s easy to get stuck between the “l” and the “t” of “Keltto.”) $159.

I spent the next hour listening to the demos, one after another, again and again (while tracking an outstanding Monday Night Football game on my office TV, muted). Long after the game ended, I still was hopelessly deadlocked on the voices, so I shut ‘er down for the night.

Tuesday: It’s Time To Ask My Wife

Just like Monday night—no breakthroughs. I liked all the voices. So I did what I always do when I’m struggling with a big decision: I called my wife.

I asked her to listen to the voices. She preferred #1, the woman with the deep alto.

My wife’s opinion of the runners-up:

• #2 was rejected for no specific reason.
• #3 sounded too perfect, almost like it was done by a computer, not a person.
• #4 was more expensive than the others, and while my wife really liked the demo, she didn’t think the voice was worth more than the others.
• #5 sounded too young.

My wife’s last comment: They’re all great, so don’t worry about it. Don’t second-guess your choice.

I wanted a distinctive voice, and my wife’s enthusiasm for #1 eliminated any doubts about hiring her. I decided on #1, and I clicked on “Award Job” at Voices.com. I included a note that asked for two intonation changes to the demo reading.

My winner responded within 30 minutes, saying she would do a new version when she returned to her office later in the afternoon.

At 6:09 p.m. I received an e-mail titled “Your Files Are Ready For Download.” I listened to the new take, and it was perfect. I released my payment, which was in escrow, thanked the winner for her help, and told her that more work would be coming her way for the show.

Final Thoughts on Voices.com

This was one of the most enjoyable, professional, efficient online transactions I have ever experienced, which is remarkable, because voice-over work is nuanced and complicated. I highly recommend Voices.com and I will gladly use their site again.

You can hear the winning voice Monday on my next show, which is titled: “How to Use Facebook to Create Powerful Online Marketing Strategies.”

Have You Used Voices.com?

I’d love to hear about your experiences with Voices.com. Please share your opinion in the comments below.

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