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BUSINESS Going Green With Technology Helps Make Business Profits More Green  By Bobbin BeamVoice Actress Going green is big everywhere. It is the right thing to do. And it can be profitable, if done right. I’ve been devising ways to become more efficient in my voice over business, which not only is serving to sustain the planet in my own small way, but to make my workflow effective and efficient. From where we came "once upon a time," I relied on a fax machine to receive scripts or got them by email and printed out the documents. This was before e-commerce and the purchasing of goods online became the norm. Getting supplies and business machinery involved a trip to the office supply store for thermal fax paper, toner, ink cartridges, reams of paper and pencils to mark my scripts. Of course, there were also two dedicated telco phone lines, each to the studio’s land line in addition to a fax line. It was a big deal to finally migrate from my pager to my first cell phone, circa 1996 (which at the time sounded like everyone was speaking to me through a wind tunnel.) And no, there was no such thing as a "smart-phone” that received email and had Internet in those days. VOICE OVER GREEN Today, MY studio operates on a fraction of the paper, toner and ink cartridges we used to consume here. There’s less to recycle and we’re saving trees, too. There’s less wear and tear on the fax (which is now integrated into the studio land line). In fact, I’m looking into eliminating the land/fax line, and moving into an even more paperless workflow with the purchase of a Neatdesk document scanner, and considering online fax. The iPad has become a part of this new method, especially with reading long-form narrations, and audiobooks. No more page-turning issues and all that entails! It’s saving me money, and driving profitability as well as workflow efficiency. MARKING SCRIPTS ONSCREEN I admit it took a while for me to let go of printing my scripts so I could mark them as needed with my trusty pencils. Now I’m working nearly 100% paperless, but it was a process that started after building my vocal isolation booth. I needed to keep my ISDN codec, and to isolate the computer/laptop fan noise from my microphone. I added a monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse, and iPad to the mix inside the booth. Now I use Word and/or the iPad app, Good Reader to highlight, embolden, notate, edit, and/or mark my scripts in colorful ways. This creates my own special roadmap to the read that can be immediately changed up at any director’s desire. GOODBYE LANDLINE ... I’m strongly considering finally letting go of the land line we’ve had for 20+ years in lieu of my mobile device. That move will reduce another monthly expense. Oh yeah, and I won’t miss all those "robo calls” that now comprise nearly all the inbound phone calls to that line these days! ABOUT BOBBIN ... Bobbin Beam is a very active voice talent, based in the San Diego - Los Angeles area, who specializes in projects for broadcast and business. She also writes a very entertaining and informative Bobbin's Blog. Web: www.bobbinbeam.com Blog: http://blog.bobbinbeam.com Email: bobbin@bobbinbeam.com |
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Thank you for your kind words. :) I was hoping to see more comments about your article. You took the time out of your day to present some ideas on how to be more efficient, with less material consumption, and you made some good points even though we are on opposite sides of the fence regarding the saving the planet issue. I just want to thank you for your contribution. I for one am always looking for ways to save money and make my time more efficient.
Best of luck to you in your quest.
-BP
Seriously, anything that can save money and the planet and make my time in motion more efficient, is a very cool thing.
Best,
Bobbin
Great to hear that you have gone "green." I hope others will also. I'm running out of paper and I want to be sure there is plenty left in stock when I order it. :-)