GIBSON VOICE OVER / GROUNDWORKS
The Business Side of
Voice Over
Planned Properly
Most VO businesses are built around the craft first. The pricing logic, client processes, and admin systems tend to get added later and whenever there's time, and often in pieces that don't quite connect.
Groundworks is the part of this site dedicated to that other half of the job. It covers the business side of voice over through free resources, one-to-one consulting, and a growing collection of practical digital tools.
What you'll find here
Groundworks covers the operational side of running a voice over business: how to price work with a clear rationale, how to manage the client journey from first enquiry to final invoice, what systems are worth building, and how to develop a pipeline that isn't entirely dependent on casting platforms.
None of it is prescriptive. Every voice over business is different, and the goal isn't to hand you a fixed system and tell you to implement it. It's to give you a clear picture of how your particular business is set up and help you work out what's actually worth addressing (which is usually a shorter list than it first appears).
The free guides are a starting point you can work through on your own. The consulting sessions are for going further, with direct input on your specific situation. The Toolkit is a growing set of templates, courses, and reference material built from the same frameworks.
Where it comes from
Before I recorded a single paid job, I spent three years building the business that would support it.
That wasn't entirely by choice. The visa that brought me to the UK tied me to a specific employer, which meant voice acting had to wait. At the time it felt like a frustrating detour, but looking back it was the best thing that could have happened. I had no option but to get the foundations right before the work started: the pricing logic, the client process, the systems, the space. By the time I launched a website or signed up for a platform, the business was already built.
That approach came directly from my background. I'd spent 30 years in technology and business consulting, working inside large organisations to understand why their processes weren't running as well as they should and building the systems to fix that. When I moved into voice acting, I applied the same thinking to my own business.
The difference it made was significant enough that I started working through the same questions with other voice actors. Groundworks is where that work lives.
Free Guides
The Business Survey
A lot of creative businesses grow in the same way: the craft gets built carefully, and the business around it gets assembled as needed. That tends to work until it doesn't — until quoting feels inconsistent, admin takes longer than it should, or work is coming in but not quite adding up to the income the quality of the work ought to produce.
The Business Survey is a practical self-check across the five areas that tend to have the most bearing on how a business runs day to day. It asks 25 direct questions and, for each gap it surfaces, gives a concrete starting point rather than a vague suggestion.
Covers
Pricing · Client process · Systems & admin · New business · Long-term foundations
Format
PDF download, works at any career stage
25 questions · 5 business areas
VO Pricing Guide
Rate cards are easy to find. What's harder to find is a clear explanation of how those numbers are actually arrived at — and what to do when a project doesn't fit the standard categories. A 60-second script for an internal training video and the same script for a national TV campaign are technically the same deliverable, but they represent completely different value to the client.
This guide works through the three variables that shape the value of any VO project — usage, client type, and licence terms — and shows how to apply them to projects that don't come with a label. It also covers how to frame a quote, how to respond when a client pushes back, and how to build a simple review process so rates don't quietly fall behind where they should be.
Covers
Usage-based pricing · Project type guidance · Handling pushback · Rate reviews
Format
PDF download, practical across all VO genres
5 sections · 3 core pricing variables
The free guides work well for people who want a quick and easy overview or nudge. The Toolbox is for people who prefer to work through things more deeply at their own pace and on their own schedule.
Each item is built around the same frameworks used in the guides: practical, specific to the VO world, and designed to give you something you can use immediately rather than something you need to interpret first. New items are added as they're ready.
Consulting Services
Where the Toolbox gives you independent freedom, the consulting sessions are for when you want to work through things directly with someone who knows the VO world, has used the same tools, and can give you a straight answer on the spot or as a follow up.
Sessions run in one-hour blocks over Zoom. You can take on one area at a time or cover several across multiple sessions. The goal is always to give you something practical to act on, not to extend the engagement for its own sake. There's no long-term contract and no minimum commitment beyond what you book.
If you'd prefer to hand the implementation work over entirely rather than doing it yourself, the full service option covers that. It starts with a free exploratory call to understand what you need, followed by a tailored proposal.
New business pipeline
Client process
Pricing & quoting
Brand & online presence
CRM & business systems
A note on approach:
The material here isn't prescriptive. There's no single right way to run a VO business, and the aim isn't to hand you a system and tell you to implement it. It's to give you a clear picture of how your particular business is set up and help you figure out what's actually worth addressing...which is often a shorter list than it looks at first.
Some people find the free guides cover what they need. Others want to work through specific questions with someone directly. Still others prefer to learn on their own schedule with structured resources they can return to. All of those options are here, and there's no right or wrong way to use them.
The free resources have no follow-up pitch attached. If something here is useful and you'd like to go further, that option exists, but nothing is set up to push you toward it.
Not Sure Where to Start?
The Business Survey is a reasonable first step for most people. It takes about 20 minutes, covers the five areas that tend to have the most bearing on how a VO business runs, and it's free to download with no account required.
To grab actionable materials to run your business visit the Toolbox for a collection of products and courses to use at your own pace.
If you already know what you want to work on, the consulting services page has the full details on sessions and packages.