Matt Ward 00:00
Hey there. Welcome back to a new episode of the Mass Business Podcast. My name is Matt Ward and I am your host. Today I’m bringing you a special guest, Michelle Falanga. Michelle is a two time Emmy Award winning professional voice talent with over two decades of experience in the industry. She is the voice of multiple national commercial campaigns, corporate videos, conference openers, trailers, animation, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, as well as live music and drum competitions in stadiums all over the world. Her voice is chosen for being authentic, natural, relatable, and honest. In addition to being a voiceover, Michelle is also an actor, and a published author, an old soul with a young spirit. Michelle is a five year old child trapped in the body of a 52 year old woman and is destined to be wearing Hello Kitty pajamas into her 90s listening to Sinatra. And if she does it right, she’ll do it my way. Are you ready? Let’s go.

Matt Ward 01:28
Welcome to the Mass Business Podcast where small business owners, also known as risk takers, share their stories about the growth of their business and themselves. Our interviews, and our content is focused on growing a small business, and understanding networking and referrals. I say it all the time. And I’ll say it again today. You never know where your next referral will come from.

Matt Ward 02:00
Hey, what’s going on everybody? Welcome to the show. Michelle, thanks for joining me.

Michelle Falanga 02:04
Thank you that intro I feel like Who is that girl?

Matt Ward 02:09
All right. Oh, it always feels different when somebody else is reading it, especially when we wrote it ourselves. So, um, I know I read it, but just summarize it real quick. And under 30 seconds for our listening audience on the podcast platforms that they’re listening to. We’re also watching on YouTube, what is it that you actually do?

Michelle Falanga 02:29
Um, I’m a voiceover. So I, I lend my voice to projects of every time for different companies and clients all over the world. Mostly, I do short form I’m not really a long form girl. So I do like, you know, commercials for radio and TV and like, short form, like videos for companies that want you know, a video on their website or their social channels. Just anything to get their message out. And I do also, you know, I could do like phone greeting things, too. But mostly I focus on things that make people feel something like that’s what I do the best.

Matt Ward 03:03
How long have you been doing that, Michelle?

03:05
So I’ve been doing voiceover for like, 24 years, but only full time for eight years. I went all in eight years ago.

Matt Ward 03:17
What was that? Like? I mean, just jumping.

Michelle Falanga 03:20
Terrifying.

Matt Ward 03:20
Right? Yeah, we’ve all been there, right? Because we all started at some point. Tell us a little bit about what that journey was eight years ago.

03:27
Yeah. So again, I was always I always had a you know, I’m kind of like a girl who likes you know, have a full time job and you know, income and all that I never really saw myself as like an entrepreneur, like doing my own business. I always wanted like that security. And about eight years ago, I got laid off from that job. You know, they say things like that happen, right? So I got laid off from a job that I loved and while I was at that job I did acting and VoiceOver on this, like I performed in murder mysteries and improv shows for acting on every weekend, and then I would do you know, a voiceover once a month or something, but it was certainly not my bread and butter. It was like a little, you know, icing. And then when I got laid off, you know, immediately my brain was like, must find new jobs, you know, but my husband at the time said he’s still my husband, just to clarify. He said, um, he said, you know, that he wanted me to pursue like, he’s like, you’re so good at this, like, why don’t you try and I was like, like, no. And so honestly, I credit him for kind of giving me the courage to do that because I honestly don’t think on my own I would have jumped and taken that leap. And to be truthful. You know, I always say this. So people understand this as an opening. You know, starting your own business as an entrepreneur like it took, I think five years from then going all in to make what I was making at my job. To build that business. The first year was like oodles of noodles and eggs. Second year, I doubled that third year you know I doubled that and ultimately five years in I remember like hitting my spreadsheet and being like you just made what you used to make as a manager like five years ago.

Matt Ward 05:13
just still wouldn’t even be there with the theoretically cost of living increases either so still in a lot of ways catching up but you know, what was the rat race like for you when you first started like what was the biggest struggle do you think?

Michelle Falanga 05:31
Um, the the technical part of it. I’m not a gear nerd or anything like that like people ask you what mic you have and I’m like it’s a Scooby Doo 516. I’m so bad I literally don’t know. like to learning to be that’s like the hard part the mud I like I’m good at like connecting to a script and bringing it to life and you know, infusing it with something that makes people think or feel or just hear it just like get across the message. But when it comes to like, you know what mic you have how you plug it in all the techno technological stuff I’m just like, ah, like I hate to this day I hate that I had my original Booth was in my closet I dug out all my clothes and and dug out a closet and lined it with like bedding and then I worked with a person to help me get my sound up to par and I had that plugged in and everybody would be like try this or you know, unplug that and I’m like nope, we don’t touch we don’t touch the plug. Like I literally did not touch that set up for five years yeah and then a few years ago a couple years ago I had I switched over to like a booth and I had to do that all again. Again not my fun but but so I just wish I you know I just I have to do the engineering it’s part of my job I engineer it I also edit it and all that but that’s my least favorite part

Matt Ward 06:50
so so in in growing the technical side as well from the editing side to was probably a big learning curve for you.

06:57
Yeah, I never I’ve never edited an audio file now I’m like you know i don’t i still don’t love it I do it that’s why I think I don’t do long form because it’s a lot to like edit all your breaths out so I’m like more of a 30 second girl.

Matt Ward 07:11
When did you Michelle When did you realize that long form wasn’t for you?

07:16
I mean, I don’t like, to me it’s exhausting I still to this day, I still get stuff like I have a client who just gave me a script that was like 1000 something words. I’m more of like a 250 word, you know Yeah, or of course you know, short form commercials it’s just more my workflow it also is takes too much time for me to edit all that. But I did it for them you know, but it was a lot. I remember being like this is not fun for me, this is not my job you know.

Matt Ward 07:42
So that’s it’s it’s so interesting that you bring that up because my new book the high five effact, how to do business with people who bring you joy is all about selecting the right customers and the right type of business that you want to work with. And I’m super intrigued by the internal discovery that you had, that long form was not for you. what it sounds like, you connected the dots to not so much reading the script or performing the script as a voiceover artist. But more so the back end work necessary to actually produce the script was just not your joy. And so you’re like yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna do that and so you make an exception here or there. But somebody comes to you with an audio book you’re out.

08:28
I’m like I got somebody I can give you right? Yeah, I refer people all the time and like elearning is another one that’s like a lot of like modules or whatever and again, I’ve made a few exceptions, but I don’t do a lot and I feel like I’ve because of that I’ve like I don’t even audition for that sort of thing I target What I know is my wheelhouse and I’m very you know intentional about that and very specific about it. Another one that I refer people to that I get chosen for and I’m like don’t choose me is medical narration cuz it’s all these like big words and like you have to sound like you know what, neuro blah blah blah blastomy is don’t and I can do that on most scripts. But I find that very cumbersome and just yucky.

Matt Ward 09:15
your business to it’s going to show through in the voice right in the actual end product. You’re going to hear the lack of confidence.

09:24
And there are many voiceovers that I’ve actually referred people to because they’re fantastic at that they’re just they love that they enjoy that. I don’t enjoy that particular genre.

Matt Ward 09:35
so when did that discovery occur for you how early or late in your business cycle was that?

09:42
pretty pretty early on I mean I and I started you know I start it’s funny because when

Matt Ward 09:46
I mean like in the first year did you push these long projects away? Yes, yeah. Oh, you did? Well,

09:51
I didn’t even try for them. So and I have like the like I have such a wealth of, of clients now that come to me repeatedly now. So what Wasn’t even like it was just I wasn’t even auditioning for those. I was auditioning for the other ones. But yeah, it just kind of happened like organically everything about honestly about my business. A lot of I talked to a lot of voiceovers and they all have this trajectory. And they do the same thing and all these things and I kind of, I don’t know carved kind of a weird, a little bit of a different path like I don’t, I just trust my instincts more. Yeah, versus like what they tell you, like they tell you certain things you should never do. And you should never audition and leave like a lead in like where you’re like you lead in with a different word. I do that all the time, or like a laugh in the middle of a thing. And they’re like, you should never do that. Or you’re supposed to, like follow exactly the specs the client has, I do, I don’t do that I go with my own instincts, and I’ll get hired for it. And I’ve learned that by watching like, you’ll see something you audition for, and they had a certain spec they wanted it to be. And then you’ll see it on TV and you did what they wanted. And then you see it on TV. And it’s not anything like they want it because they don’t always know really what they want. And so at least you should at least bring yourself your own instincts to it you you can certainly do maybe one take with their instinct or whatever. But then also give them give them you bring you to the table, you know, because that’s your the present. You’re the one bringing, you know, I let the scripts inform me of how they should be read not a spec.

Matt Ward 11:23
Right? Yeah. And so I mean, I think, oh, man so much unpack there is is this idea about instinct, right? and trusting your gut? Right? I talked about that in the new book when it comes to picking the right clients. And it sounds like you did that from early on. Most people take on clients early on, that they see red flags, in and they know they shouldn’t take on because they need the money. And so it sounds like because you had enough money coming in the household. Just, you didn’t have to take the long form stuff, you could actually draw the line there?

12:02
I don’t think it was that. As as clear as you’re saying it. Like I think that it just wasn’t that I was auditioning for that sort of thing. And then, I mean, to be honest, there were in the beginning, there were many clients that paid very little like i and this is embarrassing, because I would never do this now. But I remember like a big pizza company, like we all know, hired, they wanted to pay $30 for like a national ad or whatever, or like a really big commercial ad, I remember at the time being like, I can’t remember the different things. But I would take certain smaller jobs like that, you know, through every year, I got a little better, a little wiser. And now I’m like, I actually just turned down a job, which was like worldwide usage and all the things and it would have been a lovely $500 that I could have used. But I had to hold up a certain standard because that should have been like $4,000. It was it was honestly still killing me. But I had to say no to it. Because of my colleagues, I want to raise the standard. Like it’s like when you my husband always compares it to hiring a plumber. He’s like, you’re a plumber. He’s like, you don’t have a plumber come out and be like, I want the bathtub and the toilet and the sink. And if you can install all those and I can use them forever. But can you just give me Can I do that for $30? You know, like, you’re just like, they’re not going to do that no plumber is going to do that. But unfortunately, in my industry, there are still a lot of people who undercut and will just like take it because they need you know, they’ll just do it for 30

Matt Ward 13:27
Well, it’s a resume builder, right? The big pizza company is a logo. And it happens in the speaking industry. You know, when I started, I was doing a bunch of things for momentum, right? And I was doing, I was picking and choosing, but I would do a bunch of free gigs. Yeah, I still do free gigs. But you know, it’s very selective, right? And, I often don’t do free gigs, because they just asked like, I just got selected for a gig this morning. But it’s a free gig and it’s in Philadelphia, and they don’t pay travel or any I’m not going to Philadelphia for free gig. If it was right down my street, maybe I consider it more right. So and it also depends on who the audience is and how I can use the content. And can I videotape and there’s a lot of other stuff that goes into the mix. That makes it much less of a red flag, right? And so I think understanding who we want as clients is such a big part of our business growth and trajectory. You know, it sounds like over the years you’ve adjusted those things, right? And you’ve gotten to the point where you’re starting to really find that ideal client for you sounds like you have a lot of repeat customers, which is great, right? Obviously in the business that you’re in is not a one and done. If they’re doing a commercial ad, they’re probably going to do more than one. Yes, you know, long term. So that’s good. What would you say you know, as far as the biggest struggles in your business had been over the last eight years full time. What do you think the biggest struggle has been?

15:01
Trying to think I mean, so I’m not. I’m not super great at like marketing in the sense of like, I don’t. Again I’m like, every year I get a little bit wiser a little better and I realized and I’m now I have a thing that shows like how many leads, you know, should have had that way back but I didn’t have that now I’m like okay most of my leads came from blah blah blah you know, most of my stuff came from this, I get. I would say most of my work comes from people hearing my voice first and then hiring me but because I audition for it, so I’m on a few sites that are called pay to plays, and which you pay a fee and you get like 30 auditions in your inbox every day. You pick which ones to choose and then you audition so their first introduction to me is hearing my voice on their script for like 30 seconds and then like loving your voice and then hiring you versus me reaching out saying Hi, I’m Michelle. I do voiceover like that has never really worked for me. Right? Well also I’ve learned from keeping the spreadsheet now that about 75% of my work is repeat clients which is amazing. And then 40% of my work last year 45% was international like Germany, Italy, Finland, Japan like I work with clients all over the world and that also tells me that although I live in Boston my voice has no regional accent I could I sound like I can be anywhere in the world and that my voice can reach a huge wide audience which is why I’ve done a lot of national spots

Matt Ward 16:37
What do you just for the listeners pleasure

Michelle Falanga 16:41
I’m not gonna be able to do a voice

Matt Ward 16:42
oh no I’m not I’m not gonna do that. I would never That’s like asking a comedian to tell a joke I would never do that.

Michelle Falanga 16:49
Sing a song Kelly Clarkson.

Matt Ward 16:50
What do you think the most recognizable commercial you’ve done is or thing I say or thing. What’s the most recognizable job that you’ve done? I

17:01
feel like the one that got the most like everybody saw was the whole series a couple years back of the Southern New Hampshire University ones there was an

Matt Ward 17:12
Oh SNHU, the bus that went around, that was you?

17:14
yeah that’s why we hit the road again at SNHU, we you know it’s like that and the one that the graduation scene where it’s like at Southern New Hampshire University we are committed to your success, that’s why we hit the road again. You know it’s like all of those so I did their whole like I was their voice for like a good couple years and those were on literally everybody I know would be like I’m doing dishes and every day I hear you so that’s like one that most people heard but I’ve done, there’s another one I did that’s national for daily harvest. That’s on all the time. Daily harvest is like a food service that delivers kind of thing. Daily harvest I’ve also done native deodorant which is like a native is like a natural you know, non toxic deodorant thing and there’s a national Oh, PGA Tour. I did some stuff for PGA Tour.

Matt Ward 18:07
Oh, wow, Yeah, I’ve been so reckon very recognizable brands. It’s so funny SNHU. so my good friend Jason cutter who really I was talking to him one day and that’s where this podcast came from. As we were just brainstorming and stuff and we were talking about this and then out of that conversation came this this idea for this podcast. Jason cutter got his master’s from SNHU when he was living in Northern California and he did it all online. Yeah, you can it’s all online I think, so I wonder if you’ve responded to your ad That’s so great. That’s so awesome. Um, yeah, no, it’s always cool to kind of relate things I mean, I mean you have a little bit, I would say you have a little bit of celebrity ism in there right in what you do because if you get the big pizza chain and they run the thing on the Superbowl or something like that, you know, you never know but you know, is that, when you get these big gigs like this, these big clients. does it drive you more to do more and serve more and what you do what does that do for you as a business owner?

19:26
I mean, you know, it’s cool like like you said the Emmy thing it’s like, like everybody’s like, Yeah,put that behind you so yeah.

Matt Ward 19:32
Oh, there it is it’s the Emmy. Look at that. That’s so cool. What was that for?

19:39
This one. They were both for commercials. This was for a commercial called the legend. Again, it wasn’t like a big name brand. It was more for a it was for an ad company. Actually, it’s a beautiful ad. But I will say I was lucky that this producer happened to put me on the creative team because there’s a lot of things that Win Emmys out there that the voiceovers, I would say most of the time voiceovers do not get credit like that. So he has it, you know, it’s funny because like the music guy, the producer, though, you know, the writer, all these people get an Emmy, but like the voiceover, which really kind of ties it all in a bow, and is really like, what have impacts at all, you know, it’s not the only thing, but it’s definitely part of the mix, um, doesn’t get credit, which is so weird to me. Um, anyway, so he was like, Michelle, your voice is, one of the reasons we won this, so he put my name on it. So I was blessed to have that, because of that very generous producer. Um, but this celebrity like, so I would say that the reason I got, the reason I do what I do, and what wakes me up every day I get excited about is, again, for me, I’ve been through some pretty crazy struggles in my life, pretty, like dramatic major things. And I think that’s why my voice has like a vulnerability to it, like a relatability to it and like an authenticity, when I read and so like, the things that I get to do are like, a lot. Like, I would say, 70% of what I get to do is stuff that makes people like, feel something whether that’s inspired, motivated, you know, understood, just something that makes them feel something like, you know, the person running, struggling through her like demons, you know, like, I get that, like, it’s not hard for me to reach that, that that read, because I feel like that on a daily for myself, like just to push through a lot of the physical stuff that I have. So it’s like, it just comes out in the read. There’s like an authenticity there. And so in that way, I believe that the read will then be on something that somebody will hear and then I like to think the message will come through to them and give them what they need to feel because you know that I feel like I’m a vessel to like, bring those messages if you will. Yeah, and and so it’s not about like, Oh, I got the I mean, yeah, it’s certainly great. And it’s better money if you get these bigger things, but one of my favorite projects was this drum show I did I think I paid like $200 it was this little job still my favorite job to this day. And it was, it was for one of the drum shows and it was like this narration and it filled this huge Stadium in a like a world competition for this drumline group, which they’re very talented and amazing. And they do all this choreography with the drums and the music and the people are just amazingly talented. And I my voice was on it. And it was the monologue from USC American Beauty. The movie? No, I

Matt Ward 22:36
don’t I don’t probably but I don’t recall

Michelle Falanga 22:39
it. That’s okay. There was a monologue at the end where he talked where he’s he dies, and he talks about the last moments of his life and how everything flashes before you and you all you feel is gratitude. And, and so it was a very poignant, like words that I was saying, Yeah, filled, it filled the stadium with this beautiful music behind it. And it was just like goosebumps. That’s what I do goosebumps. And every and it was just like, and you could see they pan to people in this full football stadium crying like it was like, beautiful. And again, I was just a small piece of that. But it was like, again, I get chills just thinking yeah, still to this day, one of my favorite projects ever. And that didn’t pay a lot of money. It’s not a big name. Nobody knows what it is. But it touched a million people. So yeah,

Matt Ward 23:23
yeah, I think it’s important as business owners that we we do what makes us happy, right? And it and we hang out with the people who bring us joy. Yes. Talk to me a little bit about the types of people you hang out with you do a lot of networking you do. Are you involved in voiceover groups and you know other voiceover artists that not only you refer to because you mentioned that before, but you get advice from or you’re lend advice to?

Michelle Falanga 23:51
Yep. So I have a few groups I used to do like a kind of a weekly. We do like what are called do workouts like voice over workouts with this group of people. I kind of stopped doing that I was doing that for years. But they’re great and I refer people over to them and then I have a count on accountability voiceover partner if you will a partner in crime because honestly it’s such a unique field and we’re so isolated in our booths that we don’t really get out much and we don’t like we don’t really see each other ever so once a week her and I meet every Monday at 1111 because I’m all about I love I love what do you call that there’s a name for that. I love iteration now to do two or three things. We meet at 1111 every Monday morning and on on zoom and we talk about our somebody said this at a conference I went to once I was like you’re happy crappy focus fun so it’s like for that okay for this past week what made you happy what was crappy like what thing wasn’t great, what was folk what’s your focus and what was fun, you know, something fun that has nothing to do with voiceover. So we kind of like meet and we support each other and You know, talk out any problems we might have that are like, you know, something where, you know, you run into something all this client, I didn’t know how to answer them or we help each other. And then there’s, I have another group like that was for for voiceover women that I talked to. And then there’s other voiceovers that I just randomly meet with once a month, once every couple of weeks on zoom, to just kind of like, they’re all they’re all different, they’re all unique, and they have different relationships with all of them. And they’re all wonderful. So

Matt Ward 25:30
other than voiceover artists, and other than your current clients, and other than lead gen sites, like pay to play, when you think about referrals, who what type of industry person is sending referrals your way, you know, video people or

Michelle Falanga 25:46
no, and this is, this is probably an area where I struggle, like I’ve become a couple things, I’ve become a member of like the local chamber thing. And the score, yes, to like, trying to like network, maybe find referrals and help each other out. But I feel like what I do, I don’t think anyone really understands. So I don’t feel like I get a lot from that. Um, and then, in addition to that, unfortunately, is a much as people will love you. And I do have some clients who refer me but most clients,

Matt Ward 26:16
they don’t want to refer you know, they want to keep you to themselves,

Michelle Falanga 26:18
because they don’t want everybody to have your voice if they’re using your voice. Yeah, oh, it’s a kind of a weird thing. So you can’t be like mine, you know, please, just like most people, most industries, you happily refer them, right? But

Matt Ward 26:30
well, they don’t though, Michelle, that’s a no. So every industry runs into the same problem you’re you’re talking about people, clients don’t clients refer 123 people over lifetime. Hmm. And partners refer one to three people a year. That’s why you refer so many other voiceover is because not a good fit. So you send to the right people. Here’s the thing with that. There’s two reasons why they don’t refer one is they want to hoard you to themselves, right? They don’t want to share you, they want to make sure that you’re available. And you also mentioned the other part, which is you’re the voice of their brand. So if they send you out, you’re not the voice of everybody’s brand, that’s not beneficial to them, so they’re not going to willingly show you out. The other reason why they don’t refer you clients is because they’re not in a position to do so. So the person that hired you at the company is not talking to their counterpart at other companies about production of commercials. But who is in a position to hire you on a regular basis is the video editors, the video production people, the people around social media marketing and campaigns and people who are producing videos of some kind, people like myself, like professional speakers who do a lot of videos, things like that. So finding that right? That right niche of people that are talking to the person who makes the decision that hires the voiceover artist, yeah,

Michelle Falanga 27:53
like I’ve thought about. So there’s groups that I’ve always like, should get I’m not again, this is part of where I struggle. I’m not great at this. I know, there’s like many untapped market things that I’m not really dipping into. Most recently, I thought about I do a lot of things with motion, ographers motion graphics, people who are like the most talented people, they make these beautiful motion graphics. And I voiced a million of them. I even have a sampler on my website and motion graphics samples, which has like 10 samples in it. And so I’m like, I should become part of motion motion ographers groups and motion graphics group so that, you know, I kind of like see what’s going on and kind of maybe connect with some of them. I’m just really bad at the stuff. And yeah, I’m not Yeah, I need to work on that.

Matt Ward 28:37
Well, that’s the imposter syndrome. For sure. Because right now you probably are one of very few voiceover artists who could specialize in that because you’re knowledgeable so the minute you get into the group, there probably will I’d be surprised if there was even one other voiceover artists there. Right because you now are picking a lane and go in there. And that makes you the big fish in a small pond at that point because now you can answer any question related to voiceover stuff. Yeah, and you become the expert there.

Michelle Falanga 29:09
I definitely have the the imposter syndrome thing all that I mean we all do but um, yeah, yeah. But I feel like well, all these motion graphics people have probably worked with other voice sounds so not like this, you know, but also a lot of their work like some of their work I did one that he won like an award for and it went like International. And I got like a huge job from an Italian client for doing virtual reality from just hearing that video like I’ve gotten reached out to where they’re like we saw many people reach out to me for this one video I did called light in the dark. It’s a beautiful village video, and he’s so talented. And that video has generated just them hearing my voice. And he put my name on the credits, which is usually done. And so people have reached out to me from hearing that video and we’re hiring. Super cool. I know that’s the stuff I love that so yeah,

Matt Ward 29:58
I mean that’s, that’s it. You know, as I always tell people about imposter syndrome is we all have the exact same challenges. We just don’t know that we have the same challenges until we actually voiced them to other people. And then we start to realize that that imposter syndrome is a very common thing. And once we can push through those challenges, you know, it’s not it’s not as big of an issue, you know, we know more than we think we know. We don’t give ourselves enough credit, especially as solopreneurs and small business owners, right, because we’re in that, in my my case, I’m in a office, you’re in, you know, a sound booth, right? So it’s like, we often don’t see the whole picture from just these tiny spaces that we live in and work in every single day. So it’s a challenge. What I like to share with the listening audience and the people who are viewing on YouTube. What one piece of software not specific to your industry, but what one piece of software has helped you grow your business. I’m gonna sound really dumb. software like, like, how do you how what software are you using to run your business? Yeah,

Michelle Falanga 31:07
you Oh, I’m not using any. I’m using Excel.

Matt Ward 31:11
Okay? That’s okay. You’re using Excel?

Michelle Falanga 31:14
I’m not even using a CMR CRM. Okay, that’s fine. Yes, it’s a Scooby Doo 54

Matt Ward 31:20
Are you using QuickBooks Are you using task managers are you I’m

Michelle Falanga 31:24
so like again every year I get better but i do i don’t source anything out I do everything from an Excel spreadsheet I do all my accounting I do all my everything all my thank yous all my like everything I do is from an Excel spreadsheet. And then as far as software like I use a thing called twisted wave is my software for

Matt Ward 31:44
editing yeah for your editing software Yeah,

Michelle Falanga 31:46
um, but like i i’m so

Matt Ward 31:50
Okay, so you’re using Excel which is old school nothing wrong with that just I just hope you’re backing it up every day. That’s your goal then for the next week is to figure out how to get that backed up every day because I used Excel early on and Excel files can get corrupted and unable to be opened. So just back them up every day and be safe

Michelle Falanga 32:15
and I use Dropbox a lot because there you go, I have a lot of you know I pay for the higher version because I have a lot of files that I can’t lose that or like you know voice files and it’s

Matt Ward 32:28
so there’s your backup by the way for your Excel yeah drop it up in there every single day and you’re fine yeah, I use Dropbox to Dropbox folks is a great tool for file sharing and also just really great for backing up your files is paid for the premium edition you know I literally just got 610 photos from a trip I took to the Grand Canyon and I wanted to share them with the eight other people that were on the trip I put them in Dropbox right um I use it every day on every single speaking video I get goes into Dropbox you know and so just the disagree tool to use so consider Dropbox if you’re not already using it folks. Alright and then final question for you. business book what business book would you recommend somebody else read Are you looking for your Scooby Doo book?

Michelle Falanga 33:23
Um wow um I so I have some vision issues so I don’t read

Matt Ward 33:31
like audio book though Do you LISTEN to them?

Michelle Falanga 33:32
know I listened to a lot more like YouTube things I I remember one of them that a friend of mine referred to me years ago and I did read and at the time it’s interesting is this quick book quick read eat the frog or eat a Yeah, which is you know and I don’t Eat That Frog or eat the frog it’s just like you know like kind of do the hardest thing first and Oh yeah. Versus like

Matt Ward 33:58
It’s called Eat That Frog 21 great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time by Brian Tracy.

Michelle Falanga 34:05
I’m still working on that I’m not I really struggle with my time management I literally get distracted and then I go I’m going oh my god.

Matt Ward 34:12
Squirrel Oh squirrel.

Michelle Falanga 34:14
Oh look a squirrel all the time.

Matt Ward 34:16
One of the things that we’ve talked to a lot of people about is outsourcing right trying to find ways to outsource the business side of it not the creative you’re the voice be the voice and let all the other stuff so I’ve

Michelle Falanga 34:27
thought about that there’s a I think there’s this like thing with me that my whole brand is very personal very like connected very real so I every client I have when every email every reminder for their thing is just me being looking at my spreadsheet oh it’s

Matt Ward 34:43
Yeah, but there’s a whole bunch of other stuff that doesn’t involve clients in what you do. Like the you’ve talked a little bit about the marketing you know and stuff like that. And social media you mentioned your website understand

Michelle Falanga 34:54
how you’d market without because you can’t just like I don’t do I don’t Do like mass market where I send things out using I’m the girl that takes every production company. Hi, I find out who I’m talking to Hi, you know, Sally, whatever. Like and I don’t just send Jen like, you know how it is on LinkedIn. If somebody sends you like a Yeah, well my demo was like, delete like Yeah, no, that’s a good moment to like know who I am. You know, I don’t do that I do everything personal, which takes a lot of work and a lot of time and, and it’s not like a mass thing. And I would hire someone for the truth maybe to find me.

Matt Ward 35:29
Well, you have a website? I do. So you don’t have to manage that.

Michelle Falanga 35:34
Um, yeah, it’s a WordPress meant, I

Matt Ward 35:36
mean, yeah. So there’s one thing you can outsource. I do outsource that. Now that you go, yeah. I just started that myself. And then I guess that’s what I just messed up. Like, I shouldn’t touch it. Yeah, I’m the same way. And I owned a web company. I learned early on that as the owner in the company, the company makes more money when the owner is not present.

Michelle Falanga 36:04
Very true. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Ward 36:05
All right, awesome. Well, this has been such a great episode. How can people reach out to you Michelle, and do some networking? If that’s what you’re open to learn more about your services? How, where can they find you? And how can they find you?

Michelle Falanga 36:17
So I guess the most central would be to go to MichelleFalanga.com or MichelleFalangavoice.com And then on that page, there’s like, you can also click on Like, there’s like the social media icons, my Vimeo page, my YouTube page, and both on the website and on those. Those Vimeo and YouTube are tons of samples of my work, like many in like samplers of different genres. And then actual whole spots have different work that I’ve done. So

Matt Ward 37:09
very cool. So yeah, so you folks can go see some of the Carnival Cruise Line stuff she’s done. And I’ve seen some of her work, it’s pretty cool. You’ll notice a lot of brands out there that you’re familiar with, that Michelle has lent her name to in compensation exchange. And it’s always cool to have somebody different. You know, we’ve had a lot of coaches on this show, we’ve had just a lot of different service providers of all types. But to have a voiceover artist, I think is really awesome. And it’s a unique approach. And I think for people to hear how you grew your business and how you get your leads and how you do your referrals is super, super awesome. So thanks so much for joining us on here. Folks, if you’re listening on any podcast app on your phone right now, make sure you subscribe to the mass business podcast we’d greatly appreciate it and if you’re watching on YouTube, smash that subscribe button as well as the notification bell so that you get notified every single day we release new episode. And until next time, don’t forget to live happy smile a lot and high five. everyone around you take care.

Matt Ward 38:31
Gonna grab myself a smile. Thank you for listening to the mass business podcast where we focus on growing a small business and understanding networking and referrals. Don’t forget to like on your favorite platform and share out this podcast. This show has been produced by Heather Grant, music by Cailte Kelley. All rights reserved. I’m your host, professional speaker, author and word of mouth referral consultant, Matt Ward. Don’t forget to live happy, smile a lot. And high fi ve everyone around you.