For Voice Over Talents

Your Voice Over Success Requires This Key Soft Skill

The journey toward your voice over success and a fulfilling voice talent career requires many skills, talents and qualities. And one of those qualities is becoming more elusive than ever in this digital age of instant everything. It’s the quality of delayed gratification and it is truly a life-changing skill if mastered and utilized in your everyday existence. So, let’s dive into this topic and if you make it all the way to the end of this post, you’ll get a special reward.

Delayed Gratification Explained

Delayed gratification is the capacity to wait for a reward that promises to be bigger and better than the instant gratification you’d get from a lesser yet immediate pleasure. The concept of delayed gratification was explored years ago in The Marshmallow Experiment, as James Clear brings up in his discussion on the topic.

https://youtu.be/Yo4WF3cSd9Q

The Marshmallow Experiment – Instant Gratification (https://youtu.be/Yo4WF3cSd9Q)

The Marshmallow Experiment involved bringing a child into room where a marshmallow beckoned from the table. The researcher told the child he was going to be left alone with the marshmallow for a set period, during which time the children were given a challenge.

If the children could refrain from eating the marshmallow until the researcher returned, they would get a second marshmallow to enjoy. Kids had to pick between:

Immediate pleasure from a single marshmallow
Delayed gratification with double the rewards

Results were mixed, and the children’s lives were subsequently tracked over a 40-year period. The kids that were able to choose delayed gratification ended up more successful in many things across the board, from SAT scores to social skills and reactions to stress.

Where Delayed Gratification Fits in with Your Voice Over Success

Delayed gratification plays a huge role in your voice over success, as long-lasting positive results do not come instantly. The promise of the big reward of a full-time voice actor career is down the line, but only for those who have the capacity to wait it out while paying their dues.

Those dues can be pretty hefty. Starting any business as a solopreneur involves a lot of moving pieces that need to be put together to complete the puzzle. These include setting up a website, creating your branding and marketing plan, strengthening your talent and skills with training, putting together a voice over talent demo, finding agents to represent you, constantly seeking out audition opportunities, and otherwise doing all those things to get a new business up and running.

Sometimes it may feel like the only reward at the end of the day may be the ability to finally move away from the computer and get some sleep. But the bigger reward of living a dream job is only possible for those willing to wait for the delayed gratification.

Things Fighting You Along the Way

For the younger generations now in or near the workforce who grew up in the digital world, delayed gratification may seem like a totally foreign concept. That concept gets even harder to grasp, for people of any age, with the number of distractions in society today.

Even when you’re at work at your computer, emails urge you to check out the latest sales at your favorite shops, the instructional YouTube video you’re viewing ends with links to dozens of other intriguing videos, one article you’re reading links to a handful of others, and social media alerts exclaim that three more people commented on your latest post.

Add personal responsibilities that may include daily chores to complete, errands to run, children and pets to tend to, and that thing called eating dinner, and sticking on the patient road toward delayed gratification can feel like an impossible feat.

With so many things calling for your attention, and so many tasks that need to be tackled when you’re first launching a business, the whole process can feel overwhelming. Overwhelming can turn daunting and even frustrating when there’s not a lot of early success at the beginning of a career.

The choice between delayed gratification down the road and the instant gratification of throwing up your hands in despair as you go to watch TV can be a tough one indeed.

Why Stick it Out

Don’t give up. Even if you’re used to instant results, instant gratification, and pretty much instant everything, challenge yourself to stay the course for the delayed gratification that hard work, passion, and dedication always brings.

Even if your own delayed gratification doesn’t bring the voice over success as you envisioned, putting all that positive energy out into the universe is going to bring on rewards. Perhaps all your hard work will lead to new relationships, new ideas, or a new path that results in a career even more exciting than the one you imagined.

Whatever the case, I’ve found the success that comes from the pain of sticking with it over the ease of distraction is worth the wait. You can even train yourself into a pattern of delayed gratification by setting up smaller, daily rewards – like the delayed gratification of finishing everything on your to-do list if you stay focused on your work throughout the day.

Remind yourself that you do have the capacity to wait, and the rewards will definitely be worth it. There’s no reason to sell yourself short with one marshmallow now when you can double your rewards down the road.

Now, on a little tangent (and I’m putting this at the end so that I don’t distract you from finishing my post), last weekend I got to finally see Hamilton in Chicago. And, as I was doing my final edit on this blog, the song “Wait For It” kept going around in my head! So, for a little entertainment and reward for making it all the way to the end of my post, please check out this awesome 360-degree video of the original Broadway cast. Be sure to grab the screen and rotate to see everyone around you.

https://youtu.be/k9AyO8h2I0k

Hamilton: An American Musical 360° – Wait For It (https://youtu.be/k9AyO8h2I0k)

My Voice Over Experiences from the Weird to the Scary to the Sublime

An out-of-the-blue email really caught my attention a few months back, and it continues to puzzle me today. The email was from someone who said they worked for Cracked.com (formerly Cracked Magazine) and wanted to interview me about some of my voice over experiences in the biz. My first thought was: “Cracked Magazine? Don’t they write funny, satirical cartoons and stuff?”

But, I took a look at their site and saw a wide array of articles on many topics – topics that would generate web traffic. Since being or becoming a voice over artist is a popular topic on the internet to some degree, it made sense that they were trying to tap into an interested readership.

My website probably had come up high on a general Google search for voice over artists, and that was how they found me. Made sense.

I don’t get asked to do many interviews, so I was excited to work on this. To make things easy, the author sent me a few questions he (or maybe it was a she, hard to tell by the name) wanted me to answer in writing.

We had a little back and forth by email and I fine-tuned my answers over several revisions. After a couple of weeks, I sent off the finished interview and waited to hear details of when it would be published.

No reply. No acknowledgement of even receiving the document.

I followed up a few times by email and even tried to reach the person by phone and still nothing.

Guess I’m Not in Kansas Anymore

Was I suddenly living in a different parallel universe? Or maybe the author got hit by a bus (God forbid)! Very strange. Like having one of those “Wizard of Oz” moments where you wonder if you dreamed the whole thing.

Nope, I had the emails to prove it. Had I just been scammed in some way? No money was involved and all I had provided was a few answers to some questions. If it was a scam, it was a pretty pathetic one!

It was like this person had just dropped off the face of the planet. Maybe they suddenly left the company or got fired and the ball never got passed to someone else. That seemed like a possibility. Anyway, despite other attempts to get some contact from the company, nothing worked and I never got a reply.

So, rather than never having this interview see the light of day, I decided to post it here on my blog. Enjoy!

What would most surprise someone starting a career as a voice over artist today?

I think what would most surprise a person coming into the business today would be that the amount of time they will spend actually recording their voice for paying gigs is a relatively small percentage of their time (about 15% on average).

The modern landscape dictates a voice talent’s day is largely consumed by marketing activities, such as auditioning for agents and online casting sites, communicating with clients and prospects in social media and email, and staying in touch and top of mind any way you can.

Then there are all of the day-to-day chores you have to do when you run your own business. These include accounting, managing your technology, updating your database, and many other little things that all take significant time and attention.

I am fortunate to have my husband working full-time in my business, and he actually handles the majority of the marketing and business chores so I can stay focused on recording and the logistics of job requests and auditions. The percentage of time I spend on paid work is more like 85%, but that is only because I have a full-time employee. If you are running your business solo, which I think most voice talent are, then you’ll have to wear many hats and spend a lot of time on these other essential tasks.

How has doing voice overs changed over the years?

Many things have changed, mostly due to the presence of the internet. Home studios did not exist when I got my start as a voice actor back in the early ’90s in Southern California. The only people who could work in the profession lived around major cities that had a lot of recording studios. Los Angeles and New York were the dominant hubs in the U.S.

Now, thanks to the internet, you can have a home studio anywhere as long as you have a fast broadband connection. That development leads to what I see as the biggest change directly impacting how I run my business, and that is: The amount of competition has gone way up.

For most of my career, very few people outside of the business even knew what voice over was. Whenever someone asked me what I did for a living, I would have to explain it. Then I would still get a lot confused looks from people.

Now when I mention that I’m a voice over talent, I get, “Oh yeah, my friend/sister/neighbor is doing that, too! Can I have them call you so you can share some of your best tips?”

While there is a much larger supply of voice over opportunities in the world, there is also an exponentially larger number of voice talents all trying to win those jobs. You have to be much more strategic and thoughtful in how you get business these days.

What is the scariest thing that has happened to you in the voice over business?

There have been many scary moments along the way, which is probably true for any entrepreneur running a small business. Almost all of my most memorable scary moments involve technology failing at extremely inopportune times. It’s rare that this happens because we keep everything updated and well-maintained, but sometimes hardware or software just stops working and you have what feels like milliseconds to figure out what is going on and how to get it fixed.

Last year, my recording software abruptly stopped loading, ultimately resulting in a switch to a different software program with a significant learning curve. This happened right at the start of the year, with a full lineup of jobs waiting to be recorded. It was pretty stressful for a few days as we figured out what we needed to do to get back up and running while ensuring clients received everything they needed on time.

For a voice over talent, if you’re not recording, you’re not making money. So you have to be able to troubleshoot things quickly and come up with a solution. Beyond my husband, who has some good technical experience and know-how, I have several techs and audio experts I can call on when necessary.

Without those kinds of resources, things can get very scary very quickly. If I can’t deliver what my clients need on time, there’s always the chance they will look for someone else who can.

What is the weirdest voice over job you ever had?

My vote goes for the sexy weather forecaster gig. Several years back, I was hired on a project which involved attractive scantily clad women presenting weather forecasts for online subscribers. Subscribers would see still photos of attractive bikini models motioning to portions of the U.S. map while a voice over talent recited the day’s weather forecast.

I was hired to provide the voice for one of the models. The service was a bust (haha), but the client did pay me for several recording sessions that we completed as part of the launch.

What was the happiest voice over job you ever landed?

My happiest thing is definitely being one of the voices at the Happiest Place on Earth – Disneyland. When I was living in Southern California, I was recording some of the park announcements for Magic Music Days, holiday celebrations and special events. Then, when they opened Disney’s California Adventure (DCA), they offered me the role of being the Voice of the Park, welcoming guests with pre-recorded announcements for various activities.

I had to give up the gig when I moved away from So Cal, but for a few years it was fun being recognized by friends who heard me on their visits to DCA.

Where have I heard your voice?

That’s one of the first questions I tend to get when folks find out I do voice over for a living. While I do a good deal of TV and radio spots in local and regional markets, the most widely played spot was probably the one for the original Pillow Pets.

Many of the projects I’ve completed are for internal use by companies and not heard by the general public, although I have cultivated a niche over the years on television as the voice for many children’s infomercial products. I’ve recorded a few dozen different kids’ products and toys, as well as other direct-response advertisers, marketing everything from make-up to teeth whiteners to exercise equipment.

You might also hear me narrating a web video, directing you on voicemail options on a company’s IVR system, or teaching you something profound and useful in a continuing education course.

While I may never find out what happened to the person who sent the initial email, at least I know the interview has been put to use. In addition to providing info that could be helpful or entertaining to someone else, it also gave me a chance to think back on my happiest, scariest, and by far weirdest moment in the voice over biz.

Please feel free to share some of yours down below! What were your weirdest, wildest, scariest, and happiest experiences so far in voice over?

5 Trends Voice Actors and Voice Talent Seekers Should Understand in 2018

The voice over industry has changed dramatically since I first picked up the microphone in the 1990s, and it continues to evolve every year. Keeping up with the changes is essential for voice actors who want to remain successful in the business, and it’s equally important for voice talent seekers and buyers intent on producing projects that continue to have an impact.

Five voice over trends for 2018 particularly caught my attention as I was researching this topic on the internet, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on them below.

Different languages gaining ground, but English still most popular language for voiceover.

More VO jobs are opening up for specific accents, dialects, and different languages. The demand for English with an Australian accent rose by 22 percent since last year, while Spanish is the greatest in-demand, non-English language for voice over work.

Growth in demand for accents:

22 percent: English with Australian accent
12 percent: English with British accent
11 percent: Spanish, Latin American
3 percent: French, Canadian

Even though the demand is rising for different accents, dialects, and languages, English remains the top language for voice over work. If you want to get even more specific, the greatest demand is for North American English with no distinct accent.

One reason behind the rising demand for other languages and accents is the desire for companies to portray a hyper-local feel. Regional advertising in the American South, for instance, may connect more keenly with a Southern audience if the speaker has a Southern accent.

The rise may also be linked to the amount of content being produced in non-English speaking countries to teach English to school children. Voice seekers from other parts of the world can hire voice over talent to help create a myriad of learning apps, programs, toys, games and other projects geared toward teaching English to the world.

What this means for voice actors: Actors with different accents and native languages may benefit from extra work in those categories, although voice training is still an important part of the industry. Being able to remove all traces of any accent is still essential for many jobs.

What this means for voice talent buyers: In English-speaking areas, standard, North American English remains the mainstay. Choosing a specific accent or dialect may connect more soundly with a specific community, but it can also limit the effectiveness of your project for a wider audience.

For voice actors, making an emotional connection is top priority.

No matter how logical you may think your decision to purchase a new item may be, your emotions are what drive you to buy. Savvy marketers have been capitalizing on this fact by focusing on making an emotional connection with the audience, whether it’s with print, images or voice overs.

Videos and ad campaigns are increasingly being designed to engage and communicate with the audience, rather than simply talk at them. Most auditions these days are going for a voice that sounds real and authentic, or “not like a professional voice over actor.”

What this means for voice actors: New voice over talent getting into the business can have an advantage here, as they may not have developed certain habits, like perfect pronunciation or energetic deliveries that used to be more mainstream. Although voices are becoming much more laid back and authentic, developing a real sound that can also cut through with a messages isn’t always as easy as it may seem.

What this means for voice talent buyers: While an authentic voice is one part of the equation for making an emotional connection, it’s not the only part. Seeking out voice talent with a background in acting can be a bonus when looking to make a meaningful connection with the audience. Plus, hiring a voice actor who can offer a variety of vocal styles will give you more options in the recording session, and in post.

Budget is no longer the voice over bottom line.

Voice seekers are looking beyond the budget when it comes to hiring voice talent. The ability to make an emotional connection tops the list of what they’re looking for, followed by four other factors that are more important than budget.

Clients are looking for voice talent who can:

Add personality
Match the brand voice
Reflect the sound of target market
Sound aspirational to the target market

What this means for voice actors: Having the lowest rates won’t necessarily snag you the highest number of gigs. The factors listed above, as well as things like professionalism, quality production methods, and experience, can matter more than extremely low rates.

What this means for voice talent buyers: Voice seekers who continue to make the budget their bottom line may be missing out on important factors competitors are seeking. Being aware of the way voice over work is typically priced can also be a plus. Pricing can vary drastically for Broadcast audio, depending on usage, and the number and size of markets, and for non-broadcast audio, usage is also a determining rate factor, and fees can often be calculated by either word count, or hours worked, or finished audio minutes.

Voice talent agents, unions, and established rates can still work as a guideline, but in recent times, it’s more like the Wild West, where anything goes. Supply and demand play a role, and the buyer should always beware of cut-rate talent and sites. You do generally get what you pay for.

Age matters.

The actual age of voice artists doesn’t matter, as long as they can tailor their voice to align with the age group the client is targeting. And the vast majority of clients are targeting audiences in Gen X and millennial generations. A rundown on the percentage of projects targeting different age groups shows:

54 percent: Gen X
39 percent: Millennials
4 percent: Gen Z
2 percent: Baby Boomers
1 percent: Great Generation

What this means for voice actors: If you can train your voice to align with different age groups, you’ll have more opportunities for work. And there appears to be a lot of work for those with voices aligned with Gen X and Millennials. Those same age groups are also largely at the helm when it comes to making hiring decisions for voice over talent. Voice talent of any age group who can relate to these generations on a business level will likewise have an advantage.

What this means for voice talent buyers: While a voice that resonates with the target audience is important, so are other factors that go far beyond the sound. Look for a well-rounded professional for best results, regardless of the age group that professional may be in.

Real voices still beat out robotic voices.

Even though voice-activated virtual assistants and technology continue to become more commonplace, people are not as gung-ho about using virtual voices. A notable 93 percent of folks who responded to an annual survey pegged the human voice as more powerful than a robotic voice.

What this means for voice actors: You don’t have to fret about losing your job to machines, at least not yet. For me, that’s fabulous news. I wouldn’t mind staying relevant for another decade or so, and hopefully, we won’t fall into the world of AI and computer everything prior to that. Voice actors may also see opportunities to work on projects related to AI and computerized voices. I was recently part of a few projects for text-to-speech, and it’s an interesting phenomenon to see play out.

What this means for voice talent buyers: Real people provide the human touch – and emotional connection – that robots simply can’t produce… At least not yet. Hiring a real person for voice over work also comes with additional perks, such as enjoying guidance from his or her expertise and making your own mutual meaningful connections.

Keeping these trends in mind while seeking your next voice over talent or running your voice over business can help you stay ahead of the crowd. Just don’t get too comfortable with any amendments you make to accommodate them. As with any industry in this rapidly changing world, we can all expect the voice over arena to continue to evolve for years to come.

Resources:

https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2018/02/voice-over-trends-in-marketing-and.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inside-the-consumer-mind/201302/how-emotions-influence-what-we-buy

Narrator’s Voice App Proves How Valuable Voice Over Can Be

From ghost hunting to finding where you parked your car, there seems to be an app for just about everything. Thanks to the Narrator’s Voice app, this also includes adding a narrator’s voice to your messages or online videos. While the Narrator’s Voice app appears to be mainly geared toward having fun, its huge popularity still proves how useful voice over narration can be.

What’s Up with the Narrator’s Voice App?

Created by Escolha Tecnologia, the Narrator’s Voice app lets you create and share amusing messages using a narrator’s voice of your choice. Simply speak or type a message into your smartphone or other digital devices, then choose the language, voice, and any special effects for the app to use.

The end result is a customized narration of your original message, which you can share as desired. And people are sharing it in droves. The Narrator’s Voice app boasts more than 5 million installations, along with more than 375,000 five-star reviews on Google Play alone. The app is also available at the Apple Store.

Millions are using it, and many are thrilled with it, confirming that voice over narration can be a phenomenal addition to any number of projects.

Voice Over Narration Projects

Videos are one of the hottest projects for voice over narration, letting the narrator explain or comment on whatever’s happening on the screen. In fact, many people have been using the Narrator’s Voice app to add audio to their YouTube videos, giving them a distinct voice that enhances the overall video’s vibe.

Voice over narration can be equally successful when used with still images, slide shows, e-learning projects, or anything else that could benefit from useful commentary or clarification.

Voice Over Narration Benefits

Voice over narration is ideal for a number of projects, and it likewise can bring on a number of benefits.

Provide additional details: Pictures may be worth 1,000 words, but they may still sometimes need additional clarification. Voice over narration can not only provide additional details that may not be readily apparent on screen, but it can direct a viewer where to look or what to look for in any given scene.

Enhance the mood and tone of the project: A happy video or project can become even happier with a peppy, energetic voice, while the seriousness of a somber project can be fortified with a solemn one.

Entertain the audience: Voice over narration containing amusing opinions, humorous observations, and thought-provoking comments can add another layer of enjoyment to the project.

Maintain your overall company style: Brands are built by sticking with a distinct style, and voice over narration can help maintain that style by featuring just the right voice that embodies your brand.

Bring the project to the next level: While videos on their own may be intriguing, you can double their impact by adding audio. Voice over narration, either on its own or accompanied by appropriate background music, can make a project truly shine.

Narrator’s Voice App (Narration App) vs. Narration Human

Even though the Narrator’s Voice app is meant for fun, it may be able to provide some of the same benefits. Yet it still couldn’t bring the personal touch to a voice over project that only a real live human can do.

Unlike apps, humans can instantly and seamlessly provide subtle changes in tone, pitch, volume and other nuances that add unmistakable finesse to any narration project. Hiring on a human also gives you a chance to incorporate any feedback or suggestions a professional voice artist may have for further improving the overall project.

That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t have loads of fun with the Narrator’s Voice app, but it does mean you may want to look beyond the app for the most professional voice over narration results. It also means we voice over artists probably don’t have to fret that an app will soon be taking over our jobs.

Looking for a real live human for your next voice over narration project? Please contact me today!

How Professional Voice-Over Talents Get Off Track – The 3 Stages of Failure

Whether they’re written by fellow voice-over talents, life coaches, artists or folks in any other industry, I read a lot of blogs. Reading blogs is a great way to gather information, gain a fresh perspective, enjoy a lot of interesting takeaways and, in many cases, relate an intriguing topic back to the professional voice-over industry. That’s what happened when I ran across James Clear’s article about The 3 Stages of Failure in Life and Work (And How to Fix Them). Clear introduces a framework that gives a solid rundown on three main areas where individuals can fail at basically anything they do, along with helpful hints for avoiding those failures.

His article definitely struck a chord with me, particularly when I started thinking about his points in relation to the voice-over industry.

Stage 1: Failure of Tactics

A failure of tactics occurs when the “how” of a situation fails. Let’s say I’m just starting out with the goal of becoming a professional voice-over talent, and I’ve had a couple of bookings with a few clients, and made a little bit of money. I decide to go after more business by posting a few voice-over demos on a well-known voice-over website, and then wait for the new clients and jobs to roll in.

But they’re not rolling in. So let’s say I decide to cut my prices really, really low to be super-competitive on the website. And the jobs start to come. I take them as quickly as they’re offered, of course, since I’m achieving my goal of getting more work. Perfect, right?

Well, maybe not. If I kept up the pace of taking every single job that came my way, even if I felt the rate was too low or the work out my scope of experience or talent, I could soon find myself overwhelmed. I may be doing five jobs for the price of one, while ending up with unhappy clients, edits I can’t fit into my schedule, and frustration at every turn. And because I’m selling my valuable time at much less than market rates, I’m setting a precedent with these and future clients that they can get my services for under market value, while also losing out on higher paying jobs, because my schedule is too full with nickel and dime gigs.

My dream of being a successful voice-over talent may tank right here due to failure of tactics, or the failure to build effective systems, to weigh my options carefully and otherwise pay keen attention to the details.

I could fix this failure by honestly assessing my rates, adjusting them to match what I feel my time is worth, and then figuring out how much time I’ll need to complete each job given. Paying attention to such details, and then planning my time and schedule accordingly, would help my dream survive.

Stage 2: Failure of Strategy

This second failure stage involves mistakes pertaining to “what” I decide to do to further my goal. In the case of a professional voice-over career, I could fail to get the results I wanted in any number of ways. Perhaps my pricing was too high to compete with other new talents. Maybe I tried and failed to find a trustworthy talent agent. Perhaps my marketing tactics were way off base, or I relied too heavily on people finding my personal website instead of networking through an industry site with higher amounts of traffic.

Maybe I didn’t even launch a personal website and instead figured I’d try to get business by calling up big-name animation firms and asking for work. Maybe I figured the compliments I received from my friends and neighbors were enough to prove I really didn’t have to enroll in any voice-over workshops, education, or training.

Building a successful professional voice-over career takes more than just a single strategy. It instead involves a combination of strategies that all work toward achieving the overall goal. Some of the many strategies I’ve used over the years include social media marketing, email newsletters, postcard mailings, industry networking, researching the market and targeting my most likely prospects, creating and maintaining a thriving website, employing SEO on my website, and continuing to work with coaches to stay at the top of my game. And it certainly doesn’t end there.

Marketing, auditions, communication, networking, writing, reading, researching, recording, delivering, editing, rewarding loyal customers, upgrading skills and equipment – are all strategies I’ve found absolutely necessary to achieve and maintain a successful voice-over career. As with any career, there are a lot of effective strategies you can use to help you succeed, and the formula isn’t always the same for everyone.

And given that success in the voice-over field is a highly competitive endeavor, sometimes it takes years to find and hone the strategies that will lead to that success. So, you have to employ patience and tenacity as well.

Stage 3: Failure of Vision

This third stage of failure is perhaps one of the most common across the board, in professional voice-over or otherwise. Failure of vision happens when we don’t set a clear direction to achieve the goal that is in our heart. We instead follow a vision that may have been offhandedly introduced when people like our friends or family members mentioned we had a great voice and should take up a voice-over career.

Failure of vision, or choosing to follow a vision that wasn’t even in our sights until someone mentioned it, can happen for several different reasons. We could be so unhappy with our current job that we see any other career as an alluring out. We’d take a career in voice-over, or perhaps even a career in just about anything, just to get out of the unsatisfying career we’re currently in.

We could also be looking only at the successful end result of a voice-over career, such as the ability to work from home, record high-profile radio and tv commercial spots, have a flexible schedule, and make good money – all while wearing our pajamas if we so please.

Two things are happening at this point. One is the desire to enter a voice-over career as a way to flee our current situation. Here we would basically be running away from our current jobs, not running toward a career we’ve been dreaming about for eons.

The second problem is our focus on the potentially fun aspects of a professional voice-over career, without realizing the 20-plus years of sweat, rejections, and extremely hard work that goes into getting there and then maintaining that stature. I know this aspect really well since I’ve been there, done that. And although I do get to record fun spots in my pajamas from time to time, there is a big lineup of other tasks that are also part of the job.

Things like marketing, client database collection and updating, blogging, key word tracking, auditions, networking, researching, audio editing, bookkeeping, collections and other not-so-fun stuff are part of the usual array of tasks that keep the business going.

Building a Professional Voice-Over Career Takes Years, Not Months

Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, and many rush in without truly understanding the dedication, daily grind, and motivation required to keep the business flowing. Each week, it’s a blank slate that you have to create, and there are no steady paycheck or company benefits. The rewards can be great, but it doesn’t come easy or overnight. I find I repeat this mantra over and over for the many inquiries I receive all the time about how to start a career in voiceover. The odds are really stacked against you, so you have to have a clear vision, a strong drive, some talent, and tenacity to survive and thrive.

If your dream is to be a successful voice-over talent, by all means, go for it! Just be on the lookout for stages of failure that can trip up anyone in their chosen career. Make sure you have effective tactics in place to balance your workload and your budget. Research and implement useful strategies that can help you advance in your career. And, most importantly, make sure your dream came from deep within your heart. The sense of fulfillment you receive from a job you love is one of the true hallmarks of long-term success.

It’s Survival of the Fittest in Today’s Voice-Over Gig Economy

While the gig economy is nothing new, it is going through a rather new transition. It’s being flooded by an influx of workers. Millions of fresh workers entered the world of flex and freelance work between 2003 and 2013 alone. From video production to copywriting services, fitness training to photography, fields across every industry are feeling the effects. The voice-over realm is one of them.

This increase in workers leads to an increase in competition. And one of the strategies some workers use to beat out the competition is to offer impossibly low prices. While this may initially appear to clients as a great move for a business, it’s actually not. Not for the client’s business or the voice-over actor’s business.

Why Impossibly Low Prices are Never Good for Business

Since the lowest prices are typically offered by new workers with the least amount of experience and industry knowledge, the low cost of the work is likely to be reflected in the quality. On the voice-over talent’s end of things, offering impossibly low prices not only makes it tough to make a living, but can also reflect negatively on their professional reputation. Only those who are not confident about what their work is actually worth would even dare to set a price that’s ridiculously below the skill, talent, and scope of a specific project.

What Eventually Happens

Prices can’t continue their downward spiral forever. There’s got to be a breaking point. That breaking point tends to come when the workers start to thin themselves out, in a process that’s reminiscent of natural selection – where only the fittest survive. Those that are not-so-fit for the industry may bow out for any number of reasons, some of which are outlined on voice-over actor Paul Strikwerda’s Nethervoice blog:

Not booking enough jobs or any jobs
The goal of instant stardom
Can’t afford to invest in quality equipment or coaching
Hard time getting motivated
Fed up with the same old tasks, over and over
Not sure how to market self
Crushed by repeated rejections
Stressed out by freelance uncertainty
Working too much for too little
Don’t know how to stand out from the crowd

“If even pros with years of experience and an impressive portfolio have trouble booking jobs these days,” Strikwerda writes, “you need to bring something very special to the table if you wish to compete at the highest level.”

The Fittest Who Survive

Voice-over actors who can indeed compete at the highest level, who bring something special to the table, and who have paid their dues over the years are those who are likely to survive. Members of the fittest group typically:

1. Are backed by years of experience and training

2. Have full-time availability and are easily accessible when needed

3. Record on sophisticated equipment in a professional studio

4. Focus on high-quality results

5. Have found their niche

6. Are constantly learning new things, developing new skills

7. Know their worth, and charge prices that reflect that

8. Are strong, determined, and persistent enough to stick with their voice-over career/dream no matter what

No matter what’s going on with the gig economy in general or the voice-over industry in particular, the thought of quitting is not likely to cross their minds.

While the sharp plunge in price and quality may be bad news in the overall gig economy, the good news is the fittest exist in every industry. Clients can find them and hire them at any time. Evidence in the voice-over industry includes a strong portfolio, sophisticated recording equipment, versatility, skill, extensive experience, high-quality work, and a long history of happy clients.

Ready for your next high-quality voice-over project? Contact me for a quote or complimentary audition today.

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