Time of Thanks
This season, I think it’s natural to spend time thinking about what is going well in our lives and what we are thankful for. Thanksgiving seems to bring that out in all of us. I have a wonderful pilates instructor, Gwen, and when we are alone and I can actually breathe, when tend to talk about real issues. Recently we were chatting about health and well ness and how we are amazing that you can get to a point where you reach your goals, that are or were not so easy to reach, and how quickly they can all be undone. A run-in with some candy or a birthday night out and we are set back on our endeavors and it feels dreadful. How easily we are reminded when we give thanks that perhaps we are always teetering on the brink of perhaps being in a state we do not want to be in.
Of course this chat with Gwen about our health made me draw a parallel to voice over and think about how easily it can all be undone. Imagine years of hard work and suddenly the ups and downs of voice over just continue to spiral down. I of course thought back to hearing Dave Fennoy, world famous voice actor best known for his video game roles, who I had the privilege of hearing speak for an entire day back in 2016 at a conference called VO Revolution. Perhaps it was his lack of pretension that got me, but Dave talked about how after a few big bookings he thought that he had made it. He shared how his business peaked and then plummeted. He advised working as if every day is your first day in voice over and warned that if you don’t you can lose it all. I carry this with me. This has always had my wheels turnings. So, if all that we have worked hard to build can slip aways so easily, here are some of my best tips to lay a strong foundation for your voice over business:
Be Accountable
You need a support system within the voice over community to be accountable to. When I first started in voice over, I used a journal system where I wrote my goals and focused on them and revised them. This was good but it was not enough. You need a group of others that you will meet with and answer to. I have met with and continue to meet with my accountability group weekly. They are my secret sauce and without them I would not be where I am today in my career. Every group is different. Some groups work on craft. Our group is more focussed on business. But, you need to answer to someone other than yourself.
Keep Auditioning
Auditions matter. Sure it’s great when you are on rosters and clients hire you without auditions, bur how do yhou expect to get new clients and new bookings? I once heard Bob Bergen, world renowned voice of Porgy Pig say the audition is the job. He talked about how he gets up in the 5 o’clock hour to begin his day so he does not miss out on any work opportunities. That was Bob Bergen, not some struggling actor no one has heard of, but one of the industry leaders talking about the importance of starting your day and getting on those submissions. Now, some voice actors like t submit more than others. I like to audition a lot and submit a lot. Others don’t. Remember, the better your booking ratio is, the more chance you have of getting more clients, all from auditioning.
Maintain the Client Relationships You Have
This should be a joy to do. These people already like you. They have already hired you. Now you simply have to keep in touch and remind them why you being there makes their life easier. Don’t let them forget that you have already done great work for them. Make sure they remember you are available. You can send follow up emails, newsletters, holiday cards, thank you notes, and try to get to know the people you work with.
Continue to Work on Your Craft
Remember, trends in voiceover shift. What was sought after five years ago is likely not en vogue today. You need to continually have your finger on the pulse of what is booking right now in all of the genres you work in. From continuing to attend conferences, to working with coaches, to on-going practice, your work on your craft in voice over will never end. Just as doctors and lawyers must attend conferences and professional development work shops, so must voice actors. If you see a dip in your bookings, it is often because trends have shifted and you likely need some coaching to understand what is booking right now.
Every Friday at 2 PM Diana Birdsall and I co-host a Clubhouse in our room “Ask the VO Coaches.” I am always excited about our awesome panels, and every week I might say it’s “the best one ever,” but holy smokes was this an awesome panel! This week, just in time for your summer get-away, we talked about travel rigs and what gear you need and what you don’t need to bring with you on that much needed trip. Whether you’re going to the beach, to the mountains, or just to see family you missed during covid, we talked about it all, and we talked about it with some of the best in the field! We had George- the-tech Whittam, Dan Leonard, Dave Scott, and Rick Wasserman. So, here’s a review of some of what we chatted about in case you missed our beyond awesome chat!
My Rig
I also recommend having practical hooks in your book. I have a hook for my cans and a hook for my wires. It helps keep things neat and organized.
I also do love having Source Connect. So many clients and agents require it. I occasionally need to have support sessions, and they do offer great support from Source Connect. Again, like with Zancastr, there are no latency issues. There are, though, sometimes quirks connecting. Sometimes people are confused with how to use it. If you are not both connecting with the same sample rate, for example, you won’t connect smoothly and it will be an issue, so that all needs to be decided ahead of time.
I wish I know how important a good travel rig is. It took me five years to get my travel rig to sound as good as my home set up. That is WAY too long. If you are just starting in voice over during the pandemic, I realize it is hard to imagine actually packing up and leaving home, but when we do, the rig matters.
from the US and Canada. Our focus was on marketing, and even as a panel member, it really got my wheels turning. I could not help but think of the specificity of my recent outreach, especially in eLearning. I have worked so hard to build my business as an eLearning narrator, and I think in order to really reach prospects, you need to think about who you are working with. From the very beginning of the process through the completion of the booked work, understanding your audience is essential to success as a working female narrator in eLearning.
Social media content, across platforms, needs to have the target audience in mind as well. This can be a bit trickier, as it is harder to control who sees your posts. You can, however, try to catch the eye of a specific group of clients or prospects by being clever about your target audience. If, for example, you are posing on Instagram and you want to reach out to instructional designers, both the content you use and the tags that you include in your post matters. Another way to grab your audience is to tag influencers and professionals in that field. Quote them. Have a conversation about them. If you want to work in eLearning, you need to be part of the dialogue.
When you book an eLearning job, understanding the audience or the enduser is so important. For example, I was recently cast in a training for a local hospital: RWJ St. Barnabas, right here in NJ. It was a caller training. When I first read through the script, in my practice read, I sounded warm, gracious, and welcoming. I then re-read my roll: “Bad Caller.” I was the example of what not to do. Everything I just rehearsed had to be thrown out the window and the opposite read was needed. I was talking to the same people, but I was the example of what not to do, and I had to be the best “Bad Caller” they ever heard. Your job as an eLearning narrator is to make it obvious. They should not have had to figure out what was wrong with my phone skills, so I had to make every effort to clearly connect with the listener. Keeping the audience in mind should inform and transform every eLearning performance.
