I’ve Been In Your Shoes
It seems like just yesterday I was just starting my own voice over career. When I was new to voiceover, I, like you, had questions about everything from technique to gear. I had so much to learn, I was not sure where to begin. Coming from an academic background, my inclination was to research, but finding the coach that was the right fit for my vast VO goals was a goal in and of itself. If you look at my resume, it reads like a “Who’s Who” of the best of VO. I’ve coached with Anne Ganguzza, Bill DeWees, Nancy Wolfson, J. Michael Collins, Eric Romanowski, Dave Walsh, and the list goes on. You might be thinking, why has this gal worked with so many coaches? Well, there are three reasons: At different points in your career you need different things. And, coaches have varying areas of expertise. Lastly, voice over, like many other professions, is a field for career-long learning.
Now, as a long-established full-time professional talent and working coach myself, Diana Birdsall and I have teamed up and started a Clubhouse room called “Ask the VO Coaches”
where we can have a weekly dialogue where people who are walking on the same path can now have a trusted space to pose their questions. Last week on Clubhouse Diana and I talked about finding a VO Coach that is right for you. Here are some of the issues that we considered:
Vetting Coaches
During our Clubhouse panel last week, Diana and I were excited to have Randy Thomas and Dan Friedman as guests. Both established voice talents and coaches like us. We discussed the group classes and conferences are great ways to test the waters and see if a voice over coach is the right fit for you. You should consider things like their demeanor and philosophy. See if you can get a sense of their methodology. What is their approach to studying voiceover like?
What Questions You Should Ask
- You should ask voice over coaches about their policies. For instance, do they require 24 hours notice for cancellation or are they flexible?
- Do they provide the scripts? Some coaches plan the lessons and provide scripts, others expect you to find your own scripts. I always provide scripts, but this is not standard, it really does vary and if you don’t want to go digging you should ask. Or, conversely, if you want to control the material, you should ask.
- How do they know what you are ready to go to demo? Not all coaches produce demos. I do work with an amazing demo team, and I do not send my students to demo until their reads are repeatedly bookable.
- Do they offer a free consultation? This is very common and is a great way to see if you are a good fit. Do they offer a consultation for demos? This is very helpful as well.
What Guarantees Can They Offer
None. That’s it. You can do everything right. You can have an amazing demo. No one can promise you work. Voice over is hard. It is a grind. It takes hours of commitment and sacrifice and more determination than you can measure. If you have demo producers promising you the starts you should run for the hills. There are no guarantees and anyone that suggests that there are should not be trusted. Gabby Nistico, another amazing coach who I know as an industry friend, has a video about the rule of 10. She talks about how you have to put in years of effort to reap the rewards. The secret is there is no secret.
A Coach Should Make You Better
At the end of the day, you know where you are when you start. You should know how you learn. A good coach should bring
out the best in you and push you. For example, I respond well to positive reinforcement. I do not respond well to criticism, harsh feedback, sarcasm, or cruelty. I am not the kind who can rise above to prove how awesome I am. I will, instead, just fall to pieced. It is not good. So for me, I look for a specific energy from coaches. Ultimately, I was very excited to build my VO career. Now, as a coach, when I work with students, I am trying to build a relationship with them just as I do with my clients. I want them to build a strong foundation of skills that will not disappear when they are nervous in a live session or when there is noise outside their apartment that they cannot control. I want them to hear my voice in their head cheering them on and lifting them up.
Ok, after a very enjoyable time sheltering in place with my family during the pandemic, if you asked this working mom where the first place I’d be flying to would be, I would not have guessed Dallas, TX. So, why, when we can finally go anywhere, am I using my coveted Amex points to travel in style to Dallas (not that there is anything wrong with Dallas, but we can all agree it ain’t Paris.)? Well, J. Michael Collins and his mazing team are hosting the 
If I could shout it from the roof tops, I would. I would not be where I am today without my VO Powerhouse as we call ourselves. My beloved accountability group includes me, Diana Birdsall, Kim Handysides, Michelle Blenker, and Shelley Avellino. In our panel called “Build a Badass VO Career With a Powerhouse Accountability Group,” we will help you consider why you need one and how to create one that will help your career the way our accountability group has helped ours. I don’t know where I would be without these amazing women who life me up, inspire me, and have helped me be my best self every day. Sitting on a conference panel with them is an honor and a dream come true and you can find us on Saturday, August 28th at 3:50 PM in Room 2.
I am really excited to be a part of this amazing panel! First of all, to share a stage with Randy Thomas, Joe Cipriano, AJ McKay (who by the way did my main Radio Imaging demo), Brent Williams, and Scott Cartwright is like a dream come true. My path as a female radio imaging voice was different than most. I did not come to radio imaging from a career in radio. Rather, I learned about it from one of J. Michael Collins’ webinars and fell in love! Because of the energy and the vibe, this genre is perfect for me. I look forward to talking about the ups and downs of my journey and how I’ve worked hard to grow the radio imaging side of my business over the years. When I look at the other panelists, I know that my path into imaging was different than theirs. While I may not be as well-known or famous in the industry as they are, I believe I offer the perspective on how a regular professional voice talent can build an imaging career. This panel is Saturday, August 28th, at 5:30 in Room 1.
As part of the joy of coming to One Voice USA, my demo partner Dave Scott ( of All Systems Go AV) and I really want to give something back to the voice over community. Dave and I will both be attending the conference in person, and we will give out postcards with the demo giveaway rules at One Voice. If you are a working, professional voice actor, and you take a picture with either one of us or both of us and post it on instagram and tag the conference and both of us, you will be eligible for a free video demo! It can be EITHER a commercial demo OR a narration demo, and it includes both a video version, an MP3 version, the planning session, and the necessary prep sessions! After a year in, we are very excited to meet more of the community and we thought this video demo giveaway is an awesome way to celebrate our coming back together!
I realized this year when my son had to do a rather grueling elimination diet that he hates when I say journey. Whether it is related to food, weight loss, his college search… it doesn’t matter. He hates if I say journey. I think it doesn’t resonate with him. He still thinks that where he is going, the end result, is the most important thing. As a mom of twins, I can say that I have learned I seldom end up where I thought I would. As a professional voice actor, I can say that this career path is for sure a journey and the opportunities that have unfolded since I started my career never cease to amaze me. The combination of passion and hard work seem to result in a delightful array of unexpected options, many of which I never anticipated. 
When I was in my mid 30s I decided to start my voice over business. I had to work with coaches all over the world to build my credentials. I needed tech training to learn to edit my audio. I had to build my studio. When I say I started then, I came to the industry with no experience. I never did school plays. I never did on-camera work. I took a leap of faith and invested in myself. I plunged in whole heartedly and the only option was to succeed. For six months before my business launched, I spent all day, every day, practicing and preparing. That is how my journey began. You might think that this was an easy choice? While my husband was extremely supportive, many in my family seemed to question my choices. Whether they outwardly remarked about my shift from a career in education to voice over or my snide remarks about how I could so easily “not use my degrees,” I understood the message. They questioned my choice to segue
When I began my business, I understood that it was just that: a business. As a working creative, I wear many hats: mom, voice actor, voice over coach, demo producer, but always business owner. Over the years I’ve had to think a lot about my practices and policies. I’ve had to think about how the business choices I make inform the relationships I’m building. As I had a liberal arts education that focuses on Political Science and History, I really knew very little about business when I launched. Even though I am surrounded by a family of lawyers, I did not want to constantly rely on others for guidance. I have taken multiple classes to bolster my business and marketing knowledge. This has been very fulfilling. I enjoy all on-going professional development, but my learning in this area has been very valuable. Whether from a class, a conference, or a webinar, I am proud of the confidence I have in my choices. I also try to read continually about business released topics. This part of my journey has been a true joy.
I will say, that as a working mom, I am extremely thankful to be in voice over. Even as I write this blog, my dogs are sitting on either side of me. Often, I am able to take breaks from recording to have snacks with my kids or go for walks. Some days I schedule my coaching so that I can go to pick them up from school, other days my husband does it. As a working mom, voice over seems like the perfect fit.
From both sides of the mic, as both a professional voice over actor and a voice over coach, I can tell you that how the demo session goes effects how the demo turns out. You’re investing a lot into the demo: time, money, effort. The demo should be nothing short of amazing, and the key to having an amazing demo, is an amazing demo session.
Let me share two experiences that happened in the past week. Last week, I heard from an Indie Video Game producer that I worked with in 2016. They were offering me the same role I played then. I had detailed notes in my CRM that they needed a discount as they were trying to launch the game with a kickstarter campaign. When I quoted them this time a normal, mid-range rate, they came back to me saying they were shocked that my rated had gone up. They went on to say that the five other talents had agreed to the rate they offered and they wanted to pay everyone the same. I referred them to the GVAA rate guide, which I will discuss later, and reminded them of the terms of 2016. They came up to my rate for me and for the other talents.
Imagine a scenario where we all just stopped negotiating. Let’s say a client offers $200 for two TV commercials with no mention of the length of usage, and instead of trying to negotiate, sort out the details, and explain why buy outs don’t work for us, we all just said “sure.” The implications would be staggering. The clients, then, would assume there is nothing wrong with this sweat shop pay, and would assume that our years of coaching and on-going professional development, that our expensive studio equipment, that the service we provide, that none of it has value, and that the can continue to lower and lower the rates. Where will it end? How low will they go? I shudder at the thought, and fear that if we are not willing to walk away, these bargain basement rates will become more and more common. You must know your worth and be willing to stand up for it.
This weekend, on a glorious Saturday morning, I was walking my dogs around our block. I was looking at the Cherry blossoms and lilacs in bloom, and thinking about how even though I had some editing to do and a coaching lesson to plan, I had so much time that day. Time to enjoy with my husband. Time to enjoy with my kids. One of my nieces was in from Toronto and was coming to visit. Weekends are precious for working moms, because even if we still have some work to do, we can revel in the joy of the freedom that the weekend typically brings.
If your goal is to build a successful, thriving business in voice over and earn a consistent, sustainable income, working long hours is the only way to do this. There is no magic bullet or secret sauce. According to Jennifer Cohen’s article in Forbes, James Cash Penny, better known as the founder of JC Penny, once said, “Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average man, you are just not cut out for positions at the top.”
Every single week I schedule at least two pilates sessions. I find that in addition to keeping me fit, they help me to relax as well. Jennifer Cohen explains the connection between fitness and success in Forbes: