The pandemic lit a fire in many of us. It reminded us of our mortality, causing many of us to unearth dreams and talents we buried underneath a mound of adult duties and practicalities.
For the first time, we didn’t just see ourselves differently – for the first time, we saw ourselves and, also for the first time, we valued what we saw. Suddenly, our stressors and priorities had to make room for something that brought us hope, fulfillment, and maybe even a little joy. Now fueled by this new-born desire to live before we die, we started businesses, re-joined orchestras and choirs, and went back to school. We found ourselves no longer taking our tomorrows for granted. COVID started this….. and the world will never be the same.
This push caused many of us to think (once again) about launching into voice over work. Am I talking to you? Not sure? Do people always told you that you would be great as a voice over artist? Have you always been asked whether you have experience on the stage? Or have you ever been asked to record a quirky voice message for a friend?
Are you tired of wondering whether you could actually make it as a voice actor? Are you wondering what you need to know or what you need to have in place?
I’M SO GLAD YOU ASKED!! Here’s a non-exhaustive list of things to do, know, or have in place to get you started…
1. COUNT THE COST….
One of the first things you need to know before jumping into the voiceover industry is how much money you absolutely have to spend. An award-winning voiceover artist explained some more affordable equipment that would get me started.
Here’s a short list of basics of the equipment he encouraged me to buy. It’s not the best of the best. But when you’re getting starting, it’s a good start:
Microphone: RODE NT1A is a large diaphragm condenser microphone. It sells on Amazon for about $220.
Headphones: Sony MDR 7506 sells on Amazon for about $87.
Interface: Presonus Audio box on Amazon for about $100.
Sound blanket: I know – you’re thinking, ‘I have blankets!!!’ But this is no ordinary blanket. This blanket will turn what Anthony Pica would call a “Hobo Fort” into an at-home studio. It sells for about $82 also on Amazon.
2. ….BUT WATCH YOUR WALLET
This is where things get interesting. Now that you know what you have to spend, your mission is to figure out how to hold onto as much of your money as you possibly can.
The sobering reality is that in every industry, there’s a hustle. Yes, even in the VO industry, there are businesses and people whose sole calling in your life will be to separate you from your money.
Do they set out to do that? Absolutely not! People who open gyms don’t (generally) open gyms so that they can rip people off. But they quickly realize that for every 50 people who join their gym and see results in reaching their fitness goals, there are 250 more people, right behind them who will pay for a gym membership and then never return for the first workout. These people quietly believe that because it’s January 1, or because they are paying for a membership, they are absolutely going to see the results they want.
The same thing happens in the voice over industry. We VO artists spend thousands on companies for a demo and some marketing strategies. It sounds like a wise expenditure of money. We might even call it an investment.
But the truth is that most of the time we end up being hustled because we don’t see the value coming out of the deal that we put into it. Don’t let it happen to you.
3. BE SELF-DISCIPLINED (& AUDITION YOUR SOCKS OFF)!
The next pointer is self-discipline.
The truth is that we get hustled because we allow ourselves to secretly believe that we can substitute money for work. That sounds harsh, doesn’t it? OK, maybe that’s not what we believe. Maybe we believe that by forking over large quantities of money, we will magically receive the discipline and work ethic necessary to execute on our goals. Or maybe we think that the money we are handing over is an offering to the god of Luck, who will send Opportunity to knock on our door with all our dreams wrapped up in a bow.
Let’s be frank. There can be no substitute for discipline and self-motivation. Discipline is the one good hustle that will actually make you money in any industry instead of costing you money. So if you happen to have $5,000 to give a demo-mill and you have the hustle to match it, go with God! (Because you will surely make the money back in no time.)
But if you lack discipline and self-motivation and if you tend to err on the side of quick fixes to accomplish your goals, you will be frustrated when things don’t work out.
The hard truth is there really is no such thing as an overnight success. Mr. or Ms. Overnight VO Success was actually up at night grinding and auditioning (sometimes 10-20 times a day) before our distraction-addicted culture stumbled upon their talent. It’s true – while we were sleeping, the “overnight success” was auditioning, having fully embraced the concept that the audition is The Job.
4. DISCONNECT YOURSELF FROM YOUR CRAFT
Next, you have to know how to disconnect your emotions from auditions and literally forget you even auditioned. I’m talking about your ability to move forward despite the fact that you think you crushed that last audition and should now stop and wait for the client to call you.
Your audition is like an offering. It should be your best work. But once you have offered it, no matter how good you think you were, you have got to let it go and keep auditioning. This is important because it protects you from the one thing that gnaws at our hope and confidence the most – that thing is called discouragement.
When you keep auditioning, forcing yourself to forget about your last magnificent audition, you will guard your heart from discouragement because it helps you forget what lies behind and press towards the next challenge.
5. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
Needless to say, it is always important to stay humble. No one likes to be around a self-absorbed performing artist. Nevertheless, in order to get into the voiceover industry, you MUST have confidence in yourself and your own talent and you MUST know how to encourage yourself. You don’t have time to call a friend every time you need support (and neither do they).
Learning how to encourage and affirm yourself will help you stay productive and keep you outperforming the artists who only perform when they’re inspired or in the right mood swing.
Positive self-talk also requires that you take an inventory on the almost silent yet lethal narrative that often plays in the back of our minds. This narrative challenges, and even bullies our new-found courage, causing us to wonder, “Who do you think you are??!” It’s important to realize this voice is there and to know how to silence it. You can affirm yourself until you’re blue in the face. But if your mind’s default setting has you programmed to believe a lie, there will be very little you can do to escape that limiting belief.
6. KNOW YOUR WHY
Before you get into voiceover, you have to know your goals and you must know why you are jumping in. If your only goal is to have fun, or to have an expensive and time-consuming hobby – great! When the discouragement comes, it should be easy to quit.
But if you have decided that you would like to be able to take your family out for a meal once in a while, that might be a nice motivator. Alternatively, if you love empowering people with your voice and would find yourself doing that whether or not you are paid, and you would love to be the voice of the overlooked and unseen underdog, there will be very little you can do to escape that as a calling and purpose for your voice over career. Things like these don’t push us from behind, they pull us forward like a magnet, and being able to remember them helps us navigate hardship and opposition much more easily.
7. DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS
This is actually a life skill. It is true of all of us in the arts, in entrepreneurship, and everywhere we go in life – we must learn how to shut down the noise and focus on developing ourselves. In this industry, it’s very easy to look around yourself in dismay. When we do that, as John Maxwell has said, we compare our worst to others’ best. We all need training. But there is a sound that is uniquely ours. Just as we should celebrate and honor other voice actors’ unique giftings, we should celebrate our own.
8. FIND YOUR VOICE AND CHERISH IT
Your voice print is unlike anyone else’s in the universe. There’s nobody else with a voice exactly like it. That, in and of itself, is such an awesome gift!! Along with certain unique gifts and talents, you are a one-of-a-kind package.
Does that mean that you should rely entirely on your talent, believing that someone will discover you without any effort on your part? Definitely not. But it does mean that what you have, what you carry, and what you offer have never been seen before and will never be seen again after you’re gone.
Does that scare you a little? It should. Because there is a mandate that came with the package called YOU, and it’s important that you find out what it is and live it out completely (or at least as much as possible) before you die. So if you have been putting yourself down or even just doubting yourself, be encouraged to lighten up on yourself. Do the work to find your voice and develop it. And when you have done that, be sure to guard it well. It is worth it. And so are you.
