My friend Greg Houser helps you look at your voiceover business from four key points of view in this blog post called “It might be time to take a SWOT at your VO Business.” Excellent stuff from an excellent mind.
SWOT your voiceover business
Getting started in Voiceover
A healthy corrective
This Los Angeles Times magazine article is must reading if you’ve been told “you should so voiceovers.” My thanks to my friend Dave Houston for posting the link on his blog, thus leading me to it. And now you.
How to derail yourself
OK. You probably don’t actually want to know how to derail your voiceover business. But, maybe it’s work thinking about whether there are some traps into which you’ve fallen that aren’t helping you. In that case, take a few minutes to check out my friend and mentor Philip Banks and his latest blog post on Voiceover Universe. It’s called The ten top traps Voice Overists love to put their feet in. It’s well worth a couple of minutes of your time.
Your voiceover business
Harlan Hogan is a voice actor with a long and distinguished career. Whether you recognize his name for the moment isn’t critically important, because if you click through on the link I’ll give you in a moment, you’ll find out everything you need to know about Harlan, and more.
I mention his name today because he’s about to launch a class on the business of voiceover. No performance evaluations. Just business. And of all the people I’ve meet in voiceover work Harlan is, in my estimation, at the very top in his understanding of the business of voiceover. The classes are going to take place 2 nights each week in the month of May 2009.
You’ll find all the details at The Voiceover Class site.
By the way, if you decide to join me in signing up for this course, and you put a comment in the “comments box” of the registration form mentioning that you learned about the course from me, I will receive a commission. Your price doesn’t change one penny. And of course, if you don’t want me to get the commission, don’t mention me in the comment box of the registration form. Either way, I think this class is going to be tremendously valuable.
Again the web site to learn all about and sign up for this 4 week, 8 session class on the business of voiceover taught by Harlan Hogan is The Voiceover Class.
4 weeks of training with Harlan Hogan
I’ve just learned that in May of this year Harlan Hogan is planning to conduct a 4 week (two 2-hour lessons per week) teleseminar series called “Starting Your Voiceover Business: Everything you need to know to turn your sideline into a full-time career.” It’s going to be totally focused on the business/career side of the equation. No performance coaching.
That’s about all I know at the moment, but I’ll be sure to pass along more details as I learn them.
(edited to fix typos)
What are some mistakes to avoid?
Don’t miss David Goldberg‘s exellent article at Voice Over Xtra about mistakes many voice talents make. Lots of wisdom here.
Teleseminar coming up with Nancy Wolfson
With recent discussions of downturn and a flurry of fear in the swirl these days, it is all too easy to feel helpless.
When that feeling pounces, I have 3 points of advice:
BE GRATEFUL, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY, GET PRODUCTIVELY PROACTIVE
• Be grateful this business has changed to allow those with top skills the power to access to national and international job opportunities without having to move to the pricey major markets. Honor your foresight – you have chosen to pursue a career that is moving forward with technology, not being replaced by it.
• Take responsibility: Whenever I got in scuffles with friends as a kid, and I’d whine, “Yeah, well SHE started it!” my mom would yell back, “I don’t care who started it, YOU FINISH IT.” Maybe you got yourself in over your head with a house you couldn’t afford, maybe, like me, you are horrible at playing the stock market, or maybe unfortunate things have befallen you or your family that were beyond your control. Now is the time to BAIL OUT YOURSELF. It’s hard to strategize a life plan in the midst of demanding tasks that need to be done for someone ELSE’S company. Now might be the first quiet moment you’ve had in years to be thankful for the lack of distraction so you can focus on creating a new map for a new career and invest in developing a BETTER YOU.
• ARE YOU PROCRASTINATING OR ADDING VALUE?
Have you written your “25 Things” on Facebook but not a list of 25 Tangible Goals To Achieve by June 1?
Have you been Friend Requesting other VO talents but not UPDATING YOUR SKILLS?
With all the talk of failed financial investments, I’ve never before seen such an abundance of wasted time.
Time is the most precious and irreplaceable thing we have, and wasting it is worse than wasting money.
And investing smartly in your time can yield amazing financial returns.
This teleseminar on February 25, 2009 aims to help you do just that.
Join Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino on February 25th 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific for Acting for Advertising Part 8.
This is not a sequel. Each of these Teleseminars reveals a chapter from Nancy’s core curriculum, useful Q and A from your peers, plus more marketing and business tips that you can put to use immediately.
Each moment offers unique “behind the velvet rope of the agency/casting scene” advice not available anywhere else.
60 minute lecture, 15 min QandA…so bring your questions and notebooks!
Just $39 gets you on the call. Go to www.breakintovoiceover.com to sign up.
A free teleseminar on recording voiceovers at home or on the road
Dan O’Day is going to do a free teleseminar with Harlan Hogan and Jeffrey Fisher to answer your questions about how you can setup for and record voiceovers at home or while you’re traveling. The web page with the form to ask your question and sign-up for the free teleseminar is here.
By the way, if you’re wondering why you would want to ask Harlan or Jeffrey these questions, it’s because of this excellent book that they’ve written together.
So, put your question in the form, sign up to attend. It should be an excellent (and free!) resource that will be well worth your time.
Karen’s keys to confident cold calling
My friend Karen Commins has a voiceover blog you really should be reading regularly. I especially want to call your attention to her recent post about cold calling. Excellent stuff, Karen. Thank you.
So you’re thinking about starting a voiceover career?
Harlan Hogan is one of the most successful voice actors in the world today. You may not recognize his name. And if you saw his photo, you almost certainly wouldn’t recognize his face. But, you’ve heard his voice thousands of times on national television and radio commercials.
A few days ago Harlan answered questions about starting a voiceover business in a teleseminar that was promised would last until all the questions were answered. Want to know how long that was? 3 hours and 24 minutes. Actually longer. 3 hours and 24 minutes is how long the finished MP3 audio file is after editing out the unnecessary bits about how to ask a question and so forth.
For just a few days, even though you missed the teleseminar, you can get the MP3 recording of those 3 hours and 24 minutes. Click through. Read the details about the questions that were asked of Harlan Hogan. And find all the details about how to order your copy of the MP3 file.
Oh, how few days? Just until Friday.
(edited to fix typos)
Should I Start My Own Voiceover Business in 2009?
If you’re thinking about starting to work in voiceover, make a list of all the questions you can think of, and then plan to Ask Harlan Hogan directly during a live teleseminar on Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 2pm Eastern / 1pm Central / 11am Pacific.
You’ve heard Harlan Hogan’s voice, quite literally, thousands of times on national television commercials. He’s also one of the very best at finding voiceover work. This is your opportunity to ask your questions, live and unscripted, about how to start your own voicoever business. The only restriction on the questions you can Ask Harlan Hogan in this teleseminar is that they have to be about starting your own voiceover business.
Click through on Ask Harlan Hogan and you’ll be taken to the sign-up page with much more detail and a quick audio greeting from Harlan. Updating here. I neglected to mention that the teleseminar registration fee is $49.
Free teleseminar on auditioning
James Alburger and Penny Abshire are holding a free teleseminar on auditioning.
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- Learn how to handle the three basic types of auditions
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- Slating your audition for maximum impact
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- What should (and should not) be on your audition
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- Offering alternative reads
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- Two simple questions to ask that will help your audition stand out from the rest
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- Recommendations for “working” your auditions
- And much, much, more
Registration details are on their VoiceActing web site.
Solid gold audiobook advice from Scott Brick
For lo these many days (weeks, months, uh, long time anyway) Scott Brick has been threatening/promising to write a blog post about how to get into audiobook narration work. Behold, he keeps his promise with a fresly minted post on his blog.
Are you thinking about starting a voiceover business of your own?
The business of You, Inc.
You’ll find a challenging, through-provoking article in the Holdon Log article archives with that simple title: The Business of… You, Inc. Though the article is clearly intended for actors of all kinds, there’s a lot of gold here for voice actors; most especially because we all need to consider the real answer to this question posed at the begining of the article.
“Do you have a performing business
or a performing hobby?”
Once you’ve answered the question, take a few minutes to read the article. Now, ask the question again. Has your answer changed?
Holdon Log publishes an online program called Performer Track. I’m sure this article was written, at least in part, to encourage folks to subscribe to their software. Whether you do or not is entirely up to you. I’ve been using it for over a month now and I find the ability to keep track of not just my booked projects (obviously I always kept track of them in my accounting software) but also my auditions, and to see which book is extremely helpful in taking an ever more professional and business-like approach to my voiceover business.
In the interests of full disclosure I’ll mention here that Holdon Log provided me with 6 months of service on Performer Track specifically so that I could review the program for them. But, I’m very seriously thinking about continuing as a paying customer after my 6 months ends because of how valuable I’m finding the program. Yes, the reporting features aren’t fully implemented yet. And there are a few things I really wish were there. Most especially the ability to sync the calendar with my Google calendar and my Palm Treo Pro. Or to import at least a selected subset of my many professional contacts. But, overall I’m very impressed.
While the year is still young, more good thoughts
Bob Fraser is a man I quote often in this blog, mainly because he has so much valuable things to say that apply to all performers including voice actors. In light of my last post, here are some more good thoughts, from Bob’s Show Biz Blog, to guide you in these early days of 2009.
(edited to fix typo)
Rodney Saulsberry vocal warm-ups part 2
Some time ago I linked to a fabulous video by Rodney Saulsberry that included some superb vocal warms. He’s back with another even more.
Wow! Now I need someone to untangle my tongue.
How important is a good voice for voiceover work?
From time to time I get emails from people interested in getting started in voiceover. Sometimes the emails come from the interested party, sometimes from a loved one. For example, a mom wrote some time ago asking for help for her son because she thought voiceover work was something he could do well. And the other day I received a note from a lady who wrote to say that her husband has a really good voice and she wanted to know what he would need to do to help him get started.
Here are 4 observations in response to these questions that come my way from time to time.
1. In spite of what you may think, successful voice acting careers are not built on the “voice.” In other words, it’s not about how nice your voice is or how many compliments you’ve received about your voice. Success in voice acting has everything to do with how well you can deliver the story, the message, that your clients hire you to deliver.
2. It’s for the above reason that professional coaching is imperative. Without a foundation of solid voice acting instruction you have virtually no chance of making any money in voice acting. Even with solid coaching, you stand only a very slight chance. There are quite literally thousands of people every day who decide “I’m going to be a voice actor” and yet never make any money at it.
3. Yes, I’m trying to be discouraging. You have to want this. Really want it. And be willing to spend quite a bit of time, effort and money to get ready before you make dime one. A realistic estimate would be 6 to 12 months, a significant amount of money (figure at least $5,000, possible much more). And a great deal of work.
4. Assuming you read over the above and want to press forward go to www.breakintovoiceover.com and order the first of the MP3 teleseminar files that you’ll find there. It’s called “Your Voice Over Business.” Everything you really need to know to get started is in that hour and 45 minute recording. (If you’re really serious and can afford it, take advantage of the special deal they have on the full library, but ONLY do that if you can afford to spend nearly $300 right now.)
(post edited for greater clarity and accuracy)
A voiceover learning opportunity coming to Detriot
Teri Clark Linden has teamed up with Sherri Berger for 2 days of voiceover training in Detroit, Michigan. Saturday and Sunday, May 2 and 3, 2009 are the dates. Details about times and locations along with registration information are available at Teri’s web site.
I have it on good authority
As in, I received an email from them, that James and Penny are offering some significant discounts to those who sign up for their VoiceActing Academy before the end of 2008.