If you follow the current public narratives surrounding A.I. in voice over, it would be easy to draw the conclusion that we're all screwed and the industry is moments away from it's final breath. Every post about A.I. is negative and often rooted in fear. But is this an accurate representation of what's actually going on in the industry? Or is the reality is a little more nuanced, and perhaps a little less doom and gloom? Bev Standing has become one of the most trusted and respected voices in...

Many voice actors dream of earning six figures annually in their business, but statistics show few actually get there. Are there variables that determine who will achieve that level of success and who won't? Does it matter where you live? What your background is? How much you've got to invest? Where you get your start? In this episode, Chris McCann shares his inspiring story of the journey from requiring food stamps to feed his family to building a thriving, successful, six figure voice over...

YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, and for the creative voice actor with a good idea and a niche audience, it offers a massive global platform you can leverage to build your brand, credibility and authority.   Too many voice actors make the mistake of thinking their marketing can only be about voice over. That all the content must be about their voice over services or their voice over work. That is simply not the case.   In this interview, YouTube expert and...

As election campaigns become more hotly contested and election ad budgets increase, there are more and more opportunities for voice actors to get a piece of the estimated $10 BILLION dollar pie. But what does it take to be a successful voice actor in the political genre? What's booking? How do you find the the work? Are there risks associated with being associated with parties or candidates? Aya Maruyama leads the political roster for Celia Siegel Management and the the VO Chateau. In this...

Where do things stand in the voice over industry? What's trending in commercial? What do we need to know to book in animation? Are the robots going to take over, and if so, is there anything we, as voice actors, can do to fight them off? Everett Oliver is a successful director, coach and mentor and in this wide-ranging interview, he speaks his truth on a number of different areas of voice over, all the while offering plenty of great tips and nuggets of wisdom that'll help you level up your...

Get some CRM pro tips from one of the original CRM pioneers! The day I learned about CRM and signed up for my trial of Nimble is the day my marketing game leveled up for good. True story! Prior to discovering CRM my database was mostly non existent, my follow-up strategy was terrible at best, and I know I was costing my voice over business money. In this episode I have the privilege of speaking with Nimble CEO Jon Ferrara. We deep dive into CRM, how it can benefit for the VOpreneur, what's...

Have you uncovered your voice over brand yet? Have you ever actually spent time trying to determine what your brand is or how you could / should brand yourself? Creating a brand can be one of the most powerful marketing tools a voice actor can give themselves because once you have a clearly defined brand, it becomes even easier to tell people about yourself, your business and what you have to offer. Enter Celia Siegel... branding guru to the voice over community. In this episode we talk about...

It's no secret that I'm a reader. I often talk about and share about the books I'm reading. But Steven Blair wanted to know more. How did I choose my books? Where do I find them? We even talk about what I'm reading now, and how I take what I'm learning and apply it to my voice over business. BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Shoe Dog - https://amzn.to/44xVHjEEdison - https://amzn.to/3sx8xl7The Snowball - https://amzn.to/3YSMgtWTheodore Roosevelt Trilogy - https://amzn.to/3PeOv6HAfter Steve -...

As summer draws to a close and we're into the second half of the year, now is a good time to start thinking about how you're going to finish the year strong. Are there strategies you can start deploying now to help you have a successful fourth quarter? What can you do to prepare for the holiday season and how that impacts voice over. Anna Lawrence had questions about Q4 and marketing strategy and that's what we dive into in this episode. * For Summer Series 2023, I'm inviting voice actors...

Are there easy ways to determine whether or not a potential voice over lead is worth reaching out to, of it's a lead that's better to just pass on? That's what Woody Scott wants to know. What signs and clues can we look for to help ensure our marketing efforts are as effective and efficient as possible? I offer up five different criteria to consider when trying to determine whether or not it's worth it to contact a particular lead. * For Summer Series 2023, I'm inviting voice actors onto the...

Growing a voice over business is all about scale, and part of scaling a business is learning to scale time. The easiest way to do this is through outsourcing. Hiring out aspects of your business that need to get done, but you, as the talent, don't specifically have to do. But how do you decide what to outsource? That's the question Mary Anne Ivison has, and that's the question that gets answered in this episode. * For Summer Series 2023, I'm inviting voice actors onto the show to ask one...

Social media can feel very overwhelming. With so many platforms to choose from, so many different content mediums to consider (photo, video, text, etc...) and FOMO that if you're not everywhere, you're missing out on voice over opportunities and work. In this episode, Moose Warywoda wanted to talk social media and was little for a little help with building a strategy that would work for his marketing efforts and fit into his overall plan for social media usage. So that's what we did. I know...

The more you understand how social media algorithms work, the better shot you've got at getting your content in front of more people organically... in theory anyway! In this episode Brandon Miller wants to discuss a strategy he's heard about for gaming the algorithm with an end goal of increasing reach and engagement. The question is... does the strategy work? Does it play within the rules of the LinkedIn algorithm? Listen to find out how it all works, and if this strategy is the one that...

Hindsight, as they say, is 20/20. With the perspective granted by hindsight, it's always interesting to take a look back into the past. Are there things you'd do differently? Lessons you wished you'd learn sooner? Decisions you might go in another direction on? That's the question Anton Hill wanted to ask me. If I could go back to the beginning of my voice over career and have a "do over," what, if anything would I do differently? I offered a few different suggestions in this episode. * For...

It's really easy to spend a lot of money when you're starting and growing a voice over business. Some investments are obvious. You need great coaching, great demos, a great studio and a great website. Outside of some of those necessary items, what's the next best investment a voice actor can make in their voice over business? That's the question Terry Briscoe wanted to get answered, and I had two responses for him. Two things I wish I had learned about sooner so I could've invested in them...

Marketing during the summer can feel like a real slog, and for some, even a waste of time. It's frustrating when you put in the effort to send marketing emails to new leads as well as prospects and customers only to get a vacation notice auto-responder in return. That auto-responder is actually gift! Ally Murphy wanted to know if it was worth it to market in the summer, and in this episode I offer up a couple of tips that can make summer marketing absolutely worth your effort. * For Summer...

Has this happened to you... you're sending voice over marketing emails and you reach out to a company. You get a response and that response says, "I'll forward your info to my colleague who is responsible for hiring voice actors?" Great. Now what are you supposed to do? Is there even anything you can do? Or do you just sit back, wait, and hope for the best? That's the question Francis Cox wanted answered, and I dig into it in this episode. * For Summer Series 2023, I'm inviting voice actors...

AI isn't really coming anymore. It's already here and it's disrupting everything. Not just voice over. How much of a disruption remains to be seen. How long that disruption takes to have a major impact on the industry also remains to be seen. In the meantime, what's a voice actor to do? How can we prepare ourselves and protect ourselves so that in five years, we can still be operating a successful and thriving voice over business? That's the question on the mind of James Brown and I do my...

After over a decade running a voice over business full-time, I've definitely had some moments where I look back with the benefit of hindsight and see things I wish I had done differently. Part of the reason I host this podcast is to help voice actors coming up avoid the mistakes I made when I was getting started. In this episode, Shane Elsberry asks his most pressing question, "What's the biggest mistake you made in your voice over business, and what did you do to correct it?" * For Summer...

Nobody gets excited about sending marketing emails. This is not news. I mean, honestly, we'd all rather be in the booth recording. But the reality is, if you want to get to the booth, it's going to happen because you're sending emails. In this Summer Series episode, Marco Rigazio wants to talk about avoiding distraction, keeping focus and finding motivation to actually #DoTheThing day in and day out. * For Summer Series 2023, I'm inviting voice actors onto the show to ask one voice over...

Do your email marketing long enough and there will come a point when you've got a growing list of prospects that becomes harder and harder to keep up with. So what's the strategy? How do you do it? How do you keep regular contact with all your prospects and clients and still keep those touches personalized? That's the question Victoria Riley wanted to ask and get answered, so that's what we cover in this Summer Series 2023 episode. * For Summer Series 2023, I'm inviting voice actors onto the...

Do you have a button on your voice over website that says, "Contact Me?" If so, you're not alone. Ever since the invention of the internet and Netscape, websites have used a "Contact Me" button as their primary call to action. The thing is, it really isn't a clear CTA. In this episode I explain the importance of the call to action, why it matters so much to your website and I offer five different CTA's you can try and use on your own site that should help drive even more...

When done correctly, email marketing can be one of the most effective ways of growing your voice over business. Using this free tool everyday to add new people into your marketing pipeline, and ensuring new people are hearing your demos daily is a big part of it. You also need to have a strategy for follow-up to ensure people don't forget you. That's where many VO's fall short... they give up too soon because they're worried about being annoying.  In this episode I'm going to help you get...

A blindspot is by it's very name, something you can't see. When you think about it in terms of driving a car, it's something that you can't see that's actually right beside you. In our voice over businesses, we have blindspots. We have things we're too close to. Opportunities that are right in front of our faces, but unless someone on the outside points them out to us, we'll miss them. In this episode I share a recent experience with one of my own blindspots and what I did to solve it. I hope...

When it comes to AI and voice over, I think we have two choices. We can fear it and run from it, or we can embrace it and leverage it. I'm choosing to do the latter. Looking for ways I can embrace AI to help me be more creative and more productive. In this episode I chat with Mike Thomas. He's a voice actor and a digital marketer who has been using ChatGPT nearly since the beginning in a lot of interesting and creative ways. He shares plenty of great insights for how VOpreneur's can embrace...