GETTING STARTED IN VOICEOVER How to make it as a ​ voice actor today Table of Contents page page page page page 3 6 9 17 25 Introduction What Voiceover Can Do The $15,000 Message How You Can Do VO What You Can Do to Get For You Started Today | 2 Is This Guide for You? Introduction Voiceover Has Changed My Life Thank you for downloading ​ ​This guide will walk you through the Is This Guide for steps you need to take to make it in this guide! If you’ve never the world of voiceover today. I’ll show You? performed a professional you how to get the training you need, how to utilize networking to get jobs, voiceover before, but want to and how to market yourself to your know what it’s all about, this ideal clients. In short, I’ll help you to guide is for you. start making money with your voice. ​What this guide will not do is make ​Maybe your friends all tell you you you a good voice actor. Only a good have a great voice. Maybe you can coach and/or really good training can do a cajillion accents and want to do that. But I will give you some good know if you can use it for more than recommendations for coaches and impressing friends at parties. Maybe other resources that will help to you just heard that voiceover is a develop your voice acting skills. cool way to make money from home, and you’re looking for a change. A great voiceover marketing strategy won’t do you any good without the skills to back it up . | 4 Voiceover Changed My Life ​In 2015, my little family packed up a Voiceover is what made all of ​ travel trailer and took a five-month family adventure road trip. We visited this possible. places we had never seen before and met up with people we hadn’t seen in over a decade. My daughter got to play on the beach, go sailing, and explore Yosemite. She learned to walk in Seattle and showed off her new skill with old friends at Glacier National Park in Montana. | 5 Voiceover is Not a Get Rich What Quick Industry You’re Only Limited by the Amount of Work You’re Voiceover Can Willing to Put In Do For You ​I am genuinely giddy about sharing ​Now, before I get into what you’ll Voiceover is Not a with you how to get started in the learn in this guide, let’s talk about voiceover industry because of what it what this guide isn’t. This guide is not Get Rich Quick has done for me and my family. It has a get rich quick plan. In fact, you’ll given us the freedom to travel and to hear “practice” and “training” Industry pursue work that we truly enjoy. reiterated here as the keys to your Voiceover isn’t for everyone. It voiceover success. That said, I requires a lot of hard work and replaced my day job income after unique skills. But if you are interested only four months doing voiceover part in pursuing voiceover, or just want to time. So I do have some proven check it out to see if it’s right for you, strategies to get your career moving I am rooting for you. fast once your skills are at a competitive level. But if your main goal in reading this guide is to make a lot of money really fast, there are To make it as a voice paths other than voice acting that actor, you have to truly would be much more satisfying for love it you. I replaced my day job income after only four months doing voiceover part time I have some proven strategies to get your career moving fast once your skills are at a competitive level | 7 You’re Only Limited by the Amount of Work You’re I went from being totally Willing to Put In unaware of voiceover to getting signed with one of the nation’s top agencies in under a year ​I have been voice acting since ​I went from being totally unaware of ​If you’re ready to jump in with both August of 2014, and I went full time voiceover to getting signed with one feet and do the hard work of in November of that year. As of the nation’s top agencies in under becoming a working voice actor, get someone who fast-tracked it to full a year. If you have been around the ready to be blown away by what you time status, I have a TON of insight VO (voiceover) world for a while, will accomplish. If you’re not quite to offer on how to break into the you’re already ahead of where I was there yet and just want to check it out industry today. I have learned from when I started training. and see if voiceover is right for you, seasoned voice actors and coaches, that’s good too! You’re one step as well as developed my own ​It took me four months to get to a closer to knowing if this could be the business strategy to quickly become point in my voiceover career where I next career move or fun hobby for competitive with the top voice actors could safely quit my job to pursue VO you. working today. If you’re new to the full-time, and I jam-packed those four world of voice acting and think you months with hours and hours of are too “raw” to make it in this study, practice and on-the-job industry, be encouraged. training. | 8 How I Got Into This Biz The Day I Quit My Job The $15,000 Progress Provides What It’s Like Being Full Motivation Time My First Job Marketing Has Changed Message Things The $15,000 Message ​One day in July of 2014, I got in my ​As far as I knew, she was the only How I Got Into This car for my 45-minute commute to voiceover coach in the world. And work. I put on a new podcast I had very contrary to my nature, I bought a Biz never listened to before and coaching session on her site without prepared for morning traffic. About ever speaking to her or researching half-way through the podcast other alternatives. This was one of episode, something hit me. The the best decisions I ever made. episode was an interview with Alyson Steel, a professional voiceover artist. ​After my one-hour $150 consultation with Alyson (whom I now ​I had never heard of voice acting affectionately refer to as Aly), I before, but her interview intrigued decided voiceover was worth a shot me. I had just had a baby girl in April, for me. I recorded a makeshift demo and I was desperate to be able to that night on my podcasting stay home and spend more time with equipment, signed up for an You can make money her and my husband. You can make auditioning site, Voices.com, and from home – just by money from home, just by talking into started auditioning my face off. I hired talking into a a microphone? I thought. I had to Aly to coach me regularly. I became microphone?! look into this. At the end of the obsessed. I devoured every bit of episode, Alyson said she offered voiceover information I could voiceover coaching. assimilate. I listened to podcasts, read books and blogs, and I practiced. | 10 Progress Provides Motivation ​Voices.com is a website that will send voiceover auditions that match your The more you push voice profile to your inbox for a fee (a pay-to-play site). They were having a yourself, the better special where you could join for $9.99 for the first month. I thought what the results you’ll see heck, and I joined. I set a goal to submit ten auditions/day. This meant that after my ten-hour work day, I would come home, make dinner, spend some time with my husband and daughter, and then hit the studio (or in our case, guest bedroom). I had a lot of late nights auditioning, but it wasn’t long before I started making the shortlist for some of the jobs I was auditioning for. On Voices.com you can tell because your audition gets a thumbs up, or a “like.” This motivated me even more, and I continued to research, to practice and to audition. | 11 My First Job ​I checked my iPhone constantly, ​On September 22, five days later, I As I left for work I whispered to Derek, “I got a job. waiting to see if I had gotten any got a message indicating I had been $450.” He just smiled. more likes or, fingers crossed, an awarded another job. $150. That actual job. Then, on Wednesday same day I received an inquiry about September 17 at 2:41 in the morning, an ongoing e-learning project. I didn’t my phone dinged. I had gotten a know who the job was for at the time, message on Voices.com. I got a job. but it was potential ongoing work, so I The job was for a two-minute case thought it would be great if it worked presentation video for a company in out. The next day, I got one of the Denmark. I had bid $495 on the job. most important messages to date for $450 was my take home pay after my voiceover career: escrow fees.