How Voice Over Saved My Mental Health
I was in a dark place.
I had been through a series of three jobs in three years. I had largely failed at all of them. I was a single dad. I was paying my bills, but just barely, living paycheck to paycheck. Near the end, I was working for people I didn't respect. I didn't enjoy the job.
I wasn't enjoying any success at the job, and I was pretty sure I was going to be fired within a year. I was approaching 50 and I was sick of at-work politics. Sick of working for other people. Sick of working at jobs I had absolutely no passion for. I was sick of all of it, but I had no real options, no hope.
Plan A was to go back and get another sh*tty job, and there really was no plan B.
Now, just to be clear, I was not suicidal. I was moderately depressed. I loved my son, but I hated my life. I dreaded going to work every day.
But there was one bright spot, and that was voiceover. Other than my boy, it was my only source of joy.
I loved the work. I loved the creative outlet. I loved the people. I loved helping people solve their problems.
And I remember the moment vividly. I was standing right behind the loveseat. And it dawned on me. Audio and Commercial Production. Website Development. Sales and Marketing. Entrepreneurship. I had several core skill sets completely by accident, by the way, which would come in very handy in a career in voiceover.
Could I do this? Could I go full-time? I didn't know, but I was sure as hell going to find out.
Unlike almost 25 years earlier, when I made my first run at VO, the world had changed. Technology had changed. The world was different now. I could go after my own work rather than selling somebody else's work. I could sell my own.
I had had successful sales jobs when I believed in the company. Holy mackerel, if I can go after my own work, it's on now. I know I can do this.
So that was the vision. That was the plan.
Except I didn't have a real plan yet. I knew I needed better training, a better website, and better coaching tools to help me build an outreach machine.
I had to develop my messaging what to say, how to say it, and when and how to follow up. I spent six months assembling the pieces so that when I hit the ground, I hit the ground running.
But I also had a day job, one that I needed, even though I despised it. So my time to work on voiceover was super limited.
I couldn't really cold call or work during normal business hours, so I would get up at 4 a.m., and do my marketing outreach work till 6 or 7 a.m., depending on whether I had my son that week or not. I'd surreptitiously answer emails on my laptop during lunch at my day job, then after work dinner, get my son ready for bed, get him in the sack, and then do any paid work or auditions that came in return, any last emails and try to get to bed by 9 p.m. so that this was sustainable so that I could pace myself, get enough rest to do this every damn day.
Meanwhile, yes, the day job was doing its best to annihilate all of my joy. But having voiceover in my life gave me purpose. It gave me direction and focus. And it gave me maybe for the first time in my life, discipline.
Things began to change. Month after month, I began to see progress. Now, not every month was better than the month before, but most were.
And eventually, the day came. I booked an obscene amount of voiceover work in a very short amount of time, and I wrote up my two weeks’ notice and handed it in.
And let me tell you, it was the greatest day of my professional life.
Not only was I walking away from something that was soul-crushing and I absolutely hated, but I was running towards something I honestly believed I was born to do.
My life and my mental health immediately improved. I was happier. I was more focused and centered. I had a sense of self-satisfaction that I had never known. I had direction. I had purpose. I had freedom and flexibility.
Now, to be fair, I was also petrified. No steady paycheck, no company-paid benefits, no paid time off. But that just drove me every day to get the work done that I needed to get done.
Everything in my life was great. I was happy. I was healthy, and my son was happy and healthy and thriving, just as my business was.
Eventually, the pandemic hit, and I doubled down. I survived and thrived. In 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, I made more money than I did in 2019, and in 2021, I doubled that. I make more now as a freelance voice actor than I did in any job where I was an employee of someone else. And that feels amazing.
The depression was gone. And as happy as I was, and I really was happy, something was still missing. I always felt like somebody was constantly poking me with a fork, right? Like there was this constant drone of mental noise, right? I had no patience. Everything was a threat. EVERYTHING. Small problems were big and big problems were enormous.
I was easily confrontational. Hell, I once got in an online fight with Porky Pig. Bob, if you're reading this, I owe you an apology. And I had had this feeling as far back as I can remember. I think it started in high school, but I don't even know.
Someone very close to me at the time looked at me and said, "That's anxiety."
I go, "No, it's not. It's irritability." They insisted it was anxiety and insisted I get an appointment with a shrink. Turns out it was indeed anxiety and the doctor started me on treatment within a week my life changed.
The fork was gone. The noise was gone. I was more relaxed. I was more patient. I was kinder and friendlier. I was calmer and more at peace. My son noticed it immediately. Our relationship immediately improved.
Today, I'm happier and mentally healthier than ever before. And it all started with voiceover.
I tell people I live like a millionaire. Now I'm not one, but I get up in the morning whenever I want, which, by the way, in fairness, is usually pretty early.
I have work in my inbox that I absolutely love. I get to determine how the day's going to go, what will get done, and when and what won't get done. I have the flexibility to be able to drive my son to school, and those chats, by the way, are absolutely priceless. He's stuck in the car with me. He's kind of a captive audience.
I get to go to conferences where literally hundreds of my friends assemble and we laugh and tell stories and hug each other and learn from each other. I work in the comfort of my own home and often without pants.
How many millionaires can say that? And no, Charlie Rose doesn't count.
But this is why I work so hard, not only on my own voiceover career, but to help other people get what I got - the freedom, the flexibility, the self-satisfaction, the quality of life.
That's why the VO Freedom Master Plan exists. I've known for years that we're losing good people in this business. And by good people, I don't mean every chuckleheads with a USB mic and a Fiverr account. I mean people that take the time to get trained and are talented and driven. They're not lazy. They're willing and able to do the work. And they spend a year or two floundering because they can't find the work and eventually they quit.
And to me, that's heartbreaking because I know what this business has done for me and I want everyone to have a fair shot at that. Voiceover should be a meritocracy. If you're trained and you're talented and you put in the time, the effort, and the work, you should be able to find the work and support your family.
But most people come into this business with no sales or marketing skills, experience, or knowledge. And that's not their fault. But it does put them at a huge disadvantage. Someone out there less talented than you is booking way more work because they know how to find the work.
Get trained in how to find the work.
For more information on the VO Freedom Master Plan, click the link in the description.
And to get my Move Touch Inspire Newsletter for voice actors every Thursday, click that link as well.
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