In my last video, My (No Gear) Christmas Wishlist for Voiceover, one of my wishes was this:

"I wish all of the pay-to-plays were ethical, but the chief offender here, of course, is Voices.com, but they're certainly not the only ones that put profit before talent and clients. These companies control a huge amount of work globally in the voiceover business, and it's a travesty to me that rather than seeing themselves as leaders and stewards of our industry, they couldn't give a reindeer turd about anything else other than putting profit ahead of people - clients and talent."

And the very next day, I got an email from David Ciccarelli. David, if you don't know, is the founder and CEO of Voices.com, and he was NOT happy…

My (No Gear) Voice Over Christmas Wish List

Christmas is right around the corner. And of course, this is the time of year when voice actors get the steamy undies for all kinds of gear. Mics, interfaces, preamps, amplifiers, headphones, you name it. We want all the gear.

But I think in this season of gratitude and giving, I want kind of a different kind of Christmas wish list this year for voice over.

Sure. I love great gear as much as the next voice actor, but what I want for voice over this year is not for me. It's for everybody. Everybody that calls themselves a voice actor.

So, Santa, if you're listening or watching, here's my list. I've checked it twice…

Get Started in Voiceover Work: Choosing Your 1st Coach

So you've decided you want to get into voice acting and you want to learn to do voiceovers and maybe even, who knows, become a professional voice actor one day. That's great.

And as the song says, yes, there are two paths you can go by first. Maybe you just want to make a few extra bucks and have some fun and make voice over a hobby.

Or you can jump on Fiverr or Upwork or any of the freelancer sites and find a ton of voiceover jobs to audition for. And that's great.

But if you think you might want to go pro one day or you don't even know, avoid the Fiverr route. Working on Fiverr and Upwork and the freelancer sites can eventually damage your professional career.

Now, if you want to get started on the journey to professional voice acting, it all starts with good coaching.

acting, professional development, the vo industryPaul SchmidtNovember 17, 2022coaching Comments

NEW Voices.com Affiliate Program – BRAZEN. RIDICULOUS. SHAMELESS.

The email goes like this:

We are excited to officially announce the Voices affiliate program and we are inviting you to become a part of it. You're already getting paid for doing what you love, so why not get paid twice as a Voices affiliate? Refer your network to Voices and receive a commission when they hire their first voice talent.

Learn more about the Voices affiliate program here and apply now to start earning.

Let's click that apply button and see what this is all about.

Using Online Casting Sites SMARTLY: 3 Scenarios

I am staunchly against relying on the voiceover casting sites as a long-term strategy for growing your business.

Note: I said relying on. If the lion's share of your business is coming from the online casting sites, then chances are you're not developing your own relationships and you're leaving your business and yourself vulnerable.

But I do believe that there are certain times and circumstances where you can use websites for voiceover or work strategically.

In this post, I'm going to lay out three scenarios of when and how to use the online casting sites and which ones in each case to your advantage using the voiceover audition sites.

Conference Sneak Peek: MAVO 2022 - Mid-Atlantic Voice Over

MAVO, The Mid-Atlantic Voice Over conference is coming up Friday, November 11th through Sunday, November 13th, at the Westin Dulles in the Washington, D.C. area. MAVO was my first conference, and it's very special to me. And so today we're going to do a little preview of MAVO 2022, the faces you can expect to see what you can expect to hear, why MAVO is different than certainly the 800-pound gorilla conferences in our business and what makes it special.

And to tell us about all that is the chief executive president, owner and executive producer of MAVO, Val Kelly.

conferences/conventions, professional development, the vo industryPaul SchmidtOctober 27, 2022MAVOComment

Voice Over Jobs Websites – 5 RED FLAGS

There are tons of voice over websites where you can find voice over jobs, opportunities for beginners, voice over work for pros and everything in between. Everybody, it seems, is trying to make money online and jobs websites have become a popular way to find voice over jobs opportunities.

So today, I'm going to give you five red flags to look for on the voice over jobs websites.

And stick around because at the end, I'm going to give you a bonus sixth red flag to look for, which just might be the biggest threat to your voice over business.

How To Go Full Time in Voice Over – 7 Steps

Welcome back and welcome to How to Go Full Time in Voice Over. When starting a career in voiceover, figuring out how to become a voice over artist and how to make voice over a full-time career can be daunting. Going full-time in voice over ain't easy. Today, we're going to talk about what it takes to go full-time in the voice over business, including voice over training, voice over marketing tips, voice over coaching, and more.

The WORST Thing You Can Do on Fiverr and Voices.com

Alright, when it comes to Fiverr and Voices.com, there is one worst thing you can do making money online doing voice over work. Today, we'll discuss that regarding Fiverr versus Voices.com, voiceover freelance sites in general, how successful voiceover professionals find voiceover jobs online, how they make money online, and create income from websites for voiceover work.

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