The VO Pro Blog

Just about everything in the voice over business slows down in June, July, and August.

But I also hear a lot of talk about a more macro slowdown in the voice over industry overall. Is that real? Is that just a chicken little reaction to AI? Are there other forces at play? Is this a perfect storm that means existential crisis for our business?

It doesn’t even matter if there’s a slowdown in the industry or not. If it’s slow for you, it’s slow. And if there is a slowdown in the industry, macro or micro, you can’t do shit about it.

But you can do something with it. You have the choice to not just survive, but thrive.

Today, we’re going to talk about doubling down, leaning into the slowness, and using it to your competitive advantage so that you emerge from the Summer Slowdown, and any slowdown or crisis, even stronger, better, and more successful.

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One of the problems with voice over advice on YouTube and in general is that it often comes from successful people. Huh? Well duh, why would we take advice from idiots, Paul?

Stay with me.

Among the things it takes to be successful is time. So, the people that are successful today started years and often decades ago.

And the problem with that is voice over is a very different business than it was 30, 20, 10, even 5 years ago. And so many of the strategies and paths and techniques that made successful voice actors even in the 20-teens don’t apply today, here, now, in the mid 2020’s and beyond.

If you’re just getting into the business today, that’s a problem.

So today I’m going to tell you exactly what I would do if I were a new voice actor. I’ll give you the timeline and how I would spend my time, money, energy, attention. I’ll tell you what tools I would use, gear I would buy, and just as importantly, mistakes I would not make that rookies today make often.

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Today, I’m going to break down these Seven Deadly Sins, explain to you why they are gigantic no-nos written across the sky in red neon, and what the consequences are for committing them are.

In fact, let’s get the consequences out of the way. Are these sins deadly as in will they kill your career? Some actually can. But at the very least, they will kill the most important relationships you have in this business, damage your reputation in the industry, and in some cases, will get your ass hauled into court.

In case I haven’t made it clear, NEVER, as in ever-ever-never do these seven things:

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Voice actors are petrified of marketing their services. Today, we’re going to get into what those fears are, why they exist, and why they’re complete and utter B.S. We’ll talk about some of the misconceptions around sales and marketing your voice over business, and what sales and marketing really are at their core.

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The voice over industry is like a roller coaster on steroids right now, thanks to the generative AI boom, recent SAG-AFTRA and ACTRA strikes, and a bunch of other factors shaking things up.

You’re here because you want to know where to focus your energy and where to maybe pump the brakes a bit. So, let’s dive in and break it all down, no BS, just the facts.

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Thom Pinto is one of the most accomplished voice actors of the last 30 years. In a rare interview, Thom sits down with me and discusses his experience and success in various genres, including commercials, promos, in-show narration, and movie trailers.

He talks about the importance of versatility and the ability to adapt to different genres and shares insights into the challenges and strategies for each genre, such as storytelling in promos, tailoring the voice to the network in in-show narration, and capturing the essence of the drama in movie trailers.

He also discusses the joy he finds in teaching and helping others succeed in the industry.

This is our interview with the great and kind Thom Pinto.

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Let’s face it, the vast majority of the marketing you do to grow your business is online. We live in an age where it’s completely normal, NAY natural, to start and grow relationships digitally through social media, LinkedIn, and so on.

That’s exactly why networking, yes, live and in real life, is especially relevant in today’s digital age.

There is no better way to start and grow real, human relationships than in-person networking. There is no better way to leave a lasting impression.

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I'm so happy today to chat with my friend, Mark RIder, as he shares his journey from radio to voiceover and his experiences in the industry.

Rider stresses the importance of having a diverse skill set and not limiting oneself to one genre and discusses the need for passion, talent, action, associations, and faith in order to achieve success.

He also highlights the significance of evaluating and communicating with agents to ensure a fruitful partnership.

The conversation concludes with a funny story about a plastic duck.

Bet you didn't see that comin'.

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Here are 8 Brutally honest, No B.S. truths about voice over that all new beginners need to know. It you had a room of 10 pro voice actors, I’d venture to say that 9 out of 10 would agree on these truths.

Are there are exceptions to all of these? Yes. But they are very rare. They are edge cases and by far not the norm.

Knowing these truths up front will save you years of sifting through hot garbage that is coated in snake oil, coated in sugar, and fried to a deep, dark brown.

So put your big girl panties on and listen up.

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Today we welcome voice actor, head of UVT Coaching, and my one-time coach, Terry Daniel. Terry discusses his journey in the voiceover industry and his experience as a coach. He shares how he got into coaching and the importance of training with coaches who are still booking voiceover work.

Terry also talks about the obstacles people face when starting in voiceover, including fear and impatience. He emphasizes the need for patience and hard work in building a successful voiceover career.

We also touch on the challenges of navigating the abundance of information and misinformation in the industry and Terry shares his experience with amusement park work and his goals for the future, including directing commercial sessions.

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There are metric tons of bad mistakes you can make in voice over. You can have no training or be undertrained. You can have a bad recording space or bad equipment. You can do your own demos. You can have a bad website.

All of those are fixable. No training? Start training. Bad recording space, bad equipment, bad audio? Totally fixable. Call Uncle Roy, George The Tech, Jordan Reynolds, or Tim Tippets. Bad demos? Work with a reputable demo producer. Bad website, work with a pro designer.

But there’s one mistake that is not nearly as fixable. Make this mistake and it will derail your voice over career for years.

What is it?

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