Growing up in Washington, DC, I often watched my grandmother cook meals using a slow cooker. She would place raw meat along with various spices in a large crockpot early in the day to slowly and thoroughly cook meats or a meal. The smell and aroma of the slow cooking released the most incredible aromas that you could almost taste the spicy, simmering meal. While that process works well for making dinner, the process can also be related to running a voiceover business. A good talent spiced with training and marketing can become a great success. But unlike my Grandmother’s meals, a voiceover talent must check and recheck their business to make sure it’s developing correctly and meeting success goals.

Success in voiceovers is not a “set it and let it go” action. As a talent, I recently took the time to review my presence on and offline. Occasional reviews, which I’ve written about and still recommend, helps keep me on track toward my business goals. Anyone interested in being successful in business must take time to do a review. A strong business plan that includes online marketing and interacting must be frequently reviewed. There is no such thing as set and go in voiceovers. Don’t set and forget your business process, perform frequent reviews to keep your voiceover business ‘cooking’ along for the best long-term success.

Let Others Get You Started

We can’t always see what is right in front of us hence the thought of missing the forest for the trees. The best way to start an in-depth review of your voiceover business is to ask other voiceover associates what they think of your web presence and business plan. Also, ask your coaches or a quality voiceover demo producer to listen to your demos to make sure your sound is current and reflects the modern times.

Note and make the corrections that you can afford and are within your budget. For example, you may not be ready for a new demo, but you may want to make sure that your auditions reflect a current sound and a voice that is marketable.

Once others comment on the external, it’s time for you to review the internal: your recording space. Consider the age of your computer, back-up drives, and other items. Note items that are nearing the end of their life span and start to save for equipment upgrades. Such expenses should be a line item in your budget but if not, make it a priority. You don’t want your computer to die on you in the middle of a session. It’s better to update your recording space items early than when it’s too late. It always takes longer than planned to get back to business as usual.

One Consistent Web-presence

Review your social media pages and make sure your imagery, logo, and other information are all consistent. Don’t forget to check online texts as well as link accuracy for your social media sites.

Ingenious Promotion

Many businesses mail holiday cards around the end of the year. Instead, send your clients and contacts casual greetings around New Year’s or Valentine’s Day. Moreover, what could endear you more to your clients as to them receiving a small sweet treat on Valentine’s Day? Give thought to sending Christmas in July cards. Look for ways to make your clients think of you throughout the year.

Make Your Business Public

Commit to reaching out to groups and causes that you have never touched before. As a voice talent, your voice opportunities are endless. As you go about your dealings, remind your dentist, doctor, church members, gym buddies, etc., of your availability to help with any qualifying voice projects they may have. But what about events at the local public schools and local play? Dust off and revamp your voiceover elevator speech to reach those new audiences. Make your elevator speech customer focused.

Voice acting in the 21centry is nothing like it has been in the past. Keep your business moving forward; check your progress often. Remember, in the voiceover business, there’s no “set it and forget it.”

As always, break a lip!

Voice artist or voice over is one of the most enjoyable professions in the entertainment business. Friends and associates often ask me how to get into voice acting. Compassionate lines in a script sometimes make folks believe it’s easy to be a voice actor. Well, I’ll let you be the judge of that.

To those looking for the opportunity to make their dreams come true as a compassionate communicator or as an over-the-top movie trailer orator, I encourage you to consider my tips on getting into voice acting.

A new voice talent must first “think” like a new business. Below is my short list of how to begin thinking and being a voice acting business.

Consider your reason for wanting to voice act: Think about why you want to be “in the business.” If you want, jot down your reason or reasons. Don’t worry, you can revise it later if you want, I won’t tell.

Drop the attitude, please: Voice acting is what I call a “service business.” All the pros I know have an attitude to serve others with excellence. The pros know that it’s not about having a great voice, but about bringing a script to life!

Start to make connections through the Internet: Start by doing word searches on Do a word search on voice over, acting, etc. Follow talent you find and like on Facebook, Twitter, etc, but in a causal friendly manner. You are seeking to develop new business connections not looking to stalk top voice over talent.

Find out all you can about voice acting for free: Before you sign up for that class that promises to make you a killer demo and voice over star in one year or less, do your homework. There are many sites that offer free advice on how to start developing your craft. You can take out the check book later.

Next time, I’ll will warp up my best tips on becoming a voice talent. So for now, have fun with your homework.

Don LaFontaine and many others have found fame and fortune as a voice talent. These greats perform with seemingly little to no effort and bring scripts and stories to life. My soft, warm, compassionate delivery is only one style of voice acting. Voice actors can be as unique as petals on a rose or as varied as snow flakes. Below I provide a few more of my tips on becoming a professional voice actor:

Find your niche: what you do well. Many new voice talent want to do every delivery and style right out of the gate: compassionate, animated, girl or guy next door, etc. You need to understand your best style and delivery, which usually is not everything. Perhaps your voice is best for e-learning, hard sell, or perhaps for soft, warm, and hart-felt messages. The point is that you can waste a staggering amount of time pursuing the wrong type of jobs. Break the habit now.

Develop a support system. It can take years to become a stellar voice actor and that is with study and perseverance. Disappointments will come, and at times, you will be the one who needs compassion. This can be lonely business. Many folks like the idea of being a voice actor but not the hard work needed for regular practice, quality auditions, continued learning, good home studio skills, etc. Try to get someone to hold you accountable to help keep you on track towards building your voice business goals.

Do it or don’t! Recently I met a guy who said to me, “… I’m trying to do voice overs.” My first thought was, “Why. You are, or you are not.” Decide on who you are and what you do. A voice over artist is a skilled artisan. You don’t want to become someone who spends thousands of dollars on audio equipment and voice training to the become a professional (voice) student and not one (voice) job to your credit.

Know when to quit/know when to stay. Some folks hit the ground running and never look back. But if you have challenges or have tried and still are unable to overcome them, perhaps voiceover is not the right career for you. We all have personal issues, but if your obligations make it almost impossible for you to do what’s necessary to be successful, you may need to take a break or close the business until you can really commitment to your success.

Whatever you decide, voice overs is a unique and fun career. Well, that’s it for now.

Happy voicing!

Fill in the blank. “In 2013, I resolve to _______________ for my VO career.” Really!!

If you are like me, you have started, stopped, and started so many things in life. Don’t let your VO career take the same course. Voiceover is a great career as well as an adventure in discovering the facets of your own soul as a voice actor.

I’d like to share with you Voice Talent Manager Celia Siegel’s thoughts on how not to skimp on your VO career in the new year (http://www.voiceoverxtra.com/article.htm?id=6teiw9zw).

The industry continues to grow, and we must grow with it. Consider Celia’s article, and know where your voiceover business is going in 2013.

Let’s face it, we are all human. As humans, we are basically relational beings. So as a voiceover talent, your job is not to become a loner as you fight your way through the voiceover market forest. In today’s market, successful voice actors learn and cultivate the art of relationships – even online.

Many of us perform voice acting from a home studio. This solo working atmosphere may lead to disconnecting with others on personal and professional levels. While it may be profitable for a while, without human connections, you and your business may suffer. Take care not to loose your edge. Instead seek to develop virtual relationships in the business and voiceover community. Here are a few tips to building on-line relationships for a successful voiceover business:

Remember Clients’ Special Dates. Contact your new or potential clients on the holidays, but also on the owner’s birthday, business anniversary date, and their other special dates. These remembrances provide an opportunity to connect personally and professionally.

Comment on Associates’ and Colleagues’ Blogs. A positive, genuine reply of agreement or encouragement can be seen by the writer as well as their followers and readers. Remember when making your comments, make them brief, genuine, and always positive.

Build your Network of Colleagues through Give and Take. Many new voice talent seek mentoring by more experienced or famous talents. However, it is not advisable to ask a stranger to become your voiceover mentor. Build friendships and look for ways to add to the voice actor’s life or business. For example, look for ways to give and be of assistance to others. In time, you should receive a return on what you have given. The return may or may not be within the same relationship, so don’t get discouraged. The approach works, so keep at it while you look for the right fit.

Connect from the Heart Over Time. People like people who connect, listen, and show concern for others. You want your associates and clients to see you as more than another voice talent trying to nab a job; you want to become the right person for many jobs and business relationships. As others get to know you and your style, they may recommend you as a talent, think of you for specific projects, or at least keep in contact until the relationship pays off for the both of you.

Go ahead, show some compassion and make a (virtual) friend. It will payoff!

There is much talk these days about whether automation will replace the professional voice artist. The buzz is also circling about voice talent offering products for $10 or less. While these items may seem like great voice “buys,” I would advise the buyer to beware! Voice acting is a talent skill as specialized as developing a masterpiece on canvas; each project should be a treated as a classic.

The voice artist who takes time to learn all aspects of his craft lays the foundation as a master voice artisan. Such an individual understands the importance of discovering the essence of each voice clients’ project and making each script come to life. Time learning delivery, tone, elocution, are like learning how to properly care and feed a new born. No matter if the project is a voice mail system or a narrated feather film, a masterful voice actor treats each client’s project for lack of a better word, like a “Baby.”

How much would you spend on your baby? If you only paid a caregiver a dollar to watch your baby, what kind of service would you expect? I know times are challenging, but many talent are willing to with clients to develop a masterful projects. Yes, it may cost more that $10 dollars, but, in the long run, the rewards have a better change of being greater and with better quality and service. Remember, the baby is worth a lot more than a dollar or “a dolla.”

(Photo credit: Tom Baugis)
To stay on top of the ever-improving voiceover business, you’ve got to keep up with what’s going on. Doing voiceovers is the best. But as members of a networking society, blogs can help keep you on top of trends and changes in the VO industry. We can communicate, share, and learn from each other in the VO field. Interacting with the voiceover community will help improve the quality of your vocal delivery, business, as well as services to your clients. Learn from the best through social media.