Podcast Length: 6:19
How much time does it take to establish your voiceover career? How much time and attention does it take to establish and maintain any small business?
If you honestly dedicate no less than 15 to 25 hours a week, what would be considered part-time for any other business, for at least a year or more then you’ll create a voiceover career for yourself—provided you have realistic expectations and, just as importantly, you wisely allocate your time.
Here’s what we suggest:
– Every experience level voice talent must commit to a proper vocal warm up. And if you’re starting out or starting over, that means dedicating an hour four to five days a week. Like any workout, it may take you 2 to 3 weeks to honestly incorporate it into your routine, but without it your vocal precision and stamina won’t be as reliable as they need to be, especially if you hope to rely on them at a moment’s notice. Which you DO! That never goes away. In fact, a great deal more is expected of you if you’re “seasoned”. Point is your mettle will be tested and your mission for the initial 3-5 years of your career is to create a habit out of excellence. Your professional reputation depends on it. Your confidence will increase as your agility and articulation improves and becomes second nature.
– Then, dedicate at least 10 to 15 additional hours a week toward training and study. Allocate your time based on the elements that challenge you most.
This would include variations on any combination the following actions:
Performance…
– One-on-one coaching is essential to develop your best performance practices. So, if you’ve limited your training solely to workshops, you might quickly discover NOTHING in voiceover is done in a group setting. *
– Listen back to your coaching within a day or two of the session. This will offer a deeper comprehension of the techniques and concepts you’re attempting to master from your training
– Read respected, credible references & resources, and listen to industry related podcasts to stay current with industry advances.
Home Studio…
– The quality of the recording of your auditions immediately tells agents and potential clients whether they can hire you or not. How your auditions sound immediately conveys how the final audio (on the actual booking) will sound, because it’s unlikely you’ll be walking into any other studio besides your own right now, or at any time in the foreseeable future.
– Therefore ensuring you have quality home recording options requires a few hours of set up at the start, and then periodic testing to quality control your audio will be necessary every few months to maintain or modify your home recording to make sure your auditions are technically road-worthy and they won’t undermine anyone’s confidence in you. Even if your performance is remarkable, it will die with you if your home recording is subpar.
– Today, talent agents across the country require and expect you have SourceConnect (or ipDTL) and Zoom BEFORE ever agreeing to take you on. Otherwise, you give them a problem they can’t solve if they don’t have the ability to professionally ‘patch’ with the potential client, whether you’re across town, or across the country.
– As long as you have a quiet location in your home, with stable Internet access and a reliable computer to record on, you’ll be able to secure agents who have access to various voiceover opportunities you won’t have access to on your own.
Marketing & Promotion…
– Auditions are your most important and continued form of promotion. They just shouldn’t be your only form of promotion if you hope to have a thriving career.
– Have your aesthetically pleasing brand logo designed to make your name known and familiar to your primary target audience: producers, various casting sources, and talent agents. This logo will advance your name, associate you and your brand with professional voice work and allow you to include it on your web site, on casting sites, as the signature at the bottom of your email and on social media. Additionally, adding it to your Zoom account will help clients remember your name during (and after) the session.
– Establish your voiceover only web page.
– Be sure to set up a profile on the three top casting sites in the country: ActorsAccess.com, CastingNetworks.com and CastingFrontier.com where your demos can be heard by scores of casting professionals and producers!
– Promote yourself to talent agents until you’re auditioning regularly and you’re happy with the quantity and quality of your auditions and jobs.
– Aim to secure 3-5 talent agents who consistently offer you between 3-5 quality auditions apiece per week to achieve the best voiceover career results.
Weekly & Monthly Targets: There’s always work to be done when you have a small business. Maintaining no less than 15 to 25 hours a week for the first 2-3 years as you establish and elevate your career will determine whether you have a career at all.
* Even ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement), aka ‘looping’, today is largely done solo to be safe.
Copyright © 2024 by Kate McClanaghan. All Rights Reserved..
