The most important think you have as a Voice Over artist is your voice, but the second most important thing you have is people’s perception of you, especially if you’re a freelancer like me. When I’m working at my part time job or telling people what I do, I don’t tell them I want to do voice-overs, I tell them I do voice-overs. This has actually produced a lot of work for me.
I know it’s been said a billion times, but it really is true: you only get one shot at a first impression. I had to learn this earlier in my career, and it’s a hard lesson to learn the hard way. Take it from me: don’t send in your stuff to agencies, stations, any prospective client if it doesn’t sound amazing. Dream of LA or NY, but don’t send stuff anywhere near those places unless people ask you for it. There are seasoned voice pros in all markets who have the corner on those places. I’m not saying you should never try for it, but wait until you have enough ammo before you go charging into battle, if you get my drift. If a prospective client associates your name with ‘wannabe’ or ‘mediocrity’, you’re labeled for life; unfortunately that’s how it goes in this business.
How do you get work in VO? We went over this in my last post, tell EVERYONE you know, literally everyone. With the internet there are literally millions of ways to do it. You should not only tell everyone you know, but you should tell most people you meet. You never know who you’re talking to. Don’t be weird about it though. Working at an electronics store, I have lots of opportunities (especially selling speakers, writable CD’s and DVD’s, video cameras, and microphones) to tell people about what I do. People usually respond with “How did you get into that?” I’m glad I can write this blog to tell them all how.
One last thing: carry business cards. If people don’t have a way to get in touch with you they will not contact you. Don’t make the business cards yourself, please, they don’t look as good as you think they do. Go to a site like VistaPrint that makes free business cards or go to Staples or Office Max and have someone there help you. People are just plain impressed when you reach into your pocket or purse, pull out a business card wallet and hand them a card. Trust me, I see it happen every day.
In my next post I am going to talk about the best investment you can make in your pursuit of VO success: a good website.
Stay tuned!
