The third installment in my “Becoming A Voiceover” series focuses around a big misconception that I had. This is also something that I have noticed from other people that I see inquiring about voiceover in Facebook groups and other forums. The misconception that I had was that once I became a voiceover, jobs would be easy to get. Now, this is really only from my own experience and observations, so I don’t want to claim this as a blanket statement. I have heard stories, not many of course, of people just deciding to become a voiceover and immediately getting success. These are definitely few and far between but I do love them so, because any day could be my day when I the jobs just start rolling in. I wouldn’t hold my breath until then though.
At first, the effort needed was research. Loads of research on equipment like mics, computers, interfaces, and software. Research on how to minimize the sound in a room and provide a proper area to get the best sound into your mic. Research on coaches, online vo sites, how to create a website, and how to audition. It sometimes felt that the more that I learned, the more I found what I needed to learn and the rabbit hole just gets deeper and deeper. I have said this before, I was ready to audition almost immediately, but it took over a year before I realized I was prepared enough to audition.
Once everything was in place, (the coaching, the equipment, the website, demos and skills) I started auditioning on some of the online pay sites. I was putting in about 10-20 audtions a day for 5 days a week. Out of that, I received one call back for a second audition(which I didn’t get but was very thankful for) and one non-paying gig. I did the non-paying gig because it was just a couple of lines and was for a teenager. It was exhausting because I was constantly feeling deflated and defeated. A small speck of sand in a sea of voice over actors. At this time I was also starting to hear these stories about “marketing”. How much time you need to spend marketing and reaching to people to find jobs. I heard a coach say, “If you aren’t spending at least a couple hours a day marketing, you aren’t going to get many jobs.” So I took a couple of classes on marketing.
It was quite an eye opener. Reaching out to the companies that were hiring personally was the way to go. So I started looking up companies, finding out who to contact and contacting them. But it isn’t just that simple, you have to research these companies, the people you are contacting, find ways to be personal with them. Again, this is exhausting. Sometimes, they don’t respond. Sometimes, they block your email. However, I have made some new friends along the way. Well, friends as a loose term, more like enjoyable acquaintances. People that I would never speak to, I touch base with either through email or social media. Sometimes, they reach out to me. Maybe through a comment on a post or blog, or messenger. It is a lot of work and it is tiresome. However, I have found joy through reaching to people. I have come to really enjoy the marketing aspect of this. I just wish I had more time in my day to do it along side my day job. I am hoping one day that this part could be my day job.