If you are like me, you may have had some people tell that you have a great voice and should get into radio or something. Maybe you have just always had a fascination with cartoons and their voices or who voices them. Maybe you were listening to an audiobook and thought it might be fun to be the narrator. Maybe you have heard of websites offering instant success and loads of money. Maybe it ‘s a combination of some or all of these. Regardless your reason for getting into (or thinking of getting into) Voice Over, you’re here. Now it’s time to check your motives, and maybe share some experience with you to help you with your journey through the land of Voice Over
I don’t know why it still surprises me after all these years, but for some reason I still want to hold on to the possibility of stumbling upon the thing that will fix all of my problems immediately. It’s ridiculous, I know, but hope can be so alluring and attractive that I forget to think logically. Like the adage, “If it’s that easy, why doesn’t everyone do it?” I have definitely had some bubbles popped in my journey but I have grown a deeper appreciation for the art because of it. So let’s talk about your mindset. Maybe this will help you figure out your best approach to your Voice Over experience.
If you are doing this to make money quickly, be assured that this is probably not going to happen. Not saying it won’t, (see…hope) but the accounts of that instant success compared to the numbers of accounts of spending years to get good money from this is like comparing the number of high school athletes that will make it to Pros to those that won’t. Comparing that to the number of people that have looked into Voice over and then stopped seems almost like comparing winners to losers of the lottery. In fact, I have spent more money into starting Voice Over than I have made. Which I realized, is true for most businesses. That is what you are doing, starting a business.
If you are getting into this because you think that all you have to do is read a script and be able to record it, you may be disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, it is basically reading a script and recording it. That in and of itself is not hard. However, at least for me, the moment you try to “sound” natural, you realize how “unnatural” it sounds. Coaching is important for this, because they can teach you how to look at a script to decipher how best to read it and give you feedback on your auditions.
All of this to say, you have to really enjoy doing voice over, if you want to pursue doing it as a career. It will take work. You can go for long periods of time with no body giving you a gig. You have to be able to find joy in reaching out to people and marketing yourself. You have to be willing to listen to a hundred different people tell you a hundred different ways to do this and then sort through it all to find what best fits you. If that doesn’t sound enjoyable to you, then maybe you need a better reason to get into this or not get into it and keep looking for your thing. I am at a spot where I really don’t know what else to say so I will stop here. Have a great day!