Let me preface this with, I am not an expert. I am a full-time teacher that is slowly working on creating my voice over business, and by slowly, I mean at a snail’s pace. This was one of the things that I have learned for me. I can’t just switch from a job that pays our expenses(barely, but does), Insurance, and retirement, to a job where I have no idea when the money will come in, whom it will come from and how much it will be. Not yet, at least.
All of that was to say that I have a limited window of when I can do voice over. I could completely fill my day, outside of teaching, with auditions and marketing for voice over. However, I have two kids and a wife that I enjoy being around and I don’t want to miss that. This also means that when I do have time to do Voice Over, everyone is at home. I have two younger children that don’t want to be quiet so that Daddy can audition. Nor do we have a house that really supports a quiet place for me to be.
I lucked out. My wife’s dad has an upstairs office that I can use as my base of operations. It is quiet and out of the way, and they live less than a 10 minute drive away. The downside to this is that I don’t have access to the office at all times of the day or night. I try my best to get to the office 1-3 times a week. Now, many people have used their closets, a corner in a room, a shed, and there are tons of resources on the internet that can help with ideas for that. I needed a space that I could work without interruption.
This allows me the flexibility to still be with my family for the majority of the week. Our kids have quite a few after school activities, and my wife would definitely do her best to get the kids to all of their places so that I work on voice over, but that would be very tough on her. I don’t want her to resent me for that. I want to help out and share that responsibility. I like taking kids to the gym, or volleyball, etc.
This is how it will continue for me until I start getting regular gigs. Then I can re-assess the situation. One of my goals would be to get an office built on our property so that I would not have to leave home to do voice over work. I don’t know when that will happen but I know it won’t be today. Thanks for reading about my experience and thank you to those that have liked and signed up for these blogs. It has been pretty cool to see that.