CAREER

Starting Your Voice-Over Career? Five Ways

To Keep Moving - Without Wasting Your Time

March 19, 2019



By Dan Hurst By Dan Hurst

Voice Actor

The smoke of the New Year has cleared along with the rush of a new start. Now you've settled into some sort of rhythm in your voice-over pursuit.



But perhaps it's not the rhythm you had hoped for back on January 1.



What can you do about that?



Let me suggest five things that you can institute right away that will be key to taking your ambitions and successes to the next level.



1. Connect With Your Peers



This is important. There is something about hanging out once in awhile with people that do what you do that revitalizes and refocuses you.



You suddenly realize you aren't in this alone. And you discover new ideas and concepts, new opportunities, and especially new friends!



Find a local Voice-Over Meetup Group , and if there isn't one  start one.

Join a Facebook group like Voiceover Pros if you are an experienced VO talent, or Voiceover Camp if you're new to the business. If you are a bilingual voice talent (with demos in at least two languages), check out the Bilingual Voice Talents group.

www.voiceover.biz Join the World-Voices Organization (WoVO). This is an association for voice talents, run by voice talents. It's $99/year, and that includes the free listing on, which is slated for a major upgrade in the next few months. In recent years, the association has hosted an annual convention for members along with regional conferences designed to train and develop voice talents, as well as to give us a place and time to connect/reconnect and recharge. There is also a Spanish wing of WoVO.

Attend the VO Atlanta Voice-Over Conference this month (March 28-31). It's probably the best current annual conference for voice talents, offering four and a half days of seminars, break-out sessions, X-sessions (specialized small seminars), hang-out time, and lots of face-to-face time with other voice talents and the movers and shakers in this business. And there is an international arm of VOA. Yes, it may seem a little pricey to many, but for what you get, it's actually a pretty good deal! 2. Spread Your Wings



One of the most intriguing things to me about so many voice talents is that they while they might dream big, they don't act big.



By that I mean they don't really act on their big dreams.



The fact is it's just a dream until you do something about it.



The voice-over business is a crazy business. There are so many genres, niches and specialties that I don't think any of us have really gotten our head around it ...

The fastest growing area seems to be eLearning in all its various styles, elements, and uses.

TV is morphing into the internet.

Podcasting is the new radio.

Corporate narrations are no longer the stodgy, informational lectures of the past, but have become major productions.

Phone messaging and IVR are alive and well.

Museum tours.

Web explainers.

Audiobooks.

Recorded public announcements are everywhere, from airports to trams, to event centers.

Live event announcers  from kids sports to parties and receptions to local conventions to produced events on almost every TV network  are also everywhere. Speaking of sports, every high school and collegiate sport seems to have a live announcer.

And of course, there are still commercials. But the word "commercial" doesn't even define a commercial anymore. Remember the days of :30's and :60's? Now we have even :05's. And commercials run everywhere! TV, radio, internet, intra-nets, theatres, retail stores, live events, airlines, waiting rooms, even restrooms! Multiply all of the above by 195 countries in the world, many of which need and use various languages, and suddenly you'll realize: you've been thinking and acting too small!



The point is, where do you fit in? Start dreaming big about it. And then, act big on it.



3. Change Your Marketing Strategy



Now, this may not apply to you. If your marketing strategy is working just fine, take this with a grain of salt.



But, what is your marketing strategy? How are you connecting with decision makers? After all, that's the whole point of marketing isn't it? Connecting with decision makers and helping them see how you can meet their voice-over needs?



Cookie cutter marketing strategies just don't work as well as they used to. Why? Because decision makers are tired of the assault of cute clichés and copycats.



And the idea that something is better than nothing when it comes to marketing is a lie.



But let me suggest a very simple starting strategy for you. Make a list of the decision makers that you know. Not know about - but actually know.



Reconnect with them.



And when you're comfortable with it, ask them if they know of another decision maker that might be interested in your information. Then, follow up.



Build your circle of influence starting right where you are: locally. Then spread out slowly, decision maker by decision maker. And don't forget to work on building some connections with decision makers on LinkedIn and Facebook .



4. Get Some Coaching



If you've just started within the past three years to pursue this voice-over business, and you haven't done it yet, do yourself a favor and get some input and direction from a legitimate, experienced coach that comes highly recommended by other voice talents.



Be cautious in this. There are hacks out there who pose as coaches, but who don't really have the gift.



Trust your gut and trust the recommendations of working voice talents (not just the ones who say they are, but the ones you know are actually working).



If you've been in the business for a while, and even if you've had coaching, maybe it's time for a refresher. I've been in the business for 30 years. I still get regular coaching. It keeps me focused, centered, and motivated.



www.voiceoverxtra.com

But you can also get coaching by just reading and reading and reading. That's the beauty of. I have no idea how many articles there are on that website written by coaches and voice talents, but it's got to be in the thousands. Make it a regular habit to dig into those articles.

5. Get Busy



You don't get better by being busy, but you do get busy by being better.



One of the great lies of the business world is that to get work you have to get busy. But we're never told how to get busy.



So, far too many of us start focusing on being busy, whatever than may mean. We start cold calling, emailing, networking, auditioning, demoing, webinar-ing, P2P-ing, conferencing, more auditioning, branding, and on and on.



There are thousands and thousands of voice talents who are so busy trying to find work that they miss the whole point of how one gets really busy in this business.



You get busy by being better.



Think about it. If you don't get better as a voice talent, it doesn't really matter how busy you are, does it? You can spin your wheels all day working the low-paying jobs, staying incredibly hectic and working yourself dry at what amounts to a minimum wage in this business - or you can put that energy, at least part of it, into getting better.



I've said it a thousand times: Good gets you into the room; better gets you to the table; but best gets you hired.

With the thousands of enterprising voice talents out there, clients can easily afford to be picky - and they should. Clients hire the best that they can. That's why you need to work at being better to be the best.



There you have it. Five things (and more) that you can do NOW to take another step up in your VO career.



Is it going to be easy? Of course not. That's why there are thousands and thousands of hopeful voice talents still struggling and stumbling along.



Set your course. Map out your strategy. Define some goals. You got this!



ABOUT DAN

Dan (Daniel Eduardo) Hurst is an experienced bilingual (English and Spanish) voice talent operating out of the Kansas City area. His business extends internationally, with clients including Maserati, Boehringer Ingelheim, British Petroleum, Kimberly-Clark, McDonald's, Volkswagen, Telemundo International, Shell, Hallmark, TransCanada, and many more, along with his national work for numerous infomercials, ESPN, MLB, and the Golf Channel, among others. When he's not working, he spends time cheering for losing sports teams, getting kicked off of golf courses, and cursing his boat motor.



Email:

Web: ------------------Email: DanHurst@DanHurst.com Web: www.DanHurst.com



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