“The play is not in the words, it’s in you!” – Stella Adler
If you’ve spent any time acting, you’ve heard at least one Stella Adler quote. Another quote we hear all the time in our industry is, “Acting is reacting”. To me, this really showcases how our life experiences inform our acting; in order to be genuine, we must rely on who we are day-to-day and where we have been.
I’m fairly certain none of us come to voice-over without having done anything else. Moving through life, we all gain insights into the world that are unique to us. We all have different experiences and skill sets.
I, for one, have held a lot of jobs. I’ve worked in kitchens, driven forklifts, sold couches, recycled electronics, and worked in optometry. These jobs all had their own needs and challenges. However, I learned a lot while in those phases of my life. Now, when I find myself working on medical narration or speaking about data security, I feel right at home, because I can apply my life experiences to the script.
If you’re taking your life experiences and breathing life into scripts to be a better performer, then why not apply it to your whole business? It’s really easy to get that tunnel vision: you’ve worked so hard and all you’ve ever wanted is to hear your voice doing the thing! But freelance work ebbs and flows; finding any kind of stability can be hard, so how do people do it?
It’s not a secret!
I’m going to let you in on a little “not” secret. Every single one of your VO coaches is also a full-time actor. I mean, that’s why we trust them to coach us, but think about that for a second. They are doing more than one thing. Sure, they are voice actors, but they leverage that skill to teach. Many even have additional services. They are applying their skills in a new and different way. If you look at the greats in our industry, they’re all doing multiple things and it’s not just teaching acting.
From a personal point of view, I started to get real traction in our industry when I realized I had a unique skill set that was VO adjacent. I’d been playing in DAWs, manipulating music, doing sound design, and just generally being creative for years already. My experiences made me a natural audio engineer. More than that, having experience on both sides of the microphone gave me even more of an edge.
Looking at my peers, I’ve seen them also succeed by embracing their additional talents. Of course, we should never compare ourselves to others – we each have our own path. That doesn’t mean we can’t take some inspiration. What are others around you doing to expand their brand? Do you have a skill that is marketable to the voice-over community?
Use what you already know!
We wear a ton of different hats running our own business. What are you already good at? This may take some brainstorming, but we all have unique skills. Take a moment and make some notes. Is there something specific that you seem to just understand better than some? Maybe you had a job in the past that gave you unique qualifications?
Grab a pen and paper, open a Google Doc, or just turn on the mic and start talking. Do whatever you need to do to get that information somewhere you can access it. There is a good chance that it won’t be long before you see something. To give you a head start, here are just a few of the opportunities I see people taking advantage of.
If you are a techie like me, then this is a no-brainer. We get excited about tech and want to know how it all works. Guess what? Most voice actors just want to turn it on and press record. We all know it’s not always that easy. If you can walk someone else through troubleshooting a problem, you are a huge asset.
There are a lot of domain services out there touting how easy their platform is. Having used a few of them, I can say that is an exaggeration. Some people just aren’t wired to understand website design. If you understand any of these sitebuilders on a fundamental level, you could be the new voice-over website-building guru!
Graphic Design/ Artist:
A successful business knows how to leverage images to make its brand pop. We may all be artists, but visual art is a unique skill to be proud of. It may seem like just a hobby to you, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. If this is your skill, then you could be a master of creating digital media and not even know it!
Canva Expert:
This one is a bit similar, but also super important. Canva is such a powerful tool, and knowing how to use it is a skill. Do you know how to whip up an amazing logo, put together an out-of-this-world slideshow, or make a social media banner that tells a story? If you can make powerful branding, then you have a marketable talent. Double points if you can teach this skill to others!
Writer:
English majors, this one is absolutely for you! Voice-over needs all kinds of writers. Scripts, branding, and even resumes. Writing a good resume doesn’t come easily to everyone. It is even more complicated in a creative field like ours. If you are a wordsmith you could be crafting all kinds of valuable content to the community and your business margins.
Virtual Assistant:
Admittedly, this is a bit of a catch-all, but there are a ton of opportunities to be a virtual assistant. This category is absolutely massive. It’s not just scheduling, but that is certainly one thing you can do! Are you an expert at crafting emails? Do you have a lot of experience managing CRM’s? If you are a social media master, this could really be your chance to shine! Not to mention the subtle gains of getting to work side by side with another working voice actor.
These ideas are all just the tip of the iceberg. The possibilities really are endless. Finding ways to stay engaged with the voice-over community while expanding your business is, in my opinion and experience, a double win. So I encourage you to put on that thinking hat and consider all the ways you are unique and talented. Get out there and craft something AWESOME!
Nick Marrs is a voice actor, audio engineer, and BBQ dad based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You can find him online at: https://linktr.ee/nickmarrs
P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry, sign up here!
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