The REAL PROBLEM with Voice Over - NOT What You Think! - VO Pro: The Business of Voiceover and Voice Acting

Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Well, I can tell you this.
The current state of the voiceover business is not your problem.
Generative AI, the pay to plays, the seemingly endless strings of strikes are not yourproblem.
None of that is the reason you're not succeeding in voiceover.
VO is not the problem.
The problem is you.

(00:22):
The problem is your excuses and your distractions and your choices.
The problem is your impatience and your lack of energy and clarity.
All right, so today is, I'm gonna be talking as much to me as I am to you.
know, everybody thinks that everybody else, especially coaches, have it all together allthe time.

(00:43):
And I'm here to tell you, we do not.
So today is a pep talk for both of us.
I need this as much as you need this.
Let's talk about your lack of clarity every time, every single time.
You find it difficult to do that thing which you need to do to get what you want isbecause you lack clarity in your why.

(01:07):
Why are you in VO in the first place?
Why is it important to get up at 5 a and get your marketing done?
Why are you going to come home after working all day and then knock out 20 auditions?
Why do you get up on Saturday morning before your family to practice your reads?
If you're going to do something worthwhile like
building a business, building your body, building a better relationship with your partner,then you're gonna have to do hard shit.

(01:35):
And your clarity of your why has got to be crystal clear.
It's got to be burned into your mind so that when that bed is nice and cozy at 5 a yourwhy is strong enough to get you out of it.
I'll be honest, I'm in a weird spot lately where my why is shifting.
My son is...
about to be 18, he's entering his senior year of high school, and he doesn't quite need torely on dad as much because he's preparing to launch his own life.

(02:04):
And so, my why has shifted to the dozens and hundreds of voice actors that have helped mealong in my career and in paying that help forward.
I'm always gonna be his dad.
That is never gonna change, but now my why is a mix of
still being a good role model for my son and trying to pay back the community that gave memy life.

(02:28):
Those are the people who, along with my son, keep my bed from feeling a little too cozy inthe morning.
Your lack of energy.
Having a clear why can help you with your mental and emotional energy, but if your body'snot up to it, it's really hard to get the things done that you need to get done in order
to improve your life.

(02:49):
When I was younger,
I suffered from clinical depression.
I was never suicidal, but I was miserable.
And I heard or read, and I wish I could remember where, I heard the line, it's hard tofeel good when you don't feel good.
Meaning, it's hard to feel good mentally and emotionally when you don't feel goodphysically.

(03:10):
So I started taking better care of my health and my body.
I had no sense of control over my...
mental or emotional state, but I could control whether or not I got out for a run.
I could control whether or not I got to the gym.
In fact, it was about the only area of my life that I did have any sense of controlwhatsoever.

(03:34):
And so as you might have guessed, my health and my fitness slowly started to improve.
And as I began to feel better and stronger physically, I started to feel betteremotionally and mentally.
The better you take care of your physical self, the more emotional and mental energy youwill have to tackle everything else.

(03:57):
I'm not suggesting diving into the gym six days a week or going from the couch to half amarathon this year.
I'm just saying start small, start somewhere.
Take a 10 minute walk every day.
Take a multivitamin every day.
Build the habit of doing something for your physical health every damn day.

(04:18):
And I promise you, you will be surprised at how that energy can snowball over time.
You're in patience.
We live in a click and tap world of instant gratification.
Want a new pair of shoes?
Press a button and they magically appear on your doorstep the next day.
Want to watch a movie?
Click here.

(04:39):
In my day, we had to get up off the couch, drive 10 minutes to Blockbuster, walk for halfan hour with our heads tilted sideways, read a movie,
drive it back home, watch the movie, rewind the movie for 10 minutes, and then drive itall the way back to Blockbuster.
It was exhausting.
I don't know how we got anything done.

(04:59):
But Today, no one has any patience to build anything of value.
And there's a cottage industry of snake oil salesmen who feed on that impatience.
"You can have a profitable voiceover business in 90 days with no experience necessary."Horseshit.
Would you undergo heart surgery from a guy who went to 90 day medical school?

(05:20):
"Scalpels take too long.
We're going to cut into your chest with a Dremel." To build anything of real value takestime.
Let's say you wanted to be a professional accountant.
Well, you would have no problem with going to a four year school to learn the art andscience of accounting.
And then as you begin your career, learning on the job.

(05:42):
The same is true for being a creative professional.
It takes
Years.
Not days.
Not weeks.
Not months.
I hear people all the time, say, "Man, I've been at this voiceover thing for so long and Ijust can't get any traction." And I go, "Really?
How long?" And they go, "Man, like six months and I haven't booked anything." It's sixmonths.
You shouldn't even be looking for work at that point.

(06:03):
You're not properly trained.
You don't know your ass from your interface.
Give yourself time.
Treat your entrance to VO if you choose to pursue it as a career, like you would a collegecareer.
Commit to four years.
Take the time.
Do the work.
Have the patience.
Your distractions and your choices.

(06:23):
There is no getting around this truth.
Doing hard shit means sacrifice.
In order to get the life, the career, the business, the body, the relationship that youwant, you have to give up the one that you have.
You can't keep up on Bad Monkey and do 20 auditions a day.
You can't spend three hours a day scrolling social media and reach out to a hundredpeople.

(06:47):
You have to make choices.
As the great football coach Nick Saban famously said, it takes what it takes.
If you're going to commit to doing the big thing, then you have to commit to all the hardthings it takes to do the big thing.
Most people don't want to get out of their comfort zone.
You know what that really means?

(07:07):
People don't want to make sacrifices.
But here's the thing, there's likely a significant amount of trash time in your days andin your weeks.
Time in your life that is not serving you.
Sacrifice that.
Is season four of Emily in Paris building your business?
Is 20 minutes of Wordle a day giving you more energy?

(07:29):
What got you here will not get you there.
And your excuses.
I don't have time to market my business.
Make the time.
Take out the trash in your schedule.
I'm so tired all the time I can't get anything done.
Eat well.
Get your sleep.
Move your body.
I'm so overwhelmed I don't know where to start.

(07:50):
Just take one next step.
The pay to plays are the problem.
You can't control them.
AI is the problem.
You can't control that either.
My agents are the problem.
Same.
I don't audition well.
Then put in the work to get better.
I don't know how to market my business.
You can learn.
That's exactly what the VO Freedom Master Plan is for.

(08:12):
I don't have what it takes.
You have no idea what's inside you, because you've never, ever bothered to find out.
Here's what Stoic philosopher Epictetus had to say on taking action.
Now's the time to get serious about living your ideals.
How long can you afford to put off who you really want to be?

(08:32):
Your nobler self cannot wait any longer.
Put your principles into practice now.
Stop the excuses and the procrastination.
This is your life.
You aren't a child anymore.
The sooner you set yourself to your spiritual program, the happier you will be.
The longer you wait, the more you'll be vulnerable to mediocrity and feel filled withshame and regret because you know you're capable of better.

(08:55):
From this instant on, vow to stop disappointing yourself.
Separate yourself from the mob.
Decide to be extraordinary and do what you need to do now.
If you found value from this video, then help us share the channel with other voice actorsand creative entrepreneurs by liking this video, by following the podcast, by subscribing

(09:20):
to the YouTube channel, by going to voPro .pro and getting my Move, Touch, Inspirenewsletter for voice actors every week.
There you can find more information on the VOPro community and the VO Freedom Master Plan.
Thanks for the conversations we have on YouTube, on the VOPro blog.
In the VO community at large, again, the more we share information, the more we haverational discussion, even disagreement respectfully, the better, stronger industry we're

(09:47):
going to have for everybody.
Thanks so much and we'll see you again next week.

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The REAL PROBLEM with Voice Over - NOT What You Think!

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