25 years ago last week I had my first voiceover lesson with Hope Noah.
On November 4th, 1994 I went for a voiceover diagnostic with Hope Noah. She thought I had potential so we worked together for about six months, cut a demo, and I started cold-calling. Back then that was the only thing I knew to do to market myself. No personal websites or Facebook in those days!
Since I completed my training Hope Noah I tried to stay in touch with her, but with little success. Now I know why. I just found out that she passed away over ten years ago. It’s amazing how time flies. She was a good coach and a kind lady.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Looking back, it’s shocking how little I knew about the voiceover industry for such a long time. Hope Noah did give me a strong performance foundation and some hope. See what I did there? 😉
I have some of the notes she gave me from back then. After 25 years of dramatic change in the voiceover industry, her lessons still resonate…
The one thing that separates the successful voice talent from the wanna-be’s is transparency. The very best voice talents are able to make us listen “through” their voice so we focus on the message, not the messenger. They know how to “work clean”, and that means they have a voice with no sticking points. No distractions that get in the way like greasy fingerprints on a pane of glass. What are some of the vocal distractions that undermine transparency? A strong regional accent A speech impediment A voice that is too beautiful In voiceovers, the product is always the star, not you. That’s what I mean by transparency. If you master this lesson, you’ll be a star where it counts. At the bank!
NEWS AND NOTES
Thursday, November 14th @8PM EST: Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar, ‘The Sales Funnel’. In this one-hour webinar, I’ll talk about what the Sales Funnel is and how to push voice seekers through it. Click here to sign up!
Friday, November 15th @10AM EST: The Mid-Atlantic Voice Over (MAVO) conference Mastery Session signup! My session, ‘Manage Your Money Like a VO Pro’ will take place Friday, November 6, 2020. These sessions are optional and have a supplementary fee because they are not part of the main MAVO 2020 Conference. These sessions fill up quickly as there is a max of 12-15 attendee so sign up this Friday at 10AM EST to make sure you get your spot! Go to https://www.midatlanticvo.com to learn more…
Saturday, November 16th @1PM EST: The Vancouver Island Voiceovers Workshop! The topic: “VO in Smaller Markets: Getting the Work and Knowing what Works!”. This event is for Vancouver Island residents only but if you have a local voiceover group that you’d like me to speak at, let me know!
Wednesday, November 20th @9PM EST: “Late Night Secrets for VO Success” with Rhonda Phillips. In this LIVE webinar, I will be discussing the basics of marketing and will answer your questions. Go to https://rhondasvoice.com/late-night-secrets to learn more…
Saturday, February 1st 2020 @2PM PST: I will be speaking LIVE at the Voiceover Studio in sunny Las Vegas! The topic is “THE VOICEOVER BUSINESS AND HOW TO ACT LIKE IT”. Here’s the description:
Congratulations! You’ve done your voiceover training and have your freshly produced demo in hand. Now what? In this three-hour workshop, veteran voice talent and “VO Strategist” Tom Dheere will help you rub the stars out of your eyes and learn how to think & execute like an effective voiceover business. We will discuss how to build your voiceover business from the ground up, craft a Mission Statement, set goals, craft an Action Plan, and learn how to stick to it.
Registration is now open! Click here to sign up.
March 26-29 2020: I am proud to announce that I am the VO Atlanta 2020 eLearning/narration Track leader! Very soon I will announce my teammates and the sessions we’re offering. Stay tuned…!
HAPPY HAPPYS
Happy Sundae Day and Sesame Street Day!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Tom Dheere is a 20+year veteran of the voice over industry who has narrated thousands of projects for hundreds of clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a voiceover business & marketing consultant known as the VOStrategist and produces the comic book “Agent 1.22”.