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Is posting your voiceover auditions & gigs on social media a good idea? Some voice actors post their voiceover auditions & gigs on social media and sometimes it gets them in trouble. How? These days, many voice seekers will do a social media "deep-dive" on you to check for not just commercial conflicts but to see if you have the potential to damage their image. I'm talking about posting content that is politically charged, sexually explicit, or demonstrates inappropriate behavior (drinking, partying, etc.). They're also checking to see if you're an NDA violator. Many voice actors have damaged their career by posting about auditions or bookings before the release of the ad campaign, audio book, video game, etc. and it got them in a LOT of trouble. Here's a great example of an innocent NDA mistake made by my friend and wonderful voice actor Debbie Irwin. This even happens with movie stars sometimes, like this Avengers: Endgame NDA-violating boo-boo. TIP OF WEEK If you're considering posting about one of your voiceover auditions or gigs on social media; THINK BEFORE YOU POST. Here are four tips: Ask yourself why you want to share this audition or gig with the world. What conversation are you trying to have? Who are you trying to have a conversation with? Are you just showing off? Or do you just have no idea how to use social media effectively as a voice actor? Do you have permission to talk about it on social media? FYI you know you have permission if you can find it on a front-facing website like the company's business website, iSpot, or a YouTube channel. If you can't, I don't recommend trying to get permission. That may make the client nervous because now they have to see if you're doing something wrong. Always assume ALL auditions are submitted under an NDA, even if you didn't sign one. Even posting about how excited you are about an audition you just did without disclosing who/what you did it for may get you into trouble. Don't do anything to make the voice seeker twitchy! Be patient! After it goes live, talk about the journey to getting cast. Talk about your prep. Talk about the recording session. Talk about being directed or directing yourself. The more you can demonstrate your professionalism, your humanity, and your joy, the more value your social media posts have. Focusing more on that and less on self-hype will do yourself much more good. NEWS AND NOTES Saturday, November 13th @2PM ET: The Voice Actors Studio "eLearning Performance with Guest Coach Tom Dheere!" eLearning, training modules, and instructional content is a leading category in voiceover opportunity! Join special guest coach Tom Dheere for a focused eLearning Performance workshop! Every voiceover genre has a unique set of “performance rules.” Get a clear understanding of what is required when voicing educational/training content. Soak up helpful pointers from Tom, a busy eLearning VO talent and coach, as he directs you on a variety of eLearning-specific scripts. Don’t miss three hours of script reading with Tom Dheere! You’ll be sure to “learn” a thing or two and have a lot fun while doing it! Sunday, November 14th @1PM ET: Edge Studio "Managing Your Marketing Mindset". You’re looking to book voice over jobs but you don’t know how to best market yourself as an actor. In this one-hour webinar, you will learn how to think like a professional marketer and develop a positive and sustainable mindset to set yourself up for success in the industry, while keeping clients coming back. November 12-14: The Mid-Atlantic Voice Over conference. I won't be speaking there this year but this is a FANTASTIC conference and I strongly encourage you to attend. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Caramel Apple Day and Author's Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

A few years ago I blogged about a "landing an agent" checklist. Since the voiceover industry has changed so much in just a few short years, I thought it would be a good idea to update the checklist. What has changed in the voiceover industry since that blog post? COVID-19 and AI. They will have a major influence on the industry for years to come, but we've discussed these before so we don't need to go into detail here. My understanding of the voiceover industry have changed as well so my thoughts have evolved on the subject of agents. For one thing, I've come to realize that different voice actors of different experience levels need different things to get their careers to different places. Voice actors at certain points in their journey need to do, be, and use certain things that voice actors at other points in their journey don't. Do all voice actors need an agent? No. Are all agents the same? No. TIP OF THE WEEK With all that in mind, here is my updated “landing an agent” checklist: Which genres do you want to be successful in? Agents work in certain genres: most commonly commercials, network promos, cartoons, and video games. They cast other genres but not as often. If you want to be successful in genres like audio books or eLearning, you do not need an agent. Do you need an agent at this point in your career? Most aspiring voice actors think they need an agent right out of the gate and that is almost never the case. You need an agent once you achieve a certain level of success and want to be considered for projects you can’t access on your own. Which tier of agent should you pursue? There are "tiers" of agents based on their status, location, roster, and how they get their casting notices. We touched upon this in a recent blog. If you are looking for your first agent, do your research and look for an "entry-level" agent. This may increase your chances of getting repped. Which part of the country/world do you need an agent? Usually you’re only allowed to have one agent in a 50-mile radius. Make sure that geography lines up with your genre needs, too. For example, if you want high-end animation work, landing an agent in the Los Angeles area is probably a good idea. Are you willing to sign with an agent? If you do, often you’re not allowed to be submitted for projects by other agents. Read the exclusivity clause VERY CAREFULLY. Are you willing to travel for auditions & recording sessions? COVID-19 has moved most auditions and many recording sessions to your home studio so this is not as important as it was pre-pandemic. Are you union, non-union, or Fi-Core? Many agents represent union talent, non-union talent, or both. Don’t submit to an agent who casts projects that don't line up with your current union status. Did you follow ALL of the submission criteria in the Call Sheet? The best way to never be considered by an agent is to ignore the submission criteria. That will prove to them immediately that you can’t take direction and are therefore useless to them. Are you willing to take no for an answer? This is not the part when I say “don’t give up” or “don’t take no for an answer” cliché crap. I have submitted to agents before who loved me & my demos, but they had too many people on their roster who sound like me. That is not a bad thing! That just means there isn’t room for you on their roster right now. Be sure to stay in touch and follow-up in six months or so. Pinning your hopes on one particular agent is, in my opinion, starving-artist-like and unrealistic. There are many small agencies out there who can get you good work and ensure you are paid well. Once you've gone through this checklist, NOW you can look for an agent. Be sure to read the "How to Vet an Agent" blog next so you can ask them the right questions to ensure they will suit your needs. RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS Here is where I occasionally suggest stuff that may help your voiceover business. Some of these suggestions may include an Amazon Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you click on the link and purchase the item in question, I get a few cents at no extra cost to you. Today's recommendation: books! The Right-Brain Business Plan was recommended to me by my buddy and fabulous voice actor Lauren McCullough. Voice actors are human and have different ways of navigating the world in general and the voiceover industry in particular. Books like The Right-Brain Business Plan can help you build your voiceover business with an intuitive, imaginative approach. NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, October 14th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar, "Workflow". This class will give students an understanding of how to utilize 21st century tools and software to stay organized and on task. SOLD OUT Monday, October 18th-21st: New England Narrator Retreat. Friday, October 22nd-24th: Baltimore Comic Con. I will be there promoting my comic book Agent 1.22. If you're at the con, stop in at Artist Alley Table C33 and say hi! Thursday, October 28th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar, "What Your Website Says About You". In this class, students will explore best practices when creating a successful voice over talent website. November 12-14: The Mid-Atlantic Voice Over conference. I won't be speaking there this year but this is a FANTASTIC conference and I strongly encourage you to attend. Since I will be a crazed, travelling maniac this month: no blog for the next two weeks! See you November 2nd... HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Sausage Pizza Day and Own Business Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

Ten years ago this week, I attended my first voiceover conference: FaffCon 3. It changed my life. I'm not exaggerating. At first I was afraid to go. I had been a full-time voice actor for about six years and was making a living doing voiceovers but I was barely getting by. I was afraid I couldn't afford to go and more importantly, I didn't think I deserved to go or have anything to contribute. My buddy Trish Basanyi convinced me to go. She insisted it would be fun and I'd learn a lot and meet some great people. I relented and applied to attend. Since there were only 100 spots and it was an un-conference format, there were no speakers. If you wanted to attend, you needed to be a working voice actor that could contribute to the event. Fortunately, I got in. It turns out that I knew about half of the 100 attendees already from networking events, Facebook, and other social media platforms which was great but I didn't feel like I truly belonged. I needed to do something to demonstrate to everyone (and especially myself) that I deserved to be there. Calling upon my corporate trainer experience, I created a presentation about how to write a Mission Statement, annual goals, and a monthly Action Plan. I had been using these tools for about five years and they were a big help to me so I thought they could help other voice actors. Keeping in mind that there were multiple sessions happening at the same time all weekend, of the 100 FaffCon attendees, about 50 of them attended my session. I couldn't believe it. I was told afterwards that almost no one had ever talked about approaching their voiceover career like a business so people were curious. I did my presentation and it went well. Really well. Afterwards one of the attendees said to me, "You're a ****ing rock star!" It turns out that in the back of the room, Edge Studio owner David Goldberg was listening to me speak. A few days later, he asked me to be one of his instructors. Soon I will celebrate ten years of being a voiceover coach, all thanks to David. The day I got home from FaffCon I got avalanched with work. I've done extensive research and can't find a single corollary beyond the fact that 15 years of planting seeds, marketing, learning, growing, and failing had finally paid off. I got buried with work and I haven't looked back. Amy Snively, founder of FaffCon, thank you and I love you. I will always be indebted to you for giving me the opportunity to be part of this amazing community. To my fellow Faffers, thank you and I love you goofy weirdos, too. There are too many to mention who attended FaffCon that weekend that have become true friends. I tell my students that if it weren't for my fellow voice actors, I wouldn't have a voiceover career. TIP OF THE WEEK FaffCon 3 taught me that I deserve to be a success as both a voice actor and a person. That may sound a bit corny, but it's true. Before FaffCon, many people in my life didn't understand or respect what I was trying to do. They thought I was being silly and that I should stop screwing around and get a "real" job, get married, have kids, buy a house, get fat & boring, and wait to die. No, thank you. You deserve to be a success. You deserve to pursue your dream. The best thing you can do to realize your dream is to surround yourself with people who truly love you, respect you, understand you, and help you be the best version of yourself that you can be. I believe in you. Believe in yourself, too! RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS Here is where I occasionally suggest stuff that may help your voiceover business. Some of these suggestions may include an Amazon Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you click on the link and purchase the item in question, I get a few cents at no extra cost to you. Today's recommendation: audio software! I use Adobe Audition Creative Cloud 2021. I've been using it since 2006 back when it was Adobe Soundbooth. It's subscription-based which means you pay for it every year. I resisted going to the subscription-based version because I thought, "Why should I keep paying for the same product again and again?" When I discovered that it automatically uploads updates, patches, and even new versions, it was a no-brainer. It's easier to use than ProTools and there's a Facebook group of Adobe Audition users who are very helpful. If you have any questions about Adobe Audition Creative Cloud 2021, just drop me a line! NEWS AND NOTES Wednesday, September 29th @4PM ET: the VO How-To webinar, "Cloze for Voice Actors". I've been using Cloze to manage my voiceover contacts & marketing efforts for over three years and it's been a HUGE help! In this 90-minute webinar, I'll walk you through Cloze and share some tips & tricks to better manage your contacts, marketing efforts, and projects. This webinar will be recorded so if you cannot attend the session, you will get a video of the webinar. Thursday, September 30th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar "The Sales Funnel". In this class, students will explore the concept of the “Sales Funnel,” and how it can yield more paying clients in the long run if used properly. Saturday, October 2nd @5PM ET: The Voice Actor Studio workshop, "Learning to do eLearning". Saturday, October 9th @5PM ET: The Voice Actor Studio workshop, "Analyze Your Business and Marketing Strategies". Wednesday, October 13th @8PM ET: the VO How-To webinar, "Agents, Unions, and your VO Business". Curious about representation and SAG-AFTRA? Are they right for your voiceover business? Learn more here! Thursday, October 14th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar, "Workflow". This class will give students an understanding of how to utilize 21st century tools and software to stay organized and on task. Thursday, October 28th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar, "What Your Website Says About You". In this class, students will explore best practices when creating a successful voice over talent website. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Corned Beef Hash Day and International Poke Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

Ah, the dreaded cold email! Even considering sending them to voice seekers sends a shiver down many a voice actors' spine. Exactly how important is a cold email? It can be very important! I've booked many great clients over the years via a cold email. That first impression goes a long way, but it's just the beginning of the relationship. On both social media and in the classes I teach, the same batch of questions are asked over and over again about what to do after sending a cold email: What do I do if a voice seeker doesn't immediately reply to my cold email? When should I follow up? Should I call them? Did I write too much? Too little? Do they hate me? TIP OF THE WEEK Calm down, calm down. Once you send a cold email to a voice seeker, forget about it. You can't sweat it. If they don't reply to you immediately or even open the cold email (which a good CRM like Cloze will tell you if they do), that means absolutely nothing. For all you know they may have saved your cold email and they'll open it the next time they need to cast a voice actor who sounds like you. That could be in a few days or a few years. My record from first touch to getting cast is ten years! Should you follow up that cold email with another touch? Eventually, yes. Opinions vary, but I email them again in about three months but only if I have something relevant to say. Not, "Do you have any work for me?". Don't be that person. The cold email is part of a long-term marketing strategy. It's not designed to book voiceover gigs that voice seekers are casting right now. It's designed to cultivate relationships with voice seekers for voiceover gigs that will be cast later. An effective cold email is brief, professional, and demonstrates your value as a voiceover business. If done effectively to enough voice seekers, it will pay off eventually! RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS Here is where I occasionally suggest stuff that may help your voiceover business. Some of these suggestions may include an Amazon Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you click on the link and purchase the item in question, I get a few cents at no extra cost to you. Today's recommendation: Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. This book changed how I think - not about only money and my voiceover business, but about who I am as a person and how I make life-decisions. Robert Kiyosaki extols the virtues of making decisions based on Financial Intelligence rather than Emotional Intelligence. This is a great read; it will change your voiceover business and possibly your life! NEWS AND NOTES Monday, September 13th: It's my birthday! To celebrate, I'm offering 13% off ALL videos in the VO Strategist Shop. Get videos like 'How to Market Your Demo', 'Learning to do eLearning', 'Managing Your Money', and much more. Just use the coupon code TOMBDAY2021 on September 13th and you can get as many videos as you want for 13% off! Wednesday, September 15th @8PM ET: The VO How-To webinar: "Explainers Explained". What is an Explainer Video? How do you narrate one? Where do you get the work? These and many other questions will be answered in this online workshop! If you can't attend the night of the event, the webinar will be recorded so you can watch the video at your convenience. Thursday, September 16th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar "Cost/Benefit Analysis". This class will give students an understanding of how to analyze their voice over business, figure out where their voiceover work came from, and how to read metrics. Sunday, September 19th: Stay tuned...! Saturday, September 25th @8PM ET: The Voice Actor Studio webinar "Set Goals and Build a Business Plan". Now is the perfect time to create your voiceover business plan and set your goals for the next week, month, quarter, and year. In this online workshop, I will walk you through how to determine what success can look like for you and how to make it happen. Thursday, September 30th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar "The Sales Funnel". In this class, students will explore the concept of the “Sales Funnel,” and how it can yield more paying clients in the long run if used properly. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Cheese Pizza Day and Fight Procrastination Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

What does a voiceover survey that 1,244 voice actors participated in say about the state of the voiceover industry? Let's find out... First off, we as a community has been wondering about the actual landscape of the voiceover industry for years. Nobody knows how many people are actually doing (or trying to do) voiceovers and we probably never will BUT this survey gives us a pretty good idea about the percentages of who is doing what and how much they make. Before you do anything else, check out the survey, watch this video about the survey voiced by the fabulous Maria Pendolino, and listen to this podcast. They do a great job of breaking down the survey and it's a fascinating conversation. A HUGE thanks to Carin Gilfry, Jamie Muffet, and the Voiceover Survey gang for putting this together. What do I think of the survey? Nothing particularly surprised me. Your average voice actor seems to be what I thought: non-union, low income, uses P2P sites a lot, has an agent or two that barely helps their career, and doesn't use direct marketing effectively. If this survey was conducted pre-COVID the results would be different. People have been flocking to the voiceover industry in recent years but COVID definitely catalyzed the movement. If this survey was conducted before the advent of Pay-to-Play sites the results would be wildly different. I think the survey results will be wildly different a few years from now but for a different reason. AI is coming (in some ways it's here) and it may ravage not just the bottom end of the VO food chain but a good chunk of the middle. It's possible that many of the voice actors surveyed will be out of the voiceover business in a few years because of AI. It's also possible that anyone trying to enter the voiceover industry in a few years may not find enough work to sustain them because AI gobbled up most of the entry-level gigs. Will the survey influence my business decisions? No, but if I hadn't been exploring different genres as well as different marketing techniques for the past year or so it certainly would. TIP OF THE WEEK What does this all mean for you? If you are part of the majority of respondents, you need to do some serious thinking. What will you do if the majority of P2P gigs, Fiverr gigs, etc. are taken by AI? What will you do if the genre you book the most work in gets taken over by AI? What will you do if you can't land an effective agent? What will you do if you don't learn to use Direct Marketing effectively? Be prepared, make sound decisions NOW, and execute a plan to stay both relevant and valuable! RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS Here is where I occasionally suggest stuff that may help your voiceover business. Some of these suggestions may include an Amazon Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you click on the link and purchase the item in question, I get a few cents at no extra cost to you. Today's recommendation: laptop computers! I just got a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon. It's replacing my Lenovo Thinkpad T420 which worked great for years but the RAM was maxed out and these days you need at least 16GB. It's much lighter than the T420 and has USB-C ports as well as regular USB and HDMI ports. Most of them are pricey BUT here is a link to a refurbished one for only $799. NEWS AND NOTES Wednesday, September 15th @8PM ET: The VO How-To webinar: "Explainers Explained". What is an Explainer Video? How do you narrate one? Where do you get the work? These and many other questions will be answered in this online workshop! If you can't attend the night of the event, the webinar will be recorded so you can watch the video at your convenience. Thursday, September 16th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar "Cost/Benefit Analysis". This class will give students an understanding of how to analyze their voice over business, figure out where their voiceover work came from, and how to read metrics. Sunday, September 19th: Stay tuned...! Saturday, September 25th @8PM ET: The Voice Actor Studio webinar "Set Goals and Build a Business Plan". Now is the perfect time to create your voiceover business plan and set your goals for the next week, month, quarter, and year. In this online workshop, I will walk you through how to determine what success can look like for you and how to make it happen. Thursday, September 30th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar "The Sales Funnel". In this class, students will explore the concept of the “Sales Funnel,” and how it can yield more paying clients in the long run if used properly. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Slinky Day and Cheese Pizza Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

Let's have a chinwag about wisdom... Here's a thought that's been rolling around inside my head lately. Whatever you do, do it with both hands and on a flat surface. I first started using this mantra whenever I'd open a box from Amazon, break down a box from Amazon, or do anything in the bathroom or kitchen. When you perform tasks involving sharp objects without both hands or on a flat surface, accidents can happen. Then I started to think of it as a metaphor about doing anything in life, for example. driving. No Tom, don't reach into the glove compartment right now. Wait until you get to the red light. Stuff like that. And of course I try to apply the wisdom of this mantra to both navigating the voiceover industry and teaching others to do so. More people are entering the voiceover industry than ever which is great but most just slam into it sideways without a plan or a clue. They're doing this blindfolded, one-armed juggling act on a tightrope when they don't have to. Usually it's because they don't know what they don't know. TIP OF THE WEEK Wisdom, patience, experience. These are things that don't come naturally or quickly. When you're about to do anything that could be potentially risky, whether it's physical, logistical, emotional, or financial, ground yourself. Center yourself. Collect accurate data. Use the wisdom you have acquired so far though your experiences as well as the wisdom you have gleaned from coaches, family, colleagues, and friends. Use it to make the best decisions you can for both your short-term and long-term well-being. And don't cut toward yourself. Always cut away. NEWS AND NOTES My promo demo is ready! A huge thanks to David Goldberg of Edge Studio for making it happen. You can listen to it at www.TomDheere.com. Enjoy! Thursday, August 26th @8PM ET: Brand Yourself. In this one-hour Edge Studio webinar, students will be given insights on how to brand yourself as a voice over talent in order to get the right kind of attention and grow your business. Thursday, September 16th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar "Cost/Benefit Analysis". This class will give students an understanding of how to analyze their voice over business, figure out where their voiceover work came from, and how to read metrics. Saturday, September 25th @8PM ET: The Voice Actor Studio webinar "Set Goals and Build a Business Plan". Now is the perfect time to create your voiceover business plan and set your goals for the next week, month, quarter, and year. In this online workshop, I will walk you through how to determine what success can look like for you and how to make it happen. Thursday, September 30th @8PM ET: The Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar "The Sales Funnel". In this class, students will explore the concept of the “Sales Funnel,” and how it can yield more paying clients in the long run if used properly. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Cuban Sandwich Day and Take Your Cat to the Vet Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

Obviously your audition is important, but exactly how important is it? And why? When you audition for a voiceover project, does your voice have to exactly match the voice in the voice seeker's head? Do you have to make the exact inflections, pauses, etc. the voice seeker wants you to make? On top of that how important is it to: Clean up, EQ, and compress your audition? Slate your audition? Watermark your audition? TIP OF THE WEEK Yes, your audition is important but there is no perfect audition. Yes, auditioning is a numbers game but don't audition for everything under the sun, especially projects that don't match your race, gender, and sexual identity. The best audition is not necessarily a clone of the desired finished product. Often the voice seekers have no idea what they want. That means all you can do is make strong, effective choices that demonstrate your acting ability and proficiency in the genre. Just do the best you can and follow the casting specs to the letter. Also remember that it's not just you that's auditioning. Your recording space and the quality of your audio files are also being considered. Often you're not just auditioning for the project in question. You're also auditioning for future consideration. Just because the end-client didn't select you for this particular project doesn't mean you didn't submit a great audition. Oh, and as soon as you submit your audition, forget about it and move on to the next thing. DON'T follow up. They got your audition and it's in the system. Don't be a needy jerk. RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS Here is where I occasionally suggest stuff that may help your voiceover business. Some of these suggestions may include an Amazon Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you click on the link and purchase the item in question, I get a few cents at no extra cost to you. Today's recommendation: BOOKS! The book that started my journey to becoming an effective voiceover business is Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It taught me how to think outside the box and my comfort zone. It also taught me how to craft and execute effective goals. If you want to get out of your head in a good way, read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. NEWS AND NOTES My latest podcast appearance is here! Watch me being interviewed by fellow voice actor Jim Cooper at The Hydrant! https://vimeo.com/587628981 Wednesday, August 18th @8PM ET: Tracking Your Stuff. In this 90-minute "VO How-To" webinar, we will discuss how to effectively and efficiently track your clients, your Cash Flow, and your invoices. This webinar will be recorded so if you can't attend you can still sign up and get a copy of the video. Thursday, August 26th @8PM ET: Brand Yourself. In this one-hour Edge Studio webinar, students will be given insights on how to brand yourself as a voice over talent in order to get the right kind of attention and grow your business. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Trail Mix Day and World Bratwurst Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

Relationships, both professional and personal, can be tricky to establish, nurture, and maintain. The really tough part is how to determine when some relationships must end. First off, are the relationships in question transactional, personable, or personal? All of these types are valid in certain situations but becoming aware of them can help you manage your expectations of what you should give and receive on a financial, logistical, and possibly emotional level. It's also critical to understand the dynamic of your relationships. It gets weird when your relationships with voiceover clients, agents, friends, or family are of one type to you but another type to the other person. For example, if you think your relationship with someone is personal but to them it's transactional, you're being used. Often you don't find out about that kind of dynamic until it's too late (i.e. you lose money or have your heart broken). I bring this up because lately I have had much less tolerance for difficult clients. I think a contributing factor is that I'm really busy now voicing projects, coaching students, producing demos, and creating comic books. I'm sure the pandemic plays a role as well but overall I have less bandwidth to deal with lowballing voice seekers and micro-managing end-clients. I have laundry to do so I don't have time for your nonsense! This lower tolerance for BS seems to happening in not just the voiceover industry but other industries and I think it's a good, no, great thing. The pandemic has put things into perspective for a lot of people and has changed not just people's priorities but forced them to reexamine their relationships at work and with their friends & family. I know I have and even though it's been tumultuous, I know I'm the better for it. TIP OF THE WEEK You are under no obligation to continue relationships with clients or people who mistreat you or don’t have your best interests at heart. I don't care if they are friends or family or your most lucrative voiceover client. Learn to harness The Power Of No! No, I won't work for that rate. No, I won't give you this or that for nothing in return. No, I will stop leaving room in my life for someone like you when all you do is take, never give, and always demand more. You are solely responsible for your self-care! Eat right, exercise, hydrate, get plenty of rest, and keep toxic voiceover clients & people out of your life. NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, August 12th @8PM ET: Time Management. In this one-hour Edge Studio webinar, this class will give students a game plan of how to best utilize their day and where you need to focus your time as a voice talent. Saturday, August 14th @5PM ET: Be a Practical Voice Actor. In this Voice Actor Studio webinar, you will learn how to develop your decision-making skills so you can move your voiceover business in the direction you want it to go. You’ll also learn to determine what questions you need to ask yourself and how to find the right answers in order to be the voiceover artist and business you truly want to be. Wednesday, August 18th @8PM ET: Tracking Your Stuff. In this 90-minute "VO How-To" webinar, we will discuss how to effectively and efficiently track your clients, your Cash Flow, and your invoices. This webinar will be recorded so if you can't attend you can still sign up and get a copy of the video. Thursday, August 26th @8PM ET: Brand Yourself. In this one-hour Edge Studio webinar, students will be given insights on how to brand yourself as a voice over talent in order to get the right kind of attention and grow your business. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy S'mores Day and International Cat Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to produce voiceovers and its effect on the industry has been a topic of serious discussion lately. The latest round of debate started around some recent developments: When the producers of the Anthony Bourdain documentary "Roadrunnner" used AI to simulate the late chef's voice. When the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences (SOVAS) published an article regarding voiceovers and Artificial Intelligence When voice actor Bev Standing sued TikTok for using her voice without her permission. When Voice123 published a survey regarding Artificial Intelligence and the opinions of voice seekers. There is a lot to unpack here so I suggest you read the above publications and check out the other blog entries & articles out there regarding the subject. How much will Artificial Intelligence disrupt the voiceover industry? Nobody knows. I think it will depend on: How much voice seekers care if the narrator is an AI How much listeners care if the narrator is an AI What agents, SAG-AFTRA, and Pay-to-Play sites will do to protect voice actors I think that eventually many of the lower-tier narrators will lose their livelihood. There is no hard data to support this, but did you know that many audio book listeners increase the playback speed? All of that hard work narrators are doing to include nuance and subtlety in their narration is never noticed. I have a feeling many listeners will not care if an AI narrates many of the audio books they listen to since they will speed it up anyway nor will they care about whether many other genres of voiceover use it either. Many people don't give a moment's thought to whom or what is narrating most of the the content they listen to, anyway. TIP OF THE WEEK Yes, Artificial Intelligence is already beginning to disrupt some aspects of the voiceover industry. Yes, some voice actors may lose their livelihood eventually. The big question is, is that going to be YOU? Ask yourself these questions: What is the ceiling of your talent, your skill sets, your marketing acumen, and your intestinal fortitude? Is that ceiling high enough to keep you in the voiceover industry? What are you doing to protect your voice when you audition for and book projects? Are you willing to license your voice to an AI company? You need to answer these questions ASAP and do whatever you can to stay educated and relevant. RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS In this new section of the VO Strategist Blog, I will occasionally suggest stuff that may help your voiceover business. Some of these suggestions may include an Amazon Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you click on the link and purchase the item in question, I get a few cents at no extra cost to you. Today's recommendation: shock mounts! Last year I bought the Eggsnow universal shock mount & mic clip. The problem is that a few of the rubber bands broke and apparently Eggsnow has no website, contact info, or any way of buying replacement rubber bands (I bought it on Amazon, BTW). Since I'm not interested in playing the guessing game of what size the rubber bands are and ordering from someone else, I decided to get a new shock mount. I purchased the Rycote InVision INV-7 HG mkIII Microphone Shock Mount. While the Eggsnow shock mount was under $10 and the Rycote shock mount is $75, if nothing else this shock mount doesn't require rubber bands to secure my Sennheiser 416. And it looks really cool! NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, August 12th @8PM ET: Time Management. In this one-hour Edge Studio webinar, this class will give students a game plan of how to best utilize their day and where you need to focus your time as a voice talent. Saturday, August 14th @5PM ET: Be a Practical Voice Actor. In this Voice Actor Studio webinar, you will learn how to develop your decision-making skills so you can move your voiceover business in the direction you want it to go. You’ll also learn to determine what questions you need to ask yourself and how to find the right answers in order to be the voiceover artist and business you truly want to be. Wednesday, August 18th @8PM ET: Tracking Your Stuff. In this 90-minute "VO How-To" webinar, we will discuss how to effectively and efficiently track your clients, your Cash Flow, and your invoices. This webinar will be recorded so if you can't attend you can still sign up and get a copy of the video. Thursday, August 26th @8PM ET: Brand Yourself. In this one-hour Edge Studio webinar, students will be given insights on how to brand yourself as a voice over talent in order to get the right kind of attention and grow your business. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy All or Nothing Day and International Chicken Wing Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

Last week, my wife and I went to see the Shakespeare in the Park production of 'Merry Wives'. We've never been to Shakespeare in the Park and it was a mind-blowing experience! This interpretation of 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' takes place in South Harlem and the characters are West African immigrants. It was a top-notch cast of Grammy and Tony award-winning actors who were uber-talented and freaking hilarious, evert single one! Jacob Ming-Trent as Falstaff was brilliant as he straddled Shakespearean text and contemporary references effortlessly. Major kudos to Jocelyn Bioh's script adaptation and Saheem Ali's inspired direction. Oh, and the set was AMAZING! I won't give away how the scene changes work but if you go see it you'll know what I'm talking about. TIP OF THE WEEK If you live in the New York Metropolitan area I heartily recommend entering the digital lottery to see Merry Wives. If you don't, go see a show in your area. Any show! Ballet, opera, theater, a rock concert, someone making balloon animals in a park, whatever. Watch other artists so they can inspire you. Support both your fellow artists and the local economy. It will do your heart good and you'll be helping others! RESOURCES & RECOMMENDATIONS Welcome to a new part of my blog! Here I will occasionally suggest stuff that may help your voiceover business. Some of these suggestions may include an Amazon Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you click on the link and purchase the item in question, I get a few cents at no extra cost to you. Today's recommendation: microphones! I've been using the Sennheiser 416 for over five years now and it's amazing. It's perfect for a variety of genres. When I got it I did a mic shootout and wrote a blog about it. You can read it here. If you're ready to buy a Sennheiser click on this link! NEWS AND NOTES Wednesday, July 14th @12PM ET: the VoiceOver Network Interview "Tom Dheere Explains Explainers". During this chat we’ll talk about the growing world of explainers. This will be interactive so bring your questions and join us LIVE! Sign up here! Thursday, July 15th @8PM ET: the Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar, "Rates, Billing, and Negotiating". In this 60-minute webinar, we will discuss how to build a Rate Sheet, invoice clients, and get the rates your deserve. Sign up here! Wednesday, July 21st @8PM ET: The VO How-To Webinar "Direct Marketing". What is Direct Marketing? How can you use Direct Marketing to complement your Agents and use of Pay-to-Play sites? These and many more questions will be answered. Sign up here! Thursday, July 22nd @8PM ET: the Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar, "4 Words that Kill your Marketing". In this 60-minute webinar, we will discuss how to think like an effective voiceover marketer and avoid self-destructive marketing strategies. Sign up here! HAPPY HAPPYS Happy French Fries Day and Pandemonium Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

Ethics comes up a lot as you navigate the voiceover industry. This occurred to me recently because I was narrating a project about ethics and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As I was narrating the script, I realized how deeply ethics is involved in the voiceover industry. You need to make a lot of ethical decisions as situations come at you. Before we continue, let's establish the definition of ethics. There are many definitions and we could go down the rabbit hole of defining & differentiating ethics, morals, virtues, and values but I've got laundry to do today. For simplicity's sake, let's use Merriam-Webster's definition 2C: Ethics: a guiding philosophy. What are your ethics aka your guiding philosophy when you have an opportunity to go behind the back of your agent to book a gig so you don't have to pay them their commission? What are your ethics when you're bidding for a gig on a Pay-to-Play site? What are your ethics when you're a member of SAG-AFTRA and you're offered a gig that would violate Global Rule One? What are your ethics when you see a casting notice for an African-American voice actor and you're not? TIP OF THE WEEK How can you be an ethical voice actor? Establish a guiding philosophy that benefits not just you but the voiceover industry as a whole. It's easy to be unethical but it hurts everyone, including yourself. Being ethical can be hard sometimes but it helps everyone in the long run. BTW if being ethical was easy & profitable, everyone would do it. If your booked a gig via an agent, work through that agent when the client wants to keep working with you without the agent involved. If you audition for projects via Pay-to-Play sites, use SAG-AFTRA rates and the Global Voice Acting Academy Rate Guide so you can bid ethically. If you're a SAG-AFTRA member, honor the contracts that have been collectively bargained. Don't pretend to be of a different race or sexual orientation that isn't your own when auditioning. NEWS AND NOTES Wednesday, July 14th @12PM ET: the VoiceOver Network Interview "Tom Dheere Explains Explainers". During this webinar we’ll talk about the growing world of explainers. This will be an interactive webinar so bring your questions and join us LIVE! Sign up here! Thursday, July 15th @8PM ET: the Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar, "Rates, Billing, and Negotiating". In this 60-minute webinar, we will discuss how to build a Rate Sheet, invoice clients, and get the rates your deserve. Sign up here! Wednesday, July 21st @8PM ET: The VO How-To Webinar "Direct Marketing". What is Direct Marketing? How can you use Direct Marketing to complement your Agents and use of Pay-to-Play sites? These and many more questions will be answered. Sign up here! Thursday, July 22nd @8PM ET: the Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar, "4 Words that Kill your Marketing". In this 60-minute webinar, we will discuss how to think like an effective voiceover marketer and avoid self-destructive marketing strategies. Sign up here! HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Spareribs Day and Mechanical Pencil Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

Experimentation is as valuable as success. I heard this quote over the weekend while I was listening to my favorite podcast, "Invisibilia". If you haven't listened to it, it's amazing. In the Season 7 episode, "The Great Narrative Escape", they talk about a Norwegian public television show called, "Slow TV". Episodes include watching people go salmon fishing, someone knitting, etc. for hours and hours. It's not like the Seinfeld concept, "A show about nothing". Compared to strong narrative content like a Disney movie, you'd think that nothing is happening. This Norwegian public television station took a chance by creating a show where essentially nothing happens and it was a hit. Listen to the podcast episode or watch an episode of Slow TV to see what I mean. TIP OF THE WEEK We've explored the concept of experimentation in a blog entry last year as it pertains to developing your technique as a voice actor. Now let's explore experimentation as it pertains to the rest of your voiceover business model. Like I've said many times over the years, there is no single way to be a successful voice actor. You have to build your own formulas and create your own path. Experimentation is a great way to test your formulas and find what works best for you on many levels. Such as... Cash Flow: which accounting software app do you prefer to use? Tools: which DAW or microphone can you afford that meets your needs? Marketing: this one requires a LOT of experimentation over a long period of time. Which social media platforms do you like using? What kind of content are you posting? Are you doing A/B testing? Do you know when to stop trying one way of marketing yourself and start another? Health: how are you organizing your goals, your business plans, your analytics? Experimentation is as valuable as success. This is how you grow as a voiceover business and a person! NEWS AND NOTES Saturday, July 10th @5PM ET: the Voice Actors Studio presents "Analyze your Business and Marketing Strategies". In this 2-hour webinar, we will talk about how to objectively examine your voiceover business so you can figure what's working and what isn't. Sign up here! Wednesday, July 14th @12PM ET: the VoiceOver Network Interview "Tom Dheere Explains Explainers". More info to come...! Thursday, July 15th @8PM ET: the Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar, "Rates, Billing, and Negotiating". In this 60-minute webinar, we will discuss how to build a Rate Sheet, invoice clients, and get the rates your deserve. Sign up here! Thursday, July 22nd @8PM ET: the Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar, "4 Words that Kill your Marketing". In this 60-minute webinar, we will discuss how to think like an effective voiceover marketer and avoid self-destructive marketing strategies. Sign up here! HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Pineapple Day and Logistics Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.