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As the VO Strategist, I frequently see beginners waste money when starting a voice over business. This is a failure that takes place at the intersection of Cash Flow management and Tools acquisition. Understanding this is the difference between playing the Audition Game and winning the Search Game. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen enthusiastic beginners blow $5,000 on their voice over business in the first few months of their voice over journey, book nothing, then drop out. They drop out because they have no plan, do minimal research, then impulse buy because some knucklehead on Tiktok tells them to. Starting out gives you serious anxiety. That happened to me, too! Sadly, tat anxiety makes you do foolish things. You throw cash at problems instead of building a real strategy to become effective and relevant in the voice over industry. Here is the breakdown of the top five ways beginners waste money when starting a voice over business. How Beginners Waste Money When Starting a Voice Over Business 1. Buying Premium Home Recording Gear Too Early People decide to try voice acting and immediately buy expensive gear. They do this before talking to anyone in the industry or getting any real training. They have no idea what genres they could potentially book. Worse, they haven't acoustically treated a space in their home. So they buy a mic that isn't right for their voice, their home, or their target market. Now they have a fancy microphone that just highlights the room echo. 2. Incorporating or Forming an LLC Prematurely Some yutz online tells you that you need an LLC on day one. So you spend hundreds on filing fees and paperwork before making a dime. Incorporating or forming an LLC may one day become and important part of your business, but many people do it WAY too soon. Don’t incorporate because somebody who knows nothing about your industry tells you to. Don’t incorporate because it makes you feel professional or important. Don't incorporate until you're making at least 75k to 80k in consistent voice over revenue. Incorporate only if it’s right for where you are in your voice over journey. Until then, be a Self-Proprietor like me! 3. Joining Pay-to-Play Sites Before You Are Ready New voice actors rush to buy premium memberships on platforms like Voice123 or Voices dot com. But they aren't ready to play that game yet. "Ready" means you have solid training, high-quality samples, and an optimized profile. You need to understand how the platform's algorithm works. If you don't, you are just throwing away money. 4. Producing a Professional Demo Too Soon This is an all-too-common trap that new voice actors fall into. You pay a producer thousands for a commercial demo before you can repeat that performance on demand. When a voice seeker hears that demo and hires you, they expect that exact quality. If you can't deliver that level of performance in your own studio and without live direction, you ruin your reputation instantly. Your demo must be a reflection of what you can actually do every single day. 5. Spending Big on Complex Web Design and Logos You do not need a custom designed $3,000 website when you are in the Crawl phase. Your focus in the first two years is simply product development and finding market fit. A simple, clean site at your name dot com that plays your downloadable demos is enough for now. Save the marketing budgets for when you are ready to scale. The Implementation Gap Information is cheap, but executing a real business strategy is hard. It's easy to buy a microphone, but building a sustainable career requires a personalized roadmap. If you are tired of guessing where your money should go, let's look at your actual numbers. Book a free 15-Minute Consult today so I can answer your burning voice over questions! Want More Tools In Your Voice Over Toolkit? Stop guessing which microphones, hardware, software, and books are worth your investment! I’ve built a curated resource page with professional tools I trust that will both save time and help you make smart decisions for your business. As an affiliate partner, I may earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Get my curated list of essential VO tools here. AND Check out my VO How-To Library! Want to stream as many How-To videos as you want? Get a Video Subscription - use code FORWARD for 20% off your first month! From my village to yours, this is Tom Dheere, the VO Strategist. As the VO Strategist, Tom Dheere has provided voice over business & marketing coaching since 2011. He's also a voice actor with over 30 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voice over you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, Tom produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

Are voiceover genres even real? I know that's a weird question, an existential question, but I've been thinking about it lately. Yes, voiceover genres are real. However, I'm gonna put some qualifiers on that. Subscribe on YouTube for the latest... What Is A Voiceover Genre? A voiceover genre is a category of the medium in which a voice actor is cast. Classic examples include commercials, audio books, and cartoons. The First Big But Every genre of voiceover requires specific muscles that you must flex to be able effective. BUT voice acting is acting. All voice acting is storytelling. A lot of people who come into the voiceover industry don't consider storytelling. All voiceovers have a beginning, a middle, an end, an arc, and a message of some sort, which means that there is storytelling required. You need a solid foundation of storytelling skills first before you can layer your voiceover 101 training on top of that, and then layer your genre training on top of that. The Second Big But My good friend Johnny Heller (an award-winning audiobook narrator) says that you can't act a genre, you can't perform a genre. A character in a sci-fi audiobook doesn't realize that they are in an audiobook, much less a sci-fi audiobook. When you're narrating something, regardless of the genre, you can't contrive the genre, you can only tell the story. You need to be grounded You need to have storytelling training, voiceover training, and genre training, especially now that AI is here. In Summary You need storytelling ability. You need voiceover training. You need genre training. So yes, voiceover genres are real, but they can only be realized if you have good storytelling training and good voiceover training, too. Keep Going - Watch this Trailer: Finding Your Lane: VO Genre Exploration Click the button below to rent or buy "Finding Your Lane: VO Genre Exploration"! Upcoming Events & Appearances Looking for help navigating the entertainment industry? Check in and Stay on Track... Don't know where to start? Let's chat. Grab 15 minutes free - let's see what your business needs... Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. Tom Dheere is also a voice actor with over 30 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, Tom produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

Subscribe on YouTube for the latest... VO Atlanta 2024 is in the books! I had an amazing time as always! I wanted to give it a little bit of time before I posted this blog so I could let it all sink in. Without further ado, here are my top five takeaways from VO Atlanta 2024. Number 5: The Presenters Everybody was kind. Everybody was obviously knowledgeable, but everybody was also accessible. Some presenters have been in the business for 20 or 30 years, but there were others who were newer to the industry and had achieved success relatively quickly. They had lots of tips and tricks to share about what it's like to enter the industry in the 2020s, how to be able to navigate it, and how to be able to be successful. Number 4: The Trends It wasn't the same old content from the same old presenters. They talked about the latest trends in social media, casting, and more. What are voice seekers looking for right now? How should your demos be right now? What should your website look like right now? How can you market yourself right now? Number 3: AI There's a lot of stigma abut AI. There's a lot of controversy. There's a lot of confusion. There's a lot of disinformation. There's a lot of misinformation. There are individuals and organizations in the voiceover industry who are not only anti AI, but they're keeping themselves willfully ignorant and keeping the people in their ecosystems willfully ignorant of AI, which I believe is extraordinarily damaging to themselves and to the industry at large. The fact that so many presenters were talking intelligently and thoughtfully about AI and creating a safe environment to learn about it, talk about, it and express concerns about it speaks well of the culture of VO Atlanta. Number 2: Voices.com If you've ever attended the annual Online Casting Panel at VO Atlanta, you know that the conversation can be, well, spirited. This year was no exception There was a surprise panelist: Jay O'Connor, CEO of Voices.com. Everybody in the audience was quite surprised that this gentleman showed up for the event. The fact that he showed up as well as the fact that he apologized to the voiceover community for the past business practices of VDC was surprising and impressive. It was a healthy discourse. It got a little little tense here & there but Jay handled it with professionalism and dignity. I'm going keep an eye on Voices.com and see what happens... Number 1: The People I was shocked at the amount of attendees who had never done voiceover before that were willing to learn and have deep conversations with complete strangers. It's very gratifying to see so many people who are new to the business that showed up, that were there to learn, that were kind and fun and curious and eager is really a testament to the culture of VO Atlanta. Those are my top five takeaways from VO Atlanta. I'd love to hear what your VO Atlanta takeaways. Please put them in the comments! Keep Going - Watch this Trailer: Genre Exploration Click the button below to rent "Genre Exploration" for only FIVE BUCKS! Upcoming Events & Appearances Here's what I've got going on in the next few months - register to attend and add your voice to the mix! Looking for help navigating the entertainment industry? Check in and Stay on Track... Don't know where to start? Let's chat. Grab 15 minutes free - let's see what your business needs... He's the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. Tom Dheere is also a voice actor with over 25 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, Tom produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

As freelancers, voice talent have to deal with a lot of things to run their business. One of many is handling different forms of payment. There are news forms of payment popping up all the time so I figured it would be fun (well, fun for me in a voice-nerdy kind of way) to explore the different forms of payment out there right now. Check: while getting a paper check sent you via snail is a bit antiquated in the 21st Century, this is a relatively secure way to get paid. I have no issues getting paid this way. I must admit it’s still bit of a thrill getting a check in the mail. 🙂 Direct Deposit: what’s nice about direct deposit is that it goes directly into the bank account of your choice with no fees and only takes a day or two to clear. It’s relatively fast and secure. Wire Transfer: often used by my international clients. Also relatively fast and secure but the fees stink. They’re around $12-$18 per payment so I’ve been trying to steer clients away from this one. Credit Card: yes, clients can pay you with a credit card. I’ve never used that method so if you have experience with that, please share. I will say that I’m in the process of building a new VO Strategist website (I’ll let you know when it goes live) and I just joined Stripe so I can accept credit card payments. PayPal: PayPal is one of the most common forms of payment these days. It’s instant and relatively secure. It also does a currency exchange so you don’t have to get paid in your home currency. Just make sure you know the exchange rates. The two big problems with it are the fees (which seem to get higher and higher every day) and I have heard more than one horror story of payments being withheld for long periods of time or just lost. I have clients both domestic and international who pay me via PayPal and I’m trying to get them to use different forms of payment. Here are my two favorites… Zelle: Zelle is awesome. It’s a bank-to-bank app so you can instantly transfer money with no fees. Almost every major bank in the US uses it. Zelle doesn’t work outside of the US so for my international clients I like… TransferWise: TransferWise is also awesome. It goes directly into the checking account of your choice and the fees are tiny. It also does currency exchange and I have had no issues with it. Venmo (owned by PayPal): I have a Venmo account and used it once with no issues but I can’t say much more about it. If you’ve used it and have any experiences to share, please do. Payoneer: I’ve learned about Payoneer only recently. More and more voice talents are using it so I’d love to hear about it from those you who have. Google Pay/Android Pay/Apple Pay: I used Google Pay a few times at the insistence of a vendor who got hosed by PayPal. It seemed to work fine. I don’t have any experience with Android Pay or Apple Pay so please share your experiences with them. There may be a few more forms of payment out there, but those are the major ones. If you know of any others, please share. TIP OF THE WEEK You have a lot more control over your Cash Flow than you realize. There is nothing wrong with telling your clients your preferred forms of payment. If they use a payroll service, you get paid the way they have it set up and that’s fine. If it’s a smaller company or even a one-person company, let them know about the other forms of payment out there. Who knows, if you save them a few bucks in transaction fees they may remember you for future projects. 😉 NEWS AND NOTES If you subscribe to this blog and didn’t get the email last week, my apologies! I had to do some contact database maintenance and as a result some contacts were unintentionally deleted. If you know of any fellow subscribers who didn’t get my blog emailed to them, have them reach out to me and I’ll be happy to get them back on board. Thursday, September 20th @8PM EST: My next Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Workflow”. We’re going to talk about how to streamline the day-to-day operations of your voiceover business. Thursday, September 27th @8PM EST: My next Marketing 201 webinar will be “What Your Website Says About You”. We’re going to talk about everything that you need (and don’t need) on your voiceover website. SOLD OUT Sunday, October 14th @11:30 AM EST: At Arts On site in Manhattan I will be leading the conversation, “Marketing For VO”. In this 2-hour in-person-only workshop we will discuss the basics of marketing, branding, the Sales Funnel, and much more! This is a donation-based event. $35 is the suggested donation, but you are free to contribute whatever you want. If you want to get on the waiting list, just PM me with the subject line “Add Me!” SAVE THE DATE Sunday, November 4th and Sunday, November 18th: I will be leading two workshops at Soundvine Studios in Manhattan. More details to come…! November 9-11: MAVO 2018 is only two months away! Organizer Val Kelly just released the schedule. There are still a few tickets left! HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Teddy Bear Day and Chocolate Milkshake Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Remember, the girl you’re with is somebody’s sister. And he’s perfectly capable of kicking your ass. From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, The H is Silent, but I’m Not. 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 voiceover business consultant known as the VO Strategist and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.

Originally Published: Sep 4, 2018 | Updated: Feb 2026 In 2018, the debate around Fiverr was heated. While veteran voice actors warned of blackballing and brand damage, some aspiring voice actors looked at top-tier sellers making six figures and wondered: “Why not me?” Looking back at this email exchange today, my student’s logic, scaling up on high-volume platforms, made sense at the time. However, the industry has since hit a massive roadblock: Generative AI. Recent reports from the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA) and 2026 marketplace data indicate that the "entry-level" work my student describes (e-learning and explainers) has seen a 60% to 75% reduction in human hiring as clients pivot to AI clones for non-broadcast projects. THE ORIGINAL FIVERR EXCHANGE: SEPTEMBER 2018 Hi Tom. My question below is about Fiverr. From your last webinar I attended, can you clarify your position on Fiverr? Because I truly don’t get it. I am seeing Fiverr (as it exists and functions now) in the same lane as Voice123, Voices.com, Voice Bunny, Voice Realm, etc. That is, all of these online v/o markets are playing the game of high volume, low pay gigs, with many v/o-seeking clients offering lousy usage rights and terms of service. I am even seeing a trend for production companies and talent agencies to use these online v/o markets rather than using in-house auditions and production rosters. Clicking a demo link is easier than seeing people. If you go the website for JE Talent in San Francisco, they link directly to Voices.com for their v/o talent. On Fiverr I have found many very successful v/o artists (at least according to their Fiverr stats, self-promos, jobs-in-queue, and customer reviews). Their Fiverr videos show solid home studios, great gear, and v/o demos that are often better than mine. Further, with just a little Google investigation, I also found these same successful Fiverr artists with their own websites, and with their own profiles on Voices.com and Voice123. Their artist bios show training. Several of these artists display on their Fiverr profiles and personal websites brand-name national companies for whom they have done work. From their customer reviews, I can see these artists are getting repeat customers, too. One guy was just recently featured on CNBC as having made over a million dollars through Fiverr over the past three years! In his first month he made $400. I am not making any money right now, not even on Voice123. A million dollars over three years all due to great customer care and scaling up services seems really tempting – and possibly easy on Fiverr. Now I have read a few articles by Debbie Grattan. I learned from her Fiverr is good for clients with little money, and one should be careful about client theft and cancelled jobs. From Steven Jay Cohen’s blog I got the total fear of being industry black-balled drilled into me were I to use Fiverr. I heard Dan Lenard rail against Fiverr and Voice Bunny because they undervalue real v/o artist training and expertise. And I have read sundry other articles on VoiceOverXtra related to Fiverr as it existed in 2012 and how it does not respect the expertise, training, and professionalism of real v/o artists. The “you get what you pay for” thing. But I am still at a loss. Once you get to a certain seller status on Fiverr (I think it is Level 2), you can charge whatever starting rate you want and up-sell from there. These rates are often below industry standard. But how is that bad if you are getting consistent paid work? So far on Voice123, I am finding clients (actual ad agencies and real production companies) posting auditions for projects with ok-to-terrible usage rights matched to budgets that are often below industry standard rates. How is that different from Fiverr where the main gig expectation is a 24hr turn around for a complete buy-out at low pay? The online world wants fast and perfect and cheap. Trained artists don’t like this. I’ve put a lot of time and money into VO practice and training, and into my studio. But what value does all that have if I am not getting any paid work? There is no guarantee I will get paid work in any online market. But it seems more likely that I would if I am on a lot more than just one v/o online market. And Fiverr seems as good a bet as anything. (Incidentally, I have put a lot of time and training into my education at xxx University and have never made a dime of profit or income from that. I am well trained. I am respected. But so what?) It seems to me from the reading and investigation I have done, all of the online v/o markets sit squarely in the long-tail of the voice over industry: high-volume for low pay. I think it would be logical to assume that getting on to as many high-volume/low-pay platforms only increases one’s odds of getting a lot of work and money. So why is Fiverr frowned upon so fiercely? I don’t want to get blackballed for using it (if that even happens). But it seems like these Fiverr artists are making good money. I want to make good money, too. This is how I Replied I want you to make good money, too! Here’s my take on P2P sites in general: they are like guns, fire, or polka music. It’s not what they are, it’s how you use them that make them instruments of good or evil. I was on V123 for about 6-7 years. It helped me to better understand the industry and I acquired some regular clients. I stopped using it when I found myself deleting auditions every day because I was too busy working and more & more of the rates were becoming too low. Nowadays I don’t use any P2P sites but one and I’m dropping that one this year. As to Fiverr, yes it’s in the same lane as the other P2P sites you listed. Some users are bottom-feeding and some site creators don’t care because they make their money from subscriptions. X is an extra-special kind of scumbag because they make money from the subscriptions, the percentage they take from the gigs, and telling the voice seekers the talent is getting paid one rate then they pay the talent a lower rate and pocket the difference. Cold Hard Fact #1: Your revenue goal of $100,000 per year is going to be very, very difficult to achieve any time soon, much less $200,000. In our strata I can count on two hands the number of voice talent I know who make that kind of money. To make that kind of money you need to either: Have a steady stream of quality clients paying you rates that are commensurate with the industry standard after developing your skills & relationships (this may take years) Be in the union, have a good agent, and do Class A national spots (this may also take years) You could try doing a massive volume of low-paying work on P2P sites, but it probably won’t work. You can’t raise your rates because those types of clients won’t value you. If you try to get a raise they will dump you and go to the next guy because you’re treating yourself like a commodity and so will they. Those types of clients tend to be picky, demanding, and likely to vanish without paying you. Cold Hard Fact #2: if you go on Fiverr, your profile is public. If the voiceover community finds out, you will be vilified and many agents & talent will never work with you. That is the current reality of the voiceover industry. I’d be doing you a disservice if I told you otherwise. I will never tell another person how to support their family and you gotta do what you gotta do, as they say. I could be dead wrong and you could use those sites to make the money you need and then some, but it’s highly unlikely and there is a risk of being blackballed. In short, this industry is not for the faint of heart. Here’s how I became a successful voice talent. I failed a lot. I was broke a lot. I learned, learned, learned and I’m still learning. I tried to be a good human and collect good humans. I tried to be humble. I asked good questions. I took a skill set (teaching and business acumen) and turned it into a voiceover strength. I helped as many people as I could even though I didn’t have much practical voiceover experience. I recommended fellow voicers for my clients’ other projects and sent them casting notices that I thought was right for them while I was looking for my own work. I went to voiceover conferences and tried to contribute to the voiceover community as much as I could. The day I came home from my first VO conference I got avalanched with work and I haven’t looked back. Some years are better than others due to a massive amount of factors that you have zero control over, like some of your top clients vanishing without warning (this has happened to me more than once). Not 24 hours after this conversation, fellow voice talent Chris Thom posted the In Both Ears representation requirements on Facebook. Remember when I talked about part of it in last week’s blog? Here’s the other bit: We are no longer working with talent who have active accounts with Voices.com, Fiverr.com, Voicebunny.com, etc. Any situation or site where fair rates are compromised does not align with us philosophically. 2026 POST-SCRIPT Reading this today, my student’s desire to scale up on Fiverr was based on a world where a human was the only option for a cheap voiceover. That world is gone. The "high-volume/low-pay" strategy that seemed logical in 2018 is the sector AI has conquered. As of 2026, the marketplace has fundamentally changed. When you compete on price and speed alone, you aren't competing with other humans; you're competing with machines that work for pennies. The student’s question, "What value does training have if I’m not getting paid work?" has a new, harsher answer: Training is the only thing that keeps you from being replaced. The "fast and cheap" market has been won by the algorithm. To function now as a voice actor, you have to be human and specialized. The era of the "Million Dollar Fiverr Seller" was a window in time, and that window has largely closed. FYI within a few months of writing that email, my student left the voice over industry. I occasionally think about them and wonder if they ever gave voice over another try. Regardless, I wish them and all of you well! Source Note: Data from the 2025/2026 NAVA State of Voiceover surveys and recent freelance marketplace earnings reports indicate that while high-value projects (>$1k) are growing, low-end transactional categories like basic narration and e-learning have seen human hiring displaced by AI at rates between 60% and 75%. NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, September 20th @8PM EST: My next Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Workflow”. We’re going to talk about how to streamline the day-to-day operations of your voiceover business. Thursday, September 27th @8PM EST: My next Marketing 201 webinar will be “What Your Website Says About You”. We’re going to talk about everything that you need (and don’t need) on your voiceover website. ALMOST SOLD OUT Sunday, October 14th @11:30 AM EST: At Arts On site in Manhattan I will be teaching the seminar “Marketing For VO”. In this 2-hour in-person-only class we will discuss the basics of marketing, branding, the Sales Funnel, and much more! This is a donation-based event. $35 is the suggested donation, but you are free to contribute whatever you want. SAVE THE DATE Sunday, November 4th and Sunday, November 18th: I will be teaching two workshops at Soundvine Studios in Manhattan. More details to come…! November 9-11: MAVO 2018 is only two months away! Organizer Val Kelly just released the schedule. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Macadamia Nut Day and Iguana Awareness Day! Are you aware that an iguana is eating your macadamia nuts…? QUOTE OF THE WEEK When things go wrong, don't go wrong with them. Elvis Presley From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, The H is Silent, but I’m Not. 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 voiceover business consultant known as the VO Strategist and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.

Subscribe on YouTube for the latest... Don't Start Voiceover Demo Marketing Too Soon! If you're entering the voice-over industry, it's common knowledge that you need a voice-over demo. The challenge lies in creating a demo that's marketable. While some might be tempted to send it off to agents right away, it's important to invest time and effort in crafting a demo that showcases your best work. "Making a demo that's actually worth marketing is about taking your talent and working with a good coach to help you realize your talent" - Tom Voiceover Demo Marketing things to consider... If you want your voiceover demo marketing to actually work, it's important to work with a professional coach and demo producer who can guide you through the basics of voice-over, genre proficiency, and self-direction. Consider your intended audience and what you hope to achieve with your demo. Keep in mind that you'll likely need to make multiple demos throughout your career. While it may be tempting to do it yourself, investing in quality training and a demo is key to success in the competitive voice-over industry. Takeaways: Be patient Take acting & improv classes Develop your skills Keep Going - Watch this Next: Market Your Demo Have a great demo, but don’t know what to do with it? Tom shows you marketing strategies and tactics that will help get your demo in front of the right people. Learn how to prepare and submit your demo, what to do once they have it, and more… Upcoming Events & Appearances Here's what I've got going on in the next few months - register to attend and add your voice to the mix! Looking for help navigating the voice over industry? Check in and Stay on Track... Don't know where to start? Let's chat. Grab 15 minutes free - let's see what your business needs... He's the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach and demo producer since 2011. Tom Dheere is also a voice actor with over 25 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, Tom produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.

I am often asked, “When will my voiceover business become profitable? When will my career turn the corner? How long will it take for me to become successful?” The short answer; I have no idea. The longer answer is, well, a helluva lot longer. First off, what does “profitable” mean? It could mean: You’re making more than you’re investing in your voiceover business in a given year You’re making enough money doing voiceovers to cover your business expenses, personal expenses, saving for retirement, and/or having fun Another definition based on your situation and expectations Once you have your definition lined up, now you can ask yourself; how do you become profitable as a voice talent and how long will it take? A recent survey shows that most companies (84%) who become profitable do so within four years. Just for comparison, here’s my ‘profitability timeline’: 1994: decided I wanted to be a voice talent and started taking classes 1995: got my first demo 1996: did my first voiceover 2005: became a full-time voice talent 2007: made more money doing voiceovers than I invested 2011: covered all my personal and professional expenses doing voiceovers Considering I didn’t build a home studio until 2006, join Facebook & LinkedIn until 2007, and Twitter until 2009, I’d say the time from when I started trying to do voiceovers full-time to becoming profitable was about right. I will say that spending 10+ years fumbling and stumbling in a pre-social media world wasn’t fun, but I did learn a lot. TIP OF THE WEEK How do you become profitable as a voice talent? The vast majority of people who try to become a voice talent will fail. If you have been at this for 4+ years and still can’t turn a profit, this may not be the business for you. However, there are some things you can do to increase your chance of becoming profitable: Be specific. What does success look like for you, specifically you? Break it down by how much money you want/need to make, which genres you want to master, and what you want the logistics of your life to look life (i.e. record from home, live in LA, etc.) Invest wisely. Do your research on coaching, demo production, home studio construction, and much more. Market effectively. The key being profitable is finding new clients and retaining existing clients. These require different marketing strategies. Learn how to brand yourself and effectively communicate that brand across the appropriate channels. Be patient. Building a voiceover business takes time and requires commitment, consistency, and money. Most voice talents fail because they have no resources and don’t feel like waiting until they can do it right. If you have no money to spare: build a budget, put together a savings plan, and be patient. There is a lot of research you can do and groups you can join to learn about the art & science of being an effective voiceover business in the meantime. NEWS AND NOTES The new VO Strategist website is ready! www.VOStrategist.com. There are all kinds of goodies on it. 🙂 Now you can schedule and pay directly through the website. I’ve also added a Mentorship Program and a Monthly Checkup. Oh, and now there is a Reviews Page. If we’ve worked together and you were happy with my services it would be awesome if you could posts a review. A massive thank you to Nikki Saco and Sara Waters for all their hard work. Thursday, September 27th @8PM EST: My next Marketing 201 webinar will be “What Your Website Says About You”. We’re going to talk about everything that you need (and don’t need) on your voiceover website. Thursday, October 11th @8PM EST: My next Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Time Management”. We’re going to talk about how to keep your voiceover business on track on a daily basis. SOLD OUT Sunday, October 14th @11:30 AM EST: At Arts On site in Manhattan I will be leading the conversation, “Marketing For VO”. In this 2-hour in-person-only workshop we will discuss the basics of marketing, branding, the Sales Funnel, and much more! This is a donation-based event. $35 is the suggested donation, but you are free to contribute whatever you want. If you want to get on the waiting list, just PM me with the subject line “Add Me!” Thursday, October 25th @8PM EST: My next Marketing 201 webinar will be “Keeping Clients Coming Back”. We’re going to talk about the real secret to making clients cast you again and again. Sunday, November 4th @2PM EST: At Soundvine Studios in Manhattan I will lead the workshop “Learning to do eLEarning”. Seating is limited to only seven attendees so you’d better sign up fast! Tickets will go on sale very soon. November 9-11: MAVO 2018 is less than two months away! There are still a few tickets left! Sunday, November 18th @2PM EST: At Soundvine Studios in Manhattan I will lead the workshop “Explainer Videos Explained”. Seating is limited to only seven attendees so you’d better sign up fast! Tickets will go on sale very soon. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Punctuation Day and Comic Book Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, The H is Silent, but I’m Not. 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 voiceover business consultant known as the VO Strategist and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.

Here’s an example of effective branding in action Last night, I and my much-better half went to see her brother Doug’s band Portland Cello Project perform at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village. The lineup consisted of six cellists (one of which is Doug), one drummer (who has played with Prince and Stevie Wonder), one bass player, one trumpeter (who has played with Bootsy Collins and George Clinton), one French horn player, and singer Patti King (keyboard player for The Shins). This collection of brilliant musicians are versed in classical music, alternative rock, jazz, and other genres. They played covers of David Bowie, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Elliott Smith, and the entire Radiohead album OK Computer. Here’s a taste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6iy-Arj12o&feature=youtu.be As if THAT wasn’t enough to bake your noodle, the opening act was a gifted cellist and opera singer named Laura Wolf. I can only describe her as Bjork meets Imogen Heap meets a cello. Her music was both haunting and moving. Here’s a video of her amazing work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUOOfKM9yhk I haven’t experienced that much joy from listening to music since we saw Postmodern Jukebox in concert. I blogged about that amazing concert here. TIP OF THE WEEK In last year’s blog about Postomodern Jukebox, I talked about talent. This time, let’s talk about effective branding. Both PCP and Laura Wolf have blended their talents, their passions, and various musical genres to create something new. They innovated and dove into the deep end. The results were spectacular. As voice talents, we can take a lesson from this. If you want to create effective branding: Explore your talent. Determine which genres of voiceovers you can do well, really well. Then get better! Explore your passions. Figure out which types of products, services, and companies you feel strongly about. See if you can connect your passions with the genres you excel at. Be innovative. Easier said than done, I know. Here is a perfect example of effective branding in action. Voice talent Ian Fishman produced an eLearning demo to capitalize on the ever-growing cannabis industry: the “High-End Voiceover”. You can check it out here. Remember, there is a metric ton of voice talent out there who are competing for the attention of voice seekers. All things being equal, effective branding may make the difference. NEWS AND NOTES My recording setup is back on track! I got a Steinberg UR 12 interface and so far it’s working perfectly. Thursday, October 25th @8PM EST: My next Marketing 201 webinar will be “Keeping Clients Coming Back”. We’re going to talk about the real secret to making clients cast you again and again. SOLD OUT Sunday, November 4th @2PM EST: At Soundvine Studios in Manhattan I will lead the workshop “Learning to do eLearning”. To get on the waiting list, PM me with the subject line “Add Me!” Tuesday, November 6th @8PM EST: My next Marketing 201 webinar will be “Thriving in a Smaller Market City”. November 9-11: MAVO 2018 is just a few weeks away! There are less than 20 slots left so there’s still time to take part of this amazing conference! Thursday, November 15th @8PM EST: My next Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Managing Your Money”. We’ll talk about how to think, earn, spend, and save money like a business. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Bologna Day and Map Reading Week! QUOTE OF THE WEEK From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, The H is Silent, but I’m Not. 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 voiceover business consultant known as the VO Strategist and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.

There are a lot of bad demos out there. Whose fault is it? I bring this up because a few weeks ago, an aspiring voice talent posted his newly produced commercial demo on a voiceover-related Facebook group. It was bad. He sounded good but the production quality was awful, just awful. Fellow voice talent and good egg Paul Stefano also heard the demo and had this to say: Thanks for the support and the fantastic idea, Paul! I felt compelled to post the demo in another group because I was concerned about the quality of demos this particular producer is putting out there and wanted to see if anyone else had a bad experience with him. My jaw dropped when some voice talents questioned whether I should be “outing” the producer. Others thought I was being too subjective, while still others thought the production quality doesn’t matter because the talent has potential. Are you ****ing kidding me?! What ever happened to professional standards? Did I miss a memo or something? This “producer” took this guy’s money and made a crappy demo. It was too long (as per current industry trends) The recording space didn’t sound like it was acoustically treated well It wasn’t properly mixed in post-production. That is not being subjective, that it a critique from an experienced audio engineer who has produced many demos. I also listen to a lot of demos as the VO Strategist. I’m no engineer but trust me; this was a bad demo. Another fellow voice talent and good egg Melissa Exelberth also heard the demo. This is what she had to say about the responses to my post: Is there some kind of war against qualifying to meet a standard these days? I keep seeing posts that denigrate having and meeting professional qualifications. As if anyone can do anything just because they say they can, without going through studies, training or anything. If you feel comfortable having heart surgery by someone who says they can do it because they performed surgery on their barbie doll, in an OR on the 20th floor of a building built by someone who said they could do it because they once built a tree-house, be my guest. You go, Mel! I am sick and tired of the tidal wave of new voice talent who have no idea what they’re doing, the glut of predatory coaches & producers who are making money off of them, and the ever-lowering of standards by many voice talents themselves. There is always room for good new talent and we as a community are happy to mentor and support them properly, but too many people are getting taken advantage of. This guy is one of them. TIP OF THE WEEK How do we fix this? I love Paul’s idea and I’m happy to help some voice talents who got hosed, but can we be more proactive? Unfortunately, there are way too many aspirants and ratty producers to catch them all, but let’s do what we can to get some good information out there. Here are some reasons why bad demos are made and what we can do to prevent it from happening again: The voice talent may not have the talent to be in the voiceover industry. Be honest! If someone doesn’t have the pipes to be a voice talent and asks you if they have a chance to make it: save them time, money, and energy by being upfront. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, send them to me or another coach. Tough love is part of this business. The voice talent may have the talent but didn’t get sufficient training to make an effective demo. Having a good voice isn’t enough! You need training in breath control, microphone technique, script interpretation, genre mastery, and much more. Point them in the direction of quality demo producers who will give them the right training to make an effective demo. The voice talent may not have properly vetted the demo producer. In all fairness, it’s hard to vet one if you don’t know what questions to ask. The easiest thing to do is listen to their past work, ask for references, and get a second opinion. If you have a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel: let’s get the word out! It gets harder every day to uphold & promote professional standards but we have to keep trying. Please do your part to inform and enlighten the voiceover community so new talent don’t get taken advantage of. NEWS AND NOTES SOLD OUT Sunday, November 4th @2PM EST: At Soundvine Studios in Manhattan I will lead the workshop “Learning to do eLearning”. To get on the waiting list, PM me with the subject line “Add Me!” Tuesday, November 6th @8PM EST: My next Marketing 201 webinar will be “Thriving in a Smaller Market City”. November 9-11: MAVO 2018 is just a few days away! There are less than 10 slots left so there’s still time to take part of this amazing conference! Thursday, November 15th @8PM EST: My next Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Managing Your Money”. We’ll talk about how to think, earn, spend, and save money like a business. Sunday, November 18th @2PM EST: At Soundvine Studios in Manhattan I will lead the workshop “Marketing for VO”. Since there are only seven seats available this will sell out super-fast so sign up ASAP! March 29-31, 2019: I’m presenting at VO Atlanta 2019! Details to come… HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Checklist Day and Candy Corn Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, The H is Silent, but I’m Not. 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 voiceover business consultant known as the VO Strategist and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.

Here’s an exercise in the art of letter closing… So I’m on Facebook (as I am too often) and an interesting conversation popped up on the VO of NYC Facebook Group. The founder asked if you find it weird when people sign their emails, “Respectfully, Jane Doe”. She said it’s “because it reminds me of the phrase ‘With all due respect…’ which is typically followed by an insult.” An interesting discussion ensued where people expressed which letter closing they like or don’t like. What was even more interesting was that there was no consensus. Some like “Best” and some hate it. One has an issue with “Thanks” but another is a big fan of it. A observation by one was that the more formal the letter closing, the ruder it is. What’s particularly interesting is that is a very American perspective. By that I mean there is a correlation between formality & friendliness across international lines. I discovered this a few years ago when doing email-etiquette-by-country research which was later reinforced when I narrated the audio book “Culture Crossing” by Michael Landers. Through my research, the Culture Crossing narration, and personal experience, I’ve learned that formality and politeness don’t always go hand-in-hand. In France & Japan, often the more formal you are, the more respectful you are. In America and Italy, the less formal you are, the more respectful you are. Clearly this varies from person to person and whether it’s a professional or personal relationship. There are also contradictions. In America, or in the below example, Canada, if you call a stranger “buddy” or “pal” it’s often meant to show disrespect. “Watch where you’re goin’, pal!” TIP OF THE WEEK For writing a letter closing with a potential or existing client, here are some guidelines from the website The Balance Careers: Sincerely, Regards, Yours truly, and Yours sincerely – These are the simplest and most useful letter closings to use in a formal business setting. These are appropriate in almost all instances and are excellent ways to close a cover letter or an inquiry. Best regards, Cordially, and Yours respectfully – These letter closings fill the need for something slightly more personal. They are appropriate once you have some knowledge of the person to whom you are writing. You may have corresponded via email a few times, had a face-to-face or phone interview, or met at a networking event. Warm regards, Best wishes, and With appreciation – These letter closings are also appropriate once you have some knowledge or connection to the person to whom you are writing. Because they can relate back to the content of the letter, they can give closure to the point of the letter. Only use these if they make sense with the content of your letter. Capitalization Capitalize the first word of your closing. If your closing is more than one word, capitalize the first word and use lowercase for the other words. Letter Closings to Avoid There are certain closings that you want to avoid in any business letter. Most of these are simply too informal. Some examples of closings to avoid are listed below: Always, Cheers, Love, Take care, XOXO. Some closings (such as “Love” and “XOXO”) imply a level of closeness that is not appropriate for a business letter. Rule of thumb: if you would use the closing in a note to a close friend, it’s probably not suitable for business correspondence. Here’s my tip. When writing to a potential client, your letter closing should reflect your branding but err on the side of being formal. When writing to an existing client, you can (and should, in my opinion) be less formal but still polite since you’re striving to develop a more comfortable relationship based on strong communication and trust. If a potential or existing client writes to you, just write back using the same letter closing they use. That way there is a minimal chance of being too formal or informal because you’re using what they are comfortable using. NEWS AND NOTES Tuesday, November 6th @8PM EST: My next Marketing 201 webinar will be “Thriving in a Smaller Market City”. Click here to sign up. November 9-11: MAVO 2018 is this weekend! Looking forward to seeing everyone. Thursday, November 15th @8PM EST: My next Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Managing Your Money”. We’ll talk about how to think, earn, spend, and save money like a business. Sunday, November 18th @2PM EST: At Soundvine Studios in Manhattan I will lead the workshop “Marketing for VO”. Since there are only seven seats available this will sell out super-fast so sign up ASAP! March 29-31, 2019: I’m presenting at VO Atlanta 2019! Details to come… HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Nachos Day and Zero Tasking Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK Real friends talk shit to your face and nice behind your back. Mamta Chikara From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, The H is Silent, but I’m Not. 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 voiceover business consultant known as the VO Strategist and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.

Over the weekend I spoke at the Mid-Atlantic Voice Over Conference in Hernon, Virginia. 100 aspiring voice talents from all over the country converged on this suburb of Washington DC to explore the world of voiceovers, work with some amazing presenters, and network with some of the voiceover industry’s best and brightest. I’ve spoken at a lot of voiceover conferences over the years and MAVO was lovely, just lovely. This is me and my carpool buddies Johnny Heller and Suzanne Barbetta having a grand ole’ time on the road. This is marketing guru Marc Scott crushing it in one of that many incredible sessions he did. Preach it, Marc! This is branding expert Celia Siegel wowing the crowd with both her vast branding knowledge and her awesomeness as a good human. And this is me taking a quick breather in between sessions. No, I’m not whistling. Or singing. The 100 Mid-Atlantic Voice Over Conference attendees were eager, enthusiastic, and kind. My fellow presenters, everyone from keynote speaker Kari Wahlgren of Phineas and Ferb fame to Joe Cipriano (the promo voice of almost every TV you show you enjoy) are top-notch in their field and provided a wealth of information. BTW Kari is freaking hilarious. Val Kelly did an extraordinary job of putting it together almost single-handedly. She is one impressive lady. The Mid-Atlantic Voice Over Conference is every other year so the next one will be in 2020. If you can go, go! TIP OF THE WEEK Some of the attendees I had the pleasure of talking to were concerned about their lack of experience. Everyone in the voiceover industry has something to offer as both a professional and as a person. I don’t care how many spots you’ve done or if you don’t even have a demo yet, you have something to offer. You came from somewhere and have life experiences and insights to share that could potentially change someone’s life. If you are a good human, take your training seriously, and work your tail off, good things will happen. One more thing. I was sitting in on one of Kari’s animation workshops and she talked about what to do if you flub a line during an audition. She said that it’s not about whether you make a mistake, it’s how you handle that mistake. If you apologize a zillion times and then ask permission to do it again, it makes you look like a nervous amateur. If you just pause and pick up where you left off, you’re keeping both yourself and the client in the moment. I raised my hand and said “Professionalism is not necessarily perfection.” I’m proud to say she is stealing my line. 🙂 NEWS AND NOTES Thursday, November 15th @8PM EST: My next Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Managing Your Money”. We’ll talk about how to think, earn, spend, and save money like a business. Sunday, November 18th @2PM EST: At Soundvine Studios in Manhattan I will lead the workshop “Marketing for VO”. Since there are only seven seats available this will sell out super-fast so sign up ASAP! March 29-31, 2019: I’m presenting at VO Atlanta 2019! Details to come… HAPPY HAPPYS Happy Pickle Day and I Love to Write Day! Can you tell…? QUOTE OF THE WEEK Love is not a zero-sum game. Jennifer Angela McRae 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 voiceover business consultant known as the VO Strategist and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.

What is the value of a voice talent? Last week I was at a recording session with some really nice, younger voice talents. I’m talking still in or recently graduated from college. On one of our breaks we talked about the rigors of pursuing an acting career in New York City, specifically the culture imposed upon us by acting teachers, agents, and fellow artists. One said that she and her fellow theater majors are expressly forbidden from auditioning for professional gigs while they’re attending school. Another said a fellow actor befriended her because she thought she was more successful than she actually was. When she found out how much work she had actually done, she stopped talking to her. As one who was part of that rat-race for a few years, I can empathize. It reminded me of a few moments from back in the day: I paid a New Jersey-based agent a $120 representation fee and they didn’t send me out for a single audition. I had a one-hour consult with a casting director who screamed at me because I forgot my checkbook. One of our college theater directors told my friend she had to decide to be fat or skinny, not in-between like she was or she won’t get any work. An agent once told me that John Malkovich can’t sell toilet paper and neither can I. (a sort-of compliment, actually) The same agent told me that I was too good-looking for character roles but not good-looking enough for lead roles so I’m almost impossible to cast. Those last two bits of advice were a factor in my decision to pursue voiceovers full-time, BTW. To add to this conversation, someone posted this recently: It’s been circulating for a few years on The Internets. As much as I love the sentiment, Meryl never said that. Here’s an article that’s explains what she really said and the context: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/why-we-all-wanted-that-meryl-streep-facebook-post-to-be-real With all this in mind, it reminded me of two things: Actors are treated like a commodity and judged almost solely on appearance Actors are at the whim and mercy of jaded teachers and entitled agents This is not news. For the record, I had some inspiring teachers and am repped by some wonderful agents. There more than a few bad apples out there, though. TIP OF THE WEEK The commoditization of stage & screen actors has been happening for as long as there has been a stage for them to perform on. Actors have been pouring into NYC and Hollywood for almost 100 years seeking fame and fortune. I think it’s a more recent development in the voice over industry with the advent of the Internet, Pay-to-Play sites, relatively low-cost home recording facilities, and the popularity of cartoons and video games. There are way too many voice talents with little no or training, but more importantly with little or no understanding of their value. I ask again; what is the value of a voice talent? Your value as a voice talent is not necessarily determined by the sound of your voice. Your value is determined by: your training your business acumen your marketing savvy your understanding of the voiceover industry your communication skills, and most importantly your self-worth If you do not value yourself or your voiceover business, you will be treated accordingly. Get proper training, develop your skill sets both inside and outside the booth, and charge rates that are commensurate with the industry standard. Oh, and don’t be a dick. NEWS AND NOTES Saturday, December 1st @5PM EST: The 2018 Voiceover Holiday Extravaganza is a big ole’ holiday party to give voice talent an excuse to dress up and get their drink on. It will be at Hurley’s Saloon in New York City. It starts at 5PM if you want to have dinner but the party party starts at more like 7PM. Thursday, December 6th @8PM EST: My next Marketing 201 webinar will be “Brand Yourself”. We’ll discuss the basics of branding, the Sales Funnel, and major branding boo-boos to avoid. Thursday, December 13th @8PM EST: My next Business and Money 201 webinar will be “Goals”. We’ll talk about how to effectively set your sights on 2019. Saturday December 15th: the ACA Deadline is coming fast! Click here to get more information. HAPPY HAPPYS Happy French Toast Day and Computer Security Day! QUOTE OF THE WEEK If you are hustling 24/7 in a scatterbrain fashion, that in itself is a form of laziness. Indiscriminate action is reflective of too little thinking and planning and that is lazy, and it’s one of the most destructive forms of laziness because it is socially reinforced, people will encourage you to do that. Tim Ferriss 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 voiceover business consultant known as the VO Strategist and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.