Have you been plugging along with VO for a while without much traction? Maybe you’ve been in the business for years but hit a point where you feel stuck? Or you’ve taken classes, gotten a demo but feel like you can’t move forward? First of all, you’re not alone! Many have been where you are BUT how do you get UNSTUCK?
If you’ve been in voice over for a bit but have gotten to a place where you feel stuck, our Atlanta Voiceover Studio podcast guest, Erikka J, shared SIX things she does when she starts to feel stuck.
1| JUMP BACK INTO TRAINING/COACHING –sometimes it helps to have someone say, “You’re still delivering great auditions” or “You’ve gotten back into an old habit.”
2| CHECK IN with agents and managers – find out if they’re hearing anything or noticing a certain trend that you may not fit.
3| LOOK AT THE PAST – look back at the same month the previous year. Was it slow? Noticing patterns can help you prepare for slower times and understand when it’s just an ebb and flow.
4| WATCH Commercials/Animation/Video Games/etc – Fun homework, right?! Watching and listening to genres you’re auditioning for is helpful to be reminded of tone and trends. If most of the voices sound 30 years younger than you, that may explain there’s just a trend of younger voices.
5| ASK OTHER TALENT – sometimes the feeling of being stuck is prevalent throughout the industry.
6| TAKE TIME AWAY – feeling unstuck could be as simple as a change of scenery. I’m not talking about a whole vacation but taking a long walk or grabbing lunch with a friend can make you feel motivated and encouraged enough to get unstuck.
Erikka J is a singer and songwriter who used what she learned through her music career to propel her voice over career. Find out how she got started PLUS we cover all of this in the episode:
- Her most useful tools for her voice over career
- Three things she wished she’d done differently at the start of her career
- What it’s like being a black VO talent navigating this industry
- Her advice to black talent just getting into this industry
Listen to the full episode via the platforms below:
iTUNES
AMAZON MUSIC
SPOTIFY
GOOGLE PODCASTS
Have you been plugging away after many classes and training without much luck in voice over?
There could be a reason for this, there could not be a reason for this. Here are some questions I’d ask yourself + some applicable things you can do to get unstuck.
1| Is VO something you still want to pursue? I believe tenacity in this industry trumps talent because, honestly, what clients deem as “talented” sometimes has more to do with just personal preference. But at the same time maybe you realize you just can’t or don’t want to keep churning the wheel. It’s not failure, it’s realization. If your answer to that question is YES, then sometimes that’s enough to get you unstuck and motivated again.
2| Do you truly feel like you have your VO business set up for success?
Do you have a solid business foundation? If you feel lost with that, check out our Business, Branding and Marketing Course. Do you have all the elements you need? Quality home studio? Multiple VO agents?
WHAT TO DO:
So you want to still pursue VO and you have set up everything you need to be successful in this industry? Here are some suggestions to get UNSTUCK.
1| FILL YOUR VO OPPORTUNITY PIE
What does that mean? Auditioning is sort of a gamble. Of course you need to have quality auditions to book something but there’s a lot of competition in this industry and a lot of what books is out of our control. That means you need to increase your opportunities to increase your chance of booking.
I think of audition opportunities like a pie. You need to be getting audition opportunities from THESE sections of your opportunity pie at least EVERY week (hopefully every day).
- Agents (aim to get at least 3 agents in different regions)
- Online Casting Sites
- Outside Rosters – recording studios and internal company rosters.
- Self Generated Clients
Aim to fill each of these up!
How? Check out the Agent Rep Prep class that starts September 12th (It’s actually SOLD OUT now but if you’re interested, email: admin@atlantavoiceoverstudio.com) to learn how to add to your agent representation, use our 15% off code for Voice123 for an online casting site, check out the Voiceover Resource Guide to find studio rosters you can submit to, find internal company rosters by searching for companies on Linkedin and begin to implement the marketing strategy from our Business, Branding and Marketing course for self-generated clients.
You can also join our monthly INDUSTRY PRO workouts where we invite someone that either reps talent or hires talent as our guest. You get to read for them and get their feedback. It’s a GREAT way to create relationships!
2| FIGURE OUT YOUR NICHE
I have a very common voice. I’m a white female that sounds 30-50 years old, friendly, upbeat. There’s a million of us out there. You want people to remember you for projects and start to hear your voice. One of the ways to do that is to determine your specific voice niche. I like to call it your voiceprint (like a fingerprint). If you took the Beginner Intensive, look back over your notes from the week where you voiced a ton of specs and classmates gave you feedback on your top specs and descriptions of your voice. This can help you determine this.
Mike and I have talked about doing a branding-specific workshop that would help you with this. If that’s something you’re interested in, reply to this email (it’d be offered in person and virtually).
3| GET A TRIBE
Do you have a VO tribe or accountability group? You need other voice talent that can cheer you on. People who understand the business. Having Mike as someone I can talk to when I get in a rut helps soo much. Wanna find a tribe? Join us for our next VO social September 29th at Fireside Brewery.
FINALLY – are you someone who has taken the classes, gotten a demo but hasn’t done anything with it? Here are some applicable things to get unstuck.
1| FIGURE OUT THE ROADBLOCK
This will require some soul-searching. Maybe some journaling. For me, I get stuck because I’m scared of failing. It’s easier to take classes and do the steps to prepare but ACTUALLY doing it means I’m responsible if I fail…or maybe I’m not that great to begin with? I constantly have to practice pushing through that fear of failure. For others, it’s the need for everything to be perfect. There’s really no such thing in this field. Once you figure out the roadblock, you can determine an action plan to push through it.
2| SET A SPECIFIC DATE & ACTION
What would be ONE small step you could take to get unstuck? Sign up for an Industry Pro Workout? Sign up for an online casting site? Send just 1 email to an agent? Maybe it’s as small as sharing your demo on Linkedin/Social? Determine that action then determine the date by which you’ll do it.
3| TELL SOMEONE
Now that you have that down, find someone you can tell. Ask that they text you on that date to see if you completed the action. It’s amazing the momentum one small step can give you.
There will be plenty of times through your career that you may feel stuck. The important thing is what you do when you feel that way. The more we can practice pushing through it, the more sustainable our careers will be.