Hey, there! So, I know we’re on break but we’ve had a lot of questions from you about demo production these past few months so I wanted to hop on real quick to discuss the 5 Key Elements Every Commercial Voiceover Demo Needs, especially if you’re going the DIY route. It’s important to have a clear idea of what you want and what needs to come out of the demo production process to best support your business.

These must haves are based on the demo production method we employ when producing my voiceover demos in my business, and since my demos have played a huge part in my direct marketing efforts with clients, I wanted to share a little bit about how we make this happen on the backend.

Be sure to sign up for the companion guide PDF I’ve created that you can read over and utilize as you get going with your voiceover commercial demos. Link below.

Links & Resources:

Sign up for the 5 Key Elements for Demos Companion Guide

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In this episode we’ll be reviewing data from the 2021 state of voiceover survey. The survey offers in depth and specific information about what the VO industry looks like at this very moment. And while things change all the time, this information is super helpful for me, for you and for anyone else currently working in or interested in working in VO.

Before we hop into the episode, we’ve created a much smaller survey with questions we have for you about your voiceover business pursuits. If you’re interested, we’d really appreciate you taking the time to fill out the survey. Link is below.

Links & Resources: 

Voiceover Business Questionnaire

State of VO 2021 Full Survey

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 You may have read this episode's title and thought either: 

1. You make your own luck, Jack!

or 

2. There is no such thing as luck.

No matter which realm of thought you ascribe to, there is some pretty interesting hypothetical data in regard to luck we want to share with you today. Information that lends us to believe that the pot of gold waiting for us is one that we can help ourselves to conjure on the road to pursuing what we want.

 You may have read this episode's title and thought either: 

1. You make your own luck, Jack!

or 

2. There is no such thing as luck.

No matter which realm of thought you ascribe to, there is some pretty interesting hypothetical data in regard to luck we want to share with you today. Information that lends us to believe that the pot of gold waiting for us is one that we can help ourselves to conjure on the road to pursuing what we want.

Your “homework” while we’re gone is to get real with yourself:

• What do you want when it comes to your voiceover business?
• What does that look like for you one year from now?
• How can you put yourself out there and try. 

Links & Resources:

Veritasium - Is Success Luck or Hard Work?

Voiceover Business Questionnaire

Sign up for the FREE mini course!

In this episode, we’re answering a listener question from Sarah. She asks:

Do you have any tips for successfully landing gigs on Voices.com? 

Before we begin, here’s a quick note from this episode’s sponsor:

The Business of Work From Home Voice Acting for Beginners: Did you know our beginners course is now FREE to all our listeners! While we’re on break, we wanted to be sure we left you with something to get excited about while we’re away. So sign up at the link in the show notes below or go to workfromhomvoiceactor.com/freeminicourse and start to make your VO biz dreams a reality.

Links & Resources:

Sign up for our FREE mini course!

GVAA Rate Guide

Voices.com (Use my promo code MELANIESINSIDER for $50 off your annual premium membership)

Tim Tippets - The VO Tech Guru

Welcome to the last demo review episode in our demo series!

This is how these reviews are organized - I’ll play the whole demo, from there we’ll go through the demo spot by spot and review. And we’ll conclude with general notes about the demo, what I hear and what I don’t hear as well as any next steps I’d recommend. 

Before we begin, we have a fun announcement: We’ll be going on parental leave starting in October and won’t be back until the new year so we can spend dedicated time with our little guy, so in the meantime, we are offering our Business of Work from Home Voice Acting for Beginners Course for free to all of you. 

If you’re new to the industry or are currently a hobbyist in VO but you’re serious about working in voiceover as a professional, this mini course is for you. It’s a great resource for better understanding what voiceover looks like nowadays and it will give you a better idea of where you can fit into the VO landscape and offers some next steps you can take to start your VO journey. We hope you’ll check it out and share it with any friends you might have who are interested in pursuing voiceover as well. 

This week’s demo is from “A”.

Links & Resources:

Free Mini Course!

Welcome to our weekly segment “The Other Mic”, where my husband Jeremy and I co-host the podcast to give you some tips and insights to help you and your family navigate the world of freelancing and entrepreneurship when it comes to voiceover.

Oh boy - this week, we have maybe one of the best podcast episodes for you yet. In this episode, we dig in deep about what it means and looks like to be a Work From Home Voice Actor or Professional, what this type indicates about the future of the voiceover industry, the immense opportunity and flexibility our current world of work presents for Voice Actors who want to work from home, and so much more.

This is a must listen. 

One of the biggest takeaways we hope you get from this episode is the importance of understanding which type of Voice Actor you are. When you understand this, you have a much better idea of what your next steps should be in VO as well as if it’s something you should pursue at all.

Links & Resources:

Which type of Voice Actor are you? Quiz

Technological rate of acquisition data

Chris McCan's story

Podcast Request Form

This week’s topic comes from Allison, she says:

I would love to hear a follow up podcast about the tools you mentioned… Quick books self-employed and the voice over something or other you mentioned in the most recent episode. Thanks!

There are so many tools out there it can be hard to know where to start and what to use!

In the business toolkit checklist, which you can access in our free content library I’ll link to it in the show notes,, I go over the basic tools you must have in your business to be successful, but today I’m going over the specific tools I use in my business, why I use them, and how much they cost.

Before we begin, know that there are no “true and right” tools when it comes to your biz. It really is about experimentation and finding out what works best for you and how you work.

And if you, like Alison, have a question or something else you’d like me to talk about on the show, remember you can always fill out the podcast request form in the show notes.

Tools mentioned in this episode:

NOTE: Affiliate links mean that I may get a commission if you decide to subscribe or make a purchase through my links. This is at NO COST TO YOU. 

Adobe Audition (Affiliate Link)

Voiceoverview (Affiliate Link)

Voices.com - Get $50 off your annual subscription using promo code MELANIESINSIDER

Quickbooks Self-employed

Kajabi (Affiliate Link)

VoiceZam

Links & Resources:

Submit a question/topic

Business Toolkit Checklist

Welcome to our weekly segment “The Other Mic”, where my husband Jeremy and I co-host the podcast to give you some tips and insights to help you and your family navigate the world of freelancing and entrepreneurship.

In this episode, we’re talking about how you can set up your voiceover home studio.

This episode is for you if you haven’t quite figured out a permanent or semi-permanent place to record in your home, you feel like your recording space is currently inadequate, or you’re totally stuck and need some guidance with setting up your voiceover home studio in the first place.

We’ll also talk about my very first “home studio” and what my recording spaces have looked like since then and what our current home studio set up.

To be sure you never miss an episode, join the email list at the link in the show notes.

Links & Resources:

Download the checklist (and other free content)

Condenser vs Dynamic Mics

Sound treatment episode

Join the email list