Mr Blue in my ottoman; click image for how to set up a portable booth
Since I started reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It! and Seth Godin’s Linchpin, I’ve been inspired to take serious steps at resurrecting my old voiceover career. It’s been relatively quiet since I moved back to the US in 2007.
Imagine the blow to my once highly-sought after voice’s ego when my CD demos went ignored by the recording studios I mailed them off to and followed up on painstakingly. The shock! It was sobering. My voice don’t mean jack in the US. Ouch.
I was unemployed for a good four months after landing in September 2007 (my two weeks as a housekeeper at the mall barely counts) and the one thing that I knew how to do from the time I was eighteen and starting off on a simultaneous career in radio, was being a voiceover. My first radio ad was a toothpaste commercial, which was followed by laundry soap, and ultimately led to a steady stream of products and formats: live announcing at fashion shows or corporate presentations, corporate videos, signature voice for network TV, for close to two decades while juggling full-time jobs in radio and the corporate ladder.
(When I started my career in 1989 there were 300 active talents in Manila, by 1999 there were more than 3,000 of us and the norm went from getting called to record to having to audition for roles. As the need for more stable, steady income arose, my drive to audition for work dropped and my hours in an office cubie doubled. Landing steady work as a TV network voice that catered to my schedule was a huge blessing!)
Eighteen years and thousands of spots later, I had a relatively decent income from my freelance VO gigs. (Single parent = need for two incomes.)
Flash forward — or back — to 2007 and my profession disappears. To a degree. I had my voice. My voice had no work. And neither did the rest of me.
My under-marketed VO site whose URL now points to The Pseudo Expat went largely ignored like my Guest Membership on Voices.com.
All that changed one day on LinkedIn.
Former client: How have you been?
Me: I’ve been great! I love my job! I do miss doing VOs though.
Former client: Really? My talent just recently disappeared on me. Would you be interested?
Heck, yes.
So without even wrapping my head around rates, I started doing weekly audiobook summaries again for Bizsum.com. I would have done them for free I’ve missed it so!
But that wouldn’t be smart, now would it. Not unless I’m offering what Seth calls my Gift. Give away my gift and the commerce will take care of itself.
I’m trying to figure that part out. Trust me. I’ve offered my voice here and there for free but I haven’t gotten any bites yet.
For the most part, I’m just really happy my voice has work again. And in all honesty, I’m still willing to throw a freebie or two to get my voice in the door. I know I need the exposure. On a more profound level though, I just really love doing voiceovers.
My friend Valerie summed it up perfectly one day as we ate ice cream in her car: “It’s who you are. It’s the one thing in your life that’s all you.”
So I’ve upgraded my Voices profile by plunking down $200 for an annual membership. Hopefully, a small investment of things to come.
My two goals of a possibly resurrected career:
- A national TV commercial for a major campaign (like before);
- A signature TV continuity gig (like before);
- VO for an awards show (like before) but live;
- An animated feature.
There’s no harm in dreaming.
I can always say it cost me $ 200.
get.it.done.