Be Loud! Be Proud! You're a Voice Actor!

So many new voice talent talk around themselves. You are your product, you are your business! It's time to sell your abilities and your talents! In this video, Gabby explains how to go about making sure your clients know what makes you AWESOME!

Be Loud! Be Proud! You're a Voice Actor! - 4:45

Hey, welcome to another edition of The Gift of Gab. Thanks so much for joining me. You hear me talk a lot about me and voiceover but today, let's talk about you! How often do you do that? Because you should be! A lot. You know, talking about you. I want to talk about it.

I have had the pleasure (or displeasure, depending on how you look at it) of reading and seeing thousands and thousands of voice-over bios and voice-over websites throughout my years of being a voice actor, being coached, being a casting director all of the different things and jobs and hats that I've had in this industry, and one thing I can tell you that's really, really interesting about this business is how many people will talk around their skill set and around themselves. It's fascinating to me! We're in this to make money. We're in this because it's a business, and you are here to sell yourself, to sell your skills, and ultimately, to make money. The only way to do that is to be super specific about what you do. It is to be bold about your skills and the things that make you awesome and it is to not beat around the bush about what makes you you, and ultimately, amazing. There's a weird sense of, "I was taught to be humble" or "I don't want to brag" or "I - I'm - I'm uncomfortable talking about myself." Come on, buttercup - suck it up. You've got to, you've got to get over that because now is the time. If you won't talk about you - I hate to break this to you - then nobody will and no one is going to pick up that conversation. So you have to take those steps. You've got to buckle down with a piece of paper, or a keyboard, take your book, and get really specific about what makes you, your voice, your skill set as a voice actor, incredible and why I, as a buyer, should hire you.

It seems, in theory, really simple but there's another thing that I want you to do in this process and how I want you to get it started: don't make it about you - make it about the buyer. Literally -- what do they care about? That's the thing you've got to constantly ask yourself. Do they care where you went to college? Is it relevant? Do they care where you grew up? Again, is it relevant? Do they care how many kids you have? Do they care about your hobbies? What's relevant to them and why? If it is relevant, hell yeah put it in there, make it part of who you are, make it part of your selling point. If it's not relevant, leave it out. That's the kind of logic that you have to use in making these decisions.

And most importantly, above all else, when you are putting all of this together ,describe in detail the characters that you play and why I would be an absolute idiot not to hire you to play x, y, and z, because that's what's most important. I as the buyer don't want to miss out on a chance to work with the best whatever you are: life of the party, soccer mom, millennial badass, whatever that looks like, whatever you use to define yourself -- and you gotta define yourself! Start thinking about it, start getting bold, ask your friends, talk to people, talk to other voice actors, but whatever you do, take those steps to start talking about you. Start the conversation about you. I know it's hard, I know it's scary, I know it's okay, it's just downright -- I got it. But you can do it, I promise, and you can't give up on it either. If it's uncomfortable, you gotta keep doing it till it's not. You've got to keep chipping away at that block until you get to a place where it is comfortable and you feel good talking about your skills.

I hope this helps. I wish you luck with this. If i can help with this process, reach out, jump on my website, let me know. Let's talk. I look forward to it. Bye!

704-674-8294 / GabrielleNistico.com / gabby@voiceovervixen.com

Gabrielle Nistico, Gabby Nistico, The Voiceover Vixen, The Business First VO Coach, #VoiceoverVixen #VoiceOnFire #BusinessFirstVOCoach Voiceover, Charlotte, North Carolina, Voiceover Demo, Voiceover Coaching Advice, Working Actors, Los Angeles, New York, How to Be a Better Voice Actor, voiceover coaching, YouTube Channel, Voice Acting Coach, voiceover marketing, self confidence, be loud and proud, confidence, marketing, skillset, voiceover type