How to Hustle in 2021

Gabby answers the voice actor question - "How do I take my VO career to the next level"? Figuring out the next steps after training and demos are done can be a little confusing. Gabby makes it simple. There is no magic formula, no quick shortcut. It's all about the hustle.

Voice Acting Career Tips - The truth to finding VO work. How to Hustle in 2021. - 5:00

If you been doing voice over for a little while and you're kind of waiting and wondering and wanting to know where your big break is and why it hasn't happened yet? Well, I've got some ideas. We'll talk about it in this episode - stick around.

I got a question here from Roy and he was asking about what happens when you're at that place in your career where you go, "I'm not really a beginner but I'm not really a pro and I'm feeling kind of stuck." He's taken classes and he's been on pay to play sites, he just kind of feels like he's waiting for his big break. He's waiting for that email to come that's finally going to be his entry into the industry.

Oh boy, guys, there's no such thing. It doesn't exist. That's not real. In all the years I've been doing this, the number of people who have some kind of big break story, it's pretty scarce. And usually, when you do hear them they're really, really epic. And they're really awesome, which is great, but for the majority of voice actors, the everyday working pros that are out there, there was no single thing, there was no one email, there was no pivotal moment... it was just a cumulation of hard work and effort, sticking with it, and being persistent.

First and foremost, let's get one thing out of the way: I want to make sure that your equipment is not part of the problem. Your equipment has already been professionally evaluated and you know that your studio is up to speed and everything is in great shape. If that's the case, then we can start to look at what could be happening. Right? What might be taking you off course or what could be going wrong? Could it be that your acting skills need to improve? Yeah absolutely. More than likely, though, it's just starting to become very bold with your marketing and your selling. You've got to get yourself out there. Everything from LinkedIn and social media, to really working the epic search engine that is Google and all of the opportunities that it creates for us. Starting to network with casting directors and with talent agents and with direct hiring parties. That's it. You've got to be bold and get yourself out into the face of the people who are hiring.

Now, look, it's a little like dating. Right? It's hard, it's intimidating, and for some people it's crippling. Take the pressure off. Stop projecting, stop creating like all these big ideas of what might be or could be or what's at stake. Just like asking somebody out on a date right? You see somebody from across the room, they're cute, you're like, "Hey what's up? Wanna grab a drink? Do you want to get coffee?" You don't immediately go to that place of every detail of your life and your engagement and being married and three kids. It's not The Notebook, right?

Just get your head out of that space. Stay in the here and now. Don't worry about 20 steps from now. Look, right now when you're meeting voiceover folks, when you're meeting people in this industry and those who hire voice actors, you're just looking to make a connection, you're just looking to make a friend. There's not as much at stake that way and it's not as big a deal and it takes a lot of the pressure off. In the immortal words of Big Papa Panty Dropper, "You got to just be bold" and you've got to go in with very low expectations. Okay? That's what's going to get you there. Hustling, connecting, repeat. Hustle, connect, repeat. That's it, that's your mantra, over and over again, day in, day out. People you're meeting, the more people you're networking with, the further you are going to go. And that's how you're going to start, you see opportunities begin to accumulate, and you go, "Oh man! OK I'm doing this every day, I have work coming in."

I have a ton of advice on how to get started in the voiceover industry and how you can implement these techniques and a bunch more. You can check out this video - it's my easy to follow beginners guide and it's going to help set you on the right path to getting this career off the ground.

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, What Not To Do, Working Actors, Los Angeles, New York,, How to Be a Better Voice Actor, voiceover coaching, YouTube Channel, Voice Acting Coach, Where to find Voice Over Work, How to Hustle in 2021, Networking, Working voice actor, where to find voiceover jobs, voice acting career tips, voiceover career kickstarter, viewer questions, Q&A