Why this is the WORST time to become a Voiceover Actor!

This is the worst time to be a voiceover actor!  There's more competition than ever before and so many hopefuls, it's mind-blowing. And instead of being our greatest ally, The Internet, can backfire and be a curse instead. So where is the silver-lining? Watch this month's Gift of Gab to find out. 

Why this is the WORST time to become a Voice Actor - 7:12

It's a terrible time to be a voice actor. Seriously... truly... honestly... You shouldn't do this. It is absolutely without a doubt the worst time in our industry to join this industry. Don't do it! Don't! You will save yourself so much heartache and so much pain!

Okay so I'm sure you're wondering why I'm writing the pessimistic train. Well first of all, it's because I'm very familiar with all the stops and it is my favorite train to ride. But besides that I really, truly, feel sorry for folks who are just getting started in voiceover and just learning about this industry. And there's one really specific reason why: there's too much information! There just is!

See when I got started in voiceover I had to really find resources, I had to find coaches, I had to find allies, and even colleagues, and people to work with. This industry was not what it is now. There were so few ways to learn this craft, now there are hundreds of coaching options, maybe even thousands! Dozens of videos, hundreds of websites, content like crazy, that you can access at a click of a mouse. It's too much! It's so much, that I talk to a lot of you pretty regularly, and I hear a very similar story. I hear over and over and over again, "I don't know what to do next" or "I don't know which resource to listen to" or "I don't know which one's right" or "It's just so overwhelming!" Because there's so much available content, so you have to kind of stop the madness. You have to sort of take a step back from it.

Here's the thing: you are in control - completely. You control how much knowledge you pursue at a time and how many resources it comes from, and the only way to make this process less miserable, and a lot easier to work with, is to start narrowing and compartmentalizing where you are getting your advice and content from. One of the easiest methods for this, one of the easiest models I think, and it's it's never steered me wrong for sure in my career -- find the people that have what you want. Find the coaches who have a voiceover career that's in line with the career YOU want, the types of voiceovers you want to do, the things you want to perform, and focus on those people. Focus on their advice, focus on what they are telling you works, and the rest... I'm not saying ignore it, but maybe don't see it as so essential. Don't see it as quite so all-important or dire. You have to just kind of prioritize the information that you're receiving.

Another great tip is take what you need and leave the rest. Not all voice careers are the same, and as a result, different sectors and different coaches from different areas of voiceover will have very different pieces of advice about the same topic. So instead of overwhelming yourself, really just stop to think, "Which one of these people has the career that's the closest to what I'm looking for?" Take the advice from them, leave the rest. Maybe just chuck it off to the side. You might it to be helpful somewhere, but it's not really essential right this minute.

So the only way to make it easier and to navigate the world of voice over now - especially on the internet - is to laser focus. Right? You have to stop! Stop bouncing around from place to place, from Youtuber to Youtuber, from video to video, from audio course to audio course. Stop reading 12 books at one time, stop visiting a dozen websites in one day, focus. Narrow it down a little bit, okay? In some respects, because you're still learning, that's just it: you're learning. Everything is an education, but not everything is going to be so, so, so incredibly important to the next 24 to 48 hours of your life. Okay? It's big-picture stuff along with that. If you feel like you're spending money erratically, please stop that as well. You shouldn't be spending your earnings - literally again - feeling like you're bouncing around all over the place and collecting lots and lots of information but not really getting anywhere. Just stop take a moment and organize, strategize, really figure out exactly where you need to be... and sometimes this is hard, and sometimes it takes talking to other voice actors, it takes referrals from other voice actors or other coaches to kind of figure out this process, but it can be done.

So yes, while I think it's absolutely the worst possible time in the history of mankind to become a voice actor, it's also one of the greatest times to be one.

Thanks for watching. If this video resonates with you and you find yourself in exactly this position of bouncing around with lots of different information rolling around in your head and it's all sort of chaotic and disorganized and maybe you're spending money all over the place, you need a referral, you need someone to just help you to slow down and organize this stuff, I do that all the time in my 15 minute free consults. You can go to my website GabrielleNistico.com, go to the book online tab, and schedule a 15 minute free block of time with me, where I will help you to figure out exactly who you should be working with in this industry, and why it might be me, and it might be one of a dozen other voiceover colleagues that I call friends, who may be exactly what you need.

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, Virtual Voiceover Exchange, How to Be a Better Voice Actor