How to Turn Your Voice Acting Hobby into a Career

There are plenty of voice actors out there who do VO mainly as a hobby. It’s something fun and they’re able to make a little bit of money at it, but it’s not a career. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but if you’re ready to transition to being a full time voice artist, you’ll need to scrap the hobby mentality and implement a new approach. Here’s how:

1.    Find your type. No, I’m not talking about romantic interests, I’m talking about you and your voice! Every successful VO actor knows their type, or their “signature” sound. This is what you’re especially good at, and what you want to develop further and market to potential clients. 

2.    Start honing your skills. Once you’ve identified your type or sound that makes you stand out from the crowd, you need to start practicing this skill set. Listen to others who have a similar sound, and do your own readings of different projects. Practice, practice, practice.

3.    Make yourself easy to find. The only way to build your clientele is to make yourself accessible to the people who are doing the hiring. The best way to do this is to create a well-rounded web presence for yourself, using a combination of your own personal website, social media, and signing up for different voice over websites.

4.    Market yourself. You’ll also need to market yourself as an actor, and more specifically, your brand of VO.  Your website and social media accounts are a great way to do this, and keeping the content fresh and updated is one way to do this. You can also shop your demo around, getting it out there wherever you can.

5.    Create your own opportunities. Don’t just sit around and wait for people to contact you - contact them first! Get online, reach out to casting directors, agents, and anyone else who might be able to give you voice over work.  You can also attend workshops and conferences to expand your network and get your name out there even more. 

6.  Hire some marketing help. I work with Max Audience to sustain my SEO and other efforts to keep my internet presence strong.