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Voice Coaches Radio #544 – Why You Don’t Want To Give Up Too Easily
Voice coaches, radio, everything voiceover. All right. Welcome to a brand new episode of voice coaches radio. My name is Marissa. And, uh, look at that. We're on a field trip yet again. You can tell by the sound quality and the echo of my living room that we are not in the studio. And that is a hundred percent.
Okay. Because we have another guest that is popping on the podcast this week. And, uh, we had. So much fun doing his demo just a couple of weeks ago. So I'm going to let, I'm going to let you introduce yourself, kind of give us a little background too. Why don't you, and what all of a sudden spawned you to start a brand new chapter here?
By way of introductions, I'm Jerron as Jerron Dawson, but you can call me Jay. Um, I like long walks in the park and French restaurants. If anybody's listening, um, no, I know exactly what I need to do now. Are there any French restaurants in Albany? I'm just, I don't know anything at Albany at this point. Who knows?
I mean, there was a lot of grass. Anyway, um, I'm Jaron, because I'm playing a lot here. Um, I am from Newark, New Jersey, but I have been living in Harlem for well over a decade. I will not give that number out, because that will tell my age, and I want you to think I'm younger. Do I sound younger? I don't know.
I guess somebody will tell me. Um, I have previously worked in healthcare, um, in the pharmaceutical space, which I have loved for a number of years. And during this time, specific season. Um, I have left my job, um, because I wanted to follow my passion. And so that's the most important thing that I want to touch on is that you are a wildly successful.
Guy in this medical, um, cause I mean, you were always on the phones and doing meetings and um, all these things that are definitely going to lend to your new adventure here. But I mean, you'd be headhunted like crazy. Thousand, thousand, thousand percent. Matter of fact, I was talking to a recruiter next week just because she was like, can we just talk?
I know, I know, but can we just talk? Yes. So, I mean. I grew up in this space, in this pharmaceutical space, and I worked my way up, um, primarily because I did not find a lot of African Americans, males, uh, or females, but I'm a male, so I'm gonna speak to that, to that piece. Um, just in case you all didn't know, I am a male.
Um, I didn't find a lot of, uh, African American males that were in leadership positions. So yeah, I worked my way up until I was running my own division. at a pharmaceutical company, a pretty popular one. Um, and I thought I enjoyed it until COVID found me sitting in this space that you all can't see because you're not looking, but has found me sitting in this space every day.
from like, let's say 7 38 o'clock until let's say 8 39 o'clock p. m. without breaks, without lunch, just on a grind. And I lost a few people during COVID. Um, um, particularly my grandmother. She passed away from COVID. Unfortunately, God rest her soul. And a very close family friend, uh, passed away from cancer.
She had COVID and cancer at the same time and it didn't, didn't bed well. And I don't know, I think I just sat up one day and was like, what is my dash? And most people ask me that question. Like when I say that, like, what are you, what do you mean your dash? And when you you're born, you have a date. And unfortunately, when you're no longer here, you have a date.
And then there's a dash in the middle. And from my perspective, it's like, what is your dash? Like, what did you do? Right, you wanted the dash to count. I wanted to count, right? There's so many, there are the most. Successful people in the graveyard right now, there are the most inventive people in the graveyard right now.
And I was like, I don't, and most passionate people in the graveyard right now, who didn't get to live their passion for one reason or another. And I just said, Life is too short, um, and I don't want to sit in meetings for 13 and 14 hours, Monday through Friday, enjoying Saturday, and then dreading Sunday, because I know what comes after Sunday.
Yeah. The Sunday scary, as we call them. Oh my gosh. It's, it's a real thing. It is a real thing. Like, when I enjoyed doing what I was doing, I don't think I really cared as much. I'd be like, oh, okay, tomorrow's work. When that shifted, it became especially around like one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock.
'cause you're like, yep, a few more hours. Then I go to bed, then I wake up and it all, all starts again. Yeah. And it all starts again. Yeah. So, so yes, I decided, I mean, do you, do you wanna hear my story about voiceover? Like do how I wanted to get into it? ? Yes, I do. Of course I do. So, um, first thing, Um, my undergrad, I have a couple of degrees.
My undergrad is in communication, radio, television, and film. And my master's degree... See, I knew we bonded for a reason. I knew it. I know. I know. I know. When I first talked to you, I was like, you're my people. You are my people. Um, and my master's degree is in education and... All of that is just centered around a people.
I love talking to people. I love being around people. I love building relationships with people, but it's also centered around like having conversations and presenting like and so I've been doing that. All of my life. I mean, even as a kid, I was starting youth groups in church where we would be presenting on Sundays and during the week and things like that.
And in my community, I was doing that, right? So, uh, in my school, uh, high school, grandma's school, the whole nine yards, I was doing that, right? So that's already been a part of my life. Um, and then people would always say, You know, the, the typical, like, Oh, you have like a radio voice. Like, why are you not doing more with it?
Like, why are you? And I would just be like, Oh, cause I present like that's what I do. I am technically, you are using your voice. It's just in a different, you know, it was in a different place. Exactly. Yes. And I would tell them like, you're rude. You don't think that this is, you don't think that this is a good platform for me to be using my voice.
So long story short, um, as the time went on, I continued to do that. Even at my most recent company where I was employed, I used to be a moderator and I would do like fire side chats with like our CEO and like our senior vice president and general manager, just like you and I are doing. And I would just ask him questions and you know, it would be like.
8, 9, 000 people on the line listening to us just chat. And the very last one I did, everyone was like, Oh my God, we thought that you were paid to come in and like people who didn't know me, I mean, a company that big, you're not going to know everybody. Right. So people who didn't know me were like. Until someone told us that you were over like that division, we thought you were paid to come in and do what you were doing.
We didn't know that you were like an employee just shooting the breeze. And I was like, yeah, well, it wasn't really shooting the breeze, but yes, um, you're right. You're doing it right. It feels that way. It does. It. It was so natural. It, to be honest, it was so natural. So long story short, um, I had a conversation with, so then I'm like, well, maybe I need to figure something out.
Like, what do I want to do? I had a conversation with my financial advisor. I'm like, Hey, I'm quitting my job. Not the best conversation to have with your financial advisor, but he goes, what do you want to do? And I said, I think I want to do something with my voice, like maybe voiceover. And he goes, okay. We moved on to another subject.
Next thing I know, he sends me something from Instagram and said, this just came across. timeline. I don't know if it's called timeline on Instagram. I'm, again, I'm old, so it might be called something else. I think timeline is Facebook, but whatever it's called, newsfeed, whatever it's called on Instagram. He said, this just came across.
I'm assuming because while we were talking, like Alexa and Siri were listening to our conversation, firing, uh, you know, exactly like, let's put something in the air, which I'm glad, you know, although I'm against all that, I'm glad that they did because it was a, Seminar, um, for voice coaches and it literally said, do you want to, do you think you want to do something with your voice?
Do you want to be a voiceover? Do you have like all the things he and I were talking about, it said all of these things, well, please join this seminar the following day. And I was like, Oh man, you are like so timely. And so I joined and you know. The rest is history. I've been in, I, as soon as I joined, I, I signed up for school.
You and I had our first class. I probably botched all the things you told me to read. And then I started, then I was like, okay, so maybe I'm not as good as I thought, but I'm learning. Right, right. And that's the thing though, is like the best part about taking the, the program is what you realize is it, what it does is it shifts your perspective.
A lot. A thousand percent. We all think of reading out loud in one way and then you get in the program and it's like, oh, I never thought of that. Oh, I never thought that too. Oh, I didn't think about that. Um, you know, and it's like by the end of your first class, you're already over here like, whoa. All right.
I know I need to practice. It's like such small things to that at first. And then, you know, you build into the bigger stuff. So, you know, here you are, you know, wildly successful dude in what you've been doing and you make this choice to go ahead and run with this dream. And yeah. You know, what I can tell you is, you know, just as somebody who watched you from Class 1 to Demo Day, it's like, yeah, you've taken those big steps forward, and now you can tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Demo Day gave you a little bit of an additional confidence boost.
Of course. I mean, You know, going in for demo day and I'm glad that I chose to come to Albany. I mean, I know everybody can't do that if they're not in New York. And although it was like a three hour trip for me, so not like it was around my corner, but still I made a conscious decision to do that because I wanted to, if I'm investing in myself and I'm going to invest holistically, right.
So it's like, invest the time. Invest the money, invest the miles and the distance to go and really give myself that boost that I needed to stand in the studio, to sit and chat with you, to get the mentoring from you, the direction from you, like spot on. Um, and it made me feel good because I could feel the growth.
In myself, you know, some people say like I work out, right. And in my mind, I'm like, yes, I am looking great. And people, and then like people that I've not seen in years, like, Oh my God, you look the same as before. No, I don't want to look the same. I go to the gym five days a week. Stop telling me that as an example, because it's like.
I knew about the growth that was in me from the time where I started, especially because, you know, I started thinking like, I am going to have this radio voice and this is how. Never ever do that again, by the way.
I learned, I learned. I learned very quickly like yeah what are you doing guy, like you, you take some more classes and um, and it just. I don't know. I, it, it immediately, although, you know, I did all the online courses. You and I had all of our sessions and although I took notes, I didn't walk in with my notes.
I walked in with the things that were sitting in my mind because I had been practicing. I had been reading. I had been studying. I had been reviewing. So when I went in, It just came out. It's like what's in is gonna come out, right? And so what was in there, what was in my soul, what was in my spirit, what was in my mind, led me to that destination and it just, it just all came out.
It was so good. And I think what's, what's beautiful too is like, you know, like you were saying with when it comes to the growth process, you actually witnessed it happen in real time. Yes. In the studio from take to take. Yes. You know, it, you know, it's, it's, and again, it's me telling you such small things, but all of a sudden it's like, it's that little bit of a change of perspective, you know, and it goes from what you, what you presented in that first take of what you've been practicing.
And then it's like, all right, let's do it this way and try it again. And then, you know, what do I ask? I'm like, how did that feel? You know, and you're over there like that felt better. I think that might have been a lot better. I'm like, oh, it was a lot better. Let's take that. Listen, um, you know, and sometimes like I have students fight me on certain things, right?
Or it's like, I'll tell them. I need you to smile more like I need it. Like I, I, and they're like, but it, but this feels too serious or whatever. I'm like, okay, well, how about this? Just listen to me for a moment and then we'll play the takes back to back. And what do you think? You know, and then I'll do that.
And I actually did that in a demo session. I felt like a jerk in the moment, but you know, I was like, I got to prove myself right here. Okay. I played the, I had the producer cause it was a remote demo. I had him play it back to back. And I was like, okay, so like, tell me which, which version did you like better?
And they were like, well, I mean, the one with the smile. Uh, and I was like, yeah, exactly. It may have felt weird as heck, but your cheeks probably hurt real bad right now, but man, does that sound better? You know, so it's just like such a change of things like that. And, and I did, I witnessed it. You know, it's like, if we did three takes on something, it's like from your first take to the second one to the third one, you took giant steps forward each time.
And it was kind of a beautiful thing. So it was it. Watching it happen in the moment with the slight tweaks, right? It's not like you're telling me, Oh, go back and read chapter one and two of the of your online courses didn't come back. It was like the slight tweaks made a world of difference. And, you know, understanding that the pieces are serious, but still making it that natural tone and making it conversational and making sure you're smiling with it.
It just goes a long way. I mean, like, you know, the one that I read about oncology, yeah, that was a little serious, but then you also have to find the moments in that where it's like, there's some hope. And although it's as serious, it is as it was. It was like, but these few sentences talk about the, the treatment options and the survival rates and it's like, yes, let's, let's talk about that.
There's hope, there's care, there's warmth, there's like, it looks like you're holding their hand like, hey, it's gonna tell you why. Yeah. You know, and that's why it's, you know, it's always, that is the change of perspective, right? Because it's like, somebody goes, well, this is so serious. So I have to be serious.
And it's like, but wait, what is that other feeling? And what will your smile provide? Like, how does it change things a bit? So, well, listen, I know that you have a train to catch momentarily. So I want to ask you one more question because you recorded the demo. You're in this process of getting things up and going.
What are the, what's the big major goal in mind? And, and maybe what are your steps so far that you've taken to start to slowly make those tiny movements to get there? Yeah, that's a good question. Um, my major goal, to be honest, is to land like a really good contract with a really good Now that blank is, you know, a company, um, a commercial, an audio book.
Like that's, that's my ultimate goal. And when I say ultimate, like, you know, your goals change. So it's not like, like, Oh, by the time I'm a hundred, if I land that one, but in my, in my near term, that is certainly my ultimate goal is to, you know, for somebody to hear my voice and say, I want him to be the face.
In this case, the voice of whatever, right? But what have I been doing? Um, I've been networking. So I can tell you one of the things I've done, and although my demo is not back yet, which I'm like sitting on the end of my chair, no, literally right now, sitting on the end of my chair as I'm doing this , it'll be too soon.
I promise. I promise waiting for it to come back. Um, although I don't have anything to show anyone, I am still. putting myself out there to say, Hey, so I'm a voiceover artist, and here's some things that I am interested in. Can we have a conversation? I'm going to D. C. this week, and D. C. is having the Congressional Black Caucus, and I'm going to several networking events.
And although I don't have my cars yet, because all of this is obviously happening in real time, and I want to put my website for my demo on there, because that would make sense. Um, I'm going to network, and that's going to be the, um, elevator speech that I'm going to be providing and collecting a lot of contact numbers.
But, Something that has transpired is the company that I left. We do, uh, a lot of learnings. I mean, literally the day you start, you are front loaded about 50, um, different learnings within our learning and module center. And so what I did is I reached out to the founder and c e o of our company and I was like, Hey.
Blank. I am now in this voiceover artist world, and our training seemed to be lovely, and I would love to see if I can incorporate my voice into those trainings, specifically because I have a number of years experience in the healthcare space. He referred me to someone else and they said, Hey, Jay, good to chat with you, send us your demo as soon as it's done and then we can have a conversation.
Yeah, cool. Cool. Exciting, right? I mean, that's exactly why we tell everybody, it's like... Listen, you might want to get out of what you're doing. Right. And you might be like, kind of sick of doing it, but you got a lot of experience in that, that field. You can say a lot of the words that I probably can't. Um, you know, you've got a lot of knowledge and understanding behind it as well, where it's like, you're not going to sound like you're faking it.
Um, you know, and, and that allows you potentially to have the first job. And if that's where you start, absolutely, that's okay, because guess what you're doing, maybe what you wanted to get out of, but you're doing it in such a different way that now Absolutely. You can have a different appreciation for it.
Absolutely. Cool. Absolutely. Well, listen, I'm very excited to see what's next and um, you know, we are, we are each other's people, so please do not, we are stranger. All right. No. You know, keep, keep me updated on what's going on and maybe we can have you back on a future episode to, to, you know, update on, um, you know, what, what you've been doing and, and, you know, what the, what the new goals are after you get the big one that you already have.
Um, I would love to, but I'll let you go get your train. Uh, so we'll have a brand new episode coming up next week here for voice coaches radio. If you have anything that you wanted to discuss info at voice coaches. com, be safe, everybody.
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Okay. Because we have another guest that is popping on the podcast this week. And, uh, we had. So much fun doing his demo just a couple of weeks ago. So I'm going to let, I'm going to let you introduce yourself, kind of give us a little background too. Why don't you, and what all of a sudden spawned you to start a brand new chapter here?
By way of introductions, I'm Jerron as Jerron Dawson, but you can call me Jay. Um, I like long walks in the park and French restaurants. If anybody's listening, um, no, I know exactly what I need to do now. Are there any French restaurants in Albany? I'm just, I don't know anything at Albany at this point. Who knows?
I mean, there was a lot of grass. Anyway, um, I'm Jaron, because I'm playing a lot here. Um, I am from Newark, New Jersey, but I have been living in Harlem for well over a decade. I will not give that number out, because that will tell my age, and I want you to think I'm younger. Do I sound younger? I don't know.
I guess somebody will tell me. Um, I have previously worked in healthcare, um, in the pharmaceutical space, which I have loved for a number of years. And during this time, specific season. Um, I have left my job, um, because I wanted to follow my passion. And so that's the most important thing that I want to touch on is that you are a wildly successful.
Guy in this medical, um, cause I mean, you were always on the phones and doing meetings and um, all these things that are definitely going to lend to your new adventure here. But I mean, you'd be headhunted like crazy. Thousand, thousand, thousand percent. Matter of fact, I was talking to a recruiter next week just because she was like, can we just talk?
I know, I know, but can we just talk? Yes. So, I mean. I grew up in this space, in this pharmaceutical space, and I worked my way up, um, primarily because I did not find a lot of African Americans, males, uh, or females, but I'm a male, so I'm gonna speak to that, to that piece. Um, just in case you all didn't know, I am a male.
Um, I didn't find a lot of, uh, African American males that were in leadership positions. So yeah, I worked my way up until I was running my own division. at a pharmaceutical company, a pretty popular one. Um, and I thought I enjoyed it until COVID found me sitting in this space that you all can't see because you're not looking, but has found me sitting in this space every day.
from like, let's say 7 38 o'clock until let's say 8 39 o'clock p. m. without breaks, without lunch, just on a grind. And I lost a few people during COVID. Um, um, particularly my grandmother. She passed away from COVID. Unfortunately, God rest her soul. And a very close family friend, uh, passed away from cancer.
She had COVID and cancer at the same time and it didn't, didn't bed well. And I don't know, I think I just sat up one day and was like, what is my dash? And most people ask me that question. Like when I say that, like, what are you, what do you mean your dash? And when you you're born, you have a date. And unfortunately, when you're no longer here, you have a date.
And then there's a dash in the middle. And from my perspective, it's like, what is your dash? Like, what did you do? Right, you wanted the dash to count. I wanted to count, right? There's so many, there are the most. Successful people in the graveyard right now, there are the most inventive people in the graveyard right now.
And I was like, I don't, and most passionate people in the graveyard right now, who didn't get to live their passion for one reason or another. And I just said, Life is too short, um, and I don't want to sit in meetings for 13 and 14 hours, Monday through Friday, enjoying Saturday, and then dreading Sunday, because I know what comes after Sunday.
Yeah. The Sunday scary, as we call them. Oh my gosh. It's, it's a real thing. It is a real thing. Like, when I enjoyed doing what I was doing, I don't think I really cared as much. I'd be like, oh, okay, tomorrow's work. When that shifted, it became especially around like one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock.
'cause you're like, yep, a few more hours. Then I go to bed, then I wake up and it all, all starts again. Yeah. And it all starts again. Yeah. So, so yes, I decided, I mean, do you, do you wanna hear my story about voiceover? Like do how I wanted to get into it? ? Yes, I do. Of course I do. So, um, first thing, Um, my undergrad, I have a couple of degrees.
My undergrad is in communication, radio, television, and film. And my master's degree... See, I knew we bonded for a reason. I knew it. I know. I know. I know. When I first talked to you, I was like, you're my people. You are my people. Um, and my master's degree is in education and... All of that is just centered around a people.
I love talking to people. I love being around people. I love building relationships with people, but it's also centered around like having conversations and presenting like and so I've been doing that. All of my life. I mean, even as a kid, I was starting youth groups in church where we would be presenting on Sundays and during the week and things like that.
And in my community, I was doing that, right? So, uh, in my school, uh, high school, grandma's school, the whole nine yards, I was doing that, right? So that's already been a part of my life. Um, and then people would always say, You know, the, the typical, like, Oh, you have like a radio voice. Like, why are you not doing more with it?
Like, why are you? And I would just be like, Oh, cause I present like that's what I do. I am technically, you are using your voice. It's just in a different, you know, it was in a different place. Exactly. Yes. And I would tell them like, you're rude. You don't think that this is, you don't think that this is a good platform for me to be using my voice.
So long story short, um, as the time went on, I continued to do that. Even at my most recent company where I was employed, I used to be a moderator and I would do like fire side chats with like our CEO and like our senior vice president and general manager, just like you and I are doing. And I would just ask him questions and you know, it would be like.
8, 9, 000 people on the line listening to us just chat. And the very last one I did, everyone was like, Oh my God, we thought that you were paid to come in and like people who didn't know me, I mean, a company that big, you're not going to know everybody. Right. So people who didn't know me were like. Until someone told us that you were over like that division, we thought you were paid to come in and do what you were doing.
We didn't know that you were like an employee just shooting the breeze. And I was like, yeah, well, it wasn't really shooting the breeze, but yes, um, you're right. You're doing it right. It feels that way. It does. It. It was so natural. It, to be honest, it was so natural. So long story short, um, I had a conversation with, so then I'm like, well, maybe I need to figure something out.
Like, what do I want to do? I had a conversation with my financial advisor. I'm like, Hey, I'm quitting my job. Not the best conversation to have with your financial advisor, but he goes, what do you want to do? And I said, I think I want to do something with my voice, like maybe voiceover. And he goes, okay. We moved on to another subject.
Next thing I know, he sends me something from Instagram and said, this just came across. timeline. I don't know if it's called timeline on Instagram. I'm, again, I'm old, so it might be called something else. I think timeline is Facebook, but whatever it's called, newsfeed, whatever it's called on Instagram. He said, this just came across.
I'm assuming because while we were talking, like Alexa and Siri were listening to our conversation, firing, uh, you know, exactly like, let's put something in the air, which I'm glad, you know, although I'm against all that, I'm glad that they did because it was a, Seminar, um, for voice coaches and it literally said, do you want to, do you think you want to do something with your voice?
Do you want to be a voiceover? Do you have like all the things he and I were talking about, it said all of these things, well, please join this seminar the following day. And I was like, Oh man, you are like so timely. And so I joined and you know. The rest is history. I've been in, I, as soon as I joined, I, I signed up for school.
You and I had our first class. I probably botched all the things you told me to read. And then I started, then I was like, okay, so maybe I'm not as good as I thought, but I'm learning. Right, right. And that's the thing though, is like the best part about taking the, the program is what you realize is it, what it does is it shifts your perspective.
A lot. A thousand percent. We all think of reading out loud in one way and then you get in the program and it's like, oh, I never thought of that. Oh, I never thought that too. Oh, I didn't think about that. Um, you know, and it's like by the end of your first class, you're already over here like, whoa. All right.
I know I need to practice. It's like such small things to that at first. And then, you know, you build into the bigger stuff. So, you know, here you are, you know, wildly successful dude in what you've been doing and you make this choice to go ahead and run with this dream. And yeah. You know, what I can tell you is, you know, just as somebody who watched you from Class 1 to Demo Day, it's like, yeah, you've taken those big steps forward, and now you can tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Demo Day gave you a little bit of an additional confidence boost.
Of course. I mean, You know, going in for demo day and I'm glad that I chose to come to Albany. I mean, I know everybody can't do that if they're not in New York. And although it was like a three hour trip for me, so not like it was around my corner, but still I made a conscious decision to do that because I wanted to, if I'm investing in myself and I'm going to invest holistically, right.
So it's like, invest the time. Invest the money, invest the miles and the distance to go and really give myself that boost that I needed to stand in the studio, to sit and chat with you, to get the mentoring from you, the direction from you, like spot on. Um, and it made me feel good because I could feel the growth.
In myself, you know, some people say like I work out, right. And in my mind, I'm like, yes, I am looking great. And people, and then like people that I've not seen in years, like, Oh my God, you look the same as before. No, I don't want to look the same. I go to the gym five days a week. Stop telling me that as an example, because it's like.
I knew about the growth that was in me from the time where I started, especially because, you know, I started thinking like, I am going to have this radio voice and this is how. Never ever do that again, by the way.
I learned, I learned. I learned very quickly like yeah what are you doing guy, like you, you take some more classes and um, and it just. I don't know. I, it, it immediately, although, you know, I did all the online courses. You and I had all of our sessions and although I took notes, I didn't walk in with my notes.
I walked in with the things that were sitting in my mind because I had been practicing. I had been reading. I had been studying. I had been reviewing. So when I went in, It just came out. It's like what's in is gonna come out, right? And so what was in there, what was in my soul, what was in my spirit, what was in my mind, led me to that destination and it just, it just all came out.
It was so good. And I think what's, what's beautiful too is like, you know, like you were saying with when it comes to the growth process, you actually witnessed it happen in real time. Yes. In the studio from take to take. Yes. You know, it, you know, it's, it's, and again, it's me telling you such small things, but all of a sudden it's like, it's that little bit of a change of perspective, you know, and it goes from what you, what you presented in that first take of what you've been practicing.
And then it's like, all right, let's do it this way and try it again. And then, you know, what do I ask? I'm like, how did that feel? You know, and you're over there like that felt better. I think that might have been a lot better. I'm like, oh, it was a lot better. Let's take that. Listen, um, you know, and sometimes like I have students fight me on certain things, right?
Or it's like, I'll tell them. I need you to smile more like I need it. Like I, I, and they're like, but it, but this feels too serious or whatever. I'm like, okay, well, how about this? Just listen to me for a moment and then we'll play the takes back to back. And what do you think? You know, and then I'll do that.
And I actually did that in a demo session. I felt like a jerk in the moment, but you know, I was like, I got to prove myself right here. Okay. I played the, I had the producer cause it was a remote demo. I had him play it back to back. And I was like, okay, so like, tell me which, which version did you like better?
And they were like, well, I mean, the one with the smile. Uh, and I was like, yeah, exactly. It may have felt weird as heck, but your cheeks probably hurt real bad right now, but man, does that sound better? You know, so it's just like such a change of things like that. And, and I did, I witnessed it. You know, it's like, if we did three takes on something, it's like from your first take to the second one to the third one, you took giant steps forward each time.
And it was kind of a beautiful thing. So it was it. Watching it happen in the moment with the slight tweaks, right? It's not like you're telling me, Oh, go back and read chapter one and two of the of your online courses didn't come back. It was like the slight tweaks made a world of difference. And, you know, understanding that the pieces are serious, but still making it that natural tone and making it conversational and making sure you're smiling with it.
It just goes a long way. I mean, like, you know, the one that I read about oncology, yeah, that was a little serious, but then you also have to find the moments in that where it's like, there's some hope. And although it's as serious, it is as it was. It was like, but these few sentences talk about the, the treatment options and the survival rates and it's like, yes, let's, let's talk about that.
There's hope, there's care, there's warmth, there's like, it looks like you're holding their hand like, hey, it's gonna tell you why. Yeah. You know, and that's why it's, you know, it's always, that is the change of perspective, right? Because it's like, somebody goes, well, this is so serious. So I have to be serious.
And it's like, but wait, what is that other feeling? And what will your smile provide? Like, how does it change things a bit? So, well, listen, I know that you have a train to catch momentarily. So I want to ask you one more question because you recorded the demo. You're in this process of getting things up and going.
What are the, what's the big major goal in mind? And, and maybe what are your steps so far that you've taken to start to slowly make those tiny movements to get there? Yeah, that's a good question. Um, my major goal, to be honest, is to land like a really good contract with a really good Now that blank is, you know, a company, um, a commercial, an audio book.
Like that's, that's my ultimate goal. And when I say ultimate, like, you know, your goals change. So it's not like, like, Oh, by the time I'm a hundred, if I land that one, but in my, in my near term, that is certainly my ultimate goal is to, you know, for somebody to hear my voice and say, I want him to be the face.
In this case, the voice of whatever, right? But what have I been doing? Um, I've been networking. So I can tell you one of the things I've done, and although my demo is not back yet, which I'm like sitting on the end of my chair, no, literally right now, sitting on the end of my chair as I'm doing this , it'll be too soon.
I promise. I promise waiting for it to come back. Um, although I don't have anything to show anyone, I am still. putting myself out there to say, Hey, so I'm a voiceover artist, and here's some things that I am interested in. Can we have a conversation? I'm going to D. C. this week, and D. C. is having the Congressional Black Caucus, and I'm going to several networking events.
And although I don't have my cars yet, because all of this is obviously happening in real time, and I want to put my website for my demo on there, because that would make sense. Um, I'm going to network, and that's going to be the, um, elevator speech that I'm going to be providing and collecting a lot of contact numbers.
But, Something that has transpired is the company that I left. We do, uh, a lot of learnings. I mean, literally the day you start, you are front loaded about 50, um, different learnings within our learning and module center. And so what I did is I reached out to the founder and c e o of our company and I was like, Hey.
Blank. I am now in this voiceover artist world, and our training seemed to be lovely, and I would love to see if I can incorporate my voice into those trainings, specifically because I have a number of years experience in the healthcare space. He referred me to someone else and they said, Hey, Jay, good to chat with you, send us your demo as soon as it's done and then we can have a conversation.
Yeah, cool. Cool. Exciting, right? I mean, that's exactly why we tell everybody, it's like... Listen, you might want to get out of what you're doing. Right. And you might be like, kind of sick of doing it, but you got a lot of experience in that, that field. You can say a lot of the words that I probably can't. Um, you know, you've got a lot of knowledge and understanding behind it as well, where it's like, you're not going to sound like you're faking it.
Um, you know, and, and that allows you potentially to have the first job. And if that's where you start, absolutely, that's okay, because guess what you're doing, maybe what you wanted to get out of, but you're doing it in such a different way that now Absolutely. You can have a different appreciation for it.
Absolutely. Cool. Absolutely. Well, listen, I'm very excited to see what's next and um, you know, we are, we are each other's people, so please do not, we are stranger. All right. No. You know, keep, keep me updated on what's going on and maybe we can have you back on a future episode to, to, you know, update on, um, you know, what, what you've been doing and, and, you know, what the, what the new goals are after you get the big one that you already have.
Um, I would love to, but I'll let you go get your train. Uh, so we'll have a brand new episode coming up next week here for voice coaches radio. If you have anything that you wanted to discuss info at voice coaches. com, be safe, everybody.
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This week on Voice Coaches Radio, Marissa had something pop up in her Facebook memories recently that was very eye opening on how quickly things can change for the better.
