VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio #564 – Goals Goals Goals
Voice coaches, radio, everything voiceover, welcome to a brand new episode of voice coaches radio. My name is Marissa. Are we really at the end of 2022? I can't like, it's so weird. Like I was talking about this on the radio earlier because, you know, this week between Christmas and new year's. is the weirdest week, I think, and the longest feeling week of the entire year.
And it's just because of everything that's going on, right? There's just too much hustle, too much bustle. Some people get some downtime. I am not that person. It has been a wild and crazy couple weeks. And, um, Yeah, it's just going to get crazier as we get into the new year, but I hope that this is finding you.
Well, I hope that you have been having a fantastic holiday season, you know, maybe it's been a matter of, uh, you know, kind of dotting your eyes and crossing your T's and whatever to get all the stuff done that you needed to get done for me. It's been a really good time. More work than I expected. I will say that.
I mean, here I was, you know, teaching full time. Uh, I expected to have four or five of the radio stations, uh, as consistent work throughout Monday through Friday for me, um, you know, for the last couple of weeks, just because of holiday fill in and stuff, all of a sudden it went from five To seven, and I was just like, Oh God, how am I going to get all this done?
Um, you know, and then with the commercial work, and then also I've been doing some end of the year training for one of the companies that I do stuff for. And um, I feel bad. The person that I do so social media for, I'm like, yeah, I'm going to get to it tomorrow. And then tomorrow comes and I'm like, I'm going to get to it tomorrow.
Um, it's going to get done. It's just, you know, there's just too much on the plate at the moment. Uh, but that is, that is why I've set some goals for myself in 2023. And that's what I want to talk about today for you. You know, as somebody who may have started to just dive into the wild world of voiceover here in 2022, when you get to this point.
And you're looking ahead, you know, I will admit, and I've said this before, I am somebody, I like to set goals for myself all the time, I feel like that's a good way to be, you know, it's like having these little goals to lead to your bigger goal, and I've been doing it for a very long time that way, and I think maybe that's part of the reason between following that and then following My gut as in like what the universe is like putting right in front of my face and just kind of saying yes You know, it's it's allowed me to have some some pretty amazing things happen you know and and a lot of things that I would have never expected back in 2019 or 2020 as we were entering this this pandemic and like Wait, I'm going to be working from home.
Wait, I can do radio from home. Wait, I'm going to teach voice acting. And then I'm also going to start diving into audio books and whatever, like so many things I would have never, ever expected. And it's just, again, little goals that have allowed me to, to reach some bigger things. So I will say this, um, you know, I'll talk about mine first, and then I want to get into.
What you should start to think about, uh, you know, and especially as somebody who might be brand spanking new in this business. How do you get yourself started? What should your first goals be? Um, so we'll get into that in just a moment, but I did want to make a slight announcement, you know, we had this kind of happen with Josh back at the beginning of last year.
Uh, we knew that he was going on to, we'll say bigger and better things. Am I using air quotes on a podcast? Yes, I am. Just know that I'm doing it. Okay. Uh, and, and he, he decided to, you know, this degree that he's had for years that he's really never done anything with, he wanted to go ahead and, and start doing something with it and he's doing it and he's doing fantastic.
And, you know, I'm super proud of my buddy. Um, and you know what? Kind of doing the same thing. I'm just, I'm not leaving the podcast. So just know that that's, uh, that's. It's not, uh, gonna be what happens, uh, but, you know, I, I realized as I was taking this step back and kind of looking at the last couple of years and all the hustle that I've put into everything that I've been doing and, you know, I don't think anybody truly realized the amount of work that I had on my plate, um, because it wasn't a whole lot at first, but then it kept building.
It kept growing. And, and next thing you know, it's like I would have six hours a day of teaching, but somehow on top of all that. Some days it was like five or six hours of recording on top of that and it's been wild. It's been crazy I can tell you right now like yesterday is a good example It's like I taught for six hours and then around all of that.
I was on seven different radio stations filling in And, you know, I, I had, you know, uh, friends in town and I'm just like, I am so sorry. You have been stuck hearing me teach. You have been stuck hearing me do radio. You've had to be quiet. Um, and we've only had so much fun. Um, you know, but it's, it's amazing to me to see what I've accomplished.
Without, I mean, well, I'll preface this. I'm gonna say without a whole lot of effort. It's been a lot of effort So, please don't get me wrong there But a lot of what I've been doing is because of all these relationships that I have built over the last Almost 20 years of doing this, right? so a lot of the work that I am currently doing has kind of come to me without me having to put the legwork in to get it and I'm just over here like well If I had this extra additional time to put leg work in, where could this take me?
Because right now, In recording, I'm making the same amount of money that I am teaching. And yeah, that's some great money coming in, but I can't keep working this way. Uh, you know, I, I was telling, um, the, the owners here at voice coaches, which are incredible, they're incredibly supportive humans. Uh, they're so excited for me in this, this journey that I'm about to, you know, kind of embark, uh, but when I told them that my day off.
Typically, I'm still recording a solid, like, two, three, four hours, depending. Their first reaction was like, well, you need some downtime. You know, your mental health is important. And, I mean, how many employers say that? None. Uh, and, you know, so it was just very eye opening, very reassuring. Um, and, and knowing that I am always welcome here with open arms.
Uh, so I am very, very grateful for the people here at Voice Coaches. So David, Anna, John, um, you know, everybody's great. Uh, but, so what I am doing is I am going to start pulling back on my teaching load. Uh, and I'm going to be focused on all this radio work, trying to build on that. I want to try to get more audio book work.
I have not even been able to audition, really, in the last, like, six to eight months because of how busy I've been. Uh, I want to start building on the commercial work I've been doing as well. And the only way to do that is to really, you know, have the free time to put the legwork in the, in the, Um, so yeah, that is what's happening for me in 2023, I'm going to start as of like the last week of January.
I'm really kind of slowing down on the teaching side and, and, uh, just, you know, putting that sprint into the rest of it. And it makes the teacher kind of be the student right at the end of the day. I mean, this is what. A lot of these students that we've had roll through the program, maybe yourself, it's like you get done with that demo and now it's hustle mode trying to build on top of that recording.
So the tables have turned here for, um, for your lovely little podcast host. But yeah, I mean it's crazy and I'm so appreciative of all the feedback that you guys have given, whether in class or, you know, just via the podcast. So keep that coming because, you know, I'm not going anywhere from this podcast.
This is one of the things that. I very much enjoy doing and they would love to keep me on for so, uh, so we'll do that. So obviously lots of brand new episodes coming in the new year. If you'd like to be a part of it, always info at voice coaches. com. Um, you know, whether you have a question or maybe you're a former student, that's been getting a lot of work.
You want to talk about your experience. We'd love to hear it. So please info at voice coaches. com. Uh, but that being said, you're getting into 2023. You've got resolutions and goals to set you haven't really done a whole lot yet in the voiceover world What do you do? How do you get started? I mean if you are brand spanking new and you don't even have a demo yet Mmm, I think the first goal is to make sure that you are practicing and practicing and practicing to develop your skills, right?
Little goals to the big goal. So what you want to do is be practicing. It's, it's, we always tell our students 10 to 15 minutes a day, just reading out loud, getting comfortable doing it, getting comfortable, stepping outside the comfort zone, record yourself, even if it is just on your phone. So you can hear yourself back and you can hear what you've been doing.
You build that ear for how you sound naturally. So practice, listen back. Critique. Repeat. Okay. Practice. Critique. Repeat. Um, from there, you gotta get a demo. So, you wanna get hooked up, if it's not through us, you wanna get hooked up with somebody that can help you understand how that demo should be put together.
Somebody that can help you create the demo. Um, a successful demo. What needs to be included on a demo? Those are the kind of, uh, research points you need to go ahead. And start diving into you want to be showcasing skills that you have, you know, are you being conversational? Are you smiling enough? Are you upbeat?
Where you need to be? Are you a little bit more somber where you need to be? How, how is everything coming across? Does it sound natural? Uh, you know, you want to showcase the best of you in a rather short amount of time. That is what a good demo is all about. Maybe from there, it's building your first relationship.
It's having your first audition from there. It's maybe having that first gig that might be one of those things that takes a minute, you know, everybody's journey is a little different. So it's being kind to yourself along the way and letting everything be a learning experience and educational so you can keep growing.
But booking that first job once you've got that demo and you've built that first relationship and you've had that audition. Yeah, get that first job. Let 2023 be where you officially start. Maybe you've already been doing this for a bit and you want to go ahead and start really being that moneymaker that you know you can be.
Maybe the goal is booking your first thousand dollar paying job. Might be an audio book. Might be based on the amount of hours it took to, You know, have that full audio book done, uh, that gets you that thousand bucks, but you know, go ahead and work towards it audition, audition, audition. Maybe it's a matter of having repeat clients.
You know, you want to go ahead, you want to get a client and you want to kick that. Projects, but and go ahead and get that client on your roster continuously, you know, you, you didn't set a lot of goals for yourself, but think a little bit, think a little bit outside the box, maybe, and start writing them down.
A lot of people like to have vision boards, do that for yourself, whatever is going to allow you to go ahead. Set some goals, hit them. It's good to have these resolutions for the new year. But I am a firm believer that you have the small goals that lead to the biggest. Alright, so take it little by little and Keep taking those steps forward, you know, because it's like you have the little goals to set, but you've got little things that you can do to reach the little goals that will then allow you to reach the bigger ones.
Um, and hey, make 2023 the year that you really knock it out of the park. That's my goal. I'll tell you that right now. I'm very excited and I hope you're excited too. Thanks for having me on this podcast for basically solo, um, almost the entire year. I know it's been a little bit of a change, but it's been a beautiful one on this end and, uh, I hope that you are ready for a fantastic 2023.
Keep being safe, and I'll see you in the new year. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
And it's just because of everything that's going on, right? There's just too much hustle, too much bustle. Some people get some downtime. I am not that person. It has been a wild and crazy couple weeks. And, um, Yeah, it's just going to get crazier as we get into the new year, but I hope that this is finding you.
Well, I hope that you have been having a fantastic holiday season, you know, maybe it's been a matter of, uh, you know, kind of dotting your eyes and crossing your T's and whatever to get all the stuff done that you needed to get done for me. It's been a really good time. More work than I expected. I will say that.
I mean, here I was, you know, teaching full time. Uh, I expected to have four or five of the radio stations, uh, as consistent work throughout Monday through Friday for me, um, you know, for the last couple of weeks, just because of holiday fill in and stuff, all of a sudden it went from five To seven, and I was just like, Oh God, how am I going to get all this done?
Um, you know, and then with the commercial work, and then also I've been doing some end of the year training for one of the companies that I do stuff for. And um, I feel bad. The person that I do so social media for, I'm like, yeah, I'm going to get to it tomorrow. And then tomorrow comes and I'm like, I'm going to get to it tomorrow.
Um, it's going to get done. It's just, you know, there's just too much on the plate at the moment. Uh, but that is, that is why I've set some goals for myself in 2023. And that's what I want to talk about today for you. You know, as somebody who may have started to just dive into the wild world of voiceover here in 2022, when you get to this point.
And you're looking ahead, you know, I will admit, and I've said this before, I am somebody, I like to set goals for myself all the time, I feel like that's a good way to be, you know, it's like having these little goals to lead to your bigger goal, and I've been doing it for a very long time that way, and I think maybe that's part of the reason between following that and then following My gut as in like what the universe is like putting right in front of my face and just kind of saying yes You know, it's it's allowed me to have some some pretty amazing things happen you know and and a lot of things that I would have never expected back in 2019 or 2020 as we were entering this this pandemic and like Wait, I'm going to be working from home.
Wait, I can do radio from home. Wait, I'm going to teach voice acting. And then I'm also going to start diving into audio books and whatever, like so many things I would have never, ever expected. And it's just, again, little goals that have allowed me to, to reach some bigger things. So I will say this, um, you know, I'll talk about mine first, and then I want to get into.
What you should start to think about, uh, you know, and especially as somebody who might be brand spanking new in this business. How do you get yourself started? What should your first goals be? Um, so we'll get into that in just a moment, but I did want to make a slight announcement, you know, we had this kind of happen with Josh back at the beginning of last year.
Uh, we knew that he was going on to, we'll say bigger and better things. Am I using air quotes on a podcast? Yes, I am. Just know that I'm doing it. Okay. Uh, and, and he, he decided to, you know, this degree that he's had for years that he's really never done anything with, he wanted to go ahead and, and start doing something with it and he's doing it and he's doing fantastic.
And, you know, I'm super proud of my buddy. Um, and you know what? Kind of doing the same thing. I'm just, I'm not leaving the podcast. So just know that that's, uh, that's. It's not, uh, gonna be what happens, uh, but, you know, I, I realized as I was taking this step back and kind of looking at the last couple of years and all the hustle that I've put into everything that I've been doing and, you know, I don't think anybody truly realized the amount of work that I had on my plate, um, because it wasn't a whole lot at first, but then it kept building.
It kept growing. And, and next thing you know, it's like I would have six hours a day of teaching, but somehow on top of all that. Some days it was like five or six hours of recording on top of that and it's been wild. It's been crazy I can tell you right now like yesterday is a good example It's like I taught for six hours and then around all of that.
I was on seven different radio stations filling in And, you know, I, I had, you know, uh, friends in town and I'm just like, I am so sorry. You have been stuck hearing me teach. You have been stuck hearing me do radio. You've had to be quiet. Um, and we've only had so much fun. Um, you know, but it's, it's amazing to me to see what I've accomplished.
Without, I mean, well, I'll preface this. I'm gonna say without a whole lot of effort. It's been a lot of effort So, please don't get me wrong there But a lot of what I've been doing is because of all these relationships that I have built over the last Almost 20 years of doing this, right? so a lot of the work that I am currently doing has kind of come to me without me having to put the legwork in to get it and I'm just over here like well If I had this extra additional time to put leg work in, where could this take me?
Because right now, In recording, I'm making the same amount of money that I am teaching. And yeah, that's some great money coming in, but I can't keep working this way. Uh, you know, I, I was telling, um, the, the owners here at voice coaches, which are incredible, they're incredibly supportive humans. Uh, they're so excited for me in this, this journey that I'm about to, you know, kind of embark, uh, but when I told them that my day off.
Typically, I'm still recording a solid, like, two, three, four hours, depending. Their first reaction was like, well, you need some downtime. You know, your mental health is important. And, I mean, how many employers say that? None. Uh, and, you know, so it was just very eye opening, very reassuring. Um, and, and knowing that I am always welcome here with open arms.
Uh, so I am very, very grateful for the people here at Voice Coaches. So David, Anna, John, um, you know, everybody's great. Uh, but, so what I am doing is I am going to start pulling back on my teaching load. Uh, and I'm going to be focused on all this radio work, trying to build on that. I want to try to get more audio book work.
I have not even been able to audition, really, in the last, like, six to eight months because of how busy I've been. Uh, I want to start building on the commercial work I've been doing as well. And the only way to do that is to really, you know, have the free time to put the legwork in the, in the, Um, so yeah, that is what's happening for me in 2023, I'm going to start as of like the last week of January.
I'm really kind of slowing down on the teaching side and, and, uh, just, you know, putting that sprint into the rest of it. And it makes the teacher kind of be the student right at the end of the day. I mean, this is what. A lot of these students that we've had roll through the program, maybe yourself, it's like you get done with that demo and now it's hustle mode trying to build on top of that recording.
So the tables have turned here for, um, for your lovely little podcast host. But yeah, I mean it's crazy and I'm so appreciative of all the feedback that you guys have given, whether in class or, you know, just via the podcast. So keep that coming because, you know, I'm not going anywhere from this podcast.
This is one of the things that. I very much enjoy doing and they would love to keep me on for so, uh, so we'll do that. So obviously lots of brand new episodes coming in the new year. If you'd like to be a part of it, always info at voice coaches. com. Um, you know, whether you have a question or maybe you're a former student, that's been getting a lot of work.
You want to talk about your experience. We'd love to hear it. So please info at voice coaches. com. Uh, but that being said, you're getting into 2023. You've got resolutions and goals to set you haven't really done a whole lot yet in the voiceover world What do you do? How do you get started? I mean if you are brand spanking new and you don't even have a demo yet Mmm, I think the first goal is to make sure that you are practicing and practicing and practicing to develop your skills, right?
Little goals to the big goal. So what you want to do is be practicing. It's, it's, we always tell our students 10 to 15 minutes a day, just reading out loud, getting comfortable doing it, getting comfortable, stepping outside the comfort zone, record yourself, even if it is just on your phone. So you can hear yourself back and you can hear what you've been doing.
You build that ear for how you sound naturally. So practice, listen back. Critique. Repeat. Okay. Practice. Critique. Repeat. Um, from there, you gotta get a demo. So, you wanna get hooked up, if it's not through us, you wanna get hooked up with somebody that can help you understand how that demo should be put together.
Somebody that can help you create the demo. Um, a successful demo. What needs to be included on a demo? Those are the kind of, uh, research points you need to go ahead. And start diving into you want to be showcasing skills that you have, you know, are you being conversational? Are you smiling enough? Are you upbeat?
Where you need to be? Are you a little bit more somber where you need to be? How, how is everything coming across? Does it sound natural? Uh, you know, you want to showcase the best of you in a rather short amount of time. That is what a good demo is all about. Maybe from there, it's building your first relationship.
It's having your first audition from there. It's maybe having that first gig that might be one of those things that takes a minute, you know, everybody's journey is a little different. So it's being kind to yourself along the way and letting everything be a learning experience and educational so you can keep growing.
But booking that first job once you've got that demo and you've built that first relationship and you've had that audition. Yeah, get that first job. Let 2023 be where you officially start. Maybe you've already been doing this for a bit and you want to go ahead and start really being that moneymaker that you know you can be.
Maybe the goal is booking your first thousand dollar paying job. Might be an audio book. Might be based on the amount of hours it took to, You know, have that full audio book done, uh, that gets you that thousand bucks, but you know, go ahead and work towards it audition, audition, audition. Maybe it's a matter of having repeat clients.
You know, you want to go ahead, you want to get a client and you want to kick that. Projects, but and go ahead and get that client on your roster continuously, you know, you, you didn't set a lot of goals for yourself, but think a little bit, think a little bit outside the box, maybe, and start writing them down.
A lot of people like to have vision boards, do that for yourself, whatever is going to allow you to go ahead. Set some goals, hit them. It's good to have these resolutions for the new year. But I am a firm believer that you have the small goals that lead to the biggest. Alright, so take it little by little and Keep taking those steps forward, you know, because it's like you have the little goals to set, but you've got little things that you can do to reach the little goals that will then allow you to reach the bigger ones.
Um, and hey, make 2023 the year that you really knock it out of the park. That's my goal. I'll tell you that right now. I'm very excited and I hope you're excited too. Thanks for having me on this podcast for basically solo, um, almost the entire year. I know it's been a little bit of a change, but it's been a beautiful one on this end and, uh, I hope that you are ready for a fantastic 2023.
Keep being safe, and I'll see you in the new year. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
This week on Voice Coaches Radio, Marissa winds down the year with an announcement and what goals you should set for yourself in 2023!
