VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio #677 – You Are The Brand
[00:00:00] Voice coaches, radio, everything voiceover.
Marissa: Are we doing this right here on a Friday the 13th? Somebody wants me to actually speak words on such a spooky day. Uh, I, I mean, I don't know. Are you superstitious? Uh, welcome to a brand new episode of Voice Coaches Radio. My name is Marissa and honestly, fresh back from vacation.
So, I mean, who am I to be scared of a little date? You know, it's still Friday, it's still getting ready for the weekend, and, uh, I had such a, a short work week, we'll call it that. Uh, you know, let's embrace it. I don't care. It's also like, you know, uh. National Rock Day or the, the world softball day, like today is a number of things.
It doesn't have to be just Friday the 13th. It just stands out. That's all. Uh, but I gotta tell you, you know, if you're getting ready to go and travel a little bit this summer, have fun. You know, I hope that you, uh, choose something that's enjoyable and [00:01:00] relaxing. There's always something though, isn't there?
Uh, you know, right in the beginning. We got to Tampa, we got our, our car, uh, that we were renting through Turo. If you haven't checked out that app, it's kinda like Airbnb for, for cars and everything was smooth sailing. We get to the Airbnb itself and that was like, you know, 30 minute drive to clear water.
And, uh, we walk up the three flights of stairs and the sweltering humidity that's already happening in Tampa. And um, yeah, we go to put the code in the door. It's like, eh, eh, eh. It's like, okay, try it again. We did it like four or five times. Nothing was helping, nothing was working. So we tried to contact the host for this Airbnb.
It was through the website itself via text, because they had texted earlier in the week. Uh, we tried calling then, then I tried calling and after like 30 minutes of this and not having any response. [00:02:00] We decided to call Airbnb support. 'cause obviously like something's going on, something's wrong. Like we're, we're having an issue and uh, you know, they're like, all right, well we'll try to contact the host and we'll call you back.
30 minutes goes by, we don't hear anything. So we call again now we've got a gentleman on the phone who is very nice and he was telling us like, you know, we, we promised to be able to accommodate you as things are going on, but we need to give the host a good, like 30 to 60 minutes to, you know, get, get in touch with us.
Um, you know, we'll, we'll say that's starting now and we'll try to reach back out again. Um, you know, within that hour we'll give you a call back and we'll go from there. Even said like, go have a meal. We'll we'll pay up to $30. So we knew that we were stressed out enough that sitting in a restaurant wasn't gonna happen.
So the little ride through Taco Bell and uh, you know, just waiting and waiting, looking at hotels by the way, in the meantime, who were just no vacancy anywhere in the area. Um, my, my best friend from high school, she was, you [00:03:00] know, back home in New York and she was searching for things for us 'cause she goes to Florida all the time.
And by like 10 o'clock, we're on the phone with Airbnb now a third time, and this guy was not very nice and all he was doing, now that he's seen, all right, you've tried to contact us a couple times, we've reached out to the host with no response. He goes and he is canceling out a reservation. And we're at the same time saying like, but we don't really know what we're going to be able to do because now it's getting late and we can't just reach out to an Airbnb like, it's too late.
They're not gonna reply. And, and that leaves us in the dark for tonight. And all the hotels around here seem to be booked. Like, we're not sure what to do instead of trying to help us in any other way. All he's like. Quote, allowed to do is give us $123 towards a room for the night, but we have to find it and the rest of it's on us.
And then. After all of this, he had the nerve to ask where we were gonna stay for the night. And I said, I don't know. [00:04:00] The car, maybe. Uh, like, really, really, dude. Um, he, he did not wanna talk to me anymore after that. Uh, but yeah, that was the extent of the help from Airbnb support. So, like, you know, traveler beware, like, you know, don't.
Not use them because we ended up actually finding a hotel room for the night and, and then we got an Airbnb for the rest of the trip and that woman was a thousand percent accommodating. Like email me back immediately was so apologetic for the experience we have had thus far and just wanted us to be able to enjoy our vacation.
So like the majority. Fantastic. We happen to get like the one rusty nail in the, in the, you know, experience. But here it is, uh, you know, the rest of the trip was great. Lot of beach time, got weird tan lines. It's fantastic now. So, uh, hopefully you know, your trip goes without a hitch and you're able to enjoy yourself this summer and, uh, and all of it.
And happy Father's Day weekend by the way, 'cause that's going on in the next couple days as well. So, as we get [00:05:00] into some, some chatter here about voiceover. You know, there's a couple things that I wanna challenge you with, and I realize just how important both of these things are, and they're kind of one and the same a little bit here.
And if I hadn't done this for myself over the course of my career, I can't say that the rebuild for me would've happened after the pandemic, or if it would've happened, it may have been a slow situation had I not done what I had done this entire time. So there are two things that you want. To make sure that you have for yourself.
One is, is making sure that you have like a website, you have social media, you have a presence, right? You have, um, you know, a situation where it's like you can show off your skills, you can show what you're doing. You can create a platform and allow that to grow within your network. Okay? So that's challenge number one.[00:06:00]
This is important because you never know who's gonna come across it. You never know who's, you never know who's paying attention. You know, if you're using certain hashtags, you just, you just never, ever know who follows what, and it could be. Small time. It could be big time. I mean, you just, again, you never know, so it's very important for you to just not be scared to put yourself out there.
That's like step one, right? Like now that you've maybe gotten your skills into a good place, you've got some audio that you can share, you wanna have that like little sizzle reel of what you're. Able to do that demo up there to showcase. You wanna keep things fresh, you wanna keep things updated. You wanna show that, Hey, look at this home studio that I just built.
Or, Hey, I was just in the studio and this, or this is what I'm working on today. Like these things, it sounds so tedious and so ridiculous, but they're important because it keeps you active the more active you are. The more apt somebody is to see you and, uh, you know, connecting all these [00:07:00] pieces together as well.
Linking your website to your Instagram, linking the Instagram to your Facebook, like, all these things are just very, very important. So you wanna make sure. That you're utilizing those platforms in the best of ways. And, um, you know, some people aren't as savvy and, and that's okay. But you can, you can learn, uh, you know, you learn the tricks of every trade that you become a part of, whether it's voice, whether it's, uh, you know, social media, whether it's branding, like any of that.
And, and allow yourself to, to shine in all the ways. Um, now. The other thing is, is managing your brand, you know, and, and allowing yourself to understand who you are, right? Like, you know, it might be a little challenging at first. I get it. 'cause like you're, you're not quite sure which direction you wanna go in or where your strengths may be, but.
You're gonna have, you're gonna have a demo. You're gonna get feedback from people as long as you're doing the [00:08:00] things that, that you should, which is sharing, which is understanding, like, you know, who to reach out to, to get feedback to, those kind of things. And just listening yourself, you know, what stands out to you as some of your best work.
Even if it isn't like, you know, official work just yet. You know? Where do you feel like you've shined? On, on the certain pieces that you have and, and maybe you just highlight that, you know, make sure that you're going and, and, and building that, that personal brand. Um. You know, all the capabilities that you bring to the table are, are just important to make sure that they have the right, you know, uh, we'll say, we'll say spotlight or, or pedestal to put on.
Um, these are all tools at your fingertips right now and, um, fairly cost efficient, right? Like social media free and you wanna buy a website. It actually doesn't cost all that much. It's the building of [00:09:00] it that. You know, it might take a little extra know, know-how, you know, you might have to do a little bit more research on how to do certain things, but you know, once you start diving on in and what you're able to create for yourself, it, it's just, it's so important to have to showcase you who you are and, and what you bring to the table.
And that is that personal brand. So, you know, I challenge you to, to go ahead and start. Start doing these things if you aren't already. You know when, when I started, this is back in the day, back in my day, um, you know, social media was in its like infant infancy stage. Like it was just beginning. Like I, I actually created.
The Facebook, no, it was the MySpace page for the radio station I was working at at the time, because they didn't have one. And, and all of a sudden it was like, well, no, we need one. And, and uh, Marissa knows what she's [00:10:00] doing and, you know, I was able to make everything extra fancy 'cause I knew all the HTML don't ask me how I knew.
It was one of those things I was copying and pasting from all over the place. But, you know, it, it was just, it was new and, and I just, it felt important to me at the time. So like I already had it for myself and I slowly started, you know, meeting people through that, different people within the industry, adding them as friends, you know, and just being me, which is also important.
Like don't, don't fake anything, you know, just be you. And like that goes a long way. And uh, you know, next thing you know, all these years later. All these people throughout the years have followed me from one platform to the next, whether it's MySpace or Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or, you know, a formerly Twitter, uh, whatever the heck it's called now.
Um, you know, and, and across each one of these, it's like as you are doing things, you know, [00:11:00] people are able to see it. As they're scrolling, you become unintentionally in a way top of mind because they're just seeing what you are doing and. Had I not done that, had I not been consistent in all those efforts and, and really just allowing myself to have fun with it throughout the years, I mean, I, I, one wouldn't have been able to grow those relationships.
But, but two, when I did lose everything, you know, even before the pandemic, like I had, I had lost my, my gig in Boston. 'cause my contract came to an end. That itself was a big deal. I was, I was technically like a hot commodity. You know? I had people coming at me from all over the place that I didn't even know were watching.
And, and that's my point, right? It's like you don't know what you don't know. And, and in this case, it was people that I didn't even know and they had been following, they had been [00:12:00] watching and they. Wanted in and, and I was, you know, taking phone calls and whatever, and, and then it's like I had a situation that was all sit, like set and ready to go, and then the pandemic happened and everything went away.
And, you know, here we were, we're back to square one, but I never stopped when it came to the social media. And when it came to anything that had connected me to this, this audience, this group of people, this network that I had built, so. As, as all that was happening, you know, I'm. I'm posting this, I'm posting this.
I like, I'm rebuilding my home studio here in the house that I'm back in, in New York and like I'm playing around and I, I just created this, you know, whatever. And I just started this podcast and I just did this for, you know, this client back in Boston and, you know, and, uh, oh look, some budgets came back and I just got this work and I'm gonna be on this station coming up this weekend.
Like, you know, those seem like such tiny. [00:13:00] Like unimportant kind of things. And, and maybe it also seems a little annoying, uh, you know what I mean? But think about, think about how social media has been used over the co course of time. You know, at one point it was like, well, what's on your mind? Well, I just, I'm, I'm, I have a hunkering for a Turkey sandwich and I can't wait for lunchtime to get here, says, Bob, like, you know, and that was a Facebook status.
Um, now we're able to use it. In more important ways, and, and this is one of them, don't be feeling like a gnat buzzing around by, by showcasing some of the things that you're doing and that you're proud of and that they're excited about. You know, like this is the exact reason that when it all came down to.
The world kind of getting back, we'll say quote normal, um, I was like then fighting different phone calls from here and there that would be coming in just like I was prior [00:14:00] to the pandemic. Um, and, and it's the reason why I am. I'm in the position I am now, where some days I'm like, man, I got a lot on my plate.
Um, and it's not even anything I could be mad about, you know? 'cause it's like, I remember what it was like to have absolutely nothing and be back to square one all over again. Uh, and I, I definitely don't wanna get back there. So, you know, take my word for it that this is something that really matters.
This is something that sets you apart. This is something that can allow you to seem like you're going the extra mile when it's only taking you. A couple minutes of your time just to keep the consistency up. And it's gonna allow, like, relatability, it's gonna showcase the things that you can do and, and just who you are.
Um, and it does go the distance, so. Website, social media, building your brand. These are super, super important things and you know, I challenge you to start taking those little steps to getting [00:15:00] yourself situated in those areas and, and you know, just watch how this can truly, truly help in, I mean, I just, even allowing people to know what you're doing in general, you know, if you're especially going from one career to this, nobody knows unless you say something.
Let this be the beginning of it. All right, so if you've got anything you want us to chat about here on the pod, you can go ahead and hit me up. Marissa, M-A-R-I-S-S [email protected], and we've got a brand new episode coming your way next Friday right here on Voice Coaches Radio. Enjoy the weekend and stay safe everybody.
Visit voice coaches.com for more voiceover news and information.
Marissa: Are we doing this right here on a Friday the 13th? Somebody wants me to actually speak words on such a spooky day. Uh, I, I mean, I don't know. Are you superstitious? Uh, welcome to a brand new episode of Voice Coaches Radio. My name is Marissa and honestly, fresh back from vacation.
So, I mean, who am I to be scared of a little date? You know, it's still Friday, it's still getting ready for the weekend, and, uh, I had such a, a short work week, we'll call it that. Uh, you know, let's embrace it. I don't care. It's also like, you know, uh. National Rock Day or the, the world softball day, like today is a number of things.
It doesn't have to be just Friday the 13th. It just stands out. That's all. Uh, but I gotta tell you, you know, if you're getting ready to go and travel a little bit this summer, have fun. You know, I hope that you, uh, choose something that's enjoyable and [00:01:00] relaxing. There's always something though, isn't there?
Uh, you know, right in the beginning. We got to Tampa, we got our, our car, uh, that we were renting through Turo. If you haven't checked out that app, it's kinda like Airbnb for, for cars and everything was smooth sailing. We get to the Airbnb itself and that was like, you know, 30 minute drive to clear water.
And, uh, we walk up the three flights of stairs and the sweltering humidity that's already happening in Tampa. And um, yeah, we go to put the code in the door. It's like, eh, eh, eh. It's like, okay, try it again. We did it like four or five times. Nothing was helping, nothing was working. So we tried to contact the host for this Airbnb.
It was through the website itself via text, because they had texted earlier in the week. Uh, we tried calling then, then I tried calling and after like 30 minutes of this and not having any response. [00:02:00] We decided to call Airbnb support. 'cause obviously like something's going on, something's wrong. Like we're, we're having an issue and uh, you know, they're like, all right, well we'll try to contact the host and we'll call you back.
30 minutes goes by, we don't hear anything. So we call again now we've got a gentleman on the phone who is very nice and he was telling us like, you know, we, we promised to be able to accommodate you as things are going on, but we need to give the host a good, like 30 to 60 minutes to, you know, get, get in touch with us.
Um, you know, we'll, we'll say that's starting now and we'll try to reach back out again. Um, you know, within that hour we'll give you a call back and we'll go from there. Even said like, go have a meal. We'll we'll pay up to $30. So we knew that we were stressed out enough that sitting in a restaurant wasn't gonna happen.
So the little ride through Taco Bell and uh, you know, just waiting and waiting, looking at hotels by the way, in the meantime, who were just no vacancy anywhere in the area. Um, my, my best friend from high school, she was, you [00:03:00] know, back home in New York and she was searching for things for us 'cause she goes to Florida all the time.
And by like 10 o'clock, we're on the phone with Airbnb now a third time, and this guy was not very nice and all he was doing, now that he's seen, all right, you've tried to contact us a couple times, we've reached out to the host with no response. He goes and he is canceling out a reservation. And we're at the same time saying like, but we don't really know what we're going to be able to do because now it's getting late and we can't just reach out to an Airbnb like, it's too late.
They're not gonna reply. And, and that leaves us in the dark for tonight. And all the hotels around here seem to be booked. Like, we're not sure what to do instead of trying to help us in any other way. All he's like. Quote, allowed to do is give us $123 towards a room for the night, but we have to find it and the rest of it's on us.
And then. After all of this, he had the nerve to ask where we were gonna stay for the night. And I said, I don't know. [00:04:00] The car, maybe. Uh, like, really, really, dude. Um, he, he did not wanna talk to me anymore after that. Uh, but yeah, that was the extent of the help from Airbnb support. So, like, you know, traveler beware, like, you know, don't.
Not use them because we ended up actually finding a hotel room for the night and, and then we got an Airbnb for the rest of the trip and that woman was a thousand percent accommodating. Like email me back immediately was so apologetic for the experience we have had thus far and just wanted us to be able to enjoy our vacation.
So like the majority. Fantastic. We happen to get like the one rusty nail in the, in the, you know, experience. But here it is, uh, you know, the rest of the trip was great. Lot of beach time, got weird tan lines. It's fantastic now. So, uh, hopefully you know, your trip goes without a hitch and you're able to enjoy yourself this summer and, uh, and all of it.
And happy Father's Day weekend by the way, 'cause that's going on in the next couple days as well. So, as we get [00:05:00] into some, some chatter here about voiceover. You know, there's a couple things that I wanna challenge you with, and I realize just how important both of these things are, and they're kind of one and the same a little bit here.
And if I hadn't done this for myself over the course of my career, I can't say that the rebuild for me would've happened after the pandemic, or if it would've happened, it may have been a slow situation had I not done what I had done this entire time. So there are two things that you want. To make sure that you have for yourself.
One is, is making sure that you have like a website, you have social media, you have a presence, right? You have, um, you know, a situation where it's like you can show off your skills, you can show what you're doing. You can create a platform and allow that to grow within your network. Okay? So that's challenge number one.[00:06:00]
This is important because you never know who's gonna come across it. You never know who's, you never know who's paying attention. You know, if you're using certain hashtags, you just, you just never, ever know who follows what, and it could be. Small time. It could be big time. I mean, you just, again, you never know, so it's very important for you to just not be scared to put yourself out there.
That's like step one, right? Like now that you've maybe gotten your skills into a good place, you've got some audio that you can share, you wanna have that like little sizzle reel of what you're. Able to do that demo up there to showcase. You wanna keep things fresh, you wanna keep things updated. You wanna show that, Hey, look at this home studio that I just built.
Or, Hey, I was just in the studio and this, or this is what I'm working on today. Like these things, it sounds so tedious and so ridiculous, but they're important because it keeps you active the more active you are. The more apt somebody is to see you and, uh, you know, connecting all these [00:07:00] pieces together as well.
Linking your website to your Instagram, linking the Instagram to your Facebook, like, all these things are just very, very important. So you wanna make sure. That you're utilizing those platforms in the best of ways. And, um, you know, some people aren't as savvy and, and that's okay. But you can, you can learn, uh, you know, you learn the tricks of every trade that you become a part of, whether it's voice, whether it's, uh, you know, social media, whether it's branding, like any of that.
And, and allow yourself to, to shine in all the ways. Um, now. The other thing is, is managing your brand, you know, and, and allowing yourself to understand who you are, right? Like, you know, it might be a little challenging at first. I get it. 'cause like you're, you're not quite sure which direction you wanna go in or where your strengths may be, but.
You're gonna have, you're gonna have a demo. You're gonna get feedback from people as long as you're doing the [00:08:00] things that, that you should, which is sharing, which is understanding, like, you know, who to reach out to, to get feedback to, those kind of things. And just listening yourself, you know, what stands out to you as some of your best work.
Even if it isn't like, you know, official work just yet. You know? Where do you feel like you've shined? On, on the certain pieces that you have and, and maybe you just highlight that, you know, make sure that you're going and, and, and building that, that personal brand. Um. You know, all the capabilities that you bring to the table are, are just important to make sure that they have the right, you know, uh, we'll say, we'll say spotlight or, or pedestal to put on.
Um, these are all tools at your fingertips right now and, um, fairly cost efficient, right? Like social media free and you wanna buy a website. It actually doesn't cost all that much. It's the building of [00:09:00] it that. You know, it might take a little extra know, know-how, you know, you might have to do a little bit more research on how to do certain things, but you know, once you start diving on in and what you're able to create for yourself, it, it's just, it's so important to have to showcase you who you are and, and what you bring to the table.
And that is that personal brand. So, you know, I challenge you to, to go ahead and start. Start doing these things if you aren't already. You know when, when I started, this is back in the day, back in my day, um, you know, social media was in its like infant infancy stage. Like it was just beginning. Like I, I actually created.
The Facebook, no, it was the MySpace page for the radio station I was working at at the time, because they didn't have one. And, and all of a sudden it was like, well, no, we need one. And, and uh, Marissa knows what she's [00:10:00] doing and, you know, I was able to make everything extra fancy 'cause I knew all the HTML don't ask me how I knew.
It was one of those things I was copying and pasting from all over the place. But, you know, it, it was just, it was new and, and I just, it felt important to me at the time. So like I already had it for myself and I slowly started, you know, meeting people through that, different people within the industry, adding them as friends, you know, and just being me, which is also important.
Like don't, don't fake anything, you know, just be you. And like that goes a long way. And uh, you know, next thing you know, all these years later. All these people throughout the years have followed me from one platform to the next, whether it's MySpace or Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or, you know, a formerly Twitter, uh, whatever the heck it's called now.
Um, you know, and, and across each one of these, it's like as you are doing things, you know, [00:11:00] people are able to see it. As they're scrolling, you become unintentionally in a way top of mind because they're just seeing what you are doing and. Had I not done that, had I not been consistent in all those efforts and, and really just allowing myself to have fun with it throughout the years, I mean, I, I, one wouldn't have been able to grow those relationships.
But, but two, when I did lose everything, you know, even before the pandemic, like I had, I had lost my, my gig in Boston. 'cause my contract came to an end. That itself was a big deal. I was, I was technically like a hot commodity. You know? I had people coming at me from all over the place that I didn't even know were watching.
And, and that's my point, right? It's like you don't know what you don't know. And, and in this case, it was people that I didn't even know and they had been following, they had been [00:12:00] watching and they. Wanted in and, and I was, you know, taking phone calls and whatever, and, and then it's like I had a situation that was all sit, like set and ready to go, and then the pandemic happened and everything went away.
And, you know, here we were, we're back to square one, but I never stopped when it came to the social media. And when it came to anything that had connected me to this, this audience, this group of people, this network that I had built, so. As, as all that was happening, you know, I'm. I'm posting this, I'm posting this.
I like, I'm rebuilding my home studio here in the house that I'm back in, in New York and like I'm playing around and I, I just created this, you know, whatever. And I just started this podcast and I just did this for, you know, this client back in Boston and, you know, and, uh, oh look, some budgets came back and I just got this work and I'm gonna be on this station coming up this weekend.
Like, you know, those seem like such tiny. [00:13:00] Like unimportant kind of things. And, and maybe it also seems a little annoying, uh, you know what I mean? But think about, think about how social media has been used over the co course of time. You know, at one point it was like, well, what's on your mind? Well, I just, I'm, I'm, I have a hunkering for a Turkey sandwich and I can't wait for lunchtime to get here, says, Bob, like, you know, and that was a Facebook status.
Um, now we're able to use it. In more important ways, and, and this is one of them, don't be feeling like a gnat buzzing around by, by showcasing some of the things that you're doing and that you're proud of and that they're excited about. You know, like this is the exact reason that when it all came down to.
The world kind of getting back, we'll say quote normal, um, I was like then fighting different phone calls from here and there that would be coming in just like I was prior [00:14:00] to the pandemic. Um, and, and it's the reason why I am. I'm in the position I am now, where some days I'm like, man, I got a lot on my plate.
Um, and it's not even anything I could be mad about, you know? 'cause it's like, I remember what it was like to have absolutely nothing and be back to square one all over again. Uh, and I, I definitely don't wanna get back there. So, you know, take my word for it that this is something that really matters.
This is something that sets you apart. This is something that can allow you to seem like you're going the extra mile when it's only taking you. A couple minutes of your time just to keep the consistency up. And it's gonna allow, like, relatability, it's gonna showcase the things that you can do and, and just who you are.
Um, and it does go the distance, so. Website, social media, building your brand. These are super, super important things and you know, I challenge you to start taking those little steps to getting [00:15:00] yourself situated in those areas and, and you know, just watch how this can truly, truly help in, I mean, I just, even allowing people to know what you're doing in general, you know, if you're especially going from one career to this, nobody knows unless you say something.
Let this be the beginning of it. All right, so if you've got anything you want us to chat about here on the pod, you can go ahead and hit me up. Marissa, M-A-R-I-S-S [email protected], and we've got a brand new episode coming your way next Friday right here on Voice Coaches Radio. Enjoy the weekend and stay safe everybody.
Visit voice coaches.com for more voiceover news and information.
This week on Voice Coaches Radio, Marissa talks about the. importance of presence, branding and online platforms. How are they helpful? Why are they so important?
