Frank James Bailey 

Don’t give up!

I assume you’ve heard this before. It’s a slogan I’ve lived by for almost 2 years, and I keep telling myself to this day. Well, that and Keep Moving Forward! Here’s what I mean.

If you’re just starting off in your voice over career, it can be very frustrating to work for a few bucks and sometimes pennies.

Tell me if this sounds like something you’ve been through….

…you were told you have a good voice so you try to pursue a career in radio but the only job you could get is a part-time weekend on-air job working for some small town station that nobody really listens to. So, after that, you try for a career in voice overs. After all, the voice guys are the ones making the BIG bucks, right?? So you buy all the right equipment. A good professional microphone, a great pre-amp, a computer with LOTS of memory, and sound proofing for your recording studio. You’re all set and ready to make your first demo. And once that’s done, you audition for voice jobs on those voice casting web sites. Everyday…all the time. Still…nobody is hiring you! WHAT GIVES?

Don’t give up!

Let me tell you, I may have worked in radio for over 20 years but it wasn’t until 2011, that I could honestly call myself a full time (self-employed) voice over talent. I worked really hard for over 2 and ½ years working a full time (bear knuckles) labor job (as a janitor) and then doing my voice overs part-time. Some people can make voice overs a good part time job! No harm in that. But my point is, if you really want it bad enough, Don’t Give Up!

You might be making $10 here, $5 there. And, on a rare occasions, $25 or $50. But,…the bigger jobs will come!! The more you work at polishing your skills, the better you become. The more different kind of voice over jobs you do, the better you’ll know what you’re really good at. Maybe you’re better at characters then doing narrations. Maybe your better at voicing commercials then voicing TV promos and radio liners. Or maybe you’re a great story teller and you’re very good at narrating audio books, but you’re not good at voicing animation.

My point is, in time, you will find what you’re really good at. Don’t Give Up!

If voice overs is what you truly want to do…then,

DON’T - GIVE - UP!

It took me a while to get to where I am today. I didn’t give up, because I knew I wanted it…bad! And I still want to do more. Remember my other saying too…Keep Moving Forward!

If you keep these 2 things in mind, you will get to where you want to be…someday.

Good luck!