VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Neil K. Hess]

I am curious what side jobs folks have had or would recommend while growing their VO business? (Yes I have searched the archives for this topic)
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http://neilkhessvo.com

[heyguido]

One that pays.
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[Kristin Lennox]

When I was right out of college, I did the Waiting Tables/Temping thing, which is what every unemployed actor did. I was focused on stage acting, and both of these jobs gave me the flexibility to still do theater...

However, the money was never great. On a whim, I took a month-long certification course in tutoring children with learning disabilities, and that started me on a long and VERY rewarding career in tutoring -- at first I was employed by the company that certified me, but soon I had enough referrals that I could be my own boss. I LOVED working with kids, helping them find their individual paths to learning... plus the money was quite good, so I only had to work maybe 10-15 hours per week.

I stopped taking on new students around 2000, and stopped tutoring altogether a few years after that. I still pursue stage-acting (in fact, I just got cast in a play that starts rehearsing in August... woot!) ... But I refer to VO as my "real" job, paying the bills while I search for the ever-elusive stage-roles.
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Always look on the bright side of life.

Dee doo. Dee doot doot doo dee doo.

my website

[Lee Gordon]

What kind of job would you have or look for if you had no interest in voiceover? That's the one.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[Jeffrey Kafer]

Worked at Microsoft for 10 years as a video game tester. No, it's not nearly as awesome as it sounds.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

[Yonie]

Jeff, to my ears it sounds tedious as hell.

[Scott Pollak]

As weird as this sounds, as I transitioned toward doing v/o fulltime, I was what is called a "standardized test patient".

A company that runs tests on primarily foreign medical students here in the U.S. hires people of all ages, sizes, shapes, colors, etc - from about age 17 on up to 80 - to portray a particular patient in a highly defined role. I played two radically different patients, one was a homeless alcoholic (who drank 2 bottles of wine and 2 six-packs a day!) and the other was a married businessman with a chronic cough.

Anyway, we worked in a very nice, comfortable environment with about 2 dozen rooms that simulated a medical office exam room and we'd have these medical students come in, examine us and ask questions. After they left the room we'd grade them on a wide criteria of interpersonal skills. The job paid extremely well, with very flexible hours. Problem is, there are only about 6 cities this company does this in, AND they have to have a need for someone of your age and demographics before you can get hired. But I did it for a year and a half before taking the full-time plunge into v/o.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

[vkuehn]

As a followup to your "Standardized Test Patient" Scott, we have a morbid and sad family story that comes out once in a while as actually be humorous.

My daughter's father-in-law in retirement worked as a "Simulation Patient" as they were called where they live. He was coached on how to feed bread-crums of hints to the medical student in training about "fake" illnesses.

And then very unexpectedly he was taken to the University Hospital and a few days later he died. I gather the autopsy report was lengthy. Here's the "sick" humor: He really didn't need to make up problems. He should have just told the young doctors how he felt without the coaching. He had a long, long, long list of issues... but most of us had no idea. I assumed he was going to out live me!

Cause of death: Oh, let me express it the way only my offspring could phrase it: "His aorta exploded."

O.K. Sorry I asked, my dear. Without any coaching or telling of this story, within six months my own doctor sent me to the hospital for a routine test: Sonogram of the Aorta. Had one of those? Sound effects like some kind of video game.

[imaginator]

...once past college, my "side jobs" were all related to VO in some way or another: radio station work (which, i realize, hardly exists anymore...not in the way i experienced it), audio production in my home (you need a bit of equipment to make that work), and script writing/on camera acting for corporate video.

don't know if that helps, but it's at least one example where you don't have to stray far from your main interests.
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rowell gormon
www.voices2go.com
"Mr. Warm & Friendly Voice...with Character!"
Rowell Gormon's Clogged Blog - http://voices2go.com/blog

[NeilTheVoice]

Like others, audio production for radio stations was a sideline for a while, also did video editing - both can be lucrative, but as with building to a full time v/o they take time to build up. For instant cash, I found going back to my student days helpful - being a bartender at TGI's!! Good tips, good fun and evening work, so could concentrate on v/o stuff during the day.
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I'm in a room, talking to myself, promise I'm not mad....just doing another voiceover.

http://www.neilwilliamsvoiceover.com

[JackB]

I have a part time job walking dogs. My employers are really sympathetic to the whole aspiring artist thing. I walk like 3 dogs a day.
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- Jack

[Quicksilver]

[Scott Pollak]

[Bailey]

side jobs?... I've been doing "very" part time security work for 6 years. Stay away from banks and strip malls... totally boring.
Charger and SDSU football games, county fair, home shows, antique shows, gun shows, if people pay admission I've probably worked there. And if the hours are right... Comic Con! I've only been in one fight at a football game... since then I've only worked coat & tie at games.(I don't carry.)

Botton line... I don't need the money, but I've met several people that work 2 & 3 jobs just to make ends meet.
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"Bailey"
a.k.a. Jim Sutton
Retired... Every day is Saturday, except Sunday.
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AOVA Graduate 02/2004 ;
"Be a Voice, not an Echo."

[ZNCramer]

I program music for a Classical Radio station, and host a weekday show from 2p-6p.