VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[HeatherMasters]

So, I very eagerly signed up to train with Nancy Wolfson. I am doing well in audiobooks, but I suck at other genres of VO. Since I am making steady money now, I thought it would be a good time to invest and branch out. Recently however, my hubs decided to make a career change. This is a good thing, but because the first year in this new field is just training, the pay is crap. Our new plan is for me to use my income to help make up the difference in the loss of pay. Here's my quandary: Should I continue to study with Nancy, maybe at a slower pace, (with the idea that the training will eventually pay off and make it easier to close that money gap) or do I put everything on hold for a year, and just focus on audiobooks. The reason why it's such a conflict for me is that, because of our small children, I can only really work 2-3 hours a day. 2 hours during nap, and one at night after kiddos are in bed. At night I'm usually too exhausted to get into characters for audiobooks, so I have pretty much maxed out on the amount of audiobook work I can take on at one time. I was thinking that the evening might be a good time to do auditions and such for other short narration work. Jobs which might pay better than audiobooks. Things are going to be pretty tight financially for the next year, so I'm just struggling to decide if now is the time to invest, or just maintain. I would love your thoughts.
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Heather

www.heathermastersvo.com

[bobsouer]

Heather,

You will be hard pressed to find a more passionate fan of Nancy Wolfson than me; so take what I offer here with that in mind:

1. Studying with Nancy, even at a slower pace will teach you valuable skills you can use to book work in commercials and other VO genre. It will even, at times, benefit your audiobook work, though it may not be a direct connection.

2. On the other hand, audiobook work can be a steady and reliable source of income at a time when having such will be very valuable for you.

3. Booking commercials is a real "buy a ticket to the lottery" kind of experience. Nancy's instruction will help, but there are no guarantees that you WILL book this kind of work. At the end of each day, auditioning has to be treated like a kind of work because that's what it is. If you don't see a good rate of return for your auditions something will need to change because right now you need a steady and reliable source of income.

Bottom line, Were I in your shoes, I would expend all of my efforts on maximizing my audiobook income over the next year and see where hubby's income is after that. But if I could possibly squeeze it into the budget I'd try to book a session with Nancy every 3 months or so. Just to keep moving forward in other arenas.
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Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[Philip Banks]

Investing money you have to further your career is wise whereas taking food off the table to speculate is NOT.

If you work for 3 hour per week as a VO and have 2 weeks vacation you will earn $37,500 per year. In other words, let hubby look after the kids on Saturday morning between 9am and noon then the rest of the week is yours. Is $37,500 enough? Don't answer that in public, just something to think about.

Here's the edge you need. Do not use a Coach, use your brain.

I love Nancy very much indeed but she is in business, uses her brain and doesn't give refunds if things don't quite go to plan. Family first, funding training 2nd. 1 year will fly by.

If anyone offers you career guidance simply shout SHOW ME THE MONEY!

[yarg28]

I'm a student of Nancy's as well. I wouldn't say that i disagree with what Bob or Philip have said.

I started with Nancy sort of fast and frequent. then I had to slow down for a few reasons. I can tell you that for me, frequent sessions with Nancy seemed more powerful. I was more actively engaged and pressing forward all the time. Nancy has a lot of students and she is a pro but frequent coaching sessions have to help her stay connected to a student as well. Also, she is pretty "serious business" and loves students that are serious business. You do not want her perception of you to be lolly gagging.

If I were in your shoes, I would wait. Maybe try and earmark some funds for her coaching but hold it until you get enough for a good solid block of classes. Dont forget that you'll be buying stuff along the way that supports the coaching. So it's not just the hourly rate that you have to have.

just my thoughts.

[HeatherMasters]

Thank you all for your wonderful advice. It is spot on, and I think was just so eager to continue my training that I let that cloud my judgment. I am so thankful for this community and for all the help you give!!
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Heather

www.heathermastersvo.com

[Rob Ellis]

My training with Nancy has more than paid for itself, many times over.

But if the time is not right to continue at the same pace then I would say trust your gut.

To paraphrase an old saw, it's a marathon and not a sprint.

I think Nancy would agree.

[daveynate]

Having studied with Nancy all of this year, my only relevant piece of information would be this: unless you're paying double in order to secure a weekly spot, you're probably not going to be able to study with Nancy more than once a month (unless you want to jump on her cancellation emails and nab a freshly open time). She's extremely busy, and I would go weeks in between lessons. So if that type of pace works financially for you, I say do it. She's the best.
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"If the shit fits, wear it."
Donald 'Duck' Dunn

http://davidgoldsteinvo.com

[Rick Riley]

I was in radio for one year shy of three decades. Had done thousands of commercials and thought I knew my way around when I got into VO. I did not. I decided to try a coach to see what I was missing. Nancy Wolfson completely changed my game. There’s not a read I do these days that doesn’t incorporate something I learned from her.

You situation is the ‘economy’ of it all. A parable might be, when the economy goes south, the first thing businesses do is try to find ways to cut back. One of the first things to go? The intangible commodity of advertising. After all, it’s expensive and getting rid of it means we won’t have to skimp on our product. And getting rid of advertising in a poor economy is probably the worst thing you can do. Why even make a product if no one knows you’re making it? While it may be counterintuitive, keeping the intangibles often means keeping the business alive. My point? Why audition if you’re just spinning your wheels. Make your auditions count by making them competitive. Make them competitive by learning how to do that. While things may be tight, there are most likely places you could cut back. What kind of car are you driving? Maybe you want to downscale and use the money to invest in yourself. Just a thought, but things you should think about if you’re serious about creating an income in anything, voiceover included.

Auditions are not unique to voiceover. They are a part of almost every business. I need two garage doors. I’m having the second bid today. Those are auditions for the garage door installers. If I have three bids, only one will get the job. For me, it comes down to the best product for the money. I may have to spend a little more than I want, but if that’s what I have to do to get the best product for the money, that’s what I have to do. And in turn, that’s what I want to be. The best product for the money. In this business I’ve heard it said to me a few times, ‘You were over our budget, but you were right for the job’. So they found the money. I believe Nancy is ‘right for the job’. If you can, try to ‘find’ the money.

My two cents. Good luck!
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Never do anything you wouldn't want to explain to the Paramedics

www.rickrileyvoice.com

[HeatherMasters]

You guys are killing me with all your words of wisdom! I'm soaking it up like a sponge. After a great conversation yesterday with a genius, which gave me valuable info for improving and planning a strategy to "hit the pavement" locally, I had a dawning realization. See, the studio I originally studied with had me do a narration demo first. They said that's the first one I needed. After it was produced, I had another one of their teachers listen to it for critique, and she said, "You know, you sound really commercial. You should have done a commercial demo." After getting more knowledge, I now realize that getting the commercial demo first is a no brainer. What that means is that I am severely lacking in my ability to put my best face forward and land jobs. In fact, the only jobs I have landed outside of audiobooks have been book trailers. Go figure. So I need a commercial demo. I want a Nancy Wolfson commercial demo. The demo I had done locally is pretty rough. I want the real deal this time. And to get a Nancy Wolfson demo, I need to complete her curriculum. SO, I have decided that instead of taking the two week break over Christmas I had planned, I am going to try to take a couple hours each day to grab some extra jobs and scrape together the moolah needed to move forward.
A big thank you to all of you for helping me think through this. You are invaluable.
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Heather

www.heathermastersvo.com