Mike Laponis

VO

mike@mikesvo.com
909 899 8149

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer: Everything Benefits You as a VO Talent

Business Connections, Voice Over

As you try and find your way in the voice over world, don’t lose sight of what all you have done to get to this point. Although you may think marketing your voice talent is all about your acting chops, great voice, or ability to lift the words off the page and bring meaning to the copy, there is much more you should include.

Types of Experiences

Many of us have had other careers, avocations, interests, and hobbies that make us “experts” in certain areas. Perhaps you know a lot about the automotive industry. This could make you extra valuable in corporate narration for that type of VO work. Maybe you are an expert with medical terminology, thus giving you the edge in any type of voice over for the medical industry. Or maybe you have experience as a teacher, thereby giving you some extra ability for eLearning presentations. Whatever your background and training, use that as part of your marketing and expertise for your voice over career.

No matter what I have been involved in through my life and career, I’ve found that it all relates and somehow it benefits me in opportunities I have before me now. I used to be an electrician. Those skills benefited me as I needed to wire up studios for radio production rooms, and now studios for voice over work. My degree in Fire Technology has benefited me too. That knowledge and training has been invaluable as I have helped organizations with emergency planning and fire safety procedures. I have experience as a video producer. From that background I know how to communicate visually and tell a story. Many years of experience as a Professor of Communications has given me a lot of classroom teaching experience. This helps with all of my communications skills and gives me an understanding of how to present material for eLearning projects.

Other Items that may be Unique to You

There are many things outside of our past jobs and schooling that provide expertise that are good for certain types of voice over work too. I am now the proud owner of an all-electric vehicle. I have had a Chevy Bolt for about 1 and a half years now. I’m a strong advocate for electric vehicles with all the benefits they offer towards clean air and healthy environments. I am familiar with, what is called, “range anxiety” and all the challenges of driving an electric car.

Everything we do, have training in, have experience with – makes us better at any voice projects dealing with those subjects. These should all be areas we include in our marketing to find voice over jobs. Things that we have in our backgrounds, in our repertoire, that makes us who we are!

That’s why I love what I do as a voice over artist. That’s why I value having lots of experience in many areas. I am proud of being a Chief Cook and Bottle Washer – because everything benefits me as a voice over talent!

 

 

Twitter is a Goldmine Pt. 2

Business Connections, Social Media, Twitter, Voice Over

About 8 years ago, I authored one of my very first blog entries as part of mikesvo.com. It was about using Twitter. At that time, I had been using it for a little over 1 year (I began on twitter in May of 2009). I wrote that it was a gold mine for me and my voice over business! As I embark on some new marketing, new branding, and an entirely new website, I thought it would be a good time to reflect back over the 8 years, and see if that still holds true.

Some eight years ago, I had almost 4000 tweets, and only a couple of hundred followers. Now, a little more than eight years later, that number has grown to 22,500 tweets! I follow a little over 3,000 people and have close to 3,000 followers myself.

I still say Twitter is a gold mine! Looking back at all the connections I’ve made from using twitter almost daily, allow me to identify MANY golden opportunities! I have made important business connections (and YES, some of those connections have turned into actual voiceover jobs, with return business!), met some fantastic mentors, found some excellent #vo coaching, learned about techniques, equipment, and software – important to my job as a voice actor, and made some personal (and virtual) friends! So, YES, it has been a gold mine!

The analogy is a good one. You don’t just turn over a shovel of dirt and find gold. You have to actually prospect a little and dig to find the nuggets that make you “rich!” Seems odd, until you get into it, that you or anyone could offer any meaningful info, or discussion with only 280 characters at a time – it used to be only 120 characters. But actually, I have found that trying to say as much as you can in as few characters as possible, is a good writing exercise that translates well to voice over, audio content, and video – say as much as you can, in a meaningful way, with the fewest words possible.

I will continue to enjoy the wonderful friendships, and business relationships that are built with Twitter, and hope we can connect there too. Find people you would like to follow – those with tips, ideas, experience and knowledge about your interests and likes – business interests, life goals, hobbies, music, vacation destinations, just about anything you want to know more about! With a little digging you will find a gold mine with your name on it!

I am @MikeRaphone and would love to make the connection!