One of my duties as a voice acting coach is to make certain that my students understand that voice acting is a business. Even though people do this because it’s interesting and challenging, and sometimes pure fun, voice acting is a business, and if you want to do this, you must treat it as a business.
So, after all that voice over training you’ve been working on to get better, remember that when you get out into the marketplace, you’d better have your business head on straight. So, do a business plan. Create a sub-S corporation. Get an accountant. Create a set of goals. Know your pricing parameters. Assess the competition. Put a website together, with your demos on it.
Buy a book on setting up your own small business. Go online. There are a ton of articles on entrepreneurship.
You can be a great voice over actor, but unless you understand basic business discipline, you probably won’t be a great success out there, no matter what great voice over coaches you’ve worked with, no matter how sophisticated your studio and equipment, or no matter how great your demos are.
There are a lot of voice actors out there who have somewhat mediocre talent who get a lot of work because they are business-savvy.
Apart from knowing your stuff as a voice over talent, you will have to spend a lot of time and effort setting up and tending to your business disciplines. If you don’t understand this or are reluctant to put the required effort into it, don’t even consider preparing for a voice over career.
