Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

Voice-Over

Every passion does not lead to a career choice

Recently, I received this message as a comment on the entry A plan to break into voice-over:

Karen,

I can not tell you how thankful I am for your blog, and your selfless giving of voice over artistry information.

I am at turning point in my life and realize I’ve been working 20 years in a industry I have NO PASSION FOR!  In thinking, “how do I change this?”, I remembered the excitement I felt when asked to record automated attendant messages twice in my career. I’ve always been told I have a good voice and can’t wait to become a part of the community.

I know a lot of hard work will be involved but one day I hope to be successful and pass on my knowledge just as you.

You are wonderful,
God Bless,
Veronica

While I truly appreciate and am grateful for Veronica’s praise about my blog, I want to talk about her paragraph about passion. The key is not to find a job and industry that you are passionate about, but to create a LIFE that you are passionate about!

The last sentence was written with apologies to my eighth grade English teacher Mrs. Ellington, who would hate to see me ending the sentence with a preposition. She made us memorize a list of prepositions, and I credit her with my strong knowledge of and passion for English grammar.

There’s that word again — PASSION.

When people feel that something is missing in their life, they often say they want to feel passionate about something. Rather than doing the self-reflection necessary to understand what is missing in their life and make adjustments, I have observed that most people hurriedly make 1 or — even worse — a combination of the 4 life-changing decisions below. I’ve also included some of the common thought patterns that may lead people to the decision.

1) Have a baby 

  • “A baby would bring us closer.”
  • “A baby would always love me.”
  • “I might get a reality TV show if I have enough kids.” (If you don’t believe me on this point, do you remember the Octo-mom, or have you counted the number of shows about huge families on the TLC channel?)

2) Change residences

  • “I’d be happy if only I had more space.”
  • “I’m tired of this neighborhood.”

3) Change jobs

  • “I have no passion for my job or industry.”
  • “I’d be happy if only I made more money.”

4) Change relationship (get married or divorced, find a new love interest)

  • “I want to be in love again.”
  • “I’d be happy if someone paid attention to me.”
  • “You don’t bring me flowers. You don’t sing me love songs.”

Unfortunately, making any of those decisions without FIRST analyzing the cause of your feelings of discontentment will not solve the problem. Instead, the change will only serve to complicate the underlying issue, which often can be summed up as a matter of self-love.

If I were having a conversation with Veronica, I’d ask her these questions:

  • What was it about recording the phone messages that you liked?
  • Why did it matter to you?
  • Did you like knowing you were helping people?
  • Did you feel important or special to be asked to record the messages?
  • Did you get a buzz knowing that people would be hearing your voice when they called the number?

Veronica’s answers to these questions could be very illuminating in ways that she wouldn’t expect.

In her landmark books Wishcraft: How To Get What You Really Want and I Could Do Anything if I Only Knew What It Was, Barbara Sher wrote about finding your touchstone, which is the emotional core of the goal. When thinking about the things you like to do, you can find your touchstones by asking yourself thoughtful, probing questions like those above for Veronica. When you know WHY something is important to you, you make much better choices.

From Veronica’s message, it seems obvious that she has done some serious thinking and decided to embark on a new career in voiceover. Since I don’t know Veronica, I can only speculate about her answers and motivation to become a voice talent in the hope that it gives you food for thought about finding your own touchstones and designing the life you want.

For instance, I wonder if Veronica has a touchstone of recognition. If so, changing jobs to become a voice talent may not be the most satisfying way to bring more recognition into her life. In fact, if she knew that recognition was the thing that she felt was missing in her life, she might figure out ways to get it in the very job for which she says she has no passion.

Her touchstone might have something to do with becoming wealthy. If that’s the case, she will feel discouraged to read an article by fellow voice talent J. S. Gilbert’s. His thoughtful, in-depth analysis of the annual salary review in Parade magazine notes that a voice talent profiled in the review had the lowest income of any of the respondents. He also mentions that his article may extinguish the flames of passion.

Of course, Veronica may truly have a touchstone that involves creative expression through her voice — something more meaningful than simply being told she has a nice voice. Every person who contacts me about getting into voiceover tells me that exact same thing! I’m not picking on Veronica here. I’m just pointing out that the people who write to me probably have nice eyes, nice fingernails, and nice knee caps, but, since no one has complimented those things, the prospective voice talent don’t try to turn them into career choices.

Without further exploration on Veronica’s part, she wouldn’t know whether she should become a voiceover talent, a puppeteer, singer, telemarketer, lawyer, or a political advocate. These choices could have the same touchstone but would require wildly different actions.

I think we all yearn for some way for creative expression, and the lack of it may be at the root of some of the dissatisfaction with our lives. I’ve read that Adolf Hitler dreamed of being an artist but couldn’t get into art school. Can you imagine how much better the world would be if he had only followed his dream?

Where other people paint a canvas using brushes, I do it with words, either by giving voice to words written by others or putting my voice into words for others to read. The right kind of creative expression for each person would be that thing they want to do for its own intrinsic enjoyment. Maybe it becomes a career choice, but then again, maybe it doesn’t.

Through her self-assessment, Veronica might realize that she needs the cheers or applause from an audience. Voiceover is usually a solitary pursuit, which again indicates it wouldn’t be a good career choice. She might even realize that she doesn’t enjoy reading!

On the other hand, she could be passionate about using her voice to make a difference for others, but she doesn’t want to take on all of the myriad responsibilities associated with running a business as a voice talent. In that case, Veronica might prefer to volunteer to read for the blind or the children’s story hour at the library.

You can have passion for a lot of things, but you don’t have to make a career from them. You don’t have to make any money from them at all. As an example, I use my passion for English grammar when writing these blog entries and my private journals.

I’m also passionate about the Eiffel Tower. I have a web cam app that lets me view it any time I want to see it. I just spent my birthday week in Paris, and we stayed in an amazing apartment a block away from the Tower. It was so close that I felt like I could touch it out the open window.

While there, I found a way to combine my passions for writing and fine pens with my passion for the Eiffel Tower — collecting antique inkwells featuring the Eiffel Tower. I’ve started researching pictures on-line and creating a compendium of available styles along with selling prices.

Voice talent Karen Commins marries her passions for writing and the Eiffel Tower
by collecting antique souvenir inkwells from Paris featuring the Eiffel Tower.
In this one, the Tower tilts back to reveal the ink reservoir underneath.

 
Will I ever make any money from this new hobby? Probably not, but it’s not my intent to make money from it. My intent is to honor my touchstones of romance and beauty by bringing those attributes into my life (and consequently, these antique inkwells into my display cases!) as much as possible.

The good news is that each time you follow your passion in one area, the enthusiasm, excitement, and joy you feel from your new discoveries will overflow into every other area of your life. As a result of simply researching what it takes to work in voiceover, Veronica has already increased the level of positive energy — or passion — in her life.

If, after spending time in contemplation and figuring out that a voiceover career truly gratifies your touchstones, don’t be too hasty to quit your current job. Since security is one of my touchstones, you can trust me when I encourage you to think of your current job as a subsidy to your art.

Every moment has meaning, so whatever you’re doing now will only help you in the years to come. By analyzing your touchstones, you can figure out what’s missing in your life and take the action needed to develop a rich, full, wonderful life that you are PASSIONATE about!
 

“Perils of Pauline” Audiobook is Available

One reason that I am performing some audiobook work on Librivox as a service project is because it allows me to practice some acting techniques needed for effective storytelling in audiobooks.

A project that was recently completed and is now available for free download is a multi-cast drama of The Perils of Pauline. I voiced the role of the heroine Pauline for two-thirds of the book.

I only read the lines for my character. Much like an audition for a radio dialogue spot, I didn’t have the benefit of hearing and playing off the other voice actors in the scene. I had to imagine that I had heard the other characters speak and then react with an appropriate emotional response.

This particular project lasted over 2.5 years due in part to lots of casting changes. Editing all of the hundreds of character reads into the narration was a herculean task undertaken by David Lawrence. I enjoyed hearing the finished product.

LibriVox is a great way to hone your narration and editing skills, but you can also volunteer in other ways such as being a proof listener on projects. I am proud to be part of this active, thriving community.
 

Trying to get a voiceover agent?

Suddenly, I am receiving a rash of emails with the question: “can you direct me to some Atlanta voiceover agents?”

Many people think that the key to voiceover success lies with an agent. Once you get an agent, you just have to sit back and let the lucrative offers come in, right? Ah, if only it were so easy to make money at your microphone!

This week, someone wrote to me about getting an agent while still enjoying the flush of success from working his first paid gig. He lives in another city and was ready to get on a plane to Atlanta to meet agents. In responding, I explained that I was offering this information in the same spirit of helpfulness that I write my blog.

If you’ve only booked one job, it’s doubtful that you’re ready for a voice-over agent to want to represent you.

In order to land a voice-over agent, you have to show that you are a marketable commodity and can offer them something that they don’t already have among the people they represent. You should listen to the reels of their talent to determine whether and how you might fit on their roster.

You also want to compare the professional sound of your demo against those you hear on-line. Those professionals are your competition for booking jobs. If your demo is homemade, you’ll want to invest in any necessary training with a coach before getting a professionally produced demo.

Hard work, initiative, and knocking on doors does indeed pay off. I just think you need to knock on some other doors to establish yourself before you approach an agent. You can get work without an agent; agents are just one avenue, not the only avenue, of obtaining work.

Check out the advice page on my site and look in the archives of my blog for more in-depth advice and resources on finding and marketing yourself to people who might hire you right where you are. To quote Teddy Roosevelt:  do what you can, where you are, with what you have.

 
I guess my answer above is just another case where I tell people what they need to know, not what they want to hear.

A few other thoughts about agents:

  • Far too many organizations are ready to prey on people’s dreams by taking their money and giving them unfilled promises in return. Modeling/talent agencies that set up in malls, organizations that hold “open casting calls” or regular searches for new talent, and places that run radio ads are probably some sort of school that makes their money from selling classes and pictures, not from booking talent. A legitimate voiceover agent doesn’t need to solicit more talent, and they only charge you when you book a gig through them, usually 10-15% of the gig!
  • If the agency doesn’t have a voiceover department, I doubt they could really help you.
  • You probably don’t want to sign an exclusive agreement with one agent. Many voice actors have numerous agents located across the country and in other parts of the world. To reduce potential conflicts of interest among your agents and clients, it’s best if you only have one agent per city or geographic region. Also, the relationship gets tricky when you receive the same copy from multiple agents. In those cases, I send the audition to whomever sent it to me first.
  • If you are active with your marketing, be sure any prospective agents are not threatened by your efforts. One agent asked to represent me because she loved my clever pieces of direct mail and then dropped me a year later (after rarely sending me an audition), telling me that she felt my marketing competed with her. I have booked most of my work as a result of my own marketing, so I would not sign with another agent who discourages it.

 
If you still worry that you don’t have an agent, you are focusing on what you perceive you lack in your life. Instead, look at and be grateful for all you have. Keep a list of your accomplishments ready for review so that you can maintain your confidence and positive outlook.

A good talent agent can send you auditions and open doors that were previously closed to you. With polished skills, research, and patience, you will be able to attract the right agent representation at just the right time.

Photo: iStockphoto / Talaj
 

4 Lessons to Help You Keep That Client

Aflac fired Gilbert Gottfried after the so-called comedian made crude, tasteless jokes on Twitter about the Japanese earthquake/tsunami disaster.

In case you didn’t know, Gottfried was the voice of the company’s signature spokesduck for many years.

It’s not the first time that a major company fired a voiceover talent due to the talent’s remarks that reflected badly on the company. In April, 2010, D.C. Douglas left a politically-charged voice mail message as a private citizen that set off a media frenzy. The negative public attention and pressure from the political group caused GEICO to fire him from a new campaign.

What can we learn from these 2 scenarios?

1. Although you work on a freelance basis, you should consider yourself to be your client’s employee.

Voice talents generally know about conflicts of interest. You shouldn’t voice a script for a competing product in the same market.

However, we need to take the employee stance even further. Since anything you do could reflect on s/he who pays your invoice, it’s in your best interest to avoid doing anything that even has the hint of impropriety. If you’ve never read an employee code of conduct manual, take a look at this sample document to see the wide range of attributes expected of an employee. You may find ways to improve your dealings with your clients.

For instance, many scripts are now arriving with a non-disclosure agreement in which the talent promises they will not share their involvement in any form, including posts on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites. If you always acted like an employee, you wouldn’t risk disclosing proprietary information about your clients.

2. A little integrity goes a long way.

Integrity is defined as a soundness of moral character and honesty. Its synonyms are virtue and honor.

In my voiceover business, integrity means that I won’t voice scripts that are dishonorable, like political ads that attack an opponent rather than discuss the plans of the candidate in the ad. I compare any script to my moral compass to decide whether I will perform it. I won’t voice a script just for the money.

Integrity also means treating other people with kindness and respect, something Gottfried apparently overlooks in favor of making jokes at others’ expense.

3. Words have creative power.

I believe so strongly in the power of our words that I led a session about it last month at Faffcon. You can use words to build up or tear down yourself or others. Since you always have a choice about the words you think, say, and write, why would you choose to create more negativity in the world?

4. What you put out in the world comes back to you.

I usually tell people that the energy you put out comes back to you in a way better than you could expect. In those instances, I am talking about productive actions that propel one toward achieving their dreams.

However, this theory holds true even for those counterproductive actions that destroy dreams. In those cases, the negative energy will also come back to you in a way you probably didn’t expect. The key is to decide beforehand whether the action enhances life or diminishes it.

Many people don’t seem to realize that the creative power of their words coupled with a broadcast medium (TV or Internet) can cause the energy to come back in an exponential form, either positively or negatively. As I’ve written previously, the words you write on-line live on into perpetuity. I am continuously shocked by the things that I’ve seen other voiceover talent post on various sites, particularly a few vicious flame wars in one LinkedIn voiceover forum.

When a celebrity writes on-line, the power of the words is magnified. In Gottfried’s case, the venom he spewed into the world came back to him in the form of intensely angry public feedback and the loss of a lucrative, long-term gig.

Even if you don’t believe that doing good things in the world will attract good things to you, you’ll never know for sure unless you give it a try. Besides, I’m pretty sure that Aflac will be looking for someone who radiates with positive energy when they begin their nationwide search for a new voice for their quirky quacker.
 

Fantastic FaffCon!

Attendees at the original FaffCon had nothing but glowing things to say about it. After all, how often do voiceover actors get to spend an entire weekend in the company of other working professional voice talent, much less actually sharing ways to improve our performances and business operations to get more work?

I was unable to attend the first FaffCon, held last September in Portland, OR. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know that I would have attended the second one if travel had been involved. However, to my great delight, FaffCon2 was held this weekend in Atlanta. Add me to the list of the glowing FaffCon alumni! Not only that, but I’m already making plans to attend the next one! And yes — there WILL BE a next one, so keep reading!

Let me start by saying that this or any other blog post cannot do justice to the event! I have pages of notes and a head full of great ideas about tactics to take my voiceover business to an even higher level. I finally met people in person whom I’ve known on-line for years, and I also made new friends. Most exciting of all, another participant had an amazing idea as a result of one of the sessions and asked me to collaborate on a new project!

FaffCon Founder Amy Snively guides participants in Atlanta.

 
FaffCon is the brain child of the vivacious and indefatigable Amy Snively. While FaffCon might seem like a big voice talent meet-up where people just schmooze with each other, it actually is a potentially life-changing educational event that requires tremendous planning and organizational skills. I am extremely impressed with how smoothly everything ran, and I don’t know how Amy possibly had time to sit and enjoy the sessions.

In terms of voiceover training, FaffCon is unique because it:

  • is entirely participant-driven
  • fosters cooperation and camaraderie rather than competition as egos are left at home
  • doesn’t have sales booths in the back — or in any part — of the meeting rooms
  • gives participants unparalleled access to go “behind the curtains” to learn success strategies from other professional voice talent and industry leaders

Participants jockey to post topics and decide sessions to attend.

 
Amy explained that we should think of FaffCon as a field of golden nuggets. You have golden nuggets to share with others, and you’ll get some in return. However, no one knows when and how those nuggets might turn up. You may not even know you received a nugget until you’re away from FaffCon and review your notes.

In order to encourage everyone to reveal their secret formulas to success, what happens at FaffCon is supposed to stay at FaffCon. Some of the session highlights for me were:

  • 3 sessions with the charming and extremely knowledgeable David Goldberg from Edge Studio in which he discussed and demonstrated why the vast majority of demos are rejected along with other marketing Q&As
  • Numerous methods to attract repeat clients from the creative and clever Mercedes Rose
  • Inspiration to “invite the avalanche” from the highly esteemed yet incredibly humble Bob Souer
  • Positive energy and synergy generated in the session that I led, “The Power of Your Words Away From the Mic”.

I need to decompress, think carefully about what I heard, and develop an action plan to use the armful of golden nuggets that I received. As I said to a number of people over the weekend, everything about my voiceover business is an evolution. FaffCon was a much-needed jolt to help my business evolve exponentially instead of incrementally!

If you’re a working voice-over talent who wants to improve your business, make plans NOW to attend FaffCon3 this fall! I hope to see you there!

FaffCon logo for event scheduled 23-25 September 2011 in Hershey, PA.

 

A Demonstration of My Soundproof Studio

When I started my voiceover career, I recorded in a tiny closet with accordion doors. The room is upstairs on the front of the house and faces the street. The only entrance to our subdivision is about 150 yards away from my house.

Consequently, 99% of my 200+ neighbors must pass my house every time they enter or leave. To make matters worse, we live at the top of a hill. The neighbors step on the gas to get up that hill. I constantly had to stop my recordings every time a car passed.

Moving to a walk-in closet across the hall helped to alleviate some of the car traffic noises. However, it didn’t help with the air traffic, leaf blower, lawnmower, and other noises around here. The county airport is not far from our house, so planes with small propellers are constantly flying overhead.

In 2005, we decided to take drastic measures to reduce the noise. We started by replacing all of the windows on our house with triple-pane, casement windows. Instead of the common double-hung windows, which have 2 pieces that open by sliding them up or down, casement windows are one piece which opens outward. The movement forms a better seal to the house, and the 3 panes of glass with krypton gas between them significantly buffer outside noises.

We also built my stunning soundproof studio employing the following techniques:

  • 2 layers of ceilings with R30 insulation between them
  • 2 layers of 5/8″ drywall (instead of the usual single layer of 1/2″ drywall) in each of the ceiling layers and all 4 walls
  • 2×6 studs instead of 2×4 to provide additional space for insulation
  • sound barrier insulation under the siding and R30 insulation in the walls
  • air pocket between the garage and the studio
  • 2 entrances, each with an air pocket between 2 doors
  • no windows
  • built on a concrete slab

I bought a 6’x8′ WhisperRoom sound isolation booth. The WhisperRoom adds more density and air pockets in my quest for silence. Since the floor is on wheels, it can eliminate the low, rumbling noises that could be generated by passing trucks.

What a joy to record in this room! I can’t remember a time when I had to stop work due to a noise outside the studio.

I thought you might like to see and hear a short demonstration of the effectiveness of my studio. Using my iPhone4, I made a little video today after Drew started his motorcycle. I deliberately left the video in one continuous, unedited take, so I apologize in advance for any jerky movement. Turn your speakers up to really hear the difference!

PS. If you’re considering a room addition on your house, you’ll want to absorb my lessons learned before you hire a contractor. Download your free copy of Karen’s Crash Course in Avoiding Ca$h-Poor Contractors.