Most creative careers die in the DMs and nobody's talking about it. If you're a part-time voice actor or creative wanting to go full-time, wanting to level up, you're going to want to hear this. Winning clients doesn't always mean having the best demo or the slickest portfolio. It means communicating like a human, not a desperate salesperson. Outreach isn't optional, but most people are doing it all wrong. Let's shitcan the misinformation and be honest about what it really takes to break through. This is gonna sound stupid simple, but it's a God's honest truth. Most part-timers never tell anybody they want to be hired. The idea of reaching out to strangers feels desperate or cringy or even worse, scammy or spammy. But here's the dirty little secret. They're not afraid of being told no. They were afraid of simply being annoying and rightfully so. Most new creatives think that if they just wait it out and post more on social and just get better at their craft that the clients will come find them. But in a world flooded with global talent, you're competing with potentially everybody in the world, sitting back on your ass and hoping means being invisible. In fact, all the top full-timers in your field that you look up to are reaching out strategically. Biologically, your lizard brain, the one hardwired to protect you, is also hardwired to avoid rejection. And so it tallies up every little unreturned email or cold outreach as a threat. But if you don't act, I look, I say it all the time, there's somebody out there with way less talent than you booking way more work because they're reaching out strategically. Winning creative work is not begging, it's offering value. The minute you start every conversation with, let's see how we can work together to solve your problem. Everything changes. Let's talk about the four myths, myths, myths, toy boat, toy boat. I have a lovely red pencil box. The four myths sabotaging your outreach and how to destroy them. Myth number one, I need a huge portfolio. The reality is what you need is clarity and relevance, not gobs and gobs of proof. Clients hire solutions, they don't hire style points. Your outreach should demonstrate that you have an understanding of your prospects pain points and challenges. If for example, you're a voice actor, your demo should be tailored to the genre that that client works in. Yes, you need a professional website, but a targeted demo to that person is going to be much more effective than just a slick website by itself. Myth number two, I'll seem desperate or annoying. The reality? Sending a shitty, generic, are you hiring email blast is annoying. Being irrelevant to the person that you're talking to is annoying. Not providing value and focusing on their problems and pain points is annoying. Asking and begging for work is absolutely annoying. But personalized, laser targeted Client-focused outreach gets noticed and gets remembered. You'd be amazed at how much outreach is simply just not targeted. Myth number three. I have to sound super professional. Reality, guys. People want to work with people. Overly stiff, overly formal, overly corporate email gets ignored. Easy fix. Just picture the client you want to work with and... Right as if you were sitting next to them at the coffee shop. Be human and be friendly and be warm but also be concise and be specific. Get to the fucking point. number four. If I don't hear back, I failed. Outreach is different from auditions, guys. If you don't hear back from an audition in two or three weeks, you probably know you didn't book the gig. But the reality is for outreach, silence is not necessarily rejection. The people that you want to work with are so busy. That's why you want to work with them. But many hires happen on the third, the fifth, the eighth outreach. Persistence without pestering is a secret weapon. So let's break down cold messaging that actually gets replies. And it all starts with the client avatar. That is by identifying who your ideal client type really is. Demographics, job roles, pain points, challenges, what their day's like. Then dig deeper into their motivations, their fears, their Decision-making triggers to understand why they buy not just who they are. The goal is to create a crystal clear, vivid human snapshot that helps you tailor all your messaging, email, LinkedIn profile, social media posts directly to their needs. This is a client avatar. You may have several of them. For example, small agency, creative directors, video production managers, et cetera. If you have several, that's great because specificity counts. Now once you understand them, then you can write your messaging directly to them. And that specificity is what signals you've done your homework. It's not about cyber stalking individuals on LinkedIn and wherever understanding where they went to school and what color boxer shorts they wear and what their wife wore to work this morning. I'll give you an example. Hey, Taylor, I know projects like yours often need someone who delivers authentic emotion, clarity and connection, not just reading lines pretty. Tight turnarounds, last minute changes and the need for real listener engagement or challenges. I help smaller agencies CDs like you solve every day. Next, be clear about what you offer. You're not seeking opportunities. You're bringing real, tangible, valuable skills to the table that can help them. For example, My goal is always to make your workflow smoother and help your content land with impact, whether it's commercials, product demos, explainers, or internal messaging. You can hear my demos and download them at mywebsite.com. you keep a roster of trusted voice talent, I'd love to be considered for upcoming projects. Wishing you all the best with your current work. So how do you build your target list of prospects? It's all about the niches, not just the numbers. Start with your specific dream clients, not just you know, anybody with money. Creative pros focus on specific decision makers in specific niches. Casting directors for animation, podcast producers looking for unique voices, busy YouTubers needing editors or custom music, internal communications teams at brands you may already admire. The idea is to find the people you genuinely want to build partnerships with. So how do you find those people? Start with LinkedIn. LinkedIn free is fine. Look for creative directors, producers, production managers, not just the generic HR contacts. If you want to level up, can use software like Apollo.io. I'll put a link in the description to find not only those decision makers and contacts, but their verified emails. And third, look for warm connections. People you've already met at the coffee shop, at workshops, in trainings, online forums and communities, et cetera. Now, grab a pen because I'm going to give you my five-part outreach formula. First, understanding. That means a detailed client avatar. Second, focus on them and their problem. Finding talent who can credibly deliver medical narration. Third, credibility. I'm a voice actor and editor for financial services podcasts. Demos are here. Fourth, a clear offer. If you keep a roster of voices or editors, I'd love to help. And five, a human close. Hey, if you'd like a custom audition, I'm happy to send one by. Have a lovely week. Now, what do you do when they don't reply? Because most won't. This is the art of the non-annoying follow-up. Number one, wait a week. Don't pounce. Down, boy. Second. Send a super short, concise nudge. Hey, have you had a chance to check out my demos? Have you by chance reviewed my portfolio? Number three, the third touch a few months later. Share a relevant resource and bullet points as to why it made you think of them or compliment them on a recent project. And fourth, after you've reached out, at least quarterly for at least a year, let it rest, let it breathe. Move on, but keep them in your warm contacts file. Now, all this outreach is useless unless you're tracking it. And I highly, highly, highly recommend using a CRM to do that. CRM, Customer Relationship Manager. For example, HubSpot. And HubSpot has a free version that allows you to add up to a thousand contacts. And quite frankly, it's more powerful than most paid smaller CRMs. Now, tracking your outreach feels thankless. I get it until... It's not. Most hires come from uh a mix of timely outreach and friendly and insanely consistent follow-up. So in a sea of creative talent, how do you stand out? Even if you're new and you don't have a huge resume, the answer show up differently. For example, custom demos or samples or auditions. Record a quick paragraph that's tailored to their style, their genre, their product category. Use video or audio to reach out, especially if you're a voice actor. Shoot them a quick 30 second intro. Easy, memorable, done. And use mutual connections. Mention any shared friends, colleagues, et cetera. Hey Bob, I heard about you from Dwight Johnson. That helps build trust. And if you have any at all, leverage your social proof, even if you only have one client. Get a quote, a testimonial, a case study from everything and anything that you do. Maybe it's a student project. Maybe it's a community theater production. A friend's podcast you voiced. Why? Because having other people talk about you carries a lot more weight than you droning on about yourself. Now, when you do get a reply, settle down, relax, and do not pitch. Thank them for the kindness of the reply. Provide them a little more value with no strings and offer to keep in light touch. Leave every prospect, client, colleague better than when you found them. Be the helpful one. Either way, you still need to stay top of mind, even when you get a no, a not yet, or no response at all. Send them a relevant article and even one takeaway from that article that they can use. Write a blog post that helps that specific avatar solve a problem and then send it to them. On social media, genuinely cheer for their wins. Genuinely comment on their posts. Being a good human builds trust and order of magnitude faster than desperate hustle. Every overnight success that you see made thousands of contacts guys before the world even noticed them. The difference between a part-time hustler and a full-time professional is proactive communication done with empathy and enthusiasm and confidence. Cold Outreach guys is not about you, it's about them. And here's a straight truth guys, if you want to go full time or be booked out more consistently, longer, better, faster, all the things, then you need to as a voice actor, as a designer, as any creative solopreneur, you need to master the art of cold outreach. Stop treating every outreach, every email like some sort of desperate plea for validation and start having conversations to solve problems. The replies, the opportunities, the auditions, the gigs, the revenue will all come, but not because you just hustled harder, but because you connected better. Build the avatar, write the email, take a breath and hit send. The silence you're experiencing in your inbox right now is just the space. before your next yes. If you feel like this video helped you, then by all means help us help other voice actors and solo creative entrepreneurs by sharing it with them, by giving us a like, a subscribe. If you're following us on the audio podcast, give us a follow. We deeply appreciate it. And while you're at it, check out these two videos right here. The more we talk, the more we exchange information and ideas, the better, stronger creative industries we're going to have for everybody, including ourselves. Thanks so much and we'll see you back here again real soon.