VO Pro: The Business of Voice Over and Voice Acting
Voiceover Business Strategies That Work
The VO Pro Podcast is the go-to show for voice actors who want to grow their voiceover business without relying on casting sites or waiting for agents to hand them work. Hosted by voice actor and business coach Paul Schmidt, this podcast delivers no-fluff, tactical advice on how to market your voiceover services, attract high-quality clients, and build a profitable VO business in a world of AI-generated voices and shifting industry standards.
You’ll learn practical voiceover marketing tips, how to master direct marketing for voice actors, build a solid client base, and use tools like email outreach, SEO, and strategic positioning to stand out. We cover how to price your work, optimize your VO website, and navigate topics like AI and voiceover with clarity and confidence.
Each week, we bring you insights and strategies from Paul, and interviews with working voice actors, coaches, casting directors, and experts who understand the business of voiceover from the inside out.
If you're a freelance voice actor looking to take control of your career and actually get booked, this is the podcast for you.
Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Audible, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, SoundCloud, Deezer, Podcast Addict, Castbox, and RSS, and wherever you get your podcasts.
You’ll also find helpful information including my free Move Touch Inspire newsletter for voice actors at https://VOPro.pro/mti
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Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vofreedom
Episodes
201 episodes
Tina Morasco Has Sat in ALL the Chairs
Agent. Actor. Casting Director. Demo Producer. You name it and Tina Morasco has done it and done it all at the highest levels. We've been friends for a couple of years and even I didn't know the depth and breadth of her experience and how that ...
Voice Actors’ Top 5 Biggest Social Media Mistakes
If you’re like most voice actors, you feel an immense amount of pressure to constantly post content on social media, hoping to use that as a strategy for business development and that takes a ton of time, effort, sweat, and stress. You’v...
Craig Williams Has Been in WAY Too Many Helicopters
Today, we talk with voice actor Craig Williams. He's a British expat living and working in Houston, TX. Craig has been in voice over for 7 years and brings a unique perspective to the industry because of his upbringing, Scottish heritage, exper...
Your 6-Point Plan to ROCK VOICE OVER and LIFE in 2024
You have a choice. Keep doing what you’ve been doing and keep getting what you’ve been getting, or decide you’re done with excuses, done with kidding yourself, and done with half-assing your VO career and your life. I said it in last wee...
The 6 BIG Reasons YOU'LL QUIT VO
If you’re a professional voice actor or audiobook narrator, your job is to stay in the game as long as possible. Voiceover is not a long game. It’s an infinite game. Author Simon Sinek says that in finite games, like football or chess, t...
GRATEFUL for AI?!? SURELY YOU MUST BE JOKING!
I've been getting a little discouraged lately about the voiceover business. We are hearing stories of lots of people potentially being allegedly hornswoggled by a particular coach. People are making up Zoom calls with celebrities that p...
An Open Letter to Voices' New CEO: 7 Ways to Make Up with VOs
It’s November and as we stare down the barrel of the Holiday Season, it's clear that 2023 has held more change and transition for the VO business than any of us knew at the start of the year. We’ve also seen some change and transition i...
The Rise and FALL of VOICES.com & VOICE123
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember Voices and Voice123. Both had lives with so much promise, yet cut so short. We had such hopes for you. But as The Good Book says, “Yay, though I walked through the shadow of the vall...
A Voice Over MASS EXODUS? Will 80% of Voice Actors Be OUT?
Music Radio Creative’s Izabela Russell recently said on their channel that she sees a mass exodus happening in the voice over industry. And while Izabela’s take is stark, and blunt, it’s not new. Do I agree with her? Yes. And no...
The 5 Biggest LIES in Voice Over & the REAL TRUTHS Behind Them
One of the biggest problems that folks new to the business coming into voiceover run into as new voice actors is how to separate, how to sort out the good information from the bad. In fact, it's one reason I started this channel bec...
Should I Get into Voice Over? 9 CRUCIAL Questions
Several times a week people reach out with the question, “People say I have a nice voice. Should I get into voice over?” And my answer used to be “Sure! It’s a great business! It’s the best job I’ve ever had and second isn’t even close!”
David Ciccarelli OUT! And Why That’s BAD for Voice Actors
Two weeks ago I said that Voices was getting desperate and ten days later they ousted their CEO, David Ciccarelli. I hate to say I told you so, but… Earlier this week, Voices made the following announcement: Dear Valued Cus...
Is Voice Over Work DRYING UP?!? The 6 BIG CAUSES
As I touched on in my last video, 2023 has been a slow year for voiceover. In fact, this might be the first year in the 21st century that we can honestly say that voiceover work has not… available work… has not grown year over year. Ther...
Is PANIC Setting In at Voices.com? 2 Signs
I talk to a lot of people in the voice over industry regularly – voice actors, casting directors, producers, agents. And everyone acknowledges whether their business is up or down that the industry has been slow for the last several months....
This Rate "Guide" Is RIDICULOUS! DO NOT USE IT!
I recently posted on social media a great guide from the website of a well-known coach in this business. And today I call bullsh*t. I'm going to break down exactly why I think this entire rate guide is a crap sandwich and be specific abo...
The 7 REAL Reasons You’re Not Booking VO Jobs
Actors, in general, are notoriously bad business people. And statistically, we’re bad a booking work. Even elite voice actors will book 5-10 jobs out of every 100 they audition for. Chances are you’re booking way less than that and today I’m go...
Top 7 Myths About Becoming a Pro Voice Actor
Let's face it. There's a lot of B.S. and myths out there about becoming a voice over actor, a professional video actor, and about the voiceover industry in general. And sadly, a lot of this bullshit is put out by snake oil salesman, so-called c...
Voquent CEO Miles Chicoine: AI's 3 Big Threats to the VO Biz
Today, a fascinating discussion with the CEO of UK-based Voquent, one of the major voice over service providers globally about their recent stand against AI. It's an especially strong stand in the context of the ones that the other voice over p...
SAG-AFTRA & WGA Strikes: Fighting for HUMANITY in Art
Here, today, right now, those developing generative AI are threatening to put a lot of us out of work. In October of 2020, the World Economic Forum said that while AI would likely take away 85 million jobs globally by 2025 (and we’re more than ...
5 MUST-HAVE Features of Your Voice Over Website
Maybe you’re building your voice over website for the first time. Or maybe you’re redesigning your VO website. How do you design your voiceover website to not just look good, but to actually help grow your business? Specifically, what are the w...
VO Freedom Master Plan - "I LOVE THIS PROGRAM!"
This clip is from our VO Freedom Master Plan Coaching Calls and was recorded on August 3, 2023. These testimonials were spontaneous, unsolicited, and unscripted. I had no idea that these students were going to speak up like they did. Our...
9 VO Lessons I Learned in the Gym - NO JOKE!
When you think about it, the gym and the VO booth have more similarities than you might think, and I think the gym is a great metaphor for the booth. Both are dedicated spaces where you’re focusing on self-improvement, on learning new skills, o...
SAG-AFTRA Strike: The Most Important Moment in Acting History
SAG-AFTRA is on strike, and it can be very confusing to non-union actors and voice actors, and those who aren’t actors. Today I’m gonna break down the major issues around the strike, why this is a watershed moment in the history of acti...
Feeling Overwhelmed: Relieve Stress & Simplify Your VO Life
Loneliness. Doubt. Knowledge gaps. Distraction. Overwhelm. Rejection. Voice actors battle these struggles every day and oftentimes they lead to unfocused action, wasted resources, poor decision-making, and feelings of overwhelm (or VO-ve...
Are You Serving SPAM?!?!? Demystifying Email Deliverability
One of the biggest objections I hear from voice actors is I don’t want to be spammy in my email marketing. And I get what people are saying here, and they’re right. They don’t want to be perceived as sending irrelevant, salesy, sleazy messages ...
