How to Start a Voice Over Business

Business Overview:

If you have a unique speaking voice and are looking for a great part-time business, you should learn how to start a voice over business. Voice over work is used everywhere from radio ads and television shows to online tutorials and website narration. You don’t need a lot of equipment or even a professional studio to get started with this business idea. You just need a quiet, soundproof room, a high-quality microphone and digital editing software. This business is perfect for an actor looking to pad his or her income with a steady stream of residual profits. If your voice is used in a television commercial, for example, it’s likely your contract will pay you each time the ad is played. Once you have all your equipment in place, you should join voice over job sites like Voices.com that match those who do voice over work with those looking to hire voice over talent. When you have several jobs in your portfolio, you may think about scaling up your business. In addition to renting out a studio or building your own, consider hiring additional voice over talent and hiring a talent agent to help you and your employees get work. It’s important in this business to have a good idea of your worth. You don’t want to agree to read 20 pages of copy for $10 USD. Have a rate chart that you can refer to when negotiating with companies for your work. And feel free to increase your rates as your portfolio grows. The more experience you have and the more impressive your resume, the more your voice work is worth. Other than advertising on job sites, you should take out ads in entertainment magazines and websites. Look around your own area for local companies needing voice work. Some companies may want you to travel to their location and use their voice studios so be prepared for limited travel in your area. Digital technology, however, has made this business much easier to do from home.

A Day in the Life of a Voice Over Business Owner:

Your day will start with a check of any new jobs posted on voice over job sites. You will meet with potential customers throughout the day (either in person on on the phone) and you will record voice over files for customers you already have. If you manage voice talent, you will coordinate work with them.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be businesses looking for quality voice over talent for advertisements, web work, tutorials, etc.

What You Need to Start:

• Voice over business plan
• Studio
• Voice equipment
• Staff of voice talent (optional)
• Membership to voice employment websites (optional)
• Marketing plan
• Computer with digital editing and finance software

The Good:

• The start-up costs are low.
• You can run much of this business from home.
• You can do your voice work from a home studio or you can rent out a studio.
• You can hire voice talent to do the work for you.
• You can easily run this business part-time.

The Bad:

• Voice over work is very competitive; you must be persistent to be successful.
• It can take some time to get your first few clients.

Resources:

• Society of Accredited Voice Over Artists
• American Voice Talent Association
• Bureau of Labor Statistics Article on Voice Actors
• Wikipedia on Voice-Overs

About The Author

---

Templateify

Praesent nec tortor quam. Quisque ac malesuada augue. Sed dignissim gravida odio ut bibendum. Cras fermentum euismod turpis. Nunc nec diam ante, et faucibus ipsum. Etiam imperdiet mattis elit et molestie. Nulla feugiat mollis leo vel egestas. Pellentesque convallis

- Twitter - Facebook - Google+