I often say that no two voiceover journeys look the same. This is because we all define success differently!

To you, success might be booking your first voice over gig, or finally getting your home studio tuned in just the way you imagined. To others, success might mean booking voice work on a regular basis or building up enough steady clients to leave their corporate day job. No matter where you are on your VO journey, I’m here to remind you to be patient, present and to take action.

Wishing, hoping and dreaming is where your journey began, but to achieve your goals–to become a professional voice over actor–you must take action.

Your Take-Action VO Plan

Keeping in mind that, again, every journey looks different, here’s a general sketch of steps to take on your VO career path:

1. Write down your GOALS.

You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t know where you want to go! So, ask yourself: “What do I want?” Want to start auditioning for jobs more often? Improve your commercial reads? Get on a talent roster? Master a certain VO genre? Write it down! Writing it down makes it real and achievable!

2. Make a list of the actionable steps you’ll take.

After you write down your goals, you need to know how you’re going to get there. For example, if your goal is to start auditioning for more voice jobs, write down real, actionable steps you can take to do it, like, “Audition for 5 jobs every day.” Want to land on a talent roster? Maybe you write, “Email 5 production houses every day.”

3. Give yourself a reasonable timeline (normally 6-12 months is the average for TVAS students).

You know how they say Rome wasn’t built in a day? Neither is a successful VO career! You aren’t going to go from student to seasoned pro overnight! It takes time, and we promise, you have time.

Don’t compare yourself to others, either—it may take some folks 6 months to cut a commercial demo, while others need a year or more. One isn’t better than the other! Be patient with yourself and enjoy the process.

4. Organize and prioritize your steps. Performance study first, then technology and business study.

One thing at a time! The most important element is developing and refining your performance skills. You could have the best studio setup in the world, but if you can’t deliver an awesome read, your studio won’t matter. Make sure you build a solid foundation before you move onto setting up your tech and marketing your business.

5. Take action! Decide and DO!

You can daydream all you like—and sometimes, daydreams are awesome!—but you must take action to bring your dreams to life. Want to audition more? Do it! It sounds simple, but it isn’t always easy. Many things can stop you from taking action, especially fear (of failure, of not being perfect, of the unknown). Just know that there is no better time to start than right now. You’ve got this—I promise!

6. DO THE WORK. PUT IN THE TIME. BE CONSISTENT.

This is another one that’s often easier said than done. Unfortunately, very few things just fall into your lap—you have to go out there, do the work, put in the time, and get it done! Even more important? Be consistent with your work! The more you audition, the more work you’ll book! Stick to it; persistence is the name of the game.

7. Be patient. You’re building new skills and a business!

They say overnight success takes at least five years. Be patient, be patient, be patient! Good things take time—not only are you learning new skills like performance and vocal technique, but you’re also building a business! That’s a lot of hard work, including marketing, branding, financial management and more. There’s no way you can do all of that in a day! Learn to enjoy the process because that’s where the learning happens!

8. Ask for help along the way.

Guess what? Asking for help does not mean you’re a failure. It means you’re intelligently using your resources and the network of people who want to help you (like TVAS!) to be successful. No man is an island, right? (We’re just full of profound sayings, aren’t we?)

Don’t know how to invoice a client? We promise someone in the TVAS community can help! Unsure if your mic setup sounds good? Reach out to our engineers—they’d love to lend a hand! The point is, you’re not on your own. We’re always here to help!

And don’t forget—this should be fun! Remember that word? 😉 Sometimes we forget it as adults, but it’s so important. Yes, you’re building a business. Yes, you’re pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. Yes, you’re marketing and learning new tech and skills, but you know what you’re also doing? You’re doing what you love! So have fun with it! That’s what it’s all about.