I’m an opinionated ass…
I’ve been called a lot of things over the years, and I think some people have drawn some fairly accurate conclusions concerning my attitude about the voice over business in a few cases. I know well enough that I come of as a bit brash on a few topics – as my opinions tend to make up the mortar which binds together the building blocks of my platform.
I’m also well aware that this turns a few people off to me. Maybe more than it turns on. Truth be told, I’m not in the voice over coaching business to make friends and influence people. In fact, I’m not in the voice coaching “business” at all. I am a voice over talent and performer in the industry who is driven with an at times, uncontrollable and unbridled passion to educate and inform people on the correct way to approach the learning aspect of this business.
Very early on in my career, when I was a newbie-know-nothing kid with big dreams and a distorted vision of what voice over was all about, I got taken advantage of by a few people who propped themselves up as people who could help me out in the voice over industry. Part of my susceptibility to being hustled by these voice over shysters was my own naivety, but I wouldn’t have gotten hustled if it weren’t for the people out there who freely prey upon the naive.
People who through tremendous marketing efforts, wiggled their way into every aspect of voice over, found a bunch of canned crap to sell to hopeful voice over talent and held seminars as the primary vehicle for distributing their canned crap. These people were (and quite sadly some still are) steadfastly endorsed by some people in the voice over business as being the ones with the key to the city when it comes to getting into voice over and finding a voice over coach.
The real horror is that 15 years later some are still in business and the one who hustled me for some of my hard earned money is still out there regurgitating the same old crap to legions more suckers that have joined the business since the major inception of the digital age.
If anyone has ever wondered why I have such a chip on my shoulder and why I am so absolutely against seminars, tele-classes, cd’s, pamphlets, meditation and massage therapy for voice over, or any other crap people can think up to try to sell aspiring talent other than private voice over training, this would be why.
The secret is out. I’m a voice over coach with a bone to pick, an axe to grind, a bee in my bonnet, a grudge.
Plain and simple, I don’t like, nor do I trust the intentions of many people in the voice over business. Around every corner you will find someone who is all too quick to slide up next to you and tell you they can help you for a price. You see it every day; “Only two seats left!” “Make Millions with your voice!” “I hire my students!” “One day only with the voice over legend!” “Voice Over Secrets Revealed!” and the list goes on and on.
It’s all hype, it’s all hogwash and it is all meant to do one thing and one thing only… separate you from your money.
I have made it my personal mission to make sure that as few people as possible believe that crap when they read it on the web or get it in an e-mail. The part I find truly comical is that much of it shows up in my e-mail inbox. They’re so desperate to blanket the land with it that they don’t even realize they’re sending it to me. The one person on earth who wishes them the least success.
I’ve been criticized in the past for my views about these people and have been accused of being overly accusatory, and have been told there actually is some good that comes from all of it. Fine.. If that is the case – then prove it.
Sure, there are going to be some people who find a little success because of it, they’re not the ones I’m worried about. My concern is for all the others that never stood a chance in the first place and these Internet voice over profiteers took their money any way. Those are the people I’m fighting for. The naive ones that had no business attending an 800 dollar seminar when they hadn’t even spoken into a microphone before.
It’s all about the ethics and the principal of it. Show me ethical practices in the voice over training industry and I’ll show you a guy with a lot more time on his hands. Until that happens I’ll continue to rally against the machine that every day sucks in the suckers freely and spits them out the tail-pipe with out a hope, a wish, a prayer or a dollar, but a voice over demo in their hands. Please, I beg of you Dear Voice Over Coaching Industry, stop pillaging the landscape and robbing people every day. I could think of a lot of other things to do with my time. Like offer more coaching. Where people actually coach people, in a studio, one on one, like it should be done.
You guys could actually make it very simple for me by putting these few simple paragraphs on your web sites, all of your marketing literature and on anything else you are trying to sell from here on out:
“Even after attending this (workshop, one day class, seminar, cruise, boot-camp, tele-class or buying these cd’s or training materials) you will not be guaranteed any work in the voice over industry. Voice over training takes a long time and a great financial and lifestyle commitment.
Success cannot be achieved in a day, a week, a month and in many cases even a couple of years. You will need extensive knowledge and practice in acting techniques and a qualified technical background to reach the highest levels of this business and no one class will ever show you every thing you need to get there.
If the seminar you are considering attending does not clearly state that it is an introductory seminar for beginner voice over talent then beginner voice over talent should not attend because it is meant for advanced students. Even if the seminar is clearly labeled as a beginner seminar, you must understand that attending the seminar will only provide you with information about the business and will not make you a voice over talent, nor will it bring you any closer to success in the industry, it will only give you some ideas on how to do it.
This (workshop, one day class, seminar, cruise, boot-camp, tele-class or buying these cd’s or training materials) is merely meant as an inexpensive marketing tool to bring you in closer where we can introduce you to people and programs that cost more money.
If it is not a seminar meant to bring you in closer to people who want to sell you things that cost more money, then it will be very clearly outlined exactly what you will learn or be exposed to in this seminar… and because it is a beginner voice over seminar, there will be no mention of demo tapes, web sites, agents, head shots, hats, t-shirts, coffee mugs, memberships of any kind or anything else you are encouraged to pay for.
It will be a seminar where we actually teach you things, like what you will need to know before you embark on voice over coaching or training, like studios, time, lots of money, some talent, desire, an understanding and compassionate family, access to markets where voice overs are actually recorded, an understanding of who gets hired for voice over work and who doesn’t and an absolutely complete understanding that if you live in Des Moines, Iowa that no one will ever hire you to do movie trailers in L.A.
The only thing you will get from this (workshop, one day class, seminar, cruise, boot-camp, tele-class or buying these cd’s or training materials) is information, which we have compiled from free sources into a package we are trying to sell for a profit, and which you could probably find yourself for free if you looked hard enough, but we have provided a service for you by compiling it and that is why we are charging for it, and because we are charging for a service, then technically, legally, there’s really nothing wrong with it.
But just understand that you are only paying for information and will learn very little, or next to nothing about the actual performance craft of voice over unless the seminar clearly states you will. That is what you will be getting for your money when you send it in for this (workshop, one day class, seminar, cruise, boot-camp, tele-class or buying these cd’s or training materials) and after you attend or receive them, you will still have to get some training, because these products or classes will not actually get you where you need to be in order to perform, participate in the craft or make any money at it. As long as you understand the preceding paragraphs, and know on no uncertain terms that you will still have a long way to go after you pay, please send your check or money order to…”
Here is my promise to you. You guys start putting that or an accurate and like variant of it on your materials, event literature and the stuff you’re trying to sell to people where they can see it before they pay for it… I’ll stop being such an opinionated ass. Hell, if I see a coach doing it I’ll personally endorse them and their event. When I see that kind of honesty in the voice over coaching industry, I will get quiet and move on with my life. From my chair here, it looks like I’m going to be here for a while.
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