10-15 years ago, you had a chance to get into the voice over industry to become a voice talent. It’s what I wanted to do and was able to pursue it. I had a full-time TV production job making commercials (writing, shooting, editing, voicing, etc). Actually won 2 Telly Awards for my commercials. My heart was in audio and voice over. So, I started the website GoodCheapVoiceOver.com, advertised on Google with low rates, and turned out a good product after my day job hours. Within a year I was able to make the jump to do this full-time.
I was criticized heavily for my rate structure for doing voice-overs. NASTY emails from the ‘good ol boys’ voice talent group. You know, the people who say ‘I won’t power up the mic for less than $500’. But I was on a mission to make it work. I worked hard, worked long hours, but guess what, I had the workload to make it work. And I was blown away at how I could be making a good living doing what I loved.
I cruised for about 10 years, then sites like Fiverr came along. At first, it was a gag type site. ‘Get a dancing Santa-gram for $5’. So, there was a hand-full of voice talent that had nothing to lose (and sucked) and they thought they could make some money. They probably did $5 at a time. Over the last few years, Fiverr has grown, and more and more voice talent have hopped on board, and some decent ones, pushing down all the lame Fiverr starter voice over talent out of existence. Nowadays, if you are trying to start a career in voice-over work, good luck trying to get any traction, thanks to the 500+ voice talent on Fiverr that are working for peanuts as they have grown to be a huge confusing ‘mark up scheme’ type company.
If you think you are getting a good deal with them, just wait till all the markups are factored in. It’s actually cheaper to get voice over with ProVoiceUSA. All our basic services (that they mark-up) such as editing/formatting/de-breathing/etc are included. What would cost you $85 with them is $30 with us. Unfortunately, some people think that they are the best deal, so they have a decent gullible client base.
It sucks to say, but it’s pretty true… if you are just starting out in the voice over business, it’s going to be a reallllly hard (if not impossible) journey. I am glad I was able to get in when I did, hit it as hard as I did, and made the money that I did. I wouldn’t have done anything differently. I have been able to build up a strong client base that is able to carry us through the slow down. The last few years and the years coming up have been/definitely is the fall of the voice over industry.