Aug 6, 2024
Immerse yourself in the art of building and sustaining your business. In this episode, the BOSSES highlight the critical role of consistent auditioning and active marketing, emphasizing the necessity of maintaining strong connections with industry professionals. Overcome fears and harness your unique personality and energy to make genuine connections. Get inspired by our creative marketing techniques, including SMS and email outreach, and learn how to ensure you're always top of mind with potential collaborators. The path to success requires more than just setting up a business; it demands passion, dedication, and relentless hard work. Join us and discover strategies to elevate your voiceover business and rock your business like a true boss!
00:02 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Hey Boss, talent Anne Ganguzza here with a quick shout out to those
who are a little freaked out about marketing VLBoss Blast is your
secret weapon making your marketing manageable. Your voice deserves
to be heard. Join us at vlbosscom and start your marketing campaign
today.
00:22 - Testimonial (Announcement)
I've just finished listening to Creative Brilliance with Improv,
nne and Law, and all I can say is yes, ladies, improv is absolutely
one of my favorite activities, and the life of the pre-life is
real. Remembering that the run-in line, or your lead lead in line,
does not only exist at the beginning of your read, but throughout,
it's a critical activity. The running conversation that has to
happen in your head truly makes a difference. So, ladies, thank you
so much. I greatly appreciate it.
01:02 - Intro (Announcement)
It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level.
These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being
utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business
like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, anne
Ganguza.
01:22 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Hey, hey everyone. Welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your
host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am here with my boss superpower business
buddy, Lau Lapides. Hey, Lau, how are you today?
01:38 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
Annie, fabulous, how are you I?
01:38 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
missed you. I know it's been a while it has been too long Lau, and
so I asked how are you? How's it going? I mean, what have you been
working on?
01:46 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
Well, let me just say this I haven't had a booking in a
while.
01:50 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Really yes. Well, how often are you auditioning?
01:54 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
I'm auditioning every day for like an hour, maybe even two, and I'm
waiting for my agents and I have a few agents to send me things and
they haven't.
02:06 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
And I'm really upset. Well, I think maybe it's time for us to sit
down and have a talk about getting real and really talking about
what does it take to get work in this industry. I don't think.
Maybe waiting for your agents and you know this as an agent is
necessarily something that you want to be doing. I think let's talk
about how we can be proactive as actors, because I hear that a lot.
I mean, thank you for that little role play Lau.
02:31 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
I was just about to say. I actually spoke with a coaching client
this week who gave me that exact conversation and I wanted to role.
Play that with you because it's common.
02:42 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Now I have so many students that talk to me and say are we ready to
make that demo? I mean, why do I need more sessions? I'm like if
you could do some more homework I give homework, I'm a homework
girl and so they could be practicing scripts like an audition, like
auditions, every single day. And yet at the end of a week they
might've recorded one or two. And then they're like well, why am I
not any closer to my demo? I'm like well, how much work have you
put into it?
03:09 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
So yeah, that's an excellent, excellent topic.
03:14 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
What does it take? How much do we have to put into our careers?
Yeah, get out what you put in.
03:19 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
Well, listen, you're taking the words right out of my mouth. Like
we're sisters, east West Coast sisters. I was just about to say you
get out of it what you put into it.
03:32 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
It sounds so cliche, but I'm telling you, I'm saying that more than
ever now, and the truth is.
03:35 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
The truth is we're even grinding more these days for less at times,
because of the saturation of competition, so you just have to put
that into your equation.
03:48 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
And I like that you brought that up, because now we've got evolving
moving parts too, right. I mean, 10 years ago, the industry was a
particular way. There were so many people in the industry, but I'll
tell you what it's more saturated than ever. I'm not here to say
that there isn't work, because there's a ton of work out there.
However, my goodness, you have to realize that and I say this how
many times have I said this? On how many podcasts Lau when we go to
school and learn a skill, I mean we practice that skill for hours.
We go to school for years, and so I don't understand why people
that come into this industry think that they can just immediately
go out and book work as if they've been doing it for
years.
04:32 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
Well, you know, that's very interesting. You say that, annie,
because I'm seeing especially an older set and some have been in it
for three, four, five, six years and feel like veterans. Three,
four, five, six years and feel like veterans and to some degree
they are veterans say, okay, where's my payoff, okay, where's my
semi-retirement, so to speak, like it should just be coming in like
mailbox money and I don't have to do much, when the truth is, if
you look at and I always go back to, like the biggies, the big box
stores, they're running advertising, they're running sales, they're
thinking up new campaigns. What aren't they doing right? And
they've been around for 50, 60, 70 years. Think about that. It's
because their competition is shifting, the generations are shifting
and they really have to keep up with those tides. They can't sit
back and say and they really have to keep up with those tides. They
can't sit back and say, oh, but we're Target and we've been around
now for 60 years.
05:30 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Well, you have some competition now, especially online, and so
yeah, I'm glad that you brought that up because it affects
everyone. It doesn't just affect new people coming into the
industry. It affects veterans in the industry as well, because if
they're not moving with the times and they're not paying attention
and their eyeballs aren't open and they aren't thinking outside the
box these days and that includes, maybe working with different
coaches on different genres because every little bit, even though
you might be a polished actor and you've been doing this for years
I mean, I'm a lifelong learner I think you can always get something
from more education, and so I really feel as though it's important
for actors to continue their education and continue their quest for
thinking outside the box. Days, voiceover industry because it is
truly the whole digital online thing has really just disrupted
disrupted what used to be, and we need to be prepared for that and
we need to be able to roll with the changes, roll with the punches,
so to speak that's a perfect word you're using.
06:37 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
That's like the new word disruptor be a disruptor. Well, I'm going
to disrupt you right now and I'm going to say you do have to work
harder. And that's not welcomed by a lot of people who are being
brought up in this ideology of work-life balance. Well, I'm telling
you, when you're building business and you're grinding in business,
there is not the work-life balance that you would like to have. You
cannot have your cake and eat it too. You just cannot as much as we
try to generationally. And I'm not saying don't take care of
yourself or don't be good to yourself and be healthy, but I am
saying you will have somewhat of an imbalanced life as you're
building business and sustaining and keeping business, because you
have to grind, you have to work really hard.
07:22 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
You made a big distinction. I'm going to tag on to that and say
that this is your own business and so, yeah, that only needing to
put in the work for so many hours per day and not necessarily doing
more than that, I don't know if that holds water when you are
running your own business, because in reality, it's not like you're
depending on someone to give you that paycheck every week or every
two weeks. Now you're the one that's going out and doing everything
and generating the leads, and so I mean absolutely I'm not saying
you can't work nine to five if that's what you choose. However, if
you choose that, understand that there's consequences for that,
especially when you're first starting out. I mean, in order to get
the work, you've got to generate the leads, and a lot of times I
mean I think people have to know that they probably have to work
harder than they thought to generate those leads.
08:11 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
I think that's really it. Everybody's like well.
08:13 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
I'm not booking. I'm not booking. I have great demos and now I'm
not booking and I'm like well, okay, let's just talk about the
first thing. I asked you about auditioning. So, auditioning, how
often are you auditioning? How many auditions? Now, I know if
people aren't paid to plays, they might get penalized if they
audition too much. However, there is a multitude of opportunities
out there and I'm not saying you should spend eight hours a day
auditioning. However, you've got to go out there and search the
opportunities. If you're not auditioning, you should be marketing
to people who can give you opportunities. Right?
08:42 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
Right. And how many of these folks too, when you really dig a
little deep and dive in there, annie, they're not keeping up with
their current connections. Oftentimes they haven't flagged them,
they're not in their calendar. Maybe they did an audition, a
showcase, whatever, a year ago. They haven't been in touch with
them. It's this ideology of I'm still waiting for things to come to
me rather than proactively going out and getting them. And the
building and sustaining of relationships, as you and I know, is
really about reminding. It's like think of yourself.
09:18
Top of mind. Hey, I'm here. Yes, think of yourself in terms of
advertising. Right, Advertisers have to show you something 10, 15,
20, 25 times in a day, maybe even more right? Well, we do
too.
09:29
We have to remind people that we're here, remind them what we do,
remind them that we have a relationship together. That's on me,
that's on you, that's on the onus of us, right? And you and I are
great examples. We've been in our businesses for 15, 16, 17 years.
Now you and I are texting each other on a Saturday in the middle of
the night, absolutely Now.
09:50
True, we're on different time zones, but we're still obsessively up
in the middle of the night thinking, ooh, why don't we do this on
Wednesday? And what's next? Exactly so isn't there a part of that
like, if we take out the obsessive quality, which I understand, I'm
obsessive To your audience, I am, and I admit it but isn't there a
part of it that's so fun, that's so much joy, that's like you get a
kick out of thinking up new ideas and executing them and going
after six people that you haven't talked to in a few months, and I
feel like it, authentically, is missing from a lot of people's like
persona to do that. They feel like, oh, where's my job and where's
my money and where's my credit? Versus where's my process, yeah,
yeah.
10:39 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
I love that you brought that up.
10:40
You need to give a reminder to these people.
10:42
I mean, that's the whole, and I know that people are scared about
spamming, but, honestly, if you take a look at the trends now in
marketing and email marketing, especially on the retail level
right, because I joined a lot of mailing lists and I always
encourage people to join mailing lists for companies that they want
to work for, so that you can understand how they market and then
you can learn a lot from other companies marketing really Retail
wisewise I get reminders, I get text messages and I'm trying to
think outside the box about okay, how can I SMS text my clients,
which is now becoming an option for a lot of the new marketing
methods out there.
11:21
I mean, I know the Wix backend now enables you to SMS remind people
or text them within your sales promotions, and that's kind of a
cool thing that people can, of course, opt out of, but I'm doing a
lot of my business via text. So for me, my brain is thinking how
can I keep connected with my clients right Via text, so that it's
not intrusive, but yet says, hey, I'm here, by the way, and kind of
spark that top of mind where they're like. Oh yeah, ann would be
great for this job.
11:53 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
Yes, yes, yes, I mean anything you can be thinking about, even one
new methodology that you bring into your business. It doesn't have
to be every single day, it doesn't have to be all day long, it's
just one new concept. One new idea can change the whole face of
what you do and really how you work. I oftentimes say to folks that
we're coaching do you know, if you reach out to one new person or
one new company a day, which for you and I is not a whole lot, but
for someone else it might be a lot to take on? One, that's five a
week in terms of work days, that's 20 in a month, yeah, 20. And
then you say, but Lau, I can do three or four in a day. And I say,
well, then do it, because then you're going to be 100 prospects
richer by the end of the month. Absolutely.
12:42
And why aren't you doing that? And you know what the reason is.
I'll tell you one of the firewalls reasoning behind why they're not
doing it is, I'm afraid, Laura. Why are you afraid? I'm afraid. I
don't know what to say to them. Yeah, yeah.
12:55 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Well, I say, let's start off by just being human and making sure
that you have done your research on them so that you can make a
good introduction and that you're not going to be wasting their
time by giving them like paragraphs and paragraphs of all about
you, you, you. But really it's got to be about how you can help
them.
13:15 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
Yes, and one of the things that I can tell you I live my whole life
this way that books jobs is your energy and your tone and just
like, ironically, how, as an actor, you would read and think about
what's my tone for this commercial, this e-learning copy? What's my
tone when I reach out to someone, when I talk to someone, and you
get hired for your energy and you get fired for your energy or lack
thereof.
13:45
And you have to rely sometimes on your personality and say you know
that books a lot of jobs if you're likable.
13:54 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Can I be completely honest and say that your personality, when it
comes out in your read right, that's what makes you unique, that's
your point of view right, and that's what connects us as humans to
each other. And so people always say well, how do I sound, how does
my voice sound? Am I cut out for this industry? I'm like no, it's
not really about that. It's about being able to bring yourself to
the party, and how many times have we heard that said over and
over?
14:19
again and I just want to say it differently, so that maybe people
like, all of a sudden, I want that light bulb to go off because
honestly, it's that innate, like non-touchable thing that when we
meet somebody and we say, god, I like her, like when I met you, I
was like man, I like that girl, I felt the same way about you
going?
14:37
on and thus began this relationship, and so I can tell people when
I do consults all the time I've got a few coming up after this but
they'll say do I sound like I can make it in this industry? I'm
like, but in reality it's all about bringing yourself to that read,
that special uniqueness that is you, and if you can develop the
skills to allow yourself and the permission to allow yourself to do
that, that's what's going to connect with the listener at the other
end and that's what's going to make you successful, right? Is that
connection with?
15:05
the listener and, of course, all the other stuff should just come
by the wayside, right? It's kind of like we're storytellers. Well,
how do I tell that story when the script is written in this way?
Well, you have to create that story right, Create those
opportunities right. And how are you going to lock in those
opportunities? By being your human, wonderful, beautiful, awesome
self and just connecting.
15:27 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
So wait a second, annie. Are you hitting on something deeper now?
Are you really talking, maybe, about the fact that there is a true
and honest lack of self-confidence, which may even be deeper than
that, a lack of self-esteem and a lack of self-value, because it
really does challenge us to say if we're reaching out to someone,
there's a reason and we have to share who we are and what we do
with that person.
15:54
If you don't know who you are and what you do, then there's a real
lack on your end that you have to go and dive deep. You have to go
coach, get therapy, go meditate, whatever you need to do to find
that the end user, that audience, they do whatever you need to do
to find that the end user, that audience, they do not care, they're
not there for that. They're not there to build you up, they're not
there to give you confidence, they're not there.
16:15 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
They're there for you to help them and they're not there seeking
you out necessarily, right? So, again, the work that needs to be
done for success in this industry, especially today, you have to
work your butt off. I'm just saying, even for us, that we've been
in this business for how many years, we know how hard we have to
work, and now we're working even harder, right?
16:36 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
But, annie why is that a bad thing? Why is that being given a bad
name? Why is that something that is sort of shoved under the rug,
like, oh, we don't want to do that. We want to work less hours in
the week, we want to take more vacations, and I'm thinking, well,
it's all well and good, but don't you want to build a business?
Sure, and to build a business from the ground up and sustain it,
especially during hard times, economic times, whatever. During war,
you got to work really hard. That's the old school work ethic you
and I have.
17:07 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Well, yes, and I'm going to say that, okay, do you have to work
that hard 24-7? Well, I mean, I do just because it's an ethic, but
honestly, like and we're totally obsessed.
17:17
Yeah but besides that, but in reality look, you can be super
talented, you can get a great campaign right, but every person that
I know that has really made it in this industry that has been uber
successful. You can never count on that client being there
tomorrow. And so, even though you might have a great gig and a
great contract and it's been ongoing and you're making good money,
I don't think any of these professionals out here have ever stopped
looking or cultivating or continually growing. That's what makes
them successful. So you can't just necessarily just say, well, I've
got my client, I did great this year and so therefore I can kind of
rest a little bit and maybe not have to work so hard. I mean, once
in a while, of course, you need to take your time off, but in
reality you're constantly looking for that next client, constantly,
and that doesn't just happen in an hour a day.
18:12
Now, for those people that are working right now and you know
again, I always tell people don't give up your day job. Yet, you
know, until you find out that this is something you're truly
passionate about and that you truly want to pursue, because the
time required to generate those leads, the time required to
audition, the time required to do all the things that is necessary
to build and grow your business, not just exist and have a
business. Okay, I set up my business. I have my demos, here I am.
That's not enough. That is this tiny little tip of the iceberg, do
you know what?
18:43 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
that reminds me of, annie, when we had brick and mortars pre-COVID
and we did most of our work pre-COVID in brick and mortar, that was
like, okay, I set up my shop, I set up my physical location, I had
my coffee maker there, we had our computers there, we had okay, we
paid the heat, we had toilet paper. It sounds ridiculous, but you
have to think of all of that. Yeah, yeah, you have a brick and
mortar, all right. How come I'm not successful? Yeah, mm-hmm. Oh,
because I haven't started the work. Yeah, I haven't started. The
work was just preliminary. Yeah, the, the house, there's a ton
preliminary. But to actually build a house, that's a whole other
set of things, right? So if you're doing your due diligence by
training and getting your demos and setting up your booth, you get
big applause from me, you get big kudos from me because you beat
out half the competition already. Yeah, absolutely. But don't think
that that's the work. That's not the work of owning a business,
that's just the brick and mortar, if you will.
19:40
Yeah, absolutely the setup of the business, and the setup is always
changing and upgrading too. Yeah, now you've got to work the
business.
19:48 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Now you've got to work it. You've got the business.
19:50 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Now you've got to work the business.
19:52 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
And you and I are workers Like we're worker bees, we like working,
we like the validation I mean. Look, my mother in real life is 85
years old.
20:01 - Intro (Announcement)
Guys, don't tell her that I told you that she's amazing.
20:06 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
She's a licensed family therapist and she works still full-time, 85
years old. She says I will never not work. It's my identity. I want
to be helping people, I want to be giving to the world, I want to
be making money, I want to be this and that there's this sense of
like kicking back and going what's coming to me? I'm 85, now what's
coming? No, no. Taking on new clients and seeing how she can help
them solve their problems, which are more complicated these days by
the way, right, that was a key thing that you said was that she
wants to help people.
20:40 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
So it's not that she doesn't deserve a rest or she doesn't deserve
to kick back at this point in her life, but it brings her joy. She
doesn't want to. Yeah, exactly, and a lot of people feel that
way.
20:51 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
Yeah, a lot of people want to be in the world. They want to be a
part of the world that spoke in the wheel, so to speak, but be a
part of a large community, which we are, a very large global
community but really be doing our own unique part of that, our own
unique feel to that. And you and I I mean I take on pro bono
projects, I take on projects that I'm giving back. Why? Because I
want to. It fills my soul, it fills my spirit. I love working with
maybe younger people coming up in the industry or people who don't
have a budget that really need help. I like that. Listen, if huge
civil rights attorneys can do that, I can do that too. Yeah,
absolutely.
21:34 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Right.
21:34 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
I'm not saying to work for free. I'm just saying the point is
what's your process? Why are you doing it? You know, take a step
back and say if I want to have it easy and I don't want to work too
hard, then ask yourself a more important question why am I doing
this?
21:49 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Then get a job and work for someone else.
21:52 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
Yeah, get a paycheck every week, right.
21:55 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Don't expect to come into voiceover land and have that same kind of
mindset where that's going to work.
22:02 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
Yeah, go be a middle manager at Chipotle and you're all set, you
got the good food, you got the salary, you got the benefits. It's a
whole different mindset about things, very much so you know I mean
my dad, who is an entrepreneur. He always said to me you know,
there are two people in the world, one is the employee and the
employee mindset, and one is the employer.
22:27 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Yeah, yeah, and they're two different mindsets. Absolutely,
absolutely. We are an employer mindset. Yes, we have to be an
employer mindset. So, look, this doesn't mean right for the bosses
out there. Well, how much time right? Well, I mean, for us I work a
16-hour day, but am I in the booth for 16 hours? No, I am
not.
22:44
I am marketing, I am creating content for marketing, I am reaching
out to clients and, of course, I'm doing stuff in my studio as
well. I'm auditioning. I'm auditioning for my agents, I'm
auditioning for rosters. I mean hours, and so I know how hard it is
and I will speak to working a full-time job and then just seeing if
voiceover is. For me, that's the hard part about doing it
part-time. I almost thought that doing voiceover part-time was
harder than doing it full-time. I mean, the risk is greater when
you quit your job and go full-time into voiceover, especially
financially, if you don't have that cushion and I don't recommend
that you do that if you don't have a financial cushion, do not quit
your day job, but if you're working full-time and you're doing
voiceover, you've got to work so hard.
23:28
Oh my gosh, so hard You've got your nine to five or whatever that
might be during the day, and then every spare moment of the day has
to be working on voiceover. And that's the hardest, especially when
you're starting because you're practicing, you're getting better at
acting. Hopefully you're coaching with somebody, you're working
towards a demo or you've gotten a demo. So now, if you've gotten
your demos, then when you get home from your day job, you've got to
be marketing right and you've got to find your leads. You've got to
create content. You've got to create content. You've got so many
things to do in those hours and you've got a family to take care
of, so it is excruciatingly tiring when you are doing this with a
full-time job. I get that, guys. But again, if this is something
that you want to pursue and this is the life that you are looking
for, that's just what you've got to do to make it work. I mean to
be quite honest. I mean otherwise.
24:19
I have so many people that kind of half-heartedly put their time in
Well, they'll do the coaching, they'll get the demo and they're
working full time. But then they're like well, but I haven't gotten
a job yet and I'm out of pay to play. I haven't gotten a job yet.
Well, you've got to audition your tush off. You've got to market
your tush off at this point, and that means hours a day. That
doesn't necessarily mean like five minutes a day, but if you can do
something every day, I would say do something voiceover related
every single day. That, to me, is something that says you are
dedicated to making this work, to making this be successful. And
it's tougher than ever these days. You know you're fighting a lot
of people in the industry.
25:00 - Lau Lapides (Co-host)
You're fighting. And I would say too, as you said earlier, annie,
do the homework, do the research, don't come in cold. Talk to
people, see what they do in the career. We used to call those
internships or apprenticeships. Well, you kind of have to do your
own.
25:14
You don't want to try to make a living on a scaffold 50 flights up.
If you're scared of heights, yeah Right. You have to know what the
occupational hazards are. You have to understand what the hours put
in, what the dangers are, what financial issues you could run into.
You really have to be smart up front. Rather than saying, well, why
aren't I making money? That to me is a very sort of novice-y green
question. To ask if you've done some of the homework and talk to
working professionals who have been very successful. They will all
tell you. Even the most successful people who are making livings
doing animation or they're a series regular on a TV show. They'll
say, listen, I know when I book something I better save that money,
I better invest that money, I better do whatever, because I may not
work for a year.
26:02 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Yeah, I may not get another decent booking for a year, and I have
to know that I have to like plan for that.
26:08 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
So, bosses, go out there and get the work. Go out there and do it,
spend the time, put in the hours, and I think you're going to see
results. I mean, it's as simple as that Put in the work, you're
going to see results. It's probably a lot more than you think, yep.
The more you put in, the more you'll get out. Absolutely there, it
is All right. There, it is Great. Big shout out. Find out more at
IPDTLcom. You guys, bosses, have an amazing week and go out there
and get it. Go out there and get it. We love you. All right, bye,
bye.
26:46 - Intro (Announcement)
Join us next week for another edition of VO Boss with your host,
Anne Ganguza, and take your business to the next level. Sign up for
our mailing list at VOobosscom and receive exclusive content,
industry revolutionizing tips and strategies and new ways to rock
your business like a boss. Redistribution, with permission.
Coast-to-coast connectivity via IPDTL.
27:16 - Anne Ganguzza (Host)
Five, six, 7, 8. I'm trying to go faster. I'm trying to go 5, 6, 7,
8. I know I think it's waiting for me. That's probably what it is.
I am waiting for you. There's a delay, guys. There's a delay,
alright, wait.