Why We Do What We Do

With the One Voice Conference USA once again almost upon us, and the summer/fall part of Conference Season about to kick into high gear, I thought I’d drop a short piece on the “why” of what Anna and I do when it comes to conferences, and other services like workshops, retreats, demos etc….

Of course, this is where most people go, “Well duh….you do it for the money.” And that’s where you get a big ell-oh-ell, (I think we should spell it out phonetically like that from now on. Just sayin.)

Okay, let’s be real. There’s some profit margin in demos. But once you start adding up accumulated hours of opportunity cost not doing actual VO work it becomes six of one and a half dozen of the other. They’re a ton of fun insofar as the creative process goes, and I’ve hit so many personal benchmarks at this point that watching others hit them using the tools JMC Demos provides is genuinely rewarding.

The rest? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Voiceover events, especially when the only thing for sale are tickets and sponsorships, are about as smart a business proposition as NFTs. Don’t believe me? I’m happy to share a private look at our books in-person in Dallas if anyone is curious. Profit is marginal at best, and when you account for hours put in, it’s probably a net loss. Those $549 full-day workshops? Add travel, hotel/venue, a nice lunch and the fee for the agent or CD who usually joins, and that’s break even. Retreats? Did you know that in Switzerland a ribeye is about $70?

Now, this is also where you’re likely waiting for the self-aggrandizing humble brag about doing it to “give back.” Well, I won’t disappoint…there’s a bit of that. But mostly, the reasons we do these things, and the reasons people like our partners in OVC/OVA Hugh Edwards and Peter Dickson, and other great folks like Val Kelly and Carin Gilfry and Tim Friedlander and Jamie Muffett and others do this are simple:

1.) Let’s be honest….it’s a ton of fun! We’re stuck in our padded rooms most of the time being the voices that entertain and market to the world…..like Tom Hanks in Cast Away a little human contact is important or we’ll all wind up talking to volleyballs. Looking at you, Jenn Henry.

2.) We also remember a time when there was no ecosystem in VO. Now, there’s no golden “right way” of doing things in this industry….and anyone preaching a “thou shalt follow but the one true path” in this business should be looked at with a fair amount of skepticism. However, while many people get annoyed or overwhelmed by the proliferation of conferences, coaching, courses, workshops, and other stuff that all feels so retail in the business, some of us remember a time when those things really didn’t exist outside of certain twenty-mile radii, and even then barely at that.

Are we in an era where there’s too much voice over training and knowledge and expertise noise out there, like a bunch of space junk casually fired off by everyone who can put together a rocket? Maybe. But the thing is…..at least people can get a signal. And for every low-quality offering out there there’s another that will change someone’s career trajectory, and even their life.

Why in God’s name did we take all these things on? Well, the reason IS selfish….but not quite the way you think. I toiled in something close to isolation and ignorance for the first decade of my career…unaware of how broad the possibilities in this industry were, despite doing fairly well and having a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. I’m quite certain, as I’ve said on many podcasts and interviews, that if I had had access to the abundance of knowledge on offer today that right now, at 45 years old, I would be thoroughly retired and on to other ventures. I don’t want anyone else to lose those years. So Anna and I, and all those wonderful other folks I mentioned earlier…..we’re gonna stay committed to making sure the ecosystem grows, and that today’s new VOs don’t have to guess, or bus tables, or “get discovered,” because they will know any number of ways to attack their dreams and make them come true.