J. Michael Collins

Continuing my profile of some of the industry’s hardest-working talent, today I sit down for a chat with Susan Glow, mom and manager to the amazing Cassie and Sabrina, both multiple Voice Arts Awards nominees in 2019.

How did Cassie and Sabrina get interested in voice acting?

From the time the girls were very young, they were reading, acting out stories, putting on puppet shows, singing, and avidly watching animated movies. By chance when the girls were ages 4 and 6, our family was cast in a Disney commercial for the newly opened “Fantasyland” at the Magic Kingdom. We did a small amount of on-camera work thereafter and the girls took some local acting and improv classes for fun. But once they made the connection that an actor was bringing the characters they were watching in cartoons to life, and there was someone voicing the fun commercials they saw on TV, they wanted to give it a try!

Did you have any background in the industry that helped you become a VO mom?

I knew absolutely nothing about the voiceover industry before becoming a “VO Mom.” My undergraduate degree is in Accounting and my MBA degree is in Marketing. The girls wanted to do voiceover, so I became a VO Mom out of necessity to support their goals. As the girls’ career continued, my background did help me manage the behind-the-scenes logistics and growth of their business.

Describe the process you went through when launching their VO business. Has it been more difficult than you anticipated? Less?

Glow Girls Kid Voiceover was launched from the ground up. We live in Central Florida, which is not a major hub for voiceover work. The talent agencies in the Tampa/Orlando area focus primarily on the Print/Commercial markets and we didn’t know of any resources to help get us started. I did research, studied a lot, and joined discussion groups. I hired coaches to learn about various voiceover genres and the girls took private voiceover classes. I networked and made connections in the industry. We started out with various online casting sites, then moved to regional voiceover-specific talent agents, then eventually earned representation in the LA and NY markets.
Getting started in the voiceover business was more difficult than anticipated. I made a lot of mistakes. Fortunately I made a lot of good decisions too, and connected with a lot of great people. I actually created an online course for parents of aspiring voice talent called “Raising A Voice Actor” to help others navigate the process as they aim to get started in the child voiceover business as well.

What has been their most interesting/exciting role/s so far

The Girls have had the opportunity to work with so many incredible clients!

Cassie’s favorite role of all time was singing “The Socks Song” as “Henriyeti” for Sesame. Henriyeti was such a lovable unabashed character, and the song had such an important message about loving people’s differences told through a metaphor of mismatched socks. Cassie’s most mind-blowing role was her guest role on Disney Channel’s, “Tangled the Series.” On top being her favorite TV show, and on top of being on Disney, her character’s name was “Cassandra” and was referred to by Cassie’s same nickname, “Cass!”

Sabrina’s favorite role was voicing the sassy badger “Beatrice” for Nick Jr’s show “Becca’s Bunch.” Beatrice was sassy, obnoxious, conceited, scheming, and selfish – the opposite of Sabrina in real life and an absolute field day to portray in the booth. Another one of Sabrina’s favorite roles is being the lead voice of “Mila” for the popular YouTube preschool show “Morphle TV” which has now topped over 6.3 million subscribers. It’s so crazy to think that many kids all over the world are listening to her voice!

What type of work do the girls find themselves doing most frequently?

The Glow Girls’ top three voiceover genres include Animation, Singing, and Toy Commercials.

Where do you see their careers going from here?

I’m confident that there won’t be any point in their lives when Cassie and Sabrina won’t be doing voiceover in some capacity. They both love Animation and both aspire to do more Promo work too. Currently, in addition to their ongoing voiceover clients, Cassie and Sabrina are in the process of creating their own animated musical epic story. They are writing an original story, sketching characters, and composing and writing their own original music! The voiceover world has brought some really incredibly creative and generous clients into our lives who encourage and continually inspire the girls. Watching the girls’ creativity and storytelling evolve from their training and experience in the voiceover world has been surprising and wonderful.

For parents with young talent, leave them with one key piece of advice

Shock. Excitement. Stunned silence (which, for the Glow Girls is a rare occurrence) followed by lots of elated screaming! First we learned of Sabrina’s Commercial Demo nomination (screams!) then Cassie’s Toy nomination along with Everett Sundholm (more screams!) and then the girls’ shared nomination for Body of Work (huge screams!) The girls’ voiceover career has truly been a family affair over the years, so it was so special that the whole family was all together when we found out the incredible news. David and I are extremely proud!

For parents with young talent, leave them with one key piece of advice

My best advice for parents with young talent: Make sure your child LOVES voiceover! The voiceover business is fun and exciting. But it is also highly competitive and not something that offers quick rewards or achievement with only a fleeting effort. You hear “no” a lot more than you hear “yes” – that’s just part of the business. So it is important that your child truly loves doing voiceover as a creative pursuit itself, whether he/she books or not. Success in the voiceover world requires time, patience, financial investment, coaching, talent, and practice. Your child has to love it!

After a long hiatus, it’s time to bring back my Talent Profiles series, where I feature some of the everyday heroes of voiceover. Today, I talk with Washington, DC-area talent Brad Hyland about his ascension as a professional voice actor.

What Was Your Background Before Voice Acting?

I spent 34 years in the landscape business management business, which included 34 years of wishing I was a voice actor!  It’s amazing how long I waited until I pulled the trigger to become a full-time VO… but I believe things happen for a reason.

I had all the typical responsibilities after getting married which included a mortgage, children, orthodontia, school and college, etc, etc… All the typical things that keep people plugging away at their job… sometimes for a lifetime it seems.

My first training in Voice Over was nearly 30 years ago… but I try not to think negatively of the lost time in not chasing my dream earlier. My first career was a great provider and set the stage for my launch into being a full-time voice actor. I tell lots of newcomers to the business… “Find a way to fall in love with your job again, while you commit every waking hour to develop your new passion…Then when you are trained, ready and able, dive into the Voice Over world.

What got you interested in voice acting?

35 years ago I had a very good friend that told me I should be in Voice Over. At that time I didn’t even know what Voice Over was.

Also …that was way before laptops, the Internet, and home studios.

I was one of those funny guys in high school and college, always doing impersonations and joking around and using my voice in lots of different ways. I also did stand up comedy in college.

After two or three people suggested I look into it… I did just that and started my training.

Describe the process you went through when launching your VO business. Has it been more complicated than you anticipated? Less?

I trained vigorously for over a year with a very good coach and demo producer here in Maryland.

He is still thriving in his business but is now located in Florida. He’s 82 years old and we still stay in touch… and he follows my success closely.

Getting started properly wasn’t easy for me, even though I had all the training and thought I understood everything that was ahead of me. I had the pipes and basic skill set ….and the initial training, but not the appreciation of the overall business development that’s so important, and also didn’t really understand the technology required to be successful in a home studio environment.

There were many hours of paid coaching and training, as well as days and days of watching YouTube videos on how to do just about everything in the business. From learning how to create a quality home studio environment… to editing projects, I probably trained myself more in that first year than any year of my life.

I look back on my first six months and laugh about the things that had me so frustrated I could just about cry!

….also, the training and mentorship that you showed me, J Michael, has been the very best catalyst for my newfound success. Thanks very much for that!

What has been your most interesting/exciting role so far?

I have some amazing customers all around the globe now, with a very wide variety of work so far. I really enjoy commercial projects, both television and radio. I truly love becoming “the voice“ of a company.

My most interesting role so far is being the voice of Santa Claus for the great Christmas brand, Elf On The Shelf. My customer team is fabulous, and when they bring me to Atlanta to record in their studios … it turns into my best day of work ever… every time.

The new animated special “Fox Cubs” will be on TV all throughout the holidays, starting right after Thanksgiving.

What type of work do you find yourself doing most frequently?

Lately, I seem to be booking lots of the “big voice” type work… which I really love to do.

I also book lots of “softer“ versions of that big voice for narration, web usage, instructional video, and e-learning.

Where do you see your career going from here?

It seems that I still learn something new every day, and I’m sure that will continue as long as I stay in the business. I’m very excited to be at my age with a brand new career in front of me that is exciting and rewarding every single day.

I have no plans of retiring, and just want to continue to grow my business every single day.

Also, I don’t mind telling you that I plan to be the voice of some big national brands someday soon. Chevy…. here I come!

For those just starting out, leave them with one key piece of advice

That’s a tough question… Only one key piece of advice?  I need to answer in more than one way.

1. Don’t skimp on training when you begin. The worst thing you can do for your career is to move too quickly into a demo and then not be able to produce that quality read on your own in your own studio.
2. You have to be incredibly dedicated and work very hard. It will not just happen on its own, even if you have great talent and great demos… It takes many months and years to develop a voiceover business that will thrive.
3. Learn to accept rejection, and continuously evaluate your product to find ways to improve. If you don’t book a spot…get over it immediately and get on to the next opportunity. There are new ones every day.
4. Get very comfortable with marketing yourself. Find a great coach and learn how to be a business person right from the get-go
5. And finally, audition, audition, audition…. throw as many broadcast quality, perfectly performed, and produced auditions out there as you can every day…that’s what it takes to gain traction towards building a solid customer base.

Want to contact Brad Hyland for your next project, or for some friendly advice? Visit www.americanvoicepower.com

Is your voiceover business doing well at the moment? Good for you! It’s tempting to celebrate that success with big purchases, artery-clogging amounts of lobster, and maybe doubling down on your marketing expenditures. You might even feel so flush that you’re more likely to cut a client a deal than you might have been when money was tight.

Fight those instincts!

Large companies understand that business cycles never last forever. Have you ever wondered why, during times of plenty, companies seem to get stingy? Airlines devalue their frequent flier miles and benefits, credit cards offer tougher terms and fewer rewards, and hotels stop passing out free upgrades and complimentary fruit baskets. It’s because economic theory suggests that in good times customer acquisition is easier. Moreover, when the economy is doing well, buyers will pay more to receive less, because the psychology of plenty makes them less concerned with price.

Responsible Voiceover Business Strategies

If you are having a great year, or great five years, don’t assume your business is immune to shifts in the greater economy. Recessions happen. Even Great Recessions happen….and in a world more volatile than ever before, the next downturn could start tomorrow. If your business is booming, now is the time to cut costs, and charge as much as you can for every project. Reduce extraneous marketing spending, even, (can you believe I’m about to say this?) watch your coaching & demo budget a bit more closely. Save and invest your money, don’t spend it. Be responsible.

When the economy turns, you’ll need those funds to pour into marketing and other business-building expenses. You’ll be competing against hungrier talent and you will be forced to accept rates that are less than ideal in some cases. Are you prepared for lean days, and ready to spend to sustain your business when they come?

Small-business people are great at hustling to build their enterprises, but we don’t always think like CEOs. Put your executive hat on, and think about planning for a rainy day if you want to stay dry when the storm comes.

It’s a privilege to have the chance to attend numerous industry conferences throughout the year as a speaker and sponsor. From VO Atlanta to That’s Voiceover to WoVO Con, Voxy Ladies,  V.O. North, One Voice, and others, it is great to support the coming together of our industry. This week I’ll be embarking on a trip to speak at the latest addition to the conference lineup, VOcation in New York, founded by Carin Gilfry and Jamie Muffet.

I get excited about going to all of these conferences, but VOcation has me especially pumped this year. Why, you ask? Well, VOcation is the industry’s first conference focusing strictly on the business of the business. We all know performance matters, but we also know that quality performance is a prerequisite for success. What many don’t realize is that in 2019 and beyond, learning the business of the business is equally critical.

The days when you could count on others to build your career for you are over. In the modern voiceover economy, it’s up to you to make your own success. Carin & Jamie had the vision to understand that our industry was crying out for an event focused on training talent to think like business-people as much as creatives, and I’m thrilled they created one.

It is my honor to have been chosen as this conference’s first keynote speaker, and I’m looking forward to setting the tone for a weekend that will help over a hundred talent take their next steps on the path to success.

I hope to see you there!

The voice actor surveyed the wasteland before her. It had been some years since the robot voices had taken over. They arrived slowly…..seemingly harmless in their cylinders and cubes with cute names like Alexa, Cortana, and Siri. They may have been people once, even then, but in their disembodied form they became our friends, our companions, and for a time, our servants.

Only a few saw the revolution on the horizon. Lone voices in the wilderness warning of the devastation to come.

As she stepped over the debris-strewn terrain, our voice actor contemplated what had been lost. Southeast Asia succumbed first, surrendering hundreds of two-cent-per-word eLearning factories with hardly a fight. As the robots swept the Earth, ragged groups of survivors formed to attempt resistance. The Battle of Fiverr was legendary, with thousands upon thousands of gig economy VOs bravely making a last stand against the machines. The names of the martyrs are remembered to this day in the empty and dust-covered halls of get-rich-quick-in-VO social media groups where the high priests of thirty dollars a holler once sermonized their flocks.

Suddenly, she felt a crunch beneath her feet. It was what was left of a big red neon sign…..the wreckage of one of the great demo mills of yore. Beneath it, writhing in silent agony, was a once-mighty multi-level-marketing voiceover coach. The robots had taken his voice, just like all the rest.

She took one long final glance at the apocalyptic landscape, and then walked back inside her picturesque two-story lake house, admiring the lovely work the gardeners did this morning. She checked on her kids playing happily in their spacious bedrooms, her husband, whom she was proud to have helped retire at forty-five making breakfast in their Italian-marble-covered kitchen, and then strolled into her studio.

“Alexa,” she said, “How many jobs do I have this morning?” “You have eight new jobs this morning,” Alexa cheerfully replied. “I’ve added your highest-paying clients to the top of your queue. Those scripts are up first.”

She felt a pang of sorrow for collaborating with the robots. After all, they had killed off the entire low-budget voiceover industry, removing tens of thousands of aspiring talent from the game. With them, all those demo mills and snake oil salesmen lost everything as well, because all that were left were pros who could see right through their shiny sales pitches. Robots were the low end of the industry now.

The fleeting sadness came and went, however, as she turned her attention to the premium clients who needed her human voice that day. She recalled one of them joking, just after the invasion had begun and she had nervously asked if she would be fired. “Why would we replace you with AI?” the client asked. “We have standards. You do amazing work, and the best a robot can ever hope to be is almost as good as the real thing.”

 

Voice actor and coach Angel Burch has had a prolific career in the industry and has helped many new talents find their footing on the road to success. Here, we discuss her struggles in our vocal health series and learn lessons from her story.

JMC: Tell us about how you got started in voiceover

ANGEL: It was a fluke. I did a lot of on-camera work at a young age in Canada, where I grew up.  I was working on a film at around 14, and when it wrapped, the director mentioned that they needed a voiceover for the beginning credits. He jokingly asked everyone in the room if anyone could sound like a five-year-old kid. He wanted to complete everything that day. Being the precocious child that I was, I raised my hand and said, “sure, I can do that!” Honestly, up to that point, I had never done voiceover before. The extent of my career encompassed professional singing and on-camera work, and that was it. So they decided to give me a try, and I walked into this small little room with a microphone in the middle. The director fed me the line and I did my best impersonation of a 5-year-old. When it was all said and done, I thought, “This! This is what I want to do for the rest of my life!” I wasn’t even aware that voiceover was a real thing or something I could make a career out of. But I found myself choosing to do work that would encompass using my voice over the years. So I pretty much naturally fell into a 30-year career.

JMC: What did your career look like before you started having vocal health issues?

ANGEL: At the time I started having issues, I had just completed a professional commercial demo with you. Leading up to that point, I was doing eleven characters in an animation series overseas and a couple of educational apps, some e-learning, and had gotten a national commercial. I also did some smaller regional and local things. I had started getting some top-level agent attention as well, which, as you know, if you don’t live in LA or New York, is a really huge thing. So my career was taking off. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else for the rest of my life.  Because I was so confident in my career at that point, my husband and I decided to buy a farm and we were really looking forward to enjoying what life was bringing us.

JMC: Can you describe how you first knew there was a problem?

ANGEL: In November 2016, I started having issues with a growl in the lower register of my voice. It would only happen occasionally, and it was right about the time when you and I were doing a demo session together that it started. Because it was so random and didn’t happen that often I thought it was just a phase. I sincerely thought it would pass, that maybe I was just dehydrated because of the weather or stressed because we really wanted to move and couldn’t find a house. I knew that those factors could affect my voice, so I wasn’t overly concerned. But by January, it had gotten considerably worse. The texture in my voice wasn’t just in the lower register anymore it was starting to creep up and into the higher registers and affecting my everyday speaking. I decided I should go and seriously get it checked out by an ENT. They scoped my throat, looked at my vocal cords, and did an assessment but couldn’t find anything really wrong physically. He asked me if I had felt any strain or pain in that area, and I told him that I didn’t feel anything other than having the symptoms of this rough texture coming into my voice and being unable to subdue it to the point of not being able to do my job.  The doctor suggested I talk with a speech pathologist if it didn’t get better, but in the meantime, he just attributed it to stress. He told me to relax more and, rest my voice more, drink lots of water. All of the normal things you would do as a first defense.  I continued working on the animation series and decided to put everything else aside and focus on that for a while. I thought maybe I was just stressing my voice because I was doing so much work.

By the end of March, My voice started cutting out completely at times. I would be speaking in normal conversation, not even doing a voiceover, and suddenly I would lose my voice in the middle of a sentence or something. I would rest for a little bit, and it would come back. I told the producer of the animation series that I needed to slow down some of the production because they were pushing to get this done. I told him that I felt like it was just a strain on my voice, and to continue, I needed to rest a bit more. But by the end of May, I could hardly talk. I thank the Good Lord that I had spoken to Rob Sciglimpaglia about the contract for the animation series before signing it. Because he told me to place a clause in there regarding illness. Should I not be able to continue at any point during the series that I wouldn’t be punished by forfeiture of any money that I had made or any money that I would make should they decide to go ahead and broadcast what I had already voiced. Because of that clause, I could get out of the contract for the animation series and pursue what was wrong with my voice.

JMC: Tell us how your condition progressed and where you are today

ANGEL: I went to about four doctors over the two-year period, and the only diagnosis I got was mild asthma. They put me on asthma medications, but it didn’t help my voice. Nobody could figure out why my voice wasn’t coming back. I had had a viral infection and a fungal infection at the same time a few months before, and they concluded somehow that combination had affected either my lungs or my vocal cords.  But, again, nobody was sure. I was unable to speak much more than above a whisper. I was so frustrated at not being able to communicate that I had started learning sign language just to talk to my husband and my friends. I was even more devastated when I started experiencing mild hearing loss.  I was again unable to get a clear diagnosis, but at the same time, I had to believe that God was in control and trust that He knew what He was doing. I had a couple of voiceover students, which I continued with because I wanted to stay in business and be connected, and I knew the more I strained my voice trying to talk the worse it would probably be.  I don’t think I ever got super depressed, but I did have low times and spent a lot of time self-reflecting since I couldn’t talk at length to anybody else. It made me stronger because I realized that my self-worth was more than my ability to do voiceover. I delved more into becoming a life coach, and I started taking on some more voiceover students at the encouragement of my friend Everett Oliver.  He probably doesn’t realize it, but his encouragement and being his goofy self and calling me out of the blue to shoot the breeze helped me stay positive that things would work out just fine whatever life course I ended up at.  I started really pacing myself by using my knowledge in the industry to stay abreast of changes.

The breakthrough came weirdly.  This past spring, I got a horrible bout of bronchitis. I have had pneumonia in the past, so we were very concerned since I had trouble breathing and my temperature was high. My husband took me to the emergency room, where they gave me substantial doses of antibiotics, over 1000 mg IV. They sent me home with another 1000 mg to take over the next five days. Within two weeks of that treatment, all of a sudden, my voice came back. It was weak from not being used, but it was there. When I spoke to my doctor about it, he suggested I may have had a low-grade bacterial infection in the ear, nose, and throat area that wasn’t showing up on any of the bloodwork.  He suggested I start doing some light vocal exercises and strengthening my voice to see if it stays. I also promised my husband I would give it at least four months before I would say my voice was back completely.  So, I didn’t tell anyone for months that my voice had come back at all. I was getting more excited by the minute, seriously overjoyed. The idea that I could communicate with people outside of my family without sign language was almost overwhelming, coupled with the fact that there was a possibility I could go back into voiceover. You have to remember I completely retired from doing voice over because I thought this was a permanent condition that I would not recover from. I sold my mics, and my booth and took down my website.

Today my voice is strong, I have slowly worked to make it stronger, I have brought it back up to full strength enough to do voiceover again on a full-time basis.

JMC: How has it impacted your voiceover business?

ANGEL: Funny you should ask this LOL. When I started back just a few short months ago, I thought I’d jump right in where I left off, and everything would be great; within a few months, my career would be on track again. But that hasn’t been the case. While reaching out to a lot of my former clients, I found that the smaller producers were out of business. They are no longer doing freelance production or moved to larger companies where they’re not the decision-maker regarding hiring voiceover. But always telling me, they were put in a good word, which is sweet. The larger companies that I worked for put me back on their rosters, but of course, it’s a typically a slow time for voiceover anyway, so really my focus has been on developing and teaching my business and marketing class. I am also working on different Marketing tactics to help bring in new business. I have been working on getting my studio to perfection, speaking with friends in the industry who are experts in that field, and I’m trying to do my business differently this time around. I’m taking my time, I’m not rushing into things, I am doing small jobs here and there but I’m not at the point where I’m pursuing those long-form e-learning or the medical narrations, or the Six Sigma stuff again LOL. I’m giving myself time to develop good healthy marketing strategies, good healthy business practices, and good healthy voice techniques.  I’m moving in a better direction now than where I was previously. I’m in a better headspace, and I’m working smarter. My coaching has been going like gangbusters, especially with my husband’s introduction of the X-Class business and marketing series. And I love working with him in this business. We had a business for over twenty-five years together, so I am bringing that knowledge and insight to voiceover now with him, and it is like a dream come true.

JMC: What advice would you give to other talents who are experiencing vocal issues?

ANGEL: Wow, so many things are going through my mind with this question. First, if you have vocal problems, try to find out why. Rest your voice, don’t force things, and even more so than that, rest your mind. It can be so devastating not to be able to communicate in a way that you’re used to, and You need to take the time to be good to yourself. Discouragement and frustration is going to come — let it come, but be smart and not self-deprecating. Sometimes things just happen, and if you can use the time of healing your voice to also strengthen who you are mentally, then if and when you do recover your voice, you will be in a much better place.

Stop trying to overthink, or rethink what you could or could not have done to make things better or work for you. Now is the time to reflect on your options outside of a voiceover career. Should it come to that, you need to be prepared for that outcome. I wasn’t ready for that, so I floundered for the first year aimlessly, not knowing what to do with myself. If you have a clear direction of where you want to go should you not be able to continue in voiceover, then I think that it’s healthier. I would also give that advice to those who are currently in voiceover: Have a backup plan. What happened to me was sudden. Within four months I lost a six-figure income. It was such a strain on us financially, so that put more of a strain on me mentally. When you are sick, you don’t need more stress.

And lastly, the best advice I could give anyone going through a devastating illness is to seek out the support of those closest to you. Whether it be family or friends, you need physical, in real life, people who will rally around you. People who will not only encourage you but give you that kick in the butt when you need to get up and just move when you can’t.  Online friends are fine, but I had to distance myself from my social media during that time because I couldn’t move on as long as I was in that world. It wasn’t until I accepted the support from my family and friends that I could finally find a place where I could heal. Take care of your voice, drink lots of water, and get lots of rest. Honestly, a couple of the big things now that affect my voice are lack of sleep and being in air-conditioning. I live in the south in extreme heat, so air conditioning is vital. However, it’s also detrimental to my voice because it dries out my throat no matter how much water I drink. So I have to be careful not to be directly in front of an air conditioner in the car or the house.

Besides that, look in the mirror every morning and be good to yourself. You deserve it. You are never a failure If you’re doing what you love and doing your best at it. In my mind, that makes you a success.