There are days when work and auditions flow like a raging river. It’s all you can do to navigate through them all and successfully find your way to the end.
Then there are those other days.
When There’s No Work
Those days when there are no jobs. Those days when it seems like hours pass between auditions. You sit in the stillness, maybe with your feet up, feverishly refreshing your inbox looking for that next opportunity. You check your phone every five minutes to make sure the battery hasn’t died or you haven’t lost signal. You sign in and out of sites like Voices.com, TheVoiceRealm or Voice123 just to make sure they’re still working.
Did the apocalypse happen? Did you get left behind?
What do you do on those slows days? Do you give up, hit the couch and fall asleep? Do you get caught up on other work or chores unrelated to your voice over business? Or do you devote the “free time” to other areas of your voice over business?
5 Things To Do Between Voice Over Gigs
1) Stop Stressing: Once the auditions have been sent everything else is out of your hands. You submitted your best work. Now it’s up to the client. So there’s no point losing sleep, or hair, fretting over something that’s beyond your control. Relax. Know you did your best. Move on to the next task with confidence.
2) Do Some Reading: Check out some voice over blogs. Read about what other talents are doing or saying. If you’re looking for a very comprehensive list of blogs written by Voice Actors click here. You can also check out the online magazine I curate, The Voiceover Daily. I’m always adding new content. Access is at http://msvo.me/VOdaily.
3) Email Old Clients: When is the last time you reached out to some of your previous clients? A month? Six months? A year or more? Out of sight means out of mind. Send them a quick email to say hi and ask them how business is. Get your name back in front of them.
4) Do Some Networking: Social networking is certainly the easiest. Get on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or Google+. Join some groups that are related to voice over. Connect with other voice talents or producers or studios. Engage in their conversations. Reply to their tweets. Create awareness for your brand.
5) Cut A New Demo: When is the last time you updated your demos? If you’ve been booking work recently all of that content (provided you have permission to use it) is just crying out to be used in a new demo! Cut a new one. Or even a couple. Get them on your web site. Share them throughout your network. Get them posted on your casting site profiles.
Maximizing your time between gigs and auditions is a great way to expand your business. It goes without saying that the more you get your name out there and the more recognition you get for your name and brand the more business you’ll have coming your way!
