0007: A Phrase You Can Swipe When You’re New And Have No Credits

well hey there hero it’s David H
Lawrence the 17th and when you’ve been
acting for a while I’ve been doing
voiceover for a while you start to get
some experience some credits you can
point to when you’re marketing your
services to potential clients but what
do you do when you’re first starting off
and you don’t have anything you don’t
have any credit you got nothing to point
you got nothing
I got nothing what do you do I’m gonna
share with you exactly what I tell other
actors who are in that very same
situation when we come back with this
episode of the vo heroes podcast so what
do you do when you’re just starting off
maybe you don’t even have any training
yet maybe maybe you’re in the middle of
your training and you’re looking towards
that first audition that you get or that
first kind of small tiny little easier
way into the industry booking that
you’re gonna get right and you’re
thinking yourself how do I describe
myself okay I know I’m supposed to have
business cards with like my my brand on
it well what’s that what am I doing with
that and it can be really frustrating
because you look around you and you
think how am I ever gonna get to where
those people that have experience and
are making a living at it how am I ever
gonna get to where they are if I can’t
even get started and describe myself and
why this is what people a lot of times
will let themselves get wrapped around
the axle on why would anybody want to
hire me I I don’t I’m just I’m brand new
I don’t know what’s going on but here’s
the thing if you like me and like the
other actors and performers that I know
are called to do this work if you know
the deep inside you there is a performer
that will not be denied then you have no
choice but to figure out how to get
started and what to do to describe
yourself as you’re just getting your
feet wet so what you want to remember is
that we’re constantly surprised and
delighted by people in the industry who
come up with some awesome new way of
doing things or maybe take something
that other people have done and make it
even better
all with an eye towards the prize which
is to make sure that your client is
happy and gets a useful result from
hiring you to do their work whether it’s
audiobooks whether it’s commercials
whether it’s an IVR system whether it’s
you know working on stage or working on
camera in a film on television whatever
it is when they hire you you want them
to be happy and satisfied that you
brought something different then they
would have gotten if they’d gotten
somebody else and that doesn’t matter
where it doesn’t matter where you’re at
in your journey for that to be their
wish whether you’re new or you’re really
well experienced they want to know that
they’ve got the right person so one of
the things that I urge you to do is not
fake it not come up with lies like oh I
played Hermione and the stage production
of Harry Potter in 1970 you know coming
up with fake credits that’s not gonna
serve anybody because they’ll catch you
and it’s not right anyway and it’s not
necessary here’s what you do
be absolutely brutally honest two things
are true you’re going to be brand new at
this when you do their work on that
and number two it’s going to be your
take and your take alone which is unique
so here’s a phrase you might want to
think about when you’re describing
yourself use this you can steal it
verbatim if you want to I’ve given it to
a lot of actors and some of them haven’t
changed it a lot of voice-over talent
have used this as well so so work it to
your your liking you know mix to the
consistency that you find pleasant but
try this a fresh voice or a fresh face
new to the world of fill in the blank
so if it was audiobooks and a fresh
voice new to the world of audiobooks
that brings that will help your project
and your project story stand out from
the usual suspects or from the crowd so
a way you might use this is
I’m a new voice talent brand new fresh
voice to the industry and I’m going to
help your audio book stand out from the
rest of the audio books released that
Tuesday on audible something like that
it’s honest you’re new you’re gonna
bring this fresh perspective something
they might not have heard a version of
before and your goal is to make them
stand out to make their project
spectacular and that particular phrase a
fresh voice new to the blank industry
that will bring a perspective to help
your project and your story stand out
from all the others or from the usual
suspects or from the rest that kind of
thing is like oh well let’s listen to
what they have to say there’s nothing
about it that is false or doesn’t ring
true or is overly boastful or is you
know beyond your pay grade what do you
think about that is that useful I’m
training people right now as I record
this in the a CX masterclass and we just
discussed this in class I thought it’d
be something you might like to know cuz
a lot of the people that watch these
videos might be just like you might be
getting started or or midway through
their journey but want to differentiate
themselves you don’t have to just use it
at the beginning of your journey because
nobody’s gonna know right you’re a fresh
voice that doesn’t mean you’re brand
spankin new but it could all kinds of
things you can do with that let me know
what you think in the comments below
this video is this something that might
be useful for you is it something you’ve
been searching for maybe you’re just
getting started and you didn’t know how
to describe yourself might this be
helpful for you or maybe you have a
suggestion about what you used when you
first started and you didn’t have any
credits I’d love to hear what you did
what your take on was that so thank you
for watching thank you for listening if
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maybe there’s somebody in your
if your peer that you met in class or
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project or something new that might
benefit from this please share it with
them I appreciate it I’m David H
Lawrence 17th I thank you so much for
watching and for listening and I will
talk to you soon.