The VOHeroes Podcast

Hey there, hero! So there’s some new idea or class or skill you’re facing. You’re juuuuust at the precipice of getting underway. How valuable is the simple act of starting that, and not putting it off until later (or not following through at all)? As the Roman poet Horace said in Epistles, "Initium est dimidium facti", he’s reminding us of what James Clear calls “the timeless importance...

Hey there, hero! I talk about bias for action all the time, and it's not always about being ultimately efficient, it's often about building in slack in case disaster strikes. I recently read an article on Big Think by Eric Markowitz on this idea, and he said something that just spoke to me:  "We worship efficiency. We optimize. We squeeze. But when the storm hits — and it always doe...

Hey there, hero! One of the concepts I learned when I trained in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) has stuck with me like paint, and has really helped me be at peace with my level of accomplishment. And maybe it will help you. It’s a bit of a chain reaction, but it can ease the anxiety of feeling like you’re not good enough, or you don’t always rise to the occasion, or you need to do better. Our...

Hey there, hero! One of the most frequently asked questions about the physical nature of voice and on-camera performance is what to do about mouth noises. And when people offer potential solutions, I will reply “Fantastic! So glad that’s working for you.” With a biiiiiiiggggg caveat… …what works for someone else may or may not work for you. Why? Because everyone has a slightly different biology wh...

Hey there, hero! ACX is a great way to connect with a client to produce their audiobook, but only if both of you are tax paying residents of one of four countries: the US, the UK, Canada or Ireland. If you both live in one of those, you’re golden. If not, you’re stuck. And it’s been an ongoing problem for both narrators and rights holders to contract if either live in places like Australia, any co...

Hey there, hero! There’s a lot of dreaming going on in our community. We simply have to be dreamers to decide to be creative artists. And we also have to be doers. And that moment when you decide you can’t ignore your dreams any longer and have to put in the work to achieve them…can stop us dead in our tracks. It’s a big leap to move from the possibility of something nebulous and fancy to somethin...

Hey there, hero! I’ve noticed that some people have forgotten, or have never learned, the most useful words you can use when you are getting feedback from those who might give you work. Without judging the quality of the feedback, without deciding whether to use their feedback or not, just say “thank you.” I’ve seen some younger (and older) creative types, when getting feedback, perceive any criti...

Hey there, hero! As we work toward a better performance career and face challenges to our progress, even the littlest things can make us feel frustrated. And it’s important to remember that, as challenges go, these speed bumps in our journey need to be kept in perspective. There are people outside the industry who would give up an awful lot to face the problems we face. Keeping that in perspective...

Hey there, hero! Public Service Announcements. PSAs. One of my favorite voice over art forms. They come along all too rarely, and when they do, I cherish them. I had a wonderful opportunity recently to coach a voice talent on a PSA, and we spent some of the time during the session talking about what a powerful opportunity they had to change viewers’ minds about the subject of the PSA (racism). And...

Hey there, hero! If you could talk to your career crush, the one person that you’d trade places with in their artistic journey, would you ask them what the one thing is that made the difference for them? I’d like to propose that there is a better question to ask, and a better answer to hear, because it’s very rare that one thing someone does makes all the difference. I think the better question to...

Hey there, hero! “Look before you leap.” (Get some basic info before you head into the unknown.) …versus… “He who hesitates is lost.” (Be bold, and go for it. Damn the potential pitfalls.) So, which is the rule to follow? The answer is, like in most messy, life-y things, “it depends.” There are plenty of real world examples of “contradictory proverbs” in what we do as performers. In this episode,...

Hey there, hero! If you find yourself looking at how those you know (or you) are really good at coming up with dreams in life, goals to be fulfilled and destinations they (or you) would like to arrive at in life… …but they (or you) never quite get to some, or many, or most, or almost all of them… …remember that the easiest part is to use that creative energy in your makeup and simply envision thos...

Hey there, hero! Not everything we undertake is a complete success. But we also rarely walk away with a complete and utter failure, with no takeaways whatsoever. If you attempt something, try to learn something, stretch outside your comfort zone and find that not everything worked out perfectly…consider taking a moment and doing what I call a “win audit”. There’s always some takeaway (or several)...

Hey there, hero! Richard Bach once said, "Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they're yours." Wow…does that resonate with me. And I hear examples all the time…from my students, my colleagues and my peers. People can convince themselves of almost anything, and they often do. I hope you check on all the assumptions you have taken as gospel, and in this episode, I want to help...

Hey there, hero! My buddy Michael Kostroff asks some pretty thought-provoking questions. His course, auditionpsych101 , is filled with such questions, and even some controversial but very useful answers… …even if you’re not an actor. And the title of this podcast episode is one of them. You may have, given recent events, decided that you’re done with the performance side of your professional life....

Hey there, hero! When the audience looks at the end result of what we create, there are some interesting impressions they might walk away with. They might think that it’s an incredibly difficult undertaking with a huge amount of effort - like with a 10 or 20 hour audiobook that’s never recorded in one fell swoop, but in a series of lovely sessions that are much easier to accomplish. They might thi...

Hey there, hero! This George Strait song title was shared with me for the first time in my life by a fellow VO talent at a mixer last night. Thanks, Nadia Ahern. Mind blown. In a quiet, satisfying way. And a great reminder of what an awesome choice we’ve all made. Do you sometimes need to remind yourself of the fun of being a creative? Let me know in the comments below. REQUEST: Please join this v...

Hey there, hero! I was just on a call with a potential VO client, and the conversation got around to limiting beliefs in general, and in particular, those excuses we come up with so we don’t have to try. This is nothing new. People have been afraid of failure since humans became humans. We look at the potential for failure, and then spend a lot of time creating a story or seven around why we can j...

Hey there, hero! Just want to get your opinion on this apparently very controversial issue. I have my own thoughts, but I want to know yours. Let’s discuss. Scroll down and fire away. Is listening to an audiobook “cheating?” Is there something wrong with only listening to (or only being willing to read) whichever version of the book you prefer? Let me know in the comments below. REQUEST: Please jo...

Hey there, hero! I know that some VO talent and actors (and even my author peeps who want to narrate their own books) shy away from the prospect, mostly because it looks like a gargantuan undertaking. You might be one of them, imagining a lot of planning, a lot of work…and a lot of stress. I would like to help you reframe that with some much more positive positioning, around learning, proficiency,...

Hey there, hero! I created this podcast episode moments after jumping off being a guest on Chris Barry’s podcast, Coaching Uncovered. (You can find my episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOpiI02rjNI ) He asked a very common question: how do you build your business? It’s something my personal business coaches have been hounding me about for years, and it prompted me to share with you what...

Hey there, hero! Simon Sinek recently reminded me of a story I’d heard for years: two, not three. Ben Prober, a successful shoe salesman, found that fewer choices made the decision about which shoes to buy easier. In the 1950s, he limited customers to two pairs of shoes at a time, taking away a pair if the customer wanted a third. This idea connects to a psychological principle: more choices can o...

Hey there, hero! The question comes up often, and it shows up in various forms. This time, a client wrote this: “David…I cannot believe that in today’s cultural environment, that there are authors who expect me to say the n-word. I can’t understand why they’d even write it! How do I make it clear to this rights holder that they need to edit that word out of their book? Do you have a message in you...

Hey there, hero! Everybody loves baseball. And the language of baseball is part of cultures around the world. And over the course of time, I’ve settled on one question when I’m trying to serve a client, a peer, an affiliate, a family member or just a friend who needs my support. More often than not, they react with surprise and delight, and proceed to answer the question with depth and detail. The...

Hey there, hero! The title of this podcast episode comes from the words of author Michelle Rozen (not Rozer, as I misspoke at the beginning of the podcast), who wrote The 6%, a book on high achievers. And when I heard it, it struck me that we kinda face this dilemma all. the. time.  We can worry that no one wants to see or hear or read what we’ve created. And that can stop the effort to create…dea...