VO BOSS

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza and her superpower co-host, Lau Lapides, dive into the non-negotiable reality of voiceover demo production. The bosses address why many voice actors—especially those starting out—try to cut corners on their demos, despite the demo being the primary portfolio piece used to land agents and get work. This episode provides essential, current advice on what makes a demo effective, what red flags to avoid, and how to manage the realistic expectations of investing in a long-term voice acting career. 00:03 - Anne (Host) Hey guys, it's Anne Ganguzza here. Are you ready to find your life purpose and live a happier, more fulfilling life? My coaching services can help you discover your true passions and align them with your goals. Let's start that journey today. Visit anneganguzza.com for more information.  00:31 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  00:45 - Anne (Host) Hey, hey, everyone, welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Boss Superpower Series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with the lovely Miss Lala Pita. Hey, we're back, and better than ever. Annie, I'm so glad to be back with you. We are back. Ah Lala, it's been a week, oh my gosh, it's been a week.  01:06 It's been kind of a crazy year so far, hasn't it? It has, I mean, it's just been a little chaotic. I've dealt with a lot of students recently who come to me that want coaching, but before they want to get coaching, they want me to listen to their demos, and so I'll have a quick listen. I mean, I do an actual, I have an actual like process where, if you want half an hour of my time, I'll actually evaluate your demo spot by spot and give you tips. And I like the fact that I offer it as a service because I don't want people to think I'm just here to sell them demos.  01:42 Yeah, of course, but I listen to a lot of demos that are self-produced and demos that have no production under them, and then demos that have a lot of production under them. And you know, I know it's a topic that you know we tend to talk about quite a bit, all about demos. But demos are just so darn important because it really is the product by which you get hired a lot of times. I mean, in addition to auditions, of course, you know, because the client always wants to hear you know your voice with their brand, but really to get your foot in the door. In a lot of places, that demo that showcases what your voice sounds like in the genre in which you want to work is so important. And it's interesting how many times I'll talk to a student who wants to kind of cut the corners on that and they don't have the money. And yet the demos that I'm hearing are not doing them any favors and not getting them any work. Right.  02:39 - Lau (Host) And there's so many tips you and I could like give about the do's and don'ts of demos, but I think it changed, like what's trending now and the faux pas that are happening are happening, that are a little bit newer these days and it's good to talk about and especially.  02:55 - Anne (Host) I like your angle from—I have my angle from the non-broadcast side and I want to hear your angle from the broadcast side. How much are demos being used to cast people? How much do the demos count when you're listening to that in comparison to the auditions? Talk to me about the casting process and how often are demos being used for that? That's a great question. That's a great question.  03:20 - Lau (Host) You know, the anecdote that I come up with is, or the analogy I come up with is, reminds me of college. College was always a necessity for people who are going into white collar careers. Ok, nowadays it's a little bit different.  03:36 - Anne (Host) Do you?  03:37 - Lau (Host) need a college degree to go into many careers. Maybe not, probably not, but when you earn a college degree, oftentimes it says to an employer that you've gone to the highest level of due diligence in your education and that, to me, oftentimes, is what demos represent. Sometimes you literally don't need demos, like literally, we won't be submitting your demo to a client On the most literal basis, I will not be sending your client 98% of the time to our clients, but it shows us that you are a working, professional, high-level industry talent. So there's a screening.  04:13 - Anne (Host) And that you take your career seriously. I think you take your investment seriously.  04:17 - Lau (Host) There's a screening to that it's a portfolio piece, sure. So I would say, yes, you do need it, but no, you do not need it for every single individual job that comes through, because they're going to be demo reads on the scripts.  04:30 - Anne (Host) Now I'm going to counter that, because you are speaking from the broadcast sense of the word. Typically, because you cast a lot for commercials and broadcast style jobs. For non-broadcast, which is a lot of the industry as well, demos can sit on your website and be available 24-7. When you don't have time to audition, and that is the biggest point that I'd like to make is that if you do not have an audition, they sit on your website as a portfolio, as a demonstration of what it is that your voice sounds like, and it can be a way to get your foot in the door.  05:04 If somebody hears that demo and then they're like, oh, I like that voice, and then maybe they want you to audition or it just it allows people to kind of sample the product, sample the product before they decide if they want to hire you, and I think that it's a very valuable piece to have on a website. So if you're a talent that's going to do not I mean I don't know any talent that just does broadcast I mean maybe some it's a very tiny few that just do broadcast, but that doesn't do non-broadcast as well. So I feel like that demo as a portfolio. I remember when you used to go on job interviews and you had to have things in your portfolio.  05:44 I mean, I did when I went on job interviews.  05:46 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) I had a portfolio. I did too, yes.  05:48 - Anne (Host) And this is really your portfolio and I think just like— Totally agree as anything right. Presentation is everything I'm all about. Presentation, yeah, Do you know what I mean? I do? Presentation in marketing, presentation in the way you dress, presentation where you present yourself to people. I think presentation for your product is important and that is your demo.  06:11 - Lau (Host) And thank you for qualifying that, because I was speaking from a commercial mindset and it is great to have it on your website. You really should have those on your website because you're going to get private clients, you're going to get audiobook clients, you're going to get all sorts of potential clients that need to hear samples of your work. In my world, every day I will ask for submissions, commercial demo submissions for the agency but how much we're actually using them in-house once we've accepted you into the agency?  06:43 - Anne (Host) is getting minimal. But you need one to get into the agency. Is that correct? For the most part, yeah, you do.  06:49 - Lau (Host) You do because otherwise we would just have you do random reads which we want to hear produced reads. So it makes sense to absolutely have that commercial demo. But be careful, like and we'll talk about that some of the tips about like what is in that that is working on your behalf and what is working against you.  07:08 - Anne (Host) Yeah, yeah.  07:09 Right, I mean, there, you know I'm going to say, first of all, anything that is not produced right. First of all, I mean we can talk the DIY. I mean the DIY is not typically produced because, again, you need, like, if you're going to put music under it, sound effects, you need a license for that to be, you know, to legally. You know, put something on your website and I feel like, if it's not produced, then it kind of tells people that you're just there in your home studio with a mic and you didn't want to put any sound effects or music under it, and so therefore, it's kind of like a half-finished product to me. Yes, and yes, it showcases your voice, but it also showcases that maybe you could be a hobbyist or that you are not making the investment to create a produced sample, which I think is important because, again, you know, it's everything. I mean the client needs to hear what your voice will sound like in a fully produced spot, I believe that I agree, and you know what I do.  08:06 - Lau (Host) When we're looking at bringing new talent, I typically make a habit of saying who produced your demo?  08:11 Now, a lot of agents won't ask that, but I do because I know the producers and I know who's who. So I'll ask them who produced your demo? That'll tell me one thing and then, well, they certainly have to send me a commercial demo. I find one of the biggest problems out there is they're sending me the wrong demo. They're sending me, say, you know, an animation demo, character demo, which I love because we're doing more animation jobs, but the bread and butter is still the commercial for most of us. And so you have to really target, like who are you sending your portfolio to and who are their clients, what kind of work do they represent? And send them the right demo, send them the most appropriate demo. Don't assume oh, I have four other demos, is that good enough?  08:52 - Anne (Host) Well, yeah, I mean like a corporate demo.  08:55 You're like you need a commercial demo first and foremost because that's where you as an agent make your money right In the broadcast, but non-broadcast but it's not to say that your agent won't hire you for a corporate job.  09:11 It's nice to have that corporate demo. I'm going to say that the rest of the demos outside of your com

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza and Tom Dheere share decades of combined experience, reflecting on the realities of voice acting career longevity. From the cassette tape demo era to today's digital age, the hosts emphasize that sustaining a career for 20+ years requires more than just talent—it demands resilience, strategic goal setting, and a deep sense of gratitude to combat the inevitable inconsistency of the industry.

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by the extraordinary Tina Marasco, Head of Casting at Sound and Fury, a respected coach, and the voice of HGTV's Love it or List it. With over three decades of experience spanning agency, acting, and casting, Tina offers indispensable casting director secrets for bridging the gap between a voice actor's truth and a client's real-world needs. 00:03 - Anne (Host) Hey VOBoss family Anne Ganguzza here as we wrap up the year. I just want to say thanks for being a part of this amazing community and because you bosses deserve a little holiday love, I'm giving you 10% off all demos and coaching through December 31st. Your demo discount is automatically applied and for coaching, just enter code COACHINGBFF at checkout. Treat yourself to some career growth this season at anneganguzzacom.  00:36 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  00:55 - Anne (Host) Hey, hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today I am thrilled to welcome the amazing Tina Marasco, head of casting at Sound and Fury, respected voiceover coach and the voice of HGTV's Love it or List it. With over two decades of experience as an agent, actor, casting director oh my gosh, everything. Tina brings an incredible perspective on what connects talent to opportunity, and that's, I think, what we're all looking for. So I think we're going to have a great talk about authenticity, longevity and how to basically bridge the gap between the actor's truth and a client's real-world needs, which is something that I think is so important for us to get that perspective. So, tina, thank you, thank you, thank you. I know you're important for us to get that perspective. So, tina, thank you, thank you, thank you I know you're busy for joining me.  01:50 - Tina (Guest) Oh my gosh, Thank you so much for having me.  01:58 - Anne (Host) I'm very excited to be with you. I know I'm really excited, so let's talk about how it all started. I mean, you have worn so many different hats agent, actor, casting director, coach when did you start with? What did you start with? How much time do we have?  02:10 - Tina (Guest) It's like when blind doors roam the earth. I started in the William Morris mailroom in New York City in like the 90s. Okay, the heyday of you know the wild agent life Pushing the mail cart somehow. Wow, yeah, no, I was literally like doing the swimming with sharks situation and floated all over. I was in a bunch of different departments and then ultimately landed in the commercial department and my then, like, everything was lumped together. So VO on camera, soaps, they were all lumped together and my boss was the VO Maven.  02:49 Her name is Carol Baker and she's not in the business anymore, but I didn't even know what a voiceover was when I sat on that desk and it's funny because, like Terry Berlan was a casting director in New York at the time, so I was like an assistant and Terry would be calling in breakdowns and now we're both casting directors in LA. It just it feels like 72 lifetimes ago. So my, my boss, you know, basically taught me everything there was to know about voiceover and then I spent three years there, then flipped over to ICM in New York and that's really where I cut my teeth, because ICM does not have a scale voiceover department, meaning people like you and me auditioning. They only represented celebrities. So when I went over there they tasked me to start the department.  03:37 So I started from scratch. I had not a single client and went out every night to Broadway and off Broadway and performance art and you know comedy clubs and I say this all the time like my bartender at the Raccoon Lodge ended up being Sally Winters and like one of the biggest voices of the last couple of decades. So I would find talent from all different walks of performance life, bring them into our studio at ICM and kind of teach them how to do it. So that's kind of how I learned, and that's how I learned how to produce demos because nobody had any recorded material, so for us to sort of send it out and announce our department. I produced like 60 demos for our agency reel and it was literally like thrown into the fire and figured it out, ladies.  04:28 - Anne (Host) So but it worked out. That is so impressive because you pretty much built it from the ground up and you basically learned everything along the way, and I love that. I kind of think I always describe myself as I just learned by the seat of my pants, because it's like here, here's the job, do it, and then you've just okay, well, here we go. But I think that probably prepared you for a long career in doing this. I mean, I would imagine that you love what you do because you're still doing it.  05:00 - Tina (Guest) I do. And then I took a very circuitous route. I left being an agent and somehow got struck by lightning and decided I wanted to be an actor.  05:09 So I went back to graduate school for acting for three years kind of like hid away and got all of that training. And then I, the scenes voiceover Sure Paired with my newly you know tuned voice and speech training and my acting training, voiceover was sort of like the natural next progression for my performing career. Oh, absolutely yeah. So I, you know, got an agent right away and started working right away and then was really chasing on camera pretty hard. Like my goal was to be like a series regular on a sitcom, like that was the dream. And you know I did a zillion guest stars but I just never got that. You know, like that regular, regular role.  05:54 And all along the way voiceover was always like my steady boyfriend. It was always like it was always there, it was always giving me a hug and you know, finally I was like why am I treating you like you're you know this side piece over here Like I should really nurture this relationship a little bit more. And so I really started focusing hard on that and all along the way I've always coached. And then eight years ago, almost coming up on eight years, I partnered with Sound and Fury and went to the casting side of things. But I still act sometimes and I still do voiceover, but mostly right now I am coaching and casting that is kind of my day-to-day regimen.  06:37 - Anne (Host) So what brought you into the casting part of it? Was it just something that was an opportunity that presented itself, or it was something that you had always wanted to get into?  06:46 - Tina (Guest) Yeah, it was kind of serendipitous. So Carly Silver, who was my agent at Atlas, left Atlas to go to Sound and Fury, like maybe a year or so before this happened. And she was, she knew she was going to be going on maternity leave and really it was just her and the owner of the company, Jill Kershaw, and they really needed somebody to cover for her. And you know, so it was presented to me as can you just cover for like three months? You sort of have the skill set and yeah, and I was like sure I'll give it a shot. And I really was so naive I really thought I was gonna be sitting in my pajamas and be like, oh, this sounds good, this sounds good, this sounds good. And then the fury of Sound and Fury raged into my life and I came how?  07:34 - Anne (Host) appropriate for the name.  07:36 - Tina (Guest) It's not like a cute little, you know, kind of on the side, it is a full time commitment and so I remember like thinking, gosh, I don't know if I'm going to make it through three months of this Like how. Like, how does anybody like do this all day? And it's been eight years so. But we have the best team in the business, like our. It's all women, we are so well-oiled and I mean that sounded kind of funny, but I completely got where you're going but we have such a great powerhouse team and it just makes a pretty.  08:20 You know, I wouldn't say it's difficult, it's not brain surgery, but it is a pretty laborious process what we go through and it just makes it so joyful and fun and collaborative because everybody on our team is so fantastic.  08:34 - Anne (Host) Well, I think you know, for most talent in the industry, what they lack is that, that perception or that education about what really goes on in casting, that perception or that education about what really goes on in casting. So, from your perspective, tell me about like a typical day for you casting a project and what is all involved, because I think for us, we absolutely need to understand it in order for us to, I think, do better and be more successful.  08:59 - Tina (Guest) Yeah, and I would love to. I would love for actors to know all of you know what goes on behind the scenes. So every time we start a project, no matter how big or small, we do a creative call with the ad agency creative team and you know we spend a good amount of time on Zoom with them, sort of you know, trying to dissect every little detail and nuance we can get out of them as to how, what they want to hear in their perfect voiceover. And you know, on that call we hear consistently, no matter how high profile the project or how small and like it's a first time, you know, advertiser, they all want the same thing. They all want. They always say, and the answer is yes.  09:42 The reason we're paying you to cast this and we're not doing it ourselves is because we really want you to find people who sound like they've never done voiceover before.  09:49 Now that does not mean give it to your drunk uncle at Thanksgiving and expect him to be able to work his way through the copy, right? What they really mean is they want everything to sound exactly like you and I are conversing right now. What actors don't realize is that the conversational sound that everybody's kind of cultivated has just become another b

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by Danielle Famble and special guest Jennifer Clark (Host of Human Kindness at Work podcast) for a Boss Money Talk Series crossover episode. They explore the profound impact of charitable giving. This episode demonstrates that giving—whether time, money, or relationships—is not just good for the soul; it's a strategic act that combats hopelessness, strengthens local ties, and creates powerful networking opportunities for your voiceover business.   00:01 - Anne (Host) Hey guys, Anne Ganguzza here. Imagine a voiceover journey where every step is filled with discovery and growth. That's the path I want to work on with you, through nurturing coaching and creative demo production. Let's unveil the true potential of your voice together. It's not just about the destination, it's about the gorgeous journey getting there. Are you ready to take the first step? Connect with me at anneganguzza.com.  00:32 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, anne Ganguza.  00:51 - Anne (Host) Hey, hey, everyone, welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Boss Money Talk series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguza,z and today's show is a very special crossover moment. I'm joined by my regular Boss Money Talks co-host, Danielle Famble, financial strategist, voice actor and the person who keeps our boss business brains sharp. Yay, yay, hey, Anne, hey, and we're teaming up with the amazing Jennifer Clark, a powerhouse voice actor and the host of the Human Kindness at Work podcast. Today, we're going to talk about the power of giving, how it fuels mental wellness, strengthens our brand and builds real community in the voiceover world and beyond. And we'll also be talking about 100 Voices who Care, which is a charitable organization led by these two powerhouses that supports local communities by combining donations to impact local charities. So let's get into it, ladies. Thank you so, so much for joining me today. Thanks for having us.  01:48 - Speaker 4 (Host) Anne.  01:48 - Anne (Host) Yay, I'm very, very excited to talk to you guys about this, because I think this is something that it exists and every time there seems to be, let's say, possible issues in the community or you know people that need help, we get those GoFundMes, we get people who talk about, you know, donating to charities and stuff like that, and I think it's something that we need to really talk about more, about how it can affect us in a positive manner and also how it can affect our businesses. So let's maybe start by talking about the psychology of donating and giving. And, jennifer, I know, in your Human Kindness podcast you which is wonderful, by the way, guys, you absolutely must tune into that you talk to people all the time about giving and human kindness, and so what are your thoughts about you know, what are the benefits of giving?  02:43 - Speaker 4 (Host) Well, I'm not a doctor, but I can speak as someone who has been, you know, intentionally giving for most of my life, and as I'm talking to guests who are really active in their community and showing human kindness at work. What I see in myself and in people that I'm talking to is that it does something for our mental health. It's really easy to look at the world, especially right now, and you wake up every day and there's another crazy thing going on. The world is constantly on fire and it's really easy to get depressed fast. I mean, that's the fastest ticket to depression, right? Just read the news, right and we lose sight of all the really good things that are going on in the world. We lose sight of the really good people that there are.  03:36 Being a part of giving is like linking arms and finding all those people in your local community and the world at large that are doing the work. They're trying to bring change, and it's really uplifting. It's one of those things I don't know what it's called, but it's kind of like when you're looking for something you know when I wanted to buy a new vehicle, I had never seen anybody drive this vehicle and then all of a sudden, when I was like I want a Volkswagen Atlas. I saw it everywhere, Absolutely everywhere. And it's the same with giving. When you look around and you're like man, nobody is doing anything, Nobody is getting involved. In my community, Nonprofits are suffering. But then you start getting involved, you will make connections like crazy and you'll start seeing all of the good and it is so uplifting. It really does change your perspective.  04:34 - Anne (Host) Oh, absolutely I can imagine, because, especially now, just with the craziness, as you mentioned, of the world, and there's a lot of times when I will open up my social media and then, oh my goodness, just start reading or the news and I just start to feel hopeless and what can I do? What can I do? First of all, to feel, because it's making me feel bad and not like I don't know, functional in a lot of ways, and I want to be able to help and I don't know how to help. And I think this is one way that we can focus on something that can absolutely make a big difference in our lives and, of course, other people's lives as well, and to be able to connect with people who are doing good in the world. That gives me hope.  05:25 - Speaker 4 (Host) And I think sometimes we look at problems and it's so overwhelming and we think we have to reinvent the wheel, Like oh. I got to start a nonprofit or fix the solution. There are already boots on the ground that are doing work. So making a difference, giving of yourself your time, your resources, your energy, doesn't have to be hard. It's just a matter of finding something that you want to give yourself to, and don't reinvent the wheel, just join into the good work that's already going on. Yeah.  05:56 - Speaker 3 (Host) It kind of reminds me of that.  05:57 I think the quote is attributed to Mr Rogers, or maybe Mr Rogers did the quote from someone else, but the look for the helpers quote I was.  06:07 I was speaking with a friend of mine who we were both sort of commiserating about what was going on in the world and how frustrating it is, you know, with money being pulled from certain social organizations and that's their lifeline, and she worked for one of those organizations and she was like of those organizations and she was like you know, we can get upset about it, we can get mad about it, we can feel hopeless about it. Or you can look for the helpers. You can look for the people who are out there like you said, jennifer boots, on the ground doing the good work, and it changes your psychology to see, okay, these are the possibilities, this is what's out there, these are the people who are already doing the work. How can I help them? And when you can look at that and you can find that pattern, recognition of people helping the helpers, then you can figure out how you can put your hand behind the plow and do something too.  06:58 - Anne (Host) What do you think are the things that stop people from either looking for this or from donating? And, of course, I think one of the biggest things that people will say is but I don't have any money. I don't have the money to donate. I can barely keep myself surviving in today's world. What do you say to that?  07:17 - Speaker 4 (Host) I would say we have to look beyond just finances. Financial giving is really important, especially for local nonprofits, but we have so much to give. You have to look at yourself as a whole. So you have energy, you have time, which I think are your two greatest resources, and you have money. You have relationships. So, looking at those four areas of your life, where can you give in those time, energy, money, relationships? And if you really are, I've been in times of your life. Where can you give in those time, energy, money, relationships? And if you really are, I've been in times of my life I am strapped for cash. You know, my husband was unemployed a few years ago, like it was super tight. So I get it. There are legitimate times that you don't have any extra money, but you still have time, energy relationships that you can give to.  08:19 - Anne (Host) So I would say look at that whole picture, not just your pocketbook their energy or their relationships because I love that you mentioned relationships too, because connecting with people who may have at the time the financial resources to help or other methods and sources to help is also a wonderful way to give back.  08:40 - Speaker 3 (Host) Yeah, social capital is a huge one because you never know what that connection that you are making between two people or groups or organizations, what that will do and that will yield in their life.  08:54 So that's a huge one, even looking outside of the box.  08:58 I was just reading a story about a woman who was at a park with her kids and noticed that there were some kids who didn't seem like they were being attended to by an adult and, instead of making an assumption, what she decided to do was essentially just take care of those kids for a little bit of time.  09:16 And she was offering her time as a resource, as essentially child care, and not making an assumption about what was happening with the parents or anything else in their situation. She was like, ok, I'm a safe place, I'm a safe person and I can provide some, some respite for these parents who may be further away, who need a little bit of time away. And she did that and that was her way of giving back. And she, when she was explaining it to me, or when she was explaining it and I was reading about that story it's not something I think that people think about off the top of their head Like, oh, this time that I have, or the ability to care, is a resource like do an inventory and audit

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza and Lau Lapides explore a core challenge for every voice actor: managing personal emotions and moods to deliver a consistent, authentic performance. The Bosses delve into how easily actors can slip into autopilot or let personal frustration compromise a read. This episode provides practical acting methodologies to help you discipline your thoughts, shift your emotional state on demand, and utilize your entire emotional range to serve the story.   00:00 - Anne (Host) Hey Boss, listeners, Anne Ganguzza here. Leveraging years of expertise in the voiceover industry, I offer coaching and award-winning demo production that embodies excellence. I am dedicated to your success. Let's work together to get your career to where you've always wanted it to be. Visit anneganguzza.com to find out more.  00:24 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  00:43 - Anne (Host) Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast and the Boss Superpower Series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am here with Superpower co-host Laura Lapidus. Yay, thank you, annie. I love being called a superpower. Well, I'll tell you what your shirt is so colorful today. I love it.  01:06 - Lau (Guest) Yeah, I'm feeling like this blue is putting me in a certain mood. You know, getting me very moody, but not in a blue mood, more in a hot mood.  01:15 - Anne (Host) Yeah, it's blue and flowers, so there's kind of like a cult, like a culmination of moods, maybe I thought you were going to say a cult.  01:22 - Lau (Guest) No, not a cult, but more of a comedy, more of likes, maybe I thought you were going to say a cult.  01:33 - Anne (Host) No, not a cult, but more of a comedy, More of like artistic meets, comedy meets, I don't know, meets like hot diva thing, oh my gosh. Well, you know that's funny. I'm always so thankful to talk to you, Law, because you're always so positive and upbeat and happy.  01:41 And you know it's interesting because I, as you know, I mean I work with a lot of students and a lot of them that are working full time and then doing voiceover part time, and so they've got, or they've got life happening you know life you know, life, life can happen, life happens and I'll tell you what your mood and how you are dealing with the day can so affect your reads, because I'll have some people that'll be like, yeah, I did it last night, after you know, I came home from work and I'm like, well, yeah, I can tell, because you were exhausted or did you have a bad day, because it actually reflects in your read and I thought it'd be great to talk about how your mood affects your performance.  02:30 I mean, it seems so obvious and we just say, yeah, your mood affects your performance, but maybe it affects it more than you even know, because a lot of times I feel like we go on autopilot. When we're in a certain mood, or we don't want to deal with certain things, or you know, we're not going to acknowledge certain feelings, we then compartmentalize, and we don't always compartmentalize in a way that's helpful for our performance.  02:53 - Lau (Guest) So true. And you know, I first thought about mood as a young, young kid, really, when I was being trained in the theater. I would have directors that would say for rehearsal, leave your trash at the door. Don't worry about it, it'll be there to pick up on your way out.  03:11 - Anne (Host) Leave your trash.  03:12 - Lau (Guest) What does that mean? And meaning that to discipline yourself in the workspace, you cannot bring in every feeling, every thought and every mood that you're walking in with. You have to leave it behind and come into that neutral discipline space.  03:28 - Anne (Host) Unless.  03:28 - Lau (Guest) maybe you're using it to create a character Unless you're channeling it, but even so it's like can you move in and out of it?  03:37 - Anne (Host) That's tough to do. Yeah, that's tough to do.  03:40 - Lau (Guest) Yeah, or is it so adopted in you, so inside of you, that you can't see it? You no longer have the self-awareness to see the mood that you're in.  04:03 - Anne (Host) They're like no, I thought it thought it was great. And then, in reality, I'm like you were tired, weren't you? You know, or you were exhausted, or you were frustrated, or and sometimes it'll become it'll come out right in the first few words I'm like you hate this script, don't you? It's like, well, I had a bad day and so, yeah, being able to compartmentalize or put that aside. And then the probably, I would say, the biggest problem for me in the niches that I teach is that it's. You can start off in one mood. You can say, ok, I've got to be positive, I got to get my energy up, and because I've had a long day, and so let me get my energy up. And then you've got it up for a couple of seconds and then, and then, all of a sudden, you go into autopilot and you lose track of the fact that you got out of right, you got out of that energy and you just went on autopilot. I think going on autopilot is like 90% of the problems in, let's say, long format narration anyways.  04:58 - Lau (Guest) Yeah, and also really being able to you know, with your analysis that you're doing of your script, it's really being able to pinpoint what is the mood of the story, how does the tonality change, not just the writing of it and the language of it, but also the rhythmic cadence of it and the musicality of it. What is happening with the mood? Because, as actors, if we don't have mood, if we don't understand mood and there's no mood to it, then we completely lose our momentum. There's no momentum without mood.  05:28 - Anne (Host) And I love how. All right, so now we just took it from our mood to the script and the script's mood, and that's a really important, I think, factor to consider, because not only do we have to put aside any mood that might be detrimental to our performance, but we also have to read the mood of the script and then apply a point of view that would equal the mood of the script in order to serve it. You know, properly, really, and the mood doesn't just happen at the beginning of the script.  05:58 The mood is all throughout the script and it changes which I think is so important to understand that it changes and you need to figure out how it's changing. You can't just assume that you're going to be happy from the first sentence all the way to the end, because a good story, right, there's always an evolution of. You know, you start off maybe questioning or concerned or hey, what's the best solution for this? And then, all of a sudden, the discovery right, you start learning about this product or you realize how this product has helped, and then you become more excited about it and then you want to share that with that listener. So it's an evolving story and I think if you don't analyze that script for the evolving mood, yeah, you're not doing it justice.  06:38 - Lau (Guest) And so many VOs, I think certainly at the early stages of voiceover, really miss the point of when a coach might say oh, who are you speaking to? Where are you at. It just becomes a pedestrian and saying oh, I'm talking to a best friend or I'm talking to my teacher, and then they leave it at that. But they don't realize that not only is that specific in terms of your environment and how you behave and the mood that you're in when you walk in a doctor's office, for instance.  07:07 But each doctor is different. Doctors are not the same, they're different people. So how many voiceover talent really investigate the depths of let's say, who am I talking to, or where am I, or what's happening, because of the kind of tones and moods that it's going to shift you into?  07:27 - Anne (Host) Well, yeah, because you would talk to your doctor a whole lot different than you would talk to your friend and the whole, the whole thing in casting where it says like you're talking to your best friend, right. I think that kind of did a disservice to a lot of voice actors who took that at face value and did not realize that the intention behind that was simply to get you to not sound like a commercial or sound like you're trying to sell somebody something. And I think it doesn't, because I have I have a number of students are like OK, so I'm talking to my friend Sue and I'm like but Sue doesn't care about, sue doesn't care about Lincoln Financial, like Sue uses Bank of America. So you have to really figure out who is it that you're talking to that's interested and can benefit from the topic that you're talking to.  08:16 And it may not be your best friend, sue, like I always use SAP as an example. Like Sue doesn't even know what SAP is right, and so how can you talk to Sue about it? Because she's gonna be like what, what is SAP? Why do I care about it? And it's hard to talk to somebody in a scene, right as an actor, when it's not relevant to them, and so who you are talking to is so, so important. Talking to your doctor is much different than talking to your best friend, betty.  08:43 - Lau (Guest) And not getting complacent or lethargic or lazy about stopping at finding out the information. Now we have to go into the emotional mindset of the person in the situation. Sure, it's not enough to just know where I am or who I'm speaking to. I have to know in context what we're discussing and how I feel about. That's where your point of view comes in and also how it shapes the whole scene like where you start and where you end up should be a very different place. Oh yeah, In terms of mood.  09:16 - Anne (Host) Absolutely the mood. The mood shifts and and ultimately I love that you mentioned about like it's. It's not necessarily about you and how you sound when you're delivering that information. It's about how what you'

Anne Ganguzza and Tom Dheere share decades of combined experience in this insightful episode, dedicated to the long view of a voice acting career. Having been in the industry since the cassette and CD demo era, the hosts emphasize that longevity is achieved not through linear steps, but through resilience, strategic adaptation, and continuous self-improvement. The discussion provides a candid look at why the work never stops, the necessity of community, and the critical importance of mastering the mental game.   00:00 - Anne (Host) Hey bosses, Anne Ganguzza here. Are you ready to take the next step in your voiceover career? At Anne Ganguzza Productions, I specialize in target marketed coaching and demo production that gets you booked. If you're thinking about elevating your performance or creating an awesome demo, check me out at anneganguzza.com.  00:22 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  00:41 - Anne (Host) Hey, hey everyone. Welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Real Bosses series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with the one and only illustrious Mr Tom Dheere, real Boss.  00:54 - Tom (Host) Hi everybody, hi Anne hey.  00:56 - Anne (Host) Tom, how are?  00:57 - Tom (Host) you. I'm doing pretty good, if I'm not mistaken, haven't you, didn't you just have an anniversary?  01:03 - Anne (Host) I did Just celebrated 25 years with my hubby whoa. It seems like yesterday. I swear to god, 25 years just went so fast that's amazing and uh, and you, just, you just were telling me about your blogiversary how long have you been blogging? 17 years oh my god, tom that blogging, I mean I've been blogging for a you been blogging 17 years. Oh my God, tom, blogging, I mean I've been blogging for a while, but blogging for 17 years is insane.  01:31 - Tom (Host) Thank you.  01:31 - Anne (Host) Wow, you must have really good SEO. That's all I got to say.  01:35 - Tom (Host) I would like to yeah. Yeah, my SEO is pretty good.  01:37 - Anne (Host) Yeah, we would like to think that you have good SEO, but, wow, so long term relationships. You know it makes me think about voiceover, because I have been in voiceover just about as long Not quite as long as I've been married to my husband, but you know, 21 years, and it's. It's incredible. I feel like I just started, but yet I don't, because it is and we always talk about it being a marathon, not a sprint and I think you've been in voiceover longer than me.  02:03 - Tom (Host) Yes, I decided I wanted to be a voice actor in 1994.  02:09 - Anne (Host) Wow yeah. And then I got my commercial demo. Some people were born in 1994.  02:14 - Tom (Host) Not me, I know.  02:17 - Anne (Host) Yeah, some of my students haven't been born.  02:19 - Tom (Host) Some bosses listening to this are going to be like, I was born in 1994. I know, or 2004. And then I got my commercial demo in 1995 and I booked my first voiceover in 1996. And I went full time as a voice actor in 2005 and started coaching in 2011. So I've been-.  02:39 - Anne (Host) Oh, I started coaching just shortly before you. Yeah, yeah, just a little bit longer, because then we started coaching just shortly before you. Yeah, yeah, just a little bit longer, because then because we met shortly thereafter at Voice 2012.  02:49 - Tom (Host) Oh my goodness, we already knew each other, but I don't think we met.  02:52 - Anne (Host) Yeah, but I remember we.  02:54 - Tom (Host) I definitely remember we hung out at Voice 2012, which was 13 years ago. Oh my gosh.  02:59 - Anne (Host) Woo At Disneyland. You know so and it's funny because we talk about you know how long have you been in voiceover and how long did it take you to become successful in voiceover? Well, I always say you know, my overnight success took many, many years. So I think and I think it's something that a lot of people don't understand, especially those that are intrigued by this industry you know thinking that, oh yeah, it's, I can stay at home, I can do this. You know thinking that, oh yeah, it's, I can stay at home, I can do this. You know, I can buy the mic. It'll cost me a few hundred dollars and then I can just start booking jobs and making money.  03:32 And I think really for I know we talk about all the time, but I think I want to have a whole episode dedicated to the realities of having a long view career and the fact that it is something that you have to be in for the long run if you truly want to be successful at it. I mean, of course, you could be in it for a couple of years and then, if you don't like it, you get out. But most people I know want to make a good, they want to be successful at it, they want to make a good living. So let's talk about what it's like to be in voiceover for a long time and what it looks like, because it's certainly not like a corporate job. I am a corporate girl and came from corporate and then education, and I certainly was not handed a paycheck every other week in this full-time voiceover job. That's for sure, because it's a much different, much different industry. It's our own businesses.  04:22 - Tom (Host) I have the luxury of being able to zoom out and look at 30 years of being in the voiceover business, where when I started, you know, they just segued out of reel to reels and started using plastic cassette tapes. So I'm of the cassette tape generation of voice actors that started in the mid 90s and now we are. I was CDs, you were CDs, so you were, just I was CDs.  04:51 - Anne (Host) Yeah, shortly after the cassettes came the CDs.  04:53 - Tom (Host) Just as CDs came out and then, a few years after the CDs, came the MP3.  04:57 - Anne (Host) Yeah, and it was a thing, because I remember the burning of the CDs was like, oh God, who do I get to do that for me?  05:03 - Tom (Host) I did it myself.  05:04 - Anne (Host) Yeah, well, that was before. Right CD burners came out and now you know you can have a CD. I had a duplication company that I did all my cassettes through and then started doing the CDs.  05:14 - Tom (Host) There, you go and then I was like wait a minute.  05:20 - Anne (Host) I can print my own labels.  05:21 - Tom (Host) using Avery, I can burn my own CDs, stick it in the tray and my desktop.  05:25 - Anne (Host) I was one of those people. I got that. The stamp thing where you push it down, you stamp your label on the CD and that was like, oh my gosh.  05:33 - Tom (Host) Oh, now I feel old. Now we're getting really anachronistic and alienating ourselves.  05:37 - Anne (Host) That was like. That was like that. That was the coolest. That was the peas knees.  05:40 - Tom (Host) That was kind of fun.  05:42 - Anne (Host) I love that little stamper. That was awesome, it was.  05:46 - Tom (Host) But anyway, so, yeah, so looking back and zooming out and looking at what are the realities of what you need to have a long VO career, I mean it starts with training. It absolutely starts with training. I'm a theater-trained actor. I went to college and then I did a little graduate work at a place called the National Shakespeare Conservatory that used to be here in New York City. So I got like hardcore theater training about body and mind and spirit and voice and engaging. I had great voice coaches, I had ballet coach, chekhov coach, like all this stuff. That really gave me a very, very, very solid, solid foundation. Gave me a very, very, very solid, solid foundation. So if you want so the so step one. If you want longevity in the voiceover industry, if you want a long career, you got to start with very solid training performance training, voiceover training, genre training, so you can be demo ready.  06:38 - Anne (Host) I didn't realize you you had been a theater trained. Yes, I did. How did I not know that about you, Tom? And I know I've known you for a long time it doesn't come.  06:45 - Tom (Host) I mean, it was so long ago, Wow.  06:47 - Anne (Host) Do you miss it? Do you still do it or do you miss it?  06:50 - Tom (Host) No, I haven't been on a stage in almost 25 years. When I discovered voiceover after I dropped out of the conservatory for reasons we will not get into as soon as I discovered voiceover I was like, oh, that's where I need to be and that's where, also, I can take all of that training that I did on stage and I had a little bit of on camera. I had a little bit of TV and a little bit of film experience very, very little bit like extra work on 30 Rock and things like that.  07:25 You know that's that sort of that. You know if you blink you'll miss me, that sort of thing. But that turned into that inhabited me. As I'll put it to you this way, that sort of training, theater training, it's like pro wrestling, like it's large gestures, projecting, you know, into an audience and then voiceovers is is boxing. It's very, it's very intimate and it's very, it's very, very close.  07:51 Um, so that all that great theater training, I had to obviously learn to make adjustments and turn from this very open, broad presentation, presentational type of acting to this very intimate, one-on-one, you know, doing this, this kind of acting. And I use that training, consciously or unconsciously, every every day, 30 years later, but, like I, I definitely attribute a big, I credit a large part of my longevity as a voice actor to the performance training that I got and I had a great voiceover coach uh, who's no longer, who's with us Um, she really set me on the path to understanding the difference between theater acting and film acting and voice, voice acting, and you know it gave me all kinds of exercises and stuff and you know I recorded. I still have the cassette demo to this day. Um, but that training I still have it. Uh, I whip it out once in a while on a, on a, on a at a conferenc

Anne Ganguzza sits down with Billy Collura, a powerhouse agent with over 30 years at CESD New York. Billy shares his unique perspective on the dramatic evolution of the voice acting industry, from the early days of union-only radio spots to the current market dominated by non-union and digital opportunities. This conversation provides essential insight into the biggest voice acting trends that have shaped the industry and reveals the simple, authentic quality that makes a voice actor successful today. 00:03 - Anne (Host) Hey guys, it's Anne from VO Boss here.  00:06 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) And it's George the Tech. We're excited to tell you about the VO Boss. Vip membership, now with even more benefits.  00:12 - Anne (Host) So not only do you get access to exclusive workshops and industry insights, but with our VIP plus tech tier, you'll enjoy specialized tech support from none other than George himself.  00:23 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) You got it. I'll help you tackle all those tricky tech issues so you can focus on what you do best Voice acting. It's tech support tailored for voiceover professionals like you.  00:34 - Anne (Host) Join us guys at VO Boss and let's make your voiceover career soar. Visit vobosscom slash VIP-membership to sign up today.  00:43 - Speaker 3 (Announcement) Slash VIP-membership to sign up today. It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss, a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  01:08 - Anne (Host) Hey everyone, Welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today I am thrilled to welcome someone who truly defines what it means to be a powerhouse in the voiceover industry. With more than 30 years at CESD New York, Billy Collura has been at the forefront of commercials and beyond, representing talent with a direct and grounded approach that has earned him the trust of clients and voice actors alike. I think it's fair to say that he doesn't just follow the changes in the business. He really helps to shape them. So, Billy, I am so excited to have you here on the podcast.  01:44 - Billy (Host) Thank you for asking me. Yeah, this is so nice, yeah.  01:47 - Anne (Host) Yeah, I love it, and of course we're like on opposite coasts here, so you're on my home coast and so I do miss New York quite a bit and we did have a little.  01:58 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) How often do you get out here, pardon me, do you get out here often?  02:00 - Billy (Host) Do you ever get out. You know what?  02:01 - Anne (Host) Not as often as I should. I really have now started to say I'm only coming out during the warm season because I'm done with the snow. Yeah, I hear you. But I would imagine like do you travel like elsewhere in the wintertime in New York, Because I know I stay here.  02:22 - Billy (Host) I travel a lot in general um during the course of the year, but um you know, I right now I'm upstate in well. I'm up in the Hudson Valley and in the city of Hudson, which is two hours North of Manhattan, so I go back and forth Um in the winter time. No, I'm usually, I don't know, I'm usually in the Northeast sometimes.  02:43 - Anne (Host) Okay, Are you a skier? Are you a skier? No, absolutely not, Absolutely not. That was, that was what a lot. What kept a lot of people on the East coast? Um, in my area anyways, they're like oh no, I have to be able to ski in the winter.  02:56 - Billy (Host) No, I don't like the cold.  02:57 - Anne (Host) Well, I have a. I have a mountaineer in California, Uh huh.  03:00 - Billy (Host) Uh-huh.  03:02 - Anne (Host) Oh my gosh. Well, anyways, it's so nice to see you again. It's been a while. I saw you at VO Atlanta and I'm just really thrilled that I have the opportunity to talk to you. I know how busy you are, but I'm just so excited that the bosses are going to get this opportunity to really benefit from your wisdom. And so, benefiting from the wisdom speaking of that, you've been at CESD for over three decades. Um, that's, that's amazing. So how would you say that your role as an agent has evolved during that time?  03:37 - Billy (Host) Well, you know like it started when I started. Um, it'll be. Um, it'll be 32 years in May. Oh my gosh, when I started, voiceover was a smaller industry and I dabbled in a little bit of everything, okay.  03:55 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) I did commercials.  03:57 - Billy (Host) There really wasn't. There was no internet back then. So we did radio and TV commercials and industrials and I'm not even sure cable was around when.  04:08 - Anne (Host) I started. I hear you. You know we didn't have computers, any of that.  04:13 - Billy (Host) So we did a little bit of everything. And then, you know, and promos, promos were a thing, and narration and trailers, and so, you know, we did a little bit of all of that. And then, as the industry kept getting bigger and bigger, we started specializing. And all of a sudden, in animation, I dabbled in gaming, but I also, you know, but pretty much my focus was commercials, because that's where the money is, you know, and that was the day where it was just, you know, it was just TV and radio, and you made the actors made a lot of money. Yeah, it was only union, we only worked on union jobs. And now fast forward to now, where 60% to 70% of my desk is non-union. We started doing non-union in 2019. Okay, the union opportunities have pretty much dried up, and I say that, but it's ebb and flow.  05:22 I mean right now this year it was a slow summer for some reason. It was like the old days, it was really slow and I mean that union and non-union. And then I go away on vacation and it just like exploded while I was away and I've been and since then I've been playing catch up and it's been so busy with union, lots of union stuff with non union. Yeah, so it's been great there.  05:49 Yeah. So I mean that's changed and I guess for me what's changed for me is because now I specialize much more on commercials. I do have a few non-union accounts, but I have my large union study accounts, steady accounts. Um, so most of my work, uh is you know, is in the commercial world. I also happen to handle the audio books, but I always say I'm not an audio book agent. I'm the agent at CESD that handles the audio books.  06:18 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) So it's a little difference.  06:20 - Billy (Host) Um so, but the audio book, what I do love about it. You know an an an agent who left um cause she was having. She got married and had babies and she said, take the audio books. They're the nicest people in the world. And I got to say they really are, and so I've kept it.  06:36 I love it. The people are so nice. Um, I really, really enjoy it. So that you know, so I I've been doing that. I also do ADR and loop group stuff, again very specialized, and there really aren't a lot of industrials. Now I know some of the other. I'm one of five, six agents in the department and then there's another two agents that work with agencies that cater to medical industrials.  07:04 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) So they're doing I don't do personally.  07:05 - Billy (Host) I don't do a lot of industrials. I think a lot of the industrials have gone to the pay-to-play sites, so but the union stuff, the medical ones, they are still at the big agencies. I just personally don't happen to have those. I would say maybe the commercial aspect of right Healthcare like pharmaceuticals and that sort of thing is huge and more and more of those blue chip companies are going non-union and those rates are you know.  07:34 - Anne (Host) Sure. What do you attribute that? Why is that happening? What do?  07:39 - Billy (Host) you attribute it to is when it started, when digital work started happening, and these great companies, the Droga5s and there was so many, that's just the first one they were doing great work with the digital work. You know, they were just with stuff before even streaming, when they were just doing they were making commercials for digital work and they were doing fine work. They were doing really good work and these companies, these blue chip companies, were saying, hey, you did that for this much money, why don't you just take all of our network stuff? And that's how I remember, like 10, 12 years ago, a large fast food chain started going, you know, went totally non-union. And then the large fast food chain started going, went totally non-union.  08:25 Then there would be some that because they had a celebrity voice on certain spots, and then they would get a third party and more and more I feel like these agencies, these digital agencies, just kept getting better and better at it and the actors were getting better and better at it. And it's not like the cable stations that you see up here that you know these infomercial things that you know that you can tell it's non-union. You know I've fallen and I can't get up kind of stuff. These. They're doing great work.  08:56 - Anne (Host) I can't tell, are they doing great work because they have great actors or are they doing great work because the entire production value of it?  09:05 - Billy (Host) Yes.  09:06 - Anne (Host) Yes, yes, you know, people are getting better at it.  09:09 - Billy (Host) The voiceover people certainly, and it's not even I mean the voiceover so many people. Covid just changed the game and everybody you know voiceover was the one business in town that didn't shut down during.  09:23 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) COVID.  09:24 - Anne (Host) And every I always say every jaboni with a mic, you know, just set up a studio at home and said I'm going to do voiceover, and not only you know they were well-established Broadway and TV and film you know everybody was doing it and that's and that's so interesting because I would say the majority of people that you know cause I was I was super busy

The sensible and lovely Danielle Famble joins BOSS Anne Ganguzza to discuss a critical, often-overlooked aspect of running a voiceover business: disaster preparedness and maintaining operations during times of crisis. Using Danielle's personal experience of a sudden apartment flood, the hosts outline the necessary steps for every voice actor to ensure both physical and financial resilience.   00:01 - Speaker 1 (Announcement) Hey, if you're looking to take your podcast to the next level, my podcast consultation coaching services teach you how to sound more authentic, develop smart strategies and market your show effectively. Let's elevate your podcast together. Visit anneganguzza.com to get started.  00:20 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level the boss level. It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss, a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host.  00:37 - Anne (Host) Anne Ganguzza. Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast and the Boss Money Talk Series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am here with the sensible and lovely Danielle Famble.  00:50 - Danielle (Guest) Hey Anne, sensible and lovely, that's me.  00:53 - Speaker 1 (Announcement) Sensible and lovely. Danielle, oh Danielle, how are you?  00:56 - Danielle (Guest) I'm all right. I'm okay. It's been a little crazy in my world, but I'm doing all right. How about you?  01:05 - Anne (Host) Well it's been. I think it's just been crazy in my world. But I'm doing all right. How about you? Well it's been.  01:08 I think it's just been crazy in the world, but you know, that's a, that's a that's a long discussion, but you know there's been a lot of crazy weather events that have been happening and and unfortunate, unfortunate disasters, and you know, because you're so sensible and ever prepared, Danielle, maybe we should talk about being prepared for your business and disaster, and what do we need to do to be prepared in order to keep our businesses afloat and operational?  01:38 - Danielle (Guest) That's a really good point. I have recently been through needing to be prepared and actually I have this booth as part of my preparedness and needing to be prepared out of really out of nowhere. We may have talked about this in other episodes, but my apartment flooded and I had to leave my home pretty suddenly. I had to leave my home pretty suddenly, and so my preparedness, my preparations that I wasn't even sure specifically what I was preparing for. I just needed to have certain things set up. Those things actually came in handy. The long story short of it all is at almost midnight I started hearing what sounded like a fountain in the walls and realized that that was probably not a good thing.  02:32 Probably not a thing. Probably not a thing and probably not a good thing. Yeah, so I reported it and about 10 minutes later there was water all over the floors, all over in the hallway. There was water pretty much everywhere, and it was pretty clear to me that I needed to leave quickly. So I happened to have a to-go. My tri-booth was pretty much readily available.  03:00 - Anne (Host) Well, look at that, the tri-booth, and I myself have a tri-booth, that's at the ready.  03:05 - Danielle (Guest) The tri-booth was at the ready. I keep it in the suitcase in my closet.  03:10 And I was able to just pull some things that I needed important documents, my laptop, my to-go booth and all the things with it, my mic and everything else. Travel. I basically have like a travel rig that I keep set to the side, and I left within half an hour to an hour, and that was actually the last time I lived in that apartment and spent the night in that apartment, unfortunately. So being able to take myself and my things and my business somewhere else, somewhere safe, was a piece of preparedness and also because I wasn't able to live in my home, I needed to use insurance and I needed to use my emergency fund to keep me through. So those were some layers of preparation that, while I was not preparing for my apartment to flood, I was able to use certain things that I had set to the side and set up specifically for that purpose.  04:09 - Anne (Host) Yeah, I mean, and there's, you know, the unfortunate floods in Texas, there's the fires in, you know, in LA, and you know we have fire season and there's tornado season. There's just all sorts of things that I think are becoming more prevalent these days, that now I think it's more important than ever that not only are we physically prepared, with things at the ready to go in case we need to evacuate quickly, so that we can, you know, manage to keep our businesses afloat, if that should be, of course. Of course, bosses, the most important thing is you being safe and your family and your loved ones and your pets being safe. Next in line would be you know supplies in order to keep you safe. And then, of course, right, having you know, a tri-booth is actually this is an amazing plug for the tri-booth, and we didn't even intend it, bosses, but both of us have tri booths and I'll tell you what they've. They've saved us in so many situations, myself included when I needed to have a studio set up immediately. That tri booth was convenient, ready to go on wheels, and for Daniel as well. So shout out to the guys, to George and and Tri Booth and Rick Wasserman it's an amazing. It's an amazing portable booth guys. You might want to take a look. I'll put a link in the show notes for you.  05:32 But that's number one having the physical things but also things like insurance and then understanding what does that insurance cover. I think that's one of the things that you don't want to be surprised, right? You don't want to be surprised, right, you don't want to be surprised. I mean, of course, there's always this thing in, let's say, whatever area, are you near a flood zone, are you covered? You know, make sure that your insurance covers. If you are indeed in a flood zone, what does it cover? What doesn't it cover? If you're in a fire zone, what does it cover? Because we had to check that ourselves, my husband and I, because we are deemed living in a fire zone. So you know, your insurance may cost more, or maybe some insurances won't cover that. So talk to us, danielle, a little bit more about, like, what sorts of things financially, how we can prepare with insurance.  06:20 - Danielle (Guest) Yeah, there are several different types of insurance to have. So I think, when we first hear insurance, we think like health insurance for medical purposes, which is definitely one that everyone should have, if you are covered through, maybe, your employer, through your day job, through SAG-AFTRA, through NAVA, for example, like there are so many opportunities and options, the marketplace. So your health is one way that you would need to have insurance. Another thing would be your home. So is it renter's insurance, is it homeowner's insurance? And what does that cover? And making sure that you have a deductible. You understand how much your deductible is, because that's how much you're going to be responsible for.  07:03 - Anne (Host) And read the fine print, I just want to say, yes, right, what is covered and what is not, and what is not. Sometimes they're vague. Insurance companies are vague, I think on purpose, exactly.  07:17 - Danielle (Guest) So understand your living situation and having insurance for where you live Is it renters, is it homeowners insurance? And then there are some business insurances that you could have, so it could be covering your business if you are not working in your business for a little bit of time. It could be like a disability insurance if you're disabled and you're not able to work for a certain period of time. It could just be general liability insurance for your business, which could then cover certain things that your business owns, certain equipment that your business owns. So that's something to consider as well.  07:53 There are different kinds of business insurances that you can have for your business, and you might have some of those. You might have a multitude of them, and each insurance has its own deductible, and so you should be prepared to pay that. And that's really where your emergency fund can come in, because if it is necessary, in the unfortunate event that you do need to use your insurance be it health, be it homeowners, renters, disability insurance you need to know how much you are expected to come out of pocket. And having that money set to the side for those things, that is what I deem an emergency, and so that's also what I calculate when I'm figuring out, how much do I need to have in an emergency fund, I also look at my deductibles. How much would I need to cover, and being able to have that put to the side is one thing that will just help you feel better.  08:46 - Anne (Host) And one thing I definitely want to say bosses, the reason why we're even talking about this is because we are running our own businesses. For all of you who are, you know I came from the corporate world. It wasn't something that I had to think about business insurance. It just wasn't because it wasn't my business, it was somebody else's. No-transcript, and absolutely make sure you're reading the fine print to make sure that you're covered, especially if it's a full time gig for you. Now, danielle, if, let's say, bosses are working part time, is it? Do you think it's worthwhile to look into business insurance, or is it even a thing? Right?  09:42 - Danielle (Guest) It really depends. I only got like liability insurance or business insurance because I had a client that was requiring it for me to have an ongoing relationship with them, so that was that was the reason that I got that insurance. But you don't you really need to look and see. It's

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by her superpower co-host, Lau Lapides, to discuss a critical issue in the voiceover industry: brand alignment and navigating controversy. Sparked by the American Eagle/Sydney Sweeney campaign, the hosts explore how a voice actor's ethics and personal brand are intrinsically linked to the clients they represent. They emphasize that in the age of social media, protecting your digital reputation is non-negotiable for long-term career success. 00:00 - Anne (Host) Hey bosses, Anne Ganguzza, you know your journey in voiceover is not just about landing gigs. It's about growing both personally and professionally. At Anne Ganguzza Voice Productions, I focus on coaching and demo production that nurtures your voice and your confidence. Let's grow together. Visit anneganguzza.com to find out more.  00:25 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Ganguzza.  00:47 - Anne (Host) Hey everyone, Welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Boss Superpower Series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, along with my awesome superpower co-host Lollapetas.  00:56 - Lau (Guest) Hello, Annie, it's so good to be back. I love being in this Zoom room with you. Or it's not Zoom, but it's Riverside, but I love being in this space room with you. Or it's not Zoom, but it's Riverside, but I love being in this space with you, I know I look forward to it.  01:10 - Anne (Host) We get to see each other and it's been so long it's fabulous when we get back together because we have so much to catch up on. I know, I know oh my gosh.  01:19 - Lau (Guest) By the way, I love your outfit today. You look great.  01:23 - Anne (Host) Why thank you my, my jean shirt or my denim shirt? No, what's really cool about this is this is kind of well, I should say it's it's. It's deceiving, maybe because it looks like it's denim but it's actually like French Terry, and so it's super, super comfortable. But you know, speaking of jeans, I was going to say what color are your jeans.  01:50 Well, you know, I have good jeans and advertising campaigns for our businesses. I mean gosh, it's all over the news. I mean the American Eagle campaign with Sydney Sweeney. I mean, you know, she's got good jeans, and so it's a really interesting debate. I think it's something that we could absolutely relate to our own voiceover businesses in terms of associating with now, first of all, like associating with a brand that may or may not be controversial or may or may not be on the side of you know where your feelings align. I think that would be a really, really interesting topic.  02:30 - Lau (Guest) Lau I love that topic because we hear that word floating in the industry now for quite a while branding. Branding is connected to marketing, is connected to selling right and how you represent yourself and who you're connected to. That helps you represent yourself as well. And making some of those concerted decisions on who you want to be attached to and connected to, that really help you design your ethos of your business.  02:58 - Anne (Host) Well, they can help you. They can help you be successful in the industry, or maybe not. They can help you be controversial in the industry, or maybe not. They can help you be controversial in the industry. It's such an interesting. Now you know one thing about that campaign for me, when I first saw it, I didn't think anything of it, because I am a woman of a certain age and I remember the Jean campaign with Brooke Shields and Calvin Klein, and I just remember it, with Brooke Shields and Calvin Klein, and I just remember it, you know. And so, as a girl in, I think it was in elementary or high school. I can't remember when that came out, but it was the 80s, right? All I know is that I wanted a pair of Calvin Klein jeans because I wanted to look like Brooke Shields. Now today, didn't we all did not we Right?  03:41 No, I thought nothing of it, right, I thought nothing really horrible of it. But then it did become controversial because obviously she was, you know, she was young when she did that ad and it was a little bit sexually, you know, promiscuous, some people would say. And so, you know, today that type of advertising wouldn't fly and I think people are comparing Sydney Sweeney with that, because of she's got good genes, you've got an attractive female and a pair of jeans, and you know, of course, american Eagle says you know, it was always all about the genes, it's not always not about the, not about the misconception that jeans J-E-A-N-S is similar to G-E-N-E-S, so there's a lot to unpack there.  04:25 I don't know how did you react to it when it first came out? What were your thoughts?  04:29 - Lau (Guest) Well, you know what's so funny about the Brooke Shields thing that you bring up? That's the first thing I thought of is that everyone who's outraged about it is not old enough to remember the Brooke Shields and that's what they were really copying. I think that was a copycat from 45 years ago Going back to the old let's sell.  04:45 Yeah, but if you remember, annie, it was there was another controversy hooked on to Brooke Shields at that time, based on that commercial, because that was right around the time that she had shot Blue Lagoon, blue Lagoon, yeah, and she was only like 11, 11 or 12.  05:05 - Anne (Host) I think it was 13.  05:05 - Lau (Guest) Well, by that time she was about 13. But she was still very young and the mother was managing her and so there was a huge blowup and controversy about this young girl doing these so-called sexually explicit commercials about my sexuality and my body, about my sexuality and my body. And I remember thinking, and when I saw it again I thought wow, how did she get those jeans on without showing us anything, right in front of us, Like I was amazed and, as a young girl, I yeah, it was a Cirque du Soleil act.  05:35 It was amazing. Yeah, you know, as a young girl, media is so influential right.  05:41 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) So, influential.  05:41 - Anne (Host) The thing is that, as voice actors, we really have a part in playing into the media, right, because our voices are representing brands, and for me at the time, I didn't consider anything wrong with it. All I know is that I wanted to look like Brooke Shields in those jeans and therefore I wanted the jeans. And I'll tell you what it was an expressly popular campaign that made Calvin Klein a ton of money, a ton of money.  06:09 - Lau (Guest) But if you look at it now as an adult and you listen from a voiceover perspective, her voice was very, very young very kidlike and very straightforward. She was trying to be, if anything, a little bit smart or intellectual versus overly sexy and centralized, but yet the perception, the visual right Was that was that.  06:34 - Anne (Host) That's exactly it. So there's a lot of, there's a lot of things there, and if you were the voice of a campaign that was controversial, right would. If it was something you believed in or didn't believe in, is that something that, as a voice actor, would you accept? And I think, or an actor, I mean any kind of role right? Do you accept those roles if they align with your belief system or your morals or your ethics or whatever that is, and how can it propel your business forward or not?  07:07 I mean, there's just so much that we have choices in, and as well as influence in, as voice actors, and we think sometimes we're hiding behind this microphone, but no, we're still a very intricate part of a media campaign. And so, really, as a voice actor, how do you decide? Really, is you know, oh, this could really propel my campaign if I decide that I want to align with this brand and be the voice of it, or sometimes it's not even about being the voice of it. It's maybe working with that brand in any capacity. You know, how is that going to affect your business? Because people have opinions, people always have opinions, and gosh aren't they all over the place.  07:56 - Lau (Guest) Now that social media is prevalent, they're the Wild West we like to call it right, Annie, it's the Wild West.  07:59 And I would say in my mind it's likened to all the people, not just women but men too. In my mind it's likened to all the people, not just women but men too, but certainly all the women, who have said for many years you know, I am interested in doing romance novels, exotica work, triple X, adult swim as a voiceover talent, but I'm concerned about how my business is going to be viewed. I'm going to use an AKA, an alter ego, another name, another business name, and so I think that voiceover talent have been making these decisions for a very, very long time. Even though we don't have the visuals for the voiceover talent, we may have the visual for the work and so for the work itself may give visuals and vocals that are not aligned with the talent's vision of their business, and sometimes you don't even know.  08:49 - Anne (Host) Sometimes you don't even know, right. I mean you can tell a lot by the context of the script sometimes, but sometimes you can. You don't know where that's going to end up. And again, now that makes me think of, like, you know deep fakes and AI and you don't know where your voice is going to be used. But if you are, you know, an active participant and you are aware, I think really the best thing you can do if these things are concerning to you, right, the more you know, the more you're educated, the better off you're going to be, because you can make those decisions to determine if you want to be aligned.  09:24 I mean there have been careers ruined by, you know, wrong brand alignment, and gosh knows with today's you know political climate. I mean it comes down to and you know what, laura, it comes down to if you thin

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by Tom Dheere to discuss a foundational topic for every voiceover career: coaching. The hosts assert that every voice actor, from beginner to veteran, needs a coach. The Bosses explore why continuous learning is a necessity in today's saturated market, how to avoid being overwhelmed by industry information, and the combined importance of mastering both performance and business skills.   00:00 - Anne (Host) Hey Boss listeners. Are you ready to turn your voiceover career goals into achievements? With my personalized coaching and demo production, I'm here to help you reach new milestones. You know you're already part of a Boss community that strives for the very best. Let's elevate that. Your success is my next project. Find out more at anneganguzza.com.  00:25 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  00:44 - Anne (Host) Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Real Bosses series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm delighted to be here with Mr Tom Dheere. Yay, yay, hello Anne, hi Tom, yes, guess what, tom, it's that time of year again.  01:01 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It is you?  01:01 - Anne (Host) know when everybody's going back to school.  01:05 - Tom (Guest) Back to school. Oh yeah, I already bought my trapper keeper.  01:09 - Anne (Host) Oh my gosh, I used to love those. You know that was one of my favorite things about going back to school is buying office supplies and getting ready, and I was one of those rare. I don't know, tom, if you were one of those students, but I loved school. Love, tom, if you were one of those students, but I loved school. Love, love, love school. And it was always exciting to me to, number one, go back for the social component of things and then to go back and like I don't know. I always wanted to like advance in my subjects, and so I was always excited about learning.  01:37 - Tom (Guest) Yeah, me too. I do love school supplies, like if anyone who knows me as just me, or me as the vo strategist like?  01:47 - Anne (Host) of course he loves school supplies right, you know, sharpened pencils and rulers and everything being organized, paper clips and clothes, clothes, my new school clothes.  01:54 - Tom (Guest) You know, hey, oh, love the school clothes. Gotta get the new school clothes.  01:58 - Anne (Host) Well then, speaking of school, you know. I mean maybe it's time that we have a chat about coaching, coaching in this industry. And does it matter, tom, does it? There's so much information out there. Does it matter? Is it beneficial?  02:15 - Tom (Guest) let's, let's, let's chat about that well, one at first. It's funny that we actually haven't talked about this in the few years that we've done the real bosses podcast and two. You know there's an old saying which is never ask an encyclopedia salesman if you need an encyclopedia.  02:28 - Anne (Host) Yes, exactly so you asking?  02:29 - Tom (Guest) me a voiceover coach. If voice actors need voiceover coaching, we'll say well, of course, the answer is yes.  02:34 - Anne (Host) I know and for me to say do we need coaching? As a coach and demo producer.  02:45 - Tom (Guest) Of course. Of course we're gonna say so. Yes, full disclosure. Of course, we as coaches, yes. But here's the thing about it is that I know ann does not accept everybody that that wants to work with her, and I know that not. I don't accept everybody that wants to work with me for all kind, for all kinds of uh, all kinds of reasons. But every voice, regardless of where they are in their journey, needs coaching. You always need to be learning. The greatest baseball players and musicians everyone has a coach. Tiger Woods has a swing coach. Aaron Judge has a baseball bat swing coach as opposed to a golf swing coach. All the greatest artists and athletes have coaching. Do they know more than most? Can they do it better than most? Of course, that's why they are in the positions that they are in doing what they're doing, making what they're making, being as famous as they are, but it's a constant, constant sort of you know all the arts. There needs to be a constant level of education re-education, continuous learning, as they say, absolutely.  03:49 - Anne (Host) And if you're just starting out in the industry, you have to have a fundamental base. And there is, you know, hey, I am the biggest you know. And Google and gangoozle, and gangoozle, and gangoozle, whatever, I am the biggest lover of you know. Search the internet, find the answers. Because I mean, gosh, back in the day, you remember when we used to have to do research, we'd have to actually go to the library and then you would write, like I'd have to write notes for my term paper on like, on like index cards.  04:17 - Tom (Guest) What is this library? What is?  04:19 - Anne (Host) this library. What is this library? Well, our, I mean the library is at our fingertips and so we can. I mean, there's so much out there and, tom, both you and I put out a lot of content in regards to this industry and you know the business of the industry and performance. I give out performance tips and so I think a lot of times when you're first starting out, it can be really overwhelming, and so having a source, a coach, to go to, to kind of make it less overwhelming, can be an actual advantage as well.  04:52 As for me, what was I saying the other day? Oh, in my Pilates class I was like, yeah, I pay to go to this Pilates class so I can do the stretching on the foam roller that I have here at home and I just don't do Right, so I go and use the foam roller that's at the Pilates studio. But there's something to be said in being in a classroom and and actually saying I am dedicating this time for me to learn something or to, you know, to, to, to grow myself, and coaching is a big part of that grow myself, and coaching is a big part of that.  05:30 - Tom (Guest) I agree, the ability to take time and money to commit to a process that you know in. To a certain degree, you could do some of it on your own, but a lot of people most people, I would say like the reason why I have so many mentorship students that I have is that they're like I just need you.  05:48 I just need to have someone to talk to once a month, bounce ideas off of and hold me accountable for it and when you have, and I love accountability and I love stand up groups and meet up groups, but when they actually have to fork money over to me to basically be a paid accountability buddy, there's something to that, something to that I mean. And also, you know, when you're in an accountability buddy group with an accountability buddy or a mastermind group or standup group, that's all great, but most of them are peers.  06:19 Yes, absolutely With the same level of experience and knowledge as you as opposed to working with you or me or another coach who is just have you know, scads of knowledge and experience and the ability to disseminate that knowledge effectively. And also, I know you and I know you keep up with industry trends on a performance and technology and business and marketing level. So do I. We have to do that to be relevant and effective. We have our means. We read the same blogs and watch the same podcasts as everybody else, but I'm sure I know I have my own little secret methods of how I'm keeping up with things, and I'm sure you do too that we're able to aggregate and have, in a concise Anne, to say this is what's going on in the industry, this is how it applies to you. These are the decisions that you could make based on who you are, your talent level, your experience level, the time you have, the money you have that could get you where you want to go.  07:15 - Anne (Host) Well, and the accountability it doesn't just stop with the student. I mean, the coach is accountable. And that is, I think, where the difference is between peer accountability groups, because peer accountability groups, yeah, we can say, yeah, you were supposed to do this last week, or you, this is, this is on your goal sheet, but the stakes are not as high. I don't believe in a peer accountability group as a coach, because coaches are judged on their effectiveness, right, and they they get business based upon their effectiveness and word of mouth. So when you want to go work with someone where that is a factor, you're going to get education.  07:54 That, I think, really counts and is really intentional and therefore, I believe the quality of that is going to be better and it's going to be directly customized, especially if it's one-on-one coaching, and I do both group coaching and one-on-one coaching. But really, when you get that one-on-one time with a coach, there's nothing better than that, because I mean, I look, I offer group coaching as well, but that one-on-one time is precious. That is where it is all about you. It's customized just for you, your career, your growth. And that is where I think coaching really shines and why it still matters and I think, actually, I think it matters more today than it did in years past, because there's so much more competition out there, tom and there's, of course, you know, the synthetic competition out there there, tom, and there's, of course, you know, the synthetic competition out there and we need to really create something, a footprint for ourselves or a voice print, really for ourselves, that is unique and that is competitive and that can actually connect with our audience, which is what our clients are paying us for.  08:59 - Tom (Guest) Yeah, there are more voiceover opportunities for voice actors of all experience levels than ever ever before. There's more genres than ever. There are more voiceover opportunities for voice actors of all experience lev

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by a very special guest, Aisha Manrique, a distinguished voice talent and coach whose voice resonates across the Caribbean and beyond. In this illuminating conversation, they explore the unique landscape of the Caribbean voiceover industry, where talent must build their careers through hustle and intentional branding. Aisha shares her inspiring journey, from being "divinely called" to the industry to becoming the voice of Disney.

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by the incomparable Melique Berger, a true icon in the voiceover world with over 50 years of acting experience. In this powerful conversation, they explore the central truth of the industry: a voice actor must be an actor first.  

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by her lovely co-host, Danielle Famble, for the Boss Money Talk Series. The BOSSes tackle a fundamental challenge of a voiceover freelance career: managing inconsistent income. Drawing from her past job experiences, Danielle shares practical wisdom on how to budget, save, and build a financial cushion. This conversation redefines "budgeting" as a tool for empowerment and offers a strategic roadmap for every voice actor to take control of their finances, ensure stability, and thrive.   00:00 - Anne (Host) Hey guys, are you ready to achieve those dreams? With MyLife Transformation coaching services, I can help you reach your full potential. Don't let fear and uncertainty hold you back. Take control of your life today. Visit anneganguzza.com to get started.  00:20 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  00:39 - Anne (Host) Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast and the Boss Money Talk Series. I'm Anne Ganguzza and I am here with my lovely co-host, Danielle Famble.  00:49 - Danielle (Guest) Hey Anne, hello Danielle, hey, hey, how you doing, how are you? I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.  00:53 - Anne (Host) Well, I am glad to have you back and I have a topic for discussion today, because I've had, on more than one occasion, some students recently talk to me about gosh. I'm just having a hard time finding work and I don't know if I should continue to stay in this industry because it's just getting too hard. I mean to sustain it, and so what should I do? It would be a worthy topic of discussion to talk about, like this particular industry and how we handle our financial situation in times of inconsistency, because it's just a known fact, guys, bosses out there, it is an inconsistent, it is part of being an entrepreneur. Our, our income is inconsistent. So what do we do and how do we budget for those times when maybe it's slow or, you know, when it's not slow, and what do we do when we have inconsistent income?  01:55 - Danielle (Guest) That's such a good question. That's a big part of being a boss, being an entrepreneur and being in this business, and it's good to give the perspective one you know to your students that you're coaching and to anyone listening. You're not alone. It doesn't mean that you're a bad voice actor. It doesn't mean that you're bad at this business. That is the nature of what it is, that we do, and so it has nothing to do with you or your worth or the fact that you're not good. Slow months happen all the time. It happens to the best of us.  02:24 - Anne (Host) And you know, I think it's really something a point worth mentioning is I've been in this industry about 18 years and it's always inconsistent, like there's not been a year where it hasn't been inconsistent. So it is something that I think, if you plan correctly and you're prepared for, it doesn't come as a surprise and it's something that you can absolutely continue to grow and build your business through oh, totally Inconsistent income. So, as long as you plan and strategize, yeah, and you just know this is normal.  02:56 - Danielle (Guest) This has not got anything to do with you. This is a normal thing, you know. It reminds me of I don't know if you know this, anne, but I used to be a waitress for a long, long time. I was a waitress at comedy clubs and the way that I made my money was on tips, and so I got used to living on an inconsistent income and realizing that there's going to be a couple of days or weeks or months where it's going to be great and then it's going to be slow. Maybe you get cut because it's so slow that they don't need you to be there. But you know, the thing that didn't get cut was my fixed expenses, my rent, my cell phone bill, all of those things.  03:35 So I would say to those are stable. Yeah, figure out what your stable expenses are and make sure that you can keep that as your base and plan for your base Anything on top of that. You know when times are great and when you're making a lot more money, you can use that to keep it to the side for a buffer, but really just know what your base expenses are, which then goes back to our longstanding conversation about knowing your numbers and the data and everything else. If you're too afraid to look at what your expenses are, you're not going to know what your base is that you need to be able to maintain at all times. So really like have the courage, look at what are your expenses that are fixed, that are stable, and know what your base is, and you want to be able to hit your base every single month.  04:22 - Anne (Host) So then, budget around your worst month, not your best month. Yeah, absolutely Right. And and that and the and the numbers on your worst month can can actually like I. I mean, I could say what are your expenses and your worst month would be you didn't make anything. Budget around that. That's what I would say. Right, that's your worst case scenario, and so you'll still need to be able to function. And so what does that mean in terms of if I don't make any income for an entire month, does that mean I should give up my voiceover business, danielle?  04:54 - Danielle (Guest) I don't think so, but I do think that you do need to have some way of knowing that there is income coming in from another form. So maybe it's not the income coming in from your voiceover business, because you didn't make anything that month but you do have a nine to five or you do have a babysitting job or you do have. You know, you do Uber on the weekends or what have you. Just know that there needs to be, that money needs to be coming in from somewhere else. If it's not coming in from somewhere else, then we need to find how can we get to our first dollar. Is it in voiceover? Is it in another way of making money? But make sure that you know that there is some income coming in so that, even if the income from your voiceover business is at zero for the month, you know that there is income coming in from somewhere else that's going to be able to offset and still hit your baseline goal.  05:43 - Anne (Host) And I think your budget right for those months you don't live on that budget. I mean it should be a budget for a budget that is a low-income month, not necessarily like I'm going to continue to go to Starbucks every morning or I'm going to. Maybe that's a necessity, maybe you feel like that's worked into your bare necessities, but is that something that you're willing to give up in a low-income month? Or is going out to dinner? I think that's the biggest one. I think, like my husband and I are like okay, we got to stop going out to dinner, right, because that's an unnecessary expense. If we're trying to tighten our budget during a low-income month, it's mostly like oh, and we're going to go out and spend money doing this, or are we going to go out and spend money doing that? A lot of times it's based around food. Why is that?  06:25 - Danielle (Guest) Yeah, I mean, that's mine as well. It's food, but then sometimes it's you know, if you're going to be spending additional money on things in your business, maybe it's that you forego coaching for the next couple of months because you don't really have the money for that, or maybe you need to forego some other things in your business and subscriptions that maybe can be paused. It's not just what you're doing in your life, it's also things that you can cut back in your business too, so that you can make sure that you know. You know, I know that my fixed expenses for the operations of me are this these are the things that will you know, that are always going to stay the same my housing, food, you know, basic necessities, business expenses.  07:10 - Anne (Host) Business expenses as well, I'm going to say rocket money. I had a free trial and I used it. It's great for finding out those recurring monthly expenses that you have that all of a sudden like oh, that Sirius XM like subscription that I have for my car, which I don't drive very often because I work from home, right, but now I can play SiriusXM everywhere, but still that subscription costs, and it used to only cost like $12.99. Now it's like $25 a month, and so that can help you keep track of those subscriptions that creep up on you that you may or may not be utilizing.  07:44 - Danielle (Guest) And everything is a subscription nowadays, so really you have to. It's so sneaky, but you can find a lot of unused subscriptions and then you can recoup some of that money back just by saying no, thank you to those subscriptions.  07:59 - Anne (Host) Think about your Starbucks as a subscription. That's true, really, if it's something you do every day, I mean really. I mean I know there's a lot of people that that's a daily habit, and you know. Think of that as a subscription. And one other thing I wanted to mention, and I would not have even thought of this really until I incorporated and became an S Corp but I am required to pay myself a salary, right, and that's something that you know.  08:22 When you're trying to like skimp on your, your budget, or you're trying to figure out your expenses, don't forget you need money to live, you need money to buy the groceries, you need money to pay the rent you need, and so I think it's always a good idea, even if you're not an S-corp, to really kind of think about here's the money coming in. A portion of that should be set aside for my expenses, for me, right, that's my salary, and then pay yourself on a set schedule. I think that helps you really get an idea as to okay, here's the money I need to live on, here's the money that's profiting in my business. I don't know. It's just one of those things that maybe it's worth it to take a look at.  09:03 - Danielle (Guest)

BOSS Anne Ganguzza is joined by Lau Lapides for a discussion on the most fundamental skill for a successful voice actor: storytelling. From breaking out of a predictable melody to using props and sensory cues, Anne and Lau provide actionable tips and acting techniques to help you bring authenticity, emotion, and life to every script.

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by Tom Dheere to tackle a topic many voice actors fear most: marketing. In this episode, they break down the essential difference between direct marketing (you go to them) and indirect marketing (they come to you). The hosts discuss how to make both strategies work for you, offering a powerful, actionable roadmap for building a sustainable voiceover business. 00:01 - Anne (Host) Hey boss listeners. Are you ready to turn your voiceover career goals into achievements? With my personalized coaching and demo production, I'm here to help you reach new milestones. You know you're already part of a boss community that strives for the very best. Let's elevate that. Your success is my next project. Find out more at anneganguzza.com.  00:25 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  00:44 - Anne (Host) Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Real Boss series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with Mr Tom Dheere. Hello, hello, hello, the Real Boss, Tom Dheere.  00:56 - Tom (Guest) Hi, I'm seeing the light ring in my glasses. I'm going to change. I want to change these.  01:01 - Anne (Host) Wait, I thought you said I'm seeing the light.  01:03 - Tom (Guest) I'm seeing the light. Well, yeah, no, but the light was seeing me and my glasses, so I'm switching over. I have, like different pairs of glasses for where I'm at.  01:11 - Anne (Host) No, really. So like these are better. I hear that. I hear that Yours are part of a marketing strategy.  01:18 - Tom (Guest) Mine are purely because my eyeballs are decomposing. I can hear them.  01:22 - Anne (Host) But me too, though, I need them as well, and I figure I might as well make them part of a marketing strategy. And speaking of marketing, yes. Great segue, isn't it? I think it's one of the most feared things for any voice actor is to actually think and do marketing, and so it's a great topic to talk about, because, I mean, we could talk like multiple podcasts about it, but let's talk about marketing Indirect marketing, direct marketing. They're both important.  01:49 - Tom (Guest) Yes, absolutely.  01:50 - Anne (Host) Let's distinguish the difference.  01:52 - Tom (Guest) Right, and this is the thing that when most people come into the voiceover industry, they think and their instinct is correct, so I need to market myself. What does that mean? For most people, it's slamming into social media sideways and talking about what they had for breakfast, or it most often means cold calls and cold emails. Now, you can clearly lump all of that stuff together into marketing, but there's a lot more to it. It's a lot more nuanced than that.  02:18 - Anne (Host) You say the word cold calls and I think people go cold. I know they do. They're like oh no cold calls now.  02:25 - Tom (Guest) So the way I talk about it is that there is direct marketing and then there is indirect marketing, also known as active marketing or passive marketing. So direct or active marketing is when you are seeking out specific potential clients and you are basically grabbing them by the lapels and saying, hey, you give me money to say stuff out loud.  02:48 - Anne (Host) Here I am. Hello, this is me.  02:50 - Tom (Guest) Hello, right Now that's a cold call, that is a cold email. There's also follow-up emails and getting your seven touches.  02:57 - Anne (Host) And that's direct, because it's direct contact with a potential client.  03:01 - Tom (Guest) Exactly. And then there is indirect marketing, which is where you're kind of like doing your thing over here in hopes that people or robots will notice you Right and come to you Right. So, for example, working on search engine optimization on your website, that's a form of indirect marketing or passive marketing, because if somebody's searching for you, hopefully your website or your content will rank higher on Google, bing, yahoo and they'll be like, hey, who's this person? And then they reach out to you Right.  03:30 - Anne (Host) Or they're seeing you on social media.  03:32 - Tom (Guest) Social media, exactly, is another perfect example of indirect marketing. So that's where you're kind of like demonstrating your value, your progress, your humanity as a voice actor and a person, in hopes that it will get voice seekers' attention and be engaged with your content and hopefully you'll stay top of mind for future projects.  03:50 - Anne (Host) An easy I would say an easy way of thinking about it is direct marketing. You go to them In direct marketing. They're coming to you.  03:58 - Tom (Guest) Exactly. Yeah, that's exactly right.  04:00 - Anne (Host) I think, equally terrifying for voice actors yes, yes, I think that it's great that we made the distinction now between the two.  04:09 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) And.  04:09 - Anne (Host) I think the one that really causes people probably the most terror is the direct marketing part of it, because they have to reach out to someone who is a complete stranger to them and that we are a complete stranger to them and they're a complete stranger to us. And so direct marketing, I think, requires, I think, a little more knowledge, so it makes it a little less scary.  04:29 - Tom (Guest) I think so too.  04:36 - Anne (Host) That's the way I see it, and what I try to explain to a lot of my students who talk about marketing and their fear of marketing is, of course, all the indirect methods, which they're probably much more apt to do, because they can create a blog, they can go on social media, they can create a video, they can do things like that, and that to them, I think, is more of a concrete path than oh my God, I got to go find someone. Who do I reach out to, what do I say and how does that work? And so I think the first distinction that I want to make with direct marketing is to make it less terrifying. Is that I want to make with direct marketing is to make it less terrifying is just an understanding that people have needs. How many times can I bring up the Chanel lipstick, right?  05:09 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) How many times it's a great example.  05:10 - Anne (Host) I just keep going back to it where here's the Chanel lipstick. It is part of my brand and I want to work with this company, chanel, and so ultimately, they don't know who I am. I mean, I kind of know who they are, but I don't know exactly who I should contact. And so when does Chanel have a need for voiceover? Right, when they have a campaign, right when they have a campaign and when maybe they have a voiceover and they want to replace that voice, and so it's very much based on need and when they need voiceover, a voiceover.  05:41 It's not that. Oh, I'm going to reach out and I never heard back and therefore that's a bad lead or it didn't work or I'm done. I failed. You cannot think that, guys, because it's all on a timely basis, so when I need a new lipstick, I'm not constantly searching for a new lipstick, but when I need one, then if an email comes my way or a social media ad comes my way talking about a new shade of red, I'll be like, oh, I need that, let me look into it.  06:10 And that's the same thing that, as a voice actor, you need to understand about direct marketing.  06:14 - Tom (Guest) Right, put it another way. And what are the client's pain points? How can you cure what ails them? How can you solve their problems? So I'm going to take your Chanel lipstick example and I'm going to continue it. So let's put it in voiceover terms Chanel wants to advertise that lipstick. So they want to make advertisements of some sort. It could be print, it could be digital, it could be TV, radio streaming or whatever. Right, chanel?  06:42 - Anne (Host) Look to me, Chanel. I talk about you all the time. I'm just saying In my podcast Please make Anne a compensated endorser for your lovely products.  06:51 - Tom (Guest) So Chanel usually would have to hire a marketing agency or an ad firm or something like that to come up with whatever. The concept would be. Okay, well, this is Chanel, it's this type of lipstick, we're targeting this type of audience, or they?  07:04 have it in-house or they have it in-house and they'll say, okay, well, our demographic is women of this particular age range.  07:19 Okay, so we need to make sure that the content and context of the advertisement is making sure that we're targeting that particular demographic.  07:22 It needs to appeal to them on a visual or an auditory level or some other combination of that. Maybe we need to get an influencer in here or a celebrity or something like that, but we still need a voice actor to do whatever the radio or streaming or TV is. So they come up with a concept, they write the script. Now they need to get a production company to turn this script into reality and then the production company now this is where they have choices. They can go to a casting director and a casting director and the casting director can then reach out to agents and managers to find the voice actors. They can post that casting notice on a casting site like a Voice 123 or a VO Planet or a Badalgo, or they can have their own roster of voice actors that every time a casting notice comes up, they go through their own list of voice actors. That every time a casting notice comes up, they go through their own list of voice actors and then send the casting notices out to the appropriate voice actors to collect auditions right.  08:12 - Anne (Host) Before you continue, I'm going to intercept and say all right, let's talk about how often do they need this right? That is something that is the big unknown right. How often are they needing a new campaign? And that is something that I think is the most ambiguous, maybe, to the voice a

BOSSes, get ready for an electrifying conversation with a true entertainment icon. In this episode of the VO Boss Podcast, Anne Ganguzza is joined by the legendary Rolonda Watts, an Emmy-winning, talk show host, actress, and award-winning voice actor. Rolonda's career is a masterclass in professional reinvention. From her groundbreaking syndicated talk show, The Rolonda Show, to her powerful voice acting work on Professor Wiseman in Curious George and her on-screen roles in Mind Your Business and Survival of the Thickest, she embodies the art of pivoting with purpose. The hosts discuss how her journey from journalism to entertainment shaped her, why listening is the most important tool for any communicator, and the life philosophies that have guided her to become a true BOSS.   00:01 - Anne (Host) Hey, bosses, Anne Ganguzza, you know your journey in voiceover is not just about landing gigs. It's about growing both personally and professionally. At Anne Ganguzza Voice Productions, I focus on coaching and demo production that nurtures your voice and your confidence. Let's grow together. Visit Anneganguzza.com to find out more. 00:48 Visit anganguza, hey. Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'mGanguzzayour host, Anne Ganguza, and I have something amazing for you 00:53 , bosses, today.  00:55 Today's guest is a one-woman entertainmentRolondaempire. She's done it all award-winning journalistRolonda daytime talk show host, actor, stand-up comic, best-selling author and one of the most recognizable voices in voiceover. You may have heard her as Professor Wiseman on Curious GeorgeRolonda in the Proud FamilyRolonda kung Fu Panda and now Invincible Fight Girl. She's also the annoucer and promo voice of the Sherry Show, where Sherry Shepard calls her a daytime talk show legend, which I happen to agree. Rolanda Watts is currently lighting up the screen on Bounce TV's hit comedy Mind your Business which I always get to see all the shorts on the Facebook feed, by the way where she plays Lucille, the sharp, sassy family matriarch that keeps it real with tough love and somehow I feel like that just echoes your character to a T. And she I feel like that just echoes your character to a T, and she's also appearing in the upcoming season of Netflix's Survival ofRolondathe Thickest, and was recently inducted into the prestigious Silver Circle by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at the 2024 Emmys, recognizing her lifetime of groundbreaking work in television.  02:04 Bosses, please welcome the incomparable Rolanda Watts, thank you. Thank you, rolanda. I have to tell you, you know I'm a big fan. I mean, I've said this to you before, but, bosses, I am the biggest fan of Rolanda. I actually know Rolanda from watching her on daytime talk TV, and that was a while ago. I want to say that daytime talk shows had just kind of come into like being, and you're one of the first that I watched and I just I just you, your personality, just everything about you was just amazing. It's just magnetic, and so I am so excited to be able to interview you, a talk show host. So I was like, oh man, how am I going to prepare to talk to you? But you are just so gracious and wonderful, and so that kind of gave me a little bit of of hope that I wouldn't completely flub it up today, rolanda.  03:05 - Rolonda (Guest) I don't think you would do that, Anne.  03:08 - Anne (Host) My goodness. So for the bosses, who you know don't really know your story and how you started off, I mean, my gosh, you're a media empire, so I don't even like we could have like five days worth of interviews with you, but it all started as broadcast journalism correct interviews with you, but it all started as broadcast journalism correct?  03:28 - Rolonda (Guest) Yes, Tell us about that. Well, I grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and I, you know, I went to well, it's a long story about how I became an actor, but it all started with being 12 years old and going to Broadway with my family and seeing Guys and Doll and I was just like, oh my God, I love the stage and that's what I Anne do. So I went to Spelman and majored in theater arts and then there weren't a lot of roles when I got out of college. There just wasn't a track for folks who looked like me in the acting world, and so I fell in love with journalism, went to Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism and I was a news reporter and investigative anchor woman and producer for many years for New York WABC, WNBC Inside.  04:16 - Anne (Host) Edition, and that's impressive. And all of a sudden. Well, yeah, I was an investigative journalist. I mean you just said it like it came so easy. But I Anne imagine at the time. I mean you must have had to really work to get yourself in that space.  04:33 - Rolonda (Guest) Well, it was a crazy time because it was the 1980s. There weren't a lot of women in investigative news reporting, not in New York City, and so it was a groundbreaking time for women and and there was so much in the news, especially in New York, it was the big gang wars, the mob wars. You know, gotti hadn't even come into into play yet, so it was murder and mayhem. I was covering, wow and yeah, an inside edition. I was more murder and mayhem.  05:04 - Anne (Host) I remember that.  05:06 - Rolonda (Guest) Yeah. And then a man by the name of Roger King, who in heaven remains the number one selling as human being in television, asked me if I would like to do my very own syndicated talk show. So for four years I did the Rolanda show and then, when that was over let's loop back to the 12 year old who wore the subway token around her neck as a good luck charm. I said I'm not going to be on a porch when I'm 80 years old, going I could have, would have, should have. I am going to take my chances and go for my lifelong dream and make that 12 year old inside of me happy.  05:41 And I took off and went to Hollywood and that's where I became an actor and a writer and a producer and had my own production company and stumbled into voice acting and all of these things were part of what so many people call me the reinventionist. But I have had to reinvent my life for so many reasons and so many times. But I believe that isRolondamany different things that I've done and it's all around one thing and that's what we do as voice actors Good storytelling.  06:13 - Anne (Host) Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. And it's so interesting because before I had really come into like knowing you again, after you know, watching your talk show, and then knowing you as in voiceover yeah, the Anne and promo voice of the Sherry show, how interesting. Like you started to talk show, you're like a legend and talk show in my, in my brain. I'm like Rolanda, that's so awesome, like you. And now you kind of came full circle back to it a little bit Right, being the Anne and the promo voice.  06:46 And I was watching a clip of you the other day and Sherry was saying something. She was going on. She was gushing about you, which I get that. She was gushing about you and it was so interesting. She was giving you this credit about talking about your talk show and how wonderful you were and you turned it right. The conversation went right back to her about how wonderful she was and I was just blown away by how gracious that was and I just thought, well, no wonder. Well, no wonder you made such a great talk show host, such a great communicator, such a great actor and stand-up comedian and everything, because you just have this wonderful way of connecting with people.  07:29 - Rolonda (Guest) Well, you're awfully sweet, Anne. I'm going to receive all of that, but I thank you for that. You know it's, it's it. I, you know I was. I get blown away too, because Sherry does not hold back about what. What do the folks say? Giving me my flowers? And it's nice to receive them when you can smell them. You know, you know, know, it's really interesting because we did pave the way for sherry and and kelly and and drew and tamron all of them and I also know the hard work that those ladies are doing.  08:04 This job called talk is not easy. The politics that go on, the struggles day to day, the whole idea that the show is bigger than you as a human. It's very trying and you're out there by yourself. So I of course give her her flowers back because you can hand over the baton, but if the person can't run with it it really doesn't count. So to be able to see that continuum is a beautiful, beautiful thing.  08:29 And you know what's really funny is that Sherry's executive producer, who you see on the show all the time, John Murray. John was a college student when he first came to see my show and that's when he got the TV bug. He was bitten by the TV bug and so I would invite him back. In fact, one time I put him on the show so he could come and see how the producers worked and the behind the scenes working Skip to him becoming the executive producer of the Sherry show, and he said there's no other voice that we would have introduced, Sherry, and pass on the legacy than you. So it's really good. I mean, you got to be nice to kids, because they're coming up and they'll be your boss.  09:10 - Anne (Host) Right. Isn't that the truth?  09:12 - Rolonda (Guest) It is, it's like full circle.  09:13 - Anne (Host) You've, really you've done so much and you are.  09:15 I feel as though you've got. I feel like, look, I know how busy I am and I do a lot of stuff, but I feel like you, you're, you're doing it all. I mean you're, you're in that sitcom and I see, I'm thankful. I see the clips that you're posting on Facebook and it's so funny how the Rolanda that I know right, that I had a conversation with at VO Atlanta, I mean I feel like it is just so true to your character. Tell us a little bit about that role. I feel like you're just having the best time doing it.  09:44 - Rolonda (Guest) Oh my God, Lucille Williams, or Lucille is just one of the most wonderful characters. I mean

Anne Ganguzza and Danielle Famble dive into a crucial topic every voice actor faces: Return on Investment (ROI). In an industry that combines both tangible equipment and intangible skills, the discussion examines which investments are truly worthwhile. From starter microphones to a full-blown studio, and from coaching to building confidence, Anne and Danielle offer a fresh perspective on how to measure the success of your financial decisions. They emphasize that in a creative industry, ROI is not always about money—it's also about personal growth, confidence, and building a sustainable business.   00:00 - Anne (Host) Hey bosses, we now have events, so don't miss out. Our VIP membership gives you exclusive discounts to events and access to workshops that are sure to boost your voiceover career. Find out more at voboss.com.  00:16 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO Boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  00:35 - Anne (Host) Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am here with the Boss Money Talks series with my good friend, Danielle Famble. Hey, Danielle, hey, how are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm good, Danielle. I just got an email from Amazon, oh, and the subject said you might like this, or we found something you might like, which I think is such a marketing tactic. It is a good opening line. Works on me, yeah for sure.  01:08 - Danielle (Guest) It works on me. You definitely opened the email, didn't you?  01:11 - Anne (Host) Yeah, because it's based on my previous you know, either browsing or my previous purchases, and so those of you that have ever perused the VioBoss website know that I have a Studio Gear page where I put all the recommendations for Studio Gear, and so I was updating that page and, of course, everything that they sent to me was Studio Gear related, and I was like, oh, look at that shiny new interface, look at that shiny new pair of headphones. Yeah, you know, new colors, new colors. Yeah, it leads me to think about Danielle what Vio expenses are actually worth the ROI? I mean, that is something that I think every voice actor needs to consider when they're spending money and investing in their business. So which purchases are actually worth it?  01:58 - Danielle (Guest) Yeah, and there are lots of little things that you can invest in in your business and some of them are tangible, like you're talking about the headphones or the interface, and then some of them are intangible, like when you're investing in your education or you're investing in yourself with coaching. So I think that that's such a personal question and it also will change as you progress in your VO boss journey. Agreed, the things that are great returns on investment as you progress in your VO boss journey? Agreed, the things that are great returns on investment when you're earlier on in your career? You may not invest in those again when you're 10, 15, 20, 30 plus years in the game. Right, yeah, that's a fun little question.  02:38 - Anne (Host) I mean we could start with the obvious. The obvious would be most people think, well, okay, I want to be a voice actor, so what do I need? I need a microphone. So there are microphones and there I think microphones are an investment that if you're just starting out and you're not sure if this is really the thing that you want to do or you're going to, you know this is a long term investment for you. Maybe just a starter microphone works. That's a few hundred dollars and I think that that would be worth an investment to just get your feet wet, get you know, dip your toes in the water and find out if this is a career choice that you are going to stick with.  03:12 But if you kind of know that in your heart and you've done enough research and maybe you've gone ahead and done some coaching and you're fairly certain, I would say it's absolutely worth your investment to invest in a good microphone. I mean because I think microphones are one thing. We may use them every single day, right, but we're not like handling them too much. We're not, like you know, dropping them on the ground. God forbid, hopefully not. You're. A good microphone is going to last for years and years, like my 416 and my TLM 103, I have had them for already, like going on 15 years, like, literally there's no signs of slowing down. However, at one point they will, but I've certainly made back the money that I've invested in them, absolutely. What are your?  03:56 - Danielle (Guest) thoughts. I agree, I'm kind of more of the grow as you go kind of mentality. So when I started I was using the Synco Mic D1, I think, or something like that D2. And it was billed as the knockoff 416. And then when I actually had the 416, I was able to listen to them side by side. And it is not, but it worked out for the time being. It was what I could afford at the time and then the additional money or the money that I had that I could have spent on the 416 at the time, I put that money into coaching. I put that money into getting a good demo. I put that money into investing in sort of the soft skills needed to win and do well in this business and really in business in general.  04:45 So I think that the ROI, again, like you, can sort of start with what is the starter, and maybe the starter is a certain dollar amount and I don't think there is a dollar amount, but it's the dollar amount that is comfortable for you. That maybe isn't the 416 or the TLM 103, something like that and then you use some of that money to then invest in the soft skills and invest in your coaching, invest in your website or things like that.  05:16 - Anne (Host) I started off with an AT2020 and I graduated to a Rode MT1A, which is not necessarily what I would recommend today, but those were only a few hundred dollars, and I still remember when I actually got my very first like major investment in a mic was a good 10 years after I had. I had been because I made good money with that Rode for at least six, seven years, and then and it just didn't occur to me because I had a great studio at the time, right, and I didn't hear a need or nobody Everybody said, oh my God, you sound great, and so I didn't feel a need that I had to go experiment with microphones. Now, some people are gearheads. You know we've all got our thing, kind of like me investing in lipsticks or in clothing. You know they have to try it all Totally.  06:08 I remember, though, when I did invest in my TLM 103, I actually heard the difference, but I could not have been able to tell the difference. Probably, I think, when you're first getting into the industry, it takes a minute for you to get an ear. Develop your ear For your sound, for your microphone yeah, we don't talk enough about that and maybe that's fodder for another. You know another episode. But developing your ear in voiceover for performance and for good equipment, it takes time I mean years and it took experimentation. It took, you know, trying, and I think it took me, after years of being in the industry, of hearing the difference with a good quality pair of headphones, with a good quality mic in a good quality studio, and so all of those were were back the ROI.  06:55 - Danielle (Guest) That also increases as well. You know things like investing in your booth, investing in where you're going to record. I started recording in my closet and like adding extra pillows, and I was taking pillow cases off of, like my bed, from the couch cushions. I was taking anything that was soft and just bringing that into the closet with me to record and I, you know I did quite a bit of work that way for a good amount of time and then, you know, time progressed and I got a different booth and then I upgraded to the booth that I'm in currently. So if you, I think, if you can grow as you go, you might be getting more of an ROI because you're developing that, your ear, you're developing your business sense, your business savvy, you're understanding, you know what you bring to the microphone, what you bring to the business, and all of that is how you increase that ROI for sure.  07:53 - Anne (Host) You know, and we should talk about ROI Is ROI always positive financially based?  07:58 - Danielle (Guest) No, I don't think so. No right, I think it can definitely be the intangibles as well. It can be exactly how comfortable you feel attacking commercial copy. It can be how quickly you're able to adjust from in a session when you're given differing opinions on how you should, you know, read a line or something like that. It's your ability to speak up for yourself and ask for what you want and negotiate all of those things.  08:22 - Anne (Host) That's such a good point of this topic because ROI, especially in our industry, when our voices I mean our voices are so much more than just physical voices for our product, it has everything to do with who we are, what got us here, our life journey and confidence right. So if a new microphone can make you feel more confident, can make your performance better, that's going to make your product better. So ROI, I think in our type of industry, when it's a creative industry, really can be almost as much intangible as it is tangible.  09:00 - Danielle (Guest) It's what you're pouring into the product that you're offering, which is tangible. It's what you're pouring into the product that you're offering which is yourself. It's what you're pouring into your physical instrument. It's what you're pouring into your heart. It's what you're pouring into. I love the confidence aspect, because that is a huge intangible.  09:17 that is incredibly important, oh my gosh yes, helps you feel good in your booth, in your read, it's what gives you the confidence to go to conferences and put yo

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza and Lau Lapides join forces in this episode of the VO Boss Podcast for another installment of their Boss Superpower Series. They tackle a topic often considered taboo in the voice acting industry: voiceover as a hobby. This discussion explores whether pursuing voice acting without the pressure of a full-time income carries a stigma. The episode delves into concerns about hobbyists "taking away" jobs, examines the true meaning of commitment, and highlights how to embrace a voiceover journey for pure creative joy, whether it's a primary career or a cherished passion. Listeners will discover why being a BOSS means defining success on one's own terms. 00:01 - Anne (Host) Hey guys, it's Anne from VO Boss here.  00:03 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) And it's George the Tech. We're excited to tell you about the VO Boss. Vip membership, now with even more benefits.  00:10 - Anne (Host) So not only do you get access to exclusive workshops and industry insights, but with our VIP plus tech tier, you'll enjoy specialized tech support from none other than George himself.  00:21 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) You got it. I'll help you tackle all those tricky tech issues so you can focus on what you do best Voice acting. It's tech support tailored for voiceover professionals like you.  00:32 - Anne (Host) Join us guys at VO Boss and let's make your voiceover career soar. Visit voboss.com slash VIP-membership to sign up today.  00:43 - Speaker 3 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  01:02 - Anne (Host) Hey, hey everyone. Welcome to the VO Boss podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am here with the Boss Superpower Series with the one and only Lau Lapides.  01:12 - Lau (Guest) Hey, Anne.  01:13 - Anne (Host) And Lau 01:14 - Lau (Guest) Love being here, as always. Love it, oh, Lau, it's so good to see you. What would a Saturday be without being in the booth with Anne?  01:22 - Anne (Host) Really, I know, right, I mean it would not be a Saturday, I know right it wouldn't, but sometimes on Saturdays I have other hobbies that I like to do, actually, because now it's actually horse show season and every once in a while I have to go out of the studio and go watch my horse shows, because back in the day.  01:39 - Lau (Guest) I used to own a couple of horses and that was like a passion and a love of mine.  01:46 - Anne (Host) Are you a derby girl? Do you get into the Kentucky Derby? I'm not a derby girl, I'm a horse show girl, a jumper. So, yeah, I mean, I can watch a race, but I'm much more enthralled by watching horses jump over things.  01:56 But speaking of hobbies and alternate passions and other passions we talk about voiceover as a full-time career all the time. Passions we talk about voiceover as a full-time career all the time, but there's a taboo topic about voiceover as a hobby. Maybe we should discuss that, laura. How do you feel about that? Is there a stigma around voiceover as a hobby in our industry?  02:19 - Lau (Guest) I think there is and it took me a while to actually let it come to the front of my brain that that was a real thing that people were distancing themselves from the notion of well, I'm in it to win it. I have to do it full time, I have to make a living and I have to do it like now, and the options are really there on the table for you, whether you would call it a full-time or full-time contractor position, whether it's a part-time and fills the holes in your schedule, in between your other lives, or whether it's a hobby, something creative, something joyful, something you love to do, but it's really not about money.  03:01 - Anne (Host) Well, okay, so let's just talk about the elephant in the room, right? Those that do voiceover as a hobby, right, could potentially be seen as taking away jobs from those people who do this for a living. And so those are the people that I think I see other people talk about them in different groups and Facebook groups and forums about how, oh, are you doing voiceover for a career or a hobby? Because if it's a hobby, then poo-poo, and so there's usually kind of a look of disdain upon those people doing it as a hobby. But I like how we're entertaining the thought of it because, I mean, there's lots of reasons why you want to get invested in voiceover, and not all the time is it to make tons of money and pay the mortgage. I mean, sometimes maybe you're in retirement and you just want a creative outlet, or maybe not even retirement, you just want a creative outlet. And do you feel, Lau, that this is taking away jobs from those of us who do it full time? What are your thoughts on that?  04:01 - Lau (Guest) No, in fact I got to be honest with you, Anne that didn't even come to my mind. It didn't come to my mind because I feel like best person wins the game.  04:10 And if you're in the game to win it and you're serious about it, there's going to be work for you, there's going to be jobs for you. To think about people who are not earning money or living as taking away your work to me is very strange, because it's like, well, it's a capitalistic market. It's like I have to train, I have to have my tools in place, I have to have my protocols and etiquette, I have to know everything that I can know to compete. But can I control the market? Can I control who's in the market? No Right, absolutely. That's true of every industry. I mean, how many times? Let's be honest.  04:43 - Anne (Host) And that's a really good point, laura, wait, wait, I got an honest point for you.  04:46 - Lau (Guest) How many times and listeners, be honest with yourself have you had a problem with your light bulb and your Uncle Harry, who's a retired electrician maybe, is going to fix it for you? Okay, well, you say, of course, let him fix it, sure. Well, he said, of course, let him fix it, sure, I don't even have to pay him. That's really great, wonderful. Well, the reality is is he took away a job from an electrician who's on the market right now. Who would love to get that job? Sure. But the reality is it's like we're built on relationships. We're built on the history of knowing people.  05:19 So not everything is going to be about a competitive job.  05:21 - Anne (Host) Such a great point. I mean and we talk about it in casting all the time I mean, sometimes they choose to go a different direction. Well, what is that other direction? Well, maybe their niece or nephew does voiceover, or maybe it's a friend of theirs that wants to give it a shot, and so, in reality, we don't really have control over that aspect of it. As to the decision of the casting, Again it's like who gets the job?  05:46 I mean is it always the best that gets the job? No, not really. No, sometimes it's just the most convenient or the one that's the cheapest.  05:53 And that is not necessarily our decision or under our control, so I love that you brought that up. I'd like to discuss the fact that I've had students who have tried voiceover and they've tried different genres. Of course you know I have specific genres that I work on and they've decided. You know what. I'm not so sure that voiceover is for me because they find out maybe it's not quite as enjoyable as they thought, or maybe I'm given homework, so maybe they're like I don't want to do Anne homework, so you know what I don't think I'm going to do voiceover anymore, but sometimes you don't know until you explore the path of creative journey.  06:29 - Lau (Guest) You just don't know.  06:30 - Anne (Host) And then all of a sudden, it's like you know what? I don't love it as much as I thought I was going to and therefore, maybe they have a great voice and we would be, maybe, as coaches, saying oh my God, you have a fabulous voice and you're natural at it and maybe they're just like you know. Okay, if I get asked to do it, so I mean there are all sorts of reasons.  06:47 - Lau (Guest) It isn't an all or nothing type of a trade. And besides, if you equate it to any other arts that are out there, like, does that mean I can't paint a painting without selling it? Does that mean I can't create a pot without selling the ceramics? Does that mean I can't dance without getting a job at dancing? It sounds kind of silly when you put it that way, but a lot of us consider it not just a trade but an art form. So to do it as an art form for the creative force of strengthening your voice and communicating and doing all the things that we do in voiceover, I think it's a missed opportunity to not do it because you think it is only meant to be a job and make money. It's also an art form.  07:31 - Anne (Host) And again, yeah, I'm a big believer about it's all about the journey, really not about the end point. Sometimes there's a lot of self-discovery in voiceover because it is a creative. Actually, I think all jobs are creative for the most part. Or they can be made creative or they can be thought of as creative. You can construct them as creative if you want, and so some are just a little more. I would say they lean more towards the creative field where you have more freedom of it. But I think a lot of times it's a journey and that's a wonderful journey to be on. I think we all go through some sort of a creative journey in our lives.  08:08 Absolutely and this is one that can really help you get in tune with yourself, because it is something that is directly in tune with ourselves, our voice.  08:17 - Lau (Guest) Yeah, and not only is it a fun challenge, but it is just that it can be just pure fun. If you get in the booth and you're doing, let's say, an animation character and you love character work, you may be doing that for the sheer benefit of doing it, the process of doing it, sharing with others that you've done it, listening back, enjoyin

BOSSes, get ready for an inspiring conversation with a true powerhouse of performance. In this episode of the VO Boss Podcast, we welcome the incredibly talented Stacia Newcomb, a veteran voice actor and performer who has been lighting up the mic and screen for over 20 years!   00:01 - Speaker 1 (Announcement) Hey bosses, if you're ready to start that demo journey, let's craft your professional demo together. As an award-winning professional demo producer, I'll collaborate with you to showcase your talent in the best possible light. From refining your delivery to selecting the perfect scripts to showcase your brand, I'll ensure your demo reflects your skills and personality. Let's create a demo that opens doors and paves the way for your success. Schedule your session at anneganguzza.com today.  00:33 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the Boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a Boss a VO Boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.  00:52 - Anne (Host) Hey, hey everyone. Welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today I'm here with a very special guest who's been lighting up the mic and the screen for over 20 years. Who's been lighting up the mic and the screen for over 20 years?  01:09 Stacia Newcomb is a powerhouse voice actor, performer and creator whose work spans just about every medium, let's say television, radio, video games, audiobooks and even puppetry. You might recognize her as the star voice See what I did there and fuzzy face of star from the Good Night Show on Sprout, where she's brought warmth and comfort to bedtime for kids for over a decade. Not only that, but she's voiced characters for Disney, nickelodeon, pbs, kids and Cartoon Network. And, of course, you've heard her in campaigns for brands like Geico, verizon, subway and Dunkin'. She's made her mark on stage and screen from a memorable appearance on 30 Rock, which I found to be quite interesting We'll talk about that in a minute to sold-out off-Broadway comedy shows like Can I Say this? I Can Shit Show and Potty in the USA. I can't say that because it's my podcast. Yes, these days she's running her own studio in the Berkshires Sound and the Furry where she produces family-friendly content and helps other performers find their voice. Welcome to the show Stacia.  02:12 - Stacia (Guest) Wow, thank you. That was quite the intro.  02:15 - Anne (Host) I'm like wow, I was like wow, I don't think 30 minutes is enough time for us, Stacia, to go through everything that you've done. Let's not, then We'll talk about whatever we want to. It's just, it's so amazing. I mean, so you've been in the industry for over 20 years, which actually to me, I've been in it just the voiceover aspect for like 18. And so 20 years feels like it was yesterday to me. But talk to us a little bit, talk to the bosses and tell us a little bit how you first got into performance. I assume performance was before voiceover.  02:50 - Stacia (Guest) Yeah, yeah, hey, bosses. Yeah, I started as an actor. I wanted to be an actor for as long as I can remember, I mean when I was little. My mom still tells a story about how I performed for all of my five-year-old friends at my fifth birthday party, which sounds like still a good party to me, right? So, yeah, so I started as an actor and through that I tried to just branch off into any direction that I could, to be living a creative life and be able to continue performing in whatever medium I could. You know.  03:34 - Anne (Host) So what was one of the first things that you did? Performance wise, professionally, yes, professionally.  03:38 - Stacia (Guest) So I this is so random, but there is. I'm from Massachusetts, that's where I grew up. In Newport, rhode Island, which I don't know if there are any Gilded Age fans out there there was a mansion, the Astors Beachwood, and the Astors Beachwood was owned by the Astors at the time when I graduated high school. At the time, for about 10 or 15 years, I think they had. They hired actors from all over the country to live there and perform as both aristocrats and servants of the 1890s the year was 1891. And we yeah, it was all improv, like some days I'd be an aristocrat and some days I'd be a little housemaid.  04:22 - Anne (Host) Wow, that sounds so interesting. Now you said Massachusetts. Now see, I'm originally a New York State girl, right, and I've been up and down the East Coast, so Massachusetts would suggest that you have an accent in there somewhere. Yeah, I sure do.  04:37 - Stacia (Guest) It's right there.  04:38 - Anne (Host) Yeah, and of course I feel like, because I had a very New York State accent which was kind of similar, believe it or not, not quite as I don't know, not quite as accented as, not as ugly. Is that what you're trying to say? Oh no, because I would say things like car and water and it would be like really flat with my A is water.  05:01 And when I moved to New Jersey, oh my gosh did they make fun of me, and so I should not make fun of you?  05:04 in New Jersey, in New.  05:04 - Stacia (Guest) Jersey, they say, they say water.  05:05 - Anne (Host) They say water, what's water, and so I literally like and I think you're, I think possibly at the time this was before voiceover I said, oh gosh, all right, so let me try to tame that, and so I did my own taming of my own accent and then ultimately, I got into voiceover.  05:36 And back when I got into voiceover it was a thing to neutral, to quote, unquote, neutralize, whatever that means, neutralize your accent. And I said it was in a pink envelope and I brought it to the backstage door and so I heard myself say that and I was like and so from then on I just I started pronouncing my R's and have never looked back.  06:02 I imagine once you do, you have family that's still in the area.  06:05 - Stacia (Guest) Yes, in fact, we just moved my mom out of the area.  06:08 - Anne (Host) Yeah, when you go to family reunions and I think that when I get around my you know, my family in New Jersey, like we all start talking quicker and then we start, you know, well, let's talk about you know, we just like get into that accent and it just happens inadvertently but outside of the accent. So that's a really cool first gig. And so then did you go to school for theater?  06:33 - Stacia (Guest) We did OK. So I had done a little dinner theater and then I but I had been auditioning in New York. I had a big callback when I was like 18. I was called back for Les Mis and it didn't happen, unfortunately. But it's cool because it led me on other adventures.  06:52 - Anne (Host) Sure, that was one of my first shows by the way that I saw that. I saw that. I was in a show. No, yeah. No, I can't claim that, but but a callback for Les Mis is really awesome.  07:01 - Stacia (Guest) Yeah, it was a big deal, I and I, so I always. The plan was always to move to New York City, but it just takes a while to get on your feet and New York City is very expensive and a little scary when you're you know, sure is Absolutely Very scary.  07:15 Yeah, and so I ended up getting there eventually. But I did go to college and then I quit college because I realized at some point, like I'm getting a degree in musical theater and what am I going to do with that degree? And I'm spending so much money, but when you're 19 years old you don't realize what you're signing on the dot. You're signing your name on the dotted line for thousands upon thousands of dollars and it's the program itself ended up falling apart. And there were all these promises that were made to me, like you know I, because they gave me a bunch of credits because I'd already been working as an actor, and then I was going to go to London and then they were going to give me my master's so I should have had my master's within five years master's in theater performance. They also had a program where, like I would get my equity card and they do theater during the summers. But it was a small liberal arts Catholic college in Minnesota and the program sort of fell apart and I escaped. I was like this is not.  08:21 - Anne (Host) I had to get out of there. I escaped. That was a lot of that was a lot of words, and I'm not going to make this political at all, but that was a lot of words when you said Minnesota Catholic theater. Coming from a Catholic girl.  08:35 - Stacia (Guest) So I get that. Yes, so it was run by these two incredible gay men who were. They were amazing, but as you can imagine the politics at the time and just yeah, they were amazing, but as you can imagine the politics at the time and just yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, and so all right.  08:48 - Anne (Host) So you quit college. And then what? I quit college.  08:53 - Stacia (Guest) But I got a job before I left, so I needed the impetus and the excuse to get out, which so I ended up working for Goodspeed Musicals, which is in Connecticut and they're a really pretty famous like regional theater. They'd won a lot of awards at the musical Annie started there, so I went there to be an intern in costuming and then I left that because I was like this is not what I want to be doing, I want to be performing. But it got me back east, which was great, and then from there I ended up taking like odd jobs, living with my parents for a little bit until I landed a show that took me on tour as a one person it was actually two different one woman shows for this company that's an educational theater company, and so I did that for like five years and while I was doing that I was able to make enough money to move to New York City and just keep going.  09:47 - Anne (Host) Now, what shows were those that you did that? The one woman shows, because that's quite a thing to do, a one woman show.  09:53 - Stacia (Guest) Yeah, and they're educational. So we would go to I would go alone really

BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza and Tom Dheere dive into a lively and often debated topic for voiceover professionals: industry awards. Prompted by Anne's multiple Award nominations, they explore whether these accolades are simply vanity projects or powerful marketing tools. This episode delves into evolving perspectives on awards, the true meaning of a nomination, and practical strategies for leveraging any recognition to propel your voiceover business forward. They emphasize understanding the subjective nature of awards and how to use them for credibility, even beyond winning.   00:40 - Anne (Host) Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with real boss, Tom Dheere. Woo-hoo, hi, Tom Dheere. I feel like there's pomp and circumstance for you, Tom Dheere, because it's that season again. Do you know what season it is? Deer season.  01:00 - Tom (Guest) Get it Tom Dheere, Deer season oh my God, that is really funny actually. That was terrible. It was not funny.  01:04 - Anne (Host) Well, okay, in addition to being deer season, right, it's award season. Woo-hoo, that's right it is award season. And I know there's always there's always always discussions about awards, and I've had discussions about awards before. I think we've probably talked about them before, but let's talk about them again, shall we? Because I think it's an ever-evolving thing and there are some people who are really for awards and some people who really detest awards.  01:32 - Tom (Guest) Yes, the reason why we're having this conversation, Anne, is because you got nominated for how many One Voice Awards.  01:41 - Anne (Host) Five why,thank you.  01:43 - Tom (Guest) Yes.  01:43 - Anne (Host) Why, thank you.  01:46 - Tom (Guest) I'm very excited about that. Wow, this is exciting and it's for all of the amazing work that you have gotten out of your students.  01:54 - Anne (Host) Yeah, for demos. 01:55 - Tom (Guest) That's amazing. Congratulations to you and all of your students. I'm very excited.  01:59 - Anne (Host) Yes, thank you, thank you. I like awards. I am one of those people that I actually endorse awards and I know some people think they're a vanity thing and in reality, for me it's always been about the marketing aspect. Tom, what are your thoughts?  02:15 - Tom (Guest) I used to be part of the anti-awards crew. I thought it was an exercise in vanity. I thought it was a money grab by the voiceover organizations that were hosting the awards, and my thoughts have evolved on the subject. Okay, I'd love to hear that. Well, I really do see now that it is truly a marketing tool and that is okay. All awards in all industries, from the Oscars all the way down to, you know, dog Catcher of the Year, these are all marketing. It's all about marketing. Is it about recognition? Yes. Is it a celebration of the industry in question? Yes. Is it to shine a spotlight on excellence, either from an individual or a group of individuals or a company, or whatever? Yes, is it to shine a spotlight on excellence either from an individual or a group of individuals or a company, or whatever? Yes, all of that is good and it should be supported. Is it an exercise of vanity? Yeah, sure, it's okay. There's nothing wrong with wanting to get dressed up and have people applaud you. There's nothing wrong with that, it's totally cool, it's totally cool.  03:22 - Anne (Host) Any excuse to get dressed up.  03:24 - Tom (Guest) Well, especially as voice actors who are stuck in closets in our pajamas all day,  03:27 - Anne (Host) Exactly exactly.  03:28 For me, it's always been marketing. First, because we have this whole conversation that awards are subjective. Right, I watch the awards, I watch the music awards, I watch the Emmys, the Oscars, I watch them all. Some people just they have so much to say about the awards, but honestly, I enjoy them if there's entertainment involved and I actually feel like it's wonderful when people get recognition that I feel deserve recognition. But of course, there's always the times where you're like I don't know how that person won or I don't know how that person didn't win, and so it is so very subjective and I think, first and foremost, we all need to remember that that is a fact. Right, it is very subjective and if you do not win an award, it has no bearing whatsoever on your worth or your quality at all, absolutely.  04:17 - Tom (Guest) It's interesting because the prism that most people look through all awards through is the Oscars. Right, and it's like Billy Crystal said it's an evening for three hours where millionaires are handing each other gold statues, which is pretty funny and accurate. But here's the thing I just realized about all this is that if you are a member of the Academy the Film Academy and you get your screeners, you know that Daniel Day-Lewis is up for best actor and you're watching the movie, or whatever excerpts of the movie that they sent you for you to cast your vote for him or somebody else.  04:50 - Anne (Host) Right or anybody else in any other category, or if you're not a voter right, you're a person going. Oh, hmm, somebody thinks that movie's credible, maybe I'll go see it. Guess what that resulted in Purchasing right, purchasing right, purchasing a ticket to go see that movie. So marketing, it worked, so marketing.  05:05 - Tom (Guest) But here's the interesting Anne that I just realized when it comes to the One Voice Awards which we both got, I got nominated for a little one, just one, yay, congratulations.  05:13 - Anne (Host) Tom Dheere.  05:13 - Tom (Guest) The commercial category.  05:14 - Anne (Host) Oh, that's right. That's right, Tom, that's awesome.  05:25 - Tom (Guest) So for your performance, but it's really nice. It's just being like, hey. But here's the thing about it is that when you submit, it's my understanding that when they listen to these demos that you help produce or these voiceovers that I did, they don't know who they're listening to.  05:41 - Anne (Host) Yeah, theoretically.  05:43 - Tom (Guest) So it's theoretically, I mean.  05:44 - Anne (Host) In a closed industry. Sometimes, like I know Tom De're listening to yeah, theoretically, so it's theoretically, I mean In a closed industry. Sometimes, like I know Tom Dheere voice.  05:48 - Tom (Guest) Well, that's exactly what I was about to say. I would like if there were three or four or five, if there were five people who were listening to these, I think that maybe two or three of them would probably be like that's Tom.  05:58 - Anne (Host) Yeah, yeah, yeah, but they don't talk to one another.  06:01 - Tom (Guest) But they don't talk to one other so it's generally anonymous and it's generally done in isolation.  06:06 - Anne (Host) I can say that for certain because I've been a judge prior.  06:09 - Tom (Guest) Right, oh, okay, so.  06:10 - Anne (Host) I can say for certain that it is closed and that you do not know who the entry is. You don't know who submitted it, right, and it's isolated.  06:18 - Tom (Guest) So for the five lovely voice actors whose demos were nominated that you produced. They didn't know who they were and they didn't know that necessarily that it was you that produced it. I mean, after a while, if you listen to enough demos, you can be like that's a Chuck Duran demo, that's a Nancy Wolfson demo because there's just like styles, there's styles you know what I mean, but for the most part they're not going to know who these voice actors are, who are nominated for any of these or for the demo.  06:43 So I think it's more of a pure. There's a level of purity in it that there isn't in the Oscars, for example.  06:48 - Anne (Host) Yeah, there's a combination for that particular category of not just the demo but the performance in the demo and hopefully, if you have created that demo and produced that demo, that has lent itself to a wonderful performance. And just being nominated, I want to say to anybody out there, just being nominated is a win. It doesn't matter, honestly, if I win, and I've been entering awards for years now. There's been many, many years where I didn't win and so I have to like always talk to myself and talk to my students to make sure that if I don't win it doesn't mean that I'm not worthy, it doesn't mean that that nomination wasn't really a win, because you can still believe it or not, you can market a nomination just like a win.  07:28 - Tom (Guest) Absolutely, and the Oscars— it sounds pretty darn similar. The Oscars do it all the time.  07:32 - Anne (Host) Mm-hmm. Award-nominated versus award-winning.  07:35 - Tom (Guest) Right. Did you ever watch the Secret Life of Walter Mitty?  07:38 - Anne (Host) That's the one that Ben Affleck wrote, and directed and starred in.  07:42 - Tom (Guest) I thought that movie was exceptional and I swore I was going to get all these nominations. It didn't get a one.  07:48 - Anne (Host) And.  07:49 - Tom (Guest) I don't know if it's because they didn't think it was off to snuff, if it was too past the deadline, or if they just chose not to submit it, because that's the other thing. We choose to submit ourselves for these awards. Now for actors in Broadway and television and film. They have their production companies or networks or whatever deciding to do these. Oh, we think these people have the best chance and they still have to pay submission fees as well, application fees for the nominations, just like any other nomination, which I think is-.  08:16 - Anne (Host) Well, there's a cost to running an award show. There's a cost to having people judge the awards. There's a cost for people's time, absolutely. So paying to enter yourself into an awards is. I don't find anything necessarily wrong about that.  08:33 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) No.  08:33 - Tom (Guest) Maybe how much you pay, I don't know I mean if it's a for-profit scheme, then you know, okay, I mean people who organize awards. Should they or do they deserve to make a