SPEAKER_01 0:00

A lot of midlife women want more flexible income. Not someday, but now. But they end up down this rabbit hole of trying different options, not knowing where to go, and then they end up giving up. Today we're introducing one option you may not have considered. Voiceover. It's work you can do from home. It has real liens that pay, and there's a clear path to get started. And my guest, Carrie Olson, is going to share that path. She is a voice actor and coach. Super interesting career. Carrie, welcome to the show. Give us a bit of an introduction and tell us what you do, who you help, and how you help them.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Sure. Thanks so much. I'm glad to be here, Lynette. So, like you said, my name is Carrie Olsen. I'm a voice actor. I've been voice acting for about 10 years, a little over 10 years full-time. And I got into it because I was looking for something that I could do from home. I had been working a corporate job and just had my first daughter and wanted to do something that I wouldn't require me to commute, basically, to drive into work every day. And I came across voice acting on a podcast. I was listening to my now coach and good friend. She was being interviewed on a podcast. It's just a random podcast that interviews people that do unusual work. And about halfway through the episode, I thought, that sounds like something I could do. And so I started getting training from her and started booking work. And it has become my full-time gig and kind of my life's work. So I love doing voiceover work. If you don't know what voiceover is, anytime basically that you hear a voice, but you don't see a face. So that's commercials, audiobooks, the checkout, the automated checkout at the grocery store, the bus voice telling you to, you know, that the next stop is Broadway Street. All of the in video games, that's a really huge one right now, too. So there's a lot of different applications, but that is voiceover work.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah, I know. It's so cool. So I I even think like of all of the Disney movies I've watched in my lifetime because I raised two kids, that's all voiceover, right? It's all voice acting. Maybe we should talk a little bit about that. What's the difference between being a voice actor or and voice over stuff? Is there a difference?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

There's a there's debate about that. So some people kind of try to parse that out. They're usually used interchangeably, voiceover and voice acting. So I don't differentiate them. Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

And so you you did give uh a few uh sort of lanes that people can kind of get started. But what are the main lanes that people can actually get paid for in this work?

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yeah, so the main genres are commercial voiceover work. And it's really broad, really, anywhere when you're hearing commercials on TV and now streaming ads and YouTube. So that those are the kind of the main primary things that people think about when they get into voiceover commercials. But even within that, there's promo. So that's slightly different from commercial, but those are still things that you might see on TV, but those are things that are promoting like a specific station or channel or show. And so that those reads sound a little bit different. And then yeah, there's there's a lot. So we mentioned audiobooks and animation video games. There's character work, you know, you can do animated television shows. So there's a lot of different applications.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah, it's so cool. You I just it's something that I've just never really thought about. You just sort of take it for granted. And then I think it was after our pre-call, of course, my phone starts to show me all of these voiceover things. But 11 Labs came up, and that's something that is sort of new on the scene, maybe a couple of years now. Maybe talk a little bit about that because I think that's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

So, yeah, there have been a lot of different innovations in VoiceOver, just like with any technology back in earlier days before they were even like right now, the way that a lot of people get started in voiceover is they sign up for what's called online casting sites. And so these are websites where you can go and pay a subscription fee and you get access to auditions. A lot of people book a lot of work through those sites. Before that, people were having to go into studios and record their voiceover work live and in person. And now it's it's much easier to have home studios and their online casting sites and other ways of booking work. So AI and voiceover is kind of another level of just technological advancement. And so we're seeing people's voices now that can be cloned and used even when the voice actor isn't there. So right now it's kind of a touchy situation because there aren't a whole lot of regulations about or around what is acceptable as far as cloning voice actors' voices and making sure that they have consent and making sure that they are properly paid when their voice is used. So we're still kind of working those details out, but it's there. It's it's something that's here now and it's become kind of part of the fabric of the voiceover world. And so voice actors are learning how to interact with that, how to continue to do work in a field where where that kind of technology exists. And so for my job, my work, a lot of it is uh I do promo work, I do a lot for HBO Max, I do work for Disney Plus. And so a lot of that work hasn't really felt threatened. And so I still do live sessions and even unsupervised sessions, obviously with with my own voice. But there are some areas of voiceover work that have seen some that just have been affected basically by AI voiceover coming in and, you know, basically disrupting the industry. Disrupting it, yeah. Yeah. And there are a lot of a lot of nuances to that. I've had people who have tried to go the AI route for voiceover and then realized that they their use case actually really needed a human. And then there are people who never would have used voiceover, voice actors before because they couldn't afford it. And then these these AI voiceover companies make that possible for them. So it's not necessarily taking a job from a voice actor, but just kind of applying, having this new application that they wouldn't have had before. So it's very multifaceted.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Yeah, no kidding. So do you think there's a special voice or like do you need to have a special voice or do you need to sort of have this trained version of your voice? Like, do you do you have to do some voice acting coaching?

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I definitely recommend voiceover coaching if you are interested in getting into voiceover. And it's not necessarily to make your voice sound like a voiceover voice. We kind of talked a little bit about do you have to have a certain type of voice to get into voiceover? And, you know, I think we all have a stereotypical voiceover voice that we think of, like big booming voices with James Earl Jones and just really iconic voices that that, you know, Morgan Freeman, these types of voices that we think of. But not everyone in voiceover has to have a voice like that. And if you think about a lot of the commercials that you see now are very down-to-earth. It's it's just your best friend telling you something. We're not really into the big radio voices that that used to be really popular. Now it's more just, let me, let me tell you about this thing that I like. The voiceover coaching comes in because there is a there's a cadence. I mean, first of all, we're selling something, right? So in commercials, there uh there's a copywriter who has gone through and written this spot. And they have taken great pains, hopefully, to direct it towards a certain audience and to architect it a certain way. And there's a certain outcome that they want that to have. They've got a vision for it. And so voice actors can learn to study that and to break down that architecture and to learn what the different types of commercials sound like. And commercials for a certain demographic are going to sound different from a different demographic or for a different certain um, you know, like a retail commercial versus an auto commercial versus a fast food commercial. So you can really get into the weeds of studying what these different types of commercials sound like. And so that's where training really comes in because you're competing with trained voice actors, you're competing with full-time voice actors if you're trying to get into voiceover. And a lot of them have that experience already and they've been doing this for a long time. And so it's helpful to be able to break those things down and to learn the basics of how to interpret voiceover copy. And then there's things like timing and how to handle different constructs within a script. So there's a lot there, breath work, things like that. So I definitely recommend getting coaching if that's something that you are interested in pursuing.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

So how do you, how easy do you think it could be in this day and age, what's, you know, it's getting a bit, there's a bit of disruption going on to actually do what you're doing? Do you think it's kind of too late or do you feel like there's still opportunity?

SPEAKER_00 8:45

There's definitely opportunity. So there are there are people who are still starting voiceover businesses, booking really great work. You know, one thing that has changed a lot, and I actually saw this when I was starting as well, it's not so much about relying on systems and relying on your agent and manager and those things, although there are um, there are voice actors out there who get the majority of their work through their agent, through their manager. But the the internet and just the ability to be everywhere and to market and to reach out to brand yourself and to present yourself to the types of companies that you want to work for. It's kind of broken down that barrier again, whereas it used to just be you had to have an agent, you had to live in a certain city. I live in Kansas City and do work for, you know, all over the country from here. So it's really decentralized the work. You know, technology has decentralized the work. It's just changed the way that you go about getting work. So, you know, you might not work for the biggest companies in the world, but can you go up and down your street and uh or your you know, main street in your town and see if there are people there who need voiceover work or do audio books or do things for local businesses. You can be really creative about the way that you go about booking work. So there's definitely still opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Yeah, no, for sure. And so there's kind of two lanes you can take. One, try to find it on your own, go to these casting.com sites, or as you have done it, you've you've got an agent and you've got a manager, people who help you, who help you book. So let's go back, back it back to the day when you did discover voiceover. What was happening in your life at the time? You you said that you know you wanted to have more time to be at home with your child. How did you set up your studio? Like, how did you get kind of started with all of that?

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah. So what was going on in my life? I again, I just had my first daughter. So she was probably three months old when I got my first voiceover coaching lesson. And this was something that I was just exploring. I had my husband was is an entrepreneur, uh, had been an entrepreneur. And so I had been helping him and supporting him with his business and not really doing anything on my own. Although I did one day he came home came home from work and I was recording a podcast in the living room. And uh I was really into that show, Downton Abbey, and I just created a podcast on that show on a whim. So, and actually, people did comment on my voice when I was doing that show. So that was kind of a little, not an entry point, but a clue of, you know, what I would end up doing. But I basically told my husband, hey, my I found this lady who coaches voice actors, and it wasn't something I'd ever considered before. And I discussed, okay, can I can I pay a little money to get some coaching from her? And it was a it felt like a risky thing to do. It felt like I was putting myself out there for the first time. I had been always been supporting my husband. And this was something where I was like, I'm gonna put this out there and do something that I want to do and see how this goes. And so that felt like a big leap. And my husband was on board. So I did that, started getting training and got some positive feedback. Very rarely will someone get a voiceover coaching session and hear, oh, you're perfect, you're good to go. You don't need any training at all. But my coach said, You're about 60% there. You're, you know you can work on some things and maybe we you can do this. And so I just committed to training with her and loved it. I dove in, I became obsessed with voiceover, was just researching it constantly, reading books, watching, I didn't watch too many YouTube videos. There's just a ton of information out there, but studied on my own and and uh with my coach and got to the point where we felt I could start auditioning. And I did that and started booking work. So that was kind of the genesis of my voiceover career. And the first year or so was just 100% auditioning. That was the only way that I booked work was auditioning. And I was on the online casting sites and was able to quit my job actually very soon after that. And I, after my early success, I thought, well, if I'm able to book this kind of work with a newborn at home, working on weekends and nights, how well could this go if I put full-time hours into it? And so we calculated that risk and decided that that was something worth trying, put in those full-time hours to auditioning. And that worked great. And then eventually I decided I wanted a little bit more control over the work that I was booking and not having to wait on auditions all the time. And so I started a marketing campaign and I just made it up. And that worked really well. And I still have clients today from that first initial marketing push that I did years and years ago. And then eventually got my agent and manager, and that's kind of the evolution of my business.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

So you didn't have the agent and manager right out of the gate. You eventually you got really good at it, I suppose, right? And so, you know, and and everything is a slow progression. People always think, oh, it happened overnight or whatever, but we all know that it takes time. Which kind of brings me to the next sort of segment, if you will, for our podcast today. And it's talking a little bit about how you have evolved in your your practice and now you're helping other people. And you mentioned that campaign that you put out there where you, you know, obviously attracted people, they gave you their email, and you've been communicating with these people over time. Um, and you mentioned on the pre-call that somebody had been on your email list for a very long time until they bought from you. So walk us through that story and then teach us what does that actually mean about those silent watchers?

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Yeah, and that that actually happens pretty regularly where people will reach out and say, I've been on your list for years, and this is the first step that I'm taking. So, yeah, before I, one of my my corporate jobs that I was in, I was creating online training. And so when I got my, you know, when I got into voiceover and I started experiencing some success, and I had people asking me, How did you do that? It was just a natural thing to build an online course because that's what I had been doing previously. And so I I had a blog and I made a little getting started guide and I created an online course just to show this is this is how I did it. This is my path to where I'm at right now in voiceover, and started sharing that. And that's kind of how I started building my email list. That was, I want to say it was fun. It's fun now. Back then, I didn't realize that I, I didn't realize I was building a side business. So I was a voice actor and just made this helpful guide, didn't realize that I was building a business as far as helping other people get into voiceover. But it's something that I really love now. And yeah, I get people who will say, I've been kind of lurking on your list and in this space and something I've been thinking about. And I love reading your emails, but I've never really taken that first step. And so that's something now that I uh, you know, I mentioned that was that was basically me. When I started my voiceover business, I had always been just kind of in the background. And this was the thing that helped me to step forward and to decide to kind of bet on myself, to put it in a cliche way. But it's something that's been so beautiful just for my life because voiceover hasn't just been a business and it hasn't just been working on my voice. When you start a business, you encounter all kinds of demons that will come out and make you feel not worthy, make you feel like the thing you're doing is stupid, make you feel like it's irresponsible. All of these things will come up that keep you, that kept me from pursuing this thing. And so one mindset shift that I've had over the years is that, and this is something that Dan Miller is a man who wrote a book called 48 Days to the Work You Love, and he was really instrumental in my husband starting to do work that he loves. And one concept that we came across there is that it isn't, it isn't responsible to suppress your dreams, the things that you want to do that you feel are just the work that you've been given to do, whether that's creating something or starting a business, painting, roller skating, whatever that thing is. It isn't your it isn't, it isn't responsible to suppress that in because you're serving your family or because you feel like you, you know, for financial reasons. It's actually responsible to explore those things because those are things that later on down the road, you're going to think back and say, this is a part of me that I never explored. This is something that I never got to um work out in me. Because there are those those psychological blocks and those those inner demons that you come across that you'll never have to deal with unless you put yourself out there and try. So I contend that it's it's a responsible thing to do. Obviously, within confines, like came into my voiceover work. I didn't just quit my job immediately and do it in this way that I burned all the bridges. It was in stages. And that's what I advocate for. So not needing to throw everything to the wind and and hope everything works out, but in a responsible way, start moving towards that thing, that that goal that you have or that dream that you have.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Yeah, I like that. That's a really nice way of putting it. Because I often think I think that a lot of people have the same thing, you know, where they they think the same way in terms of, I don't want to have any regrets. But because you haven't been responsibly moving forward towards those goals, you are going to wake up one day and go, oh my God, I have those regrets. The regrets that I had hoped I didn't have, I have because I got in my own way. And so that's really good. It's it's irresponsible of you not to take the step towards your goals. And it's more responsible of you to do that. And if you can think that way, that's a really good way of putting it. I like it. I haven't heard that, those words used. I've heard similar types of concepts, but not the irresponsible, responsible. So thanks for sharing that. What do you think on that tone? What does consistency look like when you are busy? Like you were busy as a new mom, but there's a lot of women who my audience is where midlife women and men who are still very busy in their lives. What would be a realistic approach for them, or responsible approach, if you will, for them to get started on doing something different that they want to do? And that could be voice acting or it could be something else.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Yeah. So I think that the first thing that comes to mind is small incremental steps. I think that people really underestimate the value of that. We feel like if I can't make it happen right now, then I'm just not going to do anything. And the result of that is a year goes by and you're in the exact same spot. It feels like small steps don't do anything because there's nothing to celebrate. We look at the mountain, we want to be at the peak of the mountain. And until you're at the peak, there's nothing to celebrate, but you can't get there unless you've taken one small step and then another small step. So I really advocate for having your goal, knowing what your goal is, and then breaking it down so small that you can do a little bit every day. And that little bit, it might just be inner work. It might just be getting more comfortable with the exposure, with the idea of even saying, well, I am going to start this thing. Because that's the first barrier that you have to break down. It's not, you know, setting a price and starting your business and building a thing. The first thing is even just believing that you can do it and that you should do it and that it's possible and that you're the right person to do it, and getting over those fears of what are people going to think? Uh, when I publish my first thing, it's gonna look terrible and people are gonna think it's a joke. So just overcoming those first barriers. So that's that's inner work. And I call that I have uh in my program, which we can talk about later if we want to, but it's just called see the lie. And so the lie of this is irresponsible. So we can tell ourselves all of these things that sound good, sound like good reasons not to move forward. And in reality, they're just little lies that are trying to keep you in the same spot. And it's trying to keep you safe because going into the unknown feels scary, but we don't grow unless we step outside of that comfort zone. So those would be the first steps, just believing it's possible, seeing that lie, being okay with stepping out and looking a little cringy at first. That's okay. Most people's first iterations of things don't look great, but you can't get to the place where you do look great unless you start at that place where you don't. So you have to kind of get those reps in. And that's again where that consistency comes in. So every day doing something that that gets you closer to that goal.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Yeah, I know, exactly. And sometimes you don't always know what it's gonna look like at the end either. So so sometimes, you know, you you have a hope for something, but if you're doing those small steps, different things show up and actually take you down probably the better path anyway. Okay, so since we're talking about the path, and I know for a fact there are millions of people out there over the last few years that bought online programs, expensive programs. We know that most of those. Programs. They tend to not finish. Some of them have been a complete waste of money. I've fallen into that trap a couple of times myself. So instead of the expensive path of buying an expensive program right out of the gate, how would you recommend if somebody was voiceover curious, we'll just talk about the voiceover right now? What should she or he do first before buying the gear, buying everything? Like, where would you stay to start? You've already alluded to your program. Maybe we could talk a little bit about that as well.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Yeah. So honestly, my my first thing that I recommend people do, if you're interested in voiceover, get a coaching session. And one of the reasons I say that is because that will that will help you know if this is something you really want to do. Voiceover is one of those jobs where the allure of it is can be really strong and it can feel like, oh, this seems like such a fun job. You just talk into a microphone and you get paid. And it is a fun job, but there's a lot of work that goes into it, not just on the business side, but also just on the vocal technique and development side. And so when you get a coaching session, if you're starting at this from scratch and you've never done any type of voiceover work before, that first coaching session will either be super energizing to you and you'll go, that was so much fun. I got to dig into this copy. I got to do these different things with my voice. I got this feedback from my coach and I uh, you know, I really understood it. I was vibing and it felt great. Or you'll get done with that first session and go, that was very different from what I thought. I thought I was just gonna get be able to kind of wing it a little bit more, but there's all these things I have to think about, these new ways of talking and communicating that I have to incorporate. I think maybe that's not for me. So I recommend getting a coaching session before you go out and buy a bunch of equipment, you know, microphone, booth, that kind of thing, because that that will be a good indicator of whether this is something that you want to do long term.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Yeah. And can they do that with you, Carrie?

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Yes, I do coaching and I have openings on occasion. So yes, it's definitely you can reach out and see if I have openings.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Okay, so I really like that. Sort of like a test run. Yes. And and that actually is, I think, perfect for anything in my program. It's from idea to first client, minimal viable product, right? So we're not building this massive product, all these courses, and and we're not even we're not even recording anything at this point. We're just like, what's the idea? Let's go out, let's test the market. And I think that is what you're suggesting uh with the coaching sessions. If if you're not available, you could probably recommend somewhere that they could go. Um but I think that's a really good idea to to do the voiceover coat to do the voiceover coaching. Because I think, yeah, I'm still kind of curious, like what what what makes a good voice? And you know, obviously it's I I can't see it. Is it the same as singing lessons, I guess? Because like even the way I'm raising my voice right now, I don't want to do that probably when I'm doing a voiceover, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:57

That well, not necessarily, because for example, what I just said just now, I kind of thought and my voice went up. And I'm like, well, not necessarily. So those are things so the the trend in voiceover work right now is conversational. And so it's not about reading something very clearly and uniformly and making it sound really pretty. Like that's not necessarily the way that you what you need to be doing. Now, there are applications for that, but the type of work that books is when you can sound. I mean, all voiceover is you're reading someone else's words, but you need to make them sound like your own. So that's where the acting piece comes in. And, you know, when we're speaking just conversationally to each other, uh, we do have pauses. We have things where we hesitate a little bit, or we look up and then our voice changes some, or a posture changes, or we get an idea and things change. So those are things that are actually helpful kind of devices to be able to use in your voiceover work as long as they're controllable. You want them to be trained in things that you're doing on purpose, not things that are happening accidentally. So, you know, talking about a good voice versus a voice that books, the voice that books work is is trained in that way and has the, you know, the person is a good actor. So you're able to take these scripts and make it sound like you're talking to your best friend or talking to your child or whatever is supposed to be happening in the script. So those little quirks, I would argue, are actually selling points. Like those are things to keep and that will help differentiate you from other voice actors and from AI. So yeah, don't feel like you need to sound uniform, like be yourself.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

You know, it's true what you're saying about AI, because there's so many AI models out there now, and you're you're listening to something, but you can pick up pretty quickly if it's an AI. I mean, obviously there's AI stamps now. You have to notify people if you're watching AI, but you can still hear it. So I like what you're saying there. So, Carrie, where can people find you? Um, and I guess what's the best next step if they wanted your help?

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Sure. So I my website is carryolsonvo.com. And I'll spell that because there's a lot of ways to spell Carrie and two ways to spell Olson. So it's C-A-R-R-I-E O-L-S-E-N V-O, as in voiceover.com. And if you want to work with me, I actually have a gift for your audience, if that's okay, Lynette. For sure. Yeah, we take it. I like free gifts. I like gifts. Sure. Cool. So it's carryolsonvo.com slash Lynette. And if you go there, you can opt in to get uh a guide from me. So um you can get either a voiceover guide or a how to build your own thing guide where I talk about some of the principles I talked about here, just seeing the lie and how to overcome those barriers and those obstacles to be able to finally put your thing that you've been trying to create out into the world. So those are two ways to interact with me, and I'd love to hear from you.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Okay, well, Carrie, thank you so much. And I'm so glad that we connected. Never in a million years would I've ever thought about voiceover acting. And so it was just such a fascinating conversation and it's a really interesting, really interesting niche that you're doing. So I wish you all the best of luck. Thank you for the the gift, and I'll make sure that that's in the show notes and we will talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

All right.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Thanks so much, Lynette. Thank you.