Voice over coaching, should I be doing it?

So you might have seen that I run weekend workshops and do one on one coaching for people starting out in voice over with fellow voice actor and audio producer Andy Wells at Voices of Tomorrow. Andy and have worked together for years and started these workshops a few years back after we had been training in voice and audio production at the Melbourne Radio school, (renamed RTI along the way). When the school shut its doors, we decided to see if people 'out there' would be interested in dipping their toe in the water, we already had the material and the workshop rundown so we thought we would give it a go.

9 or so weekend workshops later, which have all been fully booked, we think we are on to a winner. But here's the thing. The voice over industry in Australia isn't huge, and hen we started doing them, I was actually asked by someone who's been associated with the industry for many years why I was 'churning out new people into the market' and watering it down.

I'll tell you, I was very upset, I'm a Dudley do-right and I don't want to be annoying people in the industry! I thought long and hard about it and this is what I concluded. 

Her argument actually seemed silly. 

Voice over is a craft. 

You don't become professional at any craft over night, but you might need someone to show you the ropes in the beginning. Think of it as learning knitting or to surf over a weekend. You don't then start a side hustle flogging scarfs on Etsy come Monday morning or call Kelly Slater and tell him to be careful, you're off to bells beach for the pro!

I always tell people, if they want to be a voice actor, that's great! Working with my voice brings me such joy, so I feel like they're part of my gang! But I'm always honest about how hard it is. First you need to get to know how to use your voice, and many of us don't have a clue in the beginning, then it's a long journey to becoming professional, as are most things! 

And the other thing is that many people want to learn more about it, because it seems exciting and so different to their day jobs, but they don't then necessarily want to put in the hard yards, or just want to have some fun, and that's good too. So that's why i like coaching people. To share what I have learned, and continue to learn, and to gain knowledge from them too.