There are a gazillion plus possible tools and resources Voice Actors use in their businesses, but today, we’re only going to cover the top five that I teach:

1. Tech, equipment + software
2. At least one demo
3. Somewhere to audition
4. A place to get paid
5.An online presence

Your Tech, equipment + software.

This includes your mic, interface (if you’re using an XLR mic), a DAW – digital audio workstation to record and edit your audio, and a treated space for recording.

At least one demo.

Why at least one demo? Because you need at least one demo to be able to audition on Pay to Play sites like Voices.com and Voice123. These marketplaces are invaluable to newbie Voice Actors so it’s in your best interest to either put a demo together yourself (we’ll talk more about this in later episodes) or hire a professional.

Somewhere to audition

That brings us to the next tool – somewhere to audition. This can be direct from a company, agency, or studio or you can audition on Pay to Play sites where a bunch of people from across the world post jobs for Voice Actors at industry standard rates.

A place to get paid

Once you get some momentum, you’ll find that you need a way to get paid for your work. If you use a Pay to play site, they usually have a PayPal integration you can use to get paid directly that way. But if you’re working with clients one on one, outside of a platform or service, you’ll need a way to get paid. This can be through a platform like PayPal business, Wave, Quickbooks Self-employed, Freshbooks, or sometimes by check or direct deposit depending on the client.

An online presence

Before you get flustered, come back to me, an online presence doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a website, though you’ll want one down the road. But this can start as simply filling out your LinkedIn page and making sure you have a clear and updated photo of yourself or you can create a company page on Facebook where you send clients. In the beginning of your journey, keeping things as simple as possible will allow you the opportunity to see where you can grow and expand over time i.e. where to put your hard fought dollars and time.

To Wrap Up

When you’re first starting out, don’t let yourself get bogged down by all the possible bells and whistles like paid ads, social media activity, agents, etc. Those things are additional items to be added if or when the time is right. For now, keep it simple and doable.

I know all of this may feel overwhelming right now, but don’t worry – I’ve created a checklist to help you stay organized and keep track of what you need as you go along. You can find it in the show notes of this episode in your podcast app.