How to Find Vetted, Reputable Voiceover Coaches

New voiceover talent entering the industry, such as myself a few years ago, are often faced with a challenge that many business owners in general sweat over constantly…where to find good information. This is especially true with coaches, mentors, and people you'll likely be paying a good sum of money to in order to learn the business.

First and foremost, this is not going to be a list of coaches that I consider to be good. Coaching is subjective and it’s all about the value that the coachee receives. It’s communication. It’s the same as every aspect of life. I may love Coach A because we connect and have a similar thought process. Coach B may be an industry vet with 185 years of experience, is a VO Vampire that knows and does everything but Coach B and I disagree about process or whatever. Does that make Coach B a bad coach? Absolutely not! It just means they weren’t a fit for me.

So how do you vet or find a reputable coach? It’s actually a whole lot easier than you think!

One of the best pieces of advice that I ever got in this task was to decide what you needed coaching on! If you want to get promo coaching, probably not the best idea to get someone who coaches audio mastering techniques. Think of it like asking a painter to run the plumbing for your new house. They might be able to do it, but a plumber would probably be able to help you more efficiently in that scenario right? Lots of tenured folks and coaches offer 15-30 minute free meetups via Zoom. I highly recommend signing up for these. They are truly the best judge of whether or not you’re going to like the idea of forking over dollars to gain sense from this person or if you don’t feel it then you know it’s time to move on without being out a significant sum of money.

Coaches often help people as part of a business plan for sure but also because they genuinely want to help people improve!

So…where to find these illusive creatures?

Another simple strategy.

Head on over to Voices and they have a Coaches section. However someone may feel about that particular site, the coaches listed are generally solid, even in the bottom $ level. Another trick? Search the big #VO conferences that are happening, like VO Atlanta or One Voice or APAC or WoVoCON, and take a look at who is presenting or doing sessions there. Chances are pretty high that some of the speakers at those events also offer coaching and if they do? They’ve already been vetted for you by being allowed to speak at these conferences to the masses.

Like I said before, this is not going to be a list of Coach A is great and so on. You MUST do your own due diligence when selecting your coach(s) because they must fit what you want to do in VO and what direction you want to take. One of things that makes us VO people stand apart from A.I. is the fact that we are unique and all walking different paths.

Don’t compare yourself to others, learn from them. Starting a Voiceover business is a marathon, not a sprint for the vast majority of people. This is not a snap your fingers and instantly make money business and you must invest in yourself and practice. One of the best ways to do that? Getting a quality, reputable coach to guide you.

#HireHuman #fAIrVoices