Voice123 Community News! Voice Over 'Rope-A-Dope'!

The Voice Talent!
This week, we would like to share the story of Marcus Weems, voice over talent on Voice123.

The 'Knockdown Attempts' and 'Rope-A-Dope'!
Over the course of a year on Voice123, Marcus Weems faced many 'audition and hear nothing' jabs, followed by a few 'Finalist, but not hired' left hooks! After a year of not being able to land one spot, he still managed to stay strong, stayed on his feet, and when the world got tired of trying to knock him down, he finally got the chance to do his 'Voice Over Rope-A-Dope'!

He persisted and maintained a positive resolve. Then suddenly, he booked a Voice123 job last week and another one the following week. In one such instance, he mentioned his new voice over website. The crowd went CRAZY over his many character voices. Shortly, after writing to Voice123, he was offered an audio book contract last. May 2010 turned out to be a strong comeback! Cheers to his continued success!

The 'Voice Coach in His Corner'
Marcus Weems was first introduced to Voice123 via a 30-day Premium Trial, offered by voice coach Bettye Zoller in cooperation with the Voice123 Coach Partner Program. After reaching out to Bettye for comment, she stated that two of her referred students to Voice123 have called her recently to:

"excitedly tell me (Bettye Zoller) of the repeat business he is getting from one client. Clients use us again and again. Another student tells me that he won a job on Voice123, and that the PAYPAL money was in his email BEFORE he could get back home to do the job that day. He got paid before he voiced it. WOW!"

If you are a voice over coach, or a voice talent currently studying with a coach, please take a look at our coach partner program and contact Giselle Geney at giselle@voice123.com to learn more!

'The Most Important Thing...'
Voice talent write us quite often and ask, 'What is the most important thing to be in voice overs?'. If you are just starting out, or maybe just in a bit of a dry slump, I still believe the most important thing one MUST always have is a positive support group. Voice coaches are helpful in providing this, as well as, Voice123 forums. Simply put, you need people around you, who understand why you do voice overs, and what you need to succeed in a very competitive field!

Thank you always!

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Voice123 Community News!

'Voice Talent! Lend Me Your Ears!'

I mean that, seriously. I am about ready for a new pair! Last week, in our Voice123 Premium Forums, I mentioned troubles I was having with ear aches from prolonged usage of headphones. Please read about it here.

I received great information from very generous voice talent, Cia Allan, Si 'Pipes' Hawk, Scott Gentle, Xiao Zhen Xue, and Victoria Wright. This is a 'thank you' to them, and also a chance for you to read some wonderful information, if you are a voice talent who spends a great deal of time wearing 'cans'. The Voice123 Premium Forums continues to be an excellent opportunity to find great information for auditioning on Voice123! We hope you will take a look!

Wanted: 'Voice Over Stories From Around the World!'

Voice123 has the opportunity to read amazing stories of voice over success in the 10,000-plus customer service emails we receive a month. The day-to-day of what voice talent experience is always amazing to us, and we want to make this website more about the voice over community! If you wish, send us a story of your typical voice over 'day-in-the-life'. We would love to feature you, for example in this blog about Adam Behr. Please send your stories to help@voice123.com with the subject heading: 'My Typical Day'.

Seeking Something to Do With the Kids This Summer?

Are you a Premium Subscriber on Voice123 with a child, looking to go into the voice over field? If so, Voice123 offers a free trial program for those children of Voice123 Premium Subscribing Parents, who wish to involve their kids in auditioning online with Voice123!

If you are interested, please take a look here.

Thank you!

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

'Go-to Staff' for Voice123's Spanish Voice Over Community!

Voice123 is a global company, and this world is getting smaller every day! The staff at Voice123 is a culturally diverse group of individuals that look to help to as many voice over industry professionals as possible, whether you are a voice talent, voice seeker, or just curious about the website. This week we want to give you a list of 'Go-to Staff' for the quickly growing Spanish voice over community on Voice123, and online.

If you feel more comfortable writing in Spanish, your contacts at Voice123 would be Charlie Peres and JP Gonzalez in voice talent customer service. They definitely look forward to hearing from you. If you look to post a job and prefer a Spanish-speaking representative, Leo Lopez, Jack Svez, or Giselle Geney will be there for you.

Many of you may know Giselle Geney, from the Coach Partner Program on Voice123, but she is also a great person to contact for Voice123's affiliate program. If you are a Spanish voice coach or interested in affiliation, please read more about that here and write her with your questions. Federico Rivera or myself are additional contacts for marketing ideas you may have when working with Voice123.

If you wish to send us feedback in Spanish, Leo Lopez will gladly assist you in voice seekers, as well as Charlie Peres in voice talent customer service. By all means we would like you to feel comfortable when writing us to share improvement ideas for Voice123.

Next week, we look to mention a marketing program we did last year that will be helpful for those voice talent looking to get their kids into this great industry!

For now...

Adios! Que te vaya muy bien!

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Voice Over Tip: Avoid 'Ambush Emails'

Email etiquette is important for every business, and everyone online should see themselves as a business entity. Working online as a 'do-it-yourself' voice over business, equal application of talent and online business skill is pivotal for every job.

Consider this: In e-mails, people do not interact with each other in real time. It may take minutes, hours, or days, to reply to something. So, if there is no immediate feedback, avoid that negative train of thought, which may progress towards deeper expressions of what one is thinking and feeling. Do not always assume the worst, and then email about it. Someone will feel ambushed, which damages a business relationship online, and it could be all a misunderstanding or logistical issue. If you are curious or confused, just say so, but do not damage any voice job opportunities in the process.

Stay flexible, too. Given that there is always a possibility of dropped communication, always avoid the following in your email communications when someone has shown interest:

Emotionally charged demands: When sending an email, consider what you are trying to accomplish, more than 'how you are feeling'. Emotional emails are just not good. It is basically a transcript of your emotional state at the time. You can never take back a first-impression, and it also may startle someone and give them reason to never contact you.

Reverse Psychology: Reverse psychology cannot be detected in text, so one is not sure why you stated something, when you meant something else. It then becomes perceived as an insult for putting one in that position of trying to figure out what was really intended. Reverse psychology requires 'hearing' the person to pick up on the 'hint'. It is not meant for emails.

Snarky or candid humor: Imagine the person interested in you has read your joke, and they do not know you. They may not understand your jokes, and believe you are not taking the job seriously. Attitude may sell offline, but online it never works and creates confrontation instantly.


You may have noticed my title changed here. It just seems to fit more with the various roles I have at Voice123.

Thanks always!

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123