IS THIS A CAREER OR A HOBBY?

I am convinced that one of the biggest reasons so many voice talents fail is because of a terrible lack of good business acumen.

If you treat voice work as a hobby, that's all it will ever be. There's nothing wrong with that if that's what you want. But don't fool yourself into thinking that your hobby will become a business sensation. It won't. Not without business savvy. Why?

Because as voice talents we work with other businesses. They run their enterprises as a business, and they expect to work with vendors and service providers that are also committed to good business practices. And the reason they hire voice talent is because they have a need in that area. A need! It's not that they just want to have a nice voice touting their product. They need it. Along with that, they need someone who understands how important that is and how to meet that need.

Think of it this way: If you need medical attention, are you going to hire a hobbyist practitioner or a trained physician that knows how to take care of you?

If you're serious about developing a voiceover business, full-time or part-time, you need to start treating it like a business and manage it accordingly. That takes a lot of work because you have to develop every aspect of a good business: administration, marketing, R & D, sales, legal, accounting, and on and on. It's a business!

So, if you're happy on your playground, good for you! God bless you for it! But if you've got career plans, you're going to have to develop your business skills. You'll never succeed without that.