Field Notes

-Phones make noise. Even on silent! I don't know how and I don't understand why but keep them away from your mic.  -Find the chisel. A sculptor does not slather more and more clay onto a piece to find its true beauty. Chisel away before you add again. Remove what you do not need and what you do not want from your life. Cut out those distractions and see what kind of person you are without the excess marble caging you in.

-Proper hydration begins the day before, not the hour before. Strive to stay hydrated everyday. More water today for better reads tomorrow.  -Debt before savings. If you have high interest debt, prioritize paying it off completely before putting additional money aside for your savings (aside from the money you set aside for taxes. That's always a priority.) The quicker you can kill that debt, the more money you'll save in the long term anyway.

-Reward the process, not just the results. When we give ourselves little rewards just for productive working (maybe a stretch, a few minutes outside, or even just an altoid) we train our brains to crave it. When you crave the work, the results naturally flow -Play with the distance of your mic. Not every read needs to be the exact same as far as mic placement. You can often achieve unique and desired results by moving your mic just a bit closer or farther back

-30 minutes, 3 meters and 30 seconds. Every 30 minutes you should look away from your computer. Ideally at something 3 meters away and focus on it for 30 seconds. This is an excellent way to prevent eye strain. -Treat your hearing well. We are in a line of work that requires good hearing. Maybe not to the level of some others in our industry but work on being mindful

-You need to genuinely believe you’re the best at what you do yet still walk with a humble air. No one wants to deal with a diva or someone who doesn’t believe they have value. Back to the ego mentioned above. As an actor, I believe you need to take nothing personally. Lose your ego. You believe in yourself and what you can do more than anyone else. When you accept that nothing is personal, you’re free to just be the best you. -The most important part of an audition… followin

-Imposter Syndrome vs The Ego. Here’s my honest take! Yes, you need to be honest about who you are and what you’re capable of, but… you need to stop being who you “are” and start being like who you “can be.” Self depreciation is funny in the right times, but you’ll NEVER hear me talk down my career and aspirations. I know what I bring to the table, I’m proud of myself, and I’m confident of my professional abilities. Am I cutting the shit with a client? Sure, I'll joke about p

-Don't reach back out to projects you auditioned for. Send it and forget it is something that every actor needs to learn very early on if you want to be viewed as a professional in this industry. Follow-ups are for your marketing not your auditions -Don’t fear passing off a gig if need be. Sometimes I’ll have a client ask if I know a VA who fits XYZ specs. The rookie mistake is thinking that you’ll lose this client by passing them off to someone else. If you genuinely know so

-If you are on YouTube then use this extension. I often need to use YouTube to check a video for a client or to look up something, but it is a blackhole. One slip and you're an hour into shorts and drained of life. I use this extension to curate my page. No shorts, no comments, no recommended vids. You can do it all and I believe it's available on every browser. Can't recommend it enough - https://unhook.app/ -Accept and unfollow. Sometimes a LinkedIn connection is great and

-Watch TV. If you want to book work in commercials, make sure you pay attention to what's on TV. You WILL notice trends in reads -The most important tool an actor has is their gut. No, I don’t mean you need 6-pack abs. I mean your instinct. Learning lots of tips and tricks along the way is great but if YOU want to be great then you need to learn how to forget everything you’ve learned and BE everything you’ve learned. Make it muscle memory and trust your gut during the sessio

-Who you Know VS Who you Are. Both are important to succeed. I find that the best in the biz are a bit of both. Your split is up to you WHO YOU KNOW) Know the decision makers and are in good with the right circles. The opportunities will be a handshake or two away, but you need to have the skills when it's your time to do it WHO YOU ARE) Skills to pay the bills and your talent overfloweth. You can work the mic like no one else in your niche, but talent alone will only get you

-Addiction isn’t something you “give up.” It’s not a one-time decision. As someone who has struggled with addiction, I hate this idea and you hear it all the time. “I finally just told myself I was done.” “I got tired of being an addict, so I told myself it’s time to quit.” It makes it sound easy and unfair when that doesn’t work for you. Truth is, you have to make that choice every day for the rest of your life, sometimes many times a day. -Relapse isn’t failure. You did not

-Compare yourself to who you were last year. Everyone has a different journey and path. Time does not equate equal situations. Just because you’ve been doing this for 5 years and Ole Bob has only done it for 1 year and Damnit! He’s booking more than me!! I must be a failure! Chill. Breathe. We don’t know ole Bob’s story. He don’t yours either, amigo. But you do… If you’re in this game to one up somebody, focus on one upping yourself. -How much does a custom domain matter? The

-THE WALL. Want to do something amazing for your productivity? Stare at a wall. Sit your chair in front of a blank wall (about 3-4 feet away). Pick a single spot and stare at it. Do not let your eyes drift, do not close your eyes and do not get lost in your thoughts. Set a timer from 15-30 minutes and turn off all sounds, distractions, everything. Your goal is to completely deprive your brain of stimulation without going into a meditative state. When the timer goes off, go st

-How do you plan for retirement when self-employed? It’s tricky and it seems overwhelming, but you should try to put a little away in two main accounts if at all possible. (LONG NOTES TODAY. I NEVER ASK YOU TO READ IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BUT PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. IF YOU ONLY EVER READ ONE MORE OF MY POSTS, LET IT BE THIS ONE. SET YOURSELF UP TO SUCCEED FINANCIALLY, YALL. IT’S HARD BUT THERE ARE AVENUES TO GET THERE.) # 1) a HYSA (High yield savings account) great for shorter

-You are not Sam Elliot. And neither am I. It took me years to realize that I can admire someone’s voice while still loving mine. I craved that deep, cool drawl. But my voice will never be that. Turns out, a lot of people love my twang and it books just as much if I look in the right places. -Book in your lane. Nothing wrong with taking some shots in the places you wish to be in, but if you crave consistent work… Figure out where you are sought after. I have some dream gigs a

-The 5 Minute rule. If you're “float working” then set a timer for 5 minutes (having a physical one on your desk is awesome because you don’t need your phone). Let’s say you hop on LinkedIn. Start that timer. If you haven’t done something that you consider genuinely productive by the time it goes off, close the site and move on to another task. (float working = general idea [i.e. “marketing”] but with no dedicated task) -The 20 Minute rule. If you are “focused working” then s

-What is the point of being a voice actor? All of your answers should be different but narrow it down just a bit here. Think about YOUR client. Do you do commercials, documentaries, games? What is YOUR answer? Search internally for that and try keeping it at the forefront of your mind during your next session. See how it changes your approach. -Ever wonder how some of the big names became the big names? Time and trust. A lot of the people I look up to in this industry have be

-You can be fun online and you can be professional online. You can actually be both at the same time, believe it or not. I'm really surprised how many people seem to neglect the fact that they are looking for work with the same platforms they are going on rants with and generally just being unpleasant on. -Every interaction is a touch, not just your emails. We often hear that it takes 7-9 “touches” to land a client. A good friend of mine C.J. Merritt  pointed out the importan

-Don't argue on LinkedIn, or any social media for that matter. What are you trying to achieve? -Following off the above, to all the creatives out there, please don't put much weight behind the opinions on your industry from the people who know as much about what you do as I know about competitive oyster shucking. (In case my point didn't quite land... I know very little about that subject)

-If you hate it, don’t buy it. Your attention and time are your currency online. That algorithm sees every little micro-stop you make and feeds you more and more. If you don’t want to see any posts about AI, just scroll every time you see the letters. This goes for anything. We pay with our time, so just stop buying. -You’ll always find what you seek. If you look for the bad everywhere, you’re sure to find it. Same goes for the good. We can find the good without turning a bli