VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

Jeff McNeal · Guest

No other source of income aside from investments or alimony, etc.

Just curious. When did you finally cut the umbilical cord and let go of the supplemental paychecks from full or part time "other" work?

Who survives on VO income alone -- that also means spousal or significant other's income isn't paying the bills, either.

Philip Banks · Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:25 pm Post subject:

Full time voice over 14 years and it pays the bills. What Anne (wife) earns she spends, to be fair she does that with most of my income too.

Did you want an accurate income figure too? Dollars or sterling? Net of expenses? The truth or what I told the tax man?

anthonyVO · 14th Avenue Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 1470 Location: NYC

left my day job in October of 2002.
got into the music business. fun, but the lifestyle wasn't right for me... neither were the hours.
Entered the vo business in May of 2004.
Now it's what i do full-time and my wife still works primarily because of the benefits (an eight-month-old baby will do that), but I'm right on track for her to bounce from that gig by the 3rd-4th Quarter of this year.

Things are good for me right now in this market.

EDIT: Some people can't believe i've been able to do what i've done in less than 5 years, but when your back's against the wall, you find a way. Plus it doesn't hurt being in the NYC area - lots of work here.

-Anthony

Deirdre · Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 2:27 pm Post subject:

Does broadcasting from my studio count as "other"?
I've been doing all Voice-related work since 1994.
_________________
DBCooperVO.com

VO-Guy · Guest

Been doing it since 2003 fulltime. My wife stays home with the kids and the Vo biz supports it all.

billelder · Guest

Five years full time for me.

Jim Barton · Guest

Full time v-o since 1993, when, after 13 years, my last real job came to an abrupt halt. (I was the last living, breathing Station Announcer in Chicago.)

Jim

Frank F · Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:41 pm Post subject:

Full-time with no other support since 1993 (same as Jim Barton). Does supporting my ex-wife count as support? Oh it's the other way around... I see. I have to pay her more than I make some months... and she still wants more.

I do have some other things going in my world, but mostly they support my employees bad spending habits, not mine.

Cutting the ties to radio and television was NOT difficult, I got paid more to do less in the VO biz, so I made an Executive Decision... I followed the money.

Frank F

jeffgad · Guest

26 years freelance VO only, except for a handful of plays and a few lame movie roles. Definitely on the down side of the arc...just trying to hang on long enough to get the pension.

Gad

Bruce · Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:53 am Post subject:

Broke away from the business world into full-time acting and voice work in 1986...did a mix of TV shows, industrials, a few movies and lots of spots, did all right...then opened a "for profit" theater company in 1988 which got great reviews and notoriety but ended up losing a boat load of money for my partners and myself in four years time, but I did VO and such to keep bread on the table...back to full time VO/acting in '92, including a couple of years off-and-on doing live action modeling for Fox Animation. (The new avatar is of Vlad, the character I played in Anastasia. Kelsey Grammer did the voice.)

When the Internet and ISDN began taking VO work away from me here in Phoenix, I joined in with my own studio five years ago. Now 90% of my income is VO with just a few on camera gigs a year.

I love it. Wouldn't have it any other way.

B

(And if that's Jeff Gadbois in the post above me -- I'll bet-- welcome aboard. He's one of the busiest and the best in the biz.)

.

Dan-O · The Gates of Troy Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 1636

I have a confession to make. Last year, I was the one who posted a discussion on when do you know it's time to make the jump to full-time.

http://www.vo-bb.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=258&highlight=jump+fulltime

(The reason I was anonymous is that a member of this board was also a co-worker.)

I used Frank's guide and had 5 out of 6. With the help of my former employer Wink

, I made the jump 10 months ago. There has only been one time I got worried. Shortly after Christmas, things froze up for about 3 weeks. But, I spent the entire time marketing and it has paid off, well.

I truly beleive that without the guidence I have received from members of this board, I wouldn't be doing this now.

Thanks.

Deirdre

dhouston67 · Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:01 am Post subject:

Reposting Frank's list here (spelling errors humbly corrected):

Frank F · Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:14 am Post subject:

audio'connell · Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:58 pm Post subject:

Its interesting because I;ve been doing VO since 1982 (weaving in and out of radio).

But I've not done VO to the exclusion of everything else because I don't want to...there's a lot I want to accomplish and a lot I have to offer in production, sales, marketing, training etc., in a wide variety of fields. And people continue to pay me to do VO's and other things as well (one example: www.oconnellgroup.net)

I'm not sure when I arrived at this conclusion or how but having arrived...its a happy place.

I guess I'm supposed to only want to do VO's and I want to do them and have been doing a lot of them and love every minute of it but it I don't want it to be the only thing I do because I like doing all of it and have had success doing all of it and doing all of it is...fun!

I'm the odd man out...again
_________________
- Peter
audioconnell Voice Over Talent
Your friendly, neighborhood voice over talent