Hey there!
How awesome did that first booking (the first PAID booking especially) feel?
(For those of you who have yet to book your first gig, trust me. It’s even better than you can imagine.)
Celebrate! Enjoy! Have a party! And then, get back to work.
And pay very close attention to the next three bookings you get. They can be extraordinarily valuable. Here’s why.
(Click/tap ↑↑↑↑↑↑ that red YouTube button to subscribe to my channel. You’ll get notified when I release new videos.)
Hope this helps!
David
All Episodes
Five Ways To Have An Excellent Coffee Date With Me
Five Ways To Have A Crappy Coffee Date With Me
Taking Advantage Of The Wisdom Of The Tribe
How To Be A World Class Complainer
The False Nobility Of The Struggle
Watch Out – The Rules Are Going To Change
Coaching vs Consulting vs Facilitating
The Perils of Live Performance And Why Jeremy Kappell Should Not Have Been Fired
Let’s Welcome To The Stage…Failure!
Don’t Confuse Price With Value
The Two Things Most Talent Try to Accomplish Way Too Soon
10,000 Hours To Become Good At Something? Not Really.
The Trick Charlie Munger Uses To Make Better Decisions
Everyone’s A Customer, Not Just Your Customers
“What do you mean, you’re a ‘process guy’?”
Pay Attention To Your Storytelling, Not Removing Your Breaths
How To Conquer FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
The Problem In Every Commercial Script
The Job In Every Commercial Script
The Secret In Every Commercial Script
Voice Over Is REALLY Hard. Until It Isn’t.
Helping Make Resolutions Stick
ACX Jobs: They’re ALL SAG-AFTRA-Friendly
Non-Union? You Can Still Open An AFTRA H&R Account. What?
Who Says You Need To “Feel Like It?”
Your Day Job Might Just Be Worth Keeping For A Bit Longer
Want To Learn Something Really Well? Teach It To Others
Don’t Confuse What Works With What You Like
The Lost Keys And The Microphone In My Elevator
My Insane Backup System Plus Two Helpful Tips
What Open Loops Are And Why They Work So Well
Two More Things For Which You Can Use Open Loops
Three Things Not To Say Or Do…When Trying To Learn Something New
Front Burner and Back Burner Project Management
How To Properly List The Accents and Dialects You Perform
My SAG-AFTRA Presentation On VO Demos (Part 1)
My SAG-AFTRA Presentation On VO Demos (Part 2)
A Simple, One-Word Decision-Making Question To Ask Yourself
How You Can Use The MVP Model As A Performer
The Robocall Equivalent Of Unsubscribe
Making Your Links Irresistible
HTTPS Is Not Just For Banks – It’s For You
The Threat That Made Me Create a New Page For LAME
The Resource You Must Guard Most Carefully
How New Media Is Using The Oldest Ad Model Ever
Killing Customers With Kindness
I Found Out What She Was Podcasting About
How I Answered Voices.com’s Inquiry
Turning Mountains Into Molehills
Motivation: Your Three Big Needs In A Cool Little Package
Go Ahead. Multitask. But Try It Like This.
The Prodigy Game Doesn’t Deserve This Treatment
What Fair Markets Are, And Why Voices.com Isn’t One
Trevor’s Three A’s From Apple On Killing Customers With Kindness
Getting Ready vs. Getting Started
You’ll Never Believe Who Got Rejected By Harvard
There Is No Failure, Only Feedback
Who Is Your Most Dangerous Adversary?
73 Videos In, My First Hater Appears
If You’re The Smartest Person In The Room, Do This ASAP
Your Glasses And Crucial Laptop Positioning Info
One More Insanely Over-engineered Piece Of Gear: My UPS
The Crazy Backward Way IKEA Prices Their Stuff
Voices.com Complained To YouTube That I Violated Their Privacy
For Your Health: Not Perfect. Just Better.
Mr. Wonderful Is Actually More Wonderful Than I Thought
Let’s Finally Close The Digital Literacy Gender Gap
The Guaranteed Way To Completely Avoid Criticism
The Two Things People Judge About You Within Seconds
Are You Committed? Or Just…Interested?
Audible Retail Samples: Why They Suck And Why It Doesn’t Really Matter
How To Voice Copy That’s Set In Italics
Dyslexia, And The Palindromic Poem. The Wha?
Increase Your Chances Of Being Seen And Heard On Facebook
Jamie Has Some Thoughts About Fiverr
Is Simply Discouraging Distracted Driving Enough?
“Young People Are Just Smarter.”
The Real Purpose Of The “Can You Hear Me?” Phone Scam
An AMA Preview: The Word “Ethnic” – A Slur, Or An Essential Adjective?
10 Rules of Profitable Self Discipline from Napoleon Hill
AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 1)
AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 2)
AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 3)
AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 4)
AMA Answers Part 5 Plus A Medical Warning
Last AMA Answers (#6): Gear, Services and Success
A 7-Word Reminder: “Don’t correct people when it matters little.”
Do You Have A Plan? And Is It The Right One?
What’s Your Next Big Move? Are You Ready?
Build Your Future On Your Own Platform, Not Someone Else’s
I’m Leaving Facebook: Why Groups and FB Live No Longer Spark Joy
Time To Accept That I’ve Failed At Something – Happily
Crowdfunding Without The Internet: Pulitzer And The Statue Of Liberty
The Amazing Power Of Recognition And Badging
Might We Have A Possible Cause For Alzheimer’s?
Why Podcasting And Radio Are Out Of Whack
Value Enthusiasm, But Value Persistence More
Ten Ways To Make Money With Podcasts Besides Ads
One Quick Question To Find Out How Important Something Actually Is
The Workflow For Producing These Videos (So Far) Part 1
Why Not Wade? And…Why Not You?
Audiobook Narrators: How Paymasters Work, And The One I Recommend
Why Gen Z And Millennials’ Love For Audiobooks Is Crucial
American Idol: It’s All About Story, Not Just Singing
Less Beating Yourself Up, More Talking Yourself Up
Resist Oversharing. Instead, Start A Dialogue.
Vocal Care: It’s All About What Works For You
3 Biases You Should Be Aware Of
3 More Biases You Should Also Be Aware Of
Wow. People Really Grokked Biases. Let’s Tackle Fallacies.
Three More Fallacies You Need To Watch For
Two Last Big Creativity-Crippling Fallacies
A New Lead Source For Performers: Voice Assistants And Smart Speakers
A Great Way To Handle Trolls and Haters
Quantity Does Not Usually Equal Quality
Is Facebook Truly A Monopoly? No More Than Microsoft Was.
Fear Of The Unknown, Or The Day Before My Surgery
A Strange Aspect To Performing That Should Be Cause For Protest, But Isn’t
Want To Grow? Don’t Go It Alone.
How Am I Doing? I’m Gobsmacked. That’s How Am I Doing.
Why I Give My Agents 10% Of Everything
Not Just Explainer Videos, But Video That Explain Things Spectacularly
Mental Floss To The Rescue: Skills You Can Pick Up On YouTube
What’s Better Than Willpower? Grit.
Regarding Apple’s App Store: Be Careful What You Wish For, Pepper
Of COURSE You Wonder What Porter’s Five Forces Are. Who Doesn’t?
Don’t Waste Your Time: Talk Shows Aren’t Meant To Be Fair
Sooner Or Later, I’m Really Going To Tick You Off
Just Because You Can Do Something Doesn’t Mean You Should
Wait, What? Audacity Records In The Background?!
Enjoy Your First Booking. Pay Close Attention To The Next Three.
Pattern Interruption And The Musicality Of Voice Over
Do You Still Have A Landline? Is It POTS? Wait, What’s POTS?
Increase Your VO Accuracy, And You’ll Increase Your VO Profits
Age Range Isn’t Really A Valid Metric For VO
How To Stop Jealousy From Killing Your Progress
Even The Bible (And Game Of Thrones) Has One-Star Reviews
How Much Is Enough To Make Per Hour?
With Royalty Share Plus, ACX Makes Hybrid Stipends Official
Wait, Vices Can Be Good For Your Health?
What A Lovely Thing To Discover: Praise From CourVO
I Figured Out What I Provide: The Onboarding Performers Don’t Get
You Don’t Need Permission To Care Or Contribute
It’s Not Just You. It’s The Superstars, Too.
Do You Sometimes Think Irrationally? Maybe. Here’s How To Stop It.
The Struggle Of Announcer-y Versus Non-Announcer-y Voice Over
How My VAs Support Me And My Team
The Often “Most Difficult” Concept I Teach
Please Unsubscribe From This List. But Don’t Do This One Destructive, Lazy Thing.
Don’t Mistake The Joy Of Knowing For The Joy Of Doing
Why Giving Yourself Some Simple Homework Can Be Life-Changing
One Weird Trick I Do That Makes My Note-Taking Superhuman
The Worst Thing About The Biggest Money-Making Entertainment Category
What Can We Grab From A Schedule This Strict?
Get Better At Executing Today’s Plan By Starting Last Night
How To Create Useful, Organized Audition File Names
Where To Find Related PDFs For Audiobooks on Audible
I’m Halfway Finished. What Have You Valued Most? What Can I Do Better?
Our Digital Attention Span Is Incredibly Brief
“Serves You Right!” She Actually Has No Idea How Right.
Create A Safe Environment For Self-Improvement
Why I Use One Single Channel For Crucial Communication
The Even Cheaper AT-2020 USB Plus Microphone?
Fred Willard (and Billy West) On Quickly Creating Authentic VO Characters
Leo Makes Your Searching Spectacular
On Asking For Things Performers Can’t Do
How To Battle The Urge of “Efficiency”
One More Best-Of-Breed Way To Brilliantly Complain
Changing Audacity’s Sampling Rate To 48,000 Hz
10 Words Of Encouragement When You’re Stuck
Seek/Give Mentorship That’s Appropriate To The Journey
Two Cases Where You Might Not Want To Simply “Follow Your Passion”
Having Fun With Headphone Volume
Please Stop Rushing To Perform
Something To Consider: Everyone’s Internal Menu
One Crazy Key To Creativity: Pure, Unadulterated Boredom
The Most Commonly Consumed Media Is…!
What’s Dangerous For Us To Care About
Please, Clever Copywriters…Stop Using This Term
Wait, Wait…What? They Actually Listened?!
Why You Should Take The Same Classes Twice
How Your Character’s Menu Informs Your Performance Choices
What Shouldn’t Be Your Metric For VO Success
Someone Awesome Who’s Also Rising To A 365-Day Challenge
Union Or Not, Start With Union Rates
O. M. G. Look What Matt Zurbo Did!
So Where Will That Huge Facebook Fine End Up?
Avoid That One Obvious “That Worked” Sound We Make
Why Union Members Can Audition For Non-Union Work
200 Auditions. 1 Booking. A Ghost. Really?
I Can’t Do One Thing I’m Asked To Do Every Single Day
One Of Your Secret Weapons: Agility
Do Networking Events Make You Anxious? Let’s Fix That.
Project X Is Just About Ready. I’m A Bit Giddy.
The Difference Between Mansplaining and Advice?
Too Late, Melissa. You Already Are.
Help Me Solve A Lovely Mystery!
Raw YouTube Captioning
hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
today I want to talk to you about the
joy of your very first booking and then
I want to talk to you about the value of
the feeling and the results of the next
two three four bookings that you get and
I I want to start with the idea that
when you get your first booking and I’m
talking about your first paid awesome
professional booking you can get booked
on stuff where you’re volunteering and
that feels good to don’t not not
minimizing that whatsoever but that very
first booking where you’ve trained for
it you’ve got the the tools for it you
did the audition for it you got pinned
for you can’t be call back the producers
loved you you did it I just had a client
who got his first booking on camera and
it was in a series that you know he’s
he’s working with a really big name
actor and it was just an ahi we actually
everybody in the vo to go go pro group
kind of experienced it with him because
I asked him to post about it and I know
how great that can feel and same thing
for voice-over same thing for
commercials same thing for anything
theatrical on stage and so on so that
feeling of Awesomeness on that first
booking is unparalleled you feel like
you won right yeah you did the things
that they told you to do you took the
advice that people like me gave you and
it worked even if it was just one line
even if it was just one second on the
air and it was like yeah you know that’s
it that’s all you need is like I want I
mean I remember when I first came to LA
I had loftier goals but my first step
goal was I just want to be booked on one
show I just want to do one thing and I
remember the feeling and I want you to
remember that feeling and I want you to
celebrate I want you to go and you know
get a get a great meal and share it with
friends and
have a have a viewing party even if it’s
just like one second on me there I was
there you go enjoy it the same thing
with voiceover you hear yourself on the
radio I remember when I first started
doing commercials on radio in Columbus
Ohio in 1977 maybe was 76 my first set
of spots was for Uncle Bill’s which
doesn’t even exist anymore it was a
Kmart Zaire’s doesn’t exist anymore tops
doesn’t exist anymore but that’s who
they competed with it competed with all
these these discount houses and they
used to do stuff where they would have
the local announcer add tags you know
this month’s bluelight special that’s
what they would do for Kmart they did
something similar for Uncle Bill’s
special this week blah blah blah and I
was driving around in my my first car my
grandfather’s Chevy Bel Air he had
willed to me and I heard it and I was
driving down High Street in Columbus and
I almost drove off the road I was so
excited to hear my work on the radio and
I want you to remember that feeling now
the reason I’m making this video is not
only do I want you to remember that
feeling but I want you to continue to
have that feeling for the successive
bookings that you have in addition to
using them as a source of very valuable
information okay here’s what I mean by
that you did your first booking what
genre was that in what kind of character
did you play what kind of story were
they telling what kind of attitude and
emotion and brand and type did you have
your second third fourth fifth bookings
and so on we’ll start to tell you
whether or not there’s a pattern right
are you getting the same kind of
bookings in those next bookings or are
you getting different bookings and maybe
they have a pattern all by themselves
here’s why I say that when I first came
to LA I thought I’m gonna do nothing but
comedy they’re never gonna hire me for
for drama stuff I mean look at me you
know I’m a Three Stooges kind of
character right on curly
so and then I was really surprised when
my first second third fourth fifth
bookings were all creepy evil villains
very dramatic some comedic relief but
you know and I think back to when I
started doing voiceover work and those
two had a particular pattern it wasn’t
the same pattern it wasn’t creepy evil
villain it was helpful sales guy kind of
thing but the point is you start to
either see a pattern or you don’t you
know you start to see a more varied
thing going on okay I can do more than
what I just thought I was possibly going
to do so you start to look at those
things and you start to analyze them
always keeping yourself open for future
opportunities no matter where they come
but now you have kind of a view into
what people think of you the people that
can give you work the casting people the
writers the directors etc and then
there’s the sort of sad thing where you
book once and then you don’t book again
for a long time and that can start to
get inside your brain and I’m gonna do a
whole video on that coming up but I want
you to pay attention not just to how you
feel on that first one but how you feel
and what’s happening with the next few
that go beyond that and if you’ve
already had those bookings I want you to
go back and check those out and see what
you think and what you feel and and what
they were like and what you can glean
from that that sort of track record that
makes sense tell me in the comments
below tell me what it was like for you
that that very first booking that you
had and tell me what it was like for you
as you learned more and more with the
successive bookings that you’ve had I’d
love to know comment below if you’re not
watching this on vo – go go comm go
there first before you make a comment
because vo to go go is where the
conversation is saying and moderated and
we have all kinds of really cool tools
for you if you want to be notified when
these videos come out see the next one
that I’ve done join my channel on
YouTube and you can do that just by
clicking on my head there if you don’t
see a head there then look for a
subscribe button somewhere on the page
you can see the latest episode I’ve done
by clicking
frame YouTube we’ll play it for you I’m
David H Lawrence the 17th oh thank you
so much for watching and I will talk to
you tomorrow
.
Interestingly, though I worked in radio broadcasting for about five years in the 1980s, and heard myself on the air lots of times back then doing news, commercials, promos, PSAs/SPAs, etc., the first *paid* VO booking after I decided to make a go of an actual VO business two years ago was one political commercial for a local county freeholder race. They loved it, and specifically sought me out the next year for three more, of which one was a voice track for a TV spot. But hearing that first radio spot playing on one of the state’s biggest talk FM stations (“New Jersey 101.5”) was an absolute blast. Most of my work since then has been corporate/explainer/Kickstarter campaign, and I’m happy to get that work, but I’d still love to do more broadcast commercials. It’s addictive!
That first “on air” experience is a rush. Ironically, I didn’t experience it until many years into doing VO. My first paid gig was an industrial for the American Red Cross, and I never saw the finished product. So it went for a couple of decades–I got into doing industrials, and unless I was also the producer, I never saw the end result, and none were for broadcast anyway. The first time I heard myself on the radio was for a “tonight on ABC” lineup spot for WJFK-FM, where a guy who went to my high school was a PD. He found out I did VO work, and invited me to the studio for a tour. While there, I did a couple of spots that are usually covered by the RPs, just for fun. And I too had the “almost drove off the road” experience when I heard myself on the air a few days later.
Sharing my first booking with you and the VO2GoGo family was invaluable. All the advice and support helped to calm my overabundance of nerves, and sharing my excitement with everyone in my life felt wonderful! Like you, I didn’t expect to get my first booking in my 40s, nor did I expect it would be playing a villain. For me, acting has mostly been a hobby, so I’m not sure what the future holds regarding more on camera work. I’d like to get future bookings, and if I do, I’ll be a little surprised if I keep playing a villain. Thanks for the video David.
For audiobooks specifically, I was SURE I would be a non-fiction narrator. And yet my first two jobs have been for YA fiction novels. Lesson learned: embrace what people want to hear you read !
I remember jumping up and down calling out to my husband and son “Guess who got a voice acting job!!!!!!! We were thrilled. The company continued to send me more e-learning modules to do! The same thing happened when I got my first commercial and then when it was released on YouTube. Love that feeling!