Lessons learned

I knew I wanted to pursue voiceover after I took the initial workshop, but knew there was no way I could afford it. I thought my dream would have to wait. But someone suggested to me to ask the coach if I could barter services with her. So, I did just that. I suggested I could help her with her social media, data-entry, filing, really whatever she would like in exchange for coaching. Low-and-behold she accepted. For a few months, every weekend, I went to her office and help her with whatever she needed. In doing so, we formed a great relationship. I know she didn't have to accept my offer, but I think she appreciated my drive and maybe believed in me a little bit. 

She was a great coach, even though she gave me some tough love. Sometimes it takes someone like that to get a good performance out of you. I genuinely thought she made me a better voiceover talent. 

Even though this coach was very gracious to me and I didn't pay nearly what my fellow classmates did, I still did not get a very good product out of it. Looking back I was totally blind to what was happening. In the beginning, her students paid for a 10-week course and a demo. It wasn't until many years later that I learned one should never take a course where a demo is promised after a short amount of time. A demo should only be done when the talent is ready, whether it be 5 or 20 sessions.

At the time, I loved my demo. I thought it was well produced (even though I got it the same day that I recorded it....weird) and I thought I had some pretty good range on it. It was a commercial demo, yet it still had some very character-type reads on it. It also had a duet. You really don't see a lot of that anymore.

So, what do I do with said demo once it was in my hot little hand?

Next time... life happens.