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    Business

    VO BOSS

    The VO Boss podcast blends business advice with inspiration & motivation for today’s voice talent. Each week, host Anne Ganguzza shares guest interviews + voice over industry insights to help you grow your business and stay focused on what matters…

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    Latest Episodes:
    Why Acting and Intuition are the Global Voice Actor's Superpowers Dec 16, 2025
    Show notes

    BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by multi-award-winning global voice actor Toby Ricketts to explore the mindset and techniques required for world-class, remote performance. Toby, who works across British, Australian, New Zealand, and American markets from his remote New Zealand studio, emphasizes that the true superpower for acting for global voice actors lies in intuition, emotional connection, and deliberately making unexpected choices to capture a listener's attention.

    Negotiation Power: How to Say No Without Burning Bridges Dec 09, 2025
    Show notes

    BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza and Danielle Famble dive into the uncomfortable reality of voice actor negotiation and handling lowball offers. This episode provides essential strategies for maintaining grace, protecting your worth, and ensuring you don't burn bridges when you have to say no. The hosts stress that money is the language of business, and understanding negotiation as a collaborative process is key to long-term success.

    Your Most Critical Investment Dec 02, 2025
    Show notes

    BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza and her superpower co-host, Lau Lapides, dive into the non-negotiable reality of voiceover demo production. The bosses address why many voice actors—especially those starting out—try to cut corners on their demos, despite the demo being the primary portfolio piece used to land agents and get work. This episode provides essential, current advice on what makes a demo effective, what red flags to avoid, and how to manage the realistic expectations of investing in a long-term voice acting career. 00:03 - Anne (Host) Hey guys, it's Anne Ganguzza here. Are you ready to find your life purpose and live a happier, more fulfilling life? My coaching services can help you discover your true passions and align them with your goals. Let's start that journey today. Visit anneganguzza.com for more information. 00:31 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. 00:45 - Anne (Host) Hey, hey, everyone, welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Boss Superpower Series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with the lovely Miss Lala Pita. Hey, we're back, and better than ever. Annie, I'm so glad to be back with you. We are back. Ah Lala, it's been a week, oh my gosh, it's been a week. 01:06 It's been kind of a crazy year so far, hasn't it? It has, I mean, it's just been a little chaotic. I've dealt with a lot of students recently who come to me that want coaching, but before they want to get coaching, they want me to listen to their demos, and so I'll have a quick listen. I mean, I do an actual, I have an actual like process where, if you want half an hour of my time, I'll actually evaluate your demo spot by spot and give you tips. And I like the fact that I offer it as a service because I don't want people to think I'm just here to sell them demos. 01:42 Yeah, of course, but I listen to a lot of demos that are self-produced and demos that have no production under them, and then demos that have a lot of production under them. And you know, I know it's a topic that you know we tend to talk about quite a bit, all about demos. But demos are just so darn important because it really is the product by which you get hired a lot of times. I mean, in addition to auditions, of course, you know, because the client always wants to hear you know your voice with their brand, but really to get your foot in the door. In a lot of places, that demo that showcases what your voice sounds like in the genre in which you want to work is so important. And it's interesting how many times I'll talk to a student who wants to kind of cut the corners on that and they don't have the money. And yet the demos that I'm hearing are not doing them any favors and not getting them any work. Right. 02:39 - Lau (Host) And there's so many tips you and I could like give about the do's and don'ts of demos, but I think it changed, like what's trending now and the faux pas that are happening are happening, that are a little bit newer these days and it's good to talk about and especially. 02:55 - Anne (Host) I like your angle from—I have my angle from the non-broadcast side and I want to hear your angle from the broadcast side. How much are demos being used to cast people? How much do the demos count when you're listening to that in comparison to the auditions? Talk to me about the casting process and how often are demos being used for that? That's a great question. That's a great question. 03:20 - Lau (Host) You know, the anecdote that I come up with is, or the analogy I come up with is, reminds me of college. College was always a necessity for people who are going into white collar careers. Ok, nowadays it's a little bit different. 03:36 - Anne (Host) Do you? 03:37 - Lau (Host) need a college degree to go into many careers. Maybe not, probably not, but when you earn a college degree, oftentimes it says to an employer that you've gone to the highest level of due diligence in your education and that, to me, oftentimes, is what demos represent. Sometimes you literally don't need demos, like literally, we won't be submitting your demo to a client On the most literal basis, I will not be sending your client 98% of the time to our clients, but it shows us that you are a working, professional, high-level industry talent. So there's a screening. 04:13 - Anne (Host) And that you take your career seriously. I think you take your investment seriously. 04:17 - Lau (Host) There's a screening to that it's a portfolio piece, sure. So I would say, yes, you do need it, but no, you do not need it for every single individual job that comes through, because they're going to be demo reads on the scripts. 04:30 - Anne (Host) Now I'm going to counter that, because you are speaking from the broadcast sense of the word. Typically, because you cast a lot for commercials and broadcast style jobs. For non-broadcast, which is a lot of the industry as well, demos can sit on your website and be available 24-7. When you don't have time to audition, and that is the biggest point that I'd like to make is that if you do not have an audition, they sit on your website as a portfolio, as a demonstration of what it is that your voice sounds like, and it can be a way to get your foot in the door. 05:04 If somebody hears that demo and then they're like, oh, I like that voice, and then maybe they want you to audition or it just it allows people to kind of sample the product, sample the product before they decide if they want to hire you, and I think that it's a very valuable piece to have on a website. So if you're a talent that's going to do not I mean I don't know any talent that just does broadcast I mean maybe some it's a very tiny few that just do broadcast, but that doesn't do non-broadcast as well. So I feel like that demo as a portfolio. I remember when you used to go on job interviews and you had to have things in your portfolio. 05:44 I mean, I did when I went on job interviews. 05:46 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) I had a portfolio. I did too, yes. 05:48 - Anne (Host) And this is really your portfolio and I think just like— Totally agree as anything right. Presentation is everything I'm all about. Presentation, yeah, Do you know what I mean? I do? Presentation in marketing, presentation in the way you dress, presentation where you present yourself to people. I think presentation for your product is important and that is your demo. 06:11 - Lau (Host) And thank you for qualifying that, because I was speaking from a commercial mindset and it is great to have it on your website. You really should have those on your website because you're going to get private clients, you're going to get audiobook clients, you're going to get all sorts of potential clients that need to hear samples of your work. In my world, every day I will ask for submissions, commercial demo submissions for the agency but how much we're actually using them in-house once we've accepted you into the agency? 06:43 - Anne (Host) is getting minimal. But you need one to get into the agency. Is that correct? For the most part, yeah, you do. 06:49 - Lau (Host) You do because otherwise we would just have you do random reads which we want to hear produced reads. So it makes sense to absolutely have that commercial demo. But be careful, like and we'll talk about that some of the tips about like what is in that that is working on your behalf and what is working against you. 07:08 - Anne (Host) Yeah, yeah. 07:09 Right, I mean, there, you know I'm going to say, first of all, anything that is not produced right. First of all, I mean we can talk the DIY. I mean the DIY is not typically produced because, again, you need, like, if you're going to put music under it, sound effects, you need a license for that to be, you know, to legally. You know, put something on your website and I feel like, if it's not produced, then it kind of tells people that you're just there in your home studio with a mic and you didn't want to put any sound effects or music under it, and so therefore, it's kind of like a half-finished product to me. Yes, and yes, it showcases your voice, but it also showcases that maybe you could be a hobbyist or that you are not making the investment to create a produced sample, which I think is important because, again, you know, it's everything. I mean the client needs to hear what your voice will sound like in a fully produced spot, I believe that I agree, and you know what I do. 08:06 - Lau (Host) When we're looking at bringing new talent, I typically make a habit of saying who produced your demo? 08:11 Now, a lot of agents won't ask that, but I do because I know the producers and I know who's who. So I'll ask them who produced your demo? That'll tell me one thing and then, well, they certainly have to send me a commercial demo. I find one of the biggest problems out there is they're sending me the wrong demo. They're sending me, say, you know, an animation demo, character demo, which I love because we're doing more animation jobs, but the bread and butter is still the commercial for most of us. And so you have to really target, like who are you sending your portfolio to and who are their clients, what kind of work do they represent? And send them the right demo, send them the most appropriate demo. Don't assume oh, I have four other demos, is that good enough? 08:52 - Anne (Host) Well, yeah, I mean like a corporate demo. 08:55 You're like you need a commercial demo first and foremost because that's where you as an agent make your money right In the broadcast, but non-broadcast but it's not to say that your agent won't hire you for a corporate job. 09:11 It's nice to have that corporate demo. I'm going to say that the rest of the demos outside of your commercial demo or anything that's broadcast like promo or animation, even to have those non-broadcast demos is also equally as important to have on your website and to also deliver to your agent as a secondary demo, because you know they want to see that you can be versatile and you're not just a one-trick pony, uh, sort of deal, and and those demos should be should be produced properly. Basically, I'll tell you, though produced properly just as important to have a produced, even though e-learning I have people that will say to me yeah, but e-learning, you don't typically have music under e-learning. I'm have people that will say to me yeah, but e-learning, you don't typically have music under e-learning. I'm like, look, it's not about that for your demo, it's about the presentation it's about. I would much rather hear your voice in an e-learning module with a little bit of music underneath it because it helps. 09:55 It's like putting lipstick on it's just saying right, it finishes it off, it creates a nice sound and there are a lot of e-learning believe it finishes it off, it creates a nice sound, and there are a lot of e-learning believe it or not modules that do have music under them, even though a lot of them won't. 10:10 - Lau (Host) But I'll tell you what blows me away. 10:11 - Anne (Host) Medical, the same thing. Medical is the same thing. I'll tell you what blows me away, though. 10:16 - Lau (Host) How many talent we have submit to the agency for acceptance that don't have commercial demos. 10:30 - Anne (Host) And. 10:30 - Lau (Host) I say you know, I appreciate you sending me other demos, but where's your commercial demo? And they say oh, I'm saving up for it and I'm planning it next year. 10:33 And I'm like, well, then come back to me then, yeah, yeah, because that's what I need to hear. That's how specific we get in terms of having you understand what a commercial delivery is. We need to know that you understand and that you're making the investment in it as well. I think that that's really, really important. You know, one of the big sort of mistakes that I've heard recently and we've been talking about this forever, but it's been a real problem recently I was involved with a corporate casting just the other day and within the agency now these are the talent that are accepted within the agency I'm getting demo after demo, commercial demo, because they were asking for commercial demos. 11:11 They weren't even asking for reads on the script yet and, as I remembered them, I had to listen to the first like 10 seconds of the demo. They were so hyped, pitchy, selly, like over the top, wild crazy. You know big car sales and I'm thinking to myself Most of the stuff we do is really not that. Yeah. Yeah, it's much more of an earthy delivery, much more of a real delivery, and a lot of them got ditched in terms of not being submitted, just because of that it amazes me that demo producers, I think that you know. 11:45 - Anne (Host) Then you're shopping around for a demo producer. I think your demo producer needs to be current and relevant. And so when you're shopping for a producer for your demo, that you listen to other demos that are produced by them and hopefully you've done your homework beforehand and listen, like if you're going to get a commercial demo, listen to what commercials are out there lately, and not, I mean, even on the radio, right where I think radio is a little bit more dynamic, a little more, you know, focused on the voice, because there's no media outside of music behind it. I feel like you can be a little bit more dynamic with your acting, but even then it's not so high-pitched. And yeah, the car ads, yes, some of them are. 12:28 - Lau (Host) And the sound effects. Like I don't know if talent realized. We don't want to hear tons of sound effects in your first read or two. You want to hear it. So one more thing, annie, I just want to mention. I forgot to mention it earlier. When they're submitting to the agency, if I like them or their demo, I'll say, hey, can you submit me a couple raw reads? 12:46 - Anne (Host) I want totally raw reads and typically they love that you can gauge their studio that way. Absolutely. 12:54 - Lau (Host) And their voice. Like is that their voice? Was anything overly processed or overly? 12:59 - Anne (Host) Yeah, I think that's so important because you don't want to have the demo and that's, I think, that probably a lot of agents, if they don't ask for that, they'll know in a matter of like a couple of auditions whether or not you have the acting chops to be able to back up what you had on your demo or what might've been directed right for you on the demo. And we've talked about that a lot of times, and Cliff Zellman is famous for saying a demo is a promise, a demo is a promise, and so when you submit, a demo to someone. 13:27 you want to make sure that you can back that up, that you can produce that same sort of delivery. Maybe not You're not an audio engineer and you probably don't have a bank of music and you don't have a bed of music or sound effects but you need to be able to put that delivery to the test. Someone just sent me one of my talents. 13:45 - Lau (Host) He's so great. He just sent me a monster demo in honor of Halloween and it was so great and I said his name is Michael. 13:52 I said Michael, I'm just cur…

    Full show notes at the publisher
    Voice Acting Career Goals Nov 25, 2025
    Show notes

    BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza and Tom Dheere share decades of combined experience, reflecting on the realities of voice acting career longevity. From the cassette tape demo era to today's digital age, the hosts emphasize that sustaining a career for 20+ years requires more than just talent—it demands resilience, strategic goal setting, and a deep sense of gratitude to combat the inevitable inconsistency of the industry.

    Casting Director Secrets Nov 18, 2025
    Show notes

    BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by the extraordinary Tina Marasco, Head of Casting at Sound and Fury, a respected coach, and the voice of HGTV's Love it or List it. With over three decades of experience spanning agency, acting, and casting, Tina offers indispensable casting director secrets for bridging the gap between a voice actor's truth and a client's real-world needs. 00:03 - Anne (Host) Hey VOBoss family Anne Ganguzza here as we wrap up the year. I just want to say thanks for being a part of this amazing community and because you bosses deserve a little holiday love, I'm giving you 10% off all demos and coaching through December 31st. Your demo discount is automatically applied and for coaching, just enter code COACHINGBFF at checkout. Treat yourself to some career growth this season at anneganguzzacom. 00:36 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. 00:55 - Anne (Host) Hey, hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today I am thrilled to welcome the amazing Tina Marasco, head of casting at Sound and Fury, respected voiceover coach and the voice of HGTV's Love it or List it. With over two decades of experience as an agent, actor, casting director oh my gosh, everything. Tina brings an incredible perspective on what connects talent to opportunity, and that's, I think, what we're all looking for. So I think we're going to have a great talk about authenticity, longevity and how to basically bridge the gap between the actor's truth and a client's real-world needs, which is something that I think is so important for us to get that perspective. So, tina, thank you, thank you, thank you. I know you're important for us to get that perspective. So, tina, thank you, thank you, thank you I know you're busy for joining me. 01:50 - Tina (Guest) Oh my gosh, Thank you so much for having me. 01:58 - Anne (Host) I'm very excited to be with you. I know I'm really excited, so let's talk about how it all started. I mean, you have worn so many different hats agent, actor, casting director, coach when did you start with? What did you start with? How much time do we have? 02:10 - Tina (Guest) It's like when blind doors roam the earth. I started in the William Morris mailroom in New York City in like the 90s. Okay, the heyday of you know the wild agent life Pushing the mail cart somehow. Wow, yeah, no, I was literally like doing the swimming with sharks situation and floated all over. I was in a bunch of different departments and then ultimately landed in the commercial department and my then, like, everything was lumped together. So VO on camera, soaps, they were all lumped together and my boss was the VO Maven. 02:49 Her name is Carol Baker and she's not in the business anymore, but I didn't even know what a voiceover was when I sat on that desk and it's funny because, like Terry Berlan was a casting director in New York at the time, so I was like an assistant and Terry would be calling in breakdowns and now we're both casting directors in LA. It just it feels like 72 lifetimes ago. So my, my boss, you know, basically taught me everything there was to know about voiceover and then I spent three years there, then flipped over to ICM in New York and that's really where I cut my teeth, because ICM does not have a scale voiceover department, meaning people like you and me auditioning. They only represented celebrities. So when I went over there they tasked me to start the department. 03:37 So I started from scratch. I had not a single client and went out every night to Broadway and off Broadway and performance art and you know comedy clubs and I say this all the time like my bartender at the Raccoon Lodge ended up being Sally Winters and like one of the biggest voices of the last couple of decades. So I would find talent from all different walks of performance life, bring them into our studio at ICM and kind of teach them how to do it. So that's kind of how I learned, and that's how I learned how to produce demos because nobody had any recorded material, so for us to sort of send it out and announce our department. I produced like 60 demos for our agency reel and it was literally like thrown into the fire and figured it out, ladies. 04:28 - Anne (Host) So but it worked out. That is so impressive because you pretty much built it from the ground up and you basically learned everything along the way, and I love that. I kind of think I always describe myself as I just learned by the seat of my pants, because it's like here, here's the job, do it, and then you've just okay, well, here we go. But I think that probably prepared you for a long career in doing this. I mean, I would imagine that you love what you do because you're still doing it. 05:00 - Tina (Guest) I do. And then I took a very circuitous route. I left being an agent and somehow got struck by lightning and decided I wanted to be an actor. 05:09 So I went back to graduate school for acting for three years kind of like hid away and got all of that training. And then I, the scenes voiceover Sure Paired with my newly you know tuned voice and speech training and my acting training, voiceover was sort of like the natural next progression for my performing career. Oh, absolutely yeah. So I, you know, got an agent right away and started working right away and then was really chasing on camera pretty hard. Like my goal was to be like a series regular on a sitcom, like that was the dream. And you know I did a zillion guest stars but I just never got that. You know, like that regular, regular role. 05:54 And all along the way voiceover was always like my steady boyfriend. It was always like it was always there, it was always giving me a hug and you know, finally I was like why am I treating you like you're you know this side piece over here Like I should really nurture this relationship a little bit more. And so I really started focusing hard on that and all along the way I've always coached. And then eight years ago, almost coming up on eight years, I partnered with Sound and Fury and went to the casting side of things. But I still act sometimes and I still do voiceover, but mostly right now I am coaching and casting that is kind of my day-to-day regimen. 06:37 - Anne (Host) So what brought you into the casting part of it? Was it just something that was an opportunity that presented itself, or it was something that you had always wanted to get into? 06:46 - Tina (Guest) Yeah, it was kind of serendipitous. So Carly Silver, who was my agent at Atlas, left Atlas to go to Sound and Fury, like maybe a year or so before this happened. And she was, she knew she was going to be going on maternity leave and really it was just her and the owner of the company, Jill Kershaw, and they really needed somebody to cover for her. And you know, so it was presented to me as can you just cover for like three months? You sort of have the skill set and yeah, and I was like sure I'll give it a shot. And I really was so naive I really thought I was gonna be sitting in my pajamas and be like, oh, this sounds good, this sounds good, this sounds good. And then the fury of Sound and Fury raged into my life and I came how? 07:34 - Anne (Host) appropriate for the name. 07:36 - Tina (Guest) It's not like a cute little, you know, kind of on the side, it is a full time commitment and so I remember like thinking, gosh, I don't know if I'm going to make it through three months of this Like how. Like, how does anybody like do this all day? And it's been eight years so. But we have the best team in the business, like our. It's all women, we are so well-oiled and I mean that sounded kind of funny, but I completely got where you're going but we have such a great powerhouse team and it just makes a pretty. 08:20 You know, I wouldn't say it's difficult, it's not brain surgery, but it is a pretty laborious process what we go through and it just makes it so joyful and fun and collaborative because everybody on our team is so fantastic. 08:34 - Anne (Host) Well, I think you know, for most talent in the industry, what they lack is that, that perception or that education about what really goes on in casting, that perception or that education about what really goes on in casting. So, from your perspective, tell me about like a typical day for you casting a project and what is all involved, because I think for us, we absolutely need to understand it in order for us to, I think, do better and be more successful. 08:59 - Tina (Guest) Yeah, and I would love to. I would love for actors to know all of you know what goes on behind the scenes. So every time we start a project, no matter how big or small, we do a creative call with the ad agency creative team and you know we spend a good amount of time on Zoom with them, sort of you know, trying to dissect every little detail and nuance we can get out of them as to how, what they want to hear in their perfect voiceover. And you know, on that call we hear consistently, no matter how high profile the project or how small and like it's a first time, you know, advertiser, they all want the same thing. They all want. They always say, and the answer is yes. 09:42 The reason we're paying you to cast this and we're not doing it ourselves is because we really want you to find people who sound like they've never done voiceover before. 09:49 Now that does not mean give it to your drunk uncle at Thanksgiving and expect him to be able to work his way through the copy, right? What they really mean is they want everything to sound exactly like you and I are conversing right now. What actors don't realize is that the conversational sound that everybody's kind of cultivated has just become another bad habit. Because if you really listen to how we talk in real life, it's much more intentional and therefore much staccato than most people think Like. If that sentence was written on a page and I was reading it, it might sound like yeah, the way I talk in real life is much more intentional and staccato, which was not intentional or staccato at all Right. So they want it to sound like genuine peer to peer sharing, even if you're talking about insurance, even if you're talking about management, right. 10:40 And the other thing that they're always stressing is that everything they're making now are short films. They don't think of them as commercials, and that is not just semantics, it's an actual paradigm shift. And how it applies to actors approach to the audition is now you are being asked to be a protagonist inside their short film. So your job is to simply act. Right, it's to, and it doesn't mean you'd have to have a protagonist inside their short film, so your job is to simply act, right, it's to. 11:06 And it doesn't mean you'd have to have an MFA in acting or you have to be Shakespearean, right, it just means you have to really figure out what the story is and then just behave and live truthfully, moment to moment, with the circumstance of the story. Right, and so it is as simple as that. But it also means that the voiceover has sort of been in the world of TV and film. The voiceover has kind of been relegated down to like co-star status, so meaning it is not the star of the show anymore, it's more of the bed of the film, right, so it's a lot more subtle and nuanced. And that doesn't mean do nothing, that doesn't mean you want flat or be flat? 11:49 Yeah, not flat unaffected reads. It means you know. It's kind of like. I use this analogy all the time. You're like a first chair violinist in a beautiful symphony orchestra. You still have to play your notes with precision, you have to have an emotional connection to it, but then your job is to sort of synthesize and integrate with the rest of the orchestra, because if an audience member can pick out the first shared violinist, they're doing something wrong. 12:13 That's sort of the role of the voiceover. Now it's like, hey, we want to know that you understand our story inside and out, you have an emotional connection to it and you are living truthfully through it moment to moment. And then don't make it about you. Put all of your attention on the film. It's not about you. Don't focus away from the film, it is not about you. 12:34 - Anne (Host) Yeah, Now I think one of the biggest questions is well, how do I know what the story is Right and I'm not? They're typically not provided with a storyboard. I mean, if you are, that's like a luxury, I think and you know, when they're auditioning, a lot of times there is nothing really except for you know some specs and maybe an idea of what they're looking for. So how do they create that story? 12:58 - Tina (Guest) So the story for me, like my process when I coach, is because everything's about authenticity. You want to really read the specs and ask yourself which authentic version of you most closely aligns with the specs. So you're not doing anything to manipulate the sound of your voice anymore, so it's always going to be a version of you. Is it the mom version of you? Is it the best friend version of you? You know, so on, yeah. Then the second step is to really read the script, as if you're reading a screenplay or a novel for content, like figure out what the heck the story is, what is being told and from my perspective, the story is always in the copy. 13:38 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) Yes. 13:39 - Tina (Guest) Literally, even if it is a tagline, and the tagline is BJ's makes anything worth celebrating, the story is come to BJ's, which is like a pizza pub right, and you can make even the most mundane day a celebration because, like, every day is a party at BJ's right. So there's a story even in that tagline. So there's always a story to find within the copy itself. You just have to read it carefully. And I feel like the biggest mistake that I hear over and, over and over again every day in casting is most people grab a few adjectives from the specs, clap it on their voice and then write it over the words Absolutely. 14:19 - Anne (Host) It's so predictable. 14:21 - Tina (Guest) Yeah. So the whole thing is just like a blanket of warmth or a blank sarcasm. And when I ask people like okay, what does that line mean, they kind of look at me like blank. I'm like no, seriously, what does it mean? Put it in your own words. And they're like so really, spending time understanding the story. Paraphrase it line for line, because you'll find when you start putting it in your own words you realize how much meaning you were taking for granted. Even like Amica insurance is proudly owned by the people we protect, right, Everybody said that line very naturally. 14:55 Everybody was like yeah, amica insurance is proudly owned by the people we protect. But anytime I've asked anybody what that means, they go blank. And I'm like what do you mean, what does that mean? And I was like it's a weird sentence. Like the insurance company is owned by the people they insure. So does that mean like everybody who's insured by Amica owns a share of stock and is it like a co-op? 15:16 But really, if we drill a little deeper, what they're really saying is what do most people think about insurance companies? They're out to screw you, right, but we're going to scre…

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    Beyond the Booth: Giving for Voice Actors Nov 11, 2025
    Show notes

    BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza is joined by Danielle Famble and special guest Jennifer Clark (Host of Human Kindness at Work podcast) for a Boss Money Talk Series crossover episode. They explore the profound impact of charitable giving. This episode demonstrates that giving—whether time, money, or relationships—is not just good for the soul; it's a strategic act that combats hopelessness, strengthens local ties, and creates powerful networking opportunities for your voiceover business. 00:01 - Anne (Host) Hey guys, Anne Ganguzza here. Imagine a voiceover journey where every step is filled with discovery and growth. That's the path I want to work on with you, through nurturing coaching and creative demo production. Let's unveil the true potential of your voice together. It's not just about the destination, it's about the gorgeous journey getting there. Are you ready to take the first step? Connect with me at anneganguzza.com. 00:32 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, anne Ganguza. 00:51 - Anne (Host) Hey, hey, everyone, welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Boss Money Talk series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguza,z and today's show is a very special crossover moment. I'm joined by my regular Boss Money Talks co-host, Danielle Famble, financial strategist, voice actor and the person who keeps our boss business brains sharp. Yay, yay, hey, Anne, hey, and we're teaming up with the amazing Jennifer Clark, a powerhouse voice actor and the host of the Human Kindness at Work podcast. Today, we're going to talk about the power of giving, how it fuels mental wellness, strengthens our brand and builds real community in the voiceover world and beyond. And we'll also be talking about 100 Voices who Care, which is a charitable organization led by these two powerhouses that supports local communities by combining donations to impact local charities. So let's get into it, ladies. Thank you so, so much for joining me today. Thanks for having us. 01:48 - Speaker 4 (Host) Anne. 01:48 - Anne (Host) Yay, I'm very, very excited to talk to you guys about this, because I think this is something that it exists and every time there seems to be, let's say, possible issues in the community or you know people that need help, we get those GoFundMes, we get people who talk about, you know, donating to charities and stuff like that, and I think it's something that we need to really talk about more, about how it can affect us in a positive manner and also how it can affect our businesses. So let's maybe start by talking about the psychology of donating and giving. And, jennifer, I know, in your Human Kindness podcast you which is wonderful, by the way, guys, you absolutely must tune into that you talk to people all the time about giving and human kindness, and so what are your thoughts about you know, what are the benefits of giving? 02:43 - Speaker 4 (Host) Well, I'm not a doctor, but I can speak as someone who has been, you know, intentionally giving for most of my life, and as I'm talking to guests who are really active in their community and showing human kindness at work. What I see in myself and in people that I'm talking to is that it does something for our mental health. It's really easy to look at the world, especially right now, and you wake up every day and there's another crazy thing going on. The world is constantly on fire and it's really easy to get depressed fast. I mean, that's the fastest ticket to depression, right? Just read the news, right and we lose sight of all the really good things that are going on in the world. We lose sight of the really good people that there are. 03:36 Being a part of giving is like linking arms and finding all those people in your local community and the world at large that are doing the work. They're trying to bring change, and it's really uplifting. It's one of those things I don't know what it's called, but it's kind of like when you're looking for something you know when I wanted to buy a new vehicle, I had never seen anybody drive this vehicle and then all of a sudden, when I was like I want a Volkswagen Atlas. I saw it everywhere, Absolutely everywhere. And it's the same with giving. When you look around and you're like man, nobody is doing anything, Nobody is getting involved. In my community, Nonprofits are suffering. But then you start getting involved, you will make connections like crazy and you'll start seeing all of the good and it is so uplifting. It really does change your perspective. 04:34 - Anne (Host) Oh, absolutely I can imagine, because, especially now, just with the craziness, as you mentioned, of the world, and there's a lot of times when I will open up my social media and then, oh my goodness, just start reading or the news and I just start to feel hopeless and what can I do? What can I do? First of all, to feel, because it's making me feel bad and not like I don't know, functional in a lot of ways, and I want to be able to help and I don't know how to help. And I think this is one way that we can focus on something that can absolutely make a big difference in our lives and, of course, other people's lives as well, and to be able to connect with people who are doing good in the world. That gives me hope. 05:25 - Speaker 4 (Host) And I think sometimes we look at problems and it's so overwhelming and we think we have to reinvent the wheel, Like oh. I got to start a nonprofit or fix the solution. There are already boots on the ground that are doing work. So making a difference, giving of yourself your time, your resources, your energy, doesn't have to be hard. It's just a matter of finding something that you want to give yourself to, and don't reinvent the wheel, just join into the good work that's already going on. Yeah. 05:56 - Speaker 3 (Host) It kind of reminds me of that. 05:57 I think the quote is attributed to Mr Rogers, or maybe Mr Rogers did the quote from someone else, but the look for the helpers quote I was. 06:07 I was speaking with a friend of mine who we were both sort of commiserating about what was going on in the world and how frustrating it is, you know, with money being pulled from certain social organizations and that's their lifeline, and she worked for one of those organizations and she was like of those organizations and she was like you know, we can get upset about it, we can get mad about it, we can feel hopeless about it. Or you can look for the helpers. You can look for the people who are out there like you said, jennifer boots, on the ground doing the good work, and it changes your psychology to see, okay, these are the possibilities, this is what's out there, these are the people who are already doing the work. How can I help them? And when you can look at that and you can find that pattern, recognition of people helping the helpers, then you can figure out how you can put your hand behind the plow and do something too. 06:58 - Anne (Host) What do you think are the things that stop people from either looking for this or from donating? And, of course, I think one of the biggest things that people will say is but I don't have any money. I don't have the money to donate. I can barely keep myself surviving in today's world. What do you say to that? 07:17 - Speaker 4 (Host) I would say we have to look beyond just finances. Financial giving is really important, especially for local nonprofits, but we have so much to give. You have to look at yourself as a whole. So you have energy, you have time, which I think are your two greatest resources, and you have money. You have relationships. So, looking at those four areas of your life, where can you give in those time, energy, money, relationships? And if you really are, I've been in times of your life. Where can you give in those time, energy, money, relationships? And if you really are, I've been in times of my life I am strapped for cash. You know, my husband was unemployed a few years ago, like it was super tight. So I get it. There are legitimate times that you don't have any extra money, but you still have time, energy relationships that you can give to. 08:19 - Anne (Host) So I would say look at that whole picture, not just your pocketbook their energy or their relationships because I love that you mentioned relationships too, because connecting with people who may have at the time the financial resources to help or other methods and sources to help is also a wonderful way to give back. 08:40 - Speaker 3 (Host) Yeah, social capital is a huge one because you never know what that connection that you are making between two people or groups or organizations, what that will do and that will yield in their life. 08:54 So that's a huge one, even looking outside of the box. 08:58 I was just reading a story about a woman who was at a park with her kids and noticed that there were some kids who didn't seem like they were being attended to by an adult and, instead of making an assumption, what she decided to do was essentially just take care of those kids for a little bit of time. 09:16 And she was offering her time as a resource, as essentially child care, and not making an assumption about what was happening with the parents or anything else in their situation. She was like, ok, I'm a safe place, I'm a safe person and I can provide some, some respite for these parents who may be further away, who need a little bit of time away. And she did that and that was her way of giving back. And she, when she was explaining it to me, or when she was explaining it and I was reading about that story it's not something I think that people think about off the top of their head Like, oh, this time that I have, or the ability to care, is a resource like do an inventory and audit of what you've got, what you are willing to give, what you are able to give, and then figure out a way that you can creatively if it's not financially a creative solution that you can provide for people who need it. 10:11 - Anne (Host) Yeah, I have a neighbor who literally just got an email this week. She typically in the summer she goes to the East Coast to stay in her home over there with other family and she offered her home to a family who had just lost theirs in the fire and the recent fires in California and you know a family that you know it was complete strange to her. And she wrote us an email and said hey guys, I'm offering my place for this family to stay for the month while I'm away on the East Coast, and they recently lost their home in a fire and would you mind welcoming them? Because not only did they lose their home but they lost their community, and so I think that, as a sense of community, would be really wonderful if you could help welcome them. And it was amazing to see the thread in that email, because all of us responded and said oh yeah, come to happy hour on Saturday, or hey, we were playing bunco or whatever it is. Come, I'll pick you up and take you over there and introduce you to everybody. And I just it was such a wonderful thing and I thought there you go, there's something that didn't really cost any money and it was something with the whole community getting together. It was just something really wonderful to see, especially like, yeah, I've had a stressful week Really wonderful to see, especially like, yeah, I've had a stressful week. And to be able to like, all of a sudden, get an email like that and then see the community come together and give it just was really a wonderful thing. And I just I think now I'm like I want to start a podcast and I want to be Jennifer, I want to be Danielle, because I know you guys also are leading the 100 Voices who Care, which we'll talk about in just a minute, because 100 Voices who Care is a wonderful organization that was a longtime sponsor of the VO Boss podcast, so I'm excited to talk about that. 11:58 So I love that we just came up with all of these ideas, because I think the number one excuse why people think that they can't give is the fact that they don't have any extra financial support, that they can, that they can donate Awesome. So let's talk about so we've got a lot of benefits where it, first of all, it makes us feel good, right, we're helping somebody else. It can give us hope in a, in a, in a place, in a world that might seem hopeless at the time or just frustrating. Might seem hopeless at the time or just frustrating. So let's talk about as businesses. How can giving help maybe our businesses and I don't like to think that it's like, oh, I want to just help my business. It's not I don't know if that's like the foremost reason that I want to give, but hey, if I am giving and I'm able to help others and I feel good about that, know that also. It can, it can positively affect our businesses as well. So, danielle, what do you think about that? 12:53 - Speaker 3 (Host) Yeah, no, there are so many ways that it can affect and help your business. One way and you know we'll think about it from financially, because you know I like to talk about money. 13:02 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) Of course. 13:04 - Speaker 3 (Host) When you can give to businesses, you can get some sort of tax benefit as well at the end of the year. 13:10 So financially, if you're giving to a 501c3, you can write that off against your taxes at the end of the year in some cases. So that's one financial way that it can help, but also in the social capital as well. When you're out and you're meeting people who you can help or who you'd like to support, the organizations you'd like to support, it's a great way to meet other like-minded people and maybe other like-minded businesses, organizations that I enjoy supporting in my local organization, and I got to meet a ton of local business leaders and they got to know who I was and I was like the first voice actor they had ever met which was an interesting conversation. 13:57 So there are ways to meet other people and engage in just community building, especially locally, because we are local businesses as well as global businesses doing what we do in voiceover. But there's also a financial benefit too building especially locally because we are local businesses as well as global businesses doing what we do in voiceover. But there's also a financial benefit too. 14:12 - Anne (Host) And isn't that honestly like? Isn't that one of? Like the one on ones of how do I get work in the voiceover business? Right, One is OK, so we maybe try to join a roster, we try to get an agent, and then there's we'll go to your local chamber of commerce, Right? Think of this type of thing, Think of you know the possibilities of charitable donations in terms of networking, because it's all about the relationships and, as a matter of fact, a lot of the ways that we get and secure and keep jobs to keep our businesses alive and successful is through relationships. And what better relationship? Not only something that makes you feel good that you've done something to help somebody else, but also the possibility of maybe networking with people who can also support your business. Jennifer, I'm sure you've spoken to many people in your podcast also that have been able to help their business and or other local businesses. Talk about that. 15:11 - Speaker 4 (H…

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    Mood Affects Voiceover Performance Nov 04, 2025
    Show notes

    BOSSes, Anne Ganguzza and Lau Lapides explore a core challenge for every voice actor: managing personal emotions and moods to deliver a consistent, authentic performance. The Bosses delve into how easily actors can slip into autopilot or let personal frustration compromise a read. This episode provides practical acting methodologies to help you discipline your thoughts, shift your emotional state on demand, and utilize your entire emotional range to serve the story. 00:00 - Anne (Host) Hey Boss, listeners, Anne Ganguzza here. Leveraging years of expertise in the voiceover industry, I offer coaching and award-winning demo production that embodies excellence. I am dedicated to your success. Let's work together to get your career to where you've always wanted it to be. Visit anneganguzza.com to find out more. 00:24 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. 00:43 - Anne (Host) Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast and the Boss Superpower Series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am here with Superpower co-host Laura Lapidus. Yay, thank you, annie. I love being called a superpower. Well, I'll tell you what your shirt is so colorful today. I love it. 01:06 - Lau (Guest) Yeah, I'm feeling like this blue is putting me in a certain mood. You know, getting me very moody, but not in a blue mood, more in a hot mood. 01:15 - Anne (Host) Yeah, it's blue and flowers, so there's kind of like a cult, like a culmination of moods, maybe I thought you were going to say a cult. 01:22 - Lau (Guest) No, not a cult, but more of a comedy, more of likes, maybe I thought you were going to say a cult. 01:33 - Anne (Host) No, not a cult, but more of a comedy, More of like artistic meets, comedy meets, I don't know, meets like hot diva thing, oh my gosh. Well, you know that's funny. I'm always so thankful to talk to you, Law, because you're always so positive and upbeat and happy. 01:41 And you know it's interesting because I, as you know, I mean I work with a lot of students and a lot of them that are working full time and then doing voiceover part time, and so they've got, or they've got life happening you know life you know, life, life can happen, life happens and I'll tell you what your mood and how you are dealing with the day can so affect your reads, because I'll have some people that'll be like, yeah, I did it last night, after you know, I came home from work and I'm like, well, yeah, I can tell, because you were exhausted or did you have a bad day, because it actually reflects in your read and I thought it'd be great to talk about how your mood affects your performance. 02:30 I mean, it seems so obvious and we just say, yeah, your mood affects your performance, but maybe it affects it more than you even know, because a lot of times I feel like we go on autopilot. When we're in a certain mood, or we don't want to deal with certain things, or you know, we're not going to acknowledge certain feelings, we then compartmentalize, and we don't always compartmentalize in a way that's helpful for our performance. 02:53 - Lau (Guest) So true. And you know, I first thought about mood as a young, young kid, really, when I was being trained in the theater. I would have directors that would say for rehearsal, leave your trash at the door. Don't worry about it, it'll be there to pick up on your way out. 03:11 - Anne (Host) Leave your trash. 03:12 - Lau (Guest) What does that mean? And meaning that to discipline yourself in the workspace, you cannot bring in every feeling, every thought and every mood that you're walking in with. You have to leave it behind and come into that neutral discipline space. 03:28 - Anne (Host) Unless. 03:28 - Lau (Guest) maybe you're using it to create a character Unless you're channeling it, but even so it's like can you move in and out of it? 03:37 - Anne (Host) That's tough to do. Yeah, that's tough to do. 03:40 - Lau (Guest) Yeah, or is it so adopted in you, so inside of you, that you can't see it? You no longer have the self-awareness to see the mood that you're in. 04:03 - Anne (Host) They're like no, I thought it thought it was great. And then, in reality, I'm like you were tired, weren't you? You know, or you were exhausted, or you were frustrated, or and sometimes it'll become it'll come out right in the first few words I'm like you hate this script, don't you? It's like, well, I had a bad day and so, yeah, being able to compartmentalize or put that aside. And then the probably, I would say, the biggest problem for me in the niches that I teach is that it's. You can start off in one mood. You can say, ok, I've got to be positive, I got to get my energy up, and because I've had a long day, and so let me get my energy up. And then you've got it up for a couple of seconds and then, and then, all of a sudden, you go into autopilot and you lose track of the fact that you got out of right, you got out of that energy and you just went on autopilot. I think going on autopilot is like 90% of the problems in, let's say, long format narration anyways. 04:58 - Lau (Guest) Yeah, and also really being able to you know, with your analysis that you're doing of your script, it's really being able to pinpoint what is the mood of the story, how does the tonality change, not just the writing of it and the language of it, but also the rhythmic cadence of it and the musicality of it. What is happening with the mood? Because, as actors, if we don't have mood, if we don't understand mood and there's no mood to it, then we completely lose our momentum. There's no momentum without mood. 05:28 - Anne (Host) And I love how. All right, so now we just took it from our mood to the script and the script's mood, and that's a really important, I think, factor to consider, because not only do we have to put aside any mood that might be detrimental to our performance, but we also have to read the mood of the script and then apply a point of view that would equal the mood of the script in order to serve it. You know, properly, really, and the mood doesn't just happen at the beginning of the script. 05:58 The mood is all throughout the script and it changes which I think is so important to understand that it changes and you need to figure out how it's changing. You can't just assume that you're going to be happy from the first sentence all the way to the end, because a good story, right, there's always an evolution of. You know, you start off maybe questioning or concerned or hey, what's the best solution for this? And then, all of a sudden, the discovery right, you start learning about this product or you realize how this product has helped, and then you become more excited about it and then you want to share that with that listener. So it's an evolving story and I think if you don't analyze that script for the evolving mood, yeah, you're not doing it justice. 06:38 - Lau (Guest) And so many VOs, I think certainly at the early stages of voiceover, really miss the point of when a coach might say oh, who are you speaking to? Where are you at. It just becomes a pedestrian and saying oh, I'm talking to a best friend or I'm talking to my teacher, and then they leave it at that. But they don't realize that not only is that specific in terms of your environment and how you behave and the mood that you're in when you walk in a doctor's office, for instance. 07:07 But each doctor is different. Doctors are not the same, they're different people. So how many voiceover talent really investigate the depths of let's say, who am I talking to, or where am I, or what's happening, because of the kind of tones and moods that it's going to shift you into? 07:27 - Anne (Host) Well, yeah, because you would talk to your doctor a whole lot different than you would talk to your friend and the whole, the whole thing in casting where it says like you're talking to your best friend, right. I think that kind of did a disservice to a lot of voice actors who took that at face value and did not realize that the intention behind that was simply to get you to not sound like a commercial or sound like you're trying to sell somebody something. And I think it doesn't, because I have I have a number of students are like OK, so I'm talking to my friend Sue and I'm like but Sue doesn't care about, sue doesn't care about Lincoln Financial, like Sue uses Bank of America. So you have to really figure out who is it that you're talking to that's interested and can benefit from the topic that you're talking to. 08:16 And it may not be your best friend, sue, like I always use SAP as an example. Like Sue doesn't even know what SAP is right, and so how can you talk to Sue about it? Because she's gonna be like what, what is SAP? Why do I care about it? And it's hard to talk to somebody in a scene, right as an actor, when it's not relevant to them, and so who you are talking to is so, so important. Talking to your doctor is much different than talking to your best friend, betty. 08:43 - Lau (Guest) And not getting complacent or lethargic or lazy about stopping at finding out the information. Now we have to go into the emotional mindset of the person in the situation. Sure, it's not enough to just know where I am or who I'm speaking to. I have to know in context what we're discussing and how I feel about. That's where your point of view comes in and also how it shapes the whole scene like where you start and where you end up should be a very different place. Oh yeah, In terms of mood. 09:16 - Anne (Host) Absolutely the mood. The mood shifts and and ultimately I love that you mentioned about like it's. It's not necessarily about you and how you sound when you're delivering that information. It's about how what you're saying is affecting the person that you're talking to, right? How is it going to help them? And then people are like well, what do I? What? What's the most important thing? What are the important words in the script? Well, the ones that affect the person that you're talking to. They could care less that. You know, sap sold a million widgets last year, right. But what they care about is that SAP is going to make their lives easier by consolidating right, consolidating the installations in all different departments of different software, and it's going to make their company run better. So that's what they're concerned. They don't care that SAP I mean, in reality, as a consumer do you care like that? You know Coke Zero sold a billion last year. 10:11 - Lau (Guest) No, it doesn't matter. I mean, and even just like, if you're talking to people you know in your world, it's like I choose a friend. You know, like you make choices on the friend you want to talk to about business, the friend you want to talk to about your mom, the friend you want to talk to about something super personal, like you make those choices along the way, do the same with your script, and not only with your script, annie, I'd say with your business in total. 10:36 - Anne (Host) And if your friend doesn't apply. Can I just say this yeah, if your friend doesn't apply, then don't use your friend. Right, apply, then don't use your friend, use somebody that can really benefit, because then what it does is it turns it from you just talking to like anybody or someone, right, who's going to buy the product, into someone that's going to benefit from the product and you will be helping them, and then that becomes like more emotional, right, it becomes like oh, there's meaning to this, there's a purpose. Right, there has to be a purpose to what you're saying. And if you don't have a purpose and you're like well, I'm just going to give them information, right, any old person information about the product, well, that doesn't give you much purpose. 11:20 - Lau (Guest) Yeah. 11:22 - Anne (Host) Yeah, then I could just read it to you, because I don't have a purpose, like I have to want to help you, right, I have to want to make your life better, and that's going to give me purpose and emotion, and that emotion will help to at least give me a point of view that will make it more unique than just hello. This is a product that I want to sell you right you know, that's it. 11:45 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) Right. 11:45 - Lau (Guest) And it seems like we're saying you know that commercial campaign, whatever it was, trivago or something. Thank you, captain Obvious. You know like what we're saying should be obvious and common sense, but it's bringing back to what you were saying at the beginning of the show, and that was don't go on autopilot, don't let your mind go into this sort of complacent neutral zone. You have to be a thinking, working talent that's always considering how a situation changes. A situation changes moment to moment, and so does your mood. 12:21 - Anne (Host) A thinking that's a good one. Right A thinking that's a good one. Right A thinking. Working talent, as well as your business decisions. 12:30 - Lau (Guest) You're an amazing business woman who's always thinking, strategizing, paying attention Like what is the mood? I'll give an example what is the mood of your website? 12:42 Well, if you look at the person who's going on your website, they instantly feel a certain way. Right, they do so. Why not strategize how you would like your audience to be feeling when they see a visual of you, when they see a testimonial of you? Sure, how do they feel? What mood is it in? Well, we all know in sales sales 101, that when you see a success story, you feel good, you feel successful. Potentially, you feel like you could do that. So that shifts your mood instantly. It's compelling. 13:23 - Anne (Host) It's so interesting Like we just spoke about this in recording a previous episode about how did that ad make you feel? Right? I wanted to be that person. I wanted to buy that product because I wanted to be like that person. I wanted to feel good. Look good, I wanted to, right? I think it's really all about feel good, like who buys a product that wants to feel sad or angry, right? So how is that? How is your voice going to affect the person that you're talking to? How is it going to make them feel better, right? Yes, feel good, look good, make more money in respect. We all just want to feel good, right? Yes, feel good, look good, make more money in respect. We all just want to feel good, right? I don't know anybody that purposely wants to feel sad. Well, we want to feel. Sometimes I like a good cry, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to be voicing something to give somebody a good cry, unless I want to affect them in a creative way in that way, right? 14:11 - Lau (Guest) Well, I think that there's power. Well, I think that there's power. You know, the first thing that flipped into my mind was the original. The original Disney Snow White that we all saw when we were young kids was that the evil queen looks in the mirror and says you know mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the? There is a mood mirror that we create as artists to like. 14:34…

    Full show notes at the publisher
    The Mental Game of a Long VO Career Oct 28, 2025
    Show notes

    Anne Ganguzza and Tom Dheere share decades of combined experience in this insightful episode, dedicated to the long view of a voice acting career. Having been in the industry since the cassette and CD demo era, the hosts emphasize that longevity is achieved not through linear steps, but through resilience, strategic adaptation, and continuous self-improvement. The discussion provides a candid look at why the work never stops, the necessity of community, and the critical importance of mastering the mental game. 00:00 - Anne (Host) Hey bosses, Anne Ganguzza here. Are you ready to take the next step in your voiceover career? At Anne Ganguzza Productions, I specialize in target marketed coaching and demo production that gets you booked. If you're thinking about elevating your performance or creating an awesome demo, check me out at anneganguzza.com. 00:22 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. 00:41 - Anne (Host) Hey, hey everyone. Welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Real Bosses series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with the one and only illustrious Mr Tom Dheere, real Boss. 00:54 - Tom (Host) Hi everybody, hi Anne hey. 00:56 - Anne (Host) Tom, how are? 00:57 - Tom (Host) you. I'm doing pretty good, if I'm not mistaken, haven't you, didn't you just have an anniversary? 01:03 - Anne (Host) I did Just celebrated 25 years with my hubby whoa. It seems like yesterday. I swear to god, 25 years just went so fast that's amazing and uh, and you, just, you just were telling me about your blogiversary how long have you been blogging? 17 years oh my god, tom that blogging, I mean I've been blogging for a you been blogging 17 years. Oh my God, tom, blogging, I mean I've been blogging for a while, but blogging for 17 years is insane. 01:31 - Tom (Host) Thank you. 01:31 - Anne (Host) Wow, you must have really good SEO. That's all I got to say. 01:35 - Tom (Host) I would like to yeah. Yeah, my SEO is pretty good. 01:37 - Anne (Host) Yeah, we would like to think that you have good SEO, but, wow, so long term relationships. You know it makes me think about voiceover, because I have been in voiceover just about as long Not quite as long as I've been married to my husband, but you know, 21 years, and it's. It's incredible. I feel like I just started, but yet I don't, because it is and we always talk about it being a marathon, not a sprint and I think you've been in voiceover longer than me. 02:03 - Tom (Host) Yes, I decided I wanted to be a voice actor in 1994. 02:09 - Anne (Host) Wow yeah. And then I got my commercial demo. Some people were born in 1994. 02:14 - Tom (Host) Not me, I know. 02:17 - Anne (Host) Yeah, some of my students haven't been born. 02:19 - Tom (Host) Some bosses listening to this are going to be like, I was born in 1994. I know, or 2004. And then I got my commercial demo in 1995 and I booked my first voiceover in 1996. And I went full time as a voice actor in 2005 and started coaching in 2011. So I've been-. 02:39 - Anne (Host) Oh, I started coaching just shortly before you. Yeah, yeah, just a little bit longer, because then we started coaching just shortly before you. Yeah, yeah, just a little bit longer, because then because we met shortly thereafter at Voice 2012. 02:49 - Tom (Host) Oh my goodness, we already knew each other, but I don't think we met. 02:52 - Anne (Host) Yeah, but I remember we. 02:54 - Tom (Host) I definitely remember we hung out at Voice 2012, which was 13 years ago. Oh my gosh. 02:59 - Anne (Host) Woo At Disneyland. You know so and it's funny because we talk about you know how long have you been in voiceover and how long did it take you to become successful in voiceover? Well, I always say you know, my overnight success took many, many years. So I think and I think it's something that a lot of people don't understand, especially those that are intrigued by this industry you know thinking that, oh yeah, it's, I can stay at home, I can do this. You know thinking that, oh yeah, it's, I can stay at home, I can do this. You know, I can buy the mic. It'll cost me a few hundred dollars and then I can just start booking jobs and making money. 03:32 And I think really for I know we talk about all the time, but I think I want to have a whole episode dedicated to the realities of having a long view career and the fact that it is something that you have to be in for the long run if you truly want to be successful at it. I mean, of course, you could be in it for a couple of years and then, if you don't like it, you get out. But most people I know want to make a good, they want to be successful at it, they want to make a good living. So let's talk about what it's like to be in voiceover for a long time and what it looks like, because it's certainly not like a corporate job. I am a corporate girl and came from corporate and then education, and I certainly was not handed a paycheck every other week in this full-time voiceover job. That's for sure, because it's a much different, much different industry. It's our own businesses. 04:22 - Tom (Host) I have the luxury of being able to zoom out and look at 30 years of being in the voiceover business, where when I started, you know, they just segued out of reel to reels and started using plastic cassette tapes. So I'm of the cassette tape generation of voice actors that started in the mid 90s and now we are. I was CDs, you were CDs, so you were, just I was CDs. 04:51 - Anne (Host) Yeah, shortly after the cassettes came the CDs. 04:53 - Tom (Host) Just as CDs came out and then, a few years after the CDs, came the MP3. 04:57 - Anne (Host) Yeah, and it was a thing, because I remember the burning of the CDs was like, oh God, who do I get to do that for me? 05:03 - Tom (Host) I did it myself. 05:04 - Anne (Host) Yeah, well, that was before. Right CD burners came out and now you know you can have a CD. I had a duplication company that I did all my cassettes through and then started doing the CDs. 05:14 - Tom (Host) There, you go and then I was like wait a minute. 05:20 - Anne (Host) I can print my own labels. 05:21 - Tom (Host) using Avery, I can burn my own CDs, stick it in the tray and my desktop. 05:25 - Anne (Host) I was one of those people. I got that. The stamp thing where you push it down, you stamp your label on the CD and that was like, oh my gosh. 05:33 - Tom (Host) Oh, now I feel old. Now we're getting really anachronistic and alienating ourselves. 05:37 - Anne (Host) That was like. That was like that. That was the coolest. That was the peas knees. 05:40 - Tom (Host) That was kind of fun. 05:42 - Anne (Host) I love that little stamper. That was awesome, it was. 05:46 - Tom (Host) But anyway, so, yeah, so looking back and zooming out and looking at what are the realities of what you need to have a long VO career, I mean it starts with training. It absolutely starts with training. I'm a theater-trained actor. I went to college and then I did a little graduate work at a place called the National Shakespeare Conservatory that used to be here in New York City. So I got like hardcore theater training about body and mind and spirit and voice and engaging. I had great voice coaches, I had ballet coach, chekhov coach, like all this stuff. That really gave me a very, very, very solid, solid foundation. Gave me a very, very, very solid, solid foundation. So if you want so the so step one. If you want longevity in the voiceover industry, if you want a long career, you got to start with very solid training performance training, voiceover training, genre training, so you can be demo ready. 06:38 - Anne (Host) I didn't realize you you had been a theater trained. Yes, I did. How did I not know that about you, Tom? And I know I've known you for a long time it doesn't come. 06:45 - Tom (Host) I mean, it was so long ago, Wow. 06:47 - Anne (Host) Do you miss it? Do you still do it or do you miss it? 06:50 - Tom (Host) No, I haven't been on a stage in almost 25 years. When I discovered voiceover after I dropped out of the conservatory for reasons we will not get into as soon as I discovered voiceover I was like, oh, that's where I need to be and that's where, also, I can take all of that training that I did on stage and I had a little bit of on camera. I had a little bit of TV and a little bit of film experience very, very little bit like extra work on 30 Rock and things like that. 07:25 You know that's that sort of that. You know if you blink you'll miss me, that sort of thing. But that turned into that inhabited me. As I'll put it to you this way, that sort of training, theater training, it's like pro wrestling, like it's large gestures, projecting, you know, into an audience and then voiceovers is is boxing. It's very, it's very intimate and it's very, it's very, very close. 07:51 Um, so that all that great theater training, I had to obviously learn to make adjustments and turn from this very open, broad presentation, presentational type of acting to this very intimate, one-on-one, you know, doing this, this kind of acting. And I use that training, consciously or unconsciously, every every day, 30 years later, but, like I, I definitely attribute a big, I credit a large part of my longevity as a voice actor to the performance training that I got and I had a great voiceover coach uh, who's no longer, who's with us Um, she really set me on the path to understanding the difference between theater acting and film acting and voice, voice acting, and you know it gave me all kinds of exercises and stuff and you know I recorded. I still have the cassette demo to this day. Um, but that training I still have it. Uh, I whip it out once in a while on a, on a, on a at a conference or something. 08:48 I'll be like check it out once in a while at a conference or something. I'll be like check it out and people are like, oh my god, is that a what's? And then the Gen Z's are like what's a J card? What look? 08:55 - Anne (Host) it up if you don't know what it is in those 30 years, though, would you say that there's been like, okay, so I do this, and then I get to this level, and then this is what I do. Next, is it like a to this level, and then this is what I do next? 09:07 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) Is it like a? You know, one of the? 09:08 - Anne (Host) steps to attaining and achieving that voiceover career. 09:14 - Tom (Host) That's a great question. First off, there are no levels, there are no steps. It never gets any easier, it just turns into different types of hard. 09:22 - Anne (Host) Ah, that we can just go home now, because that I think that sums it up in a nutshell, because it is so not a linear climb. It is not, but it's something that I think that you know over time. That's why I think you have to be in it for a long time, right, so you can adjust, you can evolve, you can work with it and understand it and somewhat predict it. I don't know. 09:45 - Tom (Host) Not predictable. Oh, I wish I could predict it. 09:48 - Anne (Host) But maybe a little bit. You can make it more predictable in certain ways, right? Yes, you can. Yeah. 09:53 - Tom (Host) Yeah, Absolutely Understanding how the industry ebbs and flows understanding trends, keeping up with performance trends, keeping up with technology trends. That's a big part of the realities of a long VO career, but but yeah, let yeah. I definitely want to drive home the point that there is no linear like do this, do this, do this successful? That's not. That's not how it works. You got to get your training, you got to get a website, you got to get demos produced, you got to set up a home recording studio. Those are your pillars. 10:35 - Anne (Host) And even the intricacies of that. Changes. I think you have to have, I think what's pillars, and even the intricacies of that. Changes have a down or a lull in your business and you question everything you've ever like. You know what got you into it in the first place. You're like, oh my gosh, I don't belong here, should I? I mean, there's so many things that happen during a lull in your business because it makes you question am I good enough? Am I valid, am I to be a success in this industry? Should I just quit? Should I give it up? Should I not have quit my job? And so there's so many things that get in the way of evolving and growing in your career. 11:17 And again, this is not a linear growth. It's ups, it's downs, and sometimes you can be like, oh, I just booked that gig, and then things are amazing for a while. But then you're like, okay. Sometimes you can be like, oh, I just booked that gig, and then things are amazing for a while, but then you're like, ok, so I should be able to book the other gig, I should be able to book a gig a week now. And then you say, ok, my goal is to book 10 jobs every week. Did you ever try that? Because I tried that a long time ago. Oh, I'm going to book. 11:44 - Tom (Host) My goal is to book 10 jobs a week. I had a very specific thing to that end, which is, I thought for a very long time I needed three very specific sources of voiceover income to be successful and consistent and sustainable on an income level. One was with a regular client that I was making well over $10,000 a year with for a number of years. One was Voice123 as a source of online casting, a source of auditions and bookings, and then I was just that elusive third source and I was saying that for years and years and years and my career has evolved and gone up and down and all around that I don't think that way anymore, because what's interesting is that client that was paying me well over $10,000 for many, many years, who I still work with to this day. I've worked with them since 1997. I now book one or two clients, one or two gigs a year with them, because their business model changed and the industry of their genre changed, so therefore my relationship with them changed. 12:51 I'm still on Voice123 making great money, and there's so many factors too. 12:57 - Anne (Host) So many factors to that and I love that because it's not just about you and your skill set and your skill level. The industry changes because our clients change. Their industries change right, their jobs change. Our relationships change with the people that some people come and go from jobs, and especially when you're talking about the repeat client or clients that you've had for years, which are great, they're wonderful, they're one of the more predictable things in this industry that you can count on, but then again, you know, don't count on them all together because tomorrow they could be gone. 13:33 - Tom (Host) Right, and as you were talking, I just had a revelation. 13:37 - Anne (Host) Ah Okay. Will you disclose the revelation, Tom? Oh, no, I'm going to share. 13:42 - Tom (Host) No, I'm going to leave and run away and write a book. 13:44 - Anne (Host) No, let's go. I must go now. No revolution share. 13:47 - Tom (Host) No, I'm going to leave and run away and write a book. No, let's go, I must go now. No revolution, no, no, no, no, no. So this is one thing I've realized In the past 25 years or so of me being a voice actor roughly 50% of my voiceover income has come through e-learning, explainer, corporate, industrial, medical. That's been roughly 50% of my in…

    Full show notes at the publisher
    30 Years of Voice Acting Trends with Billy Collura Oct 21, 2025
    Show notes

    Anne Ganguzza sits down with Billy Collura, a powerhouse agent with over 30 years at CESD New York. Billy shares his unique perspective on the dramatic evolution of the voice acting industry, from the early days of union-only radio spots to the current market dominated by non-union and digital opportunities. This conversation provides essential insight into the biggest voice acting trends that have shaped the industry and reveals the simple, authentic quality that makes a voice actor successful today. 00:03 - Anne (Host) Hey guys, it's Anne from VO Boss here. 00:06 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) And it's George the Tech. We're excited to tell you about the VO Boss. Vip membership, now with even more benefits. 00:12 - Anne (Host) So not only do you get access to exclusive workshops and industry insights, but with our VIP plus tech tier, you'll enjoy specialized tech support from none other than George himself. 00:23 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) You got it. I'll help you tackle all those tricky tech issues so you can focus on what you do best Voice acting. It's tech support tailored for voiceover professionals like you. 00:34 - Anne (Host) Join us guys at VO Boss and let's make your voiceover career soar. Visit vobosscom slash VIP-membership to sign up today. 00:43 - Speaker 3 (Announcement) Slash VIP-membership to sign up today. It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss, a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. 01:08 - Anne (Host) Hey everyone, Welcome to the VO Boss Podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today I am thrilled to welcome someone who truly defines what it means to be a powerhouse in the voiceover industry. With more than 30 years at CESD New York, Billy Collura has been at the forefront of commercials and beyond, representing talent with a direct and grounded approach that has earned him the trust of clients and voice actors alike. I think it's fair to say that he doesn't just follow the changes in the business. He really helps to shape them. So, Billy, I am so excited to have you here on the podcast. 01:44 - Billy (Host) Thank you for asking me. Yeah, this is so nice, yeah. 01:47 - Anne (Host) Yeah, I love it, and of course we're like on opposite coasts here, so you're on my home coast and so I do miss New York quite a bit and we did have a little. 01:58 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) How often do you get out here, pardon me, do you get out here often? 02:00 - Billy (Host) Do you ever get out. You know what? 02:01 - Anne (Host) Not as often as I should. I really have now started to say I'm only coming out during the warm season because I'm done with the snow. Yeah, I hear you. But I would imagine like do you travel like elsewhere in the wintertime in New York, Because I know I stay here. 02:22 - Billy (Host) I travel a lot in general um during the course of the year, but um you know, I right now I'm upstate in well. I'm up in the Hudson Valley and in the city of Hudson, which is two hours North of Manhattan, so I go back and forth Um in the winter time. No, I'm usually, I don't know, I'm usually in the Northeast sometimes. 02:43 - Anne (Host) Okay, Are you a skier? Are you a skier? No, absolutely not, Absolutely not. That was, that was what a lot. What kept a lot of people on the East coast? Um, in my area anyways, they're like oh no, I have to be able to ski in the winter. 02:56 - Billy (Host) No, I don't like the cold. 02:57 - Anne (Host) Well, I have a. I have a mountaineer in California, Uh huh. 03:00 - Billy (Host) Uh-huh. 03:02 - Anne (Host) Oh my gosh. Well, anyways, it's so nice to see you again. It's been a while. I saw you at VO Atlanta and I'm just really thrilled that I have the opportunity to talk to you. I know how busy you are, but I'm just so excited that the bosses are going to get this opportunity to really benefit from your wisdom. And so, benefiting from the wisdom speaking of that, you've been at CESD for over three decades. Um, that's, that's amazing. So how would you say that your role as an agent has evolved during that time? 03:37 - Billy (Host) Well, you know like it started when I started. Um, it'll be. Um, it'll be 32 years in May. Oh my gosh, when I started, voiceover was a smaller industry and I dabbled in a little bit of everything, okay. 03:55 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) I did commercials. 03:57 - Billy (Host) There really wasn't. There was no internet back then. So we did radio and TV commercials and industrials and I'm not even sure cable was around when. 04:08 - Anne (Host) I started. I hear you. You know we didn't have computers, any of that. 04:13 - Billy (Host) So we did a little bit of everything. And then, you know, and promos, promos were a thing, and narration and trailers, and so, you know, we did a little bit of all of that. And then, as the industry kept getting bigger and bigger, we started specializing. And all of a sudden, in animation, I dabbled in gaming, but I also, you know, but pretty much my focus was commercials, because that's where the money is, you know, and that was the day where it was just, you know, it was just TV and radio, and you made the actors made a lot of money. Yeah, it was only union, we only worked on union jobs. And now fast forward to now, where 60% to 70% of my desk is non-union. We started doing non-union in 2019. Okay, the union opportunities have pretty much dried up, and I say that, but it's ebb and flow. 05:22 I mean right now this year it was a slow summer for some reason. It was like the old days, it was really slow and I mean that union and non-union. And then I go away on vacation and it just like exploded while I was away and I've been and since then I've been playing catch up and it's been so busy with union, lots of union stuff with non union. Yeah, so it's been great there. 05:49 Yeah. So I mean that's changed and I guess for me what's changed for me is because now I specialize much more on commercials. I do have a few non-union accounts, but I have my large union study accounts, steady accounts. Um, so most of my work, uh is you know, is in the commercial world. I also happen to handle the audio books, but I always say I'm not an audio book agent. I'm the agent at CESD that handles the audio books. 06:18 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) So it's a little difference. 06:20 - Billy (Host) Um so, but the audio book, what I do love about it. You know an an an agent who left um cause she was having. She got married and had babies and she said, take the audio books. They're the nicest people in the world. And I got to say they really are, and so I've kept it. 06:36 I love it. The people are so nice. Um, I really, really enjoy it. So that you know, so I I've been doing that. I also do ADR and loop group stuff, again very specialized, and there really aren't a lot of industrials. Now I know some of the other. I'm one of five, six agents in the department and then there's another two agents that work with agencies that cater to medical industrials. 07:04 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) So they're doing I don't do personally. 07:05 - Billy (Host) I don't do a lot of industrials. I think a lot of the industrials have gone to the pay-to-play sites, so but the union stuff, the medical ones, they are still at the big agencies. I just personally don't happen to have those. I would say maybe the commercial aspect of right Healthcare like pharmaceuticals and that sort of thing is huge and more and more of those blue chip companies are going non-union and those rates are you know. 07:34 - Anne (Host) Sure. What do you attribute that? Why is that happening? What do? 07:39 - Billy (Host) you attribute it to is when it started, when digital work started happening, and these great companies, the Droga5s and there was so many, that's just the first one they were doing great work with the digital work. You know, they were just with stuff before even streaming, when they were just doing they were making commercials for digital work and they were doing fine work. They were doing really good work and these companies, these blue chip companies, were saying, hey, you did that for this much money, why don't you just take all of our network stuff? And that's how I remember, like 10, 12 years ago, a large fast food chain started going, you know, went totally non-union. And then the large fast food chain started going, went totally non-union. 08:25 Then there would be some that because they had a celebrity voice on certain spots, and then they would get a third party and more and more I feel like these agencies, these digital agencies, just kept getting better and better at it and the actors were getting better and better at it. And it's not like the cable stations that you see up here that you know these infomercial things that you know that you can tell it's non-union. You know I've fallen and I can't get up kind of stuff. These. They're doing great work. 08:56 - Anne (Host) I can't tell, are they doing great work because they have great actors or are they doing great work because the entire production value of it? 09:05 - Billy (Host) Yes. 09:06 - Anne (Host) Yes, yes, you know, people are getting better at it. 09:09 - Billy (Host) The voiceover people certainly, and it's not even I mean the voiceover so many people. Covid just changed the game and everybody you know voiceover was the one business in town that didn't shut down during. 09:23 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) COVID. 09:24 - Anne (Host) And every I always say every jaboni with a mic, you know, just set up a studio at home and said I'm going to do voiceover, and not only you know they were well-established Broadway and TV and film you know everybody was doing it and that's and that's so interesting because I would say the majority of people that you know cause I was I was super busy coaching during COVID and I just had so many people that just wanted to like make the demos and get into the industry. But I had a lot more of the talent that were more beginner right to intermediate. But I would imagine that with COVID, with celebrities right them wanting to get into voiceover because what else was there? Because they weren't able to go into a studio, and so I would say that a good portion of that, I would say a good portion of people that were getting those jobs, were probably the celebrities right. 10:27 - Billy (Host) Absolutely coaching. You know they just kept getting better and better at it. And you know, and, and we're willing to work for low wages, I mean that's the other thing. And you know we always say somebody takes a job for $100. You know it's just a race to the bottom. Yeah, you know, if you're gonna add, because you know we don't work on the non union stuff, we don't work on the non-union stuff, we don't work on certain things. I won't work on stuff just because it's not worth my time. 10:48 - Anne (Host) Sure. 10:49 - Billy (Host) And I don't mean to be like, oh, but $250 is a lot to some people. Oh yeah, for all the work that I have to go into it, for me to do it and have my assistant do it and doing the editing to maybe get it, it's just not worth it. But I do. I mean that's usually. My threshold is 250. 11:10 - Anne (Host) And I understand that because I always tell people, because I do a lot of non-broadcast narration, coaching and demos, and I'm always telling people they're like, well, I want an agent. I'm like, well, an agent doesn't get excited about non-broadcast stuff because it's a one and done thing. You don't make your money on that, and so typically you want to have a tip top commercial demo because that's where they're going to be making their money with the residuals and and that sort of a thing. So would you do? You think it has to do with the sheer volume of people that got into voiceover as well. If you've got enough, you know, if you throw spaghetti against the wall right there, some of them will stick. And so then I started to drive down. I'm going to say it started to drive down maybe the prices, uh, or people willing to do the work for less, because it just got to be competitive. 11:56 - Billy (Host) It did. 11:57 There's so many people doing it now, so many people, and especially in the non-union world, there's so many opportunities out there and you know, with the pay to plays and I've kind of changed my tune a little on the pay to plays and I kind of see they're there for a reason. They're a great, you know, tool for learning, for getting the experience, for the auditioning. And I and I learned recently when I was at a conference in Holland and met the CEO from Voices 123. And I learned that they love to put people together and to put the actor and the company together. Take it off the platform and do your thing. 12:41 They don't want to micromanage, like there are other pay-to-plays that micromanage everything. 12:45 But I really found that you know, oh, that's really nice, and then people can make money that way. They're not interested, they're just interested in making the match. So, but, that being said, there are so many people that are doing this now and, yeah, driving down the prices because you know, they may be this may not be their full-time gig, it just may be a side hustle for them. So, yeah, sure, an extra $200, an extra $100, an extra $350. That can accumulate. But unfortunately then they're like well, you did it last time for $100. Why can't you? So it's hard, it's hard. 13:21 - Anne (Host) It is, but would you say that the amount of jobs is diminishing or no, it's just as volume you know, I don't see volume as normal. 13:33 - Billy (Host) I'm busy, you know, but I don't know, like, like I said, this summer was slow with the opportunities, with the, with the auditions. I find that my casting directors, my union casting, just my casting directors in general, um, they, you know, I have some that are busier than others, some I will hear from, you know, once every other month, and then some I will hear from three or four times a week. You know, um, so it's and it's all you know. There's no logic to it. 14:03 - Anne (Host) And then on the um isn't that the truth. Yeah, and then um after all these years, wouldn't you think like you could? You could predict, you know. 14:14 - Billy (Host) I would say to actors you know, I'm not booking, it's just one phone call, it's one job, don't forget. They're only picking one person, but yeah, yeah, picking one person. You, yeah, you know, only picking one person you know and you don't know. 14:25 - Anne (Host) That's a way to put it in perspective. Actually, if you think about it, but in 400,. 14:30 - Billy (Host) You know how many people are auditioning. 14:31 That's why with select VO. You know that only allows you X amount of people to submit. So if they, if the agency says, if they invite you and they say you can only submit three people per role, they won't let you submit a fourth person. So you really have to be smart and we're not the type of agency that will send you know to ten people and then, sophie's Choice, the three that I want. You know, I don't believe in that. I don't. I feel it's a waste of time of the actor. It's certainly a waste of time for my assistant a…

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    Your Plan for Financial and Studio Security Oct 14, 2025
    Show notes

    The sensible and lovely Danielle Famble joins BOSS Anne Ganguzza to discuss a critical, often-overlooked aspect of running a voiceover business: disaster preparedness and maintaining operations during times of crisis. Using Danielle's personal experience of a sudden apartment flood, the hosts outline the necessary steps for every voice actor to ensure both physical and financial resilience. 00:01 - Speaker 1 (Announcement) Hey, if you're looking to take your podcast to the next level, my podcast consultation coaching services teach you how to sound more authentic, develop smart strategies and market your show effectively. Let's elevate your podcast together. Visit anneganguzza.com to get started. 00:20 - Speaker 2 (Announcement) It's time to take your business to the next level the boss level. It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss, a VO boss. Now let's welcome your host. 00:37 - Anne (Host) Anne Ganguzza. Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss Podcast and the Boss Money Talk Series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am here with the sensible and lovely Danielle Famble. 00:50 - Danielle (Guest) Hey Anne, sensible and lovely, that's me. 00:53 - Speaker 1 (Announcement) Sensible and lovely. Danielle, oh Danielle, how are you? 00:56 - Danielle (Guest) I'm all right. I'm okay. It's been a little crazy in my world, but I'm doing all right. How about you? 01:05 - Anne (Host) Well it's been. I think it's just been crazy in my world. But I'm doing all right. How about you? Well it's been. 01:08 I think it's just been crazy in the world, but you know, that's a, that's a that's a long discussion, but you know there's been a lot of crazy weather events that have been happening and and unfortunate, unfortunate disasters, and you know, because you're so sensible and ever prepared, Danielle, maybe we should talk about being prepared for your business and disaster, and what do we need to do to be prepared in order to keep our businesses afloat and operational? 01:38 - Danielle (Guest) That's a really good point. I have recently been through needing to be prepared and actually I have this booth as part of my preparedness and needing to be prepared out of really out of nowhere. We may have talked about this in other episodes, but my apartment flooded and I had to leave my home pretty suddenly. I had to leave my home pretty suddenly, and so my preparedness, my preparations that I wasn't even sure specifically what I was preparing for. I just needed to have certain things set up. Those things actually came in handy. The long story short of it all is at almost midnight I started hearing what sounded like a fountain in the walls and realized that that was probably not a good thing. 02:32 Probably not a thing. Probably not a thing and probably not a good thing. Yeah, so I reported it and about 10 minutes later there was water all over the floors, all over in the hallway. There was water pretty much everywhere, and it was pretty clear to me that I needed to leave quickly. So I happened to have a to-go. My tri-booth was pretty much readily available. 03:00 - Anne (Host) Well, look at that, the tri-booth, and I myself have a tri-booth, that's at the ready. 03:05 - Danielle (Guest) The tri-booth was at the ready. I keep it in the suitcase in my closet. 03:10 And I was able to just pull some things that I needed important documents, my laptop, my to-go booth and all the things with it, my mic and everything else. Travel. I basically have like a travel rig that I keep set to the side, and I left within half an hour to an hour, and that was actually the last time I lived in that apartment and spent the night in that apartment, unfortunately. So being able to take myself and my things and my business somewhere else, somewhere safe, was a piece of preparedness and also because I wasn't able to live in my home, I needed to use insurance and I needed to use my emergency fund to keep me through. So those were some layers of preparation that, while I was not preparing for my apartment to flood, I was able to use certain things that I had set to the side and set up specifically for that purpose. 04:09 - Anne (Host) Yeah, I mean, and there's, you know, the unfortunate floods in Texas, there's the fires in, you know, in LA, and you know we have fire season and there's tornado season. There's just all sorts of things that I think are becoming more prevalent these days, that now I think it's more important than ever that not only are we physically prepared, with things at the ready to go in case we need to evacuate quickly, so that we can, you know, manage to keep our businesses afloat, if that should be, of course. Of course, bosses, the most important thing is you being safe and your family and your loved ones and your pets being safe. Next in line would be you know supplies in order to keep you safe. And then, of course, right, having you know, a tri-booth is actually this is an amazing plug for the tri-booth, and we didn't even intend it, bosses, but both of us have tri booths and I'll tell you what they've. They've saved us in so many situations, myself included when I needed to have a studio set up immediately. That tri booth was convenient, ready to go on wheels, and for Daniel as well. So shout out to the guys, to George and and Tri Booth and Rick Wasserman it's an amazing. It's an amazing portable booth guys. You might want to take a look. I'll put a link in the show notes for you. 05:32 But that's number one having the physical things but also things like insurance and then understanding what does that insurance cover. I think that's one of the things that you don't want to be surprised, right? You don't want to be surprised, right, you don't want to be surprised. I mean, of course, there's always this thing in, let's say, whatever area, are you near a flood zone, are you covered? You know, make sure that your insurance covers. If you are indeed in a flood zone, what does it cover? What doesn't it cover? If you're in a fire zone, what does it cover? Because we had to check that ourselves, my husband and I, because we are deemed living in a fire zone. So you know, your insurance may cost more, or maybe some insurances won't cover that. So talk to us, danielle, a little bit more about, like, what sorts of things financially, how we can prepare with insurance. 06:20 - Danielle (Guest) Yeah, there are several different types of insurance to have. So I think, when we first hear insurance, we think like health insurance for medical purposes, which is definitely one that everyone should have, if you are covered through, maybe, your employer, through your day job, through SAG-AFTRA, through NAVA, for example, like there are so many opportunities and options, the marketplace. So your health is one way that you would need to have insurance. Another thing would be your home. So is it renter's insurance, is it homeowner's insurance? And what does that cover? And making sure that you have a deductible. You understand how much your deductible is, because that's how much you're going to be responsible for. 07:03 - Anne (Host) And read the fine print, I just want to say, yes, right, what is covered and what is not, and what is not. Sometimes they're vague. Insurance companies are vague, I think on purpose, exactly. 07:17 - Danielle (Guest) So understand your living situation and having insurance for where you live Is it renters, is it homeowners insurance? And then there are some business insurances that you could have, so it could be covering your business if you are not working in your business for a little bit of time. It could be like a disability insurance if you're disabled and you're not able to work for a certain period of time. It could just be general liability insurance for your business, which could then cover certain things that your business owns, certain equipment that your business owns. So that's something to consider as well. 07:53 There are different kinds of business insurances that you can have for your business, and you might have some of those. You might have a multitude of them, and each insurance has its own deductible, and so you should be prepared to pay that. And that's really where your emergency fund can come in, because if it is necessary, in the unfortunate event that you do need to use your insurance be it health, be it homeowners, renters, disability insurance you need to know how much you are expected to come out of pocket. And having that money set to the side for those things, that is what I deem an emergency, and so that's also what I calculate when I'm figuring out, how much do I need to have in an emergency fund, I also look at my deductibles. How much would I need to cover, and being able to have that put to the side is one thing that will just help you feel better. 08:46 - Anne (Host) And one thing I definitely want to say bosses, the reason why we're even talking about this is because we are running our own businesses. For all of you who are, you know I came from the corporate world. It wasn't something that I had to think about business insurance. It just wasn't because it wasn't my business, it was somebody else's. No-transcript, and absolutely make sure you're reading the fine print to make sure that you're covered, especially if it's a full time gig for you. Now, danielle, if, let's say, bosses are working part time, is it? Do you think it's worthwhile to look into business insurance, or is it even a thing? Right? 09:42 - Danielle (Guest) It really depends. I only got like liability insurance or business insurance because I had a client that was requiring it for me to have an ongoing relationship with them, so that was that was the reason that I got that insurance. But you don't you really need to look and see. It's an exercise and only do this for just a few minutes. 10:05 - Anne (Host) It's a business liability insurance. So is that through your business? It is through my business. 10:11 - Danielle (Guest) But I also have disability insurance and that is to cover me if something were to happen to me in a health perspective. 10:19 - Anne (Host) And that's something that companies typically, if you are working in the corporate world, they will cover that for you, and that's something we don't think about. We just don't think about when we, you know, health insurance absolutely is important, and in that health insurance is disability insurance, you know, and all of the life. What about life insurance? I? 10:37 - Danielle (Guest) mean Right, life insurance is another thing as well. So it's a lot of the things that you kind of have to think about with bosses. We're thinking about we're replacing the things that we would have or could have through a day job, and because we are running our own business, we have to break down. What would I have had maybe in a corporate day job or in a different kind of situation that now it's my responsibility of running this business to have? That doesn't mean that you need to have all of these things. It's just something to consider, and what I unfortunately do often because catastrophizing is a thing that I do is think about like what is the worst that could happen and how could I mitigate that? Really, it's just kind of a way to sort of cope ahead and think about what could happen and how. Is there an insurance that I might need to help with that, or how would I take care of something if this were to happen? 11:41 - Anne (Host) Now, all right. So the one thing I know most people are going to sit here and say, yeah, but insurance is expensive. Right, Insurance is expensive and is it worth the peace of mind I'm going to say? You're buying peace of mind. You're buying peace of mind for yourself and for your business, and so is your insurances that you have covering. Is it expensive? Would you consider that to be expensive and, if so, like? How much money needs to be set aside for insurance for a typical small business? Or what are the things that it's dependent on? Is it dependent on the size of your booth? Is it dependent on the amount of equipment that you have? Is it dependent on? Is it dependent on the size of your booth? Is it dependent on the amount of equipment that you have? Is it dependent on I don't know, your age and your previous health, Like? Are there criteria like that? 12:26 - Danielle (Guest) It really depends on the type of insurance that we're talking about. So, for example, my renter's insurance is not very expensive. It's basically like replacing a Starbucks habit per month. So there's that. But then I would think about what all is it covering and how much is it covering If I were to need to replace my sofa and my bed and my dresser and all of these things? I look at how much it would cover and see if that makes sense for me. 12:56 With disability insurance, for example because someone recently asked me about that it is expensive, it is absolutely expensive, and to me it is worth the peace of mind because you just don't know what could happen to you If I was out living my life and something were to happen. I was in some sort of terrible accident or something and I couldn't work for some period of time. Is that peace of mind worth it to me? I think it really. It is so dependent on the type of insurance and what you're wanting to have covered. So it's worth getting a quote because you can just get a free quote and figure out okay, is the amount that this would cost me? Is that worth it for me to do for myself and or for my business or my life, my home, what have you, whatever the insurance is, and then figure out is that something that I need to get now or is that something that maybe I can work my way and my budget up to covering at some point? 13:57 Like I said, with my liability insurance for my business, I got it because I had a client who was requiring that my business have it in order for us to have a working relationship. And then I thought, okay, is it worth it working with this client? Is it worth it to get this insurance or not? So it really is a case-by-case basis, but you can usually get quotes and find out how much your deductible, how much your premiums, how much is it going to cost you to have this insurance? And then you can ask yourself is that something that I can self-insure by just having enough money put to the side in my emergency fund, or is that something that the peace of mind is worth it to me to get this particular type of insurance? 14:38 - Anne (Host) And sometimes that's that your client requested it. Right to have that liability insurance. Sometimes that can be a negotiation point as well. I mean, I've negotiated with vendors that I work with, you know, because I'm like, look, I'm a good client and you're going to have me for a long time. So if that's the case, I could really use this particular piece of software so that I can communicate better with you guys, so you can use it potentially as a negotiation point. 15:08 It doesn't always have to come out of your pocket, especially if you've got a client who really wants you and likes you and wants to work with you. You know there is that. I mean you know what is the cost, what is the cost to you? And again, consider this as an investment in your business. And for the most part we…

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