In this debut episode of “Conversational with Carrie Olsen,” I explore what it truly means to be conversational in voice acting – not just in how you deliver a script, but in how you approach your entire business. You’ll discover why authenticity is your greatest asset and how to leverage your unique background to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
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Discover how to transform your voiceover journey from scattered training to strategic success. Learn essential business skills, training frameworks, and actionable steps for voice actors.
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If you have high aspirations for your voice over career, voiceover coaching 100% should be part of your journey.
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Voiceover Marketing Introduction As a voice actor, I know marketing is essential to growing my business and getting more clients. However, marketing is far from the magical solution many believe it to be. Inspired by the Forbes article “Marketing Does Not Work: The Truth,” I want to share insights on why voiceover marketing campaigns often […]
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So, when you get a script, how do you approach it?
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If you are curious about it but don’t want to take the plunge yet, take my FREE mini-course on how to do stree-free e-learning outreach. It’s short and sweet—just three video lessons you can watch in a span of three days, with small and actionable tips to do as “homework” 🙂
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It’s the end of March now, and no one’s talking about resolutions anymore. Most have probably fallen off the wagon, so I’m doing you this check-in in case you need a boost to get back on the wagon, or if you haven’t done anything yet, start your year strong (anytime!) 😊
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If you limit yourself to in-person voice over training only you will eliminate 99% of your coaching options. How many voice over coaches that you want to work with live within 2 hours of your home? There’s almost no reason to be in the same room as your coach so why put such a huge and unnecessary restriction on your coaching options.
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There are so many fun opportunities in e-learning narration depending on, obviously, the script, but where you can really set the learner, the listener, the end user up with your narration, is with your approach to the script.
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Elearning Narration: All Play and No Work? “I got into voiceover work for the excitement and variety. To get away from uptight corporate culture. The last thing I want to do is spend all day reading boring corporate training courses.” If this sounds like you, I completely understand. This was my mindset back in 2014 […]
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So what do you need to be doing on a day to day basis to set yourself up for booking e-learning narration work for making those connections with potential clients? Learn more in this post.
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Elearning voiceover, or online course narration, is one of my favorite types of voice over work. I actually have a bit of a soft spot for it because it has played such a massive role in building up my business. It doesn’t come without challenges though. It is more time-consuming compared to a lot of other […]
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Ever wondered how to book consistent and repeat elearning voice over jobs? Carrie Olsen has developed a proven 5-step system to booking more elearning jobs.
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You might be surprised to hear this, but my best tip for booking more e-learning voiceover jobs has nothing to do with improving your voice skillset or making sure you do a good job of editing elearning narration work. These are essential skills to have, but they don’t get you any closer to the people […]
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You’ve probably heard the phrase practice makes perfect. Another way to say it is practice makes possible.That couldn’t be more true when it comes to voice acting.There’s no way pursuing a voice over career will be possible without hours and hours of practice.The downfall of most new voice actors is the idea that it will […]
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Demo Scripts for Voice OverEventually (when you are ready!) you will want to produce a voice over demo reel to showcase your voice over talent.And you’ll want the right scripts in the right order with the right feel. Engineered with top quality audio production so when agents listen to and compare your demo with professional […]
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How to make a voice over demo Have you made your voiceover demo yet? If you haven’t, when should you get it made? Got a demo but aren’t getting any work from it? If so, what could be wrong? Knowing the answers to these questions will help save you from wasting a lot of time and money […]
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What do you need and want in your future? Start planting those seeds today. What you plant today is most likely what you’ll have in the future.
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Voice actors reach out to me all the time and ask, “How do I book more voice over work?”. No surprises here. After you get started, learn all you can skill-wise, the next logical step is to wonder how to get a job doing voice over work. If you look around my blog you’ll find […]
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How do I do voice over work part-time? This is one of the questions I receive by email almost everyday. The folks asking this question either only want to do Voice over as a side-hustle or they want to dip their toes in the water to see if eventually going full time is a viable option. […]
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Everyone says you need a coach to make it in the voice over business. Is that really true? Are there other ways to become a voice actor without hiring a coach?
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If you’ve been blessed with a great voice or people are regularly telling you you should get into voiceover, you might be wondering what, exactly, it takes to make it as a voice actor. I mean, how do you know if you really do have the right kind of voice? The last thing you want is […]
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5 Things to do Before You Start Auditioning for Voiceover Jobs Every now and then I get questions from people who aren’t necessarily looking for a pathway to build their voice over business the right way, they simply want me to help them “get voiceover auditions.” When a request like this comes my way, I […]
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Learn the various methods of doing a directed voice over session remotely or from your home.
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Voiceover Forums and Communities When you’re holed up in your closet recording, you can’t just walk down the hall and knock on your co-worker’s cubicle to ask a question. So you’ve got to find your own virtual water cooler to talk shop. You’ll get familiar with how the business of voice over works and what […]
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How to Find the Right Voiceover CoachWhy You Need a Voiceover CoachA coach helps you find direction.A coach helps you find motivation.A coach provides a proven framework for success.A coach teaches you about the voiceover industry—everything there is to know about it.A coaching gives you accountability.A coach guides you where you want to get to […]
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If you go to Atlas Talents website, you’ll see my name listed among the other signed voiceover talents there. Click on my demo, and you’ll hear the sixty or so seconds that prompted one of the most well-known voiceover agents in the country to pick up his phone and call me to ask me to […]
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Voice over Coaching with mary lynn wissner With Mary Lynn Wissner, you’ll learn how to adapt, apply and succeed with the ever-changing trends in advertising and production. You’ll gain the skill set and techniques tailored to your abilities, talent and range. Each talent is different and comes with a different set of skills, abilities and […]
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Voice over Coaching with everett oliver Everett Oliver has built a career in voiceover, Animation, Career Building, Booth Director (directing actors on auditions at a leading LA Based Talent agency), Remote Auditions, Private One on One Directing and Online Directing. In animation and commercial demo recordings, he’s directed actors on animation characters and commercial projects. […]
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Win more voice over auditions – Four tips with Alyson Steel Tip 1) Audition specs and attention to detail So the first thing you have to do is read what you get—from the email, from your agent, or production house. Read it thoroughly because many of the times it’s going to be a long email […]
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Voice over Coaching with Alyson Steel Alyson is a graduate of NYC’s High School of Performing Arts (from the movie “Fame”). She received her B.A. from Queens College while doing recurring work on the soap opera “Another World” as well as on-camera commercials. Alyson decided to go back to school and earned her MFA in […]
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What if there was a button you could push that would instantly transport you to a dinner table surrounded by your best friends in the world? What if that same button could help you be a better cook and learn a new language? And what if that button could help you stay in shape and […]
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Voiceover is a performance-based profession, which tends to draw people who (surprise, surprise) like to perform. But the real surprise is that many people who are very talented at performing, can’t cut it in voiceover. This is because it takes more than being able to do voices well. Winning voice over jobs or getting premium […]
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In this guide, I talk about how my ferocious marketing and networking techniques, combined with extensive training and study, landed me voiceover jobs with brands like Kmart, Taco Bell, Bank of America, REI and others.
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You probably know that it requires more than a good voice to do well as a voice actor. You need to be a good business person. You’ll need to know how to market your voice over business to the right clients. You need to have acting skills. You have to know enough about recording to […]
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When should you make a demo? What is it for? Get the highlights on voiceover demos in this five-minute video. Click to Tweet This video offers a very high-level view of demos. Namely when to record a demo and what to use it for. Here is a highlight of those highlights 🙂A demo is a […]
Continue readingYou’re teetering on the fence. Wondering if this business can work for you. Maybe you’ve booked a voiceover job here and there, you loved it, and you just want to be able to do more. Or you’ve never booked a job, but you know this is something you can do. On the left side of the […]
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This past week wasn’t one of my booking-est. I feel fortunate that the first quarter of the year as a whole has been great. But in this business, there are inevitably slow days. And sometimes… slow weeks.Depending on where you are in your business, slow times will mean something different for you.If you’re just in […]
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One of the most common questions I get asked about voice over is How do I get started? It seems like there should be a simple answer like, “Buy a microphone and start auditioning.” But anyone who has pursued voice over for any length of time will tell you it’s not that simple. So why is […]
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#reallife confession: These past two weeks have been challenging. Work has been steady, and I’m so grateful! But sometimes the everyday things are enough to tip the scales on the stress-o-meter. And my scale hath been tipped. Probably the thing that’s had the biggest impact is that Ruby is teething. And she’s real serious about it! […]
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Ready to level up your #voiceover business game in 2018? Read this blog post where I share one of the keys that led to some of my biggest projects last year! Click to Tweet Wow. Today is officially the start of 2018! And before we jump into this week’s content, let me take a second […]
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Get a free copy of my favorite tools and products in this resource guide. You’ll pick up gems that’ll help make your voiceover life easier. Click to Tweet Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. Which means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through […]
Continue reading A few days ago, I was in my home studio, editing a voiceover project. It was a slow and easy day, when suddenly – my mom (and nanny) was rushing me to come downstairs! When I got to where she was, lo and behold – my little Ruby was right there… taking her first steps! […]
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If you mow lawns for a living, it’s probably pretty clear how your business operates. You do some marketing, you buy the equipment you’ll need, you get some clients, mow their lawns, and collect your money from the clients. Obviously, this is an over-simplified business plan. But I think it’s safe to say that, while […]
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Do you ever find yourself having both sides of a make believe conversation between you and… you? It would be really weird for anyone in any other profession to admit that they talk to themselves out loud and often. But fortunately, voice actors have a job where it’s not only acceptable to do that, it’s required! So if anyone ever […]
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“I don’t turn on my microphone for less than $250,” Flo the Pro said. “That sounds nice,” thought Newbie Ned. “But right now I make $18 an hour at my day job. So anything more than that is an upgrade for me.” As a new voice actor, it’s hard to imagine turning down a job […]
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In Part 1 of the How to Win Voiceover Jobs series, we talked about how increasing your emotional intelligence helps you be a better voice actor. Today, we’re talking about the danger of overthinking and overdoing. Becoming a successful voice actor isn’t easy, but putting unnecessary extra time and energy into auditions doesn’t always result in more […]
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Have you ever bought a voiceover book or course, read through a bit of it, and then never opened it again? How many unfinished books do you have on your book shelf or Kindle? For me, the answers are, “yes,” and “a lot.” I love living in a time when information is so easy to […]
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Is voiceover a dream job? I love doing voiceover. It’s my dream come true, my career match made in Heaven, the thing I would choose to do if I could do anything in the world. And at the very moment that I book an exciting new gig, or when I’m in the middle of a […]
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“Oh, you’re a voice actor? Me, too!” Doesn’t this sound like the start to a beautiful relationship? I mean, how often do voice actors actually run into other voice actors in every day life? Not often. Especially if you’re in the middle of the country like I am. But what these two self-proclaimed voice actors may […]
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Your mindset as a voice actor may be the most important thing to keep in check as you start and run your business. Click to Tweet Your mindset as a voice actor may be the most important thing to keep in check as you start and run your business. From making the decision to start […]
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A lot of actors turn to voiceover as a way to make some extra cash while waiting on their next on-camera or theater role. And for good reason — voice acting is acting, after all. But while this strategy positions voice acting as a kind of crutch until the real work gets more steady, a […]
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If you’re anything like me, you were shocked to discover that voice over is a full-fledged industry, with people making a full-time living simply talking into microphones. But after being in the business for over a year and full time for ten months, I know that isn’t just possible to make a living doing freelance voice work; […]
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I’ll be honest. I haven’t booked the right kind of work for me to need join the union yet. I’m totally open to it, and I kind of hoped I would have gotten some crazy huge jobs that necessitated my joining by now, but that hasn’t happened. I’m still doing great in my career, though. […]
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When I first got into voiceover, all of my coaching sessions were focused on commercial reads. Come to think of it, the majority of them still are. Most of my demos are commercial demos, and my agents are mostly commercial agents. All of this training and effort I have put into commercial reads has been […]
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Voiceover is an amazing industry! It has allowed me to reach so many goals in a really short amount of time. I’m able to work from home (or anywhere really), spend more time with my family, and do creative work that I love. But there is an aspect of working in VO that causes me […]
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Today, I’m at a podcasting conference (my husband and I podcast about money and marriage). Leading up to the conference, I hadn’t put a whole lot of thought into my expectations or what sessions I would want to attend. But when we got here, I got super pumped about meeting people we’ve known online […]
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