a day in the life?

Randall Bigham · **Voice Talent** Joined: 13 Sep 2006 Posts: 90

my plan is withing a few months i shall have my redording booth built and ready to apply for a premium membership and start my journey.

i am seeking information on what goes on in an average day for all you successful "work at home" talent (schedules, that type of thing). i feel that if i take cues from you guys and gals i can be more sure that i'll be on the right track when it comes to me starting out.

i wanna start on the right foot.

thank you in advance for all of your help and insight!

randy Very Happy

Steve Van Beckum · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006, 14:54 (GMT) Post subject:

First coffee...lots of coffee.
Then down to the basement to fire up the studio. Followed by the overnight demos, then Flight Simulator X, then a few more demos, read some emails, browse the internet, a couple of demos, lunch, more FSX, a couple of demos, play with Jake (the studio black lab), the last demos for the day and turn the lights off. That's repeated every day interupted by an occasional job. Darn jobs screw up my FSX time!
Seriously, I fill time by sending out thank you cards to new clients, staying in touch with old ones, and looking for potentials. Then I play FSX...

Randall Bigham · **Voice Talent** Joined: 13 Sep 2006 Posts: 90

cool...so lots of SFX...got it! Laughing

thank you for the reply, i can't for my studio to be completed.

Todd Ellis · Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006, 14:47 (GMT) Post subject:

I enjoy my work. I get up in the morning, put on the first pot of coffee of the day, commute down the stairs to my studio and record whatever projects are waiting for me (a bunch if I'm lucky). I'll work in my Spiderman jammies til around noon then pop out to the mailbox for checks (a bunch if I'm lucky). Then I take a shower and look to see how many beers are in the fridge (a bunch if I'm lucky).

Other than that it's pretty much either recording, or marketing ... lots of marketing.

Russ McLamb · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Jul 2003 Posts: 62

Mike Kuhlman · **Voice Talent** Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 27

Wall-to-wall spots or wall-to-wall AUDITIONS? I'm glad this is not all I do for a living.

Refer to "hit or miss ratio" elsewhere on this board. Mine is over 100 auditions at this point and no paying work in sight...

Oddly enough, my daily schedule (with the exception of the Spiderman jammies) is exactly like the other posters (when I'm not editing video or answering phone call leads for my other video business). I'm a movie geek, so I spend a lot of time surfing IMDB. It seems to be the universal life path...

Todd Ellis · Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007, 15:17 (GMT) Post subject:

Joe J Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 16 Nov 2004 Posts: 1521

Well, looks like I'm the oddball again...

Up at 5:30am, no coffee, visit the men's room, then it's commuting to work (sharp right at the hallway, take the first exit on the right).

Handle all the "quiet work" 'till about 7am (e-mails, invoices, etc), do some auditions or jobs when available. Also programming work for various companies and web sites. Throw in a breakfast, walk, and lunch, workout, etc.

Shower, shave, dinner, and off to rehearsal/class/whatever-i'm-doing-tonight (currently in a weekly improv show, rehearsing a play, and taking classes).

Get home by midnight and hit the hay.

Also gotta find time for the wife, and cat, and manage the periodic house projects (bathroom remodel at present).

Just imagine what I could to with coffee...
Joe J Thomas
www.JoeActor.com

Lynne Alston · **Voice Talent** Joined: 20 Oct 2006 Posts: 743

well, my day is similar to most, with the exception of having a coffee break. Living close to Seattle, I'm hooked up to the local Starbucks intravenously!

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

Like Joe, I like to get all the little problems out of the way first.
Than, after they go to school, I efficiently delete all the expired jobs I didn't get. I used to curse with each deletion, but have evolved to one loud all-inclusive expletive when deleting the last one.
Only then do I have a coffee and chat with She Who Must Be Obeyed.
I make a mental note of all the chores she envisions for the day, and then beam brightly that I have some important voice work to do first.
By 10:00, I'm ready and raring to go.
As a warm-up, I read the latest wisdom from Scott Pollak at VoiceOverSavvy.
By noon, I'm ready to record. After a couple of hours on a lengthy current project, I do whatever new projects are pending. If there are none, I have a cold beer instead.
I really like it when there are no new ones.
Inbetween, I toss out whatever day's postings sound viable.
By four-ish, I must explain to She Who Must be Obeyed why I didn't get around to the chores (usually: "But Hon, I was reading Pollak).
Like Joe, I usually then prepare for whatever other acting work is pending (auditions, rehearsals, plays, etc). Now that my union's on strike, however, there's a huge gap in my schedule.
I'm planning to just view it as a time slot when there are no new ones.
It's a great routine.
I highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't like to eat, pay the rent, plan for the future, etc.
Robert Jadah

Joe J Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 16 Nov 2004 Posts: 1521

Victor Harris · Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007, 17:52 (GMT) Post subject:

"She Who Must be Obeyed"...too funny! Was that off of Robert Potter?...lol. How bout "He who must get laid".

I guess if you don't do the first one...you won't get the second one...lol

Scott Nilsen · **Voice Talent** Joined: 27 Apr 2006 Posts: 231

Sounds like a lot of us have similar days...
Gotta get up and get everybody going, and there is a big feeling of relief when the two older ones are off to school. Then I take the youngest one to do whatever errands need to be done, which does include coffee stop, but hopefully includes the post office (which would mean some contacts have requested CD demos be mailed. Of course, emailing them is much cheaper and better, but at least it's something.). Then it is back home to see about following up on leads from here and another site, and the rest of the day is continual marketing.
Stuff like laundry, meals for everybody, homework, etc. all needs to get worked in there somewhere, too.

George Karnes · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 905

Well I am a midnight owl, so my darling wife usually lets me sleep until just before the kids head off to school (6:30). We are a religious family, so we read a chapter of scripture and have family prayer. Then I try to grab an extra hour or two of sleep. I am new at this so I go answer demos that I can submit to. It takes me so darn long to do these, but I get a little better with the tools everyday. I still read stuff twenty times before I think it sounds just crappy enough to send. Then I listen to 30 or 40 demos of others here trying to learn more so I can make a decent demo for my page.

I am finishing our basement so I go start swinging a hammer. I watch for leads coming in and try to answer them as they do. I was actually the third one in on one last week (is that good or bad?).

My wife is a stay at home Mom so if my youngest son takes a nap, we might get to spend some time together a couple of days a week. Mostly she encourages me when I am playing demos I have recorded so she can hear how awful I truly am at this.

Afternoons are homework, piano practice, wrestling practice and time with family. Then back to work on basement and new voice career until 1:00.

Actually it is a pretty cool life right now. I spent 15 years running all over the country for weeks at a time building a business I sold so am now trying to plug back in with the family unit.

I just reread this and I can't believe how boring it sounds but how good it feels to live this life right now.

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

George:
I'm pulling for you, guy.
Go get 'em.
(and hugs and and a cupcake for your wife...)
Robert Jadah