If you’d asked me a few days ago, I’d have said I had no intention of troubling the world with yet another “Year in Review,” preferring instead to retreat into the comforting arms of my own brooding skepticism. I mean, who out there is really interested in why 2024 was the best year ever for me as a voice talent?
Was it because I did more jobs in 2024 than in previous years? Perhaps I made more in income than in prior years? Better net profits? Oh, or maybe I developed more clients, or perhaps expanded into a new genre of audiobooks I found utterly fulfilling? Was it because I upgraded my sound booth? My recording equipment? Bought a hot new $3000 studio-grade microphone that’s like a stallion in its prime, picking up street noises, neighbors’ arguments, and the innermost workings of my digestive tract with wild abandon, and I simply can’t restrain its awesomeness?
(I may have had too much caffeine…)
Believe it or not (aside from the $3000 studio mic) all of these are true to some degree. I did more jobs, more audiobooks, made more in gross and net income, and developed more wonderful clients than ever before. But it’s not about the numbers, or how much I can spend on gear. For me, this pursuit has been more than a job from the beginning. As you may know, narrating and voice acting is the encore career I’ve waited my whole life for, so despite some long days in the booth, and even longer days immersed in the DAW, there hasn’t been a single minute of it I’d have called “work.”
How do I truly measure success for 2024? Here’s a few ways:
I expanded my brand by delving into the genre of international conspiracy / psychological mystery. The Aftersummer, by Andrew Erkkila, took me to new places and challenged me as a storyteller in so many ways, I couldn’t help but grow.
I spent a few months away from my home studio this year, and learned how to effectively record on the road, even when my apartment was literally in the same building as a concert hall.
I made a special trip to connect personally with an East Coast author I narrated for. I consider Scott Colby, author of the Deviant Magic series, not only a client, but a kindred soul.
I immersed myself into online communities of other voice talents, and was able to both learn and give back from my own experiences.
I learned more about marketing myself, branding, how to obtain work, and how to connect better with clients.
I developed my ear and my studio engineering knowledge to produce some of the highest quality, best-sounding audio ever.
I put together a comprehensive onboarding package for audiobook clients, that walks them through the whole process, and has been hugely appreciated by authors taking their first jaunt into making an audiobook.
It’s rewarding to be doing what I love. It’s a unique brand of catharsis to be cocooned in the black-padded womb of the recording booth, immersed in the storytelling, and imagining a world of hungry listeners on the other side of the mic. It’s beyond thrilling to have that effort and energy returned tenfold in a compliment from a client or a listener’s review. And it’s an absolute privilege to have a client return and say, “We just loved what you did for us last time, and we have another job we think you’d be perfect for…”
If I had just one wish for 2025—professionally speaking—it would be for more of the same.
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