I have a friend who was a big wig in the travel industry when we first met. He lived like there was no tomorrow. he traveled all over the world, stayed at the best places and enjoyed many perks.

Sadly, he is now about a half step away from homelessness.

When one looks at the galaxy of voice-over, we see that it is far more than a single unified industry, but something that presents in many different ways across numerous industries, with varying rules, lingo, needs and requirements.

Still, I think it would serve us all well to realize that subjectivity rules our business. It is rarely more than a person or person(s) opinion as to who the voice should be and how the decision will be made.

An industry participant had been enjoying an income of over $200,000 per year for almost 5 years, being hired by a large ad agency to do v.o. for a number of different clients; most often for SAG national commercials.

The agency person in charge of hiring changed and the new top dog has a different set of priorities as to who should be hired, and as such this voice actor is now broke and with few prospects.

Nice work while you can get it.

Who knows how it will shake out? Despite my personal run of good fortune in this business, I do not take anything for granted. There are many forces at work, some good and some not so good.

I understand the impermanence of things and that inevitably all things do change and/ or end. Keeping yourself firmly planted in the now, with one eye towards the future tends to be my best strategy.

And remember that the only nice thing about banging your head against the wall is stopping.

–j.s. gilbert