Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Welborn.
Joshua, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started as a Radio, Television & Film student at the University of North Texas. There I was exposed to radio and voiceover production. One of my instructors encouraged me to pursue a career in radio due to qualities he liked in my voice and delivery.
After graduating from UNT, I began working as an on-air traffic anchor for a company called Westwood One. There I gave live and pre-recorded traffic reports for various radio stations in both local and distant markets, including Sirius XM and 1080 KRLD. I spent the next three years working on and off for this company, which later became Total Traffic,
At about the same time I began looking into becoming a free-lance voiceover talent. I attended some seminars, and eventually had a demo recorded. I soon picked up an agent, and began marketing myself as a voiceover talent.
As time went by I found voiceover work to be much more satisfying than radio, and thus ended any further pursuit in broadcasting. The satisfaction came from being my own boss, dealing with customers direct, higher payouts, creative influence, and generally just better suited work for my character.
Fast forward to today, and I am a regularly working voiceover talent with annual growth showing reasonable gains every year. I have had the opportunity to work with and learn from other incredible voiceover talents, along with video game developers, producers, directors, musicians and related individuals.
I have also had the pleasure of working with several new and repeat clients over the years, helping them to achieve the best productions possible.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Some of the struggles to becoming a voiceover talent – many of which are ongoing – include the following:
– Figuring out when and where to advertise.
– Knowing how much to charge for a given job.
– Securing productions in a manner that allows the recipient to assess quality, but preventing use until payment.
– Creating a good demo.
– Knowing when to take risks: for example, some productions are structured in a way that payment is only available after delivery. – A scary [prospect when dealing with folks in the global marketplace that is the internet.
In addition, there are several Meetup groups, online advertisers, physical seminars, and demo companies all promising a gateway into this industry, the vast majority of whom are only there to part you with your money.
Please tell us about Josh Welborn Voiceovers.
My voice-over company specializes mostly in corporate, instructional, and informative type voiceovers. For example, productions such as documentaries, online courses for plumbers and electricians earning CEU credits, how-to and safety videos, phone system messaging, and similar forms of advertising. I have also voice acted for video games, vacation resorts, and even private parties.
I take extreme pride in the productions I create for my valued clientele. Where possible I strive to deliver all of our productions well before the deadlines, but never at a cost to quality, I am extremely accommodating to the needs of all of my customers, and I offer various methods of payment and delivery options.
I am also extremely proud of the talent pool I use to augment my offerings, including unique voices, musicians, and videographers. This allows me to offer custom and licensed music beds, video production services, audio/video syncing, sound effects and ADR services, and location recordings. All at rates that are fair and reasonable.
It is a combination of all the above that sets any voiceover talent apart from the others. I suppose the biggest room for improvement for me is to research better marketing.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have avoided the common blunders most new entrepreneurs find themselves making, such as charging too little in an effort to get work, not knowing when to pass (or pounce) on a job, and lacking the basic accounting and managerial skills needed to assess and grow a business.
It is a great feeling to be at the helm of your own company, to conduct your business in a manner that creates growth, yields profits, and consistently satisfies the clients.
It is a lot of work, it can be very challenging, it is fiercely competitive, but also extremely rewarding.
Pricing:
- PROMO: $150 for On Hold Messaging up to three phone messages
- PROMO: Productions of 10 minutes or longer at $18/ finished min
- PROMO: Student discounts = 25 percent off
- Custom music beds starting at $350
Contact Info:
- Website: www.voicebyjosh.com
- Phone: 940.765.5382
- Email: josh@voicebyjosh.com
- Facebook: voicebyjosh
- Other: Skype: voicebyjosh
