8 Tips to Build a VA Career from the Ground Up – Elsie Lovelock

Elsie Lovelock is a British voice actor and singer who has been in many musical theatre productions and shows, both professional and amateur, and has worked as a host and entertainer professionally. She shares eight key tips that all voice actors should know in order to thrive in their industry.

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Building an audience can honestly be done in such a multitude of different ways, it's practically impossible to list them all. Here are some examples:
 
Tip 1: Join a Fandom
 
You could dive headfirst into a particular fandom that you like and produce content that gets you well known, such as music, comic dubs, silly videos, those kinds of things.
 
Tip 2: Work Hard and Build A Resume
 
Another way is that you simply are patient and work hard so that overtime you build an impressive resume that people will know you by.
 
Tip 3: Ride on Popular Content
 
Another way that's worked for me in particular – memes! Using your voice to ride the wave of a popular meme that's currently going around is an amazing way to draw more attention to yourself. It's worked with me for several meme trends over the years. As long as you're having fun, are patient and work hard you'll gain traction no matter what you do.
 
Tip 4: Collaborate with Creative Friends
 
Put Yourself Out There: Usually, the more you put yourself out there and do your best to produce quality content, the more likelihood you'll have of people reaching out to YOU rather than the other way round.
 
Send Messages to Potential Collaborators: Alternatively, just sending somebody a message can definitely make things happen! If you're interested in possibly collaborating with someone, sending them a polite message or email highlighting what you would to collaborate with them on can go a long way. This has worked for me many times!
 
Tip 5: Build up your Confidence and Skills
 
There are many different ways you can help improve your acting skills, such as:
 

• Formal Training: If you don't have much performing experience, or any at all, I would highly recommend either getting involved in local theatre, local drama classes or performing classes, or signing up for a webinar from a professional voice actor if you have the funds. Classes can help you gain a lot of confidence, if that is something you are lacking.

 

• Personal Growth: Personal growth comes from experience. The more you audition, the more projects you're in and the more you do, the more you learn, and the more confidence you gain!

 
The most important thing to remember with voice acting, is that it is just that – ACTING. You could have the most amazing voice, have the best audio facilities in the world – but if you can't act, it means next to nothing. Building up your acting confidence and skills is the most valuable thing you can possibly do!
 
Tip 6: Stay in Touch with the Industry
 
When I started, I basically looked for and auditioned for as many things as I could find on the internet, from voice acting forums, Facebook pages, Discord servers.
 
I clawed my way up from auditioning for things in my bedroom with a bad mic to being able to record in studios. I always say to people “the wider you make your net, the higher chance you have of catching more fish”. If you don't ever give up, keep auditioning, take advice, listen and learn, you'll go further than you ever thought you could.
 
Tip 7: Learn from your Community
 
Over time, I've improved so much because of what I've learned from directors, from other fellow voice actors, and being part of that community where people are kind enough to share the things THEY have learned. You start to absorb more and more as time goes by, until eventually, you find yourself venturing into the more professional side of things, which is what happened to me.
 
Overcome the Challenges of Your Channel by Relying on a Community
 
Struggling with Changing Algorithms and Policies: The main challenges were really the ones imposed by the ever-changing YouTube systems and algorithms – as I cover songs from lots of copyrighted entities, that was the main struggle!
 
Drawing Support from a Community: But, like with everything I just had to adapt. I gained the support of a network who helped me expand my channel, managed my ad revenue payments and got me back on track after I was losing motivation from these YouTube changes. After that, I felt a lot happier to be uploading again.
 
Tip 8: Be Patient with Yourself
 
The most important thing to remember is to have patience. You're not going to go from newbie to professional overnight, and be able to do what your favourite pro voice actors do, overnight. It takes time, effort, blood sweat and tears – but if you're absolutely determined, you can do it!

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About the Contributor

Elsie Lovelock is a British voice actor and singer who has been in a plethora of video games and animations, many professional and amateur theater productions, and worked as a host and entertainer professionally.