VO BOSS

How’s your vision board looking lately? Take time to lay out your ideas, hopes, and dreams for this upcoming year and establish a growth mindset that will move you forward! Anne and Laya discuss the tools and strategies they use to manifest outcomes within their own businesses, including tangible ways to create and maintain a healthier work/life balance in the midst of stressful times. Incorporate what works for you, from note-taking progress, to genre-specific training, developing tracking systems for career goals, or fostering mentorship opportunities - all while building a strong support system. Move beyond the resolutions this year, and focus on a truly life-changing new mindset of growth. Transcript >> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let’s welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host Anne Ganguzza with my amazing, very special guest cohost Laya Hoffman. Hey Laya. Laya: Hey Anne. Hey BOSSes. Nice to be back. Anne: Laya, you know, it's that time of the year -- Laya: It is. Anne: -- towards the end of the year, where we look forward to an amazing new year coming to our BOSS enterprises and our lives. And so I thought it'd be a great time to discuss a new mindset for a new year. Laya: Absolutely. It's all about setting the intention, the reflection of the year, and the things we learned about what we just went through. And man, we've learned a lot. Anne: Oh gosh. Every year I think I learn more, and I hope that for you BOSSes out there that it is the same. As you go from year to year, you're building, you're growing, you're learning. And I think I'd love to share some tips with you about maybe how I get a great start to my New Year's or I try to get a good start to my new year by setting my mind for growth. Laya: Absolutely. That growth mindset is essential. And I love all of our conversations up to this point because they've kind of stacked up into this perfect equation of some of the ideas that we can really dive deep into, but let's list them out today and go through some of the intention-setting for how to prepare yourself for the year ahead. Anne: Sure. Absolutely. Well, I think the first thing you have to do is just really sit down and take a good look at what happened to you this year. Pay attention to what you did month after month. And hopefully you have some sort of a system where -- I have my to-do lists that I jot down and I actually don't throw those to-do lists away. Laya: Really? Anne: Yeah. Laya: That's cool. Anne: It's just like a running list in a notepad right now. I mean I'm old school, right? So I have a piece of paper, and I think it's the only way that I still write to be honest with you other than typing on my computer. I actually write on my to-do list. And so I have a record of what has happened from day to day. And I think looking back on that, it really helps me to understand like where I've been, what projects I've been working on, what new clients I've gotten, what clients I'm following up with, and really gives me a nice like diary or a journal of almost like my to-do's and my accomplishments for the year. Laya: I love that. Yeah, I do something similar. My to-do lists usually gets scratched off as I feel accomplished. If like -- it's like the zero inbox thing. I'm like oh God, crumpled up and throw those out. But what I do is reflect back in kind of my journaling and a lot of what we had talked about in a previous episode about kind of, well, manifestation, right? And so at some point, sometimes twice a year, I'll do my manifestation list of the things that I want to achieve. And then sometimes it's nice to go back and revisit those lists and be like, wow! That actually happened. Or I have work to do if I really want to still get that done and stay focused. So I love taking another step from that and journaling kind of like my pows and my wows, as my daughter would say, which is like, what were the things I was most stoked about this last year that I achieved and what kind of was a low point, but what did I learn from those low points to achieve or apply and do better next year? So I do a version of what you're saying and kind of incorporate that, uh, manifestation process in that too. Anne: Yeah. So what is your next, right? What is your next, I guess, rung on the ladder? I like to think that I climb upwards and grow towards success. And there is one thing I do want to point out that growing your business year after year, it is, it's a little stressful sometimes. Laya: Yeah. Anne: It can really kind of play with your mental brain a little bit because it's scary. Laya: It is. Anne: And I am the first one to admit, it's like, where do I go from here? It's like, wow, how can I grow? And it really forces me to sit back and think about, okay, what do I want to do this year? It's not just a money goal. A lot of times though I like to incorporate numbers though in my, this is what I want to achieve next. Laya: Sure. Those are hard and fast rates in the market, right? Anne: Exactly. Exactly. But it's not just the numbers. It's also what I want to do. What new endeavors do I want to, you know, embark on? Do I want to maybe start a podcast, right? Or maybe -- not necessarily me right now -- I love my VO BOSS podcast, but how can I grow the podcast or how can I grow my voiceover performance? Should I study? Should I look for the next great client? How am I going to do that? Should I step up my marketing? All of those things, what is going to be that next place that I'm going to go that I didn't do last year? Right? Laya: Yeah. Anne: So I want at least one brand new thing that might scare me -- Laya: Yes! Anne: -- to really go for that and try to achieve. Laya: Well, I totally agree with that. In fact, one of the best things about being your own BOSS in this voiceover space is that there are so many layers to peel back, and there is always room for growth, which is a beautiful thing. You know, we don't really ever reach peak status unless you really are the best of the best, but even then we're always learning, and we're always growing. I agree with that completely. I see myself in a twofold space. You know, of course I had a monetary goal at first, and I wanted to surpass that, and I want to double or build on that as I go throughout the years, but I also want to break new ground in different genres. So for instance, and I would love to know yours, 'cause I think it's a little peek behind the curtain, but for me personally, my next rung would be to break into network promos. Anne: Oh yeah. Laya: I've been working really hard on it. I have a beautiful demo. We're both up for an award. Anne: Yes, congratulations. Laya: Yes, congratulations. I think by the time this airs, we may know the turn of that. Anne: That's right. Laya: But what a great honor, and to be able to break into a new genre is really important. That's a win for me. And that's something, that's the next rung for me. What about you? Anne: Oh goodness. So I have a lot of things that I'm thinking. You know, I've always, I always want to grow my businesses more or I want to consolidate them so that my time is better, more efficient. Laya: Yeah, work smarter, not harder. Anne: Exactly, more streamlined. So that's always a challenge to me, especially because I dabble in multiple income streams, and I do have people who work for me. And so it's trying to organize those people to be more efficient, and then also kind of grow with me and then figure out how I can best implement the team so that -- it's an interesting thing when you have a team of people that work with you. It's always trying to make sure that they're joyful and happy and want to work for you because it's just as a good thing all around. You know, if you have people that really believe in the goals and work toward the goals with you, and that is, that's a difficult thing when you're working with people that also have their own business. Laya: Yeah. Anne: So that's kind of a mindset, kind of a culture that I'm looking to nurture and grow as well, so that I can continue to keep anyone that's on my team, you know, happy and willing and wanting to work for the team. And you know, the VO BOSS team is amazing, and they do all sorts of wonderful things for me here. And, uh, I'm very grateful, and I want to continue to work on how we can grow together. Laya: Yeah. That's definitely a next rung thing. And you speak about something we've referenced personally, managing up, stretching your role -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- but also handing off our responsibilities that may be better served for an expert in that particular field -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and really utilizing your resource pool to scale. So, you know, that's a great goal to achieve. Yeah. Anne: That's a goal I continue to work on, and then I've got a new goal of something that I've never done before that I'm looking forward to do -- Laya: What's that? Anne: -- in the next couple of years. That is to author a book or two. Laya: Oh, that would be awesome. Anne: Yes. I've got a couple of thoughts in the back of my head, and I'm starting to research options and how to achieve that. Laya: Yes. Anne: So, I'm excited about that. That's something that I haven't done. No doubt, if I jot down my intentions, I am fairly confident that I'm going to be able to achieve that. Laya: Manifest it. Yes, you will. Anne: Yes. Laya: That's exactly right. And it's a great time to do that. So like, even if you could dream big, and you've got a far reaching goal, this is a great time personally to take that inventory and write it down. Anne: Yup. Laya: People often ask what manifestation is, and you spoke just to it. It's like, write it down, make it your intention. You don't have to necessarily put it in your focal point every single day. But if you put out there in the universe that's what you want, you never know, that might be what you attract. Right? Anne: Exactly. Laya: It's a great intention to put out there. I see you doing it. Yeah. Anne: I've always, and I say this in multiple episodes, or if you've listened to any other BOSS episode, I really run my business in my life with my gut. And so if I put it out there, and I believe in it, I usually find the way to make that come true. Laya: Yes. Anne: Even if I don't make it come true in the way that I originally thought, I have certainly learned a ton along the way, and actually revised it to a point where it works better than the original intent. So I'm very, very happy. I really believe that it is, it's something that has always, always worked for me. And I believe that it can work for anybody if they -- Laya: I would agree. Yes. Anne: Yeah. Laya: You trust that gut. Anne: Yeah. Laya: I mean, it, that, grateful for the gut, right? Anne: Yeah. Laya: It guides us. Anne: It really does. Laya: And if you tapped into that, that's when it can feel really great. And you know that you're on the right path for yourself. So. Anne: One thing though, after all of these goals and manifestations, I was going to say, and I look to you for this -- I need to create a better work-life balance because anybody that knows me knows me, I'm a little bit of a workaholic, so that's on my to-do list, but I know that you can really speak to that probably more so than I can. Laya: Well, maybe it's just because the kid factor keeps me on my toes -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and I feel like I have to segment that. And also just knowing the grace that we all needed this last year, I put that work-life balance in place to give myself some relief to look forward to in the way of vacations and whatnot. But yeah, I've heard recently, it's not just a 9-5. We know that our voiceover business is so much more than that. And you do have to be available at the ready, but yeah, putting some boundaries in place is okay, and is okay and actually creates respect and accountability for yourself, for your clients, and the people that work for you and with you. So I think that that is key, Anne. Let's give you a day off every week. Anne: Right? Laya: Let's give you a time off to turn it off, Anne. Let's do that. Anne: And it's funny because I also want to mention that when I work with my students, I have some students who work full-time, and then they're pursuing this on a part-time basis. And you know what? I need to take my own advice because here's what happens. When you get into the booth, and you are stressed out beyond belief, or you're tired, you're running, you've got family, you've got a full-time job, you've got maybe another part-time job or you're trying to work on voiceover, when you get in that studio, all of that comes out in your voice -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- if you are not centered and relaxed. Laya: That's right. Anne: And so it will affect your performance. So in reality, having that work-life balance is actually going to make you a better performer. Laya: I agree with that. I can feel the stress when I just feel like I have not had any me time, and you can hear it. Anne: Oh yeah. Laya: You can feel it in the voice. I mean, these microphones amplify us, right? And so it amplifies that energy. And I think that if you don't make that time, and you don't give yourself that grace and the breaks, then you can't come back refueled, and eventually that'll lead to either resentment or frustration or burnout. And then it won't nurture the most authentic, true meaning of this business, which is to do it because you love it. Right? And so I commend -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- people that are doing it on the side and then working to get to that full-time place. Anne: Yes. Laya: We've all been there. Anne: It's so hard. Laya: Yes, it is. Anne: It is. Laya: And it really does take some very diligent time management so that you can make sure you're being your best self to yourself, your businesses, whatever your current employer is -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and your future boss, which is yourself. Anne: Absolutely. Absolutely. So, yeah, work-life balance is high on that list for next year for me. Laya: I'm going to hold you accountable, Anne. I'm gonna check in next month and see where you're at with that. Anne: Okay. So besides new genres, what about, what else for you? You have anything else? Laya: You know, I really like to continue to find and nurture that mentor-like network. We've talked about it before, the people on the compass, my north star. Make sure to nurture those relationships so that they stay healthy, and I stay accountable, and also giving as much as I'm receiving. You know, mentoring someone else that's coming up, reaching my hand down or out to the sides and pulling my people in and sharing this information. It's one great reason or result of this podcast is being able to spread information and share and be a resource -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- to fellow talent, but not just within our genre and our industry, but in others. I mentor young women, my daughter, other young female entrepreneurs, is something that's very important to me. So that's something that I'll be looking for. Not only continue to nurture my relationship with my mentors, but also create new relationships and become a mentor. How about you? Anne: Yeah. And I think really find the time to have a mentor. And that has been something I've been guilty of just because I'm working many different brands, many different things that I'm doing. And I have been on a search for a mentor, and I've actually met someone this year that I'm really going to pursue that mentorship with because -- and this is a mentor that's actually outside of the industry. Laya: Yeah, which is totally cool. Right? Like -- Anne: I love it, yes. Laya: -- you can glean so much from that. Good for you. Anne: I love it. Because what it does is it gives me a perspective that I don't have when I'm inside, in the voiceover industry. This gives me a different perspective and really takes me to a place where I can like, kind of come out of the box and think in a broader term, how can I reach a broader audience and how can I stretch myself even further? That's the most important because sometimes just thinking myself, what can I do to grow? It's hard to come up with ideas, right? And so a mentor, and especially when I think that's outside of the industry, for me, it's a business mentor, you know, here's what you need to really consider to grow. And this is what I did, and this is what I experienced and there's, it just, it really opened up a whole new world for me meeting this mentor that I'm really going to make it a point next year to have some consistent meetings with my mentor to help inspire me. Laya: Yeah. I love that. And in addition to that, if a mentor may not be in your space right now, I also work with a life coach who is -- Anne: Oh, nice. Laya: -- not just a therapist, but they coach me both on my business, how I'm presenting myself in the world. She's a very recognized, successful business woman herself. And so she kind of plays both roles. Of course, I pay her for that, right? Anne: Yeah, well. Laya: So it's not just a free trade of information -- Anne: It's an investment, right? Laya: It is an investment, but it's an investment in myself and my business. And she kind of, I found someone that bridges the lines between kind of a personal talk therapy style and more strategy on the overall big picture for lifestyle and then business sense. So I've tapped into someone in that space, again, outside of our industry -- Anne: Nice. Laya: -- that helps me cultivate the best of all those pockets. And that's become really essential to my mental wellness, my emotional wellbeing as well. So something that's very cool, and I would highly recommend to anybody else that's looking to spread that experience out. Anne: Yeah. I completely, completely agree. And yeah. Look to the outside. Laya: Yeah. Anne: Look to the outside, that would be my top suggestion for a mentor. Unless of course, if you're just getting into the industry, a mentor in the industry is absolutely very helpful. Actually find a couple of mentors. Laya: Yeah. Absolutely. Anne: Right? Laya: Somebody on every side of the compass, somebody beneath you, you know, to yourself, somebody above you, and the east and west, that you can bring them in. Like my friend Kelly Buttrick says, it's a great analogy because it keeps it in perspective to go full circle, 360 and to be outside of your ego, which is key in any industry. Anne: Oh yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And so, so important, I think, in order to actually keep yourself, I would say, keep track, to keep yourself grounded, and to also keep yourself moving forward mentally and physically believe it or not, make sure that you are taking those successes that you've seen this past year and write them down. Take a moment to sit there and write down. For example, in my journals, I don't necessarily document, oh, this was a success, but I think you need to sit down at a moment if you haven't done this already and document your successes this past year, because that's going to really give you a great point to identify here's where I am. And now this is where I want to be. And plus it's, I think it's amazing to really give yourself that positive boost in terms of where you've progressed in your voiceover career, because sometimes it's really difficult. I mean, you're only thinking about the last thing that you just did, which was, oh my gosh, you know, I've auditioned a hundred times, and I haven't gotten anything. And so that tends to sit in your brain. So if you can actually think beyond this past day or week and really document, where did you start and how far have you come? What are your successes? And they can be, they don't have to be huge successes. It doesn't have to be, oh, I booked a gig. It could be, I started my website. I wrote my bio, you know, whatever it is, I coached with so-and-so. Laya: Yeah. Anne: And so it can be small things because they all add up. Laya: They sure do. And I've got actually a new practice this year for myself that kind of speaks to this. That might be helpful for some BOSSes. It's just kind of an interesting way that I've documented my success. And what I did was I took a Google spreadsheet that I can pick up from anywhere, from my cell phone or from my computers. And anytime I get a call back or make a real contact or some headway with either one of my managers or one of my agents, I document that in this one spreadsheet. It's organized by agent or manager -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- whether it was a booking or a call back or a hold. And just so I can see kind of how I've stacked up, because you forget those things as the year goes on. Anne: Oh yeah. Laya: You might see or remember the booking or you remember the project, but sometimes you don't remember all those touch points in between, and those are wins too. So maybe you didn't book the job, but that production company, you know, asked for a callback for you. Anne: Exactly. Laya: Or you were given the opportunity to be on hold. Maybe you didn't finally book it, but that's a win. Jeffrey Umberger would state that all of those touch points and those opportunities are essentially as good as a booking -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- because you got right up there in front and you were a top contender. Anne: Absolutely. Laya: And so tracking those things for me has been helpful because then I can look back and see what kind of value I provided to my partners. And it does make you feel a little bit better about where you're sitting status wise, whether you were a great partner in return, and how you are resonating with those managers or agents or partners in your life. So that's something I incorporated this year and I find it to be incredibly eye-opening looking back. Anne: Totally agree. And especially, I want to reemphasize for those of you just starting out in the industry, where you may not be booking gigs every other day or every day. And as a matter of fact, by the way, that's a really difficult thing to do. Even as a veteran in the industry, it's hard. Laya: Yeah. Anne: So we all, we all go through that. So I think it's even more important for you to document those little touch points, those little successes, so that you can actually really see and be encouraged because there's so many students that start out, and they'll come back to me and they'll say, I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm not booking. I just don't know, you know, help me. And I remember it so very vividly when I started out and trust me, it happens. Laya: Oh yeah. Anne: It happens to all of us in the beginning. It's so difficult to kind of get the traction in the industry, and you just have to have faith. Be patient, know that if in your heart, you're working towards your goals -- Laya: You will get there. Anne: -- you're, um, you're manifesting, you will get there, you will get there. And that's why I think those documenting those little successes is so very important, and hang it up in your studio. Laya: Yeah. Anne: I mean, I love that, like -- Laya: A visual. Anne: -- have a little vision board or, you know, I have some students that put sticky notes in their studio. Sometimes they'll put sticky notes to remind themselves about performance issues like don't breathe or whatever, but also I think you should put sticky notes in your booth that have successes on them to really keep your mental state in a powerful and positive mode when you're in there and continuing to audition. Laya: Absolutely. I remember when I started out, if I can just share some vulnerability with you and our listeners -- Anne: Sure. Laya: -- is that I think I was tracking my auditions, but very vaguely. You know, sometimes in those pay-to-plays you can see how many auditions you did and we'll get to that, I'm sure, in a future episode, but what you can also see is just how many MP3s you've saved in your folders. And it's pretty easy to take a look at the stack as you start to archive and organize your files. But I think I was at like 1000:1 ratio for a while. Anne: For booking? Laya: Oh yeah. For a while. And it was part of the learning process. And I would try really hard and get super frustrated. But when I got that one, it was a huge win. And when I looked to start creating a website or when I was starting to look for a great coach, those were all really big wins. Anne: Yeah. Laya: So I'm with you -- Anne: Oh yeah. Laya: -- especially early on, it can take a lot of wind out of your sails to see some of those tracking -- Anne: Oh my goodness. Laya: -- and documents of your quote success or your work, but it's much better to focus on the successes. So you're absolutely right, Anne. Anne: Oh yeah. And I'll tell you, yeah. When I, and my vulnerability, when I was first beginning too, absolutely, I kept track of my auditions. I kept track of what I booked. And I remember at one point, like literally I was in tears, and I will write out, admit that. Laya: Sure. Anne: Like literally in tears, more than once, frustrated just saying, oh my gosh, I don't belong here. What am I doing? I just quit my job. You know, that kind of thing. Or -- Laya: Same. Anne: -- should I quit? Like what, what is going on here? And so just know BOSSes that those little successes are going to mean a whole lot, and just know that we've all been there, and you can make this new year and amazing year for you -- Laya: You sure can. Anne: -- with a new mindset. Laya: And I think part of that new mindset is relinquishing the pressure or the self-doubt and just changing your focus from a scarcity mindset like there's just not enough. I don't fit in here. There's not enough money coming to me. And going back to something we've talked about in the past is just staying open to the abundance of life. There's plenty of work for all of us out there. There's new mediums and new technologies all the time. Anne: Absolutely. Laya: There's an ear out there that your voice resonates with. It's just about honing it in and getting comfortable in yourself and having an abundant mindset as opposed to a scarcity mindset. Anne: Yeah. Laya: And that is something I got to check in with myself on the regular. Anne: Oh yeah, yeah, we all do . Laya: I do not claim to have perfection there, but as you move into the new year, if you can have an abundant and open and grateful mindset and be excited about the opportunities and your achievements, as, no matter how small or big, then you're on the right track for the year ahead. Anne: Yeah. You know, I also think it's a good thing outside of what's manifesting where you want to be in that next year, is take any part of your business or even your lifestyle or life skills and learn a new one. Pick something new that you want to learn that can help grow your business grow -- because I feel because we are such an intimate part of our own business. I mean, it's our voice. So whether you put that into a work-related skill or a life skill, I think that it all will help to build your business because we are such an inherent part of our own brand. I mean, obviously, more so than any other job that I know out there. I mean actors and voice actors, we are our own products. Laya: Yeah. Anne: So learn something new, and maybe learn something new that I don't know that you didn't think you wanted to learn because sometimes that'll either reinforce the fact that, oh, God, I really don't need to do this. And I might outsource it. That's also a growth mindset in terms of let me invest in outsource. Laya: You're like, yeah, that didn't work for me. Moving on. Anne: Or maybe you'll learn it, and it won't be as hard as you thought it was, like marketing. I know there's so many people that are afraid to market. They're afraid to get out there, but I say, give yourself some small goals to learn new parts of either marketing or I don't know, writing a new bio for your website, getting a website, understanding technologically, what you need to do to get that SourceConnect connection or -- Laya: Yeah, learn that stuff. Anne: -- ipDTL, learn that stuff. There's so many things that are outside of just the performance part of that. Learn more about sound -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- acoustics. Laya: Yes. Anne: So many, so many things that you can do. Laya: Engineering. Anne: And I know there's so many people that are afraid of the technology that it takes to create good audio files and just create good audio, but go ahead and take a class on it. And even if you're not good at the computer, I have people that are not necessarily technologically -- they'll label themselves, I'm not good at technology. Well, take a computer class. Laya: Yeah. Anne: I mean, just something as simple as that can really help you because gosh knows that this is what we do on a day-to-day basis, is work on our computers in some form or fashion, either marketing or creating audio or editing audio, all that good stuff. But I think put one new skill out there for you to learn and then document your progress. And I think you're going to be surprisingly impressed with yourself. Laya: You never know what's either going to light a complete fire under you and reignite something inside yourself from a creative standpoint or just mindset or, you know, skillset that is really going to inspire to push you in a different direction or push your skills outside or grow you inside and out. And those are some of the things that I mark as some of my highlights of last year. I never thought getting into promos was going to be the genre for me. But man, when I started, I loved it so much. It gave me a whole new appreciation for the power of our voice and for storytelling and for the psychology behind how we use our voice in this particular genre. And so I'm excited to introduce new genres that make sense for me, because I'm so inspired by the spark that that education gave to me, similarly to how you know, oh man, I actually could create my own website, and I did it and I'm proud of myself. Anne: Yeah. Laya: And so you either realize that, or just like you said, you realize that's not for me. Let's move. Anne: Exactly. Laya: But you'll never know unless you try. Right? Anne: Learn something new. Laya: So it's a beautiful thing to push yourself there. Yeah, for sure. Anne: And I think all of you witnessed my last series on AI and voice. That was an educational journey for me. That was learning new skills. That was learning something new in the industry that people are not comfortable with that. So, and I knew that as well, but I wanted to make sure that I educated myself on it so it wasn't as scary. Laya: Yep. Anne: And so that was the purpose. Laya: Takes the fear out. Anne: And everybody kind of witnessed me going through my own educational journey and learning something new. Hopefully everybody else benefited from that as well, if they took the challenge to learn something new. So I think that it's a real important part of mindset for your new year to, you know, have those goals, and they don't have to be huge goals. They don't have to be -- as a matter of fact, sometimes huge goals are, you're defeated when you start, because you already feel overwhelmed. Laya: They're daunting. Right, right. Anne: Yeah. So it could be just something simple, you know, for a new job-related skill. Maybe it's like, install Grammarly, you know, which I need all the time, Grammarly on my computer so I can spell things correctly, but just, it could be something very, very simple. And I think you will find that once you master that, and see I'm manifesting for everybody, that you will master that skill. And again, if you don't master the skill, then, well we know what you don't know what you don't like. So -- Laya: Yeah, thank you, next. Anne: -- always a learning, always a learning experience. Laya: These are awesome tips on how to create a growth mindset for yourself. And what I love is if you're doing that for yourself, you never know how that's going to radiate out -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and help the people around you, the family you love, your support system, whatever your network may be, continue to grow and see the opportunities ahead of you. So if it's not a resolution, at least make it a growth mindset. And I think that there is no way to see anything less but good to come out of that. You know? Anne: Yeah, I like that. So we aren't going to make any resolutions. We're simply going to look forward in the year and maybe not call it a resolution because that has such a stigma attached to it. Laya: It does. Anne: You know, sometimes people are already feel like, well, after day one and I'm going to work out every day next year. I know that that is like the, the age old here's what I'm going to do next year. But you guys, you are BOSSes to the absolute 100th degree. So I have the faith. Laya has faith in you. We all have faith in you. So I say, go forth and make 2022 an amazing, amazing year. Laya: Yes. Happy new year, everybody. Have that growth mindset and keep it going, positive direction. Yep. Anne: Okay. Big shout-out to my sponsor that we know and love. Happy, happy new year, and looking forward to many more connections in the future -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- with ipDTL. Find out more at ipdtl.com. You guys, have an amazing rest of your week, and happy, happy 2022. Thanks! Bye. Laya: Bye! >> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via ipDTL.

There’s no off season in voice over - which can be a blessing and a curse! Being on the road in VO requires careful consideration of equipment, environment, your clients’ needs, your business goals, and your own sanity(!). Anne and Laya chat vacations and voice over, including what it takes to maintain a complicated artist work/life balance while traveling. They’ll tell you how to reduce your anxiety level while heading out on the road by putting together an organized mobile studio and communicating with your agents, managers, and clients + offer tips about how to set healthy boundaries around your business. Get ready for your next trip with #VOBOSS advice and recommendations… Transcript >> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let’s welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host Anne Ganguzza, along with my amazing, lovely, wonderful guest co-host Laya Hoffman. Hey Laya. Laya: Hey Anne. It's nice to be back, loving these convos of course. And we've already shared so much. This is getting good. Anne: I know, nice to be back. Speaking of which, Laya, I think you just came back from vacation, and if I'm not mistaken, you did mention that you might be going somewhere else soon. So let's talk about this. Laya: Crazy. Anne: You're a busy voice talent. So let's talk about VO on the road. And if, do you do VO on the road while you're on vacation? Laya: Yes. Every time, because I think it goes without fail, the second you leave is when the call comes in, right? Anne: Always. Laya: Like always, either that client you've been dying to nag or an ongoing campaign or something that just is on fire. It always happens when you go on the road. Anne: When you go on vacation. It's so true. I want to go on the road every other day now because this guarantees me a job. So, but going on the road, going on the road does require, you know, a special travel rig. It requires a -- a special mentality because when you go on the road, I mean vacation, are you really on vacation if you're working? That's the question. Laya: Yeah, yes. It is true. And it kind of, you know, you have to strike a balance. My family is like, oh you know, mom, you're going to bring your rig. Yes. Because mom's going to pay for vacation this way. Anne: This is going to pay for your next meal. No. Laya: Exactly. So there's so many nuances about it, and yeah, there's different schools of thought. I think I'm still green enough in my career in cultivating my client list and my reputation and my partnerships with management and agents, I know that I want to be available. Now, I also put boundaries in place that I'm not available. So it's not like every vacation all the time. Anne: Right. Laya: So let's talk about it. Yeah? Anne: Well I think, yeah, I think absolutely, number one, it depends on what genre, right, you specialize in. Laya: Sure. Anne: Exactly how changed you might be, right, to being available 24/7. I think obviously if you do promos, I mean, you actually sign contracts so that you can be available on a day-to-day basis and you. Laya: Yes, like golden handcuffs, right, right? Anne: Like golden handcuffs. Also, if you're, you know, commercial work, a lot of times, it's like we needed it yesterday. Anything that's broadcast. I know for myself, I do a lot of the long format narration, which I can build in a little bit of time with that. So I think that -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- all of that contributes to whether or not I bring my microphone on the road with me, and I will be honest, for the past, you know, years, I always have, because I never wanted to give up that opportunity. And I also have agents who, you know, when they send me an audition, I better be able to get them that audition back because I don't want to, number one, jeopardize that relationship with the agent, nor do I want to pass up an opportunity that might work for me. Laya: Sure. Anne: So even if I'm doing an audition on the phone, you know, in my car, although I, I have to say, I try to not do that. I try to, well, let me bring my microphone. I really want it to sound good. Laya: Yeah, yeah. Anne: And so thus begins well, what does my travel rig look like? And we can talk about that in a little bit, but what about you? Laya: I feel the same way. You know, like I said, to me, I've gotten my rig down so small and compact, and you know, I use a Sennheiser 416. It gives a premium sound in most situations. Anne: You know, I'm gonna stop you there and agree with you wholeheartedly. Laya: Okay, good. Anne: Just, and I'm gonna let you continue in just a minute, but I do want to say, I don't know why it took me so long to realize that I really should take a 416 with me because most spaces are not optimal. Laya: Yeah. Anne: And the 416 helps me to create awesome sound. So please continue on. Laya: Yes. Anne: I'm right there with you on the 416. Laya: Yes. I'm on it right now. She's my babe. Anne: Yup. Laya: And I think because the rig is, I've gotten it down so compact, it's easy for me to grab my pack and go. But also, like I said, I want to cultivate those relationships. I want to be available. I also, my focus is short form. I'm really trying hard to get into promos. And I've seen quite a bit of opportunities lately. I don't want to miss. Those are usually last minute on fire, need it now auditions. Anne: Yup. Laya: And I want to show the producers, the creative teams, my, my partners that believe in me that I'm there to deliver. And I want those opportunities, you know, I'm going to strike while the iron's hot. So, uh, that, that doesn't bother me. It actually gives me great joy to be able to travel and take my work with me in the nicest way possible. You know? So I'm good with it. Anne: And you know, what else? Um, to be quite honest, I mean, I don't know anyone that takes their travel rig with them and works eight hours a day. Do you know what I mean? Laya: No, yeah. Anne: It just, it's either that audition that's like, oh, boom, I need that right away. Or I need this commercial right away. So if it's a short form kind of a deal, it doesn't always take us hours upon hours away from our families on vacation. So that time could maybe be done when, I don't know, people are napping, right? Laya: Yes, yes. Anne: So that doesn't necessarily take away from the togetherness of your trip. And that was always my kind of theory was, you know, I'll take those times because they, they tend to be not hours and hours of time. It's maybe an hour here, maybe a couple of hours here. It really depends, but it's not an entire day. And so I feel that I can enjoy my vacation once I'm done with that audition or done with that short job that I'll get. And it never takes me completely away. Laya: You're absolutely right about that. And it also kind of gives me peace of mind. I have brought my rig and not needed to unpack it or use it on a few family vacations recently. You know, when the world kind of opened up again, we planned many little excursions to kind of get that travel, you know, get out, and then things changed a little bit. So we stacked the deck a little hard towards the end of this year. And while it's giving me a little bit of anxiety because of how busy things are in the booth, to have that ability to take it, but not necessarily need to use your rig, is okay too. Anne: Right. Laya: It gives me peace of mind as an entrepreneur to say, I have it if I need it, but I don't need to pull the trigger, and I don't need to focus on that work. So I kind of put a loose boundary around that. And then also it just helps give peace of mind to my partners, my agents, my clients to say, I have it, but you should know, I may not be available for directed sessions during this time -- Anne: Exactly. Laya: -- or something like that, or only if it's the right situation. And so let's talk about how do we let people know that we are going on the road? Anne: Well, I'm so glad you asked because in my BOSS Blast, and I'm just -- shameless plug for the VO BOSS Blast -- every time when we communicate with our potential clients on our list, we will give bookout dates. And as we mentioned before, the best time, the best time to get all those jobs is when you go on vacation, right? Laya: Yup, yes. Anne: So when you inform your potential clients of bookout dates, then hopefully they'll see that as an opportunity to get in touch with you before you go on vacation, right? And hire you then, and have an idea that you're going to be away from, I don't know, this date to this date, or maybe a day here, a day there, and allows them to, number one, because we're sending that email saying, hey, happy summer, just to let you know, I'm going to be booked out from this date to this date. And then it keeps us top of mind. Laya: Yes. Anne: So not only are we informing our potential clients when we might be gone, but we're also keeping ourselves top of mind with them by sending that email out and saying, by the way, I'm going to be booked out, happy summer, keep sending those auditions. I love it. So that is one thing that I will do is send out periodic emails, saying happy summer, you know, whatever, here's the newest job that I just did. And keep sending those auditions. I'll be booked out from this date to this date. Laya: Yes, it's a great way. In fact, I just did that. And as a result, just like you said, it gave my, a few of my clients the foresight and the opportunity to say, hold on, you're here until when? Anne: Yup. Laya: Let me get to two or three of these things. You think you can knock them out before? Yeah. Will you have your rig? You know, a few of my managers came back and said, wait, wait, wait. You know, when it is like a hard date out and can you still be available? Anne: Yup. Laya: So it opens up the conversation and it lets -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- your partners know what your boundaries are, but also gives them an opportunity to flex and maybe book you early or have something waiting for you when you come back, you can't beat that. Right? So the -- Anne: Right? So important to let your agents know when you are -- I cannot tell you how many times, like, my agent or I've heard of stories about agents that, you know, they have a great audition. They send to you, and you don't respond because you're on vacation. And it's one of those things that the agents, please just let me know when you're going to be away, when you're going to be back, what's your availability, because that's something they need to communicate to the client too. So you are working together as a partner with that agent. Laya: Yes. Anne: And so when you go away, they kind of need to know they need to know these things. Laya: How -- absolutely right. How far in advance do you let your partners or your agents know? Anne: As soon as I know, actually that I'm going to be gone. Laya: Really? Anne: I'll just send an email and then yeah. And then I'll also send them, you know, probably a week in advance, I will just say, hey, by the way, just wanted to remind you that I'll be out from this date to this date. Laya: Yeah, that's a good practice. Anne: And that gives them kind of a heads up. Yeah. So, because if I don't, as soon as I know, that just becomes like, oh, on my task list of to-do's, you know, is let everybody know I'm going to be out, prepare that email that I'm going to send to my potential clients that says here's my bookout dates. And then, especially to my agents, I send that right away. And then I'll remember a week before, because I always set my email too. Well, it depends. Sometimes I set my email to be on vacation. And sometimes I don't. Really depends on how I'm feeling the jobs are flowing in or not. Laya: Or what kind of vacation you're going on. Right? Anne: Yeah, exactly. If it's, you know, if it's a weekend or if it's, you know, a few days, I'm not going to do that. But if it's longer than that, I may set up my vacation email. And within that vacation email, just say for important, you know, contact me here or whatever it is. So. Laya: Yes. And I also love to put it in my signature. Anne: Yeah. Oh! Laya: So I'm like you. Anne: That's a good idea. Laya: Yeah. I don't give so such a long lead time because I feel like I might get lost in the shuffle, but about two weeks out, I'll let people know. And then I'll go in with an individual email to, you know, managers, agents -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- clients that are in the mix in the moment and say, hey, just by the way. And then about a week and a half, maybe two weeks out, I include it in my signature, an out of office or out of studio dates, just as an asterisk in the bottom of my signature. Anne: Good idea. Laya: I find that to be helpful. Anne: I like that. Laya: And then even a couple of days out, I will send an auto response to some of my -- it depends again on the type of vacation we're taking, but certainly for this upcoming one. Just keep in mind. Thank you for your email. I'll respond to you shortly. Again, just a reminder, I will be out of a studio from this date to this date. You'll -- I'll, you know, reply momentarily with this current thing before I go or something along those lines, you know? So, so you're really just kind of, another reminder. It just helps so much. I don't think anyone's going to feel like that's a nag. You're helping them to be more available and more accessible. And that's really the name of the game. Right? Anne: So I do know people that actually go on vacation, and they do not bring the rig. Laya: Yes, I am so proud of those people. I want to be one of those people. Anne: Well, I think in that, there's different reasons for that. Laya: Sure. Anne: And actually I have such respect for people that do that because they know their boundaries. Right? Laya: Same. Anne: And they're like, look, I'm on vacation. And that's that. In a lot of ways, it's like, they're confident that, you know, what, if you really want me, you'll be there when I come back. Laya: Yes, and I love that too. Anne: That's a great feeling. That's a great, confident way to manifest. Hey, that's okay. Uh, my vacation is important to me in my, and to be able to reset my creativity. I believe that that's a big thing to be, able to reset, refresh. I mean, that's why we go on vacations, right? Laya: Yeah. Anne: Have you ever gone on a vacation when you come back and you're like, oh, I need a vacation from my vacation? Laya: From the vacation, yes. I actually set those boundaries up on the weekend. I feel like I don't work. Anne: On the weekends. Laya: You know, after about 6:00 on Fridays 'til 8:00 AM on Monday, I take those breaks seriously. I almost never schedule anything work related on those weekends -- Anne: Yeah, yeah. Laya: -- so I can give that time to myself and my family. So I do feel like I get the recharge on a regular basis, but of course we need a nicer chunk. So I'll take one vacation a year. And even if it's just a few days where I'm fully checked out -- now I try to build those around seasonal shifts in the industry. Let's talk about that. Anne: Sure, yeah. Laya: Like the best time to vacation without your gear. Is there a time annually or seasonally? Anne: I, you know, that's a really good question because I think in all the years that I've been in this business, you think that a particular time is slow, but then for whatever reason, you'll just all of a sudden become crazy busy. So it's never been consistent for me, except between Christmas and New Year's, if I can say that, the holidays, or -- you know what I mean? The December, January months, I feel that between those two is the time where I feel most people are taking time away from their jobs. Laya: Sure. Anne: And so, but that's a short period of time. That's like a week. Do you know what I mean? Laya: Yeah, it really is. Anne: You know? Laya: It's almost like the last two weeks of December -- Anne: Yup, of the year. Laya: -- is a kind of a shutdown. On the flip side of that though, there are a lot of like fast tracking of campaigns -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- that need to get to market or Black Friday deals or last minute commercials -- Anne: The first of the year. Laya: -- especially in commercial space. Anne: Yes. Laya: And I think probably in promos too, that can be hit or miss, but I fully agree with you on that. I think it used to be where like June, when school was out -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- was kind of slow or, or around those big 4th of July weekend type of the -- Memorial Day, the Labor Day weekends. But what I noticed what happened during the pandemic was because so many of us were shut down and home -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and travel was definitely sloughed off, those holes, the slow periods -- Anne: They changed. Laya: -- they never slowed down. Anne: Yeah. Laya: Yeah. Anne: Oh my gosh. Laya: They really didn't. Anne: Absolutely. They, and I think it might've changed it from now on. I really believe that -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- we've kind of changed our lifestyle a little bit, or I don't know really quite how to term it, but I think there's a lot more online advertising than ever before. And I think that's -- Laya: Yes, it's moving so fast. Anne: Moving fast, and there's just no time for rest. Whereas before I thought there was certain times, certain seasons, but I'll tell you, lately, I don't think there is much, much time. Laya: There's no off season. Right? In voiceover, which is a blessing and a curse. Anne: Yup. Laya: And I'm with you that we need to focus and give ourselves some boundaries. I wish we could be in the four day work week. I think society as a whole has -- Anne: That would be great. Laya: -- has over busied themselves. Anne: I'm totally there. Laya: The productivity is like, it's like never enough, which is a shame, which is why I kind of put parameters around my own weekends or my business hours and things like that. That helps me get a grip. Sure, there'll be some occasions that you can't always work in that, in that way. But again, like we were saying about the four-day weekends, those seem to be pretty solid or at least more forgiving -- Anne: Sure. Laya: -- among the client and the deadline demands, or even I see like Friday afternoons get real light. And most of the stuff that comes in even Friday morning -- Anne: Yes, yes. Laya: -- it's like, you can get it to me on Monday. Anne: Yup. Laya: And that seems to give a wider berth -- Anne: Agreed, agreed. Laya: -- or more of the four-day feel to your weekend. Anne: Now -- Laya: Or at least a three feels sometimes. Anne: I'll tell you what, I am, but I'm guilty. I am guilty of not having a four -- I wish I could have a four day work week. Right now, I'm a little bit on the busy side, not just for voiceover, but because I do different things, right? I -- Laya: True. Anne: -- I do this podcast. And so there are certain things that I don't necessarily have time for during the week that get pushed to the weekend. Laya: I agree with that. Anne: And so I am working right now more like six days a week, rather than, you know, I try to take my Sundays off. And so for that, you know, but I've got a plan. And so the plan in my mind is, you know, at some point I am going to retire. And so I'm working and shaping my business so that I can have a comfortable retirement. Laya: Yes. Anne: And so therefore I'm building parts of my business that I feel will be able to help me achieve that goal of not having to worry about money when I am retired. And then I can, I have like all the time in the world to travel the world and enjoy, because I'm a really great person to go on vacation and just be on vacation. I can -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- I'm all or nothing. That's kind of my personality, an all or nothing thing. So I'm either all in work, right, and then kind of like maybe a little bit dull at the playtime, although I don't like to think I'm dull, but when I, when I relax -- Laya: You're not dull. Anne: When I relax, I relax. Laya: Good. Anne: And that to me is an amazing thing. Laya: It's important. Anne: So now we both kind of admitted that we take our, we take our rigs. Laya: I take my rig, I'll admit it. I love it. I love what we do. So it's not work for me. It's like I get to do this. And I think to your point about working six days a week, you know what? But you love what you do. Anne: True. Laya: So how great is that? And it doesn't feel like work, but of course you got to give your throat or your vocal cords -- Anne: Yes. Laya: -- your energy some rest too. So, okay. Let's talk about traveling, traveling with these rigs. Anne: Traveling with the rig. 416, for sure. 416, for sure. And I will say that so always, always has been and look, I tried them all. They're cute. I tried the, you know, the Apogee mic. I tried all the little, you know, cute small things. Oh, it's travel. So I want it to be travel-sized, and I could never get it to sound, right, the travel booth, maybe that, that little thing that fits over your microphone that, you know, would give you a, then we give you an acoustic kind of barrier. So it would sound good. No, that didn't work. Laya: No, no. Anne: And honestly -- Laya: Nothing's going to sound good like the 16. Anne: And my pillow fort, right? I mean the pillow fort worked well and the ironing board on top of the, you know, on top of the desk. Laya: Sure. Anne: But I will say that I fell in love with the tri-booth, and I'm going to actively endorse the tri-booth. Laya: Oh yeah? Anne: Which basically is a PVC, you know, moving blanket kind of setup rig that that actually fits in a suitcase, that is less than 50 pounds that you can check. And I love it. I got it when I was moving from one place to another, and I was renting an apartment in between, and it worked awesomely in the apartment. So for a good three months, it kept my business going. And it's wonderful. Fits in a, fits in a suitcase, it's got the rollers and everything, you can check it. And so if I go for a vacation, that's going to be a week or longer, I'm taking that thing with me. It's amazing. Doesn't mean that you can still, you know, record when the maid is in the room vacuuming or even -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- outside the door. But it really, really works amazingly well with the 416, and George Whittam creates those. It's George Whittam and Rick, Rick Wasserman. So George creates a set of stacks, a stack for you to apply, and it just makes everything just beautiful sounding, just like you were at home in your own -- Laya: Really nice. Anne: Yeah. In your own booth. So that's my plug for the tri-booth, guys. Tribooth.com. Yeah. Laya: Very cool. There was some sort of a laptop, or maybe a smaller compact version I'd seen. Always curious about them. I haven't used them myself yet, but I've certainly considered an investment in a travel booth setup that could fit in my suitcase. So I'll definitely look into George's deal because he's got, you know, his ears are finely tuned for the good stuff. But for me right now, I've been able to just work with the resources in the room, which is always a toss-up. And like I was saying to my agents earlier this week, yes, I will be available for a directed session, but you never know what screaming kid, what slamming doors -- Anne: Sure. Laya: -- what cleaning service is doing in the room at any given time. And you may be off time zones, et cetera, or your own schedule. So it's very hard to plan for that, but I think the 416 gets you there, and it sounds beautiful -- Anne: Oh yeah, absolutely. Laya: -- in kind of all of those makeshift ways, you know? So I take mine with me for sure. Anne: I, you know, I am going to, I just mentioned to you, I said, tri-booth. That's how they call it, the tri-booth, but if you want more information, it's tribooth.com and I'll have that link. And the cool thing about the tri-booth, just, just a notation is that you stand up in it, and that really, it gives you the freedom to like, just perform. Whereas before, when I used to huddle myself under, you know, under the comforter, under the -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- the ironing board and, you know, the pillow fort, sometimes it got really uncomfortable, you know? Laya: Sure. You contort yourself in these ways. Anne: At some point I was on my stomach, right? And I'm trying to like, you know, execute breathing when it's just not natural necessarily coming from that position. So the cool thing is that you can stand up, but it is something like if I were just going away for a weekend, like, and you didn't want to check any luggage that maybe not be your, I'll go back to that pillow fort slash ironing board, but any vacation, yeah -- Laya: Sure, traveling lightly. Anne: -- that I'm going for more than a few days, I'm bringing it because it's pretty amazing. So that's now my travel rig -- Laya: I love that. Anne: -- and trust me, I've tried it all. And I think any of you that want to consider travel rigs, or you're new to the industry, just do a Google search for travel VO booth, or travel rig voiceover, and you'll get all sorts of really fun ideas -- Laya: Very cool. Anne: -- that people use. Laya: What do you use -- I got to ask, what do you use to mount your 416 or your boom arm or your, uh, your tripod? I found a really cool hand -- it's almost, fits in the palm of your hand. It's a little tripod mic stand that fits the 416 mount perfectly. And it is tiny. It was $10 on Amazon. I can't believe -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- that I'm putting a 416 on a $10 stand, but for travel, it's been working for me. I might have to send you a link. Anne: You know what, BOSSes, we'll put the link in our notes on the webpage -- Laya: Oh, cool. Anne: -- because I also have something from Amazon that I have. It's like a fully contained, like, stand that you can put your phone on. You can flip your phone on -- Laya: Very cool. Anne: -- so you can read your, your scripts as well as the, put the 416 in. With the tri-booth, they actually have an arm that you can mount your 416 on. So it's built in there, comes with -- Laya: Very cool. Anne: -- yeah, it comes with it. So it's really cool. So we'll put all those links at the end on our page. So very cool. Laya: Now, Anne, I have another question for you when it comes to travel, if you are traveling and working, is it now a work trip? Is it a tax write-off? Is there anything we can do to massage that because you are working? You're doing some of that business negotiation and maybe meeting with clients? Anne: Absolutely. Laya: How does that work for you? Anne: Absolutely. It is. I mean, anything that I might have to purchase, you know, travel-wise equipment wise for working while I'm on the road, absolutely is a write-off. And any time that I might spend, if I'm happen to be in a specific area where I have to, I don't know, maybe I have to go into a studio, I've actually done that as well. Laya: Yeah. Anne: Sometimes I've gone to Vegas and chosen to go to some lovely studios there in Vegas that we all know and love, and that has been a write-off as well. So I believe whatever you can write off while you're working on vacation, absolutely do. Laya: Well, you made a great point there about booking studio time in the city that you're going. What a, win-win. Not only are you getting to experience a new studio, but you're giving that studio business -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- thus making the relationship between you as talent and showing them your level of professionalism or your performance, or what have you -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- deepening a personal one-on-one relationship with that studio, that engineer, whoever it is on the other side, and creating a bond or making a new connection. Anne: Yeah. Laya: So you're winning with the client, with your project, with yourself, with your time, with your back crammed into a little hole. Anne: And you know, yeah. Laya: And you've got that awesome opportunity to, uh, yeah. Anne: You don't have to worry at that point about what your environment's going to be like. Is your audio going to be good? Is it, you know, you're gonna have to worry about the maid that's vacuuming -- Laya: Exactly. Anne: -- outside the door or -- Laya: No stress -- Anne: -- the air conditioning system that you have no control over that, you know, kicks on in the middle of it all. So yeah, there is always that. I think before you go on a trip, it's always a good idea to research area studios -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- and, you know, check them out to see what their availability and their services are, because maybe you'll need to SourceConnect or ipDTL to a studio while you're there. And, uh, you know, just kind of confirm all of those capabilities, introduce yourself. And it's always good, like you said, to, you know, make those connections. Laya: Yeah. You never know what those will turn into. So, uh, I have yet to find one where I'm going on my next destination, off to Maui next week. So I'll be off with my rig. Anne: I'm jealous. Laya: Before I go, I'm going to look into those, uh, those travel setups, because I think that would make life a lot easier. Anne: For sure. For sure. Wow. Good conversation, VO on the road. Two of us admitting that yeah, we take our rigs on the road all the time. Laya: I take it, I take it. Anne: And I aspire to go on that vacation where I say, no, I'm sorry, I'm on vacation, so you'll wait for me for when I come back. But that's cool. It's all good. As you mentioned, I mean, we love what we do. So I mean -- Laya: Exactly. Anne: -- if it's not going to take away every single moment of my vacation, I'm more than happy to bring it along and, you know, help fund fun things that we might do on vacation. Laya: Exactly. It helps pay for the vacation. If you think of it that way, that's the modern mindset approach. If you're flipping the script on that. Anne: And a write-off. Laya: Exactly. And how to apply it financially. Anne: There you go. Laya: So no matter how you VO on the road, think about these opportunities. I think, uh, you never know how it could play out in the best way for your business. Right? Anne: Absolutely. VO on the road. All right, Laya, another excellent conversation. Laya: Thanks, Anne. You too. Good one. Anne: You guys, if you are going on vacation, enjoy that vacation. If you've got a travel rig, take it. Don't use it too much. Make sure you're, you're going there and refreshing your creativity, but hey, don't miss up on those opportunities. And BOSSes, a big shout-out to our sponsor ipDTL that does allow us to connect even on vacation -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- and network like BOSSes. Find out more at ipdtl.com. You guys, have an amazing week. Have an amazing vacation, Laya, I'm jealous. Laya: Thank you, yes. Anne: Yeah. And we'll see you when you get back. Laya: All right. Anne: Bye-Bye. Laya: Bye-Bye. >> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via ipDTL.

What if you could perform beyond the limitations of your own voice? Anne is joined by special guest Alex Serdiuk for a bonus Voice and Ai episode. They discuss Respeecher’s speech-to-speech technology, the limitations of your natural voice, and how a synthesized voice is similar to a printing press. The future isn’t just on its way - the future is here - and creative possibilities are endless when human voices and technology work together...  

Do you have the courage to invest in yourself? In this episode, Anne and Laya share how they built their dream booths and how you can too! From soundproofing to equipment, they cover picking the right recording space, investing in quality materials & technology, and taking that financial leap of faith to up your bookability + professionalism like a #VOBOSS! Transcript >> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let’s welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and today, and for the last few sessions, I have been so happy to be co-hosting with special guest Laya Hoffman. Laya! How are you? Laya: Hi. I'm so good, Anne. Loving this, and we've got more cool stuff to talk about. I feel like I could talk to you for hours and hours. Anne: I know. Right? Well, speaking of which, you know, I met you, Laya, when I first met you, I actually didn't meet you. I saw an amazing booth tour of your new booth. Laya: Oh yeah. Anne: Now I think you had just moved, and you built a booth -- is it downstairs? Laya: Yes, I would -- I would like to say it's an entire studio, if I may, because -- Anne: Yes, you built an entire studio. Yes, you did. Laya: It was a dream come true. Let me tell you, and it's because I came out of a booth, but we can go even further back then. Anne: I was so impressed. Laya: Thank you. Anne: I was so impressed with your booth tour that I thought, oh my gosh, that is like the coolest video booth tour I've ever seen. Laya: Thank you. Anne: And I absolutely loved your space. And you were sharing that space also with your daughter doing your podcast. And I just, I reached out to you, and that's basically how we met. And I'm so glad that we did, because now here we are doing a podcast series, so I'm absolutely loving it. And I thought let's talk about our booths because we've had some really wonderful experiences in building our booths. And I'll tell you what, my booth experiences, they've just been an evolution of my business, and coming from, you know, being in the closet -- and there's nothing wrong with recording in your closet. It's all about, you know, the sound that you're getting, but I'll tell you what, there's something to be said for graduating to a booth that's kind of like a custom beautiful place that you can sit -- Laya: It's a big girl booth. Anne: Yeah, a big girl booth, I love it -- when you can sit and just do what you love. And I just absolutely love my new booth. Let's talk about our booths 'cause we're booth babes. Let's do it. Laya: Booth babes. I love it. Yes. The modern mindset is to create space that you feel good in. Anne: Yeah. Laya: And so to be, whether it is your closet or your you've created a new studio, or you've got a custom booth or a Whisper Room or any one of those things, a Studio Bricks, there's so many beautiful options out there. No matter what space you're working in, I think it's important to just feel good in this space. So like you said. Anne: Agreed. Laya: You know, no matter where you are in the stage of your career or your journey, as long as you feel good there, and there's something that connects you to your surroundings and your atmosphere, that's when you're going to feel your best and to deliver your best. Exactly. Anne: And you know what's so interesting is I've been through a few booths. I don't mean that to like, oh, I got one booth after the next, after the next, but one of my first actual booth-booths instead of being in my closet was built by my dad. And there's something to be said -- Laya: That's awesome. Anne: -- about being in a space that you feel good about. My dad built me that booth out of love. Laya: Yes! Anne: I mean, my dad has always supported me, never once asked me a question about what I was doing. He didn't necessarily understand voiceover, but when I said, Dad, I need to build a booth. That gives me some good sound. And so my dad was like, okay, let's do it. And my dad bought me this booth. And every time I stepped in that booth, and I'm going to get a little bit like probably teary because I just felt his love every single time. Laya: Yes. Anne: And I, I used that for years. Laya: That's so beautiful. Anne: I used that booth for years and every time I stepped in there, I felt my dad's love and confidence in me and just his support. And it was a wonderful, wonderful thing. And I'll tell you about -- Laya: What a beautiful experience for you. Anne: Yeah. And with my new booth, I also made sure because now he's older, I also made sure that he was involved in the booth, and he was here for the building of this booth too, which I'm so, so proud of. Laya: I bet he took great pride in that, you know, so doing something with his hands that he could create to give his daughter this gift is so beautiful, Anne. Good for you. What a nice story. Anne: It is, it is awesome. Laya: I have a different story, but -- Anne: That's what -- let's hear it. Let's hear it. I'm ready. Laya: We moved into a new house a few years ago, and we're in the northwest suburbs here of Atlanta. And, uh, the basement was unfinished. So, you know, when basements are unfinished and weird, there's like cement, dusty floors and two by fours and insulation that's just like rotting off the walls? Yeah. It's just full of probably terrible pollutants. Well, that was my first booth. Um, we call it Skid Row studios. I used a bunch of mattresses. Anne: I love it. Oh my gosh, you had mattresses. I love it. Laya: It was a mattress factory booth. It was disgusting. I'm not proud of the mites and the weirdness that I was probably consuming in that box. But you know, that just goes to show you work with what you got, you know, and if you really love this work, and you can get through that, you can carry on through and have a pretty solid career, I'm pretty sure. If that didn't break me, that mattress factory Skid Row studio. Anne: Skid Row studio. Laya: It really was. That was my first studio. And then after that, I invested in a custom booth, and I won't even give the brand because unfortunately this situation was a super negative one for me, and the booth arrived on a pallet. You know, you can imagine how excited you are. You invested -- Anne: Oh yeah. Laya: -- this giant chunk of change in your business. It was like my last dollar, but I knew that the space was not secure -- Anne: Yeah, sure. Laya: -- and it wasn't healthy to be in that space for me. And my daughter was working with me at the time. So, you know, she's six years old. I didn't want to breathing her all of that and making the experience less than enjoyable. So I invested, and this thing came on a pallet as they do broken into a million pieces. Anne: Oh man. Laya: And so it was really, I can't even tell you how my heart sunk into my stomach. Anne: Yeah, I bet. Laya: Like, was this a bad decision for my business? I mean, we, uh, gosh, it really almost broke me, but it was that learning experience of building it back together, dealing with the manufacturer, who's not kind, and it was really unfortunate to make me realize, like, I do really want this, and I'm going to work towards creating space one day that I can achieve that feels good. Anne: Oh yeah, and that you are deserving of. Laya: And is every bit the essence. Anne: Right? You absolutely -- that was my big thing is when I built the studio, what well, both studios, it was, it was a space that I was deserving of, you know, and a space that I needed, and I needed to be able to feel good to perform well. And that was a huge part. Laya: And making the investment sometimes, while it seems like a bit of a gut punch, especially if you don't have it, it all goes back to the mindset of building your voiceover business, right? Anne: Oh yeah. Laya: You have to invest and you have to spend the money to make the money. Anne: True. Laya: And in a way that was my brick and mortar investment, right? Which, I didn't have a storefront and didn't have to create a shop, buy a bunch of merchandise. My business was that space. And so making that investment, while I just knew it would pay off eventually, but it had to feel right around me to get there. Anne: Oh yes. Laya: And that gave me the confidence to continue on. And now here we are, we're in a custom-made studio, and I couldn't be more proud of this space. So, and feel, feel, I couldn't feel more amazing in here too. Anne: Oh yeah, yeah. Laya: So yeah, let's get into that. Anne: Well, so I'll tell you about, I'll go back to my first built booth. I mean, because I, you know, I, myself was in -- I was in a closet, and it was a, it was a closet that was like a storage closet. And what I didn't realize, I thought, well, everybody, you know, everybody starts in their closet. It wasn't a clothes closet. Right? So there were a lot of hard surfaces. And in my early years, I don't know anything about sound or, you know, creating a good space for, for my recording. And so, no matter what I did, had carpet in there, I tried to hang blankets, no matter what I did, it sounded horrible. And so ultimately that was when I talked to my dad and I said, Dad, I need a space. And he built it. And it just was wonderful. And I will, I'm going to give a big plug for George Whittam, who was an amazing help, who helped us really kick that up another notch and make it sound amazing. And that was just, it was a homemade booth. You know, we went and got lumber and drywall, and at the time we had installation. We didn't use Rockwool, but George was able to help us really add panels that had Rockwool in it and make things sound really amazing and also give me a set of filters, you know, that always helps. Laya: Presets, yeah. Anne: I always recommend presets, get those stacks to, to really just make that sound amazing. And it was a wonderful thing. I've got it all documented. I'll put links, you know, on our page so you guys can see it links with the materials we used. But this past couple of years, when I moved, I had an extra office space, and I too had almost come to the decision where I was going to order a pre-built booth. And it was going to be very expensive. It was going to take a long time to get to me. And I, you know, was kind of going back and forth between, should I get this pre-built booth because I want to make sure my house is, you know, resale, I'm already thinking resale, even though I haven't moved into it yet, but I'm thinking -- Laya: Yeah, you have to think about that, for sure. Anne: -- I don't want to build a booth in my house because it might affect resale value. So I'm thinking pre-built booth. And then by the time -- Laya: And you can take it with you, right, if you, if you were to move. You could break it down, you know, and that's great, great theory. Anne: But I was floored, I was floored by the expense -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- of the booths. Laya: Yes. Anne: And then I thought, gosh, I'm going to have to hire somebody to install it for me. And then, and then I came to find out that yet you needed to add stuff on the inside of the booth. And I'm like -- for voiceover, then there was a whole other thing where, oh, okay. So then I've got to treat it. And I think that's the case with a lot of prebuilt booths where people don't always realize that you, sometimes you do have to add to the inside of that booth -- Laya: Oh yes, oh yes. Anne: -- to make it an acoustic space that is, you know, worthy. And then I ended up just looking around thinking, what else can I do? Because this just seems, there's no guaranteed date as to when it's going to get there. And I need to be able to continue my work. You know, in the meantime, I'm in an apartment or a rental, you know, until my house, my house was being built, until it was ready. And I thought, I just, there's no way to guarantee the delivery on a certain day without having to wait a whole long time. And I said, let's look into a custom built booth. Laya: Yeah. Anne: And I contacted a good friend of mine. And I think someone that you also know, and -- Laya: Drumroll, please. Anne: -- everybody loves, Mr. Tim Tippets, who -- Laya: Tim Tippets. Anne: -- was just an amazing, amazing instrument in creating the space that I have now. And I absolutely love it. From start to finish, he helped me design it. He actually came here and literally he left the day or the day before lockdown in California. Laya: I remember that. I remember watching that unfold on social media -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and thought, I mean, he's my audio angel also. Anne: Isn't he, right? Laya: I have a heart for, for Tim. Anne: Yep. Laya: And the fact that he kind of brought us together. Anne: Absolutely. Absolutely. Laya: I watched that whole build go down. You guys did an amazing job -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- of tracking it in real time. Anne: Yup. Laya: And just how many hands were involved in the process -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and the complexity of building a studio into the walls, into the fabric of your home. It really takes it to a different level. And there are so many nuances, right? Anne: Well, yeah, absolutely. Laya: So it was fascinating to see your process. I loved it. Anne: And you know, what's really cool is that it's not really built into the room. It's actually a booth within the room. Laya: Okay, cool. Anne: So it just looks like it's a part of the room, which is really a really cool thing. So if I ever moved from here, all I've got to do is take down a couple of the walls, and I've not really destroyed. I mean, the walls that he's put up around this booth. Laya: Oh, that's so cool. I didn't realize that. Anne: So, yeah, so I haven't destroyed, yeah, I haven't destroyed any of the original construction, which is -- Laya: Very cool. Anne: -- really cool. And you, again, I've got an extensive blog on that creation and how wonderful it was. We -- it did take at least three to five people on a day-to-day basis, and it is perfectly custom built, and it actually ended up being more efficient cost-wise than a prebuilt. Believe it or not. Laya: It's kind of -- no, I believe it. I believe it wholeheartedly in fact. Anne: Yeah, yeah. Laya: I had a similar experience with mine, so it's nice to hear that you felt the same way too, because I think the misconception can be, if you build a studio space in your home or a booth within a room situation like you did, oh, it's gotta be totally crazy expensive. Or you get all these crazy quotes from contractors -- Anne: Exactly. Laya: -- who might be considering what it takes to build a theater room, which is acoustically very different -- Anne: Oh yeah, absolutely. Laya: -- than a voiceover specific room. Anne: And I'm not saying that in all instances, is it going to be cheaper than this or -- that really depends on what booths you're looking at, but I will say -- Laya: Know what you're using, yeah. Anne: -- completely customized to me. Laya: Yeah. Anne: I don't think I could have gotten a pre-built booth that was custom the way this is. Like, literally they measured like how tall I was to where to mount the monitor, the height of the desk, where to put the electrical, understanding where I'm putting lighting, just amazing. I have two mics in here and the third mic outside of the booth, just connecting everything. There's no way I could have gotten something equivalent with a prebuilt situation. Laya: Yeah, yeah. Anne: And for that, I am eternally grateful, and I just, I come in this booth and I love it. I love it. And my father, he's so funny because my father, it -- this actually has -- it's double-walled, right? Green-glued, Rockwool everywhere and Rockwool panels. Laya: Same, same. Anne: And it's got two doors. So not just one. I'm all proud of the fact that I have two doors to get into this booth. And my father, love him, love him, love him. He was like, okay, it's -- their actual, you know, like doors that you would use -- Laya: Solid core doors, solid core. Anne: -- like solid core doors. And they have a lock on them. And my father's like, no, you will take that lock out because we don't want Anne to ever, you know, possibly lock herself in, or, you know, God forbid, somebody, you know what I mean? God forbid somebody breaks in the house in -- Laya: Yeah, you gotta think about the safetiness. Sure. Anne: Oh, he's all about my safety. And he was just adamant. So we -- Laya: I love your dad. Anne: I know! We had to remove the locks. Laya: Never met him, I love him. Anne: So there's no way I can lock myself in the booth. And I have had that issue. I've read other people who've had the issue where they've locked them -- what if something happened? I mean, God forbid, I, you know, faint in the booth, and you know, nobody can get to me because it's locked. So, you know, my dad was stickler for that. And really it was lovely having him here the whole time with the crew and overseeing things. It was really lovely. Laya: Awesome. Anne: And I just, I cannot say enough wonderful things about Tim and Tim's crew who helped me to build this amazing, completely custom booth. So. Laya: Well, I had a similar experience, but very different, and of course a different outcome, but I have the same sentiment. I walk into this space every day, and I get to share it with my daughter -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- which is also a gift. And it just pulls out this most creative, amazing feeling of love and excitement and pride for the work that we do and how far we've come doing this work. And yes, it was an investment and yes, I had that booth, but the booth always, because of how the situation was handled, always had this air of negativity -- Anne: Oh yeah. Laya: -- a bit of regret and resentment. And I could feel that energetically. And so I knew that when we remodeled our, when we finished our basement rather, that we had always planned to create space where I could work. And while I also thought about resell value and things like that, the way we built it will be ideal for the next person to create their studio or their office or their gym in, um, that kind of keeps the sound contained. As you know, there's so much work from home now. Anne: Yeah. Laya: This will create the perfect space for someone else to create their office in, in the future. But we have no plans to do that for a long time. But we worked with our general contractor who initially, like I said, had the thought that, oh, you just build it like a movie theater. You know, we'll throw up some, uh, audio seal sound barrier on the wall -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and then we'll, you know, play over it. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Anne: And they always want that, that soundproof drywall, which is not what you want actually. Laya: Right, not what you want. Anne: There's that -- the stuff they sell at Lowe's. And I think they call it soundproof or I forget what kind of drywall they call it, but it's very heavy -- Laya: Yup. Anne: -- and it's not what you need for a booth. Laya: And so of course, I got my audio angel involved in -- Anne: Yes, Tim. Laya: -- again, this is in the height of the pandemic. And so Tim Tippets, we consulted virtually. We did an initial run through, and this was new for him. Of course he wanted to be hands on like he was for yours. Anne: Oh, he's so passionate. Laya: And you got to love that. Anne: Gosh. Laya: This was on the heels of your booth. We think we built in November. And so we were doing some consults, and I would show him the schematics. And luckily I was working with a designer on the entire basement space. So this was just a portion of it, which, and it was twofold positive because I got to write off a portion of our construction bill -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and supplies on the studio and roll that into the cost of, of the overall build and renovation. So that was a plus, but Tim really worked with us to make sure my contractor knew -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- firsthand what the right supplies were, you know, using Rockwool -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- using Green Glue -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- making sure to create that space in between the dry wall -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- double layered walls, et cetera. The ceiling is even double layered. We were very clear about, I even have a solid core wood door, just one, but it's doing the trick, and a triple-paned glass window. Anne: Oh yes, nice. Laya: So I don't feel claustrophobic in here. I can see from a safety perspective, et cetera. And so that's been a blessing, but then we took it a bunch of steps further just because I had supplies, and we were creating the space for a multitude of reasons. We were of course doing voiceover work. So there's a specific corner in the room that has our yellow tack mic and boom arms. And I can sit at the desk and have this dead dead sound in the corner. And then the other side, which is the podcasting based, more of a lounge, it's able to be both acoustically and aesthetically sound so that I can film the show on camera. Anne: Yup, yup. Laya: And it's a beautiful lounge. Anne: Beautiful. Laya: Thank you so much and colorful -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- so it invokes creativity and sparks joy. And, uh, my daughter feels like this is just as much her space. In fact, she had a hand in picking everything from the colors of the acoustic panels to the couch and the Dalmatian print floor. Anne: So let's -- let's talk a bit about the famous acoustic panels that are Tim Tippets'. Laya: Yes! Anne: He's got that amazing DYI, YouTube videos -- Laya: He does. Anne: -- and I'll tell you what, and I've purchased acoustic panels before, and they're expensive. Laya: They are. Anne: And the way that Tim makes these panels, it's amazing, number one. I have throughout my booth and my room, I have 27 of Tim's custom panels. Laya: Yup. Anne: 27. Which is -- Laya: That is an obscene amount. Anne: It's obscene. Laya: But I feel like I have a lot as well. Anne: But I have a big room too. Laya: I love them. Yeah. Well pad -- padded rooms, you know, I feel safe in here. It's kind of nice. And I love his build. I, before I knew about Tim's build, I had -- and in here in our backyard in Atlanta, GIK Acoustics is in our neck of the woods, and I had purchased six panels for my four by six standalone booth. Because as you mentioned earlier, it's not good enough to have this double wall expensive custom booth. You also got to get the panels in there -- Anne: Yup, yup. Laya: -- and the foam, if you like. Anne: Exactly. Laya: I mean, whatever. So we put all that back in the room, and then I was also got really lucky. Otherwise I too would have built Tim's panels, but a good friend of mine that owns a nearby studio here was offloading some Wenger acoustic panels. They're huge. I mean, I think I have a two on the ceiling, two cloud floats. They're six foot by three foot, to give you some idea. Anne: Wow, that's great. Laya: And they are huge. Um, we recovered them, made them our own, and popped them up on the wall for fairly inexpensive because -- Anne: Excellent. Laya: -- I bought them used, you know, so you gotta do what you can do, but I love those resources Tim's made available. Anne: We, we were like a panel making shop out in the garage. Laya: Yes. Oh yeah. Anne: And you know, one thing that I'll -- I'll mention that I did not realize is that Tim is such a stickler for detail. I mean, every single part, like you could just see him on a day-to-day basis. Like just everything going on in his head, like calculating the most perfect sound to come out of -- Laya: The guy's a machine. Totally. Anne: He is -- he -- now, and I never realized this, but I have four inch thick panels. Laya: Yeah, same here. Anne: Now when I purchased my panels, yeah, when I purchased my panels before I had just purchased two inches, not thinking anything of it, like, do I need thicker? But he explained so very nicely to me why the four inches and plus he, he puts them -- Laya: Right, the air flow in the back. Right? You gotta have that. Anne: Exactly. He's got air flow in the back, which I never realized. And all of these little tiny details, which really make a huge, huge difference when you're in my booth. Laya: And it defines the sound, right? And so when we all -- we like to talk about having broadcast quality sound. Sure, sure. Here. Who knows what the barometer for that really is when it comes to home studios or your noise floor, but he was able to, and again, he wasn't onsite, but because of the way I was able to generate the 3d cads -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- we actually had the design team take the size specs of my acoustic panels. I was very concerned about it because I was like, these things are huge. Anne: Yeah. Laya: If we put them in the walls and mount them up or I get the placement wrong -- Anne: You've lost all this space. Laya: Oh my gosh. Right. And then how do you configure furniture? I must have racked my brain about that for forever. But Tim explained it in very simple terms as he does -- Anne: Yes. Laya: -- um, for the acoustically challenged and, um, help you really maximize the space. And it sounds pristine because of it. And so I'm so grateful for that knowledge -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and his support. Yeah. Anne: And I will say again, this podcast is been renamed to the Tim Tippets love fest. Laya: So he does not need to be -- how does he go anywhere? Anne: Honestly, he is probably one of the best teachers, right? Not only is he amazing at creating an acoustic space, but he also can teach you, like you said, he explains it to you in layman's terms -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- so that it makes it easy to understand. And I really had such an education watching this booth go up with Tim and just understanding. And so I just, again, you know, kudos and, and just so grateful for Tim and his help for this booth. And I don't ever need another booth. I mean, unless of course I'm going to move again. Laya: I'm not going anywhere. Anne: But I am so happy. I am so happy in this space. And there's so much to be said for being happy in this space. You know, my father had a hand in it and Tim was just wonderful. And that just makes a huge difference because we spend a lot of time here. So you, you know, one of the modern mindset is that you, as a talent, as a creative, as an artist, you deserve a space in which you feel amazing in. Laya: Yeah, so you can give the best possible performance. Anne: Make that investment, you know, and it's, and it may be hard. I understand. There's so many people that get into this industry and they're like, yeah, but this is so expensive. Or this, that is so expensive. I think, you know, BOSSes, we need to keep in mind that this is a business, there are investments to be made. And they're not necessarily like while you can get away with a pillow fort and an ironing board and a, and a comforter, you know, ultimately in the long run you make a good investment. Had I realized, you know, so many years ago when we were talking about our VO-to-go travel rigs, that I should have just gotten a 416. I spent so much money on all those cute little other mics that I couldn't make sound good. Same thing. I think I graduated into this custom built booth, but I absolutely, it was the right time for me. And I had come to a point in my business where I said, you know what? I deserve. I deserve a -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- an amazing booth. I deserve that. And why have I not thought about that before? I don't need to cram myself into a little space -- Laya: No. Anne: -- or, you know, into a closet if I can reinvest that money. And I think it takes courage to invest a significant amount of money into your studio. And -- Laya: It does. Anne: You know? And this pandemic of course has heightened, right, the fact that we need good spaces. Laya: Yeah. And your audio imprint is again, your brand. It is everything. So why not make it sound the best? Anne: Yeah. Laya: I've said before in a previous podcast, but my modern mindset always goes back to the fact that I'm not trying to break the bank. I'm very frugal and very aware of the spending in the investments that I'm making. For sure. However, I don't want to spend twice. And it's -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- if I get it right the first time, then that sets me up for success as far as my brand, my accountability, my audio imprint. Because if you send out crap audio in this day and age, you won't get a second listen, and you can tell the difference. And so what I do, even with the studio, even having the presets dialed in, having worked with Tim often, I will often check back in with producers that I'm close with -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and people I've worked for before and say, hey, give me an audio check real quick. I'm always tweaking. Anne: Great idea. Laya: I'm always making sure, like I am audibly standing up to the competition. And nine times out of ten, I hear your audio stands up better than most, for sure. And definitely is a clear definitive -- you can hear it. You can hear the difference. You can hear that you're a pro by the audio you deliver. And so if that is your first impression, and that's all you got, I mean, your performance could be amazing. But if the acoustics and the sound don't have the utmost clarity, then your professionalism just kind of got knocked down a notch unfortunately. Anne: Yeah, yeah. Laya: So it is something to consider when approaching where your next steps are going -- Anne: Sure. Laya: -- in your business or where you are today. Anne: It is a package. And I, and I think, yeah, I like to bring in the modern mindset philosophy here is that, you know, you are a package of your audio, your sound, the way you present yourself online, the whole thing is a package. And the whole thing makes a difference. If you are set with putting forth your brand in a very professional way. So. Laya: Yeah, it definitely affects your bookability for sure. And one of the reasons, just going back to your how we met, the reason I created -- I hired a film company that normally does tours for homes as they go to market -- Anne: Yup. Laya: You know, if you can, you can hire somebody like that. And that's exactly what I did because I knew the cost would be more effective that way. Anne: Oh my gosh. The marketing was amazing. Laya: Yeah, thank you. And then that using that video on my website, on YouTube as part of my signature -- Anne: Part of your market. Yeah. Laya: It's the audio nerds that love that stuff. It's the engineers who book you, the creatives, that book you that see that. And they're like, oh my God, this chick knows what's up. Anne: Yeah. Laya: How cool is that? Anne: Yes! Laya: And I got a lot of work just from that video. Anne: Just from that video. And the cool thing is, is that you're not necessarily like saying, hire me, hire me, voiceover. You're not doing like, hey, this is Laya. You know, this is my voice. You're actually showcasing your, your studio, and you're passionate about it and your personality. So it becomes like, you know, we talk about our podcast, right? It's like a side benefit. People get to know you through your podcast. People get to know you through your studio tour, and they get to see that personality. And they say, you know what? I want to work with her. Laya: Yeah. Anne: She knows what's going on. Laya: And your level of commitment. Anne: Yeah, exactly. Laya: Yeah, right? Anne: And so it really becomes, it becomes that whole modern mindset. The package, here I am, the deal. I'm the real deal here. So. Laya: I'm the pro with a modern minded BOSS. Right Anne? Anne: Absolutely. Laya: I love it. Thank you. Good talk. Anne: Well, this has been so much fun talking about our booths, 'cause we love them. Laya: I hope to come to your booth one day -- Anne: That's right. Laya: and I hope you can come to mine. Anne: Me too. Laya: You know, one day we'll BOSS up that way -- Anne: Me too. Laya: -- when the world opens. Anne: So BOSSes, remember you deserve, you deserve a good space. You deserve a good space. You deserve to feel -- Laya: Feel good in it. Anne: Yeah. You deserve to feel amazing in this space where you are creating and performing and being the artist that you are. So big shout-out to ipDTL who is in the booth today. You can find out more at ipdtl.com, and you guys, have an amazing week. Laya, it's been amazing as always. Thank you. Laya: Thank you for having me, Anne. Thanks, BOSSes, for listening. It was good to be back. Anne: All right, guys. See you next week. Bye-bye. Laya: See you. Bye-Bye. >> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via ipDTL.

Whether you’re working a zero-inbox system or have thousands of unread emails, we’re going to teach you how to manage your email marketing like a #VOBOSS. In this episode, Anne and Laya discuss strategies for running successful email campaigns and teach you how to manage your mass communications like a total pro. From concise content creation to developing better reading and writing skills, it’s all about strengthening your marketing muscle! >> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let’s welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, along with my amazing special guest co-host Laya Hoffman. Laya: Hey Anne, hey BOSSes. It's great to be back. I've enjoyed our conversations, this entire sequence of modern mindset. I really appreciate being here and all you shared with me. So thanks for having me back. Anne: Yeah, so let's continue, shall we, on our modern mindset? Because our last few episodes we've talked about marketing, social media, and I think an important one to cover as well, in order to evolve, our businesses is email marketing. Laya: Yes. Anne: Like, do you do email marketing? How do you do email marketing well, in a modern way? How do you not become a spam annoying -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- person out there? So, yeah, it's very, again, with all the chaos that is out there today, everything digital flying at us, it's hard to know sometimes. Laya: It's a lot of noise. Yeah. Anne: Yeah. How do you cut through the noise? Laya: Exactly. And stay relevant, stay top of mind with your clients without kind of brow beating and being a bit of a nag and being the thing that clogs up their inbox. Because the last thing you want is them to roll their eyes when they see, you know, oh gosh, another Monday morning email from Laya Hoffman that's about her, and not anything I need. You know? I mean, that's where I'm very cognizant of. I think there was a big push maybe a couple of years ago when email marketing was at its height. And it seemed like there's still a lot of talent that subscribe to that train of thought that is like, oh, I must get content out. I must get a direct email to my list. Anne: A newsletter. Laya: I need to cultivate my newsletter. Anne: It was a thing, a newsletter to the list. Laya: And maybe it's still a thing, if you really have important quality content and information to share, that's rich for your client or your audience, like a podcast or a new episode. And you've got buy-in from the people that, that are really connected to that. Anne: Backing up. Buy-in. Laya: Okay. Buy-In. How do you even know? Anne: Let's start there. 'Cause I think, right, before we send email, we have to have a list. And before we have a list, we really honestly should get permission -- Laya: You should. Anne: -- for people to be on that. Laya: It's the law. Anne: It is the law. Laya: That's the thing. Anne: It is to be spam compliant. And I want this to be so important. If you guys get anything out of this episode, let it be that if you have permission for your clients to be on your list, that is really the optimum way of being able to communicate with your clients and your potential clients. And there's so many people out there with cold emails, and it's a lot of discussions going on in the groups and everything. And cold emailing is certainly way. However, I'm going to tell you, how do you feel -- first of all, actually, I won't tell you, I'll ask you. How do you feel when you get an uninvited email from somebody -- Laya: Gross, icky. Anne: -- that's trying to sell SEO or trying to sell, uh, you know, we can develop your web page. I get it. And I look at it and I go, hmm, I didn't ask for that. Laya: You automatically -- yeah. You automatically have a bad taste in your mouth, right? Anne: Yeah, I don't like it. Laya: That's the last thing you want from your clients, for sure. Anne: So cold emailing anything, it's just, it's a tricky, tricky business. So I want to warn people to please just be very, very cognizant of what it is that you're writing in those emails and how you're sending those emails. I tend to get people's permission before I email to them. And there's lots of different ways to do it. It's a little bit more, I would say than an advanced kind of a method to do that instead of just mining Google for production companies or owners of companies. I think that with a little bit of work and a little bit of innovative marketing of yourself, you can get people on your mailing list, and then they're not going to be angry when you email them. Laya: I tell you what I did when I first started my email list. And I dunno, there's a couple of hundred emails on there, and sure, I'm able to get that. You can sign up on my email list on my website, 'cause there's a capture there. Or if you've ever sent me a message on my website -- Anne: But that's a good thing. Right? Laya: -- on my website -- Anne: That's a good thing. Laya: Sure. You know, there's not a lot of people that are signing up on my website because I don't really have a newsletter. It's more of an inquiry -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- taken there. But what I did, I think as I started to cultivate my list of clients, I would send -- and I only send maybe an email once a quarter as mostly about bookout dates or anything, really new and relevant that may be worth sharing and provide value to them. Like, you know, the kickoff of our podcast or this podcast right here. Hey, check this out. You might find value in this. I say at the top of the message always why and how I've secured their email. You know, thank you for being a great client of mine. I've enjoyed working with you in the past. I would like to include you in this message. However, if this doesn't resonate with you, and you'd like me to remove your name in the future, please click here. That's almost like the first thing that I have communicated. And I feel like that may cross the line a little bit, but it's still asking for permission right from the jump. What do you say? Anne: Oh no, I think that's excellent. I think if you did not actually get their permission by, you know, they clicked on that -- because I actually have pop-up windows on all of my websites that say, do you want to be involved or do you want to get on my mailing list? And so there's the terms and policy that is there as well, saying that -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- by clicking this box, you agree to allow marketing, blah, blah, blah, blah. I can't remember the exact verbiage, but it's there. So if they decide to be on my mailing list, they agree that I will be able to market to them, and they will have the option to get off of that mailing list. So that's number one for me. And so for me, because I have three different brands that do three different functions, that helps me to get a lot of people on my list. If you're just doing voice talent, you're right. People are probably not running to your website and clicking, oh, sign me up. Laya: Sure. Anne: But even so the ones that do, which I think are great, anybody that might want to inquire how much it might cost you to do a particular job, and maybe they'll sign up for email. That's great. You've got their permission. And then also if you're going to do that cold email, I love the fact that in the very beginning of you say, hey, you've been a client of mine. If not, you know, if you would like to be taken off this email list, click here or simply reply, remove to this email. And I've seen that on like a, a regular text email. You know, for me, I send out all emails that are HTML enabled and have graphics and that sort of thing. But if you're just writing through Gmail or Apple mail or however, you're communicating with these people, a simple text message that says, this is how I got your email. Please reply remove if you'd like to be removed from this list. Laya: Yeah. Anne: And I think that is the most gracious way to do a cold email. Laya: Exactly. That gives grace and says like, asking permission right off the jump and letting them know how you secured their information because privacy is a big thing. Anne: Oh yeah. Laya: You got to respect that in every aspect we can. And that kind of takes that -- Anne: It's the law. Laya: -- gross feeling off. For sure. It's the law. Anne: It's the law. Laya: Stick to the regulations and follow the rules, people. Anne: It's funny how many people don't -- like you think just sending an email to somebody unsolicited, you know what I mean? It is the law. Laya: Yeah. Anne: I mean, it, I mean, people may not take action, but it is the law. Laya: Well, in the states -- Anne: Exactly. Laya: -- it's less, I think, regulated as bad here, but like, you know, in the European Union -- Anne: Oh my God. Laya: GDPR, Canada. Absolutely. Anne: And California now has their own set of rules. And so -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- it really is. And I think as we progress, and data just becomes increasingly larger and larger and just more and more digital information coming at us, I don't think those laws are going to go away. I think they're going to be more of them coming. And so we need to secure permission in order to email people. And I think that is a very forward thinking, modern mindset, number one. So how do you get people on your list? You must offer them a way to get off of the list if you did not ask for their permission. Absolutely. So that's number one. Laya: That's number one. Yeah. And then frequency in general, I think we touched on this just a moment ago. I have a different kind of routine than you do, but also a very different brand and I'm not offering coaching and products and things like that, but always providing value within that email. And keeping it, for me, I feel like everyone realizes their attention span. Anne: Oh my goodness, yes. Laya: We -- the humankind has the intention span of a gnat these days. You know, if you're still listening right now, a few minutes in, we're grateful for that attention because thank you for being more than a gnat. Anne: Yeah. Laya: But really you, you have to be concise in your message and don't waste the reader's time. Value their time and input and that they gave that much to you. So being concise is key. What is there? There's like a new acronym at the top, TL/DR. Too long didn't read. And that's really to give you the footnotes of what you may say in three paragraphs in three sentences. And so once you write that email, I always take a step back, come back to it a few hours, or you know, even a day later, if I have that opportunity and like cut it down. I mean, you feel like you've got so much to say. Somebody else may only have just, you know, wants the bullets or the, the light version of that. So keep that in mind. Anne: And you, and you mentioned too that you send a quarterly email and say, well, maybe if you're going to book out a certain amount. So very similar to our BOSS Blasts, you know, we do a monthly BOSS Blast that just has bookout dates. It's super simple. It's like a few sentences. Hey, happy summer, you know, nothing that's necessarily too spammy or selly and oh, by the way, here's the new project that I just voiced or whatever that is, a picture of my cat. Again, it could be, you know, something that is not going to be intensely annoying. By the way the BOSS Blasts are -- Laya: Or selly. Anne: Or selly. By the way, the BOSS Blasts are all what I call vetted lists. People have already given permission. So we do a once a month. And in reality, we also know who we're sending to, so agencies or we're sending to in-house production companies. So if they've already agreed to allow us to send them email, they're expecting us to market to them. But again, we still don't want to waste their time. We're very succinct in our body of our text and our email. And hey, these are my bookout dates. Here's a new project, send a link to YouTube channel. If they want to take a look at that, and hey, have a great summer or, you know, hope you're doing well. And that's it. And actually once a month, if you think about it, and I always tell the story, like I subscribe to, I don't know, Old Navy, right? Old Navy three or four times a week sends me email when they have sales on different things. And so I know I'm subscribed, so I'm okay with getting the email from Old Navy. And as it goes through my inbox, I see it. I look at the subject, I look at who it's from. I look at the subject, and if that subject entices me to open it up, like maybe there's a sale. Well, I have -- a sale on shorts. I have a need for a pair of shorts. That's going to make me click it. I click it. And then I see the body of the email. Maybe there's a coupon code or whatever there is. And then if I want to go and buy, I will go to the website and buy. Think of that in terms of your voiceover business. Laya: Yes. Anne: So people may just see who it's coming from and your subject line. And if they don't need you at the time, they may just let it go through your inbox. Especially if they've given you permission, right, to allow you to market to them. It's okay. It's going to stay in my -- or you'll delete it later if you don't need it. But that doesn't mean that you can't email them next month, right? And next month they're like, oh yes, I need a voiceover to do this particular job. Click and buy. Boom. That's it. Laya: Yeah. And a good point of that is, especially if you are including your bookout dates -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- maybe include the -- as your subject line. So if they don't read, and they're like, oh shit, she's out of town next week. Anne: Yup. Laya: I was just thinking I needed a voice talent. And you know what? I want to pick up the phone now so I can lock her in for, you know, before this time she's given us, a couple of weeks. How far out, just speaking of bookout dates -- I don't want to digress from this. This topic is so key -- but how far out do you give your clients notice on bookout dates? Anne: Well, I do a monthly blast. So it's anything within the month. Laya: Okay, so wherever that falls. Anne: Yup. Laya: Got it. Curious about that. Like how far is too long? I think two weeks' notice is always good because inevitably you get the call like the day before you leave town. Anne: Exactly. Laya: That's a whole other conversation. Anne: Don't you always get the most work when you leave town? Always, right. Laya: When you're out of town. Yes. But I have a hard habit of actually traveling with my rig. Which I don't mind. Anne: That's another episode. Laya: That's another conversation, for sure, for sure. But getting back to this, I got to ask you two questions, which email marketing platform do you use? I use MailChimp. I was curious what you use. Anne: I use -- well, for my BOSS Blast, I use Active Campaign because I have a number of contacts. Laya: Okay. Anne: And usually the mail servers or the mail campaigns, they have a limit to the number of contacts or you pay based on the amount of contacts that you have. Laya: Pay over. Yeah. Anne: I used to use MailChimp. And now I just, because I went to a bigger platform with the BOSS Blast because I need to support a whole lot more contacts -- Laya: Yeah, they charge you per, right. Anne: -- I need to support like 90,000 contexts. So I'm using Active Campaign. Laya: Go girl. Yeah. Anne: So. Laya: Yeah, I'm on MailChimp because under 1000 is free. Anne: Yup, yup. Laya: And I really like the interface and the kind of the user experience, the UX on that is really flawless -- Anne: Oh yeah, I love MailChimp. Laya: -- for someone that does and doesn't know, plus they're Atlanta based, shout out, MailChimp. So that's kind of become my CRM, which leads me to my next question, to CRM or not? Anne Ganguzza, what's your take? Anne: Well, the CRM, I've often thought -- I tried Nimble back in the day, and Nimble had a problem with the amount of email that I had in Gmail. So, and I may be very untypical, and I'll just kind of, I digress just a little bit. Right now, if I look at my inbox -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- I have, uh, where does it tell me -- I have 949,367 unread emails. So, so what that means is -- Laya: Oh my gosh! Hold, can we have a moment for my zero inbox anxiety that just had a heart -- Anne: I know! Laya: -- palpitation? Anne: Most people have that. Most people have that. Laya: Anne, I have a zero inbox threshold. It's the Virgo in me and also the highly control freak. And I don't know, I don't know what that is, but you're -- you just gave me a heart palpitation. Anne: I know. Well, okay. So very few people know this about me, but the people that do know me, they know me so well. So I signed on to Gmail back in the day when it first started. I want to say it was 1990-something. And so Google is a search engine. So for me, I just never deleted my email because I can search my mail. Laya: Sure. Anne: And it's a really good search engine, by the way, if you've ever used Google at all. Laya: Yes, it is. Anne: The Gmail search engine is a great search engine, so I've never had the desire to really delete my mail. So. Yeah. Laya: Oh my gosh, I have a funny story for you really quickly. You know, how on your phone, if you're using an Apple phone, you can accidentally like select all, if you are in your email box? Anne: Oh yeah. Laya: Well, I did that once, recently. I select all and deleted, and I didn't mean to do it, but I did it. And then like after I got over the initial -- luckily this was not my business inbox, but after I got over the initial, like panic that I had just lost all this content, I felt like -- Anne: Free. Laya: -- kind of, yeah, totally free. Meanwhile, you're over there just hoarding. Anne: I know, unread emails do not disturb me -- Laya: It's awesome. Anne: -- because I look at it as a search engine. Laya: Okay. They disturb me. But that's fine. Anne: So Nimble back in the day had a problem. They wanted to charge me based upon the number of emails. And so I was like, well -- Laya: They were gonna get rich on you, wow. Anne: -- I am not paying that. And so in reality before then I had used Gmail believe it or not just to organize all of my contacts and star them and put colors on them. And that became my working folder of contacts. And ultimately, you know, my Active Campaign, which is my mailer. And I had MailChimp for a long time before I ran out of the contacts, and I just had, then I had to go into pricing more of which one was better, and which mail service could do the best for me. So I ended up with Active Campaign because it handled the amount of contacts, but it's also a CRM for me. I have a database of contacts. I know what the last campaign was sent. I know if they opened it. I know if they clicked. I know what links they clicked. And that is my CRM. And I have automations so that if I want to follow back with this particular contact, I can do that. So that's my CRM -- Laya: Yeah, that's awesome. Anne: -- but not -- it's not like a CRM like Nimble or any other, HubSpot or those types of things that you buy specifically a CRM for, but it does everything that I need a CRM to do. Laya: Yeah. And I appreciate you giving us that candid feedback because I feel like there is a little bit of a push, and that's from some really great established voiceover-specific CRMs that have been fabulous for people. I just haven't personally kind of gone down that path yet. I always feel like, you know, is it cart before the horse, chicken before the egg? Like, you don't know, you need a CRM until you need a CRM, and you've got enough contacts, but it's also very hard to start or justify cost when you don't feel like you have a lot of contacts. So I kind of bridged this gap between managing my contacts through -- Anne: Yup, yup. Laya: -- MailChimp, but also used HubSpot and Zapier to really connect those two and extract the emails and the content and the information I needed. There's a free program within those two that, that I was able to leverage. And I don't go back to it on a regular basis. I probably scrub all of my emails through the connection of Zapier and HubSpot maybe twice a year. And I would like to migrate eventually to a CRM because I feel that it can be wildly beneficial, especially as an ex-marketer and a new modern-minded entrepreneur. But I haven't gotten there yet either. And I think that's okay. Anne: Yes. Laya: I still have a thriving business. I feel like I have a flag system as well within Apple mail. And right now it works for me, but I definitely see that in my future too. So it's good to hear your feedback, especially with such an established list like you have. Um, very cool. Thanks for sharing. Anne: I just have never kind of had the need to go more in depth than that. You know? I've got all the information that I need in terms of the contact information, the campaign they last opened, when the campaign was sent. I mean, there's just a ton of information. And if I feel like I need to have something that prompts me to contact them again, I build an automation, and that's, that's really all it is. So. Laya: Yeah. Talk to me a little bit more about automation. I use it in some other scheduling platforms, like in Calendly. I use that there when scheduling for voiceover sessions and things like that. And I definitely think there's a whole conversation around hacks throughout this marketing bubble that can help streamline our workflow and make us more efficiently productive in our VO BOSS businesses. But talk to me about automation and how you use it in email. And do you use it as a one-off to individuals or is it just cyclical? How does it work? Anne: It can be either or. So it really depends on where I'm doing this. So if I'm just working out of Gmail for an individual contact, um, and sometimes this works or not, you know, I have something called Boomerang, which Boomerang allows you to -- Laya: Okay. Anne: -- you kind of put that to rest. It'll reappear in your inbox. And then if you decide you want to schedule an email after that, after you read it, there's lots of different things that you can do. You can schedule an email to go out, you know, the following week or the following month. In my Active Campaign, there is a whole module that you can build automations off of. And I have -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- information on, you know, I can put contacts in a list and contacts that are a part of that list. Every time something happens, every time they open an email, every time I send a campaign or whatever it is, it goes into an automation. And then it's like, you build a flow chart. And so, okay, open this campaign, and then you want to say, okay, they opened the campaign. Then, you know, wait two days and then send them a follow-up email. And then after the follow-up email, we're going to wait maybe a week or maybe a month. And we're going to send up the second follow-up email. And so you can check on the contact and know where they are in that automation. Are they 20% through? Are they, you know, have they reached this? Laya: Did they read the whole thing? They click this link? Right? Very cool. Anne: yeah. Laya: I love how we can leverage that now to make us a little bit more savvy in our marketing -- Anne: Exactly. Laya: -- more personal, but also again, with those light touches of personal connection, like as if, without being Big Brother -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and like, you know, too heavy in the sell or too creepy in the, in the callouts -- 'cause a lot of people that don't understand marketing or like how was that thing following me? Well, how did it know? At this point I think everyone's onto those automations, but it's also so helpful to streamline your business. So I love seeing that in real-world applications. Anne: Yeah. Absolutely. It's, you know, and it's something you have to put your time into. I know there's so many BOSSes out there -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- and marketing -- you know, it's interesting. 'Cause I think marketing is the thing that we need the most of as entrepreneurs and business owners. But yet it is the thing that people like the least, or it's also the thing -- and this is, this is straight-up experience in terms of selling classes for years to the voiceover industry -- it is the class that does the worst in terms of sales, meaning they all say they need it. They all say they want it. But yet when it comes time for clicking the buy, right? Most voice talent are going to buy the performance oriented class rather than the marketing class. And it's just the truth there. Laya: Yeah. Because it's scary. Anne: It is. Laya: And it's, there's so much complexity, and then you feel like, you know, you need it, but you can't learn it. Anne: But you can learn it. Laya: Gosh, it's an investment. Anne: That's the thing. Laya: And you absolutely can. Anne: I want people to know that. Laya: These can be baby steps. Yeah. That's why, I'm glad we talked about the CRM. Like I felt so much pressure to invest in the system that I was going to have to learn and apply and et cetera. And I just said, hold on a second. Let me just piece by piece. I know that's on my future roadmap as far as the business owner. However right now this is working for me. And I think it's okay to say that. Anne: You know -- Laya: You know? Anne: You know what's so interesting is that I did not go to school for marketing. Like nowhere in my educational history was there ever a marketing in class ever. And as a matter of fact, I didn't even start to learn how to market until I started becoming an entrepreneur, which is boom, I quit my corporate job. And all of a sudden here I was trying to build up my voiceover business. And so I went from making a salary to making $0, and my own, I'm going to say guilt -- Laya: Same here, girl. Anne: -- guilt maybe of not being able to contribute to the household motivated me to move my butt to figure out how am I going to make money at this? Because I have to, because I want to be a contributor to the household. And it was my own motivation and push that I learned marketing online. I literally, I signed up for mailing lists. I saw how other people marketed. And over the years, I literally just became a marketer myself because I had to. I mean, it was just, and I think that anybody -- look, if I can do it, I mean, honestly I think anybody can learn marketing. It just takes -- Laya: Yeah, truth serum here. I'm right there with you. I went to school for radio broadcasting, not marketing, but then became a VP of marketing -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- because of learning -- Anne: Exactly. Laya: -- and real-world application and just -- Anne: To survive. Laya: -- paying attention to -- yeah. And to what resonates with you as a person. Right? And that's really all it comes down to. It's like, how would you want to be approached? Anne: Be marketed to. So you know how to market to people. Laya: Exactly. Anne: That's it. Yeah. Laya: Pay attention. That's the modern mindset in marketing. Anne: That's exactly -- I think, you know what? I think that's absolutely how I even learned to like, what is acceptable in terms of email marketing? Right? Well, I'm email marketed to. Sign up for those lists. This is probably why I have 967,000 unread emails, because guess what? I signed up for every type of business email list there was -- Laya: Right. Anne: -- so that I could -- Laya: It's research. Anne: -- yeah. So that I could get those emails, look at them and say, hmm, okay. I see how they're marketing. I like this one. I don't like this one. This one's annoying. And literally, I completely honest, as a matter of fact, I didn't even realize that that's probably why I have all the unread messages, but again, I did open some of them. Right? And I did open enough of them to really kind of learn how to market in my own way that I felt would be effective for my business so everyone can learn. Laya: Yeah. Anne: Everyone can learn. Laya: Absolutely. And what's cool about email marketing, if you are a numbers person or if you kind of, you like to look at stats and see like a real ROI and the real results, so many of these platforms may get really hyper easy for us to understand the analytics behind what you're sending out. And then you can kind of tweak accordingly, you know. MailChimp makes it really user-friendly. I'm able to see how many people, what my open rate was, which really just means how many people from that several hundred actually clicked on my email, actually clicked through to see my latest link or my latest video that I embedded there. Anne: Yeah. Laya: It makes it so easy to drag and drop graphics and blocks. Anne: Sure. Laya: And there's so many new, easy platforms to help you get imagery and borrow content or share a great story. So it really doesn't have to be over complicated, and you might actually surprise yourself in seeing how fun it is to play the numbers game on the back end. Anne: Yeah. Laya: And, and, you know, get your little virtual pat on the back by looking at your analytics and starting to understand those things. And these days, everything from websites, minds -- again, with Squarespace, it makes it super easy on the back end to see those things. Anne: Yeah. Wix -- Laya: Same with like MailChimp -- Anne: -- as well. Laya: -- same with those, all of those, make it super kind of cool to look at -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- your new, modern way of marketing again. So it's, it's really interesting to dive in once you do. Anne: And by the way, for those of you that are interested, a 10% open rate is actually very good. And so -- Laya: So good, so good! Anne: -- if you send an email to 100 people, if 10 of them open that email, that's awesome. And if by the way, over 1% click on it, that is awesome. So that -- Laya: It's a win! Anne: -- is a win for you. So it's funny how many people don't realize, you know, it was kind of like when you invite people to a party, right? They say expect 10% to -- well, maybe not a party, but an event, right? Expect 10% to show up. Laya: Oh yeah. Anne: If it's my party, I want 100% of my people to respond. Laya: 100% attendance. Anne: Well, here's the deal. How interesting of a comparison is that? If I have a party and I invite people that I know, and they're my friends and they know me very well, I expect 100% of people to show up. Right? Maybe 90, if there's -- Laya: Or at least respond. Anne: Right? Laya: Sure. Right. Anne: So think about that in terms of your email marketing, right. If you don't know anybody that you're inviting to the party, what are you going to say to get them interested? Right? And how many are actually going to open that invitation, and then how many people are actually going to click and go to the party? So I like to maybe compare it to, to the party. So that 10% open rate and over a 1% click rate is awesome. So. Laya: Don't, don't let that discourage you. Anne: Exactly. Laya: Exactly right. And I think it's okay to, just like we've talked about in past episodes of like, what do I even say? You know, have a purpose, have something to share. Yes. But it's okay to start off with a little bit of kind of candid, you know, human, like -- Anne: Photo of my cat. Laya: -- hey, this is my -- Anne: This is my cat! Laya: -- very first email blast. Thank you for allowing me the space to share. And if you've gotten this far, I appreciate it and hope you're having an awesome day so far, you know. It's okay to be very human in that. In fact, I find that -- Anne: Will help Laya: -- that creates more of -- yeah, connection and more empathy from whoever might be on the other end opening it. So don't let that scare you. Anne: Good stuff, wow. I really feel email marketing is just one of those that I feel the mysteries of the universe for most voice talent. And we hope that we've been able to help you guys at least cut through -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- some of the mystery and get you thinking in a modern mindset for email marketing for today. Laya: Yes. Thank you for having me, Anne. It's always a pleasure. I'm looking forward to our next conversation. Anne: Me too, me too. Laya: Thanks for having me, BOSSes. Anne: Me too. That's a big shout-out to ipDTL, our sponsor. You too can connect like BOSSes. Find out more at ipdtl.com, and you guys, have an amazing week, and we will both see you next week. Bye-Bye. Laya: Thanks, everybody. Bye-bye. >> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via ipDTL.

Your instagram feed isn’t really your diary, even if you treat it like one. In this episode, Anne & Laya discuss how to set social media boundaries, talk about the power of engagement, and teach you ways to leverage your money-maker across platforms in ways that keep you (and your voice) top of mind. Stay up to date and plugged in like a #VOBOSS! In this episode, Anne and Laya discuss social media boundaries, engagement, and boosting your voice across platforms… More at https://voboss.com/modern-social-media-with-laya-hoffman   Transcript >> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let’s welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with very special guest co-host Laya Hoffman. Yay, Laya! Laya: Hey BOSSes. Hey Anne. How's it going? Anne: I'm doing great. How about yourself? Laya: Rocking and rolling. Super excited to be back on the show talking to you today. I think we're doing a new modern mindset about new media and social media. Anne: Absolutely. Yeah, we are talking about coming into the new times and having a modern mindset when it comes to your business. So we spoke in the last few episodes about modern marketing, kind of just to get the ball rolling. Let's focus in more, I think, on social media for sure. Laya: Yeah, yeah. Anne: And talk about a modern take on social media, because boy, in the last couple of years, since this pandemic, things have really changed -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- in social media, and I have a much different mindset today than I did even last year about it. Laya: Yeah, you do. We all do because it has evolved, but at the same time it's evolved, I think everyone's approach or level of interest and engagement has evolved as well, because we've probably all been isolated in some capacity in a -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and found ourselves drawn to either losing ourselves or being inspired or comparing ourselves on various social media platforms. And whichever one you toggle between in a day, I know for myself, I've actually had to create some boundaries on social media. Anne: Oh yeah, absolutely. Laya: Just for my own health and wellness and perception and productivity, in my day, you kind of have to, whoa, take a step back and how much of your time, energy and effort is being put into that. So, you know, I think that's a modern mindset in itself, put up your walls, people. Anne: You know, what's so interesting is that a few years back, I mean, I remember I was the social media maven, and I think just because I'm a very tech girl, and I was always into making sure that my online business presence was there, and I always eagerly embraced social media as it would become available and new platforms. And I was just all into it, and lately I have been, wow, I need to step back a little bit because there, it has evolved in such a way. And we've all I think, it's become just so easy to type at that prompt all types of emotions, all types of everything comes out. Laya: Yeah. Anne: And sometimes it's not healthy. Laya: Yes, this is true. Anne: And so I have had to step back -- in terms of what you're consuming, hopefully what you're typing is healthy, right? What you're consuming may or may not be healthy mentally for you. And so I, myself person who always embraced social media, have kind of taken a step back and thought, wow, I think possibly I need to step away for a moment, make sure that I, like you said, set boundaries for the day. And I never thought I would say that for Anne Ganguzza, 'cause I'm just, you know, I'm all about the tech. But there are times when I need to absolutely step back away from it in order to regain a sense of balance in myself -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- and in my business. Laya: I totally agree with you, Anne, and I echo that sentiment and have had to do the same. As a former marketer, I felt like I was dead set on consistency, posting every day, keeping your engagement up, being relevant, you know, sharing the most modern content, being and living authentically yet, you know, putting your best face -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and your brand forward -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- but still being able to connect and having a touch point throughout the day. Now, after what, 19, 20 months of a pandemic -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- I have definitely compartmentalized and created more healthy boundaries. And I think that in itself is a modern mindset. You do not need to share. Anne: Yeah. Laya: It's not "dear diary." Anne: Yeah. Laya: You don't need to overshare and over-consume and over-engage because it in itself is a energetic vampire, you know, just -- Anne: Oh, for sure. Laya: -- sucking the energy out of you and really not contributing to the betterment and the health and wellness from a mindset place in a healthy holistic way for yourself or your business. So I think it's totally okay to take a step back. Anne: And also lay you have a daughter that you're considering as well in terms of there have to be boundaries set for this. Laya: Absolutely. Anne: And I do want to say by the way, for those BOSSes out there that are not familiar, Laya has a podcast with her daughter, which is amazing. Laya: Thank you. It's called "She Sounds Like Me," and we have to have our social presence for that too. Anne: Absolutely. Laya: But it takes a lot of work and effort. So setting those boundaries is key. Anne: So how do you set your boundaries for social media, number one, in terms of, let's say, business? So there's, I assume there's a period of time that you're just kind of flipping through social media that might be information or entertainment for you and then there's business. Laya: Yeah, that's right. Anne: Do you separate it out that way? Laya: I -- yes and no. My business is my being as it is yours too. It's hard to make that separation, but I've learned to compartmentalize. So I'll check in in the morning and just see what kind of engagement happened overnight. Was there anything big that's happened in the world? You know, it's my news source -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- for all intensive purposes -- Anne: Yeah, me too. Laya: -- which is both a pain point and somewhat of a relief. I don't, I don't even know. Anne: Yeah, yeah. Laya: So there's that, but then I try to take a short 30-minute break in the middle of my day for lunch and what have you. I'll check in then. And then I also check back in probably around 5:00 in the afternoon when my work day is, quote, done and then in the evening, which is kind of the pattern of most working people. And so -- well these days, who knows because everyone's working these hours and whatnot -- but that's also the most relevant time for engagement. So talking about actual posting and whether or not the visibility or the exposure you're going to get is going to have the same weight, during those high traffic hours is the most relevant time to be posting. It's when you will be the most visible on any platform. So that's one imparted tip and in conjunction with our own habits. So that's interesting. Anne: So I find, and actually I'll ask you, do you actually not have any social media like tabs open in your browser? 'Cause I might have Facebook open. I might have LinkedIn open. I might have my phone. I've got notifications. So for me, I literally, if I'm working at my desk doing marketing or whatever I'm doing, or even if I'm coaching, I will have to have all my social media closed in order to not be completely distracted by it and only opened at certain times. And I know there's programs out there that can help you to do that if that's something that you might need, but that's about the only way I can stay away, because I always say there's never an emergency in social media really. And most social media will have notifications that go to your email. So I do have my email open at all times. Laya: Hmm. That's an interesting approach too. Anne: Yeah. Laya: I actually do a bit of the opposite. I never have social media channels open on my browser, my browser in my office is the studio. And so I do not go onto Facebook or any of the channels, not even, except for YouTube. I do have that up because I'm constantly referencing audio, of course, for work. And then also that's where I'll upload work files from my desktop -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- as opposed to my cell phone. But I usually only go to social media on my cell phone during those break hours. Anne: Sure. Laya: And then also I turn off all my notifications because if -- I found that I was getting constantly pinged, then I would check. It's the hit you're looking for. Anne: Yeah. Laya: I just want to engage and can I contribute and can I be of service or help? But if I limit that and turn off those notifications, that helps me set boundaries. Anne: Yeah, that's interesting. Laya: So that's how I do it. Anne: Notifications are a big thing. Well, you know, it ends up being that, anything that is that important, especially because if it's a client trying to get in touch with me or a, you know, maybe a student, but again, remember I have brands that I'm pushing out social media as well for, events that I'm hosting and that sort of thing. So I do need to keep, uh, you know, I have the VO Peeps membership. I do have a VO BOSS social posts that I'm putting out. So in case there's interaction on it, I do have to respond. I mean, I want to be interactive. If I'm just pushing content out and not being interactive through the socials for my brands. So I do have some responsibility there, but -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- and so I have my email on, in which case my notifications will come to my email, but I think any other type of notifications, except for my text, everybody knows my number in case they need emergency to get in touch with me. Laya: Sure. Anne: But yeah, that's kind of how I work. So I -- literally for a while there though I did have like Facebook open or LinkedIn or Instagram so that I could respond and interact for my brands. And it got to the point where I literally had to not have them open in tabs anymore because it was causing such a distraction. And so now I have certain times when I go in and respond, and probably people who know me, you know, I have not been as responsive. And I hate to, I mean, I'm going to admit that here, but part of it has been simply the workload. Laya: Yeah, it's overwhelming. Anne: It's been overwhelming a little bit for me lately. So I've not been as responsive as before, but I want to make sure that I'm there in responding to people out there that are, that are interacting on my social media. So I have to literally have it open for a certain amount of time. Then I have to literally close the window. Otherwise I am, I am drawn to it. I'm sucked in. Laya: Yeah, we all kind of are. Now let me ask you a question. Do you have anyone on your team that runs or helps you schedule your social media? Anne: Yes. Laya: Or do you schedule your social media yourself? Anne: No, I do have people that help me schedule my social media on a weekly basis. Laya: That's great. Anne: So I know what's going out to the week -- and then of course as special events happen, I'll post those immediately. But yeah, I do have somebody that helps schedule my posts, and that is on a weekly basis. So I have to check in on a daily basis just to interact with those posts in case there's something going on, or I might have to moderate a post. I mean, that has been known to happen on one of my brands, because I do have a community, the VO Peeps community together. And so if there's a post and people are responding to a thread and it gets out of control, I'll have to do something as a moderator to take -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- to take care of that. But other than that, because my business, again, I've chosen to have -- I have four distinct brands, but I have -- there's the Anne Ganguzza brand, then there's the VO BOSS brand, which obviously I love. And then my VO Peeps, which I love and I've had them forever. And also my Studio Cats, which is my fun -- I don't ever have issues with my Studio Cats brand because that's just posting pictures of my cats and fun cat things, which -- Laya: How out of hand can it get? Anne: -- is super simple. Laya: Yeah, the cats get crazy. You got to get in there. Anne: It's funny because my cats are five years old now. And if there's one thing that people love and can take the tension off, and you know what I mean? If -- in today's chaotic world -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- like a picture of a kitten or, you know, any fur baby is just -- Laya: Break it up -- Anne: -- you know -- Laya: -- a little levity, right? Anne: -- gives me a little bit of, a little bit of happiness and joy during the day. So I, as a girl for five years who had my cats as kittens, you cannot resist. I probably have 10,000 pictures of my cats. Laya: Well, there you go. Anne: So I've got enough to last. Laya: There needs to be an outlet. Yeah. Put that somewhere. Anne: That's right. And I wanted to provide an outlet to people to have just a little bit of joy -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- for no other reason than just, oh, look at that. Laya: And it showcases personality and what you love and your passion. Anne: Yeah. Laya: And I think that's totally fine. Anne: Yeah. Laya: So for me, I do have someone that schedules for the She Sounds Like Me podcast on social media because that is hyper-focused content that I share a very like-minded thoughts and passions about. But it can get a little, I don't want to say political, it can get, um, it's very opinionated, a little bit of a liberal feminist approach there. And so that is its own entity. But for me, I do all my own social media, and it, it can get to be a lot -- Anne: Sure. Laya: -- and that consistency has gone the way of the dodo. And I don't use a scheduler. I feel like I tried that for my own self, and I felt too much pressure. And to think forward as to what I was putting out there, that works great for a lot of talent. It didn't work for me, but I appreciate it. Now. I think we want to definitely give the BOSSes out there some tips about -- Anne: Yes. Laya: -- maybe the best ways to engage socially -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- with clients or potential leads or other like-minded individuals. And one thing I don't see enough of us using as voice actors is the voice. So on almost every one of these platforms -- Anne: How true. Laya: -- you can hit the voice record button to give somebody a shout-out, to celebrate their success, to give them a back channel, or just let them know how awesome they're doing and what you've appreciated about what they've shared. And I find that that is making such a more intimate connection, and it's showcasing your voice -- Anne: Oh my gosh. Laya -- Laya: -- without, yeah, giving it. Anne: We can just go home now. Laya: Okay. Anne: That was it. Laya: That's it. Anne: That was the golden nugget of the day. Laya: Perfect. Anne: We're done, BOSSes. Laya: Use the voice button. Anne: Seriously. And I am so glad that that was the first thing that you said, because I have a voice testimonial thing that I have voice feedback, voice activated everything. And it's so funny because as voice actors, I'm surprised that more people aren't into -- Laya: We don't use it enough. Anne: -- using that. What is, and how many -- Laya: Why not? Anne: -- and I remember when I started even this podcast, how many -- this is what we do for a living. Laya: Yeah. Anne: How is it that we don't have a thousand voiceover podcasts by now? I mean, really. Laya: That's true too. But it's -- social has made it so easy. Anne: Yeah. Laya: In fact, LinkedIn also offers us voice, which in my opinion has to be used with some discretion because you don't want to be dropping voice memos -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- to people that you don't know -- Anne: Know, exactly. Laya: -- and be like, hey, look at me. By the way, Ted, can I get a voice job? Anne: Hello. Laya: I see you need some -- Anne: It's so nice to meet you. Laya: Yeah, no, pump the brakes, you know? Anne: Right. Laya: But once you've engaged with someone or you've established a bit of a relationship -- Anne: Oh, I agree. Laya: -- I think it's so much more personal to be like, "hey, I saw your post on XXX. I really identified with that. Thanks for sharing. Hope you have an awesome day. I look forward to your next post." You know, it can just be about them, but told from your soul -- Anne: Oh my goodness, yes. Laya: -- authentic, conversational way. Anne: Absolutely. Laya: And then hello, you've just dropped them a sample and made them feel like you went the extra mile to get out of your own comfort zone to show them what you do without showing them what you do and being gross about it. So, you know. Anne: [laughs] Try to be gross about it. Laya: Use that. Anne: Hey BOSSes, don't be gross about it. Laya: Use the button. Anne: I get that. And I love that, but I also, look, I'm going to go so far as to say, pick up the phone -- Laya: Will that do -- Anne: -- and talk to your clients. Laya: For sure. Anne: And I know, okay, I know I'm old, and I know that there's -- Laya: That's so modern. Anne: -- maybe the younger generation, you know, those young kids that may not want to pick up a phone and talk to someone, but -- Laya: Right. Anne: -- part of our business is speaking for a living. And I really feel that if you want to communicate with your client, I'm always the first person to pick up the phone to, to call to maybe, hey, let's discuss the project, give me some clarification on it. Also, you know, in the beginning, when you're quoting a project, I've always had wonderful luck with calling the client to get the specs clarified and just talk and introduce. And you know, at that point that this is a real client -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- and you can get a lot of information -- Laya: That's them. Anne: -- just by hearing their voice. You know, they're legit if they pick up the other end of that phone number that's on their signature. There's so much to be said for communicating with your clients vocally. And also I'm going to just kind of do a little plug here is that I have really been focusing on getting my voice out there on Alexa devices, because -- Laya: Oh, I saw you put something out about that. I saw that and I loved it. Anne: Yeah. Laya: In fact, I got one of your email blasts about it -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and was looking into it. Anne: Yeah. Laya: What's the, what's it called again? Anne: Well, that's the Voiceweave. Laya: Right. Anne: And I know that right now, Voiceweave, the last time I had spoken about it, it's such a cool idea. It's a voice website, and it's basically a series of prompts. So if somebody wants to learn about you and your voice, they can ask Alexa. And basically, if you want to hear my voice, you can just say "open Anne Ganguzzza Voice" or "open Anne Ganguzza Voice Talent." And it's right on my -- by the way, if you forget, you can go right to my webpage, and it tells you how to access it on Alexa. And you can ask me a bunch of questions, and I will give you answers in my own voice, not Alexa's voice, which is really reaching a whole different audience. And I've got another -- Laya: Wow, that is such a cool -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- new media. Anne: And I've got another really cool thing that's going to be happening, which I'm going to be doing, a flash briefing. Laya: Oh yeah. Anne: So for those people that want to find out, okay, what does Anne Ganguzza have to say today, well, you can subscribe to my voice briefing or my flash briefing. And that way I'll have something good to say, and I don't have to really, you know -- it could just be, you know, from the heart, right? Authentic, very much like this podcast. And I will tell you voices and BOSSes out there. Honestly, I have gotten a lot of work from just being on this podcast. Laya, I don't know about you as well, but -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- it's, we're ourselves, we're authentic. People hear our voice. It keeps us top of mind, and we're not even advertising that we're a voice artist really in order to get that work. Laya: Just sharing knowledge. Anne: Exactly. Laya: That was a huge side point of why we started our podcast, Sila and I, because we're both voice actors. Of course, that was just kind of to talk about how to work together with your child in entertainment. That was initially my thought. It turned out to be so much more than that, and we hardly talk about voice acting at all, but it is very interesting. And I think using your voice in social media, whether it's, you know, recording a stories, or you're doing a reels or you are on Snapchat or TikTok, and you're kind of doing those skits or those one-offs, the trending topics du jour, at least your voice is getting out there. Now, one of the ways to really amplify that is to making sure it's positioned in the right place. So using the right tags, using the right hashtags, making sure you're engaging with businesses that maybe you can connect with by tagging them or using their app, if you're, of course, you're given permission and things like that. And trying to broaden the visibility on those posts when you are on social media and using your voice. So those are all really great tips. Anne: You know, and talk about being able to reach -- just because we wrenching about podcasts. It doesn't mean you have to have a podcast about voiceovers. As a matter of fact, you even said you don't even talk about that anymore with your podcast. That's absolutely the idea, right? Talk about what you're passionate about. That's I, you know, I do a Clubhouse weekly with Cheryl Hauling and Jody Krangle, and we talk about our podcasts and how voice actors really need to talk about their passions. It doesn't have to be all about, hey, I'm a voice actor and this is all about the voice acting industry. I think it's even better if you're talking about your passions, because you're going to get yourself outside of the listenership of just voice actors. You want people to listen. Laya: Talk to me about that Clubhouse, because I know you've had a lot of success with that. I see lots of talent, Eric Romanovski I see Mark Guss hosting -- very well-known people in the industry, hosting Clubhouse rooms, and really connecting with such a wide range of people all over the world from Clubhouse. Or you're seeing some success with that -- Anne: Exactly. Laya: -- yeah. Talk to me about that. Anne: Absolutely. Well, first of all, it's such a great medium. I mean, it's like, you know, literally talking on the phone, right? But -- or you don't even have to talk if you don't want to. You can just listen in on conversations. Laya: Yeah. Anne: It really took off quickly, and I've read some articles, whether, you know, is it, oh my gosh, was it just a thing, but I don't think that Clubhouse is going away anytime soon. I really, really think that it is a wonderful way for people to really get involved and share something more authentic than the keyboard. Because I think there's a lot to be said when we're sharing information and discussions on a platform that allows us to use our voice. And -- Laya: And not just hide behind your moniker -- Anne: Exactly. Laya: -- or your meme or your thought of the day, it's like it's giving more depth and more, uh, understanding of niche topics. And I really have appreciated it. I took a step away from that to, just again, based on boundary setting and time suck. Anne: Oh, that's a time-suck. Laya: I think, yeah. Anne: It can be. Laya: I really went down the Clubhouse hole -- Anne: It can be. Laya: -- came back out and put that on pause, but there is so much community support there -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and connectivity. I know people that have really created and nurtured some amazing relationships -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- through channels like Clubhouse, and talk about a platform that's just using your voice. I have a question for you about it though. Do you use just your phone microphone or do you use an adapter that connects your microphone? Because I have heard that -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and I don't know if people are using that. Uh, how about you? Anne: So that has been -- actually, that is like the beginning of every pan -- because every Thursday I do a panel at 11:00 AM Pacific time -- Laya: Okay. Anne: -- called the Voices in Podcasting, the VIP, room. And, and of course, everybody is -- I'd love for you to join. Laya: Yes, I will. Anne: Any Thursday. Laya: For sure. Anne: The funny part, the funny part is I have been trying so hard to be able to -- 'cause Clubhouse was built for iOS -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- and now they're on Android. And so it's typically done through your phone microphone and speakers, et cetera. But of course, everybody wants to, you know, elevate. Laya: Better quality. Anne: So, yeah, better quality. I want better quality. That's, you know, that's what I do, right? Audio, we do audio. So I tried a multitude of ways to connect a different microphone to my phone, which was phenomenal. I bought a Tula microphone to actually do that. I was, I was told that it would work with my iOS, and it actually does, but it doesn't work with the Clubhouse app when you are a moderator. So it'll work fine if you're using Twisted Wave, or you're using the Voice Memo. But as soon as you go into Clubhouse and you try to use the Tula -- Laya: Clubhouse! Anne: -- yeah. And become a moderator. So it'll, it'll be okay if you're just listening, but if you're a moderator, and you need to speak or you get up on stage, it, then all of a sudden, goes to the phone microphone. So I have tried everything. Lately what I've been doing -- Laya: Drats. Anne: -- yeah, lately, what I've been doing is, but Tula mic is really cool looking, by the way. And I'm trying to find a reason to really keep it. And it's a great USB mic. I will tell you that, I did a review on my blog. Laya: Said no one ever about any USB mic, but I love to hear that from you. Anne: Yeah, go, go -- it's a beautiful mic. Go to my blog. I have written a review on it, and I -- Laya: Okay. Anne: -- I agree for a USB mic, It's really cool, because it self records. You don't need a DAW or anything. Laya: Very cool. Anne: So yeah, but what I have done in Clubhouse is there is a app which will work on iOS and works on my Mac called Club Deck, and Club Deck will allow you to use a USB mic that will be connected to your computer. Not -- I tried my 416. It didn't work. It doesn't like any kind of -- Laya: Could you imagine? Anne: -- doesn't like any interface in the way, right? So, but if you have a USB mic, it apparently, you can change your microphone. And so I use my Tula or I use my, I have an AT-2020 USB that I use on Clubhouse, and it makes a big difference. Laya: Yeah. Anne: It sounds great. So for the first, I don't even know, 10 weeks that I was doing this 11:00 moderated panel, I would have whatever technical issue. And I would just come like two minutes late. I'm like, oh my God, can you hear me, can you hear me now? Do I sound, how do I sound? Do I sound good? Because you can't hear what you sound like. Really. Laya: Yeah, yeah. Anne: Easily. Laya: This would drive me crazy. Like we're such audio nerds now. Anne: People made fun of me. No, people made fun of me 'cause I was trying everything I said. So today I'm using my AT-2020 mic. Today I'm using my phone. Today I'm trying to use my Tula mic on my phone. And then -- it's just crazy. But anyways, I didn't mean to digress so deeply into that. But Clubhouse -- Laya: It's important though. It is a voice platform. And I'm -- Anne: It is a voice platform. I love it. Laya: I was curious about that though, because our ears are hyper tuned. Now everybody's not like that. But if you are using that as kind of a calling card, right? And you're connecting with people -- I'm a nerd. I need it to sound pristine, like Tim Tippetts pristine -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- even on the Clubhouse. And so I was wondering about that. Anne: Well, it does sound pretty good. It does sound pretty good. And here's a thought for the BOSSes out there, right? If you are modern mindset social media, right? Let's just say you have a podcast. It's not about voiceover. It's about your passion. It's -- I've always said like, there's so many ideas I have for podcasts. But anyways, I have a former student of mine who does a lot of work with elder care and advocacy for elderly patients. And I'm like, God, we need a podcast on that. Everybody needs a podcast, because everybody's parents get older, and there's always like, what do I do? You know, what opportunities are available for me? How can I get the best care? I said, someone needs to do this podcast. And you know, just anything that she's an expert on, she's passionate about, have a podcast on that, and then use Clubhouse as like kind of a supplemental extra. Laya: Sure. Anne: "Oh, and by the way, we'll be doing live discussion on Clubhouse on Wednesdays at 2:00." And I think that that is a wonderful way to really broaden your audience and potential clients, because guess what? You're using your voice. Laya: Exactly. Anne: For both. Laya: I've actually considered bringing that into the fold for my daughter and I's show for She Sounds Like Me, talking about parenting -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and some of the issues that the moms and modern minded mamas are thinking about today. So that's interesting to see that tie in that you've assimilated between podcasting and Clubhouse, and then spin all of that up and put that on LinkedIn -- Anne: Yeah, absolutely. Laya: And make sure that you're engaging on all -- Anne: And you can live stream. Laya: -- of those platforms. Sure. Anne: Yeah. You can live stream Clubhouse on other social channels. So I do, I really do love that. And you know, what I, what I love about your podcast with your daughter is that you are talking about things that are not, it's not voiceover related. You're talking about things that I love too, about growing up a strong female and STEM education and all that good stuff, which I absolutely love. Laya: Cool. Anne: And I think that it has such a wonderful audience -- Laya: Thank you. Anne: -- too for you. Laya: Thank you. Anne: Look at the broad audience you have. Anybody with children, right, that wants to be the best parent that they can be and empower their children to be everything that they can be. That's such a wonderful topic and so relevant for today. And oh, and by the way, you're also top of mind now to an audience that you probably never would have been able to get to had you just say, I'm a voice talent, do you need a voiceover? Laya: Right, right. Anne: You know? So. Laya: Thinking of those creative ways to like really talk about yourself without talking about yourself -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- but also serving your target market, your target audience -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- in an authentic way by just being yourself. Anne: Absolutely. Laya: I think just like, you know, posting daily is not necessarily so crucial anymore and posting all about you is definitely, like, people can get toned up real fast. So, you know, just keeping it relevant and keeping it light, and more importantly, cheering and being a cheerleader, a positive advocate or a cheerleader for the people that you are connected with, and you are following be it other talent, be it potential clients or just people within your network, because they'll remember you. You know, on LinkedIn -- Anne: Yeah, yup. Laya: -- every time you comment or like -- and I did want to mention this tip. I have another tip for us. On every social media platform except for Clubhouse because it doesn't have this functionality, but I want to make sure that our BOSSes understand that it's not enough just to like someone's posts. If you're really trying to support them, think of it this way. A like is worth one point. A comment is worth two points, and a share is worth like five, right? Anne: Yup, yup. Laya: So if you really want to tip the balance and show that you're engaging with a potential client, brand, partner, et cetera, or just someone you admire -- Anne: Awesome. Yup. Great advice. Laya: -- you want to really not just give them a heart comment and not just an emoji, but like give them some context that you are actually listening, that you are reading, et cetera. If you share it, like you share it on Facebook, or you share it on LinkedIn, that gives their initial post so much more exposure. That's how those posts get viral, and they, they get seen again and again. The more you engage with a post and deepen that thread line, the more weight it gives to that original -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- post, thus giving them more support and showing your alliance and your knowledge and your savvy and social. So make sure to apply that to your future potential clients. Anne: Excellent advice, Laya. Laya: Thanks. Anne: Thank you. Wow. All right, well BOSSes, I'm sure again, we can go on to part two of modern social media. So guys, be aware now in social media, try to have a -- adopt a mindset that allows you to service your client, your potential client, and showcase you in the most authentic light. Laya: Absolutely. Thank you, Anne. Good talk today. Anne: Yeah, really great talk. Big shout out to our sponsor, ipDTL. You too can connect and network like a BOSS. Find out more at ipdtl.com. You guys, have an amazing week and -- Laya: Thanks, BOSSes. Anne: -- we'll see you next week. Bye! Laya: Bye-bye. >> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to Coast connectivity via ipDTL.

You may be busy carving the turkey and making holiday shopping lists, but have you really spent time considering what makes you grateful? In this episode, Anne and Laya reflect on gratitude during the holiday season, covering how to tastefully thank clients during the holidays + how the concept of gratitude can help you reframe negative experiences, elevate your business, and improve your relationships like a #VOBOSS!. Transcript >> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let’s welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, along with my very special guest cohost Laya Hoffman. Hey girl. How are you? Laya: Yay. And Hey, BOSSes. It is so good to be back chatting with you, of loving our conversations and just let's keep it flowing. We got so much to talk about. Anne: Well you know, my calendar has reminded me, for some people, there's a holiday here that is Thanksgiving. Laya: Oh yes. Anne: And I thought to myself, you know what? It may just be one day on the calendar, but for me every day needs to be Thanksgiving. And I thought it would be a great opportunity to start talking about attitude of gratitude and how that can help our modern mindset and our businesses on a day-to-day basis. Laya: And I'm so glad we are, because it seems like such a small thing, or maybe even, I don't know, cliche in a way -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- to like act from a place of gratitude, but it is really the core of my business. And I believe helps center myself and my whole family to keep us on track and keep us grounded every day. So I'm glad you -- we're talking about it today. Anne: Totally agreed. And so I think that I have some things that I do that, that help me express my gratitude and make sure that I'm thinking about that on a day-to-day basis. And I'm asking, what do you do to express your gratitude or to think gratitude? I know what I do when I wake up in the morning. I really try every day to think about what I'm grateful for. And I just take a moment, take a deep breath and give thanks. And usually I have my loving husband around, my family of cats, and I always, whenever I see them, I just smile and I'm very grateful. And that just helps me to just be grateful for everything that I am fortunate to have in my lifetime. What about you? Laya: Yeah. You know, that's great. It's really just about being present and looking around, even if that's the simplest act of gratitude you can incorporate in your day. For us, we've taken it to a family level and a way to try to cultivate more gratitude and appreciation from the core for our daughter. So at dinner every night, we say, what are your gratefuls? You know, we're not a religious family for all intents and purposes. I'm Jewish. My husband, we're, we're a little loose in the religious space, and that's okay because our spirituality is really gratitude based. And so we say at night, while we're just sitting around having conversation, we say, let's do our gratefuls tonight. And we go around the table, and we say what we're grateful for. Anne: I love that. Laya: And sometimes it's the small things -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- like how beautiful the weather was today, or this breeze you felt, or it's the big stuff, you know, a big win or the opportunity to use our voice for good every day. Anne: Yeah, absolutely. Laya: That's something we often talk about. My husband has another cool tip. I love that you say your family is included in this too, whether it's your cats or your partner -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- but my husband actually has an alarm on his phone that is a gratitude check-in every day. I think his is two times a day. And it's just -- Anne: I love that. Laya: -- something that a beep that goes off. Yeah, right? And sometimes when it's just him, I guess he just envisions it in his mind. But if we're around he's like, all right guys, gratitude check-in, and we just rattle off three quick things. It helps you get focused. Anne: Oh, I love that. Laya: Like really remember what's important, especially if you're having kind of an off day, right? Anne: Absolutely. And like you said, even just the simple things like this morning, right before, right before getting on ipDTL with you, bacon. I am grateful for bacon and my husband who cooks it for me. Laya: I'm grateful for that too. Anne: Something, something is as small as that, but I think -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- you know, it really helps to translate it to the larger picture, and it helps to really translate it into your business as well. And I think sometimes, I've been doing this for so long, you know, you tend to forget sometimes that it is a privilege to be able to literally roll out of bed, and, you know, walk over to my studio, and -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- do this job that I love on a day-to-day basis. And I know it sounds like you said, I don't want to sound cliche, but it's true. I think we just, you know, everybody -- Laya: It's a gift. Anne: -- that brings up the gratitude at this time of the year or every day, it is something that is so important to be grateful for. And I know that, you know, we've talked about social media and how sometimes that can turn like sour and -- with reading comments, and I don't know, arguments discussions. I think if we start to approach our businesses with gratitude and maybe just push that out, manifest that out to the universe. And that's even in our social media, because that represents our business. Laya: Absolutely. Anne: There's so many eyeballs looking at us, and it amazes me because I try to put myself in my potential client's position while I'm reading Facebook posts. And I'm like, wow, there's so many people that are like, they're miserable, you know? Or they're not happy, or they're, they're complaining about where are the jobs? They don't know how to get the jobs or whatever. They're posting out there into the universe. And I think, gosh, if I were a potential client, I don't know if I'd want to work with this person. Laya: Right. Anne: Yeah. I think it just really speaks to your brand if you are expressing gratitude. Laya: Yeah. And you've hit on so many things that I just want to chat about with you -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- because you've totally hit the nail on the head. Think about it. If your words are energy, your thoughts are energy. They turn into words. They come from the heart. It puts this energy out there in the world. And whether you believe in manifestation or the power of attraction or anything like that, say what you will, that puts out an energetic force field around you. And so if you're coming from a place of misery, you're going to attract more misery. Anne: Yup. Laya: If you're coming from an abundant mindset, you're going to attract more of that. Now, if you apply that social media, right -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and all the eyeballs on you, and you're griping, you've just doubled, tripled, you've magnified the negativity instead of magnifying the positivity. Anne: Yeah. Laya: Which is why in almost every one of my posts, my hashtag has always been for years gratitude is the attitude, love what you do, because I really do. This is a gift we're given here, no matter where you are on the trajectory or in your career. It's a gift to be able to use your voice and get paid for it -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and cultivate someone else's story. And there's no better way to show your appreciation than knowing it. Anne: And if it's genuine, right? Laya: Yeah. Anne: And I'm just going to say, there are those people who will actually kind of poke fun at the people who are hashtag gratitude, hashtag blessed, hashtag -- you know, that has become something that I have seen. And I think that that's honestly, I think that's a little bit sad. Laya: Yeah. Anne: Because if somebody is expressing and it's truly authentic -- I don't want to say it's truly authentic. Some people, maybe it's not authentic, but who am I to judge? Right? Laya: Right. Anne: But if I'm posting that, I'm grateful for something somebody's making fun of that or kind of just poking fun at that whole hashtag thing, I'm sad for them. Laya: I agree. Anne: You know? Laya: I am too, because sometimes you do have to fake it 'til you make it. Anne: Yeah. Laya: We don't all have perfect days. We are -- Anne: Isn't that the truth? Laya: -- spiraling in a world of just a new level of anxiety where we're all at right now, especially coming through this pandemic. We're still in it. So sometimes you do have to put it out there and fake it 'til you make it. And sometimes you do have to remind yourself or have other people say, hey, great job. And I prefer to surround myself, especially in social, but in my private circles as well with people that are lifting each other up. Anne: Absolutely. Oh my gosh. Laya: If your tribe isn't also operating from a place of appreciation and respect and support and lifting each other up, then there is something more wrong with their picture. Then there's something sour in their space, and maybe they can't appreciate someone else's success or their gratitude because they're not happy with what's going on for them. Anne: Absolutely. Laya: And I wish there was a different pull there. Ane: Yeah, no. And I try to, even if that is the case, there's always a reason. Right? I think I'm trying to be understanding and gracious for everyone, trying to think that, okay, there's a reason why they're posting this, and it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with me. And so I try not to be angry or toxic at that either the fact that they might post something that is, you know, against, let's say my particular post or making fun of my post or for any reason, I try to just know, we don't know what's going on with anybody from day to day, from time to time. And I'm sure there's many reasons for them to post what they post. And I guess my other question, Laya would be, so how do we extend this gratitude from a business perspective to our clients? I know that I do periodically the year, I'm always expressing gratitude to my clients, and it means a lot to them. I think picking up the phone, believe it or not, and actually contacting my clients. And just, if I'm on the job or asking a question, making sure that I'm always thanking them for their business and really trying to connect with them on a human level to express my gratitude, to be able to work with them. As a matter of fact, I just made a post the other day that, you know, one of my partners in crime, my audio engineer, I love, love, love working with him. And I'm so grateful to know him and to be able to work with him that I, you know, I sent him a, a nice little post, and here's to you, John, thanks so much. Laya: Sure. Anne: I'm grateful to work with you. And it's amazing how many people chimed in. Laya: And lift each other up. Anne: Yup. Laya: And that gives credit and appreciation on a public level. Yeah. And like you said, definitely on that personal level, that one-on-one connection, it just deepens the relationship. Right? Anne: Yeah. Laya: And so to answer your question about how to convey or transmit this positivity, this gratitude into business, I think we need to take a step back as talent. I think back in the day maybe when voice talent were like screen actors, and there was this ego involved, like you walked into a studio, and I don't know, I hear crazy stories about talent from engineers and producers and creatives today that have these horror stories -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- about personalities and negative egos in the studio and how this talent wasn't willing to do this. Like I'm all about setting your boundaries, don't get me wrong -- Anne: Yeah, yeah. Laya: -- but -- and not being taken advantage of. But if you're the talent that comes to the booth with great appreciation, thanking each person in the session. Thank you for inviting me in. I'm so honored to be working with you today, or that you've brought me back for a particular project. And thank you so much, you know, at the beginning and the end of those sessions, then they will know that you, you know, really mean it -- Anne: Yeah, yeah. Laya: -- and you're coming from that authentic place, and that you take pride in your work, and you don't take it for granted. And I think people are more willing to bring those type of people back in than those with the ego problem and who couldn't be bothered or don't want to cop to whatever, 'cause we're all human. Right? Anne: Oh, yes. Laya: And that levels the playing field, for sure. Anne: And for goodness' sake, if you didn't have a good session, don't come back and post about it. Laya: Oh gosh. Anne: Just, you know, I, I cannot believe the amount of posts that I see where it's like, oh, I had a horrible session. Or the director drove me crazy. Or the client, for whatever reason, the client wasn't happy. If you can just walk away from that, I think that that really behooves your business -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- because I myself have looked upon those posts, and I'll be -- and in my head, I'll go, ooh, not sure that's a good thing to actually post. Laya: I wouldn't put that on a -- exactly. Anne: And I won't say anything. So I don't think that we can ever have a really true idea of how many eyeballs are actually on that post. And I think we forget that. We become, you know, those brave people behind the keyboard, and just because somebody didn't like or comment on it, don't think that there aren't a thousand other people who've looked at it -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- and made a judgment call right then and there, whether or not they want to work with you again. Laya: Absolutely. Well, the other part of that too is I would encourage BOSSes to consider or reframe those negative experiences to be, hey, what did I learn from this? Anne: Right. Laya: You know, there's a takeaway here that I'm not seeing, or what's going on for me, that I can't see the lesson in this. Anne: Yeah. Laya: And if you can flip those negative situations on their head, that's also a modern mindset as it pertains to the positive takeaway that can be from this. It's something I teach my daughter. So why not put it into practice myself? You know? Not everything has to be so humdrum when it goes wrong. Because if you focus on that, you'll continue to spiral down -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- instead of spiral up and say, you know what? I blew something there. Or they really didn't, you know, they got me beat on this, or I didn't get paid fairly enough or man -- but what is the lesson there? And if you can pull that out, even just one little thing, then you win. Anne: Always a lesson, right? Laya: Yeah. Anne: Always a lesson, even from something that didn't go well. And I don't want to just contain this to just jobs that you've done. I would like to also extend this for any auditions that you do. You know, just -- Laya: Oh yeah. Anne: -- just no talk, just to, there should just be no talk about any auditions because that's even more, I think, on the edge of potentially discouraging people from wanting to work with you. If you're going to complain about an audition or complain about the audition specs, even if you're on a pay-to-play and you're not getting auditions, I honestly, I just, I stay away from any of that type of chatter on social media, even in the groups that you think are closed and personal, and you know -- Laya: You never know. Anne: You never know who's in that group and who's looking, or it could be somebody that, you know, in the group that then ultimately private messages their friend, who happens to be a casting director -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- or their friend who happens to be a potential client. And it happens all the time. How many times, right, do we read something and then maybe post something in Messenger to our friend or text somebody and say, oh my gosh, did you see that post? Or did you hear what he said? And honestly, that's just what happens. And I think that's what I think keeps me in social media control. But the other thing too, it also keeps me cognizant of being grateful and looking at, oh, look at this. I don't know. I don't think, I don't agree with that. I think that that's, that's spreading toxicity for me. It just gives me a good old reminder that let's just be grateful for everything. And I'll tell you, I mean, gosh, I'm the last person to say I have perfect days all the time. It may seem like it, you know? I don't necessarily want to present negative things, but I'll present things that I think have a value to people, that aren't, you know, necessarily being toxic. If I don't have a good day and I share it and I think it will help people, yeah. I'll share that, but I'm not necessarily going to complain about an audition or a job or a potential client to really kind of put a stain on my brand. Laya: And you hit the nail on the head is where my train of thought was going, Anne. It is the integrity of your brand. You are your brand. Anne: Yup. Laya: So the integrity of your brand is being put out there. And would you like the integrity of your brand to be compromised by your complaint or your attitude or negativity or your lack of gratitude for these opportunities that we're given on a daily basis when so many are not? I mean, that to me is one of the most profound things about gratitude is what you can do with, with the positivity and with a different frame of mind, as we've been talking about during this entire thing. To have the opportunity to just talk for a living in the privacy of our homes, when so many are really struggling out there, especially coming out of a pandemic. I don't know about you, my business had a boost during the pandemic because of these capabilities. How cool is that? How grateful are we? Right? And so I encourage everyone to keep that positive spin upwards, and also keep your projection outwards positive so you can attract more positivity. Anne: Absolutely. And again, I'm going to go back to when you are talking to your clients that you have currently. You know, there's nothing wrong with just sending them a note or picking up the phone, or I think that that probably almost means more than let's say a gift. 'Cause usually around the holidays, we all talk about what do you send your clients? Do you give a gift? How do you express your appreciation? Sometimes it's just really picking up the phone or taking the time to write a personalized note saying, you know what? I love working with you and why, and it doesn't have to be flowery professional language. It can be like, you know what? Your brand is so cool or I love your product. It means the world for me to be able to work with your company. And I love how easy you make it for me, and all those things that really compliment the person that hires you, the person that writes that check. And it can be, I think if you delve a little bit deeper than, you know, a surface thank you for your business, right, that's going to really mean a lot to the person 'cause we're connecting on a human level. And I think if we can push ourselves to go to the human level and just say maybe that one thing that just says, you know what, I love your product. And thank you for giving me the opportunity. You make it so easy for me to love your brand or whatever it is that compliments the person that's hired you or the person that you're communicating with. Laya: Yes. In fact, I have two ideas that are coming to mind right now. And so one, I want to answer the thought of how do you gift or do you gift or show your thanks around the holidays? I personally don't send gifts, hard goods. Right now, we're in a pandemic. Things have been weird. It's a big cost. And like you said, so many other big companies are doing those types of things. What I like to do is send, you know those e-cards? Anne: Yup. Laya: You can personalize an e-card and it just pops up in their box. It's a little bit different. You can personalize those as you go, and it doesn't cost you anything or maybe a couple of bucks if you want to make it frilly. That's one thing that I've done, and I've found some great feedback from and just deepening the relationship and the connection with our clients. Anne: Yeah. Laya: The other thing is, you really want to show gratitude? One of the best things I've found to do is to go on LinkedIn and leave them a recommendation -- Anne: Oh my gosh, yes. Laya: -- on their page. If you do that -- they're of course going to see it, but their colleagues are going to see it. And not only that, they're going to see your name as a voice talent and -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- appreciative you are of working with that creative. In fact, I just did this the other day, and it even got me another job. So let me tell you how we did this, real quick. I worked with an excellent director in a session. I couldn't get his last name. It was just not appropriate for me to really dive deep. There was about 18 people on the call, but this guy was so on the ball and so efficient. He was honestly such a pleasure to run this session because of this, the way he was directing. Couldn't find him, but I knew his company, and I reached out to the principals of his company, and I said, hey, I just want to let you know, I just worked with John from your production team. And he was the honest to God the best director I've ever worked with. You're doing a great job over there cultivating killer creative talent. Thank you for making my job as a voice talent easier -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and just left it as that. Can you pass this along to John -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- if you get that message, to go to his boss and give him that compliment? Oh my gosh. Yeah, it was a win-win win-win spreading that gratitude. Anne: Absolutely. Absolutely. That's a wonderful idea. I love the LinkedIn idea because it makes it public. And the other day I had one of my interviewees for the podcast for the AI and voice series, they were promoting the podcast and really gave me such kudos and said, thank you so much for the interview. It was wonderful to connect with a former educator -- because this gentleman was also an educator. And just, we were both like elevating each other. Laya: Yes. Anne: And I think it was so nice because I'm like, wow, thank you for what you do for the community and what you're doing for educating people in this industry and -- and all the wonderful work you've done. And I think that that just really generates such great positivity. And, you know, I guarantee you that there will be more leads that will come from that. Laya: Yes. Yeah. And then one other thing I was thinking of while we were talking is how do we convey that even in our social media posts, one thing that kind of gets my goat is when I see creative houses or casting put out the final video and we cast this. Well, who did you cast? Right? We're always looking to get a little bit of credibility for the creative that we put out. And when production teams leave out the voice actor, you know how that feels. Anne: Yup. Laya: And so knowing that from my standpoint, as a business, as a brand, as a human, as anytime I put the information or final product out there with permission, of course, I always make sure to thank all parties -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and tag them appropriately and give them credit publicly for the work they did, because we don't always see the same in return, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do the same for them. Anne: Exactly. Absolutely. Laya: Follow them, engage, like, tag them, use their hashtags in your posts. One, it will increase your visibility. It will further your projection of positivity and show them, whoever they may be listening or watching from their side, hey, that you took the time to follow the right person, tag the right business, and give them credit. Anne: Absolutely. It's all about recognition, right? Laya: Yeah. Anne: And credit -- Laya: Credit is due. Anne: -- because we know it's always appreciated, always appreciated. Laya: Yeah. Anne: So in terms of gratitude, in terms of a daily, I don't know, a daily mantra, do you have anything that you do that we can share with the BOSSes so that they can maybe start to adopt this, if they haven't already done so already? Any, any tips, tricks? I'll start with mine. Laya: Please. Anne: I like writing it down. Writing it down makes a big difference for me to really understand and really feel the appreciation and the gratitude for things that I'm grateful for. And I'll just jot it down in my, and I have a little like journal on a day-to-day basis, and I just keep them as a list. And so if I'm ever feeling, oh gosh, if I'm ever feeling down or just, oh my gosh, what am I even doing the today? I like to go back and look at that list because it really is a great reminder. And it brings me joy -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- to be able to see all those things I'm grateful for and accomplishments that have happened in my business because of that. Laya: Yes, exactly right. Milestones achieved, et cetera. I do another version of that that really just came to me out of sure -- I couldn't contain my pride in myself after a recent job I completed. And so I flipped the camera on myself, and I recorded a note to me that said, this was such an incredible opportunity. Laya, this is what it took to get here. This is what this feels like right now. I am so grateful for that. I saved the video. Maybe I'll post it if I feel cute when the project comes out. Who knows? But I have a folder on my phone, an album that has just snippets of video to myself to remind me when I'm having one of those days that doesn't feel so great to come back to source of like, wow, that really felt good. And see the passion in my eyes, my face -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- my body language and my voice -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- when I knew it and I felt it the most. Anne: Absolutely. Laya: That's a great tip. I love writing it down. I usually jot down three things in the morning as well in my journal when I'm doing my Kundalini yoga practice. And then, like I said, the nightly round table with the fam brings everybody together. We'll even do it when we've got guests or visitors coming over. Makes everybody feel a little awkward at first, but it resets the mood, enlightens the levity. And when you bring people into that space -- Anne: Oh gosh, yes. Laya: -- they're like, oh yeah. Gratitude is the attitude. Anne: When I've done that, I've never had anyone complain. Laya: No. Anne: As a matter of fact, just the opposite. It's been like, wow, what an amazing, thank you so much for that. And what an amazing dinner. And everybody walks away feeling good. And I, I like that too, because in my family growing up, my family was never one to talk or open up about their feelings. Laya: Sure. Anne: I would always be that person. You couldn't shut me up. Laya: You don't say. Anne: I mean, so obviously I became a voice talent. Yeah. Laya: Right. Anne: So, but you know, during Thanksgiving I would start to do that. I would say, all right, guys, we're going to go around the table and say what we're grateful for. And I remember the first time I did it, everybody was like, huh, kind of awkward. Laya: Yeah. Anne: But as we went along, it just started to pick up momentum -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- and it was really a beautiful thing to see. And like I thought, oh my gosh, I didn't think I could really talk heart to heart with my father. Right? He was always like, you know, the quiet one that went to work, and you know, this is showing you how my family is a little bit old school. Right? My father went off to work and didn't say much. My mother was the one that kind of stayed home with the kids, made the food and the dinners. And so when we started, as we were getting older, and things were changing and evolving, when I started doing that, it was really wonderful to hear what my father had to say, what he was grateful for and what my brothers had to say, when traditionally, we didn't really talk on that level to one another. Laya: Yeah. Anne: So I love how it just opened up the space and allowed for a lot more love to flow. Laya: Yes. Anne: Just a lot more positive feelings and all good stuff. Laya: Yeah. How beautiful is that, right? Anne: Yeah. Laya: So no matter how our BOSSes are celebrating this year or what these belief systems that you are -- or you've cultivated, maybe sit down and say, hey, what's everybody's gratefuls? And if it makes everyone a little uncomfortable at first, start with three. Anne: Yeah. Laya: Get the conversation going and put yourself out there and feel vulnerable. Right? Brene Brown says our vulnerability is the key to unlocking success and happiness and positivity and love and -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- therefore, abundance. So you know, that gratitude will build on an abundant mindset, which will build on your business. Anne: Yeah. Absolutely. Well said, Laya. It has been a wonderful, wonderful episode. I am so grateful. I am very grateful to have you as a special guest co-host for these sessions. And I am truly loving our conversations as well. So thank you for that. BOSSes -- Laya: Thank you, Anne. Grateful for you and all these opportunities and your listeners out there, way to level up. Thank you. Anne: Grateful for our BOSSes, I am also grateful for our sponsor ipDTL. You too can connect and network like a BOSS and express your gratitude through the awesome connectivity that is ipDTL. Find out more at ipdtl.com. You guys, have an amazing week, grateful for all of you. We'll see you next week. Laya: See you guys. Take care. Anne: Bye. >> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via ipDTL.

You know your favorite brands stand out, but do you know yourself well enough to blend your business & creative persona into cohesive fonts, colors, and branding? If not, Anne & Laya are here to help! In this episode, they’ll explain how to put your best virtual foot forward through introspection,crowdsourcing, and (most importantly) acting like the #VOBOSS you already are. More at https://voboss.com/modern-marketing-101-with-laya-hoffman Transcript >> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let’s welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I am here with my very special guest cohost, Laya Hoffman. Laya, thanks for joining me again in this new series on modern mindset. I'm so excited to have you. Laya: Yeah, thanks, Anne. It's been great so far, love being back, and I'm super grateful for the opportunity. Thanks for having me. Anne: Yeah. So we've been talking about modern mindset, and our last few episodes, we're talking about just in general, having a modern mindset towards your business, as well as towards your health. Laya: That's right. Anne: I'm thinking we have to touch upon everyone's Achilles heel. Maybe not everyone's. I mean, I happen to like marketing, but we should talk about a modern marketing mindset because you have a background in marketing. Laya: Yeah, that's right, Anne, I sure do. I'm a former creative marketing agency partner. And, uh, after that I was the vice president of marketing for a major beauty brand that was a global brand and in the professional hair care line. So it's definitely a different field, but a lot of similarities as it pertains to branding identity, marketing, SEO, outreach, and just overall good client engagement in this new modern world. Right? And when we talked about that earlier, it's just, how do you approach that differently? It's a lot different than we were taught in college or in textbooks and things. Anne: Oh, for sure. Laya: You gotta adapt. Anne: And also I think it's important. I think it's great that you have real-world marketing experience from before -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- and even leading up until modern times, because I think as creatives, if you did not come from that environment, it's hard to know even where to begin for marketing. I mean, that's -- most students that are just starting out when they're talking to me, they're like, oh my God, can you please just tell me, like, how do I even start to market myself? Laya: Sure, sure. Anne: So let's kind of start there. I think that for people just entering into the industry, as well as let's say, industry veterans, we still have to spend a considerable amount of time marketing ourselves because I'm always trying to find that next great client, because today's client is never promised. Laya: Absolutely. And you got to stay fresh and stay current. And a lot of that comes down to knowing who you are as a person, as a creative and what that means as a brand. Right? And so how can you package all your skills and your specialties in this brand? And I got scared by that too, even as an ex-marketer coming into the entrepreneurial space and being a one person show. Anne: Yeah. Laya: It's really hard to talk about yourself, and I can do it for everybody else. I can package everything else in a boat. Talking about yourself feels totally bonkers. Anne: Right? Yeah. Big difference. Laya: And then you figure out your brand, which is a very scary place to sit. And there's a lot of great experts, even in our industry, that focus on that, creating a brand for your voiceover, but you certainly have a great one. And you know, you know, you've got colors, you've got the BOSS vibe, you know, you know what your specialties are. You know what Anne Ganguzza means in the industry because you've done an excellent job branding. And I think -- Anne: Well, thank you. Laya: -- for a lot of us that -- you're welcome -- that's the starting point. And it's kind of a scary place to start, but if you don't know your brand, how you gonna know the next step to market, right? Anne: Yeah. That makes sense. So then the very first step then before you can market something, right, is to really have something to market and to really be fully aware of your brand. And I know that that makes sense, when people come to me also for coaching, whatnot, you have to have a demo, right? You have to have something that you can market and then applying that brand to that product. Laya: Yeah. Anne: And so what are your first steps in branding yourself? It's a tough one, right? Laya: Yeah, it is. It's takes a lot of looking inward. Right? And figuring out if you just sat down with yourself and thought, what do I really like in life? What do I get excited about? What brands do I identify with because I feel like they align with my ethos or my moral compass or how I carry myself in the world? I like to start there because it's a lot easier, again, to identify yourself or where you find a parallel with other like-minded brands or people you look up to, or what have you. That's a great starting point because then you can draw from inspiration. You know, for instance, I like extreme sports, snowboarding. I love connecting in nature. So what are some of those brands I like. What do I love to do on the side? Music, deejaying, parenting, but like in a holistic space, but I'm also very fun. I love color. I love to keep it fresh and like little rock and roll, a little street. So those types of things are kind of where I started to find out how I could position my own brand identity, and then find similarities among brands that I also identify with. Does that make sense? Anne: Absolutely. I think it's also important to engage others maybe in terms of how they perceive your brand. Laya: Great point. Anne: And I know that there's a lot of people that will say, hey, I'm doing some branding work. Can you tell me a little bit about how you hear me, how you see me? Laya: Yes. Anne: What does my voice sound like? What are those adjectives? And interestingly enough, I've done enough of those. I personally haven't done enough of those, but I, I have researched myself, but asking your friends, asking -- Laya: Crowdsourcing, right? Anne: -- I think probably, yeah, absolutely, crowdsourcing. I think that asking your clients, if you have any clients now, how they perceive your voice, if they could describe it. I think that's a, a wonderful place to ask outside of your voiceover friends. I think it's important to try to hit up any clients that you have already and just say, hey, by the way, if you had to describe my voice in three words, what would those words be? Laya: Absolutely. So it's interesting because you can also take your personal interests and then align them with your vocal qualities and you can, and I would even suggest specifically not going to people within the industry, but people that don't normally call these things out. Then you're not hit with the same descriptive word either. Anne: Sure. Exactly. Laya: Right? That's kind of a cool approach to create some sort of amalgamation of where the starting points are for your brand. And then what images do you identify? You know, if you had three emojis that could describe, you know, who you are, what you love -- Anne: Well, that's a good question. Laya: -- you know, what, what are some of those icons look like? You know, just, just, just ideas to get the creativity flowing, to try to create. And it doesn't have to be a moniker or -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- a tag line necessarily. Anne: Exactly. Laya: I think we get really wrapped up in that. It can just be how you want to present yourself in the world in your headshot -- Anne: Sure. Laya: -- or with the color scheme on your website. It doesn't have to be super elaborate. It can be, and that's catchy. But I think these days, you don't necessarily need a theme to have a brand about yourself. Anne: yeah. I love that you said you don't need a tagline. I'm like right there with you. And as a matter of fact, I had a tagline like a long time ago when I first started, and it didn't really associate with me at all. It was just kind of just because I felt like I needed to have one. And so I love that you said, I don't think you need to have one, because as a matter of fact today, I don't really have one. If you go to anneganguzza.com, I'm more just about the colors and the fonts and just the, the look of the page and my photos. And I know you also have some really wonderful, expressive colors and photos -- Laya: Hey, thanks. Anne: -- for your brand as well. And I think that that's super effective when somebody comes to your website, and I will say, we have talked about branding, and I think that branding needs to go somewhere. Obviously the first place would be, right, where do people come to find out about you, your website, which is so very, very important and probably your virtual storefront, where everybody kind of gets to know you, that in addition to your social media. Laya: Absolutely. Anne: So that brand can carry over into both your website and your social media. So it's important to have a sense of identity, a sense of who you are, but it's also important for you all to know that it doesn't have to stay that way -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- or it can evolve it. Laya: Absolutely. Anne: My brands have evolved over the years. And if I were to show you what Anne Ganguzza brand looked like even just five years ago, well, a little further, it's completely evolved. Laya: Yeah, me too. Anne: And my colors have changed. Laya: That's right. 'Cause we change, right? Anne: Yup. Laya: Like I wasn't the same person I was 20 years ago -- Anne: Exactly. Laya: -- and I'm definitely not the same talent I was five or 10 years ago, as it, you know, pertains to my business and how I carry myself in the world. We're not even the same cellular composition as we were seven years ago. Anne: Sure. Laya: So that's totally true and something to really drive home, because we get really caught up in it. Do I need a logo? Do I need a tagline? Anne: Yup. Laya: Do I need a theme? Do I -- no! You just need to be you. And you might be similar to anything that identifies with you, but even just clean fonts, modern, clean lines, colors that resonate with you, that make you feel good when you look at what you've created, and if it feels good energetically to you, then that's really all that matters, because that's the most authentic way to connect with others that want to find you, right? So. Anne: I totally agree with that. And I, and I also want to say something about, there's always been this, this mindset, or I'm going to say maybe an older mindset about, do we put photos of ourselves on our websites, because we are voice talent, right? Laya: Yeah. Anne: And we may or may not want to be cast based upon our appearance as we are just voice artists. Right? Laya: Sure. Anne: And I'm that person that says, I want to connect with my client. And I feel like my client can connect with me if they can see a picture of me and not a picture of my logo. Laya: Yeah. Yeah. I absolutely agree with that, Anne. I think if you're comfortable, and you've got pictures that are clear in quality, or maybe you've even invested in some lifestyle photos -- Anne: Right. Laya: -- I had, because I knew that I wanted to put my best self forward, but that you could see it in my eyes who I was, who are, you know, you could see my pride in my eyes and my smile. And I want people to know that when they're working with me. We don't get to meet in person. Like we used to, at least not anymore. So if you're okay with that, then I say, put your face forward. Anne: Yeah. Laya: If you're not proud of that, or if you're not really comfortable and that makes you uncomfortable, then absolutely use something more generic. But I'm about using the face. Anne: Yeah, I am too. And I know for my marketing product, the BOSS Blast, a lot of times I will have my clients give me a headshot, because if that email is going out, I am always of the belief that people want to connect with the person, and they want to be able to hire the person. So whenever possible, I encourage my clients for the BOSS Blast to include their headshots so that we can market those as well. So, yeah, I think that's more of a modern mindset today, especially with all of this chaotic digital information that comes flying at us from every direction. And so with this modern marketing mindset, do you have any ideas, advice about how and where do we market ourselves on social media and what platforms? Laya: Yeah. Great point. Anne: I think for everyone, you have to have a website. Laya: Absolutely. Anne: I think in order to exist as a business in today's digital world, you have to have a website. But what do you think about marketing on social media? 'Cause there's so many platforms, like how do you decide which platform to use, which platform to market on? Laya: Well, that's a great question. And if I could step back even just a snooch, I think the website is key. But before, when I was entering as a full-time talent, I didn't want to put myself out there until I had my package kind of complete, because you really do just get 15 seconds to make your first impression -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- even in the digital space. So it was important to me to have a clear picture where you could see to my eyes, you could have, your icons are all the same. I had a home base, even though at the time, I didn't have a whole lot of content for my website. I built my website myself using the Squarespace platform, and I made sure that my email address wasn't a generic email address. You know, it was my name, and it's tied to my website. It's very inexpensive. There are many, many experts that can help you get there. So leading with like your most professional self, as if, I think the modern mindset is really as if you are already the success that you aspire to be. Anne: Oh, I love that. Laya: You need to act as if, and so even if that is just creating a small minimal package for yourself, which is what your color scheme is, your font or your picture, and you've got a home base with a dedicated email address -- it's not, you know, so-and-so at Gmail -- then, then you're presenting yourself as a pro from the beginning. Anne: I agree. Laya: And that's the important first step, I think. Anne: I do just want to touch on that particular thing. I happen to notice reading some of the threads on Facebook, that there was somebody who said, why is it that I'm seeing all these Gmail addresses? And there were a lot of people who were saying, why? Everybody uses it, and myself, I agree with you. I tend to think if you're a serious business, you're going to have a domain name -- Laya: Right. Anne: -- that is a part of your business. And you should have an email that is part of your business name. Laya: Yes. Anne: And I think if you just like so-and-so VO at Gmail, I think that it doesn't showcase a serious enough business. Laya: It doesn't seem like you're taking your business seriously -- Anne: Yeah, yeah. Laya: -- to me, to me. Anne: Right. Laya: And I say that not just about voice actors, but if I'm hiring a contractor, if I'm hiring -- Anne: Oh, me too. Laya: -- I don't even know, any number of other industries that are self-driven or entrepreneurial. If that person hasn't taken the time to showcase their skills, in this day and age, and taken the $20 a year that it may cost to get them a special domain name and a, you know, an email address that goes with that, what other parts of your business are you not taking this seriously? Our client interaction, my dollars I'm spending on you? That's what that says to me as it pertains to that modern mindset. I think it's just one extra step. Make yourself the pro that you are, or that you aspire to be and fake it 'til you make it, but get, get yourself that package first, before you even think about going on social media and saying, look at me, look what I do here I am. Let me get a new client. I think that's base line one. Anne: You also mentioned too, well, fake it 'til you make it, but having that website, even though you may not have a lot of content to put on that website, I think that's something -- Laya: That's okay. Anne: -- I want to touch on. And yes, I want to tell everybody, all those BOSSes out there, it is okay. Laya: Absolutely. Anne: Everybody starts somewhere. And a lot of people that talk to me, if they're worried about, well, I don't even know what to write. Well, I think that when you're just starting off, you've got to be able to establish your brand, as we've talked about. Also have that product viewers that you can market, which is a great demo, a great sample that showcases your voice. And in terms of the content you're going to put on it, I was always of the, well, I'm manifesting success. Laya: Yes. Anne: So I'm going to create that website. I'm going to create that verbiage as if I am already have been in business for 20 years. Laya: Yes, absolutely. Anne: And so what can you do to fill up that content? There's a good question. What would you do to fill up that content, Laya? Laya: I would tell my story authentically and just, you know, leverage the experience that you have had in life. Maybe it's in the medical industry, maybe it's in marketing, maybe it's in beauty or automotive, or wherever your background sits, there is relevance in your business now. And I think people are more interested than ever to connect with your most authentic self. Anne: Yes, yes. Laya: And so we'll talk about that as it pertains to social media. But you know, even if it's like, I found my love for this and I love being home with my family and I love telling your story, and I'm learning as I go, and I'm investing in myself, and I will take great care in investing in you and your story. Anne: Sure. Laya: And even if it's just a minimal little blurb that just says who you are, where you came from, and why you're here -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- that's okay. You'll be able to build on that as you go -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- you know? Anne: Absolutely. Laya: Hopefully one day you'll be like Anne Ganguzza. You're building a new website. Anne: Yeah. Laya: So lots of content as you develop -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and you can continue to nurture and grow that. I would say being apart of your website and your content development is a weekly process. I mean, I'm, I always got my hands in my website. You're constantly tweaking and adding. So it doesn't have to be this set in stone thing -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- but even just the basics, your contact information -- Anne: Agreed, agreed. Laya: -- front and center. Anne: Oh yeah. Laya: Your sample demo above the center -- Anne: Above the fold. Above the fold. Laya: Above the fold. And as you go, you can continue to build on that. Anne: Well, and you know, what else I'm going to touch upon too, is a good bio, right? Talking about your space, why you're here, what you're passionate about in terms of how can that passion help the potential client. Laya: Yeah. How can you be in service? Anne: Exactly. Focus on the how you can be of service to them. And also in regards to experience, there's a lot of people say, well, I don't have any experience yet. I have never done a voiceover job. Well, your experience, your life experience -- Laya: That's right. Anne: -- your career experience, a lot of times corporate experience. For me, you know, when I just started off, I had had a lot of experience recording telephony and welcome messages and phone trees. And for me, that was where I was able to put my experience level. You know, I had recorded thousands of telephony and IVR prompts. And so that became part of my experience. Nobody needed to know that I did it for my company -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- and that they didn't pay me for it because I wasn't lying. Laya: That's not the story. Anne: Right? That's not the story. But I, you know, but I absolutely had voiced thousands of prompts. And so think of what you have already done experience-wise in your life that can lend to your experience that can again be of service to the client. Laya: Absolutely. Anne: And that will be good content. And I love that you said -- Laya: Parenting, but like -- Anne: -- every week keep tweaking it. That's important because we grow, we evolve, and also it keeps your website fresh so that it makes for good SEO as well. Laya: Absolutely. Anne: Things keep changing. So. Laya: Yeah. And we can talk about that in future episodes because SEO is a very, very key part of being found in search, but you don't have to focus on that in the beginning. Anne: No. Laya: Now, if you were, you know, fully established and you already have your content, then I think it's definitely a great time to invest in partners that have current and modern training in SEO and development, because there are a lot of people that you can find that can help supplement your site with blog posts, or maybe you're a great writer already. I know several excellent talent that are phenomenal blog writers and contribute often to their website. That's not me. I'm not the best writer, but it was a, some of my friends like Kelly Buttrick always says, "what you can't do, you can pay somebody else to do." So, you know -- Anne: Ain't that the truth. Laya: -- there's other options. What you're not great at, outsource. Anne: Oh yes. Laya: That's a modern mindset too, for sure. Anne: I love that. Laya: Yeah. You can keep adding to it. It doesn't have to be set in stone, and there's many ways to skin that cat, for sure. Anne: Yeah. The whole outsourcing is another, it's very much a modern mindset -- Laya: Yeah. You don't have to do it all! Anne: -- for voice talent. Laya: Wow, isn't that a revelation? Anne: What doesn't bring you joy, guess what? Laya: Right. Someone else -- brings dollars to somebody else. Anne: Uh, my accountant is very happy that I pay her on a monthly basis -- Laya: Lots of joy. Anne: -- for her to do her job. She loves it. She loves numbers, and I'm like, I am happy to give you joy -- Laya: Yes, exactly. Anne: -- on a monthly basis, and you do what you do best because that is not something that brings me joy. So, and I say over and over again, I think I must have mentioned it at least 20 times on my podcast, that was one of the best investments I ever made -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- was to outsource my accounting. So. Laya: And that's a great new mindset -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- because we don't have to do it all. Yes, you see all those funny memes about being the entrepreneur, the solopreneur who wears all the hats. Anne: Yeah. Laya: But if some of those hats itch your head and make you crazy -- Anne: Yes! Laya: -- then like kick it off, friend, because somebody else can do that. And honestly -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- your time may be more valuable and better served doing something else in your business. Anne: Absolutely. Laya: So keep that in mind always -- Anne: Yep. Laya: -- whether it's website development or, you know, blog content or anything. Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- accounting, you know, so that's very key. Anne: Doing things that bring you joy. Those will be the things that do not feel like they are work. So let's continue on the modern mindset of the marketing. And I know we can have probably an entire episode on social media, but just to kind of touch upon the subject -- Laya: Sure. Anne: -- platforms. I've always been of the mindset that you want to be on the platforms that your potential client is on. And so -- Laya: I would agree with that, but it is an interesting new dynamic that clients are people and humans too. So they're scrolling and wasting their time on social media -- Anne: Just like we are. Laya: -- just like the rest of u,s and they're scratching their heads. Anne: Yup. Laya: And so it's interesting how you stumble across new clients or new interactions. I think whatever platform you feel most comfortable on is the one that you can put your energy on. Anne: Sure. Laya: For me, I'm a little bit of an older generation, is -- like in my early forties, I can't believe I have to say that, but it's true. TikTok doesn't resonate with me, right, and Snapchat never really resonated with me, but I know tons of talent that have had incredible success and views on TikTok. Look at Heidi Ruin, Atlanta -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- Voiceover Studio, for instance, and that whole like -- Anne: Oh, absolutely. Laya: -- voiceover battle. They saw a huge uptick in views and followers. I don't know if that converted to clients for them. For me. I actually do see client conversion on Instagram, and Facebook -- Anne: Oh, absolutely. Laya: -- and LinkedIn and Twitter. I don't tweet a whole lot, but I make sure that my accounts are linked. So I have presence there. I don't nurture relationships there, because it's not my strong suit on that platform. But I do nurture relationships on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. And I derive clients from there because I'm just enjoying their content. I care less about putting mine out there, although I am somewhat consistent. It is a pain in my butt, and I still do it anyway. So I stay relevant, but I think it's most important to engage with them. What are they into? What are they liking? Anne: Sure. Laya: Cheer them on, make a comment in a post and a like on what your clients are most into, and you will stay top of mind just by default. You don't have to be like, "hey, look at me -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- you got another job for me?" No, just cheer them on. That is an authentic way to connect socially. Anne: You know, and it's interesting. Top of mind is so, so important in marketing. And by the way, I just want to add in YouTube -- Laya: Oh yeah. Anne: -- in terms of the social media place where you might want to be, just because of the good SEO value. I've recently started a channel -- Laya: Vimeo too, actually. Anne: Yeah. Recently started a channel where I've got some content out there. I do blog. It is painful for me. It's painful for me. Laya: I feel your pain. Anne: I do it. But there's all sorts of reasons why I go through the pain, because you know, I've got something to say. And even though I'm not the best writer in the world, it's really difficult to find a writer. Although I've searched, trust me, I have searched, not to necessarily outsource, but to at least get a bare bones blog happening for me, from my ideas, but it's difficult because they're not in my head. And so. Laya: And they're not the expert. You are the expert, and your clients and fan base appreciate your expertise and you sharing that expertise as you do on the show and in a blog post. And I think if you take that expertise and pull it into a LinkedIn post, or a tweet, or a Facebook post -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- and somebody identifies with that or shares it with someone, and they see it, that just gives you more credibility. So as long as that comes natural to you, and it's authentic, it's going to resonate with others as well. Anne: Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm glad that you, you were talking about being on the platforms that your clients are on because they like to just get sucked in just like the rest of us. Laya: Yeah. Anne: Because I, I noticed recently there's a lot of people are that they're all about LinkedIn. There's so much to talk about with social media -- Laya: Yes. Anne: -- with just so many platforms and sometimes not all of the stuff that's flying around there is not healthy at times. And so -- Laya: So you got to manage your borders and boundaries -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- even in social media, for sure. Anne: Absolutely. And there's so many people that are like, okay, I'm just going to do LinkedIn, or I'm just going to do this platform. So I think we only have so many hours in the day. And so I think in terms of, you know, you've got to come up with that balance. You've got to, like I say, listen more than talk a lot of times. And sometimes things like, let's say, videos that you put on YouTube that may or may not talk about your voiceover business, but a passion of yours, similar to a podcast, right, that could be about a passion of yours, by default are helping put your brand out there and helping people, potential clients get to know who you are and keeping you top of mind. And those are, I think important, probably the most important things that your potential client will help keep you top of mind, right? Laya: Absolutely. Anne: If they're watching you on YouTube or they're hearing you on a podcast, and you're not necessarily selling them your voiceover services, but they are getting to know you as a person and then saying, you know what, I'd really like to work with that person -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- because it is a meeting where they're hearing your voice, but you don't have to be like, hey, I'm a voiceover artist. Hire me. Laya: Yeah. You don't have to always be like, look at me and look at what I do for work and my en- -- I mean, some people dedicate their entire Instagram account to their voiceover business or, you know, or only keep it private and don't let their clients in. There's that too. So it's really up to the individual person. For instance, I don't share a lot of my work on Facebook. I'm not very active on Facebook anymore, but it's, I use it as a touch point to connect with my friends and family. Instagram, definitely more work, professional, business heavy, but I also show some of the personality in there. On LinkedIn, I try to keep it more professional -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- less about my personal life. However, I like to share ideas in the industry. If I have nothing to say, I love to share other clients' content, may or may not have anything to do with me, but achievements they've had cheering them on, or advancements in the industry, new technologies, to get the conversation started, and to show my clients or the people that I'm connected with that I am staying top of mind by being relevant and educating myself, and sharing quality content in our same space. And so just depending on which platform you're at and how that feels to you and who your audience is, you kind of can tailor and tweak accordingly. That's my personal strategy. And you know, it works for me. So. Anne: Wow. Good stuff. We could probably talk about this for hours. Laya: And we will. Anne: And we will. Laya: Let's do a social podcast -- a social episode next, I think. Anne: Yes. I think a social episode is absolutely coming up next for us. So in the meantime, BOSSes, try to develop, evolve, create, understand your brand. Make sure you've got something wonderful out there to market yourself and keep that modern mindset while you are doing so. Laya: Yes. Anne: I'm going to give a great big shout out to our sponsor ipDTL, because they are of a modern mindset -- Laya: Absolutely. Anne: -- using the latest technology to allow us to connect like BOSSes. You can find out more at ipdtl.com. You guys, have an amazing week -- Laya: Yes, thank you. Anne: -- and we will see you next week. All right. Laya: Absolutely. Have a good one, guys. Anne: Bye-bye. >> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via ipDTL.

Is your yoga instructor on your business expense list? How about an ENT? If not, perhaps they should be. In this episode, Anne & Laya explore the role diet + exercise play in their businesses, how to take a break, and why you should try face yoga (really, it’s a thing!). If you're feeling a sense of business burnout , listen for tips and ideas to help overcome the overwhelming. More at https://voboss.com/modern-wellness-with-laya-hoffman Transcript ​​>> It’s time to take your business to the next level, the BOSS level! These are the premiere Business Owner Strategies and Successes being utilized by the industry’s top talent today. Rock your business like a BOSS, a VO BOSS! Now let’s welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza. Anne: Hey everyone. Welcome to the VO BOSS podcast. I'm your host Anne Ganguzza, and I am pleased to welcome back to the show special guest cohost, Laya Hoffman. Hey Laya, how are you today? Laya: Awesome. Thanks, Anne, it's so good to be back. I've been loving our conversations so far. You've given so much to the voiceover community. Anne: Thank you. Laya: I have received from you before. So it's just an honor and a pleasure to join you on the show again and continue to share some knowledge of a modern mindset and this business we have. Anne: Absolutely, for sure. So we got into some really amazing conversation in our last episodes about how to prepare ourselves and get ourselves into a modern mindset. And I want to get a little bit deeper into that focus, in regards to vocal health or our actual physical health. Because, you know, with the seasons changing, I know that I need to be able to do a few things to get my voice prepped and ready for being able to perform at my very best. And I know that I have a certain ritual of things that I do to prepare my voice, to be able to have the very best voice that I can. And I was hoping we could have a discussion about that today. Laya: Of course, of course, I totally believe that full body wellness is key to creating a, you know, a sustainable voiceover business, but also to come from the right mindset holistically all, all the way. It's a 360 approach to your wellness, you know. While our vocal chords and our voice is our tool on our instrument, it doesn't happen naturally with flow and with the essence that you need to deliver, if your full body isn't in tune and it really takes a proactive approach -- Anne: Sure. Laya: -- and not a reactive approach to doing that. Anne: So very important. Laya: I have learned the hard way. I'm sure we all have, especially during this high anxiety time that we're living in right now, whether, you know, you're on edge from everything that is the pandemic, or the political space, or whatever it is, we need to keep all those things in check so that we can deliver from the right emotional point, and do it in a healthy way, body, mind, soul, emotionally, and all of those things. So I definitely have incorporated some techniques that I keep in my ritual, in my toolkit to continue to, you know, work effectively and keep that balance. Anne: You know what's interesting is that when I'm working with students who are just entering into the business, I give homework, you know, 'cause I'm a teacher. Laya: Sure. Anne: And I love to give homework and I find it -- Laya: I hate giving homework. Anne: -- so interesting because people will tend to -- there's two types of people, right? There's people who will just be very diligent and good about doing their homework. And then there's those people who will wait until the night before and then do all their homework at once. And I'm constantly telling my students that it's important for you to get to know your body, to get to know your performance level and how you are at different times of the day. How do you feel in the morning? How do you feel in the afternoon, or how do you feel in the evening when you're performing in the booth after you've had a full day of stress, because I think it's super important that you get to know your body and how it reacts to stress to, if you're tired, whatever. And it's important for you to get to know that so that when you are a full-time working voice actor, that you can understand, this is a great time, if I can get in the booth now. I'm feeling good, mentally healthy, physically healthy, and I'm in great performance, that you can take advantage of that, and really try to keep yourself in that tip-top shape for whenever you step into the booth. So I think it would be great to talk about what sort of things do you do to get yourself ready for that, Laya? Laya: Yeah. Well, thanks. I feel like I'm a generally healthy person. I'm, uh, in my early forties, I've always been active, always tried to eat fairly clean, be aware. Of course I love to indulge just like everybody else. And I'm not always on my best, but going the distance with voice work in the last few years and being a working mom as well, having a young daughter to tend to, and all the stresses that come with everything around us, I felt the difference between walking in stressed and -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- and coming from a place where the mind isn't dialed in. And on the opposite side of that, the difference between walking in, in a, in a fully centered and balanced place. And so I really started to insulate myself and make sure to put up the boundaries that will protect this work and doing that from a multitude of ways. I had a few like little ailments going on that wouldn't allow me to sit or stand for a long time because I had an inflammation in my body and there -- my back would hurt. And then instead of focusing on the copy and the emotional point and the client and the connection with the vibration that's coming out of my soul, it was coming from a place of ache or -- Anne: Yup. Laya: -- pain or in the back of my mind, this nagging feeling that, oh, you know, you're just kind of half focused on whatever that is. So to me, it's eating clean. My daughter's got a gluten intolerance, and so we're mostly gluten-free here, but I've also noticed that the grains and the gluten definitely contribute to inflammation in my body -- Anne: Oh my, yes. Laya: -- is, you know -- Anne: There with you. Laya: Yeah, it's all part of the swelling. Anne: Sure. Laya: So, you know, I know when to indulge, but during the week when I'm working, and I create those boundaries where I try to compartmentalize my voice work to a Monday through Friday scenario whenever possible, to give myself vocal rest, also to, you know, have a cheat day and to go off the rails, as my husband would say, or drink a few glasses of wine or whatever. Anne: Sure. Laya: but it's keeping -- it's fueling the body from within, because this is our vessel. You know, a doctor or a carpenter keeps his tools clean, and we need to do the same for our, for our vocal cords in our vocal health. So to me, that starts with eating because it also gives me the clarity. When I'm really firing on all cylinders, I'll eat more of a low carb or ketogenic based diet because the clarity that I'm able to get without -- you know, there's no fog, there's no inflammation. It contributes to motivation and proactivity or productivity that continues to push me forward. You know, it also gives me the clarity to say, hey, it's time to take a break. You need rest. I didn't get enough sleep. You know, go get some fresh air, bust up the day a little bit. And don't grind so hard. Without those things, I'm not making the best decisions. So that's part of my modern mindset when it comes to wellness. It definitely starts with the fuel. Right? Anne: Well -- Laya: -- and then we go from there. Anne: Very, very interesting though that you say that because as I get older, it really makes a difference, the food that I put into my body and especially, I think, as we are progressing, I think there's more and more maybe additives or whatever it is -- Laya: Oh yes. Anne: -- that's being put into the food that is maybe foreign to our bodies. And our bodies might be not used to it, rejecting it, whatever that is. But I do know that I feel a lot better when I'm not eating my beloved carbs. Ah... Laya: For sure, for sure. Anne: I love my carbs, but they do not love me as I've gotten older, and I definitely have inflammation. And that's not comfortable, you know, it's just not comfortable, and I need to be at my best and, and I need to, to perform. And I think it absolutely, you need to fuel your body with nutritious things that can help feed your energy, feed your soul, make you feel good. Laya: Definitely. Anne: And that, coming from that place starting there, then you can perform well. Laya: Yeah. And then I take it a little bit of a step further, and I know you and I share the same passion of going to -- I go to an integrated health practitioner that balances both the Eastern and Western medicine, uh, use my chiropractor, uses kinesiology based muscle testing -- Anne: Oh yes. Laya: -- to dial in my organs, my hormones, my allergies, and I get super, hyper focused or personalized supplements that are very high quality that my body is testing well. And that they're are both beneficial and really positive for what I am lacking in any given month or nutrient deficiency. And he does some cool stuff to get my body ready. Like this ear adjustment that I was struggling with for so long. I didn't know I had a click going on in my ear from TMJ, you know? Anne: Wow. Now I can't say I've had my ears tested, but tell me -- Laya: No? Anne: -- about that. No, I, for TMJ, I've had my jaw adjusted by my chiropractor, which I think is phenomenal. Laya: Yes, it is such a release, right? Anne: He's not adjusted my ear. Maybe I'm going to have to ask him, but tell me about it first. Laya: I didn't know it was a thing, but I just sit there. It's very simple. He puts his thumb in your ear and I turn one way, and he does a little bit of a yank, and it's like all of the tiny little microscopic bones in the ear, it's like sparks are flying out. Anne: A dance! Laya: Yes, it is so -- I was like, ohh! the angels saying, when that happened. You've got to get your guy to do it. It's remarkable. And I think the combination of that and the modality in the jaw -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- really started to alleviate some of TMJ and this click I couldn't get rid of. So that was super helpful for me. Anne: Wow. Speaking of TMJ, I think that might be, uh, an issue for maybe a lot of our listeners. Laya: Yeah. Anne: And I know that my dentist of course prescribed a mouth guard, which does help with that. And I think here, we're doing all this work during the day when we're conscious and breathing and relaxing and meditating. And then all of a sudden, we go to bed at night and then we grind our teeth. Laya: Yeah, why do we do that? I don't know. Anne: And I'm like, why is that? But anyways, I think that that's a super helpful thing, but another thing that my chiropractor does -- and, and again, this is not necessarily the show about chiropractors, but whatever works for you -- my chiropractor, when I get an adjustment, I feel like I've now cleared pathways. Laya: Yes. Anne: And when I clear pathways, it allows me to breathe better, and you talk ears, I talk wrist. So there is a spot on my wrist that I had no idea about that when he adjusts my wrist, I am just, whoa, the angels, you know? Laya: Yes. Anne: The angels sing. Laya: You use it a lot. So it makes sense. Right? Anne: True. Laya: We're editing. We forget about like our ergonomical position and that -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- our wrists, forearms, fingers probably take as much stress if not more as our jaw. So I'm, I'm going to go into mine and ask for a wrist adjustment next time. Anne: And I'll ask for the ear adjustment. Laya: Do it. Anne: And I think also what's important, speaking of ears, is I have a ENT. And to me it's so important I think if you're going to be in this industry. I think it's a great idea to have a doctor that you trust, an ENT that can go -- and, you know, for me, I use them primarily for my ears because for those people that don't know, I've really tiny, tiny ears, and they tend, um, baby ears, actually they have to use pediatric tools to look in my ears. Laya: So funny, like Anne "Baby Ears" -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- Ganguzza, I think, is your new nickname. Anne: Well, I tend to get a buildup of wax. So I have to go into him every three months. Laya: Sure, makes sense. Anne: And I have him just check things out. You know, if, if you've got issues with your vocal chords, you've got issues -- all of stuff, right? Laya: And the inflammation there is going to affect your delivery, absolutely. Anne: So I say a good ENT is also something that I think that BOSSes should consider in terms of maybe a regular, you know, kind of wellness program for the instrument that you use every day. Laya: Absolutely right. Anne: Yeah. Laya: I also go to a massage therapist once a month because -- Anne: Yes. Laya: -- that tension, body, mind -- in fact, both my integrated wellness doctor slash chiropractor and my therapist, those are budgeted into my business and -- Anne: Absolutely! Laya: -- they're, in a way, part of the write-off, because this is my tool, and it's very important that I protect that space so that you can have fitness. And what we do -- Anne: Oh my gosh, yes. Laya: -- is a marathon. So you gotta stay healthy all the way through. Anne: I am going to plus one, plus 21, 21,000 for that massage therapist. Laya: Yes. Anne: And as a matter of fact, once a month, I'm part of a membership -- Laya: Same, yeah. Anne: -- where I will go once a week even, because for me, it's important because I've been working a lot during this pandemic. And I'm very grateful and thankful for that. However, it's, it causes me to be a little bit more at my desk than I want to be. So massage, it really helps to keep my body in alignment, keep my muscles stretched and just engaged. I know that a lot of times, like my neck, my upper back suffers because I'm in the chair longer and a massage therapist, it absolutely is considered an investment for me, for my business. Laya: Absolutely. Anne: Yeah, yeah. Laya: And that's how I kind of, you know, quantify that in my business structure as well. It was like, this is part of the integral part of, you know, just running the business. It's like, I've got to do that. I've got to make time for the gym, for exercise, for stretch, for breath work. Now, when it comes to like vocal therapy, you have an awesome product that I think we should talk about. But then -- and then talk about other things that you use for your throat and how to get that going. Anne: Why, thank you. Thank you for bringing that up. Well, actually, I know there's a lot of products that people use, and, and I'm the first to say, whatever works for you in terms of like sprays or throat coat, that sort of thing. But I do have a product that I developed because I was into essential oils, and I had started to become allergic. The, you know, allergy season was upon me, and my voice was getting very raspy. And so I was looking for something that would help. And there's an essential oil that was really helpful to me that I started to check out other products that used use this oil, or just, I started searching on Google for like throat sprays. And I found a recipe for singers vocal spray, and I actually, it was made of essential oils. So I kind of took our essential oils and kind of, you know, adjusted the recipe just a little bit in terms of taste for me, but kept a lot of some of the same ingredients. And so now I make this vocal throat spray, and I have three other products in that line that are made from the essential oils that I sell on all of my websites at Anne Ganguzza, at VO BOSS. So they're all essential oils and distilled water. Laya: I love that. Anne: So the ingredients are listed on the website, all natural listed on the website. I can make no claims that they will make you healthy. However, they help me, and they've helped a lot of people. I have a lot of fans that buy the vocal spray and the other products that I have too. I also have something, an essential oil mixture that you can put a couple of drops in your water to help you, you know, if you've not a water drinker, a lot of people they're like, "oh, I just don't like the taste of water," you can add a couple of drops of this. It gives you a little bit of flavor and it helps to keep you hydrated, so. Laya: Yeah, yeah. Anne: Yeah. Laya: And that's really the key, right? I mean, you can't just drink water -- Anne: Oh my goodness, yes. Laya: -- before your session, right? You've got to drink -- I'll keep a 32-ounce tumbler with me at all times. Throughout the day, I probably drink three or four of them. I go to the bathroom a lot, but I mean -- Anne: So do I. Laya: -- it's good, 'cause it's flushing out the toxins. Anne: Yeah. Laya: It's also keeping you incredibly lubricated. I did make a misstep early on in my career. I was, you know, following other wellness people in an effort to reduce the inflammation and improve my digestive track. I was doing warm water and apple cider vinegar or warm water and lemon in the morning. And I noticed after a week or so, it really strained my vocal cords, stripped the lubricant. And you think, of course -- Anne: Well, it's acidic. Laya: -- that makes sense -- right, of course! And like now it makes sense, but at the time I thought, "well, I'm just centering my body, I'm -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- having a intermittent fasting. And this is kind of soothing my breaking, oh, not really breaking my fast, but warming up my intestines and all of that. Anne: Sure. Laya: Nope. Not the thing to do. So I stopped doing that, and I'm going to have to try your additive, the essential oils, because I love essential oils on the body, to put in the space and make your room what it needs to be. So that's awesome. Anne: I have those too. Yeah. I have, uh, something called the Booth Breeze -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- which is a combination of lavender -- Laya: We all need one of those. Anne: -- and peppermint. Can you imagine lavender and peppermint? Lavender to calm you down, peppermint to kind of like spice you up. And the two of them together are really interesting. So there's lavender, peppermint, I think spearmint in there. Laya: Yeah. Anne: And in reality, I call it the Booth Breeze because you can spray it in your booth for the aroma essence of it to calm you down in -- or to pump you up. But it's also to make you not so hot in the booth. And you know, it's been a hot summer. You can literally, with the spearmint, you know, I mean, and it's not all spear -- you're not spraying spearmint. It's a combination along with the majority of it distilled water, but you can spray that on the back of your neck, and it's a cooling agent, so. Laya: Oh, very cool. Anne: Yeah. So you can use it -- Laya: Literally. Anne: -- for multiple, multiple things. Laya: That's awesome. Anne: So one note that I wanted to talk to you about, the lemon, I -- absolutely lemon is an acid. I love a good glass of lemon water, but I think, yeah, in excess, you probably don't want to do too much of that. Laya: Yeah. Anne: But I don't think they're, for me, I've never had a problem 'cause I haven't done it consistently and a lot. But I will have a day or two where I'll drink lemon water. Laya: Sure. Anne: If I need to, you know, if I'm inflamed, and I need to kind of flush toxins out of my system, it helps me a whole lot. But as long as I chase it with like regular water. You know, they say not to drink coffee, but I love coffee. And so I'm a big drink coffee and chase it with a good, you know, 16 ounces of water. Laya: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's key, that's key. You know, what I also use is a, I've tried a bunch of nebulizers out there. I don't know if you're familiar with any or you like to use any. They're fun, interesting. Nobody uses -- maybe this is an idea for somebody, hey, maybe you. You're the BOSS that will put this in motion. We need to brand one for voice actors, but the vocal mist nebulizer is a cool portable system that I use, especially after, you know, a long weekend or you go to a concert, you really straining your voice for some reason. Anne: Sure. Laya: Or it's just been a really intense week on the mic. It's so soothing to have that nebulizer and that warm kind of neutral mist in the back of the cords. I found a lot of relief with that. So you need to BOSS brand one for sure. Anne: Maybe, maybe. Laya: VO BOSS brand nebulizer. Anne: I'm going to talk about somebody who I absolute love is, is Nic Redmond -- Laya: Yeah, she has some great exercises. Anne: -- who has -- oh my God, she has wonderful, wonderful things. So if you've not checked her out, she has -- I believe she has a new podcast, right, on it? Laya: Yeah. Anne: Yeah, she's got a -- outside of the VO Social that she does with Laya, she has her own podcast, all about vocal health, so -- and she's a true geek about it and she's amazing. So -- Laya: Yeah, talented, yeah, what a talented -- Anne: Strongly -- Laya: -- individual. Anne: Yeah. Strongly suggest checking out her podcast, and her exercises, and, and remedies as well. Laya: Yeah. Anne: So she's, she's amazing. So I think that's a great resource for everybody. What about physical -- I know you said you do yoga, but what about, is there any physical exercises that you do in the booth, like right before you're going to perform? Because I have a couple of neck exercises that I do. Laya: Interesting. Anne: I'm wondering about you. Laya: I'm always doing some sort of movement and some sort of stretch because we are so kind of complacent in our bodies. I mean, unless you're doing like a high action, a video game or something like that, where you're really moving around, we don't usually have the opportunity to bend and stretch and move. I do a lot of face stretching and exercises, you know, like kind of face yoga where, you know, you're doing the chin stretch -- Anne: Yes. Laya: -- or you're really opening up your mouth and kind of blowing air into your cheeks and rubbing your temples, your jaw, your ears, those types of things. I feel like I'm, I'm constantly with my hands all over my face, just, you know, feeling into the modalities there to keep it fluid and keep everything moving. How about you? Anne: Yeah, no, I absolutely. I have some really good -- and of course this, it was my chiropractor -- but also these are not neck stretches that you probably have -- I mean, they're very simple, to take your right hand and put it over your left ear and then, you know, bring your head to your right shoulder. And as you do, as you advance, you know, closer to your shoulder, breathe in. And then when you exhale, go ahead and bring it a little bit closer to your shoulder. I'm actually doing it now. Laya: I can hear it. Anne: And then so as you are exhaling, you're going to be able to stretch that neck even further towards your shoulder. And I do that, you know, to the right, to the left, forward and back, and everything that's, you know, muscles around those vocal cords, I think really is an excellent exercise for you to do because I mean, that's, that's what we need to have warmed up for sure. Laya: Oh yeah, neck rolls all day, every day, I'm here for it. And you forget, you forget how tight or how much tension, how much stress we're holding in there. Anne: Yeah. Laya: What about like affirmations? And do you use any of that, any, any love self-love talk around you visually to kind of keep the mental stimulation? Anne: Why, yes. Absolutely. There's so much to be said for post-it notes. Laya: Yes. Anne: I know we're in a digital world, but -- Laya: No, you've got to see it to believe it, baby. Anne: It's so true! I mean, post-it notes, if, especially if, if you're trying to think performance wise, like maybe you have a, a habit that you're trying to break, a post-it note stuck up in your booth right up in front of you, and you're always looking at it. Or a booth buddy, you know, there's a lot of great coaches out there that will recommend to have a booth buddy. So if you want to feel like you're talking to someone or you've got somebody that you're focusing on, have a picture of someone close to your monitor so that you can be talking to them or talking to your booth buddy, but I think affirmations, absolutely, so that they're constantly there in front of you. Laya: Yeah. Definitely. People feel like a little awkward if you've not done that before, like tell yourself you're kick-ass. But really what I love to do is pull, you know, you mentioned the post-it notes. You can get them in all cute shapes. They don't have to just be squares all over your space, but you know, if you're ever talking, you're in a webinar, or you're talking to a coach, you're talking to a friend, you know, you scribble something down, you can almost turn anything into an affirmation. Anne: So true. Laya: One I've got sitting in front of me is from one of my coaches, Nancy Wolfson. She says, your cool is cool enough. And like, that means so much to me because of our -- Anne: So true. Laya: -- back history. But you know, I don't need to try to be something else when what I've got is already the good -- I've already got the goods because it's uniquely mine, and nobody else has the life experience that brings to this, this voice, in this delivery and this emotional point. And so those little notes give you some like a little gut check, you know, that you're on the right track, and even when you're having a low day, and it's good to see that to believe in and feel it, you know? Anne: I love that we're really delving into the mental aspect of this because whereas we might not have thought about the mental aspect, it really is so -- I don't want to say -- the physical aspect of your vocal cords and that you're warmed up is important, but I'm going to say sometimes the mental could be even more important -- Laya: Absolutely. Anne: -- to your performance and your health. And that is so very important that we're open, and we're okay with spending time on our mental health, so that we can be the best that we can be, and whatever that takes. And it could be post-it notes in the studio, as well as -- and we spoke about this in a previous episode -- you know, having that group of colleagues or friends or accountability buddies -- Laya: Yeah. Anne: -- that can, you know -- Laya: Your tribe. Anne: -- help keep you -- yeah, your tribe that can keep you in a great, positive mental state, because it's so prevalent in this industry where we deal, I mean, almost rejection, rejection, rejection. Laya: Or comparison. Anne: And that is -- yeah. Laya: And then you know, when you see others on social and there's a lot of -- you start to really second guess things. Anne: Yeah. Laya: It's a mind game. Anne: It is. Laya: But if you're going to be strong in anything, you've got to have that mental mindset, and the modern way to approach that is do it for you first -- Anne: Yeah. Laya: -- but like get yourself good. And then also know when to take a break, right? Like give yourself the grace to chill and to relax into if you're not having a good day or, you know, you're really tired or you need to listen to your body and give yourself the courtesy and the respect to know when to take it easy, right? Like... Anne: Yeah, know, your body. And I'm giving permission that you do not have to do every single last audition. Laya: Oh gosh. Anne: That, I think, is something -- Laya: Say it again for the people in the back, Anne. Say it again. Anne: One more time. You do not have to do every single audition. I know for a fact, I tell my students this too, that they try to do every -- all their homework at the very last minute. My students are always doing that. And I'm like, you need to get to know your body. You need to get to know your mental state. You need to know "I'm good in the morning after I've exercised or after I've done mental affirmations" or however it is, or maybe after a day of homeschooling, right? How is your body, how is your mental state? Are you able to perform? And I think it's wonderful to be able to do something in the booth every single day at a different time of the day, to get yourself aware of where your performance is good. And then if it's not, what are you going to do to fix that? Right? Laya: Exactly right. Have like a tool bag, right? Like how can you fix it? Anne: Yup, yup. Laya: When you know you're feeling low here, what do you need to do? You got to pull a lever and, you know, deep into that bag and give yourself a break or go out in nature and ground down. Anne: Exactly. Laya: Use your throat spray or drink -- Anne: Or your body hurts? Laya: -- some water, exactly. Anne: -- get a massage or go walk around. I'm constantly telling people, you know what, because it takes such focus to do what we do. And it takes such, you know, to really tell the story, like we're always supposed to do, and we need to really connect. And we're connecting with the copy. That takes a lot of mental effort and that also physically can take a toll on you. So if you need to hop out of the booth for five minutes, shake it off, go pet your fur babies, or, you know what I mean, go have a cracker with, with your child or whatever it is -- Laya: A cracker. Anne: -- that's a carb, sorry. Laya: Don't have the cracker. Anne: Go have a vegetable with your loved one. And you know, there's a lot to be said for that, that, that getting out of the booth and just resetting, getting out into nature, taking a walk, like you were saying. It's such a, such a wonderful way to, to just reset and come back fresh. Laya: Yeah. I think the foundational part of wellness and modern minded approach to this business now is, is that taking care of yourself first is key because that's, you know, that is everything. That applies to, you know, we're in a pandemic. Yes. And so we're always, we're careful and innately careful about germs and cross-contamination and all that stuff now. But you know, keeping those things in mind is that like one down day, because you weren't taking care could cost you money. Anne: Sure. Laya: But it's also important to take it a down day when you need it so that you can go the distance when you need it to. Anne: And you'd be surprised at how understanding your clients can be. Laya: For sure. Anne: If you're human. I mean, we're all human, right? Laya: That's absolutely true. Anne: And so if you need that time, and I know you mentioned before that, you know, if you need that time and you don't -- we try not to work on the weekends and you send that email saying, "hey, thanks so much. I'm out of the booth right now. And I'll get back to you tomorrow morning, you know, I'm spending time on family and I'd be happy to get back to you," I think I love that approach, um, because we all need to reset. We all need to reset that creative compass. Laya: Yeah, absolutely. Anne: To be our best. Laya: I think in a future episode, I'd love to talk to you more about, you know, how do you compartmentalize when you vacation? Do you take a rig with you? What does that look like? When you set those boundaries? Because that's part of the wellness and the mentality too. So -- Anne: Absolutely. Laya: -- maybe more on that later. Anne: Absolutely. Well, excellent conversation, Laya, as always. Laya: Thanks again, Anne. Thank you. Anne: Yeah. This has been great. BOSSes, take care of yourself. Laya: Yes. Anne: You know, mental, physical wellness is, is important for your performance, for your business. We all want you guys around for a very long time, so. Laya: Health is wealth. Absolutely. Anne: That's it, absolutely. So big shout-out to ipDTL that allows me to connect, uh, with BOSSes like Laya, and you too can do the same. Find out more at ipdtl.com. You guys, have an amazing week and be well, and we'll see you next week. Laya: See ya. Thanks, everybody. Anne: Bye! Laya: Bye! >> Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your host Anne Ganguzza. And take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at voboss.com and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies, and new ways to rock your business like a BOSS. 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Worried about Ai? Your emotions are your job security, and working with technology will be key to future success in voice over. In this bonus Voice & Ai episode, Anne chats with Ryan Hicks and Adam Fritz of Pozotron - an audiobook proofing service. Listen as they dive deep into the future of audiobook production, and discuss how the connections between human emotion & AI is a voice actor’s greatest ally… More at https://voboss.com/voice-and-ai-pozotron-with-ryan-hicks-and-adam-fritz