Barb Lyon
Voice Artist

If you can overthink the worst, why can’t you overthink the best? We are fantastic at imagining the worst case scenario. It's just easier to envision disaster. We send a cold email and immediately assume we’ve annoyed someone. We reach out to a new agent and picture them rolling their eyes. We send a recording to a brand-new client and wait for the email that says, “This isn’t what we had in mind.” Our brains run straight to the worst-case scenario.

From time to time I meet someone who says, “Voice over? What’s that?” I’ll explain that a lot of the work I do—eLearning narration, YouTube videos, telecom applications—you’ll probably never hear unless you’re especially interested in paying an electric bill in Detroit, really dig solar panels, or just can’t learn enough about child car seats. It’s not glamorous. It’s steady. It’s useful. And every now and then I get lucky with a national or regional ad they might have seen.

So, who are you? Really. Do you answer that question with your job title? I’m a voice actor. Maybe you answer it with the hobby you pursue. I’m a dog trainer. Or maybe by what’s in your heart. Maybe you feel really good when you drop a well-timed compliment and see someone’s face light up. Or by that one quality that keeps coming up for you. Maybe you love solving problems. But not one of those answers fully captures who you are. You don’t have to limit yourself.

Somedays that’s exactly how I feel. It can be absolutely exhausting. You audition, you do your best to market, which always feels super icky. ( I swear I’m allergic to hubris). You even bought into CRM software so you can do easy, effortless followups. You post on social media and maintain your website, and yet…it feels like you may as well be a total novice. Where is all this effort leading?

I get it. The days can be a real slog. You wake, work out, eat, shower, coffee (more coffee) and then begin auditioning. Maybe you get booked. Good for you! It’s your lucky day!  And the next morning? Yeah, it starts all over again. That one booking didn’t change your life, did it. And before you know it, you’re living Groundhog Day. But you keep on trying, because that’s what you’re supposed to do. And maybe you’re content…or complacent.

I got a callback on an audio drama! Now, if you’ve never listened to one you are totally missing out! They started in the 1920’s, and really grew in popularity in the 30’s and 40’s. They reached an apex in the 1950’s and then were taken over by TV. My all time favorite is “Johnny Dollar” who is billed as “America’s fabulous freelance insurance investigator.” There’s tension, gunplay, fight scenes, romance and plenty of humor.

Right now. Today. In this very moment, you can find peace & joy, wherever you are right now. Or so says my “You Are a Badass” calendar. It’s right. I’ll prove it. Here’s my day thus far… My dog, Friday, greeted the day by giving me (basically) mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for about three minutes before I could even turn the alarm off. I wanted to push her away, but instead, I let her little kisses cover my face.

You tend to find what you focus on.  Try it now. Scan the room and count how many blue things you see. Now, close your eyes and recall how many red things you saw. What you focus on becomes your reality. So if you want success, but keep thinking about failures or missed opportunities, do you really think that’s helping you reach your goals? A few months ago I decided to focus on the little moments of positivity that happen every day.

Opportunities don’t always arrive the way we imagine they will. Most of us grow up with a tidy picture of how progress is supposed to work: you aim, you plan, you climb. You do this so you can get that. And sometimes, sure, it plays out exactly that way. But just as often? The better things slip in sideways. They show up when you’re doing work that wasn’t part of the grand plan. When you’re helping. Learning. Filling in.

Most of us came up with heroes. The voices that made us stop what we were doing. The reads we rewound just to hear again. Maybe it was Don LaFontaine and that unmistakable authority. Maybe it was Will Arnett’s effortless confidence and wink-to-the-audience delivery. Maybe it was someone else entirely, like Mel Blanc (Elmer Fudd anyone?) but chances are, there was a voice that made you think, I want to do that.

Just be yourself. Only the hardest-thing-to-do—EVER—when you “try” to do it. But that’s exactly what voice actors do when they’re really in the zone. Lately I’ve been thinking the problem isn’t so much Imposter Syndrome as it is the sheer effort we put into being someone else all day long. We’re constantly adjusting, smoothing, editing ourselves to please others. A polite smile for the barista when you’re already having a rough morning. Swallowing a cheeky comment because

This weekend, I had kind of a chill Saturday, which is always nice. I cooked a fabulous pork roast in the slow cooker, did some organizing, and spent some time teaching Friday a new trick…all of which puts me in my happy place. Being an obsessive planner, I also found myself pondering the auditions I needed to do Sunday. Bob Ross was on the TV, painting masterpieces that came together at an astonishing pace. (Seriously. Start a video, about five minutes in, look away for abou

Some days I look at the calendar and feel like time is slipping past me at full tilt. It’s 2025. Depending on how you count it, I have maybe ten solid working years left in my voiceover career, give or take. And there are still so many milestones I haven’t hit yet. Not because I’ve been sitting still. But because creative work unfolds in its own rhythm. Clients come and go. Budgets shift. Algorithms do whatever algorithms do.

Gratitude. This time of year, everywhere you turn there are lists. Ewey, gooey posts dripping with sentiment. People naming the projects they were proud to take part in. Or the fabulous opportunity that propelled them forward. The support of family. Yes, truly, all those things are amazing, wonderful, and to be cherished. But let's get real...overall 2025 has been…a challenge. I mean, be honest. Many of us have felt like we’re dragging a hundred pound weight with us everywhe

Somewhere along the line, most of us picked up the idea that our value lives out there. In someone else’s approval, in a job title, in likes and comments, in whether a client chooses us, or if we’re “in demand” this month. It’s subtle at first, but it creeps in, and suddenly we’re handing out calculators to everyone around us, letting them tally our value based on whatever criteria they find convenient. Here’s the truth: your self-worth never was an external measurement.

I’ve been thinking a lot about pricing lately, probably because next weekend I’ll be running a booth at my dog training club's Obedience and Rally Trials for my mom, selling some of her quilting and embroidery. She’s poured hours into those pieces. Every stitch is deliberate, every pattern perfectly balanced. When she finishes one, it’s like holding a bit of her heart in your hands. So how do we price that? And it struck me: this is the exact same conversation that plays o

I'm having one of those days right now. I was out doing dog club things late last night, the event was frustrating. I got home late, so my sleep routine that I love was "off", and I woke up this morning thinking, I'd rather contemplate my navel all day than actually record. I even listed to a positive podcast while I showered, punched on my favorite Sirius channel while I finished getting ready (The Struts artist channel) and still my motivation level remains...subterranean.

In voiceover, and really, in any creative field, so much of what we do depends on mindset. You can have the training, the skill, the best gear money can buy, but if your head and heart are locked in a tug-of-war, everything tightens up. The read gets stiff. The flow disappears. And suddenly, you’re chasing something that used to come naturally. Doesn’t it seem like when you’re trying, and trying, and trying to do something, the goal gets farther and farther away?

Coaching. Everyone says you need it. Why? Is it because many of us grew up playing sports and we’re just used to having a leader to follow? Or is it because gyms have trained us to believe that if we really want to hit our goals, we must have coaching? Why has relying on our own gut instinct become passé? I’ll tell you why: because our gut is locked in time. Probably somewhere in our late teens or early 20’s. That’s when we played team sports, and when we most likely hit the

Does the thought of working outside your comfort zone make you pump the brakes? Why? What’s the worst that could happen? I don’t usually go in for character work as a voice actor. I’ve listened to plenty of talent in voiceover workouts who seem so much more skilled than I am, so I often just take a pass. I remember listening to Ron Perlman’s narration of The Strain (highly recommended!) and being blown away. Now that’s character work.