Barb Lyon
Voice Artist

“Get in the Hole” my favorite quote from the fabulous Gabrielle Nistico. If you're not familiar, Google her. She’s fantastic. She was talking about actors who worry that if they work too much in one genre, they'll never get booked because they're limiting opportunities. Then she showed a list of actors who work within their type and we all love them for it…and they keep getting booked! Think about pretty much anybody from “The Sopranos.”

Let's talk backlinks. It's one of those techy things that feels like the impossible item in your checklist. What the heck are they anyway and what do you do with them? Well, a backlink is just another website linking back to yours. Simple as that. But to Google, every one of those links is a little vote of confidence — "hey, this site is legit, other people trust it too." Enough of those votes, from the right places, and your site starts ranking higher.

Ever feel like everyone else is just so lucky? I mean if we watch their feeds, everyone else’s life is full of rainbows and unicorns. Booked over here. Incredible travel over there. Won a bunch of money playing scratchers and now they’re driving a new car. Well, OK, maybe not that one. No matter how we feel, or how it appears...none of that happened overnight and they're not simply lucky.

So I recently redid my website. I’m relatively happy with the result… but I never fully trust myself. It does look good. And I have gotten some real (not spam) leads from it, which is always encouraging. Still, with the way people search changing, it feels smart to take one more pass. Afterall SEO has totally changed the way we search!

This freelance voice over feast or famine cycle is something no one really prepares you for.One week, you’re buried in work. Emails, files, deadlines, pickups—you’re moving fast, feeling good, maybe even thinking, “Okay… this is it. This is the new normal.” And then… Nothing. No emails.No audition feedback.No messages “just checking your availability”. Just a whole lot of quiet. And then your brain is flooded with answers.

If you haven’t had a chance yet, it’s a great time to check out NAVA’s State of Voiceover in 2026 Survey. I know that many of us filled it out. But, if you didn’t, it’s worth it to go through and answer the questions now and see where you fit in the industry. Some revelations I think we knew in our hearts. In a traditional job, more hours tends to correlate (at least loosely) with more pay. In voiceover…not so much.

As voice over pros, life can be a bit solitary at times. You need to do it all. From recording, editing, and engineering, to accounting… and voice over marketing. It can be tough to keep your chin up through all that. You barely have time to breathe because there’s always another item on the to-do list, but you’re supposed to keep a smile on your face and look forward to another bright, shining day… even when you’d rather cocoon on the couch and binge your favorite show.