Lauren McCullough

Female Voiceover Talent

717-281-1991‬

LaurenMcCulloughVO@gmail.com

voiceover

Tips For Vocal Health, Including Beating A Sore Throat

Health

Tips For Vocal Health, Including Beating A Sore Throat

This time of year, who couldn’t use some tips for vocal health? As a voice talent, maintaining vocal health is pretty fundamental to my everyday life. Winter and Spring can be brutal on my vocal health, with the cold air and the germs flying about to early Spring allergies. But really anytime of year, as a voice actress, my voice can become overused and exhausted. I need to keep my throat healthy and ready for the next studio session. 

Even if you aren’t a voice talent, you may be surprised to find yourself with voice fatigue. Sore throats and vocal fatigue can impact anyone – moms and dads talking to their kids all day, professionals giving presentations, teachers and professors, coaches yelling from the sidelines, singers and musicians. You may not think of yourself as a vocal professional, but you probably use your voice more than you think. And voices that are overused can become stressed and 


Why Vocal Rest Is Key

Vocal rest is really the best tip I can offer to maintain your vocal health. No matter what you do for a living, when that vocal exhaustion kicks in, it’s time to give it a rest. 

We don’t need to get into all the science behind your voice, but basically the vocal cords, and muscles that control them, are susceptible to overexertion and stress. With constant overuse, vocal tissue can suffer damage. That’s why rest is crucial. 

If you are a voice performer, or use your voice professionally all day, you must stop periodically and just give your voice a break. That’s right. Sometimes, you need to just stop talking for a while. Another tip is to give yourself a periodic day “off” from using your voice. You may not be able to avoid talking all day, but not using it professionally and allowing yourself some quiet time will give your voice the rest it needs. 

 

What To Do When A Sore Throat Hits

Sometimes, as much as you work to protect your voice, a sore throat can still strike. Then what? As mentioned above, your voice needs rest. When your throat hurts, give it a break. Stop recording or speaking professionally for a time, if you can. When you take time to give your voice a break, take the time also to give your body a rest. 

But just resting isn’t always an option. Sometimes you need to take care of your vocal cords and heal up quickly, especially if others are relying on your voice talent. If you are suffering from a common cold or struggling with dry, cold air, you can take steps to soothe your throat and get back to work. There are two ways to approach healing your voice:

Coat Your Throat

When your throat is dry and irritated, you can soothe it with a coating of comfort. Through a variety of ingredients, they relax your vocal cords and offer relief. Options are limitless on the market, but I have a few tried and true favorites. Instead of the hundreds of chemical or sugar loaded cough drops on the market, I recommend the VocalZone pastilles. Their all-natural, vegan ingredients provide that soothing relief, and also tackle the mucus and sinus issues that accompany throat discomfort.

While we are on the throat coat topic, we have to talk about throat coating teas. Years ago, I would have said that I wasn’t a fan of these types of teas. Their distinctive herbal ingredients can have strong aromas and flavors that range from grassy to menthol. However, I recently found that my taste buds may have changed and they are very pleasant to me now. It’s a welcome discovery, as I use my voice for clients daily. Here’s a video from my YouTube channel to learn more about my favorite voice coating teas. 

Clear Your Sinuses

Sometimes, excess mucus in your throat accompanies or is the cause of your voice irritation. It may be a rather uncomfortable topic, but keeping your voice healthy means regulating the mucus build up in your sinuses and throat. The VocalZone lozenges mentioned above can provide this kind of support. In addition, you may want to consider the use of a neti pot for vocal health, especially if you’re experiencing sinus blockage or dripping into your throat. Post-nasal drip is a huge factor in throat irritation.

Avoid Overexerting Your Voice

When you are looking for cough drops, lozenges, and other medication to address a sore throat and irritation, make sure to avoid products that promise to numb your voice. You don’t want to just turn off the pain and move on with speaking. Numbing your voice means that you will not be able to feel your body’s natural message to slow down and take a break. And in the worst case, it will mean turning off the cue to stop when your vocal cords are damaged and inevitably in pain. 

Avoid the habit of clearing your throat or rough coughing throughout the day. This can be difficult in dry, cold air, but breaking the habit of the putting additional stress on your vocal cords can keep them from unnecessary strain. 

Preventing A Sore Throat

It’s true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In other words, take care of your vocal health before a problem pops up. As we talked about before, rest is best. 

If you are a voice actor, or other voice professional, you need to care for your vocal cords, just like any other muscles and tissue throughout your body. Just like stretching before a run, you need to warm your vocal cords to prepare them for a marathon recording session. Vocal exercises, such as singing scales, tongue twisters, and exercises outlined in the Vibrant Voice Technique, can prepare you for a voice acting session and reduce vocal fatigue.  

Ongoing care for your voice goes a long way in preventing a sore throat and keeping your voice healthy all year around. Drinking enough water and staying well hydrated is a critical component. I also love warm water with lemon and honey to support the hydration, and to warm and soothe your voice. It’s great for before and after studio recording sessions. 

While we are on the topic of what you should consume, you may want to avoid certain ingredients that can increase irritation. Those ingredients include caffeine, dairy, and those that cause acid reflux. 

So whether you are a voice professional like I am or not, keeping your voice healthy and strong all year long is a good practice. Remember just like any muscle or tissue group, you need to warm up, cool down, and take rests when necessary. Supporting your vocal cords with lots of hydration and natural ingredients can keep your voice ready to record, sing, present, or whatever you need it for, all year long.

SPOTLIGHT: Women in VO Portrait | June Foray

History of Voiceover

When you sit down and read June Foray’s work biography, most people will take a tour through decades of beloved programs. Even if you weren’t born in the decades June did most of her work, you definitely heard her voice in reruns, she was just that prolific. The regular public wouldn’t know her name, but in the entertainment world she was well known for her extensive and diverse body of work. Her work was often compared to Mel Blanc, a virtuoso in his own right, but Chuck Jones, the legendary animator is often quoted as saying

“June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc.

Mel Blanc is the male June Foray.”

June’s work started very early in life, landing her on the radio at age 12, voicing an old woman. She was born in 1917 in Massachusetts, to a Jewish immigrant father and a Jewish descent mother. June’s speech  teacher had a radio program on a local station, and gave June some of her first experiences. Eventually her family moved to Los Angeles, and June continued her radio work there. By age 15 she had created her own radio program called “Lady Makebelieve” for which she was both writing and providing voices. 

June said about her early life,”My mother and father were artistic people. My mother was a singer and a pianist. They enjoyed the opera and the theater and movies. And so they would take us kids to all of the wonderful functions at the Bijou Theater in Springfield, Massachusetts. I wanted to be a stage actress. Then I could come home and impersonate all these people I had seen in the movies. I was an omnivorous reader as well. So, I memorized a lot of classics. The little old lady that I do actually with Tweety and Sylvester, I memorized lines from “The Old Woman Shows Her Medals”. It’s a play by J.M. Barrie. Oh my goodness, I just did so many impersonations of stars, and read William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde and “The Importance of Being Ernest”. It was a very exciting life.” 

As she got older, she worked steadily in radio and stepped into on camera work from time to time, but her real expertise was in dialects, accents, and just voices in general. She worked for Disney as Lucifer the cat in Cinderella, for Hanna Barbera in the Jetsons and many other shows, the character of Granny in the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, and both Rocky and Natasha in the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon. Writing out her entire bio would be beyond the scope of this article, but scrolling through it is a who’s who of animation through the decades. 

Unfortunately, much of this work is uncredited, despite it’s breadth. June herself said “There were never any credits for voices. Walter Lantz was the first one who ever gave actors credit. And now that I think about it, and I look back and see these films I think ‘Who did this? Who did that? I wonder who did it?’ And I think everybody else feels the same way, and it’s a shame. All the in-betweeners, the animators, the directors, the writers, everybody got credit, but the actors didn’t. I guess we weren’t that important. Except we were.” 

And of course she was right. The actors are important. Not only for her fellow voice talent whom she could inspire with her example and talent, but also for the generations of children who grew up with her voice but without knowing her name. 

Bringing June onto Rocky and Bullwinkle was a fine example of the impact of her voice. Although the younger generations may not be as familiar with the antics of that Moose and Squirrel, the show had a cult following and was in reruns for years.

June said about her hiring for that show, “I had already been working at Disney and Warner Brothers, doing a multiplicity of voices. Jay Ward and Bill Scott had this wonderful idea of a moose and a squirrel. My agent called and said, ‘Have you ever heard of Jay Ward?’ and I said ‘No’. He said, ‘Well, he wants to take you to lunch.’ Jay knew precisely whom he wanted. Nobody ever auditioned. He just said, ‘I want June Foray’.” 

And he had her for both the villainous Natasha and the chipper and charming Rocky.

Rocky was a naive flying squirrel, who like Bullwinkle was often fooled by the costumes Boris and Natasha would wear, but the two heroes would always win out in the end. Interestingly, Rocky’s flight abilities started out only like gliding-as a real flying squirrel would-and ended with him able to fly like an airplane or Superman and stay airborne for long periods. The show would have fans and laughter for many years to come, despite having only 150 episodes. 

A major part of June’s life was her love of and support for animation. In the 1960’s she began a chapter of the International Animated Film Association in Hollywood, and later came up with the Annie Awards in 1972 because there were no awards specifically the celebration for animation. In 2007, she participated in the Association’s archive project for cartoon voices. She also sat on the Governor’s board of the motion picture association for two decades, lobbying for an animation-specific award to be added to the Academy Awards. In 2001, they added The Academy Award for Best Animated feature in response to her petitioning. 

June also had a lot to say about the modern trend of putting “big names” in animated movies to gain viewers. “We are all doing supplementary parts while Cameron Diaz is getting paid $10 million. The stars receive millions of dollars for doing voices for animated films, and then there is the poor actor who has to struggle to make at least $15,000 a year just to keep his benefits. A lot of the young people–wonderful, good, solid voice actors–have families and are buying homes, and work is bad for them. Frankly, I don’t think simply because a star’s name is on it that is going to sell the film if it’s not good. You get big stars doing live-action films, and if it’s a flop, their appearance doesn’t alter the basic outcome.” 

Like many actors from the golden age of animation, June worked until almost the end of her life. She continued to work on some of her classic roles in new shows, like the character of Granny from Looney Tunes, and many other roles. In 2015, June suffered injuries in a car accident, and her health declined until her death in 2017. She was 99 years old, and was less than two months before her 100th birthday. 

I invite you to revisit some of June’s work, and share it with those in your life who may not know the story about the woman who brought so many iconic voices to life.

Voiceover Conferences (2021 Edition)

Events

For almost all of 2020 Covid-19 was the bane of travel and public gatherings everywhere, and voiceover conferences were no exception. Event after event was canceled, and voice talent were left in their usual booth-based habitats in solitude. As much as many of us would love to get together, a respiratory virus in our industry is no joke, and that’s leaving out the many other possible complications due to individual health issues. Several conferences did offer some content virtually, but nothing was up to the usual snuff for our mutual strong gathering desires. 

Unfortunately, the sudden nature of restrictions in 2020 caught many event producers off guard. As the year progressed, uncertainty about the safety of mass gatherings kept things difficult to schedule for future months. It’s easy to imagine that gatherings costing tens of thousands of dollars may be difficult to both schedule and to cancel. 

So you may be wondering, what does 2021 hold for our beloved conferences?

Virtual Voiceover Conferences

Virtual is the name of the game for most of them. Several have put off dates very far, I would imagine hoping for germ free environments that far away, but many have decided to play it safe and keep offerings online and worry free for all attendees. 2021 marks a new political administration for America, and also what is likely a very different response to the virus, but given the challenges of the last year, it seems logical to play it safe at least one more year until things are in the clear. Even the vaccine doesn’t offer an instant cure, as it needs 2 doses to be effective, and does not last for more than a few months worth of protection. Whatever your decisions about attending events and being in public, stay safe and keep those pipes healthy! 

Thankfully, for any folx whose incomes have dropped a bit it looks like many of the conference fees are much smaller due to online only events. It seems likely that this would also be a great year for those whose budgets are normally hindered by air fare, hotel, and conference fees to get a chance to mingle and learn. Below is information on every major conference I could find. Not all of them have updated their event schedules for the new year, but I’ve tried to include as much information as I could about them anyway. 

2021 Events

***Will be updated as information becomes available.

VO Atlanta– This mammoth conference had to cancel its conference in 2020 due to the oncoming coronavirus. They caused some significant waves in the industry by not refunding ticket prices to former attendees. The conference has already made a decision that it’s April 19th-25th event will be entirely virtual. There is a great deal of content available in past years, although they have not announced their current schedule yet. 

MaVO– The Mid Atlantic Voiceover conference is another that has already made it’s move online for 2021, setting their dates far out in the year in November. Their event will be the 12-14th of that month on Zoom. The organization also has regular virtual events if you’re looking for some industry company. 

VoxyLadies Summit– This ladies only brainchild of Lisa Biggs has decided to buck the trend and schedule their next conference for 2022. They’re aiming for January 20-22nd. This conference is a bit smaller than the others, and based in Charlotte, NC. Although they have not announced their conference schedule at this point, they are offering both a full registration fee, and a smaller fee for those who want to hold their spot for the conference. 

AVOX– This newcomer is one of the few trying for a live in-person event. They’re aiming for July 2nd, 2021 in LA. Their inaugural event was intended to be in 2020, but was cancelled for the obvious reasons. The website says their goal is to celebrate the 100 best actors in video games, anime, and animation. Their guest list shows many high-end-talent names, so if those are your desired genre to work in, this looks like a great place to be. 

That’s Voiceover– This glittery conference has not announced 2021 plans as yet, but their signature awards ceremony was held virtually last year, so I would imagine they’re likely to put their conference there as well. Joan Baker and Rudy Gaskins always put together a full and interesting event for attendees. 

One Voice Conference– This conference’s main in-person events are UK based, but they have had events in the USA before. They’ve not announced their plans for 2021 as of this writing, but given their previous virtual events in the USA, I would imagine it’s likely they’ll go that way again if they have events in our country. (And probably in their own.) 

APAC 2021– The audiobook central conference has announced it’s online offerings for May 6-7th, May 10-12, and one last element on May 14th. Their days are very full with lots of offerings, so if audiobooks is your thing, this looks like a good spot to be in front of your computer. Although you will lose out on the ability to rub shoulders with publishers and producers, there are quite a few excellent workshops available, as well as the always popular speed dating event. 

eVOcation– This newer conference is focused on the business aspects of voiceover work. They held their 2020 event online, so it seems likely they would do the same for 2021. Their event last year was held in September, and they have not currently announced their plans. The conference has taken an unusual tack in it’s business related focus, as most conferences focus on the acting and technical side of the industry. If you’re feeling lacking in that arena, this could be a great place to end up. 

No matter what your plans for 2021 are, most people seem to be keeping gatherings virtual for the moment. 

While that’s disappointing for our in-person-loving folks, don’t forget that you’re able to create an event of your own at any time. Weekly or monthly meetups whether with a few friends or many could not only cheer you up, but make a difference to your colleagues as well. The uncertainty in the air has kept everyone a little restless and stir crazy. If you’re having a tough time, you’re not alone. There are many online groups with other talent, and it’s not too hard to find a group of compatible people to virtually visit with or discuss business endeavors. Let’s all hope for the days we can see one another in person again very soon! 

Moms Trust Moms

Marketing

Does Your Brand Need A Millennial Mom Voice?

Does your company need to use a millennial mom for marketing and advertising campaigns? That may depend on what you’re selling, of course, but for a vast variety of products and services, the answer is “yes”. 

The prevalence and effectiveness of video marketing continues to grow. Have you engaged in video marketing or are you just starting to experiment with this opportunity? If you don’t want to be the talking head, speaking on your video, you’ll need a voice to represent your brand. When you choose that voice, or set of voices, you can use these consistently across your commercials and online video ads. Should that voice behind your brand be a millennial mom?

For many brands, a millennial mom voice is a smart choice. A millennial mom can engage with and sell to another millennial mom, by speaking the same language in similar vernacular. 

Let’s look at the numbers:

The spending power of moms in America is $2.4 trillion.

85% of household purchases are made or decided by mom.

46% of millennial parents say that they turn to other parents for recommendations.

42% of millennial moms don’t think ads are geared toward them

What’s the point? 

What do the numbers boil down to? Millennial moms have major spending power. You may already know that you want to reach that demographic with your message or brand. But in thinking about how you can sell to them, it’s important to know that those moms are most likely to trust other moms’ recommendations. How can you go about creating recommendations from a millennial mom? You can work with your customers, but to really get the word out, you can build video ads around giving and sharing advice. When your ads speak your customers’ language, in their tone and voice, while answering their questions and concerns, then you are more likely to build that rapport with your ideal target market that you’re working toward. 

What does that mean for your next marketing campaign?

Working with a millennial mom voice artist means that your next marketing campaign, and your brand overall, can maintain a consistent voice of a friend, throughout your videos. You’ll be giving your brand a persona, for customers to relate to and trust. Think about the brands you know who have used a spokesperson or character to sell their products or to share their message. People have come to relate to that persona or have come to trust him or her. Maybe they look up to him or her, or maybe they can empathize with the character. Engaging with a millennial mom voice for your digital ads can do the same thing. Viewers, and listeners, will start to associate your brand or message with a relatable voice, a friend they know and trust.

Especially if you are introducing something new, potentially controversial, or just a big ask, you want a voice that sounds trustworthy and authentic – like talking with a friend over the phone or engaging with a favorite Instagram influencer. 

What Are Millennial Moms Buying?

The simple answer is a lot. As we talked about before, 85% of household purchases are made by moms. That’s everything from toilet paper to technology, from cosmetics to cleaning supplies.  

It’s important to remember that health and safety are among the top priorities for millennial moms. They are willing to spend more on products made with safer or better ingredients. 

Millennial moms are of the “selfie” generation so keep in mind that when it comes to fashion and beauty it’s about building confidence and feeling strong. 

What Message Should A Millennial Mom Share About Your Brand?

Millennials are a motivated group of consumers. They are cause-driven and they like when their money “does good.” They don’t see companies and corporations as separate from ethics and social good. They are intertwined and they want to know that their purchases go far. In fact, 51% of millennial moms expect companies to give back. 

Millennial moms are empowered and influential. They don’t want to be talked at or talked down to. They want to hear from someone who gets them and respects their outlook on life.

Your message shouldn’t just be “buy this,” but rather should be an invitation to join a movement or to learn about a social cause. It should be about a product or service that solves a problem, especially a particular universal or global one. It should be about a story or vision, and not just a product to buy. 

How To Use A Millennial Mom Voice For Your Brand

Today’s moms are informed and have endless resources for research. They use their mobile devices and phones to research on the go and know how to dig deep to find exactly what they are looking for. Millennial moms walk into a store knowing what their buying needs are – and seek products that meet those needs to a T. Millennial moms are known for planning out their purchases, and using social media to do lots of research before they make their purchases. 

Millennial moms are a powerful purchasing demographic. They make significant purchases on behalf of themselves and their families, but they do so backed with information and research. They tend to go to friends for recommendations or listen to those they trust for advice. If your brand needs a millennial mom to share your message, you can consider hiring voice over talent to be the voice behind your brand – and get the word out to this demographic. 

Women in VO: Cree Summer

History of Voiceover

From California where she was born, to the Red Pheasant Reserve in Sascatchewan, to the dozens upon dozens of roles she’s played on the screen and behind the mic, Cree Summer is an acting powerhouse. Her father was Don Francks, a Canadian actor and musician, and her mother was Lili Clark, an adopted member of the Plains Cree First nations. She has a younger brother named Rainbow Sun Francks, who is a music DJ. Cree and her family traveled and worked around British Columbia for the first few years of her life, until Cree started school in Toronto at age 8. 

Early Life

Cree credits her father with some of her start in the acting business. Don Francks was a voice actor and screen actor in Canada, so she was able to make an early start at age 11 behind the mic with his help. An early major role of hers was the niece of Inspector Gadget, Penny. Her voice was easily recognizable to viewers, so she was cast in many parts throughout the eighties in blockbuster series, like the Care Bears Movie, and Ewoks. 

It wasn’t long before her face became as recognizable as her voice, with the Cosby Show Spin off, A Different World. She played Winnifred “Freddie” Brooks, and was a regular cast member on that show from 1988 until the end of it’s run in 1993. She made guest appearances on other live action shows like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Living Single. While she was on these on camera shows, she also continued working on her voice acting career. The show The Real Ghostbusters made a format change in 1988, increasing it’s on air time from a half hour to an hour, and making it’s content more youthful and humor oriented. Cree voiced the part of Chilly Cooper, the neighborhood ice cream woman, and the love interest of Slimer.

1990s-2000s

Over the next 20 years, Cree voiced over a hundred roles in all kinds of cartoons. She was Elmyra Duff in Tiny Toon adventures, a role she later reprised in Pinky, Elmyra, and The Brain. She played Mary Melody, or Pela in WB’s Histeria, Cleo the Poodle in Clifford the Big Red Dog, Suzie Carmichael in Rugrats, Valerie Grey in Danny Phantom, Foxxy Love in Drawn together, Numbuh 5 in Codename: Kids Next Door, Dulcy the Dragon in Sonic the Hedgehog,Penelope in Barbie As Rapunzel, octogenarian villain Granny May on WordGirl, Tiff from Nickelodeon’s My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Blackarachnia in Transformers: Animated. he also played a role in “Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated” as Lady Marmalad in the episode The Haunting.

Videogames

She also lent her voice to numerous video game titles. These include Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, BLACK, as well as Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland. She voiced Auriel in Diablo 3,[8] and reprised the role for Heroes of the Storm. She was also the voice of Tandi in Fallout and First Citizen Lynette in Fallout 2, Tatjana in Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits, Lady Belgemine, Young Tidus and additional voice-overs in Final Fantasy X, Lenne/Calli in Final Fantasy X-2, Storm in Marvel Super Hero Squad, Cynder in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, Magma in X-Men Legends, and the Inca Princess Micay in Pitfall: The Lost Expedition. 

She had a small role in Mass Effect. She also did miscellaneous voices in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. She reprised her voice of She-Hulk in Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet. She also voiced Kit Brinny in the introduction video for the MMORPG Wildstar. She provides the voice of vampire derby girl Roller Brawl in the Skylanders series. She has also voiced Professor Penelope Young, a minor character original in Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Disney

Cree also played Princess ‘Kida’ Kidagarsh in the Disney movie and franchise of Lost Atlantis. She has voiced that this is a favorite role, and shared frustration that Kida is not included in the main line of Disney Princesses. ““I just feel like it’s bullshit. I feel like Kida gets the crap end of the stick, she’s in the back of the bus. She’s just a beautiful representation of powerful womanhood, and being a brown girl. It bums me out because Kida is a princess and she’ll always be a princess. I think there’s something to it too for all of us brown little freaks. I think it makes us push a little more and realize that we still have some fighting to do.”  Kida surely deserves a place in Disney Princess canon alongside all the growing number of Black and Princesses of Color. 

Music

In addition to her other talents, Cree Summer has also performed music most of her life. She joined her first band at the age of 13 and has been using her voice as a part of her career ever since. She sang background vocals for her A Different World castmate, Jasmine Guy’s self titled LP. During the next several years, she had ups and downs with various recording companies, most of the disagreements coming about because the labels thought her music was too political. 

Cree became friends with Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz, and Lenny joined her on and also produced a solo album called Street Faerie. She went on tour with Lenny as his opening act, but unfortunately the label dropped her shortly after, and a planned tour stop at Lillith Fair was canceled, although the label continued to promote her album. 

A number of Summer’s portrayed animated characters are singers or sing songs within the soundtrack of a show. The character of Susie in All Grown Up! was portrayed as a singer with real talent, allowing Summer to sing in the role. Summer also sings the opening theme song for All Grown Up!. The character of Foxxy Love in Drawn Together was a singer, Numbuh 5 from Codename: Kids Next Door sang a lullaby. Elmyra Duff sang several times on Tiny Toon Adventures. 

She co-performed lead vocals in the song “Cool Kitty” with friend and frequent co-star Tara Strong, which accompanied a cartoon called Class of 3000, directed and written for Cartoon Network by André 3000. She provided the voice of a recurring pomegranate singer in The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange. Her character Priscilla on Sheriff Callie’s Wild West also sings many times. 

The freedom of Voice Acting

Despite her lengthy list of accomplishments, Cree Summer stays humble, and also has an abiding love for voice acting. This article quotes her as saying, “I love doing both voiceovers and on camera acting, but I really like the freedom I get in voice acting,” she explained. “I really get into a character, and use its traits, age, and even jaw and teeth type to determine how I should do its voice. Another positive aspect of voice overs is the closeness of everyone in the whole community. It’s like being a part of a unique club, where everyone respects one another. It’s not like the music business, or live acting, where certain people will see others as competition. I am blown away and humbled when I walk in the studio and see a woman who can do eight character voices and none of them sound the same! Another reason there’s no uptight attitude about competition is because all of us are silly people and love our job.”

What has been your favorite role voiced by Cree?

Personally, as a 90’s kid, I’m partial to Suzie Carmichael in Rugrats.

Making New Year Business Goals

Business, Marketing

As you’re thinking about your own new year’s resolutions, are you putting together some new year business goals as wel

l? Your business life deserves the kind of fresh start and intentional thinking that the rest of you does.

It’s time for a new year, a new fresh start. But when it comes to business, how do you know where to start? Let’s take a look at some ideas, based on everything we went through last year and all the trends that are likely to drive us all forward in 2021.

Start With What Wasn’t Working

We can all admit there were a lot of unavoidable bumps in the road last year. Shutdowns and stay at home orders kept people at home, rather than in stores, offices, and more. We faced economic and financial issues, logistics and process issues, shipping slow downs, regulation shifts, and more.

But setting all of that aside, it’s time to ask yourself, “What really held me back this year?”

Maybe it’s time to get out a list, your favorite planner, pour a giant cup of tea, and really think about it.

Need some tea recommendations? You’re welcome to check out my Steeping Time YouTube channels and my reviews here. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • What held you back this year?
  • What did you wish you could have accomplished more of this year?
  • Where do you want to see yourself in another year?
  • What did you find frustrating and out of your control last year? 
  • What you can control this year?

Alright, now that you know which areas you want to build your new year business goals around, let’s take a look at some actionable steps you could be taking to make those more than goals, but realities in 2021. 

Let’s Make Things Simpler In the New Year

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the level of simplicity that this pandemic, and year, has brought to our lives. Of course, so many issues of this year have brought certain stresses and complications we weren’t expecting.

But we also weren’t expecting to reconnect with our loved ones at home the way we’ve been able to. We weren’t expecting the breathing room that comes with a cleared social calendar. We weren’t expecting to suddenly have time for those hobbies we’d been hoping to take up. This year has taught us how to slow down, how to reprioritize, and how to rebuild our lives in a way that we’ve never had the time for before. 

We can take those lessons to work too. 

  • Prioritize In many ways this year, we’ve learned what’s really important to us. Let’s set that kind of focus on our businesses as well. Let’s focus our energies on topics that grow us toward our goals and inspire us on a daily basis, rather than chasing carrots that we think we should catch, and never will.
  • Streamline Finding yourself spinning your wheels in some area of business too much? Now is a good time to look at streamlining your business. How can you readjust and create workflows that work for you? And by doing so, how can you free up your time to get back to that inspiring work we just talked about?
  • Outsource When you’ve determined what you want to be doing with your time this year, and what you want to be working better or more efficiently without your direct support, it’s a great time to assess what you can be outsourcing. Another great lesson of 2020 is that remote teams can work. So whatever business you are in, it may be time to start looking for employees, contractors, vendors, or partners who can support the work you do.

Digital Is Where It’s At This Year

Whether you’ve explored it a bit, are a total newbie, or have leveraged digital technology for years, it’s time to take digital to the next level in the new year. This year, more than ever, forced us all at home, away from in-office meetings, from trade shows, from conferences, and more. Everything from marketing and sales to day-to-day communication has gone digital and it’s time to get up to speed. 

What can you take digital this year?

  • Payroll and HR
  • Employee communications 
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Processes and Workflows
  • CRM and Customer Communication

Since we are on the topic, marketing is a big arena that’s shifting to digital fast. Sales and marketing teams have had fewer opportunities to meet with potential customers, with trade shows and conferences being canceled this year. There’s a lot of talk about when and how they are coming back, but after a year of this, digital sales and marketing have exploded. Many may not feel comfortable gathering in the near future, and even if they do, so many of us have grown accustomed to digital communication. Businesses who lean into digital are going to do best in 2021.

Video marketing will be critical in the coming year. Now is the time to think about how you can get the word out with explainer videos or whiteboard videos. Here’s a great example of how you can use videos to connect with customers digitally. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSqfLMVrv0A&feature=youtu.be

Partnering With Marketing Experts

As you’re putting together your new year’s resolutions for your business, one of the best things you can do is connect with a list of qualified, trusted vendors you can rely on. Just because we can’t always meet with people over coffee or network at a local event, we can still make meaningful connections with business professionals we can trust, for our own services and to refer to others. 

How can you make genuine connections online?

  • Start with your values. What matters most to you?
  • Ask around. Make introductions and ask your friends for referrals. 
  • Share lists and connections with others.

If you’re looking for voice talent or video marketing referrals, I’d love to connect. Drop me a line anytime and ask me about the type of marketing vendor you’re looking to connect with. I probably have someone I can introduce you to. 

We’ve walked through a year of uncertainties and global shifting and are all ready for a fresh start. Of course, none of us can predict what can happen in 2021. Guessing would be futile, as we’ve learned, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be ready. 

Being prepared for whatever comes our way this year means being flexible and agile. It means facing the future with a certain courage and setting your face toward your goals. 

Let’s walk into the new year with a fresh focus on our priorities, and what matters most to us, in business and in life. Let’s be ready to use what we have, where we are, to make this year better than the last for the world around us.