If you have an Amazon Echo, please ask Alexa\nto launch Idaho Potato. Now, ask a potato-related question. It could be about\ncooking, storing, determining a genuine Idaho potato or whatever comes to mind.\nThat\u2019s my voice, sharing the secrets of spuds on behalf of the Idaho Potato\nCommission. And this job, where I get to provide the voice for many Alexa\nskills (the voice-first word for apps), came about because of what appeared to\nbe a regular, everyday audition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The client is Witlingo<\/a>, an official Amazon and Google\ncontent provider. I lucked into becoming\none of their team members by winning an audition early in their development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But was it really luck? Benjamin Franklin\nsaid, \u201cDiligence is the mother of good luck\u201d. I audition regularly, super-serve\nmy clients and always keep my word. In fact, I work by the motto,\n\u201cunder-promise and over-deliver\u201d. I\ndon\u2019t win every audition \u2013 far from it! In fact, I have a little hand-made sign\nin my office that reads, \u201cthe job is<\/strong>\nto audition\u201d, to remind myself to keep going during a non-winning streak. But\nthose clients who do hire me are as good as gold, and I treat them as such. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Witlingo has developed two recording apps\nthat allow anyone to become a contributor to the voice-first worlds. Castlingo<\/a> is for the person who\nwants to dip a toe into podcasting, 77-seconds at a time. Buildlingo<\/a> is for businesses. They\u2019re\nboth bringing more information and voices to the voice-first world, and when\nthey want a professional voice to speak for them, I\u2019m willing and ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The market for voice-first technology\ncontinues to grow. As of last fall, Neilson<\/a>\nreported that nearly one-quarter of US households owned a smart speaker. Of\nthose, 40% had more than one device. It\u2019s an exciting time for voice-talent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So what\u2019s the takeaway? First, that you\nnever know where a job might lead. That seemingly small client with a tiny\nbudget could expand in the future, and they\u2019ll remember how great it was to\nwork with you. Second, that the voice-over world is exploding in new and wonderful\nways. There\u2019s a lot of work out there and reason for optimism. Something cool\nmight be just an audition away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lisa\nBrandt is an experienced voice artist, broadcaster and the author of five\nbooks. Her latest is Make the Media Want You: An Insider\u2019s Guide to Creating\nPersuasive Pitches, available on <\/em>Amazon<\/em><\/a>, with an audio version coming soon!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lisa voices Alexa skills for the Idaho Potato Commission, and it started with one ordinary audition. Her take on why voice-first work keeps growing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[244,279,36],"tags":[43,125,495],"class_list":["post-3126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-female-voice-actor-female-voice-over-talent","category-voice-over-business","category-voice-over-industry","tag-female-voice-over","tag-voice-over-audition","tag-voice-over-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t