5 Questions for a Professional Voice-Over Talent – John Weeks

Today’s 5 Questions for a Professional Voice Over Talent are answered by John Weeks, a professional voice over talent based in Morristown, Tennesee.

1. The beginning: When did you know you wanted to be a voiceover talent; how did your career begin (please include what year it started) and then when did your passion for voiceover develop into something professional?

I knew I wanted to be in radio at age 13, which was 1967. I started in radio in 1969 and really didn’t know people would actually pay me to voice commercials until 1976. However, it wasn’t until 1983 that I realized it could turn into a fulltime profession. There’s nothing like doing what you love to do and someone paying you to do it!

2. What is the one thing you know now that you wish someone had told you when you first started out in voiceover?

Be yourself and don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through. Don’t try and be someone else, because your voice and personality are unique to you and only you.

3. What do you see as the biggest professional or personal obstacle you face that impacts your voiceover business and how are you working to overcome it?

I’d say marketing would be my weakest area. I’ve been lucky enough over the years to have work come to me via word of mouth and through my own fault have depended on that too much. I’ve done some cold calling and have had a pretty good return with that, but am always open to ideas!

4. What personal trait or professional tool has helped you succeed the most in your career so far?

I think it’s treating every client like they are my ONLY client, no matter how big or small they are. Also, doing your best on every project.

5. In your development as a voice over performer, who has been the one particular individual or what has been the one piece of performance advice (maybe a key performance trick, etc.) that you felt has had the most impact on your actual voice over performance and why?

The thing that helped me most was when I learned to color my words. Way back in the 1970s, I was told by my mentor to, “Say the words with feeling and make them sound like what they mean. If you’re saying something is big, it’s B I G and if something is small, it’s small”.

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