A packing-blanket booth next to the fridge
Before voice over, I was a theatre and performance teacher and a technical director. I loved it, but I was always the one directing other people, and I missed performing.
I booked my first audiobook in my first month as a voice actor. It was a sports training book about an hour and a half long. It paid $50. Honestly, if I hadn't gotten that book I don't know how much I would have kept going. After that it became an obsession of mine to always have a job in the queue.
My first booth was PVC pipe and packing blankets next to the refrigerator. It went up and came down every night. The mic was a black $40 Blue Snowball on a mic stand I borrowed from school, and my pop filter was a pair of pantyhose stretched over a wire coat hanger. I built my business in that hut.
For eight to ten months I taught all day and narrated at night, a few audiobooks at once, on one to two hours of sleep. I was falling asleep at work. I don't recommend that part. I'd promised the school I would finish out the year, so I stayed until summer, and then I went full time.
Later I started helping other voice actors, and that turned into VO Journey Academy. The gear was cheap and the acting did the work, and that's still what we teach.
