That's Life

Preparing vs. Doing

March 11, 2022 by Amy Taylor Fernandez

Are you perpetually preparing to be prepared? Preparation is the first step to pretty much any change we’re trying to make in our lives. And it’s energizing, as long as we don’t get stuck there.

For example, I wanted to start a raw vegan diet. So, I got a good blender, got all the produce for a week and I was all in. I was in the preparation phase and I was enthusiastically optimistic. Then a heavenly scent from my neighbor’s grill wafted over to my side of the fence. Suddenly, I didn’t feel like doing the vegan thing anymore.

Or the time I was finally going to get in shape! All I needed was the gym equipment I ordered off late night TV. It would be epic. Life-altering. That one piece of equipment was all I needed. I was convinced I’d look exactly like the model from the infomercial if I bought this machine. I was feeling pretty good about my weight loss goals. But the half-life of my excitement was very short. Not long after the equipment arrived, it sat in the corner collecting dust.

We all do this in one form or another. Not just in terms of diets and weight loss products but with everything.

I’ve met a few people who say they want to do voiceovers. They buy a decent microphone, take a few lessons and some even build a studio. Then I see them years later and they haven’t made a demo, a website, reached out to clients or agents, joined any voiceover auditioning sites or even opened the mic. Let me say this as a disclaimer: I’m NOT putting them down. They are doing the same thing I did with my juice fast and my Zumba DVDs. You can buy tools to help get you where you wanna go, but it is up to you to actually use them.

They, like me, are in a state of preparing to prepare. So how do we break this cycle?

What gets us from A to Z and not just A to F? I think dropping the notion that some tangible object is going to make everything fall into place is a good start.

When I started my business in 2006, there are several tools I thought I needed in my arsenal. Some of those tools worked for a while. Others are now obsolete and still others were never necessary at all. I have a $4,000 paper weight on my equipment rack (a Telos Zephyr Xstream ISDN Codec) which was in its hay day was (for me) an absolute necessity. It paid for itself multiple times over, but now it is selling for peanuts on ebay.

There’s nothing wrong with buying equipment if we use them to reach our goals. The problem lies in believing that the tool alone will get you there. My advice is to map out what you hope to accomplish before making those purchases. Then only get the tools you really need. Make darn good use of them once you have them. Discard or sell them when they are no longer helpful.

Anybody want to buy a used Telos Zephyr? Zumba DVDs? I’m kidding. But I have found that I work out more often now that I’ve decluttered my home of gym equipment. I think not having it here makes me go to the gym more often. I’ve shifted my thoughts surrounding my fitness goals. It’s still not perfect, but I’m no longer in preparation mode. I feel like I’m in doing mode. It takes effort, but we can all release the need to constantly prepare and make those goals happen by doing a little bit every day to get us there.

Shifting Gears

January 22, 2022 by Amy Taylor Fernandez

Many of us have made life-altering shifts since the start of the pandemic, whether consciously or unconsciously. Working and schooling from home have become the norm. Our routines have been interrupted. Paychecks stifled. Plans altered or cancelled.

The ability to roll with these changes is key.

I am lucky that my voiceover work has been home-based since 2006. Not much changed for me when the shutdown started. What did change? Everything else. My almost empty nest was suddenly full again. I went from working alone at home to having a college kid and a high school kid attending on-line classes and my husband working from home all in one week. We all claimed a nook of the house in which to work or study. My husband and I shared what had been my office. We made it work because we had to.

Our ability to pivot and live harmoniously was key. We cooked together, ate every meal together and had great conversations. No one was running off to practice or rehearsals. As sad as that was, it was peaceful at the same time. Our family connection grew stronger.

The quarantine really boiled our daily life down to its essence. We weren’t traveling or eating inside restaurants. Our gym was closed. We left the house for provisions only. We shopped for our elderly friends. We got to know our neighbors.

In March of 2020, I kept busy recording a lot of health-based PSAs, physician and hospital announcements regarding Covid 19 protocols which were constantly changing. There was also a stream of voiceover work regarding telehealth visit instructions. The next wave of voice work came when the vaccines rolled out. Information about where to get the vaccine, who was eligible, and which one was being offered all needed recorded announcements. Things were calm for a long while until the booster shots became available. Most of the voiceover work was steady but did not have the urgency that the initial vaccine announcements did. Then Omicron hit. A flurry of airports and government entities joined the healthcare industry in adding new Omicron-related rules. At the time of this blog, my daily recordings are about where to get PCR tests, where asymptomatic people can get rapid tests and the shortage of at-home tests. Telehealth visits are also ramping up again.

This pandemic has taught me a little about what is important in life. As things lean into the realm of normalcy and we get back to our old ways (for better or for worse) I’m trying to hold onto some of the good habits that have sprouted from this two year period.

“Should” – Harmless monosyllabic or escape pod?

January 19, 2022 by Amy Taylor Fernandez

Should. It seems like a harmless little monosyllabic.

I “should” go to the gym…

(wait for it)

*but* I will stay home and binge Netflix instead.

“Should” leaves too much wiggle room to get out of what we need to be doing.

“I will go to the gym.” That’s much better. Even if you say “I will not go to the gym” it is better than using “should” because now you have made a definitive statement. If you decide you’re not going to the gym, you can fill your time with some other constructive activity without beating yourself up for not doing what you “should” do. “I ought to” is a pesky utterance as well. My husband and I have tried to remove should from our vocabulary for a few years now. It doesn’t always work, but I find my days are more productive if I take the “should” out of my plans.

I’m also a big list-maker. I start my morning with an espresso and a pen and paper. Why? I can write things down on paper without distraction. If I use my device, a text or email can interrupt my train of thought. Distractions happen too easily. Somehow staring at a blank white page helps me focus on details. It sounds silly but writing with a pen solidifies the task more than if I type it. It gives it more importance. It can’t simply be deleted. It needs to be effectively crossed out. There is something gratifying about crossing items off my list manually. It’s just not the same as hitting delete.

Today I “will” tackle my to-do list. What will you do?

Cancer, gratitude and paying it forward.

December 11, 2021 by Amy Taylor Fernandez

I’ve always been the type to mentally map out my day. On a particular Thursday in 2016 I was supposed to get a call that said, “Mrs. Fernandez, your biopsy was negative” and then I would go on with my day. While in my car, I got this call instead. “I’m sorry Mrs. Fernandez but your biopsy was positive. You have breast cancer.”

While still digesting those words, I scrambled to find a pen. I scribbled “invasive lobular carcinoma” on a grocery receipt. I lost half of what the radiologist was saying, still playing the initial words over and over in my mind. It’s a phone call no one ever wants to receive followed by phone calls I never wanted to make. Telling my husband, my father, my kids was excruciatingly difficult. My schedule for the coming weeks was peppered with appointments with doctors and surgeons. I’d spend hours scouring the internet for studies and statistics. I consumed a lot of information in a short period of time, but nothing was more helpful to me than talking to women who had been through it.

Two amazing women come to mind, Peppy and Patricia. They were both beacons of light in a dark hour. They patiently answered many of my questions, gave me advice and a candid glance into life with/after breast cancer. I will be eternally grateful to them as well as to my friend Ursula, a cancer survivor of 10+ years, for their wisdom. My friend Tori brought me to appointments and took notes (that was huge) and countless others visited me and brought meals. They truly got me through it.

I saw a dear friend last weekend that is now a 1 year cancer survivor. She told me that I helped her so much when she was first diagnosed. I am glad that I could help if only in a small way. Another friend shared her diagnosis with me (and her husband) but chose not to tell her kids or her extended family. Yet another acquaintance blogs about her cancer. These decisions are personal. I respect all of their choices. Everyone needs to forge their own path however they see fit.

This past month, 3 women that I know and love were diagnosed with breast cancer. I am always deeply saddened to hear people’s voices when they tell me the news. I know their desperation, the unknown, the difficult decisions that they’ll be making in the coming weeks and months. I try to listen attentively, give my opinion if they ask for it and try not to insert my own story into theirs. I’ve done that before. It never works out because everyone’s cancer is different and therefore so is their journey.

The best I can do for them is to be present. I’m not a doctor. I only know about the situation that befell me, my treatment choices and how I feel about the decisions I made. It’s been 5+ years and I’m grateful to be here. Grateful that I get to be the person they call on for a shoulder to cry on, to ask questions and sometimes to simply be an empathetic ear.

I’m grateful for the forgiveness I was able to muster for others and especially for myself after my diagnosis. It’s amazing how in a split second you can decide what’s important in this life and what’s not. A cancer diagnosis is one of those times. It was a life-defining moment for me and I’m sure it is for many. Friendships were rekindled. Grudges were dropped. Work/life balance shifted. I saw kindness in people. Now, in the moments when I’m frazzled by the chaos of daily life, I need to pause and remember how I felt in that moment. Grateful to be here.

COVID and Career Change

December 6, 2021 by Amy Taylor Fernandez

“This letter is to inform you that I’m leaving the company.”

In the past month, I’ve received these dreaded emails from 3 of my contacts. It always hits me like a brick. I try to develop hearty relationships with my clients over the years. It’s sad to think the relationship has come to an end.

I always respond by expressing how much I’ve enjoyed working with them, tell them how much I’ll miss being part of their projects (I truly will) and wish them the best in their new endeavors. It’s a scary email for a freelance voice actor to receive. I can’t be sure if that means the end of the line for me or if I will continue working for that company.

The client may introduce me to their successor via email. Those emails are encouraging and give me a sense of job stability, although nothing is guaranteed. Other clients ensure me that they’ve given my contact info to their creative departments. A few simply vanish and I’d never know unless I write to them and get the message that their email is defunct. Fortunately, that seldom happens.

Long gone are the days people work for a company for 30 years, get a Rolex and a retirement cake and move to Florida. Business is in a constant state of flux. Millennials on average change jobs every two years and 9 months. Gen Zers are expected to have a whopping 18 jobs over their lifetimes. We must be prepared to deal with the ebb and flow of clients throughout our voiceover careers. How do we retain these companies as clients once our contact person is gone? (I don’t have an answer to this. Please let me know in the comments if you have any ideas.)

Why the sudden uptick in career changes? Is it because it’s the end of the year? Is it due to Covid? I’ve heard a few people say the pandemic has made them rethink their careers. Others have moved to another state, citing covid 19 concerns. Even though we’ve proven some jobs can be done remotely now, I would imagine telecommuting is not an option for all. A change of residence could account for some of the job switching.

Downsizing happens, also. The pandemic hit some companies hard. Positions were eliminated. Quite possibly the person who took over my contact’s duties either didn’t get my info or they have their own talent pool and don’t need my services.

Looking at this with a glass-half-full mentality, I could say the personnel turnover means new people are taking over for people who *have not* hired me before. They will now be in the position to discover me and use my voice talents. While I’m sad to see my clients leave, I welcome new clients with different perspectives and fresh ideas for voice projects.

Fortunately, the 3 contacts that left their respective companies did connect me with their colleagues and I do continue to work for those companies. I’m hoping this turnover will result in more opportunities for voice work both with my established clients and new ones.

Changing seasons, changing voice!

October 25, 2021 by Amy Taylor Fernandez

I live in the Northeast. It’s lovely to see the seasons change. We get vibrant fall colors, white winters, green springs and lush summer vegetation. But I noticed years ago that from mid-October to April, my voice changes. If I listened to something I recorded in June and compared it to something I recorded in November, they were drastically different. This was no good for my career. My Automotive clients in particular will often use donut recordings. In other words, they would keep the intro and outro that I recorded in the summer, for example, and redo the middle of the spot in December with their new car models and sales info. So my voice had to be consistent. I was careful to use the same mic, same booth and same settings, but what could I do about my voice sounding the same?

Here are a few tricks I’ve learned over the years that help my voice sound the same year round.

I got a humidifier. This helps me breathe better, especially at night.
I limit dairy during the winter months. Almond milk replaces milk. It helps me feel less stuffy.
I bought a Neti Pot. This apparatus is relatively inexpensive and works wonders by cleaning out the nasal passages.
I drink honey mixed with apple cider vinegar. Bragg’s is my personal favorite. This is especially helpful if I have a long narration session or hundreds of IVR prompts to do.
Hydrate!!! This is important to do year round, but especially in the fall and winter. My goal is to drink 64 ounces of water daily. It is so important for us voiceover folks to stay hydrated.

Since implementing these few changes, I haven’t had any complaints that my voice sounds different from season to season. I can enjoy the changing New England scenery and my clients get a consistent sounding Amy.

Voice Over Actor