What Six-Figure Voice Actors Have in Common: 10 Lessons from 10 Conversations

Each season of Making it to the Mic has had a different focus alternating between people in front of the mic and people behind it. For Season 4, I wanted to do something different. Inspired by the State of VO Survey, I set out to interview voice actors who were six-figure voice actors.  Every single guest had earned six figures or more in voice over income alone, consistently, over multiple years.

I talked to ten incredible voice actors: Gina Scarpa, Robb Moreira, Danielle Famble, Andi Arndt, Zeke Alton, Daisy Hobbs, Jessica Taylor, Tim Campbell, Milena Tinoco, and Zehra Fazal.  In lots of ways, these people were diverse:  they’re union and non-union, they specialize in different genres of VO, live in different parts of the country, have agents or don’t, do direct marketing or don’t.

And yet, across all those differences, the same themes kept coming up. Here’s what I found out about how to make six figures in voice over.

What Six-Figure Voice Actors Have in Common: 10 Lessons from 10 Conversations

1. They Think Like CEOs

This was a HUGE throughline of the season. Almost every guest described a shift or a moment when they stopped thinking of themselves as “just a voice actor” and started thinking of themselves as the CEO of a small business.

They know their numbers. They think about marketing, rates, scheduling, time management, booking ratios, what genres are their biggest moneymakers, and where their money is going, and more. None of them are winging it and hoping for the best. They all started with a passion for voice over and have learned that running their business with intention is what’s going to keep them going for the long haul.  

2. Mindset is Important

Every guest this season is aware of how important the mental side of this career is.  There are so many ups and downs and slow times come for everyone. I heard this from every single guest, and I love that they said it out loud, because sometimes it feels like you’re the only one.

One guest felt a noticeable slowdown and genuinely didn’t know what caused it. So instead of spiralling alone he asked his agents directly how the market was looking. Others mentioned checking in with VO peers during slow stretches because it can be so comforting hearing “it’s slow for me too.”  (This is 1000% true for me personally!)

Another guest’s approach was the one I found so useful. She said, “knowing that slow times will come eases the anxiety, because then you can prepare for them.”  She tracks her numbers every month, keeps savings set aside specifically for slow periods, and when the slow time arrives, she rests and leans into it.  While this can be hard when you’re running your own business, it’s also important to recharge when you can.  

The mindset work isn’t about being relentlessly positive. It’s about having a relationship with this business that doesn’t knock you over every time something goes sideways.

3. They Know Exactly What They’re Chasing and What They’re Not

Something I heard in different forms across almost every episode was the idea of intentional focus. Not doing everything, not trying to do every genre, not saying yes to everything, but having real clarity about where they’re pointing their time, money, and energy.

One guest shared a framework he’d learned early in his career: divide your work into three buckets: what you’re actively pursuing, what you’d happily accept if it came to you, and what you won’t do. That third bucket matters because having boundaries set and deciding what you’re not chasing is how you stop spreading yourself thin.

Another made his lane decision from day one: only audiobooks. Not commercials, not promos… just the one thing he loved most and was best at. By going all-in on that one lane, he built a career that now includes over 900 narrated books, multiple industry awards, and passive royalty income still coming in five figures a month years later.

Others drew their lines differently. One guest decided a certain genre wasn’t worth her time when she could earn more in a fraction of the time doing what she does best. Another specifically pivoted away from genres more vulnerable to AI, toward work that’s harder to automate and where her skill set stands out.

Even though the specifics for each guest varied, they all ended up making six figures by deciding exactly how they wanted to spend their time (and how they didn’t!)

4. Repeat Clients Are the Foundation

If there was one thing that separated “I made six figures once” from “I make six figures consistently,” it was repeat business.

The guests with the most financial stability all had some version of recurring income whether it was clients who returned without them even having to audition, authors who kept coming back for new books in a series, production companies where they were on the roster as a trusted resource, animation directors who had worked with them in the past, etc.  

One guest described ongoing series with indie authors she’d worked with since her early days — relationships that had now spanned years and dozens of titles. Another has a client she can’t name due to an NDA, where she’s essentially the voice of the company and receives consistent work throughout the year. Another made it a goal to be on the rosters at production companies and corporate clients who just reach out when they need her.

How do you build those relationships? Do excellent work, be professional, be easy to work with, and make the session feel effortless. Multiple guests said some version of the same thing - do a great job and they’ll call you again before they even think about casting someone new.

5. They Treat Those Relationships Like They Actually Matter — Because They Do

This is an essential follow up to #4!

One guest talked about a producer she works with regularly, and how when they hop on a session, they spend the first few minutes just catching up because they’ve built a genuine connection over time. She also mentioned staying in touch with clients on social media, swapping recommendations and chatting about shared interests. Her philosophy is that you shouldn’t just reach out only to ask for work. 

Another guest’s version of client care is responsiveness. Once, a client told him to take a few days on something and he sent the finished file an hour later.  This is definitely something the client appreciated and will remember!

And one guest said almost all of her work is with returning clients, which is the dream!   Some of those clients put out a new project every few weeks, and she can be the go-to voice for an entire series spanning years.

Making humanity part of your business, especially in this age of AI, is more important than ever.

6. They Never Stop Marketing — Even When Business Is Good

One of the most memorable things I heard this season was to keep marketing even when you’re busy.  It helps to keep the pipeline full! Several guests talked about what happened when renewals carried them for a year or two and they stopped pushing. Then the renewal didn’t come, and suddenly it was what one guest called the first “honest” year of their VO career. 

One guest has built a marketing machine: a major SEO overhaul of her website, consistent direct marketing emails, and LinkedIn outreach. In one week alone, three different inbound leads landed in her inbox, all from people who found her through Google search.

She also told a story about how she sent an email to a game company she wanted to work with and heard nothing for almost two years. Then out of the blue, they sent her an audition and she booked it!  It turned out to be a character from a major animated series in a hugely popular video game.

Another guest’s version of marketing is SEO-focused. It’s something she constantly works on for her website so voice buyers understand who she is and  who she sounds like, making their decision to hire her that much easier.  

What the marketing looks like varies by person. The commitment to doing it consistently? That was universal.

7. They Never Stop Training, Either

You might think that once you’re making six figures consistently, you’ve made it and can coast. Every single guest would disagree.

One guest, who came to VO after a career in a highly technical, high-stakes field, put it best.  In his former profession, you didn’t reach a certain level and declare yourself done with training. You kept training because the environment kept changing and staying sharp was a discipline.  He applies that same philosophy to his acting career.

Others were still coaching, still developing new genres, still taking workshops regularly. And that’s because the business is constantly in flux.  What books well today might not next year.  The commercial read changes. Animation styles evolve. And it’s important to keep up with these trends if you want to continue working at the highest level of VO.  

8. They Invest in Their Businesses and Outsource Strategically

Six-figure voice actors don’t try to do everything themselves. They invest in their businesses like businesses and they outsource what isn’t the highest and best use of their time.

One guest has a full team: a virtual assistant, bookkeeper, CPA, and website designer.  Another has a remote engineer who runs her recording sessions to keep her focused and fully present.  And also to catch mistakes quickly!   

Many guests also worked with an audio engineer to help get their home studios up to broadcast quality.  This eliminated a huge amount of stress and gave them piece of mind that their studios were ready to record any job that came their way.  

Outsourcing things you as a voice actor don’t necessarily need to do yourself opens you up to be able to spend more time in the booth recording auditions and bookings.  

9. They Know How to Ride the Roller Coaster

Every single person I talked to this season has had hard times.  A year where the big campaign didn’t renew. A year where things just went quiet. A year where they wondered if maybe it was time to do something else.

One guest told me she was seriously researching day trading about six months before we recorded. Another had enrolled in a completely different professional program as a backup plan before he made it. Another described the income rollercoaster of having a massive job early in her career followed the next month by almost nothing.

What separates the people who stay from the people who leave isn’t that they don’t have the hard years. It’s that they have a framework for getting through them. Savings set aside. A coach they call. A community that celebrates a friend’s booking even when their own pipeline is quiet. When things go slow, they work on the non-paying parts of the business like  training marketing, SEO, reaching out to old clients, etc.  

At this level, the ability to keep showing up and believing in yourself through a dry stretch might be the most important skill of all.

10. There Is No Single Path — and That’s Actually Great News

No season of this podcast has given me more evidence for this - there is no one way to build a six-figure VO career.

Some guests spent years training before going full time. One booked a national commercial in her first handful of auditions with no VO classes, just a lifetime of acting training. Some live in major markets. Others are spread across the country. Some work exclusively through union agents. Others have no agent at all and book almost everything through direct relationships and casting sites.

Some hit six figures within a year. Others took four or five years of building before they got there. Some had a single big campaign that changed everything. Others built it out of hundreds of smaller jobs that added up over time.

For all the commonalities, what I loved most about this season was the differences. One guest doesn’t use social media at all. Another turns down work every month by choice. Another doesn’t do direct marketing. Some are SAG, some aren’t. Some are bilingual, which has been enormously advantageous in their markets.

One guest shared that she’d made half a million dollars in voice over revenue in a single year and then said, “you do not have to be with the upper echelon of agents and managers to have a six-figure business.”

Another put it this way, “You run your business the way you feel makes the most sense for you. There are going to be people who agree, and probably many who disagree, and that’s okay. None of them are dealing with your clients, your schedule, or your home situation.”

The version of this career that works for you doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. There’s just the work, done consistently and with intention, over time.

The Takeaway

If I had to summarize a season’s worth of conversations into a few sentences: treat it like the business it actually is. Market consistently, not just when things are slow. Build real relationships with clients. Outsource what you don’t need to be doing yourself. Protect your mindset like it’s a business asset (because it is) And stay connected to the thing you love about this work, because that’s what makes the hard parts worth it.

I’ll be honest, recording this season changed the way I think about my own business. Hearing ten different people build ten very different versions of the same goal reminded me that there’s no one right way to do this. There’s just the way that works for you, built intentionally, over time.

Ready to hear it straight from them? Listen to Season 4 of Making it to the Mic at stephaniepamroberts.com/podcast