Voice Actor Rob Woody

Sharon Cline: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: Welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m your host, Sharon Cline. And today in the studio, we have a voice actor. Hooray! And a podcaster and a producer and a storyteller. He specializes in audiobooks, animation, video games, and commercials since 2015. Nine years now. Welcome to the studio, Rob Woody. Hello.

Rob Woody: Greetings, everyone. Thanks for having me.

Sharon Cline: My pleasure. I love talking to someone who’s in the same industry as me, because I was just saying before the show started that I don’t really have many people in my world that I can say, here’s my problem, you know? Can you identify? So it’s just so exciting to talk to someone else who I can at least commiserate with some of the difficulties and some of the joys about being a voice actor. Thank you. You bet. So I was doing a little cyber stalking, as I do before the show, and realized that you had been in a couple of different industries, like in marketing and such, before you got into the voiceover world. So can you talk a little bit about your journey from before voiceover leading up to it?

Rob Woody: Absolutely. I’ll and I’ll try to make this fairly quick. Um, I’m the son of two entrepreneurs. Um, they weren’t always entrepreneurs, but in their mid 30s, they decided to go into business for themselves, actually right down the road. And for 25 years, they owned a pet supply and feed store. It was called Woodstock Pet and Livestock Supply.

Sharon Cline: Oh, no kidding.

Rob Woody: And I was a year old when they started that business. My dad was working other jobs. My mom was working in the store with my older sister, and I grew up in that business. I grew up around stacks of horse feed and bales of hay, and it was a very physical, blue collar way to grow up.

Sharon Cline: What bravery it takes for them to kind of stop whatever they were doing and throw all of their eggs in one basket, so to speak.

Rob Woody: Definitely as and as I grew up and understood more of what they were doing, I saw that they each brought different talents to the table. My dad could drive a truck, a large box truck, which you have to have a commercial driver’s license for. So he would go get the feed, go get the supplies. And my mom was a former bookkeeper, so she was really good at keeping books, writing checks, making sure money stays in the bank, and keeping the the help paid.

Sharon Cline: Perfect. So was that always their dream to to have their own business like that?

Rob Woody: I don’t think so. I think it was just something that happened at the time they saw, oh, maybe there’s a need for this and.

Sharon Cline: And made a go of it. And you grew up. Do the smells of certain like hay or something? Bring it all back to you? Absolutely. I was wondering, absolutely.

Rob Woody: Anytime I go in a tractor supply and I walk back through the stacks of horse feed, it’s like, oh, do I need to straighten these up? Or should I sweep or.

Sharon Cline: What happened to the store? It’s not there anymore.

Rob Woody: They eventually retired. They were getting older. They had worked their whole lives. Both were from North Georgia. Appalachian folk. Um. And I think they were just ready to go. They were ready to live the rest of their lives. Not working six days a week.

Sharon Cline: So you’re a native of Cherokee County, then, or Georgia, I should.

Rob Woody: Say definitely Georgia. Um, Cobb County. Cherokee. A little bit of Gwinnett. I lived over in Gwinnett County for seven years. Seven years? There aren’t.

Sharon Cline: That many. Um, you know, native Atlantans or suburban Atlantans, I suppose these days.

Rob Woody: Kind of tough to find. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: Oh, you must have seen so many changes. Quite a lot. Especially Cherokee County. It’s still changing as we speak. There are things being built outside the studio.

Rob Woody: Yes, indeed. Up near Ball ground. It’s still pretty cool. It’s still a lot of farmland, but. Oh, what’s that over there? Oh, that’s a storage warehouse.

Sharon Cline: To store all our stuff.

Rob Woody: Yes, all of our things and stuff.

Sharon Cline: All right, so you grew up, um, here, close to this town, and your parents had their store. And was that an inspiration to you as well? To kind of, um, become your own boss, so to speak?

Rob Woody: Not really. I, I had. That’s all I ever knew. And most people don’t want to do this, but I wanted to go work for the man for a while. My degree was in exercise science from Kennesaw State Owls.

Sharon Cline: Yo! From Hootie hoo! Yeah! Hootie hoo! I graduated from there as well. All right.

Rob Woody: Um, I was on the five and a half year plan, which I should have done a little better with that, but hindsight. Right?

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

Rob Woody: I worked in that field for three and a half or four years. I still try to practice it personally, but I don’t work in the field. I’ve trained people on the side, things like that, and I always enjoy it. But I thought I wanted something a little different and I got into sales. I did retail sales, I did business to business sales with a large company. And then I started thinking back, what if I had that business back. Wow. There’s some a lot there’s a lot of things I could do differently because I know a little bit about technology. And our pet store was low tech. It was about as analog as you could get. We didn’t scan barcodes. There were little price stickers on on things. We had the credit card machine that goes, it sounds like a shotgun.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, a shotgun.

Rob Woody: Yeah, it sounds like a shotgun.

Sharon Cline: I never thought about that.

Rob Woody: We I think the last few years we had the machine, you could hear the dial up noise.

Sharon Cline: Wow.

Rob Woody: Great. Love those old modems.

Sharon Cline: And then you decided to kind of go back to what you thought you could experience again and do differently. And then that leads to how did this, this part of your life really explode and become your focus 100%?

Rob Woody: Well, let’s retreat back to high school, to those fun years. I was voted Best sense of humor.

Sharon Cline: Nice.

Rob Woody: I thought, well, great, what am I going to do with this besides make people laugh in the back of the room? Right? Which is kind of what I did and still made A’s and B’s. Probably could have made straight A’s if I had cut out some of the laughing, but I would have people say, you have a great voice. I could listen to you read the phone book. I thought, well, that’s thank you, but that’s a little weird. I don’t want to just sit and read a phone book. But you remember the phone books? I do. The Atlanta phone book. The last one I saw was about four inches thick.

Sharon Cline: I do.

Rob Woody: Definitely a weapon. And I started thinking, they don’t talk to you about that on Career Day. They talk about, oh, you could be an accountant or a fireman, or if you’re really smart, a pilot or an attorney, which I did flying lessons for a while. Nice. I did work at Lockheed there for a bit at their wellness center, and I took flying lessons. Awesome. Love it. Great memories. But that’s an expensive hobby.

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

Rob Woody: I have a knack for finding really expensive hobbies. I don’t know why. Snow skiing, flying lessons.

Sharon Cline: But it’s actually, I think about the fact that all of these experiences that you’ve had somehow can lend well to voiceover, no matter what it is. Yes. Um, will you talk about how you started your own studio? Like what were what were the processes that you went through to research what you needed?

Rob Woody: The first real reference I looked at was voiceover for dummies or voice acting for For Dummies.

Sharon Cline: Oh my gosh. I still have that book. Oh, wow. No kidding.

Rob Woody: I still have that book and I’m going to keep it and hopefully have a great story someday about that that book. And it it does cover a lot of great information about when did I buy that book? Probably around 2013 or 14. I was in a job at that time. I was in a retail sales setting where I might get three customers a day, and it’s a nine hour day. I started thinking about I need to work on something on the side. Hey, what about that voice thing? That’s when I really started delving into it, and I went to probably spent more money than I should have. Initially, I went to a music store and asking about acoustical foam and bought some of that. Made my own little panels because I’m pretty good with my hands. I made some acoustical panels, but was never really happy with the setup. I would have a setup and then think, ah, this isn’t very user friendly, let’s let’s change it. So I would get in my own way. I’m sure that never happens to any of you or your listeners, but usually it’s I am my own best stumbling block.

Sharon Cline: We all are. That’s what Fearless Formula is all about. Yeah, the goal for me is hoping that there’s some kind of inspiration that someone can get out of what other people have experienced and their wisdom that they’ve learned so that they don’t have to stumble as much either. So I love that you’re even willing to admit that, because I think that holds a lot of people back, is the fact that we are all flawed humans and have our own foibles and struggles. So the idea of being able to say to someone, I get it. Here’s what I did. That may work for you too. I mean, this is the best we can do is hope that someone will realize that they’re normal. I’m normal. We’re all normal. We’re all struggle and hopefully be inspired to to realize that there is resources out there that can help them. Like this show, hopefully. So if there’s a voiceover artist in the making out there listening, I’m hoping that they will find inspiration by knowing that there are solutions out there to be found. And, you know, so many people kind of hide behind their bravado and, you know, the idea that, oh, they never struggled. But to me, you know, there’s nothing more calming than someone admitting that they’re human, too. So I’m down. I’m down for you. Admitting the struggle.

Rob Woody: And one of my initial problems was thinking, I’ve been this way a lot of my life, but thankfully, I’ve realized it now. Thinking you can do something perfectly the first time you try it. And I’ve also told my son about this. I say, look, I had this problem too. Give yourself a little grace. Give yourself time to master what it is you want to do, whether it’s throw that curveball or figure out that chemistry equation. Give yourself time to do it, because you’re going to catch on a little differently than the guy sitting next to you.

Sharon Cline: But their normal is their normal, and mine is mine. And that compares. Comparison is the thief of joy thing. I have to always remind myself that because I will listen to You voiceover artists on like Voices.com, which is where I have my profile and get some work from. They have like the top 100 male artists and the top 100 female. So of course I always go listen because I’m like, what do they have that I don’t have? And I always think, well, of course they’re in the one. They’re amazing, you know. And then I’m like, why am I even doing this? Why would anyone come to me if there’s this person or this person out here? And it is kind of like a miserable thing for me. Like, I want to know what I’m missing. But then I also think, well, then, of course, you know, it’s like, I, I have like, this automatic default of I’ll never be as good as them, even though our voices are all different, which is something you ascribe to. I love that you say we all have our own unique sound, and I appreciate that too, because no one can sound exactly like me or you. And it’s so subjective. Whoever hires you, they like you or they don’t and you don’t. You can’t make that happen. Um, no matter how you sound, it just is like a thing. So, yeah, the idea that I can compare myself to someone else is pretty flawed in itself, but I do it anyway. I just want you to know that I’m my own worst enemy.

Rob Woody: It’s. It is normal. I mean, I playing sports and coaching sports, you know, the kids do that as well. Yeah, but keep it. You keep it in check. I think we grow and mature and some mature more than others. But learning to keep it in check and maybe even using it as an advantage to propel yourself.

Sharon Cline: Right, to reframe it. Yeah, not a negative, but something. Well, here’s my unique selling product, my unique sound and knowing.

Rob Woody: Okay, the good thing is I have this drive and I can use this drive as fuel, not let it drag me down.

Sharon Cline: I’ve heard success defined as not so much talent, as much as consistency and discipline. Like you can be successful if you just constantly are moving forward and trying. Um, because a lot of people are really talented that don’t really pursue anything big. Talent is is not always. Um, well, I mean, some of the voiceovers that I’ve heard on the radio, I always think, like, how did they this is terrible. Like, I’m so judgy, but this is how did they get this job, you know? And I don’t know why, but I’m always like, I wish I could have a chance to do it. But of course, things work out the way they’re supposed to, but I just mean it doesn’t. You don’t have to be the most talented person in order to have a lot of success.

Rob Woody: Precisely. And I’ve done the exact same thing. I’ve listened to something, or I’ve played a video game, or I’ve done this or done that, and I’ve heard this voiceover and just automatically I’ll resay the line how I think it should be heard.

Sharon Cline: And then you think, how in the world did they someone greenlit this. Yeah.

Rob Woody: And while yeah, maybe I’m a little biased, but I could sell that character a whole lot better, but I wasn’t there.

Sharon Cline: I know I.

Rob Woody: Didn’t audition.

Sharon Cline: This the way things work out, the way they are supposed to, but at the same time, yeah, I always wonder the same thing. Like, how did this all fall into this person’s lap somehow? And you know, I’m not the perfect voiceover artist too, so it’s just me in my own head being critical and jealous and all of those things. So I’m I can reframe it to be peaceful in saying things are just the way they’re supposed to be. But there are times where I kind of I get being a voiceover artist by yourself, you know, it’s a very, very lonely job. Yes. You know, I only have me to talk to, and that’s not always the best, but to be able to kind of get in my own way of saying, you know, I’m never going to be that successful. I’ve only had a little bit of success. It’s never enough. There isn’t enough success, I think, for me. Um, so yeah, I like hearing that somebody else does too, because it does normalize me a little bit. I’m not trying to make my life miserable, but I have days where it’s the challenge is so mental to audition as much as I can and accept whatever feedback, good or bad. Um, do you struggle in the same way, or are you much more disciplined about getting yourself into your booth and recording?

Rob Woody: Honestly, I think if I had. Well, let me say, I wish you could always wish you had started something earlier. But was I mature enough? Now I understand how life can be. Life’s going to kick you and it’s going to kick you. When you least expect it. Or when you most expect it. It’s going to kick you in some form or fashion. And I think starting this, at least for me, starting this a little later in my life, not when I was 20. I think I had a thicker skin. I have a thicker skin in order to deal, because with 95% of actors voice actors. You’re eventually going to be fired or your run will end, and then you look for something else, right? It’s not like you’re going to clock in for 40 years. Go build this widget and then go go home. It’s go do the performance part of your practice and part of your job is the auditions IV. I definitely think that’s helped by. Well, I joke that my maturity level is not my age, but just having that thicker skin and knowing that just because they tell me no doesn’t mean they don’t like me. It just means that’s not what they’re looking for, for that product, for that character. And there have been times I’ve gotten home I thought, I need to put in an audition, even if it’s just one. I don’t have anything going on right now. I’ll be tired. I’ll throw something together, edit it. Boom. They love it. I didn’t even really like it, but they love it. We’d love you for you to narrate the book. Oh, well. Awesome. Great. I can start on it tomorrow. And then there are times you you read the script, you think about the character, you imagine what that character looks like in your head. I might walk around outside with the birds chirping, coming up with voices, or I’m in the car a lot as well, so I’ll just practice and have my little phone recorder on recording different things. And you think I nailed it? I nailed this audition, or I nailed this interview, and then crickets.

Sharon Cline: That happens to me all the time. Or you might.

Rob Woody: Even get something like, I’ve gotten several of these. Wow, you sounded really great. You just weren’t quite what we were looking for. I take that as a compliment because somebody did listen to it. They liked it. And maybe now they’ll remember me in six months or. Oh, now you’re doing a video game. Hey, that guy had a good voice. Or that lady had a really nice voice. Let’s contact them back.

Sharon Cline: I think that has happened. I mean, 99% of the time. That’s exactly my story of working so hard on something and and going back, like, even if I’ve finished recording it and edited it and then just listening back, I’m like, it’s missing something, and I’ll go back and do it again and then hear nothing. And then there are times where I just phone it in and I’m like, I don’t even know the energy of what they’re looking for. I don’t think I have the right message at all, but okay. And then have gotten that one job that I was like, this is terrible, but I just don’t have the energy to work on it. I don’t understand. And I think that’s like somewhat frustrating because if I knew the formula of how it all would work, I would do it every time. So it is like this surrender that I have to practice every day with it.

Rob Woody: It’s funny, I definitely grew up blue collar, but it is an art and art. All art is subjective. Really?

Sharon Cline: Wow, that’s such a good point. And yeah, I never thought about it like that. Yeah.

Rob Woody: Especially acting, voice acting, voiceovers. It’s still subjective, and I try to keep that in somewhere in my brain when I’m reading for something.

Sharon Cline: Not to take it personally. Right. Man, my ego gets in my way so much. But I really appreciate your pointing that out to me, because that’s something I think I can hold on to on the days where I’m really struggling to feel like I’m good enough, or feel like it’s worth the effort. Um, and I know that people have some resources where they have a group where they can get together and talk about it. It’s almost like support that keeps your mind positive. Um, but that’s kind of what I feel like I’m doing right now on the show, having different voiceover artists come on and tell me what it’s like to be them for a little bit, because then I feel like seen to, you know, I feel heard, too, because so many similarities are pervasive throughout the industry. What’s something that you’ve learned over the last nine years about voiceovers that you think, or just being an audiobook narrator? Anything in the voice world that has been really surprising to you?

Rob Woody: Surprising? Maybe a couple of things. This is a little more granular from a sound sound engineering perspective, because we we have to edit a lot of our own stuff, right? You don’t understand how many noises your mouth makes because your ear doesn’t pick it up. It picks up nothing. And the first few times I edited my files, I thought, oh my Lord, do people hear that? They don’t, but that sensitive microphone does. And then when you play it back at an amplified volume, you hear these little pops and clicks and oh my goodness, get that out of there.

Sharon Cline: There are days where I have nothing, no sound. And it’s so great. And I’m like, I feel everything’s so easy. And then there are days where I just. I don’t know what I’ve done, but that’s all I hear.

Rob Woody: I haven’t eaten Pop Rocks in 20 years, but it sounds like there’s a pack in my mouth that’s that’s surprising. Um, from a high level view, there’s a lot of work. There’s really a lot of work. And I know there’s a concern about artificial intelligence. I like to think most people are going to opt to work with human beings. If you’re watching some, quote, boring training video, maybe that’s what AI is for. But there are plenty of people that would love that job too. So that’s my thought on that. I haven’t probably done my due diligence on artificial intelligence as much as I should, but that’s where I stand on that.

Sharon Cline: Well, if you’re just joining us, we are speaking with voice actor and audiobook narrator and podcaster and producer Rob Woody, who’s here in Georgia. I wanted to say that artificial intelligence is something that comes up a lot with almost every business that I’ve spoken to, any owner, they’ve kind of they’ve talked about the pandemic and then how AI is affecting their industry. How did you survive the pandemic?

Rob Woody: My day job is putting up window treatments for interior designers. I’ve worked really all over the country, from most of it in the southeast. 90% of it’s here in the Atlanta area. But I’ve worked in Beverly Hills, I’ve worked in Florida. That level of person or that income level, they have the money to do their thing. So we did kind of willingly took a few weeks off, um, just because nobody knew what was going on in March, April of 2020. And then we slowly started working again. We’d just do one job a day, try to limit contact with what we did. We were able to survive that. And at the same time I thought, well, this is a great idea to dip my toe a little deeper in the voiceover over water, because up until then, you mentioned 2015 is when I started. And technically, that’s right. There were times that life would get in the way or my self-esteem would just decide to leave. And sometimes you just get in a habit of what you do every day and your dreams take a back seat.

Sharon Cline: And then ten years goes by and 15 years goes by.

Rob Woody: You get busy coaching a little league team or you get busy. Well, we’re home a lot more. Let’s, uh, let’s paint this room since we haven’t had time to do it. Now we’re at home. April of 2020. Let’s buy some paint and paint the room like a lot of other people did, which was, those are all good things, but you can make your life so busy you don’t have time for your dreams. And sometimes people ask, oh, how are you? Oh, I’m really busy. Is that good? I mean, it’s good, but if you’re not pursuing something worthy that 20, 30, 40 years later, you’re going to regret not pursuing, maybe it’s not good.

Sharon Cline: I think a lot of people during the pandemic working from home and kind of making their own studios because even voice actors weren’t going to studios, so they had to have their own equipment. I think a lot of people kind of use that time to make their own studios, and I had just started voiceover school January of 2020, and then March is when everything kind of happened. And as much as I tried to get equipment, I really struggled. Everything was sold out everywhere. But I’m grateful that there were such resources for me to be able to understand how to set up my own studio, which we call a DAW, by the way. And, uh, you know, different mics and, um, you know, the sound, the sound absorptions and moving blankets and all of that. So initially I was in a closet and now I have my own little booth. But it’s interesting to think that during the pandemic, this actually kind of exploded in this realm, you know, the voice world. Um, and then also, what was it like for you trying to promote and advertise? Like, do you put anything on Facebook about yourself or how do you kind of get the work that you get? In other words, we’re not out there in, you know, the public all the time promoting ourselves. It has to be more digitally. So how do you do that?

Rob Woody: My Facebook account is more personal. It’s mostly friends and family. I do have Instagram. I have a LinkedIn, which is probably way out of date, and that’s one of the last things I haven’t revamped yet. So that’s on my.

Sharon Cline: We’re friends on LinkedIn as of today. Just to let you know.

Rob Woody: I’ve redone my website. I’ve Instagram’s kind of personal stuff, but it’s it’s usually, oh, I did this cool workout or look at this pretty sunset or oh, here’s a new voice project that I just finished or I’m about to work on. That’s pretty much what my Instagram is. Or look at my cute dog. Isn’t he silly?

Sharon Cline: It’s a little bit of all of of your life. Yeah, that’s what mine is.

Rob Woody: But it’s a lot of people want to know a little bit more about you, not just I try not to over promote because I know I get weary of that. And there’s a lot of great actors and voice actors that I follow. Some do a good job of not over promoting, but they’re at such a level they don’t have to either. So I try not to over promote, but I could. I probably need some lessons and.

Sharon Cline: I think I do too.

Rob Woody: Um, and that kind of thing.

Sharon Cline: The struggle is real for sure, because, um, unless someone really needs a voice and are looking for a voice actor or, you know, someone to do a commercial for them, or business wise, it’s very difficult to know if you’re just, like, annoying the heck out of people by saying, here’s the book I just did or whatever. Um, and like, like you were saying oversaturation. I don’t want to be in people’s faces all the time, but the part of me wants, you know, okay, we’ll get sick of me. At least you’ll remember me. So, like, I struggle, like, who’s going to look at me? But then I want you to look at me. So that’s where my head is with that.

Rob Woody: It’s. It’s a tough balance.

Sharon Cline: Yeah. For sure. What was it like when you got your first professional job? Your first booking?

Rob Woody: It was a children’s Book, and it was only about eight minutes long. And I was actually in, I think I was in North Carolina when I found out that I had gotten it. And it it was a leprechaun book. It was like a little Saint Patrick’s Day leprechaun adventure book. And I just put.

Speaker3: On a little Irish accent and did about five minutes of research on how to do it. And oh, you’ve got the job.

Rob Woody: Wow. And it’s an Irish publisher. Okay. Pretty soon those thoughts creep in of am I an imposter? Is this is this what imposter syndrome feels like? But I’ve been doing this for 30 years since I was 12. Now I’m just actually using it.

Sharon Cline: That’s so exciting. What’s the name of the book?

Rob Woody: It’s called a Saint Patrick’s Day. A Saint Patrick’s Day adventure.

Sharon Cline: Okay, everyone should go. Listen.

Rob Woody: It is fun. Yeah, it’s. And it’s a project that I would have least expected.

Sharon Cline: But that’s the way things work out.

Rob Woody: Like we said earlier.

Sharon Cline: Yeah.

Rob Woody: You can think you nail something and then crickets and you think you just. I’ll just blow that off and I’ll read for it because it’s good practice, right? It’s like stepping up to the batting tee and hitting 100 balls because, you know, you have a game tomorrow and you may get to see three balls to swing at. So you just you do the auditions, you try to put some care in into it. Don’t just completely phone it in, but sometimes you phone it in and you don’t realize it. Um, and then the project I got right almost back to back because I had done several auditions and uploaded them as a batch, was a nine hour military science fiction book. And I thought, am I over my head now?

Sharon Cline: That’s amazing.

Rob Woody: But I had plenty of time to do it. Their deadline was, and I still finished it a couple of months before the deadline. And I like science fiction. I grew up with Star Trek and Star Wars, so that’s kind of in my wheelhouse. And I the good thing is, because it started out as more of a side hustle, I get to choose what I audition for. I don’t have to just pick something because, oh, well, that’s going to pay the bills a little better than this one. I’m more or less paying the bills, but I want my name attached to this project, or I would like my name attached because that’s me.

Sharon Cline: I love that you’ve got discernment. You’re not just throwing yourself out there to everything. You’re being, um, you’re looking at things critically.

Rob Woody: As I kept doing it about a year later, I started thinking my great grandkids could hear me read books or whatever project. That’s pretty cool. If I never make another penny doing this. There is stuff out there right now that will hopefully survive me, and if I have great grandkids, generations down the line might be able to hear my voice reading a story. What a great way. And I thought that was just more fuel to don’t quit, don’t stop.

Sharon Cline: So those are the tools that you use in order to keep yourself going on the darker days or the more difficult days. Is thinking about the bigger picture?

Rob Woody: Definitely. And I listen to podcasts and some of them are business related. Some of them are more fitness focused. But one common theme is don’t have a zero day. There are days when all I do is I’m tired when I get home or it’s just been insert fill in the blank happened. Okay, I’m going to I’m just going to submit one audition or I’m just going to record something. I’ll go to my little studio down in the basement, record something for five minutes, or even just do some research on something or something you’ve already recorded. Spend five minutes editing. And that way when I go to bed, I know, okay, I chipped away at that marble a little bit more. No zero days and you can apply that to anything if you’re trying to gain muscle. I didn’t work out today. We’ll do ten push ups before you go to bed. Or if you’re trying to lose weight, walk ten minutes back and forth to your mailbox. Don’t have a zero day. It is so important in your mind that that little pilot light stays on.

Sharon Cline: I think that’s the key. What you just said right now in your mind, because it is a mind game. It’s constant mind game for me. I overthink everything, but I do have zero days and I’m not proud of that. So I’m thinking I’ve never really thought. Let me just do one because I feel like if I’m if I go to the booth and I’m going to just do one, I’m probably going to do a bunch because I’m there, might as well I’m in the mode. But I didn’t think how I can convince myself of just doing one audition. I don’t know, five minutes, five minutes is nothing. So I’m going to actually employ that, give that a try so that I feel like I have I have progressed even a little bit for the mental, um, confirmation that I haven’t given up or that I’m still if I’m, I’m moving energy around and wants it.

Rob Woody: One other thing I found out is many of those times where I just think, okay, just check the box, do this a little bit of work. All of a sudden you get a little burst of energy. Oh no. Well, I’ll edit for ten minutes now or I’ll just I’ll record something else. And before you know it, you’ve done twice what you were planning on doing without really any more mental effort.

Sharon Cline: That’s great. Do you find that there are days that you’re doing you’re recording a book and it just goes so smoothly and everything’s wonderful. And then there are days where one sentence is a struggle. I find that for myself.

Rob Woody: Definitely. Um, but I pivoted on that, and I’ve started building my own blooper reel.

Sharon Cline: No kidding.

Rob Woody: I have a I have a blooper reel that when when something screws up or I screw up, or there’s just a weird noise somewhere that bleeds through into the studio. Okay, open the blooper file. Cut and paste. Good use. Use that for fuel later. You? I like to laugh. I like to make people laugh, so.

Sharon Cline: That’s.

Rob Woody: Awesome. Let’s just use it.

Sharon Cline: Oh, I never thought of that. I just usually get really mad. I’m like, damn it, I can’t get this sentence out. No matter what I do. Or that truck keeps driving up and down this road and I can’t get that sound out. I’m telling you, I’ve never thought of making it kind of funny. That’s hilarious.

Rob Woody: Who cranked up the leaf blower?

Sharon Cline: I know right now.

Rob Woody: It’s 8 a.m..

Sharon Cline: Dog coming from like that. You know what I’m telling you? Oh. That’s hilarious. Good for you. What a great way to look at it. To, like, make it something fun and funny rather than drudgery, which it can be, you know, and.

Rob Woody: It’s still an effort sometimes I’ve, I’ve lost both of my parents in the last three years and.

Sharon Cline: Sorry.

Rob Woody: That was honestly, that was a driver, especially my mom, about three years ago. And, um, that sort of gave me a kick in the pants to stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just go do it. She was always behind me on whatever that I was doing. Go make her proud.

Sharon Cline: Oh that’s wonderful. Using things that a lot of times people will use as an excuse to to not do things, use them for fuel.

Rob Woody: And also, I have a teenage son and he’s watching me succeed. He’s watching me fail. It’s kind of important that they have some kind of role model, because there’s not a whole lot of fun out there for them to look at. Sometimes, yes, but ultimately they’re watching you.

Sharon Cline: I think whatever they do see on social media is a very curated, very crafted, um, fake, you know, counterfeit presentation of what real life is like, you know? So, yes, it seems as if so many people are so successful and they’re having this great life, but there’s nothing showing what it was, you know, to get them there or what’s behind that, or how they have days where it’s good and bad. So everyone wants to show the good. Me too. You know, I don’t love exposing my flaws, but I wanted to ask you. What? How do you describe your voice? What if you had three words? I was asked that recently and I was like, okay, three words.

Rob Woody: Wow. Gosh, versatile. At least I think it is. Um, maybe not versatile like Prince. Versatile, but there’s only one prince. Um, pretty good mimic with a lot of things. Also calming. I’ve heard that. I heard that a long time ago.

Sharon Cline: Calming.

Rob Woody: Or it can be.

Sharon Cline: Well, I’m thinking, um, like, credible. That sounds like, uh, if you were going to be reading a medical journal, I would be like, okay, this is important to hear. This is a.

Rob Woody: Real doctor reading.

Sharon Cline: This is a real doctor. I would believe this. You know, that’s one of the words I used to describe me, like conversational is another one. Warm, authentic. Those are the kinds of words that I’ve been told I could use. So I just don’t think too hard about it. I just use those kind of the basics. Um, but I like the mimic part. So what are some of the mimics? What are some of the mimicking things you do? Obviously you can do an Irish leprechaun.

Rob Woody: I grew up watching the Dana Carvey era of Saturday Night Live, so that was my training ground. Uh, sometimes you do a little Bill Clinton. I mean, you just gotta stuff like that. It’s. I just enjoyed making people chuckle and never had a theater class. Never.

Sharon Cline: You just get the energy of it, right?

Rob Woody: I do get the energy. And I do like entertaining. I’ve just never thought of myself as an entertainer.

Sharon Cline: You know, they will ask with voiceovers. They’ll say, you know, can you do something that sounds somewhat like Scarlett Johansson or, um, you know, a different actor? And so if, if you have that in your wheelhouse. It’s so nice to be able to pull out different character voices.

Rob Woody: Phil Hartman was one of my favorites. Oh, I love Hartman. It was so tragic what happened to him. I know, but you could put that guy in any skit and he would. He would fill a crack, basically. Okay, we need a guy who’s just going to be. We need a dad to sit on the couch and talk to his son about drugs. And we’re going to make it a little funny, but Phil could do that. Phil could be Frankenstein, or. He was so versatile.

Sharon Cline: I saw an e! Hollywood story about him. E true Hollywood story. I think they called it about him and his wife and what happened with them. And he was interviewed about auditions, and he said that there came a point where he just really didn’t care if he got booked for whatever. And he said, I don’t know what it is about that release of the outcome, but the minute I stopped caring, I started getting booked for everything. And I never forgot that because the idea of just auditioning for the best I can in this moment and releasing it out to whatever feels so much more authentic when you do get get the job because you weren’t trying to change anything about yourself, you’re just being 100% you. So if it came to you as whatever job you got, it was meant to be yours. I love that, but I don’t always do that. But you mentioned him, and that’s the first thing I think about is the fact that he had kind of released, but he meant it too. He was just like, I don’t care, you know? Anyhow, I miss him too, because I still see a lot of his work that’ll show up, like on my TikTok reels or whatever. And I just think there wasn’t anything he did that I just didn’t think was funny and believed and was entertained by.

Rob Woody: He had a knack of it goes to what you said about him having fun with it. Yes, he’s had the training. He went to the to the He did all the classes. He did the schooling. But then you still have to put it out there and perform because you want that. Good job. Have fun with it, do the training, do the reps, and then have fun with it because your audience will know if you’re having fun. So true. Robin Williams was a master of of that. You just you knew he was having fun.

Sharon Cline: You felt it definitely. When when you auditioned for a job, do you feel like you can you can feel it when you know that you’ve kind of hit the note that you think that they want because there’s like a your voice can really reflect whether or not you’re believing what you’re saying. It’s amazing how you can hear a difference.

Rob Woody: Yes, I thought I really nailed one recently. It was a I think it was a young adult. Like one vampire faction is going to war with another vampire faction.

Rob Woody: So of course, I took a slightly dark, lightly British smoky aspect to the older brother.

Rob Woody: And then there was a younger brother, and he was a little more flat and diabolical. I thought I nailed it. Never heard back, but it was great practice. Yeah, I discovered a new voice.

Sharon Cline: So true. When you are recording a book, do you read the entire book first?

Rob Woody: No. Well, it depends. If it’s an eight minute Saint Patrick’s.

Sharon Cline: Day kids book, you could spare the minute and eight minutes. Yeah.

Rob Woody: Now, what I will do sometimes is read the whole. Read the chapter. Okay. What’s what’s going to happen? But sometimes I like to be surprised because maybe they want to hear that. I don’t want to play surprised. I want to be surprised and be a little more genuine. If you ask five different voice actors, they might give you five different answers.

Sharon Cline: I’m part of a voiceover group on Facebook, and some of them are audiobook narrators. And just the other day, someone posted who reads the entire book before they record the entire book, and 90% of them read the entire book. And there were just a few that were like, I’ll read a couple chapters ahead. And I was one of those don’t read the entire book. I don’t I just want to kind of get into it. But there is wisdom in reading the whole book because several of them were saying, well, this is why I get to figure out where the character is going. I get to inform, you know, the audience of the growth that the character is going to go through, because I already know what’s going to happen. That’s true, yes, but I think I might be lazy and I just want to do it once I get it. So I don’t always I read maybe a little bit ahead, but I don’t really go through the whole thing. I like the idea of being in the moment to where I see this part coming, where I’m about to have a very high emotion in whichever way they’re sad or happy or whatever. I feel like I can. It can feel very authentic and spontaneous, you know? A realness to it because I’m experiencing it for the first time that way. But I was curious. I haven’t talked to anybody else who does audiobooks either like this, so I’m really glad to know I’m not the only one who doesn’t read 100% the whole book.

Rob Woody: And from a technical perspective, you identify any words maybe you haven’t seen or how is that pronounced? So it’s that’s really the main reason to forge ahead.

Sharon Cline: And well, usually also the author will send notes on each of the characters. So I know the character breakdown. I’ll know that there are five women, so I’ve got to come up with a little different sound for each of them and how to pronounce their names and things, um, which is so helpful. But yeah, good to know. Good to know.

Rob Woody: It is helpful. I’ve I’ve asked for that from a couple of authors and they’ll just say, oh, have fun with it. I trust you and like, you don’t know me, do you?

Sharon Cline: Wow. That’s faith.

Rob Woody: It is faith. And so far I haven’t disappointed.

Sharon Cline: But so would you say that you have a fearless formula to keep yourself going?

Rob Woody: I you guys probably all hear it, but don’t quit. You may have to step back for a day. You may need a vacation. You may need to go camping in the woods for a week. I would love that. I like to hike and backpack and. But don’t quit if there’s something. If there’s something you’re going to look back on when you’re 85 and go, why didn’t I do that? Maybe I would have failed, I don’t know, but why didn’t I check that box? Well, I shouldn’t have quit. Don’t quit.

Sharon Cline: I love that. I also love someone asked me recently what what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you do if you knew that you would get what you wanted? Um. And I would be braver. You know, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t doubt myself or second guess myself so much or be afraid of how someone’s going to feel if I ask them, you know, can I meet with you to do this or that? Or. I’d like to learn about this. Would you be willing to spend time with me? Usually I feel like this is such an imposition. No one’s going to want to do it like that. But if I knew 100% that they would be on board, well, I would ask. So I have tried to do that this week. I’ve been employing the idea of not letting, um, my own doubts decide for me, as opposed to my just forging ahead and just letting someone else surprise me because I do get surprised sometimes. It all works out great.

Rob Woody: And imagine if you took that perspective or any anybody took that perspective in a larger view, how we might set our goals a lot higher.

Sharon Cline: So true. Yeah, I’m my own worst enemy sometimes. Guilty on my own. I’m my own advocate too. Who else is going to fight for me? You’re right. I mean, I love I love the idea of expanding that into something that is even scarier for me. You know, the idea of rejection or I’m imposing on someone’s life, um, stops me a lot. But people ask me all the time, how did you get into voiceovers? And, like, can we meet sometime? And I’m always like, yes, and I do. And it doesn’t bother me at all. So I need to assume that other people are going to think positively about it too.

Rob Woody: And to to kind of frame my background a little bit. I didn’t mention this earlier. I have had a few classes. Oh, good for you. I’ve had I’ve taken probably 4 or 5, maybe 5 or 6 classes in the last 5 or 6 years. Whatever. Whenever time and money allow to take a class, Atlanta VoiceOver studio is a great resource. They do all kinds of classes there. They can recommend economical equipment for your home studio, or if you’ve got a bigger wallet, they can recommend something else. I’ve taken classes online, in person from people that actively work. They do video games or really cool class I had. It was remote, but it was still neat. Um, I had a class with the lady that does Jimmy Neutron.

Sharon Cline: Uh, delivery?

Rob Woody: Yes. Yes.

Sharon Cline: Uh, or is that how you say her name? Derryberry. Derryberry. I follow Terry.

Rob Woody: Terry. Derryberry.

Sharon Cline: I follow her on Instagram. She’s wonderful.

Rob Woody: It was like an hour and a half or so class, and there were 30 or 40 of us right there on the zoom.

Sharon Cline: But how was it?

Rob Woody: It was really good. And every time you take a class, you’re going to learn something you didn’t learn in so-and-so’s class.

Sharon Cline: I watched an Instagram of her, uh, talking about how she was able to come up with a voice for a character. She just had a piece of paper with a character drawn on there. So taking information about this character. Will they have braces or whatever it was? Inform the sound. And I mean the way that she was able to break down, um, logically, what she thought someone should sound like based on the drawing. Oh, I thought it was the most fascinating thing, and it really matched when she was like, and this is the voice. And she said it. It’s like, wow, that’s amazing. I could I love the idea of that because it’s something I can figure out for myself, too. Um, so I’ve never even known she did those classes, so that’s good to know. Something I can look into as well just to listen to.

Rob Woody: She did this through Atlanta voiceover studio. Got it. Even though she’s in California. Um, Debi Derryberry, I believe that’s that’s her name. I thought it was Teri, but I knew it rhymed.

Sharon Cline: Yeah, she has a. We’ll get.

Rob Woody: Close.

Sharon Cline: Um, if someone were going to get started in this industry, what would you advise them to do?

Rob Woody: Practice. If you have kids, read, read books, take a class. Those are my sons, 15 up until age 12. I read him books. Story time was every night. He’s read. Let’s see. I’ve read. How many Harry Potter books are there? 7 or 8 of the originals. I know I’ve read 4 or 5 of those cover to cover with characterization. Wow, that was the ultimate proving ground. And some days you phone it in, oh, it’s your seven year old. They don’t care if you sound like Dumbledore or not. You’re reading them a story, but it’s still practice. And that was huge for the success that I’ve had. And also taking a class with other peers and hearing other professionals give you feedback. Immensely important.

Sharon Cline: Gosh, I feel really inspired to be able to maybe take some more classes that are local here because the Atlanta market, it’s wonderful in so many ways. Um, and I never really thought about the fact that even though I have my own reels and I’ve been doing this for a while, I could really use a refresher of someone saying to me, maybe you could go this route or that route because they’re a professional, like, I want to be advantageous with my time. So if there’s a way that I can, you know, be in a market that’s sort of more curated for the way I sound, I would really appreciate the feedback for that, too. I never thought about it.

Rob Woody: It also gives your you kind of get your own feedback, because maybe you’re in a class with 30 people. Everybody gets up and does a read and you can. I know judging is bad, but we all do it. You can tell yourself I did really well or I got work to do, and you can kind of see how you can rise to the top.

Sharon Cline: Would you say? Would you say that it’s nerve wracking to be in front of your peers and try to be brave enough to hear their feedback? How is that for you?

Rob Woody: Honestly, for me, and again, I’m going to go back to my age because I’m a little older than somebody starting something in their 20s. It doesn’t bother me. Now, if I was 25 again, I’d probably be a little more sensitive. But thicker skin and some things bounce off you osmotic. You got to be semi osmotic. Let’s go deep science here. So some things you let through. Other things maybe they don’t get through.

Sharon Cline: But you have the discernment.

Rob Woody: Either way you’re going to learn something.

Sharon Cline: Because I’m thinking for myself, I’d be so nervous to do a voiceover in front of other students or people who know the industry well enough to know if it’s good or not.

Rob Woody: No, totally. And there’s.

Sharon Cline: Always feeling.

Rob Woody: There’s that little bit of a butterfly every time that I’ve ever done it. But I think that’s good. That means you’re excited to be there. That means you’re having a good time. You care, you want to perform well, but then you just take a breath, step in that batter’s box.

Sharon Cline: I love the sports.

Rob Woody: Rely on your training and let it rip.

Sharon Cline: Well, Rob, Woody, I’ve just really enjoyed our conversation today. I love speaking to people who are, um, have different experiences in the same industry because I get to learn, hopefully not by doing the same kind of mistakes. I get to learn from your wisdom and feel inspired just to spend this time focusing on the one thing that is my side hustle, um, gives me just enough energy to to want to go home and do some good auditions. So thank you so much for coming to the studio.

Rob Woody: You’re very welcome. It was my honor to be here.

Sharon Cline: Well, how can people get in touch with you if they would like to.

Rob Woody: Uh, you could check out my website. It’s got all my demos there. It’s Rob Woody jr.com and which is r o b w o o d j r.com. There’s a link there or a tab for my podcast if you want to check that out. The podcast is I just look at old uh, out of print short stories. I’m a sci fi guy, so I look at old Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov. Most podcasts are 20 to 40 minutes. I’ll voice the whole story, narrate it, do a little voice characterization if there’s dialog, and then see what I’ve learned from it, add five minutes to the end of it and oh, what did I pick up from this? What did you pick up from this? Awesome. What I’ve learned about short stories is they really beg more questions, because you don’t have 400 pages to tell a story. You have ten pages.

Sharon Cline: I want to say Shawshank Redemption was a short story that got really? Yeah, that got turned into obviously a very big movie, but it was just in the Green Mile, I believe was a short story. Stephen King did, like a little book.

Sharon Cline: But interesting because I never thought about the fact that it’s not sort of spelled out for you. It leaves a lot of interpretation and thought, which is intriguing if you like that kind of thing.

Rob Woody: So I do, I always I loved watching the old black and white twilight zones, and my favorite stories are the ones that are sort of like a twilight zone, where there’s a little twist or something you’re not expecting happens.

Sharon Cline: So. True.

Rob Woody: I’m on Instagram as well. Are Woody, 76, on Instagram? Got it. And I’m on LinkedIn, but I’m still in the process of redoing that.

Sharon Cline: Are you on Facebook as well?

Rob Woody: I am, that one stays private. Gotcha. That’s, uh, I maybe should make a public one, but.

Sharon Cline: Man, we have so many different channels these days for social media. You don’t have to do all that if you don’t want to.

Rob Woody: But there’s so much to do, and I don’t have a person to do it for me. So I have to pick and choose bootstrapping all the way, baby.

Sharon Cline: Rob, thank you so much for coming in. I’m just so enjoyed it. And you’re welcome. I’d love to have you come back sometime and tell me about some of the other things that you’ve learned along the way as your career progresses. And, uh, and thanks for the inspiring words. I’m hoping that whoever is listening to feels inspired, no matter what industry they’re in, to just keep going.

Rob Woody: Definitely, uh, keep keep going. Do the reps.

Sharon Cline: Don’t give up.

Rob Woody: Don’t give up. Get your rest.

Sharon Cline: Drink some honey and tea. Do the.

Rob Woody: Fundamentals. Yes. Fundamentals are huge.

Sharon Cline: Well thank you and thank you all for listening to Fearless Formula here on Business RadioX. And again this is Sharon Cline reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.