A Review of 2017 and Plans for 2018

Well 2017 was a year of the slightly unexpected, but it’s turned out for the best in the end. At the end of May, after 11 years (with a 3 year sabbatical when we lived in the USA), my career at Franklin Sixth Form College came to an abrupt end. Over the years my role had changed from managing projects (which I enjoyed), to working in business development and sourcing apprenticeship placements (not my forte). I didn’t see redundancy coming, so I was rather taken by surprise, but apart from feeling a little sad, I wasn’t upset by it – which told me I was ready to move on and concentrate on my own business full time.

I have been working as a voiceover artist on a part-time basis since 2013, and started my business in America (where they do love a British accent). Since then my business has trundled along alongside my job at the college without really growing, but now I have the opportunity to do something about that!

I’ve had some fantastic PR for my business over the last few months, starting with a double page spread in the glossy Lincolnshire Life magazine in March. I was a runner up at this year’s Northern Lincolnshire Business Awards in May which resulted in a professionally made video for my website (lizdrury.co.uk) and a nice certificate for my wall! Then in August I found out that I had been selected as one of 2017’s Top 100 Small Businesses by the team behind Small BusinessSaturday UK. Every day during the 100 days in the run up to Small Business Saturday, each of the winning businesses had a day in the social media spotlight. I spent my day (2^nd November) in Brigg market place with the SBS Bus and my mobile studio, showing people what it is I do, and I gained lots of social media followers that day.

With my mobile studio in Brigg market place

The highlight of being one of the #SmallBiz100 was being invited to a reception at 10 Downing Street. I had to pinch myself to believe that I was actually behind that famous black door! It was an experience I will never forget, and the local paper wrote a lovely article about it too.

At the door of 10 Downing Street

I have also been really fortunate to receive two grants for my business this year. The first came through the Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub, and the money helped me to buy a mobile studio set-up that enables me to record away from home. The equipment arrived just in time for my summer holiday, and I completed several jobs from Center Parcs in The Netherlands.

The second grant (Internationalising SMEs) is going to help me attend a voiceover conference in the States in March 2018, and I found this with the help of the Department for International Trade. VOAtlanta is the biggest conference of its kind and I will meet many other voiceover artists, producers, agents and other people connected with the industry. I can’t wait!

A few weeks ago I recorded some new voiceover demos with Guy Michaels in London. He runs Voiceover Kickstart and provides training to voiceover artists. These new showreels will reflect how I have progressed since I made my initial demos in 2014. I’m waiting for these to be processed and then I’ll be sharing them all over the place!

One of the disadvantages of being tied to an employer three days a week, was that I could never look for an agent, simply because I could not have been responsive enough. When I have my new demos, I intend to approach agents and see if I can get one to represent me. Having an agent won’t necessarily lead to lots more work - I will still need to look for clients myself - but it can’t hurt to have someone else who is also looking for work on my behalf, 

The bulk of my work to date has been ‘narration’ rather than ‘commercial’. This means I’ve been recording things like scripts for corporate videos, voicemail prompts, on-hold sales messages, e-learning, and audio tours, rather than adverts. I would like to do more commercial work in 2018, so I intend to approach lots of commercial radio stations and see if I can expand this aspect of my business.

Before I had a family I used to work for a local cable TV station. I had my own programme which went out live twice a week, and over the three years I was there I interviewed all sorts of people (including Patricia Hodge), and got to do some exciting things (grass track racing, archery, a trip on the Humber in-shore lifeboat…). I would love the opportunity to get back in front of a camera again, so this is a skill I need to start telling people about – I’m sure I could pose as a knowledgeable employee and introduce a company’s website videos.

I quite enjoy public speaking, and during 2017 I have given several presentations at business networking meetings, telling people about what it is voiceover artists do, and how I came to be one. People are always fascinated by my story, so this is something I will definitely continue to do in 2018.

Something else I have done a couple of times in the past, but not recently, is acting as a Master of Ceremonies at live events. On a few occasions I was MC for concerts at the Brigg Fiddle Festival, and I also used to do the announcing at the Grimsby Ice Skating Club annual competition. There’s the possibility that I might be MC at a charity event in 2018, so watch this space!

I’m looking forward to 2018 – I feel that I have found something I really love doing and I can’t wait to do more of it in the new year!

Liz Drury Voiceovers