Today we’d like to introduce you to Van Hickman.
Hi Van, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
About 20 years ago, I received an email advertising a class for writing stand-up comedy jokes. After about a year, I finally signed up, took the class, and started doing stand-up comedy as a “sometimes paid” hobby. Then around 2018, a comedian friend asked me if I would be interested in auditioning for a job as a ring announcer for kickboxing and MMA fights, which I did, and I got selected. After announcing a few fight events, I wondered what else I could do with a microphone and my voice. I can sing ok, but not well enough to get paid for it. So I stumbled across an organization called Tennessee Voice Over Exchange. I attended some of their meetings, learned about how to become a professional voice actor, and the next thing I knew, I was getting clients for VO (voiceover) work.
With a little bit of email marketing to potential clients, I was able to expand my client base and get into more than one genre of voice acting. My main clients have been IVR (interactive voice recordings, aka on-hold messages) and e-Learning (being the voice of animated characters in training videos). I am currently developing my base in political voiceover to expand even further.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has been relatively smooth from the standpoint that getting the work done has not been a challenge, unless my allergies are acting up. However, growth has definitely been directly tied to my outbound marketing efforts. So, just making sure I reach out to old clients and potential clients alike on a regular basis is extremely important.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
What I do is sometimes described as “I sit in a padded room and talk into a metal tube”. That would be sitting in my recording booth (which I built inside my home), and talking into the microphone. I have a computer monitor in front of me so I can see the script.
What do I specialize in? I covered some of that in my story, but if we bring that together with what sets me apart from others is my slight Southern accent, which can be turned up for certain characters. My voice is relatively deep but not too rugged, so I still come across as professional when needed. From a client perspective, what sets me apart is that I am “directable”, meaning, if I record something once and the client wants me to re-record it with a slower or faster pace, or more accent, less accent, raise my pitch, etc, I can adjust quickly to their needs.
One of the things I am most proud of is from an e-Learning project I did a while back. The client heard my voice on my demo and asked a production company to develop a learning video with a character in it specifically for my voice. They wanted the character to be called “Cowboy Jack.”
Of course, getting projects done cleanly and timely is paramount in the VO business, so it helps to get things turned around quickly for clients.
What matters most to you?
I really enjoy getting positive feedback from the clients. To hear them say, “that is exactly what it sounded like in my head” is a great feeling. Having long-standing, repeat clients is a testament to my ability to make the clients happy over and over.
Pricing:
- GVAA rate guide
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.VanHickman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanhickmanvo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VanHickmanVO
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/VanHickmanVO
- Twitter: https://x.com/VanHickmanVO
