How To Have a Record Breaking Year in Your VO Business with Tom Aglio

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Hi there, and welcome to Vox Talk, your weekly review from the world of voiceover. I'm your host, Stephanie Ciccarelli from Voices. Do you want voice over to pay all your bills? Joining me today is Tom Aglio, a voice talent who has done just that. In addition to his savvy direct marketing skills, which you've heard about in a previous episode of this show, Tom's goals for this year are brighter than ever. We're going to hear how he built a strong income from voice acting with some tips and stories that I hope you'll be inspired by. So welcome back to the show, Tom.

Tom Aglio:

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Oh, absolutely. As soon as I saw that tweet, congratulations, by the way. Tom's got to come on.

Tom Aglio:

Thank you.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

For anyone who is not following Tom on Twitter, he had a record year last year. He literally made, or your business grew, I should say, by 166% over the last year.

Tom Aglio:

Yeah.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Wow. Could you walk us through some of the most important factors that you believe contributed to your growth and to your continued success?

Tom Aglio:

Yeah. I mean, first and foremost, it's no surprise, is definitely kicking up those marketing efforts. What I really started to do in terms of the marketing was start to break out and to branch out into these genres of voice over that are kind of up and coming that many people may not know about just yet, and a couple of those things are podcast commercials, and I don't mean commercials that's advertising a specific podcast. I'm talking about that the commercials that you would hear in between a podcast, like the pre-roll and mid-roll and all that stuff, a lot of larger podcasts, they'll have crime junkies and whatnot. They'll have the hosts and stuff do those commercials as sponsors, but there is a whole world of work out there for podcast commercials, and podcasts are only, I mean, we're here now, they're only getting bigger, and there are things that people are really starting to do and listen to, and getting involved doing commercials on the streaming networks as cable phases its way out, and everyone starts to branch out into all these cable network, into all these streaming services. That's really what I started to turn my focus to when it comes to marketing, and then other than that, I started to branch out into other new genres of voiceover. That's one thing that I really wanted to do was, was okay, I have my feet firmly planted in these genres, now let me see where else I can go, and one of those was automotive, which really became a big part of my business last year.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Wow, yeah, automotive is actually, I think, really big in general, so no doubt you've seen a tremendous amount of work in automotive, I can only imagine, because you just said that your business is growing, it's going really well, and it's in part by introducing different types of voice over or markets that you've not yet explored as a voice talent. Can you tell us about how you set your goals for earnings? Did you have in your head a number when you started the year for what you need, and how did you get there?

Tom Aglio:

In the past, I've always tried to double my income year over year, and then as I started to, my career started to get larger and larger, I do definitely try to double my income, but I always kind of have a set number in mind for what I want to make at the end of the year, and then I'll kind of base my monthly revenue off of that, but of course, not all months are created equally, you have your trends in voiceover, some months are busier than others. Actually, a very good friend of mine, Josh Alexander, who is a voice talent in Seattle, he gave me some really good financial advice, which I really started to stick to once I heard it, and that was, you should always try to make 10 to 15% more of that month this year than you made in that same month the previous year, and I think that breaking that down into smaller little chunks and little financial goals throughout the year as opposed to one massive giant number really helped me plan how I wanted to get there, and honestly, it helped me celebrate little milestones along the way, and it kept the journey a lot more exciting and more fun.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

I think you do need to have a number in mind, because how else will you know if you've gotten there, right? Then you need to think, yeah, this is what I need to pay my bills, or this is how much it will take to double what I presently make, because I have these other goals that I'd like to achieve. We're all in business here, Tom, and when you're in business, you do need to be thinking about your sales pipeline, and that means the money going down into the funnel, the marketing obviously brings in the leads and so on, and then eventually you want to get to a closed one deal. How do you ensure that the pipeline is always moving toward money in the door?

Tom Aglio:

What I really try to do is I try to keep my costs down, and I really try to be very strategic about who I coach with and the different workshops, because I definitely do love to take workshops throughout the year. I'd coach one to keep my skills sharp, but also just to their great networking opportunities. I've gotten jobs from coaches that I've worked with and stuff, and it's great, but another one of those things is really just really trying to diversify my portfolio and my income. I always say, I teach all my students, voiceover is one of those businesses where you want to have as many lines in the water as possible, and I say, okay, I'm here the things that I know that I'm doing very steadily, month over month, but I always try to have a new plan, a new plan of attack, usually in the form of marketing, either a new genre or a new industry or a new company or companies that I like to try to hit every single month, and then it's kind of like compound interest that all just builds off of each other. I knew 2022 was going to be a good year because I had laid that foundation in the marketing world at the end of 2021. That's what I'm always trying to do is I'm always trying to set myself up for the next month and my next goal and whatnot.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Wow. I like how you said revenue streams. Obviously, you've got, oh, for my e-learning, I anticipate making this much money from commercials, this much. Is that literally how you're breaking it down? Are you saying this is or is it by client? I know I have some of my core clients, you could say, the ones who keep you in business or send you so much money a year predictably and they make up the main 80 / 20 of your business. Is that kind of how you're tracking this or let us know kind of a little more of the nitty gritty, if you will, for someone who's never set something up like this.

Tom Aglio:

Sure. Yeah. It's a little bit of both. I definitely track my clients, especially the clients that are really helping to pay my bills month over month because I work with them so much. I definitely make sure that I keep in touch with them very, very regularly just because I know that that volume of work is there. I tell everybody, it's not their job to remember you. It's your job to make them remember you. In that respect, I definitely try to reach out to those clients as much as possible and keep them happy. But I also, just from even from a marketing perspective, I like to look at every month, couple months quarterly, the different genres that I'm booking in and doing work in. That kind of helps to influence my marketing for the rest of the year because let's say I started to do a big push in e-learning for my marketing and I noticed, okay, well, e-learning is not really panning out like I thought it would. Let me readjust and let me reevaluate and focus my efforts elsewhere and see how that goes. So I definitely know the genres that I perform the most in and I'm always trying to keep those updated. It's so funny. I actually have an assistant who finds a lot of my marketing leads for me and I'm constantly changing his schedule on which types of clients to find for me and leads and everything. I think it's important to do that because we're all different and we all work in different genres of voiceover and that's fine and it's important to know what those are and where your strengths lie.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

For sure. Where are you seeing those spikes, Tom? What is the Tom Aglio voice being booked for now more these days?

Tom Aglio:

Definitely commercial is still my bread and butter, which I'm super thankful for. I love doing commercials and that and honestly, something that I started to really break into around the pandemic was dubbing and that's kind of what I got into voice over for to begin with and really specifically a lot of live action dubbing. I just had a show come out on Paramount Plus. It's a Rio show. It's like the Brazilian version of Jersey Shore and I dubbed one of the main cast members and that has really become a big part of my business. For me, I would say commercials, dubbing and then followed by some corporate narration and e-learning.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

It's good to know where the money is coming from because then you can say to your assistant, can you please find more commercial leads? Can you find more and kind of get their time spent in those areas because they make you more money and it'll just give you results that you want to see. All right. That's obviously on good days when the money is coming in and it's a little predictable. You're going after the clients that you know will bring in the money. What happens if you get into a bit of a slump? Can you share more ways that you've actually made use of the time in productive fashion until you start booking again?

Tom Aglio:

Yeah, absolutely. It's funny that you say that because we talked about trying to make more money this month than you did that same month last year and I actually did go through a little bit of a slump last year. Not that I wasn't booking regularly, but I did not hit my goals for two months. I'm thankful that I hit my goal for the whole year and then some, but for about two months I didn't hit my goal. I came short by just a little bit. That's when I like to catch up on any videos or coachings that I may have purchased, recordings and whatnot. I try to listen to different voice over podcasts. I really try to... That's when I can really sit down and kind of do a little housekeeping and making sure my books are in order. Those slower times tends to be when I start to do those tests and really evaluate what's working and what's not working. That tends to be what I do during those times and you don't have to do those things. Honestly, I think that sometimes if we're business owners and sometimes if you just stay productive that's going to help the mentality and the mindset and do a little bit of cleaning. There are times I've cleaned my booth and whatnot or even just focused on my family a little bit and done the things that I needed to do knowing that the crazy times were going to start again and I wasn't going to have time to do those things. Really I'd say doing a little housekeeping on my business, but also just trying to stay as well-rounded as possible in my life in general is what helps get through those hard times.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Those are great tips. There's always something that's not done at the end of the day and if you have a lot of really busy days where you're quite productive in studio as in you're recording for clients or you're auditioning, everything's just on fire for you. There's always going to be, oops, didn't clean the booth. I wonder how many talent actually clean their booths and what does that even mean? Is it bringing the vacuum cleaner? Is it wiped on the screens? I'm sure there's a whole routine and perhaps a future episode of some kind and just hygienics in the booth or go out and see somebody or say, hey, “I spend so much time in this booth. I really ought to be spending more time with my family.” I know that that was part of one of the reasons why I was really excited about your tweet was because you had said in it that you were able to support your family doing voice over full time and how important it is to you to have reached that stage in your career and just, yeah, and it must have taken a lot of work to get there and obviously a lot of support from your family too, no doubt. So that all said, obviously you're doing well, you're booking. How do you reward yourself for booking a job? Is there like a ceremony? Is it like old hat? You just go, oh, it's another one in there or it's like, what do you do? Is there something you kind of give yourself a pat on the back?

Tom Aglio:

It depends honestly for a lot of like my, you know, I always get so super excited about any booking, whether it is a tiny little explainer video or, you know, a big national commercial. I will always be just, I have that moment of just thank, you know, gratitude for that client and for that job and whatnot. And honestly, it's so funny and it's something that, I do something that I don't think that you should reserve only for booking and it's, I let myself have a little time off, you know, especially if I have a big booking week and I'm like, you know what, I have these things that I really wanted to do, but I've done a lot this week. Let me, you know, reward myself, maybe I'll take a half day off or, you know, even a day off or whatever it may be and I can't express enough how important those days are because you just come back, recharge and ready to go and so super excited. So that's kind of like for, when I, especially when I have a big booking week, I will usually allow myself to take it easy for a little bit and I don't, it's something I need that I do really need to work on is allowing myself to do that even outside of those times. That's something that I typically done and I look forward to it. It's kind of like, you know, my little leisure time I play video games and whatnot, which is research, I guess for voiceover, yeah, but I just, I allow myself to just relax a little bit. That's kind of like my reward.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

And it's so hard to do that.

Tom Aglio:

Yeah.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

So I'm glad that you had mentioned just relaxing, taking time out for yourself, especially if you've booked like a really big job and you're like, you know what, this is going to take care of us for the next three months. Like, you know, I might not have to go off and, and you know, like really put my, you know, myself out there as much for auditions, although you always want to keep your pipeline going, but at the same time, you, because you're a marketer, Tom, understand that it's
about relationships and it's about the relationships you've already built and how some of those are already predictable or at least, you know, the income comes from those and then the auditions are kind of picking up new clients and introducing others into the roster that you have there. So I'm glad you're taking time to relax. I think one of the hardest things in life is to learn how to do that because it doesn't come naturally. And especially if you're an entrepreneur and you're always thinking about what do I need to do now? What's the next thing or your provider for your family? And that's like always on your mind. So yes, I, that is definitely an area that I think a lot of us, myself included, need a bit of a workout on is just how to relax and how not to just be thinking about, well, like ‘I have to be productive right now.’ It's like, no, not all the time because then you're stuck in like a state where you're you're just constantly engaged and you aren't actually letting yourself just come down from all of that. Right? So…

Tom Aglio:

Yeah, I tell, you know, it's something that I've really tried to take to heart and it's something I really carried with me throughout my career and, you know, I didn't always listen to it, but you're always better off taking a day off now as opposed to, you know, getting so burnt out that you have to take a week off later, you know? So I, that's really something that I try to remind myself of, you know, no matter how good times are, it's important to do what really matters and, you know, that's taking time for yourself.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Indeed. Yes. Don't fizzle out. Don't, don't be the person who's just like, I need a vacation for three weeks to get away from my life because you don't, this is not good. Like you want to, you know, take things as they come, but that's good. So pacing yourself, that sounds like something that we'll also take from this episode. Now, now that we know how you kind of reward yourself, which has taken a little time, you know, appreciating, having gratitude you were saying, which I think is an important thing for us to have thankful hearts, you know? So that said, we've got a whole new year ahead of us now. So what are your goals for this year and is it again growing by, you know, twice as much or what are you up to?
Tom Aglio:

Yeah. So my goals this year are to kind of get into that next level of income, you know, I'm in one certain bracket, you know, in like the six-figure mark and I want to get to the next one. And honestly, it's like a number that I just never in my life would have dreamed of ever being able to possibly do. And it's kind of right there in front of me. So that's a big goal for me this year. But this year, I'm really trying to, you know, I have my marketing going and that's all well and good and I have some tests running and stuff, but my two main goals, believe it or not, this year are really to spend more time in the audition space because I've been fortunate that I haven't had to audition that much in the last X amount of months, you know, the last half a year and whatnot because I've been kept busy with regular clients and my marketing and stuff. But I really, you know, like you said, auditions are for new clients and we always want to build up that portfolio. So I really want to spend some time to revamp, you know, my voices.com profile and whatnot and create more samples. And I also want to start, there's some teachers that I really want to work with and network with for a number of reasons. And I'd say those two are honestly, those are my, outside of my financial goals, those are my two big career goals for this year.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

I love that because it can't all be about money. Like that's not what life is about. Money is merely a tool to help you to do some of the things that you want to do, but it is not the be all end all, so. And on that note, as you were just saying, obviously goals can be different and for everyone, we all have a different definition of what we think success looks like. And so Tom, what does success look like for you?

Tom Aglio:

Honestly, you know, there's two answers that I think success, you know, financially being able to pay my bills is what it really looked, I look at, but I also, and the main reason why I always wanted to go full time in voiceovers, because I used to see a lot of my colleagues who were full time and not even, not even really the jobs that they were booking, you know, after their, you know, however many years they've been in business, but it was always that they were able to be with their families and their kids whenever they wanted to be, you know, within reason, of course, obviously their school and other gigs and everything, but you know, they were able to just be there for their families and their kids looked so happy. And when I became a dad, that was like my main goal was, okay, how can I be as present as possible for my son? You know, so to me, that is what success looks like is making the money that I need to support my family while also just being able to be there for them whenever, whenever I want to be in, whenever they need me to be.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

That's the freedom of running your own business, right? And I think for anyone who's listening, who is, I think maybe working somewhere else and they do voiceover on the side and they're just craving that, they hear what you're saying, they're like, if I could only, you know, make this my full time thing, I'm doing okay. That's one thing that a voice actor can do right now to set him or herself up for success to earn more this year and hopefully get closer to that dream that you're living right now.

Tom Aglio:

Yeah. You know, one of those things is, is the, you know, what we've talked about is the, is the basic, you know, diversifying and having as many lines in the water as possible and maybe considering branching out into different genres of voiceover that maybe you didn't think were something that you'd want to do. I never thought that I'd want to do e-learning when I first heard about it. Now I love doing it and it's a, you know, pretty nice part of my business. But you know, what I really will say is, and the thing that I found that helped me the most is, believe it or not, and there's a reason why a lot of CEOs and people, successful business people in the world, they talk about their mornings and that's something that I really took to heart when I was working a nine to five job is I used those mornings to grow my business. I'd get to the office at like 6:30 in the morning and I would find my marketing leads and then I'd go to the gym and I'd work and everything. So take advantage of those mornings because that's a whole amount of time that a lot of, that's kind of like untouched, it's quiet, it's nice and I understand not everyone can do that, but really try to take advantage of that because they're very powerful and without that, honestly, I don't think that my career would have gotten to where it got to. It was just all those extra hours in the day because you're fresh, you know, you have your coffee and everything. It's better than late nights and stuff for me at least.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Yeah. Late nights are hard on anybody because if you have to get up in the morning, right, I know some people's clocks are a bit different. They might work shift work or something, but I agree. The mornings are largely, you know, depending on how early you get up and how early the next person gets up. You know, you probably do have an hour or so to yourself perhaps and a lot of people, I know a lot of people who actually do that, they prioritize those, you know, morning rituals or routines that they have. It could be, oh, going to hit the gym or, oh, going to have my, you know, study time or they read some Scripture or something like that. Or maybe it's, you know, some other way of kind of connecting with, they go for a walk with their dog or something, right? So I think that it's really important to have a routine. Now whatever that looks like, at least it's predictable. It's the one part of your day that you can control to a degree. And it just seems like, you know, if you have a good morning, then the rest of your day is set up to have a good day.

Tom Aglio:

Yeah. You know, and it's funny you said, you know, and I'm happy you said predictable and it is, it's like, you know, one of the things, you know, when I was working at nine to five is I didn't really feel like I was in control of my own life because I was, you know, I had to adhere to my hours and stuff like that. But those mornings were mine and it's really when I was able to be in the driver's seat of not just my business, but my life. And I think even just by doing that, like you said, going for a walk or whatever it may be, get yourself set up before business hours. That way, when it's time for business hours, you're focused and ready to go. And you will be amazed at how much extra time that you have. But just by taking that time before you really have to be on, so to speak.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Absolutely. And to add to that, a good breakfast because without a good breakfast, you're not going very far. I don't think it's...

Tom Aglio:

Yeah.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Yeah. So anyway, it was such a pleasure to speak with you about this today, Tom, and just so
many...

Tom Aglio:

Likewise. Thank you.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Lovely. Yeah. Thank you. So many lovely little nuggets of wisdom that you've popped in here, I think. Thank you for joining us.

Tom Aglio:

No, thank you. It was a pleasure. Thank you.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

And that's the way we saw the world through the lens of voice over this week. Thank you for joining us and for being part of our community. And thank you especially to Tom Aglio for motivating us all to reach for the stars. Making a living as a voice actor can be done, and Tom, as you've seen, is living proof. So to learn more about Tom and his coaching services, because he's such a good marketer, he's going to teach you how to do that too. You can visit his website at tomaglio.com, that's Tom-A-G-L-I-O.com. For Voices, I'm Stephanie Ciccarelli. Vox Talk is produced by Geoff Bremner. You've been listening to Vox Talk. Thank you for joining us and we'll see you next week.