You've probably heard horror stories of people losing hundreds, sometimes THOUSANDS of dollars on a coach or company that made promises that are too good to be true. In this video, Gabby goes over what to look for, warning signs and questions you should ask any potential voiceover coach or company BEFORE you start working with them.
How to Spot a Voiceover Coaching SCAM! - 8:50
Hey guys, it’s Gabby. We’re looking for a predator, OK? You ready to come with me? Let's do this.
So here's the thing. The predator we’re hunting is actually the predatory coaching companies that are sadly all too easy to find. They don't hide by any means, guys, and I'm sure you know of at least a few of them. What I want to do today is talk to you a little bit about what predatory coaches do, the kinds of services that they offer so that you can understand that whenever you see something like this, they’re pretty clearly red flags and something you stay away from. Predatory coaching companies and scam voiceover companies are all over our industry. They make really big promises, really big claims, and by now you guys probably know the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That’s definitely the case with the majority of these companies. I want to help you in this video to understand what predatory voiceover companies do, the kinds of services they offer, and this way you’ll know that anytime you hear someone talking about those types of services, it should be a really big red flag, so that you know to slow down and do some really extensive research on them.
Probably the biggest giveaway that you’re being courted or pitched by a scam voiceover company is they promise to fast-track you through training super, super, super quickly. I mean like one weekend of training and a demo is made. Anything that’s just remarkably quick, where the coach that you’re working with or coaches that you’re working with don't ever really get a chance to know you, and you’re only working with them over the course of maybe a day or two or certainly no more than a week, and then a demo is completed for you, it is nuts. There's countless amounts of data all over the web on plenty of voiceover websites about all the reasons why you should absolutely never spend your money on a company like that. Also the costs are going to be crazy. Usually $2000, $3000, $4000, $5,000 for this really limited, really short-term engagements.
Along with that is any company that promises to make you a demo after X number of voiceover lessons. No quality voiceover coach, no one with a good, solid reputation is going to promise you a demo after say five classes or six classes. The reason is because we can't do that. We can't predict the future. We don't know how exactly how far you’ll progress in five classes. We don't know how far you’ll progress in 10 classes. So anytime you’re being prematurely pitched on a demo, walk away.
A lot of the scam companies start their introduction with you in some sort of a community college or a vocational college. And literally the class they offer will be part of some kind of adult education curriculum. You’ll pay something really, really small to attend it too like $35, usually no more than $50. And in that room, you’re going to be sitting with a lot of other hopeful people who just kind of think, hey, voiceover sounds like a neat idea. The person speaking, who probably by no means is a qualified coach, because these folks usually don't hire qualified coaches, because we wouldn’t really have anything to do with a process like this, is going to pump your head full of information about why the voiceover industry is so fantastic, and all the money that you can make, and how quickly you can do it. Shortly after you take this introductory class, you’re gonna get a letter, or a correspondence, or an email, or even a phone call from someone at the company saying how amazing you were, and how you blew everybody away. And now they want to invite you to come to their masterclass or whatever the next step in their training is. And that’s usually the one, two or three-day weekend type workshop where you spend a ton of money and leave with a demo.
Another really good giveaway that you’re dealing with a predatory voiceover company is that they don't have you training in a studio. You may have never even been in a voiceover studio. I have talked to countless people who have been scammed and taken advantage of by these companies, and there’re quite a few of them, that will tell me the very, very first time they were ever on mic was the day they cut their demo. That's crazy! How could you possibly learn how to play an instrument if the instrument wasn't right there in front of you? You can't do that. The same thing goes with voiceover. You’re not going to be proficient enough in microphone technique, in performance skill if you’ve never been on mic before!
If you think for even a second that maybe, just maybe the voiceover company you’re thinking about working with is a scam, just Google it. Professional, well-known, well-respected voiceover coaches in this country do not have loads and loads of negative Internet feedback. You should actually search the person or the company’s name along with the word scam on Google, and you’re gonna be shocked at the results that you pull up if the company is in fact not worth dealing with.
The other thing to keep in mind is don't talk to people who have worked with them very recently. It actually typically takes a new voiceover student and someone who was conned a good year or two after the fact before they figure out what’s happened. Because most people are kind of, feel bad for them and are sort of embarrassed to tell them. It’s happening a little bit faster now, but yeah, that’s the average. So if they say, hey, talk to this student or this person we worked with a month ago to get a referral, that’s not who you want to talk to. You want to talk to someone they worked with two or three years ago. In fact, what you’ll probably find is they have no referrals from someone they worked with two or three years ago because everyone at that point has pretty much been up at arms about the service they received, and how bad it was, and how little it did for their career.
One last point about this, research the instructors heavily. Nine times out of ten, the instructors or the people that are touting themselves as voiceover professionals and experts that are teaching the classes with these companies are virtually unknown in our industry. They’re beginners themselves. Very few if any of them have a lot of experience in voiceover. They certainly don’t have a reputation. They don’t have a name for themselves. No one else knows who they are. That's never a good sign.
Thanks for watching this video, guys. I really, really hope that this helps. If I can save even one person from engaging or investing in the services of one of these companies, then I have totally done my job today. There are awesome voiceover coaches out there. There are excellent companies to work with, and I wish you the best in finding those folks, the people who are legitimate. Easy way to do it, jump on my Facebook, take a look at my friends list, that’s going to get you in touch with the right people.
Hello. Hi. Hi. Don't get a dog. Whatever you do, don't ever get a dog, ever. Just don't. Just don't, definitely not a Great Pyrenees. Just don’t, people. That's my PSA for the day, don't get a [beep] dog. OK. Oh my God, stop squeaking. Stop it! What the [beep] is going on outside? I live in the loudest place on earth. This is just crap. [whispers] Shut up, Shelley. Shut up.
If you want more information about me, my voiceover services, myself as a coach, check out my website, GabrielleNistico.com. It’s got lots of info and a really extensive beginner section, plus a pretty banging FAQ that’ll go into details, answer a lot of questions you might have and hopefully assist you further in getting your voiceover journey started.
704-674-8294 / GabrielleNistico.com / gabby@voiceovervixen.com
Gabrielle Nistico, Gabby Nistico, The Voiceover Vixen, The Business First VO Coach, #VoiceoverVixen #VoiceOnFire #BusinessFirstVOCoach Voiceover, Success, Entrepreneur, Voiceover Coaching, VO Coaching, Voiceover Coaches, Working Actors, Los Angeles, New York, Charlotte, North Carolina, coaching scam, opportunists, don't waste your money, voiceover scam, predators