My VO Business Is Down 30%. What Should I Do?

Is your voiceover business down and nothing you try seems to be working? In this Summer Series episode, UK voice actor James Brown asks the question a lot of VOPreneurs are quietly panicking about right now: his business is down thirty percent, he's marketing more than ever, and nothing is landing. What should he focus on to come out the other side intact? Marc doesn't sugarcoat it. His eLearning business was wiped out by AI in 2025. Trade pressures pulled his US clients. He lost more than sixty thousand dollars in income in a single year. And then he sat down and figured out exactly what to do next. In this episode Marc breaks down the framework he's actually using right now: focus only on what you can control. He walks through the specific moves he made - getting back into serious coaching, producing a brand new commercial demo and corporate demo, pivoting his marketing toward Canada, exploring audiobooks for the first time, and refining his pay-to-play strategy. He also gets into the "money read" concept - how to recognize when the read that was booking for you has quietly stopped working - and why the voice actors who will come out of this period strongest are the ones willing to honestly assess where they are and level up. If your business has taken a hit, this one is for you. 🎧 Prefer audio? Subscribe to the VOpreneur Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast platform. 👍 If this episode helped you, hit Like and Subscribe - new episodes every week for voice actors building a real business. 💬 Is your VO business feeling the market shift right now? Drop a comment below - Marc reads them all. CONNECT WITH JAMES BROWN 🖱️ James Brown Website - https://jamesbrownvoice.com 🖱️ James Brown LinkedIn -   / jamesbrownvoice   🖱️ Marc Scott on Instagram -   / marcscott   🖱️ Marc Scott on YouTube -    / @marcscottvo   🖱️ VOpreneur® on YouTube -    / @vopreneur   RESOURCES FOR VOICE ACTORS VOpreneur® ➡️ Visit https://vopreneur.com Get an instant $25 credit when you sign up for VoiceZam ➡️ Visit https://voicezam.com/marcscott For voice over services: ➡️ Visit https://marcscottvoiceover.com Join the VOpreneur Facebook Group ➡️ Visit   / vopreneur   Book a free 15-minute consultation: https://vopreneur.com/free15min CHAPTERS 00:00 Summer Series intro 00:53 James's question - business down 30%, marketing more than ever 02:23 Marc's e-learning business got wiped out - the client conversation 04:47 AI and trade wars hitting at the same time 07:05 Focus on what you can control 08:00 Starting over - the honest conversation Marc had with his wife 09:31 Getting back into serious coaching 10:00 New commercial demo - why commercial is still a safer genre 11:39 New corporate demo - what Marc is seeing on Voice123 13:57 Niching down your marketing sequences 15:30 Pivoting to the Canadian market 16:15 Booking his first audiobook - the genre he swore he'd never do 18:44 The thinning out - what happens after the COVID VO boom 21:06 Double down or get another job - the binary choice 23:22 Voice123 profile optimization - what actually moves the needle 25:43 Working with a coach on auditions 28:04 The money read - when what was booking stops working 30:27 The one thing top voice actors never stop doing 32:51 Final thoughts from James and Marc #VoiceActor #VoiceOver #VOpreneur #VoiceoverBusiness #VoiceActorTips #AIandVoiceOver #VoiceoverMarketing #PayToPlay #Voice123 #VoiceoverCoach