One one second one second here Hello Immediately hello there my beautiful internet friends. Welcome back to my channel. Thank you so much for joining me here today I wanted to uh, I wanted to imitate being a Christmas monster Which is what my husband calls himself when you're a little bit too obsessed with Christmas So I got my bahum buck Santa hat on with with this that keeps hitting me in the face I got this ridiculously happy sparkly necklace three bucks Welcome to the ultimate ranking of things that people say to you if you're dealing with depression things that people say to depressed people Like look on the bright side. You should pray more happiness is a choice. You know get outside more I know you're just looking for attention snap out of it You really don't seem sad before we dive in a quick caveat everything. I'm about to say is a hundred percent my own opinion It's just how I feel about these sayings You may feel differently perhaps some of these have even helped you in difficult moments If that's the case, I would love to hear your perspective on this so that mine might be able to expand as well If you are new to my channel first of all welcome. Thank you so much for being here Secondly important context for this video last piece of context before we dive in I promise is I am someone who has dealt with clinical depression For well over nine years now. I was diagnosed nine years ago I'm in a really good place right now, but things go up things come down and I learned more tools along the way However, specifically over the past few years I've talked pretty openly about depression through public speaking through my channel trauma talk Here on footless show and whether you're talking about something like this online or to people in your life there are certain responses that that People tend to give and what we are about to rank today are some of the most popular and not necessarily most helpful ones Staring at this list right now. I realize I have so many feelings about About all of these let us begin with think of all the good things in your life So this is something that is said I think it is very well meaning if someone expresses that they're having a hard time or going through something like look at all The good things in your life like yeah, I get that people get sad sometimes even though as we'll talk about a little bit Deprecious not just sadness. I think I've heard this said to me a lot as a way to like well You know focus focus on other things don't think about the fact that you're really struggling like you've got so much going for you'll Be fine. I think that this is really well meaning But the problem is it can almost have an opposite effect if I am in the midst of dealing with a Depressive episode if I'm in like a lot of darkness in my head having someone tell you like you have so much going for you Like look at all these good things in your life It tends to make me feel really guilty for not being able to just be happy about all the good things The reality is the depression is a lot more than just happiness or sadness In fact, it's a lot more than just being sad So telling someone to think of the good things in their life totally understand it comes from a good place But often it's more hurtful because I'm like I am thinking of the good things in my place And I'm still having a really hard time like what's wrong with me. That's how the thought process goes for me Anyways, I'm gonna go with okay. I guess next up. Let's deal with snap out of it Oh, we're gonna go right to the did you need to say that category as you may or may not know Mental illness is not something that someone can just snap out of as much as we would like that to be the case I think it's a really easy thing to say and I'm gonna say it's also kind of a lazy thing to say it speaks to a Complete lack of understanding or wanting to take any time to listen to someone or understand that mental illness like depression is more Than just a choice snap out of it. Definitely not my favorite. You should pray more. I'm gonna go in Thanks for trying maybe now if you know anything about my story, you know that I come from a very Conservative Christian background. I'm a person of faith now But that faith is has a lot of question marks around it over the course of the past many years of my life people who are very Very into their faith have told me to pray more when I am having a hard time I feel like this comes from two places They're the people who are telling you that you are doing something wrong like you're sinning by being depressed So you should pray more or it's like a moral failing to be depressed So you should really pray more and get close to God And then there are also the people who truly believe that perhaps getting closer to a God or their God is something that would help You maybe this God could help you and it's an honest attempt. It's how they know how to help someone It's how they know how to connect Unfortunately, oftentimes this falls really flat with people such as myself, but I think oftentimes it comes from a sincere place So we're gonna leave that and thanks for trying So I'm gonna put but you don't seem sad in the okay I guess category mostly because again this speaks of a lot of ignorance to me when it comes to what depression actually is Depression is not the same as sadness every human on the planet has experienced sadness at some point in their life Be it short or long like we've had disappointments. We've had like a bummer days Depression is a different kind of beast. It is something that significantly Impairs your ability to go through daily life daily tasks. It affects your focus It refers to a consistently depressed mood, which can mean loss of interest and activities difficulty sleeping difficulty thinking like I said For many people you struggle with really low energy Loss of appetite or just appetite changes in general really dark thoughts like thoughts of self-harm or ending your life Sometimes really low self-esteem like it's a lot more than just being sad So when someone says this to you if you're dealing with depression and you share that with them like but but you don't seem sad Though that can be really painful to hear because it's like you don't see everything that's going on Underneath here right though. It can be really painful to hear I think to me if someone made that comment it makes it really clear to me that they don't know what they're talking about When it comes to depression and perhaps at least in that moment. They're not the person to reach out for for help It's all in your head. Ah, yes, one of my favorites man. This is a hard one. This is a hard one to rank I'm gonna go with did you need to say that for it's all in your head.  It's just a thought, you know get over it kind of thing I sure wish this is how depression worked However, it is not and honestly at times that I've had this said to me or suggested to me It does hurt because I'm like because you're suggesting to me that what I know as real what I am actively Experiencing in my mind and in my body in a very real sense is not real Shouldn't be paid attention to is something that should just be excused and as desperately as I've wanted to do that in many moments When I've been in the midst of depression, that's simply not how it works It's not all in your head is a very very real mental health issue. Stop choosing to stay sad. All right We're gonna go straight to the top. Here's our first winner today I really dislike this on a deep deep level and I won't say hate because that's a really strong word But it's pretty close. Stop choosing to stay sad is again the suggestion that Being depressed is something that you are choosing what I and therapists and counselors and doctors can tell you is that Depression is not a choice if it was you would not really have anyone dealing with depression Because it is an awful state to find yourself in this idea that you're choosing to stay sad You're choosing depression I think is really comforting to people who have not dealt with mental health issues Because you can reassure yourself that you're you're immune. You're good because you're choosing happiness Which we'll get to in just a moment You know you're choosing the right things and they're choosing the wrong things and that's on them That's not on you I think it feeds into this false sense of control that a lot of us like to hold on to this idea that we control every Circumstance in our life that if we make the right choices will be good again Unfortunately, the only thing we really have control over is our actions our reactions There's a lot that can happen to us that can go wrong or become really difficult or challenges that are brought to Us that are completely outside of our control the only thing that we can do in those moments is decide how we're gonna react to them Depression is not a choice and people who are dealing with depression are not choosing to stay sad look on the bright side Oh, this is very much like think of all the good things in your life I'm gonna go with did you need to say that though just the idea of just just think on the bright side is really Hollow when you're talking about serious mental health issues that cost people their lives in some situations You're just looking for attention now. I bet you can guess where this one is going Yes, it is going to our grand winner category of well that hurt However, I do want to add something on here I think we think the idea of looking for attention is this just like gross thing like attention seekers Oh, nobody likes them But I think we fail to realize that if someone is having a hard time that someone is struggling They do need attention. They need help. They need care wanting or needing attention is a basic Human thing we want to know that we're not alone We want to know that we're heard that someone pays attention to us that someone gives a damn about us So if your reaction to someone who is dealing with mental health issues has ever been you're just looking for attention Stop to reconsider the fact that maybe attention is what they need from you Maybe they are reaching out to you for help and attention is not a dirty word It is something that can help people get through really difficult things with that being said I really hate when people say that I did I did pull out the H word I really strongly dislike when people say this because it is so demeaning of the difficulty that someone is facing Just looking for attention is a horrible label to put on someone who may be quite literally fighting for their life Against against their own mind. It could be worse. I think this has come up in every tier list so far Has it just about everyone? We're gonna put that in the the ultimate winner tier. It could be worse This is something I've had said to me countless times if you're listening to this right now I'm sure you've heard this saying before now if you know anything about me or my channel You know that I kind of have a personal vendetta against this phrase when it comes to serious things If you're talking about normal daily annoyances the idea that you know, it could be worse Maybe reconsider how you're looking at something I get how that could be helpful But when you're talking about trauma or grief or mental illness anything like that Suggesting it could be worse So you really shouldn't feel what you're feeling is so suppressive and one of the most frustrating things about Depression is that when you're in the midst of it, you know that other people have it worse You know that maybe your situation is not the worst situation that anyone's ever faced in the entire world But it doesn't mean that the darkness that you're fighting becomes any less real Yes, there's one person in the entire world who has the worst Circumstances of anybody ever and they get to hold that crown But that does not mean in any way that what you are facing is any less serious or severe One of the big problems with saying this sort of a thing when you are talking to someone who is dealing with depression is that You really don't know how bad it is I public speak and make videos online as a large part of my living or I talk about and I put in two words What it's like to experience these things and how I've gotten through different things even with that being said when I am in The midst of depression I have such a difficult time putting into words like I have Significant experience putting this into words for other people and when my mind is there when my body is there I still struggle to find the words So if you're telling someone it could be worse because they've said they're depressed and they're having a hard time you're like, okay, well that's hard but Keep in mind you really don't know the full extent of what's going on and depression has taken way too many lives So maybe pause for a moment before before trying to help that way or trying to make yourself more comfortable by saying that Because it actually can be pretty harmful. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger again. This is one that comes up all the time I see it everywhere. Um, I'm gonna go with did you need to say that This is a cliche we've seen over and over again in popular culture and songs and media You know, it doesn't kill you makes you stronger and if this helps you this idea helps you I get it. I really do at the same time when we're talking about depression in particular Depression does kill people far too many and I think sometimes that's missed We think someone's just dealing with mental health issues. They'll be fine And far too often people are not just fine Sure in some moments and some situations can be helpful But at least for me and many people that I know when you're talking about dealing with depression You know, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger It does feel like it could kill you because it could it takes a lot of Hard work a lot of fighting to get through a lot of help to get through Sometimes you don't want to be stronger. Sometimes you just Want to make it you just want to make it to the end of another day You just want to read you that normally without feeling like you weigh a million pounds and are just weighed down by this Gunk of depression like being strong is not what everybody's looking for Sometimes it's just making it to the end of the day. So I mean, I've said it before but I do Obviously do not like that one very much Well, do you have a reason to be sad? I'm gonna put this in okay I guess again to me if someone says this it just means they really Don't have an idea of what they're talking about being sad does not always have a reason behind it People are not always depressed because of Fill in the blank sometimes people just start fighting depression just start dealing with depression There are a wide variety of factors that contribute to this So if someone is saying hey, I'm really depressed and your reaction is well Like don't you ever like what's your reason to be sad? Like what's your justification for feeling this way? It's really disheartening to hear I remember a situation a while ago in my life when I expressed to a friend of mine that I was dealing with depression And their reaction is why like why are you sad? And I remember in that moment I was able to be like articulate and be like here are the reasons that I'm struggling and you know depression isn't always Fact-based blah blah blah, but but deep down really stuck with me and hurt because it made me feel so crazy Like you're right people people are always sad for a reason. Why am I sad for no damn reason? Like you're right. There are so many things that are good in my life. Why am I upset all the time? Why am I not okay all the time? I should have a reason I don't have a reason and that contributes to this feeling of I suck and I'm broken Neither of which are true, but definitely feel true in the moment. Get outside more. All right. I'm gonna put this in Thanks for trying. I feel like a lot of people might rank this higher. Here's the thing for me personally being outside uh Being in nature being away from people and technology I've discovered especially over the past two years is something that is really Really beneficial for my mental health. There's research and a lot of stories that lend credence to the idea that being more in Touch with the natural world can really help mental health illness and struggles such as depression However telling someone just get outside more is not fixing depression It can be a tool in the toolbox of figuring out how to make it to the next day of understanding What's going on and and what to do to manage it or mitigate it or prevent it from getting really bad Telling someone this as if it were the fix to their problems as if it were a complete and utter Antidepressant and cure all within itself is not accurate and is not helpful. I'm gonna save the best for last We're gonna go with uh, you're just thinking about yourself too much straight to the top I'm not even gonna go into a lot of detail about this aside from saying that it's not accurate Depression is not caused or fixed by thinking about yourself less It's a very complicated issue and reducing mental illness to the idea that you're just really being selfish You just need to think about other people more is inaccurate uneducated and kind of hurtful And now it is time for a grand winner Happiness is a choice straight to the top, baby I kind of addressed this with the stop choosing to stay sad But the reality is I realize that I may frustrate some people by saying this Happiness is not a choice. It's not in so many situations. I would say the vast majority of situations It's really not again. I think it's a very comforting and a very easy thought to think like just choose happiness You'll be better. It's what I do. I'm choosing happiness. I'm doing great But happiness is first of all very subjective and secondly can be really impacted when you are dealing with a mental illness When you're dealing with mental health issues like depression So when I am depressed when I'm really feeling a lot of that One of the first things that I notice is that my reactions to happiness and looking happy.  Okay, cool Uh, but I don't feel any of it like I play the part really really well But I realize that it doesn't go any further than skin deep that I'm kind of just dead inside And that's one of the indicators that like hey depression's coming up for you Let's take some steps to uh to pull some tools out of the toolbox or ask for help or make sure I'm paying attention To what I need to pay attention to to get through whatever is coming in the best way that I can One of the things about depression at least for me personally is I feel like it builds this Glass wall between me and actually feeling happiness not acting happy. I'm really good at that I am trying to get less good at acting happy and more Skilled at being honest with the people around me, but I can choose to pretend to be happy really easily. I can do that I can I can fake a lot of people into thinking that I'm doing great I'm I'm fine when I'm really in a dangerous mental place But especially with depression you can't just choose to feel happiness because this illness itself Brings you away from happiness isolates you from happiness isolates you from really feeling Those positive emotions to positive things It is a really bizarre mind space to be in when you know you should be happy even though there is no should for emotions We still feel those shoulds come up when you should be happy when good things are happening or you're you're Having a good experience and yet you feel so sad or overwhelmed or exhausted or dead inside and suggesting that you can Again can be really harmful Because it just contributes to this idea of god. I really am so broken Everybody else around me is choosing happiness and I just I can't do it I can't feel it which in my case can then lead to faking happiness because you're like I should be happy I'm gonna I'm gonna make it seem like I'm happy and that is even more isolating And distances you from health that you actually need and you can find yourself in a very dangerous mental place Pretty quickly and this my friends is uh is just my two cents on some of the most popular things that people say to people dealing with depression looking at this list now I realized that I put absolutely nothing in the you're a okay cat gore like that's that's cool to say Um, I think when I was making the tiles for this list I was kind of frustrated at some of the things that people say So I just came up with the ones that I was like not super thrilled about But let me just go through a few things that are really really helpful to say if someone is struggling If someone is dealing with depression number one This isn't even something you can say is just be there just your presence Just being present with someone and not requiring them to pretend to be happy not requiring them to be anything Other than exactly who they are and where they are in that moment Definitely one of the most healing and helpful things that that people have ever done for me Number two also not something that would necessarily fit on a tile But to acknowledge that what someone's going through is real saying things like i'm so sorry that this is something You are dealing with it sounds really hard Can be for a lot of people really affirming to hear because you're saying that you hear them and you believe them And that's a huge step number three asking someone if there is anything that you can do that might help them Can be really helpful and I'll put this with the caveat I feel like i'm using that word way too much in this video I'll put this with the caveat that sometimes when you're depressed you're like I don't know what's going to help all I know is that I am desperately not okay So if someone doesn't have an answer to this question Let them know that that's okay too and that you're going to be there and you're going to check on them That in itself is huge I'm going to end this all on a final note when it comes to Helping people who are dealing with depression who are depressed or dealing with any kind of mental illness It is never on you or on me to fix or save someone There have been countless people who have helped me so Much in dealing with the mental health challenges that I have faced However, not a single one of them was ever responsible for bringing me out of it It's like drops in a bucket like knowing that my husband is there and accepts me Knowing that I have a friend who's always going to answer the the phone when I call like little little bits like that Are like these these drops in a bucket that help me stay afloat Nothing that anyone says or does is ever going to cure me or fix me. It is a personal journey It's figuring out what works for you What doesn't figuring out what tools you need what tools just aren't for you figuring out who is a good support for you Or a good support system for you and who and what is not it can take a while And I feel like when people share that they are depressed oftentimes the people They are sharing that with feel this responsibility to like fix it or make it all better It's important to remember that you really can't make it all better. That's not something that's in your control So don't try don't try to fix them or cure them Don't try to say the right thing that's going to make it all better because that thing doesn't exist And that's okay It's your responsibility if you want to be their friend if you want to be a good family member if you want to be a good You know partner or boss to just be there in whatever way you are capable of in the best possible way You can support them in that moment. Sometimes I feel like it's that pressure that mounting pressure of like I need to fix this. I need to make them better. They're really struggling I've got to fix it that leads to us saying things that are massively Unhelpful like just choose happiness because if you choose happiness, you won't be sad problem solved, right? Like we feel this responsibility or this pressure to fix things when it is not honest to do so So if someone comes to you and they are struggling in my opinion and experience The best thing you can do is be there Listen and figure out a few things you can do that help them personally If you are someone watching this video right now and you are dealing with depression Please know that you are not alone depression is very isolating in what it makes us feel But I promise you you are not the only person feeling this way You're not crazy for feeling this way And there are people out there who get it and want to support you and love you and care about you Those things can be really difficult to absorb when we are in a rough place But I promise you they are true. I promise you life is worth fighting for if you are in a Scary headspace as I have found myself in before please know that there is Light out there. It's not all darkness. Sometimes it takes a little while to find there are tools that can and will work for you Again, sometimes it takes a little bit searching, but like I said, you're not alone You're not weird and there is a way through this and I promise you it is worth fighting for And with that being said that concludes our ultimate tier list of things that people say to people who are depressed So I'm curious my friends. Do you agree with my ranking? Do you absolutely disagree? I would love to hear some of your maybe favorite maybe least favorite sayings you've heard And where you might rank them in this chart comment down below as always a massive thank you to all my patrons over on patreon I truly cannot thank you enough for continuing to support this channel. Your generosity is so appreciated and never taken for granted Thank you if you're interested in what patreon is I put a link on screen also down below in the description box So check it out if you feel like it also if you feel like it hit that subscribe button that like button Maybe if you're feeling super generous you could ring that notification bell So whenever I upload a new video or go live, which I do a lot you'll get notified and to you watching this video right now Thank you for spending a few minutes out of your day Here with me today You could be anywhere in the world doing anything and you chose to hang out with me for a few minutes And I really appreciate that I love you guys. I'm thinking of you and I will see you in the next video Bye guys


If you're thinking about starting a sports training business and it does not matter to me what sport You are specializing in if you haven't started your business yet I want you to watch this all the way through and This will really really help you Welcome to the build my sports biz show where we talk about how to create build and scale your own local sports training business It's time to get started with your host and been neighbors the show starts right now All right If you haven't started a business and you've been wanting to right First go check out that coupon code that I just had in the intro that will Work on any of the programs and products that we sell at build my sports biz calm And that site is for you if you're looking to start growing scale, right now Outside of that I have over 400 and I think at this point 475 YouTube videos I have hundreds of podcasts that you can go find on Spotify or iTunes I've been doing this for over five years now at this point And what I will tell you is a lot of coaches that reach out to me that are like, hey, Ben I want to have more freedom. I want to have more flexibility. I Hate my current job and I want to be a full-time coach and you know when I started I Hated what I was doing like and I hated while I was doing enough to where it pushed me To start something different than what I was doing because I hated my job I hated driving to work. I mean I hate being in a car in the first place, but I hated commuting going 30 45 minutes to to my job Sitting in traffic being told When to eat lunch when I can go to the bathroom when I can drink water like I mean it was Amazing how like I felt like I was trapped in a prison and I Hated that enough though. I had a high sense of urgency to stop doing that and I needed to change my life so like if you are in a position and you are wanting to Start well, no one's going to give you the green light to do that Like I'm not gonna do that. So if you text me. Hey, should I start a business? I'll always if you always ask me. Hey, should I start a business? I will tell you no I will say no, don't do it. Like you shouldn't be asking me that you should just go do it And if you're asking someone for permission to do something You are not fit to be a business owner and I can I can promise you that if you are trying to get started and you don't Think you can start I don't know what to tell you you shouldn't be doing this All right, and the other thing is like I know when when coaches start their business They think and I have this funny clip pulled up here If you look at this guy and I don't know if it's his wife or his girlfriend I don't know what they are But most people think when they start a business, it's going to be like this that you get to sleep in on Monday you get to Get on their laptop have a little latte and chill out and Have a very relaxed day now when you have a business, right? It is not like that It is not like how a lot of these people who show you ads probably on my videos Talk about it is not like that And this is why like one of the reasons why I bought this Lion off of Amazon. It's like when I get in here. I know I have to go hunt Like this room is specific for work Hey, I don't come up here and play play around on Instagram and Twitter all day, right? I'm not up here with my wife sipping on a latte and you know tucked away and under the covers Right, but this is the the fantasy and the illusion that a lot of people have when they think about starting business They're like, well, I don't like what I'm doing right now So if I start something my life will be easier. I can assure you 1,000% your life will be harder when you have a business than when you don't Right because guess what? No one's gonna tell you what time to wake up. No one's just gonna go give you clients No one's going to make you successful. All right other than you All right, and this is why I know so many times When coaches reach out and they're like, you know, should I do this? You know, should I get started? What are the best ways to get started? Like I have plans and in guides and detailed Resources that you can use that will help you get started in the next day All right, you can legally set your business up over the next day Go check out my website bill my sports biz calm You can check it out there But what you need to know is you know if you're considering getting started It is going to be the hardest thing you've ever done in your life period Right, and I say that so bluntly because I know it's true. I've been self-employed For over a decade Right, and I will tell you it's absolutely hard and can you have freedom and flexibility? Absolutely. Yes Like a hundred percent you can but it will take you time. All right, that does not happen in year one It's probably not gonna happen in year five right as you as you're going I mean some of the most successful coach I'm working with right now. I can promise you they're working way harder than you would think right and You know, they might not be up till 10 or midnight every single day working but like they work very very hard during the time, you know during their work time during the day, right and That's gonna be the difference is your focus your discipline that you have when you start a business That is all in your hands right Right. No one's tapping me on the shoulder at six o'clock in the morning Monday through Friday saying hey Ben You need to wake up today. No one does that to me. I do that. Right. I do that. So That's it for today's message. I hope this helps you It's it's you know, you need to know the truth. It's being being successful is hard. It's not for everybody and starting your business with the illusion thinking that you're gonna make it rain in the first year and You're gonna be able to sleep in on Monday or Tuesday with your significant other and and relax Promise you. All right. It's not how it works. That's not how it works around here. So that's it and catch you later


A group under the aegis of ENTAS united in conjunction with RAMIMBA wants the legal state government to immediately stop the plan to resume tolling at the Lekitol gate at a press conference. The group tacked the plan as illegal across one and poor George reports. Gathered here, our lawyers come activists. They are unhappy about the legal state government's plan to return to tolling on the controversial Lekitol gate with blastings of some ENTAS activists. The tolling is not ongoing on the Kui Ling bridge as you speak but the mere fact that the legal state government think they have the legal right to tow on the bridge, on that bridge is an insult to the law and the memories of citizens that lost their lives at the Lekitol gate on October 20, 2020. The SCC and legal state government also know that we shall be demanding an account of the money, you see, illegally and fraudulently extorted from the residents of Lekitol, which seems that SAP was thrown out, because they have been hiding under the federal government not to do what they are supposed to do. We are calling for accountability, not to even talk about the major ones like admitting and apologizing to the citizens for the massacre, identifying and prosecuting all officers involved, competing with the victims and others, yet they can do countless of meetings, press conferences and others just to open a legal tolling location where the blood of innocent citizens was spilled. Nangirans say a very big no to that. Ogunala discloses the group's next line of action if Lekitol gate is open for business. We demand justice for instance victims. We demand rehabilitation of the maimed and wounded. We demand immediate release of fear and open trial of those still in prison because of their participation in the protests. We demand full implementation of the judicial panel of inquiries legals recommendations report. We stay. No, to operation of the Lekitol gate, the Lekitol gate itself should be made a national monument as recommended by the judicial panel. All these we demand and we are standing by it. There will be protests. It's as simple as that. Democracy needs to be watered, needs to be cultivated and by vigilant gardeners. We are Nangirans, we are the gardeners of the democracy. If democracy are the people who have employed to do the work, they will make them to do the work. We are saying that the citizens of Nigeria should not lay back to defend and fight for their own rights. Angels will not come from heaven. Malayica will not come from heaven. Some months ago when the legal state government resumed tolling at the Lekitol gate, it was falsely resisted by protesters. It is not clear how long this resistance would be, but what is clear is that activists want justice for the slain who fought to end the cruelty of sars. Poor George plus TV News.


so people I am back with another dying light video now I don't know if you saw my previous video it's basically how you get this airdrop right here so the top of this building a massive building that's a scale around the whole thing there's also collectible as well which you'll find out on my channel don't want to miss it I was thinking you know just have some weird thoughts so in dying light obviously you take full damage you'll probably see where this is going well if you land on like the mattresses you'll see one oh where is it could be over this way you can land on the mattresses and you don't take full damage right there see right there you can land on tires and rubbish and you don't take full damage but you can also land on cars and you don't take full damage so I was thinking how high can you be and not take damage landing on a car theoretically I should swear later but this is what I want to check out I want to test this out the problem is that car there's a little far away and I don't don't think I'll make that but is there any cars anywhere else close where can I try and land on I mean then ones there actually actually I could probably make that there do you reckon people what do you reckon it's not gonna be an amazing achievement or not to fail either way either way let's try it out so how high of a building can you jump off and land on a car oh I've got not spent I let them spin just from that thing I just picked up I think no I'm like sparkle so what gonna do here anything that makes me a goose in my movement speed because you're speed one navigating actually know what I like that we'll take that I can do these but oh immunity in health don't not put that in oh no I can't see should I you don't okay so should we go stamina or half you know what I'm gonna have I could do both but would you know what you know okay so we're gonna try people are you ready for this this is gonna be amazing so like I said it's gonna be a fail oh it's gonna be incredible I'm just so much shit to make on this game so many things I could be doing here with my time so I'm these secrets to be discovering here's me messing about guys we do enjoy the video even a lagoon it helps out and subscribe if you want to see more this nonsense okay so let's run and jump and well there you have it guys I have legs of steel legs I could take anybody I should be able to kick these arms across the street kick not working my kicks ain't working oh yeah weak weak oh you want some of this you want some of this your mother yeah that's what I thought bitches I do you all over there we have it so yes guys it doesn't matter how high up of a building you are you can jump off and land on mattresses or cars or the rubbish and you won't die pretty cool pretty cool you learn something new every day so guys I appreciate you stopping by for these utter nonsense and hopefully people I will see you on that next one


Hi everyone, Joe for Jasper's casebreaks.com. Happy Thursday coming at you with the Bengals, Eagles, Ravens, Raiders, Bears, Panthers, Number Block, Randomizer for Picker Team 3, Illusions 3, which the break itself will be in a separate video. Please note, I'm sure everyone noted this, right, when they read the item description, that there are a lot of non-numbered cards. Yes, including Joe Burrow non-numbered cards. We're going to gather those into one lot and randomize it to one person in this break. Obviously, if it's a number, Joe Burrow, whatever number you get signed, it'll go to that number. Big thanks to these folks right here for getting into it. There are the numbers right there. Let's roll it. Let's randomize it. 6 and a 5, 11 times for each list. 10 and once more, right? Yep, 11th and final time. After 11, we've got Adam down to Jeremy. 6 and a 5, 11 times for the numbers. Just 1, 2, 10 and 11th and final time. After 11, we've got 5 down to 2. Adam with 5, Paul with 0, so you'll get any and all redemptions for those teams on the bottom right there, as stated in the description, including one-of-one redemptions. Gary, you'll still get live one-of-ones. Daniel with 8, Adam with 3, Jason with 7, Fuad with 9, Alex with 6, Adam with 4, and Jeremy with 2. So let's order these by number and coming up in a separate video will be the break itself. We'll see you for that.


Hey, it's time for voiceover body shop.  How you doing have a great week? Had a great week and a great weekend too. So great great to be back It's good to be back and so is good to have everybody out there watching us or listening or whatever it is They do our guest today is right below us. That is Chris fries. Chris. How you doing? I'm good guys. How you bad we've been weeping good and it's been a long time since you've been on but we're gonna talk about all sorts of stuff and all the stuff that you're doing and How to become successful at voiceover, you know, which I guess is what the show is about So stay tuned Chris fries is with us on voiceover body shop right now Voiceover body shop is brought to you by voiceover essentials comm the home of Harlan Hogan signature products Source elements the folks who bring you source connect Vio heroes comm become a hero to your clients with award-winning voiceover training Voice actor comm your voice over website ready in minutes voiceover extra your daily resource for voice over success and by world voices the industry association of freelance voice talent and Now here's your hosts Dan and George Hello there, I'm Dan Leonard and I'm George with him and this is voiceover body shop or Vio Be as Another week another show. Oh wait, that's the wrong button. Sorry. I forgot we had Chris on I should have had this one So anyway You know my wife is like are you doing your show tonight? I'm like, yeah, I thought you just did it last week No, it's been two weeks since we did this show Time just moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around for a while. They might miss it. Yeah Well, we were looking around all weekend. We wanted to all of these natural gardens all over Southern, California over the weekend and After you see a couple of you know sustainable gardens, you know that are all desert plants It's like all right. We saw this at the last house. Okay, they still have the well yellow lupins Who knew they were yellow lupins? I love I love going on the nature and seeing the flowers right now It's a great time to be outside in Southern, California Yeah mountain biking through the flowers having flowers stuck in my beard my handlebars It's a lot of fun. They're really pretty time to be outside. It is and we've got super bloom going on right now with all the rain We've had here. Oh, yeah, it's happening. It's pop it exactly Yeah, so I keep wondering why has it been so cold here in Southern, California because hell is frozen over I guess Anyway, rain exactly it is time to introduce our very very special guest who's going to be talking with us for the next hour Chris fries is currently the voice of dodge chevron america's best and kubota They're the guys that make the you know the little high lift things and has recent national campaigns for spots for bf Goodrich blue deaf. He'll have to tell us what that is credit karma shields peak Tgi fridays and is or has recently voiced promos for history channel ESPN fox and others plus lots of video game performances, which we'll talk about And it's time to welcome back to our show after a seven-year absence. Chris fries. How you doing? I'm good. I'm good. Thanks for having me guys. It's great to have you back on Yeah, we were looking it's like we hadn't been on since like we moved the show to southern california So Scott is a boy crazy when you said we should have chris and I was like didn't we just have Oh in 2050 You know, I see chris four times a year Usually at his place to do studio maintenance. So I see chris all the time So you lose track of time, but it's great to see it here on the show. Thanks for coming. Yeah, so thrilled to be here All right. Well, let's get into the meat of the matter You know since you haven't been here for a while and perhaps our many in our audience are not familiar with you Even though they probably are since telling him all the different things that you've been doing Tell us a little bit about your background in training and How you got into this this crazy nutty business. Yeah. Yeah. No, I've been full-time voiceover since uh since 2004 and It uh, it was a long journey I started off in radio was in a college radio station tried to get a foothold It wanted to be an on-air personality and radio Worked in the promotions department and was a board operator at a Local radio station and trying to get a foothold there and never really got on air or anything like that That was something that I was told repeatedly. Oh, you don't really have what it takes You don't really have the voice for you don't really have the sound for it But you know, you do good work in the promo department. I'm like, oh, thanks. Maybe someday um, I eventually uh Got out of that line of work altogether and uh in trying to find full-time radio work When in municipal government was with a soul crushing job um For 10 years a detoured away from from working with my voice or trying to Eventually then was laid off from that job in 2004 and wanted to Just take the plunge in voiceover and uh, I started taking classes found out that you know, how to kind of get started Taking a bunch of group classes. I live in orange county, uh, california Which about 40 45 miles outside of la hollywood area So it wasn't too bad to get into uh, la For the classes at that time all the classes were up in la So I'd go to three times a week and just take those group classes with uh, you know, the voice caster mason elaine craig All the places up there that anybody in the southern california area that's been in the business for a while is very familiar with Um, and just yeah, I just kept taking classes kept taking classes That was the big thing was the education side is is learning the craft It's one thing to be told that oh, you got a good voice. You should do voiceover or whatever The good speaking voice, but you have to learn how to act basically And uh, so I had to figure that out. I was lousy at first, but you know got better and better made a demo probably a little too soon And uh, but then still ended up getting you know early representation some regional agents It just took it took probably about four years from 2004 to 2008 of just training Working on those pay-to-play sites back then they were um, you know, not as strong as I I guess they are now I haven't worked in those pay-to-plays like the voices dot com voice one two three those types of Things but uh, I think it was it was helpful for me Early in my career to do those and get some experience because I didn't have representation Back then so how do you work if you don't have an agent because an agent gets you work So these pay-to-plays kind of helped helped with that and get me some early experience But then the regional agents started to kind of slowly trickle in a couple of jobs here and there and eventually got La representation and got my first national campaign in 2008 It was a minute made commercial and I was I was thrilled with it. It was uh aired on You know national network tv during american idol back then was very very popular and the beijing olympics was on and aired during that So friends were calling and saying hey, you're on american idol. I'm watching american idol But I taped it and I was fast-forwarding. So I fast-forwarded through my own debut commercial which was so they got you rewind Don't get the commercials folks Now of course if I ever see Commercial especially if the family's in the in the family room with me and It's again.  I'm like, hey my dodge Come on dad fast My family's so proud of me I can just uh just warms my heart The love that they have for for what I do It warms my heart. I I still get a thrill uh hearing myself Although it is funny if I hear myself in any application a video game a commercial a promo I always think I could have done that better. I should have made the turn a little brighter spit up that tag a little bit more emphasize that uh word I'm constantly tinkering and never fully satisfied, which is uh, uh I guess a burden and a blessing at the same time because I'm kind of a perfectionist with uh with that kind of thing But yeah, but yeah, it took uh took a few years to get the traction going 2008 Then by about 2010 two more years before I was Kind of making enough to consider myself a working actor So but yeah, it was uh, it was a long road and now it's I've been Blessed beyond my uh wildest dreams So it's it's been it's been a good ride. Yeah, I I would say you're the perfect example of Whose voice is that? We hear you in everything. I mean, what have we been here for chameleon too? Yeah, I mean, what have we heard you in lately like in you in 2023 There's a few campaigns that are uh, and that's kind of the big thing with uh, uh Voice actors is especially if you do commercials or or promos and that is It's not just the one-offs You know, I've got a lot of one-off commercials that it's something that runs uh randomly in a regional part of the country And and then it's gone after a month or two But to get the campaigns to get that passive income, uh, uh, you know going Is is something that every voice actor really strives for and and i'm blessed with a few campaigns One of which is a dodge the all the muscle cars for dodge. I do um america's best i'm the voice of the owl that optometry line and uh chevron, uh, the animated cars that are zipping around i've been on that campaign for uh several years um Kubota the tractors uh and um utility vehicles and construction equipment and stuff like that I seem to it's funny with the Kubota and that There's a kind of a I guess a signature sound that I might have and everybody kind of has in voiceover It's what you want to try to start that's your kind of what's your wheelhouse? And I think my area is is um, well I guess I can be have some versatility and range to do something bright and friendly like chevron I tend to Go back and get the bulk of my work in my signature sound, which is going to be that casual Blue collar folksy kind of thing that's uh, so I do a lot of stuff with say Kubota and a lot of agricultural spots and stuff So I've got some friends that are in a certain uh, rural parts of the country And they're they tell me they can't swing a dead cat without here in one of my ag spots So like I'm like that's a that's a wonderful analogy. Thank you How much fun it is swinging dead cats You did But yeah, the commercial campaigns have been uh, uh really going well, there's a few others and and the promo work That I do for like history channel espn Every season like college football. I do the espn game of the week. I do a lot of stuff for fox in that same Realm too. So I guess in that same realm of doing Agriculture spots kind of the hand in hand of the blue collar is is sports and stuff. So Uh, that seems to and that's a lot of fun because I'm a big sports fan.  Uh, Because because I'm a fan. So that's important. Yeah, if you're just joining us Our guest tonight is the one on only chris fries who does just about sounds like everything in voiceover That somebody should be able to do everybody specializes in one thing or another You seem to be crossing the entire gamut of everything that's out there and Sure is easier to be enthusiastic about a product that you actually are enthusiastic about Yeah, you know true and that's always the thing in voiceover where where if I believe it if I feel it If I have a an interest or a drive or something behind that It's so much easier to then to be able to communicate that and to come across Uh in those auditions as somebody that uh, hey, this guy seems to Stand apart why because there's a passion behind it Absolutely, I can bring maybe maybe I bring a little something different. Uh, that kind of helps me stand out That's great Uh, if you've got a question for chris And that's all of you out there and I know there's a bunch of you watching right now About his career or some advice or whatever it is you want to ask him Throw it in the chat room right now. Whether you're in facebook live or you're in youtube live Or even maybe even on linkedin because I know we're over there now too. We're everywhere Uh, if you got a question throw it in the chat room and we will get to those questions in just a little bit So, uh, we look forward to hearing from you So with all of these different things that you're doing, although you sort of answered this but Be a little bit more specific. What's your favorite stuff to do? Hmm I think yeah because of the passion of of the interest in like say the sport stuff Uh, um, I I just really get a kick out of that And then also some of the video game stuff that I do It's some of my harder work But some of the the the titles I've been in I think three or four of the call of duties More recently saints row mass effect, um and uh My gosh, I gotta look at some of them after a while. It's like it's tough to kind of keep track. It's it's wonderful work But it's it it just becomes uh, if you do an uh Decent number of them they start to kind of like what am I this week?  I wasn't really not a radio guy I I didn't do theater or drama or come from tv or or a film So as far as how I developed my acting, of course, you know, the classes and training and and uh and that But I think where where was my origin? It was me Planned make-believe as a kid and just being really good at it I guess and now I can as an adult I'll play make-believe and uh, because it's uh It's being able to come up with a point of view because make-believe is really just Having a point of view that's just out there and unique and and buying into it So with voiceover It just kind of allows me to continue to do that And so when I whenever i'm doing uh a a character or a role or something in a video game a promo and a commercial It's just me with a certain point of view feeling a certain way instead of being Like the specs would say casual natural conversational people I think uh Get misled by following specs like that and it's very easy to do so instead of being casual natural conversational When am I casual natural conversational, you know, george when when george comes over the you know the four times a year and And we talk about family and hobbies and uh, you know vacations and just life and that's casual natural So george, I don't know if you realize this Many many times you are my muse in uh in in my uh You know points of view for commercial reads so You're really thinking of like uh the guy that you just spoke to recently in your head like oh george was here I should Oh a lot of times and I'll use I'll use what they call you know these lead ins where I'll think about oh casually And I'll think about like a conversation where you're like, hey george, uh, you know, yeah When we went mountain biking the other day and then you know And it just kind of seamlessly flows into this great Point of view so I'm not I'm being natural conversational and casual, but I'm not thinking about that I'm just thinking about me and me and my friend george talking about Biking or vacations or family It makes it so much easier to make the copy believable because now I actually have my personality in it instead of me trying to Be synthetic with a spec right That's I but that that sort of brings me to my next thing We've seen that you've been doing a lot of video games and you started mentioning, you know A partial list of the ones you've been doing So if you've been you were doing voice over all these years, when did you start finding yourself into video games? And how did you get cast for those? Yeah, I was with uh, um uh, gosh AVO talent agency, um and sandy schnarr actually at the time there was sandy schnarr talent before She merged with peter varano became avio talent and she was my first major um LA agent and I didn't even consider myself to be a A video game actor I was thinking that the commercials and and she was like, you know your sound, you know You maybe you got to cut this kind of gruffness masculine or whatever I think you could do well in uh, like some video games for me like some war movie or war Games or sci-fi or whatever and I'm like, all right. Okay, so and uh My first two, uh Video games were kind of notable one was uh, I think it was resistance to One of the resistance series games and I was soldier number five or something like that. It's a very big starring role and uh, the director was asking uh, we were doing these, uh battle cries and death screams and um, I I didn't have any real background in this So they were just like uh describing different things as far as like, okay, your um acid is being poured over you Give a pain reaction to that go Well, let me see the last time acid was poured over me it kind of hurt so But it was uh, but there would be these but interestingly enough it it uh, uh It solicited a specific sound like oh my god that would sound like and I would let out a blood curdling scream Or then they'd say okay now your heart is being carved out with a spoon. What would that go? And I'm like good lord. This is a violent game But anyway, but it would solicit these different the the reaction So the director actually did a very good job and I got these really unique, uh, you know different Death cries and pain reactions and stuff And uh, but one of the problems was uh, just a few minutes into the session I didn't really know how to yell properly now. You're thinking is there a certain way to actually yell and scream If you don't want to wear out your voice. Yeah Well, where were you dan? Yeah, I was not aware of uh, of how this uh, this yelling on a uh, on a constant high level for You know up to four hour sessions Could uh, you know where you wear out your voice So after a couple of these blood curdling death cries, I literally blew out my voice. Uh, and it was just like, you know yelling And all of a sudden now all I could talk was basically like this It was it was mortified uh, we Limped through the session From that point forward, uh, but I learned a valuable lesson and and and how to use my instrument properly And uh, well it didn't cost me too much because I thought oh god, this is this is bad The next game that I uh, auditioned uh, and uh, booked, uh, was call of duty world at war And one of the I think it's the biggest, uh, you know video game franchise You know in the in the history of and the really cool thing was I was third billing on uh, as far as my character Below gary oldman and kiefer sutherland. Uh, so I was like, this is pretty good company to be So, um, but I ended up dying at level four or something like that and then kiefer sutherland who was my Corporal underneath me. I was sergeant sullivan and uh, uh, and then kiefer sutherland was the Corporal that ended up taking over for me since I died and led on to the end of the game and whatever but But there was uh, some um, it was a very complimentary to me how It was the save sergeant sullivan campaign was uh on online and people were trying to find Is there a secret way to save so because I open these double doors and and this is set during world war two in the pacific and a Japanese soldier Samorized me and in the in the gut and then that's the end of sergeant sullivan So people kept on uh in these chat rooms and tried to find is there a secret way to save sergeant sullivan? Yeah, there was code in there somewhere Yeah, there was no secret way to save sergeant sullivan. That was it. Did you ever channel any of your past careers into your work? I'm thinking of doing a particular job Good segue george As a matter of fact, I did During my quest in the early early days of voiceover. Uh, so I said I got started in 2004 and I was Spending a lot of money at that time classes and equipment and stuff like that not making virtually anything So I uh, I needed to pick up some extra work because I had been in I was saying in municipal government uh working in parks and recreation of all things and um and promoting and doing well in that career, but uh, uh when I got laid off I you know had no more revenue. My wife, uh was The bread winner and I was the bread eater uh at that point So I needed to help contribute to the the household income But I needed to be able to leave my days free because I'm auditioning I'm going into la and I need to keep my days free So I was I was thinking uh, and I didn't even want to do like the bartender route or the waiter route Um, because sometimes you'd still start at five or six or whatever and and sometimes I'd I'd be in la until that time And it just I needed a graveyard shift is what I was wanting So I was going to work at like a 711 or a gas station or something like that just to You know minimum wage. I you know, no not too proud to to beg basically I'll I'll do whatever and help contribute a buddy of mine. He's a um A deputy will now a sergeant in the LA county sheriff's department and he was telling me Oh, you want to you want a graveyard shift job? Oh my god, they're hiring as a jailer Uh, you know graveyard shift and uh, it's easy. You get benefits the pay. Oh, it's way more I mean it's salaried. It's not an hourly job. So you get good good money Uh, and like I said the benefits and everything and no problem getting graveyard shift They actually having trouble getting people to work the graveyard shift So I like a dope. I'm like Sounds like a good idea. Let's do it. So Anyway, I go uh and become a jailer and I mean at the time I'm in my mid 30s and um I had to go through like this police academy for for jailers Uh for like, I don't know two or three months and then uh, and then, you know, so yeah I'm getting screamed at and of course this this um this class of uh, of new uh jailers is uh They're mostly in their young 20s and I'm so I'm pops to everybody. I'm the grandpa So I jump I'm keeping up physically, you know, I came in in shape I want to make sure that I was uh, you know able to kind of hold my own and I was and uh So yeah, so I worked as a jailer in downtown LA at men's central jail For uh, you know about a year or so, uh, working the graveyard shift and Boy the the the stories I could tell just based on that But like a lot of my video games that's rated m for mature Once again, we're talking with chris fries if you got a question for chris about Anything to do with voiceover because he's probably done it. Uh, throw it in the chat room right now And uh, we'll get to that question in just a little bit So I hear that you're now coaching Tell us a little bit why you're why you're doing that and how you're doing that You know, it it happened innocently enough. I was uh, uh As I started working then so about about 2008 I you know, booked that first campaign 2010 I'm starting to work pretty regular and shortly after 2010 um as bookings are just, you know, increasing and increasing um, I Get contacted by aspiring actors wanting to know how to get in the business And at first it was just like, oh, you know a little advice a little Send an email and I was always shocked and surprised at how people, you know found me knew about me or whatever, but They they would find me track me down and and know that I was in whatever video game or whatever commercial campaign and And they find me and asked me questions. So and I was like more than happy to uh, you know answer any of their questions and It was just started off with emails and then there was a uh, uh another colleague of mine that I was toward the end of taking all these group classes I was towards the end of that period in my uh career of taking some of the group classes in this Uh other student was just starting nice guy that we hit it off real well and uh And he was just starting and I was so I was kind of graduating from that so to speak still taking private lessons and stuff from certain Instructors, but not taking the group classes anymore. We still kept in touch and he was uh, wanting to continue to You know use me as a as a sounding board is ask questions and stuff and and uh, asked me if I could coach him And I was like, oh, I I'm not qualified to coach. I mean I I'm you know formulating my you know Way of acting and the point of view and all those things. I'm like, I'll tell you what no charge or anything I'll just I'll I'll let's read together. Let's read and I'll I'll give you some advice I'll give you some direction for what it's worth and um So we did that a few times and and it seemed to come real natural to me And like I said, I'd taken group classes from all the you know, the big uh casting directors and instructors and then I took a bunch of uh uh Private lessons from the likes of Joyce Castellanos, Maurice Tobias, Jody Gottlieb Uh Elaine Craig, Huck Liggett, uh, you know a lot of the tops in the industry So I I took all this this knowledge that I had gained from the group classes From the individual uh private coaching and then of course then I started I'm starting to work So directors are directing me in a certain way that I'm starting to understand what they want and how they want to get it So all these little nuggets of information I'm just processing And it kind of developed into my own way that this seems to be the most effective way for me To work and to to improve and to give my best performance So I'll just communicate that to you know, my friends and so my first students were were you know, free lessons to basically my my friends That they seemed to really respond to it. It seemed to really work and it seemed to come naturally to me and uh, and then uh What do they say you teach best what you need to learn the most? Yeah, maybe That's what I always hear. I mean, yeah Yeah, so So it and then I think you got to a point where I would get contacted again by somebody saying, hey, do you coach due to you know, I'm like You know, uh, yeah, and I could say I so I've at at um a very modest price back in the early days I would uh, uh, I would you know coach and it it seemed to Really work and then it was just kind of a word of mouth thing. I still to this point don't actively, uh Um Market myself beyond mentioning it Here or you know people, you know, those mentioning it or something It's just kind of it's just a word of mouth. It is kind of taken a life of its own Um, I keep a pretty small stable of students because of the fact that I'm I'm still working, you know Very regularly so it's uh, I can't fill up my schedule with uh, uh students, uh and that so um But as students kind of, you know, they come and go and and that so we fit them in and it kind of works but it It has it started off innocently enough and then it just kind of took a life of its own and I even speak Every semester at the the drama department over at cal state Fullerton They have me come in and be a guest speaker and I talk about voiceover and stuff like that It's it's it's a lot of fun. I really enjoy it. So yeah It's a familiar story and nothing's more fun than teaching Uh, once again, our guest is chris fries and we're talking about all the stuff that he's doing and again If you've got a question throw it in the chat room and we're going to get to those in just a little bit But we're going to take a quick break right now and we'll be right back with chris fries right after this This is the latin lover narrator from jane the virgin anthony mendez and you're enjoying dan and george on the voice of our buddy Shaw Vacation time is just around the corner around the world.  Well, just listen winter's tough the rain the wind The cold performers can capture great audio even in acoustically untreated spaces with the port-a-booth pro Your microphone hears the sound of a human-sized sound booth at a fraction of the size and cost The pro accommodates large and long microphones lengthy scripts and e-reading devices The harlan hogan port-a-booth pro is lined with oralex studio foam It's a professional quality sound studio that assembles in less than a minute and its multi-pocketed carrying case makes it Super easy to take your gear and your voice wherever you go order your harlan hogan port-a-booth pro now Just 389 99 only at voiceover essentials dot com if If you haven't heard Myself and the crew over at my podcast the pro audio suite have collaborated with sentryns to create our very own audio interface That's specifically designed for voiceover actors. It's called the pass port vo And it is an amazing product that we want to bring to the world But we cannot do it without reaching a special goal We have to have pre sold 100 units in order for sentryns to put this product into production I'll tell you there are just no audio interfaces that check every single box That's really important to a voiceover actor and this thing also replaces Multiple pieces of gear in a studio like a mic mute switch a mic switcher So you have the ability to switch between two microphones at any time with the press of a button Each one of them at the right game. It has two audio interfaces inside the box So one is dedicated to recording and the other one dedicated to communications like zoom and source connect You can do playbacks. It's all built in head over to sentryns.com Slash pass port vo if you're interested in picking up one. Thanks for listening everybody. This is george the tech I hope you have a great one Hey, it's david h. Lawrence the 17th and we talk a lot in this business about moving forward with our career Getting more information We often don't talk about Simply getting started It can be one of the most immovable objects In in our life getting out of our own way and just simply taking the first step And if you're watching this podcast voiceover body shop For some tips on how to get started in voiceover Or to change something about your voiceover career or to increase your knowledge in a certain area Check out vo heroes.com's getting started in voiceover If you go to voheroes.com slash start you'll get all the information It's really cheap And I give you a lot to get started in the business But you might also learn something if you've been in the voiceover business for a while voheroes.com slash start That's voheroes.com slash start This is bill radner and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with dan lennard and george widham vobs.tv All right, we're back with chris fries. Hey george You know something you suddenly learn how to read an entire spot all the way through without taking a break No, that's sort of that is just really freaking good editing That's what that is I always tell voice actors you're gonna be the good at one or probably both but more than likely one of the other You're gonna be really good at reading scripts and writing them or you're gonna be really really good editing them So if you if you want to be a voice actor learn to be a voice actor I am not I'm I am a producer editor. I can edit so Anyway, thank you Try to do us a 60 second read and you're like at the last word and like oh shoot I'm just very clever editing Yeah, that's why you never do the video and the audio at the same time. It's like You cover it with pictures. That's what usually works best. Anyway, we're talking with chris fries And uh, we're talking about all the stuff that he's doing and we got lots of questions from our vast audience out there all across the fruited plane and other points Uh on the planet, uh, why don't you start with the first one where from keelaward? There's a name we haven't heard before sure thing. Uh, I'm very interested in vo I had a demo put together and now I'm looking to start auditioning for audiobooks I have my e in that's you need that that's true to get paid by big big jobs Should I get an llc and what business entity is best in this line of work? Chris, I have my own answer. I think all three have an answer for that one Chris, do you have any info on that to shed light on that? You know, I uh, I have become a corporation and yeah, I am an employee of one and uh, it's worked out for me from a tax standpoint Uh, as far as the expenses and that so yeah, I am a uh, specifically a Corporation I think a C corp s corp I had to talk to my accountant about that Anyway, but I am a corporation and it has worked out well for me and it from a tax standpoint But I cannot speak too intelligently on the uh, uh beyond that but it does work for Yeah, it's certainly different for everybody and you really do need to talk to a cpa because I I have I have been doing business in california since 2004 and yet i'm still not an llc I keep being told it's not worth it uh for the amount that i'm earning yet So it really does depend on your position here cpa is and their attitude about Things such as llc's depends on the state you're in of course too because some states it's very expensive To organize and others it's very cheap Um, so um, yeah, you definitely want to talk to a tax professional I wouldn't worry about that at the very very beginning of your oh, no. Yeah Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Yeah, I didn't work on something like that until I started to book about that 2010 Time so I got started like I said 2004 And I again, I wasn't really making very much to have it be worth my while and then uh, and then I Transitioned over what's the revenue started to come in a little bit better? Yeah, that makes that makes sense uh, greg cooper asks How did you decide to focus on specific genres like video games?  It was just where uh, my uh Where the bookings kind of led me to and also a lot of direction and guidance from my agents I I didn't think that uh, there were certain things where like adr voice matching and stuff That I started booking in those areas Uh, my agent thought you kind of sound like thomas hayden church or you kind of sound like jeff bridges You should do this uh voice match for him or this character actor Uh, you know, you sound like him or this I don't I don't think I sound like any of those people but I have booked, uh, at least a dozen different voice matches And I don't consider myself to be a good at impersonating any of these, uh, but And whenever I hear the end result I did a couple of movies for jeff bridges one of us r.i.p.d with ryan reynolds and jeff bridges and He has this jeff bridges has uh this Very slurry Kind of takes his accent. He kind of talks like this and uh in r.i.p.d He plays his old western, uh, sheriff that comes back to You know in the afterlife. There was there was a fun movie. I watched it was a lot of fun Especially the facts and whatever so that was and that was I guess so what worked and and it was funny in the uh uh, I guess in post production how some of that worked was uh Some of his lines some of his words were unintelligible And they're in post production and he's not yeah And uh and who knew and and and mr. Bridges was unavailable to do the pickups So they need a voice match uh to to to step in and uh, so I was able to do that in certain parts of the movie and in the trailer I uh and for me Because you know, you know your own voice For me whenever I watch that movie or seen the trailer or whatever. I know Exactly where I am and where jeff is and so and when I play The uh the movie or the scene for somebody else and I'm like can you hear it? Can you tell isn't it obvious? This is embarrassing. Oh my god, and they're like, what are you talking about? Where I start and he starts and and how you could totally hear the difference. He's like Where did you start and where did he start? I couldn't tell so they couldn't tell but I could so Well, you know where and I think we we all know our own voice so well So we can totally hear the difference, but uh other people couldn't and I guess that's the point So I didn't really hear it myself. But yeah, like I said, I booked a lot of different uh in that area and it was What led me to whatever video games commercials promos? I tried I trained in really a lot of things and everything I tried audiobooks. I tried but but for me, I think audiobooks are wonderful as far as I love listening to them And I enjoy I think the voice talents that do audiobooks are exceptionally talented people I don't have the attention span and the and the the uh endurance to do uh An audiobook so it was an area where I tried But I I couldn't that that didn't seem to be a comfort zone for me Uh, I have a very short attention span apparently So I kind of stayed in my lane with uh, some of the uh, some of the jobs But uh, I found I trained in a little bit of everything to see what I liked What I was good at You know what I you know what I could book Uh and from a revenue standpoint, uh, you know, I'm trying to make money here And I don't want to limit myself to just one genre of voiceover when there are several genres available And maybe I can book here and there and so I mean I I just I was led based on the belief that my agents had in me and they thought you sound like you could do this Or I think you could do that I had no idea and and the belief that the agents had in me Was critical because if you're not at the right agency where where the they're just Cattle calls and they're just churning out. Here's the audition whatever Uh, I still get a lot of stuff where I've just given auditions But at some of the top agencies when you get to those a level agencies the cest the atlas is the the dpns the spvs Then you need then you have to have somebody that's kind of in your corner going to bat for you pitching you Uh for certain things and then telling you hey, I think you should do this And that and it really helped my career because I had no idea that I could do a lot of the things that I ended up booking But it was purely because I had great agents behind me starting with sandy schnarr and now I'm I've been at cest now since 2009 and they've just taken wonderful care of me and and they go to bat for me Daily and put me in the front of the line and a lot of opportunities And uh, and yeah changed my career for sure For the best, but it's just where I was led and so now most of my Work is in commercial video games promos and then like in show narration Documentaries and stuff for like history channel and discovery channel stuff like that All right, this one comes from grace newton saying, uh, have you ever had a Face palm moment or made a disastrous mistake in your career? And then how did you handle it? We all learned from our mistakes, right?  I I listened to I took a lot of good advice from a lot of good people my mentor You know, you guys know Scott rummel and you know now, you know good dear friend of mine and stuff He he gave me a lot of guidance on the the do's and don'ts and the things to worry about and the things not to worry about I was always just so anxious about Uh, any odd I guess uh another face, uh, you know Palm to face uh moment would be calling my agent right after I'd sent an audition asking. Hey, how did they like it? Yeah, don't do that. Don't do that They they don't like that there and that was my first that was my first la agent. I had his osbrink talent agency Um, and yeah, I I sent an audition. I thought it was really good But I called my agent not even email. Not even an email. I'd call and asked to speak to my Hey, I just wanted to call to say, you know, I haven't heard about that audition that I just did like, you know, yesterday afternoon I know it's not even been 24 hours. But yeah, so what they think did they like it? Yeah, you only do that once but hey at least you got through to him My agent sent me something like chris will call you Yeah Julia iot. I think that's how you pronounce that it says I've been hearing a lot of people having allergies colds Or just feeling under the weather including myself. I've been having a cough What's your cure to keep your voice in top shape? Especially with all the all the pollinants out there right now? Here's something cal Yeah, I I don't have allergies. Thank god, uh, but uh, but yeah getting sick is the worst I I I drink a lot of water That helps, uh, you know keep my you know the cells of my body strong fights off infection I've done things like I've added a steam shower to uh, my uh, this was advice I got from an opera singer or that I was at a cocktail party We're chatting and I don't know how we got into steam showers. No, we we didn't literally get into a steam shower But uh, but anyway that that that topic came up and he talked about how vocal health and how a steam shower is great And so I had that eventually did that that was a nice, uh, also being a corporation I could expense the construction of a steam shower at uh without You know with the tax benefits from that, but um, yeah, I I uh, I try to I wash my hands like a germaphobe Uh, take the vitamins and then when I do get sick the first hint of a cold and it actually does work is those zinc tablets I guess there's cold ease and zycam That's great to speak to help Uh, but you got a very first sign of that cold You start feeling that little tickle in the back of your throat start pounding I'm like every two hours or something like that. That seems to really Reduce the uh amount or the the severity of the cold Then if it hits me and it just knocks me on my butt I uh, I get a uh, steroid injection, uh, not recommended talk to your doctor But it's because it can it can mess with your internal organs and steroids and stuff So you don't want to do that as a matter of fact, my doctor does check my records and say you don't want to do this More than like once or twice a year Um, but for me, it's like my livelihood. I I work literally I'm blessed to work literally every day And uh and doing campaigns I um, uh when I have to do a pickup or a price change for cabota, you know So they're keeping the body of the spot the same So 90 of it was something I recorded months ago and then we're updating the offer You know, uh offer good until june uh june 30th Well now we're updating it to be october 30th or whatever So I got to do a pickup of the offer and if I have a cold I'm gonna sound different than I did. Um, and when I first recorded it. So so it's one thing to Yeah Being sounding consistent is critical. Um So I will uh, I will do that. Um, I will gargle with warm salt water. I will drink, uh Decaffeinated chamomile tea with lemon and manuka honey I don't have you guys, you know, the manuka honey thing. It's I guess it's from australia new zealand It's yeah, it's got these like healing properties or something in the and it's like for a little jar about yay big It's like, you know, 40 bucks or something like that, but but it's uh, it's pretty effective and uh, so all these little remedies and and then Rest rest rest don't use your voice try to get lots of sleep so you can recover So your bodies and the cells within your body can kind of fight off the infection Something is simple and And you think it innocuous as just rest. No, no, it's not it is very effective. So Uh, but yeah, those that's what I do All right, we got time for like one more question here. Uh, we got one from patina lentorno Uh listening to us and watching us on youtube says hi chris I'm so happy to listen about your work and journey in vo I have a question for you and this is the place to do it I'm a medical interpreter in english spanish and italian and for the past year studied with pat fraily I've just begun to market myself in my genres of choice or medical narration and ngo's in my three languages You have any marketing advice? Wow Those maybe not Wow, that is niche stuff, but you know what that's great Uh, uh to because niches need to to be filled and if if that's something that you have a An interest in there is a market for that And it's it's it's funny the marketing in general first of all pat fraily awesome guy I took some of my early classes from him and he's so Um, he's just the one of the warmest human beings. He gave me a great piece of direction or Telling me at the end of one of the classes. Um, I said, hey, how did I do? How do you think I did you know the very very early in my career? And he says well, it's hard to tell, you know, we just start working together But you see you seem pretty good, but you took direction well And I didn't really think that was much of a compliment when he said I took direction well I'm like, well, you told me to to read it faster. I read it faster.  I I didn't say that. I'm just thinking this but I'm like, oh, thank you But I'm thinking that's not much of a compliment But I then, um In sessions directors would tell me oh, you did really good job When I asked you to take a second and a second and a half off of a read and I did it Then it was like Well, great. Thanks or you were brighter and I did it and I started getting compliments more and more like that And it seemed to mean something where taking direction is actually in and of itself a skill Not just being a voice actor But being able to change and transition on the fly in a session and give the director what they want Because I'm just step number three or four in a 15 step process for the producer of a of a spot or a video game The last thing they need to worry about is getting through a voiceover session They just want to get through it and stuff. So anyway, um, he was a great guy But marketing in general I uh, how I I would establish whatever genre I was in I would any time I would audition or get an email or get a contact or get a job I would save those contacts those emails and then periodically about three four times a year I would send an email to, uh, uh Follow up and now this list and I do this a couple, you know, a few times a year This list is over 400 individual contacts. I send out that many individual not like the mass emails because something personal like sometimes I know a Producer is a dodger fan. So I'm like, hey dodgers are looking good. Hey, anyway I wanted to share the my latest, uh, commercial spot or campaign. Have a good one, whatever and More often than not it's to my surprise.  We have this audition that came across and uh, you'd be perfect for it. So It's uh, it always seems to generate job opportunities So in your niche as you develop contacts in that genre in that industry Maintain those contacts and maintain any relationship that you get Don't just like, oh great. Nice to meet you.   Yeah, what we used to call a tickler file In the life insurance business Anyway, chris it is a pleasure to talk with you again. It's been quite a while and thank you so much for joining us tonight and And letting us know all these important things about your amazing career so far. So good luck in the future Oh, hey, thanks guys. I always uh, always a pleasure and we'll see you in another eight years or so. Yeah Maybe not quite that long. All right. All right I'll see you in the summer chris. Right. That's right. Yes. Okay, chris fries our guest tonight All right, george and i'll be right back to wrap these things up and Rewrack it for tech talk right after this You're still watching vlbs Your dynamic voiceover career requires extra resources to keep moving ahead There's one place where you can explore everything the voiceover industry has to offer That place is voiceover extra dot com Whether you're just exploring a voiceover career or a seasoned veteran ready to reach that next professional level Stay in touch with market trends coaching products and services while avoiding scams and other pitfalls Voiceover extra has hundreds of articles free resources and training that will save you time and help you succeed Learn from the most respected talents coaches and industry insiders when you join the online sessions bringing you the most current information on topics Like audio blouse auditioning home studio setup and equipment marketing performance techniques and much more It's time to hit your one-stop daily resource for voiceover success sign up for a free subscription to newsletters and reports It's all here at voiceover extra dot com. That's voiceover Xtra dot com Well, here's something I have don't get a chance to do much and that's a live spot Like george does every week, but anyway You know one of the most important things you can do When you start off in voiceovers, you gotta have a website But early on you know when people are like trying to do websites, you know, some people are good at html And other people can do all sorts of stuff or use a You know some sort of system and make their own website But sometimes those are too detailed and the fact of the matter is is when you're trying to start in voiceover And you want to have a website because you gotta have a website What you really need to do is go on over to a new sponsor Even though they're an old sponsor. Remember you remember Uh voice actor websites dot com. Well now we have voice actor dot com voice actor dot com Is a great website. It's templated Websites so all you have to do and it is is go in there and find a template that works for you and you can customize it It's and it can be free to start. So all you have to do is go over to voiceactor.com they create Websites that are mobile responsive easy to use You can edit it yourself as I said and it's built for voice actors by voice actors so go on over to voiceactor.com and What do you get what are you gonna get you're gonna get a really great website Really fast and george and I have done it. We were able to do websites for our kids In 10 minutes or less. So go on over to voice actor websites dot com We are the world voices organization Also known as wobo. We're the not-for-profit industry association of freelance voice talent voiceover is a complex entrepreneurial business Wobo is there to promote the professional nature of voice work to the public to those already established in their voiceover practice And to those who want to pursue voiceover as a career Membership benefits include a supportive and creative community a profile and demos on voiceover.biz Our searchable directory of vetted professional voice talent our exclusive demo player for your personal website Our mentoring program business resources and our video library our annual wobo con conference A fun and educational weekend with other members with the chance to learn and network Webinars and great speakers and weekly social chats with other members around the world If your world is voiceover make wobo part of it world voices organization. We speak for those who speak for a living Yeah, hi, this is carlo zellers rocky the voice of rocko and you're watching voiceover body shop Yes, you are and uh We're great having chris on he's just has great stories and we could probably have him on for another three or four hours and Absolutely. Yeah, it's all of the earth nicest guy ever and uh, it's great to see nice guys win with when when they do the right things and chris is chris is just it's been awesome. I mean i've been watching his career like I mean when I first helped him with his very first vocal booth You know and then he said i'm ready to build something custom in like 2010 I mean it's just been an amazing thing to watch. I'm i'm proud of him. Yeah Uh next week on this very show or you could hang out and watch live We've got tech talk number 101 which is going to be fabulous because we have all sorts of cool stuff to show you and to talk about Uh the week after that the one and only rebecca davis will be joining us Just a wonderful lady and a very successful voice actor and then after the week about two weeks later Dave walsh one of the best coaches in voice over just now the return on our calls Yeah, it's like hey, okay. I'm done with all this the spring travel season is worn is worn down They have more time now. Great. Great to have them all here. Yeah, you've got a webinar coming up Uh boy, we do we do a lot of them and so the one coming up this go around is reaper First time that we are teaching a reaper class. Well, let's say we not me. I'm not teaching it I'm not a reaper Expert bringing one in. His name is steven gonzalez. He is a real reaper expert So we have a beginner class on the third. Uh, let's see actually at 3 p.m Um the following tuesday after the show And that would be the 18th and then the week after would be the advanced version For people that feel like they're really we're already working efficiently in reaper But want to learn a lot of new power user tricks So yeah, if you're interested in interested in that head over to george the dot tech out of the webinars page And use v obs fan 10 to get 10 off on really anything on george the dot tech not including the webinars All right And we have our weekly donors list people who have been sending us donations to keep the show Just amazing And technologically perfect most of the time anyway, grace newton Robert ledum steve chandler Casey clack jonathan grant thomas pinto greg thomas A doctor voice ant land productions martha con 949 designs christopher eperson sarah borges philip sapir brian page patty gibbons rob rider raider jonathan pennington baird Don griffith tray moseley diana bird salt and sandra man and willer I love how we say her name differently every time. I just can't I don't know what's going on with that anyway Also join our mailing list It's starting to really grow because you guys are watching the show and you want to know what's going on So we'll go over to our website v obs.tv and click on Become a subscriber. I think is what it says on the website We need to thank our sponsors as well like harlan hogan's voiceover is centrals voiceover extra Soros elements vio heroes dot com voice actor dot com and world voices the industry association of Freelance voice talent thanks to jeff holman for getting all the stuff together in the chat room appreciated jeff And of course sue merlino who's sitting there pushing all the buttons making it look like this is an actual tv show So we appreciate that and of course lee penny for being lee penny Well, we keep trying to bring you the best people in the business and we're going to keep doing that for As long as we can keep doing it and uh, but the problem the the bottom line of voiceover is It's not an easy business, but when it comes to being a good voice actor And a good kevin good audio if it sounds good It is good. I'm dan Leonard and i'm george woodham and this is voiceover body shop or v o b s Stay tuned for tech talk live if you're watching us live and get to ask your questions We'll see you next week. Have a good one everybody