We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrew Lander a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrew, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

It would have been spiritually fulfilling to have started acting sooner. However, financially I started at the perfect time. Many creatives have trouble running the business side of things. By the time I had started my creative path I had already started a digital marketing business and shut it down. I learned so much from my mistakes that it helped me avoid making the same mistakes when I decided to become a voice actor.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a voice actor who got into the industry after trying to come up with a way to make extra money around the time my third child was born. I came across the voiceover profession while doing a search for side hustles and the craft resonated with me beyond solely making money. It turned out I was an actor at heart all along but just never pursued it due to peer pressure and financial obligations. As a voice actor my craft is about telling stories in a compelling way to make listeners feel something. That feeling could make them want to buy something, watch a movie, or just make them lay awake at night thinking about whatever fictional world I’ve introduced them to. What sets me apart is my professionalism, quick response time, and willingness to be flexible with the role/message if the client has something else in mind for the project. I’m most proud of turning the “I was never a theater kid” chip on my shoulder around on its head. I’ve gone from saying “I don’t do character stuff” to doing audio plays and loving character work by bringing my own unique spin into everything I do and challenging myself to be silly. How else could I play a frog prince or a time-traveling assassin, or a sardonic 7-foot-tall Jedi? When my powers of silly and professionalism combine, you get my brand, which is the name of my voice acting business, Business Casual Media LLC!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Be more flexible with your full-time employees so they can live their lives outside of work.

I’m able to do what I do because I have another job that understands that I can get work done while also doing auditions and have occasional sessions. Employees need lives outside work so that they can enrich their minds, pursue their creativity, and simply live their lives. I understand some jobs aren’t made to be flexible, but for the desk jobs that require internet access we’ve had a whole pandemic that showed us flexibility is possible. Again, I’m glad my place of work understands this, but I know other voice actors who don’t have this luxury.

I’m always working…and I love it.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Many non-creatives may think that just because I’m not in my home studio, I’m not working. Or that if I get paid $1,000 for an hour’s worth of work, I’m getting paid too much, or that I should count my blessings. The truth is, I’m always working and what I charge is a reflection of that.

Whether I’m checking emails, taking classes, going to workshops and conferences, marketing via social media, listening to other projects like anime or movies, doing my accounting, etc., my creative work is 24/7. I’m always on the clock so I work longer hours than a traditional 9-5. I’m always building my skillset and growing as an actor, which means there’s no limit to what I can do. This might be frustrating to some because the goal posts are always being pushed farther and farther away. But for me it’s exciting to always have something new to learn and a new goal to accomplish. It means I’ll never get bored and that there are no limits to what I can do. For example, last year I was focused on Documentaries and Promo while this year I’m focused on Video Games. The end result is I get to move people in a way I wasn’t able to before, and it feels like gaining a new super power, which is amazing!

Clients who hire me get all of that on top of someone who’s easy to work because like I said before, I came from the corporate world and understand that my clients’ jobs depend on getting the most out of my performance (even if that means doing multiple takes and just picking the first one we started with). So, during a 2 hour session when I sweating after doing take #20 I do what they ask without complaints. When they say “can you say it again quicker, but a little slower too”, I respond with, “Let’s do it!”

Being on the clock 24/7 sounds exhausting, but ultimately I get to choose what work I pursue and how much money I make because the more I put in, the more I get out. And while I’m working for multiple clients, in the end I’m working for myself and my family and that’s the life I want to live.

Contact Info:

• Website: andrewlandervo.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/andrewlandervo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlander/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewlander
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewlanderbusinesscasual2555
• Other: TikTok https://tiktok.com/@andrewlandervo