Jeff Ornstein 0:02

Hi everyone and welcome to Next Act with Jeff Orenstein. I am Jeff, and on this show we celebrate people on the cusp of greatness. Those building on past successes in some of the curious and inventive and sometimes unexpected ways they have achieved those, and stepping into moments that could define their legacy. We'll talk about current projects, lessons learned, and the extraordinary opportunities ahead. So the best is yet to come. Today's guest is Andy Lipschultz, award-nominated voice actor, former tech executive, and storyteller whose voice has been trusted by brands like Amazon, Google, ATT, and Johnson Johnson. After a successful corporate career spanning product management, analytics, and digital innovation, Andy reinvented himself as a full-time voice talent and has become one of the industry's most versatile and recognizable voices. Welcome, Andy. How are you?

Andy Lipshultz 0:58

Doing all right, doing all right. I just put one foot in front of the other and one word in front of the other.

Jeff Ornstein 1:03

Good. Well, I familiarize myself with all the research that our production team has done about you beforehand, and you've got a great story, and it so relates to the people who listen to this and the advice that you can share and words of wisdom you can pass on. Because next act is about people who have firm careers or have had multiple careers, and then at one point in time they say, I'm gonna go for something. And some people, like yourself, did it super successfully, and other people might not have the courage yet to do it or have questions. And I think we're gonna get to a lot of those questions today, and people want to know what how you faced it. So congratulations on an awesome career in the business world, not to mention your MBA from the Stern School, which is no small feat. That's pretty impressive. My partner just got his MBA from MIT, and we didn't go on a vacation for two years. Yeah. So it's a lot of work to get those MBAs. So and it obviously it served you well because you had a very successful career. So you were in the corporate world and you were doing these amazing brand building exercises for these totally blue chip customers. At what point in time did something, this idea like I could do be doing something a little different creep into your brain?

Andy Lipshultz 2:25

I like to think that I've had a couple different pivots, not just the one that's the most jarring, but several. So I started out in the traditional music industry, like selling records and CDs and cassettes, and was at the record labels for four or five years, and at one point realized, wait a second, this internet thing might be a thing. Yeah, I'm not old. But I was like, well, how do I think about it? And there's this business book, I think it's called Built to Last, where they studied, and you might be telling you stuff you already know, but they looked at like people that were perennially like number one or number two in their industry, and they said, Well, why are they always winning? And versus the ones that are kind of also RANs. And the thing that that that they found was that they kind of knew who they were and what was important to them and what they were good at and what could change. So I thought about it long and hard, and ultimately it made a pivot at that point, that first pivot, to essentially doing going to what I call entertainment tech. At the time it was kiosks and record stores, and then ultimately became music subscription services, digital music subscription services, and then music on cell phones. We was in New York for 10 years. We came back to the Maryland, D.C., Virginia area, which is where I am now, and realized that had run its course and people weren't like hip to buying music on cell phones anymore. And I thought, well, I don't want to move, what should I do? And that was, and I really did a very similar thing, like, well, what can I do differently? Where am I? What do I want to learn? And I ultimately went to Capital One and to cap to Capital One, which is a very different shift. Just like thinking about like, well, just because I love music and it's a big part of my soul, doesn't change anything. I can still be a part of music as it's part of me. And I had to get used to like being at parties where people say, Oh, what do you do? And I'd say, Oh, I work at Capital One. They say, Okay. Versus like when I like work at a record at a record level, like, oh, that's cool, man. And it's so in ingrained in your in your identity. I had to get used to that, but be like, am I satisfied? Those were earlier pivots. Then I I went on with Capital One and then ultimately to healthcare at Centeen, which does government-sponsored healthcare. And in both instances, well, not in those instances, just in general throughout my career, and I think this gets to the heart of your question, I kept finding myself kind of getting promoted to the point of where I was either unhappy or not good, or both at where I got where I was winding up. And I was like, at Capital One, I'm like, when I hit that point at Capital One, I realized, well, this is a pattern that keeps happening. What do I need to be doing differently? And I never felt like I was corporate enough for the corporate club, but corporate enough. Like I'm being like, hey, I just do weird stuff all the time. And not quite what they're like, hey, that guy's kind of smart, but not smart enough. So I thought about it, thought about it, thought about it. And at that point, I read a book called Designing Your Life. And it's basically the people that did design thinking and applying the precepts of design thinking to yourself. And I'm guessing you probably heard that the given what you do, I'm sure you've heard of this book. But I realized, hey, I'm kind of an idiot and I like to fool around. And my kids are always like, do the voices, my man. So I tested and learned my way into voiceover, which started out as this room was a six by eight closet with like blankets everywhere and what have you. And little by little, I was like, okay, well, I'll take some classes and train. And then I worked on just essentially getting towards my first commercial demo. And three, four years in, and I'm doing this on the side while I still have these careers, but I treated it like a full-time, like, okay, I have two careers. And then ultimately at one point, I'm like, I need to make this a studio. And my wife's like, yeah, you you really need to invest. If you're going to do this, you have to do this. When I was leaving Capital One, one of the things that I realized is if I'm going to actually make a big career shift, I can't try to be the rock star in two places at once. And I think that's one of the things that a lot of people, when they're trying to make that pivot, they're like, I have to kick ass at the job I'm in while I'm trying to do this other thing. Andor they just like go full boat and just go to the other thing, which is really scary and all many times maybe a little too quick. I had the luxury of being in a comfortable financial position, and not everybody has that. So that's not everyone's in that situation. And you kind of might have to do it more of a microcosm of what I did, but it still can do it. You just have to free. Give yourself the headspace. So when I left Capital One, I purposely looked for a job that was not, I wasn't trying to ascend. I essentially I wanted to go, I actually went backwards. I purposely went backwards. I looked for jobs. It's like I don't want to manage anybody, I just let me be employee 30,001 and give me the headspace. I I will do a good job for you, but I also want to build this other thing. Right. Right.

Jeff Ornstein 7:20

And well, it's interesting because the term authenticity appears a lot in the bio that I was presented with. And that's clearly something that's important to you, and ties to also you have a real strong commitment to mentoring. So, and I'm guessing you're telling these young or maybe not so young voiceover students wannabes the value of authenticity. And explain to us a little bit about that and what that plays into creating a voiceover character or hitting the nail on the head, let's put it that way, for a particular client.

Andy Lipshultz 7:54

Well, it's funny. I think almost everybody that starts in VO, when you're working with a coach, at some point they will say to you, you're trying to sound good versus trying to do a performance. And I remember my first coach was saying to me, we were practicing like a commercial of some sort. I think it was like a detergent commercial. He's like, Man, this is acting. And in my head, I'm like, fuck you, this is acting. And we're doing a detergent commercial. And but now I look back, I'm like, he was totally right. You actually need to really think about the situation you're in, because otherwise, people see that shit. Like they know people will see, and so especially now with AI, I mean, even more so now, authentic prompts anything else because people can see AI, and AI won't in the middle of a conversation start going, hey dude, let's do a podcast. Because AI is not gonna do that. They're not gonna like be a weird, kind of like quirky person or whatever makes you. Right.

Jeff Ornstein 8:57

So then I thought I'm dying to ask then. So you have to get into the mindset with if you're doing a laundry detergent commercial or a commercial for burial plots, I would imagine. There's a slightly you have to come across with an authenticity that's appropriate for the product.

Andy Lipshultz 9:14

Exactly. And you have to pull on various relationships in your life. So you kind of think about like what is the project trying to connote? Whether it's an animation or a game or a commercial or an audiobook or political ad, whatever it is, what are they trying to communicate? Okay, great. Now, how can I apply the me to that in such a way that it works? And so I think about the relationships in life. So let's take your funeral plot thing. So am I talking to one of my parents along those lines about like telling them, hey, I think it's time to think about this. Am I talking to my spouse? Am I talking to one of my kids? Am I giving a presentation to people? And in each one of those, you can hear a difference in the way I may be doing that. And so you envision that and you think about like, what are you actually trying to say to them? The the words are the words, but what is the meaning of the words? And oftentimes you might have to, like, depending on how well written it is, you may have to actually give it other words first and like practice, like saying the thing that you would say that aren't those words, but are what the words are trying to say, then saying it again using the words. Okay.

Jeff Ornstein 10:24

So you do these voiceovers for a lot of commercial enterprises, but I'm sorry, just refresh my memory. Are you doing then any for feature films or for a longer term? Are they all shorter snippets where your character has to be established fairly quickly?

Andy Lipshultz 10:39

Yeah, at the moment it need to be established very quickly. Now, subject to change? Subject to change. Uh yes, they are generally that now. There are also some longer form audio things that I do as well, like audio series, audio books, etc., where the characters are over time and they do have a ch a chance to have a bit of an arc, but oftentimes you need to establish them quickly. Right, right.

Jeff Ornstein 11:02

Get in there and make your mark quickly. Your students, what would you say is the biggest misconception creative people have about promoting themselves? Because that's a question a lot of people that are going to be listening to this are going to say, How do I get from point A to point B? I know I'm creative. I know I've got the balls to do this, but what's the best path for me?

Andy Lipshultz 11:24

Yeah, that's a really good question. And it's probably the one that I encounter the most. What you're talking about is the the marketing coaching that I do, the VO marketing coaching that I do. And a lot of times the creatives, like there are people that are excellent. I mean, I think I'm pretty damn good at this, but there are people like that are amazing, but they're not as strong on the business side and/or to your point are afraid to promote themselves. And they oftentimes don't think that what they have to say about themselves is as important or useful to their audience as like if I'm like, hey, I did stuff for I just did an ad for Lamborghini, which is pretty cool. I just did that. That just came out yesterday. But like, so like saying that kind of stuff is like, cool, okay. That's like shorthand for credibility. But you know, you watch the rest of what we just talked about. I'm also kind of a weirdo, like that weird dichotomy of like always talking businessy, businessy, and then he's making weird voices. Both of those are for me to talk about myself, that that is useful. So when I talk to the students, I say, like, let's get to the heart of what makes you. And don't be afraid to talk about that, because people like to work with people, they don't like to work with robots. And yes, there's a bit of transactionalness that can occur with voiceover. However, when you're establishing relationships and trying to get people to work with you and stand out, what stands out is the authentic you, not the business card you. Right.

Jeff Ornstein 12:47

So that's interesting because like you think about Hollywood actors, film actors, and in terms of the top A list, what are there? 30, totally recognizable all over the world, this face, whatever they do, the really good ones can play a million different characters convincingly. And then when I think about voiceovers, immediately Morgan Freeman comes to mind. And his voice is incredible. It's also very, what's the word I'm looking for? Consistent. When Morgan Freeman is narrating something, you know it's Morgan Freeman. So in your world, do you encourage your students to become a Morgan Freeman, create and perfect a sound and an image, or are you encouraging them to be like Mel Blank and have like a million voices?

Andy Lipshultz 13:34

Well, I actually don't do the performance coaching itself. So I don't necessarily do that. But in terms of when I'm just talking to peers or someone that's maybe newer in the genre, I kind of talk about like what is comfortable to you. So there are some people that there's only so far they're gonna get out of their shell, and great, that maybe there's a level of you sound awesome tech when you're talking about tech, do your commercials or medical narration, et cetera. And then there are people that want either aspire to or have that the ability to get into another head. You don't necessarily have to be able to do the voices. I think not everyone has the vocal range, but if everyone has the ability to have empathy, you can connote a lot of things with a voice.

Jeff Ornstein 14:23

Okay, you touched on this a little bit that when you finally you started doing more and more voiceovers, and you started saying, Hey, you know, I've already made several marks in the business world, climbing to the top, and then finding whatever it sounded like it was maybe a little hollow at a certain point, or the the next step was something that wasn't as interesting to you. But you did have the luxury of financial stability, and that is one of the things that can kind of keep people from jumping off the cliff. What happens if I leave my nine to five and I'm chasing work on a day-to-day basis? What kind of advice would you give to younger voiceover artists about how to manage that if they didn't really have a strong financial security net?

Andy Lipshultz 15:10

One of the things that I felt like was really helpful for me was I met with a financial planner and I basically said, When can I start making the small bucks? So, like, you know, essentially, when can I give up the corporate salary and move to something that doesn't pay me as well as that corporate salary? And we went through an exercise, he did this what they call the Monte Carlo scenario, where he essentially like said, Well, if the market tanks and this goes this way and this goes this way, and your wife does this, well, when do you want to retire, et cetera? And was able to essentially give me a number, say, okay, if you want to leave corporate world at this age, this is how much you need to make for this long to retire. Now, people that are younger, it may be different, they may have different goals, et cetera. Might be like, this is how much you need to make to be comfortable. But a lot of people guess. And financial planners, I mean, they want your money, so it's not necessarily like this didn't cost me anything. It cost me time. I had to go and assess my stuff. And there might be things online to do that as well. But getting your financial picture to understand what that is, because oftentimes it may not be, I was surprised. I was because they like the number they gave me, like, oh, well, I'm making that now. Now, I wanted to be more diversified than I was, so I basically did not want to leave when he told me that, but it was like a oh, it was a more of a comfort. Okay, this is what I need to know, what I need to know how to shoot for. So that's one thing that I would recommend to doing. And the other is start small. You don't have to do this. There's a lot of people that are incredible voice actors that never leave their other jobs. So, and I know we're not everybody's listening is gonna be like, oh, well, voiceover is what I want to do. I want to do this other thing. But what's life? Like, are you fulfilled by your job but you want to do this other thing? Or you're like, I freaking hate this job, but I need to get out. Two different things. Right.

Jeff Ornstein 16:58

We had a fellow on who said what advice he would give to young actors was think to yourself, is there anything else I can do that I love, I have the same passion for, but that would guarantee me a more secure, stable income? And if there is, do it. Because this is not an industry for the faint of heart. So I think your advice is actually it's a new piece of wisdom that's come across that get someone else to tell you what the parameters are, you know, and then figure out does that blend with my reality? I think that's fantastic. Now let's talk about some of the fun stuff.

unknown 17:37

Yeah.

Jeff Ornstein 17:38

What were some of the most memorable for you uh voiceover projects that you worked on and why'd you love them so much?

Andy Lipshultz 17:45

Oh God. Well, one of them I just did, I think we I mentioned it earlier that they just came out this week. I voiced for the new the launch of the new Lamborghini Urux S Purper Monte. I think that's so cool. Were you Italian in it or were you? No, no, no. I mean, it's like a brand film and it's like a just kind of a the whisper gritty voice behind, and it's beautiful. They did an amazing job with it. I think sometimes just don't get in the way, and that's what I feel like I did. So that one was amazing, and just kind of seeing it. Plus, it's Lamborghini. So that was pretty cool. Were you able to take any samples from the job site? They did not pay me in Lambos, although I did want to get off Lambo a couple times, but did not happen. Trying to think of others it's funny, it's not a big role, but I've really enjoyed it. There's a a guy I work with, a guy named Earl Fisher, who's incredibly talented in in voiceover. He's been around for a while and he's done some really cool things. I mean, he was on the original Barney. I love it. And he and I create our own animations, and we just kind of mess around. And being able to both write it and then come up with it and just do some weird stuff, I found that incredibly fulfilling and just fun. And so it's there are so many that I'm really excited about. There's one that I can't talk about yet, but I will just say that I'm planning to be taking my father to a stadium to hear it being played sometime this fall.

Jeff Ornstein 19:15

Very cool. So only 80,000 listeners for that one shot, right? Yeah, it's it's it's for a team. It's pretty cool.

Andy Lipshultz 19:22

That's fantastic. So, yeah, I mean, there's a variety of them that are that are exciting. It's and every day it's interesting because I can get excited about like I did something for like the Atomic Energy Commission where I'm learning about like nuclear energy. I'm like, oh, this is pretty cool. And then other times I did a five-minute spot to teach people how to wash their hands. That was not as fun.

Jeff Ornstein 19:45

Did you ever have to be like intoxicated or something? Not the you intoxicated, but the voice intoxicated. How'd that go?

Andy Lipshultz 19:53

Varying results. I think sometimes I was able to land it, other times I maybe tried to sound like I was. It just it also depended on the lines. I mean, but uh, it's gone pretty well. I mean, there's also things like you know, like you pretend like you're eating, and actually sometimes I actually do eat or what have you to try to carry that across. So that's pretty fun as well. Oh, there's one thing that I did that I liked was there's someone I work with, and I think I've done it like the past three or four years, where they have an a holiday card animation for a company they work for, and it's really well done. This guy, Dave Stovka, he's like really talented in terms of his animation, and he does a different theme each year. And there's some years where I've done like 17 different voices, and I love the way he cuts them together, where I'm talking to myself, and there's one where like it was a guy with a puppet, and I was doing the voices for both, and he's like, No, actually, you need to make sure they actually sound like they're coming from the same person. And I was like, That's a that's kind of a compliment. So, like yeah, a real compliment. He's a really good director, too.

Jeff Ornstein 20:49

It's good, it's good. Of course, we've already gone grossly over, as I knew we would, but we're gonna still wrap it up with some more questions. I like to let my guests ease out of the interview here. All right, looking back, was becoming a voice actor a career change, or was it actually the destination all along? Oh, I should have a violin for Christ's sake.

Andy Lipshultz 21:09

It's cute, but a little hokey pokey. I I mean, not to get morose, but there's only one destination for us. I mean I think the rest of it's the journey. And I talked to this by my kids. I've got kids in their 20s, and I I always tell them, like, whatever you're doing now is not forever, it's what you're doing now. And so I don't know if it was a destination, I don't know if it was preordained, but I would imagine having done something in the creative field like this was something that I was likely to do because I kept do trying to do things like this. But it's so easy to go through life and be like, shit, that was 10 years. This is actually kind of a semi-important thing I want to get. I have a written-out bucket list. Not many people do that. And every year I go to that written bucket list and I say, all right, what are the two to three things I'm gonna do off this list? And I always break it out to parties or whatever and talk to people, not to brag, but more to see like what else am I missing? And then if it keeps going, that I can't die because it keeps getting stuff added to it. But going into voiceover was one of the things on that list, and that one year I'm like, you know what? F this, I'm actually gonna do that. So that's a long answer to the destination. So it's not necessarily destination, but there was intentionality to it. Right.

Jeff Ornstein 22:24

And you know, also that's also what our listeners want to hear and they comment on after they see the podcast that this guy felt it like he was this corporate bigwig and he's doing all these great projects, but there was something that made him write it down on his bucket list, and it got to a point where he said, I'm gonna do it, and you created your niche. But I want to ask you something. Did you ever use your voices in the corporate world? Did you find yourself lapsing into a character in the middle of a presentation or anything?

Andy Lipshultz 22:54

Yes, yes. I did and still do actually when I do my my marketing seminars, I do that too. But yes, I did that in the corporate world as well. Hence, like the not being corporate enough. I mean, people gotta laugh, it stood out, and it does ascend you to a point, but you're not likely to be CEO of anything wrong.

Jeff Ornstein 23:12

Right, right, god forbid. Yeah, the guy's great at parties, he gets the job done beautifully, but we need someone a little stuffier to be in the C-suite. All right, Andy, I gotta wrap this up. I want you to stay in touch with us. So if you've got a great project, give us a call, come back, and we can talk about it, share that with our listeners, and also see if the industry changes. All industries go through changes, and you might want to share, hey, you know, there's I've got some new perspectives since last time we spoke.

Andy Lipshultz 23:40

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, this is a really interesting thing. I'm glad that you do this thing because I think a lot of people want to make that change and seeing other people doing it, like just for me, even too. Like my wife went from a corporate career to becoming a professor. She works at Georgetown, and she did shift too. And I think that was inspiring, just seeing other people do it and like how they do it helps you figure it out yourself.

Jeff Ornstein 24:05

No, absolutely. With all due respect, I mean, we're every man, so it's like you don't have to be one of this one in one percent. And the people that are listening are saying, This this person, this guest gave me some insights that I'm gonna process and I'm gonna, you know what, I'm gonna use that and I'm gonna take the jump, even if it's a little jump. Right. It's definitely not magic. Yeah. All right, Andy, have a wonderful day. Thanks so much for coming on. Thank you. All right, so long. Thanks for tuning in to Next Act with Jeff Orenstein. Follow, subscribe, and stay connected to your favorite socials at www.next actpodcast.com. Keep chasing your next act. The best is yet to come.