My newest revenue stream

You'll want to hear this!

Photo by Emmanuel Ikwuegbu on Unsplash

I used to read a bedtime story to Parker every night she was with me.

Our routine lasted about four years, from the time Parker was 3 years old until she was a little older than 7. Her favorite book back then was “5 Minute Peppa Stories,” an eight-in-one collection of short stories from the animated children’s series Peppa Pig.

I never needed to go through the table of contents. Parker had the story titles memorized. She’d request I read them at the start only because she liked to recite them with me. I still remember her sweet toddler tone.

“Tooth Fairy.”... “George’s New Balloon.”... “Peppa Plays Soccer.”

And each night, after we finally made it through our table-of-contents bit, and after Parker took her precious time picking from the same stories, I dutifully stepped into character. No matter what the role required, Daddy was determined to deliver the best bedtime story ever.

I took on a British accent and played up every piece of punctuation with my voice inflection. I snorted and sneezed, gargled and grumbled. I adopted appropriate facial expressions too as I sat by Parker’s side in bed.

My animation might have been excessive. I just always saw it as effort. It always kept Parker’s attention. At times, my commitment left adults in awe.

I’d like to believe my early efforts helped develop Parker into the voracious reader she is today. The handful of people who’ve heard me read have all said that I’d be a good narrator.

The table of contents for “5 Minute Peppa Stories,” one of Parker’s favorite childhood bedtime storybooks.

On June 1, I jumped at an unforeseen chance.

While scrolling Instagram, I came across an advertisement from the Black Hustlers Club account searching for voice over artists who could read scripts for a faceless YouTube channel. The company’s Instagram account at the time was nearing 1 million followers and has since surpassed that amount. The link in the post took me to a Google form that contained a short test script.

Without much thought, I promptly opened the voice memos app on my phone and pushed record. I read the one-minute script centered on the show “The Boondocks” and quickly uploaded the file. I hesitated to message the account after my submission. I didn’t want to come off as pushy or desperate. I got over that.

I replied to the account’s post with one word: done.

It was Saturday afternoon, about 3:30 p.m. The next Monday, just after 6 a.m., I received a direct message from the Black Hustlers Club account.

“Good morning,” the message read. “We received your voiceover application and believe you would be a great fit…”

Within 90 minutes of accepting the offer Monday morning, at a rate of $3.50 per minute, the company sent my first script. And I can’t make this up. The job called for me to summarize the movie “Paid in Full,” which I told you about in February.

I had two days to deliver the voiceover. I submitted it via email two nights later. And I got paid the same day. I received $50.05 for the 14 1/2-minute read.

The following morning, a Thursday, the account direct-messaged me with three new scripts. Again, I couldn’t believe it. The first script was for a read discussing lessons from the book “The Psychology of Money.” That was the first book that made me adopt my current Money Talks mindset. The second was a script cautioning the audience about the “poverty programming trap.” The third script, another financial focused video, was titled “How to Get Ahead of 99% of People.”

The readings paid me $285.15.

They also gave me valuable experience, while boosting my confidence that I can add voice overs as a revenue stream.

blackhustlersclub

A post shared by @blackhustlersclub

The man behind the account is a 24-year-old named Drell Jones. He has the entrepreneurial spirit I lost at a young age and am only getting back now. While working his multiple revenue streams, Jones, a Virginia native who never attended college, is showing others how his hustle nets him upward of $30,000 a month.

Jones can’t rent a car without encountering another level of hassle. Yet he’s successful enough to have me on his payroll.

That’s the power of entrepreneurship.

I’ll happily play my role, get paid and gain experience. Each payment can be put to an investment. Each read adds another level of comfort for when bigger voice over jobs arrive.

The old me would have swiped past the post advertising this job. I used to think I wasn’t lucky. That I never got picked for things like contests, drawings and giveaways. I understand now how my thinking blocked my blessings.

By thinking I wasn’t lucky, I wouldn’t even try. Removing myself from contention only assured me I’d have no chance to be lucky.

But I’ve learned to be decisive. It’s one of the reasons I’m proud my effort paid off. My selection was confirmation to just take action.

I also never would have come across this opportunity if I didn’t sign up for Instagram last year.

Whenever I step beyond my comfort zone, I make a few more bucks.