I have a credit on IMDb!

I now have a credit on IMDb for my role as narrator for The Adventures of Uncle Colt and Cletus. I had to use my full name, Matthew Alexander Swanson, because there are so many actors named Matt Swanson. I would have had to use Matt Swanson (X), which just seems wrong some how. I hope to add many more credits to my IMDb profile, so remember Matthew Alexander Swanson!

Cash Flow and Human Capital

Life is constantly throwing curve balls and introducing new challenges. We gain all kinds of experience from different areas of our lives and develop our human capital. Once we reach a certain age it becomes clear that if we don't pursue our passions we may never achieve our dreams. Our human capital can play a major role in helping us reach our goals. 

Since 2nd year University at Ryerson back in 1991 I have had the dream of becoming a voice actor.  I worked in radio for many years where I honed my voice acting abilities. But life took a crazy turn in 2000. I lost my radio gig due to corporate restructuring. 

It took me a year to find a new path and somehow I found myself back in University for Accounting, of all things. I was on the CA track. I made it through the degree without any problems. I even passed my first professional exam. Unfortunately I failed my 2nd professional exam twice. I took myself out of the CA process because I realized that becoming a CA wasn't my dream. I still wanted to be a voice actor. At this point I had accumulated nearly 6 years of full time accounting experience. I found that I enjoyed bookkeeping.  That's why I took on bookkeeping clients when I left my Accounting job to pursue voice acting.

Bookkeeping gives me the steady cash flow I need to fuel my voice acting venture. Bookkeeping is not my plan B. It is an integral part of my plan A. In fact, I do my own bookkeeping and tax returns. I don't have to pay an accountant to take care of my growing business!

Play to your strengths. Use your human capital to maximize success in the pursuit of your goals.

Great News from LA

There is a little filmed being shopped around at various film festivals right now called "The Adventures of Uncle Colt and Cletus". A few months ago I was asked to do some narration for the film based on an audition I had submitted. I had to sound like an old southern prospector. I did the job and got paid right away, but I never knew if they ended up using my voiceovers. I got confirmation last night that my voiceover made it into the film, which will shown at the Las Vegas Film Festival this summer! Apparently the film will be available to the public some time before Christmas 2013. I can't wait to get my own copy! Yee-Haw!

USD Exchange

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Such is the case with US dollar exchange.


I was so excited when I received payment for a little voiceover gig I did a month and a half ago.  I was paid by cheque in US dollars.  I remember hearing recently that inflation is on the rise in Canada and that the Canadian dollar is dropping in value compared to the US dollar.  Analysts expect the Canadian dollar to drop by 3 cents by the end of 2013.  I was happy knowing that I'd be depositing more than $150 Canadian into my account today. Man did I get a nasty little surprise.  My $150 USD got me $145.67 CDN. Why do the banks always win? I'm pretty sure the bank profited off my little deposit today.  145.67/150 = 0.97113333. The Bank of Canada exchange rate on May 7, 2013 is 1.0052. That means I should have received $150.78 CDN for my $150 USD.  My bank took a profit of $5.11.  Today I lose.

I can voice cartoons!

I think it's important to be able to showcase your abilities in a way that people can understand. It's one thing for me to say that I can do character voices for cartoons, but it's much more meaningful to show a sample of my work.  That's why I was excited when I learned about GoAnimate.  It allows me to create my own cartoons quickly and it also allows people better appreciate my claims.  Here's a very simple example of an animation that I made using GoAnimate:



MBC Nightly News with Bom Trokaw by VoiceMatt.com on GoAnimate

Animation - Created by Voice-O-Mattic.

Goodness in Rwanda

I attended a screening of "Goodness in Rwanda" last night.  It's a documentary that was co-directed and narrated by my friend, Gord Rand.  I was blown away.  It has everything.  Drama, humor, moving story telling, and technical excellence.  My brother Pete pointed out to me that the audio was incredible.  The images of Rwanda are beautiful and sometimes shocking.  It was interesting to see someone I know personally in such a foreign environment. This film is a wake up call.  A must see for all self absorbed people like myself. Words cannot do this film justice. 

VoiceMatt.com goes live!

It gives me great pleasure to announce the official launch of my new website!

VoiceMatt.com

You take your unwashed clothes to the laundromat and you take your unread scripts to the voicematt... VoiceMatt.com, that is! 

My thanks to Maximilian Kaiser for designing and building this terrific website.    

VoiceMatt.com is Voice-O-Mattic!