A NASA engineer wanted an extra $200 a month to treat her daughter. Now her voiceover side hustle has earned $227,000 in 2026 so far

Eryn Andrews wanted an extra $200 a month to take her young daughter for ice cream or a trip to the children’s museum without worrying about the cost. A Google search for “single mom side hustles” led her to voiceover acting. Now, four years later, the business she started with a microphone and a mattress topper has earned more than $227,000 in 2026 so far.

Andrews, 41, works full time at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, collecting and analyzing data to help researchers understand how astronauts move in their spacesuits. Her second job looks very different. She records voiceovers in a makeshift booth inside her guest bedroom closet, spending between one and eight hours a week on the work.

Her voiceover earnings began surpassing her six-figure NASA salary in summer 2025, according to CNBC Make It.

How She Started With a $200 Budget

Andrews began the side hustle in March 2022, when she was a newly divorced single mother. She spent about $200 on a voiceover class, a microphone and a one-inch mattress topper from Walmart.

To make a recording space at home, she built a small structure from cardboard and attached the mattress topper with Velcro to help block out noise.

She then set up a profile on Fiverr, which is an online freelance marketplace and began looking for work. With no experience or client history to show prospective customers, she initially charged less than other voiceover actors on the platform.

Her first month brought in about $1,000 from a handful of projects. At the time, she charged $5 per 100 words. She now says she will not turn on her computer for a project paying less than $200.

Coca-Cola, Apple and Other Clients Hire Her Voice

Andrews mainly records internal corporate announcements, company voicemail messages and workplace training videos. Her clients include Coca-Cola, PetSmart, the University of Mississippi and Apple.

Fiverr remains her main source of bookings, although she also gets work through her website and referrals. Her voiceover business earns an average of roughly $32,400 a month, as per CNBC Make It.

Andrews believes the gravelly texture of her voice helps distinguish her work. She said, “The last couple of years of AI [advancement gave way to] very overly polished voices,” adding, “I think a lot of people are craving the authenticity of a real voice, which is going to have some natural variation, some texture to it,” as quoted in the report.

She also turns down the idea of focusing on longer assignments such as audiobooks, even though they could pay more. Those projects would take time away from her daughter. Andrews estimates that each minute of audio requested by a client takes about three minutes to record and edit.

The flow of work is not always steady as she described that it can be a “feast or famine,” and told CNBC, “I’ll go sometimes weeks hearing nothing, then suddenly, out of the woodwork, here comes a half dozen different clients within 24 hours.”

Why She Is Staying at NASA

Andrews has worked at NASA since 2008, and she does not plan to leave her engineering job despite the success of her voiceover business. She has said she does not depend on freelance earnings to pay her bills, but the extra income has given her more financial freedom.

She has used the money to travel, buy a used 2025 Toyota RAV4 and start saving for her daughter’s future college tuition.

She Is Taking on Video Game Voice Roles

Andrews has also started taking character-based voiceover jobs in video games and animated comics. Even though these assignments usually pay less than corporate projects but she wants to do more narrative work.

She works with coaches who specialize in character voice acting. And hopes to find an agent to help her secure more auditions. She also had attended industry events like the VO Atlanta Voiceover Conference to practise readings and get feedback from experienced performers.

Andrews won an award at the One Voice Conference in Dallas for playing a worried mother in the video game The Obsessive Shadow in August 2025.

Andrews says she has always thought of herself as a math and science-minded engineer rather than an artistic person. Voiceover work has given her an opportunity to pursue a creative interest while continuing the NASA career she has had since 2008.