My friend Pam Tierney blogged the other day about some of the changes that have taken place in her hometown in Indiana. Of course, it’s not just basketball in small town Indiana that’s changed in the last several years. It’s become trite to say “everything has changed” in the last 10 to 15 years. Just because it’s become trite, it’s still true.
15 years ago almost every voiceover I did was done is someone else’s studio. I was ahead of the curve, having built my first home studio in 1986; but that was because Chuck Wagner and I were producing our own syndicated radio program. So, aside from my voice work for that program and for some other freelance radio production, everything else I recorded as a voice talent was done in some other professional studio. If you were active in voice work back then, you know what I mean.
My work back then was in just 3 categories. Television commercials, radio commercials and industrial narrations. There were no web narrations then. Combuter Based Training was just being invented, and was years away from transmogrifying into eLearning. If I needed to deliver audio to someone in another city I used FedEx to send a reel of tape.
And that’s just the changes in our little world of voiceover. Today, newspapers and broadcast media are pale shadows of what they used to be. People are tired of bad commercials. Today you have to be good enough to be hired not just in your town, you have be good enough to be hired on a stage as big as the whole world.
This is why I continue to study with the best coaches. I will not stop climbing.
So, what are you doing to keep moving forward? Because if you’re standing still, you’re losing ground.
If we’re in this business for the long term we have to keep climbing as staying still is not an option.
Two questions everyone needs to ask – From where is my growth coming? What is impeding my growth?
Oddly enough most Voiceoverists are so distracted that they believe the answer to the 2nd question is the answer to the first. Fortune favours the brave and so we need to make room for growth.
My favourite story about making room comes from something I did around 6 years ago. I noticed that one market was taking up 80% of my time and my marketing budget yet it was contributing at the time only 2.25% of my income. What did I do? STOPPED wasting time and money on it. What happened next? The following year my income rose by over 55%.
I do things for 2 reasons; because I choose to do them and because they make business sense. The important thing is that I know the difference.
Philip,
Very well said. I imagine there’s a common set to those 2 reasons that’s of some size, but extremely good point, especially the bit about “knowing the difference.”
As most certainly, studying with a great coach isn’t the only way to keep moving ahead. Maybe I would have done better, but my voiceover business has grown 40% annually since I started my studies at the beginning of 2007. Maybe I could have done better if I’d concentrated my efforts in other directions? Whatever the case, I’m happy with the results thus far.
Be well,
Bob
Bob,
Great subject! I think what you said applies to any profession, or any person, for that matter. The world around us changes even as I type this… One thing I’ve learned is anyone can be replaced if we don’t continue to improve or look for ways to grow. Sometimes we can do it on our own but other times its necessary to have the guidance of another. The main thing is to DO something…NOW. Good luck to you and love reading the posts.
Carl
Bob,I agree that training is the key to moving forward. Feedback from critical ears is so necessary–we’re isolated in our studios & the world is moving fast. Remember the VOG read we were doing way back when we had to travel for every audition & gig? How many times these days are you hired to be that guy? And I bet it was VO training that gave you a more nuanced read.
As Phillip says, being a voiceoverist requires a great deal of bravery–so suck it up,pick a coach & get started.
Kitzie,
You are so right. That old read is as dead as a bag of hammers (as my friend and mentor Roy H. Williams puts it) and I haven’t been asked to do that in years.
And Liz, well said.
Be well,
Bob
You are so right, Bob!
Always learning & being open to new niches & opportunities is what keeps you moving forward in life, as well as VO!
Stagnation is not good in any form! 🙂
Peace!
Liz
i agree, you are so right, Bob…