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Friends

General

For those of us old enough to remember, voiceover work used to be a rather social experience. We would run into friends and make new connections when we met at auditions and sessions. At one time both auditions and work were done in a recording studio in the city (whatever city we were living near at the time) and then some years later, while the work was still always at a recording studio the auditions were done at our agent’s office.

But all of that has changed. In the last 5 years I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve had to go somewhere other than my own studio to do an audition. Add the fingers of my other hand and I can count the number of sessions I’ve recorded in someone else’s studio during that same 5 years. The social interactions and connections that were once commonplace have all but vanished.

So, we’ve had to find other ways to connect. The Internet provides a wealth of opportunities. Facebook. Google+. Twitter. And my favorite, The VO-BB. And even better is when these virtual connections break out in the real world. A significant part of why Faffcon is so important to me is because every 6 months for the last 2 years, it has provided a time and place to connect face-to-face with some of my favorite people.

Don’t underestimate the importance of friends to your success. Especially friends who truly “get” what your life is like. These are the friends who will help to sustain you when things are murky or gloomy or confusing. They will celebrate with you when things take a turn for the better.

I’ve recently been thinking about a couple of my dearest and closest friends and how much I cherish my friendship with them. I hope you will take a moment today to reflect on the blessings in your life, and especially those friends who mean the most to you. Maybe it’s time to send a quick note or make a phone call to remind him or her of just how much that relationship means to you?

The true stories of the people you think you know

General, People

There are a number of names that shine from the pages of American History. Francis Scott Key. Amelia Earhart. Butch Cassidy and Sundance. Barnum. Twain. But, how well do you know the real story behind each of these names? A newly released audiobook narrated and produced by my friend Michael Holmes is now available that tells the true story about the people you think you know well. It’s called The Americans. It’s a marvelous collection of riviting stories that are not only well told, they also benefit from being true.

I encourage you to get your own copy of The Americans.

Why I help sponsor Faffcon

General

If you’ve looked at the Faffcon website, you may have noticed that I’m listed as one of the sponsors of this event. Yes, I actually help underwrite Faffcon each time even though I have nothing to sell or promote to other voiceover talent. I don’t coach. I don’t have a line of voiceover products or accessories. I don’t have a book (physical or electronic) I’m trying to sell.

So, why? I’m convinced that for many of us working voiceover professionals, there’s nothing more helpful we can do to move forward with our voiceover business than to attend Faffcon. And without sponsors, Faffcon wouldn’t exist or if it did, it would be a radically less awesome experience.

The way each person who attends Faffcon shares in the experience varies tremendously, but the value of the experience is there for the enrichment of everyone in attendance. For that matter, each Faffcon is different than the one before.

But some things are the same. Each time there are working pros sharing from their accumluated wisdom and other working pros asking probing questions and everyone listening and speaking attentively. These are the hallmarks of what makes Faffcon unique and wonderful. It’s important to note that I am far from alone in my sponsorship of

Faffcon. Here’s a complete list:

Voicebank.net

Bob Souer (me)

Edge Studio

Mara Junot, professional voice talent

Audio-Technica

BSW (Broadcast Supply Worldwide)

Dave Courvoisier, voice actor

Liz de Nesnera, French and English Voice Over Talent

GA Voiceovers, the Voice of Technology

Rich Owen, Get Rich, Voiceover Talent

JS Gilbert, Professional Voice Talent

Bobbin Beam, ISDN Voice Actress, Female Voice Talent

Moe Eagan, Voiceovers by Moe

Melissa Exelberth, Bilingual ISDN Voice Talent

Harlan Hogan’s Voiceover Essentials

The VO-BB.com

Corey Snow, Voxman, Voice Actor

Word2WAV, an Automated Audio Recording Application

Source Elements

Lynda.com, Online Software Training Videos

Diane Maggipinto, D3 Voiceworks, Female Voice Talent

Sound Advice, Voiceover from an Engineer’s Perspective

Voice Over Xtra, The voice-over industry’s online news, education and resource center

The Dallas Voice Acting Meetup Group

A profound thanks to each person or organization that is sponsoring Faffcon. As you can see, there are a number of other voiceover pros who are also helping to sponsor Faffcon. Each of us has our own reason for why and I’ll let the each of them speak in her or his own way about those reasons. For me, it’s really very simple. I want to do everything I can to help ensure that Faffcon continues to flourish for a long time to come. If you aren’t able to be at Faffcon 4 in Ventura, CA, I hope you’ll make everyeffort to be at the next one — date and location of which will be announced at the close of Faffcon 4.

Quote for the day

General

With thanks to Trent Hamm for posting this quote on his blog, The Simple Dollar:

“You’ve achieved success in your field when you don’t know whether what you’re doing is work or play.”  – Warren Beatty

The most important marketing

Career Advice, General

I don’t know about you, but for many years the single thing that kept me from really moving forward with my voiceover business was a lack of confidence. Oh, I knew that I had a “nice” voice. I knew that I was pretty good at reading technical copy and sounding like I knew everything I was saying. But, fundamentally, I didn’t really believe I was good enough to accomplish everything I was hoping to accomplish.

Two people have made a huge difference in my thinking over the last few years, and that has made all the difference.

Nancy Wolfson. And Marice Tobias. These two ladies, through their superb coaching, helped me understand that I am enough. I just need to do what I all ready know how to do and simply be myself. Their methods are different, but between the two of them, the message finally sank in.

Now, I mention all of this to introduce you to a recent blog by Seth Godin called Conflicted. It’s well worth a couple of minutes of your time.

You see his key point? The person you most need to market to is … you. You have to believe, really believe, you are enough before you can truly moving forward the way you want to move forward. In fact, all of the other marketing and selling you may be trying to do? Until you understand that you really are enough, isn’t going to get you anywhere near what you’re looking for. But catch hold of this simple truth and the momentum will begin to build.

Try it. You’ll see.

(edited to fix typo)

Your personal brand

Career Advice, General, People

My friend Blaine Parker writes a weekly screed he calls HOT POINTS! He’s given me permission to republish today’s edition, which I think is chock full of valuable insights for all of us voiceover types.

HOT POINTS for The Week of March 5, 2012
COULD HOT POINTS HELP SOME POOR SOUL YOU KNOW?

Subscription to this relentless weekly screed is now available to anyone you might deem worthy. Just send your victims to the newsletter signup page at Slow Burn Branding.

THE POWER OF OMISSION IN YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

In these relentless weekly screeds, we’re frequently ranting about the ingredients required for building a business’s brand.

We don’t typically spend so much time talking about personal brand.

Perhaps we’ve been giving personal brand short shrift. Maybe it’s time we looked a little more seriously at what personal brand can mean to your business.

Especially if you’re a sole proprietor or a consultant, your personal brand is significant. A powerful personal brand can change your life.

A powerful personal brand can help you leap tall buildings and change course of mighty rivers.

Metaphorically, of course.

But it can do all this only if you’re smart enough to leave stuff out.

BRANDING FOR LAUGHS AND PROFIT

We’ve talked previously about how successful comedians represent the power in personal branding.

For example, compare Andrew Dice Clay with Jeff Foxworthy.

Dice is not nice. You wouldn’t ask him to babysit your three-year old. You might call him and say, “Hey, I need a creative and vile way to talk about sex with animals. Any ideas?” You will not take your mother to see Andrew Dice Clay unless she wears a leather jacket and keeps a pack of Luckys rolled up in the sleeve of her T-shirt just above the “live to ride” tattoo.

But the kinder, gentler, “you might be a redneck if…” happy-go-lucky hick Jeff Foxworthy? Sure. You could ask him to babysit your three-year-old. You might even go to

church with him. You can be fairly certain that he helps old ladies cross the street without pushing them in front of a bus.

Two very distinct, different and polarizing brands. Two very successful brands.

And if you’re a faithful reader to this relentless screed, you also know something else about Mr. Foxworthy.

You know about one of those important things that he knew to leave out of his brand.

HE’S A COMPUTER GENIUS

Foxworthy went to one of the nation’s finest institutions of higher learning, majored in computer engineering and used to work on IBM mainframes.

It’s definitely something to be proud of.

You also haven’t heard about it in his comedy.

In fact, you probably haven’t heard about it at all unless you’ve researched his life.

That’s because Mr. Foxworthy apparently understands the power of omission.

“You might be a redneck if…” does not jive with juggling the zeroes and ones inside some of the largest and most powerful computers in the world.

And Jeff Foxworthy is not alone in this kind of skilled omission.

Other personal brands have deceived you through their ability to omit irrelevant info in deference to honing the keenly honed blade of brand.

HOW’S YOUR BRAND IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA?

Just to show that this power-of-omission branding is nothing new, let’s venture back to the golden years of Hollywood.

There’s an actress whose brand was one of great beauty. She was always cast as glamorous and seductive.

If you’re a fan of film, you probably know who she is. Born to assimilated Jewish Austro-Hungarian parents in 1913, her given name was Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler.

We know her as MGM’s silver screen stunner, Hedy Lamarr.

She was gorgeous. She was always cast for her looks. The glamorous and seductive beauty was her brand.

She certainly wasn’t known for her brains.

Which is why it might come as a surprise to find out that Hedy Lamarr was co-holder of a US patent for spread-spectrum communications and frequency hopping.

COME ON UP TO MY PLACE FOR A LITTLE POWER FLUX DENSITY LIMITATION, BABY

Yes, indeedy.

In a pre-digital age of analog radio communications, Hedy Lamarr designed a way in which radio signals could be spread across a frequency domain with the express goal of

guiding US Navy torpedoes to their targets in a way that couldn’t be jammed by the Nazis.

She presented it to the Navy. Know what they said?

In essence: “We appreciate your interest in the war effort. You’d be better suited to taking your glamorous brand on the road and raising money from an adoring public.”

They had no interest in her technology.

But they did understand her brand. That might even be why they had no interest in her technology.

Had she handed her spread-spectrum torpedo guidance plans to John Barrymore and sent him into that meeting in a white lab coat, things might have been different.

Hedy Lamarr’s personal brand was wildly successful, and that brand precluded her from being seen as a brainiac.

Being brainy is something to be proud of. But the studio knew genius didn’t have a whit to do with her brand and it was left out.

See also, Jeff Foxworthy: not a computer engineer as far as you know.

IS THAT AN INGOT OF AUSTENITIC NICKEL-CHROMIUM-BASED SUPERALLOY IN YOUR POCKET OR ARE YOU JUST GLAD TO SEE ME?

Another profession not known for bringing super geniuses to the runway is modeling.

Instead, the modeling business is known for creating that iconic creature known as the super model.

Periodically, there are certain women who become globally exulted as the most beautiful in the world, and they are endlessly paraded before us draped in all manner of

overpriced designer wear that looks good on nobody but tall, skinny women who get paid big money to parade accordingly.

You would not think about sitting down with a super model and having a game of chess.

Which is why it’s all the more interesting to find out that the fabulous Cindy Crawford, she of the prominent mole, was (a) valedictorian of her high school class, and (b) was accepted to Northwestern University on a chemical engineering scholarship.

Yes, had she stuck with chemical engineering, Ms. Crawford could be toiling away somewhere in an obscure laboratory, figuring out a new process for separating impurities and various non-methane hydrocarbons and fluids from natural gas in order to make it pipeline quality.

Instead, through the magic of YouTube, she will forever be with us as the host on House of Style.

Proud to be a genius? Perhaps.

But not too proud to leave it out of the brand.

OMISSION IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL TOOLS IN BUILDING ANY BRAND

Big brands thrive on intense focus.

Your personal brand is no different.

One of the frequent challenges I’ve faced in working with small business owners on their advertising is an unwillingness to Leave It Out.

Typically, it’s ego talking. “This makes me important and people will care!”

Well, it might make your mother care.

Often, it’s fear-based. “I’m afraid that if I don’t say this about me, people won’t like me!”

Well, if you’re trying to sell widgets, knowing that irrelevant thing about you isn’t going change their opinion about you re their intrinsic need for widgets.

As with any other exercise in branding, the Prime Is Imperative.

What is the ONE thing you want to be known for?

AND THAT IS INTENSELY DIFFICULT TO FIGURE OUT FOR YOURSELF

Because with an entire lifetime under your belt, there are uncountable things to be known for.

Figuring it out takes hard work.

It often requires assistance.

But knowing what to leave out is vital to figuring out The One Thing.

Hedy Lamarr’s glamour and beauty.

Cindy Crawford’s gorgeous, all-American mole.

Jeff Foxworthy’s redneck roots.

Geniuses, all three.

And part of the genius is that the genius always stayed behind the curtain.

As always,

Blaine Parker

Your Lean, Mean Creative Director in
Park City

www.slowburnmarketing.com

www.spotsbeforeyoureyes.net

Follow on Twitter @blaineparker

Susan Cain on introverts

General

A powerful TED talk about the power of introverts by Susan Cain.

I’m featuring this video because even though Susan doesn’t say a word about voiceover in her talk, there’s a very large number of us in voiceover who are introverts.

Quote of the day

General

This one came to me from my manager and friend Stacey Stahl:

Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion.
— Simon Sinek