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How to change the past, the present and the future

Career Advice, General

For some years I’ve known how to change the past. While I’ve spoken about this to some of my friends, I’ve never written about it before. It’s actually very difficult, and yet, simple as can be.
It’s called forgiveness.
No, this isn’t a trick. Nor a joke. Your past will change, dramatically, when you forgive those who have hurt you, betrayed you, or done whatever other harm to you. Yes, this is true even if they never admit the wrong. The past changes, because you change your view of the past, your memory of the past, when you truly forgive.
These thoughts came to mind today because of two things I’ve read in the last 2 days. Both are related, yet the focus of each is in a slightly different direction.
Stephanie at Vox Daily writes today in response to something she heard on the radio. While she doesn’t say these exact words, the thrust of her comments are about changing your present. Stephanie does a beautiful job of connecting this idea to the world of voiceover…

…imaging something happy could make your voice happier sounding; a poignant memory could make your voice sound melancholic; imaging that you’ve just stubbed your toe could even make you feel pain… ouch!

And, for those times when life is grinding you down…

…look through old family photo albums. Remembering happy times and seeing images of people you love has an amazing effect on your spirit and outlook.

As for changing the future? That was the explicit point of this week’s Monday Morning Memo by Roy H. Williams. Here are the key paragraphs…

The cognoscenti will remember me saying, “A person can take no action until they’ve first imagined that action in their mind. Persuasion begins when a person imagines themselves doing what you want them to do.”
Last week, The National Academy of Sciences added to our understanding by making it clear: Our ability to imagine the future is linked to our memories of the past.

If you’d rather listen to Roy’s audio recording of his memo, you’ll find that file here. Listen or read, but take in the whole thing. You’ll be glad you did. And while you’re there, why not sign up for Roy’s Memo every week?
There you have it. The past, the present and the future…all inextricably linked through our memories.

Actor’s Tool-Kit #1

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People

Recently I subscribed to an excellent service from Bob Fraser called Show Biz How-To. Bob’s information is focused toward on-camera actors for television and film; but there’s a bunch of valuable information that applies to those of us who act entirely or mostly with our voices. I’ve asked his permission to reprint the series of Actor’s Tool-Kits that he sends to his subscribers, and he has given me permission. What follows is the first installment. I’ll post more of these in the coming weeks. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
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ACTOR’S TOOL KIT #1
ACTING FOR MONEY
by Bob Fraser
One of my hobbies, during my active career, was watching the results of other show biz folks. I kept journals for about 5 years, then I noticed that I didn’t need to keep a journal because it was becoming redundant. The fact is, that all the successful people I met over 40 years, (and when I say ALL I mean 100%) were capitalists.
I don’t mean that in a political way – I’m talking about store-keeper capitalism. All the successful people I’ve known in the show business are successful because they are good business people. Good store-keepers.
The other side of the coin is the unsuccessful actor, writer, director, producer, etc. Believe me, most of them are not untalented, or unlucky, or unconnected. Generally, their real problem is that they are just lackadaisical business people.
The biggest mistake I see is the total time and energy the unsuccessful actor puts into the business. This amount of time can be described as: not enough.
IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCT
If we are not working at our business to keep things running smoothly on a daily basis, if we ever sit back and wait for things to happen, stop marketing and promoting, or quit trying new ideas to get people into our store (to buy our product) well, every business around us will say a big thank you – and grab our customers.
If we don’t devote enough time to our business, if we don’t plan what we’re doing, if we don’t put in a lot of thought and energy, if we don’t have vision, if we’re not excited by it all, then, then the sad truth is that we’re just not going to get very far. we’re going to be crawling along, while all around us, sincere, hard working capitalists will be charging past.
What can you do to become a better capitalist? A good start is to understand the difference between actually being in business and just having the store open.
The number one way to improve your business is to improve your product. The best product is not always what the customer buys – but it’s always the product the customer wants. Your odds improve as your product gets better.
Be sure to advertise. If one kind of advertising isn’t working – try something else. (Get new headshots until you get one that works.)
It doesn’t hurt to keep the store open 12 hours a day.
Don’t worry about hiring a salesman (An Agent) until you’ve done a lot of market testing and selling, yourself.
You want a smart salesman and a smart salesman knows better than to try to sell an untested and unproven product. An agent cannot afford to sell one of his customers (studios and producers) a sub-par product. Keep in mind that your salesman will probably represent a lot of different “lines” and he will give more attention to the better ones.
Always present your product (you) in the best possible way.
The key to good business is to accentuate the benefits of the product and work hard to eliminate any reasons for the customer not to buy. This requires a lot of thought.
After all, your product is a human being and we all have flaws – which sometimes (after some thought) – turn out to be benefits.
WORKING HARD AND SMART
That’s what capitalism is: Taking your product out into the marketplace, defining your customer base, doing good product testing and research, hiring good salespeople, advertising well, and keeping the store open late.
Watch the capitalists around you. You know, the folks who run their own dry cleaning store, sandwich shop, or quick print center. If they are successful, study them carefully and find out how they run their businesses. You will discover that most of them work very hard.
Is it worth working very hard?
Well, their dream is probably just security. Our dream, on the other hand, is fame, fortune, respect and a bit of immortality.
And security.
Don’t kid yourself, it’s a capitalist’s dream … with a twist and a cherry on top.
The question is – how hard are you willing to work to achieve your dream?
Keep in mind that the number one benefit of capitalism is the money – and money equals freedom.
I think that’s a dream we can all get behind.
NEXT INSTALLMENT: ACTING LIKE YOU’RE A BUSINESS
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PERMISSION TO REPRINT: You may reprint articles from Actor’s Tool-Kit, on your website or electronic newsletter.
However, in order to comply with my copyright, you must also include the following paragraph with your reprint:
“Reprinted from ACTOR’S TOOL KIT, the email course just for subscribers of Show Biz How-To — The Free Actor’s Monthly.
Get your own free subscription by going to: showbizhowto.com
Copyright © 2006 Bob Fraser Productions All Rights Reserved”
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PRIVACY STATEMENT: Bob Fraser Productions will NEVER share your personal information with anyone. Ever. Period.
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The case for audio on your website

General, People

Yes, we are indeed well into the 21st Century now; yet by and large the Internet (with the exception of YouTube.com and a few other places) remains a mostly text-based experience.
My friend and mentor, Philip Banks, makes a powerful case for why audio and video should be part of your website, in this post on his blog. Here is, in my view, the key paragraph…

It is often claimed that people don’t like audio and video on websites but the fact is that the claim is an incomplete sentence that should read “people don’t like pointless audio and video on websites”. If you honestly believe people would rather wade through 9 pages of text rather than watch and listen to something that communicates effectively test your claim by making a telephone call between 7.30pm and 8.30pm on any weekday evening and ask the people you call if you disturbed them reading something or watching television. These people are content hungry but content is not 50 pages of text unless what you are selling is text.

But, read the whole thing.

Keep learning

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, Tools

If you’re not honing your craft, learning how to do a better job of marketing yourself, or otherwise improving your life personally and professionally, you’re losing ground. It may not seem like it right now, but that’s because sometimes the ground losses are subtle enough that you don’t notice. But, it’s happening.
This year, in March, you have an opportunity to learn on several levels. Craft. Marketing. Networking. Auditioning. And more. Yes, I’m talking about V.O.I.C.E., the Voice Over International Creative Experience.
And here’s another reason you should be there in Las Vegas, March 27 through 31, 2007: Pat Fraley is going to be there to teach his new seminar called 26 Slick Tricks Smuggled Out of Hollywood. I look forward to seeing you there and to learning along side you.

The Tooth Fairy cometh

General, People

Not long after I moved from the farm country of Minnesota to begin my freshman year of college in Chicago in 1971, one of my happiest discoveries on the radio was a series of short radio comedy bits called “The Secret Adventures of The Tooth Fairy.” It was the product of the same brilliant mind responsible for “Chickenman,” Dick Orkin.
I know the fans of Chickenman are legion, but I’ve always been partial to The Tooth Fairy myself. So, it is with great delight that I alert you to the release of the complete Tooth Fairy collection through Dan O’Day’s web site. I can hardly wait to get my own copy.

Are you derailing your own efforts?

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover

My friend Dave Christi has some very cogent thoughts for you about marketing yourself. Here is the key question…

“What is YOUR marketing strategy?” As an independent voice artist, you are a business owner. It doesn’t matter if you are running your business full-time or part-time, you’re President, CEO, CFO, and YES, marketing director, of your own business. So what, Mr. or Ms. Marketing Director, is your marketing strategy?

Read the whole thing. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time.

Battling mouth noise, a success story

General, People, Tools

I’ve posted here previously about a technique for fighting mouth noise problems that I learned from Pat Fraley. Using a small atomizer bottle with filtered water. Spraying water with a little bottle like this is much more effective than just drinking water, eating an apple or pretty much any other technique you’ve tried.
Today in my inbox, I received this message from my friend Brian Haymond…

Hey Bob…I tried the “spray bottle” technique for the mouth noise and I must say, I’m rather impressed. I always drink about 80 ounces of water a day while working but the spray really does work better than taking a sip of water!

Very cool, Brian. I’m so glad to know this idea worked well for you. And kudos to Pat for sharing this idea with us.

Characters and voices

General, People

As I’ve written else where on this blog, my first professional voiceover was in 1974 and I’ve been making money in voiceover work steadily since 1983. For most of the time since then, I’ve thought of myself as mainly an announcer or narrator kind of guy. Sure, I’d change my tone or inflection when a commercial script called for something a little different; but I never saw myself as a performer of characters like Pat Fraley, Nancy Cartwright, Daws Butler or Mel Blanc.
But, the last couple of years, I’ve started to change my viewpoint on this subject. Two influences have shaped that change in perspective. One is studying with Pat Fraley. The other is starting to record audiobooks.
My studies with Pat ended up including work in creating characters because that’s so much of what he teaches. To supplement what I learned in the classes, I got a copy of Pat’s audio CD The Greatest Cartoon Voice Tricks Ever Smuggled Out of Hollywood. I’ve begun to realize that much of the time I’m actually adopting a character when I’m in the booth, even when it’s just for a straightforward announcing job. (In that case, I might be playing my “big voice announcer guy” for example.)
Then, and this is where the studying with Pat Fraley intersects with audiobook recording, I started recording audiobooks that had multiple characters in them. And it turned out to be great fun. I had to figure out how to give each of these book characters a distinct sound, keep them all straight, and not have to stop down every time I changed character.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that when I’m working in voiceover, I’m playing some kind of character all the time. Even when I’m just being me, I’m actually playing a character who is a slightly exaggerated version of me.
These thoughts were prompted by reading this thoughtful post on Kara Edwards-Suchan’s blog. I especially liked this thought…

…contrary to what many have tried to tell me recently, I do believe there is also room in this industry for the type of tiny voice that makes you smile.

Here’s another choice comment…

If only more companies realized that voice actors can do more than ‘pronounce words with a non-regional dialect’, they can act…they can sell!!

I agree, Kara. Thank you for helping me think further about this subject.

An amazing honor to end 2006

General

As my final post of 2006, I’ll point you to Ryan Salazar over at the Voicemarketer.com vBlog, who has decided to interview me. I’m sure he’ll get back to interviewing real voiceover celebrities, shortly.

The secret sauce for your career

Career Advice, General, People

There is a secret sauce recipe in this post at Adam Creighton’s blog that, if you follow these directions, will have a startlingly beneficial effect on your voiceover career.

Now, keep in mind that Adam is writing from the point of view of an actor pursuing on-camera work as well as voiceover work. In the case of someone (like me) who only does voiceover work, the comments about a headshot don’t really apply. But, preparing a personal “thank you” card for each of your auditions…brilliant. Having your own business cards? Pretty obvious, don’t you think? (Note to self: get the business cards done!)

The key point, about expressing gratitude for the opportunities you receive…is vitally important. I thought this was the best bit of the whole post…

I’ve heard people say, “I didn’t send a card, because I sucked at the audition.”

Get over yourself! Send a thank you card, and acknowledge the person for taking out of their day to spend with you. You’re sucking didn’t make their sacrifice any less.

A simple expression of gratitude. You’ll see. It will make a world-changing difference in your life.

How to ask for a critique

Career Advice, General, People

Doc Phillips has a number of valuable and useful articles on his site. I think one of the best is called “If you can’t take the criticism, DON’T ask for it!”
Here are a couple of key points…

Don’t make the mistake of asking your significant other, best buddy, grandma or bartender. I guarantee they will be inclined to praise your talent(s). Why? Because they care about you and don’t want to hurt your feelings. There’s another very good reason. They don’t do your work.

NEVER argue with your mentor concerning their critique of your work. NEVER attempt to defend why you read a line this way, or why you chose this entrance over that entrance. Instead, thank them for taking their time to help you. Also, take from the critique what you can use – then, chuck the rest!

Good thoughts from a talented man. Doc’s site is here. You’ll find more valuable articles from Doc here.

Another tasty load of…Philip Banks

Career Advice, General, People

Posted today on the VO-BB by Mr. Banks, in response to the one year anniversary of working in the voiceover business by one of our colleagues were these 16 years of lessons learned…as he put it, “from an elderly and frail man a few random thoughts.”

1990 – No matter what you believe there is nothing better than speaking to the decision makers and getting your demo in front of them.

1991 – Keep looking for those elusive new clients and keep your existing clients happy.

1992 – Aim high as the person you know will say “No” may surprise you and say “yes.”

1993 – Get to know the people who work alongside your clients and producers as most will be the clients of the future. Get to know them, DON’T network them.

1994 – Don’t work for nothing, but be prepared to make a loss, as in the long term the loss will prove to have been an investment.

1995 – Steer clear of the gossips, moaners and negs. You believe you are able to rise above them, but in truth you will catch yourself stooping to their level and one day you’ll moan about the wrong person to the wrong person.

1996 – When someone gives you a tip it’s usually because they’ve been given a better one. Good or bad, always say thank you and never say “I knew that” even if you did.

1997 – Do the jobs you hate doing as often as possible. Master those and when the jobs you love come along your star will shine brightly.

1998 – Don’t become a Voice Over bore, most people really don’t care. To be interesting one first must become interested.

1999 – Wise up to the users. Introduce the word “No” into your vocabulary and learn to use it without malice, vitriol or bitterness.

2000 – Let people know you are open to offers, work is work. The reason you aren’t being asked could be because people think you are not interested.

2001 – Embrace change but don’t follow the pack. Get better at making what works for you WORK BETTER.

2002 – Are you kidding yourself that one market makes you money or is it just taking more of your time than the profitable jobs? If you think something is not worth the effort you’re probably right –- Fortune really does favour the brave.

2003 – Life 1st, Voice Over work 2nd. For some strange reason if you concentrate on the 1st you get more of the 2nd.

2004 – Don’t send wine by the bottle, send it by the case. Most of the people for whom you work do not earn $300 per hour. A “Thank you” package can really make someone’s day.

2005 – Set yourself goals and stick to them. If the goals don’t make you think “I’m not sure if I’ll …..” they’re too low.

2006 – If you want to play, enjoy. If you want to get somewhere as a Voice Over you have to earn the right to play and it takes serious commitment. Be nice, be approachable, be easy to work with, be honest even when tempted to do otherwise. It’s worth bearing mind that people don’t have to like you, they have to hire you.

2007 – To anyone who got this far. May yours be happy, healthy, peaceful, prosperous and full of dreams come true.

I’m going to make my first trip to Las Vegas

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, Tools

At the end of March 2007, I’m going to make my very first trip to Las Vegas. Not to gamble. In fact, if you come too, we’ll both be there for a sure thing. What sure thing? Making the leap to the next level in your voiceover career.
Yes, I believe that’s what I’m going start, based on what I’ll experience March 27 through 31, 2007 at the Palace Station hotel. If you come, you’ll gain the same benefits.
If you’d like to know more about V.O.I.C.E., the event I’m talking about, check out their website voice-international.com. Once you’ve read over everything, then click on this registration page to sign up.
Will you be there? Let me know. I look forward to meeting you in March.