General

If you’re making a living or even a decent part-time income from voiceover, you all ready know that a great deal of the time you are doing something other than working in front of the microphone. Seth Godin offers some very cogent thoughts about how we spend our time and what might be a better way to spend our time. (Yes, he’s talking about photographers, but the point applies to all of us who make our living in a similar fashion.)

One of the very best things to happen to me at Faffcon took place 10 minutes before the first Faffcon got underway in Portland, OR in September of 2010. Doug Turkel gave me an insight and some advice that struck a chord of resonance in my soul that continues to reverberate to this very day.

That insight and advice led to my position as the “second nicest guy in voiceover.” Since I first started using that line, the day I got home from that first Faffcon, I’ve been asked many, many times a question that is almost inevitable. It goes something like this: “So, who’s the first nicest if you’re only second?” And my answer to that question varies depending on whether I’m being asked the question in person, on the phone or via email.

The essential answer is to ask a question in turn: “Would the nicest guy in voiceover claim to be the nicest?”

But, here’s the truth behind that question: I’m a human being, just like you are. While I do try to be nice to everyone, sometimes I fail. I mess up. I make a mistake. In fact, (I make lots of mistakes. Just ask my daughter Karen or my son Eric. They do the lion’s share of the editing for me and have to deal with my mistakes all the time.) And sometimes, I’m not nice. I can even be a complete jerk from time to time. Again, ask my kids or my wife Cinda. They can tell you.

So, at it’s most essential, I can’t claim to be more than the “second nicest” guy in voiceover because that’s all I am on my best days.

Seth Godin’s blog is always worth reading, but today’s post is especially on point for anyone who has developed close relationships with their clients.

My friend Jeff Tobin writes a weekly blog that’s always interesting. Today’s post called Setting Goals? Ride a Unicycle seemed especially worth recommending, so I am.

The folks at the excellent Fame Foundry blog published Taking Aim: How to Identify Your Target Audience recently. It’s a post well worth a few minutes of your time.

While there are some frustrations about Faffcon, as I wrote last time, those annoyances are swept away by the great joy that is the Faffcon experience.

After my darling wife Cinda and I got home earlier today from Faffcon 4 in California, I was talking with my Dad (who’s been here visiting to help keep an eye on things at home for us) about what the experience was like. What follows is a little of what I was telling him.

The greatest thing about Faffcon is the time with people who really understand what our crazy life in voiceover is like. Sitting around a circle of comfortable chairs, talking with old friends and new about business and life and family and hopes and dreams and fears and everything else that can possibly come up in conversation is something so wonderful it defies description.

The bond that forms at Faffcon is suprising in its speed and depth. Such is the power of shared experiences.

It’s going to be some time before registration is open for Faffcon 5 October 2012 in Charlotte. Think long and hard about where you are in your voiceover journey. If you’re a working pro, think seriously about joining us. Please.

There’s are really only 2 things that are frustrating to me about Faffcon, and both of them are also what help make Faffcon so freaking wonderful. First, it’s impossible to get to every session; which forces me to pick between several appealing options each hour. Second, it’s impossible to spend enough time with everyone with whom I want to spend time.

The sweet agony of having to make these decisions, and the sweet joy of those experiences and conversations I do have, are what keep me coming back time after time. I look forward to seeing you again, or for the first time, in Charlotte this October.

The amazing, even life-changing experience that is Faffcon has begun it’s fourth iteration, this time in Ventura, California. The energy is palpable and I’m confident that once again this is going to be a truly and profundly wonderful weekend. If you’re here you all ready know what I mean. If you’re not, I sure wish you were.

The fabulous Marice Tobias will bring her unique and powerful coaching to Atlanta next month.