Recently in Observations Category
To compare is to despair.
I saw this quote in Bonnie Gillespie's recent column about competition and was thinking about it this morning after I found myself feeling that I could do so oh so much more to further my voiceover career.
Some voiceover colleagues seem to be on every social media site and practically living their lives online. Some people write multiple blogs. Others are producing podcasts and videos at a dizzying pace.
I have been a competitive person all of my life, first in school with grades, and then in the work place for projects and recognition. When I look at the wide array of activities in which some voice talent engage, it's easy to think I need to be just as productive and do the same things in order to stay competitive.
However, my corollary to Bonnie's statement is: To compete is to deplete.
Years ago, when I worked as a computer network administrator, the organization considered one of my coworkers to be the ultimate authority on server configurations. No matter what this man did, how rudely he treated others, or how his system changes might negatively impact the users, the organization always praised and rewarded him.
I didn't understand at the time that competing with him simply by trying to copy his actions was not the path to success.
For instance, he avidly devoured Microsoft Technet articles, discussion boards, and every computer magazine he could find. He read on the job and every night at home.
I felt compelled to read the same stuff in my evenings. I felt extremely competitive with him and wanted to stay at his level. He criticized the rest of us when we didn't know about a technical topic.
I hated spending my spare time that way. What's more, these competitive actions added to my feelings of being overly stressed and under appreciated in my organization. It was a competition that I could never win and one I really didn't want to enter.
I realized later that he read that material because computer networks were his passion. While I was extremely adept at my job, it was never my passion. I have never regretted leaving information technology positions for my true love of voiceover and communications.
All of the recent attention on Steve Jobs has made me feel a bit like I am not realizing my true potential. It's easy to think that I haven't done anything to change the world.
However, that's not true. I have changed the world just by being in it. No one sees things the way I do or does things exactly as I do.
I have changed the world with the hundreds of recordings I've created for clients and in public service. I know that people have watched videos and e-learning projects where I was the one telling them the information they needed to know. I know people have enjoyed listening to me narrate short stories and audiobooks. Sometimes, I'm even privileged to receive their kind words of praise about my work.
I have changed the world every time I helped someone physically, emotionally, and financially.
I have changed the world every time I thought and spoke positive, affirming words to and about myself and others. In fact, I've often thought of myself as an advocate for people who could not or would not speak for themselves.
My impact on the world may not be on the grand scale of Steve Jobs. My output in voiceover-related activities may not be as numerous or frequent as some of my peers.
But, you know what? That's OKAY. I am living a joyous, fulfilled life.
If you ever feel inadequate and think you need to compete with others as a result, remember these wise words from Steve Jobs:
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary.
Creativity is not something that you wait for.
Creativity is something that waits for you.
-- Neale Donald Walsch
A few years ago, Drew gave me a Valentine's present of joint membership at a local pottery studio. While we weren't envisioning a re-do of the famous scene from the movie Ghost, we had been interested in learning how to create some crockery. Instead, I learned something more valuable through the experience:
When I exercise my creativity in a new or different way, I'm more creative in other areas.
Each time I came home from the pottery studio, I might perform a voiceover audition with more inspired choices, play my harp more fluidly, or design a scrapbook page with lots of layers and textures. Any of these things make me feel even more pleased and give me the desire to do more.
I discovered this theory holds true when I attempt to draw in my journal. Even writing this blog, which itself is an artistic endeavor, causes me to feel more innovative when I finish each entry.
No matter how you express yourself, each way that you can be creative is scooping more good stuff into your life from the same bountiful well. Why use a teaspoon when you can use a jug?
In the last week, I've done a couple of things in marketing my voiceover business that allowed me to express my creativity in new ways. First, I created the book trailer video for an audiobook, which I included and discussed in my previous entry "Reasons to Create Your Own Stuff". Many voice talent have written to me saying that they felt inspired by the ideas and marketing info that I presented, so I encourage you to read that entry if you haven't already.
The other thing I did was enter the Voices.com photo contest on their Facebook page. They wanted pictures of voice talent in their studios with the Voices.com web site displayed on some sort of screen. While winning the prize would be wonderful, I entered because it was a direct call to action to be creative. After all, the judging criteria is the "most creative, coolest picture".
I wanted to do something with recursion. In computer programming, recursion occurs when the program calls itself repeatedly. I also wanted the picture to be as much about me as Voices.com, making it good marketing material for both of us.
It only took a few minutes to come up with an idea that met both of those objectives.
Atlanta voice talent Karen Commins can't get enough of Voices.com!
What are you doing to feed your creative spirit? I'd love to get your comments on the blog!
Screen shot from Teri Clark Linden's Facebook status update 12/29/10
After seeing fellow voice talent Teri Clark Linden's Facebook status last week, I was intrigued about the new movie "The King's Speech". Regular readers of my blog know that I often find hidden parallels to voiceover work in my life situations, as well as in books and movies. This is one instance where the similarity is obvious to anyone who views the movie, and, like Teri, I cannot recommend too highly that voice talent and actors go see this fantastic film.
Without giving away too much of the plot, King George VI (played brilliantly by Colin Firth, who should win an Oscar) is a quiet man who never wanted to be king. He was forced to take the throne after his brother King Edward VIII abdicated the crown in 1936 in favor of marriage to the twice-divorced Wallis Simpson.
People usually say the fear of public speaking is at the top of their lists of fears and stress-inducing events. In addition to the normal nervous sensation felt by everyone in front of a microphone, King George VI has a significant obstacle to overcome: a stammer developed in childhood and exacerbated throughout his life.
Enter Lionel Logue (played impeccably by Geoffrey Rush), an actor and speech therapist who works with the King to help him become the kind of public speaker necessary to lead the British people through the travails of World War II. Aside from the historical relevance, much of the delight in the movie is watching a King and a commoner learn to trust each other and find the oneness that binds all of us together.
An underlying theme that was revealed in the film is that, while Lionel Logue had his own dreams as an actor, his greatest glory was achieved due to his service to others. Indeed, to quote Ralph Waldo Trine from his 1896 book What All The World's A-Seeking, or, The Vital Law of True Life, True Greatness, Power, and Happiness, it is through service to others that we find ourselves:
The idea has prevailed in the past, and this idea has dominated the world, that self is the great concern,--that if one would find success, greatness, happiness, he must give all attention to self, and to self alone.This has been the great mistake, this the fatal error, this the direct opposite of the right, the true as set forth in the great immutable law that--we find our own lives in losing them in the service of others, in longer form--the more of our lives we give to others, the fuller and the richer, the greater and the grander, the more beautiful and the more happy our own lives become.It is as that great and sweet soul who when with us lived at Concord said,--that generous giving or losing of your life which saves it. This is an expression of one of the greatest truths, of one of the greatest principles of practical ethics the world has thus far seen. In a single word, it is service,--not self but the other self.We shall soon see, however, that our love, our service, our helpfulness to others, invariably comes back to us, intensified sometimes a hundred or a thousand or a thousand thousand fold, and this by a great, immutable law.
I think that I know perhaps better than anyone just how much you helped the King, not only with his speech, but, through that, his whole life, and outlook on life.
Just as the King's speech affected his subjects, every voice talent has the ability to influence someone whenever we take the microphone. You'll note that some of Logue's coaching to the King are the same techniques that we continue to use in our field.
Even if you aren't a voice talent or actor, the King's courage, determination, and persistence in fighting his battle and Logue's ever-optimistic attitude and problem-solving skills are traits worthy of emulation. Go see this movie!
Today is Blog Action Day. On 15 October each year, bloggers from more than 100 countries come together and blog about a single important issue, and this year's topic is clean water.
Dr. Emoto explains on his site how the photographs are made. I respect his position in not giving permission to reprint his pictures on other sites, so you'll have to look at them on his site or do a search to find them elsewhere. The frozen crystals either have perfect symmetry and immense beauty or are misshapen blobs, depending on the words associated with each one.
Living where I do, I don't even have to think about clean water. It's something I often take for granted, especially while constantly sipping from a large bottle of water during my voiceover sessions. Through this blog article, I doubt that I could even cause a ripple of action that could cause improvement to the 70% of the earth that is covered in water. However, I want to raise your consciousness about the power of water to reflect the words you speak and enhance your life.
(I admit that the rest of this post may sound like a bunch of New Age woo-woo, but I hope you'll keep reading!)
If you're a long-time reader, you know that I believe firmly that nothing is more powerful on this planet than the words that you think and speak. Wars have been fought over words. Love is expressed through words. The power of Blog Action Day comes from the fact that words from around the globe are written, read, and discussed about a single, unifying topic.
Recently, I saw fascinating research about water from Japanese researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto. He discovered that crystals formed in frozen water look different based on the specific thought directed at the water. According to some of his literature:
I always stress the energy is vibrations, and vibrations are life. Words are vibrations. Words, therefore, are life ... The sounds of words are nothing less than a divine gift from nature. Water crystals are illustrating this divine gift in their design.Water is a medium that receives and understands even the subtlest vibrations. Water captures vibrations naturally. Even when these vibrations are characters, or letters representing language, water shows us the energy they contain in the forms of crystals. Water is attempting to communicate something to us. Negative emotions prevent the water from crystallizing. Positive emotions allow it to develop to beautiful hexagonal shapes.Water makes up 70 percent of our bodies, and there is little doubt to me that the information in the water goes a long way in the formation of our health, as well as our attitude toward the world and the attitude of the world around us.
Dr. Emoto explains on his site how the photographs are made. I respect his position in not giving permission to reprint his pictures on other sites, so you'll have to look at them on his site or do a search to find them elsewhere. The frozen crystals either have perfect symmetry and immense beauty or are misshapen blobs, depending on the words associated with each one.
For instance, a picture representing LOVE AND THANKS is awe-inspiring perfection. A picture made for the word WAR is quite startling because it kind of looks like an explosion from an atomic bomb.
The pictures for tap water in various cities are quite illuminating. Even though you think your drinking water is clean, the water crystals tell another story. Based on the pictures of the crystals, we should all move to Vancouver for the cleanest water!
I have a deck of Dr. Emoto's Water Crystal Oracle cards. On one side of the card is the picture, and the word appears on the other side. In the past, I have kept a card under my water glass to focus attention on some aspect in my life that I wanted to improve or heal. In writing this post, I've decided to use the RESONANCE, HARMONY, TRUTH, and PROSPERITY cards in my voiceover booth. Since water mirrors the vibrations of our words, I want the words that I speak as a voice talent to be in service of those 4 things.
As I said at the beginning of this essay, I don't have to think about clean water for myself. Thank you for joining me and others around the world in using the power of our words today about in promoting clean water for everyone. This one blog post may not cause a ripple of action, but together, we are a force of nature!
The title of this article is a saying I heard early in my IRS career. Sorry if it offends you, but it really gets to the heart of stellar customer service. No matter how many great and wonderful things you do for your clients, the thing they will remember most -- and tell the most people about -- is the thing that got screwed up.
As Drew and I continue to repair and renovate our house, I'm finding no shortage of contractor stories to share with you that illustrate this principle. By observing other business operators, we can determine how to better service our clients in our voice-over businesses....and hopefully avoid some of those "Oh s****" moments.
We decided to install some recessed lighting in Drew's man cave. Drew called his friend Tommy Dunaway, an electrician who owns a business named Tommy's Lighting and Electric. Tommy came out to discuss options and give us an estimate. When he came back to install the lights, he exceeded our expectations because:
Today, I actually have 2 contractor stories. First, I have an example of fantastic customer service from start to finish.
We decided to install some recessed lighting in Drew's man cave. Drew called his friend Tommy Dunaway, an electrician who owns a business named Tommy's Lighting and Electric. Tommy came out to discuss options and give us an estimate. When he came back to install the lights, he exceeded our expectations because:
1) He arrived exactly on time, which is a rarity for service provider at one's home. Punctuality is key in voiceover as well. When I started my voiceover business, I assumed that all voiceover talent were punctual. Over the years, I've been surprised to read about people who didn't show up or were late to sessions, didn't return phone calls, etc.2) He suggested features we hadn't considered, like a dimmer for the recessed lights and a remote control for the ceiling fan. I do the same thing with my clients. For instance, if I was hired to narrate a marketing video for a trade show, I'll also let the client know that they may want to use the same voice on their phone system, e-learning modules, and web site to enhance and solidify their brand. It may seem like a self-serving piece of advice, but it's really about helping my clients achieve consistency in all of their communications.3) He finished the job in LESS time than he estimated, so our bill was less than expected. He told me he always builds in enough time in the estimate to troubleshoot any problems -- a tactic that voice talent would do well to emulate.4) He cleaned up after the job was finished. (Remember this point because I'm coming back to it in the next story!)
Tommy told me that his business is mostly through repeat business and referrals; I don't think he even has a web site. In my voiceover business, I always want to make it easy for my clients to refer me. With his terrific attention to detail and exemplary customer service, it's truly a pleasure to refer Tommy to other people.
My second story is about my new roof. We learned about Everdry Roofing because someone there follows Drew on Twitter, which just goes to show you the growing importance of social networking in attracting clients.
I thought Everdry was going to be a second success story of stellar customer service. After all, they showed up when promised, explained shingle options, worked with our insurance company on our claim, and did a great job of cleaning up the nails and other debris from the yard.
They were providing exceptional customer service -- that is, until the "Oh s***" moment.
In the picture below, your eyes are not drawn to my new roof, with its lovely architectural shingles and new ridge vent. No, instead you see the massive steel container stretching over half of my driveway. In fact, Everdry's sign in my yard points directly to it.
The "Oh s***" moment from the roof installation has lasted all weekend.
The roofers were here Thursday and part of Friday. I wasn't at all happy about the container staying overnight on Thursday since it blocks the garage. The project manager assured me at 6pm Thursday that the container would be removed Friday. Today is Sunday, and the container is still here. I haven't heard from Everdry about their plans to remove it.
If Drew and I had 2 cars like every other household in Atlanta, one of those cars would be trapped in the garage or parked on the street all weekend. As it is, we have to cautiously back out over our grass to clear the side of the container.
To make matters worse, the smell of 23-year-old shingles removed from the roof and the other materials in the container is akin to the putrid stench of animals killed in the road. Every time I walk out of my house, that nasty smell hits me in the face. We're still having 90-degree days, so you can just imagine how the smell grows as the day progresses.
As a voiceover talent, I always think of how to provide the best level of service to exceed my clients' expectations. I certainly don't want them to incur any inconvenience as a result of my actions!
For instance, it may seem like a small thing, but the manner in which you name and transmit your recordings to your agents and clients can be either an "Oh s***" or an "Attagirl!" moment:
- If they have given you a file naming convention, use it.
- If not, be very descriptive with your file names so that the purpose or script for each file is immediately evident.
- If you have to revise a file, add a revision number to the file name so that you don't inadvertently write over an existing file. Sometimes, the client may decide the original file was best after all or wants to make some other change to it.
- Compress multiple files into a zip file so that the client only has to download one file.
By being organized and forward-thinking, you can rack up the "Attaboys!" and "Attagirls!" in providing stellar service to your voiceover clients. If you have other examples of stellar service, please leave a comment on the blog!
Since Drew now is a Divemaster in the Dive Immersion Program at the Georgia Aquarium -- a job, by the way, which seems to beat out voiceover talent for the coolness factor in the minds of other people -- he no longer needs a home office. We are converting his office to a man cave, and we need some additional storage space.
We decided we could accomplish our storage needs by adding one more cabinet to our garage. A few years ago, in our ongoing quest for beautiful organization, we hired Premier Garage to renovate our garage. As repeat clients, we thought it would be a quick, easy, and painless process for them to install the new cabinet, especially since the company has an office and manufacturing facility about 2 miles from our house.
What could be simpler than installing a new cabinet
in a beautifully organized garage of a repeat client?
To date, Premier Garage has been to my house an astonishing 4 times over multiple days, with a 5th trip scheduled next week, for this cabinet installation! Yes, the job should be simple, but this company is too disorganized to plan and execute it.
1) The tech arrived with the wrong size of cabinet and no door handles. What happened to the adage of "measure twice, cut once"?
2) The tech came back another day with a replacement cabinet, which was STILL the wrong size. I wondered why they didn't bother to check it before they left the office.
3) On the third attempt, the tech came with the right size of the cabinet shell, but the doors were the wrong size. He also didn't have the interior shelves.
4) This morning, the guy was were here to install the correct doors. Again, we have no handles and no shelves! In addition, the cabinet has holes in the back wall caused by incorrect drilling that must now be filled. "Measure twice, cut once" is definitely a foreign concept to these folks.
In addition to the various screw-ups with the actual cabinet installation, the techs have irritated me in 2 other ways that demonstrated a lack of respect and concern for their customer:
- On 3 of the 4 visits, we were given an arrival window of a 30-minute time period, yet the techs still showed up late without even a courtesy call.
- Today, the tech backed into the driveway up to the garage threshold and left his truck running while he worked, which filled my garage with the lovely smells of gas fumes and truck exhaust on a day that promises to be quite hot.
The easiest and most gratifying voiceover job for me is one with a repeat client. I look at the last session for that client and copy the same Pro Tools settings to the new session. I know the type of file transmission that the client prefers. I communicate about the turn-around time at the project outset and then work to beat the deadline. The client has no concerns about the quality of my recordings or my speed and efficiency in completing the job for them because I proved myself to them the first time and pride myself on maintaining a consistent high level of service.
In short, a job with a repeat client is an opportunity to exhibit consistency and reliability. If you are reliable and consistent, a client will turn to you automatically when they need voice talent. What's more, they are happy to refer you to other people who could utilize your services.
In his excellent and highly recommended book titled Work Like You're Showing Off: The Joy, Jazz, and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Today, Joe Calloway refers to consistency as the gold standard:
You can count on me. You can believe in me. If I say I'll do something, I'll do it. Put it in the bank. Bet the farm on it. It doesn't matter whether or not I'm in a good mood, have a headache, forgot to pick up my clothes from the cleaners, had a fight with my daughter, lost my keys, or didn't sleep last night. If I said I'll do it, then I'll do it.
What's more, I'll do it every time.
If you can say all of that, and back it up, that's more than showing off. That's delivering the goods. That's the gold standard. If you consistently do what you say you'll do over a long period of time, the world will beat a path to your door. Nothing demonstrates the essence of showing off, in the most positive sense of the phrase, than rock solid consistency. There's an old saying that goes, "Amateurs work until they get it right. Professionals work until they can't get it wrong."
We love people who do what they say they will do. Consistency is the foundation of success and the great business builder. Consistency is the definition of integrity.
I told the tech on-site today that Premier Garage is not making it easy for us to want to refer them due to their inconsistent, unreliable, and sloppy approach on this job. Hopefully, you can learn from their many mistakes and make it easy for your clients to want to refer you! If you have other tips about gaining referrals, please leave a comment on the blog!
The following message was left as a comment to my post The feel-good voiceover blog of the summer! I copied the message exactly as I received it because I felt the answers to the questions deserved to be their own entry.
I've been considering launching into this field---and really want to know what it takes and what to expect. The best way to find out the pros and cons of any occupation is to talk to others who actually do it.....So, I'm open to whatever info you think would help me so I don't invest a lot of money and energy needlessly. My first question is, "Do you like voiceover work?" and "How difficult is it to break into this business?" I'm thinking it may take a few years...Is there really that much work out there for new talent?
-- Elizabeth
-- Elizabeth
Do I like voiceover work?
I don't know of any person who would say they didn't like the voiceover part of the job.
Voiceover is like any career in that you like some parts of it better than others. Of course, I love the actual act of reading the words on the page, interpreting the author's meaning, and recording the author's words with my voice. I love employing all sorts of marketing tactics that do not require me to make cold calls. I love writing articles on my blog and responding to reader comments (hint, hint!). I love connecting with other voice talent and clients in person and on-line. I love the immense satisfaction of hearing my voice at work in different media for various companies, and, yes, the coolness factor of this occupation is pretty hard to beat.
Perhaps a better question is: "Are there things that you don't like about being a voice talent?"
Editing the recordings is not my favorite task, especially since editing takes far more of my time than recording. Auditioning for countless projects and not even getting a response can be very depressing. Chasing down payment from clients who are at least a month late in paying for completed work is downright annoying. The situation with late-paying clients is even more stressful when that money is needed to pay one's own obligations.
Also, you've probably read about voice actors who brag about recording in their pajamas. What they didn't tell you is that they are wearing their pajamas because they are working early or late hours or on the weekend in order to meet a client deadline. If you want a structured, 40-hour-a-week job, you will want some other career choice than being a voiceover talent.
How difficult is it to break into this business?
How difficult is it to start any career that inherently means you are a self-employed business person? Becoming a voice talent necessarily demands that you will spend time, energy, and money as part of the start-up and continuing operational costs of your business. There are NO shortcuts!
I actually have a couple of mathematical formulas for figuring the method to become a voice-over success story. I wrote about the first one here, and the second one is below.
Take your age
Add to it the number of car payments you have left
Subtract the number of pillows on your bed
Divide by the square root of Pi
The answer is the number of seconds you'll spend figuring out any logic in this formula.
My feeble attempt at humor merely illustrates that the question can't be answered because every person's path into and through a voiceover career is different.
So, how does any start-up business become a thriving enterprise? Obviously, the business' chance for survival -- much less prosperity -- depends on the people who work there and the product they are selling. The time, energy, and money you invest in developing your technique, demo(s), web site, and marketing plan will be the deciding factors in your chances for success in starting and maintaining your voiceover business.
My questions for you
Anyone contemplating any career -- whether as a voice talent, computer programmer, or Sherpa on the mountainside -- should ask themselves as many or more questions than they ask other people. Whatever career you pick will require substantial amounts of time and energy; chunks of money are also required when you are considering starting a business. Spend some introspective time determining your answers to the kinds of questions I list below, and your answers will help you decide if voiceover is a good career choice for you.
- What are your values? Values are different than goals. For instance, if you value security as highly as I do, you'll probably want to have a day job with healthcare benefits and a 401K plan at least until your voiceover income consistently exceeds that of the day job and you're able to insure yourself and plan your retirement.
- What is your passion? If you don't know, what activities make you happy? When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? (If you want to see some great books that will help you find your passion, check out this page on my web site.)
- What about voiceover work is appealing to you? Do you think it's an easy and glamorous way to make money? Do you love to read? Do you love to learn things? Is technology your friend? Do you have a desire to help people? Do you work well in isolation? Do you work well on multiple projects at one time and under multiple deadlines? Do you have an inner calling to do a certain kind of voiceover work? Have you ever actually recorded your voice and listened to it?
For an excellent reality check about starting a voiceover business, I highly encourage you to read Peter O'Connell's Voiceover Entrance Exam. Peter is a veteran voice talent and savvy marketer who gives you the straight scoop on this business in a free e-book.
A final question on my list
Whatever happened to saying "thank you"?
People frequently fire off questions to me without including the simplest acknowledgement that my valuable time will be needed to answer them. I don't expect compensation -- not that any is offered in most inquiries I receive. I supply my advice as a service out of a true desire to help others. However, I'm constantly amazed by the number of people who overlook the small courtesy of saying "thank you".
Therefore, my parting advice is to develop an attitude of gratitude, starting with every communication you have with another person about your career choices.
In a world....
When the legendary voice talent Don LaFontaine uttered those famous words on a movie trailer, you would be ready to go to a quiet, dark theater to escape -- escape the weather, escape obligations, and escape the chattering voice in your head. That inner voice can be especially critical to a voice artist who is feeling discouraged with her progress. Since my brain has come up with numerous scripts having that kind of negative inner dialogue, I thought it might be helpful if I shared 3 techniques for keeping a feel-good mentality about your voiceover career as you direct the movie of your life.
I'm a lot better about this one than I used to be, but even I occasionally still fall in the trap of negatively comparing myself to other voice talent. For instance, I recently read a review of an audiobook voiced by a talent whom I know. While I truly am thrilled for that person's success, I admit that I also had the thought of wishing for both the recent audiobook narration gig and the favorable review.
When other people comment about the great voice-over work that you have performed for them, I hope that you ask them for a testimonial that can be included on your web site. Not only do these comments from past clients serve to convince potential prospects to hire you as a voice talent, but they can bolster your self-esteem if you feel down on yourself.
Fisher proves that patience and persistence are the keys to realizing your dream. People expect instant gratification and are disappointed when nothing seems to happen. However, you have to maintain the hope and expectation each day since the manifestation of dreams rarely occurs on our timetable! Whether it takes a day, a month, a year, a decade, or longer, you need to have the unshakable inner KNOWING that the fruition of your dream is on its way to you.
Stop the Comparisons
I'm a lot better about this one than I used to be, but even I occasionally still fall in the trap of negatively comparing myself to other voice talent. For instance, I recently read a review of an audiobook voiced by a talent whom I know. While I truly am thrilled for that person's success, I admit that I also had the thought of wishing for both the recent audiobook narration gig and the favorable review.
It's one thing to make comparisons as part of a learning process. We all can improve in a variety of ways, and analyzing others' success is a good way to start. I'm talking about the kind of comparisons when you think envious or discouraging thoughts like, "I just can't get a break-through. I never win any auditions. I'm not good enough. It will never happen for me." These kinds of thoughts can be debilitating and will actually slow or completely stop your progress.
If you have these kinds of thoughts, the first one may appear on its own. You may not have been in control of that first thought, but you ARE in control of the second one. Remind yourself of the steps you have taken toward your dream. If you feel frustrated, find some action that you can do that will propel you forward. In all cases, think/write/speak what you WANT into being.
Ask For and Review Your Testimonials
When other people comment about the great voice-over work that you have performed for them, I hope that you ask them for a testimonial that can be included on your web site. Not only do these comments from past clients serve to convince potential prospects to hire you as a voice talent, but they can bolster your self-esteem if you feel down on yourself.
In addition, I notate my accomplishments and review them as my own evidence about the manifestation of my dreams. If I feel a hint of discouragement because the level of success I envision in voiceover is taking a while to appear, I only need to take a quick look at things I've done in just over a year -- recorded a new commercial demo, launched a new web site with new branding elements, and gained several wonderful new clients, all while mourning the loss of my mother and dealing with my parents' estate. When I stop to review all that I've done, I feel pretty darn good about my place in the voice-over world!
Maintain NOW Thinking
This morning, as I walked Yogi, our adorable miniature schnauzer, I was thinking about the message that I wanted to write in this blog entry. I also was thinking how Yogi lives completely in the moment. He sleeps, eats, and plays without dwelling on the past or fretting about the future.
Once we returned home, I turned on the TV and scrolled through the program guide. For some unknown reason, I felt compelled to watch Joel Osteen's oration today for the first time. This choice is all the more unusual since I'm not a religious person and normally would steer clear of televised church services.
The reason was clear to me from the first moment I heard Osteen speak. He was talking about living in this moment with the constant expectation of receiving the good that is on its way to you, no matter how long it takes to arrive. He encouraged his audience to awake every day with the thought that "THIS could be the day!"
Osteen used Mel Fisher as an example of this type of positive thinking. I, too, have drawn inspiration from Mel Fisher and can't believe that I haven't written about him previously.
You see, Mel Fisher was absolutely convinced that a Spanish ship laden with treasure had sunk off the coast of Florida in the 1600s, and he was determined to find it. Each day, he told his crew, "THIS will be the day!" Every night, after they didn't find the ship, Fisher would tell the crew, "Tomorrow will be the day!".
Fisher maintained his positive outlook and searched for the ship for an incredible 16 years. He faced innumerable odds, including an array of critics and doubters. I read once that his son died during the search efforts. Still, Fisher pressed on, doing things each day toward his dream and feeling perpetually confident of the good that would come to him.
Like so many people, the realization of his dream was far bigger than Fisher could have imagined. He found the Spanish Atocha, with treasures of gold, silver, and gems worth over $500 million!
Fisher proves that patience and persistence are the keys to realizing your dream. People expect instant gratification and are disappointed when nothing seems to happen. However, you have to maintain the hope and expectation each day since the manifestation of dreams rarely occurs on our timetable! Whether it takes a day, a month, a year, a decade, or longer, you need to have the unshakable inner KNOWING that the fruition of your dream is on its way to you.
Osteen said you should ask for things now and live life today, knowing that your desires may not be fulfilled immediately. He pointed out that things can suddenly change for the better. Finances can suddenly change. Relationships can suddenly blossom. Dreams can suddenly materialize.
For a voice talent, a new client could suddenly book you. You could suddenly have extra money to get that fancy microphone. Your latest blog article could suddenly capture the interest of the media and catapult you into the recording booths at Disney, Pixar, and other animation houses. (It could happen!)
By using these 3 techniques, I hope you will be able to silence the inner critic. As the star and director of your life's movie, consistently feeling good about your voice-over career will enable you to live happily ever after!
Movie clapboard photo credit: TPopova/iStockPhoto.com
Bonjour! You may think the movie Julie and Julia is only about Julia Child, Julie Powell, Paris, and cooking. While those are reasons enough to watch this excellent and highly enjoyable movie, you may be surprised to learn that the movie also contains 5 lessons that will benefit voiceover artists:
1) Neither Julia Child nor Julie Powell became cooks and writers simply to make money. Both answered an inner calling and pursued their passions. Both women also had additional income to support them when they started their endeavors.
Many people enter the voice-over industry under the mistaken belief that it is an easy way to make money. They view voice-over like a part-time job at a fast food restaurant, where they have no start-up or ongoing costs and need no particular skills in order to make money. Anyone could come in off the street, fill out an application, and begin work.
As I've written numerous times, voice-over is a business. I wouldn't say it follows the 80/20 rule; it's more like the 95/5 rule -- 95% of your time is spent in activities to develop and enhance your delivery and interpretation skills, market your services, and build client relationships that will enable you to obtain the 5% of the jobs where you actually work as a voice talent.
2) Julie didn't give up her day job. I know this item seems like take two of the same script. However, I added this tip to remind you that there's no shame in having a day job. It can actually enable you to pursue your voiceover dreams.
3) When Julie compared herself to her friends, she felt small, insignificant, and depressed. I know of no quicker way to feel bad than to start comparing myself to other people. The cure for these spiraling negative thoughts is to take charge of your thoughts and words, which should inspire you to take positive action.
Whether you show the finished product to anyone or make any money from it is irrelevant. The point is to feed your passion and exercise your creativity on a regular basis. The more you do what you want to do and enjoy it, the more you become the person you want to be. Also, I've had a couple of occasions where I created something for my own enjoyment and skill practice. I loved the process and ended up using the finished piece as a demo from which I landed new clients.
To me, it means that the energy you put out in the world will come back to you in ways you didn't imagine -- and be better than you could ever dream possible!
5) Julie and Julie exemplify Thoreau's famous quote. Henry David Thoreau wrote this gem, which is as true now as it was in his time:
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams
and endeavors to live the life he has imagined,
he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.
May all your voiceover endeavors bring you joie de vivre!
Yet another person called me today because of a desire to get into voiceover. While I have always endeavored to provide assistance to people considering a voice-over career, several things about this exchange left me feeling more irritated than helpful. Therefore, I want to turn my negative thoughts into some tips to help others approach me and other voice talent in more respectful manner.
1) If you must leave someone a voice mail, tell them the purpose of your call in your message.
2) If you leave a message and must leave the phone immediately, state a good time to return the call.
Today's caller left me a message saying she wanted to talk to me. I called her back a mere 13 minutes later and had to leave a message. In my message, I said she could send me an e-mail to cut down on phone tag. (Phone tag is a HUGE time-waster!) As Murphy could have predicted, I was unavailable when she called the second time. Again, she didn't tell me the purpose of her call. I knew at that point she was either trying to sell me something or wanted to quiz me about becoming a voice talent.
3) Get on-line.
After I told her in my voice mail that she could send me an e-mail, she stated in her second voice mail to me that she didn't really care for e-mail. Since the entire voiceover industry is increasingly on-line, you will quickly be left behind if you don't want to communicate through e-mail. When people send me e-mail expressing interest in working in voiceover, I can respond at my leisure -- requiring less time on my part -- while also offering far more details and links to info than I could give to a prospective voice talent over the phone.
4) Do your own research.
Drew is now working for me in my voiceover business, so I asked him to call her back the second time. He also had to leave a message. (Did I mention that phone tag is a waste of time?) Once they finally were on the phone together, he spent 14 minutes patiently answering this newcomer's various questions, like:
- Since LA and NYC are the big spots for voice-over, can you do it anywhere else? What's the market like in Atlanta? (Drew's answer was the same as mine would be -- are you currently working in voiceover, or are you looking to get started?)
- Who's a good agent? (I mentioned agents on my advice page on my web site. Basically, you need to have appropriate training, a well-produced demo, marketable skills, and probably a number of bookings before an agent will even listen to you.)
- Can you make $50,000 a year? (Yes, but most people starting out don't make that much.)
- Is it possible to make $100,000? Did he know anyone who made that much in voiceover? (Yes, anything is possible. Your earnings are based on a wide number of factors, not the least of which is your audition ratio. A voice talent's real jobs are auditioning and self-marketing to generate work and consequently income.)
- What's the phone number for Nancy Wolfson (after Drew said I had been studying with her)? How much does Nancy charge? (If you want to talk with Nancy or any other voiceover teacher, look them up and contact them personally.)
Drew referred the caller to my advice page, but she said it looked more like a blog. Obviously, she had not read that page, any of the 100 or so articles on my blog, or any other of the millions of pages on-line that could have answered the questions she was asking.
5) Request an informational interview.
If you want to have an informational interview with anyone currently doing a particular job, send a courteous request for an appointment that has a pre-defined amount of time of no more than 15 minutes. Calling a person and expecting them to take time from their busy schedule just to talk with you when it's convenient for you shows a total disregard for their time and business. Don't assume that the person you called can stop their current activity to talk to you.
6) Be prepared with questions.
When I talk to newcomers on the phone, I ask first if they have read my advice page and blog and then whether they have specific questions about the info that I have written. I have a business to run; I don't have time to man the information desk.
A friend called as I was writing this entry. She summed up the underlying reason for my irritation over today's events exceptionally well:
Do you want to make money, or do you want to earn it? People who want to make money are out to get rich quick through any means possible and using anyone they can. People who want to earn money are willing to undergo necessary training, proceed methodically, and persistently perform the necessary business aspects such as marketing and accounting to build a career.
A voiceover career definitely falls in the category where you earn money.
--WASHINGTON A. ROEBLING
Washington Roebling's name may not be familiar to you. He's not in the voice-over industry. In fact, he has nothing to do with voice-over or entertainment. However, I recently read about him and his monumental accomplishment, and his quote applies to anyone pursuing a big dream, including a career in voice-over.
You see, Washington Roebling was an engineer -- not just any engineer, but the chief engineer behind the famous Brooklyn Bridge. I recently read David McCullough's fascinating and extremely well-researched novel The Great Bridge, which describes the people, risks, relationships, political environment, and long processes involved to build that bridge. It's the sort of sweeping, satisfying book that I would love to narrate, but these historical books are usually about men and therefore narrated by men in the audiobook. But I digress ...
Part of the story that is so remarkable is that Roebling fell seriously ill and wasn't even on-site during much of the construction, yet he pressed on until the Brooklyn Bridge was completed and his dream realized. With his wife's admirable and steadfast assistance, Roebling wrote such an incredible collection of notes and designs that his assistant engineers were able to complete the work to his specifications without his supervision.
The on-line Merriam-Webster dictionary defines vitality as physical or mental vigor especially when highly developed. I can't agree too much with Roebling's assessment that vitality is necessary to accomplish anything of importance, especially a voice-over career. However, I would also add time to the equation.
Many people jump into voiceovers with the expectation that a lucrative and easy career awaits them. Unlike an engineer, they don't study the landscape or make calculations about the best way to proceed. They may give up before achieving the level of success that they seek.
I have often heard that entertainers and sports stars who are considered to be an overnight success usually have been working diligently and learning their profession for 10 years or more. This passage in John Maxwell's book Put Your Dreams to the Test: 10 Questions that Will Help You See It and Seize It better explains that theory:
Drew and I visited New York City for the July 4th holiday, and we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Although I've seen it many times, I could only fully appreciate its immense size, strength, and beauty while actually standing on it.
The construction process took 14 years, which was 2-3 times longer and at a far greater cost than the original estimate. Had Roebling not maintained his vitality and persevered through unimaginable obstacles over long stretches of time, this masterpiece of American architecture would not be standing.
I thought again about the time and energy needed to complete a dream while we watched Macy's July 4th fireworks on the Hudson River. We were treated to a spectacular 30-minute show, but the tremendous planning and coordination, including the actual fireworks manufacture and testing, must have started as soon as the festivities were finished last year, or perhaps even earlier. I created a short video of some highlights from the fireworks and added music from my royalty-free library. I am posting the video here for your viewing pleasure.
I don't bring up my personal obstacles to gain your sympathy but to point out that vitality is needed to sustain the momentum in my voice-over career while time marches on. You may have noticed that even my blog entries lately required an unusual amount of time and energy to complete. Many days, I have to judge my progress on my voice-over dreams based on incremental forward movement. However, like Roebling and his bridge, I continue to focus on my vision of success, counting my blessings and victories as I go along.
What kind of correlation do you notice between time and energy in pursuing your voice-over goals? I'd love to hear from you with comments on the blog!
Every cruise ship director hires a variety of performers who must amuse and entertain the passengers. The nightly shows during our sailing on the glorious Norwegian Pearl were particularly enjoyable. We heard pianist Nadia Zaitsev perform some incredibly complex arrangements of Bach, Beatles, Gershwin, and Chopin before tackling a truly thrilling rendition of Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag. Another night, we watched a guy known as Los Gauchos twirl rope with balls at each end with such terrific speed so that it looked like swirling laser beams encircling him. Okay, it sounds like a lame act, but trust me, this guy was mesmerizing. We watched Professor Watson move effortlessly between solos on fiddle, mandolin, and trumpet in successive songs.
With each performer, I first admired their talent. My second thought was about the enormous number of hours that each must have spent in practice of his or her art in order to perform flawlessly before the audience. As voice talent, we also have the responsibility of practicing before we're in front of an audience, whether that audience is face-to-face, as in a studio session, or virtual in an on-line audition.
During our trip, fellow voiceover artist Terry Daniel wrote an article on his blog about the merits of practice. Terry wisely points out that voice talent have a perpetual need to voice copy out-loud in order to find the best technique and interpretation.
When I'm on vacation, I usually do practice voiceover almost every day. I'll read aloud the ingredients of shampoo bottles (great practice for medical narrations), the ship's daily newsletter (practice for travel narrations), and books (practice for audiobook narration and characterizations). However, I admit that I have been lax sometimes about practicing voiceover while at home.
While many people think that voiceover work is simply talking or reading aloud, the ability to read smoothly out-loud is just the starting point in this career. I always encourage newcomers to read everything out-loud in order to bring some reality to their dream.
As a voice talent gets some paid jobs and starts growing a business, it's easy to forego practice for the sake of practice. We may think we get all the voiceover practice that we need in doing auditions. If you view an audition as part of the job of being a voice talent, though, you can see dedicated practice is necessary before undertaking any auditions.
In addition to Terry's article, I read a couple of other things recently that re-affirm to me the necessity of constant voiceover practice. An editorial in the New York Times reminds me that reading aloud is a very different physical experience than reading silently. Also, comprehension can be measured by a person's skill in reading out loud because "...it reveals far more than whether the reader understands the words. It reveals how far into the words -- and the pattern of the words -- the reader really sees."
1) Your muscles become strong.
2) Your muses conspire to help you realize your intentions.
3) Your mind is focused on a single point, which causes manifestation to occur more quickly.
(Hmmm...maybe that should be 4 Ms!)
Anthony further states that by doing, you will BE.
I can think of no better reason to practice voiceover every day. Toward that end, it's my intention to record this and future blog posts as part of my practice sessions.
Do you practice voice-over? I'd love to get your thoughts on this topic, so please leave a comment on the blog.
Here is a fun little exercise that someone sent me which contains indisputable mathematical logic. It also made me laugh because it seems true, whether we're talking about becoming a successful voiceover talent or anything else.
Using a strictly mathematical viewpoint, what makes 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103? What makes up 100% in life?
Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions: ?
If A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z are represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 ??
Then:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K ?
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98% ??
and
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%
But
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100% ?
And
P-E-R-S-I-S-T-A-N-C-E
16+5+18+19+9+19+20+1+14+3+5 = 129%
And finally
P-E-R-S-E-V-E-R-A-N-C-E
16+5+18+19+5+22+5+18+14+3+5 = 130%
So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that while Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, Attitude will get you there. However, it's the Persistance and Perseverance that will put you over the top!
I had planned to write about an incident with karma, but that's not the voice-over story that wants to be told today. In 1995, I fell in love while at the Stone Mountain Highland Games. Drew and I were walking through the clan and exhibits area when I heard a pleasant, tinkling sound in the breeze. I followed the sound and was delighted to discover a tent where harpists had gathered and were playing their instruments. I immediately knew that I had to get that sound in my life, so I did what anyone would do in the circumstances: I bought a small harp.
Playing the harp immediately became one of my passions. In 2000, I was thrilled to buy my first and only pedal harp, a magnificent 44-string Camac Clio.
My Camac Clio harp in my music room
When I started playing the harp, I was exercising my desire to do voice work by volunteering for the Georgia Radio Reading Service, which I did for 5 years. I still was a few years away from making the decision to become a voice artist and creating my first demo. Learning to play the harp taught me 5 things every aspiring voice talent should know.
Continue reading Resonance between harp and voice-over.
A while back, I wrote about offering unsolicited advice to anyone, especially potential or existing voice-over clients. Today, I have a story about solicited marketing advice that has made my day!
I have previously mentioned Henriette Klauser's wonderful book Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It. The author provides a variety of writing method which can be emulated to reach your own success. I am a firm believer in the process and consequently find myself writing almost every day, most often in some sort of journal.
I have journals for my voice-over career, my harp practice, design of my dream house, books I've read, and, most importantly, my everyday life. Given that I like to write as much as I do, it should not surprise you to know that I enjoy writing with fine pens.
In the last couple of years, Drew and I have become passionate about fountain pens, and we have assembled a small collection. We were therefore were excited to go to our first pen show, which was held in Atlanta this past April.
My favorite color is purple, and I fell in love with this luscious fountain pen the moment I walked in the door.
Taccia prototype fountain pen on display at Atlanta Pen Show
Part of my everyday journal entry for that day relates to this fountain pen and today's marketing story:
Part of my journal entry from Saturday, 5 April 2008
Continue reading For love...or money?.
I have been too busy in the past month to post an article here on my blog. In that time, a new season of the TV show Dancing With The Stars began. Given my views on American Idol, you might think I would have no interest in this show. You might also think that dancing with the stars (DWTS) has nothing to do with a voice-over career. If so, this entry may surprise you.
Watching TV is a passive activity that does nothing toward accomplishing my goals. I prefer instead to spend the time with my husband or do things to advance my voice-over career, such as marketing tasks, auditions, etc. In order to efficiently manage my TV-viewing time, I don't necessarily watch shows during their broadcast. I prefer to record them and watch them at my convenience. I also don't spend much time chit-chatting about TV shows to anyone because those kinds of conversations are superficial and inane.
Then why am I spending precious time writing to you about a TV show, especially one considered fluff in many circles? When I first heard about this show, I confess that I thought the idea was dull and that the show would be cancelled. I never watched DWTS until Barry Manilow made a guest appearance. I admit that I quickly became hooked. The show features celebrities from other endeavors who are paired with professional dancers. The dancers teach the celebs the complicated steps for ballroom and Latin dances, and three judges rate all of the performances.
While the thrilling live music, stunning costumes and amazing dance routines are appealing in themselves, I believe the show is widely popular for another reason: We have the opportunity to watch adults in a learning curve.
Learning something new as an adult is a different process than as a child. From watching this show, we can learn 12 valuable lessons that can be applied to a voice-over career:
Continue reading 12 lessons from Dancing With The Stars.
Happy new year! I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season and are enjoying this day. Each New Year's Day, I strive to engage in activities that I want to occur all through the year. Symbolically and realistically, I can start the new year by focusing attention on things that matter to me. For instance, I went to the gym first thing this morning, and now I'm writing a blog entry before recording a script.
In mid- to late December, Drew and I took a holiday trip, which may provide musings for future blog entries. During the trip and in recent days, I have been catching up on some reading for pleasure. While I encouraged you on this day one year ago to look forward, today I want to tell you about a commercial script that was written almost 30 years ago.
The commercial in question wasn't mine, but rather one for Michael Palin, member of the hilarious Monty Python team, fantastic travel writer and charming TV documentary host. As a longtime fan of Monty Python and avid journal writer, I was excited to start reading Palin's Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years. In numerous entries, he has mentioned various voice-over roles. Palin does not indicate whether the commercial discussed in his entry transcribed below was for voice-over or on-camera work, but I certainly admire his refusal to perform it.
Continue reading Michael Palin's thoughts on integrity.
Since Drew and I love to travel, it's no surprise that we enjoy watching The Amazing Race on TV each week. The show routinely starts late during football season, so we sometimes catch part of 60 Minutes while waiting for the Race to start. A story from 60 Minutes a few weeks ago has been on my mind because I have noticed a growing trend among the questions I receive about getting started in a voice-over career.
Morley Safer reported on the work habits of the generation known as the millenials those born between 1980 and 1995. The following direct quotes are points raised in the story:
- They were raised by doting parents who told them they are special.
- They have climbed Mount Everest. They've been down to Machu Picchu to help excavate it. But they've never punched a time clock. They have no idea what it's like to actually be in an office at nine o'clock, with people handing them work.
- Zaslow says that the coddling virus continues to eat away even when junior goes off to college. "I heard from several professors who said, a student will come up after class and say, 'I don't like my grade, and my mom wants to talk to you, here's the phone,'" he says. "And the students think it's like a service. 'I deserve an A because I'm paying for it. What are you giving me a C for?'"
- And dear old mom isn't just your landlord; she is your agent as well. "Career services departments are complaining about the parents who are coming to update their child's resume. And in fact, you go to employers, and they're starting to express concern now with the parents who will phone HR, saying, 'But my little Susie or little Johnny didn't get the performance evaluation that I think they deserve,'" Crane says.
I'm sure every generation thinks that it is the one with hard-working folks, and everyone younger is lazy. I also believe that 60 Minutes targets an older crowd. Many of the statements are generalizations that don't apply to an entire group of people. Still, I found one kernel of truth in the report: some parents are entirely too immersed in their adult childrens' lives.
I receive a steady stream of e-mails and calls from people who want to start a career in voice-over. I frankly was shocked when I received the first message from a mother who asked for advice for her son, who was in college. It was the first such message, but it wasn't the last.
My first thought when receiving inquiries from parents is:
Why doesn't Johnny or Susie contact me on their own, or, better still, read a book about voice-over?
Continue reading To the parents of aspiring voice talent.
The dictionary is the only place where Success comes before Work.
A couple of recent situations made me think of this phrase. I believe that you can achieve any goal you set for yourself ASSUMING that you are willing to do the work necessary to achieve it. I also know that no one can do your work for you, and no shortcuts exist on your journey.
I have previously commented and voice-over coach and actor Peter Rofe noted in an article this week:
There are a lot of people who want to get into voice-over work
because they have the misconception
that it's a get-rich-quick scheme, that they can stay at home,
record their voice in their pajamas, unshaven in a T-shirt ...
and make lots and lots of money.
Now in some cases, that's true, but usually for well-established voice artists.
I frequently receive calls and e-mails from people who want to get started in voice-over, study with me, request demo critiques, ask my opinion on teachers and classes, etc. A few weeks ago, I saw a message on a forum where I'm a regular contributor. Like so many other people who contact me personally, this person wanted to get into voice-overs because she has always been told that she had a nice voice. A forum member directed her to search for my posts, read what I had written and perhaps send a private message to me if she still had questions.
At 12:24pm, she responded that she would take those actions.
At 12.30pm, I received a private message from this same person. She wrote that she posted the question in the forum, and someone suggested that she contact me.
Continue reading How to achieve success in voice-over.
Today is Halloween, a day that kids throughout the land adore because it means they get free candy, just by saying the magic words Trick or Treat! Judging from an e-mail forwarded to me from a friend, trick or treat also may be the outcome when dealing with a service provider like a voice talent, or, in this case, a cake decorator.
We had a "going away" party yesterday for a lady
at our Little Rock claim office.
One of the supervisors called a Wal-Mart and ordered the cake.
The moral of this story is: You get what you pay for!
The story, according to the e-mail, was as follows:
One of the supervisors called a Wal-Mart and ordered the cake.
He told them to write: "Best Wishes Suzanne" and underneath that write "We will miss you".
As the picture shows, it didn't quite turn out right. It was too funny not to keep it.
The moral of this story is: You get what you pay for!
Whether shopping for a cake decorator or the voice talent for your next project, do you really want to go to the place that promises the lowest price and tries to be everything to everybody but doesn't do anything particularly well? Or, would you rather consult with someone who is a specialist in their craft, carefully collaborates with you on your exact requirements and guarantees your complete satisfaction? Remember, the one offering the lowest price may also be offering the highest number of mistakes. As a professional voice talent, I always want my clients to feel that working with me was a TREAT!
Just some food for thought for adults on this day when food is on the minds of the kids....
Karen Commins
Voice Actor
Voice Actor
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• How to Reach Me
• Places I've Been
• Advice for Your Journey
• So You Want to Get Into Voiceovers?
• My Path So Far
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