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CAREER Starting Your Voice-Over Career? Five Ways To Keep Moving - Without Wasting Your Time March 19, 2019  By Dan HurstVoice Actor The smoke of the New Year has cleared along with the rush of
a new start. Now you've settled into some sort of rhythm in your voice-over pursuit. But perhaps it's not the rhythm you had hoped for back on January 1. What can
you do about that?
Let me suggest five things that you can institute right away that will be key
to taking your ambitions and successes to the next level.
1. Connect With Your
Peers
This is important. There is something about hanging out once
in awhile with people that do what you do that revitalizes and refocuses you. You suddenly realize you aren't in this alone. And you discover new ideas and
concepts, new opportunities, and especially new friends!
2. Spread Your Wings
One of the most intriguing things to me about so many voice
talents is that they while they might dream big, they don't act big. By that I mean they don't really act on their
big dreams. The fact is it's just a dream until you do something about it.
The voice-over business is a crazy business. There are so
many genres, niches and specialties that I don't think any of us have really
gotten our head around it ...
Multiply all of the above by 195 countries in the world, many of which need and
use various languages, and suddenly you'll realize: you've been thinking and
acting too small!
The point is, where do you fit in? Start dreaming big about
it. And then, act big on it. 3. Change Your
Marketing Strategy
Now, this may not apply to you. If your marketing strategy
is working just fine, take this with a grain of salt.
But, what is your marketing strategy? How are you connecting
with decision makers? After all, that's the whole point of marketing isn't it?
Connecting with decision makers and helping them see how you can meet their
voice-over needs? Cookie cutter marketing strategies just don't work as well
as they used to. Why? Because decision
makers are tired of the assault of cute clichés and copycats.
And the idea that something is better than nothing when it
comes to marketing is a lie. But let me suggest a very simple starting strategy
for you. Make a list of the decision makers that you know. Not know
about - but actually know. Reconnect with them. And when you're comfortable with
it, ask them if they know of another decision maker that might be interested in
your information. Then, follow up. Build your circle of influence starting
right where you are: locally. Then spread out slowly, decision maker by
decision maker.
And don't forget to work on building some connections with decision makers on
LinkedIn and Facebook.
4. Get Some Coaching
If you've just started within the past three years to pursue this
voice-over business, and you haven't done it yet, do yourself a favor and get
some input and direction from a legitimate, experienced coach that comes highly
recommended by other voice talents. Be cautious in this. There are hacks out there who pose as coaches, but who don't really have the gift. Trust your
gut and trust the recommendations of working voice talents (not just the ones
who say they are, but the ones you know are actually working).
If you've been in the business for a while, and even if you've had coaching,
maybe it's time for a refresher. I've been in the business for 30 years. I
still get regular coaching. It keeps me focused, centered, and motivated. But you can also get coaching by just reading and reading and reading.
That's the beauty of www.voiceoverxtra.com.
I have no idea how many articles there are on that website written by coaches
and voice talents, but it's got to be in the thousands. Make it a regular habit
to dig into those articles.
5. Get Busy
You don't get better by being busy, but you do get busy by
being better.
One of the great lies of the business world is that to get
work you have to get busy. But we're never told how to get busy. So, far too
many of us start focusing on being busy, whatever than may mean. We start cold
calling, emailing, networking, auditioning, demoing, webinar-ing, P2P-ing, conferencing,
more auditioning, branding, and on and on.
There are thousands and thousands of voice talents who are
so busy trying to find work that they miss the whole point of how one gets
really busy in this business. You get busy by being better. Think about it. If you don't get better
as a voice talent, it doesn't really matter how busy you are, does it? You can spin your wheels all day working
the low-paying jobs, staying incredibly hectic and working yourself dry at
what amounts to a minimum wage in this business - or you can put that energy, at
least part of it, into getting better.
I've said it a thousand times:
With the thousands of enterprising voice talents out there, clients can easily
afford to be picky - and they should. Clients hire the best that they can.
That's why you need to work at being better to be the best.
There you have it. Five things (and more) that you can do
NOW to take another step up in your VO career. Is it going to be easy? Of course not. That's why there are thousands
and thousands of hopeful voice talents still struggling and stumbling along. Set your course. Map out your strategy. Define some goals.
You got this! ------------------ ABOUT DAN Dan (Daniel Eduardo) Hurst is an experienced bilingual (English and Spanish) voice talent operating out of the Kansas City area. His business extends internationally, with clients including Maserati, Boehringer Ingelheim, British Petroleum, Kimberly-Clark, McDonald's, Volkswagen, Telemundo International, Shell, Hallmark, TransCanada, and many more, along with his national work for numerous infomercials, ESPN, MLB, and the Golf Channel, among others. When he's not working, he spends time cheering for losing sports teams, getting kicked off of golf courses, and cursing his boat motor. Email: DanHurst@DanHurst.com Web: www.DanHurst.com SEE MORE VALUABLE VOICE-OVER CAREER ARTICLES |
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