Goals and Planning

Hi all..

Well yesterday we talked about opportunities and taking advantage of them. Today let’s talk about goals.

What goals do you have for your voiceover business? Do you have any, or are you happy with where you are now?

Important question isn’t it? Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in the routine, and how busy we can become, and forget all about our longer term goals. Your long term goal might already be what you’re doing now.. being solid, busy and constructive. Nothing wrong with that at all! :) However, let’s take that a step further. Are these the kinds of projects that you saw yourself doing or are you just satisfied with simply being busy? Again, no wrong answer here! :)

However, it’s a good idea to take a breath for air once in a while and look at your career, and what kinds of things you’re extremely happy about and what things you’d like to refocus on.

So, let’s just say for the sake of discussion, that you’ve looked at where you’re going and want to make some changes? How do you do that?

Well, let’s start with looking at those goals and starting to map out how we’re going to get there. Sit down, old school style with a pad and a pen. Draw a line down the center of the page. Then draw a line in the center of the page from the left side to the right. Now you have 4 boxes. In the top left side, list  the types of things you’re doing now, and in the top right, the things you’d like to do. In the bottom left, write the things that are keeping you from doing those things now, and in the bottom right, the things that you would need to take those steps to make it happen.

Just a basic exercise. So many people say they’ve been “racking their brains” to try and figure out how to solve some of their problems. Well, the first step to overcoming those obstacles is to know what you’re dealing with. This last Winter, I sat down with a pad and pen and listed each room in my home and what needed to be done in that room. We’re talking any menial stuff, all the way up to repainting, changing window treatments, any remodeling I wanted to do. By the time I knew it, I had a huge list of things that I could now see, and could start knocking off one by one.

The best place to start is.. well the beginning.

Same thing with your exercise. Now we have our items on the page. Look at those things you’re doing and feel good! Feel good because you’re already working in the field you love, and this is just a “fine Tuning” of where you’d like to be. Now look at those things you want to be doing, and think about how cool it will be when you reach those goals and have taken a positive step in their development.

Now let’s look at those things that are keeping you from reaching those goals. Okay.. here’s where we’re deep in it. We’re now looking at the obstacles that might be keeping us from those warm fuzzy feelings we just felt by how good it’s going to be when we reach our objectives. Now, these are obviously going to be personal to you, and everyone’s issues are vastly different, so these examples are just that.. examples.

Say that you’re submitting dry voiceover most of the time, but you’d like to get your hands on some full production jobs and add that to your arsenal. Ok, now this brings us to the last section, those things that we will need in order to make this whole thing happen. For instance if you would like to do more production jobs, but don’t have the experience, just as you could if you were just trying to break into voiceover, do some free work to get your feet wet. Try taking the time to put some music pads together and make them fit a 30 second time frame without sounding rushed, or having a piece of pad that’s too short, or long and putting a sample script to it. Try asking some friends or colleagues that you might know to let you sit in on a session or two where they’re doing just that so you can get  a feel for how to do it, do it well and be productive at it.

Point is, whatever your goals may be, if you get them in front of you, look at where you are, where you’d like to be, what’s standing in your way and what things you might need to overcome that, it dumps all that out of RAM in your brain and allows you to fall back on the problem solving skills we all learned in elementary school.

Taking a visual inventory like that can be a great first step to realizing that maybe you’re not so far away from where you’d like to be, you just got busy and put it on the back burner.

Lastly, Have Confidence that you WILL achieve those goals and that new skill set, technical knowledge or upgrade to your routine and it will make you a more well rounded individual for the journey.

I’d love to hear your processes for problem solving and planning for your goals!

Till next time,

Bye For Now,

Adam

Opportunities

Today I’d like to talk about opportunities. So many people ask me about where to find the best opportunities. My answer is usually the same. The best way to find them (and by opportunities I mean those that will help you move forward in your career) is to make your own! :) I know kinda chincy? Well consider this: This career path we’re all on is filled with them. You can throw a rock and hit one, but you have to go out there and get it!

We talked a little about Validation and Confidence yesterday in reference to Bob Fraser and all he does, and that ties right into today’s topic. If you have confidence, you’ll radiate that and have a higher chance of success with anything you do.. right? Yes.. Confidence is key.

Well, if you actively search out opportunities, and keep your mind open to some things that you wouldn’t normally consider as part of a “safe and steady” approach, you never know what you might get picked for. We’re our own worst critics. As Artists, (and yes we are) we have a tendency to place critical lenses on our own efforts. It’s a story as old as time itself. When we do something, we hear every little thing that went into its’ creation. We hear where the noise gate didn’t expand fast enough, (even though no one else could tell) we hear our voice as an instrument and critique everything we perceive as a “Wrong Note” and make mental notes to improve it next time, we hear how our inflection could have been better here or there, etc.

Why does this matter? Because being self critical is a double edged sword. It’s great if we can keep it in perspective, but if left unchecked, can keep us from seeking out all the opportunities that are available to us. Case in point: If we think that we need to work on emoting before putting in for a narration job and therefore don’t submit an audition, we’ve just taken that decision away from the person making it regarding who to pick. You can’t spell out every qualification for an audition. Even if you do, who’s to say that during the process of sifting through all those auditions, the director says. “Hey you know, this person isn’t what I thought I was looking for, but they’re PERFECT for how this project is developing”

My point is that there are so many things we continually put in our own paths that can sideline us. It’s not really a matter of “A place to find the best Opportunities” it’s a matter of making the best of what we have, and taking chances to grow and expand.

So go out there, stretch your wings and make those opportunities happen for yourself. Get more involved with your social networking, become involved in the discussion, find people to send your demos to and never quit trying to reach your potential.. It’s fun and a great way to expand your horizons and try new things!

Remember, being our own worst critic can narrow what we think we might be right for, let the client make that decision.

You know what they say..

Actors.. Act

Till next time..

Bye For Now

Adam

Validation

This morning I got a Facebook friend request from a gentleman by the name of Bob Fraser. I accepted the friend request, and went to Bob’s Website. I saw someone that looked familiar to me. Turns out, that Bob Fraser is an acting instructor and coach with over 25 years in the business. I thought he looked familiar because he was in the Television show Benson, which I was a regular viewer of, and he was not only an actor on the show, but a producer and writer as well.

He’s a multi-disciplinary person and has multiple talents. I sent him a nice letter and thanked him for his friend request. While I was checking on the website, I saw him pop onto Facebook. I shot him a message and thanked him for his friend request and complimented him on a great career and thanked him for providing information as a coach to young up-and-comers providing them some very valuable and valid insight in his series of instructional seminars, and teaching materials.

He informed me that he had already visited my websites, and my blog, and he told me that he was very impressed. I thanked him for that, we had a short chat and then both went back to our various activities for the day.

I share this, because as much as we all do our thing by ourselves, it’s very nice to receive validation from those who’ve gone before, and managed to make a successful career for themselves. We all seek out instructors and guidance at points in our careers and always continue learning throughout our lives whether personal or professional. That’s my Zen teaching showing through.

It’s great to give our confidence a boost, and reaffirm that we belong in our own skin, and what we’re all doing in this field.

Just a nice little ditty for a spring day.. :)

If you’d like to visit Bob’s Website, please click the links contained within the blog. Bob has a wealth of information for those who wish to listen, drop on by and tell him hi!

Till Next Time,

Bye for now,

Adam