Passion

My friend Peter O'Connell had a great post over on his blog. It had to do with doing things with passion.

He refers to a couple of guys collecting money for the Salvation army, and these guys are totally into it. They are leaving their fear of embarrassment behind and just going for it.

Anybody in the voice over world will hear the question, "How did you get into voice over work" or the variation, "I've always wanted to get into voice over work" And I tell people it's simple, you need to get out there, learn to read copy, create a killer demo reel and market yourself to people that hire talent. That's usually enough to put them off the idea.

Voice work is about tenacity. You're not going to find work in the paper, it's not on Monster.com or anything like that. It's out there, and there is a lot of it, but you have to get a boat, fix your net and go fishing yourself.

The passion of your work has to be in everything you do to get you there. A good microphone. A good room to record in. Editing skills and the ability to interpret copy, (not EASY with some copy!) then there is the whole marketing end of things.

It's a business much like any other, but different in that you are selling you. Most everyone has a voice, but what is it about your voice that makes people want to hire you. The one thing that VO work isn't, is that it isn't a "job". This isn't the 9-5 kind of world. It can be a career for sure! But it sure ain't sitting behind the counter at the local HomeDepot waiting to mix paint.

Passion. Believe in yourself, dig in to the game. Learn the ropes, polish your craft. Just as there is a difference between a "Guitar Player" and a "Guitarist" or a carpenter and a craftsman, it's the same in the VO world.

At this stage of the game, I'm a little fish in a little pond. And I get steady work. (couple of national commercials, lots of eLearning..) I'm learning, improving and learning more from those around me. Check out Peter's Blog, and Bob's over on the left and absorb as much as you can and never stop.

You can succeed in voice work and acting, if you have the passion.