Lately, everything has felt harder.
My microphone just stopped working.
I got Covid right after my trip home to Wisconsin.
Most of my regular clients seem to be totally AWOL.
Other clients are sending scripts that barely qualify as legible English.
Even the weather wasn’t being cooperative (92 degrees in September? Yup, that’s Georgia!)
Midtown Atlanta, September 2002
I just keep waiting for things to start flowing again!
Waiting IS one option. If I keep doing what I’m already doing, things will probably pick back up again eventually.
But the other option…the one I prefer…is taking action.
So, while it’s slow:
I’ve been sending out a ton of cold marketing emails.
I’ve reached out to people I haven’t talked to in a long time.
I’m doing as many auditions as I can feasiblly do.
I’m practicing my reads in peer workouts.
These aren’t revolutionary or mind-blowing tips here.
Except for John. John just had his mind ‘sploded.
However, when things get stagnant, sometimes we dig our heels in and insist that conditions should be different than what they are. We pout or complain, and we refuse to put in the extra work to get where we want to go.
I know that taking small steps forward, will eventually get me back in the flow faster than if I do nothing.
Let me illustrate my point with a story…
Look at that FLOW! So much water…no shallows to be seen…
Last month, I went home to visit my family, and some of us went tubing.
It was a perfect day for tubing. Not too hot, but not chilly at all. Sunny, beautiful, Midwest summer weather. We brought a cooler with some sodas and sunscreen and hit the river!
Tubing is supposed to be relaxing. The difference between tubing and, say, kayaking or canoeing is…you shouldn’t have to DO much. Just chill in your giant donut and let the water take you, man!
Well, even though that’s true, they still give you paddles for a reason.
The trip should have taken us three hours. My cousins needed to get back to go to work that night.
But…the water was VERY low. And less water volume means a MUCH slower trip.
Not just because the flow isn’t as rapid, but also because low water means you don’t just glide over hidden obstacles like trees and large rocks. We were constantly getting pushed into the shallows and getting our butts stuck on the gravel riverbed.
Now, you CAN just sit there and complain about the trip taking too long and how you’ve got road rash on your ass…That IS an option.
But no matter what kind of trip you were expecting, if you want to get to your destination before the sun goes down, the best thing to do in cases like this is to get up and walk.
This guy’s got it!
When conditions are not favorable, your trip is going to take longer and require more effort.
This is true in any endeavor.
The conditions are the conditions.
You can choose to work with them and adjust, or you can insist that they should be different. WHICH WON’T CHANGE ANYTHING. But it might make you miserable.
If you chose to start your voiceover career in the past three years, this might be you, because so did everyone else!
Voiceover right now is like that same drought-riddled river on a busy weekend day, just packed with enthusiastic tubers, all getting in each other’s way. Chances of hitting a snag are pretty good when there isn’t room to maneuver around them.
There just isn’t space in the smooth flow of the channel for everyone, so getting into that flow is going to take some EFFORT!
An artist’s rendering of the online voiceover casting market in spring 2020.
And while there might be more voiceover work out there than ever before, access to it is limited by many factors:
how skilled you are
how many auditions you do
how much work you do marketing yourself
how well you can work the P2P site algorithms
the quality of your equipment and recording space
who you know (relationships are still key in any business)
how much money you have to invest in the tools and coaching you need
etc.
So, do you stay stranded while others pass you by in the fast current?
Or do you get up and walk?
You could wait, I guess. Eventually the water might rise again. Inflation will go down, budgets will increase, and there’ll be more prosperity to go around for all. But who knows how long that could take. And in the meantime, you COULD be making progress!
You set yourself up for the best chances of success by putting in the effort.
Plus, it will make the trip a helluva lot more enjoyable and road-rash free.
Bon voyage!
Opportunities, ahoy!