To There are Ups and Downs
As in all fields, in voice over there are good days and bad ones. A common expression professional voice over actors use is that “it is feast or famine.” I have experienced this myself. Sometimes I am so busy I do not know how I will stop for a bathroom break or to feed my family. Other weeks I wonder if all my clients are on vacation at the same time. In good times it is great to have friends to celebrate your successes. In challenging times, you need people you can really trust to talk through your thoughts. So, how do you go about surrounding yourself with trusted people?
Tips for Finding People
- Coaches. Coaches are likely the first people you will meet. They have seen so much and are seasoned. They are looking to meet people to so this is a great start.
- Conferences. Specifically voiceover conferences. I have blogged about conferences before, and VO North and Vocation are coming up, but other voice over talents are looking to connect at these conferences. You can make lifelong friends there.
- Facebook groups. You really can bond and get to know people, even online. You have to be a little more careful when you are not meeting someone face to face, but if you have mutual friends this should help sort out who is a good connection for your intimate network.
- Acting Workshops. I actually go to acting technique programs at local theaters. When others are working on there craft too, they are likely to have similar goals, and are good for you to connect with.
Topics to Discuss with Your People
- Actual accountability. You need folks that you can be frank with and in return they are candid with you.
- Ideally you will have friends as accomplished and more accomplished as you are.
- Goals. You can discuss how you are actively pursuing your goals. What’s working? What’s holding you back?
- Feedback. Have you gotten a great review? Have you gotten feedback that you did not expect?
These are my people, well, some of them, and they make every single day better! It is important to be able to bounce this off of your people.
- Finances. Are you building a sustainable business? When trying to reach consistent financial benchmarks each week or each month, it is really important to report to or have others that you can discuss this with, both in vague and specific terms. From marketing to accounting, a lot of responsibility falls to a solopreneur, and we can learn me from each other than if we function in an isolated bubble.
- Ways to support each other. I am in an accountability group that talks very regularly daily. I know groups that share assistants. I know groups that market themselves as a whole. There are lots of ways you can go, but first you need to start by finding your people.
What the Universe Sends You
Just as the voice over industry has no geographic boundaries, your peer group is the same! The woman I am closest with that support me daily are scattered about the continent. I feel very strongly that everything happens for a reason, as these women inspire me, pick me up, and are there. I hope that I do the same for them. As I right this, I have the Barbra Streisand song in my head “People,People who need people, are the luckiest people in the world.”
It is my hope that just as my mother gave me so much I hope that I am instilling this fearlessness and sense of self-worth and pride in my own children. From running my voice over studio, I have learning so much from working with others, but before even getting to that point, it is that I pursued my passions for them, and my hope is that Emma and Jack will have the same fire within them and that they too will be fierce enough to go after what they love, both in their professions and in their personal life.
Julie is always there for me and my kids and helps both as an emotional support and in so many ways, from taking care of the kids and the dog to helping with homework to late night phone calls. Trying to list the way my family is amazing almost seems to trivialize their impact, when my intent is the opposite. I am also blessed to have an amazing Mother-in-Law who is an extremely involved Grandma and is also so close with my Mom. They are like sisters to each other. Whether she is sitting at the table doing Latin and Spanish homework with the twins, or helping with holiday dinners, it is so wonderful to have such a tight-knit family. And my sister-in-law Claudia lives one street away. She is also a wonderful influence in so many ways for my twins. I can go on and on, but the point I am trying to make is that I could in no way raise my twins the way I dream of on my own, and they also happen to have one heck of a father, but since is a blog post and not a book, I will just end by saying that this Mother’s Day I am thankful that I was born to my mother and that we are surrounded by such amazing women.
