- Some Thoughts On How To Succeed in Voiceovers, or Anything

One cannot help but notice how differently businesses and people behave. We all see restaurants, service companies and individuals that have radically different approaches. We all tell stories about the impossibly stupid as well as the amazingly great.
Here are just a few thoughts about some things I've noticed that help create success.

Always, always be on time and provide service in a timely manner. We have a local cafe that just opened that tries to justify waiting 40 minutes for a sandwich because everything is made from scratch. People create bubbles they live in that aren't connected to the quality of service they are providing and then wonder why people stay away.
If I have a VO project due at noon, I deliver it by 10am, period.

Listen to what people are saying and sympathize. The thing most people want more than anything is to know they are heard, and that you are their ally. Don't allow the difficulty of a situation to break the bond of the mutual effort required to find resolution.

Be responsible for your actions. Companies, people and yes artists sometimes spend a lot of energy avoiding responsibility for mistakes. Own it and fix it. Stuff happens all the time that isn't correct, people just want to know you're on it and it's going to be fixed.
I've heard a lot of stories from different people, explaining why they aren't more successful or the poor quality of the work wasn't their fault. This includes VO artists, escrow companies, cafe's, plumbers, automobile service departments, etc. An important key to success is to provide quality service in a timely manner according to the standards of the particular  industry. It is not to have a big pile of explanations justifying poor work, service or bad attitudes. No one cares about excuses, just results.

The most important thing I have seen and experienced and benefited from is kindness. There is nothing more appreciated from the weary as simple kindness. Kindness is the most inspiring, helpful, healing, transforming, success generating, problem solving miracle that anyone can experience.
Whether one is in a voiceover session with advertising clients, negotiating a contract, managing a sales team, helping a dissatisfied customer, or trying to solve any other problem, being kind is really a miracle force that can change lives and produce unlimited personal success.

- Success - It's Not How Smart You Are, it's how Smart You Are About Other People

The development of social intelligence is an important element in achieving success in any field. We are concerned here with the field of voiceovers. I hear a lot of stories from producers and engineers about the wide variety of behaviors they witness from voiceover artists in recording sessions. In many cases they say they can't believe how socially inept some artists are when they come to a session. Common complaints are: Talking too much, interrupting people as they are setting up, apologizing for being late because of traffic, apologizing all the time for flubs, being too happy to meet everyone, taking too long to "get going", asking for too many definitions of what they mean when giving directions about what they want in the read... it goes on and on.
Here are some simple thoughts about how to behave.
Be on time. No one cares about your excuses. The rule is, "if you're not early, you're late".
Allow for the worst traffic possible. Obviously no one wants you there an hour early, so if that happens, just park and explore the neighborhood.
Don't talk too much. Keep the greetings simple, friendly and short.
When the session is over, LEAVE. Some people think it's ok to hang out, it is not.
If they are telling jokes, by all means laugh, but this is not an invitation for you to tell jokes too.
When you flub, just say pick up and go back to the top of the sentence. Do not apologize or explain why you flubbed, no one cares. Just fix it.
Be a good listener. Observe how the people behave and conduct themselves. They are there to do business as are you. Everyone wants to do good work and get good work from the voiceover artists. We can contribute to the projects success and our own success, by watching, listening and being smart about other people.
Have a great week.

When You're Nervous and flub, Stay Calm, Breathe Deep-Stay Upbeat

Another interesting thing from last nights class concerned flubbing a line. Sometimes a person is reading really well and then flubs a line near the end of the read. When they go back to do a pick up, you can hear the despair in their voices as they read. The disappointment  of goofing up becomes the tone of voice. We have to make sure what we're thinking does NOT become the tone of voice we're using. It all has to be separate. We don't want to react emotionally to our mistakes, we just want to observe, correct and fix them and move on. Taking a deep breath is very important to stay calm and keeping your mind clear so you can do great reads and easily fix the flubs.