VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[JBarrett]

One of the first streets I cross on my drive home from work is a one-way street. I've never had a problem crossing it before, but the other day I nearly got clobbered. I did everything I was supposed to do, too...stopped, eased out while looking in the direction traffic was coming from, and when I saw that it was clear, I went. I was about halfway across when I heard a horn blare...from the OTHER side of my car! Someone was driving the wrong way down this one-way street! Thankfully they were able to slow down before hitting my car, and I gunned it to get across to the other side. They eventually saw the error of their ways and pulled off the street before things got messy.

More recently I was thinking about that experience and how it could be compared to running a business, especially a voiceover business. After getting settled and comfortable in a business, one potential pitfall is that of becoming complacent, expecting job leads to come in via a certain semi-predictable path, or even a series of paths. The danger in getting locked into a too-focused "one way" pattern for finding work, though, is that it may leave you blind to other opportunities coming at you from other directions. In some cases the opportunities might not be coming yet, but you might be able to spot a potential opportunity and proactively go after it if you were to just look in directions other than the one (or more) that they've all come from before.

I'm sure many of you can readily testify that VO jobs don't all come rolling down a one-way street in a predictable pattern. No doubt there are some interesting stories to be told of how you've landed a fun job by breaking away from the norm. Anyone care to share?
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Justin S. Barrett
http://www.justinsbarrett.com/

[Yoda117]

not so much a tale from the trenches, as much as a peral of wisdom that goes along with complacency and being firm in your understanding of things that I learned after enjoying one of several "night of 1000 falls" with my jujitsu instructor.

Once there was an oak, and a reed. The reed and oak saw that a hurricane was coming. The mighty oak said to the reed that he pitied the reed, for the oak was strong and firm in his stance and would not be easily swayed by the winds. The hurricane came, and the reed was easily swayed back and forth, moving with the currents as need be in order to find the path of least resistance. The oak, on the other hand stood resolute, boasting of his steadfastness, and braving the howling winds until they became too much and he cracked and fell. When the hurricane passed, the oak was broken and destroyed, but the reed remained unharmed.

The moral? Be flexible, because you never know where or how the winds will blow you.
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

[Hart]

Just yesterday I got a call from a guy I know. He is hosting a golf show this morning and needed an intro and close for the show. The guy they usually use is unavailable until Monday. Would I be willing to do it for this week and can I have it done today (Friday)?

I said absolutely, voiced and produced the required pieces and got a little extra change in the bank. Plus, when I woke up this morning, I had an email from my buddy saying the guys at the station loved my work. Well, there's a new contact made. It was all a perfectly wonderful way to end the week.

I'm not as eloquent as Yoda there, but I guess my moral is to network, network, network. You never know when something unexpected may come you way.
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Hart Voice Overs Blog
Brian Hart Productions

[mcm]

Justin, I'm glad you survived your experience unscathed, and that you were able to turn it into such a wise metaphor. Thank-you for posting about it.