VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Andy]

...feel like calling it quits. It's been a day of rejection. Yeah. Everyone has 'em. But what do you folks do to keep from letting it ruin your week?

[Deirdre]

Count blessings, pal. It helps to have a robust ego, that's for sure. Whenever I'd audition for something I'd always assert (once I got HOME!) that the directors must be mad if they didn't cast me, and then forget about it.

Keeping busy a key to staving off the Rejection Blues.

Get yourself a website or some other time-consuming professional thing.



edited to keep from looking like a complete ass
_________________
DBCooperVO.com

[billelder]

I'll share a conversation a neighbor had with me. He asked me if I panic when business doesn't come in? He owns his own siding business. He explained that there was one week of the year that he didn't get any jobs. After a couple of years he started to recognise that it was the week after Spring Break and it usually was the same week every year. He commented, "Now, I just enjoy the light week and know that things will pick back up."



I've been doing this full time for four years. Although it doesn't make me a "long-timer" like some of these great folks, I do know enough about what to expect to be comfortable when things get slow. Look at it this way. At least you're trying to find work. You'll always get more work "looking" than "not".



Good luck! Don't give up! And...you can always get into home siding. (OK..that last part was a bad joke...sorry.)

[mcm]

Hi Andy,



I'm sorry you had a bad day and boy do I sympathize. Deirdre's suggestion about some time-consuming creative project is a great one. If not a website (a great time sink!), why not a VO project about something you love, say... cabinetmaking! You can turn it into an audio clip to put on your new website! Just keep busy advancing your career. Plan to devote x number of hours tomorrow to finding new contacts -- actually that's something I do at night, I scour the internet for more names of producers, put all their contact info into good old Time & Chaos (did I ever mention that I love that program?), and then next day I can fire off all those emails while the producers are still trying to find the coffee pot (and when you send them in the morning, you're the first one they see, rather than all the spam that came in the night). Then, after you send those emails, send the follow-up to the ones you contacted 2 weeks ago or a month or whatever your time frame was, who have not yet realised how badly they need you. After you've done your marketing for the morning, then work at the mic. Whatever your plan is, just have a plan. It does wonders for the morale.



And when Den checks the board next, I know he'll have something to add that will make you laugh. Until then, chin up, because the Principle of the Uniformity of Nature tells us that the sun will rise tomorrow, and you'll need to be ready for it. Go get 'em.



Mary

[Andy]

Thanks for the uplift, folks. Yeah, I gotta get going on a web site. Thing is, my neighbor two doors down is branching into web develpment and has offered to build one free of charge to get his portfolio complete. So, I should count my blessings and pull my arse outta the self pitty pot. Again, thanks.



Drew

[Den]

Wowee! I thought "communicating the intended message to the desired audience through effective use of sound" was a deep one! I've memorized that one and throw it out once and awhile (as if off the top of my head).

Chicks dig it. Well,..ok, not many,..but...ok...it hasn't worked yet..



You know what's odd? We tend to think that just a couple of breaks here and that big gig there, and viola! Life is made! I can sit back, put my feet up and relax. Well, do you really want that? No ya don't, because you're a creative, eager, impatient creature (like the rest of us) and you'd get bored! Most high-rollers in v/o that I know, spend MOST of their time marketing and coming up with creative ways to get their name out there. A local 'giant' David Kaye (davidkaye.com) was telling me his day starts at 7am every day - and that's getting on phones, doing follow-up, etc. He currently has (had) over 80 stations around the world, doing their imaging. He's signed on with WIlliam Morris in both L.A. and New York, and attends every National Assoc. of Broadcasters convention in Vegas, with his customized pens, lighters, whatever, and he always books a suite and has a reputation of having great "after convention parties". All in the name of marketing himself. He probably could sit back and relax, but it's in his blood. And it's in yours, Dierdre's, mine, and everyone on this board. Voice-aholics! Your times will come in waves. It's what you do in 'down time' that pays off. (Besides, aren't you doing something very cool that most people can only dream of?)

[Charlie Channel]

I was thinking about driving a truck, but everywhere I looked somebody's driving a truck. That got me to thinking ...





CC

[kgenus]

Too bad I got married, I can't have the after convention Vegas parties now!!
_________________
Genus

[Deirdre]

Pooh. We can have the dance in my barn. It's big enough. Y'all will just have to come to Southern Maine, that's all.
_________________
DBCooperVO.com

[audio'connell]

[dhouston67]

Dredging up an old thread, after searching for discussions about rates, marketing, imaging, and other topics on my mind...

I've had an exceptionally slow start to this year, even for someone who only started getting serious about VO around this time last year. At least one client for whom I did a spec read (paid, yes) last year has yet to come through on what had promised to be a lucrative, regular narration gig. A non-retainer (but still fairly regular) narration client has had no work for me since before the holidays.

I've filled a lot of time recording auditions for jobs posted at I.V., not one of which has yielded a response. (In fact, the only work I've gotten from IV has been through clients finding my demos there...)

Yep, I've had fleeting moments lately of thinking about just throwing in the towel on VO; newbies devaluing rates, clients who demand auditions for those low-rate job, and the unfortunate necessity of maintaining an unfulfilling and stressful day job --- at least for now --- are all reasons to think of quitting.

Guess what? I don't want to be one of the ones who gave up on it.

I have various methods for pulling myself out of the "just-give-up" doldrums. I remind myself of all the demos I've heard by talents who don't have the experience and chops I do*, and knowing that if they can make headway in this business, I can do even better. I remind myself to think in terms of upgrading my equipment, making new contacts, getting that next job: all of them, things that are in the future, and all of them good things to look forward to.

I am a bit stuck in the difficult situation of being unable to justify quitting the day job, as VO income hasn't yet been enough to sustain me alone, much less my family (all of whom quite like having things like health insurance, etc.). This also leaves little time for auditions and calls to clients, etc. I don't have a magic answer for this conundrum, but I do plan to someday 'make the switch' and make my living at VO.

Don't give up. Doing VOs for a living is too appealing to just chuck it away.


* No one on this board, honest.
_________________
Great Voice. Great Choice. For Voice Talking and stuff.
http://davidhoustonvoice.com
Do That Voice! - The DHV Blog

[kitstern]

I try to keep in mind that my whole week (month.......life) can change with one email or phone call, And I keep in motion. I update my demos, call producers and remind them I'm still around, contact new producers, practice (that's what all those emails from V123 and IV are for!), go to lunch with a friend. Because I know that when it gets busy again (and it always does) I won't have time for any of the other stuff.

It's all good. There's lots of work, you just have to be ready for it when it comes in. Just keep repeating "Winners never quit. And quitters never win."
_________________
Enjoy life, this is not a rehearsal.

http://www.kitziestern.com/

[dscott]

This is an interesting thread!
I was working on my taxes yesterday and noted last year I had some 1099s to report for VO... This year I didn't. That doesn't mean I wasn't doing VO, just not getting paid for it. I work full time at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Modesto, CA. So several times a year we have events that warrant radio spots, I produce 'em and they get aired... hopefully I'll get some more VO work, but in the mean time I do vinyl to CD conversions, audio engineering, video production, and also DJ and play music.... What's the Point?

Never Give Up... Never Surrender!!!

keep those irons in the fire, poke it around if it die down!!!



Cheers!
Dave

[Philip Banks]

Winners never quit, quitters never win, Wo go for it, life is just a bowl of cherries, keep your pedal to the metal, "I always tell myself that ......". I don't think I've ever read so many trite responses.

I you want to give up, give up! It really doesn't matter one bit. Once resigned to the fact that it it may not happen for you life becomes peachy again, the dark moments vanish, the heaviness lifts, you become a nicer person with whom to spend time and most important of all you allow the magic of life to work its magic in your life.

The hardest concept to grasp is that of "Allowing" as opposed to "Trying" it could be the control freak in us all struggling to make us make things happen; just for today don't try to do anything - Allow things to come into your life and allow yourself to be the best you can be.

If you would like to try something, try this affirmation, try to let it get under your skin, to get a real grip on your life, to infect your every waking moment "Philip Banks is a better voice over than me, earns more money than me, is better connected than me and as for Don La Fontaine HAND ME THE GUN NOW!" ...Has trying lost its appeal.


Every one of you have a wonderful week.

[Deirdre]

Pat Fraley told me "Work harder, or call it a hobby."
_________________
DBCooperVO.com