It occurred to me while I was sitting at my laptop pouring over the latest posts on social media the other day that there’s a lot of noise out there. I see posts all the time from other voice talent touting their latest projects that they’ve done or the client they are working with or the agent they just landed. I have to say I’m not innocent in that endeavor. I’ve bragged about a video I’ve voiced or a thing I did. We all do it to a point to promote our business; to try to break through the noise in a landscape that’s far too crowded. “You gotta be seen” they say, and heard I guess would be good for voiceover.
Then I thought about those who are the most successful in our industry. The top 1% who seem to get all the work, the good work, that we all strive to get. With very few exceptions, you don’t see them on social media hyping themselves up. I made a TikTok about this the other week and was met with mixed reactions. Some where on the side of ‘well it’s all marketing’ and the others were ‘we need brag only about the big stuff, not every little thing (I posted a blog post, look at me! :)). A friend of mine, audio master James Younger I think but it best. “When you’re good at something, you tell everyone. When you’re great at something, people tell you”. It goes to show just how many “good” voice actors there are out there spouting off and how few “great” ones that are sought after.
Now, I could certainly launch into a motivational “how are you going to be a great voice talent” speech here, and no guarantees that I won’t, but this post isn’t really about that. This post is more about the noise from those online who never really get things done. The noise that comes before the accomplishments as opposed to the bragging that comes afterwards.
Ever have that friend who always is talking about their plans? The one who’s always “thinking” about doing something? I’m thinking about that new Jeep? Or I’m thinking about going to Utah this summer. I’m thinking about getting into voiceover, what should I do?
That same friend who talks about all the plans, but in the end, never acts?
Are you that friend? Be honest.
We’ve all got those tendencies in us. We don’t like to be uncomfortable. We don’t like to get off our asses and take that class, take that flight, in my case, spend that money just because we might fail or get into a lurch that we have to work out.
If you really want to get something done, you’re going to do it and nothing will stop you. If you want to show a good game and not really want to do it, you’ll talk a lot about it and then slink back to your recliner and watch Sportscenter, feeling good about what you’ve “accomplished”. Those in voiceover who are at the top who are the quiet professionals just went out and did it. They didn’t run it by their friends or make posts or polls or have gatherings to decide my committee. They just did it and didn’t apologize for moving forward. Will you make mistakes? Most certainly. Will you fail? Of course. But you might also succeed and at the end of it all, wouldn’t you rather look back and be proud of the chances you took rather than regret the things that you never tried, but always wanted to?
I guess this did turn out to be motivational after all.
Now stop talking, posting, and dreaming, and go do it.