Posts tagged General

Really. None. It does depend on how you look at things, though. You see, if you look at voiceover from your point of view, you’ll see all kinds of competition. On the other hand, as Tom Asacker points out in his recent blog post Do you want to succeed? Then don’t compete, if you look at it from your client’s point of view the world looks completely different.

From Trent Hamm’s Simple Dollar Blog:

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” 

     – Thomas Edison

If you’re making a living or even a decent part-time income from voiceover, you all ready know that a great deal of the time you are doing something other than working in front of the microphone. Seth Godin offers some very cogent thoughts about how we spend our time and what might be a better way to spend our time. (Yes, he’s talking about photographers, but the point applies to all of us who make our living in a similar fashion.)

One of the very best things to happen to me at Faffcon took place 10 minutes before the first Faffcon got underway in Portland, OR in September of 2010. Doug Turkel gave me an insight and some advice that struck a chord of resonance in my soul that continues to reverberate to this very day.

That insight and advice led to my position as the “second nicest guy in voiceover.” Since I first started using that line, the day I got home from that first Faffcon, I’ve been asked many, many times a question that is almost inevitable. It goes something like this: “So, who’s the first nicest if you’re only second?” And my answer to that question varies depending on whether I’m being asked the question in person, on the phone or via email.

The essential answer is to ask a question in turn: “Would the nicest guy in voiceover claim to be the nicest?”

But, here’s the truth behind that question: I’m a human being, just like you are. While I do try to be nice to everyone, sometimes I fail. I mess up. I make a mistake. In fact, (I make lots of mistakes. Just ask my daughter Karen or my son Eric. They do the lion’s share of the editing for me and have to deal with my mistakes all the time.) And sometimes, I’m not nice. I can even be a complete jerk from time to time. Again, ask my kids or my wife Cinda. They can tell you.

So, at it’s most essential, I can’t claim to be more than the “second nicest” guy in voiceover because that’s all I am on my best days.

Seth Godin’s blog is always worth reading, but today’s post is especially on point for anyone who has developed close relationships with their clients.