I found out long ago… It’s a long way down the Holiday Road

Yes, Sometimes I feel like Clark Griswold on Vacation.

This week the posts might be a little light, due to the fact that we are celebrating my Mom’s Birthday in Arizona, then travelling back to Middle Tennessee.

I’ll post as soon as I am able!

Live from a Closet in Little Rock

As we were scrambling to leave the house today for our cross country trek, I get a call on the handy dandy cellular.

It played out a little like this:

 

She: Stu, Whats your availability for some audio?

Me: Well, I’m travelling the next couple days, but am taking the equipment with me.

She: Allright, I’ll send your audio to the client. We’ll see what happens.

 

Swell.

About three hours later, just east of Memphis, I get a Voicemail.

 

She: Stu, your the voice they want. Call to confirm!

 

So I called. And I got a script in the Email.

 

She: When are you going to voice tonight?

Me: Between 7 and 8 central from wherever we bed down for the night. ( I didn’t really say bed down for the night, but it does make it sound more like a grand adventure thru the Wild Wild West)

 

So, from a closet filled with pillows ( I don’t have Harlan Hogan’s Fab Contraption…Yet) I voiced my first project ‘On the Road’.

 

Coolness.

 

We’ll see how they like it tomorrow!

Cleaning your House Before a Big Trip

 

My family is getting ready for a road trip.

 

A pretty big one as a matter of fact.

 

We are driving across the country for a big family get together. (more details later in the week – I don’t want to give it away if family happen to be reading

 

I am pretty excited about the possibilty of taking my VO equipment on the road and testing it out to see how it sounds in random hotel rooms across the midwest! This will be the first time that I have the setup to actually try it out.

 

But back to the point of my post.

 

There is a “phenomena” that happens in our house before any extended time away. And I don’t know if it is a common occurence amongst families, and/or those who travel alot.

 

Here is what happens:

 

We clean the house like there is NO TOMORROW! Or like the President (or some other high falutin’ celebrity) is coming to visit!

 

We rush around doing all the laundry, cleaning every nook and cranny, dusting, mopping, vacumming, sorting, folding, stacking, shuffling, various kibitizing until… Spotless.

 

THEN… WE LEAVE TOWN.

 

To me this makes no sense.

 

I don’t know if this is something in the genetic coding of the Redhead (my wife), or if it is genetic coding for women in general.

 

I just don’t understand!!!!

Persistence, Turning Fear on its Head and The Velveteen Rabbit

A while back, I wrote a blog about Voice Over Success inpired by a book I was reading from Scott Ginsberg.

He was talking about “success strategies” and suggested you find some talented successful people and ask them questions.

So I did it here on the blog.

Joe Szymanski jumped in, and now Bob Souer.

I love learning from folks! And gaining new perspectives!

Here are a couple tidbits:

…I’m learning to turn my fear on its head and to use it as a motivator to move forward, but it’s not easy.

…Don’t rush. Treat the voiceover business like the business it is. Recognize that the vast majority to people trying to make a living at voiceover not only fail, but never make any significant amount of money at it…

And I love Bob’s List of Favorite books on VO – none ABOUT “VO” specifically, but ALL Life Changers.

Here is Bob’s Post if you would like to read the rest!

Here are the four questions I asked:

1. What habits have enabled you to become successful?

2. What habits have blocked you from success?

3. What advice would you give a young VO professional?

4. Whats the best book(s) you have read to help you become successful at what you do?

Wanna share YOUR thoughts?

(PS – Bob’s podcasts with Tracy Pattin over at VoiceBank.net’s VoiceRegistry Blog were great! You should listen to BothParts!)

Improve More Today Than I Improved Yesterday

I was reading a post over at ProBlogger Called The Greatest Blogging Skill.

Its an interesting read. The big question was:

What skill enables you to become a better blogger?

Meta-Improvement. Which means…not just improvement, but more improvement than you had yesterday.

Improving on your improvement!

Its interesting to think about in terms of Voice Acting.

Easton suggests 3 skills one should have:

Self Awareness: What do you do to improve, how can you improve quicker? Thinking about how you improve.

Focus: Pick one element that you want to focus on, and keep tabs on it til it is licked.

Relentlessness: Never give up. Never Surrender! (Thanks Galaxy Quest!)

I thought it was an interesting concept for Blogging, and for Voice Over work.

What am I doing today that is better than I did yesterday?

Am I aware of how to improve, Who to call for insight, how to build my brand, who I need to be listening to…and am I applying that knowledge quickly?

What ONE thing can I improve right now? How can I keep the focus until it really is stellar?

Meta Improvement. Interesting stuff – Check out the post on ProBlogger.

Happy Easter 2008

I hope you and your family have a terrific Easter!

 

Its a great day to reflect on faith and the reason for the Celebratin’!

 

Don’t get to loaded up on Cadbury Eggs!!! (my personal favorite are the malt and chocolate eggs!!!)

Be Aware That It Won’t Happen Overnight…

A couple days back, I blogged about a book I was reading that suggested some questions to ask other VO talent for Voice Over Success.

I threw out a couple questions to some fellow VO peeps, and Joe Szymanski was the first to bite!

Here are some quick bits from his post on Success:

…everything in your life needs to be in it’s proper order. I’m finding more and more that when things are neglected (like workout time, family time, spiritual renewal time, etc) and replaced with work, work and more work, the balance gets out of wack and you actually end up doing more harm than good…

…Be sure you want it… then go after it with all you’ve got…

 …There are some serious high highs and low lows and if you’re shooting for the top, which you should be, prepare to invest a lot of time and a considerable amount of money getting where you want to go…

…Ok, so we’re not exactly rescuing babies from burning buildings or anything. But there is a unique set of challenges that only exist in VO…

Thanks Joe for your thoughts!

Check out the rest of Joe’s thoughts here!

GREAT RESOURCES FROM VOX DAILY

This week there have been some AWESOME lists over at VOX DAILY !

Great Resources for Voice Over on

Marketing

Podcasting

E-Business

File Storage

These are great! Thanks Stephanie!!!

TAG your it: SUCCESS

I have been reading a book by Scott Ginsberg Called “Make a Name For Yourself”. I really love Scott’s Stuff, and his blog is terrific.

In his book, he gives several great tips on ‘Making a Name for Your self’…(hence the name of the book).

I just read tip 10, and it led to this post. Here it is:

Become a Student of Success

Study how people have become “successful”. Tips, strategies, methods, etc. Don’t copy them, but look for ideas you can apply to your life.

He suggests reading books, Googling information, keeping track of successes and failures, and last but not least, Interviewing people.  

Cool.

No better way to get people to answer questions and spark a conversation than on the blog!

Here are the questions Scott suggests to ask (modified a bit for VO Work)

1. What habits have enabled you to become successful?

2. What habits have blocked you from success?

3. What advice would you give a young VO professional?

4. Whats the best book(s) you have read to help you become successful at what you do?

Obviously “Success” looks different for different people. But I would love to hear your thoughts.

I am specifically going to tag Bob, Joe, Kara, Bobbin, and Peter to get the conversation started!!!!

I would love to learn from you guys n gals! And anyone else who wants to get in on the conversation!!!

Fun Times in the Ville

The NRB Convention was in Nashville this past weekend, and I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow VO who was in town!

What a blast we had eating at Dickey’s B-B-Q and talking VO.

Brian Haymond is a class act!

I also had the privelege of meeting Rick Quevedo who owns RCQ Multimedia.

Rick had a SWEET DIY microphone that he pulled out during lunch, attached to his mp3 recorder, and we did an impromptu recording that might end up as a podcast one day! (Maybe Rick?)

I heard Bob was in town, but unable to make it over for great BBQ – Maybe next time!

What a great day!!  (pic coming later!!!)