Hello and Happy Administrative Professionals Day!
Every voice talent should celebrate this holiday, too. Some days I do nothin’ but paperwork!
Thanks to everyone who attended my Edge Studio Business & Money 201 “Time Management” webinar last week. We had a surprisingly large turnout. I guess I’m not the only who doesn’t have enough minutes in the day! (he says while writing this blog at 9:30 PM and NOT watching the NBA Playoffs…)
Today is a pretty special day for me. It’s my 17th Voice-Aversary!
(I was gonna PhotoShop a microphone over the face of a bride standing next to a groom, but not only do I suck at PhotoShop, I don’t think I could handle the backlash of “a mic as my wife” jokes…)
On April 23, 1996, I nervously walked into a recording studio in New York City to narrate my very first voiceover. I had NO clue what I was doing but the people there were very nice and helped me along. Fortunately, I was in the booth with another talent so it made the experience much easier. Wanna hear it? Okay!
Crazy, right? I never heard it on the radio, but I was told that Howard Stern made fun of it, so I got that going for me…
I also recorded the tag line but they went with another talent. It was, “Herpes. Don’t let it rock your world. Get the facts.” Makes you wanna run out and get your shots, right?
TIP OF THE WEEK: It took me a full year after I recorded my Commercial Demo to book that gig. How did I do it? Cold-calling, yuck! I hates ’em, but they work. Back then, that was the only way I knew how to land clients. That and get an agent, but the only thing I knew about agents was how they would take my money and never hear from them again (yes, I fell for that!).
The most important part of building your voiceover business is to develop relationships. Obviously with potential and existing clients, but also with the people in your industry. Fellow voice talents, engineers, everybody. The only way to connect with good people is to be a good person! And make phone calls. Lots and lots of phone calls…
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: You know why it’s best living at the water’s edge? Because you’ve only got ***holes on three sides of you. And if they’re coming from the other way you can hear them splash. George Carlin
STUFF!: I finally got around to seeing “Boogie Nights” in its entirety. Yeah, yeah, I know. Everybody has a list of “must-see” movies that they’ve seen bits & pieces of over the years but not the whole thing in one shot. This one’s on mine. It was brilliantly made & well shot with an amazing cast, but I gotta tell ya, I hate movies like that the way I don’t care for Scarface, Goodfellas, Blow, etc. Movies about people that aspire to be scumbags and then have the audacity to be surprised when it doesn’t end well kinda turns me off, ya know? I’ve had my fill of cautionary tales!
From Tom Dheere’s apartment, this is Tom Dheere: GKN News…