Saturday October 17, 2015 is a very special milestone for me.
One could say that’s the day I celebrate 10 years as a full-time voice talent. One could also say it’s been 10 years since I had a “real job” but I sure as hell won’t. I like to say it’s been 10 years since my life truly began. Here’s the story…
I used to run a cafe for a certain major bookstore chain. Someone who worked under me wanted my job so she put up one of the female employees to claim I harassed her. Upper management bought it and I was fired. It was humiliating and I felt powerless.
I got a great lawyer who saw right through their BS and after a few phone calls I got a neutral reference and was eligible to receive unemployment benefits. The unemployment was huge because I was able to get by on that while I was building my voiceover business. As a side note, that year I had only four voiceover clients and to this day I still work with three of them. Crazy, right?
Here’s the weird part. When I got hired by the company in question I had already been pursuing voiceover for ten years with little success. I got the job to finance my voiceover business and give me benefits & a flexible schedule. I already had my Mission Statement, Action Plan, and binder system in place but I was too much of a wuss to take the plunge. By late 2005 I had had it with the soulless corporate monster that was providing me dental coverage and planned to step down as manager and transfer to another unit as an hourly employee. The morning I was going to tell my boss, I chickened out. That very same afternoon I was suspended and fired a few weeks later.
In the 10 years since, I have had the good fortune to build a successful voiceover business populated by wonderful clients and an incredibly giving & kind group of fellow voice talents, many of which I am proud to call my friend.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Be grateful for everything and everyone that is good in your life, both professionally and personally. Take the time to acknowledge them and say thank you. Oh, and THANK YOU!!!
NEWS AND NOTES!
My next Edge Studio “Business and Money 201” webinar is this Thursday, October 15 @8PM EST. The subject: Time Management. We’re gonna talk about making every billable hour count. Click here to sign up!
HAPPY HAPPYS!
Happy World Food Day and Ada Lovelace Day! I had no idea who she was until I read the entry. Fascinating!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
All art has poetry in its center. Anonymous
From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, GKN News…
Tom Dheere is a 19-year veteran of the voice over industry who has narrated thousands of projects for clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a coach at Edge Studio, voiceover business consultant known as the Voice Over Strategist, and is currently writing & producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.