July 2007 Archives

When I hear the same thing in quick succession from 2 or more people who aren't related to each other and have no vested interest in the comments, I feel the Universe is giving me a sign to pay attention! 

Such was the case this week with the classic motivational book As A Man Thinketh by James Allen, originally published in 1902. I don't remember, but I think this work was referenced in The Secret. Since I am vitally interested in the power of our thoughts and words to create our reality, I recently downloaded the free audiobook of this work available from LearnOutLoud.com. 

I began listening to it on 13 July. Ten minutes after I started listening, I decided I had heard enough. The audiobook narrator included at least 3 stumbled words, several lipsmacks and an uninteresting method of delivery. With the availability of low-cost and free audio editing software, I am incredulous that someone would choose to leave the stumbles and extraneous noises in an audiobook, even one offered for free. An audiobook is a thing of permanence. I would like to think that people would seek out my audiobooks 100 years from now, just as I was seeking out Allen's book. 

I was showing my new business cards to a friend of mine this afternoon. She said she had a book that she wanted me to see. She and I have had many great discussions about the extreme power of our thoughts, and the book was on that subject. Which book do you think she recommended? Yep, that's right -- As A Man Thinketh by James Allen. Although I had abandoned the free audiobook, the Universe was telling me to give the book another try! I told my friend that I would get the book tonight. 

However, I wasn't the only person who made a special trip to the book store. The store was crowded with people waiting for midnight, when the last Harry Potter book goes on sale. Someone who has been living under a rock or totally new to the country might think that tonight was Halloween, given the number of young people dressed in costume at the mall. Of course, they were flocking to the book store. They were not looking for a title associated with the Law of Attraction to help them live their lives to the best potential. No, all of those young people and their parents were at the book store to buy the final installment about the boy who lived! 

I am not still at the store, waiting to get my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I will, however, buy the audiobook version consisting of 17 CDs sometime over the weekend. (I doubt that I will be wearing a costume when I buy it, though!) I encourage anyone interested in performing audiobooks to listen to Jim Dale's masterful narration of any book in this series. You can download the previous 6 books and thousands of other audiobooks on iTunes. I would imagine that this final book will be loaded on ITunes in the near future. 

Also note the high level of production quality in one of these books. The series is so popular that the audiobook is published simultaneously with the hardback edition. Jim Dale didn't even have the opportunity to read the entire book before entering the recording studio. He read the book in segments of 100 pages. For a fascinating article about Jim Dale and his role as narrator of the Harry Potter series, you will want to read this feature story published 17 July in the New York Times.

Success leaves tracks,

I frequently state in my blog that voice-over is a business, yet people write things to me that indicate that they either are ignoring or don't know about the business aspects of being a voice-over talent. Just last week, someone sent me an e-mail stating that

You could do lots of things if you wanted to be free and independent. However, most of those things require some actual work to make them happen. Becoming a voice-over talent is no different. It requires you to continuously work at improving your abilities and gaining publicity for your business.

Speaking of independence, yesterday (4 July) was our Independence Day here in the United States. Since the day is one of the major US holidays, many people decided to declare their independence from work all week. As a business owner, though, I always feel the need to do something each day to further my goals, even when those days fall on weekends, holidays and vacation.

I'm not saying I spend hours working on those off-days, but I usually do something, however small and insignificant it might be. Sometimes I may read a chapter in a marketing book. I might write down people to contact on the next business day. I often will do a quick audition or send an e-mail response to someone. I write entries for my blog. I may write or record a podcast script. (I'm perfecting ideas for 2 different types of shows and am deciding how to present them.)

Yesterday was no different. While it was a holiday, I took an action that wasn't even on my mind at the beginning of the day. I wrote a 60-second pitch.

What is a 60-second pitch? Why did I write mine yesterday? The answer to both questions is at the Voices.com web site. As usual, Stephanie Ciccarelli has done a brilliant job of explaining the concept of the 60-second pitch -- also known as your "elevator speech" -- and why it's needed by every voice talent.

Furthermore, starting tomorrow, Voices.com is sponsoring a contest for the best 60-second pitch among voice talent! The contest is open to all voice talent. After reading about the prizes, I am eager to win! I wrote my pitch yesterday and will record it today or tomorrow after refining it.

By the way, to further emphasize the point about voice-over being a business, I also encourage you to read Stephanie's excellent and detailed blog entries relating to the business, especially about a business plan and business cards.

So you see, even in a slow week you can do something that will pay big dividends in your voice-over career later on. Even if you don't win the contest, you will have a succinct speech ready to describe your voice-over business when you are next in a networking situation.