For Voice Over Talents

Whether you’re a seasoned professional in the VO world or brand-new to the game, a common denominator is that we’re in this business to get paid for doing something we’re good at and enjoy.

But how much do we really want to be paid?

Everyone has their own set of parameters and goals, depending on various factors. Many voice-over talents are content to make an extra few thousand dollars per year. On the other end of the spectrum, you have full-time voice talent who have built their livelihood around voice-over work, and their income goals are six figures and beyond.

Certainly, the constantly changing VO landscape caused by technology and the internet is having a huge impact on voice-over talent incomes across the board.

But do you realize that YOU may be your worst enemy in growing your income? Do you sometimes feel stuck in a rut that keeps your income well below what you perceive you should be making?

If so, then perhaps you’ve been subconsciously sabotaging your own ability to earn top dollar.

How’s that possible? It has a lot to do with whether or not you are fully aligned with your income goals.

Are You Aligned With Your Voice Over Goals?

One form of alignment refers to the agreement between your conscious and subconscious mind. And the subconscious mind is much more responsible for your day-to-day decisions and actions than most people realize.

Without proper alignment, you can end up struggling and spinning your wheels, even if you’re doing many of the “right” things in your business.

My husband worked for several years as a personal and business coach, so he’s been using this alignment concept for over a decade. His firsthand research and observation have demonstrated repeatedly that alignment is one of the pivotal components of what makes a person successful (or not) in ultimately achieving their goals.

Yes, many factors come into play in being a successful voice-over talent. Experience, talent, and ability, execution of good business and marketing practices are all very important.

However, alignment is also very important.

If I say, “I want to be a six-figure voice-over talent,” but my alignment is out of whack with that intention, then the odds of me reaching my goal in a sustainable way and in the quickest possible time frame are greatly diminished.

Consciously, I may be very clear and focused on what I want to accomplish. Subconsciously, however, I may have thoughts and emotions that directly conflict with the goals I’m trying to achieve. Those conflicts will undermine me as I go along my path, usually in very subtle ways. They will affect my thoughts, my state of being, and my willingness to take necessary actions.

The Over-Riding Rule of Alignment

There is an overriding rule regarding alignment: The subconscious mind always wins.

Although a person’s conscious mind can win out over the short-term (by getting results through focused and determined action), if alignment is not eventually achieved on the subconscious level, you’ll end up with a “rubberband effect.” Everything will eventually snap back to the previous level of results. It’s like “yo-yo” dieting, but instead of your weight, your life situation, relationships, or finances keep returning to a normal level.

Two steps forward, two steps back. Back to square one, over and over again. Remember the movie “Groundhog Day?”

The experience can be very frustrating, and this phenomenon is a common reason why some entrepreneurs give up on their dreams. Anyone who successfully makes it to higher and higher levels of success has found a way to keep re-aligning with those higher and higher levels of success.

They have learned how to climb the ladder rung by rung and align with each new level as they go up.

Your Thoughts, Beliefs, and Emotions Can Reveal Whether You Are in Alignment

On the mental level, here are some examples of common thoughts that get in the way of entrepreneurs who are trying to ramp up their businesses:

– I’m afraid of failure/success
– I don’t deserve to make a lot of money
– No one in my family has ever been this successful, so I can’t do it either
– Who will I be if I become this successful?
– What if I become this successful and then lose it?

Hundreds of other possibilities of thoughts and beliefs can get in the way. This short list only scratches the surface. You may be able to consciously push them away, but if they are still active and strong in your subconscious mind, they still have power over you and will influence what you think, speak and do.

One of the primary tasks my husband worked on with his coaching clients was to identify the specific thoughts each person was holding onto (attached to) blocking their progress. Then he would use techniques to help them neutralize the power of those thoughts or beliefs. This process would shift them into proper alignment with their goals and intentions.

Your Voice-Over Talent Income Ceiling Works Like a Thermostat Setting

One obstacle for all business owners trying to boost their business is their comfort level with how much money they will make.

Just like the thermostat in your home that controls how warm or cool you will allow the temperature to get, you have an internal thermostat that controls how much money you’re going to make daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.

There’s a way to determine that exact number, and my husband/coach took me through the process many years ago to make sure my setting was where I wanted it to be. We check in on it every once in a while to confirm that it’s still set at a very high level. Generally, you want the ceiling (thermostat setting) set way above the level of income you want to make so that it can’t interfere with hitting your target income.

If I have a goal to be a six-figure voice-over talent, but my income ceiling is set at $40,000 per year, then the odds of me making more than $40,000 in one year are very low. Even if I have a great year and do hit my six-figure goal if that ceiling doesn’t get adjusted, then it will be tough for me to sustain that income moving forward, and I will likely snap back to a lower level in the near future.

If your goal is to make $100,000 per year, then your ceiling should be set somewhere above that… $150,000 or $200,000 would be fine. Or, if you want room for something big to show up, push it out to a million! The ability to reset this financial thermostat can make a huge difference for anyone struggling to get to a higher income level. Being 100% in alignment with making a certain income level can remove much of the “headwind effect,” making it easier to move forward to reach your goal.

Most importantly, proper alignment helps to better ensure that you won’t be knocked back to previous results once you reach your new goals. There is no repetitive “rubberband effect” once the alignment is properly set and maintained. The new setting allows you to make that progress while locking it in as your new baseline, your new – and successful – “normal.”

Want to Learn More About This? Please Leave a Comment

If you’d like to learn more about how to align with your voice-over talent income goals and know where your income ceiling is, please leave your comments below. If there is a lot of interest in this, I’ll write a follow-up and share more info about the alignment process I use in my voice-over business.

I was chatting with my young teenage daughter this weekend about the pressures life brings. Even as a kid, there’s that pressure to get good grades, be accepted by your peers, make the team, win the game/race, get cast in the high school musical, and so on.

Pressure seems to start younger these days than it did for my generation. I don’t recall being so aware of the kind of pressure that most kids appear to feel in today’s world.

Competition and the ever-increasing abilities of young people to perform at higher and higher levels in every area are raising the bar all the time.

Pressure is here to stay. It is or is going to be a part of everyone’s life, so it’s essential to understand and develop a strategy to use pressure to one’s advantage.

It Seems We’re All Feeling a Lot More Pressure These Days

Being a professional voice over talent, business-owner, wife and mother of two children under the age of 14, I feel a nearly constant pressure to perform, in my professional and personal life, and to achieve real results on a daily basis.

That pressure (in varying degrees) has been there for as long as I can remember. Even before I had children, I felt pressure to reach my goals, earn a certain level of income, and be the type of person I wanted to be.

Pressure can be a good thing. Used effectively, it can help you achieve your results faster and more efficiently.

But, being under pressure doesn’t actually feel good most of the time. In fact, pressure probably stops many people from reaching their goals for the simple reason that it feels so uncomfortable. Attempting to reach any big goal is going to involve stepping into unfamiliar territory and putting yourself in situations that create a feeling of pressure. It’s pretty unavoidable.

Making Friends With Pressure = Easier Growth, Easier Life

I tried to explain to my daughter that pressure is a good thing as long as you make friends with it.

It can be your best friend in the way that you might have a workout partner who always “encourages” you to do three more push-ups when your body’s telling you that IT is pretty sure you’re DONE doing push-ups.

Without pressure, I think I could become very lazy and unproductive.

My husband eventually got in on this conversation with my daughter and said that he prefers to exist with what he calls “Goldilocks Pressure.”

Not too much – Too much pressure can feel overwhelming and debilitating
Not too little – Too little pressure can lead to feeling unmotivated and unproductive
Just right = A moderate amount of pressure usually leads to progress and productivity

Just moving about his day and getting things done with moderate external (or internal) pressure being applied is his most productive state. He chooses to frame pressure as more of a positive “pulling” energy which helps him reach completion of tasks, thereby causing a reduction of the pressure in the moment.

In the Short Term, Too Much Pressure Can Still Be Manageable

Lately, however, he’s been feeling a lot more pressure (as general manager of my voice over business) since we are in the midst of several business upgrades with website redesign, branding, demo production and re-tooling our marketing strategies. So, now he’s working harder and for longer hours, to “clear the decks” and get back to that Goldilocks level.

Instead of back-pedaling in a retreat mode away from the pressure, he’s responding with more action and more energy.

The danger here is that if this goes on for too long, it can become a source of burnout and exhaustion. But, for shorter time frames (weeks or in this case, even months), it can be manageable.

For me, I have learned to function well under some degree of pressure most of the time.

Maybe it’s from my live theater days, or from being in the fast paced world of LA auditions, where we actors are forced daily to get out of our comfort zones and at least try to be extraordinary. It’s an exciting and exhilarating form of pressure and it really helped me grow as an actor and as a business owner.

Even though I’m not auditioning for on-camera work in LA anymore (I moved away several years ago), I continue to use what I learned from that experience in my voiceover business. Finding and maintaining that “Goldilocks” fit is my new gold standard, as each week I’m juggling a dozen different clients and projects, managing deadlines, answering urgent requests, actively participating in social media, and checking off projects as I send them out.

What is your relationship to pressure like? Do you feel a lot more pressure in your life and business now than ever before?  How do you use it to your advantage? Has pressure increased or decreased for you in recent years? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts and experiences!

I’m always fascinated by artists… Of all kinds. This weekend, I was a spectator at Art Beat, a showcase of local artists in my community here in the Midwest.

Represented on several blocks of downtown real estate on a rainy Saturday was everything from dance, music and theatre, to culinary arts, painting, ceramics, sculpture and creative writing. My daughter even got in on the act, with her musical and writing talents being showcased at a couple of the booths.

Artists Face a Unique Set of Challenges on the Road to Success

An artist is a rare breed. A successful artist, rarer still. While we all have our individual talents, there are only a few who are able to rise up and gain recognition in a world where it keeps getting harder and harder to be noticed and have a sustainable career “doing” your art.

What allows an artist to actually make their livelihood practicing their craft?  It’s a combination of a lot of things. But, on top of all the things you have to do, it is very important to keep a balance between the creative process and the all-important selling process of your artistic products and/or services.

Watching this short segment on CBS Sunday Morning this weekend, I thought about how the successful professional musician profiled here distilled a great three-point strategy for maintaining a balance between the creativity in his craft and the marketing of his art.

Musician and composer, Chad Lawson shares how he spends most of his time going back and forth between two keyboards:

– His piano keyboard; to create, “meditate and to worship,” and,
– His computer keyboard for marketing, promoting, and making contacts that will lead to gigs and greater awareness of his music.

And, to top it off, he goes for a run each day, to “sweat everything out, almost like a mental shower!”

He breaks it down to this simple formula:

Do your art, market your art, and re-charge for your mind/body/spirit on a daily basis.

Obviously, it’s easy to outline these three key points, and a completely different thing to understand and develop an actual strategy that puts them into action in your own life.

What he doesn’t say in his words, but demonstrates in his success, is that he’s used discipline in his life to achieve his goals. Knowing what to do is one thing. Taking what you know, and making a plan of action, and then following through on that plan, daily, for YEARS, is what creates success.

As veteran voiceover professionals, we get asked frequently by industry newcomers, “how do I do it?” I say: Watch this 4 minute explanation by Chad Lawson, and apply these concepts to your voiceover business goals.

There is no magic bullet. There’s no fast track to long-term success, although sometimes it can look like there is for a lucky few.  It’s just learning your craft, practicing your craft, finding the market for your craft, and maintaining a balance (emotionally, physically and spiritually) as you do what is necessary.

Once you find that perfect balance, then it’s a matter of doing it day after day after day after day. Wash…Rinse…Repeat!