I’ve gotten to the point in my voiceover career where voice talents, both aspiring and veteran, regularly seek my advice. While I never take myself seriously, I take that very seriously. I’m sincerely flattered every time I’m asked for my input and I always do my best to give thoughtful, honest feedback. I say thoughtful because obviously I want to give them good advice. I also say honest because, well, I want to give them good advice. Here’s an example… Twice in the past two

Back in September I posted a blog about Facebook and my recent changes in how I manage my Facebook friends. Click here to read said entry. To recap, here are the three new things I’ve been doing on Facebook in an effort to improve the experience and reduce the time-suck factor: 1) I may not accept your friend request. 2) As soon as I accept your friend request, I will most likely un-follow you. 3) When I get a notification that’s it’s your birthday, I may un-friend you. As a

I talk fast. I always have. I guess it’s because I assume whomever I’m talking to will get bored so I gotta get everything in before they wander off. Unfortunately, that habit has carried over to my voiceover career. I have to make a conscious effort to slow down almost every time I step up to the mic. I mention this because last week at a recording session one of my fellow talents needed to leave as soon as possible to get to another engagement. There was a rotating cast of

Over the weekend I went to a baby shower. The baby was already born (and adorable) so it wasn’t just a ladies only-type event. There were couples and friends and co-workers so it was cool. While there I had a pleasant conversation with a lovely young woman. Let’s call her Lisa. During our chat, I asked her what she does for a living. She’s a family practice doctor at a clinic in Brooklyn. She ballroom dances as a hobby, loves living in New York, all that good stuff. Sounds li

Recently, someone asked me where I get ideas to write my blog. It depends, really. Often I look in my planner to see what happened last week. Usually an entry reminds me of a question or an experience and I’m off to the races. Sometimes it’s seasonal. For example, at the beginning of every year I write something pertaining to goals or another way to set you up for success in the New Year. Sometimes it just springs out of my head for no damn good reason. A few days ago I was u

Over the last two weeks we’ve talked about how to set goals and come up with actionable items to achieve said goals. To catch up you lollygaggers, you can read the Goals one here and the Actionable Items one here. Once I set up my Goals for 2016 and came up with a list of Actionable Items to achieve those goals, then I created a monthly Action Plan. My Action Plan is broken down into the five “Dan Duckworth” categories: Cash Flow Tools Technique Marketing Health There are two

Last week we talked about how to set your goals for 2016. If you didn’t read it or need a refresher, clearly you weren’t paying attention. You can read last week’s blog entry here. This week we’re going to talk about Actionable Items. For a long time I didn’t understand the difference between a goal and an Actionable Item. Once I was able to parse it my life became much easier on a Systems of Thought level. Having all the day-to-day as well as big picture crap in my head in a

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fun & safe holiday season. Back to reality! Usually at the beginning of the year I write about how to set your annual goals. I’ve done that a bunch of times and it’s kind of old hat. This year I’m doing something slightly different. This time, I’ll list some of my 2016 goals and walk you through my Systems of Thought to demonstrate how I came to them. If you wanna read what I wrote last year about habits & goals, click here and then here.

2015 is almost oh-vah! Done! Kaput! And what a year it was. I usually take this end-o-year blog to do a little self-indulgent recap and post my Top 5 Top 5 Lists. I love lists, don’t you…? Top 5 Blog Entries (based on your engagement) Voiceovers And The Reality Check Voiceovers And Facebook Friends Voiceovers And Why We Suck At LinkedIn 10 Questions I’m Asked About My Voiceover Career Voiceovers And cold Calling Top 5 New Films (released in 2015 that I saw this year) Ex Machi

I was a theater major in college. With that comes rehearsing & performing tons of scenes and monologues in class. Almost 25 years later, I still remember one particular monologue a fellow student of mine did. She played Ophelia from Hamlet but instead of doing a monologue (did Ophelia even have any monologues?), she took a scene and removed all of the lines except Ophelia’s. I was very uncomfortable watching it for what I think are two reasons: The monologue made no sense. Sh

2016 is only two weeks away. What better time for a reality check? 🙂 I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what makes a voice talent successful. I believe (and I’ve felt this way for a long time) that Systems of Thought are everything. The way you think about life has a massive influence over how you live it. With that in mind, here are four words that are a part of most aspiring voice talents’ Systems of Thought that can be quite damaging: Break Connections Competition Luck

Your best client from last year is already planning to replace you and they may not even realize it. If you can’t tell me exactly how many clients you lost last quarter, you aren't running a business; you’re maintaining a hobby that occasionally pays you.

I love doing accents. Before I was a voice talent, I used to do accents all the time. It was fun playing around with them growing up. And...

Hello and Happy Bird Day, Peculiar People Day, and of course Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe & fun New Year celebration. Like everyone else, I’m all geeked up to start 2015 right with lofty goals and good habits. I would like to take a moment to look back at 2014 before we mush on. Without getting into too much detail, 2014 was fantastic for me. It was my best year ever professionally and I made strides on many levels personally. I’m still working on the weight los

Hello and Happy National Left Handers Day! Southpaws unite!!! I’m a lefty, are you? NEWS AND NOTES! Last week I sent out my newsletter....

Hello and Happy post-Fourth! Also known as the 5th, 6th, 7th, etc. Do you still have all of your fingers, toes, and livers? I have so...

Hello and Happy April Fool’s Day! I’d try to come up with something clever to fool y’all with, but you guys are too savvy for me. Did I...

Hello and Happy Pecan Day and International Waffle Day! Not to be confused with National Waffle Day because that would be sacrilege. NEWS...

In the 20+ years I’ve been pursuing acting (theater, film, TV, and voice), I’ve had the pleasure of encountering many wonderful people,...

If I haven’t told you before, my favorite type of voiceover is audio books. Mostly because I had extensive theater training and I can get...

Hello and Happy Mexican Flag Day! Enjoy your celebration of “Religion, Independence, and Unity”. Viva Dia de la Bandera! NEWS AND NOTES!...

Hello and welcome to the last GKN Weekly Update of 2013! Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve fall on Tuesdays this year so that kind of mucks things up. Once again I bring you my Top Five Top Five Lists of 2013! It went over pretty well last year so I thought I’d do it again. Enjoy! Top Five “Professional Highlights of 2013″ Beat my 2012 sales with one month to spare Traveled to Charlotte, Philly, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio Spoke at FaffCamp, FaffCon 5, MCA-I, and multipl

I am fortunate to have great clients. I have many “regulars” who send me a steady stream of gigs and I am eternally grateful. One of the...

Hello and Happy National Hot Dog Day! I prefer mine with mustard, relish, and occasionally sauerkraut. You? FYI my Quarterly Newsletter...