April 23, 1996.
A nervous young man walks into a recording studio in Manhattan. He clutches a cassette tape of his demo in hopes of giving it to someone there that can help his virtually non-existent career. He’s greeted warmly by Marie and Russell, the producers who gave this fledgling voice talent a shot. He steps into the booth with a young woman, also very friendly and accommodating, who is more than happy to give the lad some pointers. He positions himself in front of the microphone, clears his throat, waits for his cue, then out comes this:
April 25, 2016.
I’m sitting in a cafe in New York City having breakfast. In a few minutes I’ll head to a recording studio not too far from where I recorded my first. I do the math and figure out I’ve done about 2,000 voiceovers since that day. That’s 2,000 times someone has taken a chance on me. 2,000 times I was entrusted to tell their story. 2,000 times I was asked to be the voice of their product, their service, their livelihood. And as I sit here, clacking away at my laptop, one question keeps running through my head:
How did I get so lucky to have a 20th Voice-aversary?
TIP OF THE WEEK
As you know, I don’t believe in luck. See my ramblings about luck here. To rephrase, what confluence of events led me to keep doing the thing I love for 20 years? Trust me; luck, talent, and connections have nothing to do with it. So how?
I really, really, really wanted to do voiceovers and nobody could tell me otherwise.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t just decide I wanted to do it and start doing it. It took me a year to get my first gig. It took me ten years to go full-time. It took me another five years to become truly successful and well-known in the industry. Many of my initial career decisions were made out of ignorance, insecurity, and fear and I should be much farther along in my career than I am now. Or should I?
If you want to do something you love and do it for a long time, here’s my advice:
Be a student. Learn everything you can, practice hard & smart, and stay up-to-date.
Be a good listener. Taking direction in the booth, on the field, or at the sales meeting is critical.
Be kind to everyone. Always strive to give and share. Karma is real.
Thank you to Marie and Russell of RCM Broadcast Communications for starting me on my path to success. I’m eternally grateful!
HAPPY HAPPYS!
Happy Pretzel Day and Sense of Smell Day!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, GKN News…
Tom Dheere is a 20-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”.