I once went to a seminar taught by a #1 NY Times bestselling author.
She didn’t reach #1 by buying thousands of copies of her own book as some people do.
This woman was the real deal, and I’ll never forget what she said.
She said being #1 is over-rated. You’re still a bundle of nerves and you’re always watching your back for the next author to knock you off the list.
Carly Simon was famous for her lack of confidence and stage fright and so was TV personality Al Roker.
Being famous might make you money, but it can’t buy confidence.
Lesson learned?
Never let confidence get in the way of success.
In fact, postponing action while you wait for confidence has caused more regret and more frustration than just about anything else I know.
So how do you gain more confidence about your voice over career?
The answer may surprise you and it’s the subject of this week’s Inside Voice Over Video Training blog.
The topic this week, confidence. So the question is how do you get more of it? I mean, you’re starting a new voiceover career. You can be nervous, you could be a little freaked out. You want to do this, but you just don’t feel the confidence that you need.
Well, first of all, let’s talk a little bit about the misunderstanding about where confidence comes from. People tend to think it comes from material things like having a lot of money, and cars and the way you look, things that are fleeting that can change from day to day or even disappear. Well actually the true roots of confidence are virtue. Check this out. So confidence is really an inner quality.
It’s not something we get from anything external and I was researching virtue and I came across a really cool sort of a blog by a guy named Chuck Chapman, the Good Man Project. So he lists 25 qualities of virtue and I’m not going to give you all 25 but I found seven that I thought were really great that apply directly to your voiceover career.
The first is humility. I mean, you really have to stand in the fact that you’ve not done this before. We’re always learning and that kind of humbleness is something that’s very attractive and it really works for you as an actor. The second is authenticity. Now that’s the thing first… The number one thing we want is voice talent. We don’t want to sound fake or phony in any way and authenticity means showing up flaws and all. When you think about it, our most loved actors are the most authentic.
The third thing is excellence, and that is trying to improve and get better just a little bit every single day. You got to work at it, improving every day. The fourth is gratitude. Being grateful. Grateful for the great people you get to work with, just grateful for your life, your health, everything that you have that also makes you shine from within. Fifth is commitment. Commitment to improving, commitment to getting this done. Commitment to actually making it in this business, to serving your customers.
The sixth is tenacity. That’s hanging in there day after day. I realized early on in my career that I had very little control over whether or not I got picked for a job, but I had complete control over my tenacity not giving up. And then the final is integrity. That one speaks for itself. So I hope these are helpful. Think about them when you lack confidence and I think you’re going to find it helpful.
Watch this week’s short training video Here Now
After you watch the video be sure to leave a comment. I always love to hear from you so I can support you as you grow your voice over career.
To your voice over success,
Susan Berkley,
Founder, The Great Voice Company
P.S. When you’re ready, the first step is my VO Start Here program including a professional voice consultation with our talent advisor and my Perfect Performance on-line training.
To get started, click here now
