The human mind is a morphic entity. One of its interesting abilities is the ability of believing in things that fly in the face of statistical logic and what many would say is real. While having the ability to distinguish fact from fiction is a highly useful tool, so is the ability to believe, to conjure up dreams and make them real.
This is one of the reasons that propaganda works so well on the mind. If a message is delivered with conviction and repetition, the human psyche often accedes. Especially if the propaganda if accepted by a mind that is already conditioned or agrees with the message delivered. While the negative consequences of propaganda are well documented through an examination of religious and nationalistic policies from past history and present global politics, the ability to use such techniques on oneself and others can also be used for kinder, gentler purposes. Marketing is a form of propaganda, though in (hopefully) less antagonistic and brutal methodology. To to what we do, we do need to apply some of these techniques to ourselves. We need to market and pitch what we are doing in such a way that we believe it with conviction and confidence. In the beginning we need to do this constantly until we "buy-in" to ourselves. In short, we need to be our own best friend and cheerleader for ourselves, the home team. This has to become second nature, with no hesitation. Repeat until you know what you are, what you do, how to do it and how to present it to a client. This is a competitive business. Many people are in the fray, and grabbing for the ring. It's a VO stampede! It's so crowded, that many people give up after several months, especially when faced with the growing realization just how much time, effort, networking, marketing, hardware and software upgrades and overall education it takes to truly succeed in such a niche field and artform. This is why in the face of logic, we need to keep dreaming and making our minds strong with conviction. We need to make our voice over part of what we are to our core until it's second nature. Not just speaking into a microphone, but also acting, self-promotion and business efforts too. This isn't a job for the shy. You should be trying to have people like and hear you constantly. This is hard to implement, especially for those that have been told humbleness is a virtue. Yes, being humble is a virtue. But understand that you can be humble and confident at once. Many people get confused between confidence and arrogance. Confidence is knowing what you are doing and knowing you have a service to provide others. Arrogance is thinking you know more than others and others owe you something. This last statement is key. One of the things we should think of, to keep ourselves humble is that our self belief is ultimately armor to help ourselves serve clients. We need to believe in ourselves so clients can believe in us. If the client believes in us, it allows us to help the client. If we are allowed to help the client, then we can help their customers believe in them and their message. It's an ever widening ripple effect. Most businesses, no matter how seemingly cold, are at their heart stories about relationships. And voiceover is especially about relationships. We specialize in conversation, in storytelling, in making notions into dreams, dreams into reality for ourselves and ultimately for our customers. This is why at the heart of it all, we need to self-indoctrinate, and promote to ourselves first. We need to believe in what we say more strongly than anyone else. When we work a gig, we need to show palpable confidence and humbleness at the same time. We do this so through our sense of self we can then allow ourselves to inhabit the dreams and messages of others and infuse those messages with life and character of their own. And that ultimately begins inside us.
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AuthorJust a dude pretending to be a dude, pretending to be another guy. Also loves to illustrate, draw, and play Ukulele in an enthusiastic and untrained fashion. Archives
May 2019
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