Why be a mentor?

Have you ever thought about being a mentor to someone who has a dream of getting into the same profession that you are in? Or maybe you already are mentoring someone and have realized that you are the one who is being blessed in the process. . I happen to be in the voice over and music industries, but I believe that no matter what field you are in, whether you are in the psychological, technological or engineering fields, it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that there is someone out there who would like to learn more about what you do and how you got where you are right now.

When I first began my voice over training, I was mentored along the way by a very dear friend who has been in the voice over business for many years. He talked to me about the ins and outs of the voice over field, what to do, what not to do, the audition process, and so much more.

One of the things that I have discovered about the voice over industry is that there are so many people who are willing to give back. We are truly like family, and that is something to cherish.

The music industry has also been a part of my life for a very long time, and anyone who knows me knows how much I love to sing.

It’s funny how things come full circle because now I’m getting the chance to mentor a very bright 9 year-old little girl who has a dream of entering the music industry. One thing is for sure. I have learned more from her than I would have ever imagined. She has encouraged me to continue to challenge myself, to stretch and to grow.

I find mentoring to be a responsibility, but also very enjoyable.

If you are mentoring someone, I congratulate you. If not, try it. You might like it.

Tina Wilson
voiceover artist/vocalist
https://www.tinawilsontalent.com

I just read a very interesting article that really caught my attention.   It was written by Ann Utterback, Ph.D. Voice Specialist. It was entitled:

“Health: Beware: Sitting is the new smoking: “Get up to add years to your life.” Ann’s full article can be found on voiceoverxtra.com.

In the article, she talks about how sitting at our jobs for so many hours a day without moving can cause serious health problems such as diabetes, obesity or cancer. I certainly don’t mean to burst your bubble. So let’s get to the good news in all of this.    There is actually good news out of all of this if we begin to take precautionary measures right now. In fact, if we take these precautionary measures, we can actually add years to our lives.

If you are like me, you sit at your computer a lot, and my closest friends know that I sit at my computer way too much. Well, this particular article really got me thinking.

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a project where you are really concentrating on getting a deadline met, and you feel the pressure on you to get the job done as quickly as possible? I think we’ve all been there, where we find ourselves, not moving for several hours, and not even thinking about it, right?

Here are some ideas which I’ve decided to implement after reading Anne’s article, and hopefully, will help those of you who are in the same predicament:

1. Setting an alarm as a reminder to get up and move once every half hour to an hour. Just taking a five to ten minute walk or stretch helps to put things in perspective and gets those muscles moving.

2. While talking on the phone, stand up, walk around.

3. Take a short walk around the block every so often, get out of your office, cubicle or studio, and get some fresh air.

4. Get up and get a glass of water. Hydration matters.

5. When watching tv, get up and stretch during the commercials.

6. If you’re on a trip in the car or on a plane, stand and stretch every hour.

7. Have walking meetings instead of breakfast meetings.

I think you get the idea.

So, on that note, Whatever it takes,  let’s move, move, move!

Tina Wilson

Voiceover artist/vocalist

www.tinawilsontalent.com

Enjoy the journey!

Do you ever wonder, when you are watching an extremely famous person being interviewed on television, what’s their story. Who helped them get their big break, and how did their dreams finally come true. In most cases, it seems, we never hear the inside stories. I’ve often wondered, Now that they’ve made it, so to speak, are they happier on the inside or can it be lonely at the top.

You look at a person who has trained and trained for years to win that gold medal in the Olympics. Every day was a day of constant discipline. No matter what happened, they kept their eyes on the prize. I’ve often wondered, Did they enjoy the journey along the way or once their dream came true, did they say,  “What do I do now?”

If we stop to think about it, life as we know it, is a journey all of its own. It’s hard to live in the moment. We’re either looking back at the past or wondering about the future.

 

As I continue pursuing my own goals in the voiceover and music fields, I have to continue to remind myself to not forget about the importance of maintaining personal goals  as well as professional goals like keeping in touch with old friends, spending quality time with family,  or maybe just getting away from it all for a few days. I believe that our personal journeys are just as important as our professional journeys and at least for me because I love to travel, when I get away for a few days, I come back refreshed and ready to dive in to the projects that need to be done.

I wonder how many people would say that for them, pursuing their dream was even more fun and exciting than their dream actually coming true!

One of my favorite quotes goes like this:

“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, and that is why we call it the present. So why not just enjoy the journey while the journey is ours to enjoy!

Have you ever noticed that when you attend networking events, (if you attend them at all), that you’ll see two different groups of people. The first group will stand around all evening with the friends that they came with, enjoying drinks and appetizers. Then the second group will move out and mingle with as many people as they can, passing out and collecting business cards.

Actually, there’s a third group of people. These are the people who hate networking events and avoid them like the plague.

I happen to be someone who loves face to face networking. To me, there’s nothing like that personal touch. I enjoy listening to everyone’s stories, making new friends and building relationships. In fact, I’m one of these people who will arrive at a networking event about 15 minutes before it actually begins, just to quietly settle in and get the feel of the room.

For those of you who avoid networking events altogether, you may feel more comfortable with social networking which you can do in the privacy of your own home. Whichever category you fall into really doesn’t matter. What matters most is that you are engaging in what makes you feel most comfortable when it comes to building up your business.

Between face to face networking, social networking, answering the many emails you receive in a day, and returning phone calls, I’ve come to one conclusion. Don’t you think we all need 48 hours in our

If Only

Have you ever had one of those tossing and turning nights  where you just couldn’t sleep? If you haven’t, I’d love to know what your secret is. I think we’ve all been there. In fact, I think we are a sleep deprived nation, but that’s a subject for another time.

I found myself experiencing one of those nights last night. I began thinking about the last audition which I sent to one of my agents, and I thought, If only I had read that line this way instead of that way. That was my first mistake. I kept going on from there. I went on to more if only’s.

If only I had chosen another major in college. If only I had started acting lessons when I was 10. Just think of where I could be now that I’m, well, we won’t go there. If only I wasn’t a procrastinator. If only I was making enough money to take  my dream vacation to Brazil.

We’ve all had times like this, and we could go on and on and on. Right?

In this business, I’ve learned that auditions are going to come and go, and you cannot take anything personally. I’ve learned that when I don’t get the job, I am not the one who is being rejected, but that they are looking for a different type of voice and that it may have nothing to do with my read.

When I first entered the voiceover business, I never realized what a challenge it would be, but I love the challenge, and besides that, it’s fun. I would tell any newcomer to this business,  just do the best you can, and then let it go. When you stop having fun with it, maybe it’s time to go on to something else. You just can’t take yourself too seriously.

I believe that the words that we say to ourselves are vital. When you start saying words like If only or What if, you can eventually make yourself crazy. I think that finding a peace with what we are doing in our lives and where we are at right now is what’s important.

So by the time I got myself to say, Oh well, tomorrow’s another day, and there will be more auditions to come, I finally went to sleep. But there was just one If only that I couldn’t get out of my mind. If only I had enough money to take my dream vacation to Brazil!

Well, it’s that time of year again. How many times have we all made new years resolutions that usually go by the wayside about a week after we’ve made them. Because of that, this year, rather than using the term resolutions, I’d like to use the term goals because the term goals is something that I think most of us will take a little more seriously.

As I began looking back on my voice-over business, and the developments that took place last year, I made note of the things that didn’t work well, and the things that worked very well including new beginnings that I’d like to put in place for this year.

One of my new beginning goals, as I call them, is blogging. So welcome to my blog.

Another is getting out to more networking events, and I attended the first American Marketing Association mixer of this year, just a couple of days ago.

Setting goals does not mean that you have to set a goal that is so unattainable that it’s virtually impossible to accomplish. You simply begin with what’s right for you, and for each individual, it’s different. Another thought would be to remind yourself of those goals on a daily basis. Post them on your refrigerator or on your wall, whatever it takes.

To me, a new year means a new beginning, and a new beginning is an adventure. Are you ready for an adventure?

Thank you notes you say? Who does those any more. And What about hand written thank you notes.  Now you probably think I’ve totally lost it. Isn’t  the thank you note considered to be quite archaic and very old fashion in the thoughts of the millennial generation these days?Besides, you can just send a quick thank you email right?Or maybe just saying thank you to the person before they walk out the dorr will suffice or you can even send a quick text.  The possibilities are endless!  Who needs to write a note.

Being that we are at the height of the holiday season where gifts are exchanged, cards are sent and festive meals are put together, I began to think about the thank you note and how it seems to have become a lost art. Who has time any more when we have so many projects calling our attention.

When you’ve established  an excellent rapport with a client, and you’ve come to really appreciate working with them, after the job has been completed, what do you do?

On a more personal note, I’ve attended weddings where I’ve really taken time to search out just the right gift, and all of a sudden, when the marriage is about three months old, I’ll think to myself, I did give them a gift didn’t I? Did they ever  receive it?

Now, there’s nothing wrong with sending a thank you email, and there’s nothing wrong with running to the store and grabbing a box of thank you notes that you can write in. But why is it that every once in a while, it might be a good idea to write a hand written thank you note.

I believe that a hand written thank you note says to a colleague or a close friend, You took the time for me. So I’m taking the time for you. When you write a note that is totally written in your own words, You are saying to your friend or colleague, You are important and you are worth it.

Once you do something like this every so often, you might just discover that that little extra special touch goes a long way.

Have you ever thought about the kind of energy you send out to your coworkers from day to day, and have you also thought about the kind of energy they send back to you?Have you also thought about the kind of energy that you’d like to be sending out to them?

I’ve so often heard it said that when you smile at someone, although you may not realize it,   your smile may be just the smile that that person needed on that particular day.

The person who walks in to work late or the person who may have experienced a huge battle in traffic on their way to work that morning  is most likely going to send out negative energy when they enter the work place.

On the other hand, the person who has had a great weekend will walk in on a Monday morning sending out positive vibes.

I believe that we all have choices. We can either choose to go in to work dwelling on the  traffic battle that we experienced before we arrived or the  argument we had with our spouse just before we left,   or we can let  those things go  and allow ourselves to  be   present in the moment. It’s really up to us.

I’ve read that it takes at least 30 days to form a new habit, and this would include any type of habit from changing your eating habits to changing attitude habits.

I believe that there would be a lot less conflict in the work place if we all took the time to do three things:

1:  Think before we speak.

2: Leave our personal issues outside the door.

3:  When you feel an argument coming on, take a time out. drop the matter before it escalates.

Positive or negative. The choice is yours.

As a voice talent and vocalist, very often, I talk with people who say, How fun that would be! Isn’t it glamorous? Maybe I should go in to show biz! I could make big money! I’ve also discovered that many people love to have a microphone in their hand. This is why karaoke clubs have become so popular.

But honestly, if you’re looking for a get rich quick scheme, show biz may not be for you.

I love what I do or I wouldn’t be doing it whether it be recording in my little home studio or performing on stage, and yes, I do have fun with it. But there is a lot of work involved that noone sees unless you are really looking behind the scenes.

Most voice talents have their own studios now which means that we can be called to work at any time whether it be weekends or even late at night  For those of us who have clients emailing scripts from European countries that needed to be completed yesterday. This has been called a 24 7 business. The recording portion is a minor portion of the work involved. We are now audio engineers as well as Marketing Directors. You have to market your business in order to build it up. Right?  We are required to wear several different hats.

Besides all of this, in order to keep our skills sharp, it is also recommended that we spend some time on a daily basis doing cold reading. By cold reading, I mean, picking up a magazine article or newspaper article that we’ve never touched and reading it out loud. What is the purpose of this? When we are called in to a recording studio or when we are called to read in front of an agent, and we are handed scripts on the spur of the moment, our jobs are to put ourselves in to the character as quickly as possible, and make our reads as conversational as we can. In other words, when we are in studio, time is money, and you’ve got to hit that home run in as few takes as possible. If the client gets what he’s looking for in a reasonable amount of time, then you end up establishing good relationships and getting more work.

There are also classes to attend, voiceover workout groups to become a part of, and social networking sites to be affiliated with.

All of this being said, I wouldn’t be doing anything else other than what I’m doing now. You do it for the love of it.

So I say, if you’re thinking about pursuing this type of career, give it a try, but before you go soaring off in to the clouds, remember, there’s no business like show business, but it’s still a business.        

When I first began writing these little articles, several months ago, I talked about networking. It’s a subject that I find fascinating. Many people are afraid of it, but many people thrive on it at the same time.

We all know that we need to network whether it’s face to face networking or social networking in order to grow our businesses. But I hope that, at the same time, networking is also important to you because you want to build relationships, just for the sake of building relationships. People have made life long friends through networking, and not just through attending networking events, but through participating on a Board of Directors of the organization of your choice.

I am very excited because in a couple of months, I will be participating as Chairman of the Programming Committee for the Orange County Los Angeles chapter of the American Advertising Federation. Will there be a lot of work and a lot of responsibility? You bet there will, but I’m feeling that the rewarding part is going to come from those close relationships that I will develop from sitting on the board.

Christine Oller, Change Strategist, suggests three fresh approaches to networking:

#1

Networking is actually more about listening than talking. To network with someone
is to make a genuine, quality connection with them. In order to do that, you must
engage them as the person they are, not as the job they do.

#2

Networking is truly one of the most powerful and yet one of the most underutilized
tools that each of us has in our toolkits. And, by using it, you can start to change
your life without first changing your circumstances.

#3

When you are networking, There’s no desperation. You are not begging for a job.
You are presenting folks with information that they or someone they know might find
helpful now or at some point in the future. The more people that you educate, the
more people you will have out in the world effectively educating other people about
you.

So there you have it. Some food for thought.

Happy summer, and happy networking!