Without delusions of grandeur I would not have …
… Started a book, let alone finish it
… Jumped head first to become a professional voice over talent
… Or created Chapter & Voice, a cutting edge new business for writers

Nope, delusions of grandeur can be our best friend. Our delusions of greatness help motivate us to chase after our best life with abandon, even if it appears too ambitious to other people. Who cares if they can’t imagine our dreams of “what if” coming true? We can.

Someone asked me recently, “What would you do if you knew that you couldn’t fail?”

My answer, “Exactly what I’m doing right now.” It’s true and my delusions of grandeur helped get me here.

For delusions of grandeur to morph into reality takes long hours and hard work every day. Dreaming isn’t enough to make our delusions materialize – it requires diligent practice, unwavering focus, and skin so thick it resembles elephant hide.

Having delusions of a five-book deal with Random House keeps me taking classes, going to conferences, and plugging away on writing projects.

My earnest wish of finally becoming a narrator for the Discovery Channel or NatGeo keeps me auditioning and practicing my “conversational, natural” reading style.

Knowing an AudioTeaser (much like this one) will help writers market their books, fuels my dreams that Chapter & Voice will become the essential promotion tool that I know it can be.

Delusions of grandeur give us the strength to keep going.

LISTEN to the Audio Teaser of Embrace Your Delusions

When we want to give up and call it a career, delusions show us what is possible, if we just try once more. Our delusions of success help us shrug off the ten rejections we received via email to submit another day. Delusions tell us to get out of bed, fix our hair and slap on some lip-gloss, and go take the next risk that will breathe life into our dreams.

Believe in your delusions of grandeur and use them as a road map to where to want to go. Celebrate your visions of what will be “when you finally _____________.” Throw a party in anticipation of your impending success. Then, work your ass off to get there.

Our delusions of grandeur are only delusions if we don’t try.

“Professional” is a word that is thrown around pretty frequently, but how do you define it? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary points out a few, but the most relevant definition for our purposes is, “(1) : characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession (2) : exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace.”

Where do you start using your voice to sound professional?

1. Social Media

If you don’t have professional social networking accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In, sign up today. To make sure you are portraying a professional voice and image, don’t neglect spell check, and be sure to proofread everything you write, even a casual comment. You might even decide to start blogging—just make sure it’s done with great care. Social media serves as a valuable customer service tool, so it is imperative to monitor and manage these sites regularly to show you are active, and address customers’ questions, comments, and issues.

2. Your Voicemail

At home, on your cell, or at the office, be sure to have a professional voicemail greeting anywhere you might receive a business call. Speak clearly and slowly, and be sure ask the caller for their name, message, and call back number. A message that says “Hey it’s Dave, I’m screening your call” isn’t going to win over many clients or receive any job offers.

3. Your Phones

Your phone is another place where sounding professional matters. Be sure to take the time to recording any IVR announcements and Messages On Hold clearly and with a interest in your voice. Remember: what callers hear on your phone line can be one of the first impressions they have of your company. On the phone, callers will literally hear your voice (even if it’s a professional voice talent, not yourself, speaking)

Of course, these are just the first steps, where to begin when you start thinking about finding professionalism. Being professional starts with you—and your voice.

Juli Durante is a Marketing Associate at Holdcom, a leading provider of Message on Hold and voice production services. Visit them online at www.holdcom.com

Quality Narration & Audio Engages Audience

Creating an eLearning program takes planning. A lot of planning. Development teams have hours of pre-productions ahead of them. They must determine the scope of their project, establish their target audience, and settle on a budget before one line of code is written or scripts are printed.

E-Learning Demo

Each of these project elements are clamoring for attention and it’s easy to delay one critical piece of a success presentation until the end. We’re talking audio narration and production.

Some project producers might wait to finalize a script, hire a voice talent, and secure a studio to record, edit, and sweeten the project until everything else is complete. But with all the time and money spent in producing an engaging and compelling eLearning program, the last thing you want is a sloppy audio and narration.

“You can save money and time if you involve audio professionals in the planning stages of the project,” said Don Ross, an award winning audio engineer at Don Ross Productions. “We can help make your eLearning program sound as good as it looks.”

Hiring a professional voice talent and audio engineer before you start winding down your eLearning project makes the difference between a cohesive presentation and uneven one. When you have an audio team in place, they can help with your scripts in process, even record scratch tracks so you can hear how it will sound. A professional narrator can work with you on pacing, tone, and style of read so your program keeps your target audience engaged. The audio engineer can help you determine the best levels and output and can give you the heads up on any issues with formatting before the project is put to bed.

As your production team sits down to start planning the next eLearning program, consider lining up a professional voice talent and audio engineer to from the start to bring your project to life.

For more information on Don Ross: www.donrossproductions.com

No one wants to be shouted at during a commercial. There is a time and place for the hard sell — but most clients would rather have a happy, personable voice explaining their products as opposed to an aggressive one telling them what to do.

** Fun and Happy**

When hiring a voice talent, it’s important to consider who your audience is and then, what you want those people to do once they’ve heard your ad.  Do you want them to go to your website? Hit the showroom? Put it on their grocery list?  Once you know that…then hire your voice talent to match your call to action.

Here’s my advice: Friendly works better than “shouty.”  Conversational works better than stiff.  A smile sells more than a pointy finger.

**Natural and Confident**

Hire a professional voice talent when you want to talk to your potential audience because, chances are, you’ll get even more than you expected.

Contact me for more info: vo [dot] jojojense [at] gmail [dot] com

ABANDON SHIP… (character)

I FEEL SMARTER ALREADY (eLearning)

Mmmmm…BAKED GOODS (commercial)

FM or AM? (radio Imaging)

Need a customized demo? Just ask! Have Voice…will send it anywhere.

Me in Don Ross' Studio

Have you ever heard…

• Wow…you have a great voice! You should do commercials.
• With all your crazy voices you could be on the Cartoon Network.
• Are you on the radio?

That’s how many people get started, but it takes more than just a good voice to get work as a voice talent.  It takes hours of practice, killer reading skills, and the ability to accept feedback with grace.

One of the easiest ways to begin building your VO career is to take classes (one class isn’t going to cut it).  In classes, you can get behind a microphone and read.  Learn to listen to playback with an objective ear.  Gain critique from industry professionals so you know what’s working and what isn’t.  Sorry, your mom giving you the thumbs up does not count.

The Internet has opened up a world of opportunity for voice talents, but the competition for gigs is fierce. An in-demand voice talent has to be consistent, focused, and not make a ton of mistakes. That’s where training comes in.  With hours of practice behind a microphone supporting them, a good voice talent is able to read one sentence or paragraph over and over with different intonation or make it sound exactly the same each time.  They can read long form text for hours and maintain their focus.  A well-trained voice talent can take the feedback from a director or producer and re-read the script to give them exactly what they were looking for.

Becoming a voice talent takes commitment, practice and more practice.  If you take the time to master the skills it takes to become brilliant voice talent, you can compete in the global market.  Take a class. It’s a great first step.

I work with Don Ross, award winning audio engineer and owner of Don Ross Productions leading voice over classes in Eugene, Oregon.  To get more information on class schedules: email eugenevoclasses@gmail.com

A little Mantra is good for the soul — and the hair!

That is how one becomes a better voice talent.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Teaming up with Don Ross, Award winning audio engineer, we are offering voice over workshops.

Intro Classes where you learn the basic skills of what it means to be a voice talent.

Next class:

Saturday July 17th, 9am – 1pm

• Intermediate Classes where all you do is read and record copy, and gain real time feedback.

Next class: June 26, 9am – 19m

• Advanced classes that include more specialized skills: Narration, Characters, Audio book and long format skills

Next Class: Email for details – Send email

Up your skills. Get practice. Have fun!

HIRE ME!

As a Voice Talent: Demos

My friend KC said it best:  I work for myself, so I work half days. I just have to decide which 12 hours those will be!