Talented and witty UK voice talent Philip Banks posted a blog article yesterday titled Success and the new (or not so new) Voice Actor in which he listed 10 steps for success as a voice actor. I particularly liked #9:

You practise failure or success by the day
so ensure that you do something every day for your Voice Over career.
Keep a record of what you do and of the progress you make.

Coincidentally, the very story I wanted to relate today, on this first day of 2009, is about that very point. Once again, I’m going to quote another talented voice actor.

On p43 of the book Secrets of Voice-Over Success: Top Voice-Over Actors Reveal How They Did It, nationally-recognized promo voice talent Joe Cipriano offers the best and most charming explanation I’ve ever read about why you need to do something every day for your voice-over career. Here for your reading pleasure and call to action are Joe’s words:

My first acting teacher in Los Angeles, Wayne Dvorak, told a story one day that always stayed with me. He asked, “Why do some people make it, while others don’t?” There are many answers, but his story was this: When you work towards your dream, a little red light glows on top of your head. When you stop or are distracted, the light dims or goes off completely.

It’s important to keep the light glowing brightly and consistently. Why? Because the Gods of Making Dreams Come True are sitting up there in the heavens and looking down. Their joy is to help people fulfill their dreams. They just need to know how much you want it, and they can only see you if your red light is on.

So, keep working at your dream. Devote one hour a day, that’s all — just one hour a day — but make it every day, and do something that moves you toward your goal. Whether it’s a workshop, or study, or writing cards and letters, or working on your demo, or making calls, whatever it is, do it for one hour every day.

You’ll be amazed at how you’ll make progress, and your light will shine brightly. You’ll make it easy for the Gods of Making Dreams Come True to find you.

Since I’ve written recently about creating a road map for your success, Joe’s story perfectly illustrates the famous quote from Lao-tzu: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

The single step today may not seem like much, but the cumulative effect of daily effort is awesome!

Photo: BlackJack3D, iStockPhoto

Karen Commins

Karen Commins is an award-winning, professional audiobook narrator, producer, publisher, writer, and leading curator of information about the audiobook industry. In addition to earning a BA in broadcast journalism and MS in computer information systems, Karen has completed extensive specialized training in voiceover and audiobook narration technique, as well as digital audio production. She's also the chief cartographer of NarratorsRoadmap.com.

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