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Voice Coaches Radio #422 – How to Succeed Even When You Fail – The Spring Round Up
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And welcome into this week's edition of Voice Coaches Radio. I'm Josh. I hear you, Sam. Feeling a little sing y today. It was beautiful. Thank you, man, I appreciate that. I almost jumped in, but I didn't want to ruin it. Oh, we could have harmonized, buddy. It would have been pretty sweet. That would have been awesome.
Right? Totally would have been. Totally would have been. That's all right. God, your voice sounds so good today, Josh. What are you doing differently? I am, uh, you know, I'm, uh, Gargling with, uh, I'm, I'm not drinking cough, I'm, uh, nothing, man, I got a better microphone. That's beautiful. I got a better microphone.
You're coming through so, uh, in my ears, it's like, ooh, it's music, your voice. That's, that's the difference because the microphone I had been using was probably about 100. The microphone I'm currently using is 400. Probably about a lot more than that. Uh, so, on the one hand, uh, I love it, on the other hand, I'm terrified I'm gonna break it.
Don't, don't break it. I won't. I can't afford that. Yeah, no, Brett will be very, very angry. I can't afford it, let's be perfectly honest. I cannot afford that, so, uh. Yeah, so hey, listen, you're the one who's talking on a, you know, 1, 500 microphone in there. This is true. This is true. Let's call the only reason I sound so good on this thing is the microphone is incredible in this studio.
It's really fun to work on. Uh, so, uh, it's, uh, what is it? It's April already? It is April. I think by the time this actually drops, we're going to be talking in May. I mean, this, by the time this, we're, we're, we've had so much happening that I feel like by the time this drops, it might be like July and, uh, in which case, uh, maybe I'll have actually done something.
I hope so. Yeah. So today what we want to talk about is we want to talk, uh, we didn't get to do our March recap, which we had promised to do previously, but we, April got, so it got away from us. We, we neglected to get. a March recap in the mix, so we're going to do a spring recap, yeah, yeah, but that is okay.
Now we have more to talk about, hypothetically, right Josh? I mean, we, we, we, the answer is yes, we should. We should have more to talk about. Do we actually have more to talk about? That's, that's a different story. Well, we should have more to talk about for sure. I can't wait, I can't wait to find out if we have more.
Uh, I mean, there's, I mean, It was a better month than February. Good. That's a good start. So that's so that that's good because February was uh, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't do anything in February. I basically did nothing. Right. Um, so that was disappointing. You got sick. That's true. I, I, I, or something like that pneumonia.
No, I just the flu, the flu, the flu. Um, But no, uh, so March was a better, better month. Um, was it a good month? I would not, I would not phrase it that way per se, but it was better. But you did do some work. I did. So what did you do? What was your goal that you'd set out to do and where did you end up? So my goal was to start giving out more business cards.
Yeah. Start reaching out to, uh, to more people and more companies and, um, and basically just, just get, get going. Um, and I did give out some business cards, uh, not as many as I would have liked to have probably only about, you know, five to 10. Um, and still something that's good. It is, it is. And so, so there was There was that as far as reaching out to businesses, some of the people that I gave business cards to, um, who I already knew, uh, own businesses or, or have their own business and kind of used it as a, as a kickstart way to do that.
Uh, so, so I was happy about that. Um, did I do it as much as I should have? The answer is no. Um, the, the answer is no, I didn't do it to quite the degree I should have, but I, I did start to do. Something, uh, which is better than nothing, so they say. Yeah, and well that's, that's true. We can always do more, right?
There's always a million things we can do, and I don't know about you, but I often over, feel overwhelmed by the possibilities of all of the things that I could do, and then sometimes I find that actually debilitating because I'm like, well, I could do this, or I could do this, I could do that, oh, I don't know what to do, and then all of a sudden I have no time because I'm worried about all the things I could possibly do.
It totally is terrifying. Well, I mean, if you're trying to figure out what you should do, the best case scenario is to do nothing, right? That's, that's, I think that's what they say. The best case scenario is to do nothing if you don't know what to do? Yeah, if you have so much to do and you're trying to figure out what should I do and then just do nothing.
Just sit, sit back and let it happen? No, no, no, I'm saying if I get so overwhelmed I just usually just do nothing. Oh, well that's, that's a strategy I guess. I wouldn't recommend it. I don't know. The thing is I think doing something is still better than nothing or at least putting some energy out there You know, sometimes we can get unfocused.
Sometimes we can be unclear but like still putting out five handing out five business cards That's five more than you'd given out what? Ever. Ah, yes. Right? That'd be correct, sir. Exactly. That'd be correct, sir. And that's huge. That's a huge achievement, even though you didn't reach your actual goal. So, sometimes, I, there is, there is value in starting.
There is value in doing. There's value in putting yourself out there. So, I commend you, Josh. I'm really glad that you got that far. And since we are doing this, this recap of sorts, I did run my 5K. Oh, good. Yes. So, my first, my first race of the, Many, many, many I'm doing this year. I did my 5k. I was very happy, very happy with it.
Um, very happy with my time. I actually did pretty well. It's pretty happy. Uh, it was 24, 48, I think. And that was like 3. 1 miles. Is that what that 5k is? 3. 1 miles. So it's just a, just a, uh, a bit short of, or just a bit under eight minute mile. So I was, I was pretty happy with that. Um, and then I signed up for another, uh, another event, another race, which is not part of the 5, 10, 15 half full that I'm doing.
And this one was just, uh, someone asked if I wanted to be a part of it. It's a, uh, it's a relay that is taking place in August. It's called the peak. To Brew, peak to Brew. It starts at Whiteface Mountain and it goes to Saranac Brewery in Utica over the course of two days, 227 miles, and there are 12 of us doing it.
Um, and basically you run legs. Um. You know, you, you, I think every person has either three or four legs that you run, and uh, and you, you basically spend the rest of the time in a van. 127 miles? 227. 227. 227. Yeah, it starts on a Friday morning, it ends on a, uh, on a Saturday afternoon. Oh my gosh. Saturday evening.
Assuming you, assuming you do it well. Assuming you survive. Assuming you finish. Assuming you finish so someone they've people that I work out with have done this for a few years Uh, and somebody dropped out and they asked if I wanted to fill in and I was like, yeah, I love it That's awesome so that when actually it works out perfectly for me because That's right in the beginning of august which is about halfway between my 15k Which is the beginning of july and my half marathon, which is the beginning of september.
So it'll be a nice little uh Uh, nice little thing to do there. So, uh, yeah, it should be, uh, I think the most, the most you run overall, I think is about like 20 miles. Um, but it's broken up into like six miles or four miles or eight miles, 20 miles in total, 20 miles in total. So you're not doing a full, quite, quite a full marathon.
No, it would be, uh, I think the longest I think the person that has the longest of the the legs ends up running like 21 miles total. Oh, wow. And again, it's split up over four or over two days. Um, so you're not like doing that straight. That's that's for later. Now let me ask you this. When you do things like this, like you have this crazy marathon schedule that you're building up right now that you're doing right now.
When you do something like this, where you have to kind of commit, you are putting yourself out there. And you're, you're tackling this and you're preparing for it, correct? Like, you're running right now. Uh, I am. Not, not preparing as much as I probably should, but, uh, instead, but the thing was the five and the ten, I can, yeah.
But yes, I, as it, as it ramps up, I will absolutely be, uh, be upping my preparation for that. But do you find that doing this helps other areas of your life? Because, like, all of a sudden, in one area, you're actually kind of getting really organized, you're getting really effective, you're seeing momentum, you're seeing, you're using leverage of your own goals and your own work.
Does that, does that translate to other areas? Uh, it should. Does it? I'm not sure it does, but it definitely should. I should use it as a, uh, you know, as a, as a template for other parts of my life as well. Do I actually do that? That's debatable to be to be seen. But again, I haven't gotten into the, you know, the real, I haven't really trained.
I've just kind of started running a bit more. Uh, so as I get into, you know, the higher distances, I'm going to actually have to really Train, you know, I have a plan, which I, which I kind of have a basic plan, but that's not really going to get started until a little bit later. So once I get into that, will that kind of preparation and organization bleed over?
I hope so. And I think being aware that it can and that it should hopefully will make it do that. Yeah, that's, that's, that's the, I would, I would love for that to happen. That would be a very. Uh, happy coincidence, you know, when I did, I've only run one half marathon and I'm not a runner like you are. And, but what I did find more half marathons than I've ever run, but you're going to be doing like significantly more over time.
Like I, that's really, I did, it was like one and done. And it was a blast. But what I got out of it, truthfully, if I am so honest with you, Josh, one of the biggest takeaways from running my half marathon, there's a lot. Nipple chafing. Yes, that did happen. Oh, that's the worst, right? That aside. That is the worst.
Sorry. It was, no, no, it's true. And I'm actually, I'm very, I'm feeling a little, I just PTSD about it right now. I feel nervous. Spreadsheets. I made a spreadsheet. of like tracking my miles. And it was the first time I'd ever actually really started creating my own. And I actually got really into it. I couldn't believe how helpful it was.
And now, you know, I love Excel. I think Excel or Google Sheets, they're wonderful tools. Like it is. And my, like two years ago, my younger self would be like, Sam, you are so nerdy. Yeah, I was about to drop an alert. But they help and they make my life so much easier. And so what I have found. But that all started from running and I found that that has transcended to a lot of other categories in my life that are helping me stay organized.
You know what? And I think that's a good idea. I mean, just spreadsheets alone. Yeah. We, we talk about, you know, when, when we're trying to, as best we can prepare people for going out there. Spreadsheets are great. They're amazing. Who you've contacted, when you've contacted them, how you contacted them. Did you talk to them?
What did you talk about? When are you going to follow back up? Did they flat out say absolutely a hundred percent? No. No. No. No. No. No. None. None. None. Don't contact them again, right being organized about that is is is hugely important. We we need to You know as as people who are in small businesses We need to walk the line between being persistent and being a pain in the rear And it is a fuzzy line and you are gonna walk on both sides of it all the time But the more organization you have with it, right?
You're not gonna have it. Did I reach out to them? Who did I talk to? When the heck was I gonna get back to them? Yeah, I can't remember because ideally And this is ideally you're going to be reaching out to a lot of people a lot of companies and and that can get you know That that gets overwhelming at times.
It's very yeah, exactly But if you have all that information there in front of you, then you're like, okay Uh, so I talked to them a couple weeks ago. So, you know, I'm gonna hold off Ooh, I talked to them a month ago and they said maybe in a little bit Let's let's reach back out to them and ooh, I talked to them and they hung up on me Uh, I'm not going to talk to him.
Yeah, maybe it's not worth following up with that client. Which is, which is good to know also. It really is good to know. You don't want to work with that person. So, I mean, yeah, that's, that is, that is fantastic. Now, um, what we're doing right now is called stalling. And, uh, Sam, you're really, you're really good at it.
You're, you're super, super good. We're dropping all this, this. Brilliant. Very good. I'm giving advice. I'm here to help. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, look, look at the time. We should probably get out of here and, uh, call it a day. You know what? We're gonna, we're gonna extend this podcast a little bit. And, uh, Sam, let's talk about, uh, let's talk about Sam and what Josh just did there was called calling out.
So that's, that was great. I appreciate it. He keeps me accountable. It's good. So what did I do in this, uh, in spring and March? I actually got business cards. I got them right at the end of March, which is something I've been needing to do for a long time. I've actually given them out. I couldn't believe it.
Cause like it's having them is so helpful because there were so many times in January, February, even December. of 2018 that I had people ask me for a business card and I didn't have it and that is just good. I was underprepared. Just, just a, a, a note on business cards and this is, this is going to sound dumb, but it's, it's not.
Carry them with you. Oh my gosh. Put them in your wallet. Put them in your purse. Yeah. Put them in whatever. Put them in your pocket. Who cares? I have 500 business cards, well not that many anymore, but I had 500 business cards and they sat in a box with me looking at them, uh, outside my closet for probably a month.
And my wife was like, put them in your wallet. And I'm like, well, I mean, I don't want them to get bent. And she's like, shut up, put them in your wallet. And I put, I think I put five in my wallet that day. And I had all five of them gone within a week, two weeks maybe. Carrying them. Just because I had them on me.
That's the only reason why. Uh, and as it happens, I don't have any in my wallet right now. I meant to reload and I forgot. And that's why you haven't gotten to ten yet. That's why, that's why I failed. But, but I mean, it sounds simple. And they're like, of course you're going to carry them with you. No. Legit carry them, but always have some with you always, always, always.
And then when you are down to one or none left, get more, get more, put them back in. I mean, it's, it sounds simple and it is simple, but it's, I don't know why. I just had them sit in a box. Like, are you going to give them out? Yeah. You know, I don't know. I thought like I was going to bring them and go on like a giving out.
Spree like just walking around handing out business cards make it a rain business cards. No, that's not how it works Right just happen with you and then when something organically comes up or you you know, insert it into a conversation Boom, you got the collateral right there. Sorry. I interrupted you I I certainly don't want to distract from you telling us how successful your spring was but um Uh, and then I said that tongue in cheek, by the way.
No, but it's, I know, I understood that, but here's a true story that happened to me. I went to Montreal for my birthday. Which is, uh, oui oui, yes, oui oui oui. And I drove up there, which is not too far of a drive, like two and a half hours, three hours from here, from Albany. Beautiful, beautiful. Um, and we went up, uh, and on the way back, we're coming back in, right at the border.
And there's this guy, he, I think I might have talked about this before, but he had like a John Wayne, he was a cop, Border Patrol, John Wayne esque quality, like, hey, welcome back to the States, what were you doing over in Canada? What were you doing there, pilgrim? Almost like a cartoon character of an American.
And the guy was, he was like, what do you do for work? And I told him, and I told him about voice coaches, and he's like, That's really interesting. Do you have a business card? Literally, the agent who was making me, like, letting me come back in wanted a business card. Do you have a business card? I did not! I don't know, does that depend on whether or not I get into the country or not?
And that's why I'm still in Montreal and I'm being piped in. And I'm learning French. But now these things happen, like, it's, you never know when someone's gonna ask for it. So having them with you all the time is It's a must. Absolutely a must. For sure. For sure. So other things that I'm doing, I am starting to do more production, uh, more podcasting things as well.
Have that in the works. Uh, I'm actually producing a show for somebody else, which is really exciting and yeah, there's a lot of things going on. Is it a soap opera? It's not a soap opera. Not a soap opera. Well, then I'm not going to listen. Yeah. That's all I listen to. Well, I will produce a soap opera and it'll be all about you, Josh.
I think that would be. That is drama. That is drama, man. That is drama city right there. So twist and turns in my life. You wouldn't believe. It's gonna be great. It'll be the life and times. Yeah. Ooh, drama. There's gonna be, there's a cue forming to watch that. The opening will be like, rawr, something like that.
I'll work on it. It'll be good. I can't wait to feel it here. Now, a lot of times what we've asked is for those of you listening to let us know how you're progressing this year. Because, you know, that was part of our New Year commitment. Was not just to show you what we're doing, or at some times not. doing, trying to keep ourselves accountable, but in a way trying to keep you accountable as well by seeing what we're doing, but also by letting us know what you're doing.
And we've had a actually a number of people, a few people reach out to us and let us know how things have been going. And we've said that we want to keep people accountable. We're gonna, we're gonna mention it. Uh, and, uh, and so we do have a few people who wrote in, who, uh, who emailed Sam at voice coaches.
com. Uh, that's how you can get in touch. Sam at voice coaches. com and, uh, and told us about it. So, uh, Yeah. Um, Sam, tell us, uh, how, how, how are, are, are many, many, many, many, many fans doing it? Well, I got a couple to tell us, uh, talk about today. I'm pretty sure that's all we have. And well, but hey, we're still more than we thought.
That's, that's not untrue, that's not untrue. So, Wendy wrote in, and Wendy, thank you so much. She wrote in before and had some questions, but she actually sent us a nice email, and I want to say the subject of the meme email is no more wrapping for baby bears, which is hurtful because I don't wrap that much.
I think I, yeah. I'm not the rapper of the group. I think that's pointed at me. I have wrapped. Not well, but I'm pretty sure that's a, that's a Sam booty quality. It's true. It's a Sam. Yeah. Sam booty, a booty, which is Italian for he with big butt. But yes, that is my last name. But Wendy wrote in saying what, how her, how her work has been going and it's.
It's successful. It's going really well. She said, uh, just wanted to thank you both for your recent podcast and addressing her questions, which is awesome. It was our pleasure, Wendy. But really, the other thing she said is she's on a roll now, which is super cool to hear. She said, I quote, she secured her first client, turned her walk in closet into her studio, and she's taught herself how to edit with audacity and had business cards designed and is working on marketing.
So she's getting in the groove. Yes, and with a fans go wild! We don't, you know, we're low budget. We don't really, I was, I thought, oh, we'll pipe in sound effects, but that's not gonna happen. Yeah, we both know that's not gonna happen. We have too much to do, we're too, we're busy people. Busy, we got a lot of stuff to do.
I have a lot of business cards to not hand out. Right, but he's gonna get there. He's gonna get to 10. I'm gonna do it. And so is Wendy. So, Wendy, congratulations. That's awesome to hear. Fantastic. Really, really proud of all your work, especially making a studio and learning audacity. Like, it's not impossible.
No! Anyone can do it, and Wendy is an example of that, so. And, Worth the price. And worth the price. It is free to get. It is free. It is a free program. It is open source. It's open source. It's worthwhile. It's a great starting program. You can do everything you need to do on it. It's a little messier than some of those other DAWs, and we might have a podcast about that in the future, and that's just a digital audio workstation.
That's what DAWs means, but we will cover that in the future. The second person who wrote in is Nicholas. Now, Nicholas is someone who went through our program, he also worked with Anna, and she designed him some super cool logos and also an email signature, and it came through, so I saw it on my end, which is why I wanted to call it out, because it's, it's awesome.
It looks really professional and really slick. Uh, but Nick wrote in that he just got paid for his first gig. He, it was a former company, again, somebody he knew, somebody he used to work for. And they wanted him to do a voiceover for an e learning course that he had actually done before. And he had done some production work.
But this time, they had a one off customization for a different client. And they asked him how much. And he was going to quote them at 125, but instead, he said, Ask my former supervisor whatever she says I'll work for and he said that figuring it if they undercut him He would send an invoice afterwards showing what the 125 would have been but what he actually charged So he thought he was actually making less money turns out what they did They worked with another client his former supervisor said and told the boss of the company that they charged 325 So now he is making 325 For his work for an hour of his time And that's awesome.
So what Nick did there that I think is so incredible is that he had a price in mind. He was going to quote them, but instead he's like, you know what? You tell me what you think is fair. And he let them decide and they came back higher, significantly higher than he was expecting. So this is a wonderful, wonderful lesson.
Wonderful strategy. Like, hey, you don't always have to decide. You don't always have to be aggressive and push your agenda, but you have to start with knowing. It's super, super important. So Nick, congratulations on your first gig, and congratulations on your You're negotiating ability. That's really, really wonderful to remember these.
These people, they're hiring you because they know that your service is worth something. Your service is valuable to them. And not only do they know that, but you need to know that too, that you're providing a service and that services is worth something. We have a lot of people like, well, I'll just, you know, I'll just work for free for a while.
Okay, but. Basically, you're saying that your, your voiceover is worthless, which is not true, but you need to have that mindset. You need to have, you need to know that what you're doing is a valuable service that you're offering people and you should be compensated accordingly. And clearly they value that service.
So he should too. Totally. And now that 125, uh, Next time he gets a job offer, probably not going to say 125 because he knows that he's worth more than that. He's worth 325 and he can say that credibly because that's what he was paid. Yeah. And he doesn't have to worry about like, oh, I'm a fraud because it's like, no, no, my last client actually paid me 325.
I'm happy to work for 150 for you. You know what I mean? Like now he can negotiate down. Bingo. And then, yeah, and then maybe he does get that 125 or 150. But again, like we said, if he does that, what is he going to do? Yeah, I'm, I'm doing you guys a favor. So you do me a favor. It's, let's talk about referrals.
Yeah. Also, one last note that Nick added at the end of his email, because he worked with Anna and Anna made him thank you cards. He actually sent a nice thank you letter to his client and with, and also when he emailed them and had his email signature. So these were tied together and they were really nice touches and they made him look like a professional and he also felt like a professional.
And I behaved like one. So Nick. Kudos to you. Congratulations. Really, really great to hear. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's, that's, that's great. So if anyone else has, you know, stories or, or things that they, that they've gone through that we can discuss certainly or, or more, they just want to let people know, uh, reach out to us.
Reach out to us at any time. Absolutely. Alright, well, so the spring was, uh, we're not really in the spring Yeah, I'd say, I'd say the early spring. We still have some spring time to go. Yeah. Um, you know, and, and we're starting, you know, you and I are starting to, starting to do the things we, we said we were going to do.
Slower than we expected. Absolutely, but that's okay. But we are still doing it, and we're building momentum. Yes, we're moving. That is really the goal. Are we moving as fast as we wanted? No, but we're moving. We're moving, and that's that's the important thing, and that's important for for everyone. We all get in these situations where, like you said, you know, there's there's so much to do.
It's so intimidating that we end up just freezing and doing nothing. Don't do nothing. Do something. Even if it's small, it's something. And that's, that's, that's, I think, the important part. Um, and, and hopefully we will, we will see that, you know, the rocks start to roll downhill. Hopefully we do see that.
And, um, and hopefully we'll be able to report that to you in a month or so that we actually, you know. Did stuff. Yeah. We will. We will. And Josh, I have no doubt. Because A, we have business cards now. True. B, we are going to carry them with us. We learned our lessons there. True. We have them with us all the time.
And C, we are getting organized. We're making spreadsheets. We're doing things. We are going to continue to put ourselves out there. As a result, something is going to happen. If something doesn't happen from these strategies, we pivot. We try new things. We keep building momentum. But we've started. And that is going to reinforce our behavior.
I think that's invaluable. Totally agree. Totally agree. All right. Well, uh, again, thank you so much to everyone who, uh, who did write in. Thanks to, to Nicholas and to Wendy for, uh, for saying, we have plenty of other people who've written in as well. Yep. We'll get, we'll cover more of those in the future. Oh, absolutely.
A lot of topics that, uh, that people want to cover and we absolutely have every intention of covering every topic that, uh, that those have sent stuff in, have, uh, have gotten to. So we definitely will do that. And, and again, if you're listening in and have a topic you want us to discuss, let us know, or if you just have a comment or a question, absolutely reach out to us and again, let us know how you're doing.
We'd love to hear from you. Your year is going, uh, because this is a big year for all of us. It's a big year for all of us. And, and, and we're here to keep you accountable just as you're here to keep us accountable. So, um, you know, chastise us, you know, since Sam and Nima will be like, Hey, um, why haven't you been on more business cards?
And he's gonna be like, I don't know. Yeah. Keep him, keep him on his toes. Right. And me too, I suppose, but more him. Um, but, uh, Sam, anything else, my friend? No, nice, nice work, Josh. I'm proud of your efforts, even though I know it wasn't your goal. You still made progress. And that is, that is more, that is what we have to start with.
Likewise, likewise. And look forward to reporting better news ahead. All right. Well, thanks again, everyone, for tuning in again. You can always reach out to us. Sam at voicecoaches. com is the best place to do that. Sam at voicecoaches. com, but otherwise, uh, we will talk with every single one of you next week.
And until then, for Sam, I'm Josh, so long everyone. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
To view upcoming sessions of our live, web-based introductory sessions, visit voicecoaches.com/enroll.
And welcome into this week's edition of Voice Coaches Radio. I'm Josh. I hear you, Sam. Feeling a little sing y today. It was beautiful. Thank you, man, I appreciate that. I almost jumped in, but I didn't want to ruin it. Oh, we could have harmonized, buddy. It would have been pretty sweet. That would have been awesome.
Right? Totally would have been. Totally would have been. That's all right. God, your voice sounds so good today, Josh. What are you doing differently? I am, uh, you know, I'm, uh, Gargling with, uh, I'm, I'm not drinking cough, I'm, uh, nothing, man, I got a better microphone. That's beautiful. I got a better microphone.
You're coming through so, uh, in my ears, it's like, ooh, it's music, your voice. That's, that's the difference because the microphone I had been using was probably about 100. The microphone I'm currently using is 400. Probably about a lot more than that. Uh, so, on the one hand, uh, I love it, on the other hand, I'm terrified I'm gonna break it.
Don't, don't break it. I won't. I can't afford that. Yeah, no, Brett will be very, very angry. I can't afford it, let's be perfectly honest. I cannot afford that, so, uh. Yeah, so hey, listen, you're the one who's talking on a, you know, 1, 500 microphone in there. This is true. This is true. Let's call the only reason I sound so good on this thing is the microphone is incredible in this studio.
It's really fun to work on. Uh, so, uh, it's, uh, what is it? It's April already? It is April. I think by the time this actually drops, we're going to be talking in May. I mean, this, by the time this, we're, we're, we've had so much happening that I feel like by the time this drops, it might be like July and, uh, in which case, uh, maybe I'll have actually done something.
I hope so. Yeah. So today what we want to talk about is we want to talk, uh, we didn't get to do our March recap, which we had promised to do previously, but we, April got, so it got away from us. We, we neglected to get. a March recap in the mix, so we're going to do a spring recap, yeah, yeah, but that is okay.
Now we have more to talk about, hypothetically, right Josh? I mean, we, we, we, the answer is yes, we should. We should have more to talk about. Do we actually have more to talk about? That's, that's a different story. Well, we should have more to talk about for sure. I can't wait, I can't wait to find out if we have more.
Uh, I mean, there's, I mean, It was a better month than February. Good. That's a good start. So that's so that that's good because February was uh, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't do anything in February. I basically did nothing. Right. Um, so that was disappointing. You got sick. That's true. I, I, I, or something like that pneumonia.
No, I just the flu, the flu, the flu. Um, But no, uh, so March was a better, better month. Um, was it a good month? I would not, I would not phrase it that way per se, but it was better. But you did do some work. I did. So what did you do? What was your goal that you'd set out to do and where did you end up? So my goal was to start giving out more business cards.
Yeah. Start reaching out to, uh, to more people and more companies and, um, and basically just, just get, get going. Um, and I did give out some business cards, uh, not as many as I would have liked to have probably only about, you know, five to 10. Um, and still something that's good. It is, it is. And so, so there was There was that as far as reaching out to businesses, some of the people that I gave business cards to, um, who I already knew, uh, own businesses or, or have their own business and kind of used it as a, as a kickstart way to do that.
Uh, so, so I was happy about that. Um, did I do it as much as I should have? The answer is no. Um, the, the answer is no, I didn't do it to quite the degree I should have, but I, I did start to do. Something, uh, which is better than nothing, so they say. Yeah, and well that's, that's true. We can always do more, right?
There's always a million things we can do, and I don't know about you, but I often over, feel overwhelmed by the possibilities of all of the things that I could do, and then sometimes I find that actually debilitating because I'm like, well, I could do this, or I could do this, I could do that, oh, I don't know what to do, and then all of a sudden I have no time because I'm worried about all the things I could possibly do.
It totally is terrifying. Well, I mean, if you're trying to figure out what you should do, the best case scenario is to do nothing, right? That's, that's, I think that's what they say. The best case scenario is to do nothing if you don't know what to do? Yeah, if you have so much to do and you're trying to figure out what should I do and then just do nothing.
Just sit, sit back and let it happen? No, no, no, I'm saying if I get so overwhelmed I just usually just do nothing. Oh, well that's, that's a strategy I guess. I wouldn't recommend it. I don't know. The thing is I think doing something is still better than nothing or at least putting some energy out there You know, sometimes we can get unfocused.
Sometimes we can be unclear but like still putting out five handing out five business cards That's five more than you'd given out what? Ever. Ah, yes. Right? That'd be correct, sir. Exactly. That'd be correct, sir. And that's huge. That's a huge achievement, even though you didn't reach your actual goal. So, sometimes, I, there is, there is value in starting.
There is value in doing. There's value in putting yourself out there. So, I commend you, Josh. I'm really glad that you got that far. And since we are doing this, this recap of sorts, I did run my 5K. Oh, good. Yes. So, my first, my first race of the, Many, many, many I'm doing this year. I did my 5k. I was very happy, very happy with it.
Um, very happy with my time. I actually did pretty well. It's pretty happy. Uh, it was 24, 48, I think. And that was like 3. 1 miles. Is that what that 5k is? 3. 1 miles. So it's just a, just a, uh, a bit short of, or just a bit under eight minute mile. So I was, I was pretty happy with that. Um, and then I signed up for another, uh, another event, another race, which is not part of the 5, 10, 15 half full that I'm doing.
And this one was just, uh, someone asked if I wanted to be a part of it. It's a, uh, it's a relay that is taking place in August. It's called the peak. To Brew, peak to Brew. It starts at Whiteface Mountain and it goes to Saranac Brewery in Utica over the course of two days, 227 miles, and there are 12 of us doing it.
Um, and basically you run legs. Um. You know, you, you, I think every person has either three or four legs that you run, and uh, and you, you basically spend the rest of the time in a van. 127 miles? 227. 227. 227. Yeah, it starts on a Friday morning, it ends on a, uh, on a Saturday afternoon. Oh my gosh. Saturday evening.
Assuming you, assuming you do it well. Assuming you survive. Assuming you finish. Assuming you finish so someone they've people that I work out with have done this for a few years Uh, and somebody dropped out and they asked if I wanted to fill in and I was like, yeah, I love it That's awesome so that when actually it works out perfectly for me because That's right in the beginning of august which is about halfway between my 15k Which is the beginning of july and my half marathon, which is the beginning of september.
So it'll be a nice little uh Uh, nice little thing to do there. So, uh, yeah, it should be, uh, I think the most, the most you run overall, I think is about like 20 miles. Um, but it's broken up into like six miles or four miles or eight miles, 20 miles in total, 20 miles in total. So you're not doing a full, quite, quite a full marathon.
No, it would be, uh, I think the longest I think the person that has the longest of the the legs ends up running like 21 miles total. Oh, wow. And again, it's split up over four or over two days. Um, so you're not like doing that straight. That's that's for later. Now let me ask you this. When you do things like this, like you have this crazy marathon schedule that you're building up right now that you're doing right now.
When you do something like this, where you have to kind of commit, you are putting yourself out there. And you're, you're tackling this and you're preparing for it, correct? Like, you're running right now. Uh, I am. Not, not preparing as much as I probably should, but, uh, instead, but the thing was the five and the ten, I can, yeah.
But yes, I, as it, as it ramps up, I will absolutely be, uh, be upping my preparation for that. But do you find that doing this helps other areas of your life? Because, like, all of a sudden, in one area, you're actually kind of getting really organized, you're getting really effective, you're seeing momentum, you're seeing, you're using leverage of your own goals and your own work.
Does that, does that translate to other areas? Uh, it should. Does it? I'm not sure it does, but it definitely should. I should use it as a, uh, you know, as a, as a template for other parts of my life as well. Do I actually do that? That's debatable to be to be seen. But again, I haven't gotten into the, you know, the real, I haven't really trained.
I've just kind of started running a bit more. Uh, so as I get into, you know, the higher distances, I'm going to actually have to really Train, you know, I have a plan, which I, which I kind of have a basic plan, but that's not really going to get started until a little bit later. So once I get into that, will that kind of preparation and organization bleed over?
I hope so. And I think being aware that it can and that it should hopefully will make it do that. Yeah, that's, that's, that's the, I would, I would love for that to happen. That would be a very. Uh, happy coincidence, you know, when I did, I've only run one half marathon and I'm not a runner like you are. And, but what I did find more half marathons than I've ever run, but you're going to be doing like significantly more over time.
Like I, that's really, I did, it was like one and done. And it was a blast. But what I got out of it, truthfully, if I am so honest with you, Josh, one of the biggest takeaways from running my half marathon, there's a lot. Nipple chafing. Yes, that did happen. Oh, that's the worst, right? That aside. That is the worst.
Sorry. It was, no, no, it's true. And I'm actually, I'm very, I'm feeling a little, I just PTSD about it right now. I feel nervous. Spreadsheets. I made a spreadsheet. of like tracking my miles. And it was the first time I'd ever actually really started creating my own. And I actually got really into it. I couldn't believe how helpful it was.
And now, you know, I love Excel. I think Excel or Google Sheets, they're wonderful tools. Like it is. And my, like two years ago, my younger self would be like, Sam, you are so nerdy. Yeah, I was about to drop an alert. But they help and they make my life so much easier. And so what I have found. But that all started from running and I found that that has transcended to a lot of other categories in my life that are helping me stay organized.
You know what? And I think that's a good idea. I mean, just spreadsheets alone. Yeah. We, we talk about, you know, when, when we're trying to, as best we can prepare people for going out there. Spreadsheets are great. They're amazing. Who you've contacted, when you've contacted them, how you contacted them. Did you talk to them?
What did you talk about? When are you going to follow back up? Did they flat out say absolutely a hundred percent? No. No. No. No. No. No. None. None. None. Don't contact them again, right being organized about that is is is hugely important. We we need to You know as as people who are in small businesses We need to walk the line between being persistent and being a pain in the rear And it is a fuzzy line and you are gonna walk on both sides of it all the time But the more organization you have with it, right?
You're not gonna have it. Did I reach out to them? Who did I talk to? When the heck was I gonna get back to them? Yeah, I can't remember because ideally And this is ideally you're going to be reaching out to a lot of people a lot of companies and and that can get you know That that gets overwhelming at times.
It's very yeah, exactly But if you have all that information there in front of you, then you're like, okay Uh, so I talked to them a couple weeks ago. So, you know, I'm gonna hold off Ooh, I talked to them a month ago and they said maybe in a little bit Let's let's reach back out to them and ooh, I talked to them and they hung up on me Uh, I'm not going to talk to him.
Yeah, maybe it's not worth following up with that client. Which is, which is good to know also. It really is good to know. You don't want to work with that person. So, I mean, yeah, that's, that is, that is fantastic. Now, um, what we're doing right now is called stalling. And, uh, Sam, you're really, you're really good at it.
You're, you're super, super good. We're dropping all this, this. Brilliant. Very good. I'm giving advice. I'm here to help. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, look, look at the time. We should probably get out of here and, uh, call it a day. You know what? We're gonna, we're gonna extend this podcast a little bit. And, uh, Sam, let's talk about, uh, let's talk about Sam and what Josh just did there was called calling out.
So that's, that was great. I appreciate it. He keeps me accountable. It's good. So what did I do in this, uh, in spring and March? I actually got business cards. I got them right at the end of March, which is something I've been needing to do for a long time. I've actually given them out. I couldn't believe it.
Cause like it's having them is so helpful because there were so many times in January, February, even December. of 2018 that I had people ask me for a business card and I didn't have it and that is just good. I was underprepared. Just, just a, a, a note on business cards and this is, this is going to sound dumb, but it's, it's not.
Carry them with you. Oh my gosh. Put them in your wallet. Put them in your purse. Yeah. Put them in whatever. Put them in your pocket. Who cares? I have 500 business cards, well not that many anymore, but I had 500 business cards and they sat in a box with me looking at them, uh, outside my closet for probably a month.
And my wife was like, put them in your wallet. And I'm like, well, I mean, I don't want them to get bent. And she's like, shut up, put them in your wallet. And I put, I think I put five in my wallet that day. And I had all five of them gone within a week, two weeks maybe. Carrying them. Just because I had them on me.
That's the only reason why. Uh, and as it happens, I don't have any in my wallet right now. I meant to reload and I forgot. And that's why you haven't gotten to ten yet. That's why, that's why I failed. But, but I mean, it sounds simple. And they're like, of course you're going to carry them with you. No. Legit carry them, but always have some with you always, always, always.
And then when you are down to one or none left, get more, get more, put them back in. I mean, it's, it sounds simple and it is simple, but it's, I don't know why. I just had them sit in a box. Like, are you going to give them out? Yeah. You know, I don't know. I thought like I was going to bring them and go on like a giving out.
Spree like just walking around handing out business cards make it a rain business cards. No, that's not how it works Right just happen with you and then when something organically comes up or you you know, insert it into a conversation Boom, you got the collateral right there. Sorry. I interrupted you I I certainly don't want to distract from you telling us how successful your spring was but um Uh, and then I said that tongue in cheek, by the way.
No, but it's, I know, I understood that, but here's a true story that happened to me. I went to Montreal for my birthday. Which is, uh, oui oui, yes, oui oui oui. And I drove up there, which is not too far of a drive, like two and a half hours, three hours from here, from Albany. Beautiful, beautiful. Um, and we went up, uh, and on the way back, we're coming back in, right at the border.
And there's this guy, he, I think I might have talked about this before, but he had like a John Wayne, he was a cop, Border Patrol, John Wayne esque quality, like, hey, welcome back to the States, what were you doing over in Canada? What were you doing there, pilgrim? Almost like a cartoon character of an American.
And the guy was, he was like, what do you do for work? And I told him, and I told him about voice coaches, and he's like, That's really interesting. Do you have a business card? Literally, the agent who was making me, like, letting me come back in wanted a business card. Do you have a business card? I did not! I don't know, does that depend on whether or not I get into the country or not?
And that's why I'm still in Montreal and I'm being piped in. And I'm learning French. But now these things happen, like, it's, you never know when someone's gonna ask for it. So having them with you all the time is It's a must. Absolutely a must. For sure. For sure. So other things that I'm doing, I am starting to do more production, uh, more podcasting things as well.
Have that in the works. Uh, I'm actually producing a show for somebody else, which is really exciting and yeah, there's a lot of things going on. Is it a soap opera? It's not a soap opera. Not a soap opera. Well, then I'm not going to listen. Yeah. That's all I listen to. Well, I will produce a soap opera and it'll be all about you, Josh.
I think that would be. That is drama. That is drama, man. That is drama city right there. So twist and turns in my life. You wouldn't believe. It's gonna be great. It'll be the life and times. Yeah. Ooh, drama. There's gonna be, there's a cue forming to watch that. The opening will be like, rawr, something like that.
I'll work on it. It'll be good. I can't wait to feel it here. Now, a lot of times what we've asked is for those of you listening to let us know how you're progressing this year. Because, you know, that was part of our New Year commitment. Was not just to show you what we're doing, or at some times not. doing, trying to keep ourselves accountable, but in a way trying to keep you accountable as well by seeing what we're doing, but also by letting us know what you're doing.
And we've had a actually a number of people, a few people reach out to us and let us know how things have been going. And we've said that we want to keep people accountable. We're gonna, we're gonna mention it. Uh, and, uh, and so we do have a few people who wrote in, who, uh, who emailed Sam at voice coaches.
com. Uh, that's how you can get in touch. Sam at voice coaches. com and, uh, and told us about it. So, uh, Yeah. Um, Sam, tell us, uh, how, how, how are, are, are many, many, many, many, many fans doing it? Well, I got a couple to tell us, uh, talk about today. I'm pretty sure that's all we have. And well, but hey, we're still more than we thought.
That's, that's not untrue, that's not untrue. So, Wendy wrote in, and Wendy, thank you so much. She wrote in before and had some questions, but she actually sent us a nice email, and I want to say the subject of the meme email is no more wrapping for baby bears, which is hurtful because I don't wrap that much.
I think I, yeah. I'm not the rapper of the group. I think that's pointed at me. I have wrapped. Not well, but I'm pretty sure that's a, that's a Sam booty quality. It's true. It's a Sam. Yeah. Sam booty, a booty, which is Italian for he with big butt. But yes, that is my last name. But Wendy wrote in saying what, how her, how her work has been going and it's.
It's successful. It's going really well. She said, uh, just wanted to thank you both for your recent podcast and addressing her questions, which is awesome. It was our pleasure, Wendy. But really, the other thing she said is she's on a roll now, which is super cool to hear. She said, I quote, she secured her first client, turned her walk in closet into her studio, and she's taught herself how to edit with audacity and had business cards designed and is working on marketing.
So she's getting in the groove. Yes, and with a fans go wild! We don't, you know, we're low budget. We don't really, I was, I thought, oh, we'll pipe in sound effects, but that's not gonna happen. Yeah, we both know that's not gonna happen. We have too much to do, we're too, we're busy people. Busy, we got a lot of stuff to do.
I have a lot of business cards to not hand out. Right, but he's gonna get there. He's gonna get to 10. I'm gonna do it. And so is Wendy. So, Wendy, congratulations. That's awesome to hear. Fantastic. Really, really proud of all your work, especially making a studio and learning audacity. Like, it's not impossible.
No! Anyone can do it, and Wendy is an example of that, so. And, Worth the price. And worth the price. It is free to get. It is free. It is a free program. It is open source. It's open source. It's worthwhile. It's a great starting program. You can do everything you need to do on it. It's a little messier than some of those other DAWs, and we might have a podcast about that in the future, and that's just a digital audio workstation.
That's what DAWs means, but we will cover that in the future. The second person who wrote in is Nicholas. Now, Nicholas is someone who went through our program, he also worked with Anna, and she designed him some super cool logos and also an email signature, and it came through, so I saw it on my end, which is why I wanted to call it out, because it's, it's awesome.
It looks really professional and really slick. Uh, but Nick wrote in that he just got paid for his first gig. He, it was a former company, again, somebody he knew, somebody he used to work for. And they wanted him to do a voiceover for an e learning course that he had actually done before. And he had done some production work.
But this time, they had a one off customization for a different client. And they asked him how much. And he was going to quote them at 125, but instead, he said, Ask my former supervisor whatever she says I'll work for and he said that figuring it if they undercut him He would send an invoice afterwards showing what the 125 would have been but what he actually charged So he thought he was actually making less money turns out what they did They worked with another client his former supervisor said and told the boss of the company that they charged 325 So now he is making 325 For his work for an hour of his time And that's awesome.
So what Nick did there that I think is so incredible is that he had a price in mind. He was going to quote them, but instead he's like, you know what? You tell me what you think is fair. And he let them decide and they came back higher, significantly higher than he was expecting. So this is a wonderful, wonderful lesson.
Wonderful strategy. Like, hey, you don't always have to decide. You don't always have to be aggressive and push your agenda, but you have to start with knowing. It's super, super important. So Nick, congratulations on your first gig, and congratulations on your You're negotiating ability. That's really, really wonderful to remember these.
These people, they're hiring you because they know that your service is worth something. Your service is valuable to them. And not only do they know that, but you need to know that too, that you're providing a service and that services is worth something. We have a lot of people like, well, I'll just, you know, I'll just work for free for a while.
Okay, but. Basically, you're saying that your, your voiceover is worthless, which is not true, but you need to have that mindset. You need to have, you need to know that what you're doing is a valuable service that you're offering people and you should be compensated accordingly. And clearly they value that service.
So he should too. Totally. And now that 125, uh, Next time he gets a job offer, probably not going to say 125 because he knows that he's worth more than that. He's worth 325 and he can say that credibly because that's what he was paid. Yeah. And he doesn't have to worry about like, oh, I'm a fraud because it's like, no, no, my last client actually paid me 325.
I'm happy to work for 150 for you. You know what I mean? Like now he can negotiate down. Bingo. And then, yeah, and then maybe he does get that 125 or 150. But again, like we said, if he does that, what is he going to do? Yeah, I'm, I'm doing you guys a favor. So you do me a favor. It's, let's talk about referrals.
Yeah. Also, one last note that Nick added at the end of his email, because he worked with Anna and Anna made him thank you cards. He actually sent a nice thank you letter to his client and with, and also when he emailed them and had his email signature. So these were tied together and they were really nice touches and they made him look like a professional and he also felt like a professional.
And I behaved like one. So Nick. Kudos to you. Congratulations. Really, really great to hear. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's, that's, that's great. So if anyone else has, you know, stories or, or things that they, that they've gone through that we can discuss certainly or, or more, they just want to let people know, uh, reach out to us.
Reach out to us at any time. Absolutely. Alright, well, so the spring was, uh, we're not really in the spring Yeah, I'd say, I'd say the early spring. We still have some spring time to go. Yeah. Um, you know, and, and we're starting, you know, you and I are starting to, starting to do the things we, we said we were going to do.
Slower than we expected. Absolutely, but that's okay. But we are still doing it, and we're building momentum. Yes, we're moving. That is really the goal. Are we moving as fast as we wanted? No, but we're moving. We're moving, and that's that's the important thing, and that's important for for everyone. We all get in these situations where, like you said, you know, there's there's so much to do.
It's so intimidating that we end up just freezing and doing nothing. Don't do nothing. Do something. Even if it's small, it's something. And that's, that's, that's, I think, the important part. Um, and, and hopefully we will, we will see that, you know, the rocks start to roll downhill. Hopefully we do see that.
And, um, and hopefully we'll be able to report that to you in a month or so that we actually, you know. Did stuff. Yeah. We will. We will. And Josh, I have no doubt. Because A, we have business cards now. True. B, we are going to carry them with us. We learned our lessons there. True. We have them with us all the time.
And C, we are getting organized. We're making spreadsheets. We're doing things. We are going to continue to put ourselves out there. As a result, something is going to happen. If something doesn't happen from these strategies, we pivot. We try new things. We keep building momentum. But we've started. And that is going to reinforce our behavior.
I think that's invaluable. Totally agree. Totally agree. All right. Well, uh, again, thank you so much to everyone who, uh, who did write in. Thanks to, to Nicholas and to Wendy for, uh, for saying, we have plenty of other people who've written in as well. Yep. We'll get, we'll cover more of those in the future. Oh, absolutely.
A lot of topics that, uh, that people want to cover and we absolutely have every intention of covering every topic that, uh, that those have sent stuff in, have, uh, have gotten to. So we definitely will do that. And, and again, if you're listening in and have a topic you want us to discuss, let us know, or if you just have a comment or a question, absolutely reach out to us and again, let us know how you're doing.
We'd love to hear from you. Your year is going, uh, because this is a big year for all of us. It's a big year for all of us. And, and, and we're here to keep you accountable just as you're here to keep us accountable. So, um, you know, chastise us, you know, since Sam and Nima will be like, Hey, um, why haven't you been on more business cards?
And he's gonna be like, I don't know. Yeah. Keep him, keep him on his toes. Right. And me too, I suppose, but more him. Um, but, uh, Sam, anything else, my friend? No, nice, nice work, Josh. I'm proud of your efforts, even though I know it wasn't your goal. You still made progress. And that is, that is more, that is what we have to start with.
Likewise, likewise. And look forward to reporting better news ahead. All right. Well, thanks again, everyone, for tuning in again. You can always reach out to us. Sam at voicecoaches. com is the best place to do that. Sam at voicecoaches. com, but otherwise, uh, we will talk with every single one of you next week.
And until then, for Sam, I'm Josh, so long everyone. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
To view upcoming sessions of our live, web-based introductory sessions, visit voicecoaches.com/enroll.
Josh and Sam from our team wrap up the spring with some of their favorite lessons from previous episodes, including tips on working through failures and giving yourself the best chance to succeed.
