VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio #453 – Attitude is Everything
Voice Coaches Radio. Everything voiceover. And welcome into this week's edition of Voice Coaches Radio. I am Josh Heller, delighted to have you joining me as I am each and every week back here at the studio, White Lake Music and Post here at the mothership. Of Voice Coaches Radio, here in Colonie, New York.
Hopefully everyone is doing well, everyone is staying safe, everyone is staying healthy. And hopefully everyone's getting some work done as far as their voice acting is concerned. It's a great time to do so. There is a ton of voice acting work out there. But, I did want to talk about something today. Uh, and I, and I saw a quote that kind of, uh, kind of made me think about this.
You know, I, I, I have a chance to talk to people, uh, quite a lot. But, um, you know, after... We record their demos. So after I produce a demo for someone, I'll then sit down with them and chat with them a little bit about, you know, what comes next, and what to expect, and how to prepare, you know, getting out there in the quote unquote real world, and, and what I've found is, you know, I do certainly talk a bit about, you know, the mechanics of it, uh, of that marketing, and we've, we've certainly talked about that, um, you know, we talk about, oh, things like best practices, who to look for, how to Find people how to reach out how to follow up right talking about those those marketing things that again we have discussed here and then you know, I like to give people kind of an idea of Frankly what they're getting into when they get into this business But what I find is when I sit back when i'm done.
I I kind of usually make a joke I sit back when i'm when i'm done after you know espousing for In 15, 20 minutes, I sit back and go, you know, that's been it for my, for my TED talk, because it does feel more like a, a motivational speech than anything else. Right? It really feels like I'm, I'm not Sure, I'm giving them some ideas.
Sure, I'm giving them some training. But really, I'm just trying to, you know, mentally prepare people for, for what's going to happen. For, for what it's like there. And those of you who are in the industry, you understand that. Especially when you get started. And the quote that jumped out to me is one, and I, I happen to come by it randomly.
As most of you know, I'm a huge sports fan. And, uh, while I am from Boston, and I am a Red Sox fan. Sorry for those of you who, uh, who are not. Most people who don't live in Boston, but anyway. Um, I saw a quote from Yogi Berra, and yes, I know he was a Yankee, but, uh, notwithstanding that, I don't hold that against him, because obviously he was a great player.
But, he also is hilarious. And one of his, uh, Yogi isms, as it were, is, Baseball is 90% mental, and the other half is physical. Some of you may have heard that before. Did he actually say that, by the way? I have no idea. Some of the things that have been attributed to him, I don't think he ever actually said, but, you know, the legend grows.
So again, baseball is 90% mental, and the other half is physical. Obviously, mathematically speaking, That's insane. But, you know, the point is that it's much more of a mental game than it is a physical game. And the reason why that kind of jumped out to me is because that's what, you know, the voice acting, the marketing side, at least, of voice acting really is.
So much of it is mental. So much. 90% of it is mental. The only other half is physical. It's the town point. You know, I'll tell people, I'll be like, look, you're good enough to do this. You have the talent to do this. But is it enough? No. No, it's not. Right? Because we have to put in the work. And anyone who's been in this industry for any period of time knows that's the case.
But the truth is, not enough people are able to stick with it. Are able to mentally grasp what is necessary. And also, what might happen. And what I mean by what might happen, I mean, it could take time. Quite some time. You're going to get rejected. You're going to get turned down. Nobody likes that. I don't like it.
You get used to it eventually, but it's not fun, it's not personal, but it's not fun, but it's all about mentally staying with it. You have to stay positive. We, I don't think it's us as a nation per se, but I think it's just us as a society. We get negative really quickly, especially on ourselves. Right, so, you know, you get out there, you have your demo, you're ready to go, and you start to send it out, you start to make those calls, you start to do what you need to do, and you don't hear anything.
And you get rejected, and you get turned down, and it's been a couple months, and you're getting a little disheartened. Which is natural. Which is natural. But all of a sudden, that negative switch turns on, and we get to the, Oh, I'm not good enough to do this. Oh, I'm never gonna get a job. Oh, this was a mistake.
Oh, why did I even think I could do this? You start thinking like that, I'll be honest with you, you're gonna be right. You're going to be right. It's going to be a self fulfilling prophecy. We need to be persistent. We need to stay on top of things, but we need to stay positive. We need to stay positive.
Right? And so much of that is having the right mentality going into it. Don't have that defeatist mentality of, Man, I don't know if this is going to work, but here we go. Cross our fingers. No, go into it with confidence. Right? Go into it with the confidence that, you know what? I may get turned down. That's okay.
That's okay. Wait, here's what I think, you know, when I get rejected, and again, I don't like it. Nobody likes it. But, you know, when I get turned down, which I do, because all of us do, you think to yourself, alright, well, I wasn't exactly what they were looking for in this exact situation. They were looking for a very specific thing.
I'm not that. Doesn't mean they didn't like me. Doesn't mean they didn't like my voice. Just means that I wasn't exactly what they were looking for at that particular time. But the next time, might be. Time after that? Could be. But we need to make sure we're still viable when that time does come. And this defeatist mentality that we have, that tends to creep into our psyche, prevents us from being, you know, still viable, from being still in the industry, from being considered when that job comes around that is perfect for us, that we have the best voice for it, that we are what they're looking for at that particular time.
And that's what we need to remember. So much of this is mental. Yes, you're going to get turned down. Yes, you're going to get rejected. Yes, it's going to take some time. And especially when you first get started, it can be very difficult to swallow all of that. Because it's human nature to wonder, you know, am I ever going to be able to do this?
Am I ever going to be good enough to do this? Don't think that way. Don't think that way. Alright, every, every rejection is just another step forward. Every turn, every time you're turned down is just another chance to, to move ahead. I, I, so, back in, back in another life, when I did, uh, uh, sports broadcasting and I worked for hockey teams, there was a time where I did ticket sales, uh, and corporate sales, which was awful.
Despised it. But that's not the point. Um, but they used to say, and, and, you know, there is some truth to this, even though it is just kind of a throwaway line, but, you know, every rejection is just, you know, one more step towards, uh, to, towards that yes. And, you know, I used to have people, and, and actually I do kind of agree with this one, is I'd rather get rejected than what normally happens, which is just get kind of blown off, which is what happens more often than not, right?
I'd rather get rejected. Tell me no, because then I can move on. Then I can move on and say, great, not to worry about you anymore. Now I can focus on the next thing because we always have to be focusing on that next thing. Stay positive. Remember broadcast, you know, voiceover, this entire industry is 90% mental.
The physical part. Yeah, okay, you need to have that, I get it, but in the end, it's not the most important part. The most important part, especially when you're first getting started, is staying mentally in it. Because it is what will decide whether or not you're able to continue to work, continue to market yourself, and continue to put yourself out there for long enough that you do finally find that first job.
And man, is that a weight off your shoulders, because then you know for sure. I am good enough to do this because I've done it. I've gotten paid for a job. This is amazing. So now those rejections don't sting quite as much. Because you know you can do this, but you still have to have that mentality going in.
Because if you don't, there's no way you'll be able to stay in it for long enough. So remember. Stay positive. Be persistent, be realistic, but stay positive. Stay positive. Don't let those rejections, don't let those no's, don't let those, you know, those times that you're blown off, don't let those things prevent you from continuing to push as hard as you can forward because that's what you have to do.
So, in conclusion, stay positive. Stay positive. You are good enough to do this. Right, the industry nowadays, you know, they're looking for people voices. We talk about this all the time. You have one of those. We all have one of those. But do you have the mental toughness? to put yourself out there over and over again until you get that reaction that you're looking for, that solution that you're looking for, and ultimately a job that you're looking for.
I hope you do. I hope you do. And if you need help, if you need a little pep talk, because I am well versed at those, I'm happy to do that. I'll give you a little pep talk. I'll pump your tires. I don't care. Let us know. Podcastedvoicecoaches. com is the best way to get in touch with me. If you have any topics that you want me to cover in particular, any guests you want me to try to get on, anything that is, uh, you know, that's, uh, that's tough for you.
And again, if you need me to, take a listen to your work. Maybe give you a little, uh, give you a little, uh, a little bit of positive reinforcement. I'm happy to do that. I'm happy to do that. Because we all have to have each other's backs in this industry. And again, starting out is tough. It's tough. You're starting from zero.
You're starting from scratch. But we're here. We got your back. All of us. In the voice acting community. Again, podcast at voicecoaches. com. That's the best way to get in touch with me. Love to hear from you. But as always, thanks again for tuning us in. Please stay safe out there. Please be smart out there.
Please keep... Keep putting forth the effort. Keep putting forth the energy into your voice acting and you will see the results from there. Okay, until next time, thanks so much for tuning in. So long everyone. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
Hopefully everyone is doing well, everyone is staying safe, everyone is staying healthy. And hopefully everyone's getting some work done as far as their voice acting is concerned. It's a great time to do so. There is a ton of voice acting work out there. But, I did want to talk about something today. Uh, and I, and I saw a quote that kind of, uh, kind of made me think about this.
You know, I, I, I have a chance to talk to people, uh, quite a lot. But, um, you know, after... We record their demos. So after I produce a demo for someone, I'll then sit down with them and chat with them a little bit about, you know, what comes next, and what to expect, and how to prepare, you know, getting out there in the quote unquote real world, and, and what I've found is, you know, I do certainly talk a bit about, you know, the mechanics of it, uh, of that marketing, and we've, we've certainly talked about that, um, you know, we talk about, oh, things like best practices, who to look for, how to Find people how to reach out how to follow up right talking about those those marketing things that again we have discussed here and then you know, I like to give people kind of an idea of Frankly what they're getting into when they get into this business But what I find is when I sit back when i'm done.
I I kind of usually make a joke I sit back when i'm when i'm done after you know espousing for In 15, 20 minutes, I sit back and go, you know, that's been it for my, for my TED talk, because it does feel more like a, a motivational speech than anything else. Right? It really feels like I'm, I'm not Sure, I'm giving them some ideas.
Sure, I'm giving them some training. But really, I'm just trying to, you know, mentally prepare people for, for what's going to happen. For, for what it's like there. And those of you who are in the industry, you understand that. Especially when you get started. And the quote that jumped out to me is one, and I, I happen to come by it randomly.
As most of you know, I'm a huge sports fan. And, uh, while I am from Boston, and I am a Red Sox fan. Sorry for those of you who, uh, who are not. Most people who don't live in Boston, but anyway. Um, I saw a quote from Yogi Berra, and yes, I know he was a Yankee, but, uh, notwithstanding that, I don't hold that against him, because obviously he was a great player.
But, he also is hilarious. And one of his, uh, Yogi isms, as it were, is, Baseball is 90% mental, and the other half is physical. Some of you may have heard that before. Did he actually say that, by the way? I have no idea. Some of the things that have been attributed to him, I don't think he ever actually said, but, you know, the legend grows.
So again, baseball is 90% mental, and the other half is physical. Obviously, mathematically speaking, That's insane. But, you know, the point is that it's much more of a mental game than it is a physical game. And the reason why that kind of jumped out to me is because that's what, you know, the voice acting, the marketing side, at least, of voice acting really is.
So much of it is mental. So much. 90% of it is mental. The only other half is physical. It's the town point. You know, I'll tell people, I'll be like, look, you're good enough to do this. You have the talent to do this. But is it enough? No. No, it's not. Right? Because we have to put in the work. And anyone who's been in this industry for any period of time knows that's the case.
But the truth is, not enough people are able to stick with it. Are able to mentally grasp what is necessary. And also, what might happen. And what I mean by what might happen, I mean, it could take time. Quite some time. You're going to get rejected. You're going to get turned down. Nobody likes that. I don't like it.
You get used to it eventually, but it's not fun, it's not personal, but it's not fun, but it's all about mentally staying with it. You have to stay positive. We, I don't think it's us as a nation per se, but I think it's just us as a society. We get negative really quickly, especially on ourselves. Right, so, you know, you get out there, you have your demo, you're ready to go, and you start to send it out, you start to make those calls, you start to do what you need to do, and you don't hear anything.
And you get rejected, and you get turned down, and it's been a couple months, and you're getting a little disheartened. Which is natural. Which is natural. But all of a sudden, that negative switch turns on, and we get to the, Oh, I'm not good enough to do this. Oh, I'm never gonna get a job. Oh, this was a mistake.
Oh, why did I even think I could do this? You start thinking like that, I'll be honest with you, you're gonna be right. You're going to be right. It's going to be a self fulfilling prophecy. We need to be persistent. We need to stay on top of things, but we need to stay positive. We need to stay positive.
Right? And so much of that is having the right mentality going into it. Don't have that defeatist mentality of, Man, I don't know if this is going to work, but here we go. Cross our fingers. No, go into it with confidence. Right? Go into it with the confidence that, you know what? I may get turned down. That's okay.
That's okay. Wait, here's what I think, you know, when I get rejected, and again, I don't like it. Nobody likes it. But, you know, when I get turned down, which I do, because all of us do, you think to yourself, alright, well, I wasn't exactly what they were looking for in this exact situation. They were looking for a very specific thing.
I'm not that. Doesn't mean they didn't like me. Doesn't mean they didn't like my voice. Just means that I wasn't exactly what they were looking for at that particular time. But the next time, might be. Time after that? Could be. But we need to make sure we're still viable when that time does come. And this defeatist mentality that we have, that tends to creep into our psyche, prevents us from being, you know, still viable, from being still in the industry, from being considered when that job comes around that is perfect for us, that we have the best voice for it, that we are what they're looking for at that particular time.
And that's what we need to remember. So much of this is mental. Yes, you're going to get turned down. Yes, you're going to get rejected. Yes, it's going to take some time. And especially when you first get started, it can be very difficult to swallow all of that. Because it's human nature to wonder, you know, am I ever going to be able to do this?
Am I ever going to be good enough to do this? Don't think that way. Don't think that way. Alright, every, every rejection is just another step forward. Every turn, every time you're turned down is just another chance to, to move ahead. I, I, so, back in, back in another life, when I did, uh, uh, sports broadcasting and I worked for hockey teams, there was a time where I did ticket sales, uh, and corporate sales, which was awful.
Despised it. But that's not the point. Um, but they used to say, and, and, you know, there is some truth to this, even though it is just kind of a throwaway line, but, you know, every rejection is just, you know, one more step towards, uh, to, towards that yes. And, you know, I used to have people, and, and actually I do kind of agree with this one, is I'd rather get rejected than what normally happens, which is just get kind of blown off, which is what happens more often than not, right?
I'd rather get rejected. Tell me no, because then I can move on. Then I can move on and say, great, not to worry about you anymore. Now I can focus on the next thing because we always have to be focusing on that next thing. Stay positive. Remember broadcast, you know, voiceover, this entire industry is 90% mental.
The physical part. Yeah, okay, you need to have that, I get it, but in the end, it's not the most important part. The most important part, especially when you're first getting started, is staying mentally in it. Because it is what will decide whether or not you're able to continue to work, continue to market yourself, and continue to put yourself out there for long enough that you do finally find that first job.
And man, is that a weight off your shoulders, because then you know for sure. I am good enough to do this because I've done it. I've gotten paid for a job. This is amazing. So now those rejections don't sting quite as much. Because you know you can do this, but you still have to have that mentality going in.
Because if you don't, there's no way you'll be able to stay in it for long enough. So remember. Stay positive. Be persistent, be realistic, but stay positive. Stay positive. Don't let those rejections, don't let those no's, don't let those, you know, those times that you're blown off, don't let those things prevent you from continuing to push as hard as you can forward because that's what you have to do.
So, in conclusion, stay positive. Stay positive. You are good enough to do this. Right, the industry nowadays, you know, they're looking for people voices. We talk about this all the time. You have one of those. We all have one of those. But do you have the mental toughness? to put yourself out there over and over again until you get that reaction that you're looking for, that solution that you're looking for, and ultimately a job that you're looking for.
I hope you do. I hope you do. And if you need help, if you need a little pep talk, because I am well versed at those, I'm happy to do that. I'll give you a little pep talk. I'll pump your tires. I don't care. Let us know. Podcastedvoicecoaches. com is the best way to get in touch with me. If you have any topics that you want me to cover in particular, any guests you want me to try to get on, anything that is, uh, you know, that's, uh, that's tough for you.
And again, if you need me to, take a listen to your work. Maybe give you a little, uh, give you a little, uh, a little bit of positive reinforcement. I'm happy to do that. I'm happy to do that. Because we all have to have each other's backs in this industry. And again, starting out is tough. It's tough. You're starting from zero.
You're starting from scratch. But we're here. We got your back. All of us. In the voice acting community. Again, podcast at voicecoaches. com. That's the best way to get in touch with me. Love to hear from you. But as always, thanks again for tuning us in. Please stay safe out there. Please be smart out there.
Please keep... Keep putting forth the effort. Keep putting forth the energy into your voice acting and you will see the results from there. Okay, until next time, thanks so much for tuning in. So long everyone. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
Team member Josh discusses the importance of a good attitude to voice over industry success. Building career longevity is all about attitude!
