I love almost everything
about Minnesota summers – the weather, vacations, and beautiful days at Lake
Calhoun and so on. However, towards the top of the list of things that I
absolutely hate about this season are mosquitoes!
Tiny little bugs who can very easily make your life
miserable just by forcing their way into it!
But, do you know what the most irritating
part is about being the victim of a mosquito? You more than likely will never see them
coming. It seems as if you would not
even know that they have chosen you as their prey until they have already
gotten exactly what they need from you and all you're left with is an itchy
bump that can easily leave an ugly scar over time.
So now comes the point where you're asking yourself,
"Why is he talking about mosquitoes? What do these bugs have to do with voiceovers?"
The sad truth is that mosquitoes have everything
to do with the world of business as a whole, including the voice talent
industry. There are mosquitoes flying
around within this industry on a daily basis, searching for their very next
targets. Who are they? Where are they?
The parasitic bugs of this industry are the voiceover
training companies that feed off of the ambitions and desires of talented
individuals by offering them empty promises, pipe dreams and wishful
thinking. All that they have been able
to actually deliver, though, is a substantial charge on their victim's credit
card statements and massive disappointments. You have more than likely seen their advertisements, online social media
pages and even viral videos. You may
have even moved towards the delicious bait that they have placed in the water
and stopped just shortly before you realized that it was a trap. Some of you may not have even stopped.
How can you identify which opportunities are legitimate and
which are not? It is actually much
easier than you think. It all starts
with a basic question that you have to ask yourself, "How seriously do I take my career?"
If you do not take it seriously at all, then you should not have a problem
with finding the best "deal" or the quickest route to learn
"everything that you need to know" within a single website that may use
those specific quotes as catchy taglines and slogans. That is how some of these predatory
companies are able to succeed at hunting down their targets in the first place.
They are fully aware that most humans desire things that they
can have right now without delay. We are
naturally drawn towards instant gratification and following our instinctive
impulses, which is another reason these companies are just like
mosquitoes. What draws mosquitoes to us
in the first place? Is it the cologne or
perfume that we may choose to wear on any given day? Is it the skin that we expose by wearing
summer clothing? No! Mosquitoes are naturally drawn to us because
of our carbon dioxide emissions – something that naturally happens and is
beyond our control.
They really don't care about you personally. To them, you are just another good meal that
will keep their bodies nourished. After
they have gotten what they need from you, they do not plan on sticking around
just to follow through or stay attached to you. On the contrary, their goal is actually to get away from you as fast as
possible so that they can move on to their next victim. Some voiceover training companies behave in
the same way. They truly do not care
about the individuals that sign up for their programs and online courses. They are primarily just focused on getting
exactly what they need from you (i.e. your money) so they will tell you
anything they need to in order to achieve their goal.
However, after you have given in and allowed them to bite
you, they are going to suck you dry and move on to their next target as soon as
possible. They are not going to stay by
your side to make sure that you get the personal training and one-on-one
mentoring that you need in order to truly be successful. You will just get access to an abundance of
generic videos and training materials along with a bunch of generic, mass
e-mails that are "personalized" simply because they have your name at
the top.
So, you have to go back to the original question – "How
seriously do you take your career?" Becoming a success story
within this industry is not something that you can do by paying a substantial
fee for a bunch of vague information that you could have gotten for free simply
by doing a Google search. You need to
have someone who is truly willing to invest their time into you to make sure
that you get the quality training that you deserve.
Why do you think a cubic zirconium gem costs a fraction of
the price of a genuine diamond that is the same size? Why is the original painting of the Mona Lisa
worth much more than the thousands of duplications that are being sold around
the world today? Because time is not money – time is actually worth so
much more than a dollar sign!
You need to invest in a mentor who is going to take the time
to mold your skills of coal within the voiceover industry into a high-carat
diamond of success. Someone who is going
to spend the countless hours necessary to develop you into an artistic
masterpiece of voiceover talent instead of selling you a cheap duplication that
they have sold to everyone else for the same price. Not a parasitic mosquito that is just going
to suck your money out of your wallet, precious time from your day and ambition
from your heart before they force you to suffer with itchy bumps of
disappointment that they leave behind.
A true mentor is going to be the one that stays by your side
from start to finish. This is going to be the person who doesn't just take
your money and run with it, but understands that you are only paying them as a
mutual investment. You will be investing your time, money and trust in them and
they will be investing their time, knowledge and experience into you. Instead
of giving you a bunch of generic information, a mentor will truly personalize their training to meet your specific
needs and give you the one-on-one coaching and development that you expect and
deserve.
Benjamin Franklin was once quoted as saying, "Tell me
and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." If you want to polish your craft and receive
quality training that will allow you to do so, invest in the services of someone
that is going to truly involve you in the training from start to finish. They will view you as a person that needs
their attention, commitment and time instead of just another sales figure to
add along with all of the others. Spray
yourself down with repellent to keep the mosquitoes of this industry as far
away from you as possible and focus on making wise choices when it comes to
choosing the person that will guide you towards achieving your goals throughout
your career.
