The 10-Week VO Holiday Challenge

With the spirit of giving upon us, I have decided to create a promotion that centers around giving back to the community.  The 10-Day VO Holiday Challenge.  I'm challenging voice talents by giving them ten weeks to contact a charity of their choice, donate their service and then blog about it.

It can be a voicemail, commercial, podcast intro or whatever.  Talents will be able to post links to their blogs as well as the vo's they have recorded for the charity of their choice.

The official facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/10WeekVOHolidayChallenge

I Think I Can...I Knew I Could!

There are thousands of motivational and inspiring books out there.  Some are packed with great content.  Others are filled with watered down fluff adapted from other books.  When I am having a tough day, sometimes I look to simple themes and stories to help motivate me.  Like "The Little Engine That Could", a popular children's book.  The message is so simple yet clear and very effective.

Recording voice-overs and teaching the craft of voice acting is a very exciting way to make a living but there are going to be days where it feels like a struggle.  It can be a difficult client or equipment failure.  Maybe it's Terry Daniel who is being difficult!  Why am I talking in the third person?  Ha!

Anyone who is human will encounter days where nothing seems to be working and you just don't feel like yourself.  There are things we can do to help get us back on a positive path.  Some do yoga.  Some use mediation.  Me?  I enjoy reverting back to this children's classic!  Especially when the little engine goes, "I knew I could!"  It always seems to effectively change my mindset and that is a wonderful accomplishment!

Voice Over Session- SMP Announcements

Recorded some new announcements for Stone Mountain Park!  Listen to the variety in the takes.  Clients loves this because they can pick and choose. 

King of the Barrelhouse Piano

It had been over 20 years since I last heard his music but thanks to technology, I was able to transfer tracks from Uncle's album to my computer.

A modern day honky tonk pianist who had continued the tradition of lively improvisation and driving rhythms in his music travels.  Incorporating extreme speed into his unique style, he channeled his power into a percussive style of piano that hearkens back to the honky tonk roots of African drumming and thimble thumped minstrel banjos.

Terry Powell died in October of 1992 of Leukemia but his music will always live on.  I’ve always known where my musical tastes of classical jazz and bluegrass came from.  I remember seeing him live and not being able to sit still all the way to the last number.

He left this earth too quickly at the age of 58 but I am happy to share some of his music with you today.  

To hear a sample, click on the audio player below.  Thank you for taking the time to listen.

Terry's Theme by voiceoversbyterrydaniel

How I Approach A Script

Before I record a commercial, this is how I approach the script!

Dammit Facebook!

Here we go again with more facebook changes.  In a nutshell, who cares.  Is it really going to affect your life in any way?  Did the changes make your teeth fall out?  I find it amusing how many people are going absolutely postal over the new look.  Some folks are acting as if someone broke into their house and rearranged the furniture.  I've seen everything from "I hate facebook" to "I'm leaving for Google+!"  What's next?  "Crucify Zuckerberg?"

Yeah, I like to poke a little fun at facebook for all the changes but protests and threats?  Do you really think facebook is going to reverse the changes because you threatened to drop your account?  I have to laugh at how powerful we think we've become on social networking sites.  It's too easy to get sucked in like a good video game or movie.  Some folks threaten to "unfriend" people as if they were hereby appointed "Facebook Pharoh" by the people.  Facebook is a FREE social networking site.  They don't owe us anything.

Who Cares How Many People Are Doing It!

Whether you are interested in getting into voiceovers or any other creative field, sometimes you just have to follow your dream despite how much competition is out there!  

Life Is Too Short

Life is too short to let the economy or any other excuse stop you from achieving your goals. The reality is that the economy is going to continue to move through its cycles and plenty of challenges will present themselves in an effort to distract you along the way of reaching your goals. What you need is a game plan and a strategy for dealing with the challenges.  If you look at successful people you admire, they are not successful because they never had a plan or encountered a challenge, they are successful because they created a plan and kept their eyes on their goals and not on the obstacles.


This is not to diminish the challenges you may be facing. I am saying this to encourage you. You are not the only one who has obstacles and the obstacles are not larger than your potential to overcome them. It may not be easy, but it will be well worth it. 


First and foremost, mind your business. Decide exactly what you want to achieve. Then make a game plane to work through the obstacles. Tougher economic times may require some creativity and making smart, calculated financial choices. It may require you to increase your networking and perhaps think of additional ways to serve your clients and increase your value potential. You may choose to work on your skills and get some additional training or seek mentorship from other professionals who are doing what you would like to do at the level you aspire to achieve. 


Then, isolate yourself from unnecessary distractions. Your time is valuable and you must choose how you leverage it. The time you allocate to social media, advertising and networking must be purposeful and deliberate. You may need to increase the time you spend doing auditions or you may need to choose your auditions more carefully.  Be sure to allocate time to yourself and your family too, as tougher times - regardless of the stressors - often distract us from what really matters in the end.


You can choose to make excuses or you can choose to make your voice over business flourish. The decision is yours.


Cheers to your success!

A Change of Seasons

The older you get, the years seem to go by so much quicker.  2011 has been growing experience for me.  Tracy and I made it through our first year together and have learned so much from each other!  I am also working on things that could make my voice-over business even better.  It is such a work in progress.  Just like life.  Every day there is something we can improve on.

For me, it's being more patient, listening better and being an overall better person.  At times, I have had a hard time focusing on one task at a time.  It always felt like I needed to get 100 things done within the span of about ten minutes.  I'm learning to "stop and smell the flowers" a lot more than I used to.

Life is precious and as I get older, I am seeing more of its beauty.  I think this happens when you have made peace with yourself.  Having a supportive girlfriend has really helped.  Tracy has not only been an inspiration to me but she is always there for me.  When you are an entrepreneur working from home, there are going to be some challenging days but with her help, the rough days are far more manageable than when I was by myself.

The sunset in the picture above reminds me of everyday life.  Moments of beauty and darkness,  Somehow, we need to walk through both. 

Reconstruction

Out of bad comes good, rewiring, evaluating of self & wisdom

This week I watched the documentary on the Discovery channel about the rebuilding of Ground Zero in NY.

So emotional, so inspirational, so sad & happy at the same time.  The building of the first new tower is emotional for me to watch.  After all these years of so much pain and an empty hole, it is nice to see that there is finally restoration taking place.  In a way, it’s like spending years not knowing what you are going to do with your life and then out of nowhere, things start taking shape.  One brick at a time.  We are always rebuilding.  Whether its highways, buildings or our inner soul.  I think of my voiceover career this way.  Like I’m building a tall skyscraper, one floor at a time.  Each floor has a goal.  An objective.     

Resilience- In the voiceover business, it’s easy to get down on yourself when you are having a bad day, week, month or even year!  Focus on what has worked in the past but don’t be afraid to try new things.  Success will come back to you like a boomerang.  Some weeks are great, some weeks are tough.  It’s like a musician who makes it to the top of the charts and then has to work twice has hard to back there again. 

It seems every day there is this fine line between good & bad.  There will always be people trying to take us down, intentionally or not. Spreading negativity, trying to break down what we are trying to build.  It can be challenging because now we have social networking sites, where people can either choose to be supportive and positive or cynical and discouraging.  The beauty is that we can decide who we are going to be connected with.  This is the same in the real world.

So remember it is always your choice. Your choice who you are connected with, your choice to not be afraid, your choice to wake up every day & decide what brick you will add to your tower of life.

Build the life you dream of.....

 *Special thanks to Tracy Blowers for contributing to this blog.