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CAREER: Are You Finding A Way To Deal With This Unpredictable Voice Over Career?  By Paul StrikwerdaThere's one thing I absolutely love and hate about my life as a freelancer. It's the unpredictability of it. To
me, predictable is boring. It's eating fish every Friday. Going to the
car wash on Saturday, and spending every stinkin' summer at the same
overpriced rental on the Jersey shore. Predictable is no fun. It's playing it safe, doing what you've always done. On the other hand, a predictable life means stability. No guessing what happens next. You always know what's coming. Most
people love the familiarity of the seasons and the holidays. Times like
Easter and Christmas serve as markers of time passing. As soon as it's
fall, pumpkin spice is wafting in the air, and retailers rush to get
their Halloween collection out on the floor. Being able to count on things is rather reassuring. Uncertainty stresses people out. WHAT COMES TOMORROW? As
someone who has always been self-employed, I have learned to live with
and appreciate unpredictability. Right now, I don't know what voice over
project will land on my desk tomorrow. I have no idea if the client I
spoke with yesterday, will like the audition I sent out today. And
please don't tell me what I'll be working on next week. Surprise me! If
you're a pathological planner craving closure, you're not going to like
that very much. You've got to have the right personality to handle
being an independent contractor. COOKS AND MUSICIANS ... To explain what that means, I often
turn to culinary and musical metaphors. You
see, there are two types of cooks.
Meanwhile,
Mind
you: neither is right or wrong. There is a time and a place for
organization and planning, and we all need to let loose a little. It
can't be all work and no play. But as much as we try to be in control of our lives (and that's the key concept: control), life has this strange way of throwing monkey wrenches in the works, just to test our flexibility and creativity. 'THINGS WILL ALWAYS WORK OUT' After almost 40 years of being a freelancer, I have learned to trust one thing, and it has become my mantra:
Remember
that time you were rejected for a project you so wanted to work on? You
felt angry and inadequate, in part because the decision was made for you. Not by you. But
you also need to remember what happened next. Thanks to that one
project going to another talent, you were able to take on a different
job that eventually opened the door to an amazing opportunity. Something
you could not have predicted. Years ago, my wife went on Yahoo Personals looking for a skiing partner to go down the slopes with. She
ended up with this Dutchman (who could not ski if his life depended on
it), and recently we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. And
as she will gladly attest, no day with me is ever predictable. She, on
the other hand, is my stability. She's the rock in my roll. FIND A WAY Listen,
if you're a fellow freelancer, I hope you're enjoying the variety of
work that comes your way. I hope you enjoy being off schedule with the
rest of the world, giving you the freedom to do things those with a 9 to
5 job can only dream of. I
also hope you have found a way to deal with the financial instability,
and the constant search for the next big project. If you've been at it
for a while, you know that when it rains, it pours. And sometimes it
just rains. But throughout this unpredictable existence, know that there is this one constant you can always count on. That constant, that certainty, is YOU. Unpredictable, out-of-the box thinking, creative, flexible, optimistic, multi-talented YOU! ---------------- ABOUT PAUL Paul Strikwerda is a 25+-year veteran of the voice over industry whose Nethervoice service features German and Dutch voice overs, translation and evaluation services. Born in Holland, he has worked for Dutch national and international radio, the BBC and American Public Radio. Although 90% of his work is in English, Strikwerda also records in Dutch, German and French. Clients include Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, and the Discovery Channel. He is also a voice over coach, author of the book, Making MONEY In Your PJs: Freelancing for voice-overs and other solopreneurs, and writes an informative and entertaining blog. Email: paul@nethervoice.com Web: www.nethervoice.comBlog: www.nethervoice.com/nethervoice Making MONEY In Your PJs: http://makingmoneyinyourpjs.com |
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Bruce >
My hobby-horse is education: we need (in UK anyway) to put the emphasis on creativity, free thinking, optimism, confidence, collaboration. And we should pay attention to valuable lessons from the past, rather than the tickbox assessment of the three Rs, against a background of whitewashed constitutional history. Bah!!!