It’s time … It’s time … For what? For dinner? To start exercising more?
Okay, that’s all true and valid.
For me though, it was time for a much bigger, more encompassing change. A positive career change. It was time for me to take that “leap of faith” to pursue voice over full time.
Like many VO pros, I worked full time at my “day job” – as a meteorologist – while working in voice over part time during the late afternoons, evenings and weekends.
LUNCH BREAK SUBARU OFFICE …
It’s a familiar schedule to many. During my lunch breaks there were times I went into my “portable office,” my trusty Subaru Outback, and made cold calls and follow-up calls to help with my marketing efforts.
Auditions, recording commercials, message-on-hold projects and longer form narrations were completed, saved and sent well beyond the normal 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. time regime.
It’s the whole “you do what you gotta do, to do what you gotta do” scenario.
Then there were the training webinars – thankfully, many are held during the late afternoon and evening hours – and classes that I just fit in when I could.
Sure, there were long hours and working weekends, but I was good with it because I love voice overs – and I actually enjoy the business side of the VO biz, as well.
I also had a goal that kept me going and motivated. That goal was to work in voice over full time.
WHEN TO LEAP?
The big question for me to answer was WHEN?
- When do I make the proverbial “leap”?
- When will I be ready, both as a voice actor and as a business owner?
- When will I feel comfortable enough on a financial level to go on my own to work as a voice actor?
- When will I know when it’s the right time?
DREW A ROADMAP
I’m a planner and like to have a roadmap in place. Actually, it’s more like a series of stepping stones, to help steer me toward my goals.
So…where do I start?
1. Pay Off Debt. Pay off car loan. Pay off credit card.
2. Acquire Any Needed Equipment.
As I’d been working in voice over part time for several years, I fortunately already had my recording equipment. However, it was time for me to take an “inventory” of what I had, what I needed, and to update anything now, to eliminate as much overhead as possible.
3. Continue Marketing and Networking.
I have found that this crucial element to any business takes time. Time in that an initial meeting (email, phone call, in-person meeting) usually doesn’t lead to anything immediately.
It’s similar to planting seeds in the soil; it takes time for them to germinate. Some seeds come up, some don’t, and those that do start to poke through the soil at different times.
Networking with businesses, ad agencies and PR and marketing firms, and staying open to opportunities now that may lead to an audition and a potential gig later, is of the utmost importance no matter what stage of business you’re in.
4. Discuss Decision with Immediate Family.
For me, this meant having a heart-to-heart with my husband. He’s self-employed as well, so he’d already taken “the leap.”
He’s been so supportive and has always known that it wasn’t a matter of “if,” but rather “when” I made my decision. We just needed to make sure we were on the same page, especially when it came to finances.
We needed to be realistic.
5. Set a Date and Stick With It.
This was a huge step for me. I chose a date to tell my boss (a super guy) about my decision to pursue voice over full time. I also chose a specific date and told him when my last day working for him would be.
To keep myself accountable, I physically wrote down – wrote with a pen, not typed – those two dates on a piece of paper and wrote it on my calendar.
So when were the dates – last day at my day job and first day working full time as a voice actor – going to be? Hhmmm, back to that question again …
LIGHT BULBS POP
I finally realized that in order to make a “full-time wage” in voice overs that I needed and wholeheartedly wanted to work in/spend full time actually doing it!
Light bulb! Actually, it was more like several light bulbs going off! It’s funny how you hear/read things at just the time you need them.
I was in the midst of reading The Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks when I was seriously deciding about when I should set my dates for moving into voice overs full time.
There are many great passages in the book, but the one that really hit home for me was the following:
“…if you are focusing upon that which is most important in any point in time, you move forward more powerfully toward that.” I’m certainly no stranger to hard work, nor am I afraid of it. I was realizing, though, that it’s a challenge to make a full time income – at least at first – doing something just part time.
Things don’t happen overnight and I know it takes time to build clientele and a business, but you won’t get anywhere if you don’t start.
NOW IT’S TIME!
This was the epiphany – the realization – the light bulb moment for me.
It was the “It’s Time” moment. It’s time to make a decision and to set the dates. It’s time to take the leap.
So in making a solid decision that yes, voice over is what I want to do full time, I proceeded to work on my roadmap and stepping stones to get me to that goal. So I …
- decided on a start date to begin working in voice overs full time,
- began to tell people about my plan, which helped me stay focused, and
- gave my notice at my day job.
Once I gave my notice, things really became “real.” I can’t count the times I said to myself something like, “Holy cow, I’m really going to do this! This is it!”
THE COUNTDOWN STEPS …
When it comes to when, timing is different for everyone, since we haves different life circumstances.
For me, knowing when “It’s Time” came when I implemented and stuck with my plan of:
1. Paying off debt
2. Acquiring needed equipment
3. Continuing to market and network
4. Discussing my decision with my immediate family, and
5. Setting the dates and sticking to them
My journey of pursuing voice overs began eight or nine years ago when I started taking voice acting classes. Yes, it’s been and will always be a marathon, but that’s a-okay with me as I’m not a fast runner anyway.
There’s a time for everything and everything happens in due time. You’ll know when the time is right for you. Go For It!
