Jump Start The New Year With Tips From Bobbin Beam

Julia-Ann Dean: Welcome to Voice Over Experts brought to you by voices.com, the number one voiceover marketplace. Voice Over Experts brings you tips, pearls of wisdom, and techniques from top instructors, authors, and performers in the field of voiceover. Join us each week to discover tricks of the trade that will help you to develop your craft and prosper as a career voiceover talent. It’s never been easier to learn, perform, and succeed from the privacy of your own home and at your own pace. This is truly an education you won’t find anywhere else.
Now for our special guest…
Bobbin Beam: Happy holidays. I love this time of the year and I hope you’re having a good time already. It’s already the second week of December and there’s so much to do, isn’t there, holiday parties, baking, shopping and celebrations with family near and far. I’ve been determined to be smiling at people more. I know this sounds kind of silly, but at this time of the year, everyone is so hectic and it seems that people expect rudeness so I make a point to look people in the eye and smile. Their reactions are physical. It really makes a positive difference and I do this everywhere, in the supermarket, at the bank, at home. And instead of feeling run ragged, I feel better and I’ve decided to pace myself a little better.
I’ve been reading and gathering inspiring ideas for jumpstarting 2011 by starting to work hard right now. Now, while we’re in the final two-minute drill of 2010, why not consider making plans and preparations that will jumpstart your new year in a big way while everyone else is spending the last two weeks of the year relaxing, and then when January hits, you’ll be head of the game.
There’s still a little bit of time for you to personally reach out to your top two dozen or so customers. Make large deposits into these relationships. Give back. Don’t try to sell them on your accomplishments, instead why not give each of your top 25 clients a call? Find out what kind of plans they have for the holidays. Get to know them a little bit more personally. Take the opportunity to thank them for their business and tell them how working with them helped make your year. Ask if you served them well and listen to their success stories that they may even say about how they used your voiceover work and how great it was to work with you and possibly how you compare to others they may have worked with. Use this information, but also use this as valuable time to build your relationship. Invest yourself emotionally, you’ll be remembered as personal and unique.
And speaking of unique, we are voice artists so we should embrace all of who we are. Keep in mind that many successful entrepreneurs are artists, actors, and nonconformists so zig while others are sagging. Remember that being the best at what you do and being different and unique are solely in your control.
Take a look at who you spend time with and how. I always seek out positive leaders and mentors either in my immediate community or on the web, especially people who maybe farther along on their voiceover journey than I am. I love how my voice coach Pat Fraley says, he’s not that smart. He says he just likes to hang out with people who are smarter than him. So one of my long-term missions is to surround myself with phenomenal people.
Another area to focus on with laser precision is the identification and avoidance of time wasters that lead to procrastination. By doing so, I know I will be creating more value for my clients, my family, and myself. Speaking of value, I want to establish goals to take better care of all my relationships, my clients, business, my friends and family, and my spiritual values because all of those things are connected. My mission for 2011 is to make sure that what I do on the outside is in sync with my internal values and vision.
So what are the nuts and bolts of my preparation for a dynamic new year that I will spend the remaining two weeks of this year doing? Here’s a partial outline. Update my oldest demos. Review last year’s set of goals and enjoy the ones attained. Last year, I wrote down 21 long and short term goals and accomplished 15 of them. I feel pretty good about that.
So I’m going to look at the ones that I didn’t attain and either make them a priority or just remove them because things can change in their relevance over a year’s time. Clear off my desk and clean out the file cabinets. Move old paperwork into deeper storage. Clean house literally and donate unused or unneeded items and organize. Read and learn positive personal development materials daily, at least five to 10 minutes each day. Detox a bit, get a massage, take a long bath or for me a facial and work out more. I’ve already been enjoying a few too many of those delicious holiday treats. Have an attitude of gratitude, I know I’ll be happier. Prepare my marketing calendar for the New Year and review the budget that I have allowed for 2011 for my voiceover classes, books, new gear, continuing education, and plan on taking a course at a community college that could help my business.
These final two weeks will be spent in part stepping back and reviewing what worked this year and what didn’t. What I want to let go off and at the same time, focus on what I want to attract and draw into my life and work. I will then be fully ready to create my new goal list for 2011. I personally have a game plan each year similar to resolutions that address the advancement of my voice acting career, my business, and marketing skills plus a set of goals to enhance my personal life, which will fuel my professional life. I keep those goals printed up at my workstation at eye level so I have to look at them every day. They hold me accountable.
Hopefully, I’ve given you some ideas that you can use in our voiceover business to jumpstart your new year and I hope your 2011 will be your best year yet.
I’m Bobbin Beam, I’m a full-time voice talent based in the San Diego, Los Angeles area. You can find me at bobbinbeam.com and why don’t you stop by my sometimes entertaining and informative blog Bobbin’s blog at blog.bobbinbeam.com. I appreciate you listening and I wish you a happy holiday and a very happy prosperous New Year.
Julia-Ann Dean: Thank you for joining us. To learn more about the special guest featured in this Voices.com podcast, visit the Voice Over Experts show notes at podcast.voices.com/voiceoverexperts. Remember to stay subscribed. If you’re a first time listener, you can subscribe for free to this podcast in the Apple iTunes podcast directory or by visiting podcasts.voices.com. To start your voiceover career online, go to voices.com and register for a voice talent membership today.