Our partners, family and friends have a huge bearing on our journey through life. Those closest to us help us achieve our ambitions and advise us when we might be going off track.
I've been very lucky in having a wonderfully supportive wife who has backed me and my madcap voiceover career through thick and thin. But what if one of these special people (or even a group of them) disagreed with what you were doing and started to question your judgement?
In voice overs this is quite a common issue and one that can be detrimental to your progress.
Let's be honest, voice overs are a pretty obscure niche to try to explain to the uninitiated and their reaction is often one of bewilderment:
"What are you saying? You mean you want to talk on TV adverts, or read stories or be in a videogame and actually be paid for it?"
This is often the initial reaction and it can be quite crushing to your aspirations. After all, you have been thinking about exploring the world of voice overs for a long time and the last thing you need is someone (especially someone whose approval we want) to dampen your enthusiasm.
Some will be incredibly supportive (even if they don't understand the machinations of voice overs) whilst others will be very dismissive and try to dissuade you from progressing with your ambitions. It is this latter group that can cause serious damage to your dreams.
In this video I look at this delicate, personal problem and suggest a solution (but I don't provide marriage guidance!)
Video transcript
Gary Terzza: Here's a provocative one for you, is your lover or a friend or family member stopping you from getting voice over work? Interesting question isn't it? Why would someone you know and trust and love stop you from getting voice over work? It doesn't make sense does it? But I've had so many people contact me in the past who said, "Oh, really interested in doing voice overs," and I've given a bit of background about what you should do, the steps you should take and so on, and they've gone, "Yeah, yeah I really going to do it," and then a few weeks or months later they come back to me and say, "Oh no, I decided not to do it."
When I've probed that further, the reason seems to be because friends or family or someone very close to them has said, "Well, do you know well I don't think you should do it. Why you doing that you're wasting your time. There's too much competition, or why would you want to do that? Who would want your voice?" You'll be amazed at how many lovers, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives and so on, and just friends in the family circle have that reaction when you say it. That's why a lot of people doing voice overs actually don't tell other people. They just keep schtum about it, because they're rather embarrassed about it. I quite understand that.
I think that's a natural reaction, and so what I would say is, "Look," to those people, "Look, I really really want to do this. Please don't tread on my dreams. I don't want you to, it's something I really want to do, or at least I'd like to give it a go. Please support me in this." You never know they might come around to your point of view. Now, if you're lucky and you've got a really good supportive spouse, or a friend, or relative, whatever, who is supportive and will really help you then that's great.
Those people are worth their weight in gold. As for the others, well perhaps it is time to say goodbye to those people.
I don't want to be accused of fuelling divorce or anything like that, but by the same token you need a cheerleader. You need someone who's going to support you through the good times and the bad in voice overs. They're a tricky business to get into. Lots of rocky roads ahead, so if you can choose your friends carefully, and choose your lovers carefully, and at least trying to get them on board. I think that's the main thing, the main advice I would say. Anyway, that's the end of today's rather spiky Voice-Over Masterclass.
Thanks very much for watching today, and of course look after your voice.
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