Absolutely CRUSH 2023: Your 3-Step Voice Over Business Plan
Here's my first prediction for 2023:
2023 is going to be your year.
But only if you have a solid voice over business plan, including a solid voiceover marketing plan.
In this post, I'm going to give you the three most effective steps for building a rock solid 2023 action plan for your voice over business. And stick around because at the end, I'm going to reveal the real secret sauce for success in 2023 and beyond.
The old saying failing to plan is planning to fail is absolutely true. Here's exactly how to plan and rock 2023.
Step 1: Start With Why
In order for you to crush 2023, you have to have a deeply personal and compelling why.
And it can't just be, "I want to make more money." Congratulations. Everybody wants to make more money. And money isn't a reason. Money is a result. It happens because of a compelling and righteous why.
Why do you even want to do voice over? Why do you want to work your ass off? And why do you want to make 2023 your best year ever?
For me, many of you know, some of you don't, I'm a dad and my son is my true north. He's the reason for everything that I do. My why is providing a better life for my boy doing what I love. That's it. It seems simple, but that was the highest and best cause and purpose I have in my universe.
When it's deeply personal and powerful, your why will be what gets you up in the morning. Your why will be the reason you push through when you're tired. Your why is what will drive your consistency and your why is what will keep you from giving up when things get tough. And I promise you, things will get tough.
Simon Sinek, the author of Start With Why, uses a construct he calls The Golden Circle. And it goes like this:
Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle
Most organizations know what they do and can articulate it.
Some really understand how they do what they do differently. We call this their unique value proposition.
But very few and in fact, only the most successful know why they do what they do. And these are the most successful people and organizations in the world.
People don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it.
A great way to crystallize your why is to write out a mission statement and we can use the Golden Circle as a template for this.
And there are three steps to this.
"I believe..." and then articulate your why.
"By..." this is your how. This is how you do what you do. And
"The result is..." and then articulate what you do.
Here's an example.:
"I believe I can make an eventual career change and become a full time voice artist by learning skills in marketing and client management, by producing quality marketing content and developing sustain ing business relationships driven by dedication and service. The result will be scores of happy clients and a thriving VO business."
It can be as simple as that. Everything you do starts with why.
Step 2: Define Your Goals
The second step in crushing 2023 is to clearly and specifically define your goals. What do you want to happen in 2023? What do you want to bring into existence that doesn't exist now?
This is where you brainstorm and dream big. Take at least a full hour to clearly see yourself at the end of 2023.
The key here is clarity and specificity. Clearly and specifically, you see yourself on December 31st, 2023.
What does your life and business look like in as much detail as possible? What have you accomplished? Is it national commercial? If so, what brand is it? TV or radio? Are you the AVO or are you a character in the spot?
How much money do you want to make - to the penny? What kind of seasonality will affect how much money you make at certain times of the year?
What genres do you want to work in? What is that split look like? Are there any new genres that you want to get training in this year?
And don't stop with the business. You're building a life and a career here.
How does your home and home life look different? What improvements do you want to bring to your relationships? How has your mental health improved? Are you happier, calmer?
What about your physical health? Are you lighter? Stronger? Do you have more energy and endurance?
Is your mindset stronger? Do you handle adversity better?
What fun do you want to have? Do you want to take a vacation in 2023? If so, where? For how long? Which loved ones do you want to be with you? See this in as much detail as possible and write it all down. Just get it out of your head and onto the paper.
Now, once that's done for each goal, set a deadline or target date.
For example, I want to be training in corporate narration by April 1st, 2023. And…
Step 3: Plan Your Behaviors
Remember, there's a big difference between goals and behaviors. Goals are not what we do. Goals are the result of what we do. If we don't have an action plan, then all we have is a destination with no way to get there.
That's why goal setting on its own doesn't work.
You have to take each goal that you have and reverse engineer the specific behaviors and habits it will take to get you there.
Let's take that goal of getting into corporate narration, training by April 1st. That means in the first quarter of the year, you're going to have to research and reach out to several coaches. So maybe your behavior is to research and reach out to 1 to 2 coaches every couple of weeks until March 15th. And then that'll give you two weeks to take all that information, process it, and decide on a coach.
Setting a specific deadline or a target date allows you to schedule and commit in writing to the behaviors that will get you to that goal.
Here's another example. So let's say you want to add 50 new clients in 2023. That's about one a week. That's a goal. That's not a behavior. The behavior is reaching out to enough leads that will produce that goal.
And this is why you need to know your numbers, specifically your response rate and your conversion rate.
Let's start with conversion rate, meaning the number of prospects that you actually historically get work from. Out of the number of prospects that have added you to their roster. A good rule of thumb here is 4 to 5%. So if you want to add 50 new clients this year, you're going to have to get about 1000 to 1250 prospects to add you to their roster.
Now, here's where you need to know your response rate.
Of all the leads that you're reaching out to. How many of those turn into prospects and get back to you and say, hey, we like your stuff, we're going to add you to the roster. We'll keep in mind things like that. If your messaging is on point. A good rule of thumb here is about 12%. So if you need to get on 1000 to 1250 rosters, you're going to have to reach out to 8,333 to 10,417 leads.
Okay. So now we know the numbers, but what does that mean in terms of behaviors? In terms of daily habits?
Well, if we take those numbers and we divide them by 250 for 250 working days in the year, you'll need to reach out to 34 to 42 leads a day. Now, let's take it a step further. You know, you have to reach out to 34 to 42 leads per day.
What happens when life gets messy, when you get sick for a week, if you decide to take off and go to a conference? What happens if your childcare falls through for a few days? Life is messy and you're going to have to account for some mess in order to hit your goals. So if your mathematical goal is 34 to 42 leads a day, let's bump that up a bit, say to 50 leads a day.
This allows for some messiness and some adversity and still allows you to stay on track.
That's your behavior. That's your daily habit. That's your action plan to bring in 50 new clients in 2023.
When you schedule your behaviors and your daily habits in advance, you get up knowing what your day looks like, having had those priorities already set and scheduled.
Now, my advice is, no matter when you start your day, whether it's at 4 a.m. or 1 p.m., that you schedule and execute the habits that have the highest impact on your business, which, by the way, is usually reaching out to leads.
Do that work first so that when the day gets sideways, you still get that complete.
Okay, so let's sum up. Step one, start with why. Step two, clearly and specifically define your goals based on your why. And step three, reverse engineer your behaviors and daily habits.
But here's where most people fail. And here's…
The Secret Sauce to Success in 2023
In a word, consistency. Your ability to stick to the plan and execute your behaviors and daily habits with radical consistency is the key to reaching your goals.
Look, if your goal is to reach out to 50 leads a day, then reach out to 50 leads every damn day. If your goal is to work out every Monday through Friday, then make sure you're in the gym every damn weekday.
Forming a new habit is incredibly hard for the first 30 to 60 days, but by definition, habits once formed are much easier and take much less emotional and psychological energy.
Fight through the hard to get to the easy. And the only way you do that is with consistency.
You cannot reach any meaningful goal without it.
And one final caveat. Once every blue moon, every now and again, if you do this long enough, you're going to miss a day. Life is messy. It happens. You're going to get sick.
Your kids are going to get sick. Your childcare will fail. The power will go out. The trick is never miss twice in a row. Missing once, it happens. Missing twice, now you're beginning to form a new negative habit and a new pattern and one you do not want.
Occasionally, life gets really messy. You may have to travel for a funeral. You may get married. You may have to care for a loved one.
Don't feel guilty about that. Do what needs to be done. And when that's over, pick your action, plan up and start again. You may have to reestablish the new habit again and work hard at it again, but I promise you it won't be as hard as the first time you establish those habits and those behaviors.
Now, if you really want to rock 2023, I recommend you enroll in our VO Freedom Masterplan, which takes voice actors from relying on the pay-to-plays, often with part-time income. booking inconsistently, to developing a system to grow relationships at-scale that lead to more consistent business, booking, revenue, and income.
Also, click the link for our Move Touch Inspire Newsletter, which comes out every Thursday just for voice actors. It's a thought to move you an idea to touch you, and a quote to inspire you. We hope you'll sign up for that.
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We'll see you again real soon right back here. Thanks so much.