Posts in professional development
Talking to 60 Voice Actors in 60 Days
Talking to 60 Voice Actors in 60 Days

I’ve had the sense for the last two to three years, well before the pandemic, that there are a lot of folks struggling in this business. I feel like we do a really good job as an industry of getting people trained up on acting, technique, and performance, and we get them enough training to be able to competently record, edit, and deliver a quality audio voice track in a room that’s treated and sounds professional.

And then we send these freshly trained voice actors out into the world and wish them luck.

And they go, “Uh… ok…. What do I do now?”

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professional developmentPaul Schmidtthe vo community Comments
Habits, The Iron Man, and the 80% Rule
Habits, The Iron Man, and the 80% Rule

The Pareto Principle says that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. Other names for this principle are the 80/20 rule and the law of the vital few. For me, prospecting is one of the vital few. In fact, I’d say in my case prospecting has more of a 90/10 effect. It’s 10% of my time that leads to 90% of my success.

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business, family, professional development, personal developmentPaul Schmidthabits, pareto principle, vital fewComment
Should I Get Source-Connect?
Should I Get Source-Connect?

One of the questions I get often from students is, “What is Source-Connect and should I get it”?

Source-Connect is a digital connection application for remote audio recording and monitoring, voice-over, and ADR recording. Essentially, it’s an app you can download and buy a license to (either outright or via monthly subscription) that allows you to connect to other Source-Connect studios worldwide.

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work, professional development, tech/gearPaul Schmidtsource-connect, live sessionsComment
Opportunity and Dumb Luck
Opportunity and Dumb Luck

In the course of my daily prospecting earlier this week, I just happened to reach out to someone at a production company while they were on the phone with their casting director. It turns out they’re casting a network TV show that will rely heavily on voiceover and as luck would have it, dumb luck generated the opportunity for me to audition.

Except it wasn’t dumb luck.

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business development, work, professional development, businessPaul Schmidtscale, outreach
Gremlins
Gremlins

Everybody's got them. Everyone. And if you say you don't have any, you're either lying or a sociopath.

They're those voices in your head. The ones that talk shit about you to your face. (For a voice actor, they're especially insidious because they sound just like you.)

I've got'em. They're loud. They're persistent. Persuasive AF.

Here's what mine say:

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personal development, professional developmentPaul Schmidtcourage, rejection, vulnerability, relationshipsComment