Pieces of the Puzzle

Tonight, my daughter and I worked on a puzzle. I admit that she did a lot more "working" on the puzzle than I did. She has an extreme amount of patience for puzzles that I simply do not possess. She can look at the box to see what the puzzle should look like, then seemingly go right to the piece or pieces she's looking for and put them together. While she's being very efficient, I'm spending way too much time looking for just that 'one' piece that's going to really get me started. Well, you don't have to guess who had more of the puzzle put together by the time we stopped.

Establishing oneself in the very competitive voiceover market is much like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. It takes extreme patience. You look at the completed picture of the puzzle on the box, which is actually a picture of you and your goals and your passion, eventually coming to fruition. Then you look at all of the pieces scattered about the table and wonder how you're ever going to put them all together. It just seems too overwhelming. Where do you even start?

Obviously, you start with the first piece. Then you find the next and the next and the next and before you know it you've got part of the picture coming together. Those pieces represent all of the aspects it takes to be a successful voiceover artist in today's market. There are pieces of training, technique, practice, coaching, characters, equipment, computers, software, soundproofing, demo's, websites, blogs, marketing, agents, unions, auditions, etc, etc, etc....a lot of pieces scattered all over the table. But, isn't it comforting to know that you actually have all of the pieces that it takes?

If you will be realistic with yourself from the start and know that it is going to take time, patience, and perseverance to complete the puzzle, then as you put it all together, one piece at a time, you will actually start to see the picture on the box take shape right before your eyes. You must remember that it is YOUR puzzle and that no two people use the exact same piece in the exact same order when putting a puzzle together. Set your pace, your strategy, your technique and follow it, piece-by-piece and enjoy the successful feeling of accomplishment along the way.

So, have you started putting your pieces together, or are you just staring at the box?

Derek Chappell
The Voice of Your Business