this is how to regain and retain your motivation

When I started my voiceover journey, I was pumped up and ready to go. I was at the stage where “excited” would be better defined as obsessive. I had a grand vision of voiceover success and I was ready to grab on and get started.

I wanted to learn all the things and practice all the copy. I wanted to build out my booth and start auditioning asap. I loved the industry and the actions that make up the job, and I felt ready to make a real go of voiceover and make it work for me.

As I built my business, I quickly found out that it was MUCH harder than I thought it

would be. And I actually thought it would be quite a challenge. Well, I was right, and then some!

Gigs weren’t happening, yet auditions were numerous. Marketing myself was a world that kept my guts twisted,(and still does, by knowing the kind of grind I need go through to promote myself. And my submissions to talent agents must have found their way into that “special box” - the trash, because I sure wasn’t hearing much of anything back from them.

I started feeling defeated and there was more than one day where motivation and discipline were nowhere to be found. As time passed and reality settled, I found that I wasn’t nearly as excited about my voiceover business.

What happened? I loved everything about voiceover so much! I wasn’t burnt out, necessarily, but I was mopey and frustrated at the lack of income having given the maximum effort I was putting in.

I thought back to the beginning. I know there was a reason for wanting to get into the voiceover industry. I needed to remember, so I had to go back and really think about why I wanted to get into this crazy industry in the first place.

a vision flashed in my brain. Sitting on my porch drinking my coffee in a warm, snuggly sweater, waking up for the day, knowing I was getting to live my best life.

There was a sense of peace I had in this vision that I was trying to bring to reality. For me, I got into voiceover to live a life that was outside of the everyday corporate grind I knew so well. I was tired of making money for someone else with barely a thanks in return. I was tired of not building on my personal dreams.

I knew building my business would be tough, at least I thought I knew how tough it would be - ha, wasn’t I surprised,)but I was all about building something for myself. And my vision sitting on my porch was the image that represented the moment I knew I was living my best life.

Knowing my reason “why” gave me the motivation I needed to pick myself up and try again, and again, and again.

I still use that vision to keep me going, because I’m not where I want to be yet.

I knew I needed to keep the vision of my future in the front of my mind, especially when dealing with the tougher parts of the business. That vision continues to give me a little “boost” and seeing any kind of progress makes that boost of motivation feel even stronger.

I encourage you to have a vision of your future too.

• Why are you doing this?

• Why are you in voiceover and why is the slog of building your business worth it?

• What keeps you going?

• What is this all for?

Take a minute for yourself and think about your reason why.

What is something that can pull you out of the doldrums and give you that motivational boost we all need from time to time?

In fact, I challenge all of us,(including myself, to take it a step further. Let’s define what an entire dream day would look like. Forget the tiny vision, let’s go big.

We are all working so hard to build something for ourselves. What’s our reward for all of our hard work? From wake to sleep, let’s build the dream day, where when we experience it, we’ll know we’ve “made it”.

What does your dream day look like?

• What kind of activities would you include?

• Exercise?

• A nap?

• Building your business?

let’s have fun and get detailed.

• What are you wearing?

• What’s the weather like?

• Describe the location.

• How are you feeling?

This is your dream and there are no limitations.

As we build our businesses, there will be more than one reason to stop and give up. Days will be hard, disappointment and frustrations are guaranteed. No one promised this journey would be easy. But, nothing worth having comes easy. Let’s continue to fight for those dreams.

Remembering my why,

Christy