In Voice Over: Dare the Difference and Find your Authentic Voice

When working as a voice over actor, one must dare the difference to find your own authentic voice. The explanation of the thought behind this statement follows. Since last posting here, it’s been times of fun, joy, stress, death of a family member, grief, travel, family bonding and memorable times with good friends. Good and not so good stuff.  I’m into keeping my head down, working hard lately. At many things. Trying not to become distracted from what’s important.

A new regimen of incorporating meditation and yoga helps me to feel “centered”. I believe that  becoming still with your thoughts is needed more. Not just in life, but in our industry. It is growing and becoming more fragmented. Daring to be different is the challenge in a sea of voice over actors and all-consuming social media.

Just Be Who You Are

Social media is the huge, bright shiny object of the day. It’s easy to be tempted to hang there. Not only to keep our egos fueled, but to find out what people think of us. The temptation is to define one’s identity in terms of keeping score of others’ wins, losses,likes, or who you are as a voiceover person. (Note: voice over PERSON.) Therefore, it’s easy to get your identity off track. We are deluged with such information overload at times, that we can become overwhelmed by being pummeled into paralysis from constant bombardment. And we’re  basically allowing it to happen! We’re wanting someone to give us the keys to the kingdom to fast success.

We have so much at our fingertips in the resources of the internet. Much of human knowledge is digitized for immediate access. Today there are so many more voice over coaches, teachers, mentors and self-proclaimed experts than ever. The news and social media, academia, webinars, conferences, content marketers and online groups tell us what we should be doing.

YOUR Selling Points

Here’s a suggestion: Make who you are your selling point. Stop measuring yourself, your voice-over performance, your “popularity” against other’s standards and claims of others before you. The reason? YOU start from you own unique perspective. After all, the chance of you even being born is one in 400 trillion!

Being Authentic

Be true to yourself. And authentic about your “why”. Your “why” should be what you wake up every day for.  If you work hard, practice and train to be your best constantly, you’ll be confident about your own differentiation from the crowd. So believe in what you do, what you’ve learned, how you’ve practiced and how you deliver your performances. And don’t give up. Stay confident about your own differentiation from “the crowd”.

Some of my favorite quotes come from my mentor, Jim Rohn:

• Walk away from the 95%. Don’t do what they do. If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.
• If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
• Never wish life were easier, wish that you were better.

The Secret Answer

I’m not suggesting we drop out of everything, just to be or say we’re different. I’m saying we are often smarter than we give ourselves credit for. The answers aren’t to be Googled or in our Facebook groups. And here’s one more Jim Rohn saying: “Learners are earners. And earners are learners.” 

• Listen
• Be mindful of trends
•  Get smart and read
• Keep training
• Practice, practice , practice…perfectly
• Use your own brain
• Be discerning. (ie. call out the B.S.)

Take some time to discover what’s already inside and is marinating around that miraculous mind. I’ll bet you’ll find new insights and intuitions that are truly original. Wow. It’s that inner, authentic voice.

“Voiceover is what I do, not who I am” ~Bobbin Beam

So, take a time out from the other 95% once in a while. Come up with some of your own answers. And dare the difference.

Bobbin Beam  has been a full-time voiceover actress and voice-over talent since the mid 1980’s. You can listen to Bobbin’s wide range of voice-over demos and commercial and narration video demos and get acquainted with Bobbin’s vocal  versatility .