Building a Network One Conversation at a Time

Over the last month I’ve been learning from some of the voiceover industry leaders. I’ve been building my network of friends and colleagues by talking one on one with people I admire and respect. I’ve been surrounding myself with people more successful than me. I’ve been doing all of this by interviewing people for my YouTube channel.

This all started with the realization that no matter how confident I am in myself and my own abilities as a voice actor - no one has ever succeeded alone. But how am I supposed to build a network of like minded people if I work from home and record in an empty room? Well, that was the question that made me decide to start reaching out to people and interviewing them.

So far I’ve interviewed four people and I have another one scheduled for this Friday. In a way I feel like I’m creating my own voiceover university and I’m in control of the content. Every time I finish an interview I feel myself getting smarter and more in touch with the business of voiceover. It’s almost like I’m downloading the information that my guest has gained over their lifetime into my brain - ok ok maybe I’m starting to sound a little nuts, but this is exciting stuff!

I’ve learned two very important things during my first four interviews: people are generally very generous with their time and knowledge, and becoming better at any skill requires the willingness to learn from people around you. Those are pretty basic understandings of life, but they are important. Growing up I would always want to do everything myself and be independent. I always wanted to say that I did it on my own. The problem is - no one ever does anything alone. There is always a long list of people to thank for any success in life.

As I build my voiceover career I will make it a point to learn from everyone around me and take in as much knowledge as I can from them. I’ll be successful much faster if I drop any ego I have and commit to learning and applying what I learn to my business.