How Would You Answer?

I get this question fairly often and honestly don’t know how to answer. How do I reduce 45 years of experience to a few simple process steps? Having a “nice voice” and speaking ability are a great start, but not enough to get you where you want to go. So many other factors come into play, including personality, style, intellect, drive, and making the most of each opportunity no matter how insignificant they may seem at the time. For Christ-followers, prayerfully asking for God’s guidance is also a critical step in the process.

Pursue every opportunity that opens to you. Do your best in each assignment and then critically listen to yourself and seek feedback on your performance. Don’t become defensive, but strive to make each performance better than the last one. For broadcasters it often means working graveyard shifts or doing simple station breaks before greater avenues open up. Look for ways to volunteer to gain experience. Look to a mentor who can encourage and advise you. Become a student of others who are already doing what you want to do and take a little something from each that you admire and make it part of your style development. Read VO blogs and take advantage of seminars, online and otherwise, where you can learn from others.

I sincerely don’t want to discourage you. Like anything in life if you have the will— and are following God’s path for you— anything is possible. You have the first prerequisite, the desire. The rest is going to take hard work, practice, patience— and time.