A Little Victory

When I make playlists for myself, I sometimes like to create something motivational, not too goofy or cheesy, but songs I think are positive.  One of my favorites is "Just One Victory" from Todd Rundgren.  I think it can be very true,  "just one victory, and we're on our way."

I had a couple of victories last week, at least I'll feel victorious when I get paid for them.  I got a couple of voice over jobs; one, a module in a series of instructional videos I've been doing.  The other was the first I've been awarded after auditioning on a pay to play voice over site.  There are a few of these in the voice over world, and I was waffling about paying for a membership last year.  I'd had free memberships on two for several years, and a few years back, I'd actually gotten a job doing a training video for someone who'd happened upon my profile.  However, in order to be eligible to audition for most of the jobs, it's necessary to be a paying member, so it was starting to seem like a necessary evil.  (In fact, someone to whom I'd sent marketing material a few months ago sent me a nice response email saying they only did voice casting through the site I now use.)  Last fall, one of the daily deal sites had a half price deal, so I decided it was time to bite the bullet and become a premium member.

As I still have a day job and another part-time job, I hadn't yet done any auditioning, but in March, I decided my membership fee was being totally wasted if I didn't at least give it a shot.  So I auditioned, with high hopes.  I didn't understand how to read the site at first, but as I figured it out, I began to realize that about half of my auditions hadn't even been heard by the clients.  I didn't know whether to feel more or less frustrated by that.  Because I felt I might be missing out by not finding good projects or auditioning after too many others had already submitted, I decided to use a couple of vacation days to mostly spend time on my voice over business, and to spend a good deal of that time auditioning.  I planned poorly, choosing April 17th and 18th, not realizing until later that Good Friday was a terrible time to try to work, because many businesses close that day, or gear down to at least close early.  There weren't many auditions to even take a stab at, although I did devote time off to marketing in other ways.

To be completely honest, I don't really want to spend that much of my time working this site, and I would prefer to cultivate my own client list, but I felt more determined, and sure if I just got my audition in at the right time and the right person heard me, that there was no reason for them to choose anyone else.  I can do the job as well as anyone.  Beginning in June, I noted a higher percentage of my submissions were at least getting listens, and several of those were marked as "liked." Even though I was pretty certain something would eventually come my way, I was still surprised to see a different subject in the inbox of the email account I use especially for the site.  It said money had been deposited for me because I'd been awarded a job.  I couldn't even figure out how to get the script at first, but once I realized where the message was, I found the file, and quickly figured out how to upload my mp3.  The client must have been happy enough because the file was accepted, and I got a 5-star rating, which I guess is how I got bumped to the site's Home page.  At that point, my demos got more listens, which is really what I want as much as anything.  I suppose that's how I got heard by someone else who invited me to audition for a project which wasn't supposed to be a great match, but is now going to be my next project--so I've booked two within a few days.

Getting the jobs I got last week was a big boost.  For about a day.  Then, I just became greedy for more, but maybe "greed is good"?  I don't know, but getting the work just makes me want more work and gives me hope.  A recent fortune cookie told me "Your current plans are going to succeed."  Do I believe in a little piece of paper someone in a factory in California stuffed in a cookie?  No.  Do I believe in me?  Yes, I believe I do.

"Can you hear me, the sound of my voice?"  I hope you will.