Attitude and effort are 1-2 punch of voice-over success

In the back corner of my basement hangs a 100-pound Everlast heavy bag. At least once or twice a week, I wrap my hands, strap on the boxing gloves, and pummel the bag as part of my morning workout.

Some days I hit it with more ferocity than others, depending largely on my state of mind. I channel my inner Tyson, delivering blows from every angle with violent intent

ions. Jabs, hooks, crosses, power shots – every thud releasing the negativity from my

body.

After several rounds of pugilistic fury, I’m ready to attack my day, so to speak, with a more positive attitude. My energy is directed toward the day’s schedule, which lately has been filled with all things related to my voice-over business.

Starting a new business is a daunting task. Every day can be a battle because I am building something out of nothing, every brick laid with both care and sweat.

Plus, the business has my name on it. I am the CEO, the CFO, the marketing director, the spokesperson, the HR contact, the social media guru, the IT specialist, the admin, the talent, the agent, and – of course – the No. 1 employee.

Accountability rests solely on the person looking back at me in the mirror. Going forward, I will be either my greatest ally or my worst adversary. Whichever role I play depends on the only two things I can control: my attitude and my effort.

No matter how well I prepare myself, no matter how much attention I devote to every detail of my business, I’ll never be exempt from adversity. For instance, I could get a deluge of rejections. Or my revenue stream could dry up. Those things can and could happen. While I can’t always prevent the setbacks, I can control how I handle them.

That’s where attitude and effort come into play. An unwavering belief in my business model and my voice-over training -- coupled with my work ethic, my interpersonal and organizational skills, my experience, and much more -- should lead to far more victories than defeats.

Several years ago, I had the rare privilege of interviewing Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux after a spring training game. Perhaps no pitcher in major league history could command a baseball quite like Maddux could.

As we talked briefly about pitching, he made a rather profound statement. He said he didn’t get upset if a hitter beat him on “his” pitch – even if he gave up the game-winning hit.

Here was his logic: If he executed the pitch he intended to throw – meaning the right type of pitch delivered to the right location at the right speed in the right count – Maddux knew he would win that battle most of the time.

While the odds were heavily in his favor, they never guaranteed the outcome after the pitch left his hand. And if the hitter beat him, so be it.

Think he wouldn’t throw that same pitch again? Of course, he would.

Maddux focused on what he could control, not what he couldn’t. That’s why he won 355 games and four Cy Young awards during his 23-year career. A positive attitude, one undeterred by a negative outcome, will lead to a positive effort and, ultimately, many more wins than losses.

The same goes for voice-over work. I might not be the voice that a particular business wants for its commercial, project or event. I might not be the first choice for an animated character, a documentary, or a telephone service. Should that diminish my belief in myself, or stop me from auditioning or marketing my business? Not a chance.

To this point I’ve fallen short on several potential jobs. Yet my failure to land one opportunity doesn’t preclude me from pursuing thousands of other opportunities where the result could be different.

Obviously, if there is something consistently off in my presentation, then I need to address the issue and adapt. That’s just part of the learning and growing process. Otherwise, my attitude and effort should remain constant. Always positive, always working, always moving forward.

And if discouragement threatens to beat down my attitude and effort and cold-cock my business, then it’s back to the heavy bag to knock it out of my system – physically, mentally and figuratively.

That’s one way to help give my voice-over business a puncher’s chance.