I’m no success guru.

Not a clue about 7 steps to great wealth, or whatever.

The closest I’ve ever come to closing a sale involved the words, “Please bring your purchases to the register.”

But I have learned a thing or two about connecting with clients and walking through open doors of opportunity. To be honest, it’s no secret. Or at least it shouldn’t be. So, I share these five simple personal discoveries with you.

1. My job is to meet my client’s…

One of my good friends who runs a studio where I get to offer up my voice over craft, finished up a job that I had voiced.  He leaned back in his chair and said, “Dang, I’m good!”

I laughed and said, “Hey, that was my awesome voice over!”

The ad rep was there and he chimed in, “What?  That was my incredible writing!”

The client, who also happened to be there, laughed out loud, “It’s a good thing I’ve got such a great product to make you guys…

A few weeks ago I was asked to speak at a VO get together on the East coast. The subject I was given was, “How To Take Your Voice Business To The Next Level.” We couldn’t make the schedule work out, but on a plane flight I put down some thoughts that I would want to share if the opportunity had worked out.

So, here you are, for whatever they’re worth: Five butt-kickers to get you going.

1. Quit focusing on the words.

Start focusing on the listener/viewer. What is it…

There’s been a lot of discussion over the past couple of years about how clients want more “conversational” reads and delivery.  As voice talents, we are constantly asked to do something “conversational” like Dennis Haysbert, or Denis Leary, or Morgan Freeman; or the one I get all the time, Sam Elliot (How come women are never asked to sound like some female celebrity?).

Well, what do clients really mean when they ask for conversational? 

I’ve started asking new clients to give…

I had one of the oddest voiceover experiences ever earlier this week.

One of the sheer pleasures of my work as a voice talent is that I get to work with some of the most creative people in the world. I rub headphones with the most awesome clients, the most creative writers, the most inspiring voices, and the most amazing engineers in the world (how’s that for the most grammar abuse?).

It’s an unbelievable gift. I treasure it more than I could ever express. But earlier this week…