When I was in radio years ago, Clear Channel came along and gobbled up all of the small stations and took the fun out of working in radio. Eventually, it felt like I was working for an insurance company. Nothing wrong with working in the insurance business but this was radio and radio was supposed to be fun!
After about five years, I would sit in the parking lot staring at that massive corporate building every morning and didn't want to go inside. It created a lot of pain and anxiety. The panic attacks would go on for 2 hours sometimes. This was no way to live my life.
After scratching and clawing for a couple of years as a part-time voice actor, I was able to secure a few steady clients. Still, I didn't have a ton of capital to work with. In addition, I was feeling pretty restless at this point.
It was a spring morning. The warmest day so far that year in Minnesota. I got out of bed and said, "that's it!" I am putting in my notice today. I was scared as hell but the excitement outweighed the fear. This decision was going to be life-changing and while there was trepidation about finances, I was determined to make this work or I was going to die trying. Voice acting was my passion and I got tired of ignoring it.
I went into the office and handed my manager my notice. While I was sad to leave so many friends I had made in the radio industry, this was a liberating feeling. It instantly felt like I had removed a heavy backpack. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks as I left the building for the last time.
Now, it was time to get to work! Unfortunately, I didn't have a ton of capital to spend on a new business and my credit score wasn't exactly going to win any awards! So I took out a business loan with extremely high-interest rates. That alone made me feel uneasy but I had no choice. I was going to make this work and I needed money for coaching, demos and recording gear.
I could have easily panicked and failed, but I chose to channel my stress into working my ass off until this paid off. Brick by brick, I made it work. That was 20 years ago and I haven't looked back since.
It's okay to be scared and uncomfortable when you're just getting started in voiceovers. You're going to feel this way for a while. There will be days when you'll want to quit. Trust me, I had my share of those days but you have to keep going! Life is too short not to follow your passions due to fear or uncertainty.
Fear...it always has such an unneccesary grip on us. Even though I'm not thinking of just ditching my other work and diving hard core into VO, the slow steady crawl of growth is still scary, and the fear makes that crawl even slower. Thanks for the motivating words Terry!
~Shaun Brackett
https://voiceofshaun.com