How are YOU going to celebrate National Voice Over month and share it with your clients?

Watch the video below and then Share your ideas by sending me an email to John@JohnMelley.com.

I'll put all the ideas together and post them on my blog so we can use it as a shared resource to market our businesses!

Join the celebration and I hope to hear your ideas!

People ask me what I'm reading/Listening to.

I just finished listening to Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" performed by the author himself. Interesting theory in that he believes successful people take advantage of opportunities presented to them, but that the opportunities are available to them as a result of a series of events that may not be available to everyone.

One example he gives is that most Hockey players from Canada have birthdays in the first 3 months of the year. The cut off date to enter a league is December 31st. This results in the players born in the first part of the year having at least a 9 month head start over the players born in December and therefore better developed skills which allows them to advance to higher levels in various leagues. This in turn weeds out folks born in the latter part of the year. That's how you wind up with about 60% of the players in the NHL celebrating birthdays in Jan. Feb. and March.

Who knew?

His question is: If there was another cut-off date, say June 30th in addition to the December 31st date, would you double the talent pool available for selection and give more people a shot at higher levels of training. Are the man-made cutoff dates prohibiting other talents from developing? Perhaps hockey teams would be even more competitive and reache higher levels of proficiency if there was more talent to choose from instead of one so heavily weighted by birthday.

He also explores the opportunities that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and the founder of Sun Microsystems enjoyed that propelled them to Billionaire status.

I'm not sure I agree with all his theories, but there are some interesting questions raised.

Now I'm listening to Harry Dent, Jr.'s "The Great Depression Ahead."

This is a fascinating look at demographics, history and economic cycles. It may sound like dry stuff, but if you're a history buff in any way, you want to check this out. He does a nice job of presenting the information in an interesting way.

Based on his theories that the largest sector of the Baby Boom Generation has shifted from Consumers to Savers since their kids have grown and they need to save for retirement he contends this last recession is nothing compared to what's ahead and the stimulus package just delayed the inevitable.

He says watch for a major stock market crash later this month or by August/September this year. Yikes!

I'm also reading a book about Walt Disney's life. More later.

John

Voice over is a fun business, but keep in mind YOU are an important part of making your clients' dreams come true! Honor them by giving them your best every time.

Some thoughts.

A friend of mine sent me this link. It's very cool. We've covered sound waves in some of my videos, but this is a whole new take. Check it out!

Watch this short video, then click the link below the video for more information.

Here's the link to get the the Video: How Did You Do That DVD and FREE Sound Effects CD! Thanks!

Today after much trepidation, I opened a Twitter account. I must admit I didn't know what to expect and really did it because I felt I should in order to learn about what's going on in the world of communication.

That's what I do... and I want to stay current, as best as I can.

I had to figure out what all the Twitter Terms meant. Twitter has its own language. So after I set it up I sent out an email to some people in my address book and the results have been fascinating. Some of the comments have been downright laugh out loud funny!

I'm not sure I "get this" social media stuff either, but here are the results:

After 4 hours I have 8 "Followers" - which is kind of a creepy term if you ask me, but I didn't make it up.

I've received 2 job offers for voice over services - very cool.

And I received a number of messages politely declining my offer...

And I got a bunch of emails with some very funny comments pretty much along the line of "I don't Twitter and here's why." I have removed the names to protect their identities but these are fun. You've gotta read these....

Hi John –

I'm not on it I'm still trying to master the hammer and chisel!

Ok.... Here's the reply from one of my best clients:

"Hi, John:
Glad to see you're young enough to want to participate in the vapid void.
I myself see no point in it.  <On coffee break at Starbucks.>  Knew you'd want to know that.
But my daughter is a professional PR person specializing in social media for her clients.
I'm surrounded, out-gunned, and may have to give up my grumpy ways.
<BTW I like my grumpy ways>  Knew you'd want to know that too.

As for business, I need...."

Here's one from a former employer I've stayed in touch with over the years.

"Not on it and I frankly don't 'get it' everytime it is explained. Unless I have someone counting cards for me at a nearby table, planning a military maneuver, or really care so much about someone else that I need to know in real time the short highlights of their lives like—just sneezed and almost hit a squirrel—I'm not sure why I want to hear the newest happenings in anyone else's activities as it is happening.  

It is even worse when I think of someone like you---I'd get 15 different messages from the various personalities about the same event – it would be like a bad cartoon:  the anatomy of re-taping a script  as experienced real time from 15 different voices.  But hey—thanks for the invitation."

Jeepers Mister! I only work on good cartoons ;-D but here's his follow-up, perhaps feeling a twinge of remorse over the previous message:

Eric says you may be rusty at sarcastic humor and the dead squirrel will feel happier than you after my reply. So disregard everything in last email after “ I don’t do it and I don’t get it.“

Beautiful... priceless.

This one is from my Bride, The Lovely Ann. I'm comfortable sharing this because she's so openly "not into the Social Media thing."

"Oh please, I can't even text."

Thanks, Babe. Here's a polite "No"

Thanks John, but if you don't mind I'll stick to your johnmelley.com
blog page.  I have friends that want me on Twitter, Facebook and
Linked In and I don't participate on any of these sites.  Hope you
understand.  Trust you had plenty of Lob-Sta while in Maine over
Memorial Day.  Lucky you!

Yeah, lucky me... did you watch this video yet? Click here to see how I spent Memorial Day Weekend.

Here's another comment:

Hi John, Never even been on it.   I'm really trying to curb all of this facebook/myspace/twitter stuff.   I'm on youtube and that alone eats up a huge chunk of my day as I make vids and watch vids.

But, I'm open to anything that can bring me some income. I think it's just a matter of so many people doing vo and it just waters down your odds if you don't have an agent.

Then I got this:

Hi John,
Glad to hear from you. We are working on a video for which I will need a voice talent. Are you interested in working with me again? It's almost a 3 minute long video... not ready yet.  If interested, I will share it with you when ready.
Cheers,
ps: I didn’t know you are in Boston. I was just visiting my brother in Weymouth and worked at the Parker House Hotel back in 2000-2001. I love Boston!

Hmmm....

Answer to his question. Yes, I'm interested in working with you again on another project. Maybe this Twitter/Facebook stuff ain't that bad afterall.

This is how I spent most of my Memorial Day Weekend, cutting grass in my Father in law's back yard in Maine. Great exercise! (Note the hearing protection.)

How can one sound affect another sound? Watch this quick video and hear what happens! Post your comments and feedback below!

This is the video I promised that would go into more detail about adding the reverb effect to a voice over track. Enjoy. Please feel free to add your comments and feedback below!