There are many skills you must learn as a voice over artist. You need to learn how to change the pitch of your voice, slow it down, speed it up, and match the desired voice of your client. One voice over skill that gets forgotten about though is patience.
Patience as a Voice Over Artist
This voice over skill is important. It’s one of the most important skills to have because it influences every part of your career.
There are three instances in which you need to exercise patience:
- You need to be patient with yourself. When you’re doing voice over work, you need to try, try, and try again. You cannot become frustrated with yourself because it will make you want to quit. Quitting won’t get you to success, perseverance makes it possible to achieve your goals.
- You also need to have patience for your clients. Your clients don’t always understand how voice over works. They may ask a lot of questions, direct you in ways you know are wrong, and really get under your skin with criticism. Patience is crucial to get through these situations. Without it, you may lose a client that could give you a large project or refer you to someone who could become your best client.
- Patience with the voice over industry. It’s not easy to get a voice over gig. The competition is extremely high. It can often seem like you won’t ever beat out the competition. The reality is that you will become better than your competition someday, and to do that you need to work on smaller projects. You must take small steps before you can take bigger ones. Being patient with your advancement in the industry is the only way to achieve your goals as a voice over artist.
Patience can be difficult. You may not always think situations are fair or you deserve them. Being able to swallow your words and emotions will help you in the long run. When you’re feeling out of control, try to remove yourself from the situation you are in as soon as possible. Speak to someone about what happened to vent. You can turn to friends online on voice over groups because they understand. You can also try journaling as an outlet. Just do something that will keep you from ruining opportunities or your career.
As a voice over artist, I understand how hard it is to be patient, but I also know how valuable it is. Patience is truly a virtue.