I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday. We were talking about a particular house fire I had been to. It was down the street from her home. In the midst of that conversation she said, “In my mind you are the bravest of the brave! I could never run into a burning building.”
My response was, “I’m not really that brave. It’s not that big of a deal. What I do, I mean.”
When I said that, I meant it. It wasn’t an attempt at humility or casting a line to reel in some more compliments. That’s genuinely how I feel. My training gives me the skill and ability I need to go into a burning building. Without it, I’m fairly certain I’d be just as apprehensive as any other person.
Training gives me confidence. The confidence I need to face dangerous situations. Situations like a house fire.
She wasn’t buying it. Still convinced I was the bravest of the brave.
The Wheelhouse
When someone sends me a script for an explainer video, I get excited. I love doing voice overs for explainers and whiteboard videos. They’re right in my wheelhouse. I can take any of those scripts, read it over, and pretty much know exactly how I need read it to deliver a great voice over and tell the clients story.
I’ve been doing eLearning voice overs for years. I’ve worked with some amazing clients and I’ve learned a ton. Talk about getting paid to get an education! What an amazing genre to work in! I’ve voiced hundreds of hours of training narrations and feel confident every time I do one of these jobs.
We’ve all got genres that are in our wheelhouse. Those niche areas we excel in. It’s where we spend the most energy marketing ourselves. It’s where we likely earn the most income. They’re the jobs we share on social media. Maybe use in demos.
Beyond The Comfort Zone
What about those other areas?
The places we’re maybe a little afraid to go?
As I was thinking about my friend calling me the bravest of the brave, I couldn’t help but think about how cowardly, for lack of a better term, I can be sometimes.
I think about the scripts I look at, and don’t even consider. The auditions that would require me to stretch out of my comfort zone. The jobs that would cause me to try something completely different and new. Do you ever think about the character voices in your head that you’ve decided are too silly or not good enough to let out?
Are You Brave?
What would happen if we were all a little more brave?
What kind of new genres might we expand into?
What kind of new opportunities might we seize?
What kind of new niches could we explore?
What kind of relationships would develop?
What kind of magic do you think would occur?
Kind of makes you want to be brave, doesn’t it?
