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This Is The Secret To Success

Action.

There you go. One word. You probably don’t even need to read the rest of this post. The secret to success is action.

Now, for those of you interested in diving a little deeper, I’m happy to do it.

Your level of success will be relative to your level of action. That is to say, take little action and you’ll achieve little success. On the other hand, take massive action and you’ll achieve massive success.

Or will you?

Taking Massive Action

Take Jim, for example (named changed to respect privacy). Jim reached out to me after submitting over 300 auditions on casting sites without a single booking, and only a handful of “thumbs up.”

By any definition, I think we can agree that submitting 300 plus auditions on a casting site would qualify as massive action. That’s a lot of time. A lot of effort. A lot of talking! With that kind of massive action, it stands to reason that Jim should be achieving massive success, correct?

How about Lacy (named changed to respect privacy). “Marc, I’ve submitted my demos to over 20 different agents in the last two months and haven’t received a single reply. What am I doing wrong?”

Again, an example of digging your heels in and taking massive action. Yet, also again, one would assume the results would be massive success. Sadly, such is not the case.

Finally, I offer the story of Jason (name changed….). Jason dropped over $10,000 on studio equipment. The finest of just about everything. All in the name of having better audio for better auditions for better bookings. Jason hasn’t yet earned back even a portion of his investment.

If the secret to success is action, where’s the massive success relative to the massive action?

First, A Word About Action

First all of, let me say this… in all cases, despite the unsuccessful results, I’m incredibly proud of Jim, Lacy and Jason.

Why?

They took massive action. I promise you, less than 20% of the people I coach within the voice over industry will ever take massive action. In fact, if I was being brutally honest, that number may even be more like less than 10%!

Every single day I dispense advice to voice actors through this blog, social media, videos and courses. Every single day.

Why aren’t they all successful??? Like I said, probably less than 10% of the people who receive the advice I share will ever take the corresponding action. Especially massive action.

Action is hard. Action is work. Action risks failure. Many would rather remain comfortable or stagnant or miserable than risk any kind of failure.

So well done, Jim. Well done, Lacy. Well done, Jason. You did what most won’t and that’s absolutely respectable in my book!

Action is hard. Action is work. Action risks failure. Most people won’t do it. #vopreneur
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The Third Word Is The Missing Link

If the key to success isn’t simply massive action, as we’ve already established not all massive action produces successful results, what then, is it?

It’s my belief and practice that the key to successful is effective massive action.

If you’re taking massive action and you’re not seeing massive success, it’s because your action isn’t effective.

The good news is, this is easily fixable.

I checked out Jim’s casting site profile and made a few suggestions. I also referred him to a coach who will help Jim work on some of his reads. When he’s done that little extra training and making those profile tweaks, I believe with all confidence that Jim’s next round of massive action is going to result in a lot more bookings.

Lacy needed to change her approach with the agents. What do I always preach about email marketing? Personalize, personalize, personalize! Gone are the days of generic form letters. The only thing they’ll do for you is get you flagged as spam. With a new strategy, I believe Lacy is going find some new representation in her future with her next round of massive action.

Do you want to know how good a $5,000 microphone sounds in an untreated space? Jason knows. Having the best and fanciest equipment isn’t worth a dime if your space isn’t properly treated. Being able to say you have a Neumann may look nice on your website or when speaking to a producer, but if your space sounds awful, nothing will highlight it better than your fancy microphone. Once Jason gets his space treated, he’ll be ready to take effective massive action and start paying off his investment.

It May Be Time To Re-Evaluate

If you’re taking massive action and not seeing the results you want to see, it’s time to re-evaluate. Don’t feel bad. You didn’t fail. Well, as long as you don’t just give up, anyway, you certainly didn’t fail. You had a misstep is all. Missteps are easily repairable! Oh, and guess what… every person who has ever taken massive action, regardless of industry, has had missteps!

You’re in good company.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is step back and look clearly. Pause and reflect. Or, better yet, find a coach or mentor who will take a look for you. It could be one small variable standing in the way of you and your desired results. Finding it could be as simple as asking for a little help.

FYI: There’s no shame in asking for help. The wisest, most successful people on earth do it. That’s how they got there!

If you have the gumption to take massive action, you’re already in a small, exclusive group. By making sure it’s effective massive action, you’ll be well on your way to achieving all of your goals!

What massive action did you take that didn’t produce? What are you going to do to make it effective massive action?