Sometimes I browse through other narrators' websites, read through the blogs and perspectives of Golden Voice professionals, or listen to interviews with legends within the industry ... and it seems so daunting. Like, do I have to do all that, or be all that, just to get noticed in the industry? I mean, they label professionals in this industry with names like "Voice of God," and it's really hard to match somebody like "God" let alone compete with him...

However, whenever I step back and look at the big picture of anyone's success in this industry, I find a few simple truths. And usually not much else. It's not complicated; it's not about how aggressively intricate or detailed I can orchestrate my way into a voice over career; it's not about how many classes I take, or how-to books I read or directors I'm trained by.

I heard the suggestion once that in the '80s and '90s there were better basketball players than Michael Jordan. To have said so at the time was blasphemy, of course. But in retrospect there was something about MJ that made mere skill and talent seem overrated. I don't discredit skill or talent, or the long-term cultivation thereof, I just know there is something else that cannot be taught in a seminar or learned in a handbook. (It's not so much 'learned' as it is 'discovered' by one's self...)

Back to the voice over industry ... From what I can tell, it's a bunch of people who love story-telling, whether fiction or non-fiction; who let that passion for story-telling mold their imagination and vocal characteristics; who humble their egos to listen and learn from other story-tellers; and who decided to pursue a business of story-telling, rather than wait for the business to pursue them.

Anything more than that, and I think I start to over-complicate the whole deal. And those who have kept it simple, tend to be the ones with the most success.

Source: Voices.com, Tim Lundeen