Jul 11, 2023
In this episode, Anne & Lau share their experiences from a recent
conference + discuss how to harness the momentum that comes from
events, classes, and workshops. As voiceover artists working in
home studios, staying connected and motivated is crucial. Discover
how meaningful conversations and collaborations can propel your
business forward. But it's not just about business…delve into
building relationships beyond work and find support through
mentors, coaches, and networks. Whether you're a seasoned pro or
new to voiceover, tune in to ride the wave of momentum and elevate
your success.
Transcript
Anne: All right. Hey everyone, welcome to the VO BOSS podcast and
the BOSS Superpower series. I'm feeling super powerful today, by
the way. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with my VO BOSS
co-host, Lau Lapides!
Lau: Hey everyone, good morning or good afternoon, wherever you
are.
(laughs)
Anne: Lau, I'm feeling powerful. Definitely business superpowers.
And you know why?
Lau: So many reasons, but tell me.
Anne: Well, I am still riding the high of the last conference that
we were both at, where I'm so excited that we met each other for
the very first time in person, which was so, so wonderful. And I'll
tell you, people ask me, so how was the conference? What was your
biggest takeaway? Was it great? And I'm like, you know, I think the
very best thing about this conference was the energy. The energy
that I have received and gotten and been motivated by and inspired
by. And I feel like it's time to take action, to move forward and
grow, and really just run full speed ahead with my business. And I
think we should talk about taking action.
Lau: Oh, I love that. I'm going to second that. I felt like I got
out of there and I was like Rosie the Riveter. You know, I just
felt like I wanted to jump on things. I wanted to follow up. I
wanted to stay in touch, keep the momentum going. There was an
energy and momentum in an event like this that's hard to craft and
create completely on your own. Just that group synergy, that team
love, that family feel, right? And you and I meeting, oh
my!
Anne: I know!
Lau: Wonder Twin powers activate.
Anne: I know. I feel like we've known each other forever though. It
was like, oh, there's Lau, but it was like, oh my God, it was in
person. It was so, so wonderful. And I think there's that extra
special juice that you get when you are in person with people that
can really help to motivate you. And I know it is so hard for voice
talent, as we are so isolated in our booths and working from home a
lot of the time by ourselves. And now that we're just starting to
get back out into the world, I feel, a little more carefully, but
we're getting out there, which is just wonderful. I think even I
didn't realize how much I missed, you know, that energy. And I, you
know, gosh, I used to have events all the time at my home and
people are like, are you going to bring them back? Are you going to
bring them back? And I'm like, oh gosh, you know, thinking about
putting on events, it's a lot of work. But I'll tell you what, you
get so much out of it.
Lau: Oh, the energy is infectious too. It's like you can't be sad.
Even if you're shy or introverted — I had a few clients say, oh, I
didn't make it, I'd like to go next year, but I'm a little, I'm not
great with crowds, I'm not a very social person. I said, that's
okay, because guess what? There was a room for everyone. There was
a space for everyone. And you could be in an X session with 12
people. You could be in a speaking room with 40 people. You could
be in a private meeting with someone in the lounge. So in my mind,
whether you're an extroverted introvert or an introverted
extrovert, you could come and enjoy and maybe not sit in a ballroom
of 700 if that makes you feel uncomfortable, right?
Anne: Absolutely. And then just the people that you've always
wanted to meet, that you've been working with them online, maybe
they're in your accountability group, maybe you've been posting and
exchanging messages back and forth. And when you finally meet, you
can just go to a private area and just motivate, inspire, and all
the good stuff. And I really came away thinking, wow, that was,
even more than Anne Ganguzza — who I've been to conferences over
and over and over again, and it just has been so long. It was just
so refreshing. And so I think it would be good to talk about, what
do we do now? What do we do now with all of that good energy? And
how do we take action to really move ahead and move forward?
Because I think this is the time to do it.
Lau: Right? And there's a, to me, it's like surfing a wave. I'm not
a surfer, but I can visualize what a surfer is doing. And there's a
wave coming. As it's coming, you're preparing for it. And then you
start riding it, which is our conference event. We're riding that
wave. But then it starts to come in and starts to crash, right? And
then it kind of turns into a minimal, almost nothing anymore wave.
So you have to ride the wave as long as you can while people's
energy is up and excited. I actually had people, I'm sure you did
too, Anne, that said to me, Lau, I want to reconnect before my
momentum goes or before my energy leaves me. So there is that
magical moment that you want to capture your clients and your
colleagues in. You don't want to miss that window of
time.
Anne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I think, and this, I want to just not
make it so much, well, of course, we just came back from an
in-person event, but also I want to talk about when you have even
an online class or an online workshop or an online meeting,
something that inspires and motivates you. I mean, we've been
getting together week after week after week recording this podcast,
and you inspire me, you motivate me. And I think the energy of each
other, right? We really pump each other up. And I think that's the
time when we're taking notes, we're brainstorming ideas. That's
when we can really help each other to grow in our businesses and
really feel fulfilled. It is such a tough thing to work on your own
and not have that energy.
So I would say that even if you have a really great workout
class
--
you know, I do the VO Peeps online, because it's hard for me to do
them now, of course, in person. And it allows people from all
around the world to join. And I'll tell you what, there's energy
that can be received from those sessions as well. And so I think
that if you are taking notes and you're jotting things down and you
have goals, I think this is now the time to make sure that you've
written them down and read them again and then start a plan for
achieving those goals, right?
Lau: Absolutely. And no way am I saying you have to be in person in
order to get that kind of energy and juice from your people. You
can be online, you could be at your accountability group, you could
be in a coaching session, you could be in a rehearsal session with
a buddy. But the point is as creatives, we are oftentimes better at
creating and motivating and keeping our momentum alive when we are
with others that are like-minded.
Anne: Yes.
Lau: And I always say, you know what my precious dad taught me in
business, one of his business principles was, surround yourself in
the room with people who are so much better than you. You should
not be the smartest person in the room. Be the dullest person in
the room. That way, you can challenge yourself, you can learn
things, you can share growth, and you don't have to feel like
you're spinning your wheels. None of us want to feel like we're
getting lazy or we're not engaged or we're spinning our wheels.
That's why I love these conferences, because I feel like it's for
every level. Someone coming in early entry, someone who's super
advanced, who's been doing it for 15 years, they all belong. They
all can find their peeps in there and they can learn and grow from
them.
Anne: One other thing that I got from this too is that in-person
energy. And of course, if you can, I always say, if you can have
in-person meetups, I think they're absolutely worthwhile. There's
something to be said about
--
there's people that I hadn't seen in so long, and the past few
years has been tough on social media. And I am the first to say it
has been tough. I am all over social media because I’m selling
events to people on social media and organizing audition
demolitions and things like that. And so I am a lot, I am very much
into social media.
I have been, in terms of engaging in social media, I've stepped
back just a little bit outside of here's my event and I hope you
guys can come and posting what I hope to be inspiring and
motivational messages. But I have noticed that if I'm reading
social media a lot, there's certain times that it becomes not
inspirational or motivational and a little bit toxic, or what I
perceive to be a little bit self-serving. Okay? But yet when I was
in the room with maybe the same person or people that I have
thought, well, maybe they're self-serving or what is that post all
about? You really get to feel like, you know what? I get it now, I
see. What might've seemed self-serving to me then became, oh, well,
they're really feeling good about themselves. And it really just
softened and gentler and more, I'm going to say, emotional, heart
to heart. I had many, many times during this conference when I was
like close to tears, just by being motivated and inspired by
people.
Lau: Yeah, and I think we've got those cues that we don't often
get, sometimes we even miss on Zoom, like the nonverbals, the
energy, even just like the scent of someone. It sounds weird, but
you've got the scent, the pheromones, the olfactory, which gives
you memories. When you've got someone's energy right next to you,
and they're looking into your eyes, and they're shaking their head
and they're drinking coffee with you, there's a sensibility about
that, that just as human beings, we need to have in our life to
support all of our online work. It can't just be
online.
We have to also have that real intimate time with a real social
distance, you know, so that we get that sense that
--
I don't know if it's a group, a team, a village. I don't know what
to call it, but it's, I'm in humanity. I'm part of humanity and I’m
part of my industry’s humanity. I’m part of something that’s larger
than myself. It's almost like it's almost like the military. My
son's in the military, and it's like, why do you want to do that?
Oh, because you're a part of something that is much larger than you
are, that has a common goal in mind. And that's what our industry
is, where all of a sudden we remember we're part of a much larger
mosaic of people and creatives that that give us more meaning as to
why every day we do what we do.
Anne: Yeah. And I don't know if you were there and you heard the
Team Challenge project at the very end. It was people coming
together to create a commercial for, I think it was the local ASPCA
or a local animal shelter. Yeah. And just people coming together
and doing amazing things. And I think that when we come together,
we can do amazing things.
So when we are talking about taking action, BOSSes, I would say,
you know, do what you can to get yourselves an accountability group
or a group of peers that you are meeting with, and make it a point
to meet with them, you know, once a week, once a month, whatever
that is, just to maybe go over what are some goals, what are some
issues you're trying to work out. And as I've always said, I like
to write things down because when I write them down, it then
cements it in my memory. It gives me something that I can go back
and look at and something that I can say, all right, keep on top of
so that I can do what I need to do to achieve that goal. So for me,
it would be get yourself a group of peers that can be
accountability buddies, or even just having coffee once a week and
just discussing the industry. Having a podcast together. I feel
like, right?
Lau: Who knows? Who knows?
Anne: You know, really anything like that and write it down, write
down actions that you want to take and goals that you have. Lau,
you've got any other tips that can help you to really take action
on this energy that we're getting?
Lau: Absolutely, don't limit yourself when you do find your people
or your different groups of people that you're going to frequent
and be a part of. Don't limit yourself to only professional talk
and only business talk. I tend to fall into this problem myself,
just because I love my business, I'm really passionate, I always
want to talk about it. But when you're together, make sure you, you
know, observe moments of each other's lives. What is the family
doing? Or, wow, that outfit.
Anne and I, before we get on air, we’re talking about our makeup
and our outfits and our jewelry and our hair and our because that's
part of who we are as people. You know it's part of our fun. It's
part of our fun time. So don't forget the fun, and part of the fun
is talking about something or doing about something that's not
business related. It may be, you know, maybe you guys go out
bowling together or maybe you guys talk about animals together or
whatever because that really helps bond and cement your
relationships through things that matter to you alongside your
business, but not only your business, right?
Anne: Yeah. And a lot of times, you know, when it comes to
networking with people, that's really where the hook is. You know,
not so much the business part of it, but when you are connecting
with other people, are those personal things, those things that you
have in common. I had a student who, you know, who brought me a
gift of a stuffed kitty. Oh, my God, the cutest thing, because who
doesn't know that I love cats? And some other wonderful person that
brought me an amazing pair of red boots and a wonderful piece of
jewelry that says VO BOSS in case you guys haven't noticed, with my
birthstone. My very favorite, Lau, thank you so much for that. But
knowing that, right? And so now I've got something here that I can
wear that can inspire me.
And I'm not saying you have to get everybody something to wear, but
that personal touch, you can carry it with you. And also, I'm gonna
say, because, again, our businesses are so personal, it's our
voice, it's our personality that we're bringing to a read that
story-tells, brings things to life, that the better you know a
person, even outside of their technical prowess of being able to
voice something effectively
--
I know for me, when I help brand people, or I help select, what
would be a great piece of copy for this person? And I know what
they're passionate about. I know what their likes and their
dislikes are. But I will tell you, it's always a great way to meet
someone, right, when you're not initially attacking them with, you
know, oh, I'm a voice artist. Can you hire me? In reality, what can
I do for you rather than, you know, hire me, hire me, hire me? So I
think, you know, always meeting people and approaching these groups
with, what can I do to help you, is, I think, a wonderful way to
approach that. And I think that's going to help you be more
motivated and more inspired. I know for me, helping others inspires
and motivates me. Just to want to do better and do
more.
Lau: I would even add in, come up with an idea every now and then.
It doesn't have to be a major breakthrough that you're sharing with
everyone. It's just like a little mini idea. Like, for instance,
you're a branding goddess, so you might have a quick little tip on
branding that you're going to bring to your group, you're going to
bring to your team, you're going to even bring to a conference
where you're speaking on and say, let me lay this one on you, you
guys. No one would think about this as a branding tool that also
develops your rapport and deepens your relationship.
That’s part of your expertise that you can give to people. That may
be non-tangible, you're not spending money on it, it's just coming
from your creative mind, that it's a gift that keeps on giving,
literally, because someone could run with that ball and say, wow,
Anne taught me this, Lau taught me this, now I'm using it in my
business, now I'm doing whatever. That's where we want to go. We
want to give value, give education, and give ideas at times too.
Not your most precious ideas of your business. I'm not inferring
you should give all that away. I’m just saying there’s always these
tips of value that we’re looking to do, whether we're doing a
podcast or we're doing a blog or we're doing whatever, right?
That's what we're looking to do. And that in itself helps people
bond to you because they see it's coming from an honest
place.
Anne: Yeah, yeah, I think really that's key, is honesty and
authenticity. And also it doesn't always have to be about
voiceover, guys. Your support and motivation and inspiration can
work into every aspect of your group's lives or the person that
you're trying to help and move forward. You know, this is such a
crazy industry and it's so volatile sometimes, and when you’re
first starting out, and it's hard to get your wheels spinning and
see success. I think that's where a lot of times motivation and
inspiration is very helpful. I know I've got some students that I
mentor that sometimes it doesn't, it's not about voiceover. It's
about how am I going to be able to continue to pursue what I love
and start to see success while being able to pay the bills, right?
So there has to be something practical there.
And so a lot of times, you know, my advice may or may not be like,
okay, pursue voiceover, pursue voiceover. Be like, look, we need a
parallel path. And so you can do this because you've got these
skills. And so why not think about a side hustle in this or think
about this, or I know it's hard, don't worry — you know, that kind
of thing. A lot of times when talent will get frustrated and say,
I'm just not seeing any success, you know, I don't know what else
to do, and they're at their lowest point. I mean, here's where an
accountability group, you know, can really help to inspire and
motivate or a good coach.
Lau: And maybe you even need to dig deeper and have a support
group. Accountability groups do offer support by nature, but maybe
you need something even deeper and more emotionally or
psychologically driven. Like you gotta find out what you need to be
happy, balanced, and successful. And that has been a theme that's
been running throughout our week post this event, Anne, is like, I
loved this particular event because it validated my thoughts that I
don't have to listen to everyone or listen to noise to be
successful. I can also listen to myself and my own voice. And so
get that coach, get that support group, get that friend in place
that reminds you — we always need those reminders — you're good
enough. You're working hard on what you do. You're doing the due
diligence. And you're on a track that suits you, like just keeping
you on track, right?
Anne: Absolutely, absolutely. And I think, I mean, we're our own
worst enemies, aren't we? I mean, and even people such as myself,
and Lau, I'm sure you would agree that even though we've been in
the business, sometimes we even have our, we need our people too.
We have our questions about, you know, and we need that guide. I
need guidance every once in a while saying, Anne, so you're on the
right path, it's okay. It’s going to be fine, don't worry about it,
and that will help to reel me in.
But I think the whole writing the energy, taking action, writing
notes, right, setting goals, and continually revisiting that and
revisiting your people, whether it be online, whether it be in
person, or a combination of both. I mean, I think both is amazing.
And, you know, it's always like, people talk about that discussion
about, online learning, do you like online learning or in person,
which is more effective, right? And I think honestly, if you can
have a combination of both, right? Because obviously I voice a lot
for some online learning places. And so, but I've always been a fan
of in person communication and in person growth and working and
classes and sessions that are in person because you get a whole lot
out of that. Yeah.
Lau: I got one more for the road. Here's my last goody for the
road. My last goody is
--
and this is my specialty, I always think of myself as an idea
person. I always say I missed my calling, Anne. I should have
worked for some advertising agency
--
before you step in with your group, whether it's a conference or an
accountability group, before you step in, have two or three ideas
ready to go of how you can work with people. I naturally do that
because that’s what energizes me. So before, for instance, before I
podcast with Anne in the morning, I sit with my coffee and my
smooth bossa nova jazz music. And I come up with not just helpful
themes for the podcast itself, but how can Anne and I work
together? How can we better each other's and grow each other's
businesses? How can we energize and stir the pot of what we're
doing? So I can come in and say, I’m excited. I have an idea. I
have an idea. People love that, Anne.
And I don’t see that as much. I don't know if you do, but when I
get together with people, they're working on their stuff, which is
great. But very rarely do I say, I have an idea. Let's do this
together. Let's make this happen. Let's form a group. Only a very
small minority of people think in that way. You think in that way.
I think in that way. I want the listeners to start thinking in that
way. Create.
Anne: Yes. I love that you brought that up because I cannot tell
you the amount of, the benefits that I have derived from working
with other people and teaming up, teaming together with people on
multiple things.
Lau: Invaluable.
Anne: Invaluable, teaming up.
Lau: Invaluable, and it spirals too.
Anne: Yeah, it does.
Lau: It's like my hair in the heat. It just keeps going up and up
and up. It just spirals out of control.
Anne: Yeah, partnering.
Lau: It's like, it's that rabbit hole where you just go down and
down and down and down, and you just keep coming up with more
thoughts, more ideas. And that doesn't mean that they're all gonna
pan out or they're all gonna be successful. It means you keep the
cobwebs out of your brain and you keep your motors going so that as
a business owner, someone could come to you and say, hey, I need
ideas for this. You say, I don't know, and I'm not sure. Let me
think about it. And they're like, no, I got ideas for you. Here we
go, here's the first one. Here's the second one, here's the third
one.
Anne: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Think of how you can team
up with someone to do something amazing. I really think that that
can help to also, as you go along with your own independent
business of voiceover, you can be contributing greatly to, let's
say, becoming a resource for the community or a community. It
doesn't have to be the voiceover community, But gosh, there's so
much talent out there in our industry. I mean, we could do just
about anything. You know, it doesn't have to be contained for
voiceover.
Think of people that you know and have gotten to know and that
would be great at doing a lot of different things. I mean, probably
every one of the people that I work with that's on my team, I have
come to them because they've had a special skill that I don't have
that I need and that I want and that I'm happy to pay them for
because they help me to grow my business. And, you know, it could
be a skill that isn't voiceover, right, but skill that could be
video editing, audio, whatever it is, it doesn't have to be
voiceover specific. Even team leading or groups that they're a part
of that we can be like a referral network for each other. So it's
really incredible the things that you can do when you team up and
you ride on that energy and they can help you take action in your
business.
So I ask all of you BOSSes to really just consider, consider
partnering up with someone, getting your peeps together in a
motivational, you know, accountability group and working together
and writing things down and really taking action, taking action on
the high and the motivation that you've gotten from in-person
networking or online networking, whatever that is.
Lau: Yes, and finally, know the difference between the people that
you can grow with, that are growth people and people that are not
in that sphere. It doesn't mean they're not creative or they're not
energized. It means they're in their own little private Idaho.
They're good with what they're doing. They're not as interested in
helping you or them grow specifically. They're happy with where
they're at. Just kind of know the difference. Don't have the same
expectations of every person. That was something a financial
adviser I heard say and that kind of rocked my world. They said
know who your growth people are, and she was specifically talking
to the team that you're growing. Like some people are great for now
but they're not going to help you grow. Other people are going to
come in and they're growth people know the difference.
Anne: Growth people, if they're part of your team, by the way, you
have to, you have to, you have to motivate your growth people
appropriately, okay? As Gary Vaynerchuk says, you know, no one's
gonna be as excited about your business as you. However, when there
is motivation and there's inspiration and there's
--
like I say, you always have to be like, what can I do to help you,
right? When there's something in it for them as well, right? And
it's obvious that you're not just about, oh, you're my employee,
let me pay you.
‘Cause
I don't have a lot of money, let me not, let me pay you the
cheapest amount that I possibly can. My, you know, my team members,
I mean, I pay them.
Because I think of myself, like, how is it that they're gonna
promote me, right, in my business, when I'm not paying them what
they're worth, or if I don't think they're worthy enough to pay a
decent salary? And that's part of the motivation, that as well as,
you know, constantly encouraging, referring, doing what I can to
help them move their own careers forward. And sometimes that means
letting them go too. Do you know what I mean? Because they've
outgrown me. And that's okay. I mean, I love that
actually.
Lau: Yeah, and you need to be their cheerleader, but they also need
to be your cheerleader. So you want to train cheerleaders, in
essence, to be growing one another. And if the growth is stopping
and everything's dying or stagnant or going the wrong way, then you
may not need to be together anymore. You still stay connected and
be a great associate and always leave things on a really great
note. So you could come to back together if you want to come back
together. But know who your growth people are.
Anne: I love that. Know, if you take away anything guys, know who
your growth people are and really take action on that inspiration,
motivation that you get from your growth people, absolutely. Lau,
thank you so much.
Lau: My pleasure, as always.
Anne: Yeah, so wonderful as always to chat with you about all these
wonderful topics for BOSSes. And BOSSes, I am going to say that as
individuals, as we were just talking about, it can seem difficult
to make a big impact. But I tell you what, as a group, as we just
saw, as we've been talking about all podcast, we can contribute to
the growth of our communities in ways that we never even thought
possible. Visit 100VoicesWhoCare.org to learn how and learn more.
So big shout out to our sponsor, ipDTL. I love ipDTL. You guys can
also love ipDTL and be BOSSes. Find out more at ipDTL.com. All
right, guys. Have a great week. We'll see you next week.
Bye.
Lau: Bye!