Numero Uno is go and I am I’ve missed it

I have missed it I mean like I’ve said before like next eight weeks of my life is absolutely going to get taken over

I’m all for it bring it on it’s just yeah I’m it’s very exciting it’s been good well we’ve said before like and I

don’t want to sound like a broken record but you know the amount of support love everything from the first

season was just fantastic anyone who listen to this is literally the best yeah I just you know

so we didn’t really there was no game plan there was no like okay what we’ll do set up a podcast we’ll try and get

completely shocked by that you mean there wasn’t a plan it’s what you had no idea what you were doing

never so we had no game plan we just thought I thought it’d just be fun just to just have some conversations and it

just kind of took on a bit of a life of its own didn’t it so here we are doing season two uh so I guess really just to

start off what we’re going to do this time around is we’re going to stay on video because I think nobody asked for

it as such it’s just from doing a bit of research nobody wants it yeah nobody wants it let’s provide something people

didn’t ask for there we go so before this time around we’re going to go keep

everything all on video it definitely adds a pressure though like I have had I put makeup on I’m I’m not going to lie I

put makeup on especially because we’re going to be on video Yeah well it’s awesome as well cuz like when you just do audio like we didn’t really do much

editing on the last one we we just uh did the Segways for chapters but largely

what you heard was was more or less the whole thing just took out chunks of waffle because we’d go on for over an

hour we had to keep it inside like 25 minutes oh I think one of them was at 1:45 wasn’t it when we had a guest

on so this time around we’re like we have to be strict we have to keep it inside 25 30 minutes and that is just

one straight run through yeah so hopefully people know what to it’ be a effing miracle if

Michael keeps on track for that we’ll see and also the bad thing about video if anybody is just listening to the

audio that you’re probably not going to get on doing but often when Michael is waffling I’ll do like a come on let’s wrap it up sign and I can’t do that now

yeah or maybe I can well of course you can yeah you’re just going to get a bit of an Insight it’s like right she tells him to wrap it up a

lot he said he was going to end it and he’s still going absolutely so but I suppose really just we haven’t you and I

we’ve not really we’ve had a bit of a Hiatus from each other really since we stopped recording because so yeah so go

on so what because we had enough for each other is that what you’re saying yeah pretty much so go on what’s what’s new with you what’s been going on over

summer oh well we are recording this at the end of August and2 I I’m in the

midst of the school holiday so my kids are off and oh my I’m not going to lie

it I’m struggling a little bit um it’s not easy juggling everything and the

kids and it’s like you’re either working and feeling like you’re a [ __ ] parent or you’re parenting and you feel like

you’re doing [ __ ] workwise and you go on social media and you see people you know

it feels like people are doing really well some people are really busy and you’re like God I’m doing [ __ ] all and I’m just like making snacks constant

snacks so you feel a bit [ __ ] about yourself so I’m not loving life at the

moment as a voiceover artist but I mean there are a lot of highs as well so don’t get me wrong it’s not all misery but it’s It’s Tricky as so I’m hoping by

the time a things might have got bit easier listen you’re not you’re preaching to the converted CU like it’s

been well gracefully touchwood the last we’re at the 22nd of August now the last

this week and last week have seen a healthy upturn but most of June and July

was largely Tumbleweed it was I heard that so often from people and people who are like are consistently marking who

are like established excellent V are still going through a quiet spell or have been I think which you know but

like year in year out like you when you’re going through the moment you live it and you know it can feel like a bit

like Panic stations but then when you come out of it yeah but when you come out of it you forget and then it comes around again exactly the same time next

year like it comes around again exactly the same time the year after and it’s like I was like like it’s like brand new

information it’s like every year the same thing happens round about the same sort of time so you just kind of got to

navigate the murky Waters so yeah but yeah I um yeah I know exactly what you mean it’s been uh it’s been and even on

social media to be fair because usually oh yeah well I will say to everyone actually right so there is a feature that I we’re gonna there’s a couple of

things we want to add to the podcast just to we’re not going to change anything we’re just going to a bit aren’t we we’re going to just add a few

little features and just to make it a little bit more fun and a little bit more dare I say not interactive as such but just involve people a little bit

more in their own certain way and one of the ideas I want to do and I’m committed to doing it is having what we call an ad

of the week and it’s just literally as we scroll through our feeds uh each week we’ll alternate and we’ll just pick an

adds that we’ve seen in our feed we don’t look for it we don’t ask for recommendations and it’s not just ad is it so it’s like it’s just like voice

over voice over yeah just a good piece of voice over and just go you know what I saw this from such and such it I just

thought it was fantastic yeah and I really wanted to do it today yeah um I I genuinely that’s honestly God’s honest

truth I I’m not religious I don’t know why I say that but I was scrolling on Instagram for about 25 minutes earlier

on same not one voice over it was adverts from video production companies it was General sort of you know some

like celebrity follow and stuff like that but actual voiceovers of other videos it was just nothing like there

was nothing same and it was it was tumble weedd and I think you know I saw loads of people posting about what they’re doing which is really nice as

well but I I am looking forward to we can probably do the segment and this is a call out basically if you’ve got work

you’re proud of share it please yeah and so people can see you yeah we can sh

we’re nobody special we’re just it’s just a feature that we thought would be nice just to throw some light on work and just go you know what I came across

this I thought it was fantastic you know just a bit fun and because you do do that like when I’m scrolling I’m see somebody and I’m watching I’m like

that’s amazing and it might even be someone I don’t know very well that we just kind of connected on Instagram or whatever and it’s amazing I love doing

that so it is it would be lovely to give people props for their work yeah the only my sort of overthinking brain was

like yeah but what if people watch it and go oh I didn’t know I thought mine was better than that yeah he you can and

never will please earn everyone and I don’t aim to well like it’s purely just based on who I

follow and who’s in my feed and who you know my algorithm puts in front of me so if I don’t see something then I can’t

comment on it so again it’s so I was a bit debating on that because I didn’t want anyone because there will be some amazing work out there that would probably get missed course it’s one you

want right and you don’t want people think oh I’m sure everyone understands that I know you I’m a tech overthinker

yeah um so yeah so I hear you but and as well with kids thing I mean yeah I think

when we talked about that on the last last podcast you quite a few people reach out to you about that and say they Rel and I definitely know I’m not alone

and I think I I mean I’m lucking for so many reasons but also my kids are a little bit older I mean they’re still kind of primary age but when you’ve got

Toddlers and babies and stuff I I don’t know how people do this job and we know a lot of people personally who are doing

just that around babies and everything so massive kudos to those people who are

who are surviving and even though I and I was going to say thriving but I think a lot of people don’t feel like they’re thriving uh I certainly don’t at the

moment so yeah it will get better you can’t be yourself up about it I know but you do I know that like I know

rationally that I’m comparing myself to different people in different situations and also I’m comparing myself to me in

different times but this is what we’re dealing with now so it’s a head down and just trying to carry on yeah I guess so

yeah well so for myself anyways you can probably tell new uh surroundings soting

new digs new digs uh which is as well anyway so new surroundings new location

I’m in France which is exciting yeah arir mate as I keep saying to

everyone I love that you’re bringing Manchester to France listen your home is always home you know I don’t live here

permanently so for those of you a lot of you probably won’t know so my partner Steph she’s a voiceover as well so she

lives here in France and it just everything is sort of aligned quite well you know because my um agreement with

where I was living in Manchester had come to an end and you know it was one of those was like well going back trying to find

somewhere else to move to I like well why don’t you just take a time out and come stay out here for a while and we’ll figure out the next steps that’s exactly what I’ve done obviously with with her

being a vo as well it just worked nicely so yeah it just works out perfectly so

and the podcast is now International which is very exciting so yeah so so that’s that so

yeah I mean other than that there’s not a tremendous great deals happen between when we finish like workwise it’s just

navigating the waters like everybody else there’s a few things that have been going on but I feel like there quite a lot going on in the industry though isn’t in terms of like um you know video

games uh strike going on just there’s loads of stuff there’s been loads of stuff I had made notes and I didn’t want

notes we’re just winging this I’ll tell you what I came across uh what day is it Thursday was it Monday this week I did

not know this was there you can do your own AI voice on voice one 123 how does that work so they’ve

partnered up with that 11 labs and literally so if you if you go on voice one23 and hit the search but search

button at the top got a purple bar and it says a it’s a it’s a beta version and you you can listen so what you do is you

can put in a small sample of scripts like 50 words and then of the people

that have already given their voices to voice one two 3 these these are all top v as well um it will give you that AI

version of what you’ve typed in right so the voiceover artists are they getting paid to do that or it just when they get

work from it I think you so you can book them via the platform straight away what the fee system is I don’t know you can

set your own fees um and then you can just take direct bookings I did not know that was there anything on that no and I

wonder whether I mean I imagine it will have got out there I just we’re probably late to the party but I wonder

whether they then will use those AI voices to do any more training or

whether presumably they’ve signed contracts to say they can’t and it’s just solely for the purpose of their when they get hired yeah from what it

look from what it looks like is voice 123 have partnered up with 11 labs and said look we can be your AI

facilitator v123 have them gone to the platform says if you want to AI your voice you can do it via US this is the

agreement and it’s all sort of you know taken care of seamless process the thing

is what I found interesting about it I don’t want to bang on about AI because I feel like comes up all the time I’ve actually I mean when I saw it I wasn’t

put off by it and I still stand by this and Hugh said it himself and a lot of people missed the talk um at one voice

woman sell from Google says people are massively overthinking Ai and the war they don’t need to quite I mean I

personally missed it but I did hear what he was talking about and it was really reassuring but um when I listened to

those voices like you know what obviously you can tell they’re good there’s no two ways about that it is good but it is still Ai and what I found

interesting was had a bit of an epiphany with it where I was like actually we all know it’s here to stay we all know it’s

going to serve its purpose but actually as I was listening to I was like that is good for that but as clients will need

they can’t go yeah it’s great but can you just change the inflection on that word well you can’t do that so if you know what you’re looking for as in we

just need a quick prompt AI at that price will probably serve that purpose but for the vast majority of work that we get like I did my first Christmas ad

yesterday mik I’m going to stop you there for one second my daughter just come to the booth so you carry on talk

about AI I’ll be with you in one second okay guess it’s just us then so um what was I going to say so the

Christmas ad they as they do they want it warm heartfelt Etc and they were like can you just change some of the nuances

and as I was listening to those AI voices I kind of felt quite reassured because I was like you can’t do that you

can do what you’ve been asked in a prompt relatively well but that’s it that’s it it’s black and white there’s

nothing else from there and from that I felt quite good because I was like that’s why I think people should less worry less and less because being able

to manipulate your voice and change things to be going different directions that is always our superpower AI can’t

do that on the Fly I’m sure they can program it in years to come to do things but in general from a you know directed

point of view yeah I just took a lot from listening to those and I was like yeah it was it was they definitely have

their place there’s no two ways about it and obviously now with them being on such a big platform they’re going to get used more and more but actually given

the amount of work that we do and and how it comes about in terms of what we’re asked to do you’re worrying for

nothing it’ be really interesting I’m back by the way if any it’ be really interesting if anybody who is listening has done that or knows more about it

please get absolutely yeah well you can see who the people are on the platform like the their profiles are there Etc um

but yeah it just that one completely went under the radar for me I didn’t know anything about that so I found that

quite interesting let’s find out more um so yes but that’s it yeah so in terms of catch- up that’s pretty much it changed

oh got some pictures done did you I did I loveing pictures so basically how that

came about was so snazzy Steph was having some Pro pictures done of the studio and everything and she watch some

like website and socials she went studio is beautiful I love it love the colors and she says well why don’t you just get

some done while you’re here and I was like I haven’t had a professional photo done for 5 years is so I basically was

more inclined to want to do like some actor type shots mood shots for

spotlight because I love playing these more like gritty dramatic characters but I have no pictures that resemble that so

I said to lady like look can you just take some pictures where I just look a little bit but just try and capture that sort of essence and I had a great I just

sat there like those watching just start there pulling like these little grumpy faces

or something I had an amazing time it was fantastic just it was just fun just getting into that sort of zone so yeah I

stuck those out into the world and then I’ve put them on my Spotlight so cuz I want to actually start my website as well they look great really I do think

like branding like proper branding photos look so good on people’s websites and socials I really do like I think

it’s worth the investment well you made a good point there because this is the things we talking a bit before then

about like with it being navigating the quiet period and it’s been sort of very quiet I think the problem I’ve had is

and I don’t know how many other people can relate to this I spent so much time over the years trying to be a better

voiceover yeah and I forgot about trying to be running a better voiceover business business you know what I mean

so I didn’t spend enough time on branding and marketing and essentially

putting myself out there that people can discover me you know what I mean which is essential of course it is yeah

because because I you know um when I first started out voice one two3 I don’t

know I heard this thing a while ago some people say well if you go on the p2ps they can make up about 5% your income for me personally the opposite was true

yeah my first year on voice 123 I made a lot of money and it was it was the absolute spine of me getting my clients

and building a business but because I was doing well off it that’s all I focused on I didn’t focus on other

aspects of running a voiceover business that would give me longevity so obviously when these quiet periods happen and the auditions dry up on I

mean they’ve got I was looking through the spreadsheets yesterday my God like from the last two years the amount of auditions over the course of a month

they’ve just been going down and down and down so it just hit home was like

it’s those moments when you have a quiet period it’s like work on those things that can help you further down the line

and you’ve done a fair bit on your SEO and stff as well haven’t you yeah just been sort of trying to just just get just get yeah just get discoverable but

so the photos help the website’s getting a bit of a liquor paint um so just yeah so just just while it’s been quiet I’ve

just been trying to you know work in the background working on marketing list people to contact

um I tell you what as well we talk about AI use it correctly AI can really be your friend to get stuff done like I’ve

had a bit of clever ways it’s created like um call to actions emails Etc

populating lists and stuff that do record time so yeah think smarter not harder um that’s what I’ve done with it

and it’s uh yeah it’s just s of just navigating our way through it but I think it’s going to start getting back

to normal as we get into September yeah I definitely think you’re right the last like week or week for me like I’ve started getting a lot more people

contacting me and you know shortlisting for more stuff and just feels a bit more normal and a bit more exciting again and

so fingers cross that continues and the other exciting thing this week Mikey Vox oh the Vox is back for the 30th

Anniversary yeah I’m looking forward to it m I was talking about this to Steph yesterday masquerade though I I mean

that is that’s an outfit that is it I mean I know I’m excited I feel like just coming in a Batman mask or something

like that is so you though you’d be like I’m just going to wear my uh my black

t-shirt and uh you know do you know what I was looking at yesterday for outfits uh so I’m not buying a full suit for it

I actually saw on Amazon you can buy a Phantom of the Opera outfit cuz he has a

mask does he looks and he looks a bit masquerade so I think I’m going to go down that Avenue I can absolutely see

you wearing that yeah I’m probably going to do that I am looking for but one thing I’ve been trying I’ve checked and

checked definitely going now I’m 100% going yeah excellent 100% going you got your tickets yet no okay so you’re not

100 would Oran 99 yeah so no I am

definitely going to go uh 100% going I think it’s definitely same so very kindly Kim Parker got my my ticket

booked for me so we’re um I think we like probably the first ones and Hugh if you’re listening I feel like some kind

of prize is necessary um for being the first ones to book on um no I’m very excited yeah I can’t wait I’m looking

for but the thing is I’ve looked everywhere and I I can’t see anything to the contrary there is no talks or work

it literally is just a piss up it’s just in fancy dress fancy ass meal and the awards yeah right so it’s just fancy

dress piss up with a potential I’m a little bit disappointed by that I like I do like the workshops and talks and

stuff like it did for me that would made it more worthwhile I guess um I mean I I

love dressing up and I love seeing everyone so for me it’s worth it anyway but I think that would have made it better but I’m really pleased they’ve

now got a Producers cast agree back in the awards oh have they yeah they’ve just added one I think somebody

commented on the Facebook group and I think Hugh and Peter have addressed that so that’s really positive because it’s

really it’s really important that they get celebrated as well so hopefully that will help with producers wanting to come

maybe which would be again really beneficial for all of us well if I remember correctly the reason why they changed it last year didn’t they to

everything was like human related and it was yeah which is still the thing now isn’t it for the awards but that was a

that was a sort of a consequence of they felt rightly so that the radio industry sort of turned their back a little bit

on V because of the was it rates or something Equity rates or I think yeah I think there was some issues with global

and the equity rates and stuff but I think yeah there was some AR bargi wasn’t there yeah I mean I still like

bers sent me through the list of the they haven’t adhere to the equity rates but they have increased everything by like 10% or something yeah it’s really

tricky and I I feel very grateful for Equity though that are still trying to keep improving things and pushing things

forward um but when you know people personally like Baron globe and so the people people are so nice it’s very

difficult um but I suppose that every voice ever feels like that it’s h you’re in Rocking hard place aren’t you yeah

yeah definitely but I think um yeah I’m looking forward to going are you I mean it’s this free of charge the awards you

may as well have a go oh hell’s yeah I mean I have no idea what yeah but I will definitely be henting something do you

know what really frustrates me though right how many times Nik what frustrates you how many times have you done a piece

of work that you just like you you you felt in your bones was a good piece and you never seen it you never seen it you

can’t get a copy of it and you think God if I could just get that as part of my portfolio that would just be a nice

little you know piece of work for that specific category not talking about Awards or such but obviously it’s relevant but just in general for your

poio there’s one piece in particular this year that I was like I got hired to do something that I wouldn’t normally do

it was really cool I it was going to be slick as [ __ ] and I can’t get hold of it

and it was for a particular event and I will never see that ever wounded oh yeah

GED abs and it was a really cool brand as well and I will never see it yeah I did one I’ve got a couple I did one for

Lego and it was in it was more of an internal one but it was it wasn’t like anything of like sensitive information

there was three small one minute explainer videos and I saw the I saw the

storyboard for it it’s got little Lego characters but it’s like a it’s like a it’s like a corporate one but at Lego

and I was like please can you send it me that’s so cool yeah and it would like

we can’t it’s like it’s not for public consumption I was like have to sort of you know there you go what can you do I mean at least you got the story board

there I think I’d like just treasure that a little bit cuz that’s so cool so I think I’ve got because I was looking

because they changed the uh it’s different to One Voice they go to year prior don’t they but with Vox they allow up to this year yeah if I’m not mistaken

it’s up to excuse me August 31st so from sept Air day did you do you think it is

I don’t know cuz i’ I’ve just did my first Christmas ad and I’m really really proud of it oh yeah but it won’t come

out till nov so I don’t know if it’s is it when you recorded it or when it comes out you know so anyway probably the BS there

need to have a look yeah I need to double check it but yeah as per usual you got to have a go and we’ve talked about this before I know some people who

rightly or wrongly there’s no there’s no right or wrong answer stay away from the awards because they feel that if they don’t if they have a piece of work

they’re really proud of and they don’t get nominated it’s like it can be disheartening I fully fully fully

understand that I really do yeah um but equally I don’t know it kind of just I just just seeing if he still within the

in the race to get a nomination is just kind of just makes allun it’s just fun isn’t it like I don’t know and I do I

hear what you’re saying and I think they’re very wise if they know themselves and think that’s not helpful That’s not healthy for them then

absolutely do that but it kind of feels a bit like um having a lucky dip you know when you’re like a kid and like you

you pay your quidd and you get that bag and you don’t know what’s going to be inside it it’s that kind of vibe maybe it’s gambling I don’t know um you just

need to get your fix I need to enter something I need to get that um so it kind of yeah just com

throwing some stuff at the wall and I think previously because I mean I’ve not not gone many rounds I’ve applied with

stuff I think uh the Vox last year it was I got a nomination for an e-learning

piece and I was so surprised and so grateful to get that because I just I

liked it but it was a bit random and you just never know do you and because they changed the categories I wasn’t sure so basically what I’m saying it’s he am as

well go for it I well yeah I you know yeah because there’s a few things I’ve went in for last year voice I got I came

up with one of six I think I went for you know and I was lucky I got that one

and I was grateful but the other five I don’t B an eyelid you know what I mean it’s just I apped for loads last year for one

voice and didn’t get any in but then for Vox and the year before was one voice I put in one one a piz something got it in

so it’s just never know and I think I think it’s worth pointing out as well I’m acutely aware that in the grand scheme of things Award nominations or

lose masquerade ball in what the world is on fire like the world is an absolute

[ __ ] show of misery and horror at the moment there’s no getting around that no it looks it looks fantastic whether

You’ve Won or you’re a nominee it looks nice to have that next name but in the bigger picture they don’t really mean

anything they don’t book you more work you’re you’re only as good as the audition that you’ve been uh given and

how you deliver on it every single time so it’s just a bit of fun in it that’s that’s why I like him but you know at

the same time and I feel like I just like dressing up and pretending I don’t know maybe it’s like an acting thing like pretending I’m someone else for an

evening or like I don’t know the costumes and yes the Mas grade ball is going to be a good laugh hopefully and

yeah we we’re PL plotting some stuff aren’t we potentially maybe for yes well I need to speak to I’m going to have a

little drop spoilers Mike no no no no no no there’s well right now there’s nothing too spoil to say just making

this [ __ ] up as we go no I’m going to message Hugh because I’ve got a little idea for something that I just want to make sure that he’d be okay with not

that it’s going to it’s not have any impact on Vox itself at all it’s just something I want to do that he would be

all right was doing maybe just like while you chatting to him maybe just see like can we get an industry professional

like to talk or somebody really like amazing to I don’t know I I would like it to and also I’m trying to uh for

everyone’s listening I’m trying to convince Jen to do our first Instagram live I have never done an Instagram live

never in my life I’m trying to she’s like yeah I’ll let you know we’ll think about it when the kids are back at

school cuz like I’ve already been interrupted once during this session can imone Instagram live it’s very stressful

fine cuz that’s that’s the whole point of it it is K like that though so there’s no controlled environment where

it’s like I’m sure like it’s live it could be anything wish there was though so see but going back to what you said

before about um we were talking briefly about the because I forgot didn’t really speak to you about it the navigating the quiet period like so what’s I what’s

your take in it what do you tend to do if it sort of goes a little bit you know Panic depressed um all the positive

things yeah I think I’m absolutely P [ __ ] um no I cuz I maybe I’m not but I

still see myself as being quite new still that I still feel like I’m learning about when quiet periods come

and because I’m just trying to do what I can when I can um I don’t know if so when I

I said to someone um a couple months ago um a friend who’s a vo that I didn’t really feel like I I was going through a

quiet spell but I didn’t really feel like I could say that because I hadn’t been like consistently marketing myself up to that point so kind of felt like it

was my fault like I couldn’t say I got a dry spell because I hadn’t put enough effort into trying to get work do you

know what I mean so I think if you are consistently doing everything you can I still think it’s been a dry spell but I

wasn’t one of those people who was putting all the effort in so my part of my dry spell was on me as well as the

situation and maybe I’m being too harsh but kind how I saw it I think as well like you touched on something before

which I think is true and it’s like when you go on social media and we have kind of covered this but when you go on social media and you do see people like

you know if if you do see like a barrage of people I’ve signed to this post and I’ve done this and done that it that’s

one aspect of it I think the other thing that I found a little bit frustrating is some of these online quote unquote

influences I mean yeah vo influences just general no no General like business

influences like Gary ve Gary ve is a bit of an exception I like Gary ve he’s

quite intense and I don’t follow him religiously but I do quite like his his passion but I’m talking about the other

ones you know they’ve got this like if it’s true fine but it comes

across as almost just utter [ __ ] where it’s like here’s my routine I get up at 5:00 in the morning you know I’ll

go to the gym I’ll come back at 7 o’clock in the morning I’ll have my breakfast I’ll respond to some who are you emailing at 7 o’clock in the morning

yeah you know thing is though that they also got like a mindfulness diary they drinking out with st Stanley Cup they’ve

got some kind of protein shake going on then meditate for hours and then all these all before

seven all these things all these rituals they’re all great and good for the mind and everything and having routine but I

think some of these online people they create these unrealistic expectations of you that unless you do these extreme

things yeah throughout a 12-h hour period Then You’re then then you’re destined to fail and it’s like yeah

you’re an idiot because not everybody can do that and everybody operates differently for some of them to be like

you know we all know the importance of sleep and yet they cram all these things in and then I I’ll be sending emails

I’ll be working till 11 o’clock at night so how are you getting your eight hour sleep that you keep banging on about yeah I know because you’re at 5 o’ in

the morning you dick do you know what I mean it’s like yeah no it’s not but it is like the more you see of those as

well it does kind of like via osmosis go into your brain and you do end up feeling a bit like oh I’m I’m less than

I’m not as good as these people and I just think it’s because listen I’ve I want say I’ve fallen to the Trap of it but I you know I am well

into bettering yourself mentally and you know sort of however that may look I used to try I still try and do the

meditation stuff I struggle with it a little bit my brain the apps well I did go with the

apps those the Sleep ones weren’t they yeah um I did go with the apps and after when you’ve listened to so many of them

eventually I felt it was easier just to zone out just just just sit in quietness yeah um there are all these sorts of

things that can help you just stay focused stay tuned I love all that sort of stuff but I think I got I am rubbish like so I feel like a failure doing

anything like that because I find it very difficult to quite my brain so running for me is my meditation that is the only time it feels like I am not

being like okay 17,000 things that you should be doing right now and like I I think we’ve talked about this quite a

bit before but like I describe myself as a creative person which is fantastic for a lot of this business in terms of when

you’re creating characters or changing something on the fly or thinking about marketing the business but it means that

I constantly I’m coming up with stuff I can never be still my brain is always going and it’s like just chill the [ __ ]

out stop thinking about what you should be doing and just enjoy this moment and I find it very difficult to do that so

running for me is an absolute savior yeah well I I just think that I think burning yourself out yeah particularly

when it’s quiet and you might be stressing out and overworking like look at the end of the day you have to put in hard work to get Su success in anything

that’s a given but I think burning yourself out and and going down the rabbit hole of some of these people say you’ve got to live these Extreme Ways to

Define yourself as call yourself successful I think it’s ridiculous think what’s hard is motivating yourself when it’s quiet so I think I find it a lot

easier to be more productive the busier I am so if it’s if it’s tumble weed then I’m like I’m just going to watch a bit

of like modern family or like just going to chill out a bit so it’s a very fine balance between actually being kind to

yourself and being like you know what it’s all right to watch Modern Family yeah and that’s it you said it right be kind to yourself because yeah I think

like I say I went down to rabert HS I was like right okay so you know in order to improve any given situation if it’s

gone quiet I need to do this I need to have these really strict routines and discipline essentially after a while I was exhausted I was like this is

counterproductive cuz I’m naed and I tell you other thing as well not many people know this actually

um during CHR right so at Christmas time I made the decision to get um a

part-time job right yeah because for a couple of reasons but the most important ones Jen just typed we need to wrap up

ASAP minutes right so basically I uh so what happened was at Christmas it’s Christmas there’s no work it’s all very

quiet but it was it was less about the money it was more about the um the mental aspect of it because it was the

first Christmas since my mom passed away and obviously at the time I was on my own I was like well I don’t want to be just sat around moping I can go and see

family and stuff and have a few drinks but ultimately I’ll just be moping about so I thought you know what keep my brain busy I went and got a job at the Depot

near where I live like the warehouse just loging chucking stuff around and Jenna loved it because I was I was

working from like early evening till 1:00 in the morning with a bunch of guys there was a good band so we had to laugh

you know and if we weren’t talking I my airp pod in I’m just listening to football podcast or whatever and I’m just I loved it right but here’s the

thing I after I finished doing my little stint over the Christmas period one thing that I realized was and it goes

back to that exhaustion thing like the hours I was doing to then have to try and come back and do voiceover which I then started doing cuz it was picking up

again so then through that those hours I was getting home at one in the

morning I don’t fall asleep straight away before I those off it’s 2:33 maybe then I’m up again at 7:30 8:00 roughly

I’m an early riser yeah um whether I’m [ __ ] or not and then sometimes I’d lie there and I fall back asleep for a

few hours I was exhausted and I started to see a massive knock on effect to my

ability to do to focus on voice over because I was so tired all the time yeah you know what I mean

so in in a similar sort of way what these people saying about these crazy routines and if you if you if you’re exhausting yourself I don’t know how you

can fully apply yourself if you burn but I think a lot of people listening will have a second job and some of them

might be really like manual stuff like that as well and like oh massive props um it’s not easy one job and especially

that kind of thing I have done it you know I I spent you know couple of months doing that well thereabouts and uh as

much as I enjoyed working with people having a little bit of that banter and stuff I was like yeah you know yeah it

was hard work to then come home and then try focus on voice over and obviously then like I said once once I called it a

day I was like I don’t need to be now um and I could F and my voice over work was

getting busier anyway but my my productivity towards voice went was tremendously better because I wasn’t tired yeah and it’s just the mental

capacity to focus on it as well like not just because of like you’re physically tired but like the the the creativity or

whatever it is to be like actually I’m going to keep pushing myself I’m going to keep trying this I’m going to contact this person I’m going to do that that is

exhausting that’s all that business side of it is so tiring as well yeah and I think for people that debate whether

they want to go full-time with voiceover and they’re trying to juggle two jobs it’s I don’t it’s not easy like it’s

it’s absolutely not easy to try and do a full-time job and then try and do run

like try and set up a voice over listen if people are doing that nothing but respect for you because obviously know

different jobs require different levels of levels of you know exertion whether it’s physical mental whatever yeah I did

something very physical for for whatever it was seven six seven weeks and yeah it

was it took everything out of me so I guess really my point being is that well I don’t have a point specifically if you

have to do two jobs you have to do got to do what you got to do but it was but it was about the tiess and like you know

when it is quiet and you are trying to sort of figure out ways to improve things but trying you know for me I was like don’t fall into the Trap of

thinking unless you’re doing these crazy routines it’s not enough do what you can do that fits you your lifestyle your you

know what what you’re capable of in a way that still you’re being more productive with work but not to a point

where you’re being counterproductive because you’re burning yourself out yeah and what a lovely way to wrap up with aaging statement I think we’re done wrot

down here embrace your weaknesses double down on your strengths I don’t know why I wrote that down but I’ll probably

something else message yourself and for the for everyone else it’s good it’s valid it was it’s not related to what I was not directly I I was going to say

something else that probably led to me saying that but there you go anyway embrace your weaknesses double down in your strengths there you go whatever

that was meant to refer to ni um and we will be back next week right so I guess

that yeah that’s it normally now we’ll have the little music playing like sure oh no yeah yeah yeah I can

hear it now I know the music I was I couldn’t tell that from your I got you I got you it we be playing over this waffle anyway right so that is season

two episode it’s so nice to see you again let’s do it next week yeah uh well

you Haven got a choice got eight weeks of it now so we’ve got some just R prop just you know we have got we’re not

we’re not going to have as many people on this time I think we’re to probably go more episodes me and Jen and have a

couple of guests come on here and there yeah um just something ideas were playing about with but yeah very much

more of the same and we hope more than anything else to improve on it definitely oh and when we release this

episode I think there’ll still be just a little bit of time to ENT Vox so again another call to [ __ ] go for it

believe in yourself and go for it you’ve got nothing to lose I don’t not know I shall beat you goodbye goodbye see you

next week