I spent some time this weekend getting caught up on the Food Network show Restaurant Impossible. Chef Robert Irvine shows up at struggling restaurants and in a couple days does all he can do to solve their problems and turn the ship around.
Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
Why Restaurants Fail
As I watched each episode of the show I found myself looking for the common denominator. Is there one thing that ties all of these struggling restaurants together?
I started looking for the obvious things…
- Poor food?
- Bad menu?
- Wrong location?
- Dated decor?
- Lack of leadership?
- Bad service?
While many of the restaurants shared among all of these factors, none of them had them all. Which means, though all of those are good reasons for a restaurant to struggle, or fail, none of them are common denominator.
So what could it be then?
Why Voice Over Talents Fail
What about voice over? Do you think there’s one thing that can lead to failure? Do you think there’s one common denominator that, if not brought in check, will eventually cause you to pull the plug, so to speak, on your studio?
What might that factor be?
- Bad voice?
- Lack of training?
- Poor equipment?
- No ISDN?
- Bad service?
It can be said that some of those factors can certainly lead to struggles in the voice over business. But is any one of them enough to cause you to fail? Probably not.
So what could it be then?
Common Denominator
The longer I sat watching episodes of Restaurant Impossible and the more I pondered the question of what the common denominator was, the more obvious it eventually became to me.
Then I thought about some of the stories I’ve heard from struggling voice actors. Talent who were once successful who can’t seem to get things working for them anymore. Talent who have never been able to get it to work for them.
What is it that makes restaurants and voice over talents fail? The answer is complacency.
As I considered all the different factors that lead to failure in both businesses, as I reviewed each of the stories, that’s the one common denominator that kept popping up.
Never Quit Trying
In each of the failing restaurants the one theme that was always there was owners who enjoyed success for a season and got comfortable. They quit trying. Quit innovating. Quit changing. They settled into a groove and eventually got stuck in a rut! They took their success for granted and watched it slip through their fingers.
They settled into a groove and eventually got stuck in a rut!
They got complacent.
The same can happen in your voice over career. You settle into the same clients, but aren’t prepared for the day when they don’t need you anymore. You milk a particular genre or niche until it no longer exists and you don’t have a new direction. You’ve used the same demo for five years because you don’t want to produce a new one.
Get complacent in your career and watch your success fade away.
What’s Next?
I ask myself this question often. I brainstorm it at least a few times a year. What’s next? What’s my next move? My next play? My next attempt? My next genre? My next demo? I want to enjoy my success as it comes, but I want to make sure it keeps coming!
You need to do it too. Don’t settle in. Don’t get too comfortable.
Keep looking forward. Keep thinking about what’s next!
QUESTION: Has complacency ever got the best of you? How did you breakthrough?
