When you surround yourself with inspiring and uplifting people, amazing things will happen. It makes such a difference to have people in your life who support & encourage you. It can make the difference of a successful, fulfilling life or having an average, uninspiring life. Life is so short…don’t we all want to feel inspired?!

When you are trying to accomplish your objectives and goals, stay away from cynical glass half empty folks that will only bring you down. Most times, when people discourage you, they are wrestling with demons on their own.

When I took the big step of starting my own voice-over business, I definitely had those people telling me it was too competitive and not to waste my time. While these people might have been trying to support me in their own way – it was very discouraging. I chose to focus on the people that would say to me “you are talented and you should go for it! Every business is competitive and that should never stop you from following your dreams.

Even if you were to fail at least you tried – we learn the most from our failures. I think we always have to keep that in perspective. What is the worst thing that could happen if you did fail – then you move on to the next thing with more knowledge and confidence in knowing that you tried at something instead of always wishing you would. Edison had 10,000 prototypes of the light bulb. What an amazing example of perseverance and not listening to the naysayers.

So many people give up too easily due to FEAR. We all get stuck in the spin, forgetting to grab hold of what you want and letting others steer your life…the DAILY ROUTINE. Ugh. Sometimes, the only person that is in the way is yourself. Take a minute and just imagine what you could do if you did get out of your own way. If fear wasn’t stopping you. If you weren’t listening to that little voice in your head as a result of those few naysayers. Listen to your gut and GO FOR IT!

Find your EXTRAORDINARY. Surround yourself with those that support you, can give constructive criticism and help you to move FORWARD.

Life is too short to let the economy or any other excuse stop you from achieving your goals. The reality is that the economy is going to continue to move through its cycles and plenty of challenges will present themselves in an effort to distract you along the way of reaching your goals.  What you need is a game plan and a strategy for dealing with the challenges.  If you look at successful people you admire, they are not successful because they never had a plan or encountered a challenge, they are successful because they created a plan and kept their eyes on their goals and not on the obstacles.

This is not to diminish the challenges you may be facing.  I am saying this to encourage you.  You are not the only one who has obstacles and the obstacles are not larger than your potential to overcome them.  It may not be easy, but it will be well worth it.

First and foremost, mind your business.  Decide exactly what you want to achieve.  Then make a game plane to work through the obstacles.  Tougher economic times may require some creativity and making smart, calculated financial choices.  It may require you to increase your networking and perhaps think of additional ways to serve your clients and increase your value potential.  You may choose to work on your skills and get some additional training or seek mentorship from other professionals who are doing what you would like to do at the level you aspire to achieve.

Then isolate yourself from unnecessary distractions.  Your time is valuable and you must choose how you leverage it.  The time you allocate to social media, advertising and networking must be purposeful and deliberate.  You may need to increase the time you spend doing auditions or you may need to choose your auditions more carefully.  Be sure to allocate time to yourself and your family too, as tougher times – regardless of the stressors – often distract us from what really matters in the end.

You can choose to make excuses or you can choose to make your voice over business flourish. The decision is yours.

I’m dedicating this year to be the year of laughter, love, and living life to the fullest! It’s going to be my best year yet!  A year to take hold of my passions and work to make my dreams a reality.  A year to launch Voice Over Club, to speak at VOICE 2010, to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone!

I am passionate about what I do and am blessed to work from home as a voice talent, producer, and coach.  I thoroughly enjoy all three aspects of what I do – they complete me.  It hasn’t always been this way.  It started as a dream, something I wanted to learn about and pursue.  Then I made the decision, took action, and followed through with resolve.

I had to learn to take action!  Each day I took action in my voice over career created a confidence in me that pushed me forward.  Each week built up momentum. Each month built credibility.  Each year my income increased.  I just had to start.

What are your dreams?  Are you a prospective voice talent or are you a voice talent?  Which one do you aspire to be?  If you’re serious about being a professional voice talent, do you have professional training and demos?  If not, what is your plan to get them?  What is your time-line?  What will you do to challenge where you are today so you can be where you want to be a year from now?  We each have the same number of hours in a day, the same number of days in a week, the same number of days in a year to accomplish what we choose to accomplish.  The only difference is in our priorities.

Go ahead and decide what you want!  Take action!  Follow through with resolve and make this your best year yet!

Wishing you joyful abundance and blessings for the New Year!