"Success is goals, and all else is commentary." Lloyd Conant

 

 

Lloyd Conant, Founder of Nightingale Conant Corporation

 

 



"Success is goals, and all else is commentary."

 

 

This excellent quote was from the biggest producer and distributor of audio programs on success and achievement in the world. If you want to read more about him, click here:

http://www.nightingale.com/articles/lloyd-conant-this-i-believe/

 

While the hustle, bustle and indulgence of the holidays is beckoning (and oh so inviting), if we can get a grip into the New Year with clear and specific goals in every area of our lives, we can rock it and rock it good.

 

While I advocate shaking things up, I've been laying dormant for a bit and have to face it. This is why working with colleagues, coaches and mentors is so important. Accountability and responsibility are everything. Without the support and presence of trusted others, I could not have done what I have done in the past two weeks, I've worked 3 jobs, nursed two sick (but still delightful) kids back to health, arranged a move to share a lovely home in my home state of New Hampshire with a lifelong friend, got my two aforementioned delightful kids into an ideal Charter School and said "So long" to an old Buick and old Blackberry and said "Hey Hello" to a very nice used car with a new car smell and a speedy and slick iPhone.

 

Time to be dazzled (or perhaps at this time of year I should say bedazzled) at the powerful effects of making a list, taking action and crossing off your accomplishments.

 

Here's to you, a festive and friendly Holiday Season and a vibrant and active New Year for us all!

Peace and Prosperity and Progress!

 

 

 





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's Your Call! Your Voicemail and Messages On Hold Are Powerful Advertising and Branding Reinforcement Tools! Are you using them well?

Your voicemail greeting could help make him a lifelong client or...not! 

What is the first impression potential clients get from your business? Specific, engaging and informative greetings and directives or "Your call is very important to us"? Only to be followed by a redundant and somewhat demeaning reminder to continue to hold. Is that the first thing you want to say when you've captured a potential client's attention? No. No it isn't.

Your voicemail system and messages on hold are powerful advertising and branding reinforcement tools. Use them! Boring, dismissive and confusing voicemail greetings and menus will quickly send clients elsewhere.  A first impression makes up about 70% of what a person thinks about your company. Are you investing in that 70% intelligently?

Expect more and get mo' from your telephony. Need an effective overhaul on your auto attendant, voicemail and messages on hold system? MoVibe.com can write the copy, cast the appropriate voice, record the messages with ideal sound effects and/or music so when you can't answer live - your company still sounds alive!

Please contact Moneen@MoVibe.com or call toll free at 1-877MoVibe0 for a free consultation on 3 things you can do to dramatically improve your own voicemail system. Here to help you hear the difference!

Reward yourself! You deserve it - or do you?

Hey Hey Friends!
It's Friday and it's Mo of MoVibe.com saying...REWARD yourself! Do you deserve it? Only you can answer that one. We know ourselves so well it is very easy to lie to ourselves. While I can be the Queen of Rationalization, I can tell you that it has been several months since I've had a wild non mommy night out and tonight I'm having one with dear life long friends and it is SO WELL deserved that it will be savored! Deadlines are met, apartment is clean, kids rocked the week at school and I'm on my 3rd week of steady work outs so yes there will be Tequila involved!!

While I'm a proponent of accountability and self reliance (despite resistance every step of the way), I also am a big fan of the Reward System. When you accomplish, overcome a hurdle, keep going when you have excuses not to, it's time to be sweet to yourself somehow.

Traditionally, I over indulge in food, drink, entertainment etc and that's not the answer either. Proportional rewards work best. Example; my children Ian (11) and Ava (8) have been in charge of their own treats/desserts for coming close to a year now. Not once, has either of them over indulged, taken advantage of the situation or gotten sick from taking too much.

Instead, fueled with self appreciation and self discipline, they approach their school work, creative work, free time and rewards with balance, respect and control. They're an impressive couple of kids and while I'd love to take credit, I cannot. They arrive at their own decisions through experience, intellect and mostly instinct. They know what's right. Doing what's right brings about more right. The more right, the better everything and everyone is. Smart. Simple.

So, what have you accomplished today? What is your weekend reward?
Feel free to comment, email or mull quietly to yourself.


If you feel you're not accomplishing (in voiceover, performance, radio, life) and need a nudge or need to find out why you're stuck or continually starting and stopping, please be in touch. There is a way to and through your resistance. If  I can do it, anyone can!

Have a weekend full of peace, progress and passion!
Moneen

Please join me for Voice Over Virtual!

Hi Voiceover and Radio and Creative Friends,

How are you doing post Labor Day? Are you wearing white you rebel you? Hope all is moving happily forward in your world!

If you haven't heard, there is a major event with many major players in voiceover happening all online September 18-20 put together by www.VoiceoverXtra.com. It is a real pleasure to be included with content from www.MoVibe.com. It's cool because it's interactive, all inclusive and content is available to you until November 30th.

In addition to content from dozens of other coaches, I'll have an insider's presentation on self direction at the mic in 2 ways - from being live on air in Boston radio to and through 3 different recording sessions.  You'll hear script prep, self direction, final selection and the end results! Very revealing and mildly entertaining (if I do say so myself).

There's an additional special personal offer from me to participants at the event as well - and it's our favorite fee - FREE!  To learn about the event and sign up, please click here:  http://bit.ly/VOV-A21

Hope to hang out with you virtually!

 

 

Oh and if you want to see a brief video introduction on what I'll be doing, check it out here:

 

In Voiceover Training - Do You Want Fresh Hand Cut Homemade French Fries or a Fast Food Failure?

Hi Friends,
How's it going with you today? Are you feeling Friday-like yet? Hope you've got something wonderful to look forward to this weekend!

Around here there is work scheduled but also some very quiet and very personal "me time" inked in! Remember, if we don't recharge ourselves, it's others who get burned! Now, why I'm here...

Have you ever felt sad and disappointed after a coaching experience - like you had been run through a fast food assembly line? 

More than a few recent conversations with voice over talent in the past few weeks has lead me to write a little something about personal preference when it comes to voice over coaching/training/demo production and marketing. You've got a speedy solution with a fly by - drive thru fast food type of program where you will be forced to chose a "meal deal" or.... you can liberate your performance taste buds and indulge in slower and finer dining and not by coincidence finer bookings! As you know all services available from www.MoVibe.com are made to order and it would be a real pleasure to have you stop by and learn a bit mo' about what I offer...and why.

Doing good work together and being of genuine service is at the heart of every project I take on.  If  you are a voice over or creative talent and we are collaborating together on scripts, approaches, imaging, positioning, marketing, demos or simply avoiding self sabotage and getting un-stuck then we are engaged in a very real exchange of energy that has lasting and enduring effects.

While the fast food chains may provide a gimmicky toy or a cheap deal, it's the high quality and value of personal one on one service that I can offer that will sustain you! 

Isn't this a much more appetizing offer?
Fresh, hand cut, home made and seasoned specifically for you!

How can I freshen up or spice up your performance?  Let's talk!
Toll Free US: 1-877MoVibe0
Skype: Moneen.Daley.Harte
Email: Moneen@MoVibe.com

Stop, Look and Listen, Baby! A Priority Post for Performers!

Hello VoiceOver and Performance Friends,
It has been an interesting Spring. People want to grow and get going.  This is the time of year for it! Good, right?  It depends. I've spoken with about a dozen really talented and well meaning people who have come to me in the past few weeks with some real issues because they made a fast move forward without defining where they were going or why! Or, they are completely stuck and also don't know why!

So much time/money/energy is wasted on taking circuitous routes when you can make map out a simple strait line to your destination. Would you head out on a cross country road trip without GPS, maps, water, fuel and supplies? So why would you begin something as important as a creative career or endeavor without an expert and an expert plan?

Here is one example from this very day. There was a very talented and unique sounding male voice over talent who had the potential to work right away and serve a specific market.  He had been talking about making a demo for close to 2 years but delayed efforts after some interest. He inquired about professional help but never followed up (even on free consultations). In an uneducated and cost saving move, he produced a voice over demo himself, randomly picking copy, foregoing coaching and direction and awkwardly editing the final product. The result is wasted time and money in addition to the realization that he needs expert advice, he needs to work on his craft, he needs professional assistance and needs to invest in this. He knew it 2 years ago, he knew it when he was recording the tracks and he knows it now. So why didn't he get the help he needed?

The answer is, we want the short cut route - we want the fantasy outcome - oh if I just record these tracks and post them on the web, someone will hear them and hire me for 6 figures and I'll live happily ever after. There is a happily ever after but it comes after consciousness, work, more consciousness and more work.



 

Here are 3 Priority Principles for Self Discipline and Direction in a Creative Endeavor!

 

1. Do YOU yourself but Don't do IT yourself.  Focus on your unique talent. Define it, demonstrate it and offer it to the right people.Websites, demos, business cards and easily outsourced tasks should be left to professionals. If you are on a budget, work out a trade agreement.
2. Create attainable daily, weekly and monthly goals and be accountable to someone! Even if they are tiny baby steps - it is movement forward. We tend to idealize the perfect week off with breezes blowing and with a free flowing muse whispering the world's secrets in our ears. There are transcendental moments in creativity and they are glorious but there is first silence and resistance and then truth beyond the silence and resistance. 
3. Stay mindful at every point, at every decision and ask yourself....is this action moving me closer or further away from my goal? It may appear that consulting with colleagues is networking (or is it really an excuse to commiserate and complain)?  It may appear that you're marketing like crazy but you're actually sending random emails to unqualified leads.

Because I hold myself accountable to others in the areas of spirituality, psychology, performance and marketing, I can progress in these areas. If I stay isolated, I stay stuck.

Do you need help? Do you need help in finding out what you need help with? I understand. Please email Moneen@MoVibe.com or call Toll Free in the US at 1-877-MoVibe0 for a complimentary 15 minute consultation. The last talent who took advantage of this offer increased her business by 20% in one simple move.


In action and on your side,
Moneen

Click here to visit Mo at MoVibe.com!

Need a theme song? "Stop, Look and Listen" from the movie "Change of Habit" with Elvis and Mary Tyler Moore is a total groove!  Here is the link to listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nva7dMOBuCI

Is Radio Rehab Right for You?

We have the answers to all our questions inside ourselves - our instincts always know best and always know what is correct. However, after years or even decades of performing a particular way and under a particular direction, we develop crutches, shortcuts and escapes that we need to dig deep to uncover, identify and work through.

If you're experiencing Red Light Reflex or are blocked creatively, Radio Rehab can help!

Please ask yourself these questions:

1) Do I brace myself physically and mentally before a recording session?

2) Do I have an adaptable methodology when preparing a script?

3) Am I honest and intimate about script preparation?

4) Is it easy for me to get lost or distracted by the details of an assignment?

5) Am I pleased when I listen back to my auditions and gigs?

6) Is there an inner voice that conflicts with what my instincts tell me to do?

 

If you answered yes to 3 or more of these questions, please email Moneen@MoVibe.com or call toll free in the US 1-877-MoVibe0 for a free 15 minute consulation on what is troubling or blocking you from what you want to achieve at the mic!