Beware Of Overkill

hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and a lot of these videos are some of my
best practices some of the things that
I’ve discovered on how to be really good
how to be the best you possibly can be
how to excel and sometimes we confuse
the idea of excellence or upping our
game with putting icing on the cake
doing more than expected being totally
awesome now look we all have a natural
tendency to want to be for good reason
complete and thorough with the
information that we give other people
with our performances how we turn in
projects and things like that but
sometimes doing so can be perilous
here’s what I mean by that I went to a
conference last fall and I watched a guy
from a company that provides services
that help you do better on LinkedIn
speak and he spoke about what you should
do when somebody reaches out to connect
with you and what I was doing was
exactly what he said was the biggest
mistake you could possibly make so learn
from me when somebody would want to
connect with me on LinkedIn I would
accept if they were in the business if
they were alive with what I was doing or
if I knew them and I would send them
this really long response that would
call them out by name and say hey is
there anything I can do to help you here
are the things that I can do and I would
list vo to gogo and the ACX masterclass
and camera-ready u and rehearsal pro and
oh by the way I’m an actor and I also do
voiceover and you know what else can I
help you with if there’s anything I can
help you no it was dense and what I
found out was it was off-putting
it was kind of like vomiting all this
stuff all at once it was kind of like
going out on a first date and expecting
to get married you know so after I
walked away from that speech where he
said hey just take it easy just say
thank you and say well why did we
why were you wanting to hook up with me
that’s it just two sentences that leads
you into a more natural conversation and
we do this sort of thing all the time
right so now if you try to connect with
me on LinkedIn what I’ll send to you
back is hey thanks for connecting what
was it that caused you to connect are
you a heroes fan did you want to know
more about acting or voiceover a
rehearsal Pro what was it and that’s it
right my response rate has gone through
the roof
like literally 60% responses as opposed
to 10% responses and of course if
somebody says oh I’m interested in VO
then I’ll follow it up with another
thing well in this you know free class
this getting started class help you and
it’s a more natural conversation and we
make this mistake all the time we make
the mistake of thinking oh if I just do
my audition with a higher bitrate then
it’ll sound that much better and I’ll
book the gig you know it doesn’t matter
we talked about this in another video
the the quality the overall audiophile
quality of something doesn’t matter what
matters is the storytelling what matters
is the content and what matters is that
the person that you’re having this
conversation with no matter what the
conversation is trust you and finds you
credible right we think that it’s our
mic that’s the reason we’re not booking
I got to get a better mic I got to get a
more expensive mic I gotta find a mic
that has an extra zero on the end of the
price right the mic that I have now
couldn’t possibly be good enough most
likely is like I would be hard-pressed
to figure out that a hugely better mic
is going to make you a better auditioner
right you want have a mic that’s got
high quality but that doesn’t mean you
have to go for a mic that’s thousands of
dollars to make a difference in your
auditioning or you decide well I I heard
at some point that you should remove all
your breaths from all auditions or from
all audiobook work or from anything
right you know you’ve heard me talk
about what a mistake that can be because
Brad
Earth’s are dramatic devices breaths are
natural breaths or what listeners and
viewers expect right if it’s too good if
it’s too polished if it’s too expansive
if it’s too deep in that opening
conversation that very first thing that
people hear from you or see from you it
can be off-putting it can be
overwhelming it can be the kind of thing
where people go I don’t have time to do
this I don’t have time to read this I
don’t have time to listen to this I
don’t know what they thought they were
achieving by doing this at a bit rate
that was higher than I thought you know
you just relax and rest assured that
it’s your storytelling and a normal
natural conversation that’s going to
make all the difference in the world
that makes sense I hope that resonates
with you let me know in the comments
below if you’re not watching this video
on VOD go go comm pop over there because
we’ve got some great stuff but I’d like
to know leave me a comment and let me
know if this has happened to you where
you’ve gotten you know you’re talking to
somebody for the first time at a party
and you’re just like so excited to talk
to them and you overwhelm them or in an
interview for a job or for a gig or a
first date you know tell me tell me tell
me tell me I’d love to know it is just a
few episodes away before our AMA episode
asked me anything
go ahead and leave a comment below if
you have a question let me know if you
want me to answer it in the AMA or send
me an email at david lawrence at
gmail.com and put a ma question in the
subject line you can ask me anything
about the things that I do the things
that I’ve talked about on these videos
anything about me personally I’m happy
to answer your questions it’s coming up
in episode number 100 if you’d like to
subscribe to my youtube channel and be
notified when these new videos come out
go ahead and click on my head there if
there’s no head there’s a subscribe
button somewhere on the page if you want
to see the latest video I’ve done click
on that frame there and YouTube will
play it for you I’m David H Lawrence
xvii thanks so much for watching and I
will talk to you tomorrow.