Over the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of speaking at a voiceover conference (yeah, FaffCon!), teaching a webinar, and doing some one-on-one coaching. One subject kept coming up when I was helping some fellow voice talents figure out what they want out of their career: what are their values?
The definition of the term “values” seem subjective, but it’s not. Also, many people don’t know the difference between values, morals, and ethics (usually those who don’t have them). So, what are values? Values are what are important to you. They’re not intrinsically good or bad. They’re often what you or a group of people agree upon. For example, a street gang operates under a set of values. I, for one, have no interest in arguing the validity of their values, do you?
What are the values of an entrepreneur? Clearly, it depends on the person. In doing research for this post, I found an interesting article on the Mind Tools website. It states that your values should be reflected in your career. Makes sense. However, I’ve noticed that many voice talents and other entrepreneurs have staggeringly diverse sets of values. What does that mean? I think it means that people brought their values to their career and have different motivations. They also have different ideas of what success means.
For some, success means being rich & famous and popular to boot. For others, it means having the ability to consistently express themselves artistically. And yet for “other” others, they do it to put food on the table whilst avoiding being stuck in a cubicle so as not to go postal. Do they all have the same values? If not, is one set of values “better” than the others?
TIP OF THE WEEK: What are your values? Are they reflected in your career? Not sure? The Mind Tools article had some great stuff so let’s use their exercise, shall we…?
When were you happiest? The most proud? The most fulfilled/satisfied?
Now, determine your top ten values based on your answers. Here’s their list:Accountability Accuracy Achievement Adventurousness Altruism Ambition Assertiveness Balance Being the best Belonging Boldness Calmness Carefulness Challenge Cheerfulness Clear-mindedness Commitment Community Compassion Competitiveness Consistency Contentment Continuous Improvement Contribution Control Cooperation Correctness Courtesy Creativity Curiosity Decisiveness Democraticness Dependability Determination Devoutness Diligence Discipline Discretion Diversity Dynamism Economy Effectiveness Efficiency Elegance Empathy Enjoyment Enthusiasm EqualityExcellence Excitement Expertise Exploration Expressiveness Fairness Faith Family-orientedness Fidelity Fitness Fluency Focus Freedom Fun Generosity Goodness Grace Growth Happiness Hard Work Health Helping Society Holiness Honesty Honor Humility Independence Ingenuity Inner Harmony Inquisitiveness Insightfulness Intelligence Intellectual Status Intuition Joy Justice Leadership Legacy Love Loyalty Making a difference Mastery Merit Obedience Openness Order Originality PatriotismPerfection Piety Positivity Practicality Preparedness Professionalism Prudence Quality-orientation Reliability Resourcefulness Restraint Results-oriented Rigor Security Self-actualization Self-control Selflessness Self-reliance Sensitivity Serenity Service Shrewdness Simplicity Soundness Speed Spontaneity Stability Strategic Strength Structure Success Support Teamwork Temperance Thankfulness Thoroughness Thoughtfulness Timeliness Tolerance Traditionalism Trustworthiness Truth-seeking Understanding Uniqueness Unity Usefulness Vision Vitality
Now, prioritize them. How does it look? Do you think it matches up with your current career? Does it match up with that Mission Statement I’ve tasked so many of you to write? How do these newly-discovered values reflect how you work from home? Negotiate rates? Network with your peers and potential clients?
NEWS AND NOTES!
My next Edge Studio “Business and Money 201” webinar is Thursday, Octcober 16 at 8PM EST. The subject: Time Management. I’m gonna talk about how to get the most out of your day. Click Here to sign up!
Thank goodness the season premiere of “The Walking Dead” was on at the same time as the Giants/Eagles game. I don’t know what I would have done with myself if I was forced to watch that train wreck…
HAPPY HAPPYS
Happy Yorkshire Pudding Day! I don’t think I’ve ever tried it. Is there a good place in New York/New Jersey that serves it?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
(thanks for the quote, Anne Hartung!)
From Tom Dheere’s apartment, this is Tom Dheere: GKN News…
Tom Dheere is a veteran of the voice over industry who has narrated thousands of projects for clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a coach at Edge Studio, voiceover business consultant known as the Voice Over Strategist, and is currently producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.
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