Leaps and bounds...

Watching the President's speech from the inaugural ball and reading articles on my laptop.  Oh, and Happy MLK day!   Punched out three voice over auditions Sunday afternoon after yoga and before work.  Plus, I had one of those whirlwind days today, expertly planned out so that I could accomplish everything I needed to, cooking dinners to bring to work so I can save money, getting some yoga in and even fixing some settings with my MIDI pedal that I had been meaning to change earlier in the morning, just for good measure and because I had time to spare.

One of the voice over auditions was opened today and I saw that I was ranked 1st out of 51 other auditions (I still don't know if this means that I'm in first place or I was just the first one to be reviewed...I guess I can ask someone at Voice123.com).  Anyway, the combo of all that accomplishment in a short amount of time and all those plans coming to fruition and nothing being forgotten or left out makes me realize that I'm really streamlining my process and as long as I can always plan a few days in advance and adapt last minute (I do things like I always keep deodorant in my yoga bag and have taken to packing a change of clothes in case I decide to do a class right before work as opposed to going and coming back before work), I will always get things done.   I'm at a place in my life where I feel like if I can plan it, I can accomplish it.

A couple of things have resonated with me in the past 24 hours in all these articles I've been reading and I'll share them with you.  One of them someone posted on Facebook earlier today, an article titled:
"How to Start Over (Hint: It’s Never Too Late)"...and while it was a brief article and kind of broad, it made me stop and think.  Especially, this quote:

"It also REALLY helps to set a deadline for yourself—a date to take the leap—and work toward that…"

A lot of what the article (and some of the comments) suggest, I'm already doing.  Working on my career while at a day job, resurfacing from the ashes of a divorce (6 years ago now) and a slump in a career in TV, slowly but surely reinventing myself (granted by leaps and bounds in the last few years), and starting a new career in Voice Over to support and supplement my music career that I've wanted since I was a child.   But one thing I have never thought to do is to set a date for when I should be able to quit the day job (mainly because I'm a little afraid of taking that leap unprepared).  I certainly have financial goals and personal/professional goals that I am requiring myself to meet before I can quit my day job but I've never said to myself, necessarily, that I'm going to do it by, say, the end of 2013 or in 2 years, or anything like that. Inevitably, what would follow would be an intricate plan with stepping stones to meeting those goals that are prerequisite to taking the leap.

I've thought about this too:

http://thevoiceoverguide.com/voicetalent-accounting-and-taxes/you-inc/

and that's the first article that has really summed up the why's and the why not's.  I've been slowly devouring that guy's blog.  He works with Voice123.com as a community manager.  So much pertinent info to sift through and so concisely explained, but this particular article hit me today.  I've heard, but also sort of glossed over, the pros and cons of incorporating but the way this article is written makes it so much clearer when and why you would want to do it.  And no, I'm not ready.

Maybe that's a goal I could work towards once I've quit the day job or if/when I get to a point where I'm making the kind of money where it would make sense to do so.  Either way, I've got a lot of planning to do still.  But if I can figure out how to work a day job, while pushing forward on my voice over career, rehearsing with a band, doing stuff like this, and still have time to squeeze in yoga and the occasional drink with friends, I'm pretty sure I can make a plan this year to build even more on what I've done so far.