I have always been risk averse. Never was a dare devil. Never did anything “wrong” when I was growing up. I was a good kid, because I didn’t want to get into trouble. I couldn’t imagine gambling, or playing the stock market. So how did I end up in the kind of job where  you never know from day to day if you are going to earn money?!

It could be due to the fact that I saved the peanuts from the Peanut M&M’s during road trips so I would be able to spread out the goodness for a long time. It could be because of my parent’s example of creative eclectic thriftyness. It could also be due to the number of places I lived while growing up – my stability was in being flexible. The ability to jump in and make things happen in pretty much any situation.

And due to the moving around, the idea of having to work in an office every day with someone peering over your cubicle wall checking to see if you have arrived was not appealing. Even working at a radio or TV station on the air was ultimately not my cup of joe. Oh, I loved the idea of being a DJ, but you really did have to be there – at least back then in the dark ages.

So, I started to free lance doing lots of different things – eventually ending up  working out of my home studio as voice talent. And there are weeks when things get very slow – no denying that. The key is not to panic – to have a plan to fill in that time with productive work-generating or body-renewing activities.

This summer was a bit slow, so I redoubled my marketing efforts, digging through the old client folders and reconnecting, using my social networks more aggressively, and taking some time for myself.

The result of some of this effort was a fun week of work and bookings. Some of it continuing projects, but most new work from new and repeat clients. Most of the contacts last week did not ask for auditions, they knew my work and were simply contacting me to do their job. Even more positive was that ALL of these jobs were for my usual and expected rates, not the race to the bottom rates that seem to come from many of the leads you get from the P2P sites.

This did not happen overnight of course, but my free-lance mind set and thrifty life style helped me get to this point.