INNOVATOR MINDSET

Most people have a word of the year for themselves at the start of each new year. I would suggest that you add this as your word of the year for your business: INNOVATOR. Why?

We are at a crossroads with the AI ERA that is upon us. Every.Single.Business. We all have to decide for ourselves how we are going to adapt and INNOVATE with the changes we have seen and continue to see with the advancement of AI. 

Enter Blockbuster and Netflix

I always love learning from businesses that are outside of our industry. There is too much of a herd mentality when we stay in our own industry for too long or if we only gather information from the people within our voiceover groups. I believe Blockbuster and Netflix have so much to teach us in the way each business succeeded. And more importantly how each responded to a technology disruption. Which all of us are facing today too and in greater ways than these two giants did back in the mid-2000s. 

Innovators are people who change the world. People who take bold risks are often rewarded boldly. Even if something doesn't work out a.k.a failure there is wisdom gained that makes the next adventure better and easier.

If you are old enough you remember Friday nights at your neighborhood Blockbuster. Who didn't love walking up and down those aisles seeing what new releases were on the shelves? Seeing the covers, reading the descriptions on the back, and getting high priced snacks. This was the experience that Blockbuster offered us back in the 90s.

Then in 1997 along comes Netflix, an industry disruptor who not only had a greater vision but took the risk to go into an industry that had a leading giant. Like all industry disruptors, the promise is always we can do it better and cheaper too. Netflix delivered on those two things and they didn't charge late fees. Late fees were a pain point for all Blockbuster customers. So Netflix resolved that pain point. 

They went on to resolve another not so seemingly pain point that Blockbuster wasn't thinking about seriously, convenience. Why even leave our homes? Although we enjoyed going to the store on a clear sunny day, not so much in rain, snow, sleet or ice.

Blockbuster actually dismissed the mere notion that streaming would become a thing that people would want because in their minds, they had a winning formula of what their customer's wanted in their rental experience. They believed the experience of in-store renting was too great to be lured away from the convenience of getting everything delivered to their doorstep and eventually straight to their TV.

But we all love convenience and cheaper prices.

The businesses who are choosing AI for voiceover today, are doing it because of these two very things. This will only continue. Like I've said before, there will always be room for an authentic and talented voiceover actors. Not all genres will do well with AI but a lot of them can as it progresses in quality. That progression is happening at a lightening speed.

So what does a voice actor do when these two things are luring businesses to use AI?

The answer is simple, we INNOVATE!

It may not feel easy and for some this won't come easy. Easy and simple are not the same thing. Blockbuster eventually decided to go the streaming route six years later which was way too late by then. I feel this is a huge lesson for all of us right now. We can't keep believing that nothing will change with AI. I don't want anyone waking up in 4-5 years from now wishing they had done something different sooner. This is why I am doing my Three-Month Innovator Mentorship and Three Month AI Mentorship this year in 2025 while we still have time to innovate.

Do yourself a favor, put a reminder on your calendar for April 1st to come back and read this blog. Why? If by the end of March 31, 2025 you have done nothing different or have taken no action to innovate at all, then please read this again and hopefully it will stir up an impetus to start innovating. This year will fly by just like every year tends to do.

I will be here to remind you and give you an innovator container if you desire it! There are so many ways that we can expand but first we must be willing to let go of what has worked and come to the table with a beginners mindset to start innovating in ways we never have before. It truly can be exciting!

An appropriate excerpt on the first podcast I recorded but didn't launch: