“By completing five simple steps towards your goals every day you’ll not only achieve your goals, but surpass them.” – Jack Canfield.

Have you heard about The Rule of 5?

It’s one of the most powerful ideas a voice actor and creative entrepreneur can embrace.

I was introduced to this great concept by Jack Canfield who, in a nutshell, instructs you to set a goal and, then every day, do five things that will move you in the direction of that goal.

That’s The Rule of 5.

And in Jack’s book, “The Success Principles,” (which everyone reading this should own!), he tells you to make a list each day of the action steps you’re going to take and then check them off as you complete them.

The other important aspect of The Rule of 5 that he points out is to make your actions very specific.

You probably already know that achieving momentum as you move towards your goals is one of the most important things to focus on. Not achieving perfection, but achieving progress and forward motion. That’s key! As the saying goes, “You can’t steer a parked car.” You have to get moving and then KEEP moving.

It’s those little (or big) daily steps, daily actions, daily tasks that, over time, bring that goal of yours into your daily reality.

So let’s dive right in and look at how you can apply this to your voice-over goals.

Following is a broad “sample goal” to get you started and some specific action steps you could take towards that goal.

Once you’ve looked at these, I encourage you to come up with more specific goals and action steps of your own.

Then, think of five things you can do each day in your own life and career that will keep you moving in that positive direction.

Goal #1: Improve your voice-over business

1) Send out a referral request letter to five existing voice-over clients.

2) Research five production companies on Mandy.com and call promising prospects to introduce yourself and offer your voice-over services.

3) Call five hospitals or medical centers in your area and inquire how they hire voice talent for their in-house training or eLearning programs.

4) Gather up all your recent voice-over work (videos, mp3s, etc.) and choose which spots would work well for updating your demo(s).

5) Request five testimonials from current clients and post them on your website and marketing materials.

6) Update your contact management system to make sure you have completely current information (address, phone, email, etc.) on all your clients.

7) Set aside at least 30 minutes a day to practice your craft.

8) Work with a coach to learn a new dialect and expand your range.

9) Seek representation from an agent, or additional agents.

10) Hire a home-studio consultant to improve your studio’s audio quality.

11) Create templates for your VO business: invoices, fee quote letters, testimonial request letters, referral request letters, email introduction letters, etc. to speed up and streamline your daily processes.

Each of the above steps could be a goal by itself, so just keep The Rule of 5 in mind and take those five steps each day towards your specific goals and just watch your business improve!

Tip: I make my list of “5 action steps” the night before, so when I get up in the morning I already know what my day will include.

Try it! And let me know how this works for you. I’d love to hear how YOU implement The Rule of 5.