A great deal of my work is freelance and I had the privilege recently of being introduced to a lady from a very large freelancing organisation who had checked out my professional reputation and asked if I would, from time to time, give my views on freelancing to various media sources. After a lovely chat to the lady in question I said I’d be happy to help if she needed me and there we left it.
Well yesterday she called to ask if I would be available to talk to a journalist who works for the New York Times and who wanted to write a piece about people who work as freelancers and how they manage their time and workload. “Happy to help” I replied. “Thing is…” she responded “he’s likely to want to chat to you today, is that ok?” This was about 9 pm but as I was busy editing some stories for a client in Australia to reach them at the start of their day I mentioned I would be up for a few hours if needed. Before we finishing speaking she just happened to ask how many different countries have I dealt with in my voice-over work. “Oooh about 15 or 20” I responded off the cuff which I thought sounded about right.
A couple of hours later she called again to say the journalist would be calling at midnight my time and was it still ok to talk? With my Australian project sent I confirmed that was fine and started to write down (in case he asked) how many countries I had sent my work to. The numbers 15, 20, 25 and 30 came and went and in the end I figured out that I have narrated for clients in over 35 different countries. I’m glad I counted as it was indeed one of the first questions he asked me.
It may seem a silly thing to get excited about but it just goes to show with ever advancing technology that our voices can be heard the world over and 35 countries can hear “a little piece of me” whether it be a voicemail message in New Zealand, a corporate presentation in the UAE, a tour guide in Italy or a children’s learning programme in Hong Kong.
After our call I did wonder if my list of countries covered every letter of the alphabet but sadly I’ve still got a bit of work to do there. Letters T, V, W, X, Y and Z are “missing” so if anyone is reading this in Thailand, Venezuela, Western Samoa, X country (there isn’t one), Yemen and Zambia – let me know!
Footnote: I decided after the call to have a wander in my archives and after a recount the actual total is at least 41!