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Savvy Actor Business

What Does it Really Mean to Get S#@t Done?

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by: Savvy Actor Career Coach Doug Shapiro

As an artist and performer, you are running the business of YOU! Let’s look at some business recommendations to be as efficient as we can be in terms of getting things done for our careers.

Let’s say you’ve made your task list of 6 things that HAVE to get done today and you have allotted how much time each one will get. How to prioritize? Here are three schools of thought to help you MAKE A CHOICE and GET THINGS DONE!

Priority Idea #1: PUT IMPORTANT TASKS FIRST!
In his National Bestseller, The Ultimate Sales Machine, Chet Holmes points out that people tend to put important tasks last because they take the most time or most mental concentration. Well, if you put it at the end of the day, you will either not get to it or not have the mental energy to give it the attention it deserved.

Priority Idea #2: START WITH THE TASK THAT WILL BRING IN THE MOST MONEY!
My husband the Financial Advisor comes at it from another angle. We’re running a business, right? If we’re going to finance the growth of our business through mailings, classes, and seeing the shows in which we’ll one day be performing, the money has to come in first.

Priority Idea #3: START WITH A TASK THAT IS SMALL, TANGIBLE, AND FINITE!
Robert Maurer, Ph.D., in his book One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way, recommends approaching daunting tasks (such as tackling your huge to-do list) with small steps. This way, it’s less overwhelming, you have a feeling of completion, and can see that no one died. Some of us just need to have a feeling of completion to get the juices flowing and make ourselves ready to dive into the task-list mindset.

Know thyself, choose your method, and begin!

Savvy Actor Business

How to Bridge the Gap Between Actor and Working Actor

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by Savvy Actor Co-Founder Kevin Urban

Let’s talk business. Starting a business is one of the riskiest things anyone can do. If an entrepreneur were starting a business, there are certain beginning steps that would be followed. They would…

  1. Create a Business Plan Which would include: (Download the 6 Savvy Steps eBook if you haven’t already!)
  2. Company Vision
  3. Action Steps to achieve that vision
  4. Branding/Product Definition
  5. Marketing
  6. Sales
  7. Financials
  8. Define Their Product
  9. Design a logo
  10. Create Their Sales Pitch
  11. Gather Financing
  12. Implement said Business Plan

Being an artist is a risky venture, yet most artists forgo step 1 mentioned above and start with steps 3 or 4. It’s understood that actors need to market, but so many leave out the product definition phase or branding. They let others define them because they are scared to make a choice and uncertain because they assume they have no control over their career.

I’m here to say that a business plan will give you the who, the how and the why of your business, while also giving you direction to the career that you desire. And ultimately, it is up to you to understand your vision, so that you can communicate that vision with the people who can help you…agents, casting directors, directors, producers, grandma…you get my point. By effectively communicating what you want, you can drive your career.

When you wing it…you take a risk. I say, why add more risk by not having a plan?

Be smart, be savvy, and be successful. Know what you want, what you sell, and what your strategy is to achieve your success. Create a business plan for your career and help yourself feel empowered to achieve your goals.

How to be a Social Networking Rock Star

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By: Jodie Bentley, Savvy Actor Co-Founder

Ok, we all know we need to be on the social networking sites…and I hope you are! Social networking strategy is about staying in the loop, letting people know what we’re up to and providing value to your community. But what the heck should we say? How do we live up to and incorporate our Brand?

I’m sure at one point you asked yourself – To tweet or not to tweet? How much info do you want to share with the FB world? What to share on LinkedIn? These are all questions that have crossed our minds. Well let’s stop asking questions and create a system! With a system you’ll always have something to say and you can take comfort in knowing the structure behind it. A structure for your authentic, value-filled and sometimes shameless, self-promotion. Remember it’s not just your friends out there – it’s our fans, casting directors, directors, producers etc.

Here’s an example to take the pressure off and give you a theme to the day and your posts.

Facebook:

Monday – Give a shout out to a friend or colleague
Tuesday – Share an article you like
Wednesday – Share a success in your life or career
Thursday – Share something funny that has happened to you
Friday – Post a photo of your dog, friend, loved one or yourself
Saturday – Share a favorite quote
Sunday – Ok, take Sunday off…we all need a day of rest

Remember you’re sharing stuff about your career, yes. But you’re also sharing your viewpoint, things that interest you, things your passionate about AND giving credit to your friends and colleagues! All of these things make up you Brand.

It’s time to build your strategy! Use the above as a guideline and create your FB, LinkedIn and/or Twitter structure. Add it to your calendar. You will be a master of the social networking world in no time!

How One Step Can Change Everything

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by Savvy Actor Co-Founder Kevin Urban

Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy that can be captured in this familiar yet powerful quote –

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step.” – Lao Tzu

As actors and human beings, fear of failure can be one of our biggest stumbling blocks. Sometimes the fear is so great that we avoid our task completely.

In the book, “One Small Step Can Change Your Life,” Robert Maurer suggests we ask small questions, think small thoughts, take small actions and solve small problems. His theory is that sometimes we need to train the brain to change over time. Going small is one way to bi-pass potential fears and allow the mind freedom to think of creative solutions.

So a question for you…
What small things can you do to help set yourself up for success?

An example from “One Small Step…”:

Working out, especially after taking some time off can be overwhelming. If you want to get back to an early morning work out routine, maybe it’s wearing your workout clothes to bed. Sleeping in them already gives you that first small step toward working out plus they are toasty when you get up in the morning! Once you’re up and dressed you’re that much closer to getting yourself to that gym.

When you think in terms of small steps the overwhelm can go away and allow you to take action.

Think Kaizen for 2013. Take that first small step and before you know it, you’ll take another step and another step and another step toward success.

Stop Apologizing to Get What You Want

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by: Christina Shipp

I am always shocked how much I hear people apologize these days. Frequently, for things they have no need to be sorry over. Frequently, just for being who they are. And I stand by and think to myself, why on earth are these people giving their power away?

Here’s the deal, business lovers: no one is going to give you power unless you claim it for yourself. So why not embrace the Tiger within you? This is what Peter Arnell means in his book “Shift” when he talks about Embracing the Tiger within. He uses Chris Rock’s bold stand-up to illustrate his point. A while ago there was a lot of media buzz over a trained circus tiger that “went crazy” and bit his trainer causing severe arterial damage. Chris Rock made a valid point in his routine, saying: “That tiger didn’t go crazy! That tiger went Tiger!” The idea is this: that tiger only did what was in his nature to do: to dominate and to be king of his domain.

So how can YOU go Tiger? How can you fully embrace the nature and essence inside of YOU? How can you honor who you are and your strengths? Unapologetically so, with confidence and power?

Bottom line – figure out who you are, uniquely, at your core and name it. Name it, define it and own it. Be consistently and authentically YOU. Be your own Tiger. Because you’ll never have to be sorry about that.