Set Aside One Day Each Week for Your Acting Business
How setting aside an entire day can improve your acting business
(by Jim Webb)
(Photo: Brooke Lark /Unsplash)
The #actorslife is a hectic one. Between your survival job, auditions, acting class and personal responsibilities, it can be difficult to focus on the business of acting.
But focus you must! Your acting business, like any other business, requires focus and dedication. Without it, the business becomes unfocused, unproductive and eventually it will peter out.
Here’s how setting aside an entire day can improve your acting business:
Time to Examine Your Résumé
Your acting career is always changing. So, too, should your acting résumé. Every time you book a project, learn a new skill or take a new class, your résumé should be updated.
But due to the demands of the #actorslife, keeping your acting résumé up-to-date can be difficult to do. That’s why it’s important to have a day to focus on things like your acting résumé.
Given sufficient time, you can examine which new items should be added and which should be removed. It also allows time to determine if your résumé is casting you in the best light.
For example, are your most marketable credits being presented first? Are your special skills specific enough as to what exactly makes them special and unique to you?
Time to Examine Your Marketing Materials
Are your headshots competitive with other actors who fit your type? Are they just as impressive as other actors who are working? Can your demo reel use an upgrade or an update?
Having an entire day during the week to focus gives you the opportunity to, for example, go onto an agency’s website and look at the headshots of the actors on their roster. There you can see how your headshot measures up to your competition.
Time to Examine Your Social Media
Are you using social media in a way that wins for your brand? How are other actors using social media to create opportunities for themselves?
Having an entire day each week to examine things like your social media gives you time to study ways to use social media to get your name and image in front of people who might someday bring you in for an audition.
Time to Reconnect with Your Industry Connections
There are casting directors and talent agents who dispense extremely helpful information on social media. You might have actor friends who are finding opportunities that you might be able to take advantage of.
The acting business is driven by personal connections. Setting aside one day each week to focus on your acting business allows you to reconnect with your industry connections, keeping those connections strong and seizing on the opportunities that might flow from them.
Time to Examine Your Acting Business’ Bottom Line
Managing your money properly is an essential skill in the #actorslife. You must budget effectively if you want to have enough money to afford new headshots, acting classes and whatever else is needed.
Yet most actors neglect their finances, to their detriment. Having an entire day to review your budget to determine when you can afford new headshots or when you can’t afford to take an expensive acting class can make the difference between effective spending and wasteful spending.
Of course, it’s difficult for most people to take an entire day each week to review the health of their acting business. But if one day each week is too much, try setting aside an hour or two. One hour of complete and total focus can be a great start!
The point is to run your acting business as a business; going through your whole operation, evaluating your assets, analyzing your materials, maintaining strategic connections and going through your budget, line-by-line, to ensure that your business is running as smoothly as it can be.
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