The Acting Business Boot Camp Podcast

Private Coaching

Today, I want to talk about self-love because it's Valentine's Day. 

And the thing about self-love that I have found in doing this work for almost 30 years is that self-love takes on a lot of different forms. Yes, it is ensuring that I bathe, brush my teeth, get adequate sleep, eat well, and exercise.

But it's also about taking care of the things I think and the things I do. 

A big thing that has come up for me, mainly in the past couple of years, is that self-love is about working for myself instead of working against myself. 

And how often I would be like, “I love myself, and I approve of myself,” I would say that wonderful affirmation, but then when a sticky or uncomfortable situation would come up, I'd be so eager to just give my power away.

Ah, giving your power away. Yeah, that is not self-love. 

And that is why the core work, which is that work on yourself, is so incredibly important. 

It's about learning that you are...

The Voiceover Actor Road Map

About Emma:

Emma O'Neill is a multi-award-winning voice actor specializing in radio and TV commercials, TV narration, TV promo, and corporate training videos. Outside the booth, she's a fitness and wellness enthusiast, and has been a certified yoga instructor for more than 25 years.

About Mike:

Mike Tobin is an accomplished, Montreal-born, award-nominated voice actor, MC, and event announcer who has made his ultra-fluent bilingualism the cornerstone of his brand for more than 20 years. He also loves technology and is an avid Mac enthusiast.

What it's like to be a voiceover actor in Canada.

And it can be very isolating and very lonely.

So when you have people that understand the business, they understand the hustle. They understand the self-doubt that can come with things during slow times, or, you know, I was talking to somebody yesterday, and it was, you know, why them and not me that you can get into these spins in your head.

And when you have...

Private Coaching

Changing your career direction by asking Empowering Questions. 

I'm going to start with a quote from Anthony Robbins, “quality questions create a quality life.”  

Successful people ask better questions. And as a result, they get better answers.  

And this is how I work as a coach. I ask you quality questions so that you can create a quality career. 

Because I do believe that successful actors are asking better questions of themselves. And, as a result, are getting better roles.  

So, let's unpack this a bit.  

What are Empowering Questions?  

They are questions. We all know what a question is, but these are a little bit different. These are powerful. 

These are open-ended.  

Now, what that means is it's not a yes or a no.  

How do you feel about going to the store? Why do you want to go to the store? Those would be open ended questions.  

Also, Empowering Questions are clarity seeking. They are...

On-Camera Class

Costar Class

I'm going to talk about illusion and illusion in your acting career in two different ways. The first way is I'm going to talk about how we have the idea that an acting career will go one way, but actually, that's just an illusion, and that's just me trying to control the outcome. 

So when I'm doing that, it is an illusion. 

And I remember this actually in terms of money. I always thought if I made X amount of money a year, I would be free.

Oh, I'm going to be so happy. Oh, my life will be cupcakes and bubblegum. I will have no worries.

Only to find out when I made that amount of money and much more. You don't get cupcakes and bubblegum.

You get more decisions, and it becomes even more stressful. 

And really, the only thing money buys is convenience. And if you're not making much money right now, that might be difficult to hear. 

But money does not buy happiness. That was an illusion that I had. 

Another thing that I find as a...

New Voiceover Masterclass!

About Spencer: 

Spencer Robinson is a literary and talent manager at Art/Work Entertainment who's been in the industry for over 20 years. He represents writers, actors, producers, and also a full book publishing company.  Spencer’s writer clients have been on the writing staff of shows for Netflix, Amazon, Max, HBO, Comedy Central, and many more.  He’s also sold clients’ features to studios as well as brought in financing for independent projects.

Spencer’s actor clients have been in films with directors Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Clint Eastwood, Gore Verbinski, Jeff Nichols, and more. In the TV world, his clients have been regular cast members on shows for Netflix, HBO MAX, Amazon, Disney+, HULU, The CW, NBC, FX, Starz, Nickelodeon, EPIX, and more. Spencer’s clients have also recurred on series for Peacock, Netflix, Freeform,...

What's Standing in the Way of Your Voiceover Career? Masterclass

About Mandy Fisher:

Mandy Fisher is a NYC-based full-time voiceover actor with over 15 years of experience in the industry. She has worked with brands like Crayola, Disney, Peloton, Coke, Walmart, and Kohls to name a few.

Her passion for voiceover and genuine love of helping people inspire her to work with actors of all stages of their career. 

With a theater background, she brings her training to guide copy analysis and character creation. As an industry vet of 15 years, she has witnessed the changes and understands the ebbs and flows of the business. 

Mandy created her own voiceover business from the ground up and has a successful and replicable model to help actors build their own successful businesses.

All of this adds up to a coach who can provide audition and career advice while helping actors become the best they can be!

I am a professional voiceover actor, and I've been in the industry for a little...

Managing Anxiety for the New Year.

Sometimes when I have something really large looming in front of me, like an entire year, I get anxious.

I think, “How am I going to do this? How am I going to handle this? This seems like too big of a thing to tackle.”

And there's that wonderful phrase that says, “Anyone can eat an elephant one bite at a time.”

And that's what I like to help actors with, not only helping you in the business, in the basics, because I have this theory that really the business is something that can be learned.

The problem is it's taught so poorly in so many places, and I have a tried true system that really works. And once you get on that system, it just chugs along in the background. It's like it works and it chugs along so that you can focus on the two other things that I think are the most important things, which is the ability to do your job, which is acting.

So to become a better actor. Possibly, more importantly, what we're talking a...

So today, we are going to talk about goals for the first quarter of 2024.

January through March 31st is the first quarter of the year.

We are setting 3 to 5 goals for the first quarter of 2024.

Now, the other thing is that if you do the full yearly goals, you could break that down a little bit, baby-stepping into that first quarter.

But what I want you to be thinking of is the first of the year through March 31st.

That's where I want your focus to be because it's a much more bite-sized piece to apply your goals to and your positive thoughts and actions towards.

I want to give you some questions to think about:

The first question is, with these goals that you have, where do you feel you are at in achieving them?

Talk about what you've done in the past and where that has brought you.

And then the next thing I want you to ask yourself is, looking at where you are at in achieving them and what you've done in the past, how has that made you feel?

What are your emotions around it?

If...

Special Rate Life Coaching

This is one of my favorite episodes of the year. Why? Because I recap the entire year, and it's like a play-by-play of all the podcast episodes. 

So, over 52 episodes, you can get a quick little like burst of what it's about and write it down and say, "Oh, I wanna listen to episode 210." 

What's so incredible is that we have over 160 episodes for you to listen to all free content. And it's a great little way to celebrate the holidays by just marking down which ones you want to listen to while you do that dreaded holiday travel.  

Money Mastery for Actors

It's important to encourage yourself. 

What do you get your reps for the holidays, especially this year?

Because it is this year, the year of two strikes, after, let's see, a global pandemic, and a heck of a lot of other things going on in the world, I think we can be assured that it doesn't have to be some momentous gift.

So let's say you had a Killer year, maybe in theatrical at the beginning of the year, or you had a killer print year, or a killer modeling year, or a killer commercial or voiceover year, again Wahoo!

I want to hear about it because that sounds fabulous.

If you did, you can be more generous in what I'm going to suggest.

This year, I would go for a card.

A card that says something sincere in it about how much you appreciate them sticking by you or how much you appreciate their sense of humor or something genuine.

Now, that is if it is a very lean year for you.

If it's not been a lean year and you really want to do a little something, I go to my old standard of Amazon gift cards and Starbucks gift cards....