Getting Jobs in Entertainment question 945: I had a stranger I reached out to on FB tell me not to contact her there and gave me her email.

The question continued: "Now I'm embarrassed because I made a request of her on Facebook, when I didn't really know her and obviously it bothered her. What should I do?"

Sometimes I just want to shake some of you! I don't want to sound harsh... okay, maybe I do, because this is a competitive business and you have to get over yourself. Seriously, let's break this down.

1. You reached out to a stranger on Facebook and made some kind of request.

2. The stranger responded to you.

3. Not only did the stranger respond to you, but she gave you her personal email and told you how she preferred to be contacted.

4. SHE INVITED YOU TO EMAIL HER

What is the problem? What are you embarrassed about? WHERE ON EARTH DID YOU GET THAT YOU BOTHERED HER? I don't know about you, but I don't give my email address and welcome further contact to people who bother me.

What should you do? Grow a pair, and email her!

Seriously, people. Stop reading into things and act like professionals who want to make it in this business!

ps: while I was bothered by this question, I'll get over it in about 2 minutes, so feel free to email me more questions in the future.

disclaimer: this blog post was written before I had my coffee... oh wait, I don't drink coffee.

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Getting Jobs in Entertainment question 944:While I target my 10 contacts should I continue to mass email the other hundreds of companies out there?

That is a question that only you can answer. To make that decision, ask yourself these questions:

1. How much time out of your week does the mass mailing take?

2. What are the results of your mass mailings?

3. If the answer to number 2 is "low results," does the time you spend on the mailings warrant continuing with this "cold-call" method, or would your time be better spent on focused work and relationship building?

I know what I would do, but only you can make that decision for your business.

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Getting Jobs in Entertainment question 943: What are the attributes of being fearless?

The whole question read: You mentioned that most people take 2-5 years to build a foundation, unless you're fearless. What specifically do you mean by fearless? What is an attribute of that?

When I talk about the timeline of building a foundation, I'm referring to over 1000 people whom I coached one-on-one over a 7 year period. Based on their results, I saw how many careers began taking off after 2 years of focused business building work, and those who struggled more but never gave up began seeing the payoff at the 5 year point.

Then there were the exceptions; "the fearless ones." These were the people who had simply needed me to give them the tools, a plan, and strategies for achieving their goals. The fearless people simply went for it. I didn't hear any excuses about "why they couldn't or shouldn't do something," they had no fear about asking contacts for help or making requests of them, they had no fear around networking or getting mentors, and they were all about taking action. The more I could give them to do, the better... and they had the results of those actions quickly.

Now, that said, who knows if they were completely "fearless," the point is, if they felt the fear, they acted in spite of it. To give an example of how quickly the "fearless" got results, I had multiple experiences of people setting up appointments with me with the goal of getting work, and just by doing the pre-work (and fully committing to the task at 100%) they got work before our meeting and had to cancel.

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Getting Jobs in Entertainment question 942: If I'm just breaking into the biz should I quit my job?

My personal opinion is not unless you have enough contacts to hire you in the "biz." There is nothing wrong with maintaining your financial stability while building relationships. The key is to find the time to build new relationships and maintain them while in a job. You are basically using the same time management skills you'll be using once you're working regularly in the entertainment industry, and need to maintain your relationships while you're working.

If you have more questions about breaking in and who to target, let me know.

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Getting Jobs in Entertainment question 941: If I've been an actor for 10 years and now want to direct TV

...But I haven't had a hit show so nobody knows me. Can I do it?"

the beauty of this industry is anything is possible. There are no rules. That said, breaking into tv as a director is a HUGE undertaking. You will need:

1. An outstanding director reel

2. A-List TV director mentors

3. TV Studio Executive advisors

4. A clear understanding of the job and the politics

5. (The outside-of-the-box method) a hit show that you direct independently

Obviously, there is a lot more than this simple answer, but if you're not committed to fully going for those 5, there's no point in going into it further. If you are committed, contact me and we can get you started on a plan of action!

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Getting Jobs in Entertainment question 940: You said something about a business card barrage. What were you talking about?

Ah yes, the "business card barrage." I was referring to the time at the end of an event or a Q &A, when the "guest(s) of honor" stays after to meet & greet. There is a large portion of the audience who hand the guest(s) their business card, sometimes without even a "hello."

It also happens at networking events, when certain people walk around the room and hand their card to every person, without an introduction. Now if someone was doing that with hundred dollar bills, it would be welcome. Business cards are another story. They are NOT a substitute for you. The purpose of a business card is so that a person can follow up with you AFTER you create a relationship. Handing someone a business card who doesn't know you serves no purpose. People have to know you, like you, and trust you before they'll hire you, so to hand them a card and walk away is like making a cold call, not to mention unprofessional.

Instead, focus on meeting a smaller number of people and spending time talking to them before exchanging cards.

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Getting Jobs in Entertainment question 939: What's more effective, phone calls or emails?

Here's how the actual question read: "In our currently technological and networked world, where do phone calls come in? How important are they now that it seems many people prefer to read and respond vs. talk on the phone?"

My advice is to ask people how they would like to be followed up with. As you stated in your question, people prefer to respond to emails. If you are finding that to be true, then that's how you want to stay in touch.

That said, I've always coached that the order of most effective to least effective (for most people) is: Best- face to face, then- phone, and least- email. The reason being is because of the way humans communicate. We develop stronger rapport in person (how many ended friendships started with a misread emoticon in an email?).

Communication is 7% the words, 38% your tonality (how you say the words), 55% physiology. In an email, all you have are the words, so the majority of communication is lost and can be misunderstood.

Respect your contacts' wishes, and when ever possible, go face to face or phone.

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