Question 171: I am so sick of hearing about how much competition is out there! What do I do?

Stop listening! As an actress, I was told not to move to LA because there was too much competition. I made the move anyway and at first, I was intimidated. Then, I spent my first two years in an acting school with 24 people in my class. Of those 24, 12 were girls, of those 12, 8 were my age, of those 8, 4 had a similar look to mine (notice I did not say type), of those 4, 1 did her homework, learned her lines, and took her acting career seriously. Suddenly, the competition didn't seem very competitive at all. Especially, because she was (and still is) an adorable red-head, with a giggly-girl-next-door, personality, which really isn't in direct competition with my type. Could be why after all of these years, that girl is my oldest friend out here. Like-minded people stick together. I cast her in my TV show, as soon as I had the chance.

Here's another example: I was the in-house Career Coach for the Cinematographers Guild for 7 years. There are over 7,000 members. I coached 1,000 of them. I know pretty good average. Yet when you think about it, 1,000 people have the advantage over the other 6,000. Break it down even further: of those 1,000 people they were broken up into approximately 10 different classifications. Lets examine one of the bigger groups: camera operators. Lets say I coached 200 camera operators, of those 200, 100 met with me regularly, of those 100, approximately 50, committed to overcoming their fears and obstacles, followed the tools, followed through on the strategies, and are now working regularly. Of those 50 working regularly, some work in TV, some on features, and others in commercials. So of the 7,000 members, how many are camera operators? Maybe 1,000 since they're such a big group and how many have the EDGE of the specific tools to generate work? Not that many if you break it down by medium.

So, don't get caught up with your competition. Be the best you can be at what you do, and get the edge.

For more tips and articles by top entertainment industry career coach, the greenlight coach, visit www.thegreenlightcoachblog.com