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1:45 am - 02.20.2009 Thurs 2/20/09 (11:30 p.m.) Where to begin...? Earlier today, I attended a free career workshop for creative types, which was basically a free 90 minute come-on to signing up for the author�s $599 six-week class (But to give it its due, the class does sound pretty worthwhile. But more on that momentarily). I signed up for today�s Dallas Travers seminar after being sent an email by Tammy D. (An ACG regular); Tammy had done the seminar herself, and was enthusiastic enough about it to spread the good word (Don�t know if she went on to take the six-week class or not. I�ll have to ask her). Tammy�s very talented, quite proactive about her career, and has PR expertise besides, so I felt like that was a pretty good recommendation. And even assuming today�s free seminar would be an extended sales pitch for the author�s books and classes and whatnot - cause we�re all here to make a living, after all - the price was right, and I figured, �If I get anything from this, it�ll be a better use of my time than...well, pretty much anything I�d be doing at home. So why not?�. I�m not going to regurgitate the info Ms Travers gave our little group of 15 or so actors today, because I think that would be very boring (To the one or two of you still following along in here, bless your hearts). But I will say that Ms Traver�s 90 minutes of inspiration was, indeed, very inspiring, And it didn�t really feel like 90 minutes of �Buy my shit�; it was more like a genuine �talk� about moving your career forward, with a relatively low-key sales pitch right at the end. An interesting thing I took away from today�s workshop was that, while I don�t have to do as much as I think I do (In terms of marketing and whatnot), I really need to be doing more for my career than I�m doing (Her thing was �Do less, more often� - Don�t carpet-bomb every tv casting director with your headshots, for example; instead, do some homework, pick ten casting people you really want to be seen by, and hit them hard. A lot of the more practical information had that kind of �work smarter, not harder� feel to it). The mix of Eastern thought, self-help/positive thinking, marketing advice, and Man On Wire references worked for me. It worked well enough that I was beyond �torn� when the talk ended, and the pitch for the six week �Coop� class began. I want to take the class. It would be a good dose of advice, encouragement, and support, in an area where I feel exceedingly weak (Other than casting workshops, I�ve done little or nothing to promote my career over the years. I could do a series of entries on why that might be the case, but it�s really immaterial - the point is, I need to figure out what I really want, and get my act together). But how can I take this class? My savings are dwindling down to nothing, I have a part time job that doesn�t come close to paying the bills, and I�ve already spent hundreds of dollars I don�t have on acting-related shit in just the first six weeks of the year (Headshots, the IO West class next month, and most recently, a special two-week ACG workshop with Jeffrey Gaffner at CBS). I know I�ve been telling myself I have to be �bold�, do what I need to do for my career and �worry about where the money is going to come from later�. But, man oh man, is that ever easier to say than it is to do! I want to be �bold�. I want to be more proactive about my career. But I don�t want to be the boldest, most proactive homeless man in LA either. So I didn�t sign up for the class (Which is a little more than a month away). But the application is tacked up on a bulletin board, right next to my calendar. And I keep looking at it. Wishing I knew what to do.
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