Author: Deborah Lee Smith

Have you heard that eighty percent of small businesses fail? Have you ever thought about why that is? Not the outlier reasons like so-and-so had to move back to Kansas to take care of her aunt, but the main reason small businesses fail. I have to admit, I am a bit of a nerd, and I love reading business and entrepreneurial books to find answers to questions like this one. I was recently reading, The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber, and I had a huge light-bulb moment. The reasons he gave for small business failure directly related to our…

One of my role models in elementary school was the cartoon adventures of Ms. Frizzle. Maybe because she made learning and exploring the world so much fun, but probably because I loved her favorite saying: “Take Chances, Make Mistakes, and Get Messy.” As children we inadvertently take these messages to heart, but as we get older we start to play it safe. We compare our actions to others, follow societal trends, and stop getting messy. I believe that Hollywood, as a persona, has also stopped getting messy. I talked about taking entrepreneurial risks in relation to finance; risks that have…

The holiday season is a tricky time for everyone. What do you give to your family, friends, and Secret Santa at work? How are you going to thank your representation for their support and reach out in a special way to that casting director you have been building a relationship with? It is very easy to get caught up in giving that will have some reciprocal benefit to us. But what if we gave our gifts, time, and energy to someone or something, and didn’t expect anything in return? Anything tangible, that is. In the season of giving and receiving,…

There is an old saying that good lawyers run away from risk, while good businessmen run towards risk. Today, the final part of my three part series discussing things we can learn from big businesses is all about risk. I am sure you have read a lot of articles about how famous, brilliant people failed before they achieved success. When you read these lists and thought, no way “Steve Jobs was fired from Apple” and “Walt Disney was fired from his job for ‘lacking imagination,’” what was your take away? What did you learn from their failure? First off, they…

Let’s Recap. Last month I congratulated you on owning your own business (huzzah!) and we compared your acting business to the Fortune 500 companies on Wall Street. Big takeaway: schedule check-ins! Checking in with your goals and the state of your business on a recurring basis is crucial to make sure you are on track and will help you analyze what is and is not working. Still not jogging your noggin? Check out last month’s piece here. This month we are going to talk about another way our acting business is like a larger company: the importance of a Budget!…

Congratulations! You are a proud business owner. As an actor, you own a business whose sole purpose is to sell yourself to buyers in the form of casting directors. I am sure you have heard this before, but have you really taken the time to figure out what owning a business means? Besides tax deductions and websites, there are some fundamental business strategies that are followed by every successful business from the Chinese shop down the street to the next big ‘thang in Silicon Valley. Today I will talk about the most important one. The strategy that is one hundred…

If you have taken an improv class, and even if you haven’t, you have probably heard of the “Yes, And…” game. If you haven’t ventured into improv, it is one of the most fundamental rules of this world: always say “yes” and add information or value to the scene. A secret is that this is actually an awesome life lesson wrapped up in a memorable catch phrase. In business, as in acting, we are often confronted by situations that are foreign, unknown, and sometimes a bit uncomfortable. I am not talking about things that make you question your morals; I…

You have heard it time and time again. To be an actor, you must be crazy. Crazy to pursue a dream that is so unscheduled, unorganized, and uncharted. There is no path, and the sheer creative nature of the business makes the journey entirely unique to you. That right there is the secret to staying sane: this journey is organized, scheduled, and charted by YOU. Of course, there is a huge community of people that you should connect with and collaborate with, but here is the one thing you haven’t heard: YOU can control the crazy. Let’s rewind, I, like…