Speaker 1Shut up, and sit down. Welcome to Being On Stage, the only podcast that gives you motivation, inspiration, and confidence to be better on stage. No matter how you entertain, sing, dance, band, comedian, public speaking, MC, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you. Hey Rockstars, it's your host Reggie Dawson, and again this is the Being On Stage podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. So it has been a while, and I guess I should open with a bit of an apology. It has been a long time since I've podcast, about two weeks. I'll tell you, the past two weeks things just kept happening. And it actually is something I'm going to talk about today because I think this happens to everybody. Especially in an industry where, you know, you may not always have something going on. You may not always get booked. You may not always be performing. It could be, you know, a couple weeks to even, you know, a month or more between your bookings and your gigs. So that's actually what I'm going to dive into today. But first, a little bit about what's going on with me. So I have a job. I mean, this is not the only thing that I do. I eventually want to get there, that I can be a full-time coach to entertainers and performers. But right now, you know, I have a job. It pays pretty decent. It has full benefits. And, you know, I enjoy what I do for the most part. And everybody has their gripes and complaints about their job. And, you know, I'm no different than anybody else. But things have been changing and a lot of stuff has been happening with the day job. And it has been kind of bleeding over and kind of, you know, working a little extra. And, you know, sometimes when you get home from work, you, I mean, I'm just like everybody else. Sometimes you just don't want to do anything but eat, binge Netflix, and go to bed. And I'll admit it. Like that was some of my nights that I just ate, binged on Netflix, and then I went to bed or fell asleep on the couch. I mean, my girlfriend, wife, significant other, I call her all sorts of things. We've been together for so long. She's also been, you know, working on the house and everything. She's a stay-at-home mom and a full-time student because our daughter is in virtual school, online school and middle school. It's crazy. The things you can do nowadays. But anyway, she stays home until she's been working on the house. And so some of the nights, you know, I've had to come home and take care of stuff for the family and for the house and things like that. You know, making things look pretty. And you know how it goes. I mean, you guys have to know how it goes. Everybody has, you know, a significant other or a roommate or a parent that, you know, they live with that they, you know, they occasionally, you occasionally have to do stuff around the house. That's part of life. And, you know, working. Working long hours combined with doing stuff around the house combined with some days just really not wanting to do anything. Like I've even, we've gotten into arguments because I've just sat around from like the time I got home about 6, 7 o'clock till I went to bed at, you know, 10, 30, 11. So some nights that was it. And I just really didn't feel like doing anything. And so that kind of is what I'm talking about today is, you know, we're more than performers. And I think sometimes, sometimes our audience forgets. Sometimes, you know, our friends get it. And sometimes we forget it that, you know, we have other stuff going on. It's okay to have a personal life and a job. I mean, performing sometimes doesn't pay the bills. And for the most part, I would say 99% of us performing have to have some form of stable income in order to survive. Otherwise, you know, we're homeless. We're bouncing from couch to couch. And, you know, at some point. That's fun. That's a little bit of a rush. You know, I've been there. But, you know, when you're, you know, when you're getting older and you're entering what's called. Oh, I can't believe I'm saying this. But when you're entering what's called middle age, like myself, or if you're beyond middle age, performing is probably not the only thing you're going to do. And I think that we need to remind ourselves sometimes that we are more than performers. Like we while we're on stage, we want to give everything to our audience. We want to have sufficient connection. And with them off stage, too. I spoke a couple episodes back about it was called Let's Get Digital Digital. And if you read it, you might get the joke. But it's basically Let's Get Digital. And it's all about having an online presence and what you need online and things you can do for free to get yourself on the interwebs and to be able to be found online. Because every entertainer should have an online presence. And but yes, so you want to give everything to your audience on stage. You want to rehearse. You want to continue. You want to continue to get better. You also want to make sure that you have, you know, your personal time, your downtime, your time to relax your time with the family and balancing entertainment and, you know, balancing being a performer as well as, you know, trying to get family time. Typically, a lot of performances are going to happen later in the evening time. Sometimes, especially if you have a day job or a regular job, you know, your rehearsals are going to be in the evening times. And sometimes you're going to have days where you don't want to do anything and trying to balance everything. Can be challenging. So outside of doing the podcast, you know, I'm I'm at live performances. I'm reading books. I'm I'm posting on social media. And, you know, I'll admit for the past week, I've been pretty silent. And that's just yesterday. Actually, Sunday, April 15th. I had a huge local festival that I coordinate the entertainment for and I help host and emcee the event. So, you know, this year we had a combination. It's the first year. We had two stages and I was managing both stages as well as kind of like an assistant emcee. And I coordinated all the entertainment for both stages and kind of corralling entertainers of different types. You know, we had live bands. We had dancers. We had drag entertainers. We had, you know, circus entertainers. We had all sorts of performers. And, you know, organizing all this entertainment takes a lot of effort and energy. And the last two weeks are quite crucial because, you know, you're communicating any last minute things with your audience. You know, you're getting their needs. You're hooking it up with the sound people of what the sound people need to be able to provide or what the band needs to bring. You're hooking up with what's needed on the stage. You know, is there any special equipment that's needed? Do we need to take into consideration any, I don't know, props being used or the weight of what's going to be on stage? Some people, like, what? Oh, my God. I was duped. I was duped pretty good. So the day before the festival on Saturday, I got a message from one of the entertainers. And it was just something very quick. And, you know, I was like, oh, my God. I'm easy and very nonchalant. And I think that's what got me is because it was just so, oh, hey, by the way, she says, I'm going to be riding a horse on stage. Is there any place I'll be able to park the trailer? And my heart immediately starts racing. It's the day before the show. I haven't planned for a horse on stage. I mean, we're talking we're still a local festival. It's not like this national huge festival. It's not like, you know, Woodstock. So she's just I'm going to ride a horse on stage. Can I park? I'm going to park the trailer somewhere. And my heart's racing. I'm not prepared for a horse on stage. And my I mean, some of the other entertainers, they chimed in and they were joking. But I still wasn't entirely sure if that original statement was a joke. And I know this is this is like way off, but it's a funny. And so I'm just I'm freaking out. I, you know, I messaged back and, you know, there's like six entertainers in this group. I messaged back. I said, you're going to do what? Please tell me you're not serious. And she never wrote back. She never said anything. She was just kind of like, LOL. And I didn't know if that meant you were joking or if you just were like, oh, my God, your reaction. So cute. But yes. So we get to the venue and everything. And I looked at her and mind you, I now keep in mind, I I curse like a sailor outside of this podcast. I try to clean it up a lot because I like my little clean lyrics label that I get an iTunes. By the way, if you're an iTunes. Can you drop me a review? I know maybe this episode is not the best because I'm way off in all sorts of different directions, but it's a catch up episode. But yeah, if you're an iTunes, could you drop me a review? Because listen, if I the more stars I get, the better rating I get, the more ratings I get as help how people find the show. So if you like what you hear, please drop a rating and a review. But no. So I get to the venue and I asked her. I said, listen, I need to know. And maybe this is this is me being a little bit of a dumb person, but are you really going to ride a horse on stage? And in the back of my mind, I am praying that she says no. And, you know, luckily she does. She was just kidding with me. It was just a big old joke. But, you know, that last minute, oh, my God, there's going to be a horse. I'm not prepared for this. You know, putting together this festival and working with these entertainers and having things like that come up because, yes, that one was extreme. But, you know, things do come up. Hey, are you going to have this piece of equipment? You know, one of the bands needed a D.I. box. And I'm still getting more familiar with, you know, what the musicians use and the equipment and everything. So, you know, I'm asking questions as I go. I said, you know, pardon my ignorance. What's a D.I. box? And so, you know, I'm asking questions. I learn as I go. And just like we all should, we should all be learning as we go. Every day is a learning experience. But I keep asking questions and learning. And, you know, I just keep on moving forward. And I think that we all should. I'll need to keep on moving forward and, uh. works work and I think that's the case for most of us is work is going the way work normally goes it has its highs and its lows if you happen to take a little bit of time for yourself then take time for yourself if you happen to take time for your family take time for your family you know don't start canceling bookings don't start refusing shows which I do have a podcast coming up about when to say no to a booking but you know don't don't start canceling your gigs and don't stop performing and don't stop rehearsing but don't give yourself too much crap if you know you have a lull if you have you know a little bit of a low point performing on stage and being on stage in front of you know however many people you're on stage it doesn't matter how many people you're performing in front of you know being on stage is being on stage and it can be stressful you know you have people that are watching you that is the purpose of an audience you do have to put on the show you do have that little bit of pressure of you know are they gonna like me and no matter what you do on stage and no matter what your mentality is of I'm just gonna go out there and have fun you still have that I hope they like me I hope this goes well mentality because that's what being on stage is about you're putting your art in front of people it's stressful it's pressure it's like there's a fair amount of anxiety involved you know not to mention the pressure that we put on ourselves as entertainers but that's where you know the rehearsal comes in and as crazy as this is gonna sound taking time for yourself taking time to have that low point to spend time with your family to work on things on the house and yes even having those nights where you do nothing except eat dinner and binge on Netflix and fall asleep on the couch we all need those nights I'm not saying it should be every night but you know yeah it's okay to have that period of time as long as you get back at it I talked a little bit about that in my last video I talked a little bit about that in my last video last episode about putting your eggs in two baskets which means you know that metaphor was having a job and a life and being a performer and that you know you have to have both a lot of times and you should never be mad at yourself and you should never let anyone else you know look down on you for having to do that to support yourself and to support your family having these two careers and having these two different paths that you're on you're going to have those days and it's a-okay I need you to know that like you're not alone you're you should never give yourself crap for taking time for yourself and your family and truthfully everybody needs a day off so if you need to take a day or a night you know after work or whatever and just kind of like chill then you need to do it but you need to get back at it you need to get back to rehearsal you need to get back in the you know back in the saddle as they say I need to you know I had to get back in the studio which you know the studio is like my closet I had to get back on Instagram and on Twitter and you have to get just back into rehearsal you got to get back at it have those nights have that lull spend that time with your family but don't give up on your dreams don't forget what you love to do and don't forget to put work into it don't start letting yourself plateau because of all the all of your other responsibilities it's okay to have the other responsibilities but you also got to be true to your passion because what happens when you stop being true to your passion is you stop having fun in life and you get depressed and those days of sleep on the couch are gonna start happening more and more often let's get back into it let's go to rehearsal let's make ourselves better let's read our books let's post on our you know social media accounts and let's move forward with ourselves as entertainers and keep on shining head over to beingonstage.com check out the free copy of my book confidence on stage navigating the three levels of stage fright you can also follow me uh instagram and twitter at being on stage uh find me on facebook keep listening drop me a line drop me an email reggie at beingonstage.com and again keep shining y'all you got something special inside you just itching to get out
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