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, Reggie Dawson here, your host of the Being On Stage podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. There was a time in my career when I was like the go-to guy for cancellations, last minute shows. Anytime something happened and they needed someone to fill in, I was usually, I'd say like 75-80% of the time, I'm the one that got the phone call. And it was either me or this other guy. And the reason for that is. We always were ready, we always showed up, and we were always prepared. Every single time we stepped on that stage, even if we got called an hour before showtime, we appeared ready and rehearsed. And that's because we were. You know, you always have to have something, I always say, have something in your back pocket. Have something that you can just pull out, just in case you get that last minute phone call. You never know when this could happen. And listen, I talk a lot on my podcast. You're going to hear me give examples, you're going to hear me tell stories, and most of them are based on a what-if scenario. But I'm going to tell you something right now. Your entire performance career is going to be built on what-if scenarios. What if you get that phone call? What if you get that email? What if people show up? What if one of those people in the audience wants to book you for a private event? What if one of those people in the audience wants to book you for another club down the street? What if a person in that audience wants to book you for a thing? What if a person in that audience wants to book you for a festival? You never know who's in the audience. You know why I say that? Because I've been the person in the audience that sees the act and turns around and calls them and says, "Hey, I want to book you." I know that it's possible because I've been the one that's made it possible. I've been on both sides of the stage, if you will. My name is Reggie Dawson, I'm a talent coach, and before you turn this podcast off thinking, "Where's this guy get off? He's off his rocker nuts." Let me explain something to you. If everyone has it in them to be amazing on stage, I think every person on the face of this planet should experience the thrill of being on stage. Not only that, I also am driven, and my mission in life is to help performers improve their presentation and their confidence on stage. This podcast is built for exactly that. I talk about everything and anything having to do with being on stage, and one of the things that happens a lot of times to performers is, that last-minute short-notice booking. I've seen it happen. I've made the phone call asking someone to come in. I've also gotten the phone call asking me to come in. So how do you become that go-to person? How do you become that entertainer that people go to? You have to always be ready. Why would they call you? One, because you're always ready. You always have something ready. You always have something in your back pocket. You're always rehearsed. You're always there. And you have a pretty decent rate. So why wouldn't they contact you? The other reason they would contact you, and this is usually when it happens to you for the first time, they're desperate. They're incredibly desperate that they will literally book anybody and you happen to be available. And I'm not trying to be cruel. It doesn't mean that you don't have talent. It means that they're not aware of your talent and they're just looking for any possible person that can fill in. Because something is better than nothing. That's the mentality of the promoter. And listen, this is not a bad thing. This is actually the best possible scenario to be in. And I'm going to tell you why. That opens up a world of possibilities for you. You have the chance to turn that entire show around and make a huge impact. I've done this. Now, there's a club that's about an hour away from where I am. And I hadn't really been booked there before. I've been trying to get in there for years. And it just never seemed to work out. There was always a conflict. For me, there was always, you know, I didn't get along with the person that was doing the booking or I wasn't what they were looking for at the time. Either way, you're not going to be able to get into everywhere and that's okay. But it took me a long time to get into this particular club. Well, when I finally got that phone call saying, "Hey, we would love to have you perform." It happened to be on a Saturday night. Which I thought was fantastic. Because Saturday night at a club is usually the best night you could be there. And they were running a lot of specials that night. So I was incredibly ecstatic. It was a new DJ. It was a new night. It was supposed to be popping. They had had a lot of success with this night. And this was only like the fourth or fifth time they were doing it. So it's still fresh. So I get there and everything. And I meet with the door guy because I like to greet security and everything and the bouncer. And I meet with the DJ. And I meet with the bartenders. I kind of greet all the staff and everything. It's just what I do as a performer. And truthfully, that's the way to do it. Talk to everybody. Meet everybody. Treat everybody with so much respect. It makes them sick. And I promise no matter what, they'll invite you back. But listen. So I'm talking to everybody. And as I'm talking to them, I'm putting together this story that seems to be kind of. Well, it just doesn't really seem that the tables are tipped in my favor. Let's just put it this way. So my first night performing at this club, I'm the headline act. I invited. I had to bring somebody with me as kind of like. Almost kind of like an opener type of deal. And as I'm there and I'm gathering the story and I'm talking to the bartenders and the DJ and the door staff, I'm putting together that in Orlando, which is only a 40-minute drive away, there's this huge festival going on this weekend. And it's pulled a lot of their normal crowd to Orlando. Which Orlando, Florida already has a giant pull to people within a two-hour driving radius. But then to add this huge festival, like I'm talking huge major acts at this festival. And it's pulling a lot of our normal crowd. So it kind of adds a little bit of pressure of, well, crap, is anybody going to show up? If your normal crowd is not going to be here and my normal crowd is an hour away, what am I supposed to do? So luckily, you know, I had some people show up. And I will say for having a not their normal crowd there, we were still able to get about 20 people in the crowd, which considering the size of this festival and that nobody there was a regular, that was pretty phenomenal. So we got about 20 people in the audience. But this is the type of things that I'm talking about. It ended up being that they asked me to come out of desperation because I'm still known as that yes guy. Like if there's a last minute show and it's like, listen, we need this or there's not going to be a show, I'll still show up. If I'm physically capable, I have the time, I am in town, I will show up. If I can get there, I'll still show up. So, yes, it was out of desperation. It was also because they knew I would be there. They knew that I would bring something. And it turned out to be a relatively good night. And what happened that night was it generated a buzz among the bar staff. And I ended up being invited back for another larger night that just absolutely was incredible to be there. I got to perform with some of their amazing staff and everything. And this is how things happen. This is how they happen. You take advantage of the opportunities that are given to you. And sometimes those opportunities are going to come because of someone else's mistake, because of someone else's misfortune, or because of someone else's desperation. But while it is okay and 100% acceptable and truthfully the right thing to do to sympathize with individuals that happen to have the negativity and the poor situations thrust on them, it's okay to sympathize with them. But it's not okay to turn off the opportunity. It's not okay to go out there and do a thrown-together job. You should have something ready at all times. Keep it in your car if you can. I had my suitcase and my makeup kit in my car, in the trunk of my car, any time I was driving around. It didn't matter. There's always something in my car that I could pull together a show in 15 minutes if I absolutely needed to. When you're rehearsing, keep rehearsing something that you just have just in case. Because it's going to happen. You're going to get that phone call. You're going to have that opportunity to do your just-in-case number. Listen, the reason I say keep it with you. So I was hosting another event here recently. And I was the emcee. And we had some extra time. We had some entertainment canceled. We weren't able to find anyone to fill in. So I took it upon myself as the emcee to kind of open it up as kind of like an open mic thing for the crowd. And I said, "Hey, do we have any hidden talents in the community?" And some little 12-year-old girl came up and she sang a Bruno Mars song. It was absolutely fantastic. She cried at the end. She crumbled. She had so much stage fright. But I'll tell you, she got through it and she was incredible. And then we had someone else come up and do a rap. She was a local rap artist. And she came up and did her own little rap that she had been working on. And then we had another person that said they're a fire breather. And I said, "Dude, that would be awesome." But he didn't have anything with him. And I understand you don't really travel with her. your fire breathing stuff this is just an example but what if you're given that opportunity because truthfully you don't know what's going to come of that opportunity even even the bottom the bottom of the barrel opportunities where it feels like where it feels like you're just being chosen out of a crowd like even the even the opportunities that don't even feel or seem like opportunities they're still opportunities because let's let's face it the way people view entertainment these days they will go out and they will just find something random to do what if your show happens to be that random to do and you and they're a major producer of a giant show in las vegas like i know this seems so like far-fetched and like this big story but these things really do happen they may not happen on such a grand scale as like a you know they book at caesar's palace in las vegas it may be you know someone who books for a low books entertainment for a local festival it may be someone who books entertainment for a club that's an hour away from you and maybe someone on vacation with their family that owns an entertainment business three hours away it may be someone that is a crew member for a band that you know is looking for a new opening act these things can really happen they have happened i've witnessed them i've been the person that has had to say hey listen we had a last minute cancellation i think you'd be really great can you come up and do this can you please put together a show you have to have something ready because when that happens it opens up an opportunity it opens up an opportunity to not only just go out there and do whatever comes to you in the moment because you can be 120 percent yourself and you can do whatever comes to you in the moment and just go out there and do whatever and have a blast doing it because it was a last minute booking they have no expectations unless you've already established like if you've already established yourself as the go-to person then you already know all this you already know to have something ready you already know to have that backup outfit you already know to keep some equipment in your car you already know to be rehearsing something extra just in case but if this has never happened to you there's a reason for it you need to be open to these opportunities and you need to be able to step up when they arrive the very last thing i want to touch on before i throw some more knowledge at you guys the very last thing i want to touch on is your rate like listen when these people are reaching out to you last minute or when they're reaching out to you at a desperation desperation because something else is going on and they need to fill a spot don't inflate your rate like don't charge them more just because they're doing it last minute if anything work with them if anything give them a discount because here's the thing you need them just as much if not more than they need you because i guarantee they could hang up the phone with you call the next guy and have someone in there for the price that they're looking for you're not any you're not doing anything anyways what does it matter what they pay you like granted if you're if your normal rates like 350 for two hours set and they're offering you 50 bucks for two hours set and they're offering you 50 bucks for an hour i get it i understand at the same time is there a way you can get to that fifty dollars is there a way you can help them out maybe do a solo act maybe you're you know maybe your guitarist is working on something and he could use a booking maybe you know somebody work with the people that need something at the last minute they are just trying to please the crowd that they have coming just like you try to do when you step on stage for your normal bookings don't inflate your rate you need them more than they need you because you need the opportunity this could be that opportunity to take the next step i don't care if 10 people show up i don't care if 10 000 people show up it's still an opportunity because all it takes is one person and that crowd to see you for you to be on the next step you can't give it half you have to give it all you have to give everything you have every time you step on stage somebody in that crowd needs to see you somebody in that crowd is searching for you so before you freak out when you get that last minute phone call have something prepared have something you've been working on have something that you can go out there and just have a blast with so i mentioned on the last episode that i'm going to be starting to do a little bit of technology training and how you can help build your following on social media as well as build an email list you can join our facebook group the being on stage group by going to beingonstage.com group there's a couple of questions to ask it's just to help me get to know you a little bit better also i would really appreciate it and our future listeners and our future community members would really appreciate it as well if you could go into itunes or whatever platform you listen to this podcast on and rate and subscribe and drop a comment it helps people find the show expands the reach so if you want to help other performers find tips and tools to help them with their on-stage presentation and their confidence drop a rating on itunes it would be greatly appreciated by all parties thank you so much for tuning in i've greatly greatly appreciate it every single one of you make a difference in my life, and I'm hoping I'm making a difference in yours. Keep on shining.
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