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.
Speaker 2Hey Rockstars, Reggie Dawson, your host of the Being On Stage podcast. Welcome back, thank you so much for tuning in. It has been a while since I've recorded a podcast, and I guess I want to apologize a little bit for leaving you hanging. This podcast is my home though, I'm always going to come back to this podcast, I made a promise a long time ago. So here we are back at it, and one of the things I got distracted with is a little something I want to talk about today. I started doing a new craft that we're going to try and improve and perfect. You know, as much as you can perfect art and craft. But we're going to try and sell it in one of our local craft markets and craft fairs. It's the concrete, working with concrete and cement, making little planters and candle holders and things using different molds. And I'm in the experimentation phase, and I have to tell you, I am pretty darn excited about this craft. You know, I've never been a really crafty person, I've never really gotten into any particular art or craft, other than performing. But this is something that's really people. This is something that has really piqued my interest, you know, and I think it's important as artists that we are, you know, exploring other areas of art, even if it's not performance art. So this is me exploring other areas of art. I was looking at the pieces that I did this weekend, and they're raw, like I'm talking, I poured them, I put a mold in to make a hole in the center. And when they came out, you know, they're uneven, they're a little rough on top, because, well, one day it rained, they're a little rough on top, they need to be sanded down. They need to be, you know, shaped a little. Yeah. They need to be shaped a little bit with sandpaper, because they look a little, well, they look a little rough. And it got me thinking about performing, and how, you know, at first, when we're creating a performance, it's going to look a little rough, especially if we're new at performing. It's going to look a little rough, it's going to look a little unpolished, but that's what the sandpaper is for, to polish it out, smooth it out, and that's what rehearsal is for. Polish it out, smooth it out. Before I continue, you're probably thinking, who's this guy, what's he talking about, and where does he get off? My name is Reggie Dawson. Again, I am a talent coach. I help entertainers and performers improve their confidence and their presentation on stage. I love everything about being on stage, and I thoroughly believe that anyone and everyone can get on stage and make something happen that is utterly amazing. And that includes you. You can be amazing on stage. To prove it, I want to invite you to my Facebook group. My Facebook group is the Being On Stage group on Facebook. I know, I know. Nothing like keeping it simple. So come on in, join us in the Facebook group. You can get there easily by going to beingonstage.com slash group. I want to see you in there. Answer a few questions so I can get to know you a little bit better, and then come on in and join in the conversation. I recently did a training on making little promotional graphics for yourself, and that's still available. So even though you weren't a member when I made it, you can always go back and watch the replay of the video of me showing you how to create those graphics. So diving in, a couple episodes back, I talked about. I talked about perfection, and I talked about, you know, not to chase perfection. And I don't want it to be confused with polishing a performance or polishing your art or your craft. And that's kind of what I have to do with my little cement planters. You know, I got to take the sandpaper around the edges. I got to smooth out the edges. I got to flatten out the top so that it's all nice and even. And in a performance, that's what rehearsal is. And I've seen a lot of performers, and I'm not, you know, I don't name drop or anything like that. But celebrities. I've seen a lot of performers that they come up with this great idea for their performance, but they don't put in the work and the time to bring it to life the way that it deserves to be. Myself included. You know, I was there. There were times when I just did not want to build props, or I just did not want to make the outfit. Or, you know what? Sometimes I just didn't have the money to bring it to life the way I wanted to. But you have to find ways to do it, and you have to put in the time. Trust me, lesson learned. You do not want to go down the road that I went down of being lazy and procrastinating your shows. You don't get booked. People notice when you don't put the work into polishing your performance. If you're going to go on stage unrehearsed and with just the idea in your head, why are you even going on stage? You can do that in your shower, in the privacy of your own home. Part of being a performer and really. I'm going to tell you a little bit more about that in just a moment. But I'm going to tell you a little bit more about what it's like to be a performer and to be on stage. I'm going to tell you a little bit more about what it's like to be on stage and to be on stage. But most of your work is going to come in off stage. It's going to come in the form of rehearsal, brainstorming, building, crafting, promoting, marketing, socializing, networking. All of this stuff happens off the stage. The five minutes to an hour to two hours, however long your set is. My sets are usually five to ten minutes, and I do two or three a night. But your five minutes on stage. I'm going to take it one song, one performance, just one. If you're a singer, it's one song. If you're a dancer, it's one number. So let's say five, ten minutes. Your five to ten minutes on stage is nothing compared to the work that you need to put in when you're off stage. My podcast should actually be called Being Off Stage because most of the stuff that I talk about happens off the stage. We talk about rehearsal. We talk about building confidence. We talk about improving our presentation, creating an outfit. And motivation and inspiration. And all of this that goes into your performance is great, and it all comes together on stage. But all the work goes in beforehand. All the polishing. And I'm going to refer back to my little concrete planters, you know. I created these planters, and I'm going to sand them down, and I'm going to polish them up. I'll probably even paint a little design on them and everything. And then I'm going to take it to this craft fair, and I'm going to try and attempt to sell them. Okay? So, but if I left them the way they are now, who would buy them? I mean, I. I'm going to post a picture on Instagram of these concrete planters before I sand them down, truthfully. They look great as little home crafts, and it's kind of like, oh, cool, how'd you do that? And I could tell you how I did it. I, you know, I used a Gatorade bottle and poured concrete into it. Like, it's not a difficult task. You know, it's cool to look at, and it's cool to say, oh, yeah, you did this, but who's going to buy that? You've got to put in a little more work to get people to buy into what you're doing. For me to get people to buy my craft, I have to put in some work. I have to sand it down. I have to polish it. I have to paint it. I have to, you know, make it a little bit more than it is when it first came out. Same thing with a performance. When your performance first comes out of your brain, you know, that's the creation. Maybe you write it down. Maybe you just have it. I've done the show where it's fully created in my head, and I didn't do a lick of rehearsal. And you know what happened when I got on stage? I performed great for the first 30 seconds, and then I had no idea what I was going to do. I mean, I have that charisma. I have that charisma and that confidence. So I was able to pull off a little bit, but I looked lost. I know I looked lost because I watched the video. I looked lost. I looked unrehearsed. I looked like I did not know which way was up on stage. I didn't know upstage from downstage, from stage left to stage right. And if you don't know your stage directions, you need to learn them very, very quickly. I don't care what you do on stage. You need to learn your stage directions. But my point here is the polishing and the sanding and the perfecting, it's not going to be perfect. Let me go back. It's not going to be perfect. Just like my cement planters, they're not going to be perfect. You know, my centerpiece is going to be a little uneven because I made it by hand. The edges might be a little crooked or curved because I made it by hand. You know, your performance is not going to be perfect. You know, there's going to be a little flaws to it. There's going to be little mistakes. There's going to be little things that aren't quite done right. But you push yourself, and you try, and you do it, and you create it, and you polish it, and you perfect it. And you keep working at it. And then you put it on stage. And then people buy into you, and they become a fan. Every time I talk, I talk about turn your audience into fans. You know, your fans are people that are going to follow you. Your fans are people that are going to support you. And eventually, your fans are the people that are going to pay your bills. So you want to turn your audience into fans. And in order to do that, every time, create a connection. You know, engage with them. But your performance has to be something for them to get into. Something for them to be curious about. Something to make them go, wow, they're really good. You know, you got to have the wow factor, and you got to polish it, sand it down, and make it look pretty. It's all about rehearsal. You know, it's all about preparation. Last episode was Desperate Times Call for Preparation. Prepare, prepare, prepare. That episode was about, you know, being prepared for a last-minute booking or a last-minute gig. But you should be prepared for it. Even if you get it wrong, you should be prepared for it. Even if you get booked six months from now, you should be prepared for that show too, right? You can't go five months and three weeks and then prepare for your show. Progressively prepare for it if you have time, but prepare nonetheless. Thank you so much for tuning in. I appreciate everyone listening here. I know I rant on and on and on about performing and being on stage, but I'm telling you, I'm extremely passionate about this. And I want you to be passionate about your career as well. I hope to see you in the Facebook group, beingonstage.com. If I don't see you in there, if you want a different kind of connection, You can also email me, reggie at beingonstage.com. You can join my email list by going to beingonstage.com, putting in your name and email. You'll get a free copy of my book by doing it that way. So listen, thank you guys again for tuning in. I really appreciate every single person in every single country that listens to this podcast. I can't wait to hear from you and engage with you and get to know you a little bit better. So I thank you again for tuning in. You guys have a great day and keep on shining.
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