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, rock stars. Reggie Dawson here. What is going on? Welcome to the Being On Stage podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm opening up with a favor. I'm just warning you. I'd like to ask you if you could please take a moment, go into iTunes, hit subscribe, leave a rating and a comment. Now, those ratings and those comments, it actually helps other people find the show. So, think about the people, man. Think about the people looking for a show like this. So, I was reading a book today called Stardust. Stage Star Power, Command the Stage, and it's by Billy Savino. And it's a pretty interesting read. It's a lot of information about how to really excel on stage and just like really rock it. And truthfully, there's a piece of it in it that talks about your appearance. Like when you show up at a venue or when you show up to perform, and even when you're performing, like your overall appearance and how you carry yourself. And how you look. And it got me thinking, you know, I've worked with a number of entertainers. And when I say worked with, I mean, I've mentored them. I've performed alongside them. I've performed in the same place as them. But I've worked with quite a few entertainers that they don't put that thought into their appearance. Like, I'm not talking personal hygiene. I mean, to my knowledge, they shower, they do their hair. You know, they look clean. They look good. They look decent. But they look like they're just hanging out. And you've seen the people I'm talking about. I'm sure you have. People walk in, t-shirt, jeans, and all of a sudden they're up on stage in a t-shirt and jeans. Personally, it drives me up the wall to see just some ratty t-shirt and jeans on the stage. I believe that, you know, there needs to be some thought into that. You got to think about the people that are there for the show. You know, they're there for an experience. They're not there to hear music. If they were there to hear music or if they were there to just, you know, to watch something, they'd be at home on their phone. People go to live performances for an experience. People go to events for an experience. Even people that go to restaurants with live music, they go there for some type of experience. The atmosphere, the aura, whatever you want to call it, they go for an experience. You are that experience. You as the performer. There's that experience. So it doesn't matter where you're performing, whether it's the, you know, the pub down the street, a huge festival, six towns over, or if you're performing on the street corner busking, you know, it doesn't matter where you're performing. You got to think about that appearance. What sets you apart from everyone else in that space? And the way Billy puts it is look like a star. And I don't want to necessarily say look like a star because I think that star, star is a relative term. You know, I call everyone a rock star. Hey, rock stars, Reggie Dawson here. But everyone's a star. You know, anyone with talent can be a star. So how do you look like a star, you know? But I equate that to, you know, putting thought into how you appear. So even if you're just walking around, you know, even if you're just mingling with the crowd, I got news for you. If you walk up to me in T-shirt and shorts and flip flops and you say, hey, I'm performing later. I, you know, I do juggling on a unicycle. I'm probably going to look at you and say, yeah, sure you do. I'll be sure to check that out. Thanks. Because you don't look the part. You look like everyone else and you look like everyone else in my hometown because I live in Florida at the beach. You know, you look like everyone else in my hometown. You you do not set yourself apart to me whatsoever as the performer, as the entertainment. Your appearance has to set you apart from everyone. From everyone else in the room, from the instant that you walk in. And I'm not saying that you need to walk in like full, full outfit, you know, like tuxedo. I'm saying that when you walk in, you should carry yourself. You should walk and act like you have a purpose of being there. People notice people with confidence. It doesn't matter who you are. People notice other people if they have confidence like that. Confidence is what attracts people's attention. And so. When you walk into a place, let's say and I'll use myself as an example. You know, I perform at a couple of different bars through over the throughout the years, you know, more than a couple. But, you know, I performed at a few bars throughout the year. So I was performing at this new bar. Nobody there had ever heard of me. It was like it was in a different state. Like that's how nobody ever heard of me. I was doing it for free. I was doing it for my girlfriend. She lives. She is from Massachusetts. We are up there visiting. So I set up this whole show. I've told this story before. When I was talking about reaching out and sending emails. But, you know, I reached out a couple of times. I got this free booking. I wanted to do it for free because it was more like, hey, I'm going to perform it. You know, your nightclub where you like to go. And so it was, you know, it was my way as a performer of showing my. I don't know. I was showing something about, you know, how I wanted to be a part of her life or something. I don't know. Anyway, she wanted me to perform there. I ended up getting a performance there. So I walk in and now there's two ways I could have walked in. You know, I could have put on some shorts and some flip flops. It was summertime in Massachusetts. I could have put on some shorts and some flip flops and, you know, just a just thrown on any old T-shirt wrinkled to all hell and just had all my show clothes in my case. And because I, you know, I carry a suitcase with me and a makeup kit and just walked in that way. Hey, I'm performing. Hey, the other thing she showed me to the dressing room, but that kind of. Is I mean, to me, it it's kind of selfish because you're not there for you. You're there for the audience. You're there to create an experience. And from the moment you walk through that door, that experience for people in that bar or that venue or that festival, it has begun. Instead, I chose to walk in there wearing a nice shirt. Like when I say nice, I mean, like I'm a little showy, a little flashy when I'm on stage. So I had like a like a rhinestone and hardy looking shirt. And then I had some really nice jeans, some like boat shoes type like boat type. This is a few years ago, guys, like boat shoes or sneakers or something. And then I had like a hat that had like something and go like I was dressed up. I wasn't like I looked like I was doing something with a purpose. And then I have the suitcase with me and everything. I look like I was there for a reason. I look like I was going to be in a show. And, you know, when I walked in, oh, hey, you must be performing tonight. You must be there. They knew exactly who I was. As soon as I walked in and nobody had ever heard of me. The people in the audience, they all turn, they all look, they all watch me walk by. I wave a little, even though I don't know these people, I wave a little bit, say hi. You know, I act like I am performing. I am there for a purpose. I greet people. Hey, how's it going? You know, oh, man, that's a really cool shirt, man. Sick beard, bro. All that stuff, you know, engage with people because if you're confident and you display that confidence, people are going to automatically know. He's in the show. He's doing a show. I think he's performing tonight, guys. Did you see all those rhinestones? They're going to notice. And the same thing when you're on stage. It's not just your outfit. You know, it's how you carry yourself on stage. It's how you present yourself and, you know, how you do your hair and, yes, how you do your makeup. Because if you have spotlights on you, you need to wear makeup, guys. With outfits you're wearing, even down to your shoes. Like if you're on a raised stage. People are staring at your shoes. You want people staring at your dirty feet and flip flops? That's gross. I've seen it happen. There's a guy performing at a festival, a real small festival, and he was an amazing singer. A guy with a guitar. Amazing singer. Really good on the guitar. He didn't engage with the audience one lick. But anyways, he was on about a three-foot high raised stage, and he was wearing jeans, a brown polo shirt, and flip flops. Frickin' flip flops. If you have ever worn flip flops on stage, unless you are doing a biblical play, there is no place for flip flops on stage. Ever. Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. With the exception of, you know, of course, if you're doing theater and you're doing a beach scene and it calls for flip flops. But get a pedicure if that's the case. And no way in hell should any singer, dancer. Juggler, hand balancer, drag queen, drag king. No way should anyone wear flip flops on stage. Okay, I'm done flying off the handle for a minute. So anyways, he's wearing flip flops. So I'm staring at your feet, bro, and you're wearing flip flops. You're on a raised stage, I'm staring at your feet. That's gross. Okay, now I'm done flying off the handle. The point of this, the point of all of this, of me going off a little bit, is you gotta, you have to put thought into that. I'm not saying. you need to go out and spend $500 on a new outfit and $300 on new shoes no you can create a great outfit with you know goodwill and walmart and i'm not kidding like i've gone to goodwill i found a nice suit jacket that fit me quite well you know and i just i went to walmart in the craft section and i got some like wedding trim and i just outlined the lapel of the jacket it's actually there's a picture from a few months ago on my instagram of me holding up some of my old outfits it looked great like it really looked great i it still looks great i just can't wear it anymore because i'm i expanded but you can you can make a nice outfit with cheap materials you know it's not something that you need to spend a lot of money on because whatever whatever messes up if something breaks something falls off you spent 10 bucks on it you either fix it or get it get redo it you know i've fixed everything with e6000 by the way if you have not checked and this is not a plug-in i don't get paid to say this but e6000 when you are working with you know crafts like outfits and trying to make an outfit look a certain way e6000 will be your best friend it'll literally stick anything to anything um but anyways like i've you can make an outfit i've made an outfit out of a glass jar that i broke filed down the edges and glued it to a suit jacket on half of it so it's kind of like a harlequin look these are the type of things though that you got to get creative you got to be creative when you're thinking about your appearance on stage and even more so like your appearance and your presentation and i say this a lot and and it sounds really blunt really mean but it's not about you when you step on stage it's not about your comfort it's not about it's not even about your talent truthfully you got you got on stage because of your talent you got booked you got the gig you you got it because of your talent but once you step on that stage once you got it it's not about you anymore it's about the audience and it's about the experience that they're having not the experience that you're having not your comfort zone your comfort level you should be uncomfortable on stage but your audience is going to be comfortable with your discomfort but it's all about the audience it's not about you so put work into how you appear to your audience put work into that experience that they're having because i got news for you if you catch attention from the moment that someone sees you it will stick with them they are more likely to follow you they are more likely to find you online they're more likely to subscribe to your email list they're more likely to like your page they're more likely to they're more even more likely to send you a message like they're more likely to connect with you and if the right person is in the right audience at the right time you could get tons of booking i know a speaker that he went to a speaking gig for 20 people he ended up getting booked at a speaking gig with 2 000 people in hawaii because there was someone in that room of 20 people that can happen to anybody anybody putting in the work anybody putting in the time and anybody putting in that little bit of effort to make themselves great that can happen to you i'm done going off the handle guys i apologize a little bit but listen i want to let you know if you haven't done so already please come on into our facebook group i'm in there flying off the handle all the time too come on into the facebook group the being on stage group i made it easy for you being on stage.com slash group you can also like our page on facebook or instagram everything's at being on stage listen it's been an absolute pleasure again thank you so much for tuning in i greatly appreciate every single one of you questions comments suggestions anything you want to talk about you can always send me an email reggie at being on stage.com keep on shining rock stars and keep moving forward.
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