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, what's going on? It's Reggie Dawson, your host of the Being On Stage podcast, all about performers every day, every way. Super excited. Sorry about that. I'm still getting over this cold I've had for like a couple of weeks, and it's getting crazy. Anyways, listen, what sets you apart from everyone else that does exactly what you do? Because you have to know by now, you're not the only one. You're not. If you're a singer, you're a dancer, musician. Juggler, comedian, whatever you do on stage, whatever your act, your performance is, how do you set yourself apart from everybody else out there that does what you do? This is a question that's often asked on my favorite show, and it's not my favorite show, but for the sake of this episode, it's my favorite show. America's Got Talent. I gotta tell you, the reason I like America's Got Talent is because it's truly, and nowadays it seems like it's more geared towards those amazingly odd, things that you would just never see, which is kind of what I'm getting at, but not quite extreme. But originally, when it started, I think it's the second time it started, because I think it, I don't know. Anyways, the first season that I watched when it started, it was about sharing a talent that may not have been known about, or may not have been a focus, or may not even have been a real talent. I mean, God, the first season. This guy, he literally, his talent was falling on his junk. Like, he would, the one I remember was he would climb up a ladder and then jump off and land straddling a two-by-four. A dude. That was his talent. So he would do a whole bunch of stunts where basically his man parts were crushed. Every single, falls, sledgehammers, all sorts of just crazy, and I'm sorry guys, literally. Guys, I'm sorry to put you through this, but that was his talent. And he was basically a stuntman, really. A nut-punch stuntman, I guess we can call it. But the point I'm getting at, and the point of even America's Got Talent, is to do something that people haven't seen before. To do something that sets you apart. And it's not necessarily something, and that's where I've kind of stopped watching the show. Now it's about, what can you do that's more dangerous? Or, more thrilling than someone else? Or what can you do that nobody's seen before? And that's not always what it's about. Because, yes, it's great. And on television, of course, you know, we all have Instagram and YouTube shoved in our faces. You know, we have to look for something more extreme. Something we can't necessarily find by flipping on YouTube. Which is impossible, anyways. But it's become more about extreme talents. If you will. And I kind of like the original, where it was, where you did have to take a walk on the wild side. Yeah, I love it when I use my title on my podcast and my episodes. So, yeah. So, it's one thing to take a walk on the wild side. It's another thing to be extreme. And then what I'm talking about here is the take a walk on the wild side. And that's, you know, it's okay to experiment. It's okay to do things that no one else does. It doesn't have to be extreme. You know, maybe in your case, it's okay to do things that no one else does. Maybe in your area where you're performing it in your circuit, you're a singer and you play guitar. But maybe you've been considering a switch to ukulele, but no one does that. Why not? Why not you? Why couldn't you be that person? You already sing. You already have a great voice. Why not try, you know, at one of your gigs, pick up the ukulele and see what happens. We actually have, locally, where I live, there's a duo of girl, girl duo. I think it's still called a duo, right? Yeah. They're not a group, but they're a duo. They're a duo. They're a duo. They're a duo. And they harmonize together beautifully, by the way, and they play ukuleles. And it's like the most amazing, I mean, I won't say the most amazing thing, but it's pretty amazing. And there's nothing else like that around here. So, yeah, they sing and they play an instrument, but their instrument isn't something that everyone else is playing. If there's something that someone tells, I mean, there is some credit to going extreme because you're doing something that people say can't be done. Or shouldn't be done. And it's okay to push that envelope. Like, I want to give you permission to, and I mean, I don't need to give you permission. You don't need permission, anybody's permission to try something new. But I guess the message here today is that fear that stops you from trying something new or that fear that stops you from doing something differently, that fear that is going to hold you back. Why? Why? Well, fear and creativity, they butt heads. All the time. Your creative self that wants to be expressed and wants to put new things out there and the vision that you see in your head that you want to share on that stage, fear is going to knock that bad boy out every single time. No matter what. So you can't be creative and fully express yourself and live in fear. You've got to pick one. And truthfully, honestly, if I were you, if I were in your shoes. If I were in your shoes, I would pick creativity every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Man, I love that saying. Like, I don't know where I heard that from. Oh, God. I'm going off the deep end. I'm squirreling again, guys. I'm sorry. You have to believe in yourself every single day at all times. The belief in yourself is what's going to propel you forward. The belief in yourself is what's going to help you put things out on stage that are new. Not just new for your audience, but new for you. It's not always. It's not always about doing something new for your audience. A lot of times, it's about doing something new for yourself. For the fact of trying something and believing in yourself enough to put it out there in front of others. That belief in yourself, that is where the true power of every performer lies, is in their belief in themselves. That is how you're going to do something different. Here's an example. And yeah, you know, it's going to. All right. Sleazy sales guy. Step it in. Hello. Here's an example. Okay. There are other people out there that coach performers like I do. I coach performers. I hope you help you get better on stage. I help you improve your confidence, build more connection with your audience, help you with your social media tools, get you build your fan base online, your website, help you launch your world tour. Okay. I haven't helped anybody launch their world tour yet, but I'm getting there. It's in the dream. It's in the plan. Maybe it's maybe it is going to be your world tour. Let's. Let's find out. So here's the point. There are other people out there that will coach you and they will help you along your way. However, not many people are going to offer it to just have you book a time on their calendar and say, I'm going to call you and we're going to work through whatever it is you're going through. You don't have to worry about me. You just tell me what you need and I'm going to help you through it. Performing wise guys perform like I can't counsel you on marriage or I mean, I could I could counsel you on marriage. I could counsel you on marriage or relationships, but I can't make any guarantees there either. But performance wise, you know, there's not a lot of people out there that are going to talk and kind of coach you for 30 minutes solid talking about what you want to work on and where you want to go as a performer. And I do that. Here's proof. Go to being on stage dot com slash calendar. Sign up. I'll call you. You pick the day. You pick the time and I'll call you right from my cell phone. And I'm. I'm even I'm even like so into this. I'm actually going to call you from my cell phone, like my actual number, not even a business line or a fake fake ID. OK, I'm kind of like getting too into it. But the fact and the point I'm getting at with all this. Yeah, I plugged myself and I plugged the hell out of it. And you know what? I won't even apologize for it. But nobody does that. No one's going to give you that opportunity. And here I am putting it right in your ear and your face. Are you going to take it? No, that I mean, that's your call. Just like I was talking about yesterday. There's always going to be an opportunity. You're not going to regret the things that you do. You're going to regret the things that you don't do. And trust me when I tell you when it comes to trying these new things and putting new and different things out there, you are going to regret not doing it. That is 100 percent factual. Why? How do I know? Because I did it. I've told you guys story after story about I told you just yesterday of a missed opportunity. But beyond that, there's things that I wanted to try and things that I wanted to do that I didn't do because why I was I was too fat. I was too old. Yeah, too old. I know. Or too young for some. Or you know what? In some cases, I wasn't the right skin color to do what I wanted to do. And that's OK. And this is not about race. or color or anything, I'm just making points here. But I had the opportunity to do it and I didn't do it. I had the creativity and I had the vision in my head and I didn't do it. Are you going to be in my shoes? Are you going to make the same mistake that I made? Have a vision in your head and see something so clearly that when you close your eyes and you envision this performance on that stage, you see it so clearly in a certain way. Are you going to let yourself make that vision happen or are you going to hold yourself back and play it safe? Are you going to hold yourself back and say, I can't be done. It shouldn't be done. I'm to this. I'm to that. Why are you going to hold yourself back? Do the new and different. Allow yourself to be creative. Take a walk on the wild side. Boom! And keep on shining.
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