WARNING: THERE IS NO CALL TO ACTION AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE RO BIY ANYTHING. I DON’T WANT YOUR MONEY. I WANT YOU TO KEEP IT AND START WORKING AS AN ACTOR, singer, dancer, film maker, etc etc etc!

SERIOUSLY, I have a book called QUIT YOUR DAY JOB! How to become a full time working actor. Its $5-15 on Amazon. This is not reverse psychology. I figured it out on my own and with friends, and my wife. You can too. While others feel like failures, you can achieve your “dreams” with a few simple mind shifts and a little elbow grease. DON’T WASTE TIME. DON’T WASTE MONEY….

They tell you in school, “Never pay up front for an agent. They work on commission” But many wannabe actors, desperate to manifest their dream, shell out $1000s on over priced headshots, “networking” events, and “managers”.

I add the quotes because so many folks offering to help are getting rich just to help. Far too many of these folks have ZERO clue how to get work. They are failed artists themselves. They pay the bills “helping” you.

NOW the fraud money is in helping you become a successful YOUTUBER, a content creator. In the past week, due to changes in SEO I doubled down on content creation to generate leads for shows, classes and gigs. Of course the algorithms known this. My feed on FACEBOOK this morning looks like a Backstage classified section. One I recognize as a legitimate educational platform. But then ten AI generate ads for software and webinars to help you spend money buying adds better, generating content etc.

We NEED help. But, sadly, most out there offering will just take our money. They ROI (return on investment) will simply be the wisdom not to suckered again. Or worse, we will not trust the one that deserves a listen. We NEED that person, that tool, that book, etc.

To be honest, I’m living in that cynical phase. The past ten years, the webinar was the thing. Who isn’t trying to make a buck supporting their mediocre dream career off the backs of another’s dream. How many advertise a free VOICE OVER class geared ro pry $5k from you for the real course?

How many of you spend $1000+ on headshots to get non union stage and screen work. “Work” that pays less than minimum wage, if you add up ALL the time auditioning. Suddenly $20/hour on set doesn’t sound so good even at 18yo.

And now more than ever, as unions lose ground on stage and screen, this cycle seems doomed to repeat and worsen. There are just enough rich kids dropping parent’s spare change to keep the wannabes in business.

For all of you crying about not being one of the nepo babies, you really don’t need to waste the time and emotional energy. Most of that time and money is being wasted. Sure they have nicer things, nicer apartments. But your FOMO leads you to waste money you don’t have on things yoi don’t need. Let the rich kids waste time and money. YOU need to be scruffy!!!

Actors! STOP COMPLAINING. GET TO WORK

The best acting schools rarely train us to be working actors. We have to double down as students of life after graduation.

Read a play every week. Learn a new monologue. Leaen a new song. Spend 5-10 minutes a day on our vocal instrument. Stretch in however you were trained in movement classes. If you haven’t had movement, go to yoga, tai chi, Alexander, modern dance class.

Go to auditions. Get on actor’s access. Do some self tapes. Get together with other actors and read plays aloud. Meet on zoom, the park or your apartment. Zero $ spent.

ALWAYS BE CREATING

WRITE a short film or play. Produce it as cheaply as possible. I recommend the film over theater in 2026. 2-4+ friend can shoot a film for free with their phones. Edit it on cap cut. Post to YouTube. More folks will see it their than any festival circuit. Upload and get 200 views on a bad film for free. How much does it cost to rents a theater? Ho many favors spent bugging friends and family to buy tickets?

Write poetry. Write long form article about what you care about on Substack or Medium. Writing is a skill that needs training.

SIDE BAR: Don’t waste your time, or my time, saying you arr not a writer. I AM NOT A WRITER, but I have a book.of short stories, a few books on acting, improv, and more. I have run this blog for 10+ years. I write murder mystery shows for 49 characters. I have improv, where I help write and perform a 60 minute show, 8000+ times in the past 20+ years.

Similarly I make terrible online content, I know. Sometimes I get focused and knock it past the pitching mound, never out of the park. But I still manage to get ticket sales, students, and clients emailing and calling.

Have someone take a really good photo of you with YOUR phone. Go on canvas. FREE VERSION. Touch it up.

Start a website. $4/month on wordpress you can have YOUR NAME DOT COM. and a simple editing tool to build your own website. Use their latest free model. TWENTY TWENTY SIX. Type yiur name in the for the Site Title. TYPE. New York Based Actor (add singer, dancer etc as appropriate of horsemen in those skills). Add a photo and a resume. (Don’t use columns. Looks great on desk top, but bad on mobile.) So far this is your ONLY business expense.

Start an account on Instagram, YouTube. LINKEDIN, Facebook, X, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc. 1 minute each. Post a Pic, a bio, link to yoir website.

Then use your phone. Record a HELLO WORLD video. Once a week, start recording yourself sing some songs or performing some monologues you would use for auditions. Its great practice. Forces you to learn them.

SIDE BAR: I joked with an actor last week. “YOU ARE THE FIRST PERSON I EVER TOLD, YOU ARE SPENDING WAAAAAY TOO MUCH TIME DOING AUDITIONS AND SELF TAPE”. He was turning down PAID GIGS in Improv Comedy because he was over whelmed with maybes. He was talking about cutting back is survival jobs. (Don’t go homeless or atatve for your so called dream!) MOST have the opposite problem. They spend too much time in the day job. Too much time at the oarty, video game etc. As a director I would rather have someone giving me TOO MUCH. Much easier to pull them into focus than motivating someone that just does not have it. Same story.

JUST START. ALWAYS BE CREATING

I will warn you. In 20-30 years,I look back. The dream is not exactly what I imagined. My dream job would have been singing Rodolfo at the Met.in La Boheme. I was good. Maybe not quite great e ough for that pinnacle. I wasted too much time, AND MY VOICE, at restaurants from age 24-31. People think I sound good now… Actually I sound better. Voice is like a wine. BUT my breathe support and endurance… I can. Eat a hi C but I can’t sustain it for a whole aria, never mind a show.

I wanted to sing on Broadway but sadly I loved food too much. Supporting roles and ensemble didn’t satisfy me. Not a diva. I was ok not being the star. I was just bored.

So I found comedy. Sketch at first, and then Improv. By 33 I quit all my day jobs. By 43 I owned a house.

Don’t buy my book. Just start creating. But don’t wait till 30+. However if you are 30+ it’s not too late. 40+, 50+ etc. It’s probably too late to live the dream exactly as you imagined at 20. But you can achieve joy and laughter, using your talents to entertain and educate and get paid to do it.

But most likely, you will just keep complaining about nepo babies and blame the world you do what ever it is you do. You will keep listening to others complaining on social media or at the restaurants where you work.

Lastly, there is no shame in a day job. Do that. Be GOOD at that. Achieve success and find ways to make that fun. Learn to use your talents to be a better sales person, leader/manager, or even a better waiter. Pay the bills. Take that stress off you. Stop wasting money on FOMO driven buys. Every dollar wasted is a other hour doing the day job grind just to break even.

EITHER WAY, you don’t need bad advice and you certainly don’t need to pay for it. If you just start creating, you will learn from mistakes and figure it out.