Latest / Lydia Nicole's Acting Smarter Now Podcast / Stop Wasting Years: Why Every Actor Needs a Career Mentor

Transcript

Stop Wasting Years: Why Every Actor Needs a Career Mentor · Lydia Nicole's Acting Smarter Now Podcast

• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you about mentorship.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as actors, I don't I don't think we think about mentorship a lot, especially if we are seasoned actors, if we've been doing it for a while, we don't really think, hey, I need a mentor.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is we all need mentors.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to give you the definition of mentorship.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: What is mentorship?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: It is a developmental relationship where a more experienced or knowledgeable person guides, supports, and advises a lesser experienced person, the mentee, to help them grow professionally and personally.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: It goes beyond simple teaching.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's a sustained, trust-based relationship built on shared wisdom, honest feedback, and intentional investment in another person's success.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: How does mentorship help new actors?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it helps them navigate the industry.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: The acting world has unwritten rules, right?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: A mentors helps new actors understand how auditions actually work, what casting directors look for, and how to avoid costly beginner mistakes.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I would even add not just beginner mistakes, but experienced actors' mistakes because of technology, because of how things are moving, we make mistakes too sometimes.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Another area where mentorship helps new actors is helping them to build their confidence.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I know a lot of new actors when they're starting out, they're struggling with self-doubt.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And mentors provide encouragement grounded in real experience, not just empty cheerleading, but earned assurance and earned reassurance.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And earned assurance again and again and again.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, um, mentorship helps young people, new actors with craft development.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: A mentor can identify weak spots in technique early before bad habits become permanent and point new actors towards the right type of training.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Also, um, a mentor can help a new actor in career road mapping because without a mentor, new actors often chase everything and build nothing.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I see I've seen that for so many years.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: A mentor can help a new actor focus their energy strategically, um, and that means getting the right headshots, um, setting up the right reels and taking the right classes and building the right relationships as well as helping uh new actors make industry connections.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, how does mentorship help the OG actors or the seasoned actors as I like to call them?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: They've been doing it for maybe 10 years or more, you know, they've worked, they've they've gotten pension money, they they have earned their keep as actors, but now they're in a slump.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now they they're kind of don't know what they're supposed to be doing.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: They're just, you know, they hit that wall.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: They, you know, and so what a mentor does is it helps old actors, experienced actors, seasoned actors break through those walls.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it everybody gets stuck.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter at what level you're at.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we could be coasting and doing great, and all of a sudden we hit the wall.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what I'm talking about.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been doing this for a long time, you know exactly what I'm talking about, where you just hit the wall, you can't catch a break, it nothing is happening.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So mentorship helps with that.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: It also helps seasoned actors um pivot and reinvent themselves because as we get to a certain age, we have to start pivoting, we have to start reinventing.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm a believer that every actor should reinvent themselves every five to seven years, maybe even sooner, depending on how you are changing physically.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: You may need to pivot.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you might have been an ingenue uh five years ago, but baby you are now not an ingenue.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you gotta you gotta figure it out instead of um uh just giving up or throwing in the towel.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's about reinventing.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Who are you today?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where mentor really comes into play and really starts to help guide you and and give you uh strategies to help you and and get you back where you want to be.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So uh mentorship also helps seasoned actors with business and brand clarity because sometimes, you know, we may have been doing it for a long time, but we don't have the right business acumen, we don't have the right uh stuff to help us with our business.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: We we're good with our craft, we've studied, we've done it, you know, and we worked for a period of time, so we thought that was it.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: I I remember hearing um an actor who was on was a series regular, he actually started as a a child actor and then went on and and and just worked, and then all of a sudden the work dried up and he was shocked.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: He was shocked that he couldn't get a job and didn't know what to do to advance himself because he thought since he worked from you know the age of 10 or 11 and was working into his 30s that it was always gonna be like that.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, it you have to continue to reinvent yourself and you have to have good business sense, you have to have good strategy, and that's where a good mentor comes in to help you reframe your uh brand, to help you redirect your stuff so you're not stuck and you're not giving up and you're not losing your stuff, but you're wait a minute, okay.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm gonna go down this road now.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is a good road for me to go down.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where mentorship really helps actors.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, also with accountability.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you are an older actor, sometimes you think that nobody can teach you anything else.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but that's not true.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you are willing, you can always learn new things.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm a believer in that, and I am also someone who practices that.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always about what can I learn today?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: What can I do?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: How you know, how can I get better?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Technology, okay.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Let me see how I can learn that.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: AI, yes, let me see how I can learn.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always learning, and I have mentors, I have people who continue to guide me that may be younger than me, but they guide me, they give me the information, and it allows me to move freely about the cabin.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it is really important uh for older actors to be able to reinvent themselves, to be able to um have a better business sense of what they're doing, you know, because I say this all the time, but we are the CEO of our businesses.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Actors are the CEO of our businesses, and as the business is changing, we really have to double down on being the CEO.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: We can't expect the agent or the manager to do that stuff, we have to know it as well.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Also, a mentor helps you with uh your emotions and your mental resilience.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this industry can be brutal on every level, and a mentor who has survived and thrived models what long-term sustainability actually looks like, and it helps experienced actors stay in the game without burning out.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that is exactly what I do with Acting Smarter Circle, which is a community-based subscription-based um group to help actors.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: We get together every Monday night, 6:30 on Zoom, so you don't even have to leave your house.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we go about two hours and we we help each other.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we help, I help you with strategy, I help you with your reels, I help you about your pictures.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we cover everything that has to do with acting from the right acting classes, you know.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, do you need to pivot?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Do you need to move differently?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that you can do?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that maybe you wanted to do, but you were scared of doing?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And since you've been stuck, maybe it's a good time now to go jump into that.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I help actors from your craft, your brand, your business, and your faith.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because for those of you who've been doing it more than five minutes, you know you have to have faith in this business.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: You have to work at your peace, having peace while you are navigating the shark-infested waters sometimes.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta know that you're supposed to be in this business.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is what you're supposed to be doing, and how do you make a good living at it?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're in a transitional period, so um, everything is changing in the industry with streaming and this and that, and you know, you'll hear people say, Well, there's not a lot of work out there.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's not true, there's a lot of work out there, it's just a matter of how you are setting yourself up for that work and how you are coming uh to the party uh with a new attitude, expecting a new thing.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: So um with Acting Smarter Circle, that's what I do.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I help you as an actor, producer, uh uh, former comedian.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've done a lot of things in the business.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: I've learned a lot.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've learned what works and what doesn't.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have learned how to be the thermostat and not the thermometer, which is a big thing for creatives.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're always taking the temperature of the room, but the truth is, as creatives, we got to come in and set the temperature ourselves.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: We are the guide, we're the one that that runs the train.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Not don't let anybody run the train for you.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's what I teach, that's what I encourage in um Active Smarter Circle to learn how to be the thermostat.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Learn how to set your intentions, your goals, execute.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, don't wait for anybody to do for you.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: What can you do for yourself?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: What is a project you've always wanted to do?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now is the time to start putting it together.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Most, you know, things have shifted a lot since when I started in the business in 1978, things have shifted like nobody's business from technology to how we audition, you know, everything is self-taped now.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Callbacks are on Zoom.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: How do you um move with the times?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's something that I help with.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you are an actor who needs coaching, who needs mentorship, who needs guidance, who needs support, who needs accountability, who needs somebody to give you a good quick, swift kick in your butt when you are just procrastinating or having a pity party, that is what I am here to help you with.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: I will help you get out of that rut.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so if you are an actor who is in need of support uh emotionally, um, with your career, with your craft, with your um just figuring life out, how to balance stuff.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and sometimes the balance may be 60, 40, 30, 70.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not always 50-50 as what we were told.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the idea is as we move forward as actors, how do we work smarter, not harder?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not about submitting to everything that comes up, it's about submitting to the things that really fit you.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So your chances are better.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you if you're swinging at everything, you may not hit the ball.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: But if you swing at things that you are right for, you're gonna hit the ball more than not.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna it it just is how it is, and so you really want to be intentional about what it is that you're doing with your career, where do you want to go?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Who who do you want to become?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and in a couple of years from now, where do you want to be?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what mentorship helps you with.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: So if you, my friend, are serious about getting into uh um getting in alignment with what it is you're supposed to be doing, check us out at Acting Smarter Circle.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: I got some questions for you.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe this will help you.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had someone in your corner who truly understands the acting business, not just the craft?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Have you?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, not somebody who's just oh, it's okay, you're gonna be, but somebody who knows the business, who knows um the ins and outs of of negotiating, of picking the right agent, of how to go about um having to negotiate for yourself?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know that?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, are you if you are an actor who's been around for a while, have you ever sat down with somebody who has more tools than you and asked them um questions regarding your career?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: How has that panned out?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Here's another one.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: What is the biggest mistake you've made in your acting career that an a mentor could have helped you avoid?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes we are in a bubble.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're we're in our little um silo, right?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing it by ourselves and we're not getting ahead as what we want.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're it's almost like we're in the hamster wheel, we're just going, going, going, but nothing is happening.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're not advancing, we're just going in circles, going in circles.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And when you have a mentor, you they help you get out of that hamster wheel and start going down the right path.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you see forward motion, you start to see, oh wow, look at what I've done.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: What I can tell you as a mentor, having had many mentors over the course of my life.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've had mentors from the time I was, uh, if I if I if I really think about it, from the time I was like nine and ten, I had people in my neighborhood, older people that I would go and talk to because I was that kind of kid.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: I was always looking for the adults to talk to.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I always had mentors from 13 to 18.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I had great mentors.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: I worked at a radio station and I could ask anybody at the station anything, and and they really helped me.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: They they really, you know, uh because of being in that environment, I was able to do a lot of things that my classmates never could.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I did so much from the time I was 13 to 18, and because of mentorship, I was able to come to Los Angeles at 18 and have other mentors guide me, people directing me.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know the value of mentorship.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have had mentors for free.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have had mentors that I've had to pay, and um uh it has always, always, always helped me in in really big areas.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And those times when I said, you know what, I don't need a mentor, I floundered.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: I went through, oh God, about seven years without any kind of mentorship.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I was a wreck.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was always behind the eight ball.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was it it was like the day was always getting away from me.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then one morning I woke up and I said, this has to stop.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I hired a life coach, and then I uh and it helped me get back on track, and then I hired a different life coach, and and that really expanded my uh my thinking and and my creativity and what I needed to do.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And what I realized was that the best mentor is someone who can guide you in your craft, in your career, and in your faith.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that that is something that I have had in my life.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: I continue to have great mentors as as well as accountability partners, and I am offering that to you as an actor.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are an actor who is uh, you know, in that stuck place, in that place where you're not seeing anything working for you, please join us at Acting Smarter Circle.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, we are having an incredible sale, and it is gone at the end of July.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: It will not be anymore.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, uh, if you join now, you can get it uh monthly, I believe it's for$67.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if you join for the year, you you um you only have to pay uh$500, and you get a one-on-one coaching with me for an hour, all inclusive, as well as a monthly uh mastermind.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's you're getting uh an incredible value for a little bit of money, um, and that is gonna go away as of the end of July.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give the opportunity to those actors who are struggling.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're struggling in your career and you're also maybe struggling in your finances.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to give you a break, but that break is gonna go away at the end of July.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: So um if you are in need, check us out at actingsmartercircle.com.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Come join us.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: We meet Monday night, 6 30 p.m.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Pacific Standard Time.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we are here to help you move your train forward.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: It it acting is should not be so difficult.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Having a career as an actor should not be so difficult, but a lot of times we get in our way, we have stinking thinking, we don't ask the right questions, we don't partner with the right people, we don't think that you know we are capable or able, but that's not true.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: We are capable, we are um more than equipped.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: It is just having guidance, having someone who's walking you through and saying, okay, don't go down that street, go down this street.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, stay away from that alley.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's a bad alley.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: There are people there waiting to beat you up.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Don't go in that alley, go over here.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: And um, my one of my favorite things is to teach you how to be resourceful.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um, a lot of times we think we can't do anything because we don't have the resources, but the truth is, it's not about the money, it's about how resourceful are you?
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: What are you doing that's different?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yes, there are a lot of actors out there, but there are not a lot of good actors out there.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if you just come with the goods, you're gonna get to the head of the class.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, we get stuck in, oh my God, there's all these actors.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, you know, I'm competing with there's not a lot.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, uh, there might, it might look like there's a lot, but there are a lot of actors who call themselves actors, but they're not equipped, they don't have the goods, they they want uh they want acting like they want to win the lotto.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're not putting the work in, they're not putting the time in, they're not taking classes, they're not training, they're not um paying for good headshots, they are getting their friends to take headshots, which is not always a good idea.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Very rarely do you get a really good acting headshot from a friend, or you taking a selfie.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't work.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are in need and you uh are saying, I don't want this life anymore, I want to win, I want to do great things, then come on over to Acting Smarter Circle and join us.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: We meet Monday nights, like I said, 6:30 p.m.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Pacific Standard Time, and we meet on Zoom.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't even have to leave your home.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: So come join us, be with us.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: We would love to have you.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: We we would love to have you um and just you know, I want you to win.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: You my my tagline, which is a true line, is I want you to go from undiscovered to unstoppable.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can't go from being undiscovered to unstoppable if people don't know who you are.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people have to know who you are.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: The industry needs to know who you are.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: And how do how does that happen?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I will help you with that.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I will help you to start getting your name out there, your reputation, people know you.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: You you can't you can't book work if the casting director doesn't know you because they're not going to call you in.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, if you are an actor that is serious about your work and you want to win in this business, please join us at acting smartercircle.com.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, we we are having a special, but that special goes away at the end of July.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just telling you, you're not gonna get that deal.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Nomas, my daughter already reprimanded me, telling me I should never have given this deal.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I I know what it is to be an actor, I know what it is to not have the funds and want to do something.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you are willing to take this step and and put your money where your your desire is, you're gonna win because I'm gonna help you get there.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: So uh join us at acting smartercircle.com.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to working with you.