Get Paid What You Are Worth

The other day I ran into someone who had been promoted in a job with a fairly large company. When I heard what she was making I about died. She was paid litterly double what the intern was making and yet she had the title Manager in her title. I won’t tell you what the rate was but is not livable in the DC area. I made me think back to some advice my good friend Jenni Bowman once gave.

“Ask for more money. Always. Unless you honestly feel excited about what they tell you they'll pay you. Make yourself a realistic budget and then do jobs that will pay you enough to live. If you do this you'll make more money faster.”

That was a quote she gave me to share with my Thespian Students at the MO State Thespian Conference. Jenni is so right. Make a reasonable budget for yourself and decide what you need to live. If you can’t make at least that much then you shouldn’t take the job unless you can find ways of other income while holding that job.

Ask if you are on the same playing field as people in other departments with the same type of job. That is a fair question and it is fair that you are within 2-5k of those people. We are work in theatre because we love it. But we already get paid below other industries so I encourage you to look hard at the salary and make sure you have enough to live.

Be Nice

While having drinks with a friend yesterday he told me a story of a client that was rude and mean to him and how he was trying to help the client resolve the problem. When my friend told his boss about what happened and offered a plan to his boss about how to correct the mistake they made, his boss told him to forget about it and tell the client they were going to drop the client. My friend’s boss would not be tolerant of anyone who is so rude and mean to his staff.

Theatre is much the same. Be careful of how you treat people. For one, you never know who knows who and where people will end up. I have been surprised of the number of people who treated me badly through high school and college who now ask me for favors or tickets.

It just doesn’t work like that. I know people have not gotten jobs or cast because they were divas and then the people below them soon rose to a position of power (casting or management).

Treat everyone with kindness and if you don’t like someone I suggest you avoid conflict. To put it simple BE NICE.

Twitter Part 2

Yesterday I talked about a couple of ways to use Twitter. Now let’s focus on Twitter and Broadway. There are four specific examples of Twitter on Broadway that I know of and I am sure there are more.

1) ROCK OF AGES – An Off-Broadway musical that moved to Broadway and now is nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award. They use Twitter to show off ads and discounts. Nothing was of interest to me. I “un-followed” them pretty fast. Maybe if you live in NYC and love the show you would be interested in following them but I found the information useless.

2) NEXT TO NORMAL – Again a Best Musical nominee that started Off-Broadway then came to Washington to return to the Great White Way. They have used Twitter in a whole new way. They have the characters Tweeting their inner thoughts in order of the show and it is lasting several weeks. I think this is an interesting way to use Twitter but I really don’t get much out of it. It is being drug out so long that I am not sure where we left off and would have to go their site to see the whole story. I personally would rather just listen to the CD.

3) TONY AWARDS – This I find be a better use of Social Media. I think I like it more because it covers all the Broadway shows with focusing on the Tony Awards. I think it could go a step further with talking about when shows are going to be on TV. Like the Next to Normal cast being on the View.

4) KEN DAVENPORT – I saved the best for last. I love his tweets. He uses Twitter to talk about his day. Meetings he goes to and thoughts he has about certain issues with theatre and he posts articles. The brilliant part is he slips in things about his shows. So you don’t even realize you are getting ads sometimes. He doesn’t just send you ad after ad but slips them so you don’t even notice.

How could you use Twitter to best promote yourself or your show. Why would people want to follow you and I mean REALLY follow you. Make it interesting.

Twitter

I have talked about Facebook and the why I like it so much on this blog. Now it is time to talk about the other big social networking / media site Twitter. Twitter is new to me. I have had an account for 3 months. But I am just now learning how to use it. Lots of people use it as a Facebook wall and just write what they are doing throughout the day. But others are starting to really get a lot out of it.

The updates of your day are really boring unless you are a star or someone I am extremely interested in like Ken Davenport. A friend of mine said this weekend that Twitter won’t be around in a year. At which point we made a bet. If Twitter is more popular I win if it less popular then he wins. The hard part about this bet is that I can not find the number of Twitter users today.

When you start with Twitter it might take a while to find it useful. You might start to follow a lot of people that you really find useless. But stick with it. Un-follow them and work to build the right Twitter group to follow. Then you will find it useful.

Theatres are still figuring out how to use Twitter. Some just send out discounts and specials. (I un-follow those people fast.) Others are having important people in their company talk about what they are doing. Those I think are the most interesting. Who wouldn’t want an insight of the company they enjoy. Arena Stage just offered free tickets in Tweet. I think this was to test how many of the followers really read the tweets. I would be curious of the results. In my own experience the followers that act on tweets is very small but then again I am not giving away free tickets.

If you find Twitter useful please write a comment about how you use Twitter it could be to just get news or just follow friends. And don’t forget to follow me at @nderaj.

THANK YOU!

Happy Memorial Day Everyone. Because of the holiday there will be no regular post but I wanted to thank two people who have improved the blog and I hope to be thinking more of you soon.

First, Dave Inman who took the new picture you see, among many others. He made me look really good and I can’t thank him enough. He doesn’t do this professionally, yet, but he might as well, he has all the right equipment and made me look better than I really did. If you need pictures, for yourself or for a fundraising calendar (wink) let me know and I can see if he is interested. A shoot with him is a blast because he is such a fun guy. Brush up on your old movies first though.

Second, is Clayton Smith who has been editing the blog for me when I write enough in advance that he has time to do so. I am the worst about writing in advance but when I do he really polishes the posts to make them clearer. He is a very smart graduate student in Chicago and will soon be looking for a place in theatre management. I hope we get to work together on something because I really trust his insight and love his creative thinking.

Thanks again for everything guys. You make me look and sound great.

Dive Right In

I told you a couple of days ago about my meeting with Edgar Dobie from Arena Stage. Well, in that meeting we were talking about my job as a Booking Manager and how bookings affect the Shakespeare Theatre and I told him about a bi-monthly meeting I started with the other regional theatres that handle rentals. I asked if maybe he wanted to send someone from Arena to the meeting.

I was so impressed by him in our meeting that it wasn’t too surprising when he said he wanted to attend himself. I know, and I am sure he knows, that this could easily be passed off to someone below him but he wanted to jump in and get an understanding of what the meeting was about before sending someone else.

As a leader it is so easy to pass things off to staff but really good leaders jump in and get their feet wet. They want to understand the organization from top to bottom. Think of all meetings your staff goes to on your behalf. I suggest you step in on some of those meetings to get a better understand of your organization or your production. Knowledge is power so learn more about what people on the inside of your company are doing.

Networking 2.4

I have a goal every week of networking in and outside my company. One of the many goals I try and set for myself. I try and have two meals each week to network. I have one with a co-worker and one with someone outside of the company.

Lunch is the best time to catch up and get to know a co-worker. It is simple and yet powerful. It is great to get to know someone from another department and get to know what they do. You can better understand how you / your department can better interact with them and their department. By reaching out it shows you have a genuine interest in them. Bosses are always important but it is also just as important to get to know their assistants as they have a more open understanding of the interworking of departments. Don’t forget to also make friends with those box office staff members. How many times do you need to get good seats on short notice? There are lots of people that you probably interact with on a small basis. Reach out and meet them and understand how you can work better together.

Dinner or drinks are a great time to get out and meet people from other theatres or outside of your industry. By meeting with them you never know what might come from it. In my case I have gotten more clients, tickets to other events, ect. You just never know and reaching out never hurts.

I suggest you start to set your own networking goals. Meet people inside and outside your company. Expand your network and watch how fast those little meals pay off.

Work / Life Balance

Luckily, for people in theatre we love what we do. Most of our friends probably have the similar interest in theatre. I used to work for a small theatre in Maryland that shall remain nameless. While I was there I hated my job. I was working 60 hours a week on average and had little personal time. The time I did take off I felt very guilty and always ended up doing some work remotely.

I am not sure the reason I hated being there was entirely the company’s fault. I think some of it was on me as a manager. I had a very poor work / life balance. Now I understand how important that is in my career. I need time to be away and have time to myself. We are not surgeons and most things are not life and death. We as managers or producers sometimes need to let go a little and trust the people we have hired.

I am very fortunate in my job to have an associate. He is my savor some days because I can trust him to make decisions on my behalf. If you have the best around it allows you the time to be away.

Take time for yourself. Get out of the office or theatre and see friends and do things outside of your work life. It will keep you happier and more focused when you are in the office or theatre.

Networking 2.3

I had the pleasure of meeting with Edgar Dobie yesterday. He is the new Managing Director of Arena Stage and the producer of 9 to 5. I wrote him and said I would like to meet with him with no set agenda and I think it was a great first meeting. He commented more than once on my card and how thoughtful it was.

I got to ask him questions about how he got started and hear some interesting stories about his career path. He also asked about mine and what I thought about certain things. I was impressed with how much he had done in so little time. He has not only been the head of several regional theatres but produced many commercial Broadway productions. He also was the president of the Really Useful Theatre Company for the first six years of its life. I was setting there think he should right write a book.

Why I am talking about this meeting. Well, it goes back to networking. I reached out and took a chance of meeting a producer and guess what it worked. I have sent out many cards like that and only a few get responses but even if I get one response and meeting like I had yesterday it would be worth it. I hope to meet with him again and find a way for me to learn from him. Take a chance and reach out to someone who could expand your network. You never know what might happen.

Other Side of the Coin

I am the Booking Manager for the Harman Center for the Arts. In my job I have to look at the best ways to fill the theatre during empty times. I have to do what I can to make sure we are giving our clients a fair deal yet make as much profit as possible.

There are some empty times next year that made me think, “What if I put on a show?” So I started to run the numbers. There is a relatively small show that I have worked on a number of times that I had in mind. Well after running the numbers many times I found out that I couldn’t afford to present that show. The risk was just too high. I would have to sell 90% of the house to break even. Producers have different numbers that they think could be their break even point but 90% is not one of them. I could do 60% but I would rather do 50% as my break even point.

Now I have to find ways to make it easier for people to make money here. There has to be a way that I don’t have to cut my profit but can increase the profit of my clients. I have a meeting with marketing and development soon and maybe some brainstorming will help me come up with some ideas.

One idea I have is to open up the program to our clients. Let them sell ads in our programs. We could get a cut of the profit and let them keep some because with out them selling the ad we wouldn’t have the ad sale anyway right?

When you are working with people try to look at things from their side. It could change how you operate and maybe give you some ideas to not only help them but help you.

Have Fun

It is important to have fun with what you are doing. Make sure that you like your co-workers and like the company your work for and have fun with your job. I can’t tell you how many of my friends hate their jobs. My answer is to just leave. If you ever get to the point that you are not having fun with your job then try and find something else to do. In theatre we usually don’t get paid enough to hate our jobs.

I really like the Shakespeare Theatre Company. My colleagues are nice and fun and even my bosses are fun to hang out with. It was scary coming into a new company and not knowing anyone but it made since and worked out. Everyday I really enjoy going to work. So make sure you find something that makes you happy.

Building a Network

There is more to Facebook than meets the eye. When I first started using Facebook I was afraid that it would take up to much time to maintain and not be worth the extra time. Boy was I wrong! I think Facebook is one of the best tools to build a network and stay in touch with people and in some cases maybe even reach out to people you don’t know. My good friend Ed Reggi told me he had a goal of a certain number of Facebook friends everyday. I laughed because I thought it was so ridiculous. What good could come of having that many friends on Facebook? People you didn’t even know.

Well, it was only a couple of weeks later I started to set goals for myself. Granted I know most of the people but I do add people I don’t know, people that have similar interests. Why? Well Reggi, who is now close to 4,000 friends, has access to all those people. That is more than a lot of local theatres mailing lists.

When you have a large network like that you can do lots of things fast. Promote a show. Raise money. And the more active you are the better to keep your “audiences” attention. I use a couple of different methods of keeping my network. The first one I used was Facebook. Then I started to use Twitter. And now I use this blog to maybe reach more people. What are ways you could build your network and what would you use it for?

Are we friends on Facebook yet?

Budgets

Okay, I love my budgets I must say. My personal budget involves an excel spreadsheet with 10 tabs. It is somewhat intense.

I will be looking for a new place to live soon and I keep going back to the budget to see what I can really afford. Two things are important to me when looking for a place to live. 1) Living Alone. 2) Living in DC. Unfortunately my budget tells me I can not afford both and that I have to choose which one is more important. I could lie to myself and just get an apartment in DC by myself but then I would reach a point where I couldn’t pay the rent.

Why am I talking about my apartment hunting you might ask? Theatres do the same thing. We are getting close to the fiscal year of most theatres and it is time to make decisions. Sure I could tell my boss that I can reach the goals he wants but the truth is that I can’t. Your leader could tell the board of directors sure we will make those goals but if they can’t then things or people will have to be cut. I think it is better to make the tough decisions sooner rather than later.

Which way do you budget? I always put expenses high and pray that I stay within them and put income low hoping to do better. Some people do the opposite and neither one are right or wrong but the tough choices have to come sometime.

Find Partners

I have been working with a local music group. They are looking to have a more professional venue but it would cost them. They would take a minimum of a $5,000 loss after ticket sales. Is it worth it for them to have that venue?

I think so. Now is the time to stand out. People are spending less and what they do spend is being spent a better quality of things. Going to a church for a concert is fine but going to a new large venue built for music that includes ushers, professional lighting, and program could take them to the next level.

How can they move forward with such a large cost? I suggest that they need to find a partner. Find someone with similar programming that can share the space. Maybe another music group? One can have a matinee and one can have the evening show. Maybe if you can rent the space for a week you could switch off nights with another group. The big cost for most productions is labor and most of the labor is the load in and load out. So what if they split the cost with another group. I recently did four shows in a row. We used the same lighting plot for all the shows. It took a lot of work to get the designers to talk and reuse the lighting in the air but it saved so much money. Better yet if the group had used the same lighting designer it would have been even better and saved them more money.

I am looking forward for this group to have a weekend of program that will hopefully get more people to their show and save them money. There will be more to come as this project grows.

Touchpoint

I attended a musical on Friday night and the experience made me think about a workshop I once attended. In the workshop the speaker talked about how businesses should make every touchpoint count. By doing that you would not only have happy costumers but start word of mouth.

My friend and I were 2 minutes late to the musical. I am usually really early but things with dinner and traffic made us late. When we arrived, the doors to the theatre were closed and we were asked to wait in the lobby until there was a late seating break at which point we would be led to a side balcony until the first act was over.

First off, I want to say I was impressed that they always start on time. I think that is commendable and it will help get the audiences to start to show up on time. The theatre even tried to make efforts to accommodate the late seaters by having a screen to watch the show on until you could be led to the balcony. However the monitor was small and had a very fuzzy picture and the sound was awful. Also the house managers were a little rude when an older lady said she couldn’t hear.

It made me think of making every touchpoint count. There is a way to make that experience better for the late comers. They will always be annoyed that they can’t be seated but having a better monitor and sound would have made it easier to swallow. Also a kinder house manager would have made it a little better. Was there anything else they could do?

When you are working on a project or for a company think of how you can make EVERY touchpoint with the customers count. It made me look at my job here at the Harman Center. I was trying to think how I could make my clients experience here better. Well, for one I am working on getting free wi-fi for my clients so it is easy for them to be online when they are in the building. Also I am going to start to send out a follow up card to let them know how happy I was to have them use our building and ask for feed back.

What are ways you have been reached out to by places you shop? How can you improve your guests or customers experience and make everything with their experience count? Leave comments below.

Have Faith

I sometimes get caught up in the “what if’s” about projects and they often scare me from taking the leap. I ponder about the budget and if I really think I can pull off something that big.

I have been playing with a fundraising idea through social media and even got a great response to my “test balloon.” But then I talked myself out of it because I thought there was no way. One day later I got a card from one of my dear friends in California. She wrote a very sweet note and included $40 in cash. I couldn’t believe it. She had so much faith in my project that she took the time to just go ahead and send me cash. I can’t stop smiling about it. In my test balloon I asked about $10 and she sent four times that amount.

All my fears where gone. What was the worst that could happen? I didn’t raise the money? Her faith in me recharged me and soon you will see the results of my follow through.

So have faith in yourself and trust your instincts. They are usually right and will lead you in the right direction.

Know What Is Going On

One thing I try to do every morning as I wake is check out the news. I click the TV on CNN and listen to what is going on in the world, and then, when I get out my computer to check my email, I check three sites.

Playbill
Variety
NY Times

I read the headlines and some of the stories so that I know what is going on in the theatre world. This comes in handy more than you know. Nothing is more embarrassing than being in a meeting with the leadership of your company when they are discussing the latest show to open in New York and you have no idea what they are talking about.

Also, this knowledge could come in handy if you are with someone you want to impress; you can bring up something new that happened that day and be knowledgeable enough to discuss it with him. With today’s web-enabled phones, it is becoming too easy to have this information.

Networking 2.1

It surprises me how many people build their networks, just to let them deteriorate. One of the keys to having a great network is following up and staying in touch.

My assistant makes fun of me the day after a networking event because I spend an hour that morning writing cards. Nothing major, just little notes to follow up on conversations I had with people. This is one of the ways following up makes a difference. Only about 1 out of 10 of those cards leads to a working relationship, but I still follow up because the numbers, however small, start to add up.

Another thing people forget to do is stay in touch. This means with past employers, former teachers, and classmates. I try to not let 6 months go by without talking to the key people in my network. This could be a dinner if we are in town or just an email to see what they are up too. And let’s not even get started on Christmas cards.

I am lucky enough to attend the Missouri State Thespian conference every year as a presenter. I always arrive 24 hours before the conference. Why? Because this is where I went to school and worked before moving out east. I start my day at the Fox Theatre where I see old friends and my former boss. Then I am off to Webster to see some of my former professors, and while I am there I stop by the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis to see everyone. Then, in the evening, I catch up with other presenters at the conference. It is a very busy day, but it so valuable to me. It keeps me connected to several people from four different organizations. That is why I take an extra day off of work.

Tony Time

Today the Tony Nominations came out. A couple of big surprises were in the Best Musical category. I saw Shrek and it was not a best musical by any stretch. Rock of Ages got great reviews but I haven’t heard much about it.

Do the Tony’s really affect business? Well, I am going to NYC this weekend. I was going to see 9 to 5 but now I think I will see Rock of Ages instead. What are your thoughts on the nominations? Comment below.

You can check out all the nominations at Playbill.

Passion

You knew it was coming. Passion! You hear it all the time in this business. When I was in the CTI 14-week program, it became a running joke because every week a new producer came in and almost always drifted toward the topic of “passion.” Well, guess what? They were right.

In this business, you can’t get rich quick. In fact, very few of us get rich in this business at all. We do it because we love it. If you don’t LOVE it, then you should save yourself a lot of time and energy and do something you do love. Yes, there are days when I wish I had a normal 9 to 5 job, but most days I am truly excited about coming to work and excited about what I do. When you are deciding what you really want to do (it could be which show you produce or what to study in school), follow your heart. If you really love it, then go for it, and don’t let anything or anyone hold you back. People told me I was not good enough to get into Webster and told me I shouldn’t move to D,C. Well, those have turned out to be two of the best decisions for my career.

Back in Missouri, there are several “mega churches” where I grew up. I always wondered how they became so successful. The answer is the leaders of those churches are passionate about what they do, and they get very passionate followers. They continue to grow and grow. Theatre, like religion, is full of very passionate people. Take the passion of the late Gilbert and Jaylee Mead.

“Gilbert and Jaylee are perhaps the single largest individual supporters of the performing arts in the greater D.C. region; privately and through their family foundation, they have given more than $50 million to theaters in the Washington region. The couple was awarded the ‘Patron of the Arts’ award from the Cultural Alliance, the Washington Post Award for distinguished community service in 1996, and the Mayor’s Arts Award for service to the arts in 1998. They were Washingtonians of the Year in 1999” (Source: Arena Stage website).

Surround Yourself with the Best

We are in a collaborative business. We work with lots of various people on one project. There are actors, directors, designers, stage managers, marketers, and many other people.

By surrounding yourself with the best you share knowledge and become even smarter. At a previous job I got the opportunity to hire someone that could, in part, assist me with budgeting. It was an obvious choice for me. I had an intern two years earlier who was a wiz with budgets and excel. By having her in my office things got done faster and there was more time to do other projects that I had been putting off.

Another example is Pride and Prejudice, a show I am helping produce. The lead producer wanted to know more about social media and how it could help spread the word and raise money for her show. Right away I knew two people that she should talk to. In a couple of emails a conference call was set and she got to listen to valuable information about what was going on in social media and how it could be used to help her. One of those people has a small empire of followers on Twitter and Facebook. The other has yet to make a website to reference, but he is a very smart grad student that is looking at how producers can fund a show with a lot of small investors as appose to a few large investors.

A friend once told me I was the most important person in his network. That was one of the best complements I could have gotten. We are good friends and I and I know we would be friends no matter what, but we both love to get together and brainstorm. Some exciting ideas come from those sessions that we both use.

So surround yourself with the smartest people and bring as many ideas to the table as you can get. Who knows what may come?