Getting To The Core Of The Matter

Happy Holidays to everyone! I wish you peace, joy and love during this holiday season. My husband doesn't believe me, but, prior to this year, I had never watched "It's A Wonderful Life" straight through. It was great to finally watch it straight through as well as watching my other favorites, "A Christmas Story" and "Miracle on 34th Street". When I say "Miracle on 34th Street", I am referring to the original, the one with Edmund Gwenn, who won the Oscar for his portrayal of Kris Kringle.

I have found at the end of the year, I do somewhat of a re-group - I review the year to re-visit my successes, my failures, my in-processes and I always manage to get back to my core - my core is my spirituality. I have done a lot of reading over the past few days - I have read "Conscious Creation" (by Dee Wallace) and "The Power of Awareness" (by Neville), and I am currently reading "Journey To Enlightenment" (by Ross Bishop). I recommend you purchase all three books from Amazon (save some money in the process).

I am having difficulty reading the last book because I am actually absorbing every word of this book - so I stop and really let it sink in which takes me more time but it is so worth it - and I swear the chapter called "The Misunderstanding" was written about me and is speaking directly to me. This book is all about choosing whether to live in what the author calls "God-Space", living a life of compassion, love and gratitude, or living a life in the shadow of fear, emotions and the ego. It talks about problems form because of limiting beliefs we all have that we cling to. Problems we encounter in life are signs from the Universe to change these beliefs or the problems will snowball into crises. Enlightenment asks us to deal with our limiting beliefs and fears, and in doing so, we move out of the shadow of fear and back into a life of compassion and love. This book is "The Secret" with a shot of reality. I say that because while I enjoyed "The Secret" very much, it oversimplified things. It stated to manifest your desires, you had to think positive, do your affirmations, visualize, and constantly think about your desires, and you would receive. However, if you are consciously thinking about these things but subconsciously you are saying that "I am not worthy to receive because I do not deserve them", your conscious and subconscious cancel each other out, and the result is that the Universe does not deliver because it is confused over what you want. So, the trick is to change your beliefs to those grounded in love, compassion and gratitude while focusing on your desires, and you will manifest your desires sooner.

However, this is easier said than done because we all resist change, we especially resist change in beliefs we have held with us for years. 2009 was not a good year for me because I resisted a lot - in my acting goals, in my health goals, in my financial goals - and while I saw some progress, I saw a lot of areas where I was "stuck". We all go through these moments. I have learned that staying in the moment is a big component to stay in light and love. My desires are to be a sought-after character actress who has more than enough paid acting work that will sustain me, to be healthy and maintain a fit weight through sound nutrition and daily exercise, and be full of love, compassion and gratitude. Profess your desires to the Universe. Let me know your progress.


Cheers.

Gratitude in Los Angeles

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. I spent a quiet Thanksgiving with my husband, Jeff, and our poodle, Folsom.

In a very ego-intensive entertainment industry I am a part of, in order for me to keep my sanity, I am grateful each day but I don't only think it - I say it. The words "I am grateful every day" are the first line of my affirmations, which I say at least 5 times every day.

In addition to spending time with my family, I worked at my catering job for a local catering company, who I have worked for off and on the past 3 years. I love working residential parties. I love to help - my reward is seeing guests enjoy themselves. The family I worked for on Thursday was nothing but gracious, friendly, happy, and the list goes on. They get what life's all about - they are grateful and they live in the moment.

2009 has not been the best for me financially - I had very limited work in film and TV - I have not been alone in that regard - but I had a really successful year with my tutoring business. In essence, I am meeting my goal of having the majority of my 2009 revenues come from entrepreneurial activities. You see, I used to have a 40+ hour/week job as a management consultant. The job was my first priority and my acting followed. The economic slow down really slowed down my revenues - I used to make a six-figure salary and by the end of this year, I will have made 2/3 of that. The funny thing is letting go of all that money got me out of my head and I got so in tune with my acting instrument that I really enjoyed experiencing life, have become really comfortable in my body, learned it felt good to get out of my head and I have made a habit of being in the moment. I heard a great quote while watching TV today - "In order to be happy, one must be willing to let go off everything." I've heard this quote many times. Sometimes, we just have to let go and deal with life and get rid of the "who cares", you know that thing we let preoccupy us when we are in our head.

While I could compare myself to others and let it consume me, I choose to think about all the things I am grateful for and list them. And, when I think about that, I realize that I did do quite a bit. Have you ever noticed that when you are truly grateful, there's all this peace, love and joy that fills your body? Have you also noticed that when you are grateful, wonderful opportunities and events come your way?

Some of the things I am so grateful for include: my husband, my dog, my family and friends, my coaches, my tutoring clients, the acting work I did do this year, my unions, being able to sell our Ohio home in a very depressed market, my health, and new opportunities.


What are you grateful for?

Have fun in everything you do and enjoy life to the fullest!

Resiliency in Los Angeles

I like reading. Because of how busy I am, I do a lot of my reading online. One of my favorite blogs to read is my pal, David Dean Bottrell's blog, Parts and Labor. David is a gifted actor and writer. You might remember his eery, but spot-on portrayal of Lincoln Meyer on ABC's "Boston Legal". David is inspiring and has a way of saying what many of us Hollywood creatives are thinking. He is our mouthpiece.

David's message today really hit the nail on the head - we hold our destiny in our hands. While the economy may be taking its toll on Hollywood, it is up to us to do something about it - we can see the glass as half-empty - "I'm not getting any auditions", "I haven't booked a gig for a long time", etc. - or see the glass as half-full - "I need to stay visible", "I need to re-invent me".

Isn't being/staying visible the name of the game in Hollywood? This is where it starts. We have to build word of mouth to stay visible.

The ways I stay visible these days are: writing a column for a national online Marketing publication (I write about marketing my actor business), this blog, do readings for local writers groups, perform with my theatre company, and attend casting director workshops. I have also started an actor's business group and an actor's workout group for professional actors.

We need to be, as Alec Baldwin says in "Glengarry Glen Ross"..."A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing." What that means for an actor is to think strategically and always be creating, always be visible, always be building word of mouth. Actors must be resilient and steadfast. But, we need to mix it up and be creative in the process.

How Do Spirituality and Creativity Go Together?

One of my favorite quotes comes from my good friends at lululemon is: creativity is maximized when you live in the moment.. When you are conscious of your breathing (i.e. taking long deep breaths), you are focused on the task at hand and you are out of your head, you are present. This usually also means you are attuned to a higher power - whatever that is for you - your spirituality.

What is this marriage of creativity and spirituality? Working with your creativity is working with your soul which is working with creativity. Working with and nurturing both will lead you to new places for outer and inner self-discovery. Today, we have a guest writer, Adrienne Carlson, who writes for Online Christian Colleges and who talks about the connection between creativity and spirituality...


How Spirituality Enhances Creativity

You would think the two are miles apart, but then, the mind has a way of playing tricks on us when it comes to vague and unquantifiable entities like spirituality and creativity. While one refers to your relationship with God, the other focuses on the ability of your mind to let go and think out of the box, in an unconventional and non-traditional manner. But, if you think harder and more deeply, you’re bound to see that a belief in a being that is higher than us leads to the profound realization that there are no barriers to thought or achievement, and this is when creativity soars.

Spirituality enhances creativity because:

* It teaches dedication: When you believe in God or a higher being, you are true to your conscience and believe in working hard and with the highest degree of dedication. This in turn boosts your creativity because the will to achieve is the biggest driver of this talent.

* It encourages honesty: When you are spiritually inclined, you are true to yourself and your religion, and therefore to your work too. This allows you to concentrate only on the job at hand and you’re able to achieve perfection because your mind is free from all other thoughts except the one that your creativity is focused on.

* It releases you from inhibitions: When you’re able to pray without inhibition, the same sense of abandon allows you to think without inhibition too. You know you can try anything, even if it seems atrocious and unconventional, because creativity has neither boundaries nor borders. And when you allow your mind to wander freely even as it remains focused on the job you must do, that’s when creativity is at its best.

* It prods you to go the extra mile: Spiritual guidance tells us that we must work hard in order to deserve and earn goodwill and riches, both the financial and emotional kind. And to do this, we must go the extra mile instead of shirking responsibility and trying to avoid honest work. When you strive hard to do your best, your creativity comes to the fore and dazzles with its brilliance.

* It teaches you to be grateful: When you’re spiritual, you don’t let success go to your head. Rather, you are grateful for the talent that God has blessed you with and you remain humble. You don’t let conceit and pride take over, and this helps creativity flourish even more.

Adrienne welcomes any comments and questions and can be reached here.

A very big thank you to Adrienne on such a wonderful topic.

Happy October everyone. One thing I miss about the East is seeing the changing colors of the leaves in fall. Don't take that precious sight for granted. Don't take anything for granted. Like Tim McGraw says in his song, "live life like you were dying".


Peace and Love to you all.

9/11/09

On September 11, 2001 at approximately 8:45am EST, America was changed forever when hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower and hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower at approximately 9:05am EST; hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 hit the pentagon at approximately 9:30am EST; and hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Somerset County, PA, which is about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Fast-forward eight years and here we are, September 11, 2009. The memories are as vivid today as they were that day. I was in Pittsburgh, I just started in a VP of Marketing role three months earlier and my office was in a high-rise in downtown Pittsburgh. I was being the good girl that day and decided to take the bus. I remember it was about 8:45am when a colleague said that the World Trade Center had been hit. I think those of us not in NYC or closeby were thinking "yeah, right". I remember getting on line and just having my eyes glued to the computer or the TV when I finally got home. I remember immediately calling my husband, who was in Livermore, CA at the time - it was before 6am there - and I told him to turn on the TV and be safe! My drama didn't end there. Because we were in Pittsburgh and Flight 93 was so close to Pittsburgh, and our building was practically next door to the US Steel building, the largest building in downtown Pittsburgh, our building was evacuated. In fact, the entire downtown was evacuated, and it took me 3 hours to get back home.

I listened to a lot of radio yesterday and there was a lot of reminiscing of that fateful day. I was listening to KABC and Joe Scarborough had someone from MSNBC on who was working for Bloomberg News at the time. The most eery thing he said was that he was texting people in the World Trade Center that day about financial matters and what was going on immediately after the hit - many of those people perished. Wow, it makes me think a lot of the "drama" in my life is just white noise, and just doesn't matter.


I remember exactly what I was doing on September 11, 2001. So, for this post, I decided to ask some friends how they remember 9/11 and this is what they shared...


Mark Kinsey Stephenson - "My alarm clock went off and the radio news turned on. As I blinked my eyes open, I heard the announcer mention something about New York City under attack. What immediately came to mind was Orson Welles and that this prank wasn't funny, so I wandered over to the TV, flipped on one of the local LA channels and from that point through the rest of the day became horrified, watching and praying. I was also grateful that my dear friend, Camille Renna, from NY, was no longer alive to witness it."

Julia Flint - "I had just moved to LA, and I was working for a company in Connecticut. I tried to dial in to their computer that morning and couldn't get through. Then I tried to call them and all the phones were down. Then I tried to call other friends in Connecticut, same thing. (I have family and friends in NY and CT.) I turned on the news, just as they ran the footage of the first plane. I didn't understand what was happening. The newscasters didn't either. It was all a jumble of information. Frankly, I don't remember what happened after that, as I went into some sort of shocked panic. It was a day that changed our lives forever, from our traveling methods, to removal of some of our rights as citizens, to an implied (whether admitted or not) racial profiling, to anger at gov't officials, to that pervasive fear. But it also brought our country together, at least for a time (I will never forget being in New York shortly afterward -- the feeling of humanity/unity was overwhelming)."

David Dean Bottrell - "For some reason, I didn't turn on the news that morning, so I didn't hear about it until I was in my car and happened to turn on the radio. It was about 8:30 PST. At first (with no visuals) I didn't believe it. Planes had hit buildings before and the buildings hadn't collapsed. It wasn't until I got home and saw the footage that it became real."

Caroline Bielskis - "Although this day is marked with an event that has led to much negativity (pain, fear, hate, anger...), it is also marked with many positive things! Birthdays, for one. And, in 1906, Mahatma Gandhi initiated 'Satyagraha‘, which formed the basis of the modern non-violent resistance movement. In 1989, the ‘ Iron Curtain‘ between communist Hungary and Austria opened, paving the way for the fall of the Berlin Wall."

Neil Hunt - "I was at work, at first we thought it had been a light aircraft that hit the towers, then when we heard a second aircraft hit, we all thought what the hell was going on"

Lindy S. Hudis - "I was still in bed catching up on my sleep, as I had a night job at the time. The phone kept ringing and ringing and I had no idea what was going on. Then, my husband, Steve, told me to turn on the tv and I did and could not believe what I was seeing."

Margaret Chaidez - " I thought it was a commuter plane at first. I remember the whole day and how the world slowed down for a week."

and

"My cousin was killed in the Pentagon that day. He would have retired from the army in another 3 months. It really is ironic that he had received a purple heart in Vietnam only to die while sitting at his desk on American soil." - Johnny Dam

I think everyone I have talked with about 9/11 says the same thing - they were so amazed to see how strong we were as a nation and how we came together and helped each other. It shouldn't take a tragedy of this magnitude to bring us together. Let's love and protect each other, always.

Do you remember what you were doing on 9/11 or have a 9/11 story of your own? Send it to me. I would love to hear what touched you that day.


Peace and love to all of you!

Follow Up

Happy September. Gosh, can you believe it. September is kind of a renewal for me - getting back to the task at hand after the summer break. The only summer break I took was time from my standing tutor students. Yes, I tutor. My favorite subjects to tutor are Math, English, biosciences (like Biology and Chemistry), History, Advanced Placement (AP) courses and prepping students for their ACT and SAT tests. My life as a tutor in the summer is similar to that of a teacher - when there is no school, there is relatively little teaching or tutoring. I say relatively little because I still managed to have two new students during the summer - the ones that wanted to get a head start on tricky topics or refresh before they start classes. I love to tutor - my fulfillment is helping a student to learn and seeing the excitement in their eyes when they are learning. This week I will start working with my standing tutor students again. The new school year starts - it's time to renew dedication to learning. I'm also looking forward to the new tutoring opportunities I will have.

That was the only summer break I took.

As Susyn, the actor, I didn't take a break. As actors, we constantly are working our actor craft and actor business. We are entrepreneurs - we are the ones that make it happen so we have to work hard - learn and practice what we learn; AND be present. My daily goal is do at least one thing for my actor craft and at least one thing for my actor business. In addition, I try to follow Coach Jim Valvano's very poignant advice - to laugh, think and cry and do it daily.



As an actor, being present also helps me see the many opportunities that I might miss if I wasn't present. An actor also must focus on their actor business. I am an actor because I love being an actor and getting paid for what I love to do - act. To be paid, I have to search out opportunities and before I can be paid, I must develop and cultivate relationships. Cultivating relationships is the only way to sustain your business - and this applies to any business. This is especially true in the entertainment industry, which is a very project-intensive and entrepreneurial industry.

In my opinion, the guru of relationship-building is Keith Ferrazzi. I have been following him for a long time. Read his blog. Once there, check out his new book, "Who's Got Your Back". In one of his recent blog posts, Keith says that following up is the way to stand out from the crowd, it is the key to success in any field. There is a lot of clutter in any industry. To stand out, we have to be unique to get noticed. So, follow up.

Ideas for following up? When you meet someone at an event, do you send them a note 24-48 hours after meeting them? Do you send thank-you notes to casting directors or agents you meet to thank them for meeting you? Do you follow up submissions to industry peeps (agent, CD, producer, director, fellow actor, etc.)? Social media is a great follow up tool - do you forward info or show praise or gratitude for an interesting comment to individuals you met through Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc.? Email, Internet, phone, face-to-face are all great follow-up touch points. The keys to follow-up are timeliness, consistency and brevity.

So, does following up work? My answer is one word - absolutely. Here's a recent story for you. I have been lucky so far in my acting career to have had multiple agents. The majority of my agents have come from my following up on submissions that I have sent. There is a set of rules in the entertainment industry - started by who, noone knows - one of which is to not call to follow up. Rules? My stance is to break the rules - you have to be unique, while being professional, to stand out from the crowd. Anyway, this summer I wanted to switch agents so I did my research of agents I wanted to target, sent my headshot and resume along with a "to-the-point" cover letter. I paced myself - I sent my submission packages in a 3-week span. As a result, I was called in from the cover letter but my plan was to follow-up with every agent I didn't hear from. I made those calls, again I paced myself so I didn't overwhelm me! I actually secured more agent meetings and I ultimately signed with a great agent who I wanted to be with and who gets me (actors remember two things about agents - (1) they are a business partner, not a be-all-end-all solution -- you still have to run your business, success is in your hands, and (2) sign with an agent who gets you and you get them -- the relationship must be win-win). So, did I do anything special in the agent meetings? You bet. I researched everything I could find about the agent prior to the meeting and I again referred to Keith Ferrazzi - make the meeting about them and find out what's important to them and what's going on in their business. The meetings were good. The meeting that I had with the agent I chose was great - the connection we immediately had was great. The connection is the key to a great meeting.

It has been proven that we get ahead faster and more effectively by following up. But, we have to be strategic about following up. I have a plan on who I want to meet and I target those individuals. Otherwise, I would not have a focus, get overwhelmed and be ineffective. Start small. And, remember the rule of 7: it takes at least 7 times to "touch" your contact (or buyer) to gain trust and ultimately be in a position to sell. This is where the follow up comes in. And, remember that snail-mail, email, Internet, social media, telephone, face-to-face are all great channels you can use to follow up with someone. Be unique. Mix it up. Remember to be professional, and not a pest.

As a tutor, I'm also an entrepreneur - I have to generate business all the time and I am not able to do that without following up. So, again, it's all in developing and cultivating relationships.

The follow up is first about gaining trust, not getting what you want. Getting what you want happens after you make it about them.

So, remember, ultimately it's all about who knows you, not who you know.

Trust, But Verify

Ronald Reagan's presidency began while I was at the University of Colorado. I majored in Economics, and I never thought his "Reaganomics" plan would work, even though I was able to triple my salary while he was President. One take away from the Reagan years for me was his famous quote "Trust, But Verify". I value that quote and heed the advice in both my personal and professional relationships.

That advice has really come in handy as I navigate the waters of the entertainment industry. Relationships are a two-way street. Maybe, I'm an idealist, but deep down I believe each person ultimately wants to have a win-win relationship with whomever they are in that relationship with. As long as we understand the purpose for the relationship, and we strive for win-win, we will be successful. If we get in our head and the ego starts controlling things, we lose the objectivity and "I" becomes more important than "them" and things go awry. If you keep the course, stay present and maintain focus on the goal, things can be beautiful. Of course, not all relationships are meant to be, but putting these things in place will give you a fighting chance.

There are many relationships in the entertainment industry. One relationship I am questioning these days is that of the professional actor and student filmmaker. As a professional actor, I enjoy appearing in student films because I see many advantages - I am acting in a fun (life's too short to do things that you don't love and aren't fun) project, meeting new people (perhaps a future Steven Spielberg or Nora Ephron in the making is directing), obtaining additional footage for my reel, the film might get noticed while on the festival circuit, and I'm working (albeit usually not paid but I'm doing what I love and I'm having fun).

Lately, there are a few film schools in town whose student filmmakers are getting bad reputations as being very disrespectful to the actors they book to work on their projects - they aren't caring for their resources. Case in point, this weekend, I was to do a student film with one of these schools. Initially, I took an objective approach. The student filmmaker contacted me to be one of the leads. After learning about the project, I was excited to film it. However, after all the miscues on the student director's part, way too many to list here, I decided enough was enough and I did not do the project. This film project provided a whole new meaning to "Murphy's Law". The moral of the story: film students - please learn to take care of the actors and treat us with respect. That means have a plan, communicate and deliver on all of your promises.

My takeaway? I'm going to continue to do student films, but I am going to be much more picky than I have been - trust, but verify.