Entertainment pros like me come from a world of normal people. We connect with, and are possibly raised by people who work at jobs. The whole marvelous universe of freelance / entrepreneur lifestyle has mega challenges that can cause lots of burnout, disappointment, and loss of flow. While everyone else is enjoying their weekend, we’re working. When people are going out to be entertained, we’re the ones entertaining them. Leisure is our work.
Here are some skills that are crucial for our line of work.
#1 Separation of self and service
The purpose behind what we do is a often a big part of who we are, but…
- the work is not us
- the results are not us
- the accolades are not validation
- the career is not us
- the job title is not us
It’s hard to keep track. It’s hard to keep pouring ourselves in to our work without being emulsified in it. It never gets easy to separate ourselves in a healthy way, but we can learn and be very strengthened by this skill. When we lack this skill, the emotional rollercoaster gets exhausting and the fear of being destroyed can become paralyzing.
#2 Separation of boss and worker
In most big businesses, there’s one CEO and a lot of workers. Similarly, in a solo venture, there are high-level decisions to be made, and then there’s the work to do. The CEO can not spend all their time on the factory floor gluing things together, because they have big decisions to make, and the worker is too busy with work to really think clearly about the motivations of headquarters.
We as small biz owners often have more work todo than thinking. Finding a way to delegate tasks to ourselves can be a big relief. Once we separate the labor from the brain work, the labor becomes lighter and the big-picture becomes clearer.
#3 Audience empathy
We are not independent. All of us rely on millions of people every day. In showbiz, our reliance is heavily on people with whom we interact. We need empathy for our collaborators, customers, and fans. Empathy helps us understand our value for ourselves and for our audience. It helps us relate more to our work. It helps us understand the purpose of what we do. It helps us connect more and make more of an impact.
When our empathy is strong…
- we don’t wonder why we’re getting paid
- we don’t feel like such imposters
- we interpret feedback as fuel
- we are exhilarated by challenging our audiences
Building more empathy often involves more conversations with our audiences than we are often comfortable having.