It’s dangerous for a builder of entertainment to get hung up on a dream. It’s even more dangerous to get hung up on a singular project as a vehicle to that dream.

I see a lot of people thinking they need to make a perfect video to promote their upcoming youtube channel, then everything will fall into place. I hear people say they need to make a great album and that will be the thing.

This is the dreamer’s timeline.

We’re dreaming and waiting for the single project to save us, to be our destination.

It’s unlikely to work out.

There’s a lot to do. Making a great whatever is hard and…

1. we won’t know it’s great until people receive it
2. sometimes we don’t know what we’re working on as it’s developing
3. holding on to an idea can drag us into endless work for a bad goal
4. our success often comes from surprising directions
5. the project can seem big and drag on
6. our perfectionism can prevent us from shipping
7. we can burn ourselves out making the thing and not have energy for the other parts of it like distributing, promoting, packaging

I’ve gone thru so many ups and downs in my career by getting excited about something, killing myself working on it, then not getting the dream success. This non-vulnerable approach also prevented me from noticing the success that was there, but unplanned.

Zoltar’s Timeline is way more fun

A fortune teller knows we have success heading our way. He doesn’t tell us what success it is. There are many steps on our timeline, but he doesn’t reveal how many or what they are. While this feels maybe less exciting, it’s also less of everything bad in making entertainment.

Keep the hope alive

By trusting Zoltar, we know that we don’t have to see the success on the horizon. We don’t have to track it or perfect ourselves toward it. We just have to do the next step. We can’t see the hour-hand move.

Move fast, do a lot

We gotta get that great work done now, because there are gonna be a lot more steps. This helps me a lot because my impatience attracts me to the dreamer’s timeline. I want to get to the finish line. With the dreamer’s timeline, the finish line only comes from doing perfect work. On Zoltar’s timeline; the finish line comes when we produce, ship, and persist. Success comes no matter what. It’s right there in the crystal ball.

Our job is to trust Zoltar and make lot’s of great things because there’s more to do than we can ever see. The success is most likely more rewarding than we can plan.

If we lower our rate in front of the client (eg: “I can give you a lower price if you’re in a sticky situation”) we are saying “this is not what my service is worth and I might be worth even less”

The response to “Can you do it for less?” Is “I can do less.”

Yesterday I wrote about determining the value we offer. That’s the most helpful approach to giving a discount. We figure out what value we offer, then set a price based on that value.

If we set a price, then offer a discount, we’re negotiating against ourselves.

We’re not just lowering the perceived value, but the actual value.

Everything’s value is based on an agreement, not on omnipresent rules of the universe. When our prices are set in stone, it gives consumers or clients a chance to understand and appreciate our value. It gives them the comfort of our leadership. It gives them an understanding that nothing is owed. When we feel like we maybe didn’t get the best price, we question the value of the thing we bought endlessly and our experience is diminished. When we know we’re in an expensive car, it feels expensive, it’s rewarding just in the expensivicity of it.

It seems like a gift to give someone a discount, but it’s usually the opposite.

I’ve seen entertainment providers mess this up a lot

1. State their price, but say they’re willing to do it for less.
2. Offer a discount code for ticket sales on the front page of their websites.
3. Put discounts on fliers just because they think it will help get more sales.
4. Put tickets on groupon.
5. Offer discounts to compete with services of other companies.

Good discounts Exist

If our margins are so fat that we can give a discount and still make a solid profit on a discounted sale, it may be an opportunity to lower our prices anyhow…

Here are some examples of helpful discounts…

• When a potential consumer will save us money on fixed costs. (eg: block bookings, buying in bulk)
• When connecting with a group will save us on advertising. Groupon cuts our revenue down to 25%, and the Grouponers are usually sucky customers that won’t come back for full price, but other groups that request a small discount for access to their tribe can be great.
• When we change the value of our offering to make it simpler (eg: beta testing, removing commitment / guarantees, lessening work)
• When we get something besides money from the client or the situation (eg: we are given a sponsorship package, we are promoted by the client, we get perks that save us money)

Lose customers by avoiding discounts

We lose customers by offering discounts and by not offering discounts. Nothing is for everyone. We gotta pick our strategy carefully. If we want people to appreciate what we do as much as we do, discounts are not the way.

If we want to tread water and struggle in the fog of our value, arbitrary discounts are the way to total success!

I’m writing today about pricing gigs. A client asks our price and we tell them a number. It sucks. The problem starts before this point. I mean problemZZZZ

• We are offering a partial solution
• We don’t know what we’re offering
• We don’t know what the prospect needs
• We don’t consider what more can be offered
• We don’t position ourselves as experts / guides
• We rush to offer a number

When I start talking to performers about this stuff, their eyes often glaze over initially. “I just want to ask for more money.” Well…

This is how to ask for a lot more money.

This is also how to avoid bad negotiations.

The ultimate pricing situation is value-based.

We’ll want to have a conversation with the client and understand what they need and what value we can provide. If I’m doing the same 45 minute puppet show for kids, my prices don’t change randomly. My prices change if it’s not the same…and usually, it’s not the same.

If we can provide less value than we did before, and we can operate on lower fees, we offer a lower price.

Most likely, we were undercharging before, so truly evaluating what we offer that’s special and powerful and valuable to a client can help communicate why we’re bombass.

Understanding value is a muscle built over time.

This isn’t about being sassy and saying “I’m worth it!”, this is about actually understanding what our service is worth and communicating it clearly. When we do this, the burden of “sales” is off our shoulders. Each time we focus on the value we can provide, we get better at noticing more value.

Have a discovery call with the client, find out their whole situation, then offer them a solution with a price. We don’t have to do it all in one call.

I’m non-adversarial with clients

If we’re working collaboratively with a client, we don’t charge a person in a mansion more than a person in a trailer park because they can afford more.

I repeat-

We don’t charge a person in a mansion more than a person in a trailer park because they can afford more.

We probably still charge the mansion dweller more, but it’s for a different reason. That reason: we offer them more value.

I would need to talk to the trailer park person first, but I’m assuming that most likely money is worth more to them than:

1. Their reputation
2. Getting a top-level performer
3. Protecting their carpets
4. Punctuality
5. and a million other things…

So, we don’t need to offer them protection for all that stuff.

A more affluent person may value this stuff and if we can offer it to them, we’re offering them more. More is worth more.

Here’s the car wreck

Someone calls me up and says “Can you come sweep up a mess at the corner of Broadway and Oak?” “Yes” “How much is it?” “40 bucks” “OK!”

I’m screwing myself and them. What if it’s a five car pile up?

I’m going to need to get a tow truck to come and move cars. I’m over budget already. It’s gonna take me a long time.

What if I know CPR and the caller’s friend is about to die at the scene? If I ask a few questions, I might find out that I need to rush down there and help in a real way.

What if I know that leaving toxic waste at the scene will result in a $1000 fine and the caller doesn’t know that? If I ask questions and find out that there’s a waste spill, I could add on toxic waste cleanup and make and extra $500 maybe.

According to Ryan on The Office, selling to a new customer is 5x more expensive than a repeat customer. It might even be more expensive than that. It takes a lot of work to sell a ticket to a stranger, or get someone who’s never heard of us to buy our book. Even if our advertising costs us time instead of money, we have costs.

Being good isn’t the only way

Being the best option is a great way to get repeat business, and from an economist perspective, there’s a simple reason.

Consumers make a choice about their costs. This is just an example, please do not trust me as a source for mustard sale news.

I really like Jimmy’s Mustard, but Tommy’s Mustard is on sale for 50% less. I’ve never tried Tommy’s. The way I’ll instantly calculate cost in my head will be something like…

• The cost of Jimmy’s is $8
• The cost of Tommy’s is $4 + risk of not liking it + the energy of deciding + not knowing what the brand represents

Then, I decide which mustard costs more. If getting a guaranteed flavor blast is worth more to me than $4, I’ll go with Jimmy’s every time. Easy decision.

Amplify the cost of leaving

If I was disappointed with my cell phone company, it would take a lot for me to switch. The last time I got an upgrade, it took 3 hours. I do not want to deal with that at all. It was annoying, I had to negotiate, it was tiring and it took up my day. I know that every phone company is going to be difficult and I don’t know how difficult it will be to switch my service. So, here we have LOCK IN. I am not stuck with my phone service no matter what. Even with a contract, I can pay my way out of it. It is just way more costly for me to leave than to stay.

Here are some ways to lock in an audience

1. Be the best. Then, every other choice is a demotion
2. Build a relationship. Then, to get the same quality experience from other entertainment, our audience will need to build a relationship with them.
3. Connect to a community. If we monopolize a community, then community members need to reject the community to reject us.
4. Serve the audience more than one thing.
5. Use the sunk cost fallacy to our benefit.
6. Make apparent the cost of leaving. When consumers make these cost analyses, they do so quickly and emotionally from the top of mind. If we can keep our value and cost of leaving on top of their mind, we can make the decision easier for them.

When our egos butt up against conflicting ideas, we are delighted. When we are reminded of our loss of control, we get the goodness of life. This is the only time we get it. When a cat does something to surprise us, when a movie teaches us something new, or when a friend roasts us, we are opened up to reality and we are given the opportunity for joy.

Entertainment creators who are trying to make people feel comfortable are missing the point. It’s not comfortable to have a friend (or a cat) or to watch a good movie.

There’s this phrase that so many people use. “Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.” It might be relaxing, but enjoyment is active.

If a play is relaxing, I will be going to sleep. I guarantee it.

I would rather people say “Sit up and pay attention, because tonight your life will change for the better!”

We need to get what we want as entertainment creators. The ultimate thing we want is the opportunity to lead our audience from where they are to a new elevated experience. We can’t lead anyone anywhere if we don’t join them where they are. To get the good stuff, we’ve got to understand our audience. Here are some ideas for getting there quickly.

Experience other entertainment

I have been very baffled by performers who don’t watch other performers, or movie directors who claim to not watch films. If I have the opportunity to check out something similar to what I’m doing, it’s an early Christmas gift to my audience. It’s so awesome for me to get a chance to see stuff through their eyes. It isn’t easy – it’s work – but it’s awesome.

I get to see when I feel cared for, when I feel like something is missing, when I’m bored or excited… and what I walk away discussing with my wife.

Experience the before and after

Standups can watch the comics that are on before them and meet the audience there. Video game designers could think about the experience of getting their game from the app store.

With Scot Nery’s Boobietrap, we put a camera at the entrance. When we watched the video playback the next day, we got to see how people arrive. Some people wait for friends, some people don’t know how to get tickets, some people smoke, some people are early, so they go to some other bar for a drink.

Before that, I didn’t think too deeply about it, but I kinda imagined that people showed up, got their ticket and went inside. The reality was more loose and individual, it helped us think about what we wanted to nurture and serve once they got inside. They don’t fall in line like good audience soldiers ready to do what everyone else does. They need individual activities that bring them from their zone to our zone.

Watch the audience

I’m not much for focus groups, but I love recording a video of the audience at a show. When I make a new website, I like watching someone use it. A million discoveries can be made watching the audience. I guarantee they do not take in entertainment the way we imagine or plan or even remember.

I have learned a poo-ton thru online advice and IRL mentors. The advice I’ve given is even better! The greatest entertainment makers get lots of counseling from other masters, but we can sometimes do it wrong. We can see an opportunity to connect with someone’s wisdom and waste it.

I want to reiterate that people like to help. People like to feel useful.

Ask a lot. Go for it. But do it right.

Saying “Could I pick your brain” Sucks

• This is a gross phrase
• What are we asking? It’s like “could I talk to you?”
• Why?

An example of a bad way to transfer wisdom

Us – “You’re so cool. May I pick your brain?”

Successful person – “Uh, I guess so…”

Us – “What’s the best way to break into Hollywood?”

Successful person – “Uh, well, it’s not locked.”

1. Be specific to the advisor

“You’re an animator with a unique style and you’ve found lots of success. Could I ask for a little help with my own style?”

“You are an incredible networker. Could I ask you some questions about connecting with the right people for this project I’m working on?”

“You’ve been really good in this biz. Could I ask you a little about my direction starting out?”

Notice, we’re complimenting the person’s wisdom/skills (not their resources), then telling them what we will be asking. Even if the conversation leads in a different direction eventually, we’ve expressed the main thing that we want.

2. Be Candid

“Because of my day job and family, I only have about an hour per day to work on my writing career. I have a book that’s half finished. I have no agent and only 20 followers on twitter.”

“I tend to jump from project to project. The way I’ve gotten most of my work is thru family. I’m scared of really going public.”

If folks don’t know the truth of our situation, they will give us nothing useful. We gotta be honest and vulnerable to get the best advice.

3. Be clear

“My goal next month is to sell 100 more tickets. Do you have thoughts about how to do that better?”

“When a client asks how long a project will take, I feel like I’m trapped and I often under-bid. How do you respond?”

“I feel like I’m wasting time on casting. Do you remember what the process was for casting the Gothic Ballet you produced?”

Stating clear goals gives the advisor a problem to solve. If they need to guess the goal, (“like what color is best to paint my car”) it’s more work for them and probably not fulfilling.

4. Show prototypes

“The following is the email I’ve been sending out to agents”

“I spend four hours per day coding and four hours per day streaming live to promote my game”

“This is the costume design I have so far.”

Giving advice on a premise is the worst. We don’t want to say “I have this idea for a tv show that’s about pickles and comedy, what do you think?” We want to say, “here’s a draft of the work I’ve done, what can be improved? What am I missing?”

Don’t ask

Sometimes we meet someone who looks like they can help us a lot. If we can’t do the stuff above, we don’t need to ask them anything. We can be grateful we met them and stay in touch until we are ready to ask the right questions.

October will be DAIDNAIS (Do as I do, not as I say) month. This month, I will practice what I preach because currently the cobbler has no shoes. I’ve been coaching and consulting tons of people, been an advisor and a contractor for great folks. While I help get other people in awesome places, I sometimes forget about my own crap!

It’s hard to face

People use me as a coach because they need help facing it. They aren’t incapable of it, but it definitely takes some emotional wind to look in the mirror and figure out what message we’d like to send. This month will be good for me to empathize more with my clients and what my abrupt direction uncovers.

Advice is often made for the giver

When the advisor is similar to the advisee, good advice is given. The more we know the person we’re counseling, the more powerful our words. Sometimes I’ll get off the phone with a friend who was asking me for something and I’ll say, “Dang! I just said the words I needed to hear!”

In the professional setting, I try to make sure this doesn’t happen much, but I am ready to step in and see if I hold up to the scrutiny of me.

Public accountability

I might not complete this list, but this month I’m shooting for improvement on…

1. Cleaning up the branding and messaging for all my performance work (not too hard since I’ve got some distance from it)
2. Doing the same for my coaching (harder)
3. Improving my outreach & attention for coaching
4. Organizing my fanbase
5. Serving my fanbase more
6. Consistently blogging
7. Cleaning up my unused channels ( youtube, linkedin, insta, twitter, etc. )
8. Getting good headshots
9. Asking for help more
10. Working for more credibility
11. Leveraging Parkinson’s Law for rapid improvement

I’ve been making a fewer blog posts, but recording my entire collection to audio for a podcast series. I read whole article, then give my commentary on each one at the end… search your pod app for scot.fun/damentals

In my first few years as a street performer, I did way better when there were no other entertainers around. I could connect with the crowd and give them the good stuff that they wanted. I didn’t have to worry about being innovative, creative or a genius. I was more generous and giving. I lost myself to the act of entertaining.

Our tribe is the audience

When we hang out with a lot of other people who do what we do, we get into this incestuous way of thinking. It’s easy to find crave the validation of other peeps in our industry. But that makes us self-centered.

Our tribalism kicks in and our performer tribe becomes the one to protect. The audience / the gatekeepers are seen as a different tribe. They are the enemy. They are the threat.

Tribalism is an evolutionary instinct and it’s going to happen. The solution is to remember who our tribe really is. We are connecting and building a brand new tribe with every new audience. Not only is tribing up with the audience gonna help us do better and adjust our priorities, but it’s also gonna trigger a tribal response in the audience.

We can so easily become the outsiders. When I’m about to step on stage for 1000 business investors, I might have thoughts flash that I’m not like them. They are from a different world. So, I remind myself I’m not here as a visitor from a different village bringing my weirdness. I’m here as the weird part of this tribe. I’m a business person too and I want us all to have a good time at this event. I care about people, friendships and family. I love laughing. We’re the same tribe and I’m going to do my part for the tribe.

This is what you’ve been waiting for. You can do less. If anyone asks you if you have permission to do less, send them to this page.

I’ve talked about how we get burdened by too many tools. We get caught up in tool-bloat and service-bloat.

Trader Joe’s is not a public company. It doesn’t offer curb-side or delivery. It’s doing fine.

There are people doing business with a phone and a pencil. Imagine if your whole business was run with hand-written postcards. How many postcards could you write in a day? Probably a lot. Imagine if you don’t respond to emails, you only take phone calls from people who are serious about buying your thing.

Chill out. Do less.

https://www.scot.fun/challenge ? GET IN! I’m so grateful I can help people for real for free.