Do You First Look Inward, Or Do You First Look Outward?

hey there hero it’s David H Lawrence the
17th and today I want to lead you
through a little bit of self-reflection
something that I went through last
couple of days just you know had some
challenges and wanted to figure out what
the the deal was and today and tomorrow
and the next day I’m gonna share with
you some things that I’m gonna admit to
you I felt like I learned watching NFL
coaches give press conferences after the
game and explain why things went well
why things didn’t go so well and what
they were going to do about him and one
of the phrases that I heard really
reflects something that bothers me about
how artists look at their representation
especially voiceover artists and
on-camera artists so you know I was
watching my beloved Rams and after the
game they won and after the game they
talked about the difference between
looking inward and looking outward and
how proud the coach was that his team
and the one coach that he was talking
about in particular that ran I think it
was the special special teams that
people that do punts and kickoffs and
returns and all that sort of thing that
they look inward to find out what they
need to fix and it reminded me of the
occasional comment that I hear from
talent that happen to have
representation and rely on that
representation to get them auditions get
them into the room get them you know
general meetings they will often say
much to my chagrin they will often say
very very dismissively yeah my agent
doesn’t get me out enough and that to me
is a very clear example of looking
outward rather than looking
in Word when I if I thought my agent
wasn’t getting me out enough I would be
trying to figure out by looking inward
what I am doing wrong or what I can
improve on my tools are the first thing
I look at is my demo not competitive are
my headshots for on camera somehow not
reflective of how I look am I not doing
a good job of auditioning when I get in
the room so is to get callbacks and to
also get further opportunities with
those casting offices I think the last
thing in the world that a talent should
do is push off onto representation
something that is frankly hard for
representation to do your credits your
talent your tools your demos your resume
your headshots your your accent work the
things that you can accomplish are all
that an agent has to work with I’m sure
they have connections they have friends
in the casting business but that doesn’t
go very far unless you’re in the top
five agencies and you’re already a
celebrity then it’s a whole different
set of rules but for people like you and
me I believe that it’s a real advantage
to push back on the urge to say it’s
someone else’s fault they’re not doing
their job I’m doing everything I can
they’re not actually coming through
because unless your agent is engaged in
fraud you know they’re not coming to
work there they’re laying around all day
they’re playing golf whatever it is if
you if you suspect that that’s a whole
different that’s a whole different
kettle of fish but most of the time
agents become agents because they want
to make money they want to develop and
represent talent in a business that is
fascinating to work in and they get the
gig they have to be on the phone online
submitting pushing you know requesting
cajoling doing what they can to get
their clients
the opportunities to work and to simply
say my agent doesn’t get me out enough I
think is a much rarer truth than a lot
of the talent that says that would like
to think that it is and I think that
what they’re doing is they’re looking
outward rather than looking inward now
am i someone who automatically beats
myself up when I don’t get a callback or
I don’t get an audition I mean I don’t
know which auditions my agents put me up
for that I don’t get you know that
silent rejection that I talked about
last week in the mindset lesson of the
getting started course but I believe
that to do that is even more destructive
than it appears because when you do that
you instantly give up your power you no
longer are in control of any part of
your portfolio of opportunity because
it’s all on your agent or your manager
and they’re not doing their job but you
don’t have any control anymore you can’t
change anything if that’s what they’re
doing you can’t change anything for the
better so what I’d love to hear from you
in the comments below this video is how
this makes sense to you if at all and if
you’re one of those talent that does say
oh my agent doesn’t get me I don’t know
I’d really like to know after you’ve
heard me explain this what your thoughts
are and what I said because I really
think you’re doing yourself a disservice
by giving up your power giving up the
control that you have over making a
better demo getting training getting
coaching getting audition strategy and
tactics and making better you know
resumes and headshots and accent reels
and all the other reels in your demo
portfolio being a better performer as
opposed to just putting it off on your
representation and saying yeah they
don’t get me out enough let me know in
the comments below I’m happy for
pushback if you’ve got pushback I’d love
to know if what I’m talking about makes
sense to you it’s not just in our
business it’s in every business where
you have to go out and sell
yourself or sell your product or service
right in our business
I love diving into this and teaching and
coaching and certainly you know this
week being a very special week where we
have registration open for the vo heroes
Pro membership at a great price
and with some really awesome bonuses the
link is below this video I’d love to
hold your hand and guide you through
that because to me that really taking
your power and understanding that you
still have to be the CEO of you
Incorporated is essential it’s if you
you can’t abrogate that you just you
have to be in control you have to have
some ability to affect change there so I
hope I was clear on that just it struck
me as an interesting way of looking at
things do you look inward or do you look
outward let me know in the comments
below and if you want to join this list
if somebody forwarded you this video and
you want to be on my list and hear these
things when they come out every day for
the rest of the year go ahead and fill
out the form it says get on the list I’m
David H Lawrence the 17th I thank you so
much for watching and I will talk to you
tomorrow.