
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Making virtual meetings and events engaging can be an arduous task. You must have some key strategies to work with. I discuss some of them with my guest, John Chen.
John is the author of the #1 Amazon Hot New Book Release, Engaging Virtual Meetings. He’s been meeting virtually for over 38 years. He has produced over 4,000 virtual meetings including an EIGHT language meeting and the only 100% LIVE virtual conference in the training industry. He’s one of only 400 Certified Speaking Professionals designated by the National Speakers Association.
We Dive into Topics Including:
● John’s origin story for getting into the virtual event space.
…and other golden nuggets of advice!
Writing and publishing a business book is an art and science. I discuss pitfalls to avoid along with proven writing and publishing success strategies in this episode with my guest, Weston Lyon.
Weston is the author of 23 books, including The Book Writing Blueprint, and the founder of Plug and Play Publishing. Known as one of the only authors to write nine books in 11 months, he has delivered more than 600 presentations and interviews over the past 25 years.
Weston helps entrepreneurs and business owners write the right book and use it to build authority, attract clients, and grow their business.
We dive into topics including:
● Weston’s origin story when it comes to authorship and profiting from his books.
…and more golden nuggets of advice!
I believe entrepreneurs have a LOT to learn from working actors (which make up less than 10% of the actor community).
Working actors in Hollywood need to build resilience in the face of rejection, network to grow themselves as a business, market themselves and sell themselves. Entrepreneurs have to do all those things also!
We dive into some advice for today’s entrepreneurs from a working actor in Hollywood in this episode with my guest, Kevin E. West.
Kevin has built an amazing acting business for himself. He has been working in Hollywood and television since 1990. He has amassed over 70 credits, including shows like Matlock (the original), Hawaii 5-0, Criminal Minds, Lost, 24, and Desperate Housewives, to name a few and dozens more on IMDB as well.
Kevin is the Founder of the award-winning actor business education organization, The Actors’ Network, as well as a 3-time member of the SAG-AFTRA Theatrical contract Negotiating Committee.
…and other golden nuggets of advice!
Kevin believes that one of the biggest challenges for performers in general used to be akin to the real estate analogy that its location, location, location. It used to be all the way up until about ten to fifteen years ago that where you were located in the world was almost everything. Now you can start a business anywhere and become an actor almost anywhere.
And now it’s simply not. It doesn’t mean that that the CEO difficulty of being an actor wasn’t always where you were. But now because of Netflix and because of how actors have evolved, you can be a CEO as an actor anywhere in the world. That’s just one of the great things about it. But one of the things you don’t do as a performer, and one of the things that Kevin thinks his childhood helped him in that area is that actors don’t get the proper education about being a CEO as an actor, and that’s the problem.
If you were told as a businessman “Just go open the door and wait for people to walk in.” That might be a challenge. Now, if you had a great location, that could help, and that metaphor would be how you look physically in the acting profession. But actors are simply not given a business mentality, and that comes from education about what it means to be a CEO.
Actors tend to only think about two things, getting pictures and having representation. That tends to be the scope, the limitation of what most performers do and certainly also going to class. That’s the difference between acting and business. That’s part of the challenge and what led Kevin down the road of becoming an actor was simply because he’s a goofball and his goal of being a professional athlete fell by the wayside.
The way Kevin grew up and wanting to be a professional athlete really did hone him for being a CEO as an actor. But the problem to him is that actors in general simply don’t have that mentality. They think of themselves purely as performers. The business mentality of entrepreneurs is that they get training from books or from school, that you get from college, and there’s all sorts of other courses and classes that you can take to learn about the business world. That’s just not the mentality of most performers.
Kevin believes it was easier for him because he was working in his mother’s restaurant when he was eleven years old. He was already an independent-minded and business oriented individual by the time he decided to be an actor.
Kevin owned a business and he was still taking out the trash, so to speak, as a CEO, doing all jobs from top to bottom. A lot of CEOs don’t, but as an actor, you are truly the CEO of an important personal, tiny business. Which means everything, every sector that goes along with business is ultimately your responsibility. But that goes back to the business education, because we know that advertising and marketing and networking and accounting and tracking those things are all part of being a CEO.
Performers are told commonly as actors, or more notably not told, the untold rules. Actors believe that the business aspects of their careers are their representative’s job, and that’s how a lot of people come into the industry. So they never start with a mentality of being the CEO of all of the departments that should be their responsibility and that they should make time for in their schedule.
You need to do those things on a regular basis. That’s the big key; being consistent just like working out. If you go to the gym three days in a row for twelve hours but then don’t go back to the gym for two weeks, what good did you do? None. Being a CEO is an actor means you must get up every day and run your business.
When you’re starting your career, you need to do pieces of all the things that make up a successful business. Actors are not given that mentality early in their careers. So it’s very difficult for a lot of people to alter their physical routine and modify their behaviors like any businessperson would because show business slaps you in the face. Your small business will tell you, “Hey, you’re not being successful.”
For those performers, it’s not just that the phone’s not ringing. They’re very lost in general as to what to do day in and day out. That’s the chasm between being the actor and being the CEO at the same time instead of just being a “normal” actor.
Watch or listen to the full interview for more golden nuggets of advice!
You can get my book here: “Idea Climbing: How to Create a Support System for Your Next Big Idea”
About My Guest
Kevin E. West is a veteran television actor in Hollywood with over 70 credits including Guest Starring on The Righteous Gemstones (HBO), Hawaii 5-0, Criminal Minds, Bones, Castle, Touch, CSI: Miami, Justified, Aquarius, Leverage, Lost, 24, Desperate Housewives, NCIS, Alias, CSI, Judging Amy and dozens more on IMDB as well as the feature, The Healer, starring Lance Henriksen and Natasha Henstridge. Early on in Kevin’s career he performed as both a Stand-up Comic and Improv artist.
As the Founder of The Actors’ Network in 1991, Kevin has been recognized as the top expert opinion leader industry-wide on the ‘business of show business.’ The Actors’ Network is the most endorsed actor’s business organization in the U.S., winning consecutive BackStage West “Reader’s Choice” awards (06/07). A few of its alumni include Emmy Nominee Masi Oka (Heroes), Chelsey Crisp (Off The Boat), Chris Gorham (Covert Affairs-Ugly Betty) and Maggie Grace (Taken trilogy).
Any links you want me to include. (see below)
Visit Kevin’s Site!
Learn About the Actor MBA!
Learn About The Actor’s Network!
Learn why The Business of Hollywood Podcast exists! “Your Introduction to The Business of Hollywood Podcast”
From the publisher's feed