House Of Style Productions

marc grant, david hamilton, and holly starr
presents

Self Promotion Starts Now
"Making It"
Knowledge, Wisdom, and Guidance
by
David Hamilton

picture by david hamilton for ere 2007

The past 4 pages you have read, you have met some of the most fascinating people in the entertainment industry, and in the next 100 pages, you will meet even more, and learn more as well............ Which brings us to the next phase of 

" Making It "

Self Promotion is everything, don't let anyone fool you ! As a matter of fact, the first thing a good agent or manager of talent looks for, besides what you have to offer, is what you are doing for yourself. As you will read in the latter part of this book in the management section, the worst manager or agent you could ever end up with is one that doesn't promote and market you. These people are usually the same managers or agents that simply don't really know how to promote or market you, so they might even try to take control of your work and tell you not to promote or market yourself. They might even hint to just let them do all of the work, because they ( know the right people ) hmmmm have you ever heard that one before, " Oh don't worry, I know this person, or that person "

I recently had a young aspiring model ask me, " How can I find a manager or agent that will do all of the background work, so I can just model and have the rest of the work handled ? "

My response was, there is no such thing....... Let me be straight forward for all of you aspiring models, actors, entertainers, etc.......

As you are working on your craft and building up your talent, you must learn how to promote yourself to people, as in, future clients, managers, and people that will play a part in your career. If you are hoping to meet some agent that will do all of this for you, he or she won't............ #4 of my important steps to making it happen..... promoting everything about you, to everyone !
 

A manager / agent can only take the product you have to offer, and spread the word to their connections. You have to be the one to build up the creative edge that you have been gifted with, and promote what you have to offer to everyone, all the time.

here is a real conversation I recently had with a aspiring model  

I see your doing a lot of work, how are you promoting yourself ?

(   I am just looking for different places to audition )

Do you have a web site or at least an informational page so people can learn more about you ?

( I don't think a web site or page really benefits people in this industry, I think it is more about who you know and who you have worked for in the past .... )

  Well, if you don't have information readily available, how do you expose your talent to people that could possibly lead you into a pathway of opportunity ?

Well, I have business cards, i just don't see a benefit in having information that people may not even read.  

 ______________________________________________________________________________________

I could go on with the rest of this conversation, however, this is the reasoning that separates successful artists, and artists that become forgotten very fast. As an artist, model, actor, musician, etc....... you have to do everything you can in your means to promote and market yourself at all times. The future of our entertainment industry is just as much on line as it is in audition rooms. You have to use every source of close to you to promote and market who you are and what you do. If you don't have the resources to accomplish this, use the resources you do have to make up for the one's you lack. Self Promotion is EVERYTHING and you can start by wiping out the old ways of just hoping your agent knows the right people. Yes, a business card is fine, but not if it doesn't have your web site address on it, so that person can access more information. Later in this book you will learn to build your own personalized web site and maintain it for less then the cost of a news paper subscription, or cell phone bill, and this is your future career were talking about.......... you can start now by thinking of a few things about your talent that separate you from someone else.... your ability to model / act / .... Here is something I want you to try as you read this....

Get a piece of paper, write your name on the top, and write down 3 things that help define you as an artist / model / entertainer .....

IE 

I am complimented on my ability to act foolishly
I can paint the mona lisa better than the original
I am creative and willing to do whatever it takes to get attention 

this is the beginning of you learning about yourself and getting yourself ready to promote you to someone else..... NOW, if you gave that piece of paper to a friend with a web address at the bottom that said, come see more of my work here, that would be the start of you promoting yourself. It is that easy, and this is the start of promoting the YOU ! Once you start, you should never want to stop........... 

Let's say your an artist with 100 drawings or a model with 200 pictures....... you can start scanning your work now, because by the end of this book, you will be on your way to promoting and marketing yourself to all of your friends :) 
 
 

Next Page --------->