This week we are exploring the challenges of balancing our survival jobs with our acting careers. It is an ongoing juggling act that keeps most LA actors spinning. Being a professional actor today requires wearing many different hats, but performers are the best at fully embracing each role they must play. And I am here to remind you that you can juggle job and career, and keep your sanity, as long as you have the right mindset. So let’s look more closely at how to flourish at both your survival gig and in your career by embracing the following lessons…

You don’t HAVE to be a server.

Seriously. What would you do if you weren’t an actor? Tough question, but one we should all be able to answer. If you would be a writer, why not do proof reading or blogging on the side? Or tutor kids in reading and writing for the SATs? Or work in a book store that keeps late hours and will let you journal or learn lines during slow times? Or be the research assistant to a professor writing a book? The possibilities are limitless.

My good friend is a social media maven who makes good money and makes her own hours running the blogs and social media accounts for established musicians. Another one of my friends is the assistant to a fabulous interior designer who is very flexible with her schedule and generous with her free loot. An older actor I know is secretly an editor as well, he just uses a different name and learns even more about the craft while clocking hours at his survival gig.

Doing well at your survival job does not make you less of an actor.

Sounds silly, but I think a lot of actors subconsciously think this way. We believe that if we do a fabulous job as a concierge, or are very popular as a makeup artist, it makes us less of a performer. So we half commit to our day jobs, always having one foot out the door, and wishing we were someplace else. This just makes us miserable at work and lame employees. What boss will go out of her way to accommodate the schedule of an actor who barely shows up?

What if we embraced all of our varied skills as artists? And what if when we at our survival gigs we really brought our highest intellect and effort? I think it would make our time at work that much more enjoyable. And the pride and work ethic we took into our side gigs would then bleed over into our acting!

Furthermore, just because you are good at something doesn’t mean you have to do it full time. One of the best actors I know was a brilliant businessman before switching careers. Just because he was good at it, didn’t mean he should stay in it. He left an established job to pursue his passion. And now he is still a brilliant businessman, but he is also a very successful and fulfilled film actor. He puts his savvy business skills to use daily with his marketing as a performer. And I know he never looks back and wonders “what if?” But he would have had he stayed put in a career simply because he was good at it. My guess is he, and you are great at a lot of things!

Never put your survival job ahead of your acting career.

This one bears repeating. NEVER put your survival job ahead of your acting career! What does this really mean? You may have to work 5 nights a week to afford LA and this may mean missing out on quite a few movie outings or friends’ plays. But what it canNOT mean is that you turn down real acting opportunities to stay on your boss’ good side. If you aren’t willing to make your career a priority, how will you complete with the many actors who are willing to do so?

Staying true to your dreams may mean eating Ramen for dinner the last couple days of the month, or owing your co-worker a holiday shift, but acting is why you have that job in the first place. If you weren’t a performer — You could make more money, with better hours, in a different job, somewhere less expensive. I’m sure of it. So don’t forget that the job is supposed to serve and support you as an artist, not the other way around!

Let us know how you do balancing everything this week. We have faith in your multi-tasking skills and know you’ve got the passion and determination to master this juggling act!

Break legs!
Megan