First Impressions and the Mindset of an Entrepreneur

Since my last post, a number of different events have unfolded in my life - some great, some tiring, and some downright horrifying.

I write today after a full day at the Hollywood Nextgen Conference held at my alma mater UCLA. The conference was full of bright and driven individuals. Basically I took away a few key points, for myself and in general.

1. Specificity is key.

• This point was stressed by several of the speakers and panelists. Ask what do others need and explain specifically what you do.
• No one really has time to waste on you if you can't be specific. The same goes for actors - actors need to be specific.

2. Work your ass off.

• Is ass still a bad word? But yes, you get the drift - do it all day. As I sat there, I thought of all the long hours which are required in a multitude of industries. There's always going to be this culture of having to hustle and compete. Digression: This reminds me of a lecture one of my professors at UCLA gave on how even though technology has expanded and has supposedly made life easier - people still work long and hard hours.
• Personal reminder: I have chosen a path that will not be forgiving to slackers. 

3. Have humility and empathy.

• This seems to be a general rule of thumb, but we all know that not everyone heeds to this point!

4. Risk it all and just do it.

• Arguably could be the #1 reason I put up here, but I listed them in no particular order. Scooter Braun, manager for Justin Bieber, stressed this, as did Chris Jacquemin from William Morris Entertainment. Mr. Jacquemin said if he could go back and do it over again, he would've just gone straight into entrepreneurship.
• Personal lesson: I had better do this (re: acting and/or other unmentioned endeavors).

And just for my sake, I had better keep up to date on technology news as well as those financial markets. It's always better to be well informed.

As for first impressions, especially in networking environments, I definitely need to work on being more confident. I lack confidence in certain situations - not always as I do seem to gel in others. Nonetheless, being the confused and ditzy girl that I sometimes unintentionally project myself to be is not always the best scenario. The best way to rectify this is to actually have that clear and specific goal as to what I am doing in addition to the wealth of knowledge I must acquire.

Within the past few weeks, I started Meisner Technique training (I went straight from the conference to class and got home about an hour ago). I seem to give off this reserved and polite vibe in class despite that not always being the case, depending on the group. I realized today that I'm the girl whose name is easily forgotten. I mean, my goal isn't necessarily to have people remember me "HI, I AM FELICIA AND I HAVE LIVED ABROAD AND TRAVELED BY MYSELF AND I AM EDUCATED BUT DECIDED I WANTED TO ACT AND SEE ALL THE CHALLENGES AHEAD" (Please let this not be the first Google search match pop up for my name! ...I just erased the HOM after FELICIA in hopes this will not be!) and have me stamped in their brains as I'm there to learn how to act - but it seems in any business or industry I really do have to be my own promoter. It seems I still do have to break that shell as it opens and closes. But really, why would I want to be that nameless quiet face who sits in the corner?

Posted in: conference, lessons, networking, technique