I had a career consultation earlier this week, and it was awesome. I highly recommend doing it if you haven’t, because when you’re selling yourself, it is really easy to have blind spots. (”But I LOVE that picture! I look so pretty!”) And Cathy Reinking was great... She was SO helpful, and kind, but definitely straightforward. (If you want to work with her, click here)
Here’s my only problem, and maybe someone out there can empathize with me or maybe someone has actually SOLVED this conundrum successfully for themselves, and can help me figure it out too:
It’s hard out here for a multi-hyphenate.
Nowadays, everything is about niche-ing down. You need to be really specific about who you are creating your art/product/whatever for, because there are a million options, and not everything is right for everyone. You want to find your 1000 true fans. You want to find the tribe that will not just like you, not just love you, but LOOOOOOVE you. And then tell everyone else about you.
But as an actor/artist, diversification is advisable as a way to stay afloat when one area dries up or is slow. And yet diversification and niche-ing down don’t always seem to be completely compatible.
I am a voice/on-camera/stage actor who also writes and sings. I also want to help other actors like me pursue their goals and be accountable, so that is another thing I’m working on.
Here’s one example of how these two niches can clash: in the realm of voiceover, I’ve heard people say that your website shouldn’t have your picture on it, because you really want people to judge you only by your voice, and not pigeonhole you based on look. I understand, but I also kind of disagree, at least for me. Because I am an actor as well as a voice actor, my visual persona is part of me.
Discussing this matter during my career consult earlier this week, we got into how messy it can get (and how time-consuming) when you try to segment out different parts of you. I have separate Instagram accounts (private and public). I have a Facebook page for my actor stuff. I have two different email accounts with different email signatures and branding. I’m about to create a separate website for my voice acting, just so that I can send voice-specific clients to one place.
It’s worth looking at how much of this separation is actually worth it.
All of this separation can be time consuming, confusing, and expensive.
Even beyond the multi-hyphenate how-to-market-yourself conundrum, there’s the question of how much of yourself to put in your professional persona. After I started writing this article, I saw a casting director I follow on Instagram post the above quote. It seemed timely considering the questions I’m mulling over right now.
As Cathy reminded me: as actors, we are selling ourselves. Our persona is what people connect to. Trying to tailor yourself to different audiences, you run the risk of diluting the essence of who you are, and being too bland to really interest anyone. Perfection doesn't sell like it used to…transparency is more relatable.
And yet too much transparency can limit your hireability. Posting the wrong thing on social media might get you fired from a job because a client doesn’t want to be aligned with your values. So do you try to stay more neutral and take the paycheck? Or do you declare your stance on important topics full out, and damn the consequences? There are arguments for both, and many reasons for choosing one over the other depending on where you are at in your career. Ultimately, I think the latter will win out for me, but I know it’s different for everyone.
Anyway, this is just something I’m musing on, and will probably continue to ponder for a long time.
Do you have thoughts to share on your own struggles or triumphs related to this topic? I’d love to hear them!