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Before I delve into this blog post, I need to make quick confession. I'm a bit of a self-help geek. Before you run for the hills let me explain what this has to do with you getting more gigs. I was listening to a Tony Robbins CD and he was talking about how asking the right questions is a really powerful way of getting your mind to focus on finding solutions to problems.

He was right, its quite a well known technique for getting things done and not only that in a way he was stating the obvious. (Lets be honest a lot of great advice is often staring us in the face waiting to be pointed out by someone else!)

At the start of my career after my website was launched I realized I needed to get traffic to the website for it to be of any use. I was determined to become a full time fire juggler in the shortest time possible and knew the website was part of the solution. I had a few simple questions that needed answering. I asked myself these questions repeatedly, I asked friends and colleagues and other entertainers. I trawled the web and read lots of books for any scrap of useful information. Some of the questions I asked myself were

1 – How can I get ANYONE to visit my site?

2 – How can I get prospective clients to visit my site?

3 – How can I get my site to appear in the Google rankings?

4 – What are the ads that appear in the Google rankings and should my site be using them?

Over time I found answers to these questions and then a new set of questions appeared:

1 – How can I increase the number of quality visitors to my site?

2 – How can I convert more of these visitors into paying customers?

3 – What can I do to make my site more user friendly?

4 – How can I get agents to visit my site as well as the general public?

5 – How can I get people to stay on my site for longer and visit more pages?

6 – How can I get my Google ad campaigns to cost less and still make me more money?

Once again as I asked myself these questions more answers appeared. Of course this lead to more questions:

1 – How can I get existing clients to come back to my website and book again?

2 – How can I vary the type of clients I get to my website?

3 – How can I get people to visit my site all year round instead of peaks and troughs around certain times of the year?

4 – How can I take the number of people that visit my site from hundreds a month to thousands a month?

Once again I found the answers I needed and of course more questions appeared.

(I'm not going to give answers to these questions in this blog post, but if you want to know, post a comment below. If enough people say they are interested in my answers I will put them in another blog post. BTW if you have your own website you might want to copy all these questions, write them down somewhere and obsessively ask yourself until you get the answers you need. A lot of the answers are right here on this website!)

The point of this post is to get you thinking about what questions you need to ask. Here’s the interesting part as my old mate Tony explains:

We all ask ourselves questions all the time but we do it unconsciously and we often ask the wrong questions. In fact in a lot of cases we ask really bad questions that will create really bad answers.

Think about it. Have you ever asked yourself:

Why cant I do this?

What’s wrong with me?

Why am I lazy?

Why cant I get more gigs?

I don’t know about you but if I'm not careful I can often ask myself these negative self defeating types of question. I don’t want to go to deep into psychology here or start off on a a positive thinking diatribe BUT you need to realize this:

When you ask yourself a question your subconscious mind will try and find the answer for it. If you ask yourself bad questions your subconscious mind will find bad answers and this wont create the results you want.

If you ask yourself good questions your subconscious mind will find good answers and this will help you create the results you want.

If we look at the questions above in a more positive manner we can re-frame them in a much better way: 

1 – How can I do this task?

2 – What skills can I learn to increase my capabilities?

3 – What do I need to feel more motivated?

4 – How can I get more gigs?

Don’t these questions sound like they are more helpful? I could write hundreds of these, but for you to get the best results you need to ask yourself the best questions for you, not my versions but your own.

I appreciate this might sound a bit "far out" or "woo woo" to some of you. But I'm hoping you can see enough logic in it to think it might be worth a go? So here’s my suggestion, try it for one week and see if it works then you will know for sure.

1 – Decide some short and long term goals you want to achieve with your career.

2 – Make a list of some of the things you need to get there (money, time advice, information etc.)

3 – Come up with a set of questions that you can ask yourself that are likely to bring results. (Where can I get advice on promo videos? How can I get one good agent? Who can help me create a better show? What do I need to make my show more commercially viable? How can I get more gigs?)

4 – Ask yourself these questions every day for a week. Write down the answers, put down good and bad answers. Keep asking your self the questions. Look on the web, read a book, ask friends, family and other performers, post on Facebook, but most importantly of all ask yourself the questions again and again and again. Trust your brain to get to work and BE CREATIVE!

If you do this for a week and then review all your answers you will have some great steps you can take to move your life/ambitions/career to the next step.

What’s the next step? TAKE ACTION. If you do this properly you will have a great resource. You will have a ton of great ideas but to get anywhere you need to take these ideas and use them.

• Stop worrying about mistakes – YOU WILL MAKE THEM.

• Stop allowing yourself to be distracted – Facebook, Twitter, too many festivals.

• Put some effort in – JUST DO SOMETHING AND GET THE BALL ROLLING.

You will have taken a big step towards whatever it is you want to achieve.

If you really want to become a successful full time professional performer you can do it, there is no reason why not. Asking good questions will help as long as you then take action.  This video is awesome; I use it when I need a kick up the butt. Watch it then go ask some great questions of yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2uFH0NCMY4

Like I said at the start of this post, this is good old-fashioned common sense. But like all good advice its only good if you use it!

Why wouldn’t you use it? What could you have to gain? How could this one simple technique help you move your career to the next level? Why don't you start RIGHT NOW...?

(I hope you see what I did there..?)

OK that’s it for this post. Please comment with your thoughts and experiences. If you try this out let me know how you get on in the comments box below.

If you like my blogs posts please do me a favor and share this post on Facebook, Twitter and G+. I want to reach as many people as possible and your help with that goal would be massively appreciated.

If you want answers to some of the questions above check out the video on this link. I can help you achieve your goals as long as you commit to taking some action.

I'm sending out a big shout out of gratitude to Spinnabel for being an inspirational blogger. Also a big thanks to those of you that regularly comment on here and on Facebook, your input is very welcome.

If you want more of this inner game of success type of stuff go to Amazon and buy “Awaken the Giant Within” by Tony Robbins, it might be a bit corny in places but there are very clever points in that book that will help you to succeed.

Here's another awesome guest blog post for you. This one comes from my online friend (we haven't met in the real world YET) Caitlin "Spinnabel" Lee Matanle. I really like this post because it addresses a point of cross-over between act creation and act promotion, its a great post and well worth a read...

Getting Into Character - An Overlooked Tool in Marketing Your Act 

When we think about marketing an act, the first thing that comes to mind is often where the marketing can take place. We think of our personal websites, Facebook, Twitter - maybe even the Yellow Pages if you live in a place where people still even use those things. Tidy little nuggets of marketing information abound in each of these arenas. Read up on SEO! Learn what times are best to post to Facebook! Write a newsletter

These tips are useful, but the fact of the matter is, we often delve into these finer details of marketing before we have done all the necessary work required on the act itself. I’m as guilty of this as anyone - 4:00 pm arrives and I realize I’ve spent the day geeking out on business blogs rather than actually, ahem, working on my act.

The sad truth is that all the marketing in the world is only going to get you so far if your act is forgettable. And in my opinion, the best way to create an act the audience will never forget is to establish a compelling character.

Character Development as Branding

Getting into character as a performer is our industry’s equivalent of the common business concept of branding. If you know your character inside and out, you speak that brand every minute you are in front of an audience. You become able to extend that brand into all of your traditional marketing materials, so the audience gets a cohesive idea of who you are whether they are visiting your website or reading your updates on Twitter.

A fully developed character can make the difference between an exciting act that transports the audience and a spin jam. Even if both use the exact same performance tools and choreography (or lack thereof), the act performed in character will be the act the audience remembers. A developed character can make even the most amateur performer stand out at a casual backyard fire spinning evening.

What’s a Character, and How Do I Get Into One?

Think about all of the elements that make you, you. You have your own views on life, your own way of walking, your own favorite music, your own clothing preferences. Your character has each of these elements as well.

Your performance character can be as fictional or as biographical as you like. Some people become completely different when they step in front of an audience. For others, their character is their normal self, just more sparkly and without the less-desirable qualities. It’s up to you! 

If you have a stage name, you have the first piece of the puzzle regarding your character’s identity. What does that name say about the person you want to be in front of an audience?

Examine your dance and movement styles. If you feel a bit lost, video tape your next performance or even a few practices. Do your movements tend to be mysterious and dramatic, or bubbly and flirtatious? This question can help you choose music and costuming based on what you want to convey to the audience.

Think about the types of venues you like to perform in. If you aren’t crazy about your typical performance locations, think about the venues you aspire to perform in. If you like to perform at bars and nightclubs, your character and its costuming and preferred music might be a bit edgier and dark. If you prefer corporate gigs, your character is probably going to be a bit more refined and clean.

Once you have tailored your character to suit the types of gigs you want to perform, you are able to focus your marketing energy in those areas. Your character is also appropriate for those audiences, so you are more appealing to hire as well.

Using Your Character to Market Your Act

Having a solid character really helps elevate your act and make it more marketable to potential customers. As I touched on previously, a character is a brand. Once you know your character, you can extend that brand throughout your marketing portfolio.

The look and feel of your website, Facebook page, Twitter account, business or promo cards, and YouTube channel should be cohesive and reflect your character accurately. This might mean using the same colors or designs in your wallpaper, communicating to your followers in a certain voice, or focusing on certain elements in your videos. The more cohesive these elements are, the easier it is for would-be fans and clients to identify you and remember you in a sea of talent.

Fully developing your own character in performance is crucial from a marketing standpoint. Getting into character is also exciting and most of all, it’s incredibly fun and rewarding!

One of the best parts about being a performer is the ability and opportunity to be someone different in front of an audience. For me, getting into character represents a challenge to myself - a challenge to be the best, most exciting, most positive version of who I am already. Performers are hired because we are characters. Who are you?

A big thanks to Caitlin for the post. Its something I've never written about (she was right, I did overlook it) and it adds a new angle to this blog. Please post your comments below, me or Caitlin will respond asap.

 To find out more about Spinnabel Lee visit her blog here or find her on Facebook here...

Also please like, share, tweet and shout from the rooftops about this blog, we want to reach as many performers and entertainers as possible and your help with this is much appreciated.

If you want advice on how to get more work as a performer the video on this page is worth a watch - Click here...

Finally if you have something cool, funny or interesting to write about performing please give me a shout via the contact page. It doesn't have to be about business or marketing just something that performers would like to read.