Ask Yourself

I’LL SHOW YOU MINE IF YOU SHOW ME YOURS (I am talking about Goals!)

Happy New Year TrendErtainment Subscribers!
Let’s ring in the New Year together….

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While Riding to Hebrew School:

As a tween, I listened with my dad to Anthony Robins and Brian Tracy cassette tapes on car rides. I got to hear all about N.L.P and Goal Setting on my way to school, the N.J. malls, and Hebrew School.  (Side note: my father is a subscriber to this blog and an inspirational teacher to thousands of young musicians.)

The tapes conditioned me to set goals and make mission statements. According to Anthony Robbins, this was “what you were supposed to do to have a successful life”. As a kid, you believe what you are told. So… Due to the brain washings, I associated pain with not setting goals. Every year, I would set my goals. The repetition did help: by the time I was 13, I had my own business, and by the time I was a senior in high school, I had a fully operational and profitable corporation.

What I Learned When I was 12 Years Old:

Goal setting can be as simple as writing down your top 3 things you want to achieve, or as complex as a full 10-year plan for life. Regardless to how you go about committing to your goals, the mere act of getting them down on paper and (possibly) sharing it with others brings a huge element of reality to your aspirations. To go really in-depth Google: goal setting here.

Just Do It:

I encourage you all to set a minimum of three big goals (RIGHT NOW!) that you would like to attain in your entertainment/arts career this year. I further challenge you to share them with the other readers of the TrendErtainment blog by listing them in the comments section below.
(Dad, I want you to participate in this exercise too!)

For those of you who don’t want to spend too much time on this TrendErtainment exercise, here is a basic set of instructions for simple goal setting:

1)    Pick up a pad of paper or pen (or open a new document on your computer).
2)    Write down the top three things you want to achieve in the next 365 days.
3)    Share these three thing or more in this blog
4)    Put your goals somewhere safe and review monthly (Give yourselves an evaluation on how your doing).

It is my GOAL to have a minimum of three readers list their entertainment goals in the comments section below. Perhaps another reader in this blog can help you attain your goal!
Go ahead, what do you have to lose?

I will even follow up with you every other month through the year to see how your progress is doing.

I'll show you mine, if you show me yours:

My Top Entertainment Goals for 2009:

- Set up a new L.L.C. – “Future Generations Entertainment”.

- Further advance my producer chops by: completing the Commercial Theatre Institute 14 Week Workshop, attend industry social events, read books and blogs, attend festivals, and learn from industry role models.

- Develop a new project called “The Best” with these guys (execute the first phase of “The Best” by the summer).

- Develop a social networking form to compliment “The Best” and “The Aspiration Project”.

- Develop one original theatrical show with a workshop before the end of the year (To open in 2010).

- Update michaelcedar.com and trendertainment.com to have a stronger image and content.

- Grow TrendErtainment.com to a minimum of 100+ subscribers by attracting a community of passionate entertainment folk like you and me. (So.. If you are new to the blog, sign up for a FREE subscription through RSS or Email)

- Attend a minimum of 1 theatrical show per week.

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Now... Show me yours !

(A prize to the best set of goals)

Carpe-Diem !

Role Models - Building the List

I like role models….No, I am not talking about the recent movie.

One of greatest lesson I learned in business was the importance of Role Models. Unfortunately I did not learn this lesson until many years after I was in business.  I spent lots of time building my party entertainment company and let pride hinder my ability to excel. I was surrounded by DJs, party planners, and vendors yet never sought any of them out for advise or to see how they ran their companies.  I invested a lot of time reinventing wheels that other have already created. It is hard for me to imagine how my first company would have been different if I weren’t so stubborn.

I am very excited to say that that stubbornness has been suppressed greatly. After I left the Bar-Mitzvah and Wedding scene I became much more proactive in my search to learn from others. I enjoy learning from the fortune (and misfortune) of my fellow peers.

I look forward to adding some additional role models to my list. Last week I received my acceptance to the C.T.I. 14 Week Producers Workshop. I am very excited to speak with some of the best in the entertainment business while saturating my brain with others who share the same passion as myself.  I look forward to bringing the knowledge I gain at the workshops with the readers of the TrendErtainment Blog.

If there is anything specific any of you would like me to cover let me know in the comments section below.

Question of the moment: What one person can you contact right now to have as a role model for something that you want to do, but have been putting off ? (Doesn’t have to be show-biz related). Ok... Now send that person an e-mail, make a phone call, or write a letter to that person RIGHT NOW !

I Found Santa !

 

Happy Holidays from the TrendErtainment Blog !

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My favorite (and most entertaining) web site for this season is www.NORADSanta.org.

This merry initiative is set up by the North American Aerospace Defense Command and has been in action for 50 years. Complete with a Santa tracking system powered with Google Earth, my 13 nieces and nephews (all my wife’s side) tracked Santa around the globe from early AM into the depths of the evening. There was even a toll free number – A real person answers the phone - that we all called to find out when Santa would be visiting our home and what we should do to prepare for his arrival.

It was one of the most entertaining interactive experiences I have had on the web yet. I even contacted the rest of my family and a bunch of friends to check it out. No "in your face" advertising associated, I didn’t have to sit through commercials or hear endorsements. Just good ol’ fun. The site even had many educational aspects to for the young and the old.

One of my goals for 2009 is to create a project that has the same word of mouth excitement as this experience gave to me and my family. Stay tuned for more information as development occurs.

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Get ready to share your 2009 New Years goals with other TrendErtainment subscribes. I will share my list shortly. Writing it down and putting it “out there” is the best first step to make dreams come true !

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 “No Day But Today !”
- Rent

Unionize Yourself !

For those of you who are freelancing in the entertainment world bring your attention to The Freelancers Union.

You see their ads in the subways and on the buses in New York City, but have you visited there website?

Free to join!It is comforting to know that we can work for ourselves and still have the support of a large organization behind us.

From networking opportunities to affordable family health insurance, this organization has amenities that some may find are hard to find or too expensive to obtain on your own.

Quest for Questions In Entertainment

The first item that I purchased for my first apartment in my mid-20s was a paperweight that said: “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?”.  As someone who is always striving to be my best and live a fulfilling life, I thought this was a perfect centerpiece to always help keep me in line. Having this on my desk prods me: “Is what I am doing now helping me or hindering me to achieve my goals?”, “What are my goals?”, “Am I doing this because its easier or because its right?”, or “Should I have been a nice Jewish doctor instead?”. To this day, I still have the plaque in my house and it always strikes up stimulating conversations when guests come over.

The power of questions is unbelievable, especially when we stop to ask ourselves the questions. The quality of the questions we ask dictates the quality of life. We can ask “Why me?” or we can ask “How can we make this better right now?”.

Sadly, I have found that asking questions is not easy for many people.  During the traditional “New York Birthday Dinner” I ask the friend in the spotlight what I call “The Birthday Questions”:

1)    How is your life different today than 365 days ago?
2)    How is the world affected by your presence?
3)    What will be different in 365 days from now?

I never thought that asking three simple questions would cause so much hatred towards me. One friend broke down crying after the 2nd question and said, “Why would you ask me such horrible questions and make me question my self-worth?”, another friend refused to answer them all together, another friend almost kicked me, and someone un-friended me on Facebook after I asked the questions. Still, I continue to ask the questions.

During a goal-setting workshop that I taught for young artists at the EdTA's  International Thespian Festival, I continued to ask questions:

-What things can you do forever and never get bored of it?
-What angers you most?
-Who knows you best in this world and what would they say are your three greatest strengths?

At the end of the workshop I had teenagers, parents, and teachers all coming up to me saying: “No one ever asked me these questions before, I really learned something about myself today”. Asking ourselves questions is something we are not accustom to doing….

As members of a very vain industry, it is easy to get tied up in the grandeur and speed.  It is easy to forget what brought us here in the first place. Questions are the best way to keep ourselves in check and ensure we are contributing the best.

Here are a few questions to get the day going:

1)    In your entertainment career, what would you do if you knew you could not fail?

2)    What would you like your overall contribution in entertainment/arts/education to be?

3)    Flashing very far ahead, what would you want The New York Times article to say under the Arts section upon your death. (Morbid, I know.)

What are your answers? Leave them in the comment section below!

Spread the Holiday Cheer this Holiday Season !

They gave it a name

Hearing about the economy on the news and seeing it effect my friends, family, and even my own life brings my attention to the allocation of the mighty ol’ dollar.

After leaving a midtown meeting the other day, my body told me that it was getting time to eat. I walked into the nearest deli, paused, turned around, got on the subway and headed up to my Inwood neighborhood where I purchased a sandwich from a local store. If I am going to purchase goods, I should at least be purchasing from my own community.

It’s the holidays and many of us will be buying gifts. As members of the entertainment industry wouldn’t it be smart of us to give a gift that supports our own professional community. Broadway shows, tours, even local art houses make fantastic and memorable gifts.

This all being said, go do your gift shopping !

* This blog inspired by this one here. Just doin' my part to spread the Holiday Cheer