Starting to sell yourself as a freelance Acting teacher and practitioner in London is hard! For a multitude of reasons:
1. Who the hell am I? And why would actors come to me? Being relatively new to being back in London, without exposure, I won't find actors who want to work with me. But without an 'in' how do I get that exposure? Word of mouth is spreading though but it's at a slow (and steady) pace.
2. How do I advertise? In these early days I'm unwilling to invest in a personal website so have been relying on social networking sites, this blog and word of mouth. Perhaps time to invest in flyers or posters?
3. The money. If you're good at something, never do it for free. That being said, I am hugely passionate about the techniques I'm starting to teach, it works, and is accessible to any actor. But I am trying to make a living at the end of the day.
My evening classes in London are going great, I have a lovely core of actors and people who are dropping in for the occasional top up which is fantastic. I'm always excited when teaching Meisner, as every actor brings something new to the table, it's never the same for them, therefore it's never the same for me. Always fresh. Plus, my teaching of this is still relatively in it's infancy, I'm still very on my toes about it all, which I think is a good thing in any case. I've already seen amazing results in actors after only two (or in some cases one) session(s). The only issue is that in reality I will probably lose money this time around. On one hand I'm thrilled the classes are going as well as they are for the actors involved, they are lovely and working at the level I want them at. On the other, it's a shame it hasn't balanced financially. I need to figure a pricing structure which financially works if I'm going to do this in the future, so that students commit to working with me (suggestions welcome). Don't get me wrong, I appreciate plans change but when I end up chasing people up to find out they're not coming, that's irritating, as that was my electricity bill, or food for a week. But, lessons learnt. The experiment, I still consider a resounding success.
My evening classes in London are going great, I have a lovely core of actors and people who are dropping in for the occasional top up which is fantastic. I'm always excited when teaching Meisner, as every actor brings something new to the table, it's never the same for them, therefore it's never the same for me. Always fresh. Plus, my teaching of this is still relatively in it's infancy, I'm still very on my toes about it all, which I think is a good thing in any case. I've already seen amazing results in actors after only two (or in some cases one) session(s). The only issue is that in reality I will probably lose money this time around. On one hand I'm thrilled the classes are going as well as they are for the actors involved, they are lovely and working at the level I want them at. On the other, it's a shame it hasn't balanced financially. I need to figure a pricing structure which financially works if I'm going to do this in the future, so that students commit to working with me (suggestions welcome). Don't get me wrong, I appreciate plans change but when I end up chasing people up to find out they're not coming, that's irritating, as that was my electricity bill, or food for a week. But, lessons learnt. The experiment, I still consider a resounding success.
Next week I'm going to work with a group of Birckbeck University/RADA postgraduate students for an afternoon. That's really exciting, I'm reaching a higher/older audience and the word will spread. The head of Acting from the London School of Musical Theatre came to my class last week, that was shit-scary, teaching someone who has had a career and lifetime of experience more than me. But she seemed really interested in the work, and that's what's important, egos and insecurities aside. For both of those I have friends to thank, I'm very grateful to have so many friends in seemingly the right places now, championing what I do, it's ok to ask for help.
Keep the faith, if I build it, they will come......eventually.
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