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The Artist As Entrepreneur
THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET: SELF RELIANCE & ACCOUNTABILITY My career coaching business grew out of the realization as a teacher that what holds most performers back from finding a career as an artist is not a lack of talent, but a lack of business and emotional intelligence. As well as fear: fear that they’re not good enough, fear of standing alone, fear of getting ripped off, even fear of success and what it will cost! For the professional on a career plateau as well as the novice just starting out, here are some tenets for long-term success in the entertainment industry: COMMIT TO…
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Creative Altruism
"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness."
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‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo’
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Kristyn Ivey and Karin Socci on their Spark Joy Podcast, and am thrilled my episode will be published right in time to help you launch your New Year and New You! Marie Kondo took the world by storm with her best-selling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing in 2011, and today the KonMari Method is a worldwide phenomenon based on a philosophy of inner and outer balance. As of January 2019, Netflix released a series called Tidying up with Marie Kondo, and her books have been published in 30 countries. It’s rather uncanny how much life coaching and tidying up have in…
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Art, Controversy and Censorship… How Influential are Artists?
“The discoverer of an art is not the best judge of the good or harm which will accrue to those who practice it……The introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state; since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions.” – PLATO Thousands of years before Lynne Cheney or Tipper Gore ever existed, Plato expressed his own concerns about the potential influence of artists. And there has been no shortage of leaders over the years who have shared and echoed these sentiments. In the nucleus of every art controversy lies the question: Does art change the world,…
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New Year, New You
It’s not too early to begin working on your New Year’s resolutions. In fact, I normally like to start thinking about them in October or November, if not earlier. Here is a podcast I did with the Marie Kondo folks about organizing your time to set up the new year to achieve your goals. They are certainly the organizational experts! Listen to the podcast here: SPARKJOY PODCAST: Declutter Your Mindset: The Art of Manifesting a New Year-New You And download the complementary worksheets that accompany it here: Personal Status Check Old You / New You Annual Launch Planning Calendar The Visibility Breakthrough Method
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Vocal Therapy Tips for When the Show Must Go On
HOW TO SAVE YOUR VOICE WHEN THE SHOW MUST GO ON: VOCAL THERAPY TIPS FOR SPEAKERS AND PERFORMERS By Laura Kessler, M.M., CPC The voice is a powerful, yet vulnerable instrument that deserves the same respect and consideration as the knees or spine. The following are some simple guidelines and exercises I use with professional film actors, recording artists, public speakers and broadcasters faced with vocal hoarseness due to seasonal or lifestyle stressors. They are ideal for hotel rooms, before special events, or can be practiced daily to maintain vocal health. Enjoy! *** GOOD FOR VOCAL HEALTH: Hum with your mouth closed (this sends vibrations down your esophagus…
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Managing Stage Presence and Performance Anxiety
VIBE Magazine asked me to be their guest expert to critique a few performances by Frank Ocean, Nicki Minaj, and Jay-Z. Here is the article that was compiled by Seth Berkman: Seth Berkman interviews Performance Coach Laura Kessler for VIBE Magazine http://www.vibe.com/article/4-helpful-tips-artists-who-cant-perform *** For full entertainment and artistic performance offerings please visit our sister organization: https://musiccoaching.net (formerly http://entertainmentcareercoaching.com)
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Bipartisan Mediation
Why can’t we all get along? What is necessary for empathy and conflict resolution skills? Can we heal the bridges between culture and ideology? Would you like to become a better listener and expand your mediation and conflict resolution skills? Are you willing to try and take part in a Beta program? Click here for more information.
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Strategic Audience Analysis
DIFFERENT CLIENT / AUDIENCE LEARNING ARCHETYPES Strategic audience analysis is one of my favorite things to do with a client. Whether you speak, train, sell, coach or consult for a living, we are all placed in the position of “teaching” others our principal message and content. There was no one-size-fits-all learning style back in grade school, and there certainly is not in the adult word either. Whether persuasive, sales-oriented, motivational, or purely educational, the same material can be interpreted different ways within a specific audience if we know the basic learning archetypes present in the room. Here are a few psychographic archetypes to consider when leading, training or motivating others: BY…
