The Life-Enhancing Value Of Staying Scared

Now that Jeffrey's show, Personality: The Lloyd Price Musical, has completed its successful first run, he and Dan dive deep into the lessons it's taught him—which apply to any business venture.

In This Episode:

Proof of concept is critical for any business: Would people buy tickets to this show? Would critics like it?

Everybody wants good reviews, but some shows, like Wicked, get terrible reviews yet run for years.

Entrepreneurs are independent, so they'll be very forthright with their opinions.

Broadway shows get a month of previews. That never happens in a regional theater. But previews really help actors learn how to work the positive responses and get people engaged.

Good acting is not performing, it's behaving.

A "relaxed performance" is an opportunity for people with special needs to see plays with fewer jarring sensations, such as softer sound cues and the house lights left on.

You learn things about your own show when it gets in front of an audience.

Every audience is different, and top-notch actors will notice that and adjust immediately to that night's audience.

In reading reviews, you have to take into consideration who the reviewer is—including their personal ambitions and disappointments—but if the same note comes up in several different places, that's something to learn from. But it's also important to learn what to ignore. 

It's good to be open, but if you try to please everyone, you're doomed.

If a joke doesn't land in front of two or three different audiences, it's just not funny.

Lloyd Price was the first artist to cross over between genres, and brought teenagers into buying music.

Despite the opposition he faced, Lloyd Price simply considered himself an American.

Word of mouth brought a much more diverse audience to People's Light Theatre.

Dan's questions about new ventures: Is it plausible? Is it possible? Is it provable?

Many of the things Jeffrey did in business directly applied to creating and putting on this show.

Dan financially supported the show because he loved that Jeffrey was doing the biggest, riskiest project of his lifetime in his seventies.

Dan: "In some ways I've created my own theater. I'm the playwright, the writer, and I've got a theater where we do 30-year runs."

Jeffrey: "I don't think you can do anything well if you're not curious."

Dan: This isn't the same "normal" as before. The people who have strong values, commitments, and relationships got stronger during these two years. The people who weren't soundly based fell apart.

For a play or a business, persistence, adaptability, and resilience are key factors.

Dan: "The producer has to give others courage when they don't feel confident." Jeffrey: "But isn't that also good leadership?"

Managers optimize what you already have. Leaders create what's needed next.

Entrepreneurship is a life sentence.

Sometimes you meet somebody right when you're ready, and that meeting changes your life.

Jeffrey: My kids studied events in history class that we lived through growing up.

In any business, including theater, if you don't give the people you've brought on board the opportunity to express their ideas in a certain way, why did you hire them?

There are things you do in life because you need them, but it's nice to do some things just because you want them.

Resources:

Jeff Madoff: https://creativecareer.com and madoffproductions.com

Dan Sullivan and Strategic Coach: www.FreeToolKit.coach