The Best Advice I've Gotten (Life of a Freelance Dancer turns 1 year old)

 Giving a speech (Photo: Lindsay Thomas)

I am very excited to say that Life of a Freelance Dancer celebrated it's first birthday last Tuesday. In one short year, this blog has been viewed over 14,000 times by viewers on all 6 continents (Does Antarctica even count?). We have written over 52 posts with guest bloggers from multiple dance scenes on all topics pertaining to this career style. We have been shared by multiple other bloggers, partnered with a website design company that makes sites specifically for dancers, and threw an event for freelancers in New York City (stay tuned for another). Not only that, "LOFD" was named a finalist in Dance Advantage's top dance blog contest.  Cheers to a great kick off year and to many more to come!

In honor of "LOFD's" first year of life, I have decided to list some of the best advice that I have received and given over the past year. I have had many great, odd, challenging, and rewarding experiences during my first year of full-time freelancing and I have, surely, learned a lot. I couldn't have made it through without the support of my partner, mentors, colleagues, friends, and family (and because I didn't ask if I could share any of these gems, I will not be listing those who gave me this advice). Enjoy!

- "Trust you instincts."

- "Make a list of choreographers you want to work with and contact them."

- "Market yourself unabashedly, but don't be that person who puts a card in everyone's hand at the start of every conversation."

- "Do be gracious towards your employers. They chose to hire you over many other dancers. Whether it be an honest verbal thank you, a short note, or a follow-up email, let your employer know that you are appreciative and what you will take away/remember from your time working with the company."

- "Your value as a dancer is not based on what you are dancing at a particular moment. It's the sum of your whole career."

- "Don't try to clean up other people's messes. Give support if they ask for assistance, but let them clean up for themselves."

- "There is no timeline to a dance career."

- "Create pathways. If you create multiple pathways, one is sure to take. If you only make one, if it doesn't work out, you have nowhere to go."

-"Don't let those that haven't been in your shoes make you feel like you are less than you're worth." "One can't understand what it is like to play in the big leagues when they are only in the minors."

-"If dancing is something you are truly passionate about, be sure to make that apparent in your work ethic and artistry. People will notice." 

-"Acknowledge the problem, find a workable solution, take care of yourself, and don't internalize the problem."

 - "If you are offering your services for nothing or close to that, you are lowering your value as a commodity."

- "In classical ballet, you are expected to strive for perfect technique in your performance (among other things). In contemporary dance, you are expected to be moving."

- "I do what I need to. I help out when I can. And I don't make a big deal out of either."

-  "If you need something, you have to ask for it."

- "Find a way to be more compelling."

- "Take breaks from work."

- "Just because somebody hired you doesn't mean that you are a slave to their every wish."

- "Repeated thoughts create wiring in the brain. Once you have created that wired connection, it is hard to break the pattern of thought."

- "When a situation does get bad, I think the pressure valve will be empathy.

You can't submit. But you just might be able to understand."

- "Do smile and laugh. This may seem super shallow, but employers are drawn to dancers that are happy. The more you smile and laugh, the more likely an employer will enjoy your presence. Try to do this genuinely."

- Lastly...from my mom. Not necessarily advice, but a motherly push at the end of some advice. Mom: "You're famous." Me: "No, I'm not." Mom: "You are to me."

Elizel Long & me in Amy Seiwert's "Monuments" (Photo: Gutierrez Photography)

My failure in designing my own website (SPECIAL OFFER INSIDE)

Lyquid Talent website design for dancers (style 5)

(Be sure to read all the way down for a SPECIAL OFFER)

Since I started freelancing, I have taken on many roles. I am no longer just a dancer dancing for my big company employer. My roles as a freelance guest artist include teacher, marketing director, video editor, negotiator, travel agent, writer, editor, social media director, choreographer and so much more. Honestly, I often surprise myself with my ability to learn something foreign to me, often with repeated failure before triumph. I enjoy a challenge and love to relish in the subsequent success. But sometimes I don't have time to figure out something that is immediately important or I absolutely can't figure out whatever task I have in front of me. This is exactly what happened when I was trying to build my website.

As a freelancer, it is important to have a handful of items to market yourself. Aside from this blog, I have business cards, a performance reel, photographs, and my resume. One important tool that I had spent years without was my own personal website. These days people spend more time on the internet than they do most other things. Taking all of my above marketing tools and putting them together in one place on the web is not only efficient, but helpful in expediting my search for work. There was only one problem. I couldn't find the time to figure out the complexities of building my own website.

My partner has always been proactive in pushing me to do things, from completing my Associate of the Arts (AA) degree during my time at PNB to throwing my Contact event for freelancers. He started his own business back in April, Spaces Transformed, and bought a website builder for his business' website. The company that he purchased his site from had a (supposedly simple) drag-and-drop editor. After he spent weeks fighting with the program, he finally created his website (while very nice, it is still very glitchy when trying to edit). A month or so after he had completed his website, he was sent an offer to buy a new domain and one year of hosting from the site. The price was too good to be true, so I reluctantly purchased my domain in the hopes that it would inspire me to finally work on my site. Following that purchase, my domain sat unused for about 4 months. I was simply throwing money down the drain. Once I finally committed to making my site, I felt entirely overwhelmed by the daunting task of understanding the ins and outs of website design. After consulting with a friend who had recently created her own site using wordpress, I quietly gave up and started working on other things to cover up my unwillingness to fight the good fight.

I strongly believe that if you put effort towards making something happen, it will come to fruition in one way or another. In the process of putting together my Contact event, I came across a new website design company, Lyquid Talent. This Chicago-based company had reached out to me a few weeks before I began planning my event. I figured why not give them a call and see if they would be interested in donating a package to be given away to a freelance dancer. I was very pleased after speaking with Jeff Serani, Lyquid Talent CEO, to find that he was greatly supportive of my event and interested in helping current and potential freelance dancers (beyond his goal to give established and aspiring professionals a web presence).

One of Lyquid Talent's media-friendly styles (style 6)

As I said before, I had been struggling with the creation of my own personal website. I also wanted to see how the company worked prior to offering their services at my event. Jeff and his team offered to show me the simple process involved in making one of their highly versatile websites by taking away the burden of creating my own site. This was quite a relief! The first thing I had to do was visit the Lyquid Talent website and choose one of their 14 designs, ranging from elegant to edgy and simple to media-friendly. There is a wide array of options that offer a variety of subtitles (resume, photo gallery, contact form, etc). If I was feeling particularly picky, there is also a certain amount of flexibility with each design. Each style has multiple options for personalizing and customizing, which can be viewed on that particular style's info page. This allows each dancer to cater a site to their specific needs. After I decided that dance website style 5 suited my taste and needs, Jeff sent me a link where I could upload all of my information for him to plug into the website. Prior to uploading, most would usually decide on a domain name, which is usually their their name followed by .com (which Lyquid Talent generously offers as a part of their package). Even though I had already purchased my domain name earlier through another site, Jeff was able to assist me in transferring it into his care. I was lucky that I had already accrued dance photos, put together my performance reels, and written my resume. All I had to do was upload each file to the secure server with a short description of the item and let the Lyquid Talent team create the magic.

One of Lyquid Talent's more artistic options (style 11)

Once Lyquid Talent had all of my data, it was only a matter of days before my site was up and running. After reviewing my site and requesting a few minor modifications, they passed the reins over to me. I was given a username and passcode to self-edit my site. After signing in to edit my page, I found that Jeff had uploaded a handful of video tutorials that easily walked me through editing each area of my site (e.g. how to edit and update my resume). At this point, I wasn't left alone to figure everything out for myself. A friend tried to connect to this blog through my website and it wasn't connecting properly. Within hours of putting in a customer service request, the Lyquid Talent team had fixed the glitch and my link was up and running again.

Now that my site, BarryKerollis.com, has been up and running for a few months, I have had time to see the many benefits in having a website. When I contact companies to let them know I am available for work, instead of uploading my resume, photos, and providing a link to my performance reel in each email, I just offer the link to my site where each of these items is cleanly organized. This saves me a great amount of time, allowing me to contact more companies. On more than one occasion, directors have complimented me on my beautiful website. I also have a calendar to tell my friends, family, and fans where I will be performing next. Lastly, there is a contact form that allows anybody that wants to reach me, whether a potential employer or fan, to get in touch with me. The benefits of my site outweigh the modest monthly cost for the company to host my site.

As I gain more experience, it becomes more apparent that I can't figure everything out on my own. Lyquid Talent came into my life at the right moment to help increase my visibility, decrease my stress level, and fill a great need. I needed help promoting myself as a freelancer dancer. For company dancers, it could be giving oneself a way of promoting their image beyond the company with which they dance. For students, audition season is quickly approaching and mailing out audition packages can be extremely expensive. With all of this in mind, Jeff and the Lyquid Talent team are allowing me to thank my dedicated readers by giving any dancer that reads my blog a special New Year's offer. From the moment this blog is posted until February 1st, 2013, Lyquid Talent is offering to create your personalized dancer website for $19.99 (88% off), plus the $15/month hosting fee. Just follow this link (SPECIAL OFFER for Life of a Freelance Dancer readers), pick your design, and sign up. Thank you and I hope that this offer will help you start your dance year off on the right foot! Happy New Year!