Last week I recorded an interview for a terrific podcast called Get Set!, hosted by Monique Schwaneman and Jessica Payne. We had a lively conversation about creativity, careers and the strange ecosystem that is the entertainment industry.
I highly recommend the show, although I cannot recommend the episode I will be on. Because oh man, about halfway through, I realized I was blithering.
At one point, the discussion drifted toward career paths. And that’s when it happened. I started listing things. Producing. Touring. Coaching. I invoked the pandemic at least 50 times. And on and on. All true. All part of my journey.
The problem was that I had forgotten something that I coach people on all the time: you have to edit the story.
Otherwise, you’re blithering.
The entertainment industry no longer runs on tidy job descriptions.
Most pros are doing many jobs at once or juggling a slate of projects. A writer also edits. A producer also consults on small business strategies. A director also teaches. Those multiple hats are simply part of the modern creative economy.
Talk to almost anyone who has stayed in this industry long enough and you’ll hear a similar pattern. The work evolves. The roles expand. Opportunities appear in unexpected places.
The challenge isn’t that you do many things. The challenge is that when someone asks what you do, your brain tries to explain all of them at once. You want to be accurate. You want to give context. You want people to understand the full range of your experience.
But most people aren’t asking for your entire biography. They’re asking for the headline. And when the answer becomes a rapid-fire list of titles, projects and pivots, people stop hearing you.
You do not need one exclusive answer to the question, “What do you do?” In reality, the best answer depends entirely on the situation.
At a networking event, your introduction should be simple and memorable. I myself have used “Squirrel Whisperer” as my title on many occasions.
In a pitch meeting, you emphasize the role that gives you credibility for that particular project.
On a podcast, you might share a longer narrative about how your career evolved. But please…don’t blither.
If you’re struggling with how to describe your work, try this. Write down everything you do professionally. Every role. Every skill. Every type of project.
Then, seriously, take a moment to acknowledge the depth of your resilence and the scope of your accomplishments.
Now circle the one identity that best represents the work you most want to do going forward. That becomes your headline. Everything else becomes supporting material. You’re not erasing your multi-hyphenate career. You’re simply making it understandable.
So while I was kindly assured by the Get Set! hosts that I was far more coherent than my internal commentary insists upon, the moment was a good reminder. The more experience you accumulate in this industry, the more important it becomes to edit your own story.
And hey, duly noted that even the teacher occasionally needs a refresher course.
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