Take The Fear Out of Reaching Out With Brian Patacca

Brian Patacca helps creatives get what they want without suffering. Brian engages creative professionals seeking to ignite their businesses with fierce accountability, marketing innovation, and soul-satisfying success. With an education from Northwestern, Brian first worked in New York as an advertising executive promoting Broadway shows. During this time, his path of career coaching was revealed. He is the founder of a coaching organization and creative community with locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Now based in Los Angeles, Brian coaches nationwide in several web-based group courses including his latest programs, Agent Goals and Actor Operating System. Check out his podcast Brian Breaks Character.

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Links:

Brian on Instagram @briansaysthat
Brian Breaks Character Podcast
Check out Nail Your Brand & Make Lifelong Fans with Diane Foy 
Free Resource: How to Say Thank You (Without Being Weird)

Transcript:

[00:00:01.660] – Diane Foy

Welcome to Multipassionate Artists, featuring conversations with visual and performing artists, along with other creative souls on their journey, process and entrepreneurship. I am your host, Diane Foy, and I want to empower you to connect to your self and your purpose so that you can make an impact with your talents through solo and coaching episodes. I’ll share personal branding and PR strategies to attract the fans, media and industry that allow you to live that purpose.

 

[00:00:39.340] – Diane Foy

Hello and welcome to episode 88 of Multi Passionate Artists. I am your host, Diane Foy. As we near the end of the year oh, that rhymed. What are you thinking? Every year I think, OK, next year is going to be my year to break through. And this year’s no different. I keep changing my messaging and it’s taken me a while to really figure out. The messaging is so hard, isn’t it? But you change it, it feels perfect for a while and then something starts to eat at you that maybe I need to change it. And so that’s where I’m at again. But I’m on a mission to help more artists and creatives with their personal branding. So I’m owning that title.

 

[00:01:39.550] – Diane Foy

Personal branding, coach. And I’ve revamped my fans, media and industry attraction playbook. So much so that I’m turning it into a course well, I’m turning it into two courses. I’m turning it into a free mini course so that you can get an overview of the playbook and start off with a few tasks to get some wins out of it and kind of introduce you to the method. And then I’m going to be launching a full on course and group program, group coaching program for artisan creatives to really deep dive on their personal brand. So look forward to that. If you haven’t signed up for the play book yet, I would say get on that because the list will be the first to know that the mini course is launched. And so Dianefoy.com/freebie and get the free fans, media, industry attraction playbook, soon to be minicourse, soon to be group program. So I’m so excited. I’m working away getting that ready for you. In the meantime, you’re going to love this episode. I was just on Brian Patacca’s podcast, brian Break’s Character and we had so much fun chatting. We talked about personal branding for artists and actors and creatives and we really got into it.

 

[00:03:20.310] – Diane Foy

And so on my podcast, we talked about again, everything to do with his career and also tips to help. And one of the main takeaways was his advice on reaching out. It’s so scary, isn’t it? And so we really get into taking the fear out of reaching out with Brian. So I will tell you a little bit more about him. 200 creative people get Brian’s newsletter delivered to their inbox every single week. And when they’re not reading along, they’re listening to his podcast, brian Breaks Character. The podcast ranks among the top 1% of the most listened podcast in the world, with 5000 downloads every month and 270 plus five star reviews. Brian is the CEO of Team BKP, and for the past two decades, he’s been helping creatives get what they want without all the suffering. His sweet spot is helping people who proudly walk the path least taken with down and dirty marketing and branding advice, all while spilling the tea on how to bring home the bacon. But his secret superpower is his spiritual and grounding approach to the biz. Rooted in his training as a nondenominational reverend. He proves that when you follow your purpose, instead of playing by a tired set of industry rules, I e.

 

[00:04:58.990] – Diane Foy

Limiting beliefs, you can skip the drama, generate momentum, and build excitement around who you are and what you love to do the most. Not only does he promise the HOWTOs, and he has zero doubt that creativity is your divine birthright. And there’s some similarities with us. Like, I found we both just believe that artists have the power to change lives, and we’re both on the same mission. So you will love his take on everything. I hope you enjoy it. For links in a transcript, visit dianefoy.com 88 hello. Welcome to the show. I’m so excited to talk to you. Me too.

 

[00:05:46.770] – Brian Patacca

Thank you so much for having me.

 

[00:05:47.970] – Diane Foy

Of you and known you for a while, but we’ve never really had a chance to chat.

 

[00:05:54.430] – Brian Patacca

No, never. It was really exciting, actually. When you asked me to be on the pod, I was like, our worlds have been meant to collide for way too long. This is exciting. We need to have a real deep conversation. We’ll see if it’s deep today. I’m assuming it will be deep. We’ll see how it goes. I guess.

 

[00:06:08.360] – Diane Foy

Like I said, I wing it. And you’re a multi, passionate, creative as I am. And I’m sure we’ll have a million things to talk about, but I’d love to just hear everything your journey.

 

[00:06:22.090] – Brian Patacca

Oh, sure, yeah.

 

[00:06:25.840] – Diane Foy

How did you get to where you are today? And it’s okay if it’s a long story. I’m good with it.

 

[00:06:31.350] – Brian Patacca

I love that.

 

[00:06:32.380] – Diane Foy

Are you creative as a child? Do you come from a creative family?

 

[00:06:38.590] – Brian Patacca

It’s interesting in that question because and I’m sure you believe this too, is I believe everyone is creative and they have different degrees of how we express it. We have certain ways that we recognize creativity and other ways that we don’t. And so I believe that, you know, problem solving is a version of creativity. Being a mother is a version of creativity. Right. And I think that my parents had separated when I was very young. I was seven years old and my brother had just been born. And I think that my mother really instilled in me. You can do anything, and creativity is to be celebrated and your feelings are valid without being like a helicopter mom or like being like you are entitled to have whatever you want very much. Like everyone is special and no one is special is kind of the way that I would say in a spiritual level. And you are special and so is everyone else in your class. And so I think I really had this spirit of anything is possible. And then I think that my mom also kind of adored me. And so the performer and me showed up, was like, oh, I can think.

 

[00:07:35.250] – Brian Patacca

My mom laughed. Well, then I’m going to keep doing this. And I dressed up in her clothes as a kid, which plenty of gay little boys do. I feel like I put on shows and I had my own talk show in the basement. And my mom asked me once when I was four years old, what is your favorite thing? And I said, starting something and finishing it, which is very different than saying, like, roller skating at four years old, I think. So that was kind of a real sign, I think, of what was to come in some ways. So I think that I always enjoyed creating. And I grew up in Ohio, which, if you know anything about Ohio, it is a little bit of like a florida in my high school was the largest three year high school in the state of Ohio. I graduated with 2700 people. There was one white person, one black person, one Asian person, one Jewish person. We all knew who they were. So it’s very homogeneous. And it really kept me I think it kept me in the closet and it kept me hidden and afraid to be myself.

 

[00:08:36.570] – Brian Patacca

And not that gayness is the entirety of my identity, but it is part of it. And so I think that that really kept me in the closet. And then I was the first person in my family to go to college, and so that was when I was like, oh, the world allows people to be who they are, beyond my mom, beyond the home that I grew up in. And I say that because I went to school in Chicago. I went to Northwestern, and there are Latin people and Jewish people and all different colors of people and all different backgrounds. And I suddenly was like, oh, it is okay to not feel like you have to hide, I guess, is kind of what happened to me, right? And it was a huge moment for me. And I remember I called my mom on the third day of being at Northwestern and said, like, Mom, I think I’m gay. And I’d already had a conversation with her before I left school. And she was like, well, I knew this was going to happen. She was all very cool and chill about the whole thing, and more cool and chill than I was, I would say.

 

[00:09:36.190] – Brian Patacca

And then I think that through, you know, anybody who’s had the privilege of being able to go to a university of any sort. That is a part of a journey where you’re meant to discover yourself and learn things about yourself while you’re in an educational environment and your mind gets blown. And I knew that I wanted to be an actor, but the whole time I was at school, northwestern is not a conservatory, so you’re able to study all kinds of things. And I was an art history minor for a while, and I was studying art, and I was a dance minor for a while, and I was a psychology minor. Everyone’s a psychology minor at some point, and I was very close to getting some of these minors because I knew that I wanted to do more than just act. And so I produced shows. And when I got to New York, this is where things started to really click into. You can see a little bit more of how my path came to be right then because I worked. My first job in New York City was at an advertising agency in the middle of Times Square.

 

[00:10:27.120] – Brian Patacca

It’s called sereno coin. It exists in the state, the largest advertising agency that handles Broadway shows. All they do is cover Broadway shows. So it was the coolest job ever. Yeah, I mean, I go to work, and my clients were the producers of Kissing Me Kate and Bringing the Noise, Bringing the Fun in the Public Theater. And my job was to make sure these shows were selling tickets. And I moved up pretty quickly at this advertising agency because I think I had a little bit of a mind for copy and design. And after two and a half years, I went to my boss’s office, who I’m still friends with to this day, and I said, I have to quit. I said, I don’t want to grow up to be you. And it was a very funny conversation. He knew exactly what I meant. And right very soon after quitting my full time, there was a fulltime job. Very soon after quitting that job, I got into an offbroadway show called The Donkey show was in it for a year and a half. It ran for seven years. If those of you are listening or theatergoers, you may know Diane Paulus from Hare and Pippin, and she’s done plenty of shows all over the country, and one Tony Awards.

 

[00:11:26.610] – Brian Patacca

And she really that gave me my first real, quote unquote, job where I got a paycheck, and I did six shows a week. And all the time, even when I was doing six shows a week, I had another job. So I always was someone who, like you said, he’s multipassionate artist. I had a parttime job as a temp agency where I was, like, doing laps around the other people who work there full time, because I was like, oh, you want to do a mail merge? I can do a mail merge because why? Because I’m an actor. Who does mail merges looking for agents all the time. I was just doing everything there.

 

[00:11:59.140] – Diane Foy

I’m just, like, blown away that you could do anything six days a week on a Broadway.

 

[00:12:08.060] – Brian Patacca

The thing about that show was you did a show Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Friday, Saturday, Saturday. So our show was it Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Thursday, Friday. I think, yeah, we had two shows on Friday and two shows on Saturday. They were back to back, and it was incredibly immersive. So if you Google the Donkey show, it’s a Midsummer Night’s Dream told through disco songs. And so I was one of the fairies in this show. It was a very fun show. And so then I was doing the job, and I would be backstage with these other actors who I loved because I was on stage with them every night. And it was a small troop of us, ensemble of us, who were together. They were like eight or ten of us in the show, I think, and they would be going to auditions the next day or complaining about not getting an agent or complaining about not getting a job. And I’d go to auditions with them and wait in line together because we weren’t equity yet. And all those things were kind of happening. And I remember being frustrated because I was like, I knew how fabulously talented they were, and they weren’t getting gigs.

 

[00:13:03.820] – Brian Patacca

And I was like, Are you kidding me? And so I started to just put on my little advertising hat that I had been using in my own job, my own career, and, like, helping them. And I was suddenly helping them to get agents and helping them to get more auditions and book more jobs. And I was like, oh, this is something that I actually can do. I can help people do this. And instead of being an attempt job, it doesn’t give me that much fulfillment. And so I just kind of clandestinely was coaching actors on how to get more auditions and how to get agents. And if anyone who’s listening knows this, I think, is that the actors know this, but the ones who are not, I want to just share. Actors are basically running their own small businesses, so anybody who’s an entrepreneur is running a small business. And that’s what it was. It was like putting yourself out there to be seen getting rejected, then trying again and trying different methodologies of being able to put yourself out there. So that was really what I was giving people, is the permission to do that.

 

[00:13:56.250] – Brian Patacca

But then also some real clear strategies. I think those two things kind of married, which I can trace all the way back to being a little kid who loves to draw and dance around and say, I want to start something and finish it. So that’s kind of how it came to be. And then I was making my living as an actor for quite a while and I was really lucky to have that position. And there was a time in my career where if I wasn’t on set every twelve days, I’d be like, am I not good anymore? I fall right at that truck because I was working so much. If I really lucky, I came to La. And when I came to La. I was having kind of the same pattern and I was still coaching actors on the business again, on getting out there. And I would get in a bad mood every time I got an audition because I’d have to cancel or reschedule one of my clients. And I was like, that’s weird. And so I like one of my biggest teachers in this lifetime has been when I get pissed off or in a bad mood.

 

[00:14:48.280] – Brian Patacca

Like when I was pissed off, my friends were getting their auditions, were getting their agents. And this moment was I was pissed off because I was like being taken away from that which I really loved. And in that moment I realized, wow, you are more fulfilled helping people in this way, then you are on set. And it came to me really like a lightning bolt. That was lucky because I think that could have been a very painful realization, but it came pretty easily to me. I remember had a friend who said, can you quit acting for just two weeks and try it out? And the two weeks was like after two weeks I was like, I’m good. I’m obsessed with helping people. I got to see so many clients this week because I wasn’t auditioning and I wasn’t chasing auditions. And that isn’t to say that that isn’t a great life for people who choose to do that. And I just believe that our callings can reveal themselves as we continue to go. And not that I was doing the wrong calling before, but because I have that background, I’m not that much more prepared to have the, you know, walk into the murky swamp of creativity and putting yourself out there because I did it for that amount of time.

 

[00:15:39.030] – Diane Foy

Yes. And I think your passions evolve too, and flow. And we’re all about being multipassionate. And sometimes you don’t realize it because when I’ve done my many career changes, after a while you start to think, is there something wrong with me? I love this, doing this so much. And then after a while I got bored, I’m new. And then when that keep happening, you think there’s something wrong with me. And so now I think it’s just it feels like such freedom to be like but we’re multipassionate.

 

[00:16:15.560] – Brian Patacca

When you look at the history of it, do you find like a thread of this piece of it is the part I always know about. I always myself as an example. So I’ll say as an actor, I knew that I wanted people to I mean, I think it’s traced back to my mom, but I want someone to feel something or jostle them out of there every day or to feel more of what it feels like to be alive and engaged in their life. And that’s exactly what I do as a coach. So I feel that thread there. I mean, I could be like when I have a party at my house and I’ll throw parties all the time. Let’s pretend I’m throwing a party. I can get really into it because I want people to have a really good time and be really present. It’s like there’s a thread of the same impact in there. Do you find that for you?

 

[00:16:51.780] – Diane Foy

Definitely. Because I probably didn’t realize it at the time all along.

 

[00:16:57.060] – Brian Patacca

Right.

 

[00:16:57.360] – Diane Foy

But now I look back and go, my purposes remain the same, like, to help artists and creatives and mostly performers succeed. And I’m not a performer, but I took all these different career choices so that I could help you. The first one was to be a photographer. It wasn’t that I wanted to be a photographer. It was my way in to be around performers.

 

[00:17:25.470] – Brian Patacca

Yeah.

 

[00:17:26.140] – Diane Foy

Then I was a makeup artist. I was, like, doing music videos, and I want to work with actors and musicians and performers, and I was a publicist. I’m a coach. And there’s probably a million other things in there, too. But the purpose has remained the same that want to be around performers, but also to be able to be the one to help you. And I saw something on your podcast page. That was it. You believe that artists can change the world. Yeah, I think it’s interesting because I say, I believe that artists have the power to change lives with their talent.

 

[00:18:07.460] – Brian Patacca

Beautiful.

 

[00:18:08.040] – Diane Foy

Same kind of thing.

 

[00:18:08.680] – Brian Patacca

Beautiful. Yes. Absolutely. 100% yes. And I love what you say, Diane, because you say, like, to be near performance, because you’re not saying, I really wanted to help accountants. Which isn’t to say there isn’t creativity in accounting, and people can make that their own ministry. But we are attracted to, I believe that which we’re meant to do. One of the things that you call this cosmology spirituality, my background is a nondenominational reverend. I studied for three years. I said, of course, the miracles. I did a program with that. And so all religions know religions is the way I like to say that. But that desire is one of the ways that I think the universe organizes itself. So our desire to let you use this example, like, if I’m an actor and I moved to Los Angeles and because I desire to be working in acting, and suddenly my mother in Ohio, who never would have ever come to Los Angeles, is visiting me in Ohio, and I’m going to the Starbucks on the way to get my head shot. And I talked to that barista, and I drive by that person. All of it is pulled from this desire.

 

[00:19:10.240] – Brian Patacca

And that’s actually an ignatian way of seeing the world for those Catholics out there. But the Ignatius and Ignatius wanted to identify this, the desires, if we can imagine, that they’re planted in us by the universe, by God, whatever word you use, and it’s pulling us towards that which were meant to do or meant to unfold. And that feels like a similar thread with what you’re saying.

 

[00:19:29.370] – Diane Foy

Yeah, and it took me a long time to even realize it. And maybe yeah, I love to dance and I love to sing, but I’m not a performer. And I think I guess I’m sure we’ll talk about our YS, but my why is that? I was way too shy when I was a kid, so I was attracted to seemingly extroverts. Now, we know that there’s so many that are not extroverts.

 

[00:19:58.000] – Brian Patacca

Right.

 

[00:19:58.380] – Diane Foy

But, you know, they just seem so full of personality and really showing who they really are. And I spent my whole childhood and even half my adult love life hiding, like, don’t see me. Don’t see me. And I also say that no matter what’s going on in your life, you can escape to the world that artists and creatives create for you. And so I think that’s also the deeper meaning of why I love to help musicians and actors and performers, because the work, it is a vital service. It’s needed. Because when COVID hit, what did we all do? We watched Netflix. We did escape to the world that actors and musicians create for us.

 

[00:20:47.610] – Brian Patacca

Yes. I’ve never had that realization before, but I love the way that you said that, because it is so true that I was in the muck with the artists. And what they’re creating is such a piece of such a tool for the rest of us. Right. Reminding us what it is to be human, reminding us to wake up, reminding us to escape and set down the weight on our shoulders at times. There’s so much that that is a gift that that is to us. And I so see when you say that, that really landed for me.

 

[00:21:14.910] – Diane Foy

Yeah. And it’s not just people that are in the creative arts and entertainment world. It’s like the arts and entertainment. Joe Schmo accountant is feeling the same way when they hear that song, right. When they watch that movie. So that it’s why it does affect the whole world. It does affect everyone.

 

[00:21:38.740] – Brian Patacca

I love that. I love that thinking around it too passionate. Right.

 

[00:21:45.860] – Diane Foy

One thing that you said that a couple of times that I kept making little notes to ask you about is that the thing about multi passionate, sometimes we start a lot of things and don’t finish.

 

[00:22:02.060] – Brian Patacca

Talk to me.

 

[00:22:03.240] – Diane Foy

So I’m like, but what do you mean? You always finish. You’re multipassionate and you finish things.

 

[00:22:12.360] – Brian Patacca

Yes, I will say something. I’ve had some big learning around this, so this may sound affronting and not correct to some of you so you can decide, anyone who’s listening, pick up from this what you’re meant to pick up and throw away what you’re not. This is not to sound offensive, but one of the ways we can hide is by starting a lot of things and not seeing them all the way through. Right? But that isn’t to say you’re just hiding. You might also be, like, having some great freaking vibes starting. So I want to make sure you’re allowed to be like, I love starting these things and it feels good, and that’s how I’m in my body and in my life. And that might be all you want and bomb, thank goodness, right? But if you’re actually wanting it to have an impact and the finishing of is where the impact happens, usually I call that going public. There’s some version of that that gets to go public that you’ve created, like the song, the picture, the book, whatever, the poem. Right. Someone else gets to read it. You’re not giving someone the dignity of that beautiful impact if you’re hiding behind doing too many things again, unless you’re just getting off on doing a lot of things.

 

[00:23:07.180] – Brian Patacca

Right. Which I want to make sure that’s allowed.

 

[00:23:08.680] – Diane Foy

That’s allowed with multi passions or multi potential items. Sometimes it’s just yet another interest and we can play with it. But maybe it’s just a hobby. That’s fine. When you want to do a million things, you can’t possibly do them all to completion. But that’s why even when I coach multi passionates, it’s like what helped me was that by someone saying, you can do it all, you just can’t do it all at once.

 

[00:23:40.210] – Brian Patacca

Yeah, I used to say that phrase all the time in a class I used to teach you. There never was, like, about because I say there’s no such thing as multitasking. You’re just doing one thing and then another thing back to back. Unless the laundry is running in your dishwasher or in your laundry, you’re doing things at once. But actually that machine is doing most of the work at the house.

 

[00:23:58.290] – Diane Foy

Yeah. So it helps to, like, focus. I put some of my things that may be part of a career later on, on hold and once in a while dabble in a lot of unfinished projects. But those are not my priority.

 

[00:24:12.870] – Brian Patacca

Yes. I always say, like, if you’ve gotten some news from the universe, like, maybe you should do this. That’s often. Sometimes how the voice comes in, what about writing the book? What about doing this? Like, you get these up and I go, thank you so much. I’ll put this in my back pocket because that inspiration isn’t going to leave me. Like, I literally think of that will be there for me when it’s time for me to pick and pick up again. Or I have folders in my inbox of, like, things that inspire me. I have a folder where I put them so that I don’t have to say like, well, I better act on this right now. And the way that I have, I can think right now of the multiple projects I’m working. Right. I’ve got a huge overhaul of my website. If you go look at my website now, it’s super boring and bland and there’s a big one hiding from you because it’s not done yet. And I’m also writing a book right now. And those two things can sometimes be at odds with each other because the website, it is hard to talk about the way things look when you’re not a person who is a graphic or visual artist.

 

[00:24:57.820] – Brian Patacca

I know when something doesn’t look good, me articulating, what’s going to look good about it is very hard for me. It’s not somewhere I have facilities. I could write you a beautiful email, but that’s not place where I have space, right. So that can take me some time. And then writing a book is its own set of weight and importance and joy and delight when you finally find that turn of phrase or whatever. So one of the things that I’ve I don’t think I’m excited about this, but maybe I’m relegated myself to is things are not going to happen as fast as my inspiration struck and that I’ve had to really be willing to notice. I think I got this lesson really quickly because I planned this in my business. I’m sure you know this, Diana. In your business, you might do this too. I plan this big launch. I was going to have this free class and invite a bunch of people to it, and I ended up delaying it by like two or three months. And I was pissed. I wanted to get done when I wanted to get it done. What’s going on?

 

[00:25:56.110] – Brian Patacca

And I finally got behind the new date. No one knows that you plan to do this here. Besides you the only person. It was like the world knew that Brian was going to teach his class on February 16 or something, right?

 

[00:26:05.740] – Diane Foy

Yeah, right.

 

[00:26:08.730] – Brian Patacca

And it was such a success by delaying it that it was a huge lesson for me to learn. I’ve never been disappointed or by me doing something later than I thought I was going to do it because I’ve always been more prepared. It’s always been mobta. But I think that being able to see the success from that, really I can hear that in words, and even if people are listening, I hear that in words. Without experiencing, I can get how that might not feel that way. Because when it’s done now and I got the juice right now, the stamina, the inspiration, which I think that I think inspiration has like a shelf life. It’s got going half and half every single day, elbows. So to be able to extend it the way that I have found myself able to extend my inspiration focus and stamina for staying. With the project is almost always there is another person involved.

 

[00:26:58.010] – Diane Foy

Yeah.

 

[00:26:58.950] – Brian Patacca

Whether that is not that I’m doing. I’m not writing a song with somebody which could be another way to do this. Like for example, there is a web designer who’s waiting for notes from Brian and that email sits on top of my inbox going, brian, I need your attention, please talk to me. Or I have a coach who I’m working with on the book and the coaches are meeting is tomorrow. I’m like, oh crap, I better get up to early tomorrow and do some more writing for this. So some form of accountability has kept me on track and I also say inspired because I don’t know about you Diane, but the gullies and the itty bitty shitty committee inside my brain could take hold and say this is a waste of time, why are you doing this? This is okay, just take a few more months. It’s too late. Someone else already did this. So by having another person there who’s in some cases they’re paid because it’s a coach who’s working with me or it’s a friend who believes in me and says, I can’t wait to read this. It just keeps me engaged with I need to write my pages, I need to give the feedback.

 

[00:27:59.500] – Brian Patacca

So that has really also helped me a lot, I’d say.

 

[00:28:02.910] – Diane Foy

Yeah. I find like I always tell myself and also my clients that everything will always take longer than you hope. Just accept it. And now I’m even accepting it. Even more so now than when I first started coaching. Because when I first started coaching I would try to give them what they want, you know, in the amount of.

 

[00:28:30.690] – Brian Patacca

Time they want it. Right.

 

[00:28:31.600] – Diane Foy

In the amount of time they want it.

 

[00:28:33.040] – Brian Patacca

Yeah.

 

[00:28:34.010] – Diane Foy

It didn’t work because the whole reason I got into this is like I really believe the personal branding is the key. But most people want to skip that because that’s deep in our work.

 

[00:28:47.430] – Brian Patacca

Yeah. We like to think it’s only outer. We all pretend it’s only outer. Just about the colors I choose and the fonts I use. Right, that’s what you’re talking about.

 

[00:28:54.790] – Diane Foy

When you’re going to get to the teaching me like social media, publicity, blah, blah, blah. You don’t know what you’re going to promote yet. And so now I’m just like now I just say, well, it’s going to take a while. I don’t offer quick fixes. Quick fixes. There’s plenty of those out there, go try them if that’s what you really need. Now I just don’t you’re not a match for me.

 

[00:29:17.640] – Brian Patacca

Yeah.

 

[00:29:18.710] – Diane Foy

So long, slow and steady. But then sometimes I have to kick my myself because maybe sometimes I take the progression and like you were saying, the voice in your head that kind of says, well, it’s not ready yet. It’s not ready yet. I’m not ready yet.

 

[00:29:38.590] – Brian Patacca

And I’ll say like I can get that way particularly around something that I think I’m pretty good at, but I’m not that. But I’m not great at it. And I’d be like, no, I should keep doing this. And it takes me two times longer than it should. If I was like, oh, this is something I should in my example, like, hire outside of myself or ask for help from someone on my team. Or this comes, like, sometimes with artists, and I’m sure you notice this is like, oh, it’s not my job alone to choose the perfect scene for my Real. I could ask my coach for some support with that. Oh, it’s not my job alone to make all the decisions about my headshots. Oh, wait, I hired a hedgehog photographer. They have a job to do. Oh, maybe they could ask them for some suggestions of where to look. And so I think we tend to feel because artists are so in, creative people are so I don’t want to say you’re alone, but your passion is yours to kindle in some ways, unless you’re on a team of some sort or a troop of some sort, that you have to come up with a solution on your own.

 

[00:30:35.460] – Brian Patacca

And I think it’s so important that we know how to use that muscle. And also, I think a lot of times artists are afraid to ask for help even when they’ve paid for it. Yeah, I don’t want to annoy them. And I don’t know if you experienced this as a photographer, but the number of times I’ve worked with an actor on headshots or something, and they’re like, Well, I’m shooting with them on this day, and I shoot at 02:00. Did they give you any ideas of what they want you to bring, or no, I’m just going to bring my things. And they said three looks, and that’s let’s have another conversation. I bet you they have some protocols. They have some ideas, but they’ll even tell you where to look on their website to look for work. Like, we can try to be, like, good students over being, like, be a messy client instead of a good student. That’s my vote for being a messy customer. Not too messy. Don’t be annoying. But, like, feel free to take up some space at times, I think, in that way, especially when you hired somebody.

 

[00:31:24.340] – Diane Foy

Yeah. And I think that what you just mentioned is something that I help people with, because too many artists, actors, performers, they hire a photographer, I have a photo shoot, and then you don’t have a plan. You don’t know what those final images, what you need them to look like, what character, whatever. What is your brand? Who are you, and what side of you are you trying to show in these photos? And the people don’t have that. They just show up to a photo shoot. Here’s some clothes I have.

 

[00:31:59.260] – Brian Patacca

What do you do? I mean, I’m paying put some money in Diane’s pockets. I love photographers because that photographers because it’s not wasted. You could chance upon something good. Sure. Let’s just be that could happen. But you’re not going to feel that conscious decision making around or that consciousness of, oh, I know what I’m doing. It’s a little left to the whim of the photographer who’s just met you, I bet that much time with you. And I think that most artists are very judicious with their dollars, but it can be very easy to, in that moment, kind of give up the power that you still have.

 

[00:32:32.560] – Diane Foy

Yes. And I feel like I’ve even made that mistake as a photographer, because when I was a photographer, I was a bit more of a fashion photographer. So it’s all about the look, more so than the person, the personality. And I think when I started photography again, I was doing a musician, a singer songwriter, but she’s a girl. She loves clothes and makeup and jewelry and all this stuff. So we had fun and we played with it, and the photos were stunning. But it doesn’t express who she is as an artist. There’s a disconnect there. It didn’t show who she is as an artist. And I think now that I coach on this, it’s like, see, I’ve made that mistake. We’re also like, we should have had more of a conversation of who you are as an artist. It was before I was a coach, though.

 

[00:33:31.030] – Brian Patacca

Sure. But also, I think there’s also this other thing that happens that we can’t forget about, which is it feels really good to talk to another artist, and so we can get really just in that connected feeling of having the fun piece of it where we can miss the assignment. So I’m sure you both had the best time doing this, and you should. And that’s one of the photos. Beautiful.

 

[00:33:54.340] – Diane Foy

But it was afterwards that she’s like.

 

[00:33:56.710] – Brian Patacca

Oh, wait, I needed something I forgot.

 

[00:34:00.260] – Diane Foy

This doesn’t really show me as a country artist. This shows me as a beautiful fashion model. So, yes, you end up with beautiful photos that you can’t use.

 

[00:34:11.110] – Brian Patacca

Yeah. And I think this happens in so many different ways because it can end up with a website, can end up with the way you’ve got the wording on your website, the way you put your Instagram, like you said, the thoughtfulness beforehand, and then there’s other piece of it when you have that thoughtful fitness beforehand. I feel like it’s like everything is so much easier, all the decisions are already made, so much less energy put into each thing you do, because you’ve gotten so clear on what this is supposed to look like.

 

[00:34:33.660] – Diane Foy

Yeah.

 

[00:34:36.490] – Brian Patacca

I love that.

 

[00:34:38.510] – Diane Foy

So how do you work with artists? What is it that I know you have some programs that are specifically for actors, but in general, what is your kind of specialty of coaching?

 

[00:34:53.220] – Brian Patacca

Sure. I appreciate the question. Let me think of myself as a specialist for a moment here. The one thing that I come back to again and again, and I think this is from my spiritual background and my training there, is that I was, quote, a wizard of Oz for a second. You’ve always had the power of my dear, which is when she gets the gun road sitting like, you could have gone home in the beginning if you just realized it. And so what I start with is everyone is creative, resourceful and whole, made perfect, deserving and special. And everyone is so, just so we’re very clear now that the one person I’m talking to is everyone is. And so what I often am starting with is what called you to this in the first place, what baggage? Without getting into, like, I would say this is therapeutic, but not therapy. But we have to at least identify what our baggage kind of looks like, the shape of it, the color of it, whose voices it might be. So we can know when it’s getting noisy, we can know when it’s weighing us down. And I think there’s two kinds of baggage that we pick up as creatives.

 

[00:35:54.880] – Brian Patacca

There’s a lot more, but these are two, like, broad categories. And noise is creativity a monolith? But I want to just speak to this one is we’ve all had well intending parents, no matter how well meaning or not they were something, you got something from them. You even got something from if they were absentee parents, you got something from them.

 

[00:36:11.160] – Diane Foy

Yeah.

 

[00:36:11.500] – Brian Patacca

And the other is, at least in my lifetime, we’ve got Lab, OEM, Rent and Mulanroos, which are all based on the same story, basically. And we’ve got Van Gogh. And we’ve got Ernest Hemingway. And we have artists who have had, at some point, a tortured life or had no money or been penalists and been told that to choose a life of creativity is to choose a life of being penniless, maybe also being sick, that we are some form of you will have a less than life. I remember when I told my mom that I wanted to go to Northwestern for acting. She was super supportive, and she said, I’m just worried that I think the only famous people’s kids get to be actors and make their living. She’s not that wrong. There’s a lot of nepo babies out there, but a lot of actors don’t need to be there to make their lives happen at all, make their bottom line at all. So I want to be really so mom was not wrong, but she been sold that too. And the reason why I say this is I am not saying that having a creative life is can’t be have ups and downs, and you’re always a freelancer and it’s a roller coaster.

 

[00:37:18.660] – Brian Patacca

And I’m not saying that. But what I am saying is buying into that’s the way it’s supposed to be is different than buying into the idea that I believe in art. Because I believe art changes the consciousness of this planet and I want to be an artist who does that. Because the pinnacle of its art form I know that that is who I can be and that that is what I can offer. This planet right now is very different than I need to get this costar job on TV so I can pay the rent. Which isn’t to say they both can’t be true. I want to make sure that that’s clear, that I want to make sure this is speaking for the citizen of privilege, of like, your life is taken care of for you. I want to also be very mindful of having the awareness to be able to hold both the planetary reality of paying your rent and the spiritual I would say true or truth for a second here. That you’re meant to do this then gives you the perspocacity, stamina focus to keep at it day after day. And so that’s the place where I think I step into when I’m working with my clients is, let’s unshackle.

 

[00:38:14.620] – Brian Patacca

Let’s take off some of this baggage or be aware of it. One of the things I think is so important about this is it doesn’t have to be healed in order for you to be able to take action. It just helps if you can be aware of it. Oh, I know what that story is. I know that’s what’s coming up here. I’ll speak a little bit like I have an actress. She was on Grey’s Anatomy for a long time, and she was without representation and she wasn’t seeing opportunity. And we worked together and she got a bunch of offers, and she never could have imagined it was going to go that way and to help her find her representation. And when she got all these offers, there was this new wave of like, oh, crap. When I say yes to one of these managers and agents, that means I believe that I can really do what I say I can do. That means I really believe that I belong to someone who’s got this big of a name or this fancy of an office that they’re going to get me out at this level. So there was a different kind of wake up call that happens in that moment.

 

[00:39:13.440] – Brian Patacca

And I think that it doesn’t mean she had to be healed about her own worthiness to be able to get there, to be able to get that kind of success. But it did mean she go, oh, wow, I’m doing that thing. I’m noticing this moment in this way, and the ability to I don’t know if you say step outside of yourself or to remove yourself from the story and look at it in that way is one of the places that I start. So that’s a long, long winded way of me saying, like, where I started with your story. I would say and then by unreleasing that. And then one of the things that’s so important to be about our story is our stories are without coming from an untitled place meant to be witnessed. So there’s got to be some way where you share this, I think, in some way where your community, your squad, the people close to you get to see you express owning up to here’s, where I showed up for. Myself. And here’s where I backed away and here’s where the world kind of did a shitty job that you actually are saying it out loud in some form.

 

[00:40:10.470] – Brian Patacca

So most of my programs, there’s a place where you’re actually sharing something with someone in your community or you’re performing I put in quotes, performing your story, because it might just be like telling your story. It would be like a big show, right, to use these loving eyes of the people you’ve chosen as another way in to see what you might have missed along the way that would pick up some of the breadcrumbs you didn’t notice on the way. So that’s another big piece, I think, of the work that I do is people suddenly get hooked into the support around them. So then once you got all that underneath you, that is when I get really strategic and I go, okay, this is how you’re going to send the email. This is how you’re going to do the reach out. This is how you’re going to do your casting profile, whether that’s for agents or trying to get more auditions or I have a program that’s really just about systems inside of your creative business. And so it’s like after you’ve gotten this part of going public or acknowledging what you’ve got going on and then allowing the people around you to see that piece of you, we get really clear on here’s the strategies to take.

 

[00:41:08.790] – Brian Patacca

And I believe strategies are there’s two parts of strategies. One is like, strategies that work because this is how and also you got to have a strategy so you don’t fall backwards into your old thinking, if I know what my next step is, I don’t have a chance to think too hard about whether it’s going to work or not, right? I steal from recovery sometimes. I’ve had a couple of boyfriends who are in recovery, and I remember one of their sponsors said to one of them, you don’t have to believe this is going to make a chocolate cake. You just have to take the steps and there will be a chocolate cake at the end. And sometimes that’s what I’ll say at the moment when you start to question, well, Brian said, do this next. I’ll just do it. I don’t know really why. So once in a while, that little tiny suspension of disbelief for the people who need the reason why. Of course I would provide the reason why. But I also think that once in a while we’re going to have that moment where like, I don’t know, let me take the step, because a step has been given to me.

 

[00:41:59.170] – Brian Patacca

I can believe in this step. I think that it is wild to imagine that everyone’s hands I always say when you click send on an email, your hands are sweaty. And when it’s an important email, no matter how fancy of a person you are, you got a little bit of I hope this goes well. I think you’ve probably heard this from somebody else we both know, but the myth of readiness is like, ready is not a thing. You’re still going to feel like, I got to click send. I feel ready enough. If you feel ready enough, I feel ready enough. Okay. I can do it like, or like another way I like to think about ready is I’m tired of thinking about this. I’m going to click send. I love that feeling. I can’t give this another damn thought today. It does not deserve any more my energy. I’m okay.

 

[00:42:36.540] – Diane Foy

We just got to let it go.

 

[00:42:37.860] – Brian Patacca

Yes.

 

[00:42:39.490] – Diane Foy

It’s gone now.

 

[00:42:40.660] – Brian Patacca

Yeah. I gotta get out of my hands. That was a long winded answer to your question. I am. But I hope they give people some idea of kind of the way that.

 

[00:42:47.400] – Diane Foy

I like to work like it now I feel like I want to know, teach me something about your systems.

 

[00:42:58.310] – Brian Patacca

When you say that, you get another way so I can know what you mean. What do you mean by systems?

 

[00:43:03.110] – Diane Foy

The systems that creatives should or could have in place. Because I think that I’m a little bit of it, but definitely there’s a lot of artists that are scattered and they because especially when you’re multi passionate, you’re going in this direction, that direction, distractions and like what are some of the system tips?

 

[00:43:30.160] – Brian Patacca

I want you to go setting tips. Yeah. So I’m going to start with systems because I really believe in habits and I’m sure we’ve all read Atomic Habits or thought about reading Atomic Habits. So those of you who are listening right now, thought about it, right? Those who are listening right now, I want you to think about the part in your business career. Creativity, not the act of doing it. So not around. Like, I really wish I could paint this way better. I wish I could take photos. Not the art of it. I’m talking about the putting it out there part. Because creatives, there’s the part where you do the thing and then there’s the putting it out there because creativity is not done unless you’re Emily Dickinson and you’re going to wait to be able to read your poems when you die. We’re wanting to have people see these things, but we’re alive. Right. I think that’s the story memory, because I might get that wrong, but you get what I’m saying. Okay, so you want to put your art into the world. So the part where I think systems are usually the most needed are going public.

 

[00:44:19.420] – Brian Patacca

The parts where you have to put it out there, that’s where the muscle feels.

 

[00:44:22.740] – Diane Foy

That’s the scary part.

 

[00:44:23.830] – Brian Patacca

Yeah. And what I’ll just say before we even get into this is the more you’re able to do that, the more dangerous you can get with putting yourself out there. You see how much it affects your work. Your work suddenly becomes more daring. You’re more willing to go to places you weren’t going before. You’re willing to get a little bit messy or try to think a little bit differently because you’ve let go of the feedback loop of needing to feel validated all the time, because you got a little dangerous with putting yourself out there. So that’s where I think you need a system, because I think a lot of creative people can like, okay, I’m going to get it up for this. I’m going to send one email, or like, okay, I’m going to do my one show. I got my recital coming up. Okay, right. And then, like, a year passes, and then the next one happens. Yeah. Right.

 

[00:45:09.160] – Diane Foy

You can’t put everything riding on that one email.

 

[00:45:12.180] – Brian Patacca

Right. That one email is meant to be sent to 600 people, and it went to one person. So what I say is, like, when we create a system is great. I’m sure there’s not a person listening, myself included. Diana, I’m sure you can compare this to where you could do a better job of maybe staying in contact with some people who are colleagues instead of contact in your network. Right. So one of the places that I say you can always transact in is gratitude. It is never too late for gratitude. So if you’re like, I don’t know if I can thank that guy from five years ago. The answer is, yes, you can. And I think that you can say thank you without being weird in the way that I talk about doing this is I think I like to say, let’s all pretend we’re Victorian ladies on Downton Abbey, and we have the most impeccable manners in the world. And what I like about this mindset is if we lean into the idea of having impeccable manners, our feelings have nothing to do with it. I’m just fulfilling the role of someone with great manners so it can look like dear Steve, your name occurred to me the other day, and I realized I never thanked you.

 

[00:46:14.770] – Brian Patacca

Or I never thanked you as much as I wanted to for that great opportunity to come to your office and meet the people in your office and what y’all do, or the chance to play for you on that day. Or the chance for you to come to my gallery, whatever it is. And then this is the trick. The next sentence is the most important trick. What did them doing that actually give you? You have to take a second and empathize. This is a weird way to say empathize with yourself. So I would just say, okay. By him inviting me to the office that day and introducing me, everybody I’m getting right now, I’m improvising this. It gave me the sense that I belong. You’ll never know what a great sense of belonging it gave me to be able to be in a setting with those people. I carry that with me to today. So while this may be late, I want to let you know how much it still affects me. I hope that you’re great in your world. No need to reply. I just wanted to send you a quick note and say thank you.

 

[00:47:10.240] – Brian Patacca

Love, Brian. Thank you, Brian. PS. Obviously, I would be happy to hear from you if you do reply. We keep this conversation going. Take great good care. That’s it. So what you kind of heard in that is, and we can do this to people over and over again, this is exactly the same as saying to someone, I’m going to give another example because I feel like this might be a little more likely to be what people have going on who are listening. It might also be like, I’ve got a show coming up, I’ve got a fill in the blank coming up, and I want you to be there. Right? That might be right. It was like, I’m going to send one email to that one person that means the most in the world to me, except for you’re. Not you’re going to send to 600 people because you’re going to send it to everybody you know. And one of the ways that I like people to get dangerous is you have no business deciding if someone wants to support you, show up for you, be there for you. And too often, it’s a little bit like we’re deciding.

 

[00:48:01.160] – Brian Patacca

It’s like you’ve got your hands in their plan, but you got your hands in their calendar. Get your hands out of my underwear. They don’t belong there. Like, get out of my face. Like, you can tell me this is happening and give me the dignity of saying yes or no to it so I can. I’ve got a show coming up. I wanted to let you know about it.

 

[00:48:15.610] – Diane Foy

Of course.

 

[00:48:15.900] – Brian Patacca

I’d love to see your face there. Here’s the information. If you can’t make it like I’m saying, this would be like a mass, email me. If you can’t make it, no worries. I’ll be posting the images online, but you won’t be able to get the snacks, so you should really try to make it. Thank you so much. PS. There’s obviously a human being on the other end of this email, so please reply if you’d like to start a conversation, because typically you’d be using some kind of MailChimp or something to send a message like that out into the world. And so one of the things that I just want everyone to notice is in both of those I’m having great manners. And the reason why my manners are coming from is by sports commentating. What I am doing in the email, it isn’t just an art show. Thursday, 24th 07:00 p.m. Hope to see you. There. It is saying, I’m sending this to you because I would love to see your face there. If you can’t make it a little bit of joke, little bit of softness inside of you. Right. It’s narrating. I know we haven’t talked in five years.

 

[00:49:12.190] – Brian Patacca

It’s making it not weird. And one of the things that I always say is the weirdness is the way in. So when someone says to me, brian, I haven’t talked to five years. Great. That’s the weirdness. Hey, it’s been five years since you will come across as like the coolest cat in the world when you say that kind of stuff. Because that person then doesn’t have to worry about it. You’ve taken away a worry. Like, I haven’t talked to him in a long time. It’s weird that they’re reaching out. No, it’s not weird, because I just told you why it’s not weird. I took care of you in that moment. So I just really want to advocate for us using good manners as, I don’t know, as a tool to be dangerous in some ways. It’s a way of releasing us from the idea of how am I going to be seen? You are going to be seen as someone who has good manners when you show good manners.

[00:49:54.970] – Diane Foy

Right, right. There’s something about that that is coming up for me because I have a pet peeve.

[00:50:02.440] – Brian Patacca

Which is what? Tell me. I love hearing pet peeves because then I can try to work on them for other people. Because you’re not the only person, probably.

[00:50:09.710] – Diane Foy

Artists who do the copy paste to 600 people. And it’s the only time I ever hear from you.

[00:50:21.410] – Brian Patacca

Yes. Okay, great. So here’s the system. Can I tell you the system I think everybody should use?

[00:50:24.880] – Diane Foy

Please do.

[00:50:26.140] – Brian Patacca

So I want you to hear from Diane two things. Diana is not saying don’t show up. She’s saying, I don’t want to only hear from you with a free newsletter. She’s saying, I understand that that might be part of the world, but I also better hear from you personally. So I’m going to bet if everyone can make a goal here, every quarter, I’m going to reach out to 20 people personally. Just so you can give yourself a number for now. Right? Yeah, I’m going to continue to send my some form of a newsletter every month.

[00:50:50.670] – Diane Foy

One thing. I can see the newsletter, no problem. But I guess maybe it’s the copy paste that I get in my DMs sure of Facebook. And then it doesn’t even say, hey, Diane. It says, hey, Paula, last week you forgot to even change the name of the copy. And it’s the only time here, it’s a little. Bit more musicians that do this is it.

[00:51:15.060] – Brian Patacca

Okay. Interesting.

[00:51:15.760] – Diane Foy

It’s a musician thing that you copy and paste. Hey, come on to my show. I’d love to see it. And it’s just copy, paste. And that’s the only time I ever hear from you. I don’t give a shit about the show.

[00:51:26.890] – Brian Patacca

Sorry. No. Diane tell if this would work, because it might not for you.

[00:51:30.160] – Diane Foy

Yeah.

[00:51:30.670] – Brian Patacca

One of the ways that teach people to cut through the butter of this is let’s imagine you are an artist who has been really good at sending out your newsletters where you’re talking about your show and what’s coming up, and you send one out every month. Let’s just pretend that’s what happened. You sent twelve a year. You’re a brilliant, awesome, incredible, creative person. And I don’t know any of you yet who do it that consistently, but if you’re that person, you get a gold start. If you’re not that person, here something to reach for. So this means you’ve established a habit with Diane, which to me means you’ve established a context. I’m always looking for a context with someone that I know. So the context of the guy you’ve been talking to in five years is the five years you haven’t talked the context of Diane is I’m always sending her a newsletter. Great. After her third newsletter, I’m sending an email that says, diane, hey, I know you’re on my list and always getting my newsletters, but I wanted to reach out to you personally and say I would love to see you at one of these shows.

[00:52:23.590] – Brian Patacca

I really love your insight that you always offered like that. You’re giving a personal and you’re saying, I know you get those news. I’m sending this to you in addition, because I want you to know just how much more I adore you. What’s very strange about this is I’ve created a world where there’s second class citizen, the first class citizen. I just made Diane like first class citizen, but I might be doing this to all of them, but I’m still doing this step, too. You will have to take energy to do this. Right. And so I’ve created this first and second classes in a way, but also given Diane the privilege of feeling like a VIP, or taken the time to make Diane feel like a VIP.

[00:52:58.760] – Diane Foy

I always suggest that social media, like, if you have a target list of people that you really want to build relationships with, make a point of going to their Instagram once a week. Totally see what they’re posting. Say something if it feels natural.

[00:53:16.210] – Brian Patacca

We all know the names of people who comment the most are showing up in that thing. When you click the heart and all the names are there, we all notice that.

[00:53:21.580] – Diane Foy

Yeah.

[00:53:21.990] – Brian Patacca

Right.

[00:53:22.320] – Diane Foy

And also, even another trick is reply to people’s stories because that gets you in their DM.

[00:53:29.970] – Brian Patacca

Yeah, it’s a great one.

[00:53:32.080] – Diane Foy

And it could start a conversation. It might not, but at least again, there’s more to it. And then when you invite me to your show, I still might not go, but I’ll be a little nicer. Or I’ll actually respond right. The copy paste, even from friends I don’t respond to because I’m like it’s the only time I hear from you.

[00:53:50.530] – Brian Patacca

Also, then the other thing, I just thought of this because I just saw this as another hack. Another hack could be, hey, this is a copy paste because we are in Tech Week and it’s important to me that you come. Here’s the information. If I have a chance this week, I’m going to also personally message you. But at least this way you know what’s going on, even if you can’t attend. This is so exciting for me because I also want everyone to notice whether or not the person comes to your show is sometimes less important than them knowing that you have one, you are working, you’re out there. You can let them off the hook from faking a personal reach out and actually say, I’m messaging this to everyone, but only because this show is happening. I’m so thrilled. I love this venue. Do not come if you can’t. If it’s not easy on you coming. I know parking there is a bitch. But no matter what, I will let you know that I love this venue and I’m so excited, happy to share with you that this is happening. There’s a different spirit of it.

[00:54:48.130] – Brian Patacca

Instead of come to me, come do for me, do for me, do for.

[00:54:50.640] – Diane Foy

Me, do for me.

[00:54:51.670] – Brian Patacca

Rather than let’s celebrate this moment and.

[00:54:54.000] – Diane Foy

Just acknowledge that you’re in crazy promotion mode, I may not have time to be for the politeness.

[00:55:01.000] – Brian Patacca

I’m good.

[00:55:03.110] – Diane Foy

I tend to also be very short in my email, so, like, I have to be conscious of that, of maybe put the whole sentence, explain a little bit more. Also, things come off differently in email than talking. But yeah, if you’re in that crazy mode, just send it and go like, hey, when I have chance, like, next month, I hope to connect with you on another level or another something or whatever.

[00:55:31.720] – Brian Patacca

And then also when you do have the big show come up, you get to actually make it feel like a big show. Yeah, okay, Diane, this is a big one. I wanted to reach out to you personally. That’s when you get to actually like, okay, I’m doing 20 emails a day. If you’ve got that big project, that’s the time to make it. I just dropped this track on Spotify. When I get a ton of listeners on it and I’m really proud of it, I’m going to reach out to people. It is worth it to do it.

[00:55:55.050] – Diane Foy

Personally because then people want to support you. Everyone wants to support you, but you want to support people more when they have been connecting with you on a more real level and commenting on things that have nothing to do with the business. Or I’m always like just comment on the jog, the cat.

[00:56:17.290] – Brian Patacca

The one thing I always want to say for everybody is to give you a little bit of permission slip here. Sometimes you just got to break the seal, though, and it looks like sending a newsletter to everybody in your freaking contact book. And you don’t do the personal reach out first because you got to break the seal of I learned how to do the tech. I can make the email look okay. I’m happy enough with the words I can click. Sometimes you got to break the seal and then you go, hey, great. Now I’m going to do some personal reach out. So I always find there’s like the break the seal you’ll send and then there’s like, great. So I just want to make sure everyone hears that what Diana and I are saying is not sit on your hands forever and never be big when you reach out. But we’re saying we know it’s so much more potent when you have that personal touches.

[00:56:52.470] – Diane Foy

Well, I think there’s also a difference when you’re talking about newsletters. People signed up for that. That’s fine.

[00:56:59.590] – Brian Patacca

I always feel like sometimes they’re not because I feel like you got the people that are on your database and you’re like, well, I’ve emailed them forever because MailChimp is different world than the one Diana and I live in where people send us. I can send them my whole list because they’ve emailed me before. So sometimes it’s a little bit different. But yeah, I hear what you’re saying.

[00:57:13.840] – Diane Foy

Right? Yeah, it’s true. I guess if you are sending to a list of agents and industry people and then I can see just make you yes, it’s a bass email. Sorry. You be honest with it. People respect that.

[00:57:30.610] – Brian Patacca

Yeah, totally. Especially I want to make sure you all knew about the show. And I always try to say something, especially if you’re doing a mass email where it’s newsletter style, if you can have the space to make it, to say something like, there’s obviously a human being on the other end of this, so please click reply. If you got a moment, I would be happy to talk about the show more with you or make plans to see you at the show or whatever it is to like, really acknowledge. I get that a robot is sending this to you, but know that there is a real person with a lot of heart who wants you to read it. I think that’s a good way to call it out.

[00:58:00.660] – Diane Foy

Yeah, that’s so cool. Lots of fascinating things to talk to you about. I’m sure we could talk forever, but where can people find you online if someone’s like, I think I need his help, I love helping. How can they connect with you, to work with you?

[00:58:21.460] – Brian Patacca

All that good stuff I love that. Thank you for the question. So I would say the best place to find me is on Instagram. At brian says that.com no, just at. Brian says that there’s no.com at. Brian says that on Instagram. Right. I got all confused. I was looking to make sure I had this other link that I might be able to share with you today. Let me just check. Yeah. And then because we talked about it a lot today, Diane, we talked about how to say thank you and how to craft those emails. I just thought I was like, oh, this is a good freebie for me to share it with everybody if you go to Brianbrakescharacter.com 74. So Brianbreaks character, that’s my podcast. So Brianbrakescharacter.com 74, because that’s episode 74. There is a download that’s like a follow along worksheet for how to craft these thank yous. That we’ve been talking about. They can start can grease the wheels to relationships that you may have left on the shelf for a while. But I’m always in my DMs, so feel free to DM me and say, hey, heard you on Diane’s thing, got a question or just want to give you a shout out.

 

[00:59:16.010] – Brian Patacca

I love the ability to send people Diane’s way because I know they’ll be in good hands and that you know how to talk to talk to multipassionate people. And the musicians that I know are super excited and resistant about branding. And so that’s what I think. So great. Don’t do it by yourself. This is why you have help from somebody.

 

[00:59:37.090] – Diane Foy

Yes. I don’t overwhelm artists and creatives with marketing speak.

[00:59:42.060] – Brian Patacca

Good buying today because I got into it a little bit. No. Good.

[00:59:48.040] – Diane Foy

Wonderful. What is your why? Why do you do what you do?

[00:59:55.480] – Brian Patacca

I want the world to be a place of happy, contributing citizens, and I want people to feel like they’re a happy contributing citizen or fulfilled, I should say fulfilled contributing citizen and to have great citizens of the world. And what I know is when we are operating at our highest level, our spiritual level, our spiritual mind itself, that is the greatest power in the world and is the greatest way to change the world and make it better every day. And that’s the world I want to see. So that’s why I do what I do.

[01:00:26.020] – Diane Foy

Wow. That’s wonderful. The world would be a much bigger, better place if we all just honor our purpose.

[01:00:34.100] – Brian Patacca

It’s true. I know our manners.

[01:00:36.780] – Diane Foy

Remember our manners and get your freebie to learn what to say in a connection email.

[01:00:45.560] – Brian Patacca

Yes, totally.

[01:00:48.280] – Diane Foy

Wonderful. Well, thank you so much.

[01:00:50.710] – Brian Patacca

Thank you so much. I’m glad to be here.

[01:00:54.050] – Diane Foy

Thanks for listening to Multipassionate artists. If you enjoyed this episode and you’d like to help support the podcast, please share it with your fellow artists, post about it on social media or leave a rating and review to connect with me. I’m Diane Foy, arts on Instagram and in the Multi passionate Artists group on Facebook. Thanks again.