29.

Prepare for the Audition

Not only do you have sell yourself in 21st century America, you have to do it all the time. You're always “on.” Every interaction is an opportunity to show yourself in a good light. You never know who knows someone who knows someone who might want to hire you. Marketing yourself is a full-time job. Remember, I didn't say you'd necessarily like it. But it will get you to a place where you can do what you love. Isn't that worth it?

A few years ago, I was visiting my fiancé (now my wife) in New York City over the Christmas holidays. She owned two dogs, who had to be walked every morning and evening. New York can be really cold in late December, and that year was no exception. Although I grew up there, I've lived in Los Angeles for many years and no longer deal very well with cold weather. But I loved my fiancé, and her dogs (who later became our dogs when we got married) needed to go out...at 6:00 a.m.!

I put on every piece of warm clothing I'd brought with me and out we went to the dog park (which, in Manhattan, is essentially a slab of concrete surrounded by a chain link fence). When we arrived, there was one other hapless dog owner there—Laura Morrison, an acquaintance of my fiancé's. We got to talking and it turned out that she was a writer doing a piece for the online version of the Wall Street Journal on the subject of—wait for it—finding work! I told her what I did and handed her a business card. A few weeks later her piece appeared—and it included quotes from me!

The moral of the story is, you never know when a networking opportunity may occur, so always have your business cards with you and be ready to pitch yourself.