Author: Avital Asuleen

People-I’m talking about salaries and wages today. Get your minds out of the gutter! In all seriousness though, I want to introduce two scenarios to you: Person A makes $50,000 a year. They have several thousand dollars of credit card debt, and live alone because they really wanted a bachelor/bachelorette pad. They spend almost all… Continue reading It’s not how big it is, it’s how you use it!

As a director, I think a lot about spectrums. For instance, in rehearsal the other day, a director I assist spoke about finding an emotion on a scale of 1 to 10. He gave a note to an actor that his performance in a certain scene needs even more energy- that while the moment might… Continue reading The delicate balance: working hard vs. hardly working

When you work a gig for $20/hr, or perform in a show for $400/wk, you’re directly exchanging your time for money. That can be all well and good, but what if that $20/hr gig was only one of multiple pieces of income you were earning that day? What if you had multiple businesses bringing in… Continue reading Leveraging your money, and passive income

I’ve periodically been told that I can be too blunt, too judgemental, and too impatient. I am definitely my own worst critic. These qualities don’t exactly bode well for a compassionate self assessment of the past years’ progress towards my long term goals, but I’ve been working towards treating myself, and others, with more patience… Continue reading A gentle assessment of 2013

Say yes to opportunities! We’ve all heard this one before, but I’m going to give you all my two cents and personal twist on this little pearl of wisdom.  When it comes to building your artistic brand, resume, and personal and professional reputation, it almost always pays off to say YES. Now, when a really… Continue reading Say YES!

Just yesterday, a friend asked me to tell her about how I scored one of my last assistantships. The story went a little something like this: I was ushering at an off-broadway musical, and I happened to run into someone who I thought looked familiar. When I stopped them and asked, “excuse me, do I… Continue reading How I got a gig, deconstructed.

So, as I mentioned in the last article, the next ten blog posts will expand on the basic life/art guidelines I outlined previously.  I’m sure as I continue writing I’ll modify these, but hey, I need to start somewhere! This is post number one of ten. Let’s say you’re frantically trying to leave the house… Continue reading I love the look of you

I can’t begin to tell you the amount of times I’ve had people ask me “oh, so you’re trying to build a career directing, choreographing, and performing in Musical Theater? What’s your backup plan?”. Not that I blame them- the odds of success in my chosen field are frightfully slim. I sometimes wish I had… Continue reading Looking for better odds

If you’re seriously pursuing an artistic career, there’s a good chance that you don’t work a traditional 9-5PM office job (if you do, and you’re also working to further your artistic craft, kudos to you…but this blog post might not necessarily apply). I want you though, to consider persons A, B, C, and D.  I… Continue reading The 40 Hour workweek and you

Trying to move forward as an artist is difficult. It’s especially difficult when you seem to constantly exist in the gray area- competent and talented enough to earn the respect of your community and peers, but not quite successful enough to feel like you’ve “made it”. You may, for instance, be in a position where… Continue reading Let’s Be Strategic