Business for Self-Employed Creatives

Marcus Weiss is an actor who's had an extensive career in theater, TV, film, and radio. You may have seen him in Blue Man Group, Le Reve, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, and Second City Improv & Comedy, to name a few. He's also a teaching artist for the Disney Musicals in Schools Program at the Smith Center for Performing Arts, and a performance coach with a Mastermind called “Express and Connect.”

In this episode, we talk about how growing up in Switzerland shaped his outlook on seeking "busyness," how formal training (he got his BA in drama from Dartmouth and a Masters in Acting at Temple University) gave him more tools for expression, which allows him more freedom.

We also discuss how the "Yes, and..." principle of Improv can be applied to your business or life outside of comedy, why mindset (or heartset, as he likes to call it) has become so meaningful, and the importance of getting out of your head and creating a path that feels good from the neck down.

Connect with Marcus:

IG: @themarcusweissexperience 

Facebook: The Marcus Weiss Experience and Marcus Jacob Weiss

Twitter: @swissmarcus

Mastermind: "Express & Connect"

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Connect with me on your favorite platform: https://pods.link/aardvarkgirl or on Clubhouse @aardvarkgirl

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01:36 I have no sort of inherent, vague, foggy fears about communication or about expressing myself or about connecting with other people. 

03:18 There are those who consider being out of your comfort zone to be like a negative thing. And then there's those, and you can sort of train yourself, who consider coming out of your comfort zone to be an exciting thing. Like, Ooh! I am out of my comfort zone! I'm going to be growing! I'm going to be learning something!

06:00 I suppose the way that I look at training is, I just have more tools of expression. For me, more training and more knowledge creates more freedom, because it gives me more room. It gives me more toys to play with.

09:36 Improv has that foundation of a “Yes, and” mindset, which means that things that you see, things that you experience, people that you meet, conversations, situations, there's always a “YES! I'm going to embrace that. AND I'm going to add to it.” In other words, I'm going to take what's happening, and I'm going to incorporate it. I'm going to welcome it. And I'm going to change what my idea was. YES! I'm going to be expanded by that. AND we're going to create something together that didn't exist before. So it's a technical thing, but it's also a mindset.

12:08 Being flexible and saying yes to the possibilities of any situation can be really important.

14:00 When things don’t meet what our expectations, we don't feel good. Things that ultimately don't feel good, don't make us happy, and therefore, don't make those around us happy. And we're ultimately not making the world a better place or a more uplifted place.

16:13 Things take work, but there's a lot that we can do in terms of how we sort of look at the world. 

17:04 There was a certain philosophical, cultural, and political context that I grew up in (in Switzerland) that I perceived as very different when I came to the States. When I came back, I remember specifically that there was this, like, muscular, almost aggressive pursuit of like achievement, and happiness, and fulfillment.

19:36 What's important? I think whatever makes us feel alive. But some of us grab onto this notion of growing, and then we attach measurements to it, and that's where that sort of judgment comes in, like I gotta do more.

20:55 We're busy. But I think we have to be aware of the really underneath of that. What would you feel like if you stopped for an hour? Or an afternoon? Or a day or a week?

22:04 I think everybody wants to feel that we’re enough. It all starts with what you're saying to yourself, right? Feelings ultimately have to do with the story that you're telling yourself, and the way that you interpret situations. 

24:54 90% of what I did up to the slowdown went away, because I was teaching in classrooms live and I was performing virtually full time. And I had a lot of day jobs. At first, because we were in such crisis mode, I didn't really register it as much. The reality of not being able to connect with people in that way live didn't really sink in for about two months. Then I realized that that is something that I feel really attached to in my life.

29:39 If we ask ourselves the right questions, or if we ask each other the right questions, we can get to the issues together. And if the intention of those questions is coming from a… I was gonna say a loving place, or a joyful place, but even if it's just coming from a constructive place, or from an objective place, or from a place where we intend to solve things together, I think we can really go far. As two people hanging out, or as groups, or as a culture, as a society and as a world.

37:08 I want to be able to unfold, and I think it's interesting that a lot of what I've done have been pieces that have allowed me to go to those different kinds of places.

41:14 If you're having a real moment with somebody, a real intimate moment with one person, or maybe with two people, an audience of 2000 people will zoom in on it. And I think the reason they're zooming in on it is not because there's a lot happening, it's because our hearts are discovering something that all of us would like to experience.

45:03 If I give you my time, I'm giving the most precious thing I have. 

46:09 Life of a performer, it can be so uncertain. It can be filled with ups and downs, lefts and rights. It's completely nonlinear, but so is life a lot of time. And full of disappointment. It's like you work really hard, and there's a lot of stuff that doesn't seem like it's in your control, you know? So there can be a tendency to feel disappointed. So you're always working on that. If you graduated from medical school, you're not all of a sudden, like, hmmm, yeah, you're not gonna ever work. It's not like you’re like, oh, man, I did two operations this year! Oh, that was a good year for me! But with actors, it's kind of like, hey, man, I got a job this year!

47:59 I've noticed that every time I'm able to fully express myself with the intention of connecting with others, and sharing our hearts with each other, that's when life happens. And so whatever context that somebody might be in, whether it's a live Instagram video, or whether it's talking to your family, or whether it's being a being an actor in front of 2000 people, if somebody can find a way to express their voice, their story, their message, and connect with others so that they feel heard and seen and felt, then it will uplift everyone and it will give other people permission to do the same. And I think that will serve everybody.

55:36 I think we all just want the world to “Yes, and” us. But it takes it takes faith and courage. And then the experience that it might be happening. Your confidence will come from competence, but you have to take the action first, and then it becomes this loop. You just gotta find a way to say the right things to yourself and to your brain and to your heart. Take the action and do it. And then praise yourself, allow yourself to be kind to yourself, love yourself enough to take that in. That'll build your confidence.

56:55 Permit yourself to not give up. If you feel like doing it, even for a while, then do it. But keep on trying to check in with yourself and see if it's really where you want to head. And then there's always a way, no matter what. Keep finding a way to turn towards what feels good from the neck down. All the thoughts, that's great, and the analysis of things, that's great. But there's a lot of ways to live your life and to create your path anywhere, but particularly in the arts and creative professionals. But what's important is that it feels good in your in your whole self.