Earn Your Network, or, my best bet explaining how all the hard work of the past eight years has lead to some of the cooler successes of the past one

You know that old saying "it's not what you know, it's who you know?"  God that can be a crippler.  There's some truth to that.  There's also a lot of myth to that too, and not the good kind.  I know I have seen example after example of people getting gigs they weren't ready for when there were better qualified artists getting looked over.*  I know there are also tons of super talented cats who get discouraged because they think they don't have enough time for art, and they wonder if it will ever go anywhere anyway.

I'm writing this based on my experiences and what I know of the stories of some of my friends.  I am not a professional artist (yet).  I am also in no way a starving artist (yet).  I have a day job that pays the bills well enough (for now).  However, I have had some pretty cool gigs in the past year, ranging from book festival performances to speaking on academic panels to guest/substitute teaching college classes.  Of all the gigs from the past year that I am most proud of, there is one thing that is consistent: I knew the person who booked me.

Does this mean I'm just some privileged jerk who knows the right people?  I'd like to think not, and that if I was, I wouldn't need to keep a day job.  I like to think that I've earned my contacts and that they saw something in me that made them think I was without a doubt the right choice.  A few quick case studies with names left out, and then some tips on how to earn your network:

1) Substitute teaching a collegiate poetry slam class. 
At first my thoughts when this was offered to me went something along the lines of "Are you serious?  That's awesome.  But seriously?  You know so many people.  Why pick me?  Am I just the best deal?  Is it being paid, or is this just something really cool for my resume and a favor for a friend?  Etc..., etc...., self doubt, excitement, and so forth."  Because I didn't want her to doubt giving her class over to someone just a year out of college, especially when there was a grad student in the class and a personal friend of mine who knows my juicy embarrassing stories in the class, I was appreciative, willing, and confident. 

When I saw the professor a week or so after the class went pretty well and I asked her, "but seriously, why me?" her loving and genuine response was along the lines of "you take this work seriously, you know your stuff, and you're not a jerk.  That's pretty rare, and I figured you might be able to use one more thing to help push your resume to a new level."  This paraphrasing is butchered, and she was way nicer and more glowing than I would want to try writing about myself.  It felt good to hear.  And it was a sign that I didn't just know the right person, but that the work I had been doing for the past 4 years as a slam coach, workshop facilitator, performer, and organizer had not gone without notice.  And that the gigs were starting to come to me.

2) Speaking on the Crossroads of Academia, Slam, and Activism at an area college.
So the man who was organizing this I met at an open mic.  He was there because the feature was one of his former students.  I was there because I had heard good things about her, and she was friends with my friends.  I find out the guy's a poetry professor and mention that career is a goal of mine.  I ask to pick his brain some time.  Well, learning about each other leads one thing to another and soon, based on who I was with, what he perceived that to say about me, and what he knew of how I talk, how I think, and what my resume was, he asks me to help him organize the event and be one of the speakers there.  And now that's an awesome night of my life, a new friend, and something else I can show I was capable of.

3) Being hired as a year long teaching artist in residence and slam coach at a college you've definitely heard of.
More than a year and a half ago I attended a performance art workshop series at this university that was open to the public and featured an amazing teaching artist.  One of the participants in the class was a freshman trying to start a slam team/culture at her school.  Well, her hopes were awesome, I wanted to see it happen there, and I stayed in touch with them last year, doing a few volunteer workshops, some free consulting, and one underpaid workshop because a) I believed in them and wanted to help, b) it pushed my teaching forward and kept me from getting rusty, c) it was a fun way to bolster my resume, and d) if I already showed I could do that type of work it seemed logical that it would get me more paid gigs in the future, yeah?  I remembered how as a performer, bringing good work to open mics lead to features and doing some features lead to getting asked to do more**.  Why shouldn't the parallel pattern be true as a teaching artist too?  Well, it worked. 

At the beginning of the semester I met with the club president to see how things were going and if there was anything I could do to help.  She asked if I knew anyone who might be able to be a slam team coach.  I said I would.  I would also be happy to put a call out for anyone else, but understand that there money is limited, I really like the work they do so would be willing to sell myself short financially a bit, and that I feel I have a very strong grasp of the club's values, strengths, plans and hopes.  And so here we are.

So yes, I knew everyone who gave me the coolest opportunities in the past few years.  Or maybe more accurately, I met them and was seen doing work they appreciated while presenting values and a work ethic they respected.  And then stuff happened.  And then that lead to more stuff.  Earning your network, in short, is about doing the work that gets people you meet to become people who are opening doors for you.  From the slam legend who directed my one man show and continues to be a friend and mentor of mine, to the fact that I am guest teaching a class at my old college this Monday, all the people who gave me these opportunities knew me, but I had also earned their respect and friendship.

Here's some tips of what it means to earn you're network:

• Do the work you want to do because you want to do it.  Want to get gigs as a performer or teaching artist?  Go be a performer or teaching artist.  Even if it doesn't really pay what it should at first.  Something I can tell from my friends who have been at it for twenty years or so, it never pays what is deserved, but it's the work you want to do.  So do it.  And eventually the right people will see it, so doing what you love becomes acing an audition you didn't know you were on.
• Be respectful, appreciative, but have the confidence not to sell yourself short.  I have asked people I know for gigs.  I don't always get them.  Often enough, in some form I end up getting them.  Eventually.  One of the advantages of having booked poets for so many years when running a college slam and doing other special events is that when I get to be on the other side of things, I know how much work they're doing.  I know they could've picked other people.  I know how to help make their work less and give them the appreciation they deserve.  With that being said, instead of looking back at gigs that I feel I could have got, I am not afraid to put myself out there and respectfully share what I might be able to offer someone else.  It is very rare that I will do something free, especially as this is becoming more and more a part of my income/livelihood, but it can be strategic and sensible to do the work for less money if needed so you can continue doing it and being desired.
• Take every opportunity, especially while you still have to be the one chasing the opportunities, and make it into a good thing.  In a theoretical sense, any place you are can lead you to another place.  So put on your boots, keep walking, and keep your eyes open for what's in front of you.
• Go for it!  At the end of the day, as long as you are reasonable and respectful and not too nagging, there is nothing to lost by seeking gigs or offering to do work.

When it comes down to it, maybe it's not about what you know OR who you know.  It's about how other people know you.  And going for it.

So yeah, hope this helps some people.  Agree?  Disagree?  Want to add on or share some of your experiences?

With love and joy and probably a few typos,
Jason

*This is without a doubt personal bias speaking which is part of why I am not using concrete examples.

** I will affectionately refer to this in the future as the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Effect"

Further Reading: A complimentary post that my friend Greg McKillop's put out about a month ago, How To Be A Loser And Still Get Your Band Shows