Friday February 4th, 2011 - Fox Lake, IL/Chicago, IL I need a personal manager. I’ve needed one for a while, but I’m finally doing something about it. I’m not exactly sure if one person can do everything I need, so I’m feeling out all possibilities. I’ve got several people in mind, and I’ll lay it out and see who’s interested. Today I interviewed two candidates, and both were promising. My friend Marc Schultz has been around the business his whole life. His father had a talent agency in Chicago for years, and Marc has been able to keep the business running which is a testament to him. I like Marc personally, and we think alike on many levels. He’s no B.S. in many ways, and also up front and ethical. We get along great as friends, and I think he can help with a number of things I’m just not good at. He has to make contacts in his business anyway, so doing it for me won’t be out of the norm. It won’t be a stretch, and he’s already an agent. Marc uses comedians occasionally, but that’s never been his main focus. He books very diverse acts from circus performers to magicians and all kinds of other performers, mostly to corporate clients. His contacts won’t necessarily help me grow career wise, but he puts my video in with his acts when he sends out a roster of clients and I’ve gotten bookings. This would be different though. I need someone to work a list I still need to make up of everything from television bookers to radio shows to clubs I work and ones I don’t. I need someone to organize a contact schedule for all of them and update my avails consistently. I’ve been very half assed about this sort of thing for years, and there’s no excuse for it at all. I’ve always been able to get enough work to survive, but that’s no reason not to put an organized plan together to always be on everyone’s top of mind list. I need to change that. Whomever I hire will be working on sending out emails, avails, and I also need to come up with a few newsletters. Some can be monthly, but at least quarterly would be useful to send to people like bookers, fans, students and even other comedians. I need to stay in the face of different people for different reasons, and I just can’t do it by myself. Nobody can. Marc agreed to help with what he could, and we’ll test out a few things at a time. We’ll decide what he might be best at, and go from there. We agreed to do it on a handshake but eventually I’d like to get a written agreement with anyone I hire. I want to do it correctly. I had dinner with Sheri Johnson who worked for Zanies for many years. She’s a sweetie and very personable, and loves to be around the business. She’s also good with computers which Marc or I really aren’t. I think Sheri could bring a lot to the table, but exactly what that it right now I can’t say. I told her that, and she’s fine with it. We’ll meet again soon. I told both Marc and Sheri what I was kind of looking for, and also that I couldn’t really come up with enough money to make it a full time position for anyone. We’d have to put a percentage deal together of what I make, and that’s just how it is. This is a new process. I’m being honest and up front with everyone, and they can all say no at any time. I need a person to act more as a valet or assistant, not a career guide. I could actually use that too but this isn’t that. There’s a big difference between hiring a personal manager and getting management, as in representation. That’s a whole different ball game I’ll deal with later. Finding quality representation is very difficult. It has to be a perfect fit at a perfect time, and life just doesn’t work like that on a regular basis. There are all kinds of agencies that ‘handle’ people, but it’s easy to get lost in that whole game. That’s why I never played it. I don’t even know the major agencies, and that’s pretty stupid on my part. If I’m trying to be in big time show business, I need to know who’s who and who I should know if I’m going to go any farther than Ft. Atkinson, WI on a Thursday. No offense to anyone, but it isn’t going to make me a star any time soon. I have to be known within a certain circle. Frank Caliendo is an example of someone who’s done it right. His career has fallen into place quite nicely, but he’s worked his ass off as well. No doubt about it, Frank is doing it the right way, and has earned everything he’s gotten. I don’t begrudge him anything, but I do regret not handling my own situation a lot better. I was too busy surviving to be smart. I had a few bad breaks in there too, as most people do. Again, that’s no excuse, but it is at least part of the reason I’m not where I think I should be. I can’t change the past, but if I start changing now, the future will be a lot different. I want life to have a happy ending. That won’t happen if I don’t change significantly. I’ve done some things very well, but a lot of others I haven’t. It takes guts to change, and I told Marc at lunch that I can’t think of anyone even close to my age or experience level being willing to remake everything. I think that’s what it’s going to take though, and I’m willing to do it. Anyone I hire will help me free quality time to get more done, and in turn hopefully hire more people to put all my grandiose ideas in some kind of motion. This is a big project, and I totally know it. Realistically, I think both Marc and Sheri will both be able to help me in the next little while. Maybe I’ll be able to hire both, and I hope I can find that much for them to do and enough to pay them what they’re worth. They’re both wonderful people and I respect the personal lives of them both and don’t want to exploit anyone. I want it to be a win/win. There are also some others who are already helping. Shelley has been really great with my website and Mothership Connection radio show, and many other things. I just hired a web guy for ‘Schlitz Happens!’ and I’ve also got Uranus Factory Outlet pending as a site with Jim McHugh’s brother in law Mark Huelskamp running it. I’m spreading it around. Part of it is because of the scorching I took from my ex business partner, but another is that I think those are all genuinely talented people. Robert Deglau has been really helping up in Milwaukee as has Richard Halasz. That’s a whole other project, and I want to get on it and stay on it. I know I’m doing the right thing here. A solid team is an absolute must.
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