“Paul needs to learn to sit down, and stop talking” – That’s pretty much what came back on my school reports the whole way through. “Ask him to write something and you will be lucky to get three paragraphs, ask him to TALK about it and he’ll never stop” – That’s another…
When I was at school, the teachers always complained about the fact I wouldn’t sit down and shut up. For them, it was going to ruin my life!
…OH REALLY?
Nowadays, I am an actor, a radio presenter, and a hypnotist! All I do is talk for a living. Sometimes I sit down, but that is only when I feel like it.
Don’t get me wrong, I now see the benefits that would have been available to me now if I had learned to focus in my English Literature, or science classes, but I am here to tell you that it is not the end of the world if you can’t.
The only catch is – you have to be REALLY good at what you do!
LEARNING HYPNOSIS
When I was 11, I saw hypnosis on TV, and decided that if I learned how to do THAT, then I could rule the world. I went out and got every book I could find on it, and within a year, I had my first victim in the school playground. And when I say victim, I mean it! I had only read on how to GET hypnosis, and not what to do afterwards. Nowadays I know exactly what is what, but then I didn’t, and I panicked. I was in the schoolyard, and thought I was going to be kicked out of school for it.
Anyway – Through the years, I have learned how to use hypnosis for entertainment, in big shows and small. I have learned how to use hypnosis to get rid of fears an phobias for people, as well as bad habits. I have also learned how to use hypnosis to let people realise that they are far more capable than they every dreamed they could be.
OFFICE LIFE OR ENTERTAINMENT?
If you want an easy life, then find an office job, and do it well so they promote you, and keep moving up, and earning more, so you can go on all the holidays you have dreamed of, and buy all the toys you want (yes, I still call things toys). There is nothing wrong with living that way, and many people can have a good life.
I spent 15 years in an office before deciding that it wasn’t for me.
But if you want the life YOU want, doing the things YOU want to do, you have to be GREAT at it!
OVERNIGHT SUCCESS
You may think that X-Factor will be your way to becoming a household name, but so do thousands of others. You will have to be better than every one of them! There is an old saying – “It takes a long time to become an overnight success”
If you want to be an entertainer, I can promise you that it will give you some of the BEST experiences of your life, and some of the WORST! When I started out, I didn’t know what I was doing. I thought that I could just walk away from office work, and be paid for being the great hypnotist I am. Looking back on it, I didn’t have any business sense.
I knew I was good. People in the hypnosis industry at the top levels knew I was good! But the public didn’t. If they don’t know who you are, then they won’t ask for you – it’s as simple as that.
PETER KAYE
Some of you will know the comedian Peter Kaye as being one of Britain’s best loved – but I remember seeing him on TV when he was just starting out, and he got almost nothing back from the audience… Now, he probably doesn’t have a free day in his calendar. It’s not that he’s any funnier than he used to be, it’s just that more people know about him, so more people WANT to see him. The audience he was performing for back before he was famous were used to comedy that showed off how intelligent it was.
But he kept going – and that’s why he’s the success he is now.
PITFALLS
You will find hard times ahead, because that is just how life is. It’s not fair, or right, it just IS. If you quit, you will never reach your goal.
Right now, I am in a good place with my job. It doesn’t feel like work at all! But that is because I have learned how to do what I need to do to let me keep doing the job I love. When I started out, I was so bad at it, one winter I literally had to choose between heating and eating! I had spent money one month that I was going to need the next!
But now I am doing what I should have done from the start. I have organised myself. It may not sound like fun, but it’s the thing that lets you HAVE fun. If I wasn’t organised, I would miss work opportunities. That would mean missing work.
ADVANTAGES
The better you get, the more people will want to see you. Then you can charge more. That give you two options:
1) Do less work for the same money
2) Keep working as much as you can and earn more
Whichever one you choose is all down to you as a person.
When you prove yourself in entertainment, you then get the chance to get an agent, or a manager. They will find the work for you, and take a cut of your earnings. This way you have to spend less time organising, and more time DOING what you do…
REMEMBER
Although it sounds great – you have to do the work in the first place. Without that, you won’t get anywhere. Jennifer Lawrence is a well known actress these days, but look into how much work she put into getting her early roles. Mark Ruffalo worked as a waiter for years before he finally got his first real role. And that role? The Hulk in Marvel’s “Avengers Assemble”
It doesn’t get handed to you on a plate – if it does, BEWARE! Someone could be expecting more of you in return than you are ready to give…
Every actor, magician, and entertainer got where they are by hard work – but they now have the life they dreamed of.
If you want to take the step – be brave!
Collingwood College Drama Department 