The Business of Art

In the initial months of my move into the performing arts, one question kept coming back: “how much of my business experience can I use?” In part, it was one way I was trying to cling onto something (really anything) comfortable in a brand new environment. At the same time - subconsciously, I wanted to convince myself that I wasn’t truly starting from scratch because at 45, that is downright terrifying!!

Over the next 6 months, as I embarked on a fact finding mission to explore how I might get permission to work in the UK, and as I manoeuvred those phone calls, emails and conversations, I quickly began to discover that there was - in fact - a lot of business experience that I could bring.

For example, the art of networking, the art of negotiation, the art of enlisting and persuasion, the art of building trust, time management, stakeholder (both upwards and down) management, project management, professional communication and a solution-driven approach to all things … all of a sudden, all these skills that I’d been refining for the last 20 years in the corporate world came to the fore.

Yes, it is a different industry with different rules in the minutiae, but the game is fundamentally the same: make a buck.

Once I realized that, navigating this new world has become a lot less daunting. It actually becomes a welcome connection to a past life. It allows me to live in this new world with the same active tenacity and emotional engagement that I did my corporate life. I am also extremely lucky to have an agent who is equally astute, who supports my level of engagement.

And I realize - in speaking to my peers - that this is something many performing artistes are afraid of. Because it’s the “big bad business world” and because many people don’t feel they have the tools to represent themselves accurately, they shrink from it. But this part of making art is as important - I would even venture to say it’s more important.

So if anyone out there would like a sounding board, feel free to reach out. If I can offer a helpful perspective or point you in the right direction, I’d be most happy to.

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My name is Eu Jin. I embarked on a career as a professional actor after 20 years in the corporate world. I am a big advocate of personal growth in the performing arts. I dedicate time and energy in performing arts education, specifically in the arena of practical approaches to inner health because I believe that this lays the groundwork for a sustainable career as an artiste.

If you would like to engage in a conversation about a healthy inner life practice, please leave me a message on the "Contact" page of my website and a way to contact you. Thank you!

It's not WHAT you do ... it's WHY you do it

On September 1st 2016, I stepped away from an incredibly successful and blossoming career in supply chain consulting and sales consulting to pursue a post-graduate degree in Musical Theatre, and on December 9th 2018 - 2 years, 3 months and 8 days later - I received word that I had been cast in an international tour of The King and I.

For many, I was accomplishing what conventional wisdom said could not be done. There are many reasons why I succeeded - a confluence of luck and opportunity, tenacity and clarity, work and generosity … but the guiding force throughout all of this has been the clarity. The why.

Let me be very VERY clear: I wasn’t running away from anything. I loved my job in supply chain management. I was - dare I say it - very good at it. I worked for an amazing company with colleagues I clicked with, I was in a role that maximized my strengths, I knew what value I was bringing to the company as an employee, I had a boss and colleagues who trusted me and was truly on my way towards building a global reputation for myself.

So when I broached the subject of a sabbatical with my company, I was overwhelmed with gratitude when my boss and my CEO agreed to give me one. My CEO sat me down in his office and asked me why, and when he understood the why, I saw his face relax.

I guess at the end of the day, whether it’s creating customer value for the world’s largest companies or singing on stage, the why has always remained the same for me: how do I make a connection with and how do I inspire the human being in all of us to be better?

And when that lightbulb goes off in your head, I promise you everything will change. For me, everything coallesced. The questions I asked myself changed. The way I viewed my past, my present and my future shifted. Suddenly, an entire universe of possibility opened up.

I have no idea what the next year and a half on tour will bring, and even what lies beyond that. But I do know that I will be living with purpose. And that’s enough for me.

So, what’s your why?

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My name is Eu Jin. I embarked on a career as a professional actor after 20 years in the corporate world. I am a big advocate of personal growth in the performing arts. I dedicate time and energy in performing arts education, specifically in the arena of practical approaches to inner health because I believe that this lays the groundwork for a sustainable career as an artiste.

If you would like to engage in a conversation about a healthy inner life practice, please leave me a message on the "Contact" page of my website and a way to contact you. Thanks!

How will the world remember you?

It’s an important question, and one that I think could be asked more of in the performing arts world. In a competitive, individualized industry, it might even seem a strange thing to ask.

The obvious answer is of course “the world will remember me for my talent, for my successful career, for my fame, for my awards …”

But the question I am really asking is “What did you do to change the world for the better?”

As artistes, performers and creatives, we have the ability to shape the art that the rest of the world experiences. We bear the responsibility - like it or not - of being role models to others, regardless of how many followers on Instagram or Twitter you have. So while it is important to take care of yourself, your family and your career, I believe it’s also important to consider what impact you have - and could have on the world.

Ask those you trust - what message does my work send to the world? Then consider whether that is how you want the world to remember you.

Personally, as I try to build the foundations of a new career, I keep asking myself:

- Is what I am doing coming from a place of lack - meaning am I making up for some deficit, am I trying to prove someone wrong, am I trying to fill a hole left by someone or something?

- If I had the opportunity to speak to children, what would I say that would leave them empowered?

- If I had to walk away from my career tomorrow, could I do it?

At least in my experience, our actions have a far greater reach than we think. People remember things I said to them 10 years ago - when I had long forgotten them. And I received the greatest compliment when a dear friend said to me: “when I get stuck, I ask myself - what would Eu Jin say”.

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My name is Eu Jin. I embarked on a career as a professional actor after 20 years in the corporate world. I am a big advocate of personal growth in the performing arts. I dedicate time and energy in performing arts education, specifically in the arena of practical approaches to inner health because I believe that this lays the groundwork for a sustainable career as an artiste.

If you would like to engage in a conversation about a healthy inner life practice, please leave me a message on the "Contact" page of my website and a way to contact you. Thanks!

A Gloriously Improbabe Life

If I go back just 365 days to the 31st of December 2017, I can clearly remember my circumstance: I had just completed a life-changing 12 months and obtained my Masters in Musical Theatre just 2 months prior; I had auditioned (and made it to the final round) of both a West End revival and major UK tour - and had been cut from both; my visa application had been recently rejected - prompting a rather reluctant move back to Singapore. I remember feeling like all the momentum I had built had come to a grinding halt. I remember feeling frustrated, even angry and painfully helpless at the thought of being forced to start from scratch all over again.

But then New Year’s Eve came by and as is customary, I asked myself: “if I could go back 365 days and tell the Eu Jin from the 31st of December 2016 all my experiences over the next 12 months, what would I say?”

And as I ask myself that question today, here are some of the roads that I’ve travelled in the last 12 months.

- I took a leap of faith and took the last and final steps away from a 2-decade long corporate career

- I’ve continued to reframe my circumstance daily and stay empowered, looking for ways to learn and absolutely refusing to play the victim card

- I set a life goal for my family for the next 10 years and am happy to say that we’re on our way

- I continued to work on my craft relentlessly, seeing it as a never-ending journey of discovery rather than a goal to achieve

- I have honed my focus and will, daring to start from scratch and have created the beginnings of a new career that I wholly own and am extremely proud of

- I saw the Northern Lights

- I am creating an exciting new work very close to my heart which I hope to stage in 2019

I could never have planned all of this. All I did was show up and find the courage to do my best in that moment.

I know I am very lucky to live the life that I have, to be able to pursue the path that I am on, and to be supported in the way that I am. I also recognize that I sit at the centre of that storm. I focus and wield all that energy into a continuously finely tuning instrument; I make - and own - every choice as my own; I free myself to be completely and utterly human.

So as I step into the start of another year, I do it with the same courage as I have every year prior, embracing the unknown, embracing the gloriously improbable life.

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My name is Eu Jin. I embarked on a career as a professional actor after 20 years in the corporate world. I am a big advocate of personal growth in the performing arts. I dedicate time and energy in performing arts education, specifically in the arena of practical approaches to inner health because I believe that this lays the groundwork for a sustainable career as an artiste.

If you would like to engage in a conversation about a healthy inner life practice, please leave me a message on the "Contact" page of my website and a way to contact you. Thanks!