I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Read this first. Especially if you have any anxiety at all over finance.  

This book is essentially everything you should have been pulled aside and told about personal finance as soon as you were old enough to understand the concept.  It is comprehensive, understandable, and straightforward.  The writing style is clear and irreverent, and it addresses several things that people are afraid or embarrassed to ask (I am making him sound like the Dr Ruth of money and that's ok). 

This is a book that can change your life.  Not because the information in itself is earth shattering, but because it is all simple stuff you can apply immediately.  It was recommended to me by a close friend years ago and I am constantly recommending it (and have given it as a gift multiple times).

I have two caveats: 

1) I fucking hate the title.  I understand why it is what it is, but it makes it sound kind of "get rich quick" and the material inside is very much not that.

2) His discussion of real estate can use more nuance, especially in markets like NYC.

Besides those two points (and the title part is essentially minor), it is the absolute best place to start.  

The link is to the author's site as I do not want to advocate for one bookseller over another.  There are also a fair amount of free resources on his blog/page, but really, just get the book.

I also enjoy his social media presence. 

Addendum: Another finance book that people put a lot of confidence in and is often recommended is Rich Dad/Poor Dad by Richard Kiyosaki.  I found it useful, but it is not the place to start.  The place to start is with Ramit's book.  

HubSpot Academy Inbound Marketing Courses

There is not nearly enough attention in most arts training programs on the business end of things.  One of the biggest elements of the business is getting people to know about your art.  Enter HubSpot and Inbound Marketing. 

These are free (Freeium) online certifications on best practices in using online resources, including social media, websites, and videos, to get you and your product out there.  

If you are on this page, you are reading it because of HubSpot.  I took their course in 2011 and started my blog soon afterwards.  Application of their principles has gotten me work in both the arts (playwriting, fight directing, scholarship) and in real estate.  It is on my to-do list to take the updated/current version of their certificate.

The certifications are free, and are respected in the business world.  More importantly, their methodologies are effective.

Caveat: Do not expect this or any other certification to get you a job by itself.  Take the course for the skills, apply the skills, benefit from their application. 

Disclaimer: At time of writing I also own stock in this company.  I purchased it largely because of the quality of my experience with their courses.  

TAKE A NEGOTIATION COURSE

I had an excellent experience with Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategy and Skills created by George Seidel through the University of Michigan via Coursera.  There are others out there from various institutions.  Coursera is a great place to start, as is EdX. 

My own initial resistance to this was that it is not a teachable skill.  I was very wrong.  You can always benefit from tools and strategies, and this course also covers some very basic legal aspects of contracts that everyone should know.  Many things in your life and work are negotiable, this is in part a way to recognize what they are.

The course I linked to itself is free.  If you want a certificate there is a fairly low fee.  Certificates can look good on your LinkedIn profile (create and maintain a LinkedIn profile!) but the caveat that they will not in and of themselves get you work still holds. 

Take courses for the skills and knowledge, not the credentials. 

ELEMENTS OF AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Free Course via the University of Helsinki 

This one is pretty out of the box compared to the rest, but hear me out.

1) Artificial intelligence is ubiquitous enough that you should have a working knowledge of what it is regardless of what you do.

2) There is a growing field of opportunity in collaborations between artists and scientists, particularly in tech.

3) Should you start to look into tech as a dayjob/parallel career option (many artists have), it's an easy place to start learning some important concepts.

This is a free course with minimum quantitative requirements.  It is mostly theoretical, and touches upon many aspects of technology and culture.   This course does grant a certificate, but all caveats about such things still apply.  

I recommend this one in part because I found it very interesting, and in part because since it is free there's no risk in seeing if you enjoy it.  

TAKE SOME BASIC COURSES IN BUSINESS: FINANCE, ACCOUNTING, EXCEL, ETC

You do not need to be an expert in these subjects. You will however, find it extremely beneficial to be conversant in them.

I would add that they are all probably easier than you think they are. 

Three big reasons to learn business practices:

1) You as an artist are an independent contractor, so you need this information to function as such.  Your success will in part depend on your infrastructure.  Understanding all of these elements is part of that infrastructure.

2) There is a fair chance that you will have career opportunities outside the arts.  These skills will be important.

3)  There is also a significant chance that you will at some point be on the ground level of founding an artistic enterprise of some kind.  If so, you will need this stuff. 

As I said above,  Coursera is a great place to start, as is EdX.  

If you are more ambitious and can spare the funds, I am a big fan of eCornell.  I took a finance course with them and the positive impact on my business was immediate and dramatic. 

Again, these look good on your resume and LinkedIn profile, but will not in and of themselves get you a job.  If you already are working, you will find that you will become better at your job, which will give you more time and energy for your art.  

Anecdotally, one thing I will say about these as credentials is that I used to hear from clients that they were concerned about if I was a serious businessperson because of all of the arts degrees in my bio, and that stopped immediately after I had a single certification that said finance on it.  

LEARN ABOUT HOME OWNERSHIP IN NYC

As some of the people following me know, in the past few years I've pursued a parallel career in NYC Real Estate ("I realized academia is no business for an honest man, and so I sell real estate in New York City"). 

My firm regularly holds free seminars (about once a quarter) on what you need to know to purchase a home in NYC.  It is one of my favorite things we do as a firm.  It is informative, zero pressure, and catered (at least in non-Pandemic times).  As home ownership is something many people consider but know little about, this is something we offer as a public service.  We have continued to present them virtually during lockdown.  If you are not in NYC, a significant portion of the information is still relevant in other markets. 

Should you choose to sign up, please use the promo code MERONBLOG at this URL:
https://www.coopercooper.com/BuyingSeminar

READ OUTSIDE YOUR DISCIPLINE 

It was my study of finance that inspired me to start writing Slippery Slope.  Being an artist does not mean that you are only an artist.  And having a life beyond your art will make you a better artist.

If there is a business/tech/finance course or resource that you've found particularly useful, please link to it in the comments!

​
I am humbled an honored to be among the first to welcome you into the profession.  And I’d like to read you some of the rights and responsibilities.
 
Yes, there is an instruction manual.
 
Be an active participant in the success of the good people around you.
 
When I think about the people whose successes I celebrate the most, the for whom every time I hear they’re doing a show or film or have another publication I smile, it’s the artists who I know make a point to lift up those around them.  The ones that I know that if I or anyone else fails in front of them, they will make a point to lift that person up and help them make their next attempt a success.
Please, be that person.  Be the person in our community that is a reason that good things happen.  Often, it’s as simple a matter of realizing that another colleague is the answer to someone else’s need.  I can tell you that some of my most rewarding collaborations and professional relationships were the result of a third party saying to someone, “You know who would be good for this?”  It takes very little to do that, but can mean so much to who you do that for.  I have had amazing opportunities that started with someone I worked with years before tagging me in a social media post.  It can take very little to open an opportunity up to a deserving person.
 
If I actually said the names of everyone who has helped me professionally and artistically, we would be here for hours and I would still wake up in the middle of the night next week realizing that I forgot someone important.  
 
Please be the person who shows up when you can.
 
It is the very nature of our art that it is a thing you can’t do alone.   That also means being there to see your colleague’s work.
 
Now that you’re out of class, make the choice to go see each other’s work, and to experience the work of as many artists, your larger world of colleagues, as you can. It is impossible to make it to everything, But we always remember who showed up for us, so be that person who shows up for others.
 
Create further opportunities not only from your successes, but from your failures.
 
You will find, much like I hope you did in class, that many of your greatest successes will spring from what you will originally perceive as failures.  You will be lifted up by your colleagues. 
 
Don’t pay it forward, pay it onwards.

Life After Hell: Writing THE DEVIL'S OWN GAME -  
turntoflesh.blogspot.com/2014/10/life-after-hell-writing-devils-own-game.html

Buy the play on Indie Theater Now! - http://www.indietheaternow.com/Play/the-devils-own-game

Text of my post below the break. 

I have been fascinated and horrified by the Faust archetype since I first read a version of the story in a book of myths as a child. 

The idea that the pursuit of knowledge may in fact be ethically unsound has been around for almost as long as storytelling itself.  Adam and Eve and the story of The Fall come to mind immediately, as does Prometheus, and Victor Frankenstein.  Indeed, it is far too common for villains  in modern adventure and science fiction stories to be scientists or other seekers of knowledge.

What is consistent is that the quest for knowledge is consistently seen as not just suspect, but immoral and dangerous.  Somehow this strain of anti-intellectualism has made its way into the Western cultural subconscious and has become a sort of twisted ethical standard of anti-intellectualism. 

Why is the pursuit of knowledge a crime worthy of damnation?  What makes it immoral on the scale of those offenses that can land someone in Dante’s Inferno, when the knowledge itself is neutral?  The application of information may be positive or negative, but the information itself just Is.

This brings us to Johannes Faust.

Faust is described by some scholars as a Renaissance Man trapped in a medieval moral code.  I find this a useful way of approaching the archetype.  We speak of Faustian Bargains as paying horrible prices for short term benefits, but the term is rarely applied to the pursuit of knowledge (except perhaps in the current state of higher education). 

I want to know what happens after.

What happens when you have the smartest man of his time in Hell.  And that man has been given access to unlimited knowledge.  What use is that man to Hell if he is just being tortured?  And what use would Hell best put him to?  And, if that man is in Hell, what will he do to try to change his circumstances?  And how long would that game go on?  And what else might be included in his torture?

And in today’s world, where so many areas of research are so contentious, and with anti-intellectualism so much a part of the cultural undercurrent, how long till new Faustian bargains (in the sense of the original story) are struck?

These are the thoughts and questions that led me to writing The Devil’s Own Game.  I wanted to revisit and remix an archetype that resonates with me and repulses me.  I prefer to think that I stand on the shoulders of the giants who have told this story before, and that I am not so much retelling the story, because in my version, the story as we know it has already occurred, but that we are seeing the consequences and repercussions of the story.

I hope the play raises more questions than it does answers.

First, a disclaimer:  What I am writing about here is merely my own methodology when approaching a script, and there is no set formula in doing this kind of work. 

Much like my recent articles on HowlRound, I am dealing here with both pragmatic and fightaturgy concerns.  First of all, I need to be be able to give the director and the rest of the production team a list of moments in the script wherein I expect to be of service.  Some of these are obvious to anyone and might include a stage direction that reads something like, "she draws her sword, running at the bandits and dispatching three of them before facing off for a duel to the death with the bandit king."   Others are less blatant and may be moments wherein a line of dialogue such as "Stop that! You're hurting me!" might leave room for interpretation in the staging.  I make a special point for looking for slaps and falls, as very often those can be overlooked and cause safety and narrative issues if not addressed.  Also, events such as sex scenes can also often benefit from the input of a fight director (I am choosing not to add jokes to that last observation).

As I also bill myself as a Movement Specialist and as that sort of work comes into play in many productions, I am also examining the play for any moments wherein actors might need coaching for other elements of physical storytelling.  I look for incidents such as when characters pantomime any sort of behavior, if a character has any sort of seizure, as well as any opportunities for abstracted movement.

Now then, identifying the moments in the script that will (or may) require attention is only the first step.  One must also read for clues and references for how and why those scenes happen.  A play may have a single slap as the only fight, but that slap is very likely an emotionally loaded movement based on other events in the play.   In Act II, Scene IV of Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio gives a disparaging account of Tybalt's fencing.  This is both an opportunity for composing comic movement for that moment, and an indication of what might happen when the fight itself takes place later.  Also important when reading the play is to get an idea for how intense the violence itself should be (I have a personal scale that may be the subject of another post one day). 

Additionally, I read for fightaturgy clues that are NOT related to any physical altercations but add to character and narrative.  If I were to be engaged for a production of The Mikado for example, I would ask for a moment early in the process to work with anyone in the cast who might have a sword as part of their costume.  From my own production experience; When I worked with Company One on Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo there was a discussion of how the US Marine characters would handle their rifles, and when I did Fool for Love with New Rep, one of my tasks was to help one of the actors learn to use a lasso.  While these are not "fights" per se, these elements often fall to the fight director.

From my experience as a playwright; my play, Burning Up the Dictionary, contains a significant comic fight scene that involves abstracted movement (a "Giant Ninja Robot Battle") as well as an attempted slap scripted into the play.  There are also opportunities for moments of dance (up to the discretion of the production staff), and a racquetball scene (scripted).

Fightaturgy gets especially important with older texts, and plays that involve dueling traditions in any way (regardless of whether or not a duel actually takes place). A company working on plays from the Spanish Golden Age will most likely come across a great deal of language dealing with the culture of dueling, whether or not there is any actual duel in the play itself.  These are all elements that should go both into choreography decisions and be put on the radar of the director and other production team members.

Once I am ready, the document that I send the director after reviewing the script is a notated list of scripted incidents of violence/movement, potential incidents of violence/movement that are not explicitly scripted but may add to the narrative, and notations of moments when the characters reference violent practices and might benefit from a dramaturgical note.  I highlight which incidents I perceive as needing priority and/or greater intensity, as well as questions about props, costumes, and directions that the narrative might take because of the violence, or that might influence how the violence might be executed.   Each piece is notated with the page/act/scene where it appears in the play, and may also include comments.  The list I send the director is an edited version of the list I generate for myself, streamlined for easier understanding.  This usually forms the basis for the next conversation I have with the director regarding how they would like the fights to take shape, as well as serving as an aide to planning rehearsal and fight call times.

Like any other design discipline, fight directing begins with an analysis of the script.  That analysis becomes the foundation for any work that takes place in the rehearsal room, and later, on the stage itself.

EDIT: This post has been adapted into an article in The Fight Master: Journal of the Society of American Fight Directors 

The review below was originally commissioned by The Journal of Asian Martial Arts, just before the journal discontinued their print edition.  I am presenting it on my blog as I feel that this book is deserving of attention.  I've added a small handful of hyperlinks for the purposes of this post.


Shin Gi Tai: Karate Training for Body, Mind, and Spirit by Michael Clarke (YMMA: 2011)

Michael Clarke’s Shin Gi Tai: Karate Training for Body, Mind, and Spirit is simultaneously an auto-ethnography of a prominent Karateka, a series of history lessons on the system as a cultural practice, and an anthropological analysis of the current state of karate from a very definite perspective.  Instructionally, it is not so much a “how to” book, but a guideline for those who are finding their own way (though there are detailed descriptions of example exercises). 

The fact that this book is in dialogue with the writings of both Shoshin Nagamine and Rory Miller may be enough to recommend it.  This meeting of both the most traditional of masters and the most cutting edge writing on the realities of modern violence important in and of itself.  Clarke’s credentials as a master level Karate practitioner and a self-confessed reformed “street fighter” position him to provide an authoritative discourse on the personal and psychological benefits of Karate along with the tools to analyze the combative potential of traditional training.  He also takes a refreshing stand against politics within styles and organizations and lays out the many ways in which they do not serve the students of the art.

The book is divided into six main section, as well as an introduction, conclusion, notes, a glossary, and various lists of resources.  These are, the Dojo, Shin (Mind, Spirit), Gi (Technique), Tai (Body), the Future for Karate, and Stories of Three Great Men (Kosaku Matsumora, Kanryo Higaonna, and Gichin Funakoshi). 

There are several particularly valuable passages in the section on the dojo wherein Clarke offers a comprehensive explanation of the overarching purpose and benefits of etiquette in Karate training.  Here Clarke describes the larger goals of etiquette without being prescriptive of a specific model.  His excellent analysis of the relationship between etiquette and cultivating awareness (zanshin) brings to light an essential aspect of Karate training that is absent from all too many texts.

The section on the mind provides insights into the psychology and philosophy of training in terms of what is required to train in traditional Karate as well what is gained.  The technique section follows with a framework for cultivating attributes necessary for proper execution, which in turn is followed by tools to interpret kata.  The next chapter, dedicated to the body, outlines traditional training methodologies that develop a strong body capable of delivering the techniques with power.

Throughout the book there are several cultural comparisons between Okinawan and Japanese Karate and how these two branches evolved.   The many descriptions of the historical and cultural context of the art in Okinawa is particularly rewarding to read since, as Clarke points out, Karate was disseminated to the modern world largely through the efforts of the Japanese rather than the Okinawans.    The book goes into great detail on the Okinawan context of the art, this includes history, differences in training methodology, cultural context, and philosophical differences.  

While Clarke’s knowledge and expertise are indisputable and there is a tremendous amount of valuable information in the book, it is unclear who exactly Shin Gi Tai is for. Clarke is a man of strong opinions and is not shy about expressing them.  This is both a strength and a weakness. Several sections of the book may be a bit much for those still in the kyu ranks, while more advanced students may either already involved in a type of training he advocates or be repeatedly reading that their training is what is wrong with Karate today.  The book often appears to be preaching to a very specific (and devout) choir.  There is sometimes a feeling of prosthelytizing to much of the book,  alongside  somewhat self-contradictory admonitions that student find their own paths and reassurances that all choices are respected.  Several times in the book he discusses training progress not in years but in decades, and one is forced to wonder who his target audience is.  There also exists the field-wide problem of advocacy-related fallacies: there are qualities and benefits that he attributes exclusively to Karate that exist in numerous other training methodologies.  That said, these sort of statements exist in many martial arts texts (and texts relating to numerous other movement systems), and are forgivable as they reflect a deep-rooted love of the art, and that enthusiasm is what fuels the many positive qualities of this book.

Shin Gi Tai is a valuable book for anyone studying Okinawan or Japanese Karate, as well as a valuable text for those engaged in an academic study of the art and its traditions, methodologies, and cultural history.