About Brian T. Shirley Brian T Shirley has performed all across the USA, Canada, the Bahamas, and Japan for over 25 years. Brian has also hosted 2 radio shows (The Triangle Comedy Radio Show, The BTS Radio Show) and currently hosts the BTS Entertainment Corner radio segment. This is a call-in segment featured on the "What's the Story?" radio show which originates out of Reno, NV. Brian can be seen in several short films, web series and the upcoming feature film "Mark of the Butterfly" in March 2020.
In your opinion, how has social media helped or hurt Independent Entertainment? “it's helped a great deal because now you have outlets where you didn't before. If you make a short film or music video or even the independent music artists out there that doing a LP or a song, you have a chance to get it out there for the public now. And that's the good news and the bad news because, and I've been a victim of myself on this too, sometimes with Independence, you know, you get excited and you do a project and you get it out there and maybe it wasn't completely edited and put together the best. So, it's a double-edged sword.”
As you've evolved and matured, has it been hard to keep up with the latest social media trends? “When we were starting the interview today, I couldn't even figure out how to get the audio working. It took me a few minutes. Because I think Zoom, I've done twice now. But you know, you either keep learning or you start declining and that's with anything.”
How important is networking to you and how has social media affected this? “It's important to everybody. If you're in any kind of industry that requires, you know, having relationships with people, social media has allowed that to be sped up to a certain point because now you can meet people that you normally wouldn't, you know, in other states or countries or whatever, and you can bond with them somehow or some way online.”
“It's all about building relationships and social media's kind of sped that up a little bit.”
Can you share with me your most successful or favorite networking story/experience that you’ve had? “I'll share my favorite one, which I've actually worked into the stage act, believe it or not. Years ago, through being a radio, internet radio, a BTS radio show I hosted in ACE and we were in the studio. But it's internet radio. And I started putting together, you know, guests for the show, and one of the gentlemen that I reached out to, I forgot how I found these people to be honest; it was Brian Hayden and he is a heart transplant recipient. So, and he'd written a couple of books…”
How do you stay in front of or best nurture your network community? “It's a learning process that I'm still learning. I don't think anybody, unless they become just an absolute pro, can be 100% perfect. You have to learn what you're posting. You know, what kind of a response it’s getting, you know, you can target your audience.
“I think staying positive no matter what you're doing is a big factor because when you start going into those dark areas, you just draw out so many dark, dark people.”
What advice do you have for the professional on growing their network? “I think just staying visible, staying positive and getting content that, you know, people, if they're in this situation, here's what they're going to need. Making sure that's out there, I think is a good way to grow your business.”
Digital networking or traditional networking? “I think both are equally important and if you use both to, you know, play on each other, that's the perfect storm because just like what happened with Brian, you know, I met him online, we networked and then we met each other in person.”
If you could go back to your 20-year-old self, what would you tell yourself to do more or less of regarding your career? “I would say don't party as much. When I started doing comedy particularly, you know, yeah, I had a little fun, but treat the business side of show business a little more serious…”
Any final words of advice for our listeners? “something I've learned through really pursuing this acting thing is you look at where you need to go and start focusing that way, and sometimes it will come about, without you even knowing it. And it takes a year or two sometimes like it did with this, so, immediate success doesn't always happen. But if you continue, I think these things will come back around as long as you stay, you know, you persevere.”
You can get in contact with Brian at:
Website: www.briantshirley.com
Email: briantshirley@aol.com(link sends e-mail)
LinkedIn: Click Here
Twitter: Click Here
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