It's About The Collective Wisdom

Representation can be very challenging and it?does take a team to properly manage a creative online.? I have found that having a team approach is best because the?client deserves to hear different perspectives and you never know where the?great idea is going to come from.? At The Creator Society , we have a team with many different strengths.? From affiliates to traditional entertainment, fashion to food.? There is no "bear hugging" a client and we take the approach that we all represent the client no matter who might be the personal point of contact.? A lesson I learned during my days at Creative Artists Agency .??

As teams grow around a client, your ego is checked at the door because it is not about you, it's about the client.? A good manager will be able to listen to the ideas and help shape them for the client's success.??? A great management company comes with a team approach and one that creates community not only with the roster but within the industry.

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An important element of representation is information but the key as Einstein says is to “understand.”? ?I often see a lot of new talent management companies hiring managers who are pretty much just out of college.? Management?is all about experience.? Learning from both good and bad deals is important.? Wisdom and experience is vital for success and I believe the key to understanding is community.? One of the tools I leverage is the community of Social Assembly .?? This is a COOP of indie managers started by Ali Itri Estrin and April Abrams and I was brought in as a co-founder and grateful for it.? This is an amazing group of 15 strong experienced managers that share information and we help each other?navigate?for our clients?and to understand the information that we are sharing.??

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This shared network becomes a benefit for everyone's roster who is involved.? When we come across casting opportunities, we share within our slack, when agencies don't?pay on time, we are raising awareness, when managers see trends in the industry, we discuss and help each other on business, we are there to support even though we all have our own businesses.? There is a mutual respect, and we all work at a level of integrity with each other?and in turn, that helps our business partners.? ?It has become a great tool.??

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Another community I got involved in The Creators Guild of America .? The CGA was founded by Daniel Abas in order to protect and promote the interests of Digital Creators.? There are a lot of great execs and creators involved in the guild and you’ll recognize a lot on the board.? Their programming is incredible as they are lining up some fabulous virtual panels to help educate the digtal creator community.?? Most importantly, everyone is involved and great ideas are being exchanged.

For those lone wolf reps out there, I urge you to become part of the conversation. Be open to ideas from old and new.? Relish the words of Phil Ranta , Avi Gandhi Brendan Gahan and Jim Louderback to new younger voices that have perspective like Madison Luscombe , Taylor Reilly , Dylan Huey and Lauren Huttner .?? If you don’t know those names, I suggest you connect to all of them and actually set a zoom.? Don’t use linked in to heat seek for lead generation or just grow your number of connections- use it to properly meet and discuss.?

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I was connected to Casey Benedict recently and we had a great zoom not just because we both went to Michigan, but because we have experience and used our time to discuss the industry, what bottlenecks we both saw and solutions to address them that has led to continued conversations of how to work together on some business.?? I not only made a new connection, but met someone I respect and has a great POV.?? Great insight can come from conversation rather than trying to game Linkedin ?to build followers like an IG.? Use it for the mount of gems and support you can derive from it.??

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As work becomes more remote, the community we created online and in slack is so important.? Whether it is a community like we built at Social Assembly, WIIM, The CGA or the culture we are building at The Creator Society, these are becoming vital to the Creator Economy and important as we mature this Industry.?

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I hope that the Ad and Brand agencies begin to recognize these communities that are forming in order to elevate what we do and know that we are there to help and improve our business on both sides.? So many agencies work differently and while some agencies hope to talk directly with talent, they will soon realize they will get a lot more done working with the reps and have an even better experience with those?who collaborate within their peers and communities.??

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