Shaun T & Me

So you never know who you're gonna be playing against in my Manhattan Mixed Doubles tennis league.  Last night, I looked across the net and saw this bundle of energy and his partner, a woman probably closer to my age in tennis years.  

Turns out the guy is Shaun T!  He of the very successful fitness craze, Insanity.

He seemed to be a bit new to tennis, but definitely fit and ready to go.  My partner, the fabulous Elena Saha, and I decided that what we perceived as his inexperience might be what we try to exploit, rather than the typical mixed doubles strategy of going right at the female, all day all night.  In this case when our female opponent hit the ball at your head she probably meant to.  When his shots from close range hit you in the upper body they hurt more, but it's likely that he wasn't headhunting when he did it.  (Or maybe I'm wrong about that....)

I didn't know who he was until after the match when someone mentioned they'd like to get a picture with him.  

Really? I said.  

Yeah, dude, that's Shaun T!

Well...okay.  And...?  

Dude, he's HUGE in the fitness world.

What do I know about the fitness industry?  Nothing at all.  Do people still work out to those Jane Fonda or Richard Simmons VHS tapes?

But I do have a good friend who happens to be the mother of Carl Daikeler, the CEO of Beachbody, which, as it turns out, is the mother ship of Insanity, P90X, etc.  Connection!

Small world, huh?

Acting business content:  Shaun T (I don't know if I can refer to him simply as Shaun...?) hosts daily videos that promote his line of fitness products.  The man is a driven and apparently very successful marketer of himself.  (He admitted to me later that he was flush with coin, if you'll permit me to use that ancient terminology.)

It struck me that if the actors I work with on ActorIntro and Actors Insite could channel 1/3 the amount of energy and commitment to marketing themselves as Shaun T did they'd "see instant results" (to use fitness jargon).

I'd also bet that Shaun T will take away something useful from our match last night.  Learning from a setback (Elena and I won in straight sets) is one of the most important keys to improvement in any endeavor.  And all endeavors have setbacks!  It's all in how you respond to them.