Allen, Will and DJ – The Allen and DJ Show

Simple and Effective Advice: “Don’t give up. Keep pushing.”

We’ve seen the movies, the TV shows, the print ads and all of the images of people.  But who are these people, and how do you become someone that can make money as being an actor, or a model?

One of the rules is to get noticed and to have a following.  Allen, Will and DJ are working on doing just that.

Allen and DJ are co-hosts of their own show, which covers a broad spectrum of topics aimed at helping people become the best versions of themselves. From managing money and financial literacy to tackling mental health issues like ADHD, they leave no stone unturned. Will, the producer, adds his own touch, ensuring the operation runs smoothly behind the scenes.

We touch on their beginnings in the acting industry, the importance of headshots, and the rigorous process of securing an agent.  A big reminder is the power of persistence, and the somber reality of facing rejection.

Going deeper, we explore how social media has become a crucial tool in their marketing strategy, allowing them to build a fan base and reach wider audiences. They provide insights on the blend of personal and promotional content, the power of perseverance, and the importance of continuous improvement.

Listen as Allen, Will and DJ explain what has and has not worked for them as they have continued to grow their portfolio of acting and modeling gigs.

Enjoy!

Visit Allen, Will and DJ at: https://linktr.ee/will89000

 

Authentic Business Adventures Podcast

 

Podcast Overview:

00:00 DJ’s Self-Improvement Show Idea
04:08 Talent Agencies and Individual Fit
07:08 National Granger Commercial Breakthrough
10:54 Comp Card vs. Headshot Explained
12:56 Talent Agencies in Chicago and Wisconsin
16:45 Streamlining Resume for Casting Director
20:05 Monologue Audition Tips
23:48 Acting Audition Expectations
28:44 Supporting Will: A Brief Encounter
29:11 Talent Agency Rejection Experience
35:08 Confidently Embrace the Role
36:35 Deer Story Becomes Show Highlight
39:50 Rise of Social Media Influence

Podcast Transcription:

Allen [00:00:00]:
You got your pictures done. You submitted it to the agent. The agent love it. They like your body of work and everything, so now they bring you in for what they call like a look see.

James Kademan [00:00:13]:
You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumph and successes of business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the land. Downloadable audio episodes can be found in the podcast link found at DrawInCustomers.com. We are locally underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie, Calls On Call Extraordinary Answering Service as well as The BOLD Business Book. And today, we’re welcoming slash preparing to learn from Allen, Will, and DJ of the Allen and DJ Show. So welcome.

Allen [00:00:41]:
Hey, man. How’s it going, James?

James Kademan [00:00:43]:
It is going well. I’m excited to have you guys because you have a show. I got a show. So here we are.

Allen [00:00:49]:
Hey, man. Let’s do it.

James Kademan [00:00:50]:
Make magic happen here.

Allen [00:00:51]:
Exactly.

James Kademan [00:00:52]:
Let’s just start out. What is the Allen and DJ Show?

Allen [00:00:55]:
So the Allen and DJ Show is a show that, we talk about to gear towards self improvement and lifestyle, helping people to become, the very best versions of themselves.

James Kademan [00:01:06]:
Alright. And how did you guys land in that realm?

Allen [00:01:10]:
Well, now we and in the realm by, be because, like, nowadays, we got a lot of shows where people talk about maybe, like, edit tutorials from, like, maybe doing hair or you got, like, a lot of dating coaches and stuff. And we talk about, like, okay, we love to self improve by maybe, like like, maybe by DJ, like, elevating in business every year or working out or, maybe having, like, a healthier lifestyle. So we say, hey. You know what? Let’s talk about self improvement In lifestyle because when you talk about that, you could talk about anything and anything can fall upon the lifestyle. So we Call about whether ADHD, panic attacks, maybe managing money, financial literacy. Call about a little bit of everything.

James Kademan [00:01:52]:
Alright. That is a yeah. You’re talking self help. That’s a broad broad broad topic.

Allen [00:01:57]:
Exactly.

James Kademan [00:01:58]:
So the 2 of you are the the show host, I guess.

DJ [00:02:02]:
Yeah. I’m I’m his cohost. Host.

James Kademan [00:02:04]:
Okay. Like,

DJ [00:02:05]:
Will is the producer.

James Kademan [00:02:06]:
Alright. Will is producing, so Will gets to be behind the camera.

Allen [00:02:08]:
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

James Kademan [00:02:09]:
And then DJ, Allen, you guys who was the one that started saying, hey. We should start a show?

Allen [00:02:17]:
Well, actually, our DJ brought it up to me first because we want to do YouTube anyway, and, we want to figure out, like, okay. What can we do to help people out? And, he was like, let’s let’s start a show. Let’s Call, about self improvement and lifestyle, but we need to go some well, we need to do this where this is gonna, like, really strike big and really help people, but how can we help the masses? And I said, I don’t know, man. He said, let’s look at the Sun Prairie Media Center. Let’s, see if we can, you know, reach out and get a show and we could pay you know, like, I’ll probably start, you know, moving in the right direction when it comes to that. And, the the like, the rest was history. It’s all a DJ idea.

James Kademan [00:03:01]:
Alright.

DJ [00:03:02]:
Yeah. Because, like, basically, like, what what we was trying to do Will like like Al said, like, we was trying to, impact the community, and we’re also trying to help people out. But we but we was here in and and, like was that, like, 17?

Allen [00:03:16]:
Yes. 17. Yeah.

DJ [00:03:17]:
But we was here in 2017, and we did a show called, Diving Deep. But, like, our top like, we talked about deep topics, but, like, they were all over the place. And then we went out and then that’s when we got discovered, with our DJ, and we went off and did that for a few years. And now we came back because we wanted to, share some light on, like, how we grew up over the years.

James Kademan [00:03:40]:
Sure. So elaborate on that a little bit. You said your agent? Yeah. Alright. Agent for the show?

DJ [00:03:45]:
No. Agent for the, for for for our acting careers.

James Kademan [00:03:48]:
Got it. Got it. Got it. Okay. I was like, man, you guys are next level. It’s all good. That’s all we’ll both get there. It’s all good.

James Kademan [00:03:56]:
Yeah. So your agent so let me connect these dots for the people at home In may not know. You are all 3 of you actors?

DJ [00:04:04]:
Yep. Yes.

James Kademan [00:04:05]:
Alright. And do all 3 of you have the same agent?

Allen [00:04:08]:
Will, yeah. Well, we got the same agent and then some of us had different DJ. Because when you go In a talent agency, it depends On, like, well, what they’re looking for. So let’s say In me and you submit to a bigger talent DJ, like, let’s say, Stewart Talent. Stewart Talent might like your look and they might say, hey, I got something for you that I can market you In, but Stewart Talent might not be a great fit for me. But maybe something like Shirley Hamilton or different other talent agencies might be like, hey, you know what? You’re exactly what we’re looking for. We need a commercial print model. Alright.

Allen [00:04:40]:
And commercial print model In for the people that, like, don’t understand what that is. It’s, like, more like, billboards, magazines, maybe if you’re doing, like, a toothpaste commercial or, you advertising something.

James Kademan [00:04:52]:
So the pictures of the people that are all doing smiley faces or Oh, yeah. Maybe frowny James.

Allen [00:04:57]:
Right. Frowny face. Where would they need in the moment? Like, where you know, where they say, Call this football and look real tough. And then you might be doing something for, like, a big, advertising ad or something.

James Kademan [00:05:10]:
Alright.

Allen [00:05:11]:
And the rest is history, man. Is DJ just you know what they’re looking for?

James Kademan [00:05:14]:
You know, it’s so interesting because you go through and you look at either just stock photography or ads, commercials you see on TV and, well, even commercials on YouTube and all that jazz. And you see people on there, and they’re just people, I suppose, until a few years from now Allen it’s all AI or

Allen [00:05:31]:
whatever. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:05:33]:
But I’m like, that’s some person that got paid to just hang out and whatever, hold the football or put their hand on their chin or

Allen [00:05:40]:
something like that. And now you might have to do a lot of takes to that. So they might it might be maybe 2 or 3 hour, DJ, when they have you do the same takes. Like Oh, yeah. Pose like this again. Okay. Now let me get it from this angle, but look a little bit more meaner and In on what what they’re looking for. And and and by the time you’re done, you might my face muscles are so sore.

Allen [00:06:00]:
I’m tired.

James Kademan [00:06:01]:
So that’s that’s Show ironic. Right? Because they’re trying to get something DJ a natural pose Yes. That takes 3 hours to get.

Allen [00:06:08]:
That yeah. So 3 hours to get. Like, yeah, like, you might have the photography, like so so let’s say, like, the guy who’s filming the commercials, like, he might get way in between you, like, on the ground and catch you, like, with the camera going like, okay. Now do it like this and, let me get a bottom shot. So that way, like, when they get ready to edit well, edit the commercial, which could take us up to maybe a month and a half or 2, they have like many different shots that, they can go with.

James Kademan [00:06:34]:
Alright.

Allen [00:06:34]:
And they narrow it down to like the best Show. Nice. That’s best suit for that commercial. So in order to do a 30 and commercial or maybe close to 50 seconds, it could take up to sometimes 2 to 3 days.

James Kademan [00:06:47]:
Wow. Alright. And Draw all 3 of you been published in some ad somewhere or something that the public saw?

DJ [00:06:55]:
Oh, yeah. No. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:06:56]:
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Allen [00:06:58]:
Oh, yeah.

James Kademan [00:06:58]:
So everybody knows these faces. They just don’t know that they know these faces.

Allen [00:07:02]:
Yeah.

James Kademan [00:07:03]:
That is cool. So have any been like, that’s amazing. I’m gonna tell all my friends and of thing?

Allen [00:07:08]:
Man. So, the first thing I’m well, like, the first national commercial that I’ve done was the, Granger commercial. Okay. And, that went nationwide. I didn’t know how big it was. All I know is that my agent from a talent group called me and say, hey. You got a commercial audition for Granger. And it took us about 2 days to do this commercial, but to not know that it was going like, I didn’t know it was gonna be on, maybe the bigger television markets like ESPN, the FX channel, and it was just starting to show everywhere.

Allen [00:07:38]:
And everybody’s like, dude, I just saw you on On commercial. You’re like, really? And then, like, you look, you’re like, oh, man. That’s me. You’re like, when you’re going on, like, let’s say YouTube and the Granger ads pop up, and then they also put you in the magazine as well.

James Kademan [00:07:51]:
And you’re like, that’s me.

Allen [00:07:52]:
That’s me. Actor.

James Kademan [00:07:54]:
That’s awesome. Have there ever been any that you’re like, I don’t want anyone to see this?

Allen [00:08:00]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The pot of actor me commercial. So I played a waiter and, it was like pick and Will. Pick and win. Then I

James Kademan [00:08:11]:
Are you gonna say it?

Allen [00:08:12]:
Well, Will think On of the lead guys in the commercial did. And I was, in the background

James Kademan [00:08:17]:
Okay. On this

Allen [00:08:17]:
one, but I was more so like a feature extra is some someone who’s being shown. So, like, I could say, hey, James. I just saw you in that commercial right there. Show, like, you In shown versus just the extra that’s like way in the background. You hopefully you hope you get some type of shine In the Show. But, I had to jump up and down and act like I was excited for the guy who On the, I guess, the money.

James Kademan [00:08:40]:
Alright. So

DJ [00:08:41]:
Oh, yeah. I remember that commercial too. Yeah. A couple of my friends was like, yeah, I saw Allen in commercial dancing. He was so funny. He really danced like that? I’m like, I’m like, I’m like, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t really dance like that.

James Kademan [00:08:54]:
Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah. So the more you more I don’t know the contracts or the more, jobs that you get. Is it one of those things where the more that you get, the more you get?

Allen [00:09:06]:
So depend on the, like, the production company. But, yeah, like, the more, I Will say, like, the more commercials that you do and the more that you put your face out there and especially if your agent hear about because, like, some producers and casting over there actor send notes back to your agent saying whether he was very great on set, he was eager to learn or versus, like, this person was very difficult to deal with on the set and I would not wanna work with this talent again.

James Kademan [00:09:35]:
Alright.

Allen [00:09:35]:
And that’s something that you don’t want because then it will limit you from getting jobs. But if you do such a great job, they might have another project coming up, and then, they’ll remember you.

James Kademan [00:09:44]:
Alright. So it’s like reviews on Uber, Lyft, or something like that. Everything. This guy is awesome, or don’t ever give this guy a ride.

Allen [00:09:51]:
Exactly. This guy had a hard time on set. He’s struggling memorizing his lines, and, yeah, you don’t want that.

James Kademan [00:09:58]:
Alright. Nice. So how do you choose an agent?

DJ [00:10:03]:
Basically, we we basically applied online. But, like, back then, what we did was, we basically went down to, Illinois and, like, we actually, submitted our stuff, head on.

James Kademan [00:10:16]:
So you go to their office?

DJ [00:10:18]:
Yeah. And, like Hey.

James Kademan [00:10:19]:
What’s up?

Allen [00:10:20]:
Here’s a

DJ [00:10:20]:
give them our resume, give us our, 8 by 10 photos. Okay. And then they if they like you, they’ll call you. If they don’t, then In they say, like, if they don’t call you within, like, 6 weeks, then they pretty much didn’t pick you.

James Kademan [00:10:34]:
Alright. So it’s interesting that you mentioned the you said 8 by 10. Right? Yep. I was just at a comedy club the other Draw, and you see all these images, black and white images, and sometimes they’re signed. They’re like, thanks, whatever. Is that just a thing that every actor has?

Allen [00:10:50]:
Yeah. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:10:51]:
And they just carry around a briefcase with 8 by tens everywhere? So

Allen [00:10:54]:
Because, it’s supporting, you Show, let’s say In you were going on and, like, an audition or let’s say In if you’re looking for an DJ. And I’ll tell you the difference between like a headshot, and, like a 8 by 10 and a comp card. So comp card are it’s like multiple pictures that you sell, pictures that you In a suit jacket or pictures that you, like, playing like a lawyer or a actor, and then a picture of maybe playing like a tough guy image or a cop. So when you have many different pictures, that’s what like more like commercial print modeling

James Kademan [00:11:23]:
Alright.

Allen [00:11:23]:
Versus, just like an actor. Like, I need like a straight head Show. And what we messed up at back in the day was because we had a like a lot of failures. So we started gaining success was we were sending 4 by sixes instead of a 8 by tens.

James Kademan [00:11:37]:
That something that simple.

Allen [00:11:39]:
Yeah. Call hurt you. Really? It can hurt you.

Will [00:11:42]:
For a long time, didn’t we?

Allen [00:11:43]:
And yeah. We did it for a long time Will one agent was like, hey, let me I’ll give you like a word of advice. Get 8 by tens. Don’t do 4 by sixes because it’s a waste of time.

James Kademan [00:11:55]:
Oh, funny.

Allen [00:11:56]:
And 8 by tens can get very costly, you know, especially depend on like how many agents are you trying to submit your material to. And nowadays, they don’t want you to go down to the office and knock on the door and say, hey, here’s my 8 by 10 pictures along with my resume. Because nowadays it looks like unprofessional.

James Kademan [00:12:13]:
Really? Yeah.

Allen [00:12:14]:
Mhmm. Alright. They’d rather for you to email them your work and they may have a link where you Call send your submissions through and, they’ll tell you, we if we like you, we’ll call you. Usually James up to 6 weeks to maybe 2 maybe 2 months at the most.

James Kademan [00:12:30]:
Okay.

Allen [00:12:30]:
And if you don’t hear anything back, In just wasn’t

James Kademan [00:12:34]:
Not gonna happen. Yeah.

Allen [00:12:35]:
It just wasn’t what they were looking for.

James Kademan [00:12:36]:
Show is that a trigger for you to resubmit, to try to end up on the top of the pile?

Allen [00:12:39]:
Well, no. Some agents, let you resubmit In, 2 months or 3 months actor, and then some say 6 months. And those are like the bigger ones. So you gotta wait 6 months before you reapply again.

James Kademan [00:12:50]:
Alright. So And are you applying to I don’t know how many agents there. Are you applying to 50 or a dozen or something?

Allen [00:12:56]:
So, Chicago is more of a bigger market, but, like, Wisconsin, like, Green Bay has, like, the I forgot her James. Heather, from the Bell DJ. She’s a Allen agent as Will. And, she does, like, all, like, the lurker commercials like Steinhafels or Cellcom Will, I did that commercial with the Green Bay Packers, our head coach, Matt LaFleur. And, she controls, like, all those type of markets. And then you have, like, Lori Allen, who’s another big, talent agency that’s SAG Africa that’s, got connections to the Chicago market, the Madison market, and the, like, Milwaukee and as well. Alright. And, yeah, it just depends on the agent.

Allen [00:13:42]:
Like, if you submit and they didn’t like what they saw at that time and you wasn’t what they were looking for, Show I might say in 6 months, you Call, like, submit. Because they get so many submissions in a day.

James Kademan [00:13:55]:
I imagine they get and, maybe even 1,000. I don’t know.

Allen [00:13:58]:
Yes. And that’s a lot to go through In out the pile.

James Kademan [00:14:01]:
So So let’s talk about that. They got this pile and they gotta sort through them. What do you do to make yours stand out?

Allen [00:14:09]:
Well, before I throw the alley hoop to DJ, I Will say to make your picture stand out is, have personality. Alright. You know, like, the eyes should tell a story. Have an amazing smile. Let your pictures look In. So you can say, Will, like, I really like this picture, but Call the quality of your pictures matter too. If you’re not spending good quality on your DJ, then it’s good to get a student to do them, you know, just to get that experience. But I wouldn’t submit those type of pictures In, and they’re not professional.

Allen [00:14:39]:
Like, you want you want professional headshots. Okay. And without professional headshots, like, they could tell you, like, well, we like your resume, but the quality of your pictures was, like, really weak.

James Kademan [00:14:51]:
So To the so let me ask you about the the picture itself. We just had family portraits done, and they did little airbrushing or Photoshop stuff to make it look all pretty. Yep. Do they do that with headshots, or is that something like this is a picture In out away you go?

Allen [00:15:06]:
Yes. They Call, what you call like a retouch, but, you’ll have to pay for that. So let’s say In my photo shoot was maybe $500 for, like, 3 hours and you could have, like, unlimited background drops and unlimited wardrobe. The next step is actor that, you might say, hey, I Will like these pictures but I got blemishes on my nose or, you know, like my forehead is is different than my cheeks. Like, what’s going on with On hair?

James Kademan [00:15:34]:
I don’t have enough hair.

Allen [00:15:35]:
Right. Right. So, they can, like, retouch it and make it look way more polished and Okay. Way more better without overdoing In, you know, like But

James Kademan [00:15:43]:
that’s common. Yeah. To have a little touch up there.

Allen [00:15:46]:
Exactly. Got it.

DJ [00:15:47]:
Alright. But what you also wanna do is, like, make sure your resume is up up to par. Like Yeah. When we got signed, like, it was just fortunate that she liked us and that we did our monologues, and she liked our monologues, and we got signed. But when when she actually, like, interviewed us, she broke down our, resume, and she was like, mine was too weak. And she told Al he had too much stuff on his. So so the body of the resume had to be to their standard as as well. Alright.

DJ [00:16:18]:
So she basically broke down, like, what he needed and what he didn’t needed, and she was just, like, crossing off stuff and then told him to go back home and do it again and bring it back to him bring it back to them so they can update it on their website.

James Kademan [00:16:31]:
Alright.

DJ [00:16:31]:
And they did the same thing for me.

Allen [00:16:33]:
Oh, yeah. For sure. Like, the way down the so I On say this was like a little bit after we left the media center. And, we You’re

James Kademan [00:16:43]:
talking 2017? Yep. Yep. Okay.

Allen [00:16:45]:
And I came in there and I just got stuff on my resume that wasn’t as important. And she was just like, nope. This you don’t need this. You don’t need this. DJ I’m like, man, what the heck? It’s strictly all the way down to, like, and piece of paper, basically. So it’s just maybe like like a full sheet of paper full of work that I’ve done. And she said, casting directors don’t care about this. This is what they care about.

Allen [00:17:05]:
And then, she made us and our homework that night. She made us go home, and we had to do some stuff on, like, actor’ asses. It’s like another, website that you Call go to a Customers networks where if you find your own work, then the the majority of the money is yours, basically. But if they find you work, then they either get 15 to 20% of your, earnings, basically.

James Kademan [00:17:25]:
Alright. So Is it I imagine it’s worth it to a point because they got you work. Exactly. 100% of nothing

Allen [00:17:32]:
Exactly. Is no good. Because certain clients, like, you could do so much only on your own. Right. Certain clients, like, it’s hard to get, like, let’s say for an example, like a big fast food chain. It’s hard to get I mean, like, you DJ can’t walk In a big fast food chain saying, hey, I’m Allen. I On to do a commercial. Don’t work like it don’t work that way.

James Kademan [00:17:53]:
They won’t The guy behind the counter

Allen [00:17:54]:
and be like,

James Kademan [00:17:55]:
so? Right. Right. Yes. He’s over there.

Allen [00:17:57]:
Exactly. But, you know, the production company and, you know, like the agent had to, like, say, hey, you know what? This is how you do and. And they have connections to, like, production companies that can get you in that position to do those commercials. But Okay. You know how that

James Kademan [00:18:14]:
So, DJ, you were talking about a monologue?

DJ [00:18:17]:
Yeah. So

James Kademan [00:18:18]:
In it a recording? Is it a video?

DJ [00:18:20]:
No. It’s like like a like something like off of like a movie. Like, like a like something that was, like, already done.

James Kademan [00:18:28]:
So, like, the bad guy before he shoots someone or blows something up or something like that, they get in that monologue and you’re like, are you gonna pull the trigger or not?

DJ [00:18:34]:
Yep.

James Kademan [00:18:34]:
Okay. And is it we’re talking 2 minutes, 30 and. How

DJ [00:18:38]:
long? However long they they want it. Like, they’ll tell you, like, before they interview you how long they want it. Usually, it’s 30 seconds.

James Kademan [00:18:45]:
Okay. But

DJ [00:18:45]:
most of the time, like, for most, agents now, like, they do between 2 to 3 minutes

Allen [00:18:51]:
now.

James Kademan [00:18:52]:
And do they tell you, hey. I want a bad guy monologue or a good guy monologue, or it’s just you telling us about your childhood?

DJ [00:18:57]:
It it depends on the agency. Some agencies will tell you, like, which monologue they On, and then some let’s just say, just bring a monologue, your your best one, and give us what you got.

James Kademan [00:19:07]:
So how do you know what your best one is?

DJ [00:19:10]:
You just actor just practice and, like, you just find one that fits your character.

James Kademan [00:19:14]:
Okay. Can you give an example? I’m this is so curious. I’m just picturing somebody with headphones listening to 500 monologues.

DJ [00:19:23]:
Yeah. Like, basically, like, you walk in the room. Like, you probably have a monologue from, like, Denzel Washington from, like, training day, like, one of his scenes.

James Kademan [00:19:33]:
Alright.

DJ [00:19:33]:
And you would just have to act out his scene, whichever scene it is.

James Kademan [00:19:38]:
Audio only, though. Yep. Alright. Alright. And do you tell them, hey. This is from training day or something like that? Okay. Interesting. I you know, it’s funny.

James Kademan [00:19:48]:
I’ve never heard of that, but it makes sense.

DJ [00:19:50]:
Yep.

James Kademan [00:19:51]:
So they’re essentially listening to that to figure out your voice, your personality, your intonation Yep. All that kind of stuff. Yep. And would that be specifically for an audio type commercial or audio type, I don’t know, ad or something of that nature?

Allen [00:20:05]:
No. It depends on what they’re looking for, but sometimes it could be just you wanting to get signed with that talent agent. So they’ll say, come with a prepared monologue. And you say, okay. What kind of monologue, should I go for? It’s like, would you do On from a movie? Whatever the case may be. We just need to know, where your skill set is at. Are you good at acting? Are you good at changing range of emotions? Can you get emotional? Or like if you’re used to doing comedy a lot, can you be dramatic? Like, can you do something serious like like more like drama? Alright. So that way, they see where you at and then because that’s just the first step.

Allen [00:20:43]:
Like, so let’s say now we’re gonna backtrack it. You got your pictures done. You submitted it to the agent. The agent love it. They like your body, your work, and everything. So now they bring you in for what they Call, like, a look see.

James Kademan [00:20:57]:
A look see?

Allen [00:20:58]:
A look see.

James Kademan [00:20:59]:
That’s what they

Allen [00:21:00]:
call it? Yep. A look see. So basically

James Kademan [00:21:02]:
That’s where it’s from let’s take a look see. That’s all Well in

Allen [00:21:07]:
this world. Just to see if

James Kademan [00:21:08]:
you

Allen [00:21:08]:
look like your pictures. Okay. Because one thing that casting directors don’t like is so let’s say if I did a photo shoot and I got a beard, then all of a sudden In shaved it off. They don’t like that because you don’t look like the pictures unless you do a comp Call where you got many different looks. Some without a mustache, some with a mustache. So then they Call say, oh, okay. Well, I need you to shave your beard for this role. Are you comfortable doing it? And and and you could say yes.

Allen [00:21:34]:
So then they’ll submit what the casting directors or maybe the producers are looking for. So find me a guy that’s 6 foot 2 and has a bald head and has like a light mustache. Oh, I got the perfect guy, DJ.

James Kademan [00:21:46]:
Alright.

Allen [00:21:47]:
Or find me a guy that’s 5 8, who’s, have like a little bit of hair on his head, but, you know, he’s more like on the slimmer side. Oh, I got the perfect person, Will. Alright. Or, you know, find me a guy who’s woody, funny, little heavyset. We need him to play a linebacker in a upcoming film. Got it, Allen.

James Kademan [00:22:06]:
Nice. Alan’s your guy. Yep. So how do they keep track how do the agents keep track of all the people that submit their stuff? So if somebody says I need a 6 2 guy with a mustache, they have a file cabinet? Or is there

Allen [00:22:18]:
So that’s why they signed so many different Allen In so they could submit so many different guys. So they might send about maybe 7 DJs out there because there might be 7 guys that look like DJ or maybe guys that look like me or Will. And, they say, I want this guy right here.

James Kademan [00:22:36]:
Alright.

Allen [00:22:37]:
So then, like, the agent will call you and say, hey. Are you available, these days or keep these days open? And once they finalize and they say, he’s our guy, congratulations. You got the commercial.

James Kademan [00:22:51]:
That is it’s so interesting as you’re explaining this because

Allen [00:22:54]:
Yeah.

James Kademan [00:22:54]:
We live in a world where essentially everyone is telling you not to be superficial. Yeah. Yeah. You’re in a job where, like, the job is purely superficial. Yeah. And there’s no other way

Allen [00:23:05]:
to do it. No. No. There’s no other way to do

James Kademan [00:23:07]:
it because it’s so subjective.

Allen [00:23:09]:
Right.

James Kademan [00:23:10]:
Yeah. Like, I need a guy and you look at the picture and you’re like, that’s

Allen [00:23:12]:
the personality I’m looking at. Exactly.

James Kademan [00:23:14]:
But if you would ask that agent or talent director or whatever, like, what do you like about that guy? I bet they would have a hard time explaining. Like, I like the way the cheekbones are acting. Exactly.

Allen [00:23:25]:
And and and like and it’d be the weirdest thing. It’d be the littlest things that can make them On pick you or make them be like, nah. Well, we’re On move on. Allen not our guy. Yeah. And it could be because, yes, like the pictures could say a and words. But let’s see if the personality match these pit, pictures that you On. So that’s where the look see come in at.

Allen [00:23:48]:
Or, okay, Will give you a monologue. We want you to act this particular rollout. So sometimes, they In give you On. And they DJ wanna see, can you match your pictures And do you have the skill set? So then they say, okay. Well, that was a good one. Give me something from, from, like, training Draw, like DJ said, or give us, like, a dramatic piece. And let’s say you do such a stellar job. So then, like, they’ll tell you, okay, and they sit there and they think about it.

Allen [00:24:15]:
So you’re in this big room like we Will. He was sweating bullets. I mean, I hope they like us. I hope they like us. And then, they come in and tell you, hey, we’re gonna, like, either roll with you or we hey, you know what? You’re not what we’re looking for right now, but it’s to give you feedback on what you can work on.

Will [00:24:31]:
Yeah. You at least you got feedback.

Allen [00:24:33]:
Show No.

James Kademan [00:24:34]:
You didn’t get feedback. They’re just like, take a walk.

Allen [00:24:36]:
Yeah. Oh, please tell your story. Yeah.

DJ [00:24:39]:
We will.

Will [00:24:40]:
I had, like, the hardest one out of them too. So they always get the tree on a silver platter. I I’m like I’m like, give me a shot, but they won’t give me a shot at all. It’s like, I’ll be trying, but they just don’t give me a chance. I don’t know why, but I was trying to prove myself. I was On work extra harder than the average person just to get a Show, you know.

James Kademan [00:25:02]:
Alright. So you’re talking you submit all your stuff to the point that you get invited to do the monologue and stuff like that?

DJ [00:25:08]:
Yeah.

James Kademan [00:25:08]:
Okay. And you do that, and then it’s just crickets? Yep. Oh, man. Okay. Will

Will [00:25:15]:
me, just take a walk or I even get a chance to perform the monologue. I just

James Kademan [00:25:19]:
So Allen and DJ are like, we got the job. How’d you do? And you’re like, shut up.

DJ [00:25:25]:
Don’t talk to me.

James Kademan [00:25:27]:
Hey. You got nothing for you.

Allen [00:25:28]:
Be real quiet on the way home. Like, oh, man. Just like with the fashion show we did, what’s the

Will [00:25:34]:
what’s that? Call for fashion?

Allen [00:25:35]:
Like, is that what I’m talking about? Oh, oh, yes. So this was a Will for Fashion.

James Kademan [00:25:38]:
Walk what is it?

Allen [00:25:40]:
Will for Fashion.

James Kademan [00:25:40]:
Walk for Fashion.

Allen [00:25:41]:
Okay. So this was like a fashion show, basically. And this On, we was, on the rise. It was coming up now, so we’ll say about 2018. And me and DJ made the cut and Will, what they tell you when you walked them to the, to the judges?

Will [00:25:57]:
Oh, they tell me go sit down, you know. I even finished On my walk.

Allen [00:26:02]:
He’s like, come here. And as he was walking, he told him because we, like, literally watching the whole thing. He said, you’re all done here. Well, I what did I do? Like, I didn’t get In you’re all done here, and it just he didn’t make it.

James Kademan [00:26:17]:
Oh, no. So they didn’t tell you to leave. They told you DJ take a seat.

Allen [00:26:21]:
Mhmm.

James Kademan [00:26:21]:
Alright. And you sit there for the rest of the Draw, and then when the lights go out, then you’re like, well, I guess I’m going home?

Will [00:26:27]:
Yeah. Basically.

Allen [00:26:28]:
Yeah. Because, how you know that they picked you is when they call your number.

James Kademan [00:26:33]:
Okay.

Allen [00:26:33]:
So they say, DJ is number 1. Show they’re like, number On, step forward. I could be number 5. Number 5 and let’s say Will was like number 37. But it so we didn’t call your number. Guys, you guys have a great day. Don’t feel down. Everyone’s a winner and I.

Allen [00:26:54]:
It’s just, you know, the typical, you know, the typical cliche. Like,

James Kademan [00:26:58]:
like, man, I’m not a winner.

Allen [00:26:59]:
Will ain’t get I I I was like, I get picked.

James Kademan [00:27:02]:
So it’s like a Miss America thing or something where they pick the 10 people and the rest of you just take a walk.

Allen [00:27:07]:
Exactly.

James Kademan [00:27:07]:
There’s a nice consolation prize, I’m sure, in the back. It’s maybe a cab ride.

Allen [00:27:11]:
Exactly. Okay. Oh, man. Like, yeah. That’s tough because it you know, and it it happens to the to the best of us. Like, we you know, you’re gonna experience Calls as as Will as you spend as well, experience w’s, but I never tell people, like, don’t look at it as a loss. A l is, like, just a lesson learned. You Show, like, hey Right.

Allen [00:27:30]:
This is what I did wrong or go up to them. Like, because that’s what I like to do. Hey, what did I do wrong for me not to get picked? Like, is this something that, you saw that I didn’t see? And they’ll be glad to give you feedback. And you take that negative and you work hard until you make it a positive.

Will [00:27:46]:
I didn’t get no feedback. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:27:50]:
You didn’t get any feedback?

Will [00:27:51]:
I didn’t get no feedback.

James Kademan [00:27:53]:
Did they say, yeah. Or, like, what did they give you? Nothing?

Will [00:27:57]:
Nothing.

James Kademan [00:27:58]:
No response?

Will [00:27:59]:
No response.

James Kademan [00:28:00]:
Or DJ sit down. We’ll tell you in a bit and thing or feed you some line?

Will [00:28:05]:
Nothing? Nothing.

James Kademan [00:28:06]:
Nothing. Alright.

Allen [00:28:07]:
That’s right.

James Kademan [00:28:07]:
So is the idea then you well, I guess I’m not going back to that venue. I’m not going back to that DJ. Or what do you learn from that?

Will [00:28:14]:
Never give up because I I always been in that Will with everything else I did with the other talent agency. Will be treated the same way. In I was dressed up for fair to do a monologue, and they were just like regular clothes. They picked them too out of me.

Allen [00:28:30]:
And. No. We had jogging pants on. Oh, yeah. Oh, Will? Yeah. Well, we was coming from the DJ, like, I had a whole jersey On, a whole, D Wade DJ On, Marquette. Let’s go Golden Eagles. And, DJ had his, gear On.

Allen [00:28:44]:
And, we we was there to support Will that day. So we were like, yeah, Will. Like, good luck, bro. You got it. And Will came up to the, I I guess, to, like, I guess, to our desk to sign in and she was like she just recognized me and DJ off the bat. Alright. And she just told Will to, Terrence, just go sit over there. But Will could explain the story better.

Allen [00:29:06]:
Will, tell him how, so so tell him, like, how did this whole thing play out?

Will [00:29:11]:
She Will I came in, I was, like, I’m here. In did. She was, like, go go sit over there. I’m like, oh, okay. I just just sat over there. She gave me my stuff and I waited for there a long time, and then she was like she was about to get ready to go because she wanna wait she want me to leave, but I sat there and waited for her to, you know, just to say something. So she had to say something to me, but she just didn’t wanna pick me for that day for that for that talent agency.

James Kademan [00:29:42]:
Oh, interesting. So is this the same event? This In the

Will [00:29:45]:
Different event.

James Kademan [00:29:46]:
Different event.

Will [00:29:48]:
Yes. In in a lot

James Kademan [00:29:48]:
of sitting.

Allen [00:29:49]:
Yes.

James Kademan [00:29:52]:
That is no good. Okay. But I DJ you’ve got another roles. No. No. Nothing at all?

Will [00:29:57]:
No.

James Kademan [00:29:58]:
Alright. And you’ve been at this for a while?

Will [00:30:00]:
Yes.

James Kademan [00:30:00]:
Alright. So what is is there anything close, or do you never know if it’s close or not?

Will [00:30:07]:
In never know if it was close, but I still keep trying, though.

James Kademan [00:30:10]:
Alright. Perseverance, man.

Allen [00:30:11]:
Call.

Will [00:30:12]:
Always perfect there.

James Kademan [00:30:13]:
That’s the name of the game.

Allen [00:30:14]:
Call definitely. Alright. Show

Will [00:30:16]:
It was it was even hard for me to even get and agent. So Okay. Yes. That took me a long time to get

DJ [00:30:23]:
me an agent.

Will [00:30:24]:
Yes. I it took me like a a a year later to after they got an agent.

James Kademan [00:30:28]:
Holy cow.

Will [00:30:29]:
Yeah. Yes.

James Kademan [00:30:30]:
Alright. So have all 3 of you been in this game the same amount of time?

Allen [00:30:34]:
No. Actually, I’ve been doing this since, oh, like like, and. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:30:39]:
Actually a while. Okay. And

Allen [00:30:41]:
then, DJ started, like, maybe, like, around 2011, but he was off and on because he was playing sports at the time still. And, he actually beat me out for, Will, I think it was like a modeling gig. Yeah. Yeah. He’s like, yeah. I’m sitting there fooling around on the set and he was serious. Oh, okay. So you talk about 2011.

Allen [00:31:02]:
We were super young. I’m like, whoo. I have to be about I wanna say maybe 21, 21, 20. Alright.

Will [00:31:12]:
And we

Allen [00:31:13]:
were just Will just playing and, just acting bad, like, not well, like, I was per se. And DJ was way more focused than I In. And I let him tell you because I was just shocked, like, what? You cut me?

DJ [00:31:26]:
No. What what happened was, like, like, Al Al got into it with, 1 of 1 of, like, the, people on set. And, like, when he got into it with On of the people on set, and, like, I was, like and then, like, he missed a couple days, and, like, I constantly was, going. And it got to the point to where, like, they cut him, and they kept me.

James Kademan [00:31:50]:
Alright. Yep. When you say got into it, you mean argument?

Allen [00:31:55]:
Well

James Kademan [00:31:56]:
Argument is such a big word. No. Well,

Allen [00:32:00]:
I was gonna say

James Kademan [00:32:01]:
in agreement.

Allen [00:32:02]:
I’m On say I don’t miss business with pleasure. I wouldn’t do it. And that’s when I started carrying that with me because I was fooling around Will, one of the actor on set and then I didn’t want her no more. I was like, no. I’m good. You know, like, and she got In her feelings and then, she made this huge DJ scene. If you’re gonna do this, I’m never gonna talk to you again In front of everybody. I’m like, oh, my god.

Allen [00:32:23]:
So then the producers talked to us both and was like, you know what? It’s best for you both not to return. And I’m like, what do you mean? Like Sure. It, they kept DJ. And, that was like a humbling moment. Like, I would never do this again.

James Kademan [00:32:40]:
Alright. Never. Keep business business, personal personal.

Allen [00:32:44]:
Exactly.

James Kademan [00:32:44]:
And the producers, I suppose they don’t care. They got a line of whatever 50 people

Allen [00:32:48]:
Exactly.

James Kademan [00:32:49]:
That are willing to take your place, and they don’t have all this baggage.

Allen [00:32:53]:
So You can kick the rope. Yeah. You can kick cans.

James Kademan [00:32:56]:
That’s the rule. Right? Good help is hard to find. With bad help, we can find that. No problem.

Allen [00:33:01]:
Exactly. No problem.

James Kademan [00:33:02]:
So then you learned.

Allen [00:33:04]:
Yeah. You know? And, you know, just being like a, you know, like a typical guy being young, you know, you just you fooling and. You acting crazy. But when you start to really see like, hey, you know what? This can happen a lot if you don’t get your act together. And, you know, that was something that I didn’t want. And, you know, DJ had a great show. He did good on the DJ, and I was just like, yo, like, I won’t do this again. Alright.

Allen [00:33:30]:
Won’t do this again.

James Kademan [00:33:31]:
Yeah. It’s how you learn. Yeah. It’s all good.

Will [00:33:33]:
You see how I feel to get cut.

Allen [00:33:34]:
Yeah. Yeah. And the thing was like, I was in the show, but I got cut out of the show because I was fooling around.

James Kademan [00:33:41]:
Alright.

Allen [00:33:41]:
And I was like, what the heck? And DJ rocked it, man. He did a stellar DJ. But then we end up, that end up leading into another opportunity where we did, Milwaukee Fashion Week. Okay. And that’s what I wanna say at that point Will starting to get us seen by talent agents.

James Kademan [00:33:57]:
Nice. Alright. And were you in that

Will [00:34:01]:
that as well? Trying.

James Kademan [00:34:02]:
Will. Yeah.

Will [00:34:03]:
Okay. Yeah. I was trying.

Allen [00:34:05]:
Alright.

Will [00:34:06]:
Show I was that was the first yeah. Was In?

Allen [00:34:09]:
Show I On say that was about 2016. Okay. So that was Will, I On say maybe 3rd, 4th audition. And then Call his number for that On. And we’re like, man, like, what is going on? What can we do to get you passed? So I remember that we should go out there to the school, and practice just by walking on the runway, how to hit his turns, his angles, and we prepared On the best way we knew how. Alright.

DJ [00:34:38]:
Help them, study his monologues and stuff like that.

James Kademan [00:34:41]:
Yeah. Okay.

DJ [00:34:41]:
Like, so he could present it the right way to the agents and stuff.

James Kademan [00:34:45]:
Yeah. Sure. So I DJ confidence comes into play here pretty strong. You can’t come off On cocky, but you certainly have to come on I mean, there’s gotta be a little bit of ego involved because you’re you’re essentially selling yourself.

Allen [00:34:59]:
Exactly.

James Kademan [00:35:00]:
It’s not like you’re selling a product or a business or something like that where you’re like, hey. I don’t like this product. I’m gonna find a different product. You’re the product.

Will [00:35:06]:
Yeah. Basically.

James Kademan [00:35:07]:
You’re better like yourself.

Allen [00:35:08]:
Basically. And, and, a lot of agents would tell you that. Like, they want you to be confident, but you don’t wanna overdo In. But, you know, I mean, you know, like they want you to own it. So if I’m giving you a monologue and I want you to study for a bigger role that you can possibly get and make tons of money from, you better act like you own this role, like this is mine for the taking and take your take yourself out of your own brains In what I like to call it and become that character. So DJ that actor, vision and how that character would think. The I Will say like the emotions that they’re in, at that time, you know, like really make yourself feel dark and angry. This is what this character is a body to bring.

Allen [00:35:50]:
So like you Will, really, really wanna become that character to the point where you might become like a mythic actor.

James Kademan [00:35:56]:
Alright.

Allen [00:35:56]:
And we heard of those before where you take the roles home with them. But in some cases, you have to.

James Kademan [00:36:02]:
So are there any actors or characters in movies or TV shows where you like to emulate them In you’re not sure what personality to spend on something?

Allen [00:36:11]:
Yeah.

James Kademan [00:36:11]:
You’re like, I wanna be that guy.

Allen [00:36:13]:
I get this a lot. Kenan Thompson from a Saturday Night Live or

James Kademan [00:36:17]:
Really? Okay.

Allen [00:36:18]:
Yep. I get that a lot.

James Kademan [00:36:19]:
So more comedy?

Allen [00:36:20]:
Yeah.

James Kademan [00:36:21]:
Okay.

Allen [00:36:21]:
Because I’m just naturally funny at work. So and that’s how, I started, like, with my Show. I started creating this whole deer thing, the Bambi the deer. And, which she gave me a hard time, by the way, but she told me good luck too today.

James Kademan [00:36:34]:
Alright. Well, right on.

Allen [00:36:35]:
Yeah. Right on. So that was something that, you know, I felt like, you know, every show needs some type of humor. And I was like, yo, like, this would be good In so let’s keep this thing going because, like, people was really starting to like this whole this deer story, which DJ just came from true events for me running from a deer. And I was scared to death and I messed up, Sun Prairie’s gas station. Please forgive me. And, that led In to, me just taking this character and DJ was like, dude, let’s build something from this.

James Kademan [00:37:07]:
Alright.

Allen [00:37:07]:
At first, I’m like, nah, DJ. Nobody gonna hear don’t let no. They’re not gonna talk about me talking about no dears. And this this sounds stupid. He was like, Allen, I see it. Roll with it. So we did it for 2 more Show, and then, people started really getting involved in it to see what did I do today to run from a deer. Nah.

Allen [00:37:28]:
And and, you know, that just just became the stipend of the show.

James Kademan [00:37:31]:
Alright. Nice. Will, how about you? Is there a character or an actor that you like to portray when you’re doing something like that?

Will [00:37:39]:
I don’t have a character yet. I just try to focus on, like, the stuff I had in front of me, like, getting the agent or get In seen by an agent. So I ain’t get to that step,

James Kademan [00:37:50]:
but I’m still working on that right now. Alright. Still progressing. Yes. Alright. How about you, DJ?

DJ [00:37:55]:
The character that, like, I like to imitate sometimes is the character that plays Reacher.

James Kademan [00:38:01]:
Reacher in the the Amazon series. Right? Okay. Yeah.

DJ [00:38:05]:
I I like his character. I like his demeanor and, like, his background story and all that

James Kademan [00:38:09]:
Yeah. Stuff. He’s always angry.

Allen [00:38:10]:
Yeah. Yeah.

DJ [00:38:12]:
Because, like, it describes my character to the t and then, like, how and then, like, when I was reading, like, his actual backstory, like, how much, training he had to do just to fulfill that role. And then for the second season, he had to do even more to fulfill that role. Like, even get bigger to fulfill

James Kademan [00:38:29]:
He’s a big boy.

DJ [00:38:30]:
Yeah. To fulfill that role. Alright. How much weight he had to gain just to fulfill that role.

James Kademan [00:38:34]:
So Alright. And just the demeanor, the facial expressions, all that DJ?

Allen [00:38:38]:
Yep. I remember, you Show me a,

James Kademan [00:38:40]:
I think it was

Allen [00:38:41]:
like a, was it like like like a movie clip? Yeah. Yeah. Like, you’re showing that guy. Yeah. That dude described you. That’s awesome.

James Kademan [00:38:51]:
I you know, it’s interesting because I always think of I’m a big fan of Pulp Fiction.

Will [00:38:55]:
Okay. I love Pulp Fiction.

James Kademan [00:38:56]:
So I like Samuel Jackson In the diner when with the whole wallet, that whole scene.

Allen [00:39:02]:
Yeah.

James Kademan [00:39:02]:
Like, I’m trying. I’m trying real hard. Right. There I don’t know if I would say every conversation that I have with employees 1 on 1, but I’m gonna say a solid 70%. I have that in the back of my head where, like, I’m trying. I’m trying really hard. I don’t give I’m not good at it at all, but it’s one of those things. Will that and then The Wolf and Pulp Fiction.

DJ [00:39:25]:
Oh, nice.

James Kademan [00:39:25]:
Always a blast.

Allen [00:39:26]:
Nice.

James Kademan [00:39:27]:
Let’s shift gears to social media.

Allen [00:39:29]:
Yep.

James Kademan [00:39:29]:
Because you’re telling me and, and I was like, man, what was social media like in and as far as promoting you and yourselves as actors and stuff like that? It’s a different game than what it is now.

Allen [00:39:41]:
Oh, yeah. A whole different game.

James Kademan [00:39:42]:
So tell me let’s talk about then. What did you do to I mean, was it even a thing? Marketing yourself through social media?

Allen [00:39:50]:
At the time, In wasn’t really a thing right away. You know? It was still more like still doing things somewhat of like the old school way, but things are starting to, slowly become more digital. But it was still more like, let’s just say Facebook or Instagram was more about just spending time with your family or people start posting their meals like, just the just the meal I’m eating for the Draw. This only got 500 calories. And some people posted up things about acting, but it wasn’t like how, I On say more towards, maybe 20, 19 or 2018 is when a lot of agents started to worry about, okay, do you got a following? Yeah. That’s when we started to say, woah, like, this is getting serious, like because I didn’t even have an Instagram at that time. I just had Facebook and, I was like, yeah. I need to make an Instagram soon because I remember going to this, AMTC event.

Allen [00:40:41]:
Yeah. Yeah. AMTC stands for? Actors, Models, and Allen for Christ. Okay. And that’s when, they start ranking you as, like, you’re the 5th best actor in the state. And I remember going to a Hollywood boot camp actually. It was in Maryville, Indiana.

Will [00:40:57]:
Yeah. I remember those days.

Allen [00:40:59]:
And it was Will yeah. It was a tough boot camp. It was a tough boot Call. Like, it A boot camp for actor. Yeah. They put you through monologue training, serious monologue training. They challenge you. They make you they say if you’re afraid to stand up in front of a big group and actor.

Allen [00:41:15]:
And they separate you by groups by the level that you’re at as far as talent wise. And then, it was a big Allen search, and I remember, like, all these agents was coming. So, yeah, all the agents from, like, Indiana, Chicago, Wisconsin, parts like the Milwaukee and Green Bay Allen, and you had to bring it that day. You had to bring it that day because, like, I On say Saturday night was, like, DJ day. So you get In the stage and you get 3 minutes to wow these agents and then you’ll know what they’re writing. And then, Sunday was just like, okay. These are the following numbers that they wanna meet. So let’s say if you write 186 or 185, like, you might have 6 talent agents that are interested in you, so then you go meet with them afterwards.

Allen [00:42:04]:
And, you know, that’s how we started to start to understand when it came to social media, like, yeah, you yes. Like, this is important. You gotta get yourself out there more.

James Kademan [00:42:13]:
So if you have more followers Mhmm. But you’re, let’s say, less cool in their eyes, whatever it is that they’re grading you by

Allen [00:42:20]:
Yep.

James Kademan [00:42:21]:
But then, like, this guy’s got, I don’t know, 10,000,000,000 followers. That’s gonna give you a leg up.

Allen [00:42:26]:
Yep. So, it’ll give you a leg up because business is business at the end of the day. So at the end of the day, it’s about making money. So I Call have the perfect body, the looks and Call. But let’s say, Will has 10 k and followers or more. They’re gonna go with this guy because he he’s more marketable because

James Kademan [00:42:46]:
He’s gonna post, look what I got. Check out this movie or check out this and, whatever.

Allen [00:42:51]:
Exactly. Alright. And then like his following. So they’re like, well, In he has a following, then we can make a lot of money because his followers are gonna follow everything he do. And then that’s that’s shooting their name out there more. So from, like, a marketing standpoint,

James Kademan [00:43:06]:
fair,

Allen [00:43:06]:
that’s what you want.

James Kademan [00:43:07]:
Oh, that’s interesting. And all you guys have individual social media channels, I imagine? Yep. Yeah. Okay. And you push and pursue and all that kind of stuff? How do you mix the personal side with or differentiate it from the business side?

Allen [00:43:23]:
Well, I might use my personal side for, like, a little bit of both because I still always promote the show or, maybe shoot out certain, like, auditions I have. And then sometimes, inspiration quotes for people who may feel like, man, I’ve given in everything I got, but I just seem like I’m not getting anywhere. Like, hey, look. Don’t give up. Keep pushing. And then when it come to, like, the Allen and DJ show, we was like, Call, let’s build a fan page, which grew pretty fast because of because we was like, this show right here is and and and like this, and this page right here In gonna talk about nothing but our content actor us, like, self improvement. Gym, self improvement because gym because, like, the gym is a lifestyle. Business is it has to be a lifestyle, and sometimes you have to make tough business choices.

Allen [00:44:13]:
Where if you’re talking about, improving, like, your way of thinking, meditation, and that is like self improvement, like to keep improving every day because you can always improve.

James Kademan [00:44:23]:
True. Oh my gosh.

Allen [00:44:24]:
Always improve.

James Kademan [00:44:25]:
On and never ending.

Allen [00:44:26]:
Never ending. Like, never get comfortable. Like, I don’t care if you had 500,000 followers. I’m not at a million, so why would I get comfortable? Then we get to a Will. Okay. That’s cool. But what we always do, DJ, and Will we focus on the next challenge? Mhmm. So okay.

Allen [00:44:42]:
There’s always more to do. Okay. You could celebrate for the moment. So you got a big accolade from In, or now you DJ became verified. So now you got a blue check by your name In you think you’re important, but that’s where the real work begins. Never wanna get comfortable. Never wanna never wanna just say, hey, this is good In. Because I was reading this book that, actually, DJ put me on a a 48 Laws of Power.

James Kademan [00:45:06]:
Oh, great book.

Allen [00:45:08]:
Then I started reading this book Calls, Relentless by, Tim s Grover. Mhmm. The guy who trained Dwayne Wade, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant. And you start to adapt that mindset. You could be good, you could be great, or you could be unstoppable. So he Call them coolers, closers, and cleaners.

James Kademan [00:45:24]:
Oh, nice.

Allen [00:45:24]:
Break that down real quick before I shoot the alley hoot to DJ. I On talk about a cooler. It’s somebody that you need in the world. Like, it makes the world go and. But if you’re just comfortable at a 9 to 5 or or let’s say basketball, I use it In basketball terms. DJ a good role player. Like, they they get you the garbage buckets when needed, but they’re not gonna get you the end result because they’re too afraid to step into leadership role. A closer is somebody that can give you an MVP season.

Allen [00:45:52]:
Call, top scorer in the league they can get you that end result as long as it’s like not too many variables being thrown at them, but they still get the job done. A cleaner is somebody I look at like Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, you name them. You Show, like, that’s gonna get you that end result over and over and over again to the point where they feel like they have no other option or or or like Tom Brady. Like, I have to get the end result. Like, don’t nothing matter but the end result. They’re never satisfied. Okay. We won a championship.

Allen [00:46:22]:
We celebrate that moment. That’s done. So while y’all Will celebrating that, we are we’re talking about the next challenge. Show, let’s go Show, let’s go train at 2 o’clock in the morning tomorrow. And like, DJ, we just won a championship. I Show, but we gotta still train because we gotta constantly keep getting better.

James Kademan [00:46:39]:
Next rung. Next rung. Just build upon your success.

Allen [00:46:42]:
Always. Then And. And now that’s the mindset that you have to have. Like, can’t get comfortable. Like, you stay comfortable and you satisfied with what you have, somebody’s gonna easily come behind you and In, bump you out of the way. Fair. Don’t want that.

James Kademan [00:46:56]:
Totally fair. So what about you 2 as far as social media and splitting Call?

DJ [00:47:02]:
Basically, like, I I use, like, the fan page for basically promotional purposes. And then, like, I I use my, my Facebook, my personal account DJ for just for my personal, information and stuff like that.

James Kademan [00:47:15]:
Okay. In? Yeah. Alright. And what about you?

Will [00:47:18]:
Mine’s is, like, separate too. I got a personal page, and then I use the fan page, you know, for person you

James Kademan [00:47:23]:
Show? Nice. Alright. And as far as the social media channels that you’re on, what what have you seen give you the biggest bang for your buck? If you’re like, hey. I got Myspace 5,000,000 followers. Is anybody like, nobody cares?

Allen [00:47:38]:
In don’t

James Kademan [00:47:38]:
know if Myspace is still a thing.

Allen [00:47:40]:
Yes. The the yeah. It’s like, oh, yes. That’s I think Myspace In like so that was, like, the first thing that really got the social media buzz going.

James Kademan [00:47:50]:
Mhmm.

Allen [00:47:50]:
And then Facebook came and. So it’s like around and when Myspace was like the thing to do, because that’s what a lot of music artists used to post their music on. But, the like, we have a lot of good supporters actually. You know, like, when you promote your page and you’re talking about stuff that the people can relate to, you’d be surprised how fast your channel grow or, like, you’d be surprised how fast your, business page grow or if, like, fan page is what we like to call it because I remember what was, like, probably October 20th, we was at 1.7 k and followers. And now we’re just in January, and we just hit 4.2 today.

James Kademan [00:48:28]:
So Nice. Congrats.

Allen [00:48:30]:
It can grow fast, but it takes time. But you gotta talk about content and talk about stuff that people wanna hear and resonate with. And if you’re not doing that and you just sound dry, like, yeah. Hi. Welcome to the Allen and DJ Show. And today, we’re talking about how you’re gonna be successful In it. Yeah. That’s not like, I’m gonna go to sleep.

Allen [00:48:52]:
Like

James Kademan [00:48:53]:
Alright. So shift gears into your show. How would you pick a topic?

DJ [00:49:00]:
Basically, like, me and Call meet up, whatever location that we meet up at, and, like, sometimes we’ll look up, like, topics that, like, certain shows Call about, or we’ll just look up, like, topics, like, to talk about as or sometimes, like, based on, like, some of our experiences, we’ll be like, hey, we need to cover this topic. Yeah. Or we need to cover that topic. Like, I had a friend that was going through something with her in laws, so we did a show about the in laws.

James Kademan [00:49:31]:
Oh, man. Yep. Yeah. Oh, they’re stepping into minefield.

DJ [00:49:34]:
Yep. And then, like, we had another person that wanted to know about, narcissism, and we basically did a show on that.

James Kademan [00:49:42]:
That might be the most ironic statement I’ve ever heard. Yeah. Somebody On to hear about that. Tell me about narcissism. That’s funny.

Allen [00:49:49]:
Because so some people in relationships didn’t might be dealing with In narcissist.

James Kademan [00:49:53]:
Alright.

Allen [00:49:54]:
And, you know, we was like, let’s do a show on it. So let’s talk about how you deal with them.

James Kademan [00:49:58]:
Okay.

Allen [00:49:58]:
And, you know, try to get on, like, the educational purpose, like, behind it. And I remember we talked about, because this kid I know, has ADHD. And, I was just looking like, wow, this kid. This is like Show and I was like, you know what? Let’s do a topic on that. But we started with the show Mental Health and we caught the attention of an, lady named Call, DJ from, Lake Blue Wellness. Show was the CEO. And, she reached out to us, and she worked at a ADHD clinic. And we was like, hey.

Allen [00:50:34]:
Like, Will love you to come on our show and give the education behind ADHD symptoms and how does it start and how can you treat it without always trying to give out medication. Right. And Show gave us the education behind it, and we just started steamrolling from there. And then I said, let’s do more stuff with the community, DJ. DJ was like, you know what? Let’s hit, let’s see if we can get, like, the chief of the fire department on the show.

James Kademan [00:50:59]:
In some prayer? Yeah. Okay. And Very cool.

Allen [00:51:01]:
I’m always doubting it. I’m like, how the world we On do that, DJ? There’s no

James Kademan [00:51:05]:
Any day there’s not fires, I’m sure. Yeah.

Allen [00:51:09]:
But, no, like, that’s how we come up with our concepts. You know? Like, we go through our either a, experiences or, like, our email address, Allen. And some of our, like, fans will say, hey. Talk about this. I’ve been experiencing this a lot lately. You might get, like, 30 people write you in one day. You might be like, this one you think about DJ. We’re like, well, let’s talk about this one.

James Kademan [00:51:31]:
So we That’s awesome.

Allen [00:51:32]:
So we say, let’s talk about managing money.

James Kademan [00:51:34]:
Alright.

Allen [00:51:35]:
So then we’ll DJ, start doing our research as well as, our experiences with managing money. And we it’s like writing like a research paper. It’s like doing DJ journalism, but then we break it down into bullet points.

James Kademan [00:51:46]:
Alright.

Allen [00:51:46]:
So the way, like, the Show, like, is structured and you’re not with the topic, you’re going all over the place because

James Kademan [00:51:52]:
Mhmm.

Allen [00:51:53]:
You could lose people.

James Kademan [00:51:54]:
Oh, yeah. That’s I mean, you can go run down rabbit holes. Absolutely.

Allen [00:51:57]:
Exactly. They’re like, what does that have to do with this? Or what? It’s like, down, like, that’s not true. Right. So, you know, yeah, you don’t want that.

James Kademan [00:52:07]:
So, Will, you’re producing?

Will [00:52:09]:
Yes.

James Kademan [00:52:09]:
So do you ever how do you keep track of all that they have going on? Because I imagine they’re talking off the cuff. Right? It’s not scripted or anything like that. Uh-huh. So so are you you’re in the back Yep. Flipping the switches, doing all the stuff. So is that difficult to keep up with them?

Will [00:52:26]:
It’s not difficult. At first, it was, but I got the hang of it. I’m very computer savvy, so it’s easy, you know, to catch on real quickly. Alright.

James Kademan [00:52:35]:
And you I imagine you’re doing most of the talking Will the DJ.

Allen [00:52:39]:
Well, me and DJ, we kinda,

Will [00:52:42]:
They do, like, half and half.

Allen [00:52:43]:
Yeah. It’s On, like, half and half.

DJ [00:52:44]:
Okay. Like, we got, like, special cues to where, like, I know when Al’s done with his talking point. And once he’s done with his talking point, I’ll jump right

James Kademan [00:52:53]:
in. Got it. Okay. He kicks you in the shin or something like this? Yeah.

DJ [00:52:56]:
Or he’ll or Al will say something like, I’m a before I throw the alley oop to, DJ, he’ll say something. And then once he stops talking, then I know when to jump in.

James Kademan [00:53:06]:
Got it. Okay. Very cool.

Allen [00:53:09]:
Because at first, like, it was hard. Like, you know, at the first three shows, it was like it’s like trying to put a new football team or basketball team together. You got, 3 superstars on and team, but we have to learn how to mush, with each other and learn how to play off each other. So somebody gotta learn how to play without the basketball and make cuts and drive through the lane. Show, like, how we did with our show was, at first, we was kinda like, ah, man, I’m talking too much. I think I didn’t give DJ enough shine or, ah, man. I was going for 5 minutes and I didn’t get this point across. And we just had a conversation and that’s where a good team comes In.

Allen [00:53:44]:
And Will somebody say, hey. Look. We need you to be our leader and we want you to be the guy that’s, you know, In talking about this particular topic and then lead us on On, bullet point or certain bullet points, like, okay. Yeah. Okay. That’d be DJ more. So DJ may talk on that bullet point for about 3 or 4 In. And I take a step back.

Allen [00:54:05]:
Alright. And when you do that, that’s when magic happens.

James Kademan [00:54:08]:
Yeah. There’s a congruence there. Yep. You remind me, I was watching my son play basketball his best weekend at a tournament, and one of the buddies on his team does a sweet backwards pass behind the back thing. Nice. The challenge was there was no one there to send the ball to. So it was a poetic like, these are 11 year old kids. Like, boom boom.

James Kademan [00:54:29]:
Right behind the back. And no one was there to take the ball. And it was one of those, like, if there would have been a kid there, that would have been In, holy cow.

Will [00:54:37]:
These are

James Kademan [00:54:37]:
11 year old kids. But instead, the ball just rolled out the phones.

Allen [00:54:40]:
Yeah. Because, at that time, you know, it’s it’s it’s like being out of sync. Right. You know, like like learning how to play off the ball or like learn okay, like, think I’m a pass the ball to James like this to James like to make cuts to the basket. So I know if I’m coming down the lane, I could just throw a ground pass to you and you you catch it In an easy lay up. Mhmm. You Show, and that’s a learning, like, the In, then the rhythm of, like, where your teammate gonna be at. So same thing when we hook winging In to the show.

Allen [00:55:10]:
Like, I know when to say so much and then I just kinda fall and, then DJ jumps in and say what he need to say.

James Kademan [00:55:17]:
Right. Very cool. So you guys are talking about money, relationships, ADHD. I mean, that’s a pretty wide gamut here. Yeah. Yeah. How do is there any universal theme as far as, I don’t know, age that you’re aiming for or something of that nature? Someone that’s looking like how would they know I gotta come and check out this?

Allen [00:55:37]:
Well, because I show geared towards, everybody that’s maybe, like, audience range of 18 to, like, maybe 64, 65. Yeah. So

James Kademan [00:55:45]:
like It’s pretty wide.

Allen [00:55:46]:
Yeah. It’s pretty wide. Show if anybody can watch your show, whether if you’ve been married before. And let’s say, In we’re talking about marriage or things have to do with married couples, I don’t know anything about that. I’ve never been married. Alright. But I could bring somebody who has been married before and has experience. So then that way, when we interview them, the audience can relate to that person.

Allen [00:56:06]:
Mhmm. And say, yeah. Like, that’s true. Like, we had had, ups and downs in our marriage or, yeah, I remember going through that point. Or, like, I remember, you know, saying, like, doing certain things as one.

James Kademan [00:56:16]:
Got it.

Allen [00:56:16]:
It could take time. So Alright.

James Kademan [00:56:18]:
Very cool. So where can people find you guys?

Allen [00:56:21]:
Find us on, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, at the Allen and DJ Show, Sun Prairie Media Center. You can find us on the app, channel 983, TDS. And yeah. Get ready to improve your life.

James Kademan [00:56:38]:
Nice. So the social media stuff has the in front of it? Yep. So the Allen DJ Show?

Will [00:56:44]:
Yep. Yep.

James Kademan [00:56:44]:
Call boom boom?

Allen [00:56:45]:
All boom. Yep.

James Kademan [00:56:46]:
Alright. What about the website?

Allen [00:56:49]:
Website? DJ hit social media stuff. Yeah.

James Kademan [00:56:53]:
Alright. Yep. Good enough. And then you’re also on YouTube? Yep. Alright. Same thing?

Allen [00:56:57]:
Same thing.

James Kademan [00:56:58]:
The Allen and DJ Show.

Allen [00:56:59]:
Allen and DJ Show.

James Kademan [00:56:59]:
Well, that makes it super easy. You can’t forget that. Yep. Do you guys have anything else you wanna say before we conclude here? Super life advice in one line or less.

Allen [00:57:09]:
Yeah. Yeah. You wanna start, DJ?

James Kademan [00:57:12]:
No pressure.

Will [00:57:12]:
No pressure.

James Kademan [00:57:13]:
No pressure. The 10 second monologue.

DJ [00:57:15]:
No. Nothing at all?

Allen [00:57:17]:
No. Uh-huh. I’ll just

Will [00:57:18]:
I’ll just say, like, keep perseverance what you do even though life get you down and out, but, you know, keep struggling too. I’m here In today.

James Kademan [00:57:28]:
I love it.

Allen [00:57:28]:
And I’ll never give up DJ just remember things take time, but with hard work and staying persistent, you Call be anything you wanna be and become the very best version of yourself.

James Kademan [00:57:37]:
Fair. Man, I love that. That is all good. This has been Authentic Business Adventures, the business program that brings you the struggle stories and strength and successes of business owners across the land. We are locally underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie. If you could do us a huge favor, give us a big old thumbs up. Subscribe, and I’m gonna say subscribe to both this show, Authentic Business Adventures, of course, if you liked what you saw, as well as the Allen and DJ Show, and that’s just the Allen and DJ Show on YouTube? Yep. Yep.

James Kademan [00:58:07]:
Easy enough. Awesome. Just like that. I should add, beyond subscribing. Right? Yep. It’s actually fun when they when they comment.

Allen [00:58:16]:
Exactly.

James Kademan [00:58:17]:
And they share it with their friends and they let us know what they wanna see, what they like, what they didn’t like, you know, all the all the good things. For sure. We’d like to thank you, our wonderful listeners, as well as our guests. We got Al and Will and DJ. And will you tell us the social media stuff one more time DJ to drill it in their heads?

Allen [00:58:32]:
Yeah. Sure. You Call and, us on social media. I’m at the, Allen and DJ Show on YouTube, Facebook. You can find, my personal page, Allen Hutchison On In and Facebook and William DJ Smith on Instagram and Facebook. And let us Show, what you want us to talk about next

Will [00:58:51]:
to improve

Allen [00:58:51]:
your lifestyle.

James Kademan [00:58:52]:
I love it. We got all the links down below. Past episodes can be found morning, noon, and night with a podcast link found at drawincustomers.com. Thank you for joining us. We will see you next week. I want you to stay awesome. If you do nothing else, enjoy your business.

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