In this special bonus episode, Lili chats with Maggie McNeil of M-Power Studios about the exciting changes coming up in the next round of Doing It Also!
Sign up for the Doing It Also Workshop!
Thursdays, March 25-April 29, 3:00-4:15pm ET on Zoom
The original bonus episode sharing information about Doing It Also
TDQ's Instagram: @thedreadedquestion
Email us at thedreadedquestionpodcast@gmail.com with any questions!
Time stamps:
1:51 Who is Maggie McNeil?
3:31 What can people expect from Maggie’s Doing It Also class?
4:57 Theatre is coming back…why do I need a parallel career right now?
9:42 Dates, times, etc!
The Doing It Also workshop
[00:00:00] Lili Torre: Hello listeners. Welcome to a special bonus episode of TDQ where Maggie McNeil and I discuss the new version of the Doing It Also workshop.
This audio was taken from a video we posted on Instagram, so if you'd rather watch us talk about it, head on over to Instagram @thedreadedquestion to check it out.
In the show notes, you'll find a link to sign up for Doing It Also, a link to Maggie's website, as well as a link to the first bonus episode I posted for the first round of the Doing It Also workshop, if you'd like to hear even more about it.
I'm also including timestamps to specific questions in the show notes. In case you want to find out the answer to your question.
So here's my chat with Maggie McNeil all about the upcoming Doing It Also workshop starting Thursday, March 25th. Hello, Maggie McNeil, so great to see you!
Maggie McNeil: Yeah, here I am! It's so good to see you too.
Lili Torre: I'm so excited to take just a few minutes to talk about the new incarnation of the Doing It [00:01:00] Also workshop, which I am so freaking excited for. I absolutely cannot wait.
As many people know the purpose of the Doing It Also workshop is to help artists start the search for their parallel career, a parallel career that is unique to them and utilizes their unique skills and contributions to create a career that fulfills you and supports you whether or not you are working in theater, you know, like during a global pandemic, but also thereafter.
I'm so excited to have you on board now to help me out to make this course even more amazing. Instead of just four weeks, it's now going to be six weeks so that we have plenty of space to accommodate Maggie's incredible ideas and work.
And Maggie, I would love to just hear a little bit from you about who you are, what you do, and what's going to happen in Doing It Also.
Maggie McNeil: Yeah. Uh, like you said, I'm Maggie McNeil. I am a performer, but I'm also the one lady band behind M-Power Studio. [00:02:00] I help artists and small business owners with business systems and Squarespace websites. So basically I help people take ideas and turn them into businesses and therefore money, by making things easy and streamlined, and as efficient as possible through the power of many tools that other people have already created for us.
I am super, super passionate about artists having parallel careers because I have a parallel career and it has completely changed my life. I was a server or I worked in restaurants for 14 years and it was really, really hard as anybody who has ever worked in a restaurant can tell you.
I also ended up with a really serious injury, uh, when I was working in restaurants that really kind of put everything on pause and I didn't walk for five months and I had to re relearn how to use my leg.
And even though my business had started before, then it really became clear at that point that like, I really want to have [00:03:00] more control over not only, you know, the way my body is being used at a restaurant, but also, my time and my scheduling and my money, and being able to take jobs and not have to worry about if I have a job when I come back and you know, all of that kind of stuff.
So I'm really, really passionate about helping other people find the same thing, because it has made such a huge difference in my life.
Lili Torre: Yes, Oh my gosh, I love that so much. What an amazing story.
And what can people expect from your classes in Doing It Also?
Maggie McNeil: So I think what's really exciting is that, uh, You know, when you and I were talking about teaming up, we were talking a lot about how you really deal with the more like person centric side of things, about finding what you want to do, and, you know, really exploring the kind of internal journey of that.
And what I do is more of the like nuts and bolts. Like, let's figure this out, let's put some systems together. This is what you need. This is what you don't need. These are the things that are important, like the more practical meaning, like [00:04:00] in practice stuff.
And so the work that I'm going to be doing with folks is really focusing on what systems they need, what they don't need, uh, kind of general best practices in terms of, of things that you should definitely never do and things that you should definitely be doing. There are very, very, if you hard no's, but there are a couple.
And so I'm going to be working with people about actually putting the structures in place to support the, you know, internal, mental mindset work and, you know, figuring out what they want to do that they're doing with you. With me, it's more about putting that into practice and actually like getting the wheels, turning and getting things moving in that way.
Lili Torre: Yes. I love that. Yeah. I feel like another way to say that would be like in my classes we'll be focused on the what and the why. And with you, it's all about the, how. How do we make this happen? Which I think is such an important part of the puzzle.
And speaking of why, I [00:05:00] think another really great question, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this as well, that some people might be thinking is like, why do I need a parallel career right now?
Like, I think it seems like things are starting to open up, even some theaters are starting to open up. A lot of people are getting vaccinated. And so I can understand why people might feel like, Oh, the pandemic's almost over, which I don't know if that's really true, but anyway, and you might feel like you don't need a parallel career right now.
And you know, for me, I'll just say that my perspective on that is like you needed a parallel career before the pandemic hit and you're definitely gonna need one after. The overarching problem is that even when there is work in theater, there are times where you're not going to be working in theater. There are times when you're going to be working in theater, and unfortunately it may not be enough to financially support you and sustain you. And you're going to need something else that you have a little bit more control over that can sustain you in [00:06:00] those in-between times.
And it's another way for you to support the work that you want to be doing, to enact the work that you want to be doing rather than wasting your time in survival jobs, which like life is too short, and ain't nobody got time for that. And if you are at a job that you hate, then I want to help you change that. And I think that again, that was a problem before the pandemic and it will continue to be one after.
Maggie McNeil: Yeah. I think also a big thing that we've seen with the pandemic is that the, the world is really our oyster in a way, in terms of the way we can bring our work to other people, both in an artistic way and in, you know, whatever you do in terms of your parallel career, right?
People who are bakers are not just, you know, baking cookies anymore. They're like doing baking classes online and all sorts of things. And it can be fulfilling in a way that's really unexpected. And also [00:07:00] in, in just a, like, Uh, this is real talk kind of way. It makes you less desperate when you're walking into the audition room.
Because I, when I walk in, I remember like viscerally in my body, what it felt like to walk into an audition room and feel like if I book this job, I will not have to wait tables for four months. Like I remember exactly what that feels like.
Whereas now, I walk in and I mean, I don't walk in anywhere now, nobody goes anywhere. But with a parallel career, when I walk into an audition room, I'm just like, Hey, here I am, ready to do some singing for ya. And if I don't get this, my world doesn't end.
And like big secret is that, you know, in the times when you're like doing a lot of waiting around for auditions and stuff, I am making money the entire time I'm there. Yeah. Like I am working and [00:08:00] making money when I'm sitting there, quote unquote wasting time. Like it's, it's so empowering to be able to have more control over your own life. And there's so much in, in pursuing a performing career that's not in our control. We all know.
So to have something where I can say, like, you know what, I'm going to go to my family's house in New Hampshire, and I'm going to bring my work with me, but I'm not going to take any big projects at that time. It's going to be like more low key. That it's huge and not having that... not having the constant grind of having to be beholden to the person who covered your shift the last time and, you know, trying to plan holiday six months in advance so that you can like have enough favors so you can call them in to like get the day before Thanksgiving off...
Like all of that stuff, it just like truly, I feel the anxiety in my body right now talking about it. [00:09:00] Um, and that having being more in control of my own life in that way has been empowering in a way that has also completely informed my performing.
Oh, that's Kronk. Kronk is really passionate, also about parallel careers.
Lili Torre: Why wouldn't he be? I mean, in addition to both loving parallel careers, we also both love French Bulldogs and dogs in general. So there will be much cute puppy time in Doing It Also, which is just a further reason to be part of it.
I'm so glad we had this discussion. I am like more lit up than ever! I am so excited!
The next round of Doing It Also starts Thursday, March 25th. And is every Thursday until April 29th. It will be Thursdays from 3:00 to 4:15 PM. Eastern time. It will be on Zoom in a group community. There are two package options. [00:10:00] One that just includes the class and another, that also includes private coachings with me.
So I hope that you will join us. And if you have any questions, reach out and let us know.
Thanks, Maggie!
Maggie McNeil: You're so welcome. I'm so looking forward to it.
Lili Torre: I hope to see you at the Doing It Also workshop. If you're interested in joining us, make sure you head on down to the show notes for the signup link. See you there!