The great playwright and screenwriter David Mamet once said: “Life in the movie business is like the beginning of a new love affair: it’s full of surprises, and you’re constantly getting f*cked.”

After more than 10 years in the entertainment business, I understand why Mamet won a Pulitzer—because his observations are not only clever, but true. All independent business owners take their share of knocks. So it helps to have a thick skin. Here are some coping tactics I’ve developed in the trenches…

Everybody loves a winner. It’s tough to go out on pitches and sales calls when business is tough. Remember that your clients are potential buyers—not your therapist. Show no weakness. Successful people want to work with other successful people—or at least people who project “successful.”

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again… My great-grandmother used to say this, and I thought it was corny. (Sorry Grandma Clara.) But there’s truth to this proverb in business. I once pitched a project 40 times without success and then sold it—to Leonardo DiCaprio. Every meeting is a fresh opportunity.

You control your reaction to adversity. When money is tight, it’s easy to succumb to panic/depression/your favorite vice. But you don’t have to. You can’t control the actions of others. However, you can control your own reaction to them—and work through the challenges.

Remember the important stuff. Work isn’t the be all and end all. When I get down, I seek out a hug from my three-year-old niece or revisit photos from a life-affirming vacation. Those are the moments that truly count. And that reminds me to be thankful for what I have.

Whether you work in Hollywood or not, as a business owner, the show must always go on!

Aaron Benay works as a screenwriting team in film and television with his brother Matthew. Together, they’ve written projects for major studios and networks including Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, HBO, Miramax, Universal, and Warner Bros. The Benay Bros. are currently working on the third installment of the blockbuster film franchise NATIONAL TREASURE.

Design is a process of creativity that functions with ingenuity. Sometimes, the regular routine creates the best work. Other times, design requires mixing it up. Hitting some extremes. Getting very, very messy, and then coming back to reality to clean it up.

In the world of design, getting messy is simple: it’s working faster than your brain. It is prepping yourself with the information needed, but not having a predetermined outcome. Know your goals. Go with your instincts. Work with your hands. Keep moving.

If things become stagnant, then try something new. Introduce some personal vices. And some nervous habits. Be open to surprises, and remember this: There is liberation in not caring. There is freedom in letting go, in tearing things apart, in working with fragments. You are creating kinks–wait a while before you comb them out. What you’ve got should be messy and ugly and some of the best ideas you’ve ever created.

Now clean it up. Organize your creation. What worked? What didn’t? Take your favorite ideas, dust them off, and place them on a newly cleaned surface.

Then repeat.

Brandon Broadstone is a freelance designer and owner of Broadstone Designs. He frequently works as a creative consultant on architecture projects, as well as product and graphic designs. He earned a masters of architecture from SCI-Arc.

If I knew anything about boxing, I might say that you play to your opponent. You study his moves. You examine his strengths. You look for weaknesses. You know opportunity.

But I don’t know anything about boxing. What I do know is that most sales and marketers don’t lead with the ‘you’, they lead with the ‘me’. Take a look at your marketing and sales materials, especially your Powerpoint. Are you leading with the ‘ALL ABOUT ME’ verbage? The ‘What I do’ and the ‘Clients’ page? The blah blah blah?

If you are, you’re opening yourself up to getting whacked. Why?

Because your potential customer cares very little about you. Yeah, they want to enjoy your company and listen to few war stories to measure credibility, but what they really want to hear is ‘What have you done for me lately?

They want to know how your solution fits their problem. Then, how long will it take. Then, how much will it cost.

Try this:

1. Look at the nearest piece of your sales/marketing collateral. Hey, your homepage will do. Count how many times ‘You’ appears in the first few seconds of reading. If ‘you’ doesn’t appear, or isn’t at least implied, chances are you’re talking about yourself again.
2. Try turning your Powerpoint presentation upside down. Take the last few slides and push them to the front. Open with ‘The Solution’ and close with Who We Are and How We Can Help You.
3. Keep changing it up: try different approaches with different people. Practice audacity and boldness a good percentage of the time – people love differentiation.

And, of course, make the calls. Outreach is the important part. Your customers (or lost prospects) will tell you what they want to hear.

Chris Donaldson is a frequent contributor for Schmoozd, an event management company that serves a passionate community of culturally-connected people who are seeking an alternative way to socialize and network.

If you’re an entrepreneur, a freelancer, or a start-up, you’ll know how important it is to win new business and make lasting working relationships. Networking is now as important as advertising in terms of generating ongoing success for any venture. We’ve all had certain jobs or contracts that we feel we’ve not been paid well enough for. Whether that’s a bit of graphic design you felt had a high enough ROI to warrant a higher fee, or simply a contract you feel you could’ve pitched a little higher. But have you ever been asked to work for free? Lots of new businesses and freelancers are now being faced with this very situation. They’re told they’re working to gain experience, that the result will net them future work, that it’ll bolster their portfolios. But are these just excuses for free labor, and should you be more concerned with topping up your company finances?

The question you need to ask when deciding whether to work for free is: ‘what’s in it for me?’. There are exceptions: if it’s for a charitable cause, then by all means do as much work as necessary free of charge. But if it’s for other businesses, you need to ask yourself why you’d want to do it. This will usually boil down to how much experience you have. If it’s literally day one for you, you might want to swallow your pride, knuckle down, and work for the experience. It may well pay off when pitching for future business. On the other hand, if you’ve been working for years, there aren’t many situations where you should work for free (barring charity work, of course). Never take their word for it, always ask yourself whether the work is worth it. Generally speaking, that little voice inside will guide you down the right path.

Linda Haynes is a professional writer and researcher.

Have you ever been browsing the web, perhaps searching for something in particular, and come across a site that seems to be plastered in ads? It likely has the information you’re looking for, but also seems to have caught a bad case of advert measles. That’s what certain members of the SEO community call niche blog marketing – and if you’ve found one, it’s working at earning a passive income for someone. So how does it work?

Well, in a nutshell, a wily online marketer does a bit of keyword research, finds a word or phrase that has high search volume but low competition (much harder than it sounds), then creates a blog based solely on that keyword. It’ll be in the URL, in the titles, dotted around the content. The point is, all of those users searching will eventually land on the page and, if ads are implemented, may click on them. That earns a passive income for the site owner.

But before you go installing Wordpress and writing endless articles about ‘the best golf shop in Everytown’, be aware that niche blog marketing can be a risky business. The Google Adsense program can be a great source of income, but if your site is set up incorrectly, they can suspend your account without warning. Even having an image too close to an ad block is enough to incur their wrath, so if you do embark on a niche blog marketing venture, be very careful. Also keep in mind that this form of income generation is a long term thing. It will take literally months to rank a blog highly enough to generate good quality clicks. But if you follow some marketers advice, the more blogs you have, the better your chances. If you think you’ve got what it takes, head over to the Google Keyword Tool and start mining for keyword gold!

Linda Haynes is a professional writer and researcher.

We are all in the business of happiness, no matter the means. We make our daily living by serving others and delivering value to others.

Most of us know this regardless of education or experience, but as someone who operates a service-based business, my job is to help others be aware of it and optimize their assets to their fullest gains.

Our respective success ultimately depends on the extent to which we connect with others, and how skilled we are at establishing and maintaining relationships. This is nothing new. It is our personalities that we leverage to achieve relationships, and successful brands and companies are run by genuine people who practice this standard of communication.

One of my mentors, Rohit Bhargava, Senior Vice President of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, a genuinely nice person (and quite brilliant, if I might say so) is on the verge of launching his second book titled “Likeanomics,” the premise of which is that relationships are based on real interactions, with personality and humanity.

Prior to this book, Rohit wrote (and disclaimer: I was formerly his publicist on this one) Personality Not Included, a practical guide for brands on how to communicate with their publics and build successful relationships. As a persuasive communications practitioner, I mention these books because the concepts are powerful and they have helped me better serve my clients and also everyone else in my life. And they offer a great reminder: that we are all in the business of happiness.

Henna Merchant is the Principal of Clicked :: Digital PR & Marketing Communications, an agency that combines digital influence, social and traditional media, public relations and marketing to produce a persuasive communications mix.

A seismic shift is underway in the advertising world, placing more power in the hands of the advertiser.

In the online/digital realms we see an enormous and unprecedented shift of advertising dollars away from other more traditional media. The incumbent “CPM” model (cost per thousand viewers) is giving way to new performance-based models where compensation to publishers is based on the actual success of the advertising campaign.

Under the old CPM model, the advertiser pays a flat rate for a specific amount of exposure to the consumer. Enter the newer performance-based models which can be more effective and more lucrative for both the advertiser and publisher. Standard performance-based models include:

The evolution of performance-based models are forcing publishers in the digital realm to be more selective about their advertisers, resulting in more contextually relevant and appropriate advertising in line with the consumer’s interests.

These models motivate publishers to see their advertisers as partners with a shared risk and reward for success, and ultimately that is a very positive step forward for the advertising industry.

Chris Wilkinson is Managing Director of Los Angeles-based Digital Revenue Partners, which specializes in performance-based marketing and sales strategies bridging the traditional and digital media worlds. He may be reached for comment or business inquiries by email (chris@drp-la.com) or phone (323-892-2256).

Mental athletes are my favorites. The designer on a deadline, the creative whose ideas come at 2 am, the entrepreneur dealing with daily cash flow crises.

Physical athletes understand the nutrition/performance connection. Creatives, not so much. If it meant more time to design, many would ask to live on air…cooking, exercise and sleeping interfere with deadlines!

Well-fueled brains are a crucial creativity tool. Stable blood sugar levels regulate mood, concentration, and decision making…not to mention impulsivity! Some strategies to prioritize:

1. Sugar cravings signal that you need to move. Ever had a brilliant idea while running that deposit to the bank? Moving improves brain blood flow and function.

2. Oils beginning with “s” and “c” (soybean, safflower, sunflower, sesame, corn, cottonseed) interfere with omega-3 function. Stick with olive and canola (one “c” oil that is ok).

3. Be sure you take enough fish oil, 500 mg DHA per day, about twice the dose the label usually recommends.

4. Keep protein foods handy (nuts, peanut butter, hard boiled eggs, string cheese, Greek yogurt).

5. Fast food doesn’t always mean restaurant food! Walk into the grocery store for tuna, an apple, baby carrots, and a mineral water. The Whole Foods deli only uses olive and canola oils; you can eat well there without tedious label reading.

6. Large amounts of caffeine in the morning inevitably crashes you late afternoon. A favorite non-caffeinated beverage is Solixir’s Awaken.

Practice these habits. Your productivity and creativity will respond with gratitude.

Monika M. Woolsey, MS, RD, is registered dietitian and exercise physiologist, and CEO of the inCYST Institute for Hormone Research, a non-profit organization raising money to support research into hormone-related problems such as infertility, insomnia, and premature aging. Check out their upcoming event: http://on.fb.me/o9ClEw.

It’s easy to show up to an event, order a drink, and schmooze. But even in a relaxed social setting there just might be a better way of maximizing your time and making things happen.

Know who’s going to be there. Whether the event has 30, 300, or 3000 people, identify who you want to talk to. Pick the five people you know have something to say to.

Create an agenda. Enter the room knowing who you’re going to talk to and what you’re going to say. Practice your pitch and then go find the guys you want to connect with.

Define your metrics for success. If you’ve talked to your hit list and received permission to outreach to them later, you can chalk that up as a pretty good use of time. If you met a few other connections on your way out, it might even be a homerun. What about if you only talk to three of your people? Be precise in knowing what success looks like to you – and don’t stop until you get there.

For many people, it’s not easy getting out there and rubbing elbows. No worries. The beauty about an event is you know people want to talk and meet, or they wouldn’t be there.

So let your guard down and start wheeling and dealing. Events, if done right, can really pay off.

And don’t forget, have fun! Sometimes we all forget that one.

John Diep is the founder of Schmoozd, StartupToStartup, and StartupDemo.

Growing up in the MTV generation, I was influenced by pop-culture and the forever quest for useless knowledge. Like a sponge, I retained as much information as possible. I memorized and researched jingles, movie lines, rock anthems, gossip, world history, future history, astrology (I am a Gemini), video game codes (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A), sports history, names of cities, anything I could get my hands on.

Believe it or not, I found myself disenchanted with school topics. English class was boring. My attention span was zero in AP Government. French made no sense to me, and math was only good for counting cards. Yet mastering the art of spitting out movie lines; that was awesome! I hung out with my geek friends talking about how “Andy” was a dude’s name, but in “The Goonies,” she was kind of hot.

You may be asking yourself why you just spent the last 30 seconds reading the paragraph above. You may think it was a waste of time. If you feel dumber or need better time management skills, continue reading. If you agree that random meaningless information doesn’t waste time, skip to the last paragraph.

People enjoy buying from people they like. What is the easiest way to get a client to like you? Have similar interests and be ever-knowing in random topics. I have closed deals based on discussions about Voltron and the Thundercats. Like intellects gathering in the center of town, I gather at John’s house and draft my top 26 fantasy baseball players. One of my clients asked me to join his league. My personal book of business has just tripled.

So if your child is asking to watch YouTube videos or anything viral, indulge them. Let them be the sponge that I was. I think I turned out alright.

You have completed the Choose Your Own Adventure quest. Please pass Go and collect your $200.00.

Michael Chiang is a senior regional manager at Crescent Solutionsand president of the Los Angeles .NET Developers Group.