Notes from Chris

Episode 396

Devon Ryan was a dedicated electrical engineering student at the University of Texas. The engineering program took up much of his time, but despite how incredibly “left-brained” such a field was, he had a secret creative desire—to pursue acting.

But unfortunately, he’d never taken an acting or drama class. With a course load full of challenging mathematical and science prerequisites for his engineering degree, his desires to see himself on the silver screen ended up taking the backseat to his “more practical” degree.

Devon graduated with that degree and jumped right into the workforce, taking a job for the federal government. It was a good, stable job, and he felt like he was being challenged. But, as is typical of bureaucracy with lots of red tape to cross, the pace of the work was slower than he preferred, and he found himself with more spare time than expected. The increase in time and resources provided him with a unique opportunity to pursue new projects on his own.

That’s when he decided that it might be time to revisit his interest in acting… but little did he know where he’d end up.

Devon said that that first class was the acting equivalent of falling flat on his face in front of a large group of people. But not being one to throw in the towel easily, Devon kept going to class, and over time, he saw real improvement.

So much so in fact that his acting teacher told him that since he was no longer terrible, he should really consider getting some headshots.

He took the advice, scheduling an appointment with a photographer, and paid about $400 to get a round of traditional headshots taken. Here’s an important detail: Devon had been working out. He was proud of his abs. He threw in an extra $50 and asked the photographer to do some shots of him posing with his shirt off.

Not long after uploading his model shots to Model Mayhem, Devon had a number of photographers reaching out to book him for modeling gigs.

But his biggest break came about from a local Texas romance author named Anne Conley who swore in her first message to him that he was essentially the physical manifestation of the main character in her book series Pierce Securities, featuring attention-grabbing titles such as Bond, Wire, Grab, Hitch, and Murmur.

It opened the door to so many new opportunities for Devon, and these days you can find him on any given day jetting off to Australia for a quick swimsuit shoot or acting in major primetime commercials.

And he’s not just doing it to maintain his washboard abs. This unique side hustle brings him in an additional $20,000-50,000 a year depending on the volatility of the industry. And it all came from being featured on the cover of a romance series.

Here are some of my top romance novel picks:

1. Reckless in Texas by Kari Lynn Dell

2. Fried Chicken and Gravy: A Christian Romance by Sherri Schoenborn Murray

3. Time Anomaly: A Time Travel Romance by Lindsey Fairleigh

4. Beauty and the Mustache: A Philosophical Romance by Penny Reid

5. Bridesmaid for Hire: A Valentine's Day Romance by Chance Carter

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• DevonRyanTV.com: See what's heating up over on Devon's website and check out his Instagram and his IMDB page!
• Model Mayhem: The portfolio website that Devon used to upload his new pictures and connect with professionals in the industry
• Anne Conley | Pierce Security Series: The steamy romance series that Devon is the cover model for
• LION Mobile: The app company that Devon started in addition to launching his modeling and acting career

SEE ALSO:

• 50 Shades of Grey Inspires Bedroom Items Hustle: A chemical engineer capitalizes on the 50 Shades of Grey craze by creating a collection of adventurous products, all hidden in a series of ordinary-looking books
• Finance Employee Sells 200,000 Self-Published Romance Novels: When she can’t find anything good to read, a finance employee starts writing romance novels of her own. The books go on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies and pull her family out of debt
• Bikini Model Creates Multi-Million Swimsuit Line: A swimsuit model uses industry connections and social media savvy to launch a high-end shopping site taking on major swimwear companies from the beaches of Miami

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,