Rehearsal App for Actors Earns $500,000

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

We are all entrepreneurs, no matter what we do for a living. I will return to that quote later on in this episode. I am careful normally of not using the capital E word too much because it implies all sorts of things. It implies all sorts of things that you, that's right, you, my faithful and amazing listener, might not identify with. A lot of people who listen to Scottsville School don't want to become an entrepreneur, quote unquote.

They're happy in their job and they want to make some extra money where they're looking for a different creative project. Or they like the idea of having a business but they like the idea of doing it in their own way. Not taking a bunch of risk, not investing a lot of money, not hiring a bunch of employees. So that's why I don't use that word too much. However, that said, essentially when it comes down to it, entrepreneurship is about creating new projects and new sources of income.

And that is the point of the show, which by the way, this show is called "Sytosol School." My name is Chris Guillebeau, I'm so glad you're here today. And the story for today, because there is a story every day, today's story reinforces the fact that you can do all kinds of things without being qualified or without taking a lot of that capital E entrepreneur risk. This story in particular is about a radio host and acting coach who is unsatisfied with the iPhone's built-in voice recorder. So he learns to make an app to help actors rehearse. That app goes on to be downloaded more than a hundred thousand times so far and it earns half a million dollars.

That's right, only a half a million dollars. Well, at least he tried, maybe one day he'll make something of himself. All right, stay tuned. I've got a quick thank you to our sponsor and I'll tell you all about this rehearsal app for actors. [Music]

David H. Lawrence wanted to be an actor

ever since he scored the lead roles in his high school's theater productions. Still, he didn't feel confident about turning acting into a career, at least not directly. So instead David went into radio. He started in music and eventually progressed to talk shows. His shows grew and changed with time from discussing politics to exploring the newest technological innovations.

He worked his way all around the country and eventually ended up in Washington, DC, the home of some of the most influential and innovative thinkers in the country. But after 16 years, he was sick of DC, especially the winters. It was time to go somewhere warm. His mind drifted back to his childhood dream and he knew exactly where he was headed. At 45 years old, it was time to move to Los Angeles.

David didn't have to be a starving artist. He could do his radio show from anywhere in the world. And in his spare time, he could work on building his acting skills up as well as doing voiceover work. And here's where the side hustle in our story is going to pick up. On the acting side of things, he booked a consistent role on NBC's "Heroes" as the puppet master.

His success there led him to be contacted by another NBC show. They were interested in him auditioning. And David was thrilled, of course, but it was a quick audition. He only had a couple of hours to prepare. Normally he would record an audio file of his scene partner's lines, then upload that file to iTunes and rehearse with it until it was memorized.

But in this case, there was no way he had time for that. Instead, he sat in his car and recorded the lines on the built-in iPhone app called Voice Memo. Maybe you've used that app to leave yourself a voice memo or send someone else a voice memo. Well, it's fine for lots of uses, but David discovered that day that Voice Memo had a fatal flaw, at least for actors. There was no repeat feature on the app.

For most people, this would be okay, but David needed to rehearse on the drive to Paramount Studios. As he weaved in and out of traffic, he tried in desperation to press the replay button over and over again without getting into a wreck. He couldn't believe there wasn't something as simple as a repeat option. He scoured other available apps to see if there were any that had that function. He found only one and he thought he could do better.

So that's what he did. He made an app called Rehearsal Pro. This app was gonna help his fellow performers learn their lines without fidgeting with the voice recorder all the time. The only problem was that he didn't have the skills to create the app himself. Luckily, his friend recommended a developer who happened to be a fan of NBC's Heroes.

The developer agreed to make the app on a revenue share basis, which turned out to be a really good choice for the developer and soon they were all set. Once they got ready to launch, they released Rehearsal Pro in the app store. And as luck would have it, they were chosen to be the app of the day. They were thrilled. On their very first day, they would get tens of thousands of downloads, or so they thought.

Because here was another problem. When people registered on the app, they had to put in their email so Rehearsal Pro could communicate with them and send them a confirmation. Well, at first they were just using Gmail. And as it turned out, Gmail has a built-in limitation where you can only send 500 emails a day. And they hit 500 downloads within the first 45 seconds it was released.

They had to move fast to get the service back up and running so they could take full advantage of the exposure. They found a better solution and were back in business. How much business? Well, since the app has been available for sale, it has had 162,537 downloads. At least as of today.

Perhaps if you're listening later, it's a few more. Those downloads are not free and the app has made $500,000 since its release. That is correct, $500,500, half a million dollars. Now, as time went on, David grew Rehearsal Pro along with another side hustle he started, a voice acting training course. And from each of these projects, David earns about $200,000 a year.

His choice to create side hustles relating to his industry has helped him in more ways than one. All of a sudden, he was making connection after connection with people involved in acting. Along with these incredible networking experiences, he can observe the trends and watch what's getting more popular. Plus, his work allows him to hone his craft while he's getting paid, which is a lot more than most actors can say. Through this experience, David realized that no matter what career you're in, it's always advantageous to think entrepreneurially.

In fact, he says that we are all entrepreneurs no matter what we do for a living. The more you know how to market yourself and your skills, the more successful you will be. That's what David learned for himself the day he discovered the Apple Voice Memos built-in limitation. [Music]

All right, here's a fun fact. David Lawrence's name is actually David H. Lawrence the 17th.

And he added that last part to his name, the 17th, to distinguish himself from all the other David Lawrence's that were a part of the Screen Actors Guild. He chose number 17 because he popped up 17th on IMDb for David Lawrence. I guess if you can't be first, you might as well own being 17th. Now, as mentioned, learning to think entrepreneurially is a highly valuable skill no matter what you do with it. One thing I was curious about in this episode was with that app, is there any other feature that made it so much better?

Like was it just the fact that it had this repeat feature? And David said, well, there was a little bit more to it. It wasn't that it had a whole bunch of other features, but what made it successful was it follows the same workflow of professional actors. The other apps out there, they don't have any idea of how we work. So I think that point is actually really critical because it's not so much about having a ton of features.

It's about understanding the person that you're making this app for or the person you're making this podcast for or the person you're writing the copy and the blog or the offer for, or whatever it is you are selling or producing or putting out to the world. So you don't have to worry about trying to pack a lot of stuff in. What you need to worry about is, are you following the same workflow, communication style, language, verbiage, et cetera, of your ideal customer? I think that makes all the difference in the world. And obviously David and his developer partner were able to figure that out.

So good for them. Congratulations. Thank you, David. Thank you for letting us share your story on Satasil School and listeners. Thank you as well for listening.

Hope you enjoyed this one. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better. For our actor friends out there or anybody else who wants to check out the rehearsal app, you can find that in the app store. I'll also include a link in today's show notes. Those notes are at satasilschool.com/627.

That is for episode 627. I'll be back again with you tomorrow. Once again, my name is Chris Guillebeau and this is Satasil School.