I Want To Move To LA To Pursue An Acting Career

I'm a 21-year-old Irish girl with a career in music and an international stage touring experience. It's safe to say my dream is to move to LA to pursue an acting career.

It's a long shot, to be fair, but I'm not going to let it stop me.

Here are a few things I've learnt along the way to help get me where I want to be.

1. Work out your living arrangements

This may be the most important step you could ever take. You don't want to become a sharecropper living with a string of friends and acquaintances you don't really know.

You also don't want to buy a bunch of furniture to unpack into a flat you'll be moving out of in a couple of weeks.

Buy a bed, bedding, a dresser, a desk, a mattress, and some other things you'll need as your budget allows.

Then buy a storage locker or a container to store your stuff in for up to six months.

Even if you have to live in a city centre apartment for a while, make sure you have a spot to stash everything you'll need to sustain yourself until you can figure out how to make a living.

If you can't swing a storage unit or a container, stay with someone you know, or crash with a friend temporarily while you figure out your next move.

You'll end up saving a lot of money and it will give you more of an opportunity to see what's what.

2. Get a good computer

I know I said you don't want to buy a bunch of furniture, but that's because you want to save money on moving. So instead of buying a couch and a desk and stuff, go to Kmart or Bunnings and buy a cheap computer.

This will give you a good computer to start with, and then you can decide whether you want to buy a new one, upgrade to a nice one, or save up for a nice one.

If you can afford a computer and monitor, this will be your best option.

3. Go back to school

This might not be what you think, but it will also be a good way to save up some money. You'll need a high school diploma to work in a lot of the roles that are available in LA.

If you want to move, you'll need to start in some entry level job. If you want to move, you'll need to have an entry level job that will start you in the working world.

So take some time off, or go back to school. You'll save loads of money and time, and you'll end up with a better work ethic than I did.

4. Keep a blog

I used to write a blog about all my adventures in music and travel. So I kept a blog of all my different locations. It made me feel like I had a different life than everyone else.

I could relate to all the people from all the places I went. It gave me perspective.

You can do this too. It'll get your life on the map and put your face in front of a lot of people who will be curious about you.

Plus, if you can update your website or a blog once every two weeks and email it to people, you're only spending $10 on a monthly hosting and you're building your own audience that way.

So give it a go.

5. Make a Facebook page

This is something a lot of people don't know how to do because they are either too proud or don't know how to make something that isn't Facebook.

To start with, I made a website to promote my book, Flanders Fields. It was basically my book review section.

So anyone that wanted to check out the book, I linked them to that page, and then at the end I put a link to my Facebook page.

People can only book me if they know me on Facebook, and I started out by being active on the page and building a following.

It was the beginning of my online writing career, and by the time I got around to writing Flanders Fields, I had over 100 likes. Now, I still work my book reviews and events page every few weeks.

I don't do it as much as I should anymore, but I get it updated once or twice a month, and it's only a couple of hundred dollars a month.

You can also start a Facebook page and put up a one or two sentence paragraph every now and then about your life.

The idea is to get people to like it so that when you come around with an opportunity, you have an audience of interested people ready to hear about your business.

6. Find a new passion

Some people have a thing, like photography. Or playing video games.

Or making stuff. You should find something that gives you an artistic outlet.

Not everyone is cut out to be a scientist. For me, music was it. You have to find something that you can create that people will love.

I don't mean make something people will love, but just create something people will love.

Something you can't stop doing and something that's your life's work. If you haven't discovered what your passion is yet, then it's still worth looking.

7. Join one of the free food groups

I joined a free food group where people would cook a massive meal and everyone came over for some eats. It got so big we had to have people mail in their RSVP via Dropbox, and you'd have over 20 people showing up to eat.

So you want to be involved with a group where people can't stop asking you what they can bring, so it becomes your responsibility to make sure they don't feel bad about bringing something.

I tried that a couple of times but no one was into that. I tried to start a real, organised, paid for dinner and people just refused to come.

The worst was when I asked if someone could bring hot water for my tea when I was having a late night.

When I suggested I would come over and make some tea for her, she was happy to come over with hot water.

Everyone's busy these days, but it's probably not that hard to get started. You don't need to have a massive group.

Just make sure it's one where you can see people that you want to see. A couple of friends that you're always trying to catch up with.

You'll probably be happier for it.

8. Set up a domain for your online store

With book sales, there are literally hundreds of different Amazon stores.

If you start your store from scratch, and you don't buy a domain, you're going to spend forever figuring out where you put that fucking "buy" button.

How the hell do you know what products sell best when you only have a couple of books?

And that's why you need a domain.

People will make it hard for you to sell if you don't give them a way to do it.

On your own domain, you can set up an "add to cart" or "buy" button that will let people browse your book, and then checkout.