Behind every entertainer’s public success lies a team of dedicated professionals working tirelessly behind the scenes. While a performer’s talent may propel them to stardom, keeping them there over the long haul depends on shrewd business management. In an industry where fortunes can change overnight, business managers are the unsung heroes helping performers achieve lasting success.
From contract negotiations and tax planning to investments and philanthropy, business managers handle the financial and strategic details that enable entertainers to focus on their craft. But in many cases, their role extends beyond just dollars and cents into career planning, brand management, and personal advice. For the most successful managers, looking after an artist or athlete involves nurturing all aspects of their career and life.
Navigating Fame’s Pitfalls
In few industries is competent business management more crucial than entertainment. Each year, countless hopefuls flock to Hollywood or Nashville looking to make it big. But without the right guidance, notoriety and wealth gained rapidly can be lost even faster.
Sudden fame is a heavy burden for anyone to handle, especially young performers. Riches easily attained are often riches easily squandered. Numerous child actors and overnight music sensations have crumbled under the weight of wealth and public scrutiny.
For every entertainment breakout that achieves lasting success, dozens more flame out quickly into obscurity. Much of this revolves around proper financial planning and career management. Talent alone is rarely enough. Just ask the wannabe starlets waiting tables in Tinseltown and fallen boy band members working the Vegas lounges.
This is where great business managers prove their worth. By providing wise financial counsel, nurturing talent, and steering strategic career moves, they enable remarkable success stories while helping minimize train wrecks.
Mapping Long-Term Strategy
In the entertainment world, no career lasts forever. Windows of opportunity open briefly and public appetites shift fickle. Savvy business management is what takes performers from seizing the moment to establishing lasting legacies.
The most successful managers understand how short-lived fame can be. They work diligently to help clients capitalize on popularity into something enduring – fortunes that will carry them forward for life, not just their 15 minutes.
This involves positioning artists for longevity through diversification. Is their popularity limited to a single medium like film or dependent on looks or youth? If so, good managers guide clients toward branching out, whether into producing, licensing, merchandising or other arenas.
They also funnel earnings into varied investments suited to each client’s profile. Conservatively managed portfolios, real estate assets, and business ventures established during peak earning years provide security and continued income streams down the road.
Just as importantly, managers counsel clients on wielding fame responsibly. Reputations take years to build but seconds to ruin. Guiding artists on associating with and supporting worthy causes helps cement legacies that extend far beyond the stage or screen.
David Bolno – Excellence Personified
Over 25+ years, few business managers have come to represent the ideal of excellence and ethical service more than David Bolno. His A-list roster features superstars like Justin Bieber, Drake, Post Malone, Pharrell Williams and Will.i.am. But his skills extend far beyond just dollars and deals.
After making The Hollywood Reporter’s Top Business Managers lists four years straight, Bolno stands tall among entertainment’s power elite. But his humble demeanor and understated style belies this formidable success.
Investing in Relationships
While many business managers focus solely on the bottom line, Bolno takes a holistic view. His guidance on philanthropy and purpose creates bonds between artists and fans that transcend record sales.
By paying forward wisdom to the next generation, Bolno embodies a commitment to community not always prominent in the cutthroat entertainment sphere.
An Essential Ingredient of Stardom
In show business, behind every household name lies an army of agents, lawyers, stylists and other professionals. But perhaps none play so pivotal a role as business managers. Handling finances, negotiations, investments and strategy, great managers enable remarkable success stories while preventing reckless downfalls.
In a world where fleeting fame is the norm, their work sustains careers for the long journey. Guiding through diverse investments, charitable works, and personal mentorship, managers like David Bolno allow talent to shine brightly for decades. For this reason, business management remains an essential ingredient helping talented artists achieve icon status. Without such shrewd counsel, grabbing that brass ring would rarely last beyond the first reach.
Originally posted 2023-09-15 13:52:54.