Everyone's Entourage: Why You Need Ari and Vince Working For You

Entourage: The Movie hits theaters nationwide today. The silver screen will be shining with the long running TV shows most dynamic, millennial Hollywood crew. But what do the boys from Queens and their obsessive Hollywood agent have to do with your business? Directly...nothing, but if you dig into their personalities and character traits, you can learn a lot about yourself and your team.

So let’s start with the most polarizing character: Ari Gold. Obsessive, compulsive, rude, obnoxious, direct, hyper a**hole. What on earth would you want to take from his character into your line of work? Well, the good stuff.

Let’s start with passion. Love what you do and do it really well. Ari Gold lives and breathes his profession whether as an agent or Head of a Studio. Passion put to purpose will outlast great ideas, brains, experience, etc. As visionary Steve Jobs once said,

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Persistence. The word quit is not in Ari’s vocabulary and it shouldn’t be in yours. Fight for what you believe in and ignore those who say it “can’t be done”. Who knows how many visionaries failed not realizing how close they were to success when they gave up?

Honesty. My dad always told me that honesty is always the easiest path. Ari has no problem expressing his feelings. People respect those that tell the truth, no matter how hard it is. Be honest in your business endeavors. Wear it on your sleeve. Over time it will surely buy you good will. And probably most importantly, you will feel good about yourself. Being honest may not always make you a lot of friends, but it will make you the right ones.

Alright, enough about Ari. Let’s go to Vinnie Chase. He’s pretty like-able, so this should be easy.

Loyalty. Vinnie knows where he came from and shares his success with his “boys” who have earned his trust throughout his life. Vinnie endlessly promotes his brother Johnny “Drama”, validates “E” as a qualified Manager (even though his background is running a Sbarro’s Pizza shop) and trusts his house and cars to “Turtle”. There might be those who are more talented this “Entourage” but he knows their loyalty is unmatched and, in the end, loyalty outweighs perfection.

Stay Positive. Vinnie always looks at the bright side of his life and career. Take this one to heart. Always look forward. Even if you have invested time and money in a project, evaluate it as if today is the first time you have seen it. The past is the past. You can’t start the next chapter of your business if you keep re-reading the last one. Look at the bright side of every situation and don’t worry about might go wrong.

On a personal note, I write this as a tribute to my college roommate and friend of nearly 30 years, Doug Ellin. From day one, I saw the amazing literary and comedic talent in Doug. He was a natural. Doug’s career path was not an easy one. He struggled to find early opportunities and began by working in the mailroom of New Line Cinemas. I watched Doug perform as a “starving” comedian at comedy clubs in NY and LA and pump out scripts that ended up in the recycle bin. But Doug never gave up.

Doug was:

1. Passionate
2. Persistent
3. Loyal
4. Honest
5. Positive (most of the time, OK maybe I was the positive one. Most comics see the dark side of things)

Doug created, wrote and directed one of the most successful TV shows in HBO’s history and today launched an amazing feature film based on the show. I couldn’t be more proud of Doug. His experiences emanate through all of his characters, especially Ari and Vinnie.

So, whether you are a “solo-preneur” or part of a larger team, you need to have a piece of Ari and Vinnie on your team. There is no dress rehearsal. Don't sit around and wait for success to come your way.

Will your final line will be “VICTORY”?