The Confidence Shortcut with Niki Sterner

#12: Jodie Bentley | Branding Meets Belonging | Coaching 2,300+ Actors to Own Their Power

• Niki Sterner • Season 1 • Episode 12

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Jodie Bentley, powerhouse coach in the entertainment world, shares how she transformed from a struggling actor to helping thousands of creatives pursue their dreams through strategic branding and self-confidence techniques.

• Jodie has coached over 2,300 actors across 17 countries since 2008, helping them book major gigs and build thriving careers
• Breaking through limiting beliefs is crucial; Jodie struggled with feeling undeserving of success until she tackled her mindset
• Branding isn't limiting, it's empowerment—take control of how you're perceived rather than letting others define you
• Understanding yourself from your perspective AND how others perceive you creates powerful alignment in your career
• Jodie recommends declaring your intentions publicly to create accountability and momentum
• Social media presence matters to casting directors who often research actors to understand their essence and energy
• Perfect isn't possible—focus instead on consistent action and showing up even when things feel messy
• Confidence comes from "belonging to yourself" and showing up authentically without judgment, shame or apology
• Courage to take bold moves before feeling ready is what creates real progress

Visit actor-insider.com for free resources:

https://actor-insider.com/

Follow Jodie Bentley on Instagram to learn more about Jodi's work:

@JodieBentley

@ActorInsider

Claim your free spot at WeAudition: The SHORTLIST: A Summit for Actors. 

Created by Jodie Bentley, this free 5-day online summit pulls back the curtain on how actors are getting booked now. 

Not theory. Not hype. Strategy that actually works.

Here’s what it covers:

✔ What casting directors actually look for
✔ How to stand out through branding + visibility
✔ How to build real relationships in today’s industry
✔ Strategy that matches how the business works now

The industry has changed. This summit shows actors how to rise with it.

🗓 August 11–15

🎯 It’s free. It’s online. It’s packed.

🎬 Casting directors, reps, producers, directors, and working actors who actually know what’s working now.

https://summit.actor-insider.com/

New episodes every week — packed with honest conversations, mindset tools, and real-life shortcuts to help you silence your inner critic, build true confidence, and take bold action.

📌 Subscribe + share if you're ready to stop overthinking and finally move forward.

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Niki Sterner:

Welcome to the Confidence Shortcut, the podcast for ambitious creatives and entrepreneurs who are ready to stop overthinking, take bold action and finally step into the life they've been dreaming about. I'm your host, nikki Sterner. Mom, actor, comedian and producer. After years of playing small and waiting to feel ready, I went on a courage quest and found a shortcut to confidence. Each week, I'll bring you real stories, simple steps and conversations with experts in mindset courage and confidence, plus heart-to-hearts with fellow creatives who are turning their dreams into reality. It's time to get unstuck and start showing up. Let's dive in. Welcome to the Confidence Shortcut. I'm your host, nikki Sterner. Today's guest is someone who has helped thousands of creatives not only pursue their dreams, but strategize and sustain them.

Niki Sterner:

Jodi Bentley is a powerhouse in the entertainment world, a Los Angeles-based actor, audiobook narrator and highly sought-after branding and career coach for actors. Since 2008, she's coached over 2,300 actors across 17 countries, helping them book major gigs, land reps and build thriving creative lives. A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, with a BFA in acting, jodi has appeared on Apple TV, netflix, hulu, abc, cbs you name it. And she hasn't stopped there. Through her signature programs, workshops at SAG-AFTRA, comic-con and more than 50 universities. She's taught artists how to own their brand, stop self-sabotage and bring structure to their wildest dreams. Her students have gone on to perform on Broadway, book major roles and, most importantly, feel empowered to live joyful, abundant lives In 2022,. She was named one of the top 20 coaches in Los Angeles by Influence Digest, and it's easy to see why. Please welcome to the podcast the brilliant, the bold, the business savvy, jodi Bentley.

Jodie Bentley:

So lovely. Thank you so much.

Niki Sterner:

Oh, my goodness, I'm so happy you're here. I just want to tell everybody, like Jody helped me so much, you helped me so much back in 2022, when I was actually at my lowest point, I was struggling to find clarity around. What is my acting career actually look like? What am I here to do? Who am I? What do I want? What do I value? I don't even know what my goals are in this career and you had a program at the time called the Actors Think Tank and I was with.

Niki Sterner:

I was in it with you for a full year and I gained so much insight into how to brand myself and how to get clear on like characters and my headshot session that I had when I was with you. It's the best headshot session I've ever had and I'm still using those. I mean I probably should get them updated again, but they are so good they're working like it was like night and day. So I am so excited to have you share more about yourself and what you're passionate about right now. If you'll just take us through kind of what you do, who you are, who you help all this stuff, what you're passionate about right now. If you'll just take us through kind of what you do, who you are, who you help all this stuff what you're passionate about right now.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, I mean, hey, I'm Jodi Bentley. Hey, I'm passionate about so many things. I mean right now. I wrote a script. Nikki, I don't know if I told you that I wrote a feature film. I've been working on it for a couple of years. Yeah, just closed development funding on that, got a director, got my producer on board. We're hopefully shooting 2026. At the time of this recording, I'll say that April 2026 script I wrote for myself to to star in, and so that that's been what's been super freaking passionate right now is really doing that project. Yeah, I was on a writing session to like midnight last night after a full day of work, but it's like what's it about?

Niki Sterner:

Can you tell us what it's about a little?

Jodie Bentley:

bit. Yeah, sure, it's about the time in your life when you parent your parents is essentially what it is and it's my own journey, my own story with my parents. I lost my mom when she was 71 and I lost my dad when he was 70. And it was his journey with leukemia, my mom's journey with dementia and just how your parents get older and you get to take care of them. So it's very much a Gen X story that's very relatable on many levels. But, yeah, it's just based on my true story of how I got to be who I am and how that in the dysfunctional family I grew up in, and then you know being in that dysfunction yet having to take care of your parents when they're older, and what that journey looks like. Is your sister in the film at all? My sister is in the film, yes, yes.

Niki Sterner:

Yes, yes, a little bit about that.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, my sister is cognitively disabled, so she's two years older than me but still functions on the level of a two-year-old. It's about my journey with her growing up as well, and how she affected me as a human and the family dynamic as a human, and just how much, even though she can't speak, just how much energy, joy, insight that she does bring in her own way.

Niki Sterner:

Wow, is this a comedy, a dramedy, a drama?

Jodie Bentley:

It's a dramedy. Yeah, it's obviously a drama, but there's so much comedy, there's so much heart to it. Yeah, you have to laugh through some of the pain, right?

Jodie Bentley:

That's like you get it. You got to laugh through the pain and make light of it, or else it's just a dirge, right, and the script is not a dirge, but I gotta say it was so cathartic and healing to write it for me and get really deep in that and like healing in a different way than therapy was, you know. So, yeah, it's been such a journey and it's been so great. It's been so great.

Niki Sterner:

Have you written other scripts before. No, okay, this is your first script, wow.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, so I know some questions you're going to ask me later and I yeah, that was one of my answers. It's like just going to write a script. We'll see what happens. Jump in. I have no idea what I'm doing. It was like a three and a half year process to write it and we're still tweaking it now, you know, but anyway, yeah, wow.

Niki Sterner:

Wow, okay, it doesn't surprise me that you're doing it and that it's moving forward, because you have so many tools in your toolkit for structuring your life so that you can move forward with the things that you want to do.

Jodie Bentley:

Sure yeah.

Niki Sterner:

That's who you are. Are you teaching programs right now?

Jodie Bentley:

Oh yeah, still teaching. Earlier this year I was teaching. I got hired to teach, too at UTLA. They have a satellite program in Los Angeles, so I built their business of acting program for their seniors and taught that all January through April. The Actors Think Tank is still going. My group coaching programs are still. Everything's still going. I'm in the middle of creating a summit for actors called the Shortlist, and I've been interviewing 18 industry guests casting directors, directors, producers, reps to really give actors the insight into what the industry is like now and how to book work now and what does it mean to be an actor now, since our industry has shifted so much. So, yeah, I've been putting that together and interviewing guests and creating that marketing and doing all of that. Did you say that's a podcast or a?

Niki Sterner:

show I didn't hear. No, it's a summit.

Jodie Bentley:

It's a summit, a summit, oh great. It's a podcast or a show, I didn't know. It's a summit. It's a summit, oh great, launching in August. So that's. I've been working on that. Yeah, it's been really busy, it's been really. And then auditions on top of that and I was working on an audio book. So it's been a lot of things. That's what I, that's know and teach how to, how to structure that lifestyle, how to structure your day. And if there's a day where I don't get to something, it's not like I'm spiraling down into despair and shame, it's like okay, well, that wasn't what I was supposed to do today. I had to write today, I got to do these other things today. So just, I'm even now just having to be really diligent and disciplined and intentional with my time. Yeah, just to get everything done. But it's all exciting, it's all really exciting, yeah yeah.

Niki Sterner:

It is exciting when you have so much going on, but it's all good stuff. It's all what you want and what you brought into your life for a reason.

Jodie Bentley:

Exactly when I do get overwhelmed, I'm like girl you created this, you chose to do this. You get over it. If you don't want to do it, don't do it, but you chose to do this.

Niki Sterner:

Wow. Take me back, though, to when you got out of college, yeah, and that whole time where you were like what am I, what is this business, how am I going to make it?

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, I went to NYU Tisch, as you said, and that was when I was in school and it still might be. It was one of the top three acting schools in the country. So little 21-year-old Jodi would walk down the streets of New York being like I'm going to be famous by the time I'm 22. You know, this career is easy and then I get out in the real world and I was like, oh shit, this is hard, this is hard. So I floundered for a very long time after I graduated. I was because I was trying to do I know I do a lot now, but then I was literally trying to do everything, but I had no plan. I had no systems I had. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. So I got burnt out real fast and also just battling my limiting beliefs the whole way.

Jodie Bentley:

I grew up in a very lower middle class family. My dad was an electrician, my mom was a nurse, so I was one of the first people in my family to go to college, never mind go to college to be an actor, right. So when I graduated, I think I had all this guilt and shame. And who am I to have done this and and why do I deserve to do what I love? Because no one I know does what they love. So it was I was carrying like all of that. So there was just a lot of self-sabotage, a lot of I don't deserve to be paid for my art. Like every audition that I went on, that was that didn't pay me anything. Like they had no budget and they're like, oh, we just want you to act, but we can't pay you. I was like cool and I would book it. And the audition that there was like oh, you'd make $500 a week. I'd be like I'd figure out like some way to self sabotage. Like my brain just could not compute that. So it was a struggle for a while.

Jodie Bentley:

It was about eight years and then I like had to sit myself down and get like real, be like, okay, what are you doing? You're calling yourself an actor. You still have all these goddamn student loans that you're paying off from this huge school. What are you doing? And I had to just get really real with myself and be like I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing.

Jodie Bentley:

I know what my craft is, I know I have talent, I know I can deliver in the room when my mindset isn't fighting me, but I needed to get my mindset right and I needed to figure out how to be a business. So I just literally read every business book I could get my hands on on on branding, on sales, networking, whatever it was structuring a business like anything. I read everything like literally for a good solid six months and then I was like, cool, how do I take this? These books that are like telling small businesses of how to brick and mortar shops, of how to build their business? How can I take these principles but apply it to me? Right, the artist, the living, breathing, sensitive person, full of limiting beliefs, how can I take these and apply to myself? But that was when I first started looking at branding and turning it into a personal brand. And yeah, then I was working on those systems for a while and then, I don't even know, within a few weeks of even applying that stuff to myself, I started doing an agent campaign. I landed my first agent in New York. I never had an agent up until that point. I booked my first off-Broadway show. Never had an off-Broadway show up until that point Started releasing Limiting Beliefs.

Jodie Bentley:

I booked eight commercials the year. I finally got my mind right when I hadn't booked any prior. So that's when I was like, okay, there's something here, you know what I mean Like something's going on. And then that's when friends of mine were like what you doing? What's going on? Like, how'd you figure this out? And so I would just give actors advice and friends advice. And then, after a lot of free coffees, I was like I think I have a skill set here that I can help artists. I think I do, and that's how my first business started back in 2008. So, yeah, I started coaching people for 40 bucks an hour. Yeah, I knew that. And then it built pretty quickly, like within God, I want to say three years. I was traveling to LA and teaching workshops and being flown to universities and teaching within about three years of my business. It was pretty wild.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, what were you teaching them? Branding, really Branding a lot of, especially for the kids coming out of school. That was a lot of how to prep for agent meetings, what agents look for, how to talk about yourself. Right, because I think that's the big thing is actors. We just want to act and that you can, I can deliver on this performance. But how do I show up in a room and just be me. How do I show up in a room and talk about myself and have that feel authentic and joyful and not icky and salesy or weirdo? So a lot of it was. It's a lot of ownership, I think, at the base, whether it's teaching goals, branding, marketing, interview skills, networking. Whatever it is at the base of it, which is why I love what you talk about is a. It's a confidence in yourself and a comfortability in yourself to be able to show up and just do that with ease. So that's really what I would help people do.

Niki Sterner:

What do you? Can you give me a couple of the steps that you first do with people when they come to you asking for how do I brand myself? How do I talk about myself to other people?

Jodie Bentley:

Oh God, yeah. What we got to realize is, like a confused mind will always say no. So if you're confused about who you are and you don't know what to say, how do you expect someone else right To go, oh, I know who you are? Like it's, that's, it's ridiculous, right? So it's so important to to understand how to do that. So I think, first and foremost, you got to understand that you are a product and you got to understand that it's your job to figure out what that is, to be able to quote, unquote, sell it, because everyone else, like your agents, your team they're your sales team, right? Your agents need pitching tools to be able to sell you. So you got to understand what your product is and be able to craft those tools so your salespeople can have them. So I think, first and foremost though I think a lot of the work I do with actors or artists even is just for them to understand that branding isn't a bad thing, like, it's not bad.

Jodie Bentley:

I think branding has a bad rap. I think a lot of people think of it as limiting. They think, oh, I got to now put myself in a box. I don't want to go in a box, right, I'm versatile. I'm this, I'm that.

Jodie Bentley:

So I think there's a lot of resistance to branding and I think a lot of people talk about branding in the wrong way, which causes a lot of this upheaval with it. So I think a lot of my time is just not a lot, but in the beginning it's just really getting people to understand that branding is actually extremely expansive, that people are branding you even if you're not branding yourself. So you might as well do it right. If you want to be in control of how you're perceived in this world, you might as well do it and enjoy doing it right, because if you're not branding yourself, you're essentially saying I'll be whoever you want me to be, and that is such a powerless position. So for me, branding is really about taking your power back, really being able to define and take ownership of you and the career trajectory that you do want. It's immediately creating what I just call like industry agreement, meaning I know who I am, and either you agree with it or you don't. If you agree with it, cool, you're my people. If you don't agree with it, cool, I'll go find someone else. Right, because not everyone's going to get you, and I also think it helps you be remembered faster, especially in our industry, is oversaturated, and I don't say that to be negative, it's just truth.

Jodie Bentley:

There's a lot of actors and especially now with self-tapes and how the industry has opened up, I was speaking with a bunch of casting directors. They get 2,000 to 4,000 submissions for one role, like, how are you standing out? And it starts with just that ownership of self. So I think, first and foremost, just understanding people, that it's a powerful concept, not a limiting concept, and that a brand is not the roles you can play. Right, it's not oh, doctor, lawyer, ceo, or I'm girl next door or I'm this. It's not that.

Niki Sterner:

It goes a lot deeper than that. So that's the place where I'd start. Yeah, I remember going through that with you in the Actors Think Tank. I created the Confidence Kickstart morning routine because I know what it's like to have big dreams and still feel stuck behind self-doubt, fear or the pressure to get it right. As an actor, comedian and award-winning filmmaker, I've every morning, with journal prompts, a guided audio meditation and a simple step-by-step process built on the three pillars of the Confidence Shortcut mindset, path and action. These aren't just feel-good ideas. They're habits that work, that build confidence, that move you forward. If you're ready to stop overthinking and start showing up the link is in the caption caption go grab it and start your day with clarity, courage and real momentum. What are some of the things that you give to your agent to pitch you?

Jodie Bentley:

oh gosh, your headshot number one, right? Your headshot's your biggest calling card, right? Because that's again. If a casting director is getting two thousand to four thousand submissions, what's making them stop on you? It it's your photo first, right? So the headshot number one, the reels that you're using or clips that you're using, would be the second piece. So, yeah, headshots, reels and clips material that shows.

Jodie Bentley:

I think what actors need to remember is that it's a business of show. Don't tell so. Don't tell me that you're great at improv. Don't tell me you're a standup and don't have video that supports it, improves it to me. Don't tell me that you're really great at a British accent but you don't have a clip doing a British accent. How do you expect to get seen for those auditions? You know what I mean it's like nowadays. It's so much of give me all the tools. So when that audition comes, right where it's someone's an improviser who has a British accent, I go oh, look, she has. Look at her UCB credits and here's a self-tape clip of her doing a British accent. Then the casting goes great, I see it, I'll call her in. Or else we're just asking the industry to blindly trust, and I just think it moves so quickly, there's no time for that anymore.

Jodie Bentley:

So, you really got to think about again, dialing it back to who am I in this business? Who am I right? What are the stories I want to tell? How do I show up in this business? What do people see in me in this business, which is another thing. So I think it's understanding self from your own perspective, understanding self from how you're perceived, right, and then it's making sure that those things play nicely together and then layering on top of that. What are your goals? Where are you going? If your goal is comedy but you don't have any tape of you doing anything comedic whatsoever and your whole reel is dramatic, how are you going to get seen for those comedy roles? You're not. So we got to factor all those pieces in, to start to craft the brand and craft the materials that then represent the brand.

Niki Sterner:

So it's like you once you get clear, how do you get people clear on what they want? How do you help them to find the clarity to know what their goal is in this industry?

Jodie Bentley:

First of all, it just it goes back to why, like why are you an art, an artist? Why are you an actor? Why are you a standup? Why are you a writer? Like, why are you doing what you're doing? Cause I think I've been in this industry like two to over two decades now. I've been doing this a long time. You know what I mean and my why has shifted. It's changed. But I noticed, even in myself. It's like the times where I start to go, oh, what am I doing? Or you get resistant or bitter about stuff and I'm like what's going on? I got to tap back into my why. I've forgotten why I'm doing this and so I think, understanding why you've chosen again I said at the top, I've chosen to do all these things in my life.

Jodie Bentley:

You're choosing to be an artist. Why? Why? Because that is the driving force.

Jodie Bentley:

If you don't know why you're doing it, it's so freaking hard to get out of bed every day. It's so freaking hard to hear that rejection on a daily basis. Of course it's hard to go. No, I got to put my self-tape equipment up or oh, I got to brand myself. I don't want to. Of course it's hard if you don't know why if you don't have an end goal or it's tapping into your passion. So I think, first and foremost it's understanding why and then really understanding what the heck is getting in your way.

Jodie Bentley:

Like I said earlier, what was getting in my way was I didn't deserve to be paid for my art. I had guilt around pursuing something I loved. Who am I? Who am I to be able to do this? So we all have limiting beliefs which manifest in excuses which we then take on as truth. But if you're constantly saying, oh, I don't have time, I don't have time, I don't have time to get to that. Oh, I don't have time to do that work in my career, Okay, you do have time, we all have time. You're choosing not to give it that time. Why it's easier to say, oh, I don't have the time. And then you're 80 going oh, I just never had the time to pursue that career.

Jodie Bentley:

It's just safe. It's safer and we got to remember that our brains are pre-programmed to keep us safe. They just want us to be safe. But safe also means small, and safe means staying protective in your little bubble. So it takes courage to move through that, but it really takes just a deep understanding of self to know, oh, I am always saying I don't have time. Why is that? Because I'm really afraid. I'm really afraid if I actually do it and I fail, then what? Or I'm really afraid what? If I do succeed, Then what? I'm going to lose all my friends. No one will like me anymore. My dad's voice of I'm too big for my britches is in my friends. No one will like me anymore. My dad's voice of I'm too big for my britches is in my ear. Whatever it may be, you know what I mean.

Jodie Bentley:

But I think we got to understand all that stuff, Cause, especially as you grow in this industry and you might have been experiencing this cause you've been on such a big growth trajectory. It's like you're like, yeah, I figured out everything. I feel good. And then like we get to another level and then we're like, oh God, all the different excuses come in again. You know what I mean. Oh, no, wait, no, I know what that is. Okay, I know what that is. And you're like cool, and then we level up again and then new excuses come in. Right, it's a constant intentional I don't want to say battle, it's just a constant intentional thing that happens.

Jodie Bentley:

But you got to understand self. So when those new excuses appear, you're like, oh, that's my limiting belief of I'm not enough, I've worked through that, I'm going to turn the volume down on that. Right now I don't need that. And so many people say, oh, you got to get rid of that. Oh, I got rid of my excuses, I got rid of my limiting beliefs. I don't think we can get rid of them. You can just understand them. And when you understand them, you're either choosing and so just understand self and don't give that the power. Give your vision the power. Give your why the power. Give where you want to go the power. That's more important.

Niki Sterner:

Can I ask you a personal question? Yeah, okay, so I'm curious what your why is.

Jodie Bentley:

Hmm, oh, there's many levels to my why. I think, on a fundamental level, one of my biggest values in life is belonging and it started with my sister, like I just I distinctly remember being eight years old, nine years old, 10 years old, standing on the porch of my house and my sister would be in the yard on her tricycle and she was like 12, 13, right at the time on tricycle and all the teenage boys would walk by the house and make fun of her and she would just laugh because she didn't know and I would come out of the house and I would be yelling at them. I just felt like I had to be her advocate so much, and a big part of who I was growing up is really wanting my sister to belong. I think when I was really young I didn't get that she was different, she was just my sister. And then, as I got older, I was like, oh, she is different and she still has a voice and she still deserves to have a place in this world and she still gets to belong in this world. So that concept of belonging is really big for me and I think that's why I became a coach.

Jodie Bentley:

Is I wanted actors to belong in this industry If you want to, if you want to be an artist, you want to be an actor, you deserve to be here and I want to give you a place where you can belong and understand that's possible.

Jodie Bentley:

That's why my business is called Actor Insider that's why I changed the name a little over a year ago is that I want actors on the inside. You're on the inside, you belong. So that, and even with my script that I wrote, or even myself as an actor, I think the biggest stories I'm drawn to and the legacy that I want to leave is really about just raising human consciousness through art, but also letting people realize that they belong, that they're watching a script and go. I relate to that, I get that, I understand that and seeing themselves in their pain or what they're going through, or their joy in some capacity, because I just think when you go to the movies and you sit down and you watch, there's this sense of belonging together. Even in this theater we're sitting here right, a live theater or a movie theater. So that whole concept of just belonging, I think, is what really drives me a lot.

Niki Sterner:

Can I ask you another personal question? Yes, what is like your long-term, your biggest dream that you are? All of these other ones fall under that you're working towards.

Jodie Bentley:

For the longest time. It still is a goal. I do want to be a series regular, honestly, like on the series.

Jodie Bentley:

That's a definitive goal, but it's been and I'm just like welling up with emotion right now, for some reason, it's just, it's been joyful to write and I think now, like I'm looking at my script and going, no, this thing and me taking control and writing rules for myself, that means something to me. It doesn't have to be my story, just something. That means something to me. Like, I feel like that's what's going to move the needle. So I think right now, my feature is the goal, my feature is the goal.

Jodie Bentley:

Talking to my producer and she was like, yeah, we're going to get this in AMC, it's not going to be in a Lemley, we're going to get this in AMC. I'm like, let's do it Like we have. We're going to talk to festival organizers for Cannes and Tribeca and all this stuff. I'm just, I'm seeing that right and going, yeah, I want to create this and I have the down to the final four for a lead in an Apple TV series and I didn't get it because it was out of my control. They went with someone else. It's just, it is what it is, but this I'm in control of and it feels really good. So that's the vision right now and I think everything else will fall from that, you know like a domino effect from that.

Niki Sterner:

I love that so much. You are the showrunner of your life. You are creating that, you. We need that on a t-shirt you got to get that on a t-shirt.

Niki Sterner:

No, you're so powerful, you're so ready. Like you have the incredible training, you have the incredible organization, you have the business side Like you are so the production powerhouse. Like you, that is you to a T, like creating your own series, creating your own film, like all of it is so in your wheelhouse. It's so like I call it the wildest yes. That is your wildest yes Life, and it's happening Like you're already doing it.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, it's happening and it's happened fairly quickly and it's just feels so good to like all the people who are involved in the project. It's just it's been easy. It's just been easy, nikki, like finding the right people, and it just all feels like it's all in alignment, which feels really good. It feels really good.

Niki Sterner:

That's so good. I'm curious, jodi, how did you figure out just?

Jodie Bentley:

talking about a little bit of branding, like how do you know, like how other people perceive you? You got to ask, okay, you got to ask right, you got to do the work to ask right. So I think first of all it's the inside work, as I said, where it's like a lot of deep questions for yourself, but then on the flip side it's just going what do you see in me? What essence is when you see? Like when I walk into a room, how does that energy change? When you look at me, what do you see? And a lot of it is energy-based, but a lot of it is just it's based on our facial structure, it's based on our hair color, it's based on our eye color, it's based on how close our eyes are together or how far apart they are, like all those things.

Jodie Bentley:

There's a whole thing of psychology, of the face really does dictate people's impressions and perceptions. Like, I know that I have a strong jawbone and cheekbones and eyebrows and a lot of times people look at me and they go, oh, she's probably mean or cold or bitchy, or strong, powerful, right, those kinds of powerful. Yeah, sometimes I'll get like elitist, wealthy, that kind of stuff, and I'm like, okay, I grew up lower middle class, but cool, I'll take your elitist, wealthy you know what I mean.

Jodie Bentley:

But that's purely because of bone structure. So I know that when I'm going in for a single mom persevering or I'm going in for a middle class caretaking nurse, I know what I need to do to soften that perception of what the industry sees, because I do have those sides to me. So it's understood, that's what I'm saying. It's like. If you can really understand yourself and get that feedback, then I know oh, if I wear lighter colors, it's going to help. I know if I want to be powerful, I'm going to wear my Navy blue and I'm just going with that and I'm going to do my makeup the way I normally do. But I know how to soften the makeup or soften the colors or put the hair back, to just soften the features to let people see different things.

Niki Sterner:

I was just going to ask you that how do you soften, how do you change it? But you just told us, yeah, just physically. So are you like looking at other characters who are soft and adjusting your look according to them? Like, I mean, it depends.

Jodie Bentley:

Like if an audition comes in and it's caretaking nurse on some series, I might put on that series so I can see, like, what the color palette is of the series. But I also know what colors, again, make me look softer, more accessible, so I'll look at that. I know the hairstyles that can do that for me. So I think it's a combination of both. But for headshots which I know you went through that process it's definitely looking at what's out there in the world and what's being cast now and what are the trends and going okay, so women of power are really wearing this right now or single moms really look like this on TV right now. So how can I do my version of that?

Jodie Bentley:

But yeah, that market research is so key and really understanding what's happening in the industry is really important and I think a lot of times we forget that right, we think of I'm an actor and I have to focus on myself, but we also just need to pay attention to what's out. I watch so much television and so many movies. Like I think my husband and I go to the movies at least every weekend to just to stay on top of everything and, like really pay attention to who are the directors? What's going on? What's out there?

Niki Sterner:

And I think for the longest time of my career, I never thought of that as part of my business and now I'm really embracing it as part of my business.

Jodie Bentley:

So how often are you watching shows and where are you watching? Yeah, we watch, we have every streamer. It's really bad. But I call my husband, our entertainment director. We have our list of shows and I'm like what are we watching tonight, babe? What's on the? I don't have time to plan it or think about it, just tell me what we're watching. And we usually watch something every night. But if I'm working late or things are busy, actually our go to right now at the end of an evening to unwind is Cheers. We're watching old reruns of Cheers oh wild, oh my gosh which is like a master in the sitcom format and how it's shifted over the years and watching all those great actors do it. But anyway. But we do watch, obviously a lot of current television mainly, but that's just been fun to watch old stuff to see where we've come from and how far we've come, television medium especially.

Niki Sterner:

So I'm thinking like where do you see yourself, which platform or streaming service do you see yourself on? And is that according to the vibe that you give out, the brand that you are?

Jodie Bentley:

Apple TV hands down for sure. I love, love the writing on Apple TV right now. There it's. It's like down to earth, relatable, the dramedy vibe like shrinking, like that kind of thing. It's so good. Yeah, Just everything that Apple TV is doing just really feels right in an alignment with where I see my career going and I feel like what I bring to the table for sure and just the stories that I like. So many good, so many good shows on there.

Niki Sterner:

I remember you shared with me one that I really liked. It was like flash dance. Meets something. Who is in it? Oh, like a dramedy. The look of it was like flash dance, it was like. Oh physical.

Jodie Bentley:

Yes, physical. Yes, it was such a good show with Rose Byrne. Yes, yes, so good.

Niki Sterner:

Yeah, oh, I love that. Yeah, confidence doesn't come first. Action and habits do. That's why I created the Confidence Kickstart Morning Routine a 15-minute free guide to help you build habits that actually work. You'll get powerful journal prompts, a guided audio meditation and my three-part confidence shortcut system Mindset, path and Action. It's the exact routine I use to get up on stage and speak up. No more shrinking or second guessing the links in the caption. Grab it now and build the confidence to move forward every single day. Okay, you've helped, like me, just realign with like priorities and how to like. I know now that I need to get my branding back on point and give my agents things that they can share. I'm working on building the confidence to share my work more online and on social media. Do you feel like sharing it on social media is helpful?

Jodie Bentley:

Oh, for sure.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, I think it's all I think you have. I think you have to right. We get to share who we are and what we're doing on social and I just I think it all matters how right If I'm posting about a booking, say I'm not like, look at me, I booked this thing. It's hey, I'm so excited I get to speak the words of this writer, oh my God, I get to be on this show. This showrunner of the show is incredible. Oh my God. Thank you to this casting director. You've called me in 10 times and we finally booked it.

Jodie Bentley:

Yay, like it all depends on how you frame it. But again, that comes down to belonging, right, it's not all about you, it's let's make everyone belong in this project. It takes a village to create every freaking project out there, whether it's a film, tv series, theater piece, whatever. So, yeah, I think it's just how you frame it, but I think it's really important. I've been interviewing a lot of casting directors for my summit that's coming up, and I would say about half of them say they use social to really search people.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, wow, what are they looking for? Do they tell you? To understand who you are, understand your essence, understand your point of view, your vibe right, if it's down to two people for a lead in a feature film and they know you're going to be on set for six weeks or something, they want to know someone that they vibe with and that they like what you're putting out there. They just like your energy. They get your essence. Yeah, a lot of them are saying, especially when it gets further down in the process, that they'll do a Google search or go on Instagram and just see what people are putting out in the world and that's cost people jobs and that's helped people get jobs and it's just really interesting to hear those stories. So, not, and not everyone's doing that right? If someone's casting television and you're going in for co-stars, they're not going to look at your social media, like they don't have to. You know what I mean? They got eight days to cast that show. They're not looking at you.

Jodie Bentley:

Other people might, or if they've never called you into their office, they might want to go. Who is this person? Let me just research them real fast. So I think it's really important to have a solid presence in social media, even like clients that I work with now. Sometimes I go to their Instagram and I'm like I don't even get that you're an actor from this Instagram. I don't even understand that you're an actor, and it doesn't mean that you have to post headshots or auditions or stuff. It doesn't mean that. It just means. It's just. There's just a different vibe to it that I don't get that you're an actor. I just feel like you're just taking pretty pictures of yourself, you know, and there's a difference. There's a difference. What is missing that?

Niki Sterner:

doesn't share that.

Jodie Bentley:

I just think what's missing is just the intentional. I think just being intentional about just the content in general, because, look, I could just post a picture of me staring off into space, thinking in general, because, look, I could just post a picture of me staring off into space, thinking, but the caption could be I just saw Superman, the Superman movie, and here's my thoughts, and just like giving my thoughts as an actor on that right, just to be like I'm in the industry, I'm doing things in the industry, so it could be anything, but I think just and not every post has to do that. Right, you're allowed to take the photo of you and your partner out and friends and everything. We want to see a well-rounded life on Instagram, but just having that, having your highlights at the top be like your clips, your reels, reviews of you and stuff.

Jodie Bentley:

Have your reel pinned at the top of your Instagram. You can pin those three posts. Have your reel pinned. Have an article that was written about you pinned. Have your website, something. So when, as soon as I go on there, I go oh yeah, they're an actor there. Oh, here's the reel or here's their this and I can see who you are as a human, so it's just guiding people and giving them the information right. It's crafting the experience that someone feels when they go to your website, when they go to your socials or your YouTube channel, whatever it may be like. How can you curate that experience so they get who you are instantly? And again, that goes back to branding. Right, it all goes, yeah. No, this is to branding.

Niki Sterner:

It's so good, like I realized when I'm talking to you, like what I'm missing in my social for acting Cause I don't put a ton of that on there. I don't have it like pin to the top. I had my short film that I did. I have that pin. Okay, great, yeah, and I have actor in like the bio and stuff, actor, comedian, that kind of thing. But I'm sure I could be doing more.

Niki Sterner:

And I think, like you're saying, like having the courage to post yourself, like talking on social media, a lot of people feel self-conscious about that or they're like I don't want to be like bragging or do too much, or what are people going to think when I share this? So it's really just like you're saying, like owning what you do and what you want and putting it out there so that you tell the world who you are. This is who I am, and if you like it, great. If you don't, then you're going to find who you like somewhere else. But this is me, this is my essence, this is what I do. Yeah, a thousand percent.

Jodie Bentley:

Yes, nailed it.

Niki Sterner:

You gave us so many tips and tools. I'm going to have to go back through here and take notes. That's so good. Okay, we are going to move into the third part of the conversation and that is our confidence quickfire round. I love it, yes. The first question I have for you is how do you define confidence, confidence to?

Jodie Bentley:

me is being disabled, to show up who you are as who you are, without judgment, shame or apology. And for me it goes back to again the concept of belonging, but it reminds me of a Maya Angelou quote which I love is I belong every place I belong no place. I belong to myself. And I think that belonging to self, unapologetically belonging to yourself and unapologetically being me and not needing validation from anyone, to me that's the ultimate confidence.

Niki Sterner:

Oh, that's so good. I love that quote, wow, thank you Isn't that great.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, it's so good.

Niki Sterner:

Made me step back and be like, yeah, I belong, but I don't belong. I belong here, like this is me. Yeah, yeah, wow, okay. The second part is what's one bold move you made before you felt ready?

Jodie Bentley:

Writing my feature film. For sure, most of my life I didn't feel ready to start my business. I didn't feel ready to produce my first film. When I did it, I didn't feel ready to move to LA. There's so many things I didn't feel ready for. I didn't feel ready to produce my first film. When I did it, I didn't feel ready to move to LA. There's so many things I didn't feel ready for. I didn't feel ready to do the summit for actors. But yeah, I don't think I haven't felt ready to do a lot of things, but when I get my mind on something, I have to just keep doing it and moving forward.

Niki Sterner:

How do you get yourself activated to do it? What does it take for you? Is it just having the goal written down? Is it on a calendar? Is it just what is it that like that activation energy to go? I tell people.

Jodie Bentley:

Great, yeah, like I remember when I was, when I decided to do this summit, I told all my assistants and I was like we're going to do a summit, even though I was scared and I didn't know how, I didn't know what, I didn't know what it was going to be, I didn't know what the guests were, I didn't know anything. And I said I just told my team I'm like we're going to do a summit in the summer, and this was probably like only two months ago that I said this and they were like okay, and I was like now I need to know how to do this. So I hired a coach and I hired someone I know who'd done a summit. I think I paid her a thousand dollars, I think. When I decided I was going to write a feature film, I told a bunch of people and I was like I've never written before. I need a writing partner. And I put feelers out and found someone. So, yeah, I think it's just declaring it to the world makes me, holds me accountable, right.

Niki Sterner:

What does having a writing partner look like? I'm curious.

Jodie Bentley:

Oh, it's so fun. James Tabik is my writing partner and James and I both taught at a university together. A few years back he was a dance choreographer and I was the acting business coach and we met and we would see each other and we both lived in New York at the same time but never met. He was on Broadway with one of my best friends. We didn't even know it until we got to LA. And when I'm telling you too much of the story, when you just asked about the experience, but it's relatable he I had lost my dad, it's relatable he I had lost my dad. And then a year later, pretty much a year to the date, he lost his dad and so he was posting on social, maybe six months after that, about his dad being gone for six months or whatever, and I was like, oh my God, I'm so sorry.

Jodie Bentley:

And then it hit me. I was like James is a writer. We had the same manager at the time and I was like I have an idea for a script. Can I pitch it to you? I said I'm looking for a writing partner and he was like, yes, we took a Zoom meeting and it must have been. I think I must have talked his ear off for 90 minutes. He's telling me everything and I was like here's my story. And I was like here it is. And I, after I finished, he looked at me and he's we don't have to embellish anything. And I was like, no, we don't.

Jodie Bentley:

We both lost our dads from leukemia, so that was a bonding thing for us. We are literally two days apart in our ages Two days, no way. Yeah, he has a jaw structure like me and eyebrows like me. He looks like he's my brother. So we wrote a character of him as my twin brother in the script, who is me. Jodi personally would be my alter ego if I didn't have to be the responsible one. And we brought in his whole storyline of being gay and his dad not accepting that. And yes, we've his dad and my dad have kind of morphed into that character now. But we literally, nikki, we sat down every Thursday for three hours on zoom. Every week. We had a standing non negotiable writing session and we wrote together and that's what we did.

Niki Sterner:

So you would like, like you would read it and write it at the same time.

Jodie Bentley:

What's this scene about? Okay, we want to write this. Okay, I have an idea, I'll write, and then we can see final draft and share and I'm going to jump in. Okay, cool. Oh, can you tweak this line? And then we'd read we're both actors, so we'd read it all out loud and it's the voices of my parents in my head and and who I know. It was getting him to understand the tone and the voice. Now he can even write my dad better and my mom better than I can. So it's very funny. Oh my gosh.

Niki Sterner:

That is incredible process.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, I think it's not how most people write together, but we enjoy writing literally together.

Niki Sterner:

I love that. I love that Because writing can be a very lonely process. Yeah, it can be, yeah.

Jodie Bentley:

No, our writing sessions are so creative, it's so fun and so creative yeah.

Niki Sterner:

That's wild. That's so nice. You found a partner. I know, I know it's like meant to be divine, wow Okay. Third question how do you face your inner critic?

Jodie Bentley:

Head on. Like I said, I think, if you can have a deep understanding and then you can recognize it when it comes up, I think that's the important thing. And then again, like I said, if I go, oh, it's that thing again, oh, it's me feeling, oh, the imposter syndrome's kicking in. I know what that is, that's. You know what that's me feeling? Like I'm not enough. I know what that is, then I can just turn it down. So I think, for me, always just staying intentional with knowing what my stuff is and just being hyper aware of like why am I feeling weird right now, or why am I scared or why am I this, and knowing, oh, it's that thing, I just need to turn it down.

Jodie Bentley:

But I think what helps to mentally for me, I meditate every morning, non-negotiable. I have to do 20, 30 minutes of meditation every morning and that really helps ground me. And I also love EFT tapping and that if I'm having like a moment of I can't get me, yeah, exactly, I can't remember where you start and go. Yeah, if I'm having a moment of oh God, I don't know, I'm feeling jealous or this or that or something, I always do the tapping and it helps release it right out. That's helpful, nice.

Niki Sterner:

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Jodie Bentley:

Just showing up, showing up and committing. I think that, again, like what I said already, right Declaring I'm going to do something and putting it out in the world and then showing up for it I think that's really important. I remember, gosh, when I first wanted to do Facebook Lives. This was probably 2017, maybe 2016 or 2018. Anyway, time is moot right, but I remember I was like I got to show up and do Facebook Lives. Everyone was going live and I was like I was terrified, nikki terrified, and I remember when I first started doing it, like my computer was like all the way down here and you could see it was like my chin was like this, like all that. The lighting was bad. I was like talking really slow and trying to be perfect and I go back and my first video is on my YouTube channel, like you can go back and watch them.

Jodie Bentley:

I had a whole series I created called bravery in business. Oh, I love it. Yeah, it was good, except for me. I look back now and I'm like what was I thinking? But it was. But I keep it up there, cause it's like fun to see the journey.

Niki Sterner:

Now.

Jodie Bentley:

I have 300 YouTube videos or something stupid. Do you know what I mean? But it started off with me being terrified but just doing it, just showing up and doing it and watching the progression over time. So now, so I think the another big thing for me is removing the word perfection from my vocabulary.

Niki Sterner:

This doesn't have to be perfect.

Jodie Bentley:

I don't have to show up Even my writing. I'm getting a little oh, this script has to be perfect and I think it means so much to me, so I'm really having to work through that. No, it's, nothing's going to be perfect. We're going to constantly be changing it. So really removing the perfection makes everything, I think, so much easier, just moving through the messy. Yeah for sure, yeah, yeah, no, I love that.

Niki Sterner:

That's where the beauty is right. Yeah, yeah, you discover so much if you allow yourself to be open to it, cause I know when we did our short film, it was rewritten as we were performing it too. Right, you get ideas in the moment when you're in the actual setting. Oh, we should do this, let's do this angle, let's it's. It changes continually, and then you edit it and it changes. Yeah, that's a powerful process, though, really, for letting go of perfection.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, for sure.

Niki Sterner:

Yeah, for sure. Okay, I wanted to ask you favorite book or resource that changed how you think.

Jodie Bentley:

Oh my, God, Like, how much time do you have? I have so many books. But I was thinking about this when you asked, and I hope that I can say this on your podcast but one of the things that I listened to actually probably in the past couple of years that I was just like, yeah, that again it's called the subtle art of not giving a fuck.

Niki Sterner:

Yeah, it's a really good book.

Jodie Bentley:

I listened to the audio book and the guy who narrates it is really good and it was. It was so good. Everything Brene Brown I've read every single one of her books and I'm currently listening to the big leap and I love it so much. Oh yeah. And so it's like revisiting it in a different way now that I'm older and you work with stuff and, yeah, that right now is just blowing my mind. Oh my gosh, I could reread that like multiple times.

Niki Sterner:

Yeah, for sure. I had it sitting on my table for like months Just the fish, just the fish jumping out of the small bowl into the big bowl. That's every day. That's what we're doing.

Jodie Bentley:

We're doing it again, exactly.

Niki Sterner:

Exactly, exactly. I wanted to go back to the question before one, one habit that helped you build real confidence. I think that you saying that you declare things is such a valuable tool and just like saying what you're going to do to somebody, like having a witness say it that you're going to do this. Whether it's sharing on social media this is what I'm doing or if it's having an accountability buddy like your team, you're like we're doing this, we're figuring it out. I think that's powerful.

Jodie Bentley:

It's so powerful. I have a course called Dare to be Unstoppable, and it was always an idea in my head and I launched it in 2018. And in January 2018, I did a social media post that said, coming in December, dare to be unstoppable. And I gave myself all year to create this course. Unfortunately, 2018 was the year my dad died. I had to sell my childhood home, my mom got diagnosed with dementia and got put in a nursing home, and so I was dealing with that for months and then I came back from dealing with all that. Mom was settled.

Jodie Bentley:

I came back in September to LA and was like I said I was going to launch this course in December and I sat here going, okay, I'm not going to do it, too much happened, too much happened. And then I was like but you said it, and this course doesn't have to be perfect and it can be whatever it needs to be. And you know what it's about. You already mapped it out in the beginning of the year. Just record the damn videos, just sit down and record them. And I look back at those videos now and that course has had hundreds and hundreds of people go through it. It's been life-changing for so many people I haven't even re-recorded. I think I re-recorded half the videos, but the first half of the course I didn't re-record.

Jodie Bentley:

And I go back and look at me from 2018 and I'm like 10 pounds heavier because I was really sad and I'm probably talking a little slower because I was sad, but it was just like it was good and it didn't have to be perfect and it felt good for me to go. No, I'm a woman of my word and I said I'm going to do this. And, yeah, all this stuff happened and I still get to do what I want to do in my life and it was such a powerful place to try to balance all of that and, again, let go of that perfectionism. But if I wouldn't have declared that in January, I probably wouldn't have done it. I might still not have done that course, because it was like that was the right time to do it.

Niki Sterner:

Yeah, no, that's so good Cause I'm trying to create my first course as well. Almost 30 people doing a courage quest with me. I'm learning so much. It started as an eight week course. Now I'm like guys, we need 12 weeks, like the first four weeks is teaching and then the eight weeks after that is you doing?

Jodie Bentley:

action going, going, going, and I'm like I love it.

Niki Sterner:

You can stay for eight, but it's really 12 now. So it's like moving through the process, I'm like this is messy. I don't know what I'm doing, I've never done it before, but each week as I teach, I'm like okay, I need to add this in, I need to teach this more, I need to have discovery in the process.

Jodie Bentley:

Yeah, it's so shifts and changes and it's okay. It's okay yeah.

Niki Sterner:

I'm so thankful that you shared that story, because I really want to get that done, maybe by the end of the year. Maybe that's my goal, yeah.

Jodie Bentley:

She's declaring it now.

Niki Sterner:

ladies and gentlemen, Okay, I'm declaring it. You heard it. Oh, you're such an inspiration. You've helped me so much on my career path and gaining so much clarity and branding and all of this stuff. You're just like a magician with clarity. For me is where I really know, I really figured out who I am and what I wanted to do and what I valued in that time with you, and so I'm just so thankful and grateful that you could be here today. I just want to acknowledge and honor you for sharing so much value with people and by coming on here. I know you're extremely busy, so it just means the world to me that you would make the time Of course.

Jodie Bentley:

Thank you so much for asking me and I think I'm proud of you and I'm so proud of you and all that you've been doing.

Niki Sterner:

Thank you. Now, how can people follow you, keep up with you, take your courses, get coached by you?

Jodie Bentley:

You can go to actor-insidercom. That's my website. I have a ton of free resources on there that you can download and read and get on my list. You can go to my YouTube channel, Actor Insider. Like I said, there's a ton of free videos there you can watch. Follow me on Instagram at actor insider. Instagram at Jodi Bentley search my name, You'll find me. You have two Instagrams. I do. Yeah, I separated them out last year so I could have one for me, just actor, and then one for my business. Okay.

Niki Sterner:

Okay, great. Do you do any other Facebook TikTok, anything like that, or is it all? I am on the TikTok.

Jodie Bentley:

I will confess, my assistant runs my Tik TOK. She just takes on my Instagram and repurposes it.

Niki Sterner:

I don't know what to do?

Jodie Bentley:

I don't. So there's stuff there, but I don't know what to do, and I'm on LinkedIn. You can find me there. Where else am I? I don't know? Facebook, yes, and I have a Facebook group as well, so okay.

Niki Sterner:

All right. Well, thank you so much, jodi. This has been incredible. Go follow Jodi everywhere, have her to clarity. She is incredible, branding all the stuff, all the stuff.

Jodie Bentley:

Awesome. Thank you, nikki, thank you everyone, thank you.

Niki Sterner:

Jodi, thanks so much for listening to the Confident Shortcut. I hope today's episode woke something up in you, reminding you that your dream matters and you can start now. If this sparked something, share it with a friend who needs it too. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram at Nikki Sterner and join our Facebook community at the Confidence Shortcut. Ready to take the next step? Check out my free guide, the Confidence Kickstart, linked in the show notes. Keep showing up, keep taking action and remember the shortcut to confidence is courage.