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INTERVIEW | Make Money by Building Influence, Solving Problems, and Supporting the Arts with Robin Bronk
00:21:52
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- [00:01]
Robin Bronk
Ray Ban Meta lets you explore the world without a screen getting in the way so you can stay present in the moment.
- [00:06]
Podcast Listener/Consumer
Hey Meta, tell me what kind of dessert this is.
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Commercial Narrator
That's a Stroopwafel, a Dutch waffle with spiced syrup in the middle.
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Podcast Listener/Consumer
Is it sweet?
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Travis
Yes.
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Commercial Narrator
Perfect for a snack or dessert.
- [00:18]
Podcast Listener/Consumer
Mmm, delicious.
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Travis
Get answers on the go without interrupting your flow.
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Robin Bronk
Ray Ban Meta Iconic Style meets Meta AI. Available at Walmart and other authorized retailers.
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Travis
You're listening to the Travis Makes Money podcast presented by GoHighLevel.com for a free 30 day trial of the best all in one digital marketing software tool on the planet. Just go to gohighlevel.com travis what's going on everybody? Welcome back to the Travis Makes Money podcast where it's a mission to help you make some more money. On this episode of the show, I have a new friend, Robin Bronk. Robin is the CEO of the Creative Coalition. It's the leading Non Profit, nonpartisan 501C3 charity arm of the entertainment industry. Founded back in 1989 by Alec Baldwin, Christopher Reeves, Susan Sarandon, Ron Silver and other prominent members of the entertainment industry, the Creative Coalition is dedicated to maximizing multi platforms of the entertainment industry behind issues of public importance. Robin, I appreciate you so much for taking the time to join me on
- [01:19]
Robin Bronk
the show today and that was a mouthful and thank you very much.
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Travis
Of course I would love to hear from your in your words, what exactly is the Creative Coalition? What is it that you guys are doing? What are you focused on?
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Robin Bronk
So what the Creative Coalition is. We are the nonprofit arm of the entertainment industry. We're also a membership organization. As a membership organization, our members are actors, writers, producers, directors, executives, leaders. It's a grass tops organization leaders in the industry who can use the power of entertainment, the power of the arts, the power of their platforms for to promote social welfare issues, to change the way we think, change within the zeitgeist. And at the baseline of it all, we were founded. It's the reason we were founded and we still follow this 40 years later to use the power of the arts and entertainment. We want to be sure that arts thrive in this country. Not just survive, but thrive and flourish. So everything that we do, every dollar that we raise goes to protecting the arts in this country, specifically for the next generation.
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Travis
And I'd love to hear a little bit about you mentioned before we hit the record button that there's ways to make money in this space, that the government is doing some things right now. Can you talk we have a, you know, audience mostly of entrepreneurs, a lot of creators, a lot of creatives that are in the audience. I'm curious to know exactly what's going on these days.
- [02:53]
Robin Bronk
Well, it's interesting. One of our most pressing issues right now is making sure the National Endowment for the Arts is funded. Why would you care about that? There's a lot of things that need funded, from fly fishing to. To, you know, making sure the pavements aren't cracked. So why. Why do we care about this? Well, we care on it both for a creative level, a strategic level, humanity level, and a workforce level. So the National Endowment for the Arts, and most people don't really understand what it does or don't. It's sort of one of these agencies that you don't hear about a lot unless you do care about the arts. Quite simply, the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts goes to every single congressional district to support arts projects in their communities and in their public schools. Where does that translate into money? Well, the most. In the most basic sense, for every dollar that a community spends on the arts, for every dollar that a state spends on the Arts, $9 comes back. And we think that's pretty good Vegas odds. So right now, Congress is considering the funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Quite frankly, the President called for its decomposition. He wants to rescind that funding. He wants to cancel out that agency. And the House has. The House of Representatives has actually put in a budget for it. We are asking any of your listeners to call your senators to ask them to support the House and this budget. If you care about the arts, if you care about creating a workforce. Because we all know all the data how having arts for the next generation makes them into more contributing, more strategic, more successful citizens, better equipped to be in the workforce. And if you don't care about anything else, for every dollar spent, $9 comes back. That's pretty good odds.
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Travis
Yeah, I agree. Where. Where did you come in on this stuff, Robin? I'm curious to hear a little bit more about your background.
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Robin Bronk
Oh, interesting. I mean, my mom thinks it's interesting. I don't know if anyone else will, but. So I grew up in Clemson, South Carolina, where Clemson University is. My dad's a. Well, now he's a retired university professor. But Clemson, South Carolina, back then, no one had heard of it. We got the big store in town was the general store, where there was a ledger cap with every family's bill. And that's where we got our blue jeans and the town taxicab. Was also the sheriff's car and we were a whistle stop on the train line. So but we did have in the area, not in our town, but in the next town over in Seneca, South Carolina, a community theater. And that community theater was the pipeline for all of us. It allowed us to learn everything that arts and plays and musicals bring to us. We also had on the campus of Clemson University a NPR affiliate station. That's something else that with troubled budgets, all that. So while yes, the cities need arts funding, the cities need NEA funding, it is especially important for rural communities. It is the lifeline and getting back to me. So then I went to Penn State, had a great time. And then and it was funny because back then kids didn't we didn't I decided I didn't have as many, you know, oh, I'm going to do this, intern for this, do that and have my my life mapped out. I spent summers being a camp counselor, but my college best friend had a boyfriend in Washington, D.C. and she said let's go to Washington D.C. so okay, because again, I had no plan. So I go to Washington D.C. what
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Travis
did you, what did you go to school for?
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Robin Bronk
I got I have a degree in film and television production.
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Travis
Okay. So you sort of had this interest in New York.
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Robin Bronk
I currently I am living the dream job politics in Hollywood, quite honestly. So we go to D.C. and I honestly I had a great education at Penn State, but I did not know the difference between a Democrat and a Republican.
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Travis
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- [08:11]
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Robin Bronk
Jobs and I go to D.C. not really knowing you know anything more about how a bill becomes Law, except for that Saturday morning cartoon that taught us that. And it was like going to Hollywood and going, what is this thing you call television? What is this film? I've never been to a movie. Get to dc, knock on doors and got a job. Back then, constituents used to write right into Congress and they would basically, they'd weigh the mail. This is pro, this is anti. And then they had people like me who would write letters that just said, rest assured. And we'd be looking into whatever it was the constituent wanted. So I really got hooked. I eventually became a lobbyist. I did work for the Recording Industry association of America on intellectual property and piracy issues and the Motion Picture Association. And I got so hooked. I got so hooked on creativity and politics. And then when I was giving birth to my third daughter, I was in labor and delivery and the actor Billy Baldwin called. And again, when it's your third baby and everything was great. So I picked up the phone and he started telling me about the Creative Coalition. And they're looking for somebody to come in and lead it. And I've been there ever since the turn of the century. Wow. Wow. But interesting. The Creative Coalition was founded, it was galvanized by Ron Silver, Chris Reeve, Alex Olive Galden, Susan Saran and others because President Reagan vowed to zero out the funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. And they literally took a train to Washington D.C. beefed up on their facts and figures, went door to door, got all the votes that were needed to reinstate the funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. And since then, we have had to go back every year to either try and increase the funding or to save it.
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Travis
Tell me real quick about. I'm curious about your time as a lobbyist. How did you enjoy that?
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Robin Bronk
I loved it. I loved. I love words, I love, I love politics, I love policy. I love that as constituents, you do have a voice I like. I also spent a lot of time in grassroots politics.
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Travis
What's like, what's like the average day like? What's the day to day of somebody who's a lobbyist?
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Robin Bronk
An average day is you have to become an expert in process and you have to find the right partners who know the substance as well. And sometimes you're an in house lobbyist where you're working with substance and process. Sometimes you're out of House lobbyists. But the key is to be very well read, to understand where the constituencies, where the population comes in and where the powers that be come in. And where is that, where is that connection? So it's about understanding you, really, not to be too lofty, but it's about understanding humanity and understanding the importance of the grassroots and why democracy depends on that in listening to constituents. And that's, I'm going to sort of roll back to the creative coalition and roll back to creative arts and spending transactionally spending money to make money. It's interesting because the president is talking all about the highest office in the land, about America 250. And for the most part, everything about America 250 is circled around arts and entertainment, the arts. So this cornerstone of our country, the arts, is in dire jeopardy. And when you look at the budgets and when you look at, you know, Again, you have CEOs listening to you and you're, you're entrepreneurs and everyone is always looking at return on investment, the roi. They're also, they're looking at the bottom line. So here's something that you, your listeners, have power to do. It's very simple. It's about getting in touch with your senator, with your congressman to support this investment in the United States. It's an investment that we have so much data brings back nine times more of the investment.
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Travis
Now, Robin, I'm curious, from your professional development point of view, what have been some of the core skills that you've developed over the years to put yourself in a position to succeed with an organization like this? What do you view as like, here's the things that I'm really good at and here's why.
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Robin Bronk
Reading people, understanding that that was, you know, a lot of my training as a lobbyist, as a strategist, reading a lot of history, the past is prologue. Not being afraid to say I don't understand. And my most important is surrounding myself with people who are smarter than me.
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Travis
How do you surround yourself with people who are smarter than you? What do you do to attract those types of people into your life?
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Robin Bronk
I look at the subject area, I, I, I take note and take, take pause. You know, as I said, don't be afraid to say you don't understand something or you're not sure. Yeah, and I find the experts, I read the experts. I can't, I can't overvalue the importance of reading and gathering your resources. And it's interesting because you stuck a chord with me. We just, you know, AI is this big giant thing that some of us are, you know, very excited about, some of us are afraid of. It's, it's a, it's a big life, world changing deal. But the whole importance of research was something my dad taught me. Because growing up back in the dark ages of the last century, the big thing was to have an encyclopedia in your house. And my dad never let us have an encyclopedia in our house because he wanted us to learn, know how to research, not take a shortcut. Of course, we did go next door eventually and use the neighborhood. So if that was the worst thing I did, now that people are out smoking cigarettes behind. Well, I was. I was looking up things in the encyclopedia.
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Travis
Yes. Sneaking into the encyclopedia room. Yeah.
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Robin Bronk
But the other thing I would say that I. That I often talk about with our staff and, and younger, you know, younger people coming up through the ranks is there is almost you. You have to learn how to detour, how to detour and get around the roadblock. You have to be creative. You have to overturn, you know, or whatever the cliche is, overturn every stone. Because 99% of the time, there is a way through. Hmm.
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Travis
It seems like you've built a tremendous amount of confidence, obviously, in what you do and your ability to lead, because you're not just leading an organization, you're leading sort of entire industry and trying to unite, you know, many different people from all different, you know, walks of life, cultures, backgrounds, in this common mission to accomplish something that you truly believe in.
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- [16:46]
Podcast Listener/Consumer
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Travis
Do you have any advice for how to grow confidence, how to build confidence, or where do you think yours came from?
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Robin Bronk
It was. I don't know how popular this will be, but honestly, it was when I learned how to compartmentalize.
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Travis
Hmm. Say more about that, please.
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Robin Bronk
Which was not a natural thing for me, and I guess it was. It was about. It's about being present and not as best you can, not allowing distractions into your conversation. Take that moment. You're going to have a meeting. You're going to you're, you're, you're, you're researching something yourself. Go in deep. Go in deep. You'll almost never regret it.
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Travis
So, so it's, it's, it's mostly come from a position of preparation, essentially like
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Robin Bronk
I have done, but also, also being present to listen. As I said, you know, you try and surround yourself with people who are smarter than you in everything. So, you know, there's that. Yeah, we hear that word, your full undivided attention. It's really hard these days to do that. But I want to say I can, I can't underscore enough the importance of that because you will benefit exponentially from that. And the other thing is, don't be afraid to ask questions. But, but, but the other, on, on the other flip side of that is, but if you're listening, listen so that, that you can ask the. Take. Use that time to ask the best questions that will help you get to goal. The other thing I was going to say is one of the other skills that I think comes in really handy for me is, is breaking something down into pieces because saving the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts for the United States of America, it's a big thing. But breaking it down, what do you have to do to get from point A to point B? And I get. And you know that it's a linear and sometimes it's not three dimensional, but it's a linear way to get through, and that's okay. I remember one time we had an event and we needed to seat a hundred people. At the last minute, something happened to the venue and we could not use it. And we were at. It was two or three hours before the event, so we're calling everywhere and we were saying, you know, we need a place to sit a hundred people. And it was no, no, no, no, no. And then I said, how about 10 rows of 10? It just that, you know, was illustrative of you breaking it down. Breaking it down to something people can digest too.
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Travis
Yeah, that's hilarious. Just rephrasing the same ask in a different way. Got the intended result.
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Robin Bronk
10 rows of 10. I was like, well, we definitely can do eight rows and I guess we can squeeze two more rows in.
- [20:23]
Travis
That's hilarious. Robin, I appreciate you taking the time to come on. I appreciate the work that you're doing in the world. Very, very needed. Where can people go to learn more about you with your organ that you're working with and get more from what you're working on?
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Robin Bronk
Thank you so much for asking. Just go to thecreativecoalition.org the with the word the correct the yeah, we are all about the grammatical article. The yeah, we're bringing it back. The creative coalition.org and I guess I just came up with the title for my memoir. Ten Rows of ten.
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Travis
There you go. Perfect, Perfect. I'll just expect a little credit in the acknowledgment.
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Robin Bronk
Absolutely. You're just messing with me.
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Travis
The creative coalition.org go check out Robin, the organization that she's working with. Robin appreciate you taking the time. Do not take that for granted. Everybody else tuning in. Remember, money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems with money in the bank. So let's start there. Here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you guys next time. Peace.
- [21:22]
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