Playboy, S.A.G. and Insurance : The Art of Reinvention
Deborah Driggs
From her start as a Playboy Centerfold and Covergirl to her life as a Screen Actors’ Guild member and later, achieving the Top 5% in her industry as a member of the Million Dollar Roundtable, Deborah Driggs has had to clear many hurdles in life. While it may seem like Deborah’s success came easy to her, nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, she has had to overcome a number of challenges in life to get to where she is today. What is true - and a part of her character - is her willingness to take risks, maintain a positive attitude, and never take ‘No’ for an answer.
I started out as a performer at a very young age.
I learned discipline and coaching really early on.
My goal was to go to the Olympics as a figure skater…I got most of my life lessons early on from the coaches in my life.
I had sport figures as my mentors and who I looked up to…I was obsessed with the athletic mind.
If they can do it, I can do it! That was the mentality.
Those lessons and that discipline…kind of carried me out throughout my life.
The way I got into the entertainment industry was no accident because my first addiction as a kid was attention….I was seeking that so desperately.
When skating went away, the next step was dance then cheerleading…so I landed a spot on a professional cheerleading squad which propelled me into morning shows, radio shows, talk shows, interviews, promotions…
There was a lot of pushback….I got all the reasons why I shouldn’t pursue that.
One in a million people are successful…well that will be me. And that was how my mind worked.
Because of my age, I had no fear…The older I got the more fear I got.
The minute somebody would tell me ‘no’ or ‘that’s impossible’ I’d go ‘Well, there’s gotta be a way.’ I just never took ‘no as the final answer.
I had three agents…all of them wanted to sign me…I went on an audition for a commercial and I booked it…and I thought ‘there is no stopping me now’ I thought I could do anything.
I’d beg…see if I can get my S.A.G. card. Just give me one line. I was relentless…that’s the kind of mentality I had.
I went on an audition for a show…called Charles In Charge…to play his girlfriend…okay are you ready to read?…I start to read for the part and he just stopped me in my tracks….and he’s like ‘you know, when you walked in this office, I would have hired you on the spot..but you don’t know how to act.’ And I took that very seriously and said ‘what do you suggest I do?’…
I enrolled myself immediately into a two year Misner technique…
While I was doing that, I get a call form my agent that I should go and audition for this new book that Playboy was coming out with…they gave me a robe and told me to take everything off…I said ‘I’m not here for that.’…
Back then, they were looking for scars, tattoos, birth marks, piercings…back then it was a big deal…
I’m gonna leave my undergarments on…it doesn’t go well at all…that afternoon I got a call that they were interested in shooting me for a centerfold and I thought ‘I think they are confusing me with another girl…’
We all decided it was a good thing for me to do because at that time, Playboy was the number one magazine in the world and everybody wanted to be in the magazine.
They got over a thousand submissions a day.
It changed everything….everybody wanted to meet with me.
I got on the Oprah Winfrey show, the Bob Hope special…while I’m doing this, I’m in this two year Misner acting program…
So I’m trying to be taken seriously as an actress and all this Playboy stuff is starting to happen…
The thing that was cool about it was, I booked my first film and it was all cease I was studying and trying to be better as an actress…and here was another opportunity for me to have a coach in my life.
I would just keep going. Even if things got really bad…I had that mindset….She would say if you really take this seriously and do the work, you could have a really good career.
I met my husband in acting class…I slid away form the seriousness of what I was doing…then we decided we were going to move to Park City, Utah…a year later I was going through a divorce….I’m 40 years old, broke, 3 young kids…now what do I do?
So I had to reinvent myself several times.
…they would want to look at property, so I decided I was going to get my real estate license so if someone bought a piece of property, I would be in on that deal…
I interviewed the top 3 realtors…and chose to be an assistant to them rather than me trying to build a business and trying to compete…
I’ve never worked in an office. I don’t think I know how to work a fax machine. I barely know how to do email…he said ‘are you good with people?’ and I said ‘Yeah!’…if you could manage the people…and manage the listings…I’ll teach you how to do everything else….and I was really organized…
I want you to list my house…and I’d walk back to the office with a $3 Million listing…
here i had this $3Million listing and I didn’t know how to use the scanner…
If someone says ‘if you just do it like this, you’ll have a little more success…’ I take that to heart.
If somebody gives me a valuable direction, I listen….I’m constantly growing and learning.
I did have a place at the table in business. I made a place for myself.
2008 happened and…now what?…I had to start over again.
I reached out to someone who has done my was-band and my life insurance…I had referred them a lot of business…what if I get a referral fee?…and they said no. Go get your license….so here we go!…
I didn’t really jump in until July 2011 and by mid 2012 I was the number one agent….and I qualified to be in the $Million dollar round table. And that is only because…be cause I didn’t put my phone down until I had one 1 deal a day. I was relentless.
Now I’m finding, be really careful what you say because what you put out there is what you get.
I realized I didn’t have to be the expert in life insurance. It all went back to, are you good with people?
I prepare people for unexpected life events.
You use whatever you can…that propelled me into a whole different segment…
I think my success came from the continual learning, continual growing, continual hustling. The using whatever I could to propel into the next.
Different threads.
When you meet somebody and you have an idea of who they are and then you find out something completely random and you go ‘oh, wow..really??’
I could be in meetings and I could always tell the one person that knew.
You can’t take it seriously. If I take it seriously, if I get weirded out, then they’ll be weirded out.
Don’t wait. Do it!…at 40 I thought…I’m so old…it’s over…I didn’t do all the things I said I was going to do…don’t do that…you can start over at any age.
It all looks good when it’s working well and it’s successful…I didn’t even take the time…to celebrate because I was so nervous that it was all going to taken away. I lived in such financial fear.
What was the one hurdle you needed to overcome? For me it was financial fear. And I never knew that I had so much fear around money until I started making a different kind of money…I always made enough to get by…but I never had more than enough…this is an opportunity to learn and grow…what came out of it…the opportunity it allows me now…it gives me the opportunity to give back.
I think I’ve come full circle…I’m doing print work, I just worked on a film, I write a weekly blog..I have 3 books…I formed my own publishing company…and I’m just really enjoying this time and embracing where I am right now.
It’s so cool to be 57 and go…I’m just getting started…it just makes you want to grow more.
The more money you make, the more opportunities you have. It’s just deciding on what opportunities you want to jump on. It’s not about money…it’s about opportunity.
Audio: Ariza Music Productions