Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Peter Yanke. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Peter thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

The thing that comes with experience (and age) is learning to let life’s lessons lead you to where you need to be. When I was looking to amalgamate 20-plus years of experience into a workable business model, I focused on key aspects of my approach to helping clients, which is to take my own interests out of the process as much as possible. Essentially, if I help them solve their issue or get what they want, I’ll receive what I need on the other side of it. While doing some online research, including a few not so great name ideas, I stumbled upon the word ‘firgun’ with the following definition:

‘Firgun is an informal modern Hebrew term and concept in Israeli culture, which describes genuine, unselfish delight or pride in the accomplishment of the other person.”

I am of course, NOT Hebrew, but it really resonated with me on a personal level and after a small spelling change for branding purposes and the addition of the word Mair (Scottish for more) you get the name, Phirgun Mair Worldwide and our company motto, “Delight more in the accomplishments of others.”

This mindset can be especially useful serving an industry of creatives, where persistence and building on small victories is imperative to long-term success.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In the early years of the internet a computer degree proved to be useful. In my case it manifested into work in the field of graphic and web design. This lead to helping businesses expand through having an online presence and included many creatives in the areas of art, writing and music. Over a 20 year period this would grow to include political campaigns, non-profit work, higher education and ultimately the entertainment industry.

That is a brief summary of course and life certainly threw some challenges in the way, both randomly and self-induced. In 2017, having come out of one of the more difficult times of my life and with the full support of the love of my life, Michele, I decided to pull all my various experiences together under one brand as a talent agency representing creatives across the world, including actors, models, musicians, writers, artists and performers. Phirgun Mair Worldwide was born and the timing proved to be fortuitous with Netflix inserting itself (and a new studio) into the already vibrant New Mexico film industry a short time later.

The agency was franchised by SAG-AFTRA in 2021 and is now in it’s seventh year with eyes on expansion into multiple areas along with an amazing roster of talent to work with.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

If you were to ask me this question seven years ago, it would be a completely different answer as most of our talent then came from networking and cold calls. Now, as an established talent agency, the majority of our new clients come from industry referrals and professional submissions from talent wanting to work with us. Occasionally, we will find a gem at an event or through some other random occurrence, but referrals from talent managers, industry professionals and our other actors are the most common.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

There isn’t a specific backstory involved, but one thing I had to re-learn over the last seven years as a talent agent is that you can’t help people who won’t let you help them. Some of this stems from creatives not understanding the process before jumping in, which is quite common in the entertainment industry. But if they are willing to learn and adjust along the way, they can avoid a lot of pitfalls and grow quickly. Being able to shift from a ‘hustle for yourself’ mentality to a ‘hustle together’ mindset once you have a team in place (agent, manager, etc.), will definitely take you to the next level of your career.

We think of the stars of film, television, music, etc. as being the ones running the show, because we only see their face out there and they are certainly a big part of the process, but they would not be where they are without a solid team behind them to collaborate with. Unfortunately, some very talented people never get into the team frame of mind and their career suffers for it and sometimes just hits a dead-end. This is something I’ve also learned in my personal life and am blessed to have my life partner Michele, by my side every step of the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://phirgun.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/phirgunmair/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/phirgunmair/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/phirgunmair
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/phirgunmair/
• Other: TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@phirgunmair

Image Credits
Stephen Cuomo, Peter Yanke, Michele Davidson, Victoria Davidson