Once you begin, you become.
Once you become, you beckon.
Once you beckon, you are bestowed with riches beyond money.
Begin.
Culture of Overnight Success January 13, 2009
Since becoming an entrepreneur just 5 years ago, I’ve become keenly aware of the troublesome prominence of a culture of overnight success in our world. Yet I have never met anyone who is an overnight success. And even those in the spotlight whom we may consider to be an overnight successes, there is a much broader story for how they got there. The story of “overnight” success is never the whole story.
In most cases, it was through years of work, trial, error, small success, set backs and eventually greater success. It wasn’t overnight.
Take actress Jenna Fischer for example, from the NBC sit com The Office.
The culture of overnight success wants you to know “…that after a string of appearances on successful shows such as Six Feet Under and Cold Case, Ms. Fischer landed the part of Pam Beesley in The Office and, due to the show’s wildly popular success, she became an overnight sensation which has now landed her an Emmy nomination, money, fame and opened up the opportunities of her choosing.” Happily ever after. End of story.
In an effort to tell stories of incredible success, media sources tells the stories of what is considered someone’s monumental success, through boiled down, succinct packages that work for their publications.
I recently read the follow article excerpt she wrote for TV Guide that tells a much greater part of her story.
Here is how I got “discovered.” I had been living in L.A. for about two years when a friend wrote a TV script and wanted to do a live stage version as a way of attracting TV producers. He
Jenna Fischer of The Office was not an overnight success.
asked me to play a small role. It meant lots of rehearsal for very little stage time and no pay. Along the way I questioned why I had agreed to do it, but it was very funny and he was a friend, so I agreed. After our third performance, his manager approached me and asked if I had representation. I said no. She offered to represent me, saying she thought I had a real future in television comedy. Naomi is still my manager today. A month later, I was doing a very strange play — a musical adaptation of the movie Nosferatu — at a small theater in Los Angeles. I was doing it because I loved the commedia dell’arte style of the show, and because I loved the people involved. I worked all day as a temp doing mind-numbing data entry for a medical company, and then went to rehearsals for five hours a night, often getting home past midnight. One night an agent came to see the play and left his card at the box office asking to meet me. He became my first agent.
Now that sounds easy, right? Well, that was after two years of working as a temp, doing every acting gig I could find for free, borrowing money to buy a new engine for my car, and wearing a pair of shoes with a hole in them because I couldn’t afford anything else. Did I mention my living-room curtain was made from a torn bedsheet? It was another three years before I got my first speaking part on a TV show. That show was Spin City. (I played a waitress in a scene where the girl playing Charlie Sheen’s crazy date threw bread at me.)
Every year I did a little more than the year before. For my first five years, I probably earned between $100 and $2,000 a year from acting. Year 6 brought me some of my biggest success — and I only made $8,000 from acting. But I put a lot more money into my career than that. Headshots are expensive — the photo session and getting prints can run anywhere from $500 to $800. Classes range from $150 to $500 a month. It costs $1,200 to join SAG once you are eligible. And apartments are crazy expensive — $700 to $1,000 for a crappy apartment that you share with at least one roommate. It’s no wonder my living-room curtain was a bedsheet.
Why call out this culture of overnight success? Because for entrepreneurs it’s important to understand that with your eye on your vision, every single step you take toward that vision is toward success.
If you are working in a small dark office in your basement, embrace it now. It’s just for now. If you are investing in classes to improve your knowledge and add new skills, love spending that money. It will come back to you. And if you’ve just had a bigger year of sales than you could ever imagine, savor it. It’s only the beginning.
Don’t Ask How December 6, 2008
One of the most common stumbling blocks my clients and peers encounter on the entrepreneurial journey is getting stuck with a dreadful realization: “I don’t know how.”
They buy books to find answers.
They surf the web for guidance.
They pick up pamphlets and send away for free information.
But still the answer does not come.
I have a realized thought my journey that there is a better way.
Don’t ask, “How?” Instead, ask “Who?”
People have the answers we’ll ever need to any solution. And, if at first we can’t think of anyone who may know the answer, then ask the people you know who they know. It’s not only a faster way to get ideas, but also a way to get a more complete answer — one that leads you down the path not only of what to do, but also what not to do.
The next time you’re feeling stuck in the “hows,” try asking yourself these questions that lead you, instead, to “who.”
- “Who could help me move this idea forward?”
- “Who do I know who has encountered this same obstacle?”
- “Who have I met recently that would be able to…?”
- “Is there someone close to me who knows someone that can…?”
- “Where could I find someone who will…?”
Who knows where these questions could lead?
‘nough Said Bill Strickland: Success is Finding and Living Meaning July 5, 2008
Bill Strickland, I first learned about Strickland in a Fast Company article from August of 1998 (by Sara Terry). Strickland is the Founder of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and Bidwell Training Center Inc., both Pittsburgh-based organizations for urban change designed to help people pull themselves out of a life in the ghetto, has an amazing biography called Make the Impossible Possible (check out his short movie, too).
I have never heard better articulated the mission I stand for in living life than how he describes success in his book. He says:
“I’m convinced that no genuine success occurs except as a natural expression of the human heart’s search for meaning.
Yes, there are plenty of successful people who make a lot of money or have a acheived high corporate positions, who run organizations or have won elective office, who are clueless when it comes to understanding what life is all about.
The fact is that kind of success is only half of the equation. Our drive for titles and money is too often based on a desperate need to prove ourselves to others, rather than the passion to live a life in a way that draws on our true values and talents, enlarges our spirits and allows us to be who we need to be to live rich, satisfying lives.
Real success, genuine success can’t be chosen and chased down. You assemble it moment by moment, out of the dreams you choose to follow and the values and passions you share. It’s not something you have a choice in, it’s a process that occurs whether we pay attention or not.
When we focus on anything other than the things that have real meaning in our life, our life becomes shaped by the random circumstances of the world around us.
Trying to find meaning in material success is a losing game…[it] is an addiction, just like boose or drugs. It burns up your time and your energy, drains the humanity from your life and leaves you wanting more.
Meaning is not something you can add to your life in limited amounts or defer to a time in your life after you’ve made it. Meaning is your life. It’s who you are. It’s all you’ll ever have and…[it's] the only practical foundation for a life worth living. No genuine success in your personal or professional life is possible until you trust the power of the values and experiences that matter to you most.”
Thank you, Bill.
Don’t believe Bill Strickland? Read Success Built to Last by Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, Mark Thompson.
The Little Money Bible: Chapter 10 – Being OK with Flaws and All June 1, 2008
In Chapter 10 of The Little Money Bible by Stuart Wilde, he speaks about what he calls the Law of Love Money and Compassion. Something very interesting grabbed my attention today as I was listening, and I was able to discern something new about changing thought in order to attract what you want.
Here’s the chain reaction:
1. Feel self hate and loathing that is weighing heavily on your mind.
2. Use the pain of that self hate to numb you from the real root of your issues.
3. Give off negative energy from the unresolved issues that are written all over our face/body/words/actions…no matter how subtle.
4. Ask for money, get none. Ask for rewarding work, get the opposite. Ask for a good deal, get a bad deal.
Wilde says, that the reason is that in order to spend money, people have to feel secure in making the transfer.
People who want to accept our money and people to whom we want to give money, will feel uneasy about the exchange if you have negative energy attached to it.
So what do you do if you do feel self hate or loathing and can’t change it overnight?
Wilde suggests that in order to attract the money and people you want in your life, you don’ t have to change your entire self right now. You simply have to be, “OK with who you are, flaws and all, and [go] out in the world with honorable intentions,” and that is what will ultimately will make you attractive to the people who have what you want.
Bottom Line: In order to give out good energy around money, work — anything you want, it’s not about changing your flaws right now. It’s about changing the way you think about your flaws so that your energy is swayed in a positive direction.
Some affirmative thoughts he offers around this philosophy are:
“I’m going out today. I’m going to believe in myself. I’m going to be honorable. I’m going to concentrate on people and treat them fairly. I’m going to treat myself fairly. By nurturing myself, my energy will build and I will feel more secure. By being more secure, I will prosper.”
Trading Television for this Blog May 9, 2008
Welcome to my blog, which is a direct product of the fact that my husband and I just canceled our satellite television and DVR service in an effort to spend more quality time together, complete with eye contact, and in order to accomplish more in general.
We’re entertainment junkies, so this has been a hard habit to break. It has been 2 weeks and the pain is only now lessening.
Now that the initial withdrawl has passed, I have found a new freedom to focus on other tasks. Thus, the blog.
I’m realizing the same type of distraction removal can be applied to just about any small business task.
Find that you’re missing major details by not being fully present on a conference call? Try shutting down your email, instant messaging and text messaging during that time.
Realizing that you’re having a hard time finishing a proposal, chapter in your book or email newsletter? Try shutting off your email and your telephones during that time.
Just as the absence of quality television has helped me focus in on more important things in a more meaningful and saturated way, the absence of the many, all to available distractions at your finger tips, can do wonders for your business.
Try it out. You’ll be amazed by what you might begin.
