All it takes is 1.
One person to get you. To see your talent. To take a risk on you. To believe in you.
That’s one of the most wonderful things about this business. It can all change in a heartbeat.
The business is all about perception. Nobody knows who you are or what you’re about or how extraordinary your talent might be . . . and then one day it changes. Or it changes once you show them. And then all of a sudden, everyone’s interested.
But to get to that “one” you have to create opportunities to be seen. And it takes time. So the “overnight success” has quietly been toiling away for years before it all comes together.
I’ve lectured in the past about how every “no” gets you closer to a “yes” because it’s all about the sheer number of things. Statistics = possibility. In order to increase your chances of creating possibility – in the short term – you’ll be denied what it is you’re looking for. But over time and with persistence, the numbers start to fall in your favor, because you’ve vetted out so many of the “no’s” that eventually you hear a “yes.”
At one level, that’s just numbers. At another, having someone get you and be the “one” is like that.
Why? Well, first, it’s all subjective. Sometimes people will like you and sometimes they won’t. It’s arbitrary and weird and fickle and that’s just the way this business – and life and ultimately, humanity – is. You can’t go trying to please everyone. In your pursuit of that illusion, you’ll be left with not knowing who you are and what you have to contribute. So you have to start very early in understanding that you have to do it for yourself and because you love it.
What other people think about you is none of your business. Your job is to continue doing your work and the people who will eventually get it will find you.
In order to get the one, you’re going to pass by a lot of others who aren’t the one.
It’s like dating. You have to kiss a lot of frogs.
If you’re the CEO of your own company – which you are – you’ll come up with something that’s passionate and unique about you. This is what you have to offer the world. This is what wants to be shared. But as the CEO, if you don’t know what that is, how could anyone else know? You have to show them. And when I say show them – it’s not like you have to do anything. It just means to get going in sharing it and don’t look back and wonder if it’s right or correct or if people will like it. If it’s coming from truth – eventually, someone will resonate with it.
And that’s the one. Or rather, you’re the one, and finding someone who gets you is two.
