I feel like I’m in a unique situation. I write to share my experiences and lessons learned, but am doing so from a position of success. So much success, that I’m not looking to sell anything. So that allows me to be honest, and tell things like how they are/were.
At the same time, these true stories I feel run so counter to the “instant success formulas” being peddled everywhere on the net, that it isn’t a popular message.
I would like to prepare people for the long road ahead. I share stories of the long road I took. My story is easy to edit to a “greatest hits” version, but the reality was it was 2 steps forward 2 steps back for a lot of it.
Some people take inspiration from that, and I guess those are the people I’m hoping to connect with.
I’ve told a story about how I took some difficult action in the past and got a bar show. That bar show led to a TV appearance, an immediate corporate booking, and enough credibility to book 10 high school shows. That is all very true and sounds awesome because it was.
But then I went from feast to famine. I struggled for years yet. Even with those victories. It was 3 years after that TV appearance that I came back from a tour, and my phone got disconnected for not paying the bill.
In 2009, when I started work on Stealth Seminar, I was a parent to 2 small children, living in an apartment. I still hadn’t gotten far ahead. I had no where to work and would bring my laptop to the library a few hours each morning to work in peace since I had no where at home to work.
My work space at home was a desk in my living room, with a rocking chair as my work chair. With 2 small children within feet of me.
That was my life for a long time.
It was harder than I realized, looking back.
In hindsight, what carried us (my wife and I) was a vision of the future. And not in a lottery ticket way, but in a path I was working on, even if it was 2 steps forward 2 steps back.
So that brings me to today, and what I’m doing here. I want people to know that things can take time. And that’s OK.
It’s hard in this Instagram world to not feel bad about how you’re doing compared to others, but the reality is you aren’t seeing the reality.
I mean, yes, success is out there, and is for people, and is for you, but the road to it is not quite as appears.
I want you to succeed and I would like to support you however I am able to while you do that. I don’t want to discourage you, but I hope you are better prepared for the long term if I’m honest about my story, even if that isn’t the most popular way to motivate people.
I think it’s more valuable.
