What are you waiting on? For many that I interact with, it’s some permission from someone. Often, that idea of “permission” comes in the form of a degree. Of course, since I work at a place of “Higher Education” you might think that I was all about this. And yes, as someone who has four different degrees of higher learning, I do support the pursuit of degrees when that is the best path.
But it’s not always the best path.
A few months ago, I wrote about some insights from Seth Godin’s 2012 book, The Icarus Deception. Seth has been pushing this notion of not waiting on the gatekeepers, including questioning the need, the demand, for a degree of higher education for some time. He even started his own MBA program that actually isn’t an official MBA…meaning, it’s not from a University and when you are finished, you get no document like a typical “put on your wall” thing. So, the man puts his money where his ideas actually are.
In the book, Seth explains what I hope you all know by now. There are no gatekeepers anymore.
OK…wait, let me take a slightly different stance on this…perhaps beside Seth rather than in lockstep. Sure..there are gatekeepers. You want your idea of a TV show on ABC…or even on one of the hundreds of small cable TV outlets, you will need to get past the gatekeepers. If you want your band to be in a traditional contract with people who go out of their way to promote your band, place your band into gigs, and sell your CD and merchandise, then you will need to get past the gatekeepers. And yes, if you want to get a traditional job with a traditional company, then in all likelihood, you will need to produce that “typical ‘put on your wall’ thing” that we call a degree or certificate. And, it will be best to be from a school we’ve all heard of.
But, since around 2005-07…and for the first time in 6000 years of human history…you no longer HAVE to wait on some gatekeeper. The opportunity is here right now for you to go for it. Here’s how Seth tells it:
Sarah loves to perform musical theater…[so] Sarah spends 98 percent of her time trying to be picked [by the gatekeepers]. She goes to casting calls, sends out head shots, follows every lead….All so she can be in front of the right audience.
Which audience is the right one? The audience of critics and theatergoers and the rest of the authorities. After all, that’s what musical theater is. Its pinnacle is at City Center and on Broadway and if she’s lucky, Ben Brantley from The Times will be there and Baryshnikov will be in the audience and the reviewers will like her who and she might even get mentioned. All so she can do it again.
This is her agent’s dream and the casting agency’s dream and…it’s a dream that gives money to those who want to put on the next show….But wait….Sarah’s joy is in the dance. It’s in the moment. Her joy is in creating flow.
Strip away all the cruft and what we see is that virtually none of the demeaning work she does to be picked is necessary. What if she performs for the “wrong” audience? What if she follows Banksy’s lead and takes her art to the street? What if she performs in classrooms and prisons or for some (sorry to use air quotes here) “lesser” audience?
Who decided that a performance in alternative venues for alternative audiences wasn’t legitimate dance, couldn’t be real art, didn’t create as much joy, wasn’t as real? Who decided that Sarah couldn’t be an impresario and pick herself?
When Sarah chooses herself, when she makes her own art on her own terms, two things happen: She unlocks her ability to make an impact, removing all excuses between her current place and the art she wants to make. And she exposes herself, because now it’s her decision to perform, not the casting director’s. It’s her repertoire that’s being judged, not the dramaturge’s. And most of all, it’s her choice of audience, not the choice of some official, suit-wearing authority figure.
The birth of the connection revolution opened the door for this sort of choice making. Now, just a few years into the revolution, it demands choice making.
Now that is good stuff. Do you get it? If Sarah in his story, wants to act, sing and dance…she can. Nothing can stop her. And better, she doesn’t even have to deal with gatekeepers at schools or prisons. She can simply go straight to the people through the Internet. She can do live shows with Periscope. She can create her own play, perhaps in episodes, on YouTube. She can make her own TV show and gather fans through the various social media locations.
Nothing can stop her….except either her own fears or a realization that she doesn’t want to be that artist.
On caveat from Seth….as I noted earlier, there are gatekeepers. And in many instances, they safeguard the real money, the big money. Sarah, as an artist, can do everything Seth wrote about…but often that won’t really pay the bills. And, even if she can wring out money through ads on her own website or through views on Youtube, it typically isn’t the big payday that the “famous” artists have. So, make no mistake, this is the path of the brave.
I urge you to take it…perhaps because it’s been my path for 30+ years. I didn’t wait for my band and my music to be picked…I just went ahead and recorded the seven CDs (so far). I didn’t wait for the book deal advance; I just went ahead and wrote (and am still writing this today for you). I won’t ever be famous or be rich because of my art….but no one can stop me from being this artist that I am.
One more thing…don’t think that because we used the illustration of a actress that this doesn’t apply to you. You want to be an accountant? Want to be an architect? Want to be a builder, whether of buildings or of 3D items? Go do it. Use the same tools to put yourself in front of clients.
You can do it too!! Now…get going. Your audience awaits.