Gus and the tale of loving your job

My first phone sales job was working for the phone company.  

I could sell ok in person but I sucked at selling on the phone.  I mean come on, how interesting is Call Fowarding?  

With the help of my friend Bernard, I got good though.  Cocky even.  I liked that job about as much as I would like being Vladimir Putin’s food tester, but still… 

When I made the switch to car insurance phone sales…no problem.  I was like a fish to water.

When I switched to phone life insurance sales…  Problem.  

To help me suck less, my boss had me sit an hour with one the department’s best salesmen, Gus. 

Gus was the perfect storm of great salespeople.  He had the voice, the patience, the technical knowledge, and the charisma.  

I learned a lot from Gus that day but what I really learned was, I’m NO Gus.

I struggled selling that companies’ products because my integrity couldn’t get behind their tactics.  

As Chuck Woolery would say, there was no ‘love connection’ for me there.

When this happens there’s two ways to make the situation work.  You can CHANGE what you do, or you can CHANGE the way you FEEL about what you do.

I changed what I did and skipped off to Marvel.  

So everything was just unicorns and rainbows, right?  Nope.  It was still “work”.  There was still stress.  But the difference is…

It was worth it.

When people say, ‘do what you love’ that may sound a little airy-fairy.   And for most people that’s not entirely true.  The key is doing work that’s valuable to you.  Work that’s fulfilling.  Work that fits into your lifestyle.

And when that happens, THEN you’ll find a way to love it. 

https://www.adamstreet.net

Adam

The most important thing

I was riding to a gig this weekend with a friend I haven’t seen since ‘The Vid’ hit.  

I remember when we last spoke, he was newly passionate (to say least…) about politics, elections, and conspiracies.  All sorts of topics that generally put me to sleep faster than Nyquil.

I’m proud he’s found something he likes but he keeps trying to convince me to drink his kool-aid but I’m not buying.   As we’re talking a white car drifts drifting into our lane.  

Is this guy texting?  Can he read lips and is just as annoyed with my friend as I am?

Is my buddy so enthralled in our conversation that he’s missing the fact that we’re about to be creamed by a Honda?  

I’m a patient guy but I had something I was ready to tell my friend.  It’s the same thing that I was ready to tell the driver of the white Honda… 

STAY. 

IN. 

YO. 

LANE. 

And truthfully another word that starts with ‘f’ and rhythms with mother trucker. 

But you wanna know something interesting? I’d say the same thing to you.  

STAY. 

IN. 

YO. 

LANE. 

There’s so much going in the world.  War.  Democrats Republicans.  Animals being abandoned and euthanized everyday. People are starving and have no access to clean water.  The list is endless.

How can you cope with it all?  

By staying, in, yo, lane.  Focus primarily on doing what you are called to do.  

I’m called to do art.  I’m called to help people follow their entrepreneurial passion.  I’m called to be a father to my kids and a husband.  

If I’m on Facebook every hour talking about how cool it would be it if someone would snuff Putin or who’s fault inflation is, I couldn’t play my game at the highest level.   So I…

STAY. 

IN. 

MY. 

LANE. 

If you want to support the Ukraine by donating money or volunteering at an animal shelter or something like that, great.  I’m all for it.  But remember Stephen Covey’s great advice. I think I got it from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People book.

The most important thing is keeping the most important thing the most important thing.

To help you with your most important thing I’ll be unveiling my next course at the end of this week.  

https://www.adamstreet.net

Adam Street

Weird is the new cool

Back when I was WAY past ready to leave my cozy insurance job, I was dishing out my art portfolio like fresh crab at an all-you-can-eat buffet.  

One problem that kept coming up was, most publishers said my art was too ‘cartoony’.

I used to draw more realistic but exaggeration won.  Especially after I read this quote:

“At Pixar, we’ve always said that reality is just a convenient measure of complexity—we take a step back and create something the audience knows is not real, then we make it look as believable as possible.  See, the closer you get to reality the harder it is to be convincing to an audience.”   

John Lasseter, from the Art of The Incredibles

From that point on, drawing cartoony was my jam.  I accepted that my weird cartoony style was not for the mainstream.  This was my style 20 years ago and I still draw and paint like this today.

In an interview actress/comedian Aisha Tyler did with CNN.  They asked her what would you tell your younger self about who you are now?  

She said: “I would probably tell my younger self, Don’t worry about it. You’re always going to be a weirdo, and at some point that’s going to be OK. That’s eventually going to be your calling card, or your badge of courage, that you’re going to be a weird kid.” 

Not only do I not mind being the weird ‘cartoony’ comic book artist guy, but I own it and embrace it.  Like Tyler said everything weird or negative about you usually becomes your strong suit. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger was told his voice was too robotic and his accent was too strong to make it in Hollywood.

Oprah was told she was too female, too black, too caring, all sorts of nonsense.  

And ironically those are the same reasons why Oprah and Arnold have had tremendous success doing what they love.  It’s because they are who they are.  

The Artist Paradigm is about playing the long game.  Embracing that you’re different and knowing what’s weird about you is your greatest strength.  

https://www.adamstreet.net

Adam

P.S.  Seth Godin has an excellent book on this topic called We Are All Weird. 

Removing the pressure

My mentor Chance Wolf asked on Facebook, what knowledge would you share with younger artists? This is what I wrote.

“One of the biggest ‘ah ha’ moments, ironically I learned it from you is… It’s not if you can make it, it’s WHEN. If you don’t quit anyway. That took the pressure off of wondering if I could make it so I just focused on doing the work.”

That’s just as true for a young artist as it is for an chiropractor who has been in business for 30 years.

You suck at email marketing?  Guess what?  You can change it.

You don’t have enough quality customers or prospects?  You can change it.

Want to go on more vacations?  You can change that too.

As long as you have a pulse, you can make the changes necessary to get what you want.  

If you’re willing to do the work…and NOT quit.

https://www.adamstreet.net

Adam

There are no secrets

There are no secrets to success.  

Actually there is.  There’s a TON secrets out there, that’s why they’re secrets. On just about every topic too.

There’s a reason why Disney’s Nine Old Men, their original nine animators, produced animation no one else could replicate for decades.  There’s secrets to making a one dimensional object look 2D.

There’s secrets to losing weight fast.

There’s secrets to taking great photos with bad lighting.

I just saw a video yesterday and it seems no one still knows the secret to how the ancient Egyptians moved those 30 ton boulders inside the pyramids.

Those are secrets, my friend.  

And the main secret that holds most entrepreneurs back is…  

Belief.  

You have to have faith in yourself and KNOW that you can do it.  That’s why you study, take courses, and get coaching.  Yes, you may be doing sales and marketing but energetically what you are doing is building your belief one brick at a time like the Great Wall of China.

And when someone quits chasing their dreams?  They lost their belief.  

And there’s no books or consultants that can change your situation if deep down inside you don’t have the confidence and faith that you can turn the negative around.

If you believe you’re poor with handling money, you’re right.  

If you think you’re not as skilled as you need to be to suceed, you’re right.  

If you think you are enough and you have everything you need, you are right.

https://www.adamstreet.net

Adam

PS  And let’s not forget you have secrets you can monetize and share with the world too.  😉