Adam Street's Blog
The spiritual and practical path to freedom to do your art

Why your super-power isn’t as important as you think

When I was trying to break into comics (which is to say work for DC or Marvel) I used to go to DC Comics’ Talent Search at San Diego Comic-Con.   

You’d get the ‘fire and brimstone’ speech on how hard it was to break into comics.   They already “had” the best talent so they made it clear… They didn’t NEED you.  

You had to be a unicorn with a style and mastery they had never seen before.  It was a good presentation but it was full of holes. 

You didn’t have to be some child prodigy to get a gig at DC, they employed tons of mediocre artists.  Including me by the way…  But unlike the artists that give up I knew I had the total skills needed to break in.

I knew I was cool.  People liked working with me.  I was hungry to learn and to improve.  Sooner or later I’d get in.  And I did.  But it was because of my Talent Stack, not because I was a stellar artist.

I picked up this term from artist Scott Addams in his book Win Bigly.  He said, “ a talent stack is a collection of skills that work well together and make the person with those skills unique and valuable.”

A lot of people say you should ask yourself, what is your superpower?  This is cute but it’s flawed like DC’s Talent Search.  

That’s like saying Stephen Curry is a good basketball player only because he’s can shoot 3-pointers.  Or Michael Jordon was successful because he could ‘dunk good’.  

Instead of looking for a magic bullet, you should be asking this instead.  What is your Talent Stack?

What are the two or three skills that when combined make you a juggernaut?  

And an even better question…

What can you do to make the parts of your talent stack even stronger?

Adam

https://adamstreet.net

E-mail Advice from a man crazy enough to stop the Hulk

Lots of people struggle writing e-mails.  I’m a copywriter and I struggle with it sometimes.  I get. it.  I’m sure Jillian Michaels eats a bagel or skips it’s a workout every now and then too.  It happens.

So how do you write good emails.  One that gets read by the people on your list?

You can go the hypey route if you want.  You can focus on hooks, persuasion gimmicks, clickbait, and closing techniques.  In the end you’ll feel so dirty you’ll want to take a shower.

That’s a lot of work just to see unsubscribe notices filling your inbox like stimulus checks in 2020.

You want your e-mails interesting and entertaining, along with some value for your reader. 

I was reading the book Marvel Studios:  The First Ten Years.  When Marvel Studios was filming the Incredible Hulk, William Hurt (General Ross) was asked about being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  His answer I thought summed up what really matters in writing e-mails.

He said, “I have to consider the character.  As an artist, it’s my job to ask, “Is the character I’m playing interesting enough?  Is he true enough, you know, to who we are as people?  Are they believable?  That is my anchor.  The really good artists pull it off.”

Change a few words in there and look what happens…

It’s my job to ask, Is the e-mail I’m writing interesting enough?  Is it true enough, you know, to who we are as people?  Is my message believable?  That is my anchor.  The really good marketers pull it off.

It’s about being true to you and your message and being sincere with your audience.  John Wooden  put it like this.  “Sincerity may not help us make friends, but it will help us keep them.”

When your message is interesting and believable the rest will work itself out.  Because your list will see your name and read your e-mails because it’s you.  Not because of your catchy subject line and perfect grammar.  

Adam

Why Stan Lee is my role model

Most people think I admire Stan Lee because he created Spider-Man or The Avengers.  True, I definitely give him his super-hero props.  As a comic book reader I grew up seeing his name in comics and hearing his voice in Saturday morning cartoons.  

But that’s not why he’s one of my role models.  

What makes Lee special to me would hit me later in life.  It was when I learned he didn’t work for Marvel until his his 40’s!  

When I left my insurance job for Marvel Comics I was in my 30’s.  Even though I snagged my dream job, I still had a ton of head trash.  Why couldn’t I have done this earlier?  I should have went to art school.  Everyone is so much better than me!

The list goes on…

Once I learned Lee didn’t work his magic till his 40’s.  That helped me clean up all my negative self talk about what I should have done .  Or all those missed opportunities.  

And don’t think Lee didn’t have head trash too.

“I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: Entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain people, you’re doing a good thing.”

Let me tell ya, everything you have done to this point makes you uniquely placed to do something.  I don’t care what your age is.

Oprah Winfrey said, “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”

So suit-up like the X-men, and live YOUR adventure.  Head trash is like your mother-in-law.  It doesn’t go away but you ain’t gotta listen to it either.

Excelsior!

Adam

I think of you in the shower

Jeff Bezos was interviewed in Success magazine.  He was talking about Amazon Prime and introducing same day delivery.  Back then I thought instant delivery was about as doable as driving your car with chopsticks.  Someone put WAY too much cocoa in his Cocoa Puffs.

So how did Bezos go from two day to same day delivery?

He said he’s constantly thinking about what Amazon’s customers need.  It literally keeps him up night!  He even thinks about their needs in the shower.

That’s not creepy or anything…

Fast forward to today, now I do it too!  I understand why Amazon is successful and why I’ve been an Amazon Prime customer for years.  

“Obsession” makes people nervous but it’s quite helpful if you want to play an instrument, keep your kids safe, or run a business.  When I started out I wanted to save the world.  Maybe take on some free coaching or discount my first course.  Whatever I had to do to help everyone I could.  

You don’t want to help everyone, you want to help the right people.  Helping the wrong ones is like dragging a runner across the finish line.  It’s exhausting.  And you ruin your good shoes. 

The more you become sociopathitcally clear about who you serve, your offerings will get better.  Your job will get easier and everyone wins.  

Your bank account will thank you too.

If you’d like help with with funneling your client obsession and helping the right people, book a coaching session with me today.  https://adamstreet.net/contact-me/

Adam

Lil Nas X ‘gets’ Seth Godin

Let’s pick up where we left off.  Breaking down Seth Godin’s Marketing in Five Steps.  To recap, the first step was:  Invent a thing worth making, with a story worth telling , and a contribution worth talking about.  

The second step is: 

Design and build it in a way that a few people will particularly benefit from and care about.

Years ago I met a lady who was a teacher and school principal.  She took over a small charter school in a low income area.  Her K-3 classes were full of kids with with low test scores.  In a couple of years she turned the school around.  How did she do it?  With music.  

It seems math, science, and things that bore the pants off 2nd graders is more fun when you sing it. She said the tougher the child or learning disability the better singing and music is for them.

Surely you’d think the media would pick up on this.  They should be implementing programs like this all over town, right?  

Nope.  Almost no one knows about what she does and most educators don’t care.  They think she’s crazy or that her school is an isolated case. That kind of thing can’t work “here”…

Famous rapper Lil Nas X used to be an aspiring rapper on Twitter.  He promoted his songs using memes and short videos. You’d think an aspiring rapper would file his song on the Billboard rap charts.  Where everyone loves rap.  He didn’t.  Nas listed his song Old Town Road on the country chart.

Almost no one cared.  Except Billboard who removed Old Town Road for “not being a country song”.  With all the chatter Billboard’s decision caused, two weeks later Nas’ song was No. 1.

Build it and they will come.  No.  This ain’t field of dreams.  

Build it for one, make it cool, and she will tell her friend.  That’s what Seth is talking about.

Adam