Once we achieve initial success with our work, there’s a question in the back of our minds that starts to fester.
What if we could somehow tap into this on a worldwide scale? Building out the infrastructure, expanding to twelve cities worldwide, going global with our distribution, it’s quite the inspiring thought.
The problem is, it might not be our thought. It might be somebody else’s. That’s the thing about scaling. It’s part of a system we have inherited from mainstream culture. One that tells us that bigger is better.
Welshons addresses this discrepancy in his book about unanswered prayers:
These identities are transitory illusions. The incredibly limited, culturally defined, hopelessly distorted lens through which we view ourselves has nothing to do with who we really are.
My publishing company easily could have scaled to include licensing options, product extensions, vertical integration, public events, mass merchandising and other replicatable elements.
But every time there was an attempt to go down that road, my stomach hurt. A sense of dread washed over me.
Because going big didn’t feel like me. Scaling wasn’t actually in line with my goals. It just seemed like the thing to do at the time.
My mentor even asked me point blank:
Let me get this straight. You’ve already burned out going it alone, so, do you honestly have a desire to scale in order to burn out even more?
He was right. That wasn’t my dream. It was just an inherited option. An assumption. There was no need to reach a certain commercial level with my work. Reaching fewer people more deeply sounded better.
If you’re feeling yourself pulled into an undertow of extreme global hysteria, step back for a moment and ask yourself what your growth aspirations really are.
Perhaps you, similar to me, have an allergy to scaling. That’s okay. Going big might not be the answer.
Staying small and preserving your ability to work on the razor’s edge might be.
LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How will you skirt the difference between the commercial world and where your heart is actually at?
* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.
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