I recently heard an interview with a man who holds the world record as the youngest disc jockey in history.
Stevens built his own working transmitter in the attic of his home by using a souped up wireless broadcasting kit with a hundred foot antenna. And once his remarkable story blipped on the radar of the local radio station, the program director offered him a job as a weekend host.
He was eleven years old.
Fifty years later, the broadcasting veteran laughs about the quality of that first attempt.
My radio show must have been terrible, but what mattered was that it was still charming and quaint and adorable enough for listeners to allow it.
Behold, the glorious misunderstanding about success.
That when our failures that are interesting enough, people will give us more chances.
That when we take extreme ownership from the very beginning, committing to playing the game everyday and taking shots and inevitably missing, the audience is still going to root for us.
That when we go out there swinging with all of our hearts, the world is far more likely to forgive us if and when everything blows up.
I once spent five years, tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours building my own video production studio to launch an online corporate training portal.
But despite my bottomless enthusiasm and effort, I only managed to secure one paying client. The revenue of which didn’t even come close to recouping the overall expense.
The strange part is, nobody seemed to mind. Readers and customers and friends and fans didn’t abandon me because I failed. In fact, the flop only endeared them further.
That’s what happens when we fail in a way that doesn’t kill us and doesn’t wipe us out of the game. We soldier on. We dust off our boots. And we go back to work to start making the next thing.
Remember, despite the fact that anytime we are in touch with failure, it is a close reminder of our own death, ultimately, the cost is of failure sill pretty low.
LET ME ASK YA THIS…
If your perception of and response to failure were changed, what project would you attempt to achieve?
LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!
* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.
Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.
Now booking for 2017-2018.
Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of
The Nametag Guy in action here!
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