December 28, 2008
I sent a Facebook message to a complete stranger and asked her if she’d be interested in having dinner with me. To my surprise, not only was she kind enough to say yes, she was also just as enthusiastic to meet me too. We’re talking more than 10 years ago, by the way. So I most definitely wasn’t the woman I am today. The only thing that remains the same is the fact that I am still wildly ambitious but back then you wouldn’t have been able to tell, especially in the way I carried myself. Like many of us, I was groomed by teachers and family members to play it safe, follow the rules and do things in a very linear order. As a result, I’d often shrink when big opportunities arose and shied away from taking risks. But a single dinner meeting on a cold, winter Friday night changed everything.
I love sharing the earliest memories of my career journey with you because people take note of my current success and don’t realize that I, too, once started at zero. There was a time when no one knew my name, when no one was asking me to speak at their event, a time when big brands didn’t request consulting services and I didn’t have a celebrity client roster, my social media posts didn’t attract any likes, shares or comments and my blog site traffic consisted of my immediate family.
Every great artist was once an amateur
Over the years, I’ve received a lot of great advice from that same woman who took a chance on me. In 2010, with encouragement from my new mentor, I launched my own website. But back then I didn’t have the funds and quite frankly, I didn’t know where to begin so instead of launching a dot com with all the sparkles, ribbons and trimmings, I signed up a free platform called blogger, which has evolved tremendously since I remember using it. To get an idea of what a Blogger site looks like, check out the Beckerman Twins who started their blogging career in 2009. Simple layout. User friendly.
I didn’t think twice about it. It took me all of 30 minutes to design and hit publish. It didn’t matter to me that my site didn’t consist of lavish photoshoots, sales copy and a call-to-action. I just wanted to write, develop the discipline to write daily and become really good at it. That was my life for the first year in 2010 (and beyond). I was in competition with no one but myself. My blog averaged anywhere between 0 to 30 monthly views early on and then jumped to a couple hundred views months later. Regardless of the fact that my numbers were small, I stayed committed and continued exercising my creative muscles.
According to wikipedia
Analysis paralysis (or paralysis by analysis) describes an individual or group process when overanalyzing or overthinking a situation can cause forward motion or decision-making to become “paralyzed“, meaning that no solution or course of action is decided upon.
The reason I had the capacity to stay the course is because I let go of the idea that my introduction to the world needed to be perfect. I released myself from the expectations of others and most importantly, I made the choice to have fun while I figured things out. I encourage you to keep that part of you alive. It is critical to your future success. The most successful people in the world still activate their childlike wonder. They are curious, they ask a million questions, they aren’t afraid to fail, and they adapt an experimental mindset. Too often, I meet adults who take themselves so seriously. Of course, there’s a time and place for it but don’t let it take over the experience.
Blogging is where I found and developed my voice and those of you who have followed me since then have witness my dreams evolve. I experimented with different writing styles such as spoken word and songwriting. Even with a small readership, I had grandeur dreams of writing for hundreds of thousands of people. I believed it until one day, it actually happened.
After blogging consistently for one year, my mentor took notice and offered me an opportunity that catapulted my writing career. My blog was the portfolio she submitted to a colleague and landed me an interview with a publishing house. For the next three and a half years I wrote focus reports and articles for every major newspaper across Canada (I still have every single hard copy ever printed). She was one out of the thirty views who checked in every so often and pushed me to keep going; to grow. Here’s the thing, you never know who is watching and what power they hold. In this case, my mentor had an invested interest in my career but you can apply this rule to absolutely anything. There have been many times when a text, phone call or email from a stranger who was lurking in the shadows (Lol, I know that sounds weird) has completely shifted the course of my life. I’ll put a pin in this statement and blog more about it at a later date. But the point is even when no one likes, comments or shares I want you to be proud of your effort. Show off your portfolio, stand firm in excellence. Because when it’s your time, God will move you to the front of the line.