CMD+Shift Design

Is this a rant or a pep talk? I don’t know – maybe a little of both. Been reading for the Pagebreak Podcast, been talking with people who are doing some awesome things that are making them very happy and also been talking with people who aren’t doing much and can’t figure out why they aren’t happy. It’s all got my brain lighting up… So how can you change the world and get rich doing NOTHING?!?!!???

It was not that long ago when the adage “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know ” really held a lot of weight. The gatekeepers of industries held futures in their hands and success in some areas was widely dependent on getting that “big break” or “being discovered.” Once you got that then you would “make it.”

At this time, right now… all of these concepts seem so dated to me, yet so many still hold them as truths and use them as essentially as an excuse for why they can’t do what they really want to do, why they have no power and why they are unhappy with life.

Is it just that it will take a longer time for these old ideas to die out or are people clinging to them because doing so means they can ignore the new reality?

We live in an age where the internet has afforded anyone with a connection a voice. If you have something remarkable to share with the world and you can (are willing to) dedicate your time and energy into sharing this remarkable thing with as many people as you can by cultivating a community, you have power. No one gave people like Perez Hilton or Gary Vaynerchuk a “big break,” and these guys are no where near superstars – but they’re something even better. They are putting out into the world something authentic to themselves, they are doing what they want to do in life and they have created it on their own by working hard, being real and genuinely caring about what they do.

If you are reading this and thinking “They got lucky, not everyone can do that,” well — you’re right and wrong. No, not everyone can create their own celebrity gossip empire, Perez did. If you can do it better than him, do it! If you can’t — I bet there is something that is unique to you, that YOU can do better than anyone else, do that.

These aren’t new ideas – anything we’ve seen from Seth Godin or Gary Vaynerchuk have said this and similar ideas. It’s the idea of Social Capitalism that we learned about from Tara Hunt.

So you can listen and decide to use all these amazing opportunities available to you to your advantage, or you can continue waiting for someone to give you that “big break.” It’s your choice.

Just realize that if you choose the later and you are never happy and you never have power and you never effect any meaningful change in the world around you — you have no excuses and no one to blame but yourself.