“Timing and arrogance are decisive factors in the successful use of talent.” – Marya Mannes, Born Nov. 14, 1904.
Talent alone is no guarantee of success. There are plenty of broke ass nobodies with talent so abundant it's oozing from their pores.
You need to USE the talent you have in a way that lets you leverage it for profit. Even if you're an artiste, no one wants to starve. Except people with eating disorders I guess, but I digress.
So let's say you're actively using and developing your talent. You're producing output and publishing/presenting that work product to a paying public.
Even that isn't really going to pop off any large scale sustainable success. Maybe with hard work and dedication, you can get that to a level that it makes you a living. But it will be a grind.
How can you break past that? With arrogance.
Back yourself hard. Push your work. Be proud and decisive and defend that work you're putting out. Sell it. Because it's the bee’s steez. You're the big cheese. People deserve to know it.
Right?
If not, try harder. Be better. Then… be arrogant.
If that word bothers you, call it being assertive and enthusiastic about what you're doing.
That positioning is intriguing and interesting. That enthusiasm can be infectious. It gets people's attention in a world saturated with boring things.
It gets people talking. Sharing. Discussing. Meta.
It brings you lots and lots of attention. While people are paying attention, you make them offers. The audience grows, you make more and more.
Going out and looking for customers is off your plate. They start coming to you.
And THAT, to me, is successful use of one's talent : making money with it whenever you feel like it, by sharing it with an ever-growing audience that likes what you do.
Thanks to arrogance.
That just leaves timing…
Arrogance usually takes care of timing, in my experience. Because when else are you going to decide to be awesome?
How's now?
Right now is good.
Let's do it now.
Really needed to hear this today I am struggling with charging my 'friends' too much, feeling like my product isn't good enough to charge the amount I am asking or any money at all, and just feeling like I am being too pushy and smarmy. Thank you once again Colin 🙂
My pleasure! We deserve to be confident in our own worth. That’s not so much a dollar amount, but about the exchange in value that the dollars represent. Glad to have helped!