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Never Give Up

Give in to resistence and you might never recover.
Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

Could anything be more true?  How many times have you put something out there - an idea, a business concept, anything - and either (a) had that nervous feeling of, "What if this fails?" or (b) didn't have the immediate response you wanted, so you get the impulsive desire to throw in the towel?

It's so easy and tempting to want to give in, but as Seth Godin explains in his book, it's just resistence.  If you're trying to make a change, you will encounter it, both from within and from the world around you.

You can't let the resistence get the best of you.

I had this feeling of resistence just today, and for the first time in a long time thought for a split second about giving up.  I wanted immediate validation and gratification for what I had been doing, for all the hard work I had put in on a new venture, and when it didn't come (in my mind only, because it hadn't had enough time to come), I wanted to give in to the resistence.  I wanted to give in to that feeling of overwhelm and dread and fear.

Fortunately, if we're open to them, we get the exact messages we need at the exact moments we need them, and I'm glad I got that message loud and clear.

You can't give up on the thing you know you must do.  You can't give up on the thing that, on a clear day, you know you can do.

Man On Fire

There are days when you're on your game, when everything in the universe appears to be lining up to move you in the direction of your dreams.

There are days when what's going on externally is in perfect sync with what's stirring in your soul, days when you feel that you're in exactly the right place at exactly the right time doing exactly what you were put on this earth to do.

I love those days, those days when you're absolutely on fire.

Imagine the mountains we could move if we could all stay in that place every moment of our lives.  Wishful thinking, perhaps, but hey, we can dream, and who knows, maybe it's possible.

An Interview with Richard Branson?

I'm not sure what will come of this, but I was presented with an opportunity to attend a webcast this week (Wednesday, March 17) and ask a question of serial entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.  Nothing may come of that part of things, since I'm not sure how many people were contacted or if the question I sent will be selected.  Either way, it's a great opportunity to hear Richard Branson speaking about business opportunities for 2010.

Here's more info about the event.

Top 10 Questions for 2010
Online Forum with Sir Richard Branson

Wednesday, March 17, at 10 AM PST (12 PM CST), as part of Cisco’s PassTheBall speaker series, which highlights people sharing ideas and working together to bring  the ideas to life, Richard Branson will start the sixty minute WebEx session with practical advice on what he’s learned from his greatest achievements, including starting eight different billion-dollar companies in eight different sectors.  He'll also touch on lessons gathered from his setbacks.  For the second half-hour of the session, Branson will field questions from attendees.

If you're interested in attending, you can find out more and register here.

The Cheese Stands Alone

Okay, so the title is just funny and was the song that popped in my head when I thought about this post ("The Farmer in the Dell").  The other song that came to mind was "Pork and Beans," but I didn't think that made quite as much sense as the title.  I'll warn you, too, that this is a long rant.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about one of the sacrifices we have to be willing to make in order to rock our unique geniuses, be entrepreneurs, and hopefully change the world somewhat.  The sacrifice?  Being willing to stand alone at times during the journey.

A lot of things have happened recently to keep this topic top of mind for me, many of them just this past week.

One example is last week's conversation over at Chris Brogan's blog (and, Chris, if you're reading, I'm sure you're tired of hearing about this, so feel free to skip ahead, but I think it's a good example).

It started innocently enough with Chris stating how much he charged for a day's work, which was somewhere around $22k, I think.  Then, the next day, he posted that he was looking for an unpaid intern.  That set quite a few people off, and at first, I didn't know what to think of it myself.  The immediate thought that came to mind when I saw the title of the post (something to the effect of "Unpaid Intern Wanted" or whatever) was, "This might not be good, Chris."  I clicked on the post and saw that I had, in fact, read it right.

I try to see things in shades of gray as often as I can, so I decided to step back from it and think on it, not to judge so much as to reflect on my own internal compass, but I'll get back to that later.

Then I got a really cool opportunity, a minor thing to some maybe, but cool to me.  I was offered a chance to "interview" Richard Branson at an upcoming event (okay, I might - stress might - get to ask him one question at an event I'll tell you about in my next post).

Immediately, though, I started hearing some negative stuff about things Richard Branson may or may not have done and characterizations about him which may or may not be true.

With that, I decided to step back again.

I stepped back, thought about it all, and did some soul-searching, and you know what I decided?

I decided to stand with Richard Branson and Chris Brogan and every other entrepreneur or person who puts his- or herself out there, because you know what?  That takes guts, that and we are all human, and we're going to make mistakes.  Sometimes our internal compasses get off.  Sometimes we mess up in really big ways and in very public arenas.

At the end of the day, no, I may not agree with every decision Chris Brogan or Richard Branson or anyone else I know has ever made, but I also don't agree with every decision I've ever made.  As Maya Angelou said, "When you know better, you do better."

I believe, on the whole, that most indicators point to Chris Brogan being an okay guy - human, so faulted, but I think his intentions are good.

I believe that regardless of any decisions or actions Richard Branson may or may not have made at any point throughout his career, I see good in him, too.  Actually, I don't know much about his mistakes, so I really only see the good.

That's the point, isn't it?  I don't know what's in someone else's head or heart, and even if a person has done more harm than good, which usually isn't the case, there's a lesson in that, too.

So, I'm here to tell you, I'm going to mess up.  Better get ready.  I might do things sometimes that make me seem like a jerk or like I'm arrogant or unkind or self-serving.  I just hope the overall indicators tell my true supporters the opposite is true and that maybe I'm just having an off day.

Step back sometimes.  Don't be so quick to judge.  See the good in people and give them the benefit of the doubt.  Ask yourself if someone is putting it all on the line and what it takes to do that.

Entrepreneurs and any of you who are itching to rock your genius, be ready to stick through those times when you have to stand alone.  Seek out the support of those who will come back to stand by you and who will believe that, ultimately, your heart is in the right place.

Perfection isn't an option and, for some, neither is standing on the sidelines.  Put those two things together and, occasionally, you're going to have some very public mess-ups.  Can you handle it?

Update on March 11, 2010 by Amber Singleton Riviere

There are going to be things that challenge you.  Know this.  If you put out to the universe that you believe in something, it will send you tests to see how truly you believe it, and the universe doesn't waste any time.  I posted this last night, and by early afternoon today, I had been challenged, but I'll say that I still stand by this opinion.

As Doc Holliday said, "My hypocrisy only goes so far."