I once had a conversation with an actor who wanted to write a book about public speaking. I’ll call her Gloria, even though that’s not her name. Gloria had figured out, thanks to years of professional training and experience, how to be comfortable on stage while remaining deeply connected with an audience. She used this skill set to teach regular people how to overcome the fear of looking stupid, or forgetting their lines, or whatever it is that gets in the way of speaking in front of a crowd. (As if I don’t suffer from this as well.) In fact, she’d developed a framework to get amazing results for her pupils.
Now, Gloria had just come home from a public speaking workshop hosted by a big name in the industry. This host had hundreds if not thousands of people paying her beaucoup bucks for her expertise. At this event alone, there were close to 800 participants working on becoming far more natural on stage.
Gloria couldn’t figure out why the host was so popular, particularly since she used sub-par techniques and was for shit as an actor. It really bugged her that the host was enjoying massive success while she, the far more experienced of the two, had yet to break free of the community adult education gigs.
I think this jealousy thing, which is what Gloria was experiencing, can be a marvelous catalyst. Jealousy can force you to get your act together as a businessperson. Force you to think about what it takes to get a real following–a group of people who will benefit from your framework, rave about it, and pay you for it.
Not just think about it, but take action.
Because, you can be a great actor, writer, therapist, physician, lawyer, or whatever, but operating a profitable business that serves those clients, well, that’s a whole n’other ball of wax.
Maybe this evolution from technician to businessperson begins by recognizing that what you have–wisdom, insights, experience, lessons, and a tried-and-true process–is valuable, even more so than what’s currently all the rage in the marketplace.
Then understanding that you must do something to place yourself in the limelight. That this doesn’t happen simply because you’re good at what you do.
In other words, you’ve got to choose yourself. No one else will do it for you.
A book is a very good way to do this.
A book can not only position you in the market, establish credibility and authority, it can be the gateway into your world, one filled with other products and highly profitable offerings. Like the egregious public speaking event Gloria complained about.
So here’s the takeaway. You can be a great technician. But unless you grow your business chops, you will get lost in the crowd. You don’t need to experience jealousy to start.
