There’s one thing I’ve come to realize in life. It’s not how good someone is, it’s how much they work at it that makes them great.
Case in point, a few years back I auditioned for NBC’s The Voice, and due to my personal, multiple experiences auditioning for the show, I wrote up a post for it for The Mass Invasion, to help those who were looking to audition for the show and had never gone through their audition process (and didn’t read their instructions).
Due to the popularity of the post, and the show, it’s apparent that folks are still game to toss their hat in the ring, and let me tell you something, you don’t even have to be very good. No, seriously, I’m not trying to be insulting or condescending, just sharing some truth.
In the early 2000’s, I signed with an agent by the name of Jadin Wong, who specialized in Asian stage talent. The woman was a legend, who started as a dancer in the 1930’s and became the first Asian woman to grace the cover of Life Magazine. She was a spitfire back when I met her in her apartment some time around 2002. She was in her mid 80’s and, as any good young Asian would, I was respectful and brought fruit: a fresh batch of lychees, particularly because they were really good that season and they were a rare treat.
As we talked business and ate the fruit, I signed her contract as the sounds of the upper west side street traffic rolled by her balcony. In that meeting, she taught me one lesson that has stayed with me in both business and in life and has kept me sane all these years later:
Don’t take anything personally.
She reminded me that in our business, we’re cast/booked to look and play a part that has already been assigned by a director. Those that are paid to cast folks are being told by someone else what kind of “type” they’re looking for. You can be uber talented, but just not the right fit because before you ever walked into that room, they already had a prerequisite of what they were looking for, so if you don’t get it, don’t sweat it.
It was perhaps the most sobering and grounding piece of advice I’d ever received in my life.
Time and time again, I’d go to auditions and saw some incredibly talented people get passed by because they weren’t what the casting agent/producer was looking for.
So if that’s the case, how does anyone achieve greatness?
Be relentless: Persevere, learn to adapt, evolve, but do not give up.
- Kanye West was told he would never be successful as a rapper by Jay-Z while he was producing Jay-Z’s album “The Blueprint”. Years later, Kanye skyrocketed to the top of the charts as an rapper with his hit “Gold Digger”.
- It took the band Queen 4 years before they produced their first hit “Killer Queen” and a year later for their international hit “Bohemian Rhapsody” which broke every rule of popular music in that era.
- It took Stallone over 1500 tries before he was able to get his script “Rocky” green lit, and several more tries after that to convince the studio to let him play the lead role. The film was cost $1M to make and made $200M. Stallone also won the Oscar and Academy Award for Best Screenplay and Best Actor for the film.
I think you’re getting the drift.
A high school buddy of mine wanted so badly to be a recording artist. In our 20’s, he invited me to perform at his shows with him, and asked me to finish the show, saying he knew no one would want to hear him sing after hearing me. He admitted he wasn’t the greatest singer, but that he was a performer, and marketed himself that way. He has since charted on Billboard and was recently a guest at the Grammy Awards this past February.
Being relentless, when you’re looking to be successful, requires knowing how to market yourself, especially when folks around you don’t have a clue on how to market you. Trends have to start somewhere and usually, if you are looking to make a way that hadn’t existed before, you’re going to be that trendsetter, and you will come across resistance. You don’t have to be perfect, realize that, because if you’re waiting to become perfect before you move forward, you will never start, because all artists know one thing: you will never get to perfection.
Project, market, and polish yourself into what you want to be seen as. Think about how you marketing yourself on your resume. If you want to get an interview, you best have a stellar resume to get you in the door, and then sell yourself in the interview to get you that job. Your aspirations are the same thing, but accept that it may take you a long time before you get there and it will take multiple attempts before you get to where you want to be.
Remember these three things:
- Be relentless.
- Don’t take it personally.
- Present what you want to be, evolving along the way.
As Winston Churchill once wrote:
“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never, Never give up.“
He became Britain’s Prime Minister at age 62, during World War II, yet failed the sixth grade.