Reposting (originally posted 8/5/11)
When business (or any other endeavor) becomes difficult or slows down, I am reminded of the advice for surviving a riptide. Stay parallel to the shore, don't fight the "current", preserve your energy, and resume "swimming" when conditions permit.
Decades ago, I was having a conversation with a friend, who was also a celebrity at the time. This person was talking about how difficult it was to be famous, because people didn't want his friendship so much as they wanted a "piece" of him; almost as if his fame was something they wanted to extract from his veins and take a sip... What used to be friendship for him had taken on a sort of parasitic quality that he found very uncomfortable. It was a true psychological burden for him.
I'm no celebrity, and not rich by any means, but I now know that feeling. Having honed a talent that many feel is unattainable for them (although it TOTALLY is!) and almost like magical powers, some clients want and want and want, calling and pushing for more and more and more, even when I explain that I am unavailable. I know that I do not have to carry the weight of this, but modern technology has made everyone so available and reachable, that people often feel it is appropriate to assign urgency to things that simply... aren't. Sometimes things go wrong with projects. It may be my fault, it may be the client's, it may just be more work than expected, it may just be a "riptide" -- but if no one has been wronged financially, we all have to "tread" for a while, and move forward when conditions permit.
When business (or any other endeavor) becomes difficult or slows down, I am reminded of the advice for surviving a riptide. Stay parallel to the shore, don't fight the "current", preserve your energy, and resume "swimming" when conditions permit.
Decades ago, I was having a conversation with a friend, who was also a celebrity at the time. This person was talking about how difficult it was to be famous, because people didn't want his friendship so much as they wanted a "piece" of him; almost as if his fame was something they wanted to extract from his veins and take a sip... What used to be friendship for him had taken on a sort of parasitic quality that he found very uncomfortable. It was a true psychological burden for him.
I'm no celebrity, and not rich by any means, but I now know that feeling. Having honed a talent that many feel is unattainable for them (although it TOTALLY is!) and almost like magical powers, some clients want and want and want, calling and pushing for more and more and more, even when I explain that I am unavailable. I know that I do not have to carry the weight of this, but modern technology has made everyone so available and reachable, that people often feel it is appropriate to assign urgency to things that simply... aren't. Sometimes things go wrong with projects. It may be my fault, it may be the client's, it may just be more work than expected, it may just be a "riptide" -- but if no one has been wronged financially, we all have to "tread" for a while, and move forward when conditions permit.
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