I was so touched by this response to last week’s Boston tragedies that I wanted to share it with you. If you’re not familiar with the tradition, Boston Red Sox fans sing the Neil Diamond song “Sweet Caroline” at every game. After the awful events of the week, Neil Diamond himself showed up to sing his song with the fans. Here’s a video to see it for yourself (and I do recommend you take just 4 1/2 minutes to watch it – it’s very uplifting and inspiring):
What I love about this performance is that he just showed up and did it. If you noticed the lag between his voice and the PA, it is due to the lack of proper audio being set up. He was actually singing along to what was being broadcast instead of getting the sound track through an earpiece. Instead of detracting from his performance, I think it actually enhanced it. Instead of acting like a mega-star and demanding that the equipment be just so, he saw a chance to do something nice for people and took it. He wasn’t concerned that this less-than-perfect performance would be widely broadcast and live forever, his mind was on the people who were benefiting from his presence. Like a true professional, he even adapted to what he had and by the end of the song he sounded pretty good!
This is a great example of focusing on how you can help and serve others without worrying about making yourself look perfect. As solopreneurs, it’s easy to be so invested in your business and how you represent yourself that you don’t end up releasing products and services that people could benefit from. How sad that is!
What would happen to your business if you simply stopped thinking about how you look to others and stopped worrying about looking stupid? What would you do? What products and services would you launch that have been languishing in the wings? Consider taking a leap and releasing those new ideas today and tell me about it in the comments.
I’ve been creating some great art over the last year. However, I’ve only made on sale lately – just before Easter actually – and that’s it. So, over the last week, I’ve had time on my hands enough to watch the Ellen show in the late afternoons and wondered if I could send her some. She has some great and fun people on her show, but I’m not sure her people would allow me to send anything to the studios.
So, I’ve e-mailed them and asked if I could send a set to her… doesn’t hurt to ask. I mean, if she gets another famous person asking her about them, she could point them in my direction and I’d have other people outside Australia talking about my product… people who are part of Hollywood who are using my stuff and here little ol’ me here in Brisbane producing this stuff and sending it out to famous people. Now! That would be great!
Since I’ve begun waiting for a reply on Ellen’s people, I thought to contact somebody closer to home. I’m a big fan of the Aussie soap, ‘Neighbours’, and I found their address and though to post off some of my Crafty Pegs to them to use on the set. So, if I see them being used on the clothes lines in the back yards of the place, I’m going to be totally stoked! And again, there’ll be people who might want them and will ask about who makes them… so therefore I’ll be able to get more customers. Very cool 😀
These things were in my mind for about a month or so before the New Year, but I hestitated to do anything about it because I might sound and look like I’m reaching. However, now I’ve done these things, I feel pretty good about myself. 😀
Mozette that is so awesome! I love that you did something so bold. It cost almost nothing if it doesn’t pay off and if it does WOWEE! I think doing things like this have an innate value in that they build confidence and make it easier to tackle the next challenge.