Ever read Chris Brogan’s blog?

Man, that guy says it just the way I want to.

Ever read any Seth Godin? That guy says it better than Chris.

Steven Pressfield says it better than both of them.

They all say it their way.

What’s so great about all of the above creative people is that they have a point of view and know how to express it.

Me and you?

It’s not that we don’t have a point of view. It’s that we haven’t thought it all the way through. It’s still developing.  We’re learning how to move our point of view through the web. We learn with practice.

Right now me and you are starting up. We’re just starting to move away from our own needs and reasons to create something toward filling other peoples’ needs and reasons. Right now, we have inspiration.  We have a vision for this Long Tail Kitchen Table Business of ours. We’re just starting to put some skin in the game, dig our heels in.

How do you start to be the one who says it better? 

You have your models and voices that resonate. I mentioned mine above.

You might disagree, but I say take their words (or as Austin Kleon says, Steal Like an Artist).

Take Chris for example. Everything he creates is steal-enabled. For you. (for me). He wants us to be us,  – our best version. And part of doing that is  figuring out what we need from what he gives. That’s the whole Long Tail Kitchen Table Business model anyway, right?

This is the action to take…

Take that something of Chris’s (or Seth’s or Steven’s) and run it through your point of view and start expressing that. That’s what I’m doing with Chris’s concept of escape velocity. At first it might border on plagiarism.  Who cares. I told Chris I’m doing this. I have the opportunity to converse with him every Sunday via his newsletter. (Sign up here).

The final point is this:

The more and more you practice with the words that resonate, the more it will be your own. More practice equals the closer you discover the you that you’re supposed to be (on the web). With more and more practice, you’ll narrow into yourself.

If you’re doing the work, leave a comment about your experience below.

from the Get To Know Me series.

I’m a family man that wants the best for my family, and more than I had; that wants to reach all of my creative and financial goals, and create opportunities for my loved ones; that wants to burn black holes in the dark memories.

I used to be a teacher. Taught 4th and 5th grade for a decade. Got out of that because I was burned out and even more dissatisfied with the state of the industry. I stopped believing in the system and no longer cared more than my students did. The writing was on the wall. So I left teaching and found internet marketing and to a greater-more-specific degree, content and copywriting as a freelancer, and in-house marketer for names you prob’ly know.

I do earn a full time living and support my family. We’re not hurting like many others are out there. But it’s still not enough. And recently, I have had to ask myself, “What do I really have in all this?”

I don’t have my own traffic, don’t have my own digital assets, don’t have my own email list. I won’t have anything if I don’t wake up tomorrow and do it again, and again and again, etc. I’ve been going nearly five years in this manner, and though it has it’s perks like I never miss my child’s dentist appointments, leave the house at a whim, enjoy an empty gym at Noon, “punch in” at midnight in my long underwear with bed head, and I’ve exceeded my teacher’s income, I still find myself feeling like I’m a flat tire away from disaster.

So where’s the ideal starting point for someone like me (and maybe you too if it applies)?

I have the confidence, the necessary skill set and ability to create my own business (around me as opposed to being in complete service to others). I think the answer is just one day at a time. One blog post at a time. One new connection at a time. One new customer at a time. Doing those things for a long time. It’s like Seth says, “drip, drip, drip.”

With this post, I want you to know the shoes I’m standing in right now. I’m barely out of the starting gates, but I know I can do this, and I’d like for you to know you can too.

Any thoughts?

I know one thing… I’m going to do this before I REALLY have to.

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Succeeding at anything is “seeing” well before you’ve succeeded. “Seeing” that what you do is a form of art.

Doesn’t matter what that art is — from teaching a pre-school class to writing a blog to owning a franchise to going “pro” as a photographer to owning a home business.

Art is work, work is art. Do the work.

At the heart of it though, it’s all the same. “Seeing” is recognizing that you belong just as much as anyone else does. If you can see that you belong — and what you do and why you do it belongs with the rest of the art that’s in the world — then you’ve already arrived. Even if no one else recognizes it.

And if this happens for you… if you can see that your work is art and your art belongs with the rest and the best, then you’re going to make different decisions.

You’ll be much more willing to sacrifice emotionally and economically to keep going. You’ll be willing to stick it out until people “understand” your art, or buy your art, or refer your art to others. You will get through the hoops. It will be worth it.

It’s worth it, but first, please see that what you do belongs.