Seth Godin Pick Yourself

Seth Godin Pick Yourself Seth had a cool post recently called Reject the tyranny of being picked: pick yourself. In the post, Seth talks about the traditional way of doing things (like publishing a book, or getting a record out there), where you had to wait for a publisher or some business or agent or editor to pick you, and your stuff, and then deliver you to fame. In todays internet world, why not just make it happen on your own? He talks about Rebecca Black, who apparently has 15M listeners without the traditional record label. He talks about Amanda Hocking who is making seven figures publishing her own stuff to Kindle, with NO publisher. He says you cant wait for HR to pick you (you already knew that!). What does this mean? It means you stop doing stuff the traditional way and think about how you can PICK YOURSELF. Are you awesome at something? Are you waiting in line, competing with others who are either more awesome OR CHEAPER, for that ONE JOB? Why not start your own thing?  It doesnt have to be big, but it could be big ENOUGH. Maybe big enough to pay your bills. Or big enough to get noticed in your industry so that people are coming to you seeing if youll work for them, instead of competing in that cattle call line. I didnt realize it at the time, but five years ago I picked myself.  I believed in my ability to make this (JibberJobber, etc.) work more than I believed in any employer to figure me out and bring me onboard. It has been HARD. It has been FUN.  It has been REWARDING.  It has been PROMISING.  It has been AWESOME. You know whats cool about picking myself? No one can UNPICK me.  Im here to stay. And in the last five years I have not been laid off.  And I dont worry about that each day, or each week. Im empowered, because I picked myself. More on this later, with the announcement of a new book idea. Seth Godin Pick Yourself Seth had a cool post recently called Reject the tyranny of being picked: pick yourself. In the post, Seth talks about the traditional way of doing things (like publishing a book, or getting a record out there), where you had to wait for a publisher or some business or agent or editor to pick you, and your stuff, and then deliver you to fame. In todays internet world, why not just make it happen on your own? He talks about Rebecca Black, who apparently has 15M listeners without the traditional record label. He talks about Amanda Hocking who is making seven figures publishing her own stuff to Kindle, with NO publisher. He says you cant wait for HR to pick you (you already knew that!). What does this mean? It means you stop doing stuff the traditional way and think about how you can PICK YOURSELF. Are you awesome at something? Are you waiting in line, competing with others who are either more awesome OR CHEAPER, for that ONE JOB? Why not start your own thing?  It doesnt have to be big, but it could be big ENOUGH. Maybe big enough to pay your bills. Or big enough to get noticed in your industry so that people are coming to you seeing if youll work for them, instead of competing in that cattle call line. I didnt realize it at the time, but five years ago I picked myself.  I believed in my ability to make this (JibberJobber, etc.) work more than I believed in any employer to figure me out and bring me onboard. It has been HARD. It has been FUN.  It has been REWARDING.  It has been PROMISING.  It has been AWESOME. You know whats cool about picking myself? No one can UNPICK me.  Im here to stay. And in the last five years I have not been laid off.  And I dont worry about that each day, or each week. Im empowered, because I picked myself. More on this later, with the announcement of a new book idea.