The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

This week’s them is DISCOMFORT. And I am invoking The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to help us dig deep.

Oh, yeah… we’re going there. Sure you missed me that much?? 😜

Somewhere along the line, the notion of “hard work” became a four letter word in entrepreneurship. At every turn, I hear guru types telling you to “take it off your plate” or “you shoudn’t have to do that.” Insert scratchy record noise. What?? Maybe you’re fortunate enough to have Series A funding, but the rest of us mere mortals build from the ground up… like most solid structures in this world.

Who said working hard for your dreams isn’t also FUN? It’s totally worth it. You don’t have to kill yourself doing it, but there is a very real element of very hard work that goes along with achieving your dreams. I swear I work 10 times harder now than I ever did in my traditional career… and how funny that I don’t feel like I’m working.

Discomfort, my friends, is a construct in your mindset.

Let’s take a look at Midge Maisel, shall well? She’s a SUPER privileged human who is also in service to everyone but herself, on auto-pilot, until the day her husband’s ego cracks and she’s suddenly thrust into the reality of real life. (Or, as real as a fictional story will allow… it is an episodic show after all. 🤷🏻‍♀️)

When Midge realizes it’s not her husband who has the gift of stand up comedy… it’s HER 🦄… this is when the wake up call begins. The first thing she realizes is that there’s still work, even when you have talent. And you’ll need help along the way. Raise your hand if Susie is your favorite person on this show! 🙋🏻‍♀️

Yes, your girl here did a stint at open mics in her LA days… trust me when I say, if you want to get over any fears in entrepreneurship, just do 5 minute sets to cold audiences and you’ll get over that reeeaaaal quick. 😅 In the process of developing a 5 minute set, you do what we actually do in business… you do your market research.

You write and you test. Quickly. Emphasis on quickly. The more open mics you can attend, the more material and variations on your material you can then test. Jokes bomb all the time. All. The. Time. You get over it. You stay in the discomfort because that is where you find the sweet spot.

Sometimes the difference is in the timing of how you say the words. Sometimes the difference is in the order of the words. And sometimes you discover you need entirely new words. The point is, you stop thinking about you, yourself, and you some more.

You start thinking about your audience.

Are they laughing?

Do they care?

How am I delivering my material to this audience tonight?

This is where the analogy of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel meets our world of entrepreneurship. Midge does The Work. She even takes a job at a department store beauty counter to supplement the changes in her life so that she can pursue The Work. She creates space in her life for The Work… because it’s her true love.

When you’re an entrepreneur, you are like a stand up comedian at the mic. It’s you and your audience and 5 minutes of empty air time that needs to be filled. You walk up to the microphone and you take a deep breath and you feel your CEO Pants and you… begin The Work of engaging with your audience.

Can you pass this off to someone else? Can you ignore the data points that you’re collecting?

No. No, you cannot.

Are you gonna get uncomfortable doing it? Will you bomb a few times?

Yes. Yes, you probably will.

So ask yourself… do you know how to build your 5 minute entrepreneur set? Are you trying to delegate or put off the process of building The Work because of temporary discomfort? What is the REAL cost from avoiding your discomfort?

The Workflow Party is designed to help you build your equivalent to a solid comedy special.

There is real logic to this process so that you can spend time in your intuitive spaces… and simply be YOU.

But when you have to spend your spare energy thinking about HOW to deliver your services, you’re not showing up in your fullest expression.

When I built The Workflow Party, it came from this spirit of stand up comedy.

You create a logical plan.

You test it.

You refine it.

You deliver it.

But not everyone knows how to do this intuitively. That’s why Midge has Susie. She’s Midge’s manager but also her guide and the person who gives Midge honest perspective when it matters most.

I would LOVE to see you at The Workflow Party… and be the Susie to your Midge.

👯‍♀️