Guest post by Brian Carter
Have you seen the More Cowbell sketch from Saturday Night Live? It’s more than just funny. Believe it or not, it’s a powerful metaphor for a successful work life. And it provides insight into the kind of people you need on your team, and what makes an effective team.
Everyone has at least one cowbell — it’s your unique, profitable talent people pay you for or your company\’s unique offering. It’s something people have a fever for. When you discover it and give those people a ton of it, you gain success and happiness for both yourself and others. It’s a win-win.
A cowbell is simultaneously something you love doing and something other people really want as well (although, as we’ll see, you still will have detractors and critics). A cowbell creates joy for you and other people. It makes them yell for more. They can\’t get enough.
The Passion of Your Cowbell Creates Influence
So maybe your cowbell won’t be desired by billions of people — maybe just the people you want to directly affect to achieve your goal … or maybe just your boss (although being desired by your boss sounds a bit icky) … or your parents or your dog.
Frankly, if you can’t get your dog to want you, it might just be time to stash some bacon in your pants.
The point is this: When you’re playing your cowbell with passion, your efforts will create influence. If you choose to not to develop your advantages, you run the risk of being mired in mediocrity.
Microfame Might Just Be Enough Anyway
Does everyone need a billion people to want them? Not at all. The question is: how many is enough?
I’m an avid fan of indie rock and obscure bands. Some bands that are unknown on radio and TV still have a remarkable online followings. For example, The Joy
Formidable, a bombastic three-piece from Wales, has more than 140,000 Facebook fans. But odds are you’ve never heard of them.
Comedian Paul F. Thompkins has a podcast and cult following all over the country. He’s toured theaters for years with the arrangement that if his fans can get 150 people to buy tickets, he will come and perform for them.
This is microfame. But for the artists, there’s nothing micro about it. Making enough money to live and getting to perform their art is more than enough success for them.
Sure, some of us want U2-level success. But not many can achieve that. For example, the average rock band member makes just $50-100 per show. But if your primary goal is to play for audiences, that may be all you need.
When you find the thing you offer that people have a fever for and give them a ton of it, they pay attention to you, they love you, and you have personally meaningful success.
The Power of Asking With Vulnerability
If you haven’t seen Amanda Palmer’s TED Talk, check it out.
She asks people for help or money, and she’s successful because of her cowbell of being extremely vulnerable. A combination of street performing, crowd surfing, and rock band touring led to one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns ever. Her goal was $100,000. She received funding from 24,000 people for a whopping $1.2 million. Yes, more than a million dollars. That’s only $50 per person on average. Her cowbell is asking with vulnerability, and she accomplished something amazing with crowdsourcing and crowdfunding, but she learned the basics from street performance.
The arts is a tough path. You might be a great musician, but the percentage of these that become wealthy is relatively small. The same is even truer for painters.
Artistpreneurs Show How To Get Paid To Do What You Love
Let’s go back to Paul F. Thompkins, the comedian who agrees to perform if the number of tickets sold hits 150 or more. It’s not unrealistic to guess he can gross $1,000 to $2,250 per show. A comedian like this could gross six figures a year without really even being famous.
What if you couch-surfed your way through your first few years of development as an artist, and grew your network in part because you stayed at people’s houses? That’s an interesting strategy. Check out couchsurfing.org and give it a shot!
Our fears are not of not surviving, but of mediocrity and powerlessness. We want to be empowered to win. We want to stay ahead. That’s how we stay above water and surf the big waves.
In our opinion, if you’re just keeping up, you’re actually falling behind. As Garrison often says, treading water is definably not swimming; it’s simply controlled drowning.
So find your cowbell and forge your path- it’s the way to getting just enough fame and support to get paid to help people doing the thing you most love.
This post is an excerpt adapted by Brian Carter from the forthcoming book The Cowbell Principle: Career Advice On How To Get Your Dream Job And Make More Money, by Brian Carter and Garrison Wynn. Brian and Garrison will be giving away a limited number of digital copies at launch time. To get notified when they’re available, sign up at http://thecowbellprinciple.com/getnotified