What is Success?

We all struggle over the idea of what success means. 

Do we define it, do we allow others to define it for us?

Do we judge ourselves against social media influencers who show a curated view of their lives or against our friends and foes alike to see if we feel better or worse about ourselves depending on how they are living?

No matter how you are doing, financially, emotionally, or romantically, you will always have moments when you question if you are not just reaching your potential but are living up to the vision of your life in your head. 

We are trained to measure ourselves against a hundred different standards and it’s impossible to live up to all of them. Now that we are in a ‘hustle’ culture where people are tapping out of the workforce to try to have more control over when they work and what they do, things are even more different than ever before. We hear people decry how NO ONE WANTS TO WORK when really, they are all still working, but they just aren’t where we feel they need to be to serve us. 

In my heart I know what big, big success would look like for me and that’s in being able to live off of my personal creative endeavors. 

It hasn’t happened and I don’t expect it to but the hope and dream is always there. 

The lower ones are to have people care about and attend the events I put together and to have people care about and purchase the books and art I create. 

Attainable goals, depending on what I expect out of it. 

It’s interesting though when you see what others expect from themselves and what success means to them.

It isn’t for me to judge them, and I try not to, but it’s hard not to when you see people who are just getting into writing setting the expectation that they’ll, say, make a thousand dollars or more a month on book sales.
That’s crazy. 

You’d have to get very lucky in hitting your niche and that market PERFECTLY, or you happen into a hot subject and ride that wave. 

It’s really sustainable though because unless you’re suddenly a ‘name’ author people won’t necessarily flock to your other work. 

I always look at it like this – with my books on a market like Amazon I’d have to get blindly lucky to have someone that is open to a new book/author find me, be interested, and purchase the book out of the millions for sale. 

That’s why I always liked doing shows and events because it let me sell my books and get in front of people. I will always hope for the best with my books and art but I also understand that it’s all a work in progress and is one step forward three to the side. 

I understand that much about things. 

Just like the shows I put on. 

People have to be interested in the show, be free for it, and remember to come out to it. That’s at LEAST three things that have to it for that ONE person to make it out. 

Their not coming doesn’t mean I was a failure or the show was, just like people coming out ONCE for that one show and never again doesn’t mean I am doing successful shows. 

It’s all in building your ‘brand’, for lack of a better term. 

While you control how you view your success, you also have to own it. 

Good and bad. 

It’s hard out there now with so many people getting into the arts as part of that push towards hustle culture and there is more competition than ever. Now that self-publishing isn’t seen as wholly self-serving and masturbatory more and more people are doing it, which means competition – good and not so good – is more prevalent. There are more casual photographers out there. There are more digital artists. More filmmakers. More home musicians. 

There are some that want to get famous and rich, sure, but there are also a lot of people who finally feel they can afford to spread their wings and become more creative. 

That’s great. 

It also makes for a hard market. 

Here, in Flint, people love art but don’t respect it enough financially. They’ll pay good money for a piece of mass-produced art but won’t spend anywhere close to the same price for an original 1:1 piece of art bought directly from an artist. 

It’s crazy. 

It’s hard to feel you’re a success when you don’t see money coming in, see people at your concerts, or have people streaming your music or movies. 

It’s like we made it easier to create but harder to reach the people it’s made for. 

It’s maddening. 

All you can do is keep it all in perspective. 

To understand that all of it is a journey, not a race, and that while you may never become rich and famous, it doesn’t mean you aren’t creating impactful and important work people adore. 

I had a friend who was a musician and was never known globally and never famous beyond the places he called home. What he was though was someone who inspired with his music, kindness, and support. He is gone now but he succeeded in leaving his mark on people with his music and who he was and while he never saw it, that’s more important than any amount of wealth. 

Wealth and fame can be squandered and abused. 

Can be gone just as quickly as it came. 

Success, true success, is to have touched someone with what you do and to make them feel something because of it. 

The money would be great. 

The fame would be fun. 

But if you are true to your vision, and can stick to it long enough to find the people that ‘get’ what you are doing you’ll find that success isn’t nearly as cut and dried as people make it out to be and the strangers we’re chasing are little more than ghosts in the wind. 

…c…

I am successful at being odd. Look around and see for yourself.