Party Time (Excellent!).
Thirty years ago, on Saturday Night Live, Tom Hanks played a roadie for the band Aerosmith in a beloved Wayne's World sketch.
(Having my dream-business means I have time to re-watch my favorite 90's pop-culture when I want to. I love being a solopreneur!).
In short: Wayne & Garth lose their minds as they get to interview Aerosmith on their basement-produced show. ("We're not worthy!!")
What starts with asking “whether those are Stephen Tyler's real lips” evolves into a debate among the rockers about the decline of communism in Eastern Europe, and whether “historically, there's never been a blueprint for the dictatorship of the proletariat, dude.”
It's comedy gold.
During the commercial break, Tom Hanks went to congratulate Mike Myers ("Wayne") on how well the sketch he'd written had gone over. The audience was still laughing. It was a total victory.
Mike was off in a corner, weeping.
SNL lore holds that he cried because he thought the sketch should have gone more perfectly.
But Tom Hanks clarified that Mike Myers knew the sketch was terrific. He was just feeling the emotional crash of relief after all the incredible pressure he'd been carrying up until that moment.
Myers was early in his SNL career at that point, still trying to prove himself. He wasn't yet a movie star, oozing “Yeah, Baby, yeah!” as Austin Powers, or even damning the KFC Colonel “who puts a secret ingredient in his chicken that makes me crave it fortnightly!” in So I Married an Axe Murderer. No Bohemian Rhapsody in a car yet. No Shrek.
SNL was already a pressure-cooker to work in, but having the star power of both Aerosmith and Tom Hanks in a sketch he was writing and starring in was overwhelming. It was a HUGE risk. (One that worked, thankfully).
As he cried, he was releasing the weight of all the fear he'd been holding.
Have you ever felt that way?
Business involves so many risks, big and small.
It means taking big steps out of your comfort zone; the weight of perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and all those other pressures can feel like too much at times.
A couple of things I want you to take from this story:
First, it helps to have support. I can't send Tom Hanks to pat you on the back, but I have some coaching options (including an upcoming group-mastermind in September) available.
Secondly, think about how scared Mike Myers was-- but how far he went in his career after taking those risks, and how much fun he had in the process.
–I mean, people like me still quote his characters to this day (even if Gen-Z peeps look at me funny when I say, “I just want some frickin' sharks with frickin' laser-beams attached to their heads!").
You can have your dream business.
No way...
WAY!
(Ok, I'll “shhhh!” myself now).