The Nerdist Way_ How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life) - Chris Hardwick [84]
CAPTURE THE MALL
“I fell off a carousel as a child, and the resulting surgery removed my ability to picture malls.” How many times have you heard this excuse? Take a picture of your local mall’s directory, print it out, and write over each of the store categories the jobs that you have or want. (Alternatively, you can make it a Charactercize and draw your own in your Character Tome.) This approach will not only help you generate work by forcing you to be specific, but it will also help you feel more in control of your destiny, which is, of course, to own everyone.
COMANAGING YOUR STORES
At the writing of this book, I’m also working on a handful of other projects and managing several stores at my mall: my current TV shows Web Soup and Attack of the Show, a network of podcasts, the Nerdist site, a Nerdist TV pilot, an animated TV pilot, a web interview show, two other TV shows I’m about to pitch, the setup of Nerdist Industries at Meltdown Comics, and stand-up (always with the stand-up). One simple concept has afforded me the opportunity to work on several projects at once, and if you care about creating a small empire in whatever field gives you brain-boners, you should tattoo it on your eyelids (side note: Do not actually tattoo this on your eyelids): COLLABORATE OR DELEGATE. That’s it. That’s the key to being a fancy multihyphenate. Collaborate with experts outside your area of knowledge or hire someone to work under you. It doesn’t require a ton of money—collaboration is usually free and it is surprisingly inexpensive to pay someone on a freelance basis to cover things that would otherwise be dominating your time and spirit. Also it affords you the opportunity to learn about new areas of expertise. No cash? No problem! Partner with other folks and split the profits fifty-fifty. Are you experienced in a field? Take on an apprentice or intern! In return for his or her services you will provide valuable experience that will help them break into their chosen field.
As a self-centered only child, I was under the impression that, when it came to work, I had to do everything myself. (That is, in AD Chris Hardwick years, where AD = After Drinking.) Granted, there was a fair amount of control freakism at play, but I also thought there was greater glory in being the one-man band. There’s a one-man band guy down at Santa Monica Pier. He has a guitar, and when he strums, it shakes a tambourine while the neck hits a symbol and his foot plays a kick drum. He doesn’t seem like he feels too glorious. The truth is, if you try too hard to be doing EVERYTHING, you don’t ever really focus on the most important thing, which should be the quality of your work. Kinda like one of those all-in-one printer/fax/scanners you got for the “Bytes and Bits” section. Sure, they do it all, but they don’t really do any of it especially well. Their resources are spread thin and too focused on managing the energy required to cram a bunch of disparate things into one space rather than perfecting the output of any one job.
COLLABORATE FOR FUN AND PROFIT
Don’t make the mistake of getting caught up in menial tasks you don’t care about just because you have to be some kind of work martyr or control czar. Also don’t waste trying to work in areas that are not your expertise (unless you really, really desire to learn a new skill). Collaboration opens you up to pretty much ANY field you’ve always wanted to try. Success in your life can come just as much from spotting talented people and forming partnerships. I’m not talking about seizing someone, exploiting their talents, and then taking credit for it—it’s a two-way street. If you procure someone’s services in a particular area you have