Is Your Stand-up Comedy “Posse” Holding You Back?
I am a firm believer that your success in any endeavor—including stand-up comedy or public speaking—is directly related to the people who you associate with, both on a personal and professional level
The stand-up comedy “community” is no different than any other with regards to peer pressure and an abundance of folks willing to give advice that simply doesn’t fall into the “useful” category.
And like in any other community, there are far more people who are willing to “tear a person down” in order to build themselves up than there are folks who are truly supportive and appreciative of the success of another or to help someone reach their goals.
There’s a fairly common saying in the South that goes like this:
“If you want to be a better pool player, you need to start playing pool with people who are better at it than you are.”
There is a legendary story about a conversation between the world famous Tony Robbins and Mark Victor Hansen, where Mark was sharing with Tony how he just couldn’t seem to surpass the $1 million per year mark in income.
Tony then asked “How much do the people make per year that you hang out with?”
Mark said “About the same as me.”
That’s when Tony said “There’s your problem. If you want to make more money, you need to be associating with those who are making more money than you.”
And that’s what Mark did and the rest is history.
The important aspect of this story is not about income—it’s about your associations with those who are more successful. This same concept can be applied to stand-up comedy success.
So, the questions that I would ask are:
– Are you hanging out with headliners or open mikers?
– Are you associating with people who build you up, tear you down or simply don’t care at all?
– Are you associating with people who are willing to help you reach your stand-up goals or do they always seem to have a reason why you will never be able to reach your dreams and goals?
– Do the people you hang out with have a positive attitude or are things always going wrong for them, dragging you down into the depths of their personal or professional quagmire?
Everybody is familiar with the potential negative consequences when someone “gets in with the wrong crowd” and starts having trouble with law enforcement.
But I submit to you that you don’t have to be at that level for your friends and acquaintances to have a negative effect on you, your goals, your dreams and ambitions.
Friends, family and associates DO have tremendous influence on each of us, whether we want to admit it or not.
I’m certainly not here to tell you who to hang out with.
But if you find yourself stuck and not really reaching your goals…
I would certainly recommend that you take the time to reflect on who you are hanging out with and consider if they may be holding you back.
Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny For Money
About the Author/Founder of the SCP Blog
Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and is a globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development and presentation strategies -- for entertainers as well as speaking professionals.Please check out the Featured Articles page for direct links to articles on this blog for pro comedians, comedy entertainers, and speaking professionals.
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Tagged with: Public Speaking • stand up comedy • stand-up comedy success • tony robbins
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This is exceptional advice. Surrounding yourself with good influences is solid advice in any profession. But it’s even more important in stand-up comedy where you will find yourself surrounded be comedians, websites and expert sources that focus on what’s wrong with everyone else around then as opposed to how you can improve and advance your career.
Shayne Michael´s last blog ..Bad Ways To Pull Over For A Cop
Once I had the opportunity to speak with a young fellow (probably in his late 20’s or early 30’s) who was a manager of a comedy club. He spent time complaining to me that every comic who came thru his major metro city comedy club would hang out with him and the staff after the show ended. Everyone except Tim Allen who he was convinced felt he was too good to hang out with staff. Now this was right before Allen had his tv show, so this story goes way back.
However, I’m older and have been in the business world longer than this young chap and knew immediately why Allen didn’t hang out with the staff afterwards. It had to do with his focus…and probably his desire to stay fresh and not wake up dead tired after a night of probably drinking and hanging out.
So, your article makes total sense to me and, I hope, everyone else that’s younger that is reading it. Thanks for the article as it’s right on the money in my eyes.