Quote #52

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”
– Cyril Connolly

In preparing a post for my other blog (the one I don’t like as much as I like this one) I remembered that in my college communication and speech class we learned that it is imperative that you know your audience.

I think, though, that too many entertainers, writers, and producers are not doing what they love as much as they are doing what their audience loves in order to get more money. They aren’t just knowing their audience, they are trying to cater to their audience without starting with what drives themselves first.

It’s the reason that many bands lose their original fan base when they sign big record deals. It’s the reason that small business that grow into large corporations often fail to maintain a human touch in their customer relations.

If you are doing what you do for your own personal, non-financial reasons, then you’ll be happy and anyone who also loves what you do will continue to love you. If you try too hard to make people love you and spend money on you then you lose touch with yourself and you lose big in the end.

Though I don’t usually put links or other fancy doodads in this blog, I’m going to make an exception for this excellent TED talk about inspiring others by starting with “why” you do what you do. It’s almost twenty minutes long, but well worth it for anyone interested in leadership, business, or doing what you love for yourself and expanding a business around that idea.