Monday, September 17, 2012

Inch by Inch

My father has had his own small business for almost forty years. He survived the startup years, gone through seasons of bounty and seasons of famine, and now looks retirement. Many of his employees have been with him almost as long. My brother started his small business almost twenty years ago. Working internationally he's bridged language and cultural barriers and worked at odd hours to coincide with a client's time zone while weathering economic shifts, domestically and globally. So it only seems fitting I, too, would start my own business.

Radiologie is the beginning of a dream come true. I worked for several production companies back in my freelance days, and kept mental notes of how they ran things. Good and bad. What projects they choose, the vibe they established, the organization of their projects. I've waited to implement the things I learned. I've waited to give eager young kids the same opportunity given to me. I've waited to be paid for what I love. But I've learned filing your name with the state, getting a landline for your office, and metaphorically opening your doors for business is just dipping your toe in the entrepreneurial waters. I started the company to write, produce, and direct yet I spend most of my days working sales. Cold calls and emails, networking with past contacts and creating new ones, and negotiating short term deals for long term hopes, wondering when the next paycheck will come. I'm learning a whole new kind of perseverance. The dream will not be handed to me, it must be fought for. Everyday I must resist self-doubt, rejection, and disappointment, which is extremely exhausting day after day, just so I can handle the things before me. It's a lot like marriage. Success is more dependent on my commitment than my feelings.

 

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