The next time you think something is out of your reach, put it out of your mind. Set aside the opinion — “what’s the use of trying?” — and put yourself out there.
When I had an interactive agency, we landed the largest project we ever had because the account exec made one last call of the week on a Friday afternoon to a contact unlikely to hire us. They were global in size, we were pea in size. But he landed it and we did fine.
Here’s another example. Vin Scully, the LA Dodgers radio play by play man who is about to retire after 60+ years, tells the story of a simple decision that launched his career. His quote comes from the new issue of VARIETY.
My senior year in college, they published a book that listed every radio station in the United States, the wattage, and the station manager or the general manager. There was a girl on campus, Marguerite, who was a friend of mine — not a girlfriend, but a friend — she would type letters. We sent out 150 letters, to radio stations all the way from Maine to Florida, and in the course of doing them, we came to WTOP in Washington. I said, “Well, we better skip that one.”
Marguerite said, “Why?” I said, “It’s 50,000 watts — that’s the big leagues.” She said — and this dates the story — she said, “Heck, it’s only gonna cost you another 3-cent stamp.” So we sent the letter out. Of all the letters, the 150, I got a return from WTOP saying, “We liked your audition disk, but we do not sign anyone just blindly – you would have to come down here and audition again.”
And I said, “Fine.” So I went to Washington, and I had no thought of being employed there, but I went there and I did my audition and I went home. A couple of days later, I got the call, and they said, “We have a job for you. You would be the summer replacement announcer — as each announcer on staff went on vacation, you would assume all of those duties.” That was a golden opportunity, and again just because the girl said, “Oh, it’s only a 3-cent stamp.” That was the miraculous job that I wound up getting.
