Nice guys always finish last. For years (and years) I have said that I, unfortunately, have had to learn that the hard way, meaning, firsthand. Although mind you, I certainly won’t apologize for leading with my heart and being nice to people.
While it’s true that in business you do need to think with your brain and not your heart or you’ll end up broke, I think it’s awfully tough to criticize someone who is kind, honest, thoughtful, polite, and, well, just always trying to do what’s right.
You will, of course, be in the minority, unfortunately, as you can throw a stone and hit a dishonest person – and the street you’re walking down doesn’t have to be all that crowded, I should add.
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Someone recently told me that they know someone who took a class at an Ivy League school and, as a result, puts down that they went to that college. It doesn’t say they graduated from there and technically, yes, they did go there, but, if there’s this level of dishonesty, how much deeper does it go?
As a performer when you include in your bio that you “shared the stage with (insert headliner’s name here)” when, in fact, you went on at 4:00, and then other opening acts played at 5:00, 6:00, and 7:00, before that headliner finally took the stage at 8:00, guess what? You didn’t “share the stage” with them. Way back on Episode 59 of my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast, singer/songwriter Whitney Doucet told me about (heck there’s a picture there of) when she did a duet with Keith Urban during one of his concerts. Guess what? She absolutely shared the stage with him.
In my interview tips course, I make mention that once you get yourself interviewed on, say, the NBC affiliate in the city where you live, you can/should promote that you were on that station. That means that you use that station’s logo, not just the general NBC logo. You weren’t on NBC Television nationally, so don’t misrepresent what it really was.
As a podcast host who does interviews, I will ask you – because I saw you list it – about when you went to that Ivy League school or when you shared the stage with (insert headliner’s name here) or when you were on NBC. Don’t be put in a position where you have to backpedal and say, “Well, what that really was…” and immediately get discredited.
I find that national anthem performers seem to like putting their own spin on things too. “(artist’s name) has routinely performed in front of crowds upwards of 20 thousand people,” they’ll write. Like the Ivy League school example above, yes, okay, you got me. They really did perform in such an environment, but it was the national anthem before a pro sporting event. If someone asks you, “Were you the headliner or the opening act,” and you have to say, “No, actually, I sang the national anthem before a (team nickname) game,” don’t you think they’ll answer politely but in their head think “Psshh”?
Am I saying that the average consumer should question everything? Not necessarily, but don’t give the public reason to doubt. More importantly, keep in mind the people that you’re doing business with and/or want to do business with because word travels fast and, as I recently blogged about, it really is a small world after all. You don’t want it to be that your reputation (as someone who really embellishes the truth) precedes you.
Remember, you want the opportunities to add up, not start dropping off.
Are you someone who (quietly) struggles with being guilty of all this? Do you wish you had help with finding an accurate way to represent what you HAVE done? For almost 20 years now I have been helping indie music artists, authors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, and small business owners from around the U.S. and would love to share my experience with you to keep you moving forward. Let’s get on a call to sift through what you’ve done and how best to position it.