Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee just might be the best show of all time. I love that show. It's actually how this site began.
Paul King's Pocket Lint was supposed to be me doing the almost exact same thing he does on that show, only local. With local celebrities. People of interest to the local community and all that.
It didn't work. Pivot.
That's what happens when you're me. You make a lot of pivots.
I never really understood those people, even though I've celebrated them, who do that one thing forever and day. Who don't move, change, grow, get restless.
They might get restless, but they don't change.
As I've said before, my father was a factory worker - for life. He painted houses on the side, but that's like saying he was a rocket scientist. I can only recall one or two times he actually did that.
He was a pastor at one point. In the Glorybound singers. Had his own music radio show (which was taped in the basement of our house when I was about 5 years old) and was on TV.
But boil it down, nail it down, seal it, and my dad was a factory worker through and through. Perfectly content to just be nothing more than that.
It's all good.
-
There's a few kinds of workers in the world.
The one's like my dad, who just stay on the job no matter what. He had a few hobbies and instead of doing what he wanted for a living, he used that living to do what he wanted for a hobby. He wanted to sing, be on the radio, be on TV, travel around? The factory would help pay for it.
Many fishermen would fall into this category.
I imagine model train aficionados would as well (who has that as a hobby? I don't know. But I just came across a 2,000 square foot retail location dedicated to it here in my area on accident and was shocked. No really, I turned into the wrong parking lot - and after seeing the sign on the window thought, "oh no ... I HAVE to see this".)
There are workers who find a career - as in a professional career. That's the attorney's and doctor's and the like. They will always do what they do because they spent 90% of their life working to only do that (I do know an attorney that had a mid life crisis and now has an office open in Nashville for his songwriting endeavors - but his kids are still in law school and he's proud of them so that tells me his heart really isn't into the whole 'music thing' - else he would tell those kids to just be them and do whatever they want).
-
The greatest thing in life would be to have a hobby that's an extension of your job. A hobby you can make money with. Because you can either use your main job to pay for your hobby, or you can use it to pay for a hobby that makes money doing what you love.
This is why I like comedians so much.
Comedians spend all their time making other people laugh. They get up on stage, and tell jokes. People laugh. And then they repeat the same jokes somewhere else for an entirely different group of people.
But what separates a comedian from, let's say, an oil rig driller is, an oil rig driller can't go find something else similar, keep doing what he or she is doing, and make even more money.
Comedians can.
Perfect example? Jay Leno.
-
Jay Leno never spent a dime of his Tonight Show money. Not one.
The guy is on TV for over 20 years making $20 or $30 million a year, and every weekend he's at some club in some other part of the world telling jokes.
Telling jokes is what got him the gig. He was a guest comedian on the Tonight Show for years and years. Then he became guest host. Then they offered him the full time gig.
Jay Leno has one of the largest car collections - old car collections - of any private individual. He has so many that he has a warehouse just for them.
Old cars, old motorcycles. Old everything.
Not one dime from his millions that he made on the Tonight Show was spent on that collection. What did he pay for them with? Touring money. His "main gig".
It's the gig he's making money with now -- telling jokes onstage all over the country.
The Tonight Show was just a blip in history for him. He didn't set out in the 70's saying, "boy, if I could only take over the Tonight Show!". No way. He said, "If I tell good jokes and people laugh, I can get paid and will never go hungry".
In the meantime he not only succeeded at not going hungry, he exceeded and turned his main gig into a hobby that made money - The Tonight Show.
-
Everyone needs a side gig. Or two. Believe me, I look for opportunity everywhere and all the time. I'm constantly looking for the side gig.
Jerry Seinfeld had a side gig, it was called Seinfeld. The most revered television show of the last half century. It was a show about nothing. But it always started with Jerry's main gig.
Jerry's "Cars" show is now the side gig to his main gig. He uses it to talk about his main gig - that's why it's called "Comedians in Cars" and not "Dentist in Cars".
He's made money from his main gig twice by taking that gig and then taking on a hobby that makes even more money - Seinfeld, Cars.
-
Today is Labor Day. That's the day we're supposed to celebrate all the people who came before us and kicked butt to unionize and ... um ... blah blah blah. No one cares.
But really what today should be about is reflecting on what we're doing and where we are going when it comes to work.
Are you happy with your main gig? Does you main gig supply you with a side gig? Is it time to start looking for a main gig that will help you find a side gig?
People say, "it's no longer a hobby when you're making money, then it becomes work". I call BS.
Work is good. And if you love it - why not? Do it. You'll want to.
I read a sign one time that said, "Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life" - Amen brother. Amen.
A side gig born of a main gig is the best gig you can get.
It's not the same as the main gig, but it's in the same realm as the main gig and not out of the comfort zone.
-
Labor day.
Jerry Seinfeld has a theory that "all human endeavor is killing time. All of it" (watch the episode of Cars with Brian Regan) - and it just might be true.
He's got that about right - because when it comes to comedy, something he loves, he constantly works on it. He's never killing time, he never stops.
That's kind of how I approach marketing and comedy and Paul King's Pocket Lint and songwriting and businesses and everything else I do or want to do.
There's a word for it: RELENTLESS
What would you be doing if you didn't have to get up and go wherever you have to go tomorrow? Killing time? Or "working" on your hobby. Your main gig. Your side gig.
I encourage you to find a hobby that makes you money by seeking out something you love to do so much you're going to do it anyhow.
When you're going to do it anyhow, no one can stop or stand in your way.
The truth is, your job is nothing but a dead end. A means to an end. I get it. Everyone needs a job and there's no shame in working - none.
But seek out something you love. Or return to what you loved before. And as NIKE says, "Just Do It".
The side gig can be the best gig if it's born from the main gig - the one you love and do for a living. It's a little different than the main gig, but stays within the comfort zone.
With this kind of gig you don't have to do all the chasing for happiness. You will have it. You will be doing what you love and doing what you love on the side.
Imagine a life like that.
Here's something to think about: Other people are doing it.
Offers/Advertising:
White Hot Weight Loss
Regain Sharper Focus and Boost Your Memory
A Ground-Breaking New Diet
The Jesus Diet