"I constantly tweak and move on, peeling back layers of the onion as new ones arrive. If something didn't work - like if I put a dress up for auction and no one was bidding on it - I didn't just assume that no one wanted it. I just tried something else. I rewrote the product description, or swapped out the thumbnail because I thought that maybe people couldn't judge the silhouette correctly from the original picture I'd posted. I never assumed that I'd just done my best job the first time around."
- Sophia Amoruso founder of Nasty Gal
I love the spirit infused in this quote as I'm sure it resonates with many actors and artists. Too often we feel because our first approach didn't go exactly according to plan it's time to hang it up and move on to the next project.
Maybe we shared an excerpt of a play we wrote to a lukewarm response, or the short film we toiled over and spent our own money on didn't get accepted to that festival we had our hearts set on. We might think, What's the use?
I can tell you from my own experience that sometimes people aren't ready for what it is you have to offer. It takes time for people to come around and appreciate your vision.
Perhaps the best example I can think of is Paulo Cohelo's international bestseller, The Alchemist which existed in the shadows of relative obscurity for nearly a decade. Good luck finding someone now who hasn't heard of the book.
The point is to keep throwing ideas against the wall without abandoning the ones still important to you.
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