Jack
Canfield’s words are ringing in my head, “Oh What the Heck, Do it Anyway”
“I’m
scared.”
“What the
heck, do it anyway.”
But I’m not
good, enough, talented enough, accurate enough, organized enough, you know the
drill….”
“Oh what the
heck, do it anyway.”
Have you
ever felt this way?
I have a
manuscript I've had in the works for over 20 years. Not continually of
course. Once I won $50.00 for an excerpt of it, but that was for second place.
I figured I could do better. Besides I didn’t have an ending, or enough words,
or it wasn’t written well enough—all those things. Well it’s complete at 50,000
words. One publisher will take 50,000 words. Some want the “sweet zone” of
90,000.
“Oh what the
heck, send it anyway.”
It’s a love
story.
What are you trying to do but are
afraid to put out there?
“Oh what the heck, do it anyway.”
I once read
that we ought to have a dream bigger than we are. Walt Disney dreamed of Epcot Center,
Disney World in Florida, but he never saw it.
Walt Disney went
bankrupt more than once, and he heard “no”
from virtually everybody that he spoke to when he first came up with the idea
of Mickey Mouse. They thought his idea of a cartoon about a mouse was one of
the dumbest things they had ever heard. In fact, when he went to banks to get
funding for his first Walt Disney theme park, he was turned down and rejected
by 302 bankers before someone finally believed in what he had to offer.
So where did he get the money?
Well, only ABC was willing to partner
with him. Disney would produce a weekly family television program for ABC. In
return, ABC would invest $500,000 in the creation of Disneyland and would own
roughly 34% of the new enterprise. The weekly show would consist of an update
on the construction of Disneyland and a short movie, all hosted by Walt Disney
himself. Disney understood that the public would enjoy the show itself while
also sitting through what would now be considered an hour-long commercial for
Disneyland. The show went on to be known as “The Wonderful World of Color” and
then “The Wonderful World of Disney.”
Also Disney convinced consumer product companies that if the
public encountered their brands at Disneyland, they would associate those
products with the fun they had during their visit. Some of the first companies
to sponsor the park were Coca Cola, Swift, Frito-Lay, Pendleton, Gibson
Greeting Cards, TWA, and Eastman Kodak. Originally, these companies owned
shares in Disneyland, but once it started to turn a profit, Disney bought those
shares back, until the only owners were the Disney Company and ABC.
If you go to Disneyland, however, you will still see those
brands.
Gosh I think of # The Golden Horseshoe, and while eating a ham
and cheese sandwich along with Fritos
and a Coke we almost fell off our
chairs while the duel of the deaf signer and the singer raged. The signer
would up the speed and jokes while the poor signer for the deaf, almost
fell over in exhaustion.
Ta Da
“Do the Thing You Fear and
The Death of Fear is Certain”
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
