Steve Martin's second comedy album was called "Wild and Crazy Guy". I, along with many of my high school friends, used to have it memorized. In the segment of the album called "Wild and Crazy Guy", he provides a "required" comedian's financial disclosure. As part of that disclosure, he identifies potential concert income. The example goes like this:
In a 3,000 seat hall . . .
- if the ticket price was $3.00, the nightly gross is $9,000
- if the ticket price was $7.50, the nightly gross is $22,500
- if the ticket price was $800.00, the nightly gross is $2,400,000
He then says "This is what I'm shooting for - one show, goodbye!"
In 1978 this was a comedian's version of winning the lottery, I guess. Today in business you still need to think big whether you are in the boardroom or the back room of your small business. This is true because everything takes time. Whether the product or project has big or small potential it still takes the same amount of work, right? So why not focus on the big ones?
This reminds me of a small card I received from a restaurant in San Francisco called Palomino many years ago. It was kind of like the fortune from a fortune cookie. The message?
Be realistic - expect a miracle.
I still have that little card. I keep it on my phone as a constant reminder that anything can happen with hard work, belief in your ideas and a little bit of old fashioned luck or good timing.
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