A few weeks ago, I wrote a short post called There’s Never a Perfect Time that caught a little fire with people. Some of the comments I received where so great that I’ve decide to have some fun with the concept. In this post, I’ll completely turn that idea around and spank its ass.
While there’s never a perfect time to do the things I listed in the earlier thought, there’s also always a perfect time to do the things I’m throwing out below. But notice that in both instances, the overriding theme is “a perfect time”.
Timing really is everything. You can screw yourself royal by not choosing the time wisely for most anything you decide to do. Especially in the following examples, you wouldn’t want to exercise these options 100% of the time (except for the last one), but instead carefully choose when to play these particular cards when it would benefit you greatest. All things in moderation, but all things in their time, too.
Sometimes assuming the expected default role of being the nice-guy starving artist is not a good way to go. In fact, I would submit that it’s never the way you should go… but that’s just me — I don’t like being the victim in any situation, creative or not. Regardless of how you prefer to play it, from time to time you have to grow a pair and be the big-pain-in-the-ass who won’t stand for anything less than intelligence, organization, and cooperation from people who ought to be giving it to you. Whether it’s when a payday comes due, figuring out a working arrangement, or getting after the people who are in your employ, there is a perfect time for you to turn on the Hulk juice and let people know that, in the immortal words of Ron Perlman from Alien 4, you are “not the man with whom to fuck.” This comes in pretty handy, especially when you are being taken advantage of in some way shape or form by anyone at anytime. If you sense the door slamming shut on what you know you are owed or what you deserve, that panicky urge you feel in your chest is usually the little Tony Montana inside of you dying to come out and introduce them you your little friend. Take care to be sure it’s the right card to play, but never feel any inferiority over wanting to fight for what you know you should be getting. There is absolutely a perfect time and place for being the biggest demanding bastard in the room. The trick is to know when that perfect time has presented itself.
As Creatives, we say “yes” way too much. I’ve written about this here before, and it remains even truer a year later. As a people group, Creatives seem hard-wired to be “yes” men and women because we always think that the opportunity that is before us is the last one we will ever be presented with. Stupid. That’s how a lot of Creatives get themselves ensnared in bad deals. As if the world of Creativity is going to dry up tomorrow if we don’t jump on this one big thing. A wise executive at a major studio who happens also to be a friend said to me once, “Dude, this ain’t the last project this studio will do, and it doesn’t have to be the first project you do with this studio, either. Just tell me what your gut is telling you.” God, if that wasn’t being let off the hook with a bit of gentle truth, I don’t know what would be. The plain truth is that you never have to say “YES” to something you aren’t feeling, and more often than not the people you are contemplating saying “YES” to would rather you didn’t if it’s not the right thing in your heart. They need your best effort, not your best answer. As with a lot of things in our world, this all comes down to fear. If you are feeling like you need to say “YES” to something for fear of what will happen if you don’t, that’s almost always a surefire sign that you are about to make a huge mistake. Abstain at all costs. A “NO” to the wrong thing usually is followed by an opportunity for a “YES” to the right thing.
You never need to decide right now. If anyone ever tells you they need an answer right this second, they are either lying or it’s not a good opportunity. Nobody needs ANYTHING right this second. Ever. In fact, that combination of words should be one that completely tunes you out if you are a savvy business person even in the least bit. When people start making time-based demands — not deadlines, mind you, but time-based demands — like “Time is running out! You need to act quickly!” or “This deal is only for today, and then it will be gone!” or the legendary “It’s now or never!”, they are almost always lying through their grimy crooked teeth. It’s a marketing technique to get you to bite today and it’s totally designed to work in the favor of the person making the pitch. People criticize me all the time for taking a long time to make major decisions, but it’s because I learned at a young age that if anyone ever gives you an ultimatum it’s almost always because they don’t want you to have enough time to figure out you are getting screwed. Take your time, be cool, and keep your composure. Let those people who are badgering you know that [insert aforementioned Ron Perlman line here] and that you’ll be back tomorrow to talk through whether this deal is good enough for you or not. Don’t be a jerk, don’t be rude, just be honest. Someone has to — and if it was them, they’d be telling you to take your time, be cool, and come back tomorrow, that your business is worth their wait.
You read that right. I said “aren’t”. That’s because some of you are wasting incredibly precious time worrying about worthless shit that has no bearing on your career whatsoever. Like gear. Who. Fucking. Cares. If you put in half the time on your music than you do talking about this gear or that gear on forums and on Facebook, you’d be a helluva a lot better composer than you are now. Sorry, but it’s true. Your music is suffering the longer you worry about 32-bit versus 64-bit, Mac versus PC, or Cubase versus Logic. That shit does not matter. That shit does not matter. [Let me say that again] THAT SHIT DOES NOT MATTER. Different than the other things I’ve mentioned so far, the perfect time to quit wasting brain cells on needless idiotic conversations and threads about stuff that isn’t helping your career… is NOW. Today. Yesterday. Friggin’ last week! Hey, I have an idea… if you want to be a pro painter, start painting. If all you have is a twig and some elderberries, mash that shit up and throw it on a canvas and see what happens! If you write music, go to the community church down the street and write a sonata on a Saturday afternoon. Toss 5 bucks in the offering plate on your way out as a thank you for a well-tuned Baldwin upright. I mean, do whatever it takes to start doing the deal. Sitting on your ass with a jar of peanuts on a folding chair in a Facebook chat room is not moving you one inch closer to the goals that you had in mind when you first declared yourself a professional artist.
As an artist, you owe a lot to a lot of people. You owe it to yourself to take care of your body and mind, be creatively authentic and ethical, and never give up on your dreams. You owe it to your family for putting up with and supporting this incredibly annoying habit you have of sacrificing their money and time to pursue something that may or may not pay off in the long run. And… you owe it to each person who has ever given you a shot in the game, no matter how big or how small. If you have ever been given a chance by someone who gave you a start when they really didn’t need to, you can never thank them enough. If you have been given another chance — a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th time — by someone who continually believes in you and supports your talent and art, that person deserves to be mentioned and heralded as often as humanly possible.
There is a man in my life named Tarik. He is someone I trust with my life, a friend that I work with frequently who always has my back and takes really good care of me out in the Hollywood jungle. He’s also a member of my esteemed brain trust. That’s how much I think of this guy. The crazy thing is that Tarik is a film producer, and as such there aren’t a whole lot of things he really needs from me, yet he’s there for me at every turn no matter what. I may not be able to help him by getting him gigs or insuring that he gets involved with cool projects, but I make damned sure that when I have a chance to talk him up to the people I work with, I do it. I tell them the truth — that he’s the best producer I know in movies. Bar none. I talk about how he’ll go the extra mile that most producers won’t to get things perfect and right. Point is, I want to honor what he has done for me and highlight who he can be for others by talking about him in public from a thankful perspective. You can do that too. You might not have the means to really give the people who’ve helped you something you know they don’t already have (it’s that “what do you give the person who has everything?” deal). But… oops… you are a “Creative”, so be one. Get your thinking cap on and figure out a way to honor the folks who constantly put you out there, push your material, and talk you up to people who matter.
The perfect time to do that is as frequently and as loudly as possible.
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