It’s no secret that my son and I are trying, very hard mind you, to get our business regional and national attention. The fact is that this blog is read internationally as well as nationally. I want to thank all of the readers in China, Japan, Malaysia, Germany, the UK, Portugal, the US, Canada, and several other countries. The hard part about thanking people is that you don’t want to miss anyone, so if I missed you I apologize.
Anyway, we are trying to get our business more exposure. As you know, we buy, sell and appraise comic books and we run a charity called “Comics Help Kids Read” that gets comic books in the hands of kids who are learning to read.
Recently I’ve felt as though we weren’t gaining enough traction and saw that we were actually losing followers on Twitter and Facebook. Being a hard working and ethical person I often look to the universe to somehow reward me for staying on the right path and doing the right thing. In the past this has always been the case. I also look for signs that the universe is listening and look for any possible forms of “feedback” that confirm that it’s “listening".
I got that feedback recently and here’s the story.
I keep notes posted all over my office and bathroom (the two places I spend time thinking) that are motivational and designed to help me with my “self-talk”, the stuff I say to myself in my head.
Oh, don’t tell me you don’t talk to yourself in your head. You give yourself feedback constantly. Things like, “I look terrible in this shirt” or “Why couldn’t I get that thing to work?”. That kind of stuff.
Having read that your “self talk” is very important I keep these notes hanging all over the place and my wife puts up with it. I want to remind myself to think positive. To put those positive vibes out into the universe.
Then I check to see if the universe is listening.
It sounds freaky and new-ageish, if new-age is even a term anymore, but it’s not. It’s being written about more and more that what you say to yourself is important and what you think changes your life.
I recently started a business partnership with someone to do something outside the comic book industry. Like you, I need income so I needed a revenue stream to keep a roof over my head. But in doing so the doubts hit me. Shouldn’t I stay focused on one thing? Shouldn’t I stick with the comic book business and keep pushing until it takes off? I admit I was really torn. It’s no secret that my wife has cancer and if I don’t have income I can’t take care of her and my kids.
So, I put it out to the universe. What should I do? Where should I focus? I need an answer!!
I didn’t immediately see an answer as I had hoped. Trust me, I looked and looked.
So, here’s the rehash part.
Then yesterday it came.
I was in my office working on plans for The Comic Whisperer and how we could continue to grow and I, as always, heard a piece of a TV show my wife was watching. It was the Garage Brothers. A show I blogged about previously.
As I said in the previous blog I don’t watch much TV, I prefer to read or mess around on my iPad, so I don’t catch many episodes of, well, anything. Name a show and I can virtually guarantee you I haven’t seen more than a couple of episodes...if any. There are exceptions; I love American Horror Story, Impractical Jokers, The Carbonaro Effect and Dexter (which is no longer making new episodes) but in general I don’t spend much time in front of the TV.
So, since Garage Brothers has had many episodes that aired the chances of me seeing (or hearing in this case) an episode I was familiar with was virtually nil. Actually, that’s what’s nice about not watching TV. Whenever you sit down in front of the boob tube you are almost guaranteed not to see a rerun.
Hearing it was on, and me needing to take a lunch break, and almost guaranteed that I hadn’t seen the episode, I sauntered into the living room and sat down. The show was at a point where they were just uncovering something so I came in at a good point. I recognized the piece immediately. They were uncovering a statue of the Silver Surfer. This was the show with the comic book expert....the only episode I have ever seen. The very one I blogged about. What were the odds??
I took it as my sign. Stick with the comic book business. Stick with doing what I know and love. After all, isn’t naming a show Garage Brothers making a commitment? They can’t exactly go off and start an accounting firm. They are committed. American Horror Story can’t start showing a romance (unless it has a gruesome ending). They are committed. Michael Carbonaro can’t do a show on remodeling houses (unless he just makes new furniture appear). He’s committed.
Again, I owe a debt to the Garage Brothers. It’s just weird that the lesson comes from the same freakin’ episode.
All this being said, we can’t fail can we? The universe told us so through that episode, right? The odds of seeing the same episode when countless others could have been aired is too small, right? It had to be a sign. Well, this sign said “Garage Brothers” and I am going to take it and run with it. It’s what I wanted anyway.
Please support us on:
Facebook: The Comic Whisperer
Twitter: @Comic_Whisperer
Instagram: The Comic Whisperer
Our Charity: www.gofundme.com/comicshelpkidsread
We look forward to many years of serving you. The universe said so.
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