Hello, and welcome to Loud Coffee Press, a company run by two people that the psychology tests of the world categorize as true introverts. When we first decided to start our little endeavor over here, we were so apprehensive about sharing it with anyone that if you’d asked us if we had a literary magazine, we might have shied away and been like, “what? Us? You must have the wrong Fred and Annie.” For more on that, see our take on squashing imposter syndrome. We recently teamed up with Glen Binger to release his book, "Welcome to Plexus," and it got us thinking about how important collaboration is in this creative life.
It was hard to network when we were in the building phase, or so we thought. Now? We’d tell those newbie little Fred and Annies to use to use the building phase precisely to network! Reach out to the people that had been there, done that, and ask how it had been and done! We were stuck on the fact that we didn’t have a product to share, so we weren’t ready to enter the literary world.
We couldn’t have been more wrong.
Hindsight is always… (fill in the blank. I’m not mentioning that heck of a year). While building Loud Coffee Press, we met a host of writer friends, and among them, those that had run or were running magazines or small presses, and we still drifted lazily along our rivers, bumping into their tubes, and coyly pretending like while we were floating along together, we might as well ask a question.
The point is - don’t be like the Fred and Annie of yesteryear. If we could hand you a set of Create-O-Vision glasses, they’d show you where all of your doors are; the creative doors that only require you to knock. That’s it! Then, a person on the other side can choose to answer, or not. It’s as simple as that.
Mostly.
It’s also about being able to recognize where the opportunities lie, and knowing that the people on the other side are only humans, just like us.
Imposter Syndrome is easy to fall victim to because on the other side, it’s easy to make it
look like success is a no-brainer. It’s easy for anyone to fill up social media, press releases, or blog posts with only the positive stuff. Then come the rest of us, who feel like we’re not at that point of only the good stuff, wondering where we fell short. However, when you take a closer look, Wizard of Oz can be often reduced to the person behind the curtain.
How can you boost your chances of success? No matter where you are in your career, take a page out of Mr. Roger’s playbook:
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news,” Rogers said to his television neighbors, “my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping. ‘”
Here we are today to tell you: when you’re needing a boost, look for the makers. You will always find people who are creating.
…and pair with them!
If not for so many wonderful creatives in this community, we wouldn’t stand a chance. This business is a team effort on so many levels.
This post isn't meant to be an advertisement, but it works out that way. It's a recognition that awesome things can come of the maker hive mind, and here's one shining example. We met Glen Binger of Bing Bang Co. a few years back, and he's been a friend, mentor, and collaborator with us here. Binger is the mind behind Betterism Inc., which embodies a "platform for growth and gratitude," but is also celebrated weekly through Binger's podcast, and site. He also used to run his own webzine (gave us all the advice on that), and continues to run his own small press. In short, Binger's a powerhouse, and we are eternally grateful that when we knocked on his proverbial door, he answered.
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