A few years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find a comedian hotter than Dave Chappelle. His Comedy Central show was clever, at times completely vulgar and inappropriate, and a huge (HUGE) hit. It was certainly not a surprise at all that he came back with the cast to do a second season. Good money would have placed the bet on the Dave Chappelle show lasting many seasons, in fact.
But that’s not what happened.
When it came time for work and discussions to begin on the third season, Chappelle quit the show, left Comedy Central, and in fact he even left the country. He spent a fair amount of time in Africa, leaving many of his fans (and many other people besides) to wonder what would cause an extremely successful man to drop ship and throw it all away. Was he crazy? Was he on drugs?
Chappelle appeared to answer all of these questions in a rather unlikely place – Inside the Actor’s Studio with James Lipton. This clip, if you skip to about the 4 minute mark, is one of the most memorable statements you’ll ever hear about both Hollywood and success:
To watch the video Click Here
In case you didn’t click over to watch, essentially Chappelle makes the case that Hollywood is really sick. Really messed up. It can take people tough enough to make it to stardom and reduce them to insanity. Earlier in the interview, Chappelle said that when he told his dad that he wanted to be an actor, his father said, “Ok, but set a price you’re willing to pay, and once it goes above that price, cut all ties.” That is what Dave Chapelle did.
Sure, Chappelle had tons of success. Tons of money. But he also had strangers coming up to him quoting scenes with cuss words with Chappelle’s children standing right there. He had too many expectations. He had to give up too much of his creativity. It expanded beyond the price he wanted to pay, even with all of that fame he got, even with all of that money.
What is your price?
In the online world, we are always pushing for that online celebrity status, right? You want to be like the Brian Clarks or the Chris Brogans of the world, where you tweet something and hundreds of people echo what you said. You want to be able to earn your entire living like Darren Rouse does, based on his blog sites and the work he does around those sites, right?
Here’s the question though. Have you set a price on that kind of success? Have you established what you are willing to pay in order to get there?
Have you thought about how much time you’re willing to give to this endeavor? How many hours with friends and family are you going to pay in?
How much typing and research and promoting are you willing to do?
How many trolls are you willing to stomach?
How much are you willing to take to get that fame? And how much fame will be enough for you? When will you have enough money, enough subscribers, enough celebrity status?
If you do not have answers to these questions, you are in great danger of paying more than you are able.
The answers are all up to you
This is not a question I can dictate an answer to. At least not for you. All of these answers, in fact, have to come from you. And here’s the really tricky thing. You have to be honest with yourself. If you want to get stinking filthy rich, don’t say that you want “just enough.” And then weigh how much it will cost you to get there.
I worry that in the online world, fame seems so accessible that people are beginning to think there is no price to it. That’s not really true though. Everything has a price. Getting comments on your blog means you need to pay time, creativity, and the risk of bomb after bomb. You need to risk people saying your ideas are daft.
On Twitter, the same holds true. Building a community means chatting while on vacation, spending time helping people off the grid, and offering your ideas, which in some cases will not be acknowledged.
Are these prices okay with you or do they seem a bit inflationary?
Now is the time to decide, before you dig too much deeper. Yes, you can achieve all of your goals and all of your dreams. There’s a price to it though. What’s your price? What would make you cut and run?
Let’s talk about it.
Image by Billy Alexander. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/ba1969
View Margie Clayman's profile
Great Analogy on Chapelle. It can get a bit crazy when you have so many channels to communicate and so many strangers that think that they know you just because of a character.
I think you really pay the price when you stop being yourself. In Chapelle’s case he played various vulgar roles as an actor and people where mistaken.
Funny thing is I have met many people that think that using a social channel is like putting up an act and behaving differently from who you really are and those are the one’s that will pay the highest price.
So well said, Raul. Selling your soul is what I call it – convincing yourself that you really are the way people think you are. Once you lose yourself, what do you have left? Not much, it seems to me!
Thanks for a great comment!
“Sure, Chappelle had tons of success. Tons of money. But he also had strangers coming up to him quoting scenes with cuss words with Chappelle’s children standing right there.”
Not as though I’d particularly want it to happen but I’m sure there’s worse consequences of fame than that.
We live in a world where more and more is expected, that private/public life has merged. It’s not going to revert back so it is up to the individual to set the barriers. If you don’t set barriers, people are going to keep asking for more.
Yet the individual is scared to set those barriers in case you lose a sale. That fear might drive businesses to continual growth but the human price it extolls is too much. We’ll all be working seven day weeks soon, something has to change.
After much research I know where I’m happy and what I need to make me happy, any more is a bonus but I suspect the barriers they create won’t be too popular.
Hi Nic,
Of course there are worse consequences, I’m sure, but that one in particular is something that Chappelle alludes to in various instances, so I feel like it weighed on him. The inability to protect your children from your crazy lifestyle has to be extremely scary.
Your second point is super important and is why I noted that you don’t need to just analyze what price you’re willing to pay, but you also need to think about how much success will be enough. If you don’t set that kind of border around what you’re doing, you’ll never be content, simple as that.
Thanks!
So true. There is indeed a price for success. This is really a thought-provoking article Margie. My price for success is doing constant researching and constant updating of my blogs and engaging to customer in a fun and enjoyable but good and polite way. I also have to be careful with the way I promote my products in a friendly and straightforward way or else a little misunderstanding might cut it all off.
Very well put, John, and you’re so right. Like Nic said, once you establish a personality and your relationships with your online network, altering it in a major way can end up costing you sales, valuable contacts, and even your overall business. Carefully set guidelines on the front end can help you avoid those problems further on down the road though.
Thanks for your comment!
I know this blog is geared towards the realm / environment of social media, but the question does apply in the greater professional realm. And I agree with Raul – using the analogy of Chappelle’s experience is a highly appropriate one.
Fantastic post, Margie. With some heavy-handed advice to use some introspect and reflection.
I hope these words affect at least one person in a profound way towards their career in social media and beyond.
Thank you, humbly, for sharing.
Well thank you, Sumner. I didn’t mean to be heavy-handed, but then again, Chappelle himself kind of inspired me with how blunt he was about the state of things in Hollywood and in his own life. Sometimes the truth hurts, non? 🙂
It’s easy to judge looking from the outside. You don’t see a person putting in the hours, days and years of hard work and sacrifice. Technology has allowed us to create persona’s of who we think we should be… illusions that to the outside world look perfect, but inside you’re just kidding yourself. And, sooner or later, the will bubble burst.
I’m a very private person so when I first started to venture into the social media world, it was very difficult. Online, I’d try to give off this persona of who I thought people would like… a “yes man” who’d agree with everyone and everything. To make a long story short, I finally came to the realization that I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t. It’s so much easier to be who you are and stand for what you believe in. There will be people who like and dislike you but I think that’s a small price to pay for peace of mind and spirit.
Great addition to the conversation, Alan, and you’re 100% correct. Putting on a mask and pretending to be someone you’re not can be exhausting. You always have to be “on,” especially in the online world, and it’s just hard to keep up that sort of thing.
I too came into the online world thinking that I could create a sort of persona – I even had a made-up Twitter name to go with that persona. But in the end I couldn’t really talk to people about relating to each other online and stuff like that if I was myself pretending to be someone else. It just became easier to be me, and so it has stayed.
Thanks for your great comment!