Venturing into the unknown can be daunting
But what would happen if you had no choice?
When I was a teenager my family moved from Montreal to a small town hundreds of miles away. In Montreal I had friends, I had stability and I had a sense of home – I knew my surroundings and, most importantly, I was secure in my place in the world.
And then we moved. Overnight I lost my identity. I went from being a happy, normal teen, to an outcast. So when I turned 16 I was done. I got a backpack, went out to the highway, stuck my thumb out and hitch-hiked out of town.
I ended up thousands of miles away on the street in Vancouver. I knew no one, and I had no money. But for me it was still better than what I had left.
The island of misfit toys
How did I survive? Community. People look out for each other, even people on the street.
One day shortly after arriving I was given a guitar by one of the other street kids. I had no idea how to play it. However, someone showed me how to play a Beatles’ song and suggested that if I play on the street, I might make some money for myself.
Not only had I never played the guitar, but I had never sung.
But I had no money, and nowhere to stay – I had no other options but to try. I saw other people playing guitar on the street and making some money doing it, so after a few days I shyly mumbled and fumbled my way through a few songs for the people passing by. I wish I had a recording of that now as I can only imagine what I must have sounded like.
By then I new a total of three songs, so when I finished singing them I waited for anyone who heard me to get out of earshot so I could play the same songs over and over. I was making money, enough to buy myself something to eat.
I learned another song, and then another. I watched what other musicians were doing on the street. There were those that were just banging out songs at any given time of day. Then there were those that were treating it like a job. They would play on specific corners, arrive at specific times, and play for a set amount of time and then leave.
Imitation and Innovation
One evening I was playing across the street from a movie theater. The line-up formed and eventually the people filed in to watch the movie. I kept playing even though there was no one around.
After an hour or so another line started to form for the later show. The people stood there and listened to me play. Eventually the people from the first show came out. They saw that I was still there and dropped money into my guitar case. I continued playing. Eventually the second group came out, and they dropped money into my guitar case.
I played into the night. Eventually the bars let out and people stumbled by and dropped more money in my case.
It was a long night. However, I realized that the people dropping money in my case were going into, and then leaving the movie, and then leaving the bar. Over the course of the night, 80% of the money I made was done during those three times, which all-totaled was less than two hours.
So the next night I set my guitar up across from the movie theater half an hour before the first film started. After the line up went in, I left. I came back half an hour before the next film was due to start – just before people lined up.
The people coming out of the first film saw me there and assumed I had been standing there the whole time and threw money in my case. I left, and then came back just before the last film got out. Then I left again and showed up just before the bars closed.
And with that I had discovered the system. After that I would play as people were on their way to work in the morning, at lunch hour, and at the end of the work day – that would be two hours. I was now working a total of four hours a day.
I did not get rich doing this by any means, but I was able to support myself and get off the street. Eventually I bought myself a VW van, and for the next few years I traveled around North America playing my guitar on the street.
What did I learn from this?
- You do not have to be perfect to succeed.
When I started making money playing my guitar on the street I had been playing for a couple of weeks. I knew three songs. What was important was I got out there. Once you launch, you are in the game.
- We are usually the only ones standing in our own way.
We are presented with opportunities all the time. Sometimes we take them, sometimes we don’t. Just do not let fear of the unknown, or thinking that you are not ready, be a reason to hold back.
- Learn the system and then adapt it to your needs.
What worked for me was learning a system that I could replicate and build on. Once you know the system things don’t seem as daunting anymore. And more importantly, once you have a system in place you can test and refine it.
- The value of community
Whether you are living on the street, anchored in a bay with a dozen other boats, or creating a business online, there are always people ready and willing to help. I never ceased to be amazed by how people come together when we are most in need.
- The greatest challenges can, and often do, bring the greatest rewards.
When I think back to the darkest, most difficult times in my life, I can always say that it was at those times that I grew the most. I do not seek out adversity, but I do shy away from complacency.
Eventually I put myself through university and got a degree in music. And later, when the Internet took off in the mid nineties, I bought myself a book on how to make web pages – but that is another story. Within a very short time after that I was head of Development and Interactive Design for some of the largest financial corporations in the world.
That is why I believe that we are all, without exception, presented with opportunities. As someone famous once said, “when you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
What are some of the opportunities you have taken that have paid off?
