Taking it to the Street ...

I was walking down Market Street in San Francisco on a beautiful spring week day.  As always the street was packed with tourists, locals, business folk, vendors, street people and everything in between. It was a street scene full of life and energy -- I was blissing out.

A group of young, rough looking men were aggressively approaching individuals trying to sell them their own C.D.'s, or so they said.  

"Buy my CD man! You'll like it!"

Sure.  "What kind of music?"

"Gangsta"  

"Do I look like I'd listen to gangsta?" I'd ask, actually curious.  With that question the boys, suddenly less threatening, would shrug and move on.

After 3 or 4 of these encounters, one young man, taller, tatooed and with a huge grin that showed his "grill" answered me.

"Everyone loves gangsta!" And he shoved his earphones over my head so that I could get a good blast of bass.

Stunned for a moment I started listening.  Yes, it was definitely gangsta and it was -- good!  The recording was decent, the lyrics not quite understandable, but the music I heard was interesting.

I stood and listened and tried not to nod my head or in any way show appreciation, after all I was being held hostage to my curiosity.

"$10" the boy asked - he wasn't fooled by my too cool response.

You're thinking: ha! how much does JoMarie know about gangsta music?  It's probably a blank cd or a pirated copy of someone else. I thought of those objections too.  But curiosity won and I bought the CD.

So what does this have to do with you?  

Turns out the young man, Priest the U.G.K. (whatever that means), was really the voice on the cd.  Full of talent and a lot of moxie he made a sale to the least likely customer on the block - an old lady from Alaska. He believed enough in himself and his music to know that if I would just listen - I would buy and I would spread the word (which I am now doing).  

He stood on the sidewalk and approached total strangers trusting that he just needs to make those connections and he'll be a star.  

The question then is, how much do you believe in what you are selling?  Who would buy if you stopped putting limits and defining your market?  Are you willing to put yourself on the line and take it to the street?